#but I didn't have anything else in my prepared materials or stuff I had in mind

[backfromtwitterforw]

Pomme's diary found in the place she was with Richas (30 first pages)

Day 117

We walked for so long, longer than a day.

Chayanne thinks we'll be safe if we're far enough. I doubt that, because no matter what threatened us manage to find my secured bunker 200 000 blocks away, and even succeded to get into my room to put its letter. Honestly, I think we'll never be really safe anywhere.

Chayanne was panicking so much that we didn't even have time to prepare stuff before leaving. I tried to talk him out ot it, but they were all already gone and I couldn't leave them alone.

At least, I had the reflex to take one of my scythe. And fortunately so.

During our journey, I had to fight a lot of monsters. It's a miracle we all survived without armor or anything else.

We weren't far from death on multiple occasions.

I'll protect them no matter what.

That's a promise.

Day 118

We could build a little improvised camp. We're exhausted from the walk we had, we don"t have alot but it's better than nothing. The most important for now is to survive.

Dapper made a small makeshift field and planted seeds and potatoeshe had collected along the way, while we prepared tools and cut wood.

Tallulah played the flute to try to confort us and give us courage. She even leanred one of my favorite songs on the flute to try to make me smile again.

We make progress, slowly but surely.

Day 119

I think each one of us has tools now. We continued to gather ressources, especially trying to find enough food for everyone, because Dapper's field is not enough. But we didn't have great success, we have to be comptent with the bare minimum. We'll try to build a small shelter tomorrow.

It's hard to do anything because we are all exhausted from the trip. We found materiel to make sleeping bags, so they will finally be able to rest in better conditions.

I'll try to stand guard and watch over them during the night.

Day 120

We were able to start the construction of a small makeshift shelter. It doesn't look great but at least we have something to be protected now.

Truth be told, I haven't slept in a few days, I cannot allow myself to sleep.

We could be attacked at any time, by monsters or by the thing that threatened us. I'm scared it may trace our steps.

On multiple occasions, Chayanne asked me on multiple occasions to share the watch during the night, but I refused systematically.

I'd rather let him rest, and watch over Tallulah during the day. He's the one she trusts the most, he needs to be there to for her, and to protect her.

But I feel the tiredness winning over me.

I fight against exhaution as hard as I can, but I can see my reaction time and my moves becoming slower.

Day 121

The shelter is almost done, I'm so proud of them. They never let themselves be overwhelmed by fear and they do their maximum for everyone to be safe. We watch over one antother and that warms my heart to see it.

On the other side, food is continuously missing.

It soon gonna become a huge problem if we don't find a solution, we won't be able to hold much longer with the ressources we actually have...

I believe it's been a week I haven't slept, I'm trying to stay awake with always being busy. As soon as I am not, I feel my eyes closing by themselves.

It's especially difficult during the night. I spend them looking at the campfire crackling and making sure it doesn't extinguish by itself. We found material to make a lighter, so I play with it to pass the time: I found out the burning feeling is particularly effective to wake me up.

I miss my parents. I miss them excruciatingly.

It's so hard that they're not here with us. I regret all the time that we couldn't leave any note, any letter. They must be terribly worried for us, i feel terribly guilty...

I hope they won't resent us...

Day 122

Dapper amost died.

Dapper.

Almost.

Died.

We were talking about the pending lack of food, and he suggested we could explore the surroundings to find something to eat. I know exploring is something he adores, and he knows better than anyone the different kinds of existing ressources, so I also thought it was a good idea.

I suggested to come with him, but i assured me I didn't have to worry about him, that it wouldn't take him long to come back, and that it would be better for me to stay with the others to watch over them. So, I accepted. I trusted him.

But he went to fight against a skeleton. Or at least, what looked like a normal skeleton, but it wasn't one; this one had an armor and was able to shoot arrows at an abnormal speed, in addition to having knockback.

He thought it was a normal skeleton and attacked. But the skeleton was stronger and knocked him off.

I ran.

I ran so fast, every second mattered.

He cannot die, not like this, not now.

If he dies, I'll never forgive myself.

I managed to find him, and I could finish the skeleton off.

I ran to him to save him, just in time.

With tears in my eyes, I asked if he was ok and why he wanted to attack that monster way to strong for us even though we have no armor and barely any defense.

He just answered that he wanted bones to make bonemill, to speed up the growth of the seeds in the field. And also because he wanted to make a bone mask for Chayanne, since he didn't have his fetish skull.

He was so nonchalant in explaining it all, as if he didn't care about being do close to death.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Well, that was fucking beautiful. I mean, obviously I was going to think it was beautiful. I wasn't going to hear John Oliver on The Bugle in 2024 and think it was shit, was I? Obviously, that was a wonderful episode of podcasting.

However, even though there wasn't really any way for it to be bad, I think that exceeded my expectations. Because it could have been just nice, you know? It could have been a couple of guys re-hashing all their old jokes, reminiscing, making a few references to how far the world has fallen since they were last taking it on together, giving us all warm fuzzy nostalgia. That's kind of what I was expecting, I would have fucking loved that if it was all we got, and yet, we got so much more. We did got all of the above, but we also got so much more.

For one thing, I was not expecting John Oliver to turn up with so much material! It's been ages since we've heard John Oliver do pre-prepared material on The Bugle. There was none of that in their 2022 anniversary episode (their anniversary episode was pretty much what I described in the previous paragraph, and I did love it). And even John's other 4000-series appearance from 2020... it was good, but I felt like something was missing there. It didn't reach the highs of the days when they were always working on this.

And in John Oliver's last year or so of episodes of the original run, he was increasingly phoning it in. Which is fair enough as he had quite a lot of other shit going on, but you could track Andy Zaltzman picking up more and more of the slack in terms of amount of prepared material.

But this one. Episode 4325. That felt perfect. That felt like it could have come from any point in the peak of this podcast. Andy did his weird and convoluted opening, and I waited for John Oliver to happily react to that and then throw in a few of his own jokes, but suddenly, John pulled out what sounded like pages of his own tightly written material on events that have just happened, so he must have written it for The Bugle. And then Andy's reacting, and then Andy's countering with his prepared material, and then John's fitting his pages around the stuff that Andy wrote perfectly, and they're back and forth like a tennis match, and I always find myself unable to describe this particular double act without falling into sports analogies, and it may as well be 2012 again. This, more than anything else from the last ten years, feel like they decided to give us one more episode of the old podcast.

John Oliver's bounty of material felt, to me, like a Chris Addison situation. The way Chris Addison always turns up to The Bugle way more prepared than anyone else, and has explained that it's because he doesn't do stand-up anymore and misses it, so this is his chance to write material again. John Oliver did not sound like he'd thrown something together for a one-off podcast to help out a less famous (but not by nearly as much as he used to be, Taskmaster champion!) friend; he sounded fully into it!

I kept thinking, "Where else is he going to use this stuff?" Because a few of those jokes could be repurposed for some Last Week Tonight monologues, but not many, especially as the news will have long moved on by the time the next season starts. I know he's been doing a few stand-up shows with Seth Myers lately, he must have been saying something on that stage in The Stand in Edinburgh over the summer, he's got stuff. He's got ideas. I know we're all very excited about the possibility of John Oliver on Taskmaster someday, but hear me out: John Oliver solo Edinburgh hour run 2025. I will personally shoot down every one of the hundreds of purist stand-up fans who would be (justifiably) angry about a world-famous act using his overwhelming fame disparity to mess with the festival. But if Oasis insist on doing exact that with their fame, maybe the best option is to fight fire with fire.

Anyway, back to the realms of reality (I am aware that the above paragraph is not in the realms of reality, but let me dream), every moment of that latest Bugle episode reminded me of why I very literally think they have the best double act chemistry I've ever heard. They're both brilliant on their own, but together there's that perfect dynamic, and I'm amazed its still there after all those years of not working together. They have this perfect rhythm of being able to see which of their jokes can fit perfectly onto the end of the other's joke even before it's been told - like those top-class hockey players who can skate to where the puck will be before it gets there (seriously, it becomes a sports analogy every time) - and they can go back and forth like that for ages, even though they always write their Bugle material separately and don't see each other's before performing.

Of course, the separate writing also gives us the advantage of listeners getting to hear their initial reactions to each other's jokes, which is an absolute delight. Listening to this episode also reminded me of a huge piece of why their dynamic worked so well, which that they find each other so incredibly funny, and I never get tired of hearing them laugh at each other's jokes. You can also hear the way they both aim the writing and delivery of their material toward the goal of making each other laugh; I'm convinced that doing that for years is what pushed them both to improve as comedians so much more than most people do in the same timeframe.

And they're both great on their own, but Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver bring out a side in each other that's just the best version of their comedic talent. I like Last Week Tonight. I think it's a great, important show that has done large amounts of genuine good in the world (certainly far more actual good than most TV shows manage to do - via fundraising for good causes, but also via awareness raising, consciousness raising, and combating misinformation), and I think it's fun to watch. It's informative while being good entertainment. I can acknowledge it's a good thing that it exists, even if I am rather bitter that video killed the [podcast] star.

However. Last Week Tonight is... you can tell it was written by committee. By all accounts (as in, the accounts of people who work on the show and have discussed this in interviews), John Oliver is far more involved that most TV hosts are in the show's creation; he doesn't just turn up on Saturday to read an autocue, he works all week with the research and the writing. But so do a bunch of other people, and they have to make the show accessible to a mainstream TV demographic, and sometimes there are little jokes clearly shoehorned in because their audience will lose interest if they go more than fifteen seconds without a meme reference. It can be amusing to hear John Oliver do some ironic young people speak, but also, that is not what made me a John Oliver devotee.

What made me a John Oliver devotee is that side that Andy Zaltzman brings out in him when they fall into that rhythm together, the sardonic yet sincere, the way you can hear his real excitement when they catch onto a good bit and find a way to run with it (sports analogies). The back and forth, having enough respect for an audience's intelligence to assume we're all on the same page and can just come with them on this, the ability to change direction on the fly (sports analogies).

And, like I said, John Oliver also brings out a side of Andy Zaltzman that we very rarely hear when they're not working together. Specifically, John Oliver turns Andy Zaltzman into a man who sounds like he's probably had a conversation with a human being at some point in his life before. I'd actually forgotten, until this episode, just how much I enjoyed the more relaxed, loose, collaborative version of Andy Zaltzman that's reserved for interactions with John Oliver. And occasionally Chris Addison - Andy sometimes sounds slightly more socially competent when Addison's on. Once in a while Mark Steel can bring it out, occasionally even Nish. That's about it. Andy Zaltzman has chemistry with very few people, but when he has it, he really has it.

I've focused mainly on John Oliver in this post, because he's the one who isn't usually there there days, but Andy was on fire throughout that episode too. That pun right, Jesus Christ. You could hear how he'd upped his game to celebrate The Return of the King.

That was everything I wanted. Everything I wanted except answers to listener questions, but I'm glad those weren't in there, because I assume they'll be in a separate podcast, and separating them out means that the listener stuff didn't eat into the time allocated for just John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman (and, exactly the right amount, Producer Chris) going back and forth. I'm greatly looking forward to the listener questions as well (they're probably coming soon, right?), but this was enough. This was as good as audio topical inter-continental comedy gets.

[libra-stellium]

Saturn conjunct Ascendant

As a 14 degree Pisces rising this was March 12, 2024 to May 8, 2024.

"Bitch wtf is going on????" - me the entire 57 days and it's coming back around in early 2025

Notes from Saturn in Transit - Erin Sullivan

Saturn over the ascendant can be experienced as an extremely dramatic shift from "who you used to be" to "who you will be" but with a rather traumatic period of uncertainty while the no longer useful persona is sloughed off

It’s been a weird timeeeeeee like there’s some things i'm like so excited about that are a “new me” and then there’s some other stuff I’m like 💀💀💀 about and I’m gonna pretend like nothing is happening for a while longer bc this feels like too much change at once 🥲 maybe in 2025 lol my mind has been going nonstop!

