#but I didn't want to spend overly long with this one and the multiple characters already gave me a headache hahaha

[starwarjotta]

Cody surrounded by family and the people he loves, because that is what he deserves

[maochira]

Can you do younger sibling third wheeling bllk guys date?

I first wanted to do this for the bllk big bros series, but I ended up making it for a few specific ships I like!

Characters/ships: Reo x Nagi, Aryu x Tokimitsu, Barou x Isagi, Shidou x Takumi (OC), Lorenzo x Satoshi (OC)

Tags: gn!younger sibling!reader, reader is a child, not proofread

Big brother!Reo on a date with Nagi

-at first, Reo didn't mind taking you along because you're a fairly calm child and never cause trouble

-just today, you happen to be more hyper than usual and you're also meeting Nagi for the first time, so you've been excited about that

-Reo and Nagi are on a pretty standard date, just eating in a restaurant together and you sit at the chair with them

-it's hard for you to sit still and you keep talking to Nagi, sometimes you even get up to sit on his lap

-at some point, Reo doesn't even get to talk to Nagi anymore so he's getting slightly annoyed and kind of regrets bringing you along

-but at the same time, seeing how much you like Nagi and that you get along well makes your brother happy!

-surprisingly, Nagi isn't bothered by how much you're talking to him and that you want to sit on his lap all the time. He very much enjoys your presence

Big brother!Aryu going on a date with Tokimitsu

-Aryu didn't plan to take you along, but when he was about to leave the house you kept begging and begging to take you with him and he just can't say no to you

-Tokimitsu doesn't mind that at all, but he's always a little extra nervous around you because he thinks he's not good with kids (even though he's good with them, especially with you)

-Aryu and Tokimitsu decided to reschedule their original date plans to another day and go on a simpler date today so taking you along will be easier

-you always get overly talkative around Tokimitsu, for some reason, and he's having a hard time answering all your questions because you're asking way too many without a break in between

-Aryu notices how overwhelmed Tokimitsu is, so he tells you to calm down a little, but you're stubborn and only start asking more questions

-but that doesn't last long and you end up falling asleep in Aryu's arms pretty soon so he has to carry you. But at least he gets to properly talk to Tokimitsu now

Big brother!Barou going on a date with Isagi

-Barou has taken you along multiple times, it's no big deal for him because you behave well and get along with Isagi

-you're still confused by their relationship because yes they love each other but also yes they're rivals. It works for them. Somehow

-anyways, today you're particularly clingy to your brother, but in a way how he can't even walk properly because you're hugging his leg half of the time but also refuse to be carried by him

-it kinda ruins the mood for him and he's really trying to not get annoyed by you. Isagi notices that so he talks to you and you agree to be carried by him

-but then you get super clingy to Isagi and won't let go when he wants to go home, and instead of tearing you away from him he decides to stay at Barou's place for the night

-you only let go from him when you finally fall asleep later that evening

Big brother!Shidou going on a date with Takumi

-Takumi comes up with random ideas for dates all the time and today was arts and crafts, so Shidou thought it would be fun to take you along

-wrong. Five minutes in and you already have glitter in your hair and glue all over your hands with one of them being stuck to a piece of paper

-Shidou has no idea what to do, but he thinks you look kinda funny

-but then you get upset because the glue on your hands it annoying, so Shidou comforts you while Takumi helps you wash the glue off with warm water

-they also spend hours washing and brushing the glitter our of your hair. Every time they think they're done they end up discovering there's still glitter left

Big brother!Lorenzo going on a date with Satoshi

(Reader is Snuffy's child but Lorenzo is still your big brother)

-Snuffy is busy today, so Lorenzo happily agreed to take you along on his date with Satoshi

-Satoshi has met you a few times already, but he always feels like you dislike him. You actually like him, but you're too shy to properly talk to him

-for the majority of their date you just sit there in silence and exist

-every now and then Lorenzo talks to you to make sure you're okay. He's also trying to figure out if there's a way to get you to warm up to Satoshi more

-you end up playing soccer together, but you're still shy and don't play like you usually do

-you trip and fall, then Satoshi runs to you quickly because he's closer to you than Lorenzo is. Satoshi comforts you and that's how you bond with him for the first time. Now you love him

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[beevean]

One of my biggest problems with Sonamy is that despite its overwhelming popularity (or maybe because of it... yeah probably), portrayals of it have been so all over the place across the games, across adaptations, and across fanworks, that the definitive portrayal doesn't really exist, making it hard to buy into compared to Sonic's relationship with other characters. And no shade to Amy, but fans also tend to focus solely on how much Amy "deserves it", and disregard Sonic's needs completely.

I personally don't care about the fandom at large. I completely understand being annoyed by the general mentality and the popularity (I don't like Sonadow for similarly petty reasons :P), but it's simply not something I pay attention to.

It's not about Amy deserving her consolation prize. I personally have never seen that argument, I'm more familiar with "it's canon anyway!" which is dumb for multiple reasons lol. I, myself, even reject the popular vision of Sonic being overly romantic with Amy, with kisses under the moonlight and settling down to marry and whatnot.

I personally see some sort of relationship arc between the two. Unintentional? Who knows. But I see a gradual, tentative evolution from Amy being a lovestruck kid with Sonic wanting little to do with her (CD), to Amy still being stuck in her fantasies but showing Sonic she's worthy of being listened to (Adventure 1), to... admittedly a not-so-good period of time between Adventure 2 and Rush where Amy really was too much, to Amy actually protecting Sonic's life and him appreciating it ('06), to Sonic being despondent that Amy didn't recognize him in Werehog form and the two hanging out together as Amy offers her unconditional support until Sonic agrees to go on a "date" with her (Unleashed; note that I think Sonic saw the date as platonic, a chance to spend more time with Amy. Amy might have had higher hopes, though...), to what I call now a pretty stable point in their relationship where the two are just chill around one another. They're good, trusted friends :)

And that's really how I see them: good friends that can rely on one another. Amy has grown from being a childish fangirl to a true ally and equal, and Sonic now enjoys her presence without awkwardness. Long gone are the days when Sonic would leave her behind without a thought.

I still have my reservations on the current writing, as you might be aware, but I can define their relationship and it's one that I enjoy. It's not the usual "Sonic teaches a sad girl the joy of life" (I mean this with the utmost affection), but I do see a story of two unlikely friends growing closer and maturing together until they are each other's support.

[the-ellia-west]

Hello! Just came to drop by and ask about your current WIP, TCOT! I've seen your prompts for it and I want to properly know more about it. Sorry if it has been explained in your masterlists but I can't seem to find a solid explanation and decided to go here instead.

So! What is the story about? Who are the main characters? And what do they look like? And anything else you want to share about it?

Thank you so much for the Ask @justalittlebuddy

And I didn't really ever make a thorough explanation of it. Just a small synopsis, which only explains like the first 7 chapters?

So Here, a massively long ramble about TCOT, what it is, the conflicts, the characters, and everything.

Alllllrighty!

Here we go!

Explanation of the plot and general premise

TCOT is meant to be/ I'm hoping to make is an about 8 book Series of low fantasy setting with high action, high stakes, romance subplots, and way too much drama.

It's meant to be a basic War-centered fantasy story with good vs Evil with tons of interesting side plots and characters that make it its own interesting and unique project.

Main plot has never been a strength of mine, so I stole one from stereotypical children's media and twisted it into my own thing, adding way too many branches until I turned it into a tree.

