#bonus points if he ends up taking one for human children.

[wormshirt]

The Doctor needs one of those classes they give to expecting/hopeful parents but for humans. Get their ass enrolled in a parenting course. And everytime they get a new companion he has to retake the course.

[that-weird-thing-in-the-woods]

:) Heyyy you gremlins of the Forest, seas and alleyways! I have sustenance for you

🌊💧🐚 Siren Everlasting trio + Dan and Ellie 🐚💧🌊

So now on to the plot! Danny with Sam and Tucker [+ fetus Dan and Ellie] have to leave their world and before they can get out the GIW got Danny by being turned over by his parents and in clear Dc X Dp fashion we traumatize the fuck out of this boy and after the traumatizing Sam and Tucker break into the GIW base and ‘Take care of’ ( Kinda Yandere Sam and Tucker let’s go! ) and they take him ( he already has Ellie and dans core in him so….three for one deal ) and they head to clockworks place and explains the problem and what do they do now???

And for clockworks side of this he knows they can’t stay in the ghost zone because even if Sam and Tucker are extremely practically ghost at this point and will most definitely be ghost when they die ( but that in the FAR future because ✨ecto-contamination✨ ) but they are still considered human enough to the point they can’t stay in the ghost zone so they can’t stay with here but there is a deserted mostly water planet where the inhabitants ( this is where the presume aliens come in) are like the sea animals that live there but more alien and stuff and due to the ecto their body can adapt to the environment and with his powers he can make it almost instantly so that would work { sorry if this is a bit of word vomit I don’t know what do word it }

And Sam and Tucker are chill with plan because they get everything they want with this

They get

To stay with the love of their lives (and afterlives)

get to have their children (yes they have already claimed Ellie and Dan as their children and NO ONE can stop them) safe and cared for

Have their Love heal and be safe

And with the added bonus with beatass new siren like forms that they can use to protect their love

So their good with this plan and Danny just wants him and his family ( Sam and Tucker his Lovers and Ellie and Dan his children) to be safe and happy so he’s also chill with this and they tell clockwork as much he opens a portal to said planet and as soon as Sam, Tucker and Danny step into the water they turn into their more siren/mermaid like form

Danny’s form is a lot more white beta fish

Tucker’s is more shark like 

Sam’s form looks more like a eels

They all are pretty big compared to humans or well normal humans, Now onto their home/cave it is in the more deep part of waters and Danny spends a lot of time in the cave due to being pregnant with Ellie and Dan + Sam and Tucker protectiveness, well Sam and Tucker are hanging around him or are getting food….and that’s all I can I think of for now but probably going to add more after post

Now onto the DC part of this so someone or something alerts the JL about a planet that is not supposed to have sentient life so a team ( Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, aqua man) go to check it out and they end up in a submarine and are trying to find where that sentient life is so this can go two ways for how The everlasting trio and the JL meet

The FIRST way that the team is in the submarine and get a little bit to close to the cave for Sam’s and tuckers likings ( which is no where near Danny and the baby’s did I mention that in these forms that their instincts kick into overdrive and add that with pregnant Lover not a good combo ) and so Sam and Tucker take the only option in is situation which is slap it around enough so what’s in side of it to drown *Cue Instincts yelling for them to take the body’s and feed them to pregnant mate* and for the JL point of view in this their just waving their way through the water trying to find what is making the sensor go off and all the sudden their being beating around the water by the looks of it two giant alien mer-people that are clearly pissed off about something and this goes on for a few minutes and the submarine is about to start taking on water if the mer-Aliens don’t stop hitting the sub!!! And while this was happening Danny is taking a nap ( which Sam and Tucker were to before the JL showed up ) and Danny wakes up because he hears….yelling??? So still a bit tired he gets out from the cave to find where they are and he finds them beating a sub around like their playing catch so of course he interrupts and now back to the JL view point they see a third mer-alien and it seems to be upset about something and almost immediately the other two stop hitting the sub to go comfort the third one….that is showing and they all have this collective thought “So that why they were so upset! We got to close to the baby’s!” And that’s about it for the first way this could go

The SECOND way is that Danny just swimming outside the cave ( Sam and Tucker are doing…something ) and he comes across this sub and of course he’s curious about it so he goes to check it out and for the JL this showing mer-alien just comes up to the sub and starts to swim around it and seems curious about it while letting out chips and hums ( in these forms talking sounds like chips/hums/growl ) and when they try to make contact they seem to understand what their trying to convey until their mates show up and their very upset…

And now time for the details of design for Danny I’m thinking this

But instead of legs because you know… mer person ( and the jewelry is given to him by Sam and Tucker instincts go brrr)

And this is is the kinda fish I’m thinking Danny’s form takes after

For Sam I’m thinking but just get rid of the bag and lantern and cling the dress around her hips and make it shorter and that really what I’m thinking

For the top {I really can’t find anything for tucker and Sam that I’m thinking for this so..} and this is the pic for the tail but of course make it purple and black…yes I know there are pics of purple and black eels this one is the search that looks like it’s not going to steal my soul 

And for tucker….I really can’t find what I’m thinking about so you just get words this time so his just shirtless that’s it maybe he has a few arm bands and some fabric around his waist but that really it for his thought process

Oh and here’s the pic that I’m thinking his mer half takes after

And that’s about it for my thoughts hope you gremlins like it byeeee

[missmarveledsblog]

Brooster ( Bradley Bradshaw x reader )

summary : when y/n brings her class to the hanger well bradley gets to check off two dreams in one go to jakes dismay and when the two bickering stems a glorious idea fun for all well other than the two men

warning: rooster being love sick , part of the its fate series gave her a nickname sunny, grammatical and spelling errors soz

its fate series here

@bets-bookshelf gave me this idea so long ago when i was doing the it's fate series so had to do something for it

also something fluffy for the amazing @shanimallina87

He told them from the beginning , before he even talk to her or found out she as hangmans sister that she was going to be the future mrs bradshaw . He was right because although it wasn’t a wedding ring  on her finger it was just one more step away. Two years to the day he ended the perfect first day recreating the very same moment and yet making it more special  .  finishing the dance in that spot spinning her out slowly  and then when she turned back there he was on one knee asking what  her to be his wife . everyone soon learned how true it would be they would be it before the engagement all you had to do was look at the couple and  you would see it . thanksgiving she brought him back to texas to which take teased  them the whole time but her parents loved  bradley almost instantly to the blonde aviators dismay even grandma seresin loved him which wasn’t so easy some of her brother in laws were still trying to win the old matriarch over.   He waited til she went shopping with her sisters and that when bradley asked for their permission and their blessing  . The look on jakes face had to be a bonus to the whole cherry on the cake. 

Now here he was  in the present  proudly guiding her and her class to the hanger .  little wide eyes , excited faces standing not knowing what to do or  say next . They must of got the same warning mav and y/n  gave the dagger squad , the captain still trying to convince the younger seresin to enlist as she had the talent to be a commander.    They all seem to take it stride and keeping language to a minimum  although a few nearly slips happened only to be stopped  short  . he also did try to keep his adoring and  goofy smiles in her direction to a minimum which failed the moment she walked into the hanger and honestly watching her and the kid suddenly had him picturing  her with their and maybe he could ovulate something he was looking into because shit he was convinced he was   every time he seen her being so sweet and caring to a pint sized human . 

“ OK boys and girls gather up lieutenant bradshaw here is going to tell you all about the F/A-18  you ready ?” mav smiled to the group of children who in turn we yelling excited “YES” .  

“ liuetant ? “ bob nudged him from staring at the pretty teacher who snorted. 

“ sorry erm yeah so lets show you guys one of  the loves  of my life” he winked to y/n  who rolled her eyes and followed after making sure the kids where  safe distance.  She knew the whole inside and out considering her brother and now soon to be husband yammered on about it the whole week , or more so argued over the importance of which part to  talk more on .  each time his eyes would meet hers and he’d stumble through abit . 

“ maybe don’t enlist?” Maverick chuckled when nat nudged bradley to get his attention .

“ concentrate brooster” she hissed.  The little eyes seemly picking up more than the jet as they stood around. 

“ anyone any questions ?” rooster looked over the little awe struck face . “ you there with the cute pigtails “ he pointed. 

“ my name is abby , do you have crush on miss sunny “ that nickname he heard  them calling her few time it fit she really was a human embodiment of sunshine and could burn if got on bad side . 

“ erm yes .. anyways spiderman shirt which is awesome by the way shoot “ he chuckled a little caught off guard .

“ aren’t you too old for sunny?” he asked .

“ i like that kid” jake snorted. 

“ i’m not that old … anyone else “ he looked as all hands raised . “ about the jet or base” he added as they all fell down except one. “Shoot little lady” . 

“ can we fly in these today ?” she asked . 

“ sadly not see you gotta be erm 18 to fly in them “ he lied quickly . 

“ sunny you can’t fly” she turned to her teacher. 

“ i’m older 18 cassie “ y/n snorted. 

“ well then lets bring the kids up to the control room and you can give sunny here a lap in the sky “  nat smirked as she knew it was one of his stupid little dreams to do so . 

“ i got the paperwork “ bob added when he seen mav going to say something.

“ hell no… nope “ jake stood . 

“ where do i sign” she smiled brightly . 

“ come over here rest of you bring kiddo’s to the control room , make sure they ear muffs are on their head” nat called dragging sunny over to the table. 

“ i’ll fly here” jake growled. 

“ i can fly man i wont let anything happen relax” rooster rolled his eyes as they looked over and nat was helping her into a flight suit suspiciously a perfect fit  and a helmet on her head . 

“I’m watching you bradshaw “ jake grumbled heading to the control tower make sure the kids were ok .  