The thresholding that is experienced during this time can be a shock to someone who has strongly identified with or has been identified with a particular and definite image

lol I literally introduced myself as an astrologer to someone the other day bc they mentioned astro and me being an attorney never came up and it honestly felt nice 😩 yeah my entire schooling revolved around becoming an attorney but like it doesn’t "feel" like I succeeded at it lmfao and I’m honestly not putting a lot of effort into making it feel like success either so 🙃

Understanding this necessary loss of personal identification greatly reduces stress and allows a more conscious transition into the new self image. The struggle is all about coming to terms with unconscious material in the conscious mind and vice versa

I think so much is happening in my unconscious mind bc I usually remember most of my dreams in complete detail and the last two weeks at least I know I’ve had very longgg detailed dreams but when I wake up I can’t remember it in the part of my brain that can say it into words lol I feel like I’m missing out on messages!

Saturn brings to the ascendant all the manifest experiences and control issues that have dominated the last 14 year extraverted cycle during which the individual learned how to be present and accountable in the conscious world or accomplishments, deeds, and collective goals

"I'm giving myself goals because I don't know what to do with myself if I'm not accomplishing anything." - Me in 2021 a year after getting my law degree lol I feel like it encompasses this whole thing! During this transit I wrote a list of personal goals and they're not outward things like graduation they're more like be consistent with skin care lol the other day I told my aunt I just relaxed and I didn't do anything and she was like if you're so boring why don't you go on a walk and i was like??? I didn't say that?? lol made me not want to say anything else!!

Symbolic of a descent into oneself

When I first read this I was like oooh seems zen 🧘🏾‍♀️ IT WAS NOT ZEN IVE BEEN IN THE TRENCHES!! It feels like too much pressure to know and be like "this is who I am" i just want to be a pisces rising whose personality changes whenever

Notes from Planets in Transit - Robert Hand

You will try to eliminate everything in your life that is not necessary to fulfilling responsibilities

I didn’t do many things just for fun during this time everything had a purpose. I did finish reading two books unfinished from last year and it was in an attempt to spend less time watching videos which worked!

You will become more complex and simpler at the same time

Idkkkk I’m not sure I understand what this even means

You are finishing up tasks going into a 5-8 year period of relatively quiet preparation for a new beginning

I feel like I’ll see this more in 2025 bc right now I don’t really have anything started that needed to be finished lol

You may have less freedom of movement than usual because of the pressure of circumstances and the need to get things done

A week into this I made happy hour plans and I was going to leave work extra early bc I had nothing to do and I got an assignment literally 2 hours before I was going to go! I did finish in 2 hours and went to HH but it was stressful lol

You may have to exert more effort at work in order to get the job done

For real the last month I actually had so much more work at work than usual I was working a full 8 hour day sometimes 😭 usually I have like maybe 8 hours of work a week!

Your superiors may give you even more responsibility than you would choose to have

Facts! The last few days I’ve been essentially training this girl at work and the last day of this transit I finished lol seemed fitting

Do not start out on a completely new project because in a few years you may find that you do not have the material or psychological resources to complete it

This makes me feel like it should be about something big 😂 I have not started any projects lol I did apply to a few jobs but none of them even responded to reject me so that was also unintentionally not started

Good relationships will not suffer but bad ones will break up completely

I feel like Saturn in aqua in my 12H took care of most of the bad relationships already lol so this was fine

You are withdrawing from everything in your life that is in the way of your development during the next few years

Yeah I’ve been more annoyed than usual at people around me who are making the choice to struggle just bc they don’t want to try something new 😩 it’s been making me feel like I can’t be as close to them like it’s contagious 😂

Avoid building a wall between yourself and others because they are important to you now that you are excluding those who do not belong

Yes I’ve been making it a point to actually say yes to events lol but it's hard to keep in contact with people for some reason! I forget to or think that less time has passed and then I check messages and it's been weeks!

This is a productive time

I did get a lot done! I cooked a lot of meals, I washed all my bedding that’s been sitting there since end of last year, I cleaned my fish tank, I cleaned the mildew off my bathroom walls, I put a lot of my clothes away, my recycling pile is way down, I built a storage shelf thing for under my desk, I sewed a skirt, I read and wrote a lot

Follow through on the tasks that need to be done and get your life in shape for the next phase of preparation

I’ve been intentional about this! I made a list of things I want to get out of my saturn return in my 1H and one of those things is clear skin so I’ve been consistent with the routine like actually tracking it on the calendar! Losing weight was another on that list and the last two months I was just focusing on food like getting back into cooking and the last almost 3 weeks I’ve been tracking all my food and even using a food scale. On the last day of this transit I signed up for the gym!

Overall I would give this transit 6/10 😂 the mental anguish was toooo much Omggg I hope it’s easier in 2025 and after that I’m glad I don’t have to deal with this for another 30 years

[lutiaslayton]

Hello! You seem to be knowledgeable about Japan-exclusive Layton stuff so I wanted to ask if you knew how many chapters were there in Mansion Of The Deathly Mirror? I tried to look it up myself but I couldn't find an actual answer

Thank you for all your translations btw I really appreciate them!

Hi, and thanks! <3 There are six chapters in total. For more info, I will simply give you (and anyone else who reads this) a Reddit post:

This post explains everything we know about Mansion of the Deathly Mirror and how to deal with the fact that this game is lost media.

That link aside, I have a transcript planned for Mansion of the Deathly Mirror just like I did with Chelmey's Casebook and London Holiday, but I don't even have the full first chapter completed yet, so I'll have to catch up whenever I have the time and materials to do so. I haven't had the time to work on it in many months, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it and I WILL make a better, FULL version of the translation, as soon as I can get to it (but right now I'm kinda supposed to be preparing for my PhD defence hahahahaha).

Now for some ramblings related to the above-linked Reddit post. Long story short: we have chances of securing the game. But for that to happen, we need to be patient, and we need to be silent. If you ever find footage of the game on youtube or elsewhere, no matter what you do, leave the player alone.

Let them upload at their pace and gather the crumbs as they fall off the table, because asking for them to let you eat the whole cake has never worked in the past. By that I mean: asking someone who owns the game "hey can I see your cool shiny thing asap plz plz plz" will result in that person blocking you, no longer posting any footage or content related to that cool shiny thing, and possibly disappearing off the face of the entire internet forever. I am neither joking, nor exaggerating.

I'm not talking that much about MotDM because we don't want to get too much attention drawn to it for the time being. But don't worry, if this game ever is found (and we have a whole team searching for it, we're just secretive on purpose -- for the reasons I mentioned here and for those that are explained in more detail in the Reddit post), we WILL make sure that the fandom knows about it. It's mostly just that right now, the only person we know who has the game and is somewhat willing to make a playthrough does not want any unwanted attention, and this person is not a friend of ours. They will stop uploading if people ask for them to upload faster, and they already threatened once to delete all their videos when someone asked them if they could "share the ROM." (No. No they won't. And even if they were willing to, we can't even make anything out of a ROM yet because of the hardware being stupidly complicated anyway.)

---

So there you have it -- your answer is "6," and I could have left it at that because I have no strict obligation to say anything more since you didn't ask for any other info haha.

Unless you want to dive into this endless rabbit hole, I highly suggest you just keep that answer, leave it at that for now, and go about your day minding literally anything else. We will get back to you and the rest of the fandom once we have real news about it! It's just that for now we're all stuck in limbo hahaha, there's some stuff done in the shadows but nothing worth hyping about until we're done with it. I mean -- we can't do anything until the one (1) person who owns the game decides to upload more footage of it. Given how desperately lost this game is, we should actually be happy we get to have anything at all, even if even NWoS might come out before it.

[EDIT] Needless to say, the player who is sharing some gameplay footage does NOT know that I have a website with the beginning of a fan-translation, and if they learn even so little that it exists, they are going to have a heart attack and will likely delete their entire playthrough. And nobody wants that.

I personally won't celebrate and heave a real breath of relief before footage of the full game from start to finish with as much content as possible is secured, which is why I don't talk about it a lot. I'm just paranoid that something might go wrong like it already has multiple times in the past hahaha

---

DO NOT show my website link around at random until I say it's ok to do so. And if you share it with friends, ALWAYS mention that I am the one running it. That way if you or your friends have questions, you know who to ask for explanations.

[fallout4-reacts]

How about companions react to Sole "adopting" a baby deathclaw and basically keeping it like a pet?

To be fully honest, I remember viewing a companion react on this subject (or maybe a meme... don't remember... maybe I just dreamed of...?), but fortunately, I no longer recall the details It's so cute I'm going to do it with joy I hope to be original ans you'll like it

Cait (romanced) : Cait is practicing her fighting skills in the Sanctuary gym. She hears protests on the street but no gunshots, so she continues to punch the punching bag without paying attention. The door opens and closes after a few moments.

"Cait!" exclaimed Sole emphatically. "Remember when you said we could get an animal to fill our space?"

Cait lowers her head, pressing her brow against the training bag. Yes, she recalls the conversation, but Sole appears to have a different memory. Cait had stated that she might be willing to tolerate a stray animal if there was one in need. She turns to her love slowly, a hollow growl rising in her throat to communicate her dissatisfaction... and chokes on her own air.

"What?!"

"Isn't he the cutest little baby in existence?"

"IT'S A DEATHCLAW!"

"It's a tiny little Bibi, and it's all too cute, and I called it Ernest, and Ernest is going to be a cute little trooping companion."

"Ernest is going to eat Dogmeat, then is going to eat Mom, and Mom-who-looks-dumb is going to eat Ernest."

"We're keeping it!"

Cait completely rumbles this time. Sole's tone is devoid of retort, and their gaze is firmly fixed on the former arena combatant. Cait shrugs and sighs.

"You go out hunting for his food."

Codsworth : He'd known Sole for a few weeks before the bombs falls. Since the bombs, he's known Sole for a few months. He is aware that occasionally a ceiling tile is missing. But this time, he is confident that they did not return all the change on their coin.

"Madam/Sir, this is a deathclaw."

"He's a BABY deathclaw, and look at how cute he is!"

"He's cute now, but he'll grow up and become a threat one day."

"Like everything else I raise, what."

Sole's depressing tone causes Codsworth's processor to sink into its truster.

"I will prepare his room," he finally concedes.

Curie (romanced but not for long) : "We're going to call him Ernest!" declares Sole.

"No, Gustave."

"Okay!"

Curie hasn't let go of the adorable roudoudou deathclaw that Sole brought to the clinic. She didn't offer him a single time with her friend under the false pretense of passing examinations to ensure his health. Sole thinks it adorable at first, but after a few hours, they return to the clinic, irritated.

"Can I get my deathclaw back?"

"This is my Deathclaw. And the answer is, of course, no. It turns out that a stable environment is critical at critical stages of a baby's growth, and your life is anything from steady."

"This is MY deathclaw!"

"Not any longer. Gustave belongs to me."

Sole growls impatiently and approaches to retrieve the baby. Curie moves through their path, looking menacing for the first time since being transplanted into the body of a synth (and, to be honest, even before that). Sole is taken aback, but they frown and reach out.

"Okay, enough Curie; it's my baby."

"I said no."

She appears to be determined to die rather than move, with her hands on her hips, and her eyes are as deadly as those of a true deathclaw mother. Sole eventually left, but not before saying, "But I have visitation rights every other weekend!"

"You'll see that with my lawyer!"

Danse : Since their return to the Prydwen, Sole has been odd. They ran straight for the front bridge, their bags bulging to the brim. When they have such of material on them, they usually walk through their dorm and sort out what goes into their personal trunk. Proctor Ingram might have wanted them to visit her, or they might have wanted to sell stuff to Proctor Teagan. When Sole went through the mess with their bag entirely empty, he opted for the second alternative.