The Story is meant to be a pitchfork shaped plot with An underline of the war plot while exploring the psychology and character arcs of all my lovelies in depth.

Now I probably accidentally re-explained that like 4 times as I tend to do, but whatever, Its general structure goes with the heroes down on their luck finding more ways to fight back against the Villains until something works. Other than that I can't explain without spoiling like the 17 consecutive character arcs that interweave to make the story what it is.

All I can say, is Kasi's shift from a seamstress to a warrior, Xhaazi's mental shift from a Jokester to a fighter, Chrin's shift from a nervous seer boy into a powerful influence, Sokuna's shift from a defender to a leader, and all the villain's arcs, that I can't say anything about unless Major spoilers. :]

The Characters

TCOT's main focus is on its characters and their arcs as already stated, There's multiple species, trauma, murder, magic, and morals thrown all about like party confetti in this series.

I can't say a lot about their arcs, but each and every one of them goes through some transformation into something completely different from what they were at the beginning, and This list of characters has an incredibly important arc which weaves together to create the big main plot:

Kasi, Xhaazi, Chrin, Sokuna, Marril, Shyre, Viasaki, Kila, and Geon

I will give you a parapgraph about each because I'm feeling talkative

Kasi

Kasi is a young Outlander who lives outside the walls of Feyrama's Capital City of Terefin with her father Julan and her twin brother Xhaazi. The twins never knew their mother and Julan doesn't like to talk about her. Kasi is a hothead with strong emotions and a tendency to throw-things-first-ask-questions-later. She's fiery and passionate, but she also has extreme emotions in the opposite directions, as in she gets overly excited sometimes, breaks down crying at minor inconveniences, or has panic attacks. But she's gotten good at controlling herself and seeks solace in her loved ones and her job.

Xhaazi

Xhaazi is Kasi's twin brother and a jokester, younger by an hour, and very easily excitable. Just like his sister, Xhaazi has a tendency to feel emotions very strongly, but he doesn't let life phase him and tells jokes to cheer up his friends and family as he loves seeing others smile. Their approval is everything he wants and more. He's upbeat and excitable, enjoying silence as well as loud places. He loves spending time with others and will help wherever he can in any way he can.

Chrin

Chrin is a very powerful young seer boy, who is related to secondary nobles through distant family. But no matter what happens, Chrin is all sunshine and smiles, seeing the silver lining on every cloud and keeping a level head in even the worst scenario, a stark and well-needed contrast to the twin's extreme reactions. He cares for everyone and just wants his efforts and love to be appreciated, as well as to help create a better future for himself and everyone he loves.

Sokuna

Sokuna is an adult shade who ran away from the other shades to protect her daughter from the ruthless training and bloodshed that comes with being a soldier raised from birth. She does everything she can to make a happy life for herself and her daughter in a world that hates them, trying to see the sun between all the rain.

Shyre

Shyre is a young noblewoman and Heir to the third most notable family in Feyrama, the family in charge of negotiations and Trade. She is kind-hearted and well-meaning, though a little naive to the true problems and violence of the world. Shyre can be categorized as a chronic optimist with a lot of passion and not a lot of street smarts.

Now... onto the villains...

Geon

Geon is Less of a villain than he is... actually I don't know what he is. Geon is a Prince who is the bastard child of the Roselite king and an Ahelite Sorceress (Ahelites are an Elven servant race) Born blind, he was shunned as inferior in every possible way by everyone except the only legitimate son of the King and Queen, his older brother Damian. Goen is kind, compasssionate and soft spoken, with a tendency to go against orders and isolate himself because no one in the palace besides his mother, Damian, and his assigned Aid Trissa, care about him. Well at least he's like this until... Shit happens.

Marril

Marril is a paid Assassin. He is also a Hitman. But mostly Assassin. He was cursed at a young age to serve the Shades and their king, and has been trying to scramble free of its torture for years. Guilt-stricken and angry, he is rude, callous, and generally a menace to people he doesn't like, he uses sarcasm and violence as coping mechanisms. He is formal, but a very generally angry person with a lot of trauma who just kinds of needs some help and a cup of coffee.

Viasaki

Viasaki is the First Lieutenant under Tias and The Vessel, controlling a battalion of soldiers. He is a strategic genius who uses most of his time to care for misfits and lost soldiers. But despite his empathy, he will usually follow orders without question. He wavers between his own thoughts, and listening to the voices in his head, while sometimes being controlled by The Vessel. The only thing truly keeping him anchored to reality is his utter hatred of Kila and Tias.

Kila

Kila is Tias' Warrior, also known as the second in command or most trusted of someone with high rank, you only get one, if one of your soldiers volunteers and proves themselves worthy in skill. Kila is worthy and works to stay worthy no matter what. Worthy of status, worthy of love, worthy of a home, worthy of not being thrown out of the mountain at any second, worthy of not being hit for doing a bad job. Kila is a raging perfectionist who sees the world as the strong and the weak. She is a chronic people pleaser and hothead who like to do things her way even though she tries her best to be the perfect servant.

(The only reason she doesn't try to please Viasaki is because she sees him as weak)

Anyway, those are my lovely babies, time for

Conflict

All of the Conflicts from TCOT come from the characters and circumstances

But the main ones are these:

The Main Trio really Fuckin' hates Marril

Viasaki and Kila CANNOT FUCKING GET ALONG

and

Y'know, war

Each book will be structured around a specific character, and developing their arcs, some will get multiple, it's just generally the arc that gets the most progress, and the character that has the most POV time.

Book 1 is basically an intro and set up for everything, but I love it, and I can't wait until we get into the real meat of this shit.

Anywayyyyyy, Book 2 is slated to be a Kasi book, #3 is planned to be a Viasaki one, and I'd have to find my google doc for the rest.

Anyway, thank you again for the ask and this chance to ramble! This is the premise and characters of TCOT! I hope you enjoyed and You'd want to read it!

(Also, if anyone wants to draw these little losers or look at Physical descriptions of them, I am trying my best I swear to make those.)

[sarnai4]

A Trio Of Perfection

(Spoilers ahead for RTTE). There's never been a time when I didn't like Dagur. I always thought he was a fun character, but I'm so glad that he turned good because his character grew so much more. There are three episodes in his post-redemption time that I feel do the best to show him.

The first is "Enemy of My Enemy." For this episode, I truly realized how competent Dagur is. It's not that he wasn't before, but with him being on the good side, we're able to see that directed in a better direction. At each turn, he's proving how capable he is in multiple situations. Obviously, he can fight. He easily dispatches the Hunters throughout the episode and does so stealthily too. That much I expected. The fun details were how cognizant he was of leaving trails, clearing up Hiccup's and his own so that no one followed. Along with that, we can see some of his practical skills with survival. He found a hidden shelter with fresh water nearby. It doesn't seem like Hiccup saved him by showing up just in time. Dagur was actually doing fine. He might have been lonely, but I'm almost not even convinced of that, however, I'll circle back to that. We also see Dagur's competency with softer moments, not being rough with Toothless who's hurt by the Dragon Root; more of his intelligence since he had the wherewithal to memorize the antidote; and his emotional intelligence since he can tell what's going on with Hiccup and tries to steer him away from his path of vengeance. Another little touch is how we saw his other practical skills like being a great swimmer since he got to the ship and also being a capable sailor since he was able to use it without any other Vikings there.