“ you ready pretty girl “ he smiled watching her coming over . 

“ ready lieutenant  “ she saluted as he let her climb up first  

“ hey if you every wanna enlist and be my backseater i have no objections if i get to do this all time “ he chuckled. 

“  head off her ass and make sure she comes back in one piece “ jakes voice came over the intercom. 

“  do i need to get the get along shirt for you two “ she warned . 

“ no ma’am”  both  men easily replied. 

“ ok so we wont be doing anything  crazy  , if you fell sick or anything let me know and i will land “ he told her softly as he made sure her straps  were secure . 

“ i’m not scared i’m excited “ she giggled as he shook his head  knowing this was likely gonna be outcome .  

“ ready baby” he called back . 

“ ready “ she called listening to the control room as they let the kids giving the take off clearance . 

This was a dream come true , one to mark off his bucket list to bring the love his life and thing he loved to do in like together .  her excited gasps and  pointing out everything she could see from where they were .  he turned to see her eyes filled in awe and amazement  god he was tempted to fly them to courthouse or vegas in that moment and just marry her on the spot .  she was everything and more to him  and he couldn’t wait to  enjoy rest of his life doing more like this , more exciting adventure. 

“ loop it “ she yelled 

“ you sure baby “ he chuckled at the excitement of her voice. 

“ do it “ she called . 

Her squeal  the turned she was looking at the world upside down in a spilt second  before he done it again and again . 

“ brooster what the hell are you doing , your carrying precious cargo land now” jake voice crackled through the comms . 

“ hey radley bradley brooster  time to land “ she snorted . 

“  aye aye captain hotstuff” he called back . 

“ brooster kids here keep the flirting to a minimum “ nat voice came through. 

“ tell them i’m just loving on my future wife” 

“ ok some are crying and hangman looks like he’s gonna throw up  “ fanboy sounded worried. 

“ lets land “ she called as he nodded. 

When they got on the ground  she literally got her feet on the tarmac when she was whipped around helmet pulled and thrown to mav as jake check her over .

“ give over you big dummy it was a few loops and spins i’m ok “ she slapped him away .  before  she turned to sniffling kids . 

“ some aren’t happy you getting married because their dads said it was sad day when that happens “ nat snorted. 

 “ oh jesus “ she huffed off knowing she was going to have to explain to both kids and seemly parents her private life and job were separate. 

“ curse of the hot teacher” payback chuckled. 

“ see one piece “ bradley smirked kissing her head. 

“ you not flying with her again brooster” 

“ says who bagman “ 

“ boys over there now no fighting with the kids around although even crying with snot bubbles  their still more mature “ she pointed over to the corner as they both went. 

“ honestly i love having you around kid “ mav ruffled her hair.

“Since when y’all calling him brooster” she chuckled. 

“ when he messes up , annoying or anything really “ nat shrugged.

“ we call them b&b when they fight or even get along “ fanboy broke out laughing

“ ohh i get it bagman and brooster” she giggled an idea forming in her head and coming to fruition as they all got on the bus . 

Two weeks after visiting the hangar and awkward parent teacher meetings she was staying back once the kids gone home clearing up after a day of crafts when the buzzing of her phone went off each member of dagger squad including pete maverick mitchell sending her images . when she click open she knew it would be good but shit she didn’t think it was this good . there stood her brother and her soon to be husband standing scowling wearing the enormous material  written on it  on the front read : 

Bagman and Broosters  get along shirt 

Two trapped in the fabric looking less then impressed but hell it made her year to see an idea coming to life and leave a glowing review to  the  woman that made it .

[sicksadgames]

As the Sun Forever Sets - Terror in the time of the Telegraph

It’s nuts I’ve been working on this game for over 4 years at this point. As the Sun Forever Sets is for sure my biggest and most capital G Game. It even has a publisher and everything. It’s also my first game! Wow! It's been tough, though. We'll get into it!

Britain, 1899

As the Sun Forever Sets is a survival horror sandbox based on the War of the Worlds, utilises the Forged in the Dark ruleset, and is about ordinary people surviving a Martian invasion of Victorian era Britain. We play to find out how they rise to meet the storm of destruction, the ways in which it shapes them, and if they survive to see a new world emerge, or die amidst the rubble of the old.

In the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign, the British Empire stretches across a quarter of the globe, and under the guise of genteel progress and civilisation, it commits theft and murder on a global scale. Britain itself is on the verge of the modern era, the Second Industrial Revolution pushing people into the cities to drive the factories and forges owned by the greedy industrialist class. But beyond the common causes of humanity and unbeknownst to the men who impose their rule over it, vast wheels have begun their inexorable turning. Across 40 million miles of void, the Martian invasion hurtles Earthward. Screaming across the stars, instruments of annihilation unlike anything believed possible lie ready for assembly, alongside the Martians themselves. They are truly inscrutable beings, but their intent is as clear as it is terrible – they will suck the literal and figurative blood from the Earth, and nothing less than the complete and utter subjugation of humanity will be enough.

If this sounds cool to you... well, you gotta wait, it’s not done yet. Sorry! But you can come and hang out in the Sick Sad Games discord, where I post excerpts and occasionally organise playtests.

The Hard Times of (Old) England

Be warned, this is a long one - over 4000 words (if you don't have a Tumblr account, you won't get to the end before it starts bugging you to register one, so go read this on Medium instead.) It turns out when you work on a game for a long time, you have a lot to say about it. Strap in, grab your gin and laudanum, and let’s destroy an evil empire just by existing.

Thanks to the wonderful @hendrik-ten-napel for taking a look over my disorganised thoughts.

(Potential) Spoilers for: The Bear, The War of the Worlds, The Last of Us, Children of Men, Threads, When the Wind Blows, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, The Thing.

Roleplay in the Pre-Post-Apocalypse

TTRPGs love a good post apocalypse. It's understandable - gas up and ride glorious on the legally distinct fury road, run a commune of like minded weirdos in the ashes of the old world, go digging through retro-futuristic ruins to find retro-futuristic treasures. Who wouldn't want to do any of these? But As the Sun Forever Sets is about an apocalypse as it begins, not after it’s over. 

There's a lot of crossover, of course. There’s a focus on similar things - disaster and spectacle, relationships and trust, scavenging and survival. But the bonus of the world not yet being over, is that we get to roleplay out dealing with that terrible, inexorable reality.

HG Wells wrote a book about blowing up all the places he used to live, and it's a banger. I was surprised to find there wasn't a TTRPG based on the War of the Worlds, being the tantalisingly public domain ur-alien invasion story it is. As the Sun Forever Sets is very explicitly an adaption of it, to the point that before I came up with the name it almost got released as The War of the Worlds: The Roleplaying Game (lol). I'm glad I didn't, doing my own thing has meant both me and the people playing are way more free to fuck around without the expectation that it must adhere to a canon.

The book is good, strikingly modern feeling in parts, and obviously massively influential - so much science fiction can be traced back to our nameless Narrators tormentuous trek across the south of England. But Wells’ prose is typical Victorian - overly wordy and florid (any book that contains the word “ejaculating” meaning “to shout” might be difficult for readers who aren’t used to the style), so when it comes to recommending an actual adaptation, there’s only one true king. Whenever I bring up Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, the usual reaction from anyone outside of the UK is to say "... they made a what?"

My mom was very keen to get me into musicals, but nothing really stuck until she tried this, the secret best War of the Worlds adaption (sorry Steven Spielberg, but you were doomed from the start.) It's the bombast and drama you'd expect from a disaster film, the horror and pathos of Wells’ classic, all expressed through vivid narration and sick nasty prog rock - wailing guitar and crunchy 70's synths operating at full effect. It's not completely faithful to the book, it doesn't matter. It’s the best.

Ah yes, the film bro's favourite mid 2000's film. Did you see that sick oner? That’s six minutes without a cut, that means the film’s good right? Children of Men is a slow burn apocalypse, dressed up like a world that’s already ended. Plenty has been written about all the little ways the film is prescient about the state of the UK - the slow belly-crawl into facism and nationalist fervour, the particularly British decay and class divide exacerbated by the desperate times, even the willful ignorance and the explicit sense that everyone’s just given up, it’s all here.

All that thematic stuff seems like it’d be really relevant to As the Sun Forever Sets, right?

Unfortunately, we are in fact here to talk about the long takes. The unbroken moment-to-moment action scenes evoke The War of the Worlds to a tee. Theo navigates danger with the same fraught tactical tension as War of the World's Narrator - dashing between doorways, groping for an axe handle in the darkness, desperately trying to start a car as assailants sprint towards him. What’s the best way out of this situation? How do I get from here to where I need to be? He lives his life in rolling, fleeting 5 second intervals, because he’s forgotten what it means to think in the long term - about the future, and what it might hold.

I was always fascinated and terrified by the idea of nuclear war. I guess it comes from watching a lot of 90’s disaster movies, but those are often ultimately fun romps where the day gets saved at the end, or at least the main characters find themselves alive and well at the end of the saga of destruction. Instead, As the Sun Forever Sets asks you to reflect on the horror and sadness present at the end of the world. Things are going to change forever, and change is always hard.

There’s not many clips of Threads and When the Wind Blows online, so it’s a little hard to demonstrate their particular nuclear inflected pitch black darkness. They’re grim - Grave of the Fireflies grim - differing in focus but united in their horrible impact.

When the Wind Blows is a story of an elderly couple living in rural England when the bombs drop, based on the comic by Raymond Briggs. Yes, The Snowman’s Raymond Briggs made a film about 2 lovely grandparents dying of acute radiation poisoning. Jim and Hilda are completely unprepared for what’s to come, their only reference is the Blitz - terrible in its own way, but not a patch on the scale of death they’re about to experience.