"Did you get a good price?"

"It’s not for sale!" Sole instantly defends... They then realize their error. "I mean, sure! Yes, I had a lot of dealings with... um, Teagan."

"Proctor Teagan, Knight. I've told you a thousand times that you're overly comfortable with officials. We have ranks, and you must follow the regulations, even while addressing other Brotherhoods."

"You're correct, Danse. Sorry."

"Paladin Danse."

"Yes, Sir, I'm sorry. I'll be more cautious."

Danse, on the other hand, is suspicious. He thinks Sole is a little too eager to accept criticism, which is not typical of them, and they appear a touch too nervous, even for someone as nervous as they naturally are. And every so often, he observes his subordinate vanish for a bit and return with a scruffy uniform. He chooses to follow them surreptitiously at the end of the seventh absence, even leaving his Power Armor at his quarters so as not to betray himself. He is taken aback by what he discovers. Sole holds a baby deathclaw captive beneath the bridge, concealed behind containers. He cannot overlook this blunder.

"Knight! What are you thinking? Please explain yourself as soon as possible before I report you!"

Sole turns as pale as a sheet, keeping themself in front of the little creature, who appears to be oblivious to what is going on, busy grinding her teeth on a piece of leather armor.

"It's not what you think! Ok, it's exactly what you're thinking, but Danse! I implore you—

"Paladin Danse! Know, soldier, that this kind of...initiative is strictly prohibited in our ranks, and that this thing must be handed over to the authorities immediately in order to put an end to its existence—

"Not Ernest!  Please, no!"

"Ernest?"

The little lizard raises its head and fixes its scaly glare on the paladin, seemingly aware of its presence. He approaches him awkwardly on his hind legs, and before Danse is able to react, he licks his hand and gives him a puppy-like look. The officer attempts to ignore how moved he is by the entire event, and he withdraws his hand vigorously, straightening himself in dignity.

"I… I'll give you two hours to remove this from the ship. Find her another place to live. And please keep in mind that we are not a zoo."

"In some cases," mumbles Sole between his teeth. He immediately recovered after that. "Many thanks, Danse—

"Paladin Danse."

"Thank you so much, Paladin Danse. You will never be sorry for this act of kindness. You will see; you will one day realize how much lack of compassion is exactly where the Brotherhoods were wrong, and perhaps one day you will be grateful that I am not of this kind!"

"Sole," Danse exclaimed ultimately, "get out with your lizard."

Danse no longer had to complain about his subordinate's actions because they were swift and discrete. But after a few days, when they're both on a quest to clear a hole full of synth, Danse can't keep quiet anymore.

"How is Ernest?"

Deacon : "Look at the lovely hat I found for Ern!"

Deacon returns to HQ and immediately goes on to the shooting range area where Sole has set up Ernest. Desdemona throws her spy an angry stare as he walks past without noticing her.

"I maintain that your authority has been abused on this one."

"Shut up, Carrington."

"You've got a problem with Ernest?" Glory inquired, threateningly.

"Not at all," the doctor said quickly, telling himself that at the next routine check-up, the little deathclaw would have an unforeseen response to a common product, resulting in early death.

Dogmeat : Scent the thing who follows Sole about like... him? The monster sniffs him back, and they swirl around for a few moments before the creature rolls on the ground and emits a series of squeaks. Dogmeat flicks out, glad to have a companion. However, the friend grows swiftly. When Dogmeat and Sole return to the Red Rocket where the friend was installed, Dogmeat cannot hide his canine fear upon seeing that the friend has grown to the size of a human. However, when the friend comes around Dogmeat at night, the dog licks his face and presses his nose against his, clearly pleased. After all, Sole's other green companion is much larger than the others, but he still frequently feeds Dogmeat mouth-watering chunks of meat.

Elder Maxson : Shoot on sight. 

"It was one of those horrible monsters who disfigured me, and you dare to bring one under my nose!"

He doesn't even pay attention to Sole's protests and ridiculous accusations.

Maxson gives a final warning when Sole begins to threaten him with tears in their eyes while gripping the monster in their arms. Sole is utterly deaf to whatever their high commander says. They make frightening threats as they leave the Prydwen, carrying the baby's body with them. The Elder initially believes they will return to their senses and is already planning the disciplinary measures that will be administered on them. But Sole does not return. Sole never returns.

Then, one day, like this, the Prydwen explodes.

Hancock (romanced) : "I think he has your eyes."

"Don't be a jerk. And don't let this thing come anywhere near me. I ain't no chew toy."

Sole laughs, tickling the thing's tummy. Hancock is not at all at ease. He has always prided himself on being open-minded and inclusive, but Sole pushes him to his breaking point. When his companion arrived at the Old State House with a deathclaw baby, Hancock needed an hour and a lot of Fahrenheit arguing to realize he wasn't hallucinating. Since then, he has tried to compensate for his nervous breakdown by inhaling Jet on Jet. He doesn't want to be a tyrant over Sole, but a deathclaw? No way under his roof.

"It will get bigger and have you for lunch."

"He will be domesticated and an incredible ally for Goodneighbor."

Hancock's eyes brighten up when something hits him.

"Hold up! I just had a dope idea! If we do this right, it could be something of a homie for Goodneighbor!"

Sole rolls their eyes and smiles indulgently.

"Yes, Hancock, that's a brilliant idea."

Gage : He was aware that the Overboss had been carrying a backpack with them during their voyage through the Gauntlet. He saw them carefully place the bag in the locker room before confronting Colter. He'd seen them rush to collect it as soon as the fight was finished, and he'd seen how they seemed to take a thousand care to keep it safe while Porter made them do the grand tour of the square. When they arrive at the Fizztop Grille and Sole places the bag on the bed, a deathclaw baby emerges. Porter is completely taken aback. He imagined many things, but not that.

"Do you realize you have a deathclaw in your bag?"

"Yes, it’s Ernest. He's really cute, isn't he?"

Porter simply shrugs. As long as the job is done. After all, having a pet deathclaw will give the new Overboss a fucked up reputation. Nisha will not dare to challenge their authority.

MacCready (romanced) : "He's just a baby!"

"The emergence of a horrible monstrosity that will reduce us to sharpies!"

"Come on, stop your antics and get down right now!"

"NEVER! Not with that beast around!"

Sole sighs impatiently, attempting to persuade the mercenary that he has nothing to fear from Ernest. But Mac doesn't falls on this path and doesn't leave his safety, which he found at the top of the tree when his sight crossed that of the deathclaw.

"This thing is my baby, and you'll have to get used to it."

"No, your baby is in the hands of the boogymen, and this... this thing cannot replace it!"

Perhaps that was a touch too harsh. When Mac notices the tears in Sole's eyes, he quickly regrets his outburst. But not quite so far down.

"Look, I never thought I'd have to say this one day, but it's simple; it's him or me!"

Could he perhaps stop shattering Sole's heart for a moment? He's trying, but this thing is truly stolen out the best in him. When he sees the reptile's hideous teeth along his half-open lips, he can't think straight. He doesn't see a child. He sees a danger—a monster that will slit their throats while they sleep in order to gorge on their entrails.

"So, that's how you take it?"

"Y…yes. Sorry, but there is nothing to talk about. It's either him or me!"

Sole turns regretfully, grabbing their new friend's clawed paw in their hands and leading him on the road with them.

"If you ever remember that I love you, you will come and join me at Sanctuary."

"If you ever remember you love me, you will return that thing to where you took it from!"

But Sole does not pause; they do not surrender. They kept going without looking back. When they are no longer visible on the horizon, MacCready descends from his perch and heads in the direction of Goodneighbor. It will not be said that he will be the one to bow in his relationship, especially on such things as this.

Nick Valentine (romanced) : "Ellie, where's the Garfield file?"

Nick enters the room and settles into his chair, his nose buried in another folder. A cough alerts him to the fact that his partner has returned.

"I'm glad you've showed up, Sole. We have a whole business."

His sight was taken to what Sole was holding in their arms as he turned to address the newcomer. The detective glances up at Sole, whose eyes plead him, then down at the creature they are holding.

"No," he says flatly. The tone is categorical. To Sole, it's immediately obvious that arguing is useless.

Piper : Piper tries again with her old press, but Nat is right: no miracle will revive it this time. Unless she can snag Sturges. Piper believes the Sanctuary mechanic can accomplish anything with a little wire and duct tape. She walks across the market to the Home Plate to see if Sole can help her persuade the mechanic.

"Come in quietly, and don't scream out of fear, or you'll scare him."

Piper becomes perplexed for a little while. That's an unusual approach to greet guests, but it's OK. She shrugs and pulls the door open... before bursting into a horrified shriek... followed by a terrified groan.

Sole rushes into the living room, plainly annoyed, and dives on the little deathclaw, who is flashing teeth and splitting the air with his claws, to calm him down.

"Auntie Piper did not intend to frighten you, Ernest. Be nice and quiet."

Piper halted, fell silent, and looked about, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"It's a... deathclaw?"

"It's a baby deathclaw. Is name is Ernest."

"Hello Ernest," Piper says with a smile. "Would you like to have an interview with Auntie Piper?"

"He can't talk; he's still a baby."

"Then you will answer my questions!"

Preston : He's seen a lot of strange things since Sole came into his life. All colors, especially those he didn't believe could exist. This is why, when Sole returns to Sanctuary with a baby Deathclaw, he sighs heavily, shrugs his shoulders, and opens the gates. Ernest, ironically, rapidly became a mascot in the place. Because Quincy survivors recall how their lives changed the day Sole fought a deathclaw to help them escape from Concord, having a deathclaw baby as a mascot makes sense. As he got older, Ernest uncovered his tremendous intelligence and learned like a dog. It brings delight to the inhabitants, and its reputation spreads fast throughout the Commonwealth, making the settlement safer than ever... Because who would go against settlers who were protected by a deathclaw?

Strong : "Good doggy."

"It's not a dog, it's a deadclaw."

"Good meal."

Sole gently pulls back, Ernest in their arms, and flees the super-mutant with the baby. They don't even want to talk about it. While they argued, Strong might eat Ernest.

X6-88 : He'd never confess to being astonished. His appearance stays unchanged; his eyes are obscured by his sunglasses, and he pinches his lips.

"Do you think Shaun will like it?" Sole inquires innocently.

"Are you genuinely considering bringing this creature to the Institute?"

"I can't leave him alone in this evil, hostile world."

X6-88 prefers not to say anything, but in his opinion, this thing would be better off with a bullet in the skull. However, unless proven otherwise, the young monster does not jeopardize their objective, and as he grows older, if he is obedient, he may be able to contribute to Sole's security. Surprisingly, as time passes, X6 assumes greater responsibility regarding the little creature. Ernest found a small spot in his heart, but he would never confess it.

[ivy-plays]

Ik I already did one request but I love ur posts sooooo can u pretty please do like blitzo and anyone u wanna add headcannons what there like during ✨spicy✨🥵🌶️time and if u don’t do nsfw that’s ok just some dating headcannons thank uuuuuuu

Here’s a meme for your time

Of course dear! It won't be too explicit bc we'll. I'm not used to writing anything explicit but this is right in my skill set lol. And thank you for the meme! I now want dinosaur ravioli 😔

Plot: request

Raiting: 16+/m

Reader: gn bc y'all know why lol

Style: head cannon/ bullet points

Warnings: like. 1 cuss word I think but the whole second half is spicy head cannons so. Read at your own descrrssion I'm not your mama and can't tell you what to do

I'm just doing Blitzø in this one bc I haven't written anything like this before so I want to make sure it's well received before I write for everyone else lol.

Blitzø:

Basic relationship stuff:

Very chaotic

And I mean VERY

You would naturally probably work for him either after or before y'all become a couple.thats up for you to decide.

Like Loona, he wouldn't yell at you or blame you when something goes wrong on a job .