Returning to my point about Dagur possibly not being lonely, he just became my idol for all things introverted. The episode sort of tries to play it like spending all that time alone got to his mind more, but it actually helped. Speaking honestly, Dagur will never be fully sane and I'm glad they didn't try to unrealistically have that happen. His issue isn't being "crazy," it's being evil. He fixed that. Since being born, Dagur's been surrounded by 50,000+ Vikings. That's smothering. Even when he was on his own in "The Night and the Fury," he wasn't alone. The others were on the side of Dragon Island. Now, Dagur finally is alone and it's not a devastating thing. It's enlightening. It gives him time to think about what he wants in life. What he wants. Not what his father would have wanted, or what's expected of him as chief, just how he wants to make his life matter. Dagur said hours upon hours of alone time did him well and he was telling the truth. It gave him the chance to reflect, decide that he wanted to really have a family and make friends, and start taking measures to make this happen (meditation to control his temper more). I LOVE this episode. I could analyze it all day long, but for the sake of not taking up too much time in one post, I'll go to the other two episodes.

The second one is "Family on the Edge." Now that the audience is aware of Dagur wanting to be good, we're able to have less of the "Are you being serious right now?" type of scenes and focus on how he wants to go through his plan. It shows that he's not one to sit on his hands and hope things improve. He's willing to do everything he can to make things up to Heather and the others. He wants to apologize to them all and prove he means it. Something I love is that Dagur doesn't even feel entitled to their forgiveness. He knows he's done terrible things and that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't be so forgiving either. This also shows us more of Dagur's emotional side since he does try to hide it from them. We see in "Gold Rush" and "Mi Amore Wing" that he's not shy about being teary-eyed in front of others when the reason isn't overly personal. Still, he wanted to leave before the Riders could see him crying when he thought that the one family he could have didn't want him. This leads to a part of the episode that I think is so beautiful. Dagur immediately goes into protective mode when he sees through Viggo's trap. He doesn't care that he was rejected by his sister and the Riders. He just wants to keep them alive. When he goes to the ships later, he's actually fighting against Heather who still thinks he's there to betray that. Imagine that. You wrote a goodbye letter because you knew that you could die while going through with something and the very person you're doing this for is trying to stop you. Only, they're not doing that out of love. They're trying to stop you because they just can't accept the truth that you want them to be okay and are assuming you're trying to hurt them. Dagur didn't even care that Heather had basically threatened to torture him earlier (mentioning how she could think of some things to do to him when they got back). If saving her meant death, then that's fine by him.

The third episode I love for Dagur is "Searching for Oswald...and Chicken." We see more of Dagur's protectiveness here, but it's also at what I consider to be a healthy level. He isn't the type of protector who won't let you go anywhere. He just wants you to do it in the safest way possible and if he sees that it'll hurt you, then he'll try to prove why it's a problem. He still knows she trusts Hiccup more than she trusts him and he goes there to get the Berkian to support him in this. At this point, Dagur doubts Oswald's alive and he doesn't want Heather getting hurt anymore. If all he can give her are a few answers about what happened to their father, then he'll do whatever he can. Even when the Sentinels try to not let them enter, he finds a way. When Dagur's confronted with the possibility that he's alive, he doesn't even know how to feel. This goes back to him hiding his emotions, but he breaks here when he's looking at that shelter. He tries to use humor to shrug off how scared he is, but it doesn't work because he has no time to delay. He has to open that door and find...what? A man who might hate him for leaving him on the island? A parent who might have hated him enough to leave in the first place? A former chief whose title was taken without it being properly handed down? A father who, even if he didn't hate him before, likely would after he'd explained every horrible thing he's ever done? When it's revealed that Oswald's already dead, it goes back to Dagur's own experiences. He also had been shipwrecked, but he found clarity and hope for the future. When Oswald was shipwrecked, he found only death and solitude. Still, Dagur doesn't let this break him. He reads the note, continues his father's fight for the dragons, and returns with the information he had promised himself he would give to Heather.

I really could go on and on, but I'll stop here. Every moment with Dagur is one I enjoy, but these episodes just are chock-full of them in my opinion. So many of the reasons I love to analyze Dagur are contained here.

[asoulofatlantis]

It still bothers me so much that I have to grateful to that discount prince now... he saved my boys and the girls and he even allowed us to have that cool nostalgic moment of Rean and Crow calling their Mechas... damn it. But I AM grateful. You will stay the discount prince tho ;P

Seriously, I wish Valimar and Ordnine were back. I understand why they can not bring them back but... moments like this really makes you understand how much you miss moments like this. If Rean for whatever reason calls out to "Valimar the Ashen Knight" once again one day I think I will be in tears ^^'

I mean... he is somewhat "friends" with Olivert so I shouldn't be so harsh with him. I did get over my anger at Shizuna eventually too. So I guess I should be nicer to Sharid too, given that he saved my Boys.

Regarding Shizuna... really... its hard to hate her even after the fight. She was really nice to Rean and he was really nice to her so... if they aren't enemies there is really no reason for me to hate her. She is kinda fun too XD

Mint finds this all appearantly very funny and not at all shocking and scary XD

Olivert did that once too and it worked far too well...

Ah... we will only spend one more act with Rean and it will be close to the end. How sad. I missed my boy for so long and I didn't nearly have enough time with him.

Hah... back to Van and the ASO it is. Their plot isn't bad or uninteresting by any means and its not like I dislike the characters. But the pacing their routes is always so darn slow. Its like shewing on old bubblegum that once was really sweet and soft but now is hard and tastes like nothing. URG!

Elaine and Agnes in the same room. Don't tell me we do not play the replacement game this time?

I skipped a lot of Vans story because I was hardly interested in it until the end so I have honestly no idea if those guys from the past (and the future past? The other loops, I guess...) brought stuff with them from their timeline or if someone else has their hands in it too... at least I still have mysteries to solve in Vans route ^^'

Oh so we do have both girls in the team this time? Nice.

(Looking at this picture it reminds me of how it always bothers me how fine Elaine is with the fact that Agnes is always the one sitting and standing next to Van, despite the fact that I am sure she knows very well about Agnes feelings. I know she is an adult and not petty or anything and I am probably far too used to Elie and Alisa being so overly cautious and jealous when it came to their man and almost always automatically took the place at their side but... still. Either she is immensely confident in Vans feelings for her, or at least Van not having feelings for Agnes or her maturity is really a bit too unrealistic for my liking because no matter what, you do want to be the one standing next to your man, its only natural, even as a strong independent woman. I mean she hinted multiple times that she wants him back... so shouldn't she push him in more than just verbal ways?)

Sometimes I wish I would have had played this game completely blind, because it would have been so much fun to imagine that grand birthday party for Agnes as the end of this game and this the Calvard-Arc and maybe even having Reans Team and Kevins Team over for it as well... everyone just happy and things are going well. Instead, whenever they talk about it now, its depressing because we know its not going to happen. And it is not just an "oh well we postpone it to the day after her birthday because something big came up" - kind of thing, its... theoretically never going to happen. There never was a plan for a party to begin with. Heck. Yume never met Agnes. I... its just... so sad.

You know... on one hand I am glad he is not the kind of guy who buys some random useless shit for Agnes just so he can say he thought of her. But on the other hand I am kind of upset about him having to ask her what she wants instead of finding something for her himself. After all he knows her for almost a year now. Says she is special as his assistant and yet he can not come up with a fitting gift for her himself?