They survive the blast and wait for the good old British Government to arrive to save them, as it did in the 40’s. Slowly liquifying in the nuclear fallout, they hold onto each other and keep their spirits up, eventually making the decision to clamber into the paper sacks they mistakenly believed might protect them from the blast. Clutching their medical cards and birth certificates (for the ambulance, sure to be along any minute now), Jim mumbles painfully through a final prayer that morphs into a misremembered Charge of the Light Brigade, and they slip into a perpetual slumber together.

The most tragic part is Jim and Hilda’s unshakeable faith that their government is there for them - ready to catch them when they fall - borne out of Britain’s post WW2 renewal but absent in the 1980’s of the film’s plot, and the Britain of today. It’s a masterful film, shockingly sad, but the shock is the point.

Instead of aiming for your heart, Threads aims for the head. It’s a drama that aims to be as accurate as possible to government research into what a nuclear war might look like, plainly and forensically setting it out without any thought of softening these hard facts for its audience. Rather than focusing on a personal story, Threads flits around several groups of characters - minor government figures and ordinary families. Like Jim and Hilda, they too are woefully unprepared for the end of the world, and those in charge know there’s no way the UK could ever be ready for such a thing.

As mundane life is quietly intruded upon by news updates detailing far off geopolitics and the subsequent escalation that leads to war, the tension rises subtly then suddenly, like a spacecraft on the launchpad. People we’ve seen pottering about their normal lives are maimed and evaporated in the subsequent shocking nuclear exchange, whilst stark statistics flash on the screen - the hundreds of thousands instantly killed, how long the millions more fatally irradiated have left to live, the woefully inadequate tonnage of stockpiled food to feed those who survive. Each zero hits like a gutpunch.

And when you think the film must nearly be over, it keeps going. 1 week later. 1 year later. Threads grinds to an excruciating halt 13 years after the bombs fall, after year upon year of failed harvests from a destroyed earth barely able to support a population level equivalent to medieval Britain. At one point, mute children watch a warped and scratchy VHS of classic kids educational programme Words and Pictures on a TV powered by a steam generator.

The friendly presenter spells out the word “cat” through the thick veil of static, accompanied by a picture of one - an animal the children watching will likely never see. As they watch with blank, emotionless faces, the image of the cat fades to one of its skeletal form. “A cat’s skeleton” the presenter enthusiastically intones. The unrelenting bleakness might feel like a punishment, but Threads doesn’t mean it to be. This is just what would happen, after all.

Love in the time of the Heat-ray

In fact, someone in a Reddit thread said As the Sun Forever Sets “wasn’t just endless misery” and I’m glad that comes across. I wanted there to be moments of tenderness, quiet joy, anger, frustration, love and loss to punctuate the action and the horror.

People are messy and complicated even at the best of times. Under pressure, this is amplified a thousandfold - a little crush becomes a whirlwind romance, small disagreements become full blown fights, and not fully understanding someone might transform them into an enemy in your head.

The little town Bill conspires to be left alone in ends up comparatively untouched by the horrors going on elsewhere, as untouched as anywhere can be in The Last of Us. He hated the world anyways - so he isolates himself as he prepares for it to end, and it makes sense that his life only really begins as the show does. When Frank arrives, Bill is forced not to just engage with the broader world outside of his little enclave, but in the act of truly living in it.

There’s no prepper’s guide to romance. A human heart can’t be field stripped for maintenance. By choosing to exist as a vulnerable, emotional being, Bill opens himself up to a different kind of apocalypse. Frank becomes the flowering vines that slowly crack the flat concrete wall of a world that Bill created, and when those vines die, the wall can only crumble. It’s so fraught and lovely, delicately yet absolutely gut wrenching. At least their apocalypse was one they decided to have together.

“I’m old. I’m satisfied. And you… were my purpose.” - "Long Long Time”, The Last of Us

While several of my TTRPG writing friends were gushing about how great The Bear is, Em Acosta, author of the wonderfully inspirational Exile pointed out something super interesting - a lot of the show is about how you deal with people you’ve found yourself stuck with. No matter how much they piss you off, or whatever they do wrong, there’s something that means you can’t ever let them truly exit your life. They’re there, like it or not, until the bitter end.

Turns out this is very similar to how As the Sun Forever Sets handles Player Character relationships. In both it and The Bear, nothing’s ever truly resolved between characters - every relationship is like a cooking pot perpetually simmering. You might’ve apologised, made a truce, or just ignored your issues for so long that they seem to disappear, but no matter what, you’ve got to keep your eye on that pot.

Because suddenly a crisis will hit, and someone says something, or a diceroll comes up bad and all of a sudden the pot boils over and things are once again fucked. You storm out, start screaming, throw a fork. Even in the worst case scenario where a Character leaves because they’re absolutely sick of the rest of the group, they might show up at the end of the game for one last scene. Who knows how you’ll all feel at the end - nothing is ever truly fixed, and only the dead are truly broken. 

“I quit, chef, is what’s going on. You are an excellent chef. You are also a piece of shit. This isn’t on me. Goodbye." - “The Review”, The Bear

I’ve talked about The Thing a little before, John Carpenters sweaty, paranoid antarctic masterpiece. Along with the incredible effects and the (mostly) restrained use of action and bombast, the thing that makes... The Thing work is that the staff of the stricken research base lack any and all emotional intelligence.

It’s sort of the ultimate reverse Dudes Rock movie. Nobody knows anything about each other, so when their bodies and minds are colonised by the titular chameleon from outer space, they’re just another stranger to the rest of the crew. I’d ask you a question only you would know the answer to, but uh.. I don’t know anything about you. Whoops!

Over the course of the film, the whole operation falls apart as they try their best to work together to deal with the alien interloper, but their complete lack of ability to trust or relate to each other - present even before the crisis they find themselves in - is their ultimate downfall.

That final excellent shot of MacReady and Childs sat in the snow at the end of the film as their compound burns around them is the subject of a lot of unnecessary theorycrafting youtube videos, which kind of misses the point. Each suspects the other, but ultimately it doesn’t matter if one of them’s a Thing. One stranger is the same as another. Why bother getting to know each other now?

“Well...What do we do?” “Why don't we just... wait here for a little while? See what happens.” - Childs and Macready, The Thing

Science Fiction Revenge Fantasy

I’m not a historian, but the parallels between 1899 and now are pretty plain to see. Increasing class disparity, a lack of political will to help those in need, rampant cronyism and profiteering. As long as you’re in the place for it, roleplaying in a fictionalised version of the past to air out the issues of the present can be super fun and cathartic. You’re not expected to get a degree in British history to make it work, either.

The title is a play on the phrase “The Sun Never Set on the British Empire”, and it’s plainly stated in the book that Britains Empire acted as a mechanism of genocidal oppression, and that the Martians are here to end it - intentionally or not. It’s appealing as a premise on the face of it, but it goes a little deeper. Memories of Empire echo across time in Britain like the ringing of a malevolent bell, a cause celebre for braying Tories and fascistic right wing cunts (two very close circles in the venn diagram.)

We used to be a great country before this woke nonsense. Things were better back in the old days. The DEI contingent is trying to destroy our noble past. Yada yada yada, fuck offff. I’m sure someone somewhere will accuse me of “wokewashing” the past for including explicitly trans and queer characters as part of the book, along with the historical facts around how we fit into the oppressive Victorian conception of sex and gender. Unfortunately for them, we’ve always been here.

To be a little pretentious about it, every game of As the Sun Forever Sets reaches back into the past and cuts the myth of a glorious and benevolent Empire, and the good old days enjoyed within it off at the neck, purely in the act of beginning one. That sparks a little joy for me. Destroying a racists dream is fun, even if it’s only in the abstract.

A horror game about the most literalist Victorian industrialist imaginable hearing the phrase “Eat the rich” and getting right on that. I’ve not played Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs despite fond (??) memories of playing The Dark Descent in a room full of jumpy friends, and seeing Dear Esther played live on stage, with a live orchestra and narrator - an exquisite way to experience that game.

The mechanical chops of Frictional Games mixed with the narrative verve of The Chinese Room, how could this game be anything less than incredible?

After The Dark Descent I fell off’ve the “scary guy chases you around” genre of game until Alien: Isolation revitalised it, and the reviews of A Machine for Pigs were mixed - kind of boring, middling gameplay, too dark - so I never went back. I was planning on writing a little about its vibe - dark, gothic Victoriana that rhymes nicely with As the Sun Forever Sets - but after a bit of research, Mandus’ quest for his missing sons strikes an unexpectedly resonant and terrible chord.

The writing and voice acting is phenomenal, Mandus’ split consciousness - the self you play and the other half of him that’s seen the horrors of the forthcoming 20th Century and is compelled to act, imbued into the myopic machine he built - is extremely compelling. He feels compassion for the poor and wants to save them, but they fill him with fear and disgust. He knows the industrialist class is killing the world, but feels a deep shame in the fact that he counts himself amongst them. So his machine grinds the rich into meat for the poor, who it distorts into grotesque pig homunculi and forces them to operate the machine’s inscrutable workings.

It’s Mandus’ twisted way of saving the world - kill the rich for their crimes, enslave the poor for their own good, all hail the new machine/god/manager of the 20th century. It’s a neat reflection of the way modern politicians contort themselves to the whims of big business and AI snake oil salesmen to avoid doing the simple and obvious things that’d better the world. It’s a nightmarish refutation of Victorian Liberalism, that only the upper class know how to fix the problems of the lower class. It’s brilliant, and we should play it. 