And speaking of when y'all are on jobs he always has an eye on you and tries to stay close to you,not because he doesn't think you would be able to defend yourself. He definitely knows you can.

(which may or may not turn him on . Anyway)

He just is protective of the things and people he loves due to being afraid to lose anyone else he cares about.

You have to sit through his hours long rants about horses and his..."research" ....

You become another parent to Loona. (Who she likes slightly more and y'all laugh at how pissed off Blitzø gets about it lol)

It would be Blitzø and you who went to go steal Stolaz grimware (or however tf you spell it idk man)

Blitzø was very hesitant when it came to the whole sleeping with Stolaz thing ,but you told him you didn't care bc you knew that he didn't have feelings for the owl. (Yet)

Stolaz would probably rope you into the deal as well bc mmmm plot

Anyway.

Being in a relationship with Blitzø will be chaotic and challenging at times. (Like when he starts to doubt himself and whether or not he's good enough for you. Good enough to be happy.) But. You're always there for each other and it all works out in the end.

(I also think in the end you two would bring Stolaz into your relationship after the both of y'all realized you had feelings for the owl and talked it over with each other before bringing the idea to Stolaz)

Now. ✨Le spicy bits ✨

SIR KINK

I really do think Blitzø would have a massive authority kink and would want you to call him sir.

Mans likes to feel in control.

Now on the flip side of that. I do think Blitzø would be a switch but with a heavy preference on being on top.

Like. If you were to beg him enough he might let you top him or if he is tired enough.

But even then he still has some level of control over you and is telling you what to do .

That's just how it is. I don't make the rules lol

I also think (based off of lines said in sertin episodes as well as the pilot) that he would be into bondage and a masochism/saidism.

Definitely prefers to do the tying and not the one to be tied up. Again. He likes to have control.

And be prepared bc mans has a whole stash of shit like whips (of all different shoes and materials.) Gags, many different things to restrain you with. (Handcuffs,rope, sashes, his own hands)

He would also be a big damn tease. Like. I have a feeling Blitzø could get off just off the way you squirm and beg for him to stop messing around and fuck you already.

10/10 would blind fold you.

Throat fucking *cough cough clears throat* what was that??? I didn't hear anything.👀

[pbandjesse]

My allergies are really bugging me right now and I'm pretty uncomfortable. But hopefully by the time I'm done this my meds will have kicked in and I'll feel better.

Today was a pretty good day. The kids weren't as awesome but I still had fun.

I also slept better last night. Still not fabulous but it's getting better. And when I woke up I didn't feel like I was dying. So that was good.

I got dressed and I actually loved my outfit and my hair today. I don't love my picture sadly. But it's whatever. There are worse things.

I made a bagel and left on time. But because I didn't stop I got to the musuem early. Which was fine. I was happy to go say no good morning to my James.

I had a pretty easy morning. I didn't have to set anything up. Only had to show Rosia how to turn on the DVD player. My group has movie and lunch first. So no stress for me!

And once the school came so did everyone else. Just busy busy! But we got everyone in and they were all super nice. I found my group in the hoard and when I told them they had movie first they cheered. So cute.

I went to the back and got to hear some drama and stuff and then just walked around for a bit. I got them from the movie and took them to lunch and went to make sure my neighborhood stuff was ready to go. And then I was on my way to get them for programming.

And neighborhood went super well. Besides some loudness they were doing so good. We did have one friend who was a little all over the place. And some boys who wouldn't stop hitting each other. But we all did our shopping and buying and counting and clapping and it was fun.

At the end we didn't have as much bank time as I nor ally like but it's all good. We had to get out of the way of Jessica's tour. Because Jessica was teaching. And Mike. And Adam was almost two hours late because of some confusion. And!! Kristen was even back from the other building teaching. It was a very busy day.

My last program of the day was lights on. And it didn't go as well as yesterday's. But their work was still really fun and I had a good time. The problem came at the end when the teacher left the room to go deal with something and we kind of melted down. It wasn't all of them. But the half that was loud made everything a lot for me. And then regular guests of the museum just. Opened the door and came in the room. And I was very frustrated.

But it was close enough to the end of the day. So I gathered them up and took them to get their stuff.

I went back to the room to clean everything up. Took my materials to restoration. And took a moment. I was just a bit tired.

I was pleased though to find I had emails. I emailed Anna at awah about materials this weekend as well as following up on my stress from yesterday's emails. And she forwarded my question to Jake and it turns out I was totally in the right so there was no issue. And then emails from our insurance agent with a possible way to bundle our renters and car insurance and save some money. And a lovely message from my mom just telling me I helped her and it made me feel so good.

I sat with James for a bit and we discussed finances. We got paid today so things aren't so dire feeling. And nice for us it's a 3 paycheck month! I might be able to get my savings back to where it was before.

Plus I'm working a lot next month in preparation for being away for two weeks. For our honeymoon. Which is coming up and I'm super excited about!!

I would leave James at the desk to go do supplies with Meril and Adam. And we chit chatted and talked about feildtrips we took and kids that made our lives difficult and just worked on oysters and cans and it was nice.

And at 2 I went to head out. I would end up staying behind a bit longer to stand outside with Jessica to gossip and also fill in my calendar even more. Busy busy busy.

I decided I wouldn't go home yet. I would go get taco bell. I would go walk around the thrift store. It was going to be great.

And it was! I had fun looking around. Not as much goofy stuff. I did find two large pads of art paper. And I had fun looking at the toys. A woman approached me and asked if I was Italian and told me I was beautiful (and that she was heterosexual and then she was like that was weird why did I say that?? Which was objectively hilarious). And I tried on some shoes.

I didn't pick much up though. So I let myself look at clothes. And found three pieces I lied a lot. Two comfy at home ones and one nicer one. So I am a little over my hope of keeping my clothing purchases to 3 a month. With these brining me to 6. But I'm still trying!

I went and had my tacobell next. I got two tacos. A bean and a potato. And after I ate in the car I headed home.

It was beautiful out. And once I got home I opened the windows and the backdoor and just enjoyed the breeze.

I tried on the clothes and loved them. And once everything was put away I decided to take am early shower. And curl up on the couch to draw a peep bunny. Meril said I of course have to if I like them so much. And I do so it makes sense.

James got home. And would give me a big kiss and make lasagna for dinner. They soon jumped on their podcast call. And I have been just having a good night. Hanging out with Sweetp. Watching videos. Scrolling. Just resting. It was a good day.

Tomorrow I have a good day at the museum. A tour. Training/watching Cindy lead balls and track. And then I lead a cannery. So let's hope it's a fun day.

Sleep well everyone. Take care of yourself!!

[tia-amorosa]

Sunset Died - The younger ones

The Otter and the Private Plan

The lessons were split up a little. While the teenagers dealt with written material, the younger ones were given a little visual instruction. And some of them had questions about this, as they didn't seem to know the animal on the poster very well. “What do you think the otter likes to eat best?"/ ‘hmm, maybe apples or carrots?’/ ‘Yes, so that it always has healthy teeth, haha“.

Bella is a clever girl. Because she was able to learn a lot from her father when he was still alive… “no, an otter is in the water all the time, there are no apples or carrots”/ “that's right, in the water there are only plants and fish”/ “and it has big fins for hands, so it can certainly swim fast”.

.Later. Lessons are slowly coming to an end. And some of youngsters already had plans for the afternoon. “You really want to go to the gym with me? I'm not sporty at all…“/”I wasn't planning to lift weights or run on the treadmill with you either… There's this relaxation room, but no one ever goes in there“/”um, so?” .

Michael looked at Peter. By now he was familiar with certain looks from him and recognized what he was getting at. And so far, there hadn't really been an opportunity for the two of them to be alone for a while. “And you mean… it's really quiet there?"/ ‘I've been to the gym so many times and I've never seen anyone go in or out.’/ ‘hnhn… so we'll sneak off after school?’/ ‘that was my idea, mhm.’. Michael blushed a little and smiled. And nodded in agreement. “O.k.”.

The older Bunch siblings also chat for a while. “Oh man, I'm glad it's finally out now with the Alto baby"/ ‘don't tell me you knew about it?’/ ‘Holly told me about it a long time ago, I just had to promise not to tell anyone’/ ‘not even your own sister? pff’/ ”you would have told VJ and eventually word would have spread everywhere. That's the point of a secret, sis, you don't tell anyone”.

School is over for the day and Bella would like to finish with a ghost story. After all, Mortimer has given her plenty of material for dark stories. There were a lot of ghosts in his family. Unfortunately, he no longer encounters them now that his family's large estate has been destroyed. And with it the small cemetery. After the story was over, the rest of the children made their way home.

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

Bachelor/Clavell/Wan Household

While Peter and Michael are on their way to the gym to have a little privacy, Bella is walking home at a fast pace. She was eager to tell what she had experienced in the classroom today.

In the house Pauline was already preparing dinner for later. “Mh, not even ready yet, but it smells pretty good, what's it going to be?”/ “Hn, something tasty. I'm really glad we can cook some good things, thanks to Jolanda's garden"/ ‘right…hardly anything grows now because it's too cold, the season is practically over’/ ‘mhm, and we have to be economical with resources…’/ ‘Uncle Xander!’.

“Yeah, what happened?"/ ”Nothing bad. We looked at a map of our town at school today. Everything was still green and all the houses were still there"/ ”hm, I see, and that was okay for you? I mean…"/ ‘Oh, yes, we talked about our memories and what we liked to do and stuff’/ ‘mhm, you must have been sad’/ ”no, not so much. And do you know what an otter eats?“/”Chewing gum, right?”.

“hihihi, no, he eats fish"/ ”aah, sure, I knew that. Where's your brother anyway, didn't he want to come home after school?"/ ‘no, he wanted to do something with Peter, but he didn't tell me what.’/ ”aha. Oh man, that boy”. Pauline had to smile a little. Because she could imagine that Peter and Michael also wanted to spend some time alone. They are young … and they would surely do their homework before anything else … right?

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

@greenplumbboblover😊

[lifewiththelulus]

Zil wants to impress Willow by writing his own song… but he has no idea what he’s doing.

Aurora would help him in a heartbeat

Especially after she realizes what it's about and who it's for

Once they finish, they take it a step further and surprise Willow with Zil going up on stage and singing it.

Welp thank you for adding to my playlist XD I swear a majority of what I listen to now is stuff y'all send me lol

Willow was curious about who the surprise guest might be, she was so sure it was another local band singer. She didn't question it when Aurora told her she wasn't allowed to know yet, and the night of she was prepared to see anything, but not him. She just about choked on her food when she saw him come out on the stage all dressed up. She definitely wasn't expecting him to grab the mic as the music started either

Aurora just has the biggest grin watching her little sister have most smitten look on her face. She's practically holding the other two back, keeping them from teasing while the boy she helped set all this up sang his heart out.

I'm a little too self-conscious to draw a detailed full-body shot of Zil in formal wear without my laptop, but it would look something like this.

Willow: oh fuck boyfriend material -

Zil: I'm pretty sure it's cotton….OH! :0

She would actually die if he ever heard her say that

Lol I'm just imagining Kindlin and Cirrus at a table together watching the show and Kindlin taps on Cirrus' shoulder and points at Willow

She's at a table in front of the stage and she's literally got hearts floating around her as he sings lol

Kindlin just kisses her cheek and whispers "I know that feeling."

When Aurora finds out Willow doesn't know the song was for her:

all her siblings:

Aurora having to hold the other two back because she promised Zil she wouldn't meddle. Plus, as far as she knew Willow had sworn off dating so it made sense to not say anything It's very painful to watch Willow try to figure out who the song was about tho lol

Willow swears she doesn't care, but she hasn't stopped bringing it up since that night XD

Zilan is going to go through hell waiting for her answer to his confession, when she doesn't even realize he confessed in the first place.