WTF?! The weirdest people come together in this game.

Zemuria is very small I tell you...

If you are wondering why the pacing in Vans story is so obnoxiously bad... this just now was one of many unnecessary non-optional events we have to watch in order to move the story. It maybe that some of those conversations play a role eventually one way or another... but I feel like they could have done this very differently.

And if the garten isn't dragging the pacing down even more. Those stupid connect events sure are.

Urg. I feel bad doing Elaines when I don't have one for Agnes. But I know I need to see this one so... here we go.

I wish you wouldn't! Move on from him for gods sake! If you are lucky this guy has to sacrifice himself next and you end up crying. (Just saying. He too has a death-flag over his head. We saw it with Rean that we CAN overcome that, but the Calvard-Arc is darker and more mature. Not sure if Van is as safe as Rean ended up being...)

The pattern-repeating suddenly pops into my head. Know who also suffered partly because of a certain girls father? Yeah... that one. I've know this battle was lost when Kai started... but I can just not stop hoping. I understand the appeal of this ship and I tried to like it so many times, because that would be the easy way. But I do not like this ship. Its boring. Childhoodfriends... that broke up once because he was a lost idiot and now finally reunited fall in love again. How freaking fucking boring. I feel like the reason Agnes appeals to me so much more, is because I like the idea of this semi-adult man being saved by a schoolgirl. This guy that lives in the grey area, saved by a girl that has always been protected an sheltered and and never truly experienced the dark truth of the world before. It feels so much better to me. More interesting.

Also - and I do know I repeat myself here - it just isn't fair. Van has been in Edith for a few years and never once took the chance on rekindling his relationship with Elaine, even tho she was there too. Only after Agnes joined, after he found a family in the ASO he was able and willing to recindle his relationship with Elaine. And it just... isn't right that Elaine gets the man, even this without Agnes, he would like have kept her at arms length forever and there would not have been anything to recindle. Elaine doesn't deserve him. Agnes does. She saved him in so many ways. And no, I do not want to play down how Elaine managed to keep Van sane after what he has been through. But he ran from her in the end and she let him. While Agnes not once allowed Van to run away from her, always followed him, always scolded him for running. Its just... URG!

I am with Elaine here for once. I get why it didn't happen in the first game and even the second but at this point, if Falcom wants these two together that just fucking get it over with!

I also think Van still dodging things gets to the point were it doesn't make much sense anymore. I get the situation with the inner Devil-Thingy beeing a problem. But why not say "I love you and I will definitly be with you, as soon as I figure things out." But he keeps saying things that make it look like he doesn't know what he wants himself but that doesn't really fit his usual demanor regarding Elaine either. Its like Falcom just keeps dragging it on for some reason.

Awwwww. How nice. This smelled like him from the start anyway XD

I know she surely won't leave until the Calvard-Saga is over (I hope... no idea what the soft-reset brings us - or takes from us for that matter...) but I already miss her. With this being the first game without Olivert at least visiting In-Game (not just the credits...) it would have felt very lonely if she wasn't there at least.

I know Kondo said that just because Elie and Lloyd have family here doesn't mean they have to be here as well... but it feels so odd to speak with her father and our characters don't even know her or their connection.

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I finally finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, and it only took me barely less than two years to do it. Woo.

I took a lot of extended breaks from it because I kept getting burned out on it, but the stuff I liked I liked enough to eventually make it through the rest. The game probably would've been better and I probably would've needed a lot fewer/a lot shorter breaks if it were like 20 hours shorter (it took me about 80 to do almost everything you can do on a single playthrough), which would've been really easily doable with a few QoL improvements and slightly better design decisions with stuff like combat and the dungeons, all while still keeping all the story/character stuff that I genuinely liked and never had a problem with.

The two biggest problems I had were the dungeons themselves and the lack of useful guidance/direction/tracking for a lot of the side content.

Dungeons first: they're just too long. Make more of them but have each one be smaller, or keep the same number and make them a bit shorter. I always was like "are we there yet?" by the time I got to the end of them, and they really started to drag. The unique gimmicks for navigating each of them were mostly fun the first time through, but some of them suck suck suck every time you have to go back there for a character's side quest or a request or something. If I ever have to even look at Illusory 106 again I'm going to hunt down the person who designed it and bludgeon them with a Wii U gamepad.

Quest tracking second: it's mid at best and nonexistent at worst. Doing everything through an in-game phone UI is a fun idea, and it works pretty well for some stuff. The organization of it for quest info is not the best though, and having to reread a bunch of text messages to hopefully find the info you need is not great either. The worst offender is the requests though. Hi, sorry I didn't play your game for like five months, but I have no idea what this dingus wants me to do because I can't use the notes app my phone doesn't have to write it down apparently, and they'll only repeat a single sentence to me that doesn't have any useful information for me to figure it out.

Sometimes even when they do tell you and you don't stop playing the game for months in between the information it gives is pretty vague and makes it hard to figure out where to go and what to do too. Cool, I have to get...a thing? And it's in this idolasphere...somewhere? Is it on the ground? In a chest? From an enemy? On the third floor? Near the boss? Oh, I'm just supposed to run around for an hour until I stumble on it (or look it up online)? Cool and good, fantastic way to respect my time. I don't need a glowing line on the floor or anything, but give me something to work with at least.

Anyway, I liked most other stuff about it. The combat system is fun, even if I did get a little tired of it by the end because of the overly long dungeons (also not being able to permanently learn skills and swap them in and out of your loadout whenever you want is a dick move, no one wants to spend multiple hours relearning everything just to try a different setup) and each attack takes like twice as long as it should even with quick session on.

I still think it's one of the better looking games on the Switch. It's not super technically impressive or anything, but the art style and character designs are fun and colorful, and thank you for not trying to push the hardware beyond what it's capable of. Slightly lower detail and simpler lighting but native(?) resolution and a mostly steady framerate will do wonders for image quality and let people actually enjoy all the fun stuff your artists did.

And the characters and story were all surprisingly fun for me. It definitely came out better than a lot of actual Fire Emblem stories, and they really leaned into the shonen anime in a fantasy version of the real world vibes and made it work while still incorporating a bunch of FE stuff while they were at it. I actually ended up liking pretty much all the characters and the way the developed and grew across the story and how that tied in with their FE counterparts too. And they really did just go for it and turn Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light into Shadow Dragon and the Opera of Light, because sure why not?

Kiria's probably my favorite, which isn't super surprising because I also really liked Tharja when I played Awakening (so many people seem to like her because she has female mages aren't allowed to wear clothes disease or hate her because she's a bad parent, but they're both wrong and the real most important thing about her is that she's a snarky bitch in a cast full of people trying to use the power of friendship to save the world). I actually found Itsuki pretty relatable though, which surprised me because usually generic dude main character is completely unrelatable to me in stuff like this. He's just a decent guy who learns that the thing he's best at is helping the people around him feel better about themselves and support them doing their own things, which like yeah me too buddy, if only I'd learned that when I was 18 too.

So yeah, pretty good game that I mostly had a good time with, even if there were a few moderately big issues that frustrated me more than I would've liked (see also: holy crap the amount of time I spent going through the menus just to upgrade weapons must be measured in multiple hours at this point, please streamline stuff like that). I think I liked it more than maybe half the Fire Emblem games I've played and every other MegaTen or adjacent game I've tried too, so that's something.