"Do you hear me Mandus? This is what you planned! This world is a machine! A Machine for Pigs! Fit only for the slaughtering of pigs! Whores, beggars, orphans, filthy degenerates. Pigs all. But I will purify the streets, cleanse this city, set the great industry free. I will clean the world, make it pure." - The Machine, A Machine for Pigs

Song of the Year, of the Century

Not long after I came out as trans, I was asked what (in an ideal world) would make transition easier. I replied - never having to leave the house. One day I'd shut the front door as a man and another day, months or years later, I'd open it again as a woman, neatly sidestepping the terror of being perceived in a notoriously transphobic Britain.

In 2020 I shut that door and didn't open it for 4 months. At work, I remember calling the nearby shelter to donate our excess hand sanitizer and toilet roll, figuring out at the last second how support workers could take calls from their already isolated clients via their mobile phones, and fixating on the steady stream of scared coworkers leaving early. Tearfully, I felt the urge to hug those that remained as we locked up, before we remembered we probably shouldn't.

I've never been more aware of the minutia of moving through a space on the way home - How many people had their hands on this handrail? Have I touched my mouth or eyes without realising? Is anyone in the office already sick? Or on this train? How many more people are going to die? - My heart was in my chest, I heard the blood whoosh through my head to the beat of my steps on the pavement. At home, I realised my boyfriend had to go into work the next day. After he went to sleep, terrified he might die, I cried.

"I remember I felt an extraordinary persuasion that I was being played with, that presently, when I was upon the very verge of safety, this mysterious death—as swift as the passage of light—would leap after me from the pit about the cylinder, and strike me down." - "The Heat Ray", The War of the Worlds

Writing As the Sun Forever Sets was my way of coping with the disconnect with the world I felt, the fear of both Covid and the rising transphobia kept me inside even as the lockdowns eased. That feeling of throbbing death creeping at the window took a long time to wrestle under control, and getting deeply obsessed with a big project became part of that process. It seems incredibly maudlin to make a TTRPG dealing with darkness and death during a pandemic that killed (and continues to kill) millions of people, but I suppose I’m kind of a maudlin person.

“I haven't written a song in a month, So I'm playing the same chords again. I know I need to get lost in the moment, But I get lost before it begins. Fingers stretching out into space. Reaching as a thought slips away.”

It also burnt me the fuck out. After years of constant work and testing (beginning long before Evil Hat picked up the game), I ran out of steam. I spent the months after Evil Hat’s public playtest ended not really able to write anything ATSFS related at all. The game kind of froze - I knew what I wanted to change or fix or add, but the moment the google doc opened I couldn’t make myself start typing. It was incredibly frustrating to have the switch flip from endless obsessive writing to constant nothing, and I don’t think I truly recognised the burnout I was feeling until recently. It turns out spending years staying up past midnight writing is bad, who know!

A lot of Forged in the Dark games don’t get finished (or more accurately, get stuck in perpetual development), something that the excellent and dearly missed +1 Forward podcast recognised in their episode collecting their thoughts on the FITD games they looked at back in 2021. I think that’s because, at least to me, writing a Forged in the Dark game is like trying to hold a plate of spaghetti without the plate. It’s deceptively simple at its heart, but the system squirms when you poke at it - write one thing and it affects 3 other things. Tug one piece of pasta out and you lose a meatball without realising it.

When I listened to that episode, I took it as a challenge. Part of me now wonders if it was a curse. I'm being hyperbolic, of course. But a little part of me did think it might be better to give the game up.

That’s not going to be As the Sun Forever Sets' fate, thankfully. Evil Hat has been there to support me when I’ve felt guilty about shifting another deadline or replying to a check-in email with another late “Not much progress this month, sorry!” The frozen writers block is thawing, and I’m so tantalisingly close to finishing the final text. This blog is part of that process, another chip in the icy dam.

The wheels of dread Martian terror turn once again, and it feels good. Part of that is down to not beating myself up about a lack of progress. The more important part came when I realised I felt able to return to the world again - living in it, not hiding from it. Staying connected to it, even when there's times I'm not able to inhabit it physically. Covid, Britains particular brand of transphobic brainworms, and the shadow of Empire all continue to exist, and so do I - a weird maudlin transsexual woman - in spite of them all.

“The day seemed, by contrast with my recent confinement, dazzlingly bright, the sky a glowing blue. A gentle breeze kept the red weed that covered every scrap of unoccupied ground gently swaying. And oh! the sweetness of the air!” - “The Stillness”, The War of the Worlds

You made it!

Thanks for sticking with my messy thoughts. If what I talked about here sounds cool to you, please stop by the Discord, we'd love to have you. Look forward to seeing As the Sun Forever Sets come to a crowdfunding platform of Evil Hat's choice (I assume backerkit) at some point in the future ♥.

[enavstars]

Some characters in the Cyberpunk au (part 1)

I tried to make Echo and Zane more robot-like since robots are pretty much treated like people regardless of their appereance. And Garmadon's design is from when the rgb are kids so he's younger (he's not an Oni in this au).

Characters details from within the story:

Echo

Echo is created by a younger Julien (like in his 30s) as a test run for his project to build himself an assistant to deal with his chronic disease, which, despite not being deadly per se, it could still leave him impaired in the long run and therefore he needed some sort of safe net just in case.

But sadly, the prototype's AI ends up being deficient for his purpose as he is not able to process neither human emotions nor their needs, so after much deliberation, Julien decides to set him free rather than letting him collect dust in his storage.

However, Echo could not fit into the city's human society either, as people would not accept his strange speech nor behavior. This eventually culminated in an assault by one of the problematic gangs that sprouted up after the crisis, where they thrashed the helpless robot relentlessly and even managed to damage his voice module. He then was trashed out to the Outside, and from there, mauled and hopeless, he wandered aimlessly and without a purpose in life for a long time.

But at one point through his senseless journey, he stumbled upon a couple of abandoned kids crying in the middle of the woods. Even though he did not understand what their tears meant, he was curious, so from then on he started acting as their guardian.

Thanks to them, slowly but surely he began to learn about human emotions and, as he could only do little beeps to communicate, he also figured out a way to communicate without words. Although sometimes he was still lacking as a caregiver, he worked hard to develop the necessary skills to look after their (newly discovered) basic human needs, like fishing and hunting. He even takes a third kid in after Kai and Nya find another lost boy in the woods and convince him to keep him.

As they grow, he also begins to teach them how to be self-sufficient, because he is painfully aware that he would never be capable of being a better parent due to his poor programming. It is in this context when, years later when Echo finds a potential job opportunity as the ferryman to the city, the RGB urge him to take the chance, knowing that he wants to work to feel more useful and wanting to have more solo adventures.

Even though he was reluctant to leave them behind, he is now the happiest he's ever been and still looks after his children whenever they need him (even going so far as to risk his job) out of his gratitude for granting him another chance in his doomed life.

Ronin

Currently retired, he used to be a renowned mercenary and bounty hunter in his youth. However, he gradually gained more and more enemies and got himself into more and more dangerous trouble (which is why he’s a full cyborg now), until eventually, battered and grown past the age of peak physical strength, he decided to quit to save his ass.

From then on, he started looking after the demon children around the most miserable parts of their struggling segregated neighborhood in exchange for minor treasure hunts; this is why he is now protected from his remaining enemies, as many of them grew up to become members of some of the local gangs (also as an added bonus Garmadon is a pretty ominous legend and people are kind of afraid of hurting demons because of him, but more on that later).

Although he lives rather isolated from the rest of society because of his (extensive) criminal record, he still manages to make ends meet with the treasures he got from all his exploits and the profits of the little side quests he tasks the children in exchange for his care.

No he’s not charity, he’s a wine uncle, but he is an asshole to everyone (especially humans) except the kids. In fact, even though he does not give out help for free, he always ends up rewarding them with his teachings and advice and about life on top of the food and shelter, so almost every child he's taken under his wing ends up becoming pretty competent to face the harsh society they live in.

And in particular, he grows to like the RGB a lot because he recognizes their wit and appreciates how cunning they can be, sometimes even negotiating with him and being capable enough to uno reverse his little tricks on the kids like they are equals (for example, Nya stealing her brother’s bionic eye blueprints to avoid being totally dependant on Ronin for maintenance).

In fact, later on when Nya introduces him to Jay (a human) to be his apprentice as a mechanic, she somehow convinces him despite his hate for his kind.

Bonus: when he meets Jay at first he’s irritated at him because he takes his fear and shyness as racism, but the kid is just intimidated by the sassy cyborg (don't worry, eventually he figures it out and the child grows on him, Jay is too cute).

(I will talk about Jay in my next post dw)

Zane (24NE)

He’s the successful final product of Julien’s project, a kind and refined assistance nindroid knowledgeable in human care. His role is very important to him, so when his father died he lost all purpose in life and, unable to deal with his grief on top of that existential crisis, he became depressed and stagnant, trapped in his own mind inside his creator’s abandoned home and slowly wasting away due to his mental stress and a lack of maintenance now that nobody could look after him.

And he stayed in that sorry state until the RGB found the house and, upon looting it for supplies, Nya stumbled upon the nindroid lying dormant next to Julien’s bed. When she wakes him up, his rusty voice module is damaged and he can’t speak properly (Julien is shit at making those apparently), so she repairs it as best as she can and as a result, he eventually becomes their friend.

Although they were wary at first, they understood his situation, and in the end they decided to help him by introducing him to Doctor Rashid (an oc) to learn more about biology and medicine.

Speaking of, I’ll talk more about Dr. Rashid in another future post but basically he’s an oc of mine I inserted in this au, a friend of Kai and Nya’s and sort of a parental figure.