Oh man All those times she wants to hold his hand and stops herself because she thinks he's in love with someone else

Him literally melting at her touch, turning more solid and and dripping

Poor Zil XD Willow thinks he's suddenly sick and stops to ask if he's ok Bonus she cups his face in her hands to check him and see if he's ok

Wholesome size difference relationships are my bread butter AND cheese

Nebi and Charlie teasing Willow when Zilan visits lol Somehow they get him doing some lifting and he ends up showing them that yes he can lift Willow with one arm

the siblings:

[waterforlorn]

day four. october 10th. 9:02am

day five. october 11th. 11:38 am

two days are gonna go in one entry, cause i already know i ain't gonna do SHIT today and i didn't get to write anything down yesterday. turns out nico's decided that being sappy in just one place wouldn't cut it. so he took me not only to 1 waterfall, but 3. you'd think if you saw one, you saw them all, but nah.

i hate how easy this is to him, like he's never done anything else in his damn life while i'm barely hanging on. like, i'm FINE, i'm not worried per se, i'm just taking every day as it comes. i'm trying to adapt to nico's pace, trying to keep up with him and i think i'm not doing terribly but geez. days like today DO make me worry if he isn't gonna realize i ain't relationship material. i wouldn't blame him if he dropped me for someone more.... well, more. just more ... i don't even know how to word it cause sure, i'm lacking in something i never wanted to even be good at in the first place so it's not like i wish i'd done differently in the past to be better.

i know i wouldn't. i didn't WANT to until that dumbass looked at me with his stupid puppy eyes. one hook up was all i wanted. maybe a few more. casual shit. but how can i run from someone whose happiness makes ME happy? the moment i set foot into the hepha-whatever cabin after avoiding him for like what? days? a week? don't remember. the way he beamed when he saw me. i never fucking cared about other people's happiness, even less so what they thought of me. until nico. such a damn bother.

he demanded we take a picture together like an actual couple, which.. i mean... we ....are? yeah. kinda. i guess? like, we didn't exactly talk about it, but we talked about retiring together, we exchanged weapons... i mean like... even if i wanted to claim we aren't.. we ARE. the nice lady taking our picture was way too nosy but nico ...handled her so i didn't have to. thank fuck.

i thought we'd grab lunch after and maybe get back on the road, but no. second waterfall, nico ... i don't even know how he did it, but we had a picnic there. a picnic. like a pair of dumbasses. it was good though, guess he found someone to prep food for him. no picture that time. though he did kiss me and some guy with kids semi-choked. not the first time i've witnessed that. though i never felt defensive about it before. i never really cared about the people who kissed me in public, i just wanted to get off.

nico held me back though. good thing he's calm. sometimes. cause i ain't. like ever. by the time we reached the third waterfall, it was dark and of course he knew. cause when we came there and i told him we should just go back because going to see a waterfall in after sunset made no sense... well, of course nico knew what he was doing. it fucking glowed in the dark. don't ask me why someone thought it a good idea, but the place was crowded, so ... someone had a pretty good idea when they decided that. it was pretty.

after that, well.. we were busy for most of the night. i thought about sneaking out of bed to write, but nico at night... is like.. fifty percent security system, fifty person huggy bear. you get up, he'll know and worry. you don't get up, he'll snuggle your ass off. not .......that i mind. I DON'T. i like the way his body feels against mine even when we're NOT fucking.

soooo yeah it's like.. 12 pm by now. uh, not sure what the plan is for today, but i'm guessing food and driving, which is fine with me. i can drive for a while, too. i wonder if nico has more of these ... uhhhh dates? was it a date? well, kinda? whatever. i wonder if he's got more planned. guess i'll find out. kind of unfair HE got to prepare and i'm getting dragged along. WHATEVER.

nico's out getting breakfast... or lunch. both kinda. i can't believe i slept till 11. way to piss off my schedule. but it's okay. IT'S OK. i can derivate from the schedule sometimes. i'll be fine. it was worth it, too.

thoughts and emotions and stuff uh... think i got into that already up top but.. feeling a little frustrated with stuff. torn .. yeah. maybe overwhelmed, but like i'm not panicking. i'm just... overwhelmed and trying to follow the current. otherwise... i'm good. i mean like.. really good. pretty damn good if i ignore the little voice singing for me to find a target.

as for plans? just ... trying to think of a way to show appreciation i guess. nico's trying really hard and i feel like it's a pretty one-sided process for him. I KNOW WHY but he doesn't. i don't think he realizes he's the big exception.

and i hope he never finds out. he'd be unstoppable.

[dearcraziness]

Chapter 14.

A dark long shadow abruptly approached them and stopped.

"Bendy, Boris, so glad to meet you!" the black silhouette exclaimed.

Bendy and Boris wanted to run at first, but then Boris took out a hammer, and Bendy prepared his magical ink. The silhouette moved away and said, "Hey, hey, slow down! I just wanted to greet you!"

He came out of the shadow, he could be clearly seen. Tall, in a long white coat, wearing black gloves; reddish-brown hair sticking out in different directions; black glasses on his head. He looked like some kind of doctor or scientist.

"Who are you?  And how do you know us?" Bendy asked firmly.

"Oh, I'm Baffin, I work in a lab not far from here. I've been watching black and white creatures with interest for many years, but you guys are the most special. Your character, behavior. I was delighted to see how over the years you become kinder to each other and stronger in spirit. Not like some people... One day, not very experienced tourists accidentally wandered into my house and almost broke my reactor, such an accident could destroy my entire laboratory! Well, let bygones be bygones..."

"... So you've been spying on us all this time?" Bendy asked.

"No, just a few times. Then my lab needed repairs, I had to move all my stuff here... And then you came..."

"So you didn't deliberately arrange everything so that we would come?" Boris asked.

"Of course not. Although, I've always wanted to see and talk to you, but I didn't plan doing anything like that on purpose."

"I see," Bendy said. "Your lab is still in a flawed state?"

"No, I've almost finished the repair. I need all these substances that I left here in order to make various medicines for people like you. In general, I have been protecting the interests of Black and White creatures for a long time, especially those who don't have magical powers or are helpless for another reason. They need to be protected, for example, from people..."

"Yes, sometimes people are the real monsters." Bendy frowned.

Baffin patted him on the shoulder.

"Not everyone goes the way of illusions and stereotypes. It's just that the good ones are harder to notice. However, I don't think it's difficult for you." he smiled broadly. Bendy smiled too.

"Can we pick up some materials?" Boris asked.

"Of course, you can take anything you want. And if you need something else, my lab is right behind the oaks near the cave. I'll be glad to help you."

"Thanks," Boris and Bendy replied. "See you later!"

"Before you leave, do you mind if I ask one little question? Which is better: public approval or eternal gratitude?"

"Gratitude, of course." friends answered.

"I thought so." Baffin said.

Guys said goodbye to him and headed home. Bendy and Baffin smiled broadly at each other once more. It was pretty exciting to meet not quite ordinary person who understands real values.

Bendy and Boris couldn't wait to come home and tell the whole story to their friends. However, they came only in the evening. They told their pals everything, every detail, from beginning to end...

[the-firebird69]

We found that there are some mysterious occasion here and it was in Mars attacks so We examined it independently and I came up with this he may have been fried by an explosion but the explosion doesn't seem to have blown apart it seems to have been above him and coming from his feet to the top and it blew his skin and other stuff material over his face protecting his preserved brain,

Bones

I got to tell you this is what hurts he's having trouble pulling my name up now I can but this is how it goes these times are tough and this is gross this man may have hurt himself very badly thinking it was a clone and the clones did it to himself had him do it because he said he doesn't like the clones. And these two are powerful and their deities and it's kind of fun cuz they react like humans. You see it a lot and they look at people funny but they want to be with each other and have normal days this is hell for them and I will tell you that I found the burn marks to be consistent with explosions at the bottom the muscle and sinew and tissue are all gone except for skeleton and as you work your way up it did Force its way towards the chest and up over the face and it burned off and left a slightly scarred and charged skin over the face and the brain was protected by it it was the fireball and it didn't kill him completely and he was grabbed and entombed as he was no preparation and no tampering was found and there are no holes which is kind of a Wonder and I looked and there are injuries that are consistent with his from future movies and past injuries to the skeleton so I'm also aware that people are aware we did the study and they don't like it but the bones and everything else match perfectly not a little and we took pictures with silver and those are X-rays and it's impossible to mess those up and we looked at the machine and it's intact when we did it now I don't know why that happened but I do know that the brain inside of that specimen it's small it's like 4 in across it should be about 8:00 it's not a big man and I can shrink down when dried and you can still have the data and it looks like it could be intact but it needs to be preserved and people need to stop moving around and playing with it and it could be himself and he needs to wise up to it I'm tired of him saying people are stupid when he's turning out to be the one who is falling for a lot of really bad stuff but our friend is saying the max are coming back and they are fighting things like this and wow that makes sense cuz I'm a Mac, but as bones and I were discussing we're not worthy so we're going to have to relocate and stop sending you that stupid thing from Wayne's world Chris in my head now you're doing the wrong thing

Gabby

It's good you have scientists looking at at the stuff but I looked at it too and mine is like parasites but I understood what I was seeing and I messed it up and it is his skeleton and it's a perfect reaction like almost molecular level and it's impossible to replicate all of those breaks like that it really is it's like making a crystal the same way it's almost impossible Crystal would be easier our friend says is true and he admits that's almost impossible it could be replicated but it require a lot of power and we're not willing to throw our shoulder into anything like that they're just not a real point to it because he could escape and say he died so a lot of people are saying that but we could throw our shoulders but now the day that would not be useful so we are wondering something once you go back the date is useless if you don't get all of it or understood it back then it's kind of useless too so instead of wonder why we're here again mac daddy says I will tell you something this is very weird they have people calling me and it's charged remains and I'm there so I have to go look

Trump

Jesus you're right here stop laughing Chris okay Jen too so I see that's the way it is you almost got it but right now she would be probably doing what you're doing and she's probably helping you do it

Gabby

Lol get out just go I'm like the insects from district 9 the movie she doesn't care where don't have to die just stay away stay over there have good food in Egypt no alcohol it's perfect for you so I need drugs for you to go over the border Jesus this is so weird I am gonna be suck

Trump

This is how it goes it's a true story it's happening tons of people looking and finding is true they can't stand it and they see a match with Max and they're going to hell for seeing it and they don't know what to do

Thor Freya

There's a lot of leaders who said and I'm not alone he says we're not going to bother replicating all those idiots I can say they died and go somewhere else it's true too and it was forced by the clones that we do have a parallel and it's called Lucy I believe him too but he says the day is kind of useless unless you get up to the minute no but if they move to stuff it would be

Mac

[corvuscorona]

YESSS!!! ONE OF THE things that really charms&amazes me about SoP's writing is the way it sort of takes the. Memory of. when games had more simplistic stories / delivered those stories in a more simplistic way, and plays with it. every Thing that happens in the intro portion especially is quick & efficient to the point of comedy, which tbh would have been pretty good on its own; when I saw it for the first time I was totally prepared to be like 'haha yeah' and let that be the end of it, but it takes it a step further by tying that hyperefficiency into NOT ONLY the "hey remember when games had way fewer sentences in them haha" thing BUT ALSO THE time loop stuff.