[forestnumen]

Could you please answer Questions: 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36, 41, 42, 44, & 48.

Thanks. 😊

1. Who is/are your comfort character(s)?

Ok don't laugh but for a very long time it was discord from my little pony...nowadays it's Klaus from the umbrella academy, Sydney from I am not okay with this (I can't believe they canceled season 2) and catra from the new She-ra. Probably a few more but those are at the top of my head.

8. How many waterbottles are in your room right now?

A normal waterbottle and one for tea.

11. Favorite extracurricular activity?

I never was one who did a lot of those. I was forced to go to ballet classes which I hated and once I dropped out I didn't get into anything new. Mostly just spend my time drawing at home. I loved the writing class we had in primary school though. I also did archery for a bit.

12. What kind of day is it?

Sunny autumn day with a few dusty clouds hanging in the distance. It's 20 degrees Celsius for some reason. Monday 10 am on a public holiday, so everything is really quiet.

13. When was the last time you ate?

About an hour ago... Dark dry bread with hummus for breakfast.

14. Do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

What kind of person doesn't like that smell? It's the best after a long summer day or on a cool autumn morning.

21. Something you've kept since childhood?

The pig plushy my mom got me when I was a baby. A really old book of Grimms fairytales, my dad got it as a kid and everything is written in old German letters. There are also 2 Russian dolls that I got from my great uncle. They are part of my favorite childhood memory of my cousin and I visiting him in his atelier. He put together a game for us and in the end we found a buried treasure.... We each got a fossil root (I lost mine and I will be angry about this for the rest of my life) and two Russian dolls. My cousin got the bigger two in blue and I got the smaller ones in red. He still has them aswell.

22. What type of person are you?

I honestly have no idea how to answer this. Most people describe me as quiet but tough. I'm definitely more on the shy and introverted side. I'm often a bit to harsh on myself as I'm quite perfectionistic and have a lot of expectations for myself which lead to me being quite indecisive and procrastinating a lot. I'm someone who's still trying to figure out where my place in this world is, who I am and what I want. I'm not one who judges people easily, I keep an open mind and rather see their perspective. At the same time I'm a terrible communicator, I struggle with intimacy a lot of the time, not great at letting people know what I think or feel. Terrible hugger, you could hug a cactus instead of me and it wouldn't make much of a difference. I know some people like my stoic way of handling things but I do feel like I should be more emotional a lot of the time. Often it seems to me like I'm a cat amongst overly excited golden retrievers, if that makes sense.

26. A scenario that you've replayed multiple times?

A conversation I had with someone in a hostel in Sydney 3 years ago.

31. What type of music keeps you grounded?

Mostly Rock music. It sometimes switches to kontra k if I'm in a really bad mood.

33. The last adventure you've been on?

The vacation trip to Marseille with one of my best friends. It got quite adventurous when we found out that the train we wanted to take on our way back was completely booked out...and we don't speak a word French. We made it home though.

34. Is there a song where you know every word by heart?

There are definitely a few where I might now everything but won't admit it. Probably hura die Welt geht unter by K.I.Z or Altes Fieber by die toten hosen except that I keep forgetting the first few lines.

36. How many times have you changed your URL?

One time I think. This is the first URL i actually use.

41. How do you take your coffee?

I rarely have (selfmade) coffee. I usually go for latte macchiato with oatmilk whenever I can.

42. An app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

I spend way to much time on YouTube, which is why I decided to not allow myself any social media until the end of the week.

44. You get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

Honestly no idea. Also depends if killing them would actually make a difference.

48. When did you first try an alcohol beverage?

Probably Carneval when I was 13 or 14? Just a sib from my dad's beer... Thought it was gross.

Thank you for all the questions :)

[pastabadguy]

and do any of the regular character ones u want for chelsea, gable, and carl

Basics

4. Chelsea and Gable's actual ages are both unknown since they aren't really bound by time. Chelsea became the station's host when she was 26, though. Carl is in his mid 20s. No idea with Gable but probably that range too.

7. Carl is human. Gable is probably not human anymore, but mostly seems so. Chelsea is something else entirely, but she looks human.

Appearance

1. Chelsea is white, kind of chubby, and has long blonde hair. Carl is white, lanky, and has curly brown hair. Gable is Black, also lanky, and has very short dark brown hair.

3. Chelsea and Gable both dress like fancy evil businesspeople but more flamboyant (because I design their clothes and I can do whatever I want so there!) Carl just wears t-shirts and jeans and is a little ratty.

4. Chelsea carries herself very confidently, unless she is mentally unstable in which case she moves erratically and possibly even beyond physics. Gable carries himself awkwardly, but not overly so. Carl moves quickly and always appears overcaffinated (he isn't he's just like that)

Personality

1. Chelsea is chaotic neutral to chaotic evil, depends on how she's feeling (she leans more neutral towards the end). Gable is true neutral, maybe even neutral evil at points. Carl is chaotic good.

3. Gable likes country and western music for some reason (Chelsea is annoyed by this), as well as exploring the various realities he's in. Carl is a conspiracy theorist so he spends most of his time looking into shit like that, but he also likes listening to Chelsea's show. Chelsea isn't able to enjoy many hobbies, but she likes enjoying good food or imagining what she'd do if she could physically leave the station

4.(this became more "problems with them" rather than "things they're bad at") Gable is incredibly clumsy and often breaks things. Carl falls for shitty conspiracy theories a lot (his best friend Maisy has had to explain to him multiple times that, no, that is not a trustworthy source, that is probably a bigot). Chelsea lacks a moral compass for most of the story and actively spreads chaos, as well as being kind of a dick to Gable. She gets better.

7. Carl's original goal was to learn everything he could and uncover secrets and stuff, but later it becomes to help Chelsea and stop the station. Chelsea originally had the same motivations as the station, but later her goal became to escape it. Gable originally didn't have a goal, since he'd resigned himself to the situation. Once there is any hope of escaping the station that becomes his goal as well.

Background

4. Chelsea is the main character/narrator. Gable is her assistant (starts off just being mentioned and eventually becomes like the secondary main). Carl is the love interest for both Chelsea and Gable and also kickstarts the plot hey thanks Carl!

5. Chelsea and Gable live in a dimension-hopping, powerful, sentient radio station and they hate it. Carl lives in a really bad apartment with a moldy bathroom and bad electricity and he hates it. Which is worse?

Relationships

1. Chelsea and Gable only truly have each other, but Gable doesn't trust Chelsea enough to consider her a friend (he assumed she was just a figment of the station). Carl has a best friend named Maisy :)

3. Chelsea and Gable both developed crushes on Carl as he got in closer contact with the station. Carl fell in love with Chelsea. I'm sorry Gable you deserve romance too maybe I'll make somebody for him

5. Chelsea and Gable both hate the station, Carl hates for their sake too. Chelsea sort of has an enemy in Lele, a longtime listener who does more and more extreme things to get Chelsea's attention before realizing she'd rather go for the station itself and take Chelsea's role.

I was gonna do fun facts but this got so long o.o

[awizardmademedoit]

(( So this is my Jan Patreon reward from @spacelingart . It seemed to fit perfectly as part of the Winter Solstice Incident, so I wrote it! ))

"That went better than expected!" They'd barely reappeared wherever it was Calleo had decided they'd end up after disapparating from his grandfather's now in half ruins, definitely chaotic house and already had another "cigarette" lit.