Garmadon

He is an elusive red-eyed demon, the rarest of his kind, and a criminal brought to legendary status. Now vanished and rarely ever seen amongst the city shadows, he used to be an undefeatable wandering warrior. He would spread chaos everywhere he went and, along the way, he would mercilessly murder anyone opposed to the Demon’s Rights movement.

However, one day he disappeared suddenly from the face of the earth. But his legacy carries on to this day: he is feared universally, considered an antihero by his followers and a bloodthirsty criminal by the rest.

A few months after his disappearance, though, a human woman named Misako gave birth to a demon child with ominous red eyes. Soon, people started making the connection and his mother, who by that point had developed a deep hatred towards demons, was put under such public scrutiny that she ended up abandoning him on the Outside to leave behind the city and her trauma along with it.

Sadly for Garmadon, it was too late when he finally learned that he had a son. He’d left Misako pregnant without either of them knowing, and after he was gone she had been unable to reach him. For that reason, when he came back to the city years later and at last he found out, in the end he decided to let Lloyd be with his new family, as he he realized he had no right to take him in after being absent the entirety of his short life when he already had the two loving siblings looking after him.

After that, he turned back to his wandering, and he was barely ever seen again.

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Do it for Him | Do You Even Love Me? | Jeon Jungkook

Summary: Voicing the thoughts that had been on your mind for so long leaves you broken and regretting every decision you've ever made. Pairing: Daughter in law reader x Father in Law Jungkook (Yändere) Word Count: 1.1k~ Warnings: An argument and some explicit language (kinda but not really) a/n: This is a hypothetical situation and is NOT what happens in the story. Oc and Jungkook don't end up together and I'll be writing another bonus chapter about how everything ends but this is simply a longer drabble that I just decided to make into a bonus chapter since I think some of you would be interested in reading it 😁 P.s. Requested by an annon 💜 (also written in one sitting so ignore any mistakes lol) Series Masterlist

"How was your day today?" I ask half heartedly, wondering if he'll actually speak to me like a human being today or skip to having sex again like he's done almost every time he's come to visit lately.

"It was fine but I don't want to talk about work since it looks like someone's been missing me huh?" he taunts, taking my want for interaction with him as a sign of an insatiable hunger he wishes I shared.

"I did miss you but I missed being with you, not just sex" I say, pressing on his chest to keep some space between us to show I'm serious and want to talk about this.

He stops and waits for me to continue but his eyes don't leave my body for a second.

"When I told you I loved you I didn't mean for our life to end up like this" I say, referring to the way we've been living for the past year.

"What's wrong? Did you need something else? You have my credit card and I told you before that you didn't have to ask me for anything. If you want it then get it. It's the least I could do for my beautiful Angel" he says while caressing my face but I take a step back, not letting him put me under his spell again.

"I'm not talking about money Jungkook. I'm talking about how I told you I didn't want to live as 'The other woman'. You told me you were going to get a divorce and let the children and I move in with you. Not just have you pop by at this separate house you have us living in" I say. 

He turns around and heads to the kitchen, gulping down a glass of water and placing the cup down on the counter. "I told you I would take care of it" he growls out while leaning both hands against the sink, clearly not appreciating the topic of conversation when all he had been looking for was a quick fuck.

"You told me that a year ago and from what I've seen you've been lying to me this whole time. Have you even filed the papers? You know that neither of you love each other so what's the point of keeping this whole charade going?" I say, following after him and standing my ground, not letting him drop this.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to center himself so he won't blow up on me like he has in the past. "These things take time Angel, plus going through a divorce would make my company take a big hit and might ruin some of the relationships I've built" he tries to explain but I'm not having it.

"If your company is all you care about then maybe all of this was a mistake" I say, turning around to walk into my bedroom with him following lazily behind me.

"You know I care about you too Angel" he says, leaning in the doorway while I've decided to plot down on the bed, running my fingers through my hair and trying to figure out if any of this was a good idea.

From the looks of it to any outsider this whole relationship was bound to go up in flames sooner or later. My life wasn't supposed to be like this. Was I really that naïve to think that somehow things would change if we were actually together? Did I really think that he was capable of loving me too?

"No I don't know that. I know that you love my body and that you love having sex with me and the idea of being with me and stealing me away from your son but I don't even know if you actually love me. Y/n. Not Angel, not the mother of your children, not the daughter in law that you took advantage of, just me" I spout off everything that's been on my mind and I can see that he starts to more or less assess our relationship and I really hope I'm going to get the answer I'm hoping for.

"You knew who I was when you first met me. You knew who I was when you married my son and you definitely knew what you were getting yourself into when you left him to be with me. I'm not this loving and kind husband that you want me to be and deep down you know that too. Do I care about you? Yes, I do. Do I love you? I don't know. I don't know if I do and I don't know if I ever will and if that's not good enough for you then be my guest, say the word and we can end this right now" he says and every condescending word that falls from his lips is like a knife through my heart.

I choke back a sob as my eyes glass over leaving him rolling his eyes, clearly not having the patience to deal with this today. 

"Seems like you've got some stuff to think about and from the looks of it I've got some business to attend to" he says, hinting at the headache it's going to be for him to go through with this divorce. 

He strides over to the bed where I'm sat with my head down, trying and failing to hold back my tears and picks up my chin. "Just remember who you're dealing with Angel okay? It will make all of ours lives so much easier if you stop thinking that you can change me" he says, caressing my face again, driving the knife deeper. 

"I am who I am and if you can't accept that then I think we have some hard decisions we'll need to make here" he says a wipes away a few of my tears before tapping underneath my chin twice and walking away. 

"Where are you going?" I ask, getting up and following him out, my vision going glossy. "It seems you're not in the mood that I thought you might be in so I think it's best if I go. Give my love to the children" he says over his shoulder and walks out, leaving me speechless and beyond heart broken, mourning the life I had with his son all over again and missing the feeling of loving someone and being loved in return. 

"What have I done?" I whimper, sinking to the floor and sobbing, wishing that I could take it all back. That I could start over and never get mixed up with this family no matter how in love I was with his son. I never knew that a love that was once so pure would be traded for one that is so devastatingly one sided, wrecking my life beyond compare and stealing what little pieces of me I had left. 

Read series from the beginning

Taglist: @jkslipppiercing @trina864 @kaitieskidmore97 @goddesofimortality @coolbluedude @00frenchfries00 @bangtans-momma @coralmusicblaze @pastelpinkjoon @joonwater @marvelbun @j3nni-rs @evidive @beomieboi @forevrglow @jesssssmaybankk @teugiie @chaconnelatte @whoa-jo @snehal @xumyboo @mindurbuzznezz @diorh0seokie

Join my Taglist!

Feel free to fill out the form or just comment on any of my fics to be added :)

[raayllum]

the cube is just like

"This doesn't end well for you" / "It's the key of Aaravos, no good can come from it!"

Callum brings the cube in addition to the mirror, the latter of which he justifies because he thinks "it's related to the evil returning the world" in the exact same scene with ominous music playing

"Are you practicing magic or are you losing to Bait at a game of rolly-cubes?" / "We had to beat Aaravos at his own game." / "I fear Aaravos is toying with us."

Has a star sign that is almost always synonymous with Aaravos at this point

Is compared to the one ring from LOTR explicitly in that Callum wasn't able to cast it aside

Is in the Callum pawn intro just as a nod to the audience

"It's a toy. A piece from a children's game. I hope it was worth it to you, putting everyone's lives in danger."

Represents Callum's dark magic temptation in 2x08, and now we know more than ever why dark magic would be/is connected to Aaravos

By that measure it also represents a destiny he doesn't want in 2x08 that is likewise related to Aaravos ("you need to accept your destiny" / "destined to play right into my hands")

Bonus points for the red glow potentially linking back into the blood + star (deep) magic connection: "You can have unlimited power"

The cube lighting up bc of the moon opal on the bridge of darkness is what almost gets them all killed

Is used to foreshadow finding the prison in s5 (1x04 ocean rune with "you found it") and Callum's dark magic use (5x08 with ocean and moon runes on full display)

"Legends say it unlocks something of great power in Xadia" (2x06) / "Dark magic became the key that unlocked a place of power in Xadia for humanity" (TOX)

The key having secrets + the mystery of Aaravos

"You wait here, a minute, couple minutes - however long it takes, I'll go find a key."

and i'm sobbing into my hands

[crystalitecloudie]

part two to this post!! Everything is gender neutral btw

EDIT: I MESSED UP SOME PARTS ARENT GENDER NEUTRAL I FIXED THEM PLS LEMME KNOW WHEN I MESS UP K THANKS❗️❗️❗️

Imagine...

Continuing from the whole "Cocolia doesn't convict you because she has discovered you are the creator and you must be treated as such" idea...

I believe that in this scenario, Cocolia would actually figure out you are the creator because the stellaron in her head told her so.

As we know, the stellaron has already corrupted her mind long ago. But I think that even the stellaron would be able to recognize the presence of the creator.

And so, the stellaron's plan (that cocolia follows) is to paint the Astral Express crew as criminals, while putting the creator in good graces, and to become their most loyal acolyte. This way, the creator wouldn't want to remove the stellaron.

Bonus idea as well -- imagine that the stellaron mistakes the creator for the creator's child instead. Evidence for this would be the previously mentioned speech patterns in part one, and her weakened presence from being in a human vessel for so long. This would also probably lead both the stellaron and cocolia to think you are less competent than you actually are, to the point of taking her side.

And that is how we ended up here, with you locked in a room that looks like it came straight from a children's play center. Sure, all of the toys and trains and children's books are fascinating... but you want a REAL book. Like... quantum physics or some shit.

While in Cocolia's palace, your actual identity is very much publicized. Soon, you are praised and worshipped all throughout belobog, and you are treated as royalty throughout the palace. Personal attendants, butlers...