It feels to me like they had a lot of fun finding ways to tie the 2 sort of halves of the premise together like that ("prequel to ff1" + "the actual plot we have decided that will entail") & Sarah's role is SO TOTALLY ANOTHER ONE OF THESE; you're so right. Her role is simple so they made her role SIMPLE and expanded upon how Weird that is JUST ENOUGH to give us interesting facets to look at & starting points to analyze & Philosophize like this :3

ikwym about the JPN vs ENG, altho I'd argue that (example) the way that scene w/ the foot-tapping is cut + the context that nobody expresses any amount of "what is this guy's problem" @ Jack in it get the message across just fine, even though they really didn't do anything in Particular to emphasize it w/ the localization or voice direction (which are pretty neutral (in terms of tone). I am biased in favor of this approach, tbh, but that's me). At the end of the day tho I really do feel like I find beauty anytime I find ambiguity with this game... They really did commit to the perspective and lens & those decisions manifest in So Many Ways

Much like I wish we had a local Jed Expert to write all the Jed Fic I can't write because I'm too busy writing Astos Fic I also think this source material could sustain a Lot of Sarah Fanworks that are mostly not occurring at this time; you're so right there IS a lot to elaborate on with her.. I am already minorly obsessed w/ the concept of her and Astos hanging out though. They like DEFINITELY got along, right?? I feel like she'd get a lot out of just listening to him go on about whatever. & They both think Jack is soooooo cool. There's promising hangout material there imo.

(P.S. pls see the humor in you being like "oh god I'm 5 days late to this post" & me like lifting my face off my desk Weeks later to respond lol... it's Blogging it's ok. It IS great to read everyone else's thoughts + this was always intended to be an open invitation. everybody can get to my posts late forever if they want. time isn't real. anyway THANK YOU FOR writing so many words omg. I enjoyed reading this in january + also right now.)

"You Never Forget Your First Love."

The other day, a mutual (hi! you know who you are I think probably hello hi! thank you for the Posting Impetus!) said something that made me curious (for, like, the 80th time, actually; lol. I Have Thoughts) about something: what's the split on people who subscribe to the "Stranger of Paradise probably intended for us to believe that Jack & Sarah were in love" mindset, vs. not? In general, but ESPECIALLY around these parts.

I genuinely didn't read it that way myself (& I do NOT normally give media (general) this much credit, but the writing in this game is sublime; I had no choice but to fully engage Scholar Mode on it), + I think it's interesting that SPECIFICALLY any of my fellow tumblr people / AO3-heads / Gay People Online / etc. seem to have. (I expect nothing from people who haven't been basting themselves in the same online sub-subcultures as me for over a decade. They're allowed to write wrong things on wikis, and have done so already; it's whatever.)

I wanna metapost badly again, so let's go. Join me. No poll. If you have an opinion on this, I'm looking directly into your eyes and beckoning you towards your own keyboard + also the reblog button / comment section, like a weird ghost. What did you think when you first played the game?? What do you think right now? What are you about to think after you have read a bunch of my words. Tell Me. I Need To Know This.

Spoilers for, idk, everything? Today we will use everything we've got to talk about Princess Sarah.

1. As a Narrative Element

This game makes a point of referring to Sarah as things like "a symbol of hope and peace" as often as possible, & when it isn't doing that she's usually in the role of An Object Or Device Of Some Kind, anyway. She's important because she's capable of holding light and dark in balance & SOMEONE'S gotta hold onto this dark crystal for safekeeping, and also we're gonna need to upset that balance on purpose later. There's that conversation in the Wicked Arbor about whether the Strangers would "choose" her (as opposed to "treasure") as the "reward" for succeeding in their mission[1], & there's the one in the Sunken Shrine where Jed asks Jack what he thinks of her and Jack says that he doesn't care about her as a person[2] BUT that protecting her is mission-critical (lol), too.

Sarah's death is metaphorically charged. It's the point of no return: the dark crystal breaks, the balance of light & dark gets extremely ruined, & Literally All The Darkness In Cornelia converges in one place (Fool's Missive XXVII). That's the payoff for the "symbol of hope and peace" motif, and communicating this idea that "the metaphorical light of hope just For Real Died, Like Catastrophically Imploded, No Take-Backs" feels to me like it was the highest priority here. Second-highest goes to "Jack had way more humanity before, but he set it aside on purpose and is actively in the middle of losing the rest of it." "Sort of." "I'm not getting into what counts as humanity or doesn't because if I did we would be here forever."

Basically, I'm saying that the tidiest read on the situation is "Jack despairs because Sarah dying means in a very literary and final way that everything is ruined forever, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with, like, Love (romantic)." I don't think the text of the game is particularly signaling that Love (romantic) is involved, and I think that if it meant to, it would be more obvious about it. You could bundle "an romance" into the "humanity" thing if you wanted to, but I'm not inclined to, based on some additional list items that you can read below this one.

[1] The fact that Neon ALSO says she feels bad for her for being thought of in this way only reinforces my conviction that the game is pointing at Sarah & yelling "REMEMBER THAT SHE IS MOSTLY A SYMBOL!", tbh. Who wants to go point out how freaky the mechanics of Being An Royalty are w/ me and the boys??

[2] I will give the Wiki WrongPosters this: I can totally see this as some kind of irony thing, given that he's still missing like a fucktillion of his memories when he says it. However! As mentioned above, I have other reasons not to read it as evidence that he was ever, like, romantically interested in her.

2. As a Sheltered Youth™

We don't have a TON of information to work with RE: Sarah as, like, a person, but here are a couple of hard facts to start with: she's 19 (per the data book, but she'd have to be somewhere in the 18-to-early-20's age range regardless or her whole deal wouldn't really make much sense, imo. She's a baby...!), and she's royalty. I think this ties into her utility as a walking metaphor, among other things; she's archetypically young, fresh, & idealistic. I'd call her naïve but the game obviously isn't interested in portraying it as a weakness, so positive words only; why not.

You could argue that people look to her as a symbol of hope because she hasn't directly experienced enough strife to exhibit hopelessness or fear in response to bad news in the abstract. I find it interesting that before Jack, like, knocks the wind out of her & tells Sophia to take her outside so she can see for herself how bad things have gotten at the end of the game, she says that her duty is to die with her people if she has to, & it doesn't even seem to occur to her that she could lead at least some of them away to safety...? When she changes her mind, she still talks about herself as a symbol before she ever uses the word "leader". She sees HERSELF in terms of symbols and metaphors, and takes action based on her designated role As One Of Those. Not very practical.

There's also the dialogue you can have with the queen the first time you're allowed to run around in the throne room at the beginning of the game, where she asks Jack to smile in front of her daughters (NOT just Mia; daughters, plural). Even if she only means "dude can you be polite please," the fact that this is The thing she has to say to Jack is telling. Is it going to upset your 19-year-old daughter to see that the Guy Whose Job It Is To Kill Monsters looks serious? Why do you think this? Does your 19-year-old daughter understand how serious the situation is, generally speaking? Do you not WANT her to for some reason? Boats don't work anymore unless a weird elf messes with them first. Not thinking very hard about the implications of this is something a sheltered person does.

Residual time loop un-memories aside, a young woman in this situation is so obviously going to have a huge crush on Jack Garland no matter what. He Is So Cool, first of all, & he's also Different from the adult men she gets to see on an everyday basis (family, guards, rando townspeople[3]...). It's not like the political social scene could POSSIBLY be thriving in this world, either; it all seems to be one kingdom we're dealing with and they're kind of busy with the external threat of being Under Fucking Attack By Monsters. Does she even get fun treats like "handsome visiting dignitaries" & what-have-you? The game doesn't present us with any potential options, here. Jack is mysterious, he has special-boy Warrior of Light status, his one job & apparent life's purpose is protecting the kingdom she loves, he's pretty nice to her (even in later cycles he at least goes out of his way to be polite!), & additionally, he's shredded. THIS makes sense to me.

There's a Q&A in the data book that has something to say about JACK as a symbol & what that has to do with this whole thing but we'll get there. We'll get there.

[3] Tangent: what's up with how Cornelia's entire adult male population appears to consist of aging queens. Why did they only make models that look Like That for the NPCs? It's awesome but I have 1 quastion

3. JACK JUMPSCARE !

I'm not about to say that he's just humoring her, or anything, but please humor ME for one second & put yourself in Jack's shoes. Not the default shoes; we can have more fun than that. Maybe the Banded Boots. Blurple ones? Shaped like a cartoon would wear them? Big spikes on the back for no reason? I love those things. Anyway, you're Jack. You're working for literally the king, & the work means Everything to you for reasons you can't even necessarily explain except to say that it JUST does. The king's eldest daughter (very young adult; Never Been Outdoors; a little overly-sociable but nice enough & what do you expect from a princess, anyway) has imprinted on you like a duckling for whatever reason. You would be nice to this person, yes? You'd be patient with her while you're in town. You have Brutal Murders to be doing, but not until, like, 2 days from now, or whatever; you're sharing space with her in some capacity in the meantime & it's in your best interests to keep her happy. (You probably even enjoy doing this, if you're Jack of a Way Earlier Cycle; I'm in no way ruling that out. Sharing your music collection with an enthusiastic Baby Adult? That's fun. I think he was probably having fun. Okay, you can step out of the fun purple shoes if you want; the Humoring Me Minute has concluded; thanks.)

Also, @2000sanimeop and I think that if Jack felt that way about her Astos would have been a little More Something about how much it was gonna suck for him when she died. In Fool's Missive XXVII he uses the word "painful," but that's about it. He doesn't even bring it up in XXV, which is the one where he says he's curious about whether she'd survive being turned into a fiend (side note: Astos fucking rocks. Why did he write that down?? I love him). & Hey SPEAKING OF ASTOS,

4. I wouldn't put Jackstos on a wiki, either.

The writing in Stranger of Paradise, SERIOUSLY, WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, is some of the best I've seen in literally anything ever. It suits not just its medium but also its sort of Place in History Relative to Other Video Games & the things it chose to DO with that medium & that niche INSANELY well. It is CUSTOMIZED. It's SO INTENTIONAL. I can't get too far into this or we'll be here all day, but the essence of what I want to say here is: there are relatively few facts presented to us by this game, compared to the implications we can go about drawing from those facts & other, external sources of context.

Sarah calls Jack her first love; that's a fact. No facts are presented to us that REALLY say much one way or the other[4] about what Jack thinks of this, himself; "fucktillion memories missing" Jack says he doesn't care, but he's missing a fucktillion of his memories, and DLC2 Jack has a set of dialogue options (hi Anne the Malboro I love you Anne the Malboro) that can point either way depending on what the player chooses, which is kind of nothing, on balance. As the audience, we can (should!) draw whatever conclusion we want about it, but none of those conclusions are text.

[4] I WILL GET TO THE DATA BOOK IN ONE SECOND. HOLD ON.

And, okay, please let me level with you. Let's be on the same page. Jack & Astos had some kind of thing going on, imo, OBVIOUSLY, but I want to be CLEAR and I want to get CREDIT for the things I'M bringing to the table to help generate this conviction. I drew that conclusion & I read that reading based on subtext, context, personal history, personal preference, & sheer gay zest for life. It is also, emphatically, NOT TEXT.

Astos refers to Jack with the ol' "...friend" in Fool's Missive XXI. He calls him "my Jack" in Fool's Missive XXXI. Canonically, textually, he has some big fucking COMPLICATED fucking feelings about this man. These are facts. If you're playing this game as Some Guy, I can see how you could potentially absorb these facts & still pay them much less regard[5] than I did & continue to. My argument here is that god I wish I lived in a world where Some Guy could extend the same courtesy to me and not treat Sarah's textual affection for Jack as something that necessarily indicates Some Kind Of Reciprocal Romantic Whatever, Definitely, Obviously, Of Course.

[5] Longer Tangent: I have been informed that the Some Guys of the world are currently pretty good at Recognizing a character that behaves in a way that's Pretty Gay, but tend to stop there, possibly for the combined reasons that A. they're not very familiar with a lot of the the ways gay relationships often work (you know, soul resonance. mutual recognition. sharing a brain etc.) and B. the Object Of Affection is usually the player character and they subconsciously shy away from thinking of a Guy They're Supposed To Identify With as gay. This is practically a lead-in to an entire separate post I could make, so I'll leave it at that, lol.