"And you? You were positively brilliant!" Calleo grinned at Aldig, "I don't know that I could have managed to pretend not to understand a language around a group of people like that for nearly as long!"

It took Aldig a moment to get his bearings; after all, they had all been (technically) aiming at him. "When that cousin of yours, after spending an entire day staring at me, remarked that she thought Goblins were a myth, I was so, so close to breaking character I--" he looked up at Calleo, "--just how many of those things did you bring with you?"

Calleo gave what he was smoking a too long, overly critical look before he handed it to Aldig and answered, "At least enough for five or six days; I had no idea exactly how much things would need to be escalated to make it a solid, '...and never let any of us see you again' level incident."

"You know, it's alarming that you apparate while using these but also not the least bit surprising," he snatched the offered thing from Calleo, who had started chattering on about all the various things about the various relatives that had been present that he didn't like. 

At some point, that "cigarette" ran out of anything to burn and Aldig finally interrupted Calleo, "Thing is, your idea was all right, but I thought it was a little too obvious being half done like that."

"Half done?"

"Added a few touches to it before you got the door open, that's all," Aldig canted his head and cocked a brow. As he brushed his hair back into place he grinned up at Calleo.

"...where'd your tie go? And when did you roll your sleeves up like that? You've got your shirt collar in one hell of a state as well!"

Satisfied, after a few passes, that his hair wasn't an unseemly mess any longer, Aldig shrugged lightly, fished his tie out of one of his pockets and tossed it to Calleo. "I know that, that's what I was telling you; the way you did it wasn't convincing at all."

"You can't just loosen a tie and screw up my hair, that'd annoy them but probably wouldn't have got them as irate as they were; this actually makes it look as though you did something while we were outside for that ten minutes!"

"If I'm going to play a part, it's going to be convincing. If I weren't good at that, I'd be terrible at my job."

For awhile, a very long while, Calleo stared owlishly at Aldig, which wasn't unsurprising considering how far he likely was from sober.

"...I've never seen you without a tie. "

"The hell you haven't, you've seen it multiple times over the years," Aldig examined the half burned thing Calleo had been smoking, "What's this one anyway? Aside from being strong enough to make you look at a room full of people fully prepared to kill both of us and remark on their poor aim, I mean."

Of course, Calleo was now fixated on the lack of tie; seeing Aldig look even remotely casual was a rarity.

"If you walked in looking like that, I'm not nearly as surprised at their willingness to blast the front of the house off!" He laughed though most of that statement.

"These are some new ones the Muggle lady two doors down grows; the one who thinks I have some kind of in road with law enforcement and all I did was put a modified Muggle repelling charm around her property! It's mean to have an excessively calming effect without turning one's brain off in the process."

Calleo sat down on the ground, not even near one of the trees, just where he was standing, "One of the places Koggot takes holidays in is near here; didn't want to apparate right in as I don't know if he's done any redecorating lately and getting splinched would have put a damper on the evening."

Eventually, after enough looking around the area, Aldig relit what Calleo had handed to him, "This the one in Switzerland or the one in Finland? Or do you have no idea which direction you went?"

"Third option!" The response was more a laugh as Calleo shifted from sitting to stretched out on the ground, "It's one of the two! I'll know once we get inside, they're decorated differently. They're different on the outside as well, but it's dark."

"...but it's dark..." Aldig repeated after a drag. "Hunðeow, if you've forgotten how Lumos works, it's time to put that thing out and not light another one!"

Calleo might have tilted his head if he hadn't been laying on the ground. Instead, he lazily lifted a hand and pushed an equally lazy appearing ball of light from his fingertips over to Aldig's face, stopping it just short of bopping the Goblin's nose with it.

"Seems to work just fine!" He watched with some curiosity as Aldig swatted at the light, snuffing it out with the gesture.

"You really haven't been to one of Koggot's 'I'm completely fed up with other people, I'm going to go live in a cabin in the woods for a week'--only since it's Koggot, 'cabin' is more just...another house with stuff he ran out of room for in one of his other houses?"

"Considering you don't know whether you apparated us to Switzerland or Finland or somewhere else entirely that just happens to look similar in the dark, I can't answer that on account of not knowing where we are."

"Apart from in the woods." Calleo pushed himself up and, as he passed Aldig, ruffled the Goblin's hair back into one of those unseemly messes again.

That earned a clawed swat, though it hadn't been nearly hard or well aimed enough to cause any real damage. 

"Apart from in the woods, right."

[bleepblopbloop56]

The Murder in the Dressing Room

Chapter 3: 2 buttons

Chapter one, chapter 2, ao3

Warnings: slight suggestive content around the end (not too bad), murder/character death

As always @pathos-logical did an increble amount of work on this and everyone should go give her all the love

-

"Dada!" Logan could hear Patton's protest from the other room, which was quickly followed by the sound of unsteady footsteps that grew louder and louder until his one-year-old had run straight into his legs. He finished buttoning up his shirt before leaning down and lifting the child into his arms. Logan was the last person on earth you'd expect to want a child, and in a way he didn't. Or at least, he hadn't, not at first. About 16 months ago, his best friend had died giving birth to Patton, and all hopes of becoming "Uncle Logan" were thrown out the window and replaced with "dada".

His roommate Virgil walked in the room after the child, a small grin on his face. "The lil rugrat keeps getting away from me!" he laughed, sitting on Logan's bed. "I don't think he wants you to leave." Logan bounced the baby on his hip before handing him down to Virgil, earning a soft "nooo" from the child. 

"Thank you for watching him Virgil, I really can't tell you how much you're helping me." Logan shifted his attention back to Patton and smiled, poking his nose lightly. "Dada's gonna be gone for a while, okay?" The baby shook his head furiously, pouting before stretching out his arms and making grabby hands. Powerless to resist that face, Logan picked him up and began to bounce him again. 

"Pattttonnn," he sing-songed. "I gotta go, baby, or else I'll be late." He smiled at the boy clutching his shirt while trying to discreetly check his watch to see how long he had till he needed to leave. "Go to Uncle Vee now, okay?" Despite having lived with Virgil as long as he had lived with Logan, Patton had never really latched on to him the way he had Logan, deeming "Uncle Vee" as tolerable but not preferred- probably because of Virgil's piercings, tattoos, loud music, and overall gloomy vibe. 

Logan slowly pulled Patton off his shirt and placed him back in the arms of his roommate and friend. 

"Fix your hair before you go out," Virgil commented, standing up with the baby and tossing Logan's hair around with his hand. Logan looked in the mirror to see a "messy on purpose" look much more suited to Remy than him. 

"What was wrong with how I had it before?" he asked, flinching and covering his glasses when Virgil brought the hairspray to his hair.

"Too neat. If you really want this dude to like you, ya gotta loosen up." Virgil winked at him before unbuttoning the top two buttons of his dark navy shirt.

"This isn't a date, Virgil, this is a meeting between two friends to discuss the loss of… an acquaintance," Logan sniffed, but the shirt remained the way it was.

Patton let out a big yawn, arching his body before settling into Virgil's side. He seemed to have resigned himself to his fate and decided now was a perfect time for a nap. Virgil effortlessly adjusted his hold on him before quirking a pierced eyebrow at Logan. "Oh really? Your ex-boyfriend strolls into your life after you lose your mutual best friend, and now you're meeting up for the first time since the breakup." Virgil walked to the corner of Logan's room where Patton's small baby bed was set up, laying him down gently. "I've seen enough telenovelas to know that this will end with a makeout session in the rain." 