You already rapidly recognize that this is going downhill. To make things worse, you are being watched at all times.

And even though the palace staff try to please you, they refuse to give you anything you actually want. So, while locked in your room, you spend time working on your powers.

Now, this next part I think can go one of two ways. One, you realize how to give blessings, and so you bribe the guards protecting you to let you escape out the window, and in return, you gift them with control over an element of their choosing.

You would then sneak out, and escape to the underworld to follow Bronya and the Astral Express crew.

The other way this could go is similar to the first way, but before you could actually bribe the guards, cocolia personally comes to visit you, and tells you all about the stellaron, and the Astral Express crew's evils. From here, you would realize that if you play into cocolia's side and gain her trust, you can escape.

So you would agree with her, lying through your teeth without a hint of your actual dishonesty. You would then admit that through your "divine power", you knew where bronya was, and that you personally needed to save her. I think cocolia would be hesitant at first, but after you explain to her how long you survived the eternal freeze, she reluctantly lets you go.

In the mean time, because your presence had been so publicized, Cocolia did not tell the public of you leaving for the underworld.

It is important to note that in the underworld, the citizens there do not recognize you as the creator. From here, you would follow around the trailblazers and Seele throughout their underworld journeys, however, you probably joined their journey around the time when Stelle, Bronya, and Seele had to go to Rivet Town.

Once you are down in the underworld, I also think that you would probably explain to the party what was happening on the surface. You would paint yourself as "just a normal person", and "not related to the creator in any way". And of course, the party buys it.

... Except Sampo. While in the underground, you would probably become especially close with Sampo. As someone who has snuck up to the surface before, he is well aware of what is happening above. And, if going by the popular theory that he is a part of the Masked Fools, I believe the Masked Fools would be the creator's number 1 followers.

(PS -- I have a post in my drafts right now talking about Sampo in SAHSRAU. I don't know when I'll post that, but I'll link it here when I do)

As such, this organization probably has access to plenty of ancient texts with signs of the creator's return. And as a follower of the Aeon of Elation (who is one of your most devout and open followers), he recognizes pretty much all of the signs in you. Heck, he probably even saw you injure yourself on accident, by a brief scrape on some rocks or something, and blood the color of diamonds and glass came out of the cut.

Even if he is never open about his worshipping of the creator, or his affiliation with the Masked Fools.

I think that after the Svarog incident (in which you were probably working with him on the sidelines, taking a more support role), he would pull you aside and confront you about all of this. Most of it, anyway. Specifically, he would mention the signs, and his awareness of what was happening in the overworld.

And then finally, the big lore drop -- that he believes you are the real creator. Not their child, not a nobody completely unrelated, not an eminator, but the creator themselves.

By this point, I think it's all a game for you. And Sampo is your first winner.

Because of this, I think he'd be the first person you told the real truth to. What Honkai Star Rail was like on earth, and how you are slowly beginning to regain your powers.

From here, I'm not sure what Sampo would do with this information. You can ask him to keep it a secret, but I don't know if he would.

When the group heads back to the surface, you return to the palace with Bronya. I believe that in the case of sucking up to her mother, you probably informed Bronya of everything Cocolia told you before arriving. In this case, you would have to play along with Cocolia in front of her, and Bronya would know its an act.

In the case of bribing guards to escape, you can openly side with Bronya. In both instances, Cocolia locks you in your room again, and takes Bronya to see the stellaron.

Insert Eggman from the snap cube dub saying "*mumble singing noises-* IM BACK IN THE FUCKING BUILDINF AGAIN?!?!?!!"

... I digress.

You wouldn't be released until after the boss fight, when Bronya sets you free and apologizes. She, like the rest of the party, believes you are a normal human, who happened to lose her memories due to fragmented corrosion. That second part was her hypothesis, at least, that seems to become widely accepted.

However, she is now in a sticky situation. She wants to frame Cocolia as a good person, but how will she explain to the people that you are not actually divine? (Even though you are lmao)

She eventually compromises with the "they will still see you as the creator's child, but you will be set free to do as you wish" idea. Of course, you want to go onto the Astral Express, and so, your adventure in belobog ends.

After all, you want a personal view of the upcoming events in store for the trailblazers. :)

The last alternative to all of this would have been to be trapped in cocolia's palace for the majority of the story (so not being released until after the boss fight with cocolia), but that would be boring.

That and cocolia choosing to keep your identity a secret, but that doesn't really make sense to me, because you're a divine being?? Living in what is essentially her home?? Why would you ever shut up about that

A/N: I might write a oneshot with this, detailing the scene where Bronya lets the creator go. I dunno yet though

[underforeversgrace]

wrong paper

DannyMay2023 Day 19: No Backspace Challenge

title: wrong paper

words: 665

Summary: Mr. Lancer gets an assignment from Danny that is not right.