The writing is too good for that kind of assumption! I'M SERIOUS!! It's mind-blowingly subtle & endlessly fascinating to hold up to the light & view from every possible angle, and "Jack & Sarah were in love" + "Jack & Astos were in love" are BOTH ANGLES. I'm personally very very interested in giving the text credit for that. I think it's impressive. I think it's really, really cool, and I think it was on purpose. Speaking of which,

5. Word of God agrees with me, btw

This is from the Q&A section on page 156 of the Confidential File. The translations below are my own (I think they're straightforward enough, but lmk if you know more than me & I'm actually being stupid in there somewhere. Alt text has the JPN, if you want to copypaste it or something). Someone asked:

Why is it that you established Garland as someone Sarah has a romantic interest in?

The answer is from Daisuke Inoue (director, one of 3; the other 2 are from Team Ninja; he's from Square Enix):

That was because, from a narrative standpoint, we wanted Sarah to be the kind of person who holds onto hope. You can imagine that she saw the "hope" to save the world in Jack, a potential Warrior of Light. Sarah is seen by her people as a symbol of a bright future, but if there were nobody to give her hope, that might destabilize her emotionally. As for whether she felt genuine love for Jack, or just mistook her feelings of admiration towards him for "first love," we'll leave that to your interpretation.

The first time I read this, I thought the question was implying the aforementioned Reciprocal Something, but on closer inspection that doesn't even seem to be true! "思い人" seems to indicate a directional relationship; as in, the question assumes that Jack is an object of affection to Sarah, but assumes nothing about what Jack thinks.

Also, the answer uses the word "初恋" (hatsukoi), which is a very established Concept as far as "first love" goes, but in that one cutscene, Sarah says "初めての恋" (hajimete no koi), which is. Different, but I couldn't tell you how, lol. It's Not The Exact Same Phrase, but I'm not sure whether it's meaningfully different in this context. If I had to guess, I'd say that IF ANYTHING it could be a way of saying "first love" without invoking the cultural CONSTRUCT of First Love (as much)? But it's whatever. The localization holds up. All sources show that Sarah had Feelings about Jack, and all sources CONSPICUOUSLY neglect to mention Jack's feelings about her.

It was on purpose. This is my license to be as annoying as I want for one second here. I am right. All the other writing in this game is notably subtle, efficient, intentional, and skilled, AND ALSO, WHEN do you ever see anyone write such a richly beautiful, mostly-subtextual relationship between two men, which can easily be read as a romantic thing, and NOT explicitly canonize a very possible romantic relationship between at least one of those men and a woman, like not even in an interview or anything. What the fuck, man.

I'm putting away the Respectable Scholar Hat now. This is so funny. The person asking this question didn't EVEN go as far as assuming Jack & Sarah had any kind of Actual Romance going on, & the answer STILL dials it back to "she might have been conflating her feelings about Jack AS A SYMBOL with actual affection, also. We'll let you decide : ) ". This game is everything ever.

[sylphwriter]

Wilting of the Blessed Tree

Tales Whump Week

Day 6: Deprived I’m posting excerpts from my in progress work on rewriting my fic, Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia. So anyone interested can enjoy a sneak peek at what to expect, but otherwise it should stand alone without familiarity with my work just fine.

“Halure…” Estelle breathed in quiet wonder. “The ‘City of Blossoms.’”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Karol nodded, although he sounded disheartened. No need to ask why.

There wasn’t much blossoming about this city. If anything, “withered” came to mind.

The famous landmark of Halure was the outrageously huge tree the entire city had been constructed around. As the source of the city’s barrier it was the exact center of everything, with the construction of buildings sprawling over its roots as naturally as if they were hills and slopes. Some houses were more deeply integrated, standing arches of the roots threaded through spaces made in walls to let them pass through, coming out from a different side. Those roots were so thick that they were probably making up entire sides of some buildings and even the thinnest were like support pillars. But as the name implied, usually the most striking thing was the mass of flowers that were said to outnumber the leaves on the tree, petals ever drifting down to blanket the farthest reaches of the town below.

But there were no flowers on the tree or even blowing around on a stray breeze. There were shriveled clumps covering the branches instead; dark and splotchy purple interspersed with dried browns. Whenever the wind blew and shook the tree this ugly foliage rattled and dropped dead leaves, dried to the point of curling up into little cones and tubes with their sides touching. Reminded Yuri of the husks insects would shed and leave behind.

“What happened to the barrier here?” Yuri asked.

“Yes, there should be one…” Estelle squinted against the morning light as she peered up into the tree.

“You guys haven’t been to Halure before, right?” Karol checked with them. Estelle turned her curious attention to him but Yuri only spared half a glance as they followed the well beaten path they’d come across. Most of the swordsman’s apparent focus was on the outskirts of the city as they were reaching it. Well, at least one of them was listening. “Haven’t you heard about the tree barrier?”

Estelle nodded with confidence and spoke as if by rote. “‘Some blastia fuse to plant life, gain organic qualities and evolve.’ The tree barrier of Halure is one prime example of this. I read that in a book,” she added by way of explanation to Karol.

“Well thank you, professor,” Yuri quipped, proving he was listening. He glanced back over at Karol again. “So what’s happened to this famous barrier?” He frowned as he took note now of the city people; almost everyone he could see out and about wore bandages and splints, some stained red or the dark brown of dried blood. And these injured people were rushing everywhere in a hurry, always carrying more bandages or shouting urgently ahead. Add this to the disturbing number of fresh dirt mounds they had passed not too long before… “Doesn’t look like it’s doing much right now.”

“Every year, just before the blossoms are in full bloom, the barrier weakens for a while,” Karol eagerly explained to him, although the sight of the injured dampened his spirits. It was worse than just a shame that the people here had the bad luck that this happened to them. But it was just the reality everyone knew and lived with, especially those in the towns and places that had no barriers. The people of Halure were always on guard during the times their barrier weakened. “It’s just that time of year right now, and the monsters took the opportunity to attack…”

Yuri pressed for the details. “Is that when the barrier went down?”

“Yeah,” Karol looked down as he scuffed the dirt with his boot as he remembered. He and Nan and the other Hunting Blades with them hadn’t been there for much of the fight. They arrived when most of the survivors had been chased off, while there were still loads of monster bodies piled up where they’d been dragged away. The trails of their bloodstains ran frighteningly far into the city streets. “The monsters were taken care of, but the tree is slowly starting to decay.”

From the corner of his eye he glimpsed a blur of dark brown clothes and hair sprinting past him, jostling his shoulder. His mind was a bit slow to process the instant before the realization clicked. That had been a girl only an inch or two taller than him, with a brighter colored shawl draped around her shoulders and yellow sash around her waist. “Hey!” he exclaimed, making Estelle jump without noticing. That had to be Nan! And if she was so mad she didn’t even take a moment to acknowledge him-

“W-what is it?” Estelle asked, pink hair swinging as she looked around anxiously, trying to see what had prompted his outburst.

Karol picked up the pace and kicked up clouds of dust with his feet, scrabbling not to trip and fall over himself. “Sorry, I’ve gotta run! Bye!” he shouted back to them as he ran down the side street he thought he’d seen Nan disappear into.

“Does that kid ever sit still?” Yuri wondered aloud. With all that stuff hanging off of him, you’d think he’d get tired out a lot faster.

Estelle gave a soft little gasp.

Yuri shrugged off Karol’s spontaneous antics. “So I guess you’ll be looking for Flynn now, huh,” he started turning to Estelle only to see her run the other way. “Estelle?” Her full skirts billowed like a white cloud and she dropped to her knees by an older man slumped against one of the large roots, a concerned woman looking up from where she knelt by his side at the noble’s arrival. Yuri could see her mouth moving as she answered some question and then Estelle was holding her hands out over the man’s legs, healing formula shining into being over them.

Does she not understand what keeping a low profile means? He shook his head. As long as we don’t get a full repeat of what happened in Deidon Hold.

Halure was an imperial city but he didn’t see any knights around. Maybe there was a regular outpost here and they all had their hands full dealing with the injured and planning defense to worry about traffic from strangers. That’s what Yuri hoped at least. If he found out there weren’t any stationed here, even just for this apparently regular period of danger, he’d be mighty tempted to take a detour to knock some heads.

“Hey, Repede,” he said to the dog. Repede turned his head to look at Yuri with his good eye, and Yuri just tipped his own head in the direction Estelle had gone in. “Do you mind? I’m gonna look for a store and ask around a bit.” Repede yawned, pipe teetering on his teeth and almost managing to fall free before his jaws snapped shut on it. With that he ambled off after their wayward noble, who was already hurrying off after another set of concerned looking citizens leading her somewhere.

That was fine, Yuri decided. Estelle might end up stumbling across Flynn by accident. Knowing that busybody, if he was still here he’d be in the thick of things, organizing something, maybe even the care for the wounded.

Another skill of Flynn’s that Yuri just wasn’t that great with. When the action was already over and done with, there wasn’t all that much left Yuri could do himself. Well, at least that meant it wasn’t hard to think of what he could do. On the way to Halure they had hardly used any of the gels, he could trade some of the spares for food. People here needed the medicine more than their own little group probably would.

[rassvetsky]

hi! can i request a fluffy halloween fic with scott lang where he and reader does those couple costumes? 🫶 tysm!!!

i am literally in love with you for requesting this. my love for scott is beyond words and this is way too late and rushed but still pls feel free to request again whenever you'd like ily

88 Miles Per Hour

scott lang x reader

"Through costumes put together in a rush and water fights with resident trick-or-treaters, you found a moment of peace to memorize every single detail Scott held."

[2k] | just short & cute nothing worth warning u about except for. scott's beauty. obviously. halloween themes, feelings, kiiiinda friends to lovers but mostly just flirty banter, scott is a cutie and he deserves the world and i love him so much your honor

reblog and/or like for a kiss, feedback much appreciated! not proofread.

Time spent with Scott Lang felt like a whiplash- the dopamine high he tended to give you with his jokes and compliments could rival ecstasy. He wouldn't let you think about anything else; if life was stressing you out, he was definitely the man to go to because through the pointless conversations and intrusive DIY projects, his main priority was to make you feel good, safe and appreciated. And of course, to get you laughing so hard that you wouldn't even be able to remember what you were stressed out about in the first place.

But just like everything else, that went both ways. Scott didn't tend to show it when he was down, but through the decrease in energy, you could sense it. Hell, even from his tone through the line when you called him to ask him about his day- you'd immediately sense that something was wrong, and it needed to be fixed, immediately.

Because in your eyes, Scott deserved much better than what he already had in this life.

So when you showed up by his door with a bag of clothes picked specifically for Halloween and demanded a few hours of his time to prepare after a short call, of course he wasn't going to say no. It surprised you when he announced that he'd much rather stay at home for Halloween, knowing damn well that he was a sucker for the holiday. You didn't have time to ask him what he wanted to wear, since you were already sure that he'd say no if you offered to handle everything and force him out of his place; so an imposition was necessary.

Truth is, Scott didn't feel down. Not in a traditional sense, at the very least. But when you quite literally forced him out of his t-shirt to pull a vintage shirt on him and top it up with a lab coat, he couldn't hold back the bittersweet smile that took over his chiseled, beautiful features; the proximity making him feel all warm and fuzzy. When you rambled on about how you had to scramble everything at the last minute to pull off a Marty McFly and Doctor Brown outfit for the two of you, knowing damn well that he loved the movie, he felt nauseous with how deep his feelings laid within.

If only he could find a way to tell you.

He watched you as you took off your work shirt to change into a white check grid design short sleeve one, and pulled a denim vest on top, letting the signature red puffer vest lay on the couch for the moment before approaching him again with a grin. "The wig is a bit… Low quality, but we don't need anything more," you hummed, mostly to yourself, before pushing him by his shoulders to sit on the couch again- wig fitting materials already ready by the coffee table since you ordered him to go grab some of the stuff you missed earlier on. "Just don't move too much. Sit pretty."