Logan rolled his eyes before stuffing his wallet and phone in his back pocket. He leaned down and kissed Patton's head softly, whispering a soft "love you" to the sleeping baby before making his way to the door. 

"Be home by 10!" Virgil called playfully, careful to make sure not to wake up the baby. 

"I am not a child, Virgil, I do not require a curfew," he joked, smiling back at his friend. He walked out the door and softly clicked it closed as he made his way down his apartment's hallway. 

"Is!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!!"

"ISN'T!"

"IS!" Remus shouted over Roman, laughing loudly before kicking his legs out, only to be silenced to a pillow to the face. 

"It. Isn't. A. Date!" Roman punctuated each syllable with another whack of the pillow, earning himself a kick in the gut. Amazing how even after twenty years they acted like they did when they were five. 

Remus kicked Roman again, shoving him into the floor and also probably leaving a considerable bruise. 

"Jesus fuck," Roman groaned, "do you always have to play so rough?" He lifted his shirt to observe the red mark on his stomach, flinching as he prodded at it. 

Roman ignored Remus' whiny "It's not my fault! You were trying to kill me!" and pulled himself up, picking through the mess on the floor to look through Remus' closet for anything he could pass off as acceptable fashion. Unfortunately, his twin's taste in clothing was… very different from his own, to say the least.

It had been three days since he and Logan had agreed to meet up, three days since Thomas has been murdered, three days since he'd last returned to his and Thomas' house. It hurt too much to go back now- he needed time. 

"Why the hell is everything you wear straight out of a clown's formal wear catalog?" Roman sneered, holding up a neon green polka-dotted suit jacket before dropping it in the trash can. Really, it was a wonder anything was hung up at all, considering the state of the house Remus was currently infesting. 

"Shut up and take what you can get!" Remus snapped, coming up and scanning the closet beside his brother. He reached in and yanked out a black pencil skirt before shoving it into Roman's hands. "There, that'll get you some detective D," he leered, wiggling his eyebrows. It took every ounce of self-restraint Roman had to not fucking deck the man in the face.

"I had planned on wearing pants," Roman scowled, thinking of how cold the walk back home could get, but he folded the skirt over his arm nonetheless. After some more bickering and insults, Remus managed to dig up a plain red short-sleeved button-up for him from the bottom of his drawers. 

"Do you have any makeup?" Roman called from the bathroom, frantically smoothing out his shirt from where it was tucked into his skirt, trying to keep it from leaving any weird bumps or wrinkles.

"Why the fuck would I have makeup?!" Remus yelled back. ‘Probably for the best,’ Roman decided. ‘Spending another minute in this bathroom might be hazardous to my health.’ 

"I don't know," Roman complained, stepping out of the bathroom and pulling on a pair of Remus' shoes. "You paint your nails and own a fucking pencil skirt, it doesn't exactly seem like you've fallen victim to toxic masculinity." He very maturely stuck his tongue out at Remus as he took out his phone to check the time. He glanced down, and then again with disbelief. Shit. He'd spent way too much time bickering with his brother, and now he was running late. 

"If I'm not back by midnight, don't come looking for me," Roman winked. It was an old joke- they used to say that to each other every time they snuck out of the house for a date or to hang out with friends. 

"Aha! So you admit it's a date!" Remus cheered, leaning forward for effect. Roman simply slammed the door in his face and began his trek to the restaurant. 

The restaurant was bustling. Friday nights were the busiest for all of the restaurants in the area, especially the nice ones. Roman had picked the place, although the reason he would choose such a nice place for a friendly gathering was beyond Logan.

As per usual, Logan had arrived early and seated himself in a booth near the back of the restaurant. Today, however, he was regretting his punctuality for multiple reasons. First of all, the restaurant's dim lighting, supplied by fake candles and an overly gaudy chandelier, called back to other times he had waited on Roman at some fancy restaurant for date night, and the longer he waited, the harder it was to suppress those memories. Second, the more time passed, the more self-conscious Logan got. After seeing all the men in nice suits and ties pass by, he was starting to regret letting Virgil mess up his hair instead of sticking with the neat slicked-back look he wore on a daily basis. 

And third, Logan had been waiting for so long he was beginning to suspect Roman had backed out on him. Just as he was promising himself he'd leave after another five minutes, he saw a man in a red shirt and tight black skirt squeeze his way through the restaurant. 

"Hi, I'm sorry I'm so late!" Roman rushed out. His expression went from apologetic to annoyed in a second as he said, rolling his eyes: "Problems with my brother, he can be a real bitch sometimes."

The explanation startled a laugh out of Logan. Roman's exasperation looked so genuine that Logan couldn't doubt him, and… it was nice to see that Roman hadn't changed after all this time. He waved off Roman's worry, who smiled with relief before sitting down and picking up a menu. "Wine?" 

Roman giggled as Logan pushed him against his car. Okay, so maybe after a bottle of wine it was… more or less a date.

Logan's hands pulled at Roman's shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing his hands under the fabric. It had been so long since they'd kissed like this- far too long since Logan had kissed anyone, really, and Ethan had never used to kiss Roman like this, like he was the center of his universe. 

Logan ran his hands over Roman's stomach, accidently pressing on the fresh bruise. Roman winced and pulled away, pushing at Logan's hands.

Logan backed away immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked seriously, brown eyes wide and sparkling down at Roman with concern. Roman chuckled and pulled up his shirt, showing off the now red and blue bruise.

"Remus," he sighed wearily. "You know how he is." He leaned back in and connected his lips to Logan's, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and dragging him down in a much less heated kiss.

"Can we go back to yours?" Roman asked quietly. This was really what he needed after things ended badly with Dee. Even if they could just snuggle like they used to, it'd make everything seem okay again. 

Logan shook his head. "I can't," he winced regretfully. "I have a child now, Ro, and Virgil's still there with us…" He trailed off, fiddling with his glasses. Roman smiled softly and nodded- not pushing, not asking for more. They'd just have to wait. 

"I could give you a ride back to Remus' if you'd like," Logan offered instead. "Making you walk home after, ah, that, seems rude." He laughed a little awkwardly, his smile a little strained, but Roman only nodded and pulled open the passenger door he was pushed up against only moments before. 

When Roman returned home just before 1 am, it was to find Remus lying dead on the kitchen floor, a golden mask with a deep frown adorning his face. Just like how he'd found Thomas…

The murder in the dressing room taglist:

@cataclysm-al @theteenagetrickster @intrurality-fusion @katie-the-noble-fangirl @whizzie72 @grayson-22 @i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing 'm-d0ing @winterwonderland7669 @missieluvsmurder @sign-from-god-complex @dragonindigo245 @angryfanboyscreaming @ninja-wizard101 @sombraookami @crystalistrappedintheinternet @imtooaromanticforthis @why-should-i-tell-youu2 @dragon-hair @satanblessi @spookilyfingergunsoutofexistence @skruffy901 @selectivereality

[jennsmischievousmind]

EXSOMNIS

CHAPTER 4 - Two birds, no stone

Exsomnis: Wakeful, vigilant

Summary: Fresh Doctor out of residency you didn’t expect Conyers to be this uneventful until everything happened at the same time. From the outset, an odd meeting with what seems like a steadfast Detective but it was only the beginning.