DISCLAIMER: This is no backspace, no spell check, no auto capitalization, and no punctuation shortcuts. I'll probably provide a better copy later on because ya girl can't fucking spell. Or type. Or write. Some of the crossouts are my fuck ups. Some are for flavor. ...to hide all my fuck ups.

~~~~~~

Mr. Lancer streched tiredly, blinking sleep from his eyes as he pulled the next essay towards him. Not for the first time, he considered asking Ishiyama to allow him to o go over basic penmanship in class, how could absolutely none of these children write legibily? At least they were workingon a creative writing course so the papers were varied and interesting for once.

Eve i Or at least… some of them were. Thus far, Dash had written about a football star with superpowers, Paulina about marrying a superhero, Mickey wishing he was a superhero…

living in a town with an actual superhero probably influenced some of these papers, if Lncer had to take a stab in the dark.

The next paper he pulled ou was one with a lot of smurdged and crossed out text, no name a t the ti top. The hanwriting was familiar, at least. Mr. Fenton certainly had a… unique version of chicken scratch.

Lancer frowned at the paper as he began to read it. this… didn’t look like the ‘Write A Story’ assignment he’d assigned.

The sear words indicated as much, vulgar languageLancer had never heard Fenton use.

Man, I am so fuckingover this shit. Mr. Popular Asshat shoved me into a locker FOUR times today. I’m so ecsawus exhaush exhausted. I’ve shoved at least 15 ghosts back into the Zoe at Zone this week. It’s Wednesday. Wednesday!!! Skulker has come for my pelt four times alone. 

Oh I forgot the date - it’s Jan 23 26 2005.

honestly I should be working on my stupid paper for English class for Lancer. But what stoy could story can I possiblytell that isn’t less ridiculous than my actual life? or whatever the phrase is. My life is everal way too wild, more than anything I could imagine up.

Like… I’m a half dead teenager. I’ve been dead for nearly a year and no one’s noticed. I fight for my life everyday. I’m a superhero with a secret iedentity and best freind/sidekicks - though if I eevr called them sidekicks to their faces again I’m getting side-kicked in the face. I’ve even got extra bonus points! My parents want to dissect me, I’m failing school. Hell, I’ve even got an evil alternate timeline version of myself that caused the fucking end of the world.

The TV shows make it look so easy. so do th e comics. I’m so tired. I’m only 14, I’m not supposed to be atri sk atrisk at risk of getting murdered daily. Well, not this high of a risk. I don’t want to live like this. But if I stop fgihting, trying, I’ll be dead within a week.

It isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair and neither is death.

Still, might be a cool story idea.

A teenage slacker who gets electrocuted by his parents invention, dies, and get brought back halfway. Turns into a ghost and saves people while his human life seems to wither and die around him. Is constantly hunted and villified when he just wants to help.

Yeah. My life as Phantom would make a hell of a story, wouldn’t it?

Lancer stared at the paper in confusion. It certainly sounded like a wonderful fictttitious story… but somhow it didn’t seem like fiction. It seemed more like a journl entry.

Lancer turned to his computer, pulling up the local news website. It wasn’t hard to find an article about Phantom, he was in the top three stories.

PHANTOM SAVES 13 FROM OFFICE FIRE

Lancer studde studied the article, blowing up the picture of Phantom’s dace. Of Danny Phantom’s face. He opened up another screen, pulling up the student files (complete with pictures). He pulled up D. Fenton’s file, several alerts coming up about truancy, tardis, tardies, absences, missed assignments n fa and failing grades. Lancer enlarged the human boy’s photo and sat it side by side wth the one of Phantom.

Change the coloration… and these two were identical.

Oh no.

Ohno.

Oh no.

[doctorbunny]

MILGRAM T3 Wildcard predictions

Theories are fun but I'm also a daydreamer, so I invite you to see my wildest predictions I have Zero Concrete Evidence for, not all of these are good but they are things I've thought of:

Haruka's plan is going to immediately go wrong before it begins because he's going to try attacking Jackalope (since all the prisoner's think he's just Es' pet rabbit) and end up maimed/killed

Haruka and/or Muu will have apparently died at the start of T3, and all the prisoners are going to be pissed at Es for it, then about halfway through the season, Jackalope is going to drag them back to milgram, revealing that they discovered the MILGRAM exit (as teased at the end of the second novel) but escaping milgram isn't so simple (Kotoko may also know about the exit but was stopped before she could fake her death/use it and just stayed quiet since she doesn't like the others) Haruka and Muu's MV/interro will end up being later in the season than normal because of this

Bonus points if the milgram exit leads you to: An endlessly vast landscape that you can wander through forever lost without a Jackalope guide to show you the way; the moon; a replica of the Titanic's sister ship in the middle of the Nevada desert; MILGRAM HQ; or the college Yale

I've talked about it before but I think Kotoko is going to get attacked by Shidou, Mikoto's amnesia may be exploited to frame him for it (since attacking Kotoko in Mahiru's room seems to have lead him to mistakenly believing he's the reason Mahiru is so injured even though no one else has even brought up the possibility he attacked her) and it'll be a test of whether Kazui will tell the truth or keep the cover up going

I've got a few different Mahiru ones: 1) Shidou stops being able to give her care, but then that mysteriously causes her to recover more than when she was under his treatment 2) She is revealed to be pregnant or even gives birth. It is either the fault of Shidou or an immaculate conception (I'm sure weirder stuff has happened in milgram) Yuno helps take care of her/the baby and for better or worse it causes her a lot of complicated feelings

Bonus points if it turns out Es was also originally a milgram baby and got raised by jackalopes or something for the day they could be used in an experiment (Also cue the dramatic custody battle for this child)

Someone is going to try attacking Amane before she can attack Shidou and she'll narrowly escape, implied that it was only possible because she wasn't restricted by a second guilty vote

Either she or Fuuta will stop the attack by revealing a weapon hidden in her backpack (in T1 me and Gunsli speculated she could have a gun but based on her T2 MV it could be the purge march taser)

Especially if Fuuta is the one to defend her I think there's a chance of the attacker dying/being seriously injured and that'll be traumatic for them both but especially Fuuta since his murder was more hands off originally and now he's actually hurt someone

Es confronts the prisoners on their future plans: If they are spared what will Life After MILGRAM be for them?

Shidou makes moves to take in Es and/or Amane but neither of them want to live with him because he has no respect for them as human beings and not just Children™

[overshelter]

A very simple explanation of why SV, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, doesn't contain Noncon or any of that shit

WARNING: It's full of SPOILERS, so CAUTION!

I decided to come and waste my time making this thread/post because I've seen a lot of discussions about it. I'm even doing it in English and not in my official language for the simple reason that I've seen more foreigners talking about it than Brazilians.

Well, let's start by making something clear. SV is a BIG, HUGE, SCANDALOUS satire on novels with harem in which EVERYTHING can be solved with SEX.

Did we get that point? Good.

Moving on.

SV, for having this as a central point, often brings criticism and scenes that prove it. I could easily take several, but at the moment I only have the novel in Portuguese with me, and I'm not going to go after the English version just for a thread/post. So you can go and get it for me if you think I'm talking shit. We'll discuss it if necessary.

Back to the point... These parts are scattered throughout the reading and are easily found if you just pay the slightest bit of attention.

Now, you might be asking yourself: "Why the fuck is this crazy woman bringing up all this talk?"

Context, my dear. Context.

Context to talk about the problem I've been seeing: the issue of noncon, lack of consent and 500 other issues.

It's been said that Shen Qingqiu says no and asks Binghe to stop at various points in the novel. And, indeed, he does.

Only he does it at moments that don't involve ANY, I REPEAT, ANY SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP! In fact, if you go back and read it again, and if I'm not remembering wrongly, in their first kiss, he pushes Binghe away and Binghe himself doesn't insist, he just complains a bit, saying that it was unfair that he couldn't do something like that even in a dream. In other words, he basically RESPECTED and didn't FORCE Shen!

Another part to comment on is that, most of the times when Shen scolds or pushes Binghe away, these are times when they are fighting like two primary school children. Their actions, words and everything else carry an incredible childishness.

That scene of them fighting in the demon realm shortly after Binghe finds out that Shen is alive is one of them. (bonus: in it we also have the narrative of Shen UNILATERALLY hitting Binghe, and at NO point does he hit back. He just threatens, trying to scare, but always without actually doing anything.)

The second kiss I honestly don't remember very well when it happened, but I do know that Shen didn't say no or even push Binghe away completely. I vaguely remember him scolding a little, but not explicitly denying it. Which, in my opinion, shows that he himself was perhaps confused by this possible new dynamic in their relationship and was a little afraid of how such uncertain feelings could end up affecting them both.

Now let's move on to the central point: Maigu Mountain.

My novelistic trauma and also SV's most suffocating chapters, where you see just how human, broken and entirely unstable Binghe is. Both thanks to his own mind and Xin Mo's corruption.

The whole Maigu Mountain scene is made to be uncomfortable. It's not supposed to be something nice, something memorable or even enjoyable, whether for Luo Binghe, Shen Qingqiu or anyone reading.

This scene is the pinnacle of satire and criticism, making it clear how unrealistic it is to expect sex to magically solve all problems. But the important thing here is the fact that Shen Qingqiu KNEW what was going to happen and was WILLING to go through it. Only because he BELIEVED it would work and also because the system pushed the whole situation in that direction.

And please don't even bring Luo Binghe into this discussion. He is one of the biggest victims in this scene. He has NO conscience whatsoever and is completely screwed up and lost in Xin Mo's corruption, even going so far as to ask Shen why he didn't kill him, drive him away or something. In fact, he was completely willing to die, both because of this and because he thought Shen would sacrifice himself for him again.

Apart from that, we also have an extra where the author brings back The Resentments of Spring Mountain and the fanfiction made by the three sisters, making BingQiu read it and bringing us a scene where Luo Binghe himself and Shen Qingqiu themselves read it and say that it's TOTALLY OOC and impossible for Luo Binghe to force Shen Qingqiu to have sex with him. Luo Binghe even makes it clear that he would walk away or kill himself at any sign of discomfort or denial that Shen Qingqiu showed, in whatever form it came.

So, in short... NO NONCON IN SV, RAPE OR ANY OF THAT SHIT! LUO BINGHE IS A CHUNNY WITH TRAUMA AND A BEAUTIFUL CRYING LADY! NOTHING BUT THAT!

I believe we're clear? (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

please tell us more about moth wizard

With pleasure!!! (Although I have to keep it short because I need to sleep pretty soon BUT I can add more tomorrow)

Moth Wizard is one of my OCs and also the (temporary) name of the setting in which he is the main character.

Moth Wizard the character is a Jewish trans man who has learned magic and specializes exclusively in controlling moths. He is likely autistic and loves lepidopterans (moths and butterflies) and struggles with social cues and understanding what other people are thinking or able to infer from a situation. My boyfriend has recently been reading me the Discworld books (focusing on the Watch recently finishing Feet of Clay, which was amazing btw but I think my favorite scene was Dorfl's last one... reminds me of a certain story from the Talmud teehee) so if you're familiar, I find that Moth Wizard is a lot like Carrot Ironfoundersson. He's kind and humble and just wants to help, but can sometimes be totally oblivious to how others interpret a situation. The main difference being that Moth Wizard is not quite so charismatic, both in his social awkwardness and in his humble appearance.

The idea is that he's only the main character in the sense that we take his point of view and that he is in every "episode" (I think of the story in terms of a TV show, I'll probably never get that far but the IDEA is that I'm gonna do it all in Blender), but every story is actually about someone else, it's like he just walks in and becomes a side character to someone else's adventure, with a different adventure each episode.

Moth Wizard the setting is a post apocalyptic fantasy world. Essentially, although humans and most of the Earth survived, war and climate change and the hunger of capitalism escalated until most established power structures crumbled, and then on top of all that, suddenly humans could do magic! Basically, chaos. But not the end of humanity. And the survivors built new communities and generally speaking there is peace, or at least no group is large or organized or armed enough to engage in anything that can be called "war" and still seeing the smoke from the last time war happened, few are eager to change it. But that's politics, not what I meant to talk about.