"As long as you don't glue it down to my actual hair," he chuckled, watching as you shrugged nonchalantly.

"Not gonna glue much," you whispered, as if you were giving him a secret. "The lab goggles. They're gonna keep it in place- I feel like my genius is seriously under-rated…"

"It so is." he joined in, the top secret topic of the conversation hidden between your hushed, childish whispers as you giggled along, before you sat by his side and made him face you, slowly brushing his hair back. Your hold on his chin was so delicate that he could cry just by looking at you, and he probably would if that wouldn't make him seem like a complete idiot.

You made him feel things that he didn't even know he was capable of feeling.

And it wasn't anything new. Even back then, when everyone saw him as just another ex-convict, you saw a different light in him. Never discriminated against him, never said anything that could even slightly decrease the hope he had for the future. To you, he was the guy who would show up by your door with a bag of take-out that he bought with his last pocket money just so he could be sure that you weren't skipping meals. He was the guy who always knew just how to cheer you up, just how to hug you so well that all of your worries would disappear.

But then you'd hold him. Like he's this porcelain piece, afraid that he might break if you were any less gentle. You'd play with his hair and massage his scalp while telling him all about your dreams, and how he'd be there to join along. How you'd take him to Europe and then Oceania, then maybe Asia, and show him everything beautiful about this world.

You were so precious that he could feel his stomach filled to the brim with butterflies. Or moths. Big, fluffy, ugly moths that made him want to vibrate out of his body.

His bright eyes followed yours as you focused, carefully putting the short white wig on place and setting it down with the help of the goggles. He looked idiotic in an extremely endearing way that you couldn't help but coo, plopping down in between his arms a second later. "You're adorable."

"You're adorabler."

"That's not a word."

"But it's convenient," he hummed, pulling a chuckle out of you as you excitedly got back up.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?" you quoted, rather dramatically, as he laughed along with you and reached for your red vest, so you could put it on and the two of you would get going.

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit."

You were so proud of yourself.

Firstly, for knowing Scott like the back of your hand. Second, for being the reason he was already out of that gloomy mood- singing along to whatever 2012 pop song was playing, with a bottle of beer he snatched from somebody's table and a small packet of chocolate truffles that he held between your linked arms, as you two walked around the busy streets. People were all dressed up, shiny decorations everywhere- yet through all that light, Scott's eyes shined the brightest.

And you figured that there's nothing in this world you wouldn't do to have those gorgeous green orbs shining that bright with excitement all the time, just like this.

Feet dragging you to a familiar route, you practically pulled him towards the park, filled with kids comparing their trick-or-treat victories and grown-ups trying to get some calming going. Plopping down on the cold grass with a relaxed sigh, you waited until he sat next to you with a grunt, before leaning back on your elbows. "That was fun. But please don't spray kids with water next time."

"It was mutual spraying, why are you trying to make me sound like the villain here?" he feigned innocence but you knew better, judging by the victorious grin he held on before giving the kids their water gun back. You shrugged, instead deciding to sit up again. The lightning didn't allow much through the trees but he had a mature, yet boyish type of beauty that you could appreciate even in the dark. His eyes met yours when he noticed how carefully you were staring at him, though he had to avert them- much to your dismay, as you slowly lifted your hand to trace your fingertips against the laugh lines right by the sides of his eyes.

It only took a gentle touch to get him to look at you again.

"You've got two tiny hazel dots on your right eye," you whispered, trying to hold back a smile upon his attempt of stealthily popping a truffle in his mouth. "The other one is greener, I think. I can't see well from this light but- it's pretty. Have I ever said that before?"

"You explain me to me approximately seven times a day."

"Stop being an ass," a soft snicker left both of you. "I'm trying to memorize you."

He almost gave in. Almost. "What for? You see me a lot."

"I don't see you enough." you shook your head to both sides. Was it the liquid courage or the festive season, you'd never know; but the way he was still smiling gave you all the green lights you could've asked for. "You started to grow some whites on your beard. That's also pretty." your fingers moved down to his slight stubble. "Suits you."

He didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure if words could actually leave his mouth at that moment- so he just let you memorize him. Slowly. Centimeter by centimeter.

But he didn't expect you to just stare at his lips for a full minute, and then reach in to leave a quick peck on them. "And these- still as soft as I remember."

He let out a laugh at that. "We were drunk when that happened, though. Years ago, if I may add."

You shrugged, nonchalant. "It was the first thing I remembered the next morning though. And it was also so gross, God, you salivate a lot when you're drunk."

"You weren't complaining then," his tone was lingering on playfulness. "Can't believe I never kissed you after that to actually prove that I'm actually a better kisser."

"I have serious doubts."

"Do you?" he hummed. "You're a few inches from finding out."

Instead, you aimed for his cheek this time. Scott was content with just that, too, as he let his hand fall on top of yours on the grass, providing shelter from the cold. "Is it scary for you too?"

"Terrifying." he replied right away. "But- you know what? Doesn't matter. As long as I got you."

"Yeah. And- we can do whatever we want. We're unsupervised adults."

"We really should be supervised."

It was slow, from then on. In slow-motion, almost. Because neither of you were in a rush as you stole kisses from one another here and there, never feeling as if you had to put a name on it so quickly. You two were just… Each other's people. And meanwhile that wasn't even near being enough to carry the weight of the feelings you harbored for one another, it felt just right.

[apompkwrites]

reader impact || fan service scene: resting with you

series masterlist characters: diluc, xiao, zhongli genre: fluff summary: the creators of genshin impact have graciously gifted the players with a fan service scene featuring you! notes: i know dill's doesn't contain sleeping in your lap,,, i'm sorry but i hope you like what i provided :))

diluc -

diluc isn't one to have many sleep issues.

until the nightmares kick in.

whenever he can't sleep, he tends to just sit in his house.

it's always quiet.

not something you'd want after a nightmare, but he deals with it.

it's better than trying to expose himself to thousands or even millions of people.

but one night, after a particularly harsh nightmare, he remembers that the next day was supposed to be when he streams the newest genshin update.

but, he's already up...

and...

he probably will try to take a nap later today anyway...

soooo.

"i know it's a bit of an early, or late, stream but i was already awake."

his stream is definitely worried because this is the first time he streams at like 2:00 am.

he won't address it, though.

they don't need to know, anyway.

he pretty much tries to ignore any questions about his sleeping habits and opts to answer them very vaguely.

he is excited to play the update because he knows there's some more (name) content :))

he'll get everything done that he needs to do like commissions and events from them nice nice primogems.

and then here he is, ready to start the newest feature.

go to the angel's share.

ah yes, the place his character officially met you for the first time.

(he definitely has issues with interacting with patton before going inside)

the quest basically has diluc go around to collect more things needed for the winery.

pretty simple quest.

canonically, the quest takes the mc a few hours to complete because the materials are everywhere.

so a cutscene plays when he gets back to the dawn winery, which is where charles told him to bring the materials.

he walks inside and there you are.

greeting him with a brief nod and a wave of your hand.

mc drops the items on the table, ready to turn around and leave for another commission.

until you call out to him.

"ah, traveler."

mc turns back around and walks back to stand next to you.

you stand up from your chair and place a hand on their shoulder.

you stare at them for a moment.

"...i apologize. you must have been traveling for a long while to get the materials."

mc tries to wave you off.

"no, no. you'll hurt yourself. hm... come with me."

you literally CARRY MC TO A SPARE ROOM.

EXCUSE ME YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT SO CASUALLY?!?!?!

anyway, you pull up a chair next to the bed before placing the mc on the bed.

you simply sit in the chair, quietly stroking your thumb along the mc's arm.

"take a break. i'm sure the adventurer's guild will do just fine for now."

diluc is trying his hardest to hold back tears.

he just... really needed this.

xiao -

it's widely known amongst xiao's community that he has insomnia.

he talks about it a lot on how he has trouble sleeping and he even streams on the nights where it gets so bad he doesn't like being alone with his thoughts.

such is the case here where a new update drops and he's up and ready to play.

he greets everyone briefly as they enter the stream, rubbing his eyes and letting out small yawns every once in a while.

they always know when it's an especially hard night for him, so they come prepared with (name) emotes to try and cheer him up.

they don't have the heart to spoil him about the new update and what it includes.

of course, there will always be that one person who tries to spoil something.

the chat sees that and just spams (name) emotes to hide it.

and since xiao is pretty sleep deprived at this point, he doesn't notice.

now he's ready to actually play.

he'll complete his daily commissions and anything else he needs to get done before checking out the newest features.

he does know that there's a part in the update that features you :0

he doesn't know what the actual update is but he just knows that he'll be able to see you again :))

so he's going through the update, right?

just admiring you even if he's half asleep.

and here comes the part that actually almost put him to sleep right there.

his mc and you are walking down the streets of liyue and it's all dark.

there's a few lights here and there.

you two are walking down to the inn he had first met you at.

passing by the boss lady at the front counter.

walking up the stairs.

and there you two are, on the very balcony he ad first seen you on.

"...you seem tired."

his character doesn't say anything (as expected) but just rubs their eyes and nods.

pain is floating beside you two before going off towards the kitchen downstairs.

now it's just you two.

"you should take a rest."

your voice was so soft :))

you look around the balcony before sighing, taking a seat on the ground.

his character stares at you for a bit before you pat your legs.

"i told you to rest, didn't i?"

?!?!?!?!

YOU'RE TELLING HIM

TO LAY DOWN

ON YOUR LAP????

ASJHAKDHAK

ahem.

anyway.

his character takes a bit before finally letting their head rest in your lap.

he's thanking whoever animated this part because it's a POV shot from the mc.

he's just staring up at you.

you're looking down at him with the softest expression he's ever seen.

"...rest now. i won't let anything harm you."

his chat is freaking out.

he's almost asleep at this point.

life is good.

zhongli -

zhongli doesn't have a lot of sleep issues either...

if he did, he'd probably just drink some tea and try to sleep again.

he isn't the type of stream late at night/early in the morning.

because of this, he plays the newest update for genshin at his scheduled time.

some people who watch him are going to bed though, so it's late at night/early in the morning for them :)

he knows this and tries to tell his viewers to get proper rest.

"it isn't good for you to stay up so late."

he really cares about them :))

he's happy to talk to them though.

(he definitely knows people like his voice so he's happy to help them sleep by talking to them)

his daily objectives take longer considering he's taking the time to read to his viewers.

of course, all of the things he's reading are genshin based.

more specifically you, but they don't mind.

anyway, he FINALLY gets his stuff done.

now he's finally ready to start the new (name) quest.

he's like... one or two hours into the stream already.

but he doesn't mind longer stream, especially when it concerns you.

go to third round knockout

ah yes, the little restaurant you go to for stories about yourself.

and, of course, there you are sitting at your usual chair and drinking tea.

you invite him over to sit down, which causes another cutscene to play, talking more about your adventures as a god/dess.

and, to zhongli's delight, the quest fully begins.

the quest follows you and mc going around lie, exploring different areas while you talk about what you've done there in the years you've been alive.

it's a more chill quest that features lore and character building :))

and then you get to a more secluded spot in lieu.

just the two of you.

the sun has already set and the stars are shining down on the two of you.

zhongli isn't saying anything, reveling in the silence as if he were actually there, standing next to you.

and then your character takes a seat in the grass.

and mc follows suit, sitting beside you.

it isn't long before zhongli's character begins to drift off to sleep.

and that's when it happens.

you reach over and pull mc into your lap, your storytelling continuing as if nothing happened.

"this may be awkward, but i noticed you were falling asleep. go on ahead. i'll be happy to share my stories to help you rest."

zhongli, once again, isn't saying anything. he simply lets the cutscene play.

you're still recalling tales of your past, calmly telling them to whoever was listening.

it's calm and quiet.

and zhongli now knows why people love hearing him tell stories as they sleep.

because he is definitely getting that same sensation hearing you recall your past.