People who decide to pursue magic are called wizards, and generally they will specialize around some concept, because it's just a lot more convenient. It was originally teenagers who discovered magic, because the way magic works is that you need to do it on purpose. You need to focus and genuinely try, in that special way that you stop doing as you grow older, because you learn that all you'll achieve is making yourself look stupid. To use magic in the world of Moth Wizard, you need to be vulnerable and put your faith in what you're doing, enough that you might cry if it doesn't work because of disappointment and/or embarrassment. And teens are great at that. Children have imagination, yes, but they're not vulnerable in the same way (and also I need some way to make sure children aren't going around summoning dragons or raising the dead), and usually they're not as desperately hopeless as someone experiencing puberty and all the horrors that come with it. Teens are perfect because (generally) they have pride to hurt and hopes to crush, but still haven't "grown up" to the point where they don't believe in magic enough to be truly vulnerable about it.

That's all I've got time to say right now, but if you want more Right Now, here's a link to a list of my most developed characters, each with a brief description!

And you can also join the "Moth Wizard fandom" community if you'd like, where I will occasionally post bonus content, and I'm hoping if more people join we can have discussions about it! Totally optional but here's the invite link for anyone interested!

Thank you so much for the ask, anon!!!

[multiversal-madness]

Professor Layton Au - Golem Layton

An Au where Hershel is an Azran Golem with repressed memories who knows he's not human, but doesn't know what exactly he is.

As someone solves the puzzle to unlock an Azran ruin, the opening door causes power to flood back into the Azran equivalent of 'wires' and on one of these now live exposed wires is a heavily damaged Azran Golem. The current of electricity is enough to wake it, even in its damaged state, and begin its self healing process with what mass it had left, which would result in a much smaller stature until it could rebuild itself up.

What it had experienced before its 'death' had left its scars though, so in order to protect itself from further self destruction, the memories were supressed.

With its memories supressed in the middle of restoration, it had no form to resume aside from a vaguely humanoid shape, which it used to wander the ruins. It wandered until it found the one who opened the ruins, the one who caused it to awake.

A human it'd soon come to know as Leon Bronev, an archeologist that had found the ruins and solved the puzzle to gain entry. With no other form to take, the golem became human in appearance to blend in, approaching the human to ask "Who are you?" giving him a big surprise at the appearance of what seemed to be a child.

Now for some more story and general info under the cut:

Leon, finding a small child in this middle of nowhere ruin with no reasonable way for them to be there (not to mention the child being further in than he had reached in a ruin with one entrance) decided to take them back with him, giving them the name temporary name (that would become semi permanent) Theodore as the child didn't seem to know their own name

He had his suspicions of the child somehow being related to the Azran, but what mattered in that moment was looking after him and making sure he had eaten

Rachel was certainly surprised when Leon came back from his trip with a child, but agreed to take him in and adopt him when no parents/missing children reports were found

Theodore becomes apart of the Bronev family, little things happening that show he's not quite human, but then things proceed as they do in canon. Targent comes to take Leon and Rachel, and 'Hershel' is adopted by the Laytons

Sometime after the Layton's adopting him, Hershel accepts the fact that he isn't human, though he doesn't know what he is and that thought scares him. But Roland and Lucille, who also know at this point, are supportive so he doesn't let it bother him (he tries not to let it bother him at least)

I'll leave the story stuff there, here's some more general info on Hershel's inhuman nature

Hershel is stronger than any human his age, and this strength only grows with time (as he repairs himself more/regains mass)

He doesn't injure easily, but when he does, he bleeds some strange glowing blue liquid (or glowing pink, I haven't decided yet)

His 'heartbeat' is always the same speed, no matter if he's resting, running or even sleeping, it never speeds up or slows down

He doesn't need to breathe, but he can and does because he gets weird looks if he doesn't

Once he's legally old enough to have alcohol, he discovers he can't actually get drunk

When he's an adult (when he fully regains his stature) his skin hardens and can't really get cut anymore, though it can be broken with enough blunt force (and when it breaks, it breaks like terra cotta)

He doesn't truly dream, but sometimes he'll get a 'recurring dream' of fire and smoke, and sometimes he'll see someone beside him, someone he should recognise but doesn't. The 'dream' ends when he reaches into his own chest and the view of fire is suddenly a wall of dirt

He gets strange feelings whenever he's around Azran ruins or technology, both like recognition and a strange fuzzy feeling in his head

I'll leave it there for now, this post was a lot longer than I thought it would end up lol. Anyway, here's a bonus, the background without Hershel and Leon because I ended up liking it more than how I drew them:

[circinuus]

I read your dad Fyodor post and I was wondering if instead of reader getting with Dazai it could be reader getting together with Akutagawa?

fyodor with a daughter dating akutagawa

0.5k words. fem!reader

❥ since the post in question involved reader as fedya's daughter, i'll write fem! reader for this one too! hope you don't mind, nonnie

the dad fyodor post

Now I'm wondering just how Akutagawa my boy ended up with a Dostoevsky. Regardless, I trust that you take care of him well <3

No matter who his daughter is seeing, Fyodor is protective by default. Natural fatherly instincts aside, he has this viewpoint about how humans are foolish and sinful. Crime is as natural as living and breathing, so humans need to be 'saved,' and the world needs to be 'cleansed.'

If that is truly how he views humanity, I don't think he will deem any person worthy to be romantically involved with you. Even if they're a literal saint.

Bonus points if you're a non-gifted, and if you have nothing to do with his Fyodor-typical criminal activities. You're the closest to being 'sinless' and father! Fyodor doesn't want you to get tainted by anything.

Tough luck for Akutagawa because he's a gifted and he commits crimes for a living💀

Again, father! Fyodor will be more protective and controlling than brother! Fyodor. Simply because the sense of responsibility and belonging is bigger, and he has more power in his position as your parent.

See? Your dad just wants the best for you <3

The whole 'you-are-not-worthy-of-my-kid' aside, Fedya sometimes uses Akutagawa as a pivotal piece in his grand schemes. I feel like he won't specifically dislike him, but he absolutely loves you! That being said, father! Fedya might indulge you and let you meet your dearest Akutagawa—until he finds him better off dead than alive in his quest of creating a world without ability users.

The man, as pale as the winter in your homeland, with steps as light as its snow—your father approaches your disconsolate state. As cold as his appearance may appear, his gesture is warm as he drapes his dark coat over your trembling self, a hand resting on your shoulder while the other comfortingly rubs circles your back.

"What did I tell you? The world is just as sinful as it is unfair," he said. "Sacrifices are eventually inevitable. But it's okay за́йка¹, you're safe with me now," he hushes your silent laments as a hand moves to pet your head.

I mean—look at what happened to Aku in the manga// I'm so sorry, I just love making this man evil.

Alternatively, Fyodor will make an exception because Akutagawa looks very polite :) Just for your fondness for your beloved, he might pull some strings and, let's say, exclude Akutagawa from whatever disaster he is planning for the detective agency, the government, or the Port Mafia.

Akutagawa can be such a sweetheart. I think if he ever gets the chance to meet father! Fyodor, he won't be intimidated, as per se. But he will try his best to be respectful. Because duh, Fyodor is the father of his s/o—as long as he doesn't know his soon-to-be father-in-law might pose a threat to the mafia and/or his sister.

Akutagawa does have this traditionalist vibes and so does Fedya. He obeys people he respects too. So anon you're up to something, this might actually work??

зайка¹ and any other diminutives of заяц (ZAyats)—bunny rabbit—are used when speaking to loved ones, very close friends, and children (source). //cmiiw

honestly, i'm interested in hearing everyone's interpretation of fedya's character. figuring out this man got my brain in a backflip ngl i just kept on making him kill everyone🥲

♡ @ashthemadwriter

[sorcerous-caress]

I'm not huge on kids or parent HCs usually but your parent headcanons were so so cute I was tearing up a bit 😭❤️

- Tressym Anon (gonna start signing since this is the second ask I've sent- hope that's alright!)

Thank you so much <3 Aaaa writing it was very fun honestly, imagining the companions being silly and their different dynamics with their kids is entertaining.

Also yes it's definitely alright! Imma add you to the anon list.

Like I think the ones who were most deprived of love would be the ones to show it the most, be tender and really affectionate with their kids like karlach, Astarion and Shadowheart. Sure it might be out of character but that's the point, being a parent changes you as a person since your life won't just belong to you anymore.

For Laezel and Minthara, i feel like they will struggle with showing affectionate, as much as they want to he the loving parent, they will leave that job to you after failing so many times. Instead they fall more on the protective and fair side, they give their kids the courtsy they'd extend to adults, they don't treat them as lesser than them or incapable, they treat them as future adults yet still keep their limitations in mind.

Wyll, and Gale fall under the "was spoiled growing up and now spoils their kids" category. At least Wyll shows some restraint, mostly his kids think he is the coolest person ever so they listen to him. Meanwhile Gale thinks his kids are the coolest people ever so he listens to them and enables them a lot, lets them spend past their monthly allowance and makes them midnight waffles.

Halsin also ends up spoiling his kids, but less of a human material way and more of an elf way if it makes sense? It's honestly hard to tell if he is even spoiling them by elf standards since they coddle their kids by default until they're 100 years old. So Halsin might just end up treating them as his precious baby children even after they grow up. Whenever they get into trouble they go to him because they know he will take their side and minimize their faults to you, saying they're just kids not above their 50 years of age so go easy on them.

Bonus Durge, they would completely spoil their kids but also take them on their "job" and just carry around a newborn in those chest straps and a toddler on a leash as they go on a murder spree.

"Timmie, stop playing with the guy's dismembered arm. It's not hygienic. We don't know where it's been!" Durge turns back to face the guy they've been preferoming a vivisection on, "ah no offence to you of course, you know kids- TIMMIE I SWEAR TO BHAAL PUT THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH, WE ONLY CANNABLISE DISINFECTED MEAT."

Grandpa Sarevok and papa bhaal babysit maybe

[cosmiclion]

Hi, fren! Since O!Ciel is still old enough to remember his human parents in your Kuro familiar AU, this might be a silly question…but (due to the way child logic sometimes works) does he ever assume that he’ll develop demonic traits since Seb is his guardian now (i.e. asking his parent when his own fangs/claws/red glowy eyes will come in)? Or try to paint his nails black so that he’s matching with his dad/mum?

Hello fren! You know, I had never considered this, but your question actually made me think about it 🤔 While I'm no expert on how children's minds works, I've had my fair share of interactions with small kids, plus I was a small kid myself once and I remember what it was like, and BOY did I have a wild imagination. Like, to give just one example, when I was that age I used to think a "life insurance" was some kind of magic spell which prevented you from dying 😂 If our Phantomhive babey isn't much different from other average kids his age, then I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume his young mind would come to a "Sebastian is my parent now, therefore I'm their child, they're a demon, therefore I'm probably gonna turn into a demon myself" conclusion, especially if we keep in mind the influence of factors like living in a world where magic is very real, Sebas looking like Vincent and thus looking very familiar to him, etc. He probably even heard some people at some point comment that often adopted kids end up taking after their guardians in a lot of ways even if they aren't related by blood and he took it literally, bless his heart 😭 (I know I would've come to a similar conclusion at that age so again, not very unrealistic lmao). Sebas then has to sit down and patiently explain to him that no, he won't develop cool demon powers, and assure him that he's still special in his own way 🥺

About the nails, oh yeah he definitely does that 🤭 I already headcanon him as pretty gnc and kind of a fashionist (I mean, that's also not much of a stretch considering how he dresses in canon, like even if it wasn't intentional... Yana your character looks gnc as fuck) and in this AU I love the idea of him having a fascination with Sebas's genderfuckery and wanting to match them. It all starts with him shily asking his demon to paint his nails so that he can at least pretend to be a cool pretty demon, then as he gets older he develops a liking to high heeled footwear and starts wearing more elaborate outfits (Nina Hopkins couldn't be happier, finally a male client who isn't awfully boring!).

Bonus a sketch because you inspired me 🙈