Notes: English is not my native language, I’m trying to get better at it, please be indulgent.

Based on the movie Prisoners by Denis Villeneuve (so I don’t own any of the OG characters) if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do (maybe before reading) :) The story takes place before and through the event in the movie.

 Thanksgiving was around the corner, meaning you were short on staff at the hospital leaving you no time to spend at home. Erin and Rachel were at Rach’s parents, they had tried to convince you to come but family dinners were not your thing, even more with a family you practically don’t know.  

2 days before Thanksgiving you crossed paths with Detective Loki. Since last time you didn't really have time to meet, so you took a few minutes around a coffee to catch up. He noted that you were alone on Thanksgiving’s night so managed to invite you for dinner. 

 “Dr Y/L/N, I’m sorry but we need you to stay on shift tonight, we’re shorthanded.” The HR announced as you were taking your break. You cursed under your breath, the HR gave you an apologetic smile. Phone in hand, waiting for Loki to pick-up you hoped he was busy too, it would make it easier.

“Hey,” he answered, you heard rustling papers, he was surely at work, you huffed alleviate.

“Hi, uhm, I’m sorry I won’t be able to make it tonight. Got to stay at the hospital. Understaffed.” You announced at once, ripping off the bandage as fast as possible. He could understand, it’s kind of the same at the station. He inhaled on the other side of the phone.

“Duty is duty, don’t worry.”

“Come out next year, and we'll do it all over again ok?” you heard him chuckle

“Let’s do that but not next year.” He offered hopefull.

“Agreed, see you soon then.” You bid goodbyes wishing each other a happy Thanksgiving.

 Little did you know after your call he asked to stay on shit for the night.

  A few hours later, you were finally free from the Hospital but you frowned as soon as you put a foot outside. By the time you reached your car you were soaked, the heavy rain whipped your windshield, making driving difficult indeed it took you twice the time to head home. It was 2 am on your kitchen clock, you wondered if Loki was still up, you texted him not expecting an immediate answer so went to bed immediately.

You woke up around 9am, dragging your overly tired self to the coffee machine, checking your phone while the hot liquid filled the big cup. Rach and Erin had ranted about how Thanksgiving at Rach’s parents went horribly awkward. Erin had even sent a ‘rescue me’ video from Rach’s parents’ toilet in the group chat, you couldn’t help yourself to smile and blessed yourself for not going.

No answer from Loki, you felt this inescapable pang in your stomach when you find yourself led, in the blink of an eye, to question your own emotional life.

Then your phone buzzed.

“Busy, talk to you soon, sorry. Loki” you stayed silent reading the text multiple times, somehow relieved that he had answered but not quite sure of how to render the text. Trying to find something to say, you finally decided for an “Ok sure.”

You drink your coffee lost in your thoughts, heading to the living room. The news on TV blurting the Thanksgiving usual hazards: Snowy roads; traffic jams; accidents; lost items in turkeys...

“Yesterday in the usually quiet town of Conyers, Thanksgiving turned into a horrid day for two families. Two little girls disappeared in broad daylight. Soon one suspect was in custody, he was apparently driving an RV that was parked in the girls’ neighbourhood early in the day. He tried to run away with his vehicle when found at a gas station parking late last night. The two girls are still missing as we speak.”

“Damn it.” you shook your head sighing, what is wrong with people you thought while listening to the news and at the same time checking your sns.

“Detective Loki from the Conyers Department of Police has been appointed to the case.”

Raising your head from your phone, mouth agape at the TV, you rewind all the pieces of information in your mind. If you had known sooner you would have said something else in the text. Long minutes passed, during which you wondered if you should send him another message. The blinking cursor in the box "new message" seemed to became impatient until the buzz of a call made you jump. 

“Y/N, have you heard about ...!? A honk made you put the phone away from your ears. Only two words “Loki”, “abduction” were audible.

“Hello to you too, yes I’ve just heard, that’s awful!”

“Yeah, hi, definitely not good timing for you though!”

“Erin!” you scolded and heard Rachel do the same. 

“Okay okay, just trying to lighten the mood.” she apologized.

“Where are you by the way?” you turned the TV off.

“Traffic jams.” She sighed, another honk resonated in the phone, you heard Rachel swear at another driver.

“Tell me when you’re home. And ... we should stop the night’s run for now just in case.”

“I wish we had to stop for another reason.”

“Yeah, call me okay.”

“Yeah bye.”

Instead of the usual run, you met with the girls for board games, usually, it involved a bottle of wine and Rachel’s exquisite cuisine. 

“Okay, hear me out” she put her glass on the ground, you rolled your eyes. All night she had asked about Loki.

“What about your needs Y/N? I feel like you're waiting for him to finally give you some time of his, as you're not a priority.”

“I'm not a priority right now Erin.” You sipped on your wine. 

“You know what I mean. I am just afraid that you're making his needs overpass yours without taking care of how you feel in all of that.” Her hands making big gestures, you grabbed them.

“We’re not even a couple or something, calm down! you smiled, I'm not blinded by the guy, I know what I worth, what I deserve. And my needs, for now, are fine thank you.” You stifled a laugh at her frowning face. 

“I shouldn’t have pushed for something to happen between you two.” she said questioning her cupid skills

“Ok, you released her hands and continued, look at me back in Cleveland, the exams took over me, the internship at the hospital was a disaster and how many times did you present me a guy?” 

“Lots of times…” she mumbled

“Yeah, and you want to know why it never worked out?”

“They were assholes.” She grimaced

“Hm mostly yeah, but I wasn't ready to be in a relationship! My mind was elsewhere, I had no time to take care of my physical and mental health as much as I should have. It was a hard time, you witnessed it.”

She nodded admitted it.

“I’m fine now but I can't crash into his life like that and take his focus out of this case especially because I know it won’t work out since he is concentrating on his duty.” 

“I got it okay, but there will always be another case and did he text you or something …”

“I know but I like to think we'll have a moment of respite. And he’s not quite the texter but that’s fine by me, you know I’m not a good morning and good night's texts kind of person.”

She stared at you squinting her eyes, you mimicked her wondering.

“You really want the guy!” she caught you so off guard that you almost spit your wine.

“Miss the point by miles, you cough, but yeah let's say that.” You both cracked into laughter. She was still a bit concerned, but she got around in the end.

40hours after the abduction, no sign of Loki except on the news, thankfully you had lots of work at the hospital so you didn't have time to let your mind wander.

When you heard the indictment of the paedophile priest, you almost threw a tantrum in the break room.

“How the fuck that asshole is still in charge of a church, he is surrounded by children all the fucking day!” you screamed at the tv, scaring the surgeon next to you, some students looked at you from the lunch table. The ringtone coming from your pocket made you walk out and step outside on the emergency staircase allowing you to take some fresh air.

“Hi there..,”

“Hey, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner”

“No no, it's okay I've seen the news. I know you have a lot to do ... and the freaking priest ... I mean why is that guy still out there.”

“I don't know Y/N, I'm not a judge.” He answered with a tight voice.

“Right sorry, I jumped on you, it's just that..it's really upsetting.” you sighed rubbing your eyes.

A 2-seconds silence felt, giving you both opportunity to breathe in and change the subject.

“Are you all right?” You asked

“Tired mostly, he inhaled, I wish .. I could see you without feeling guilty .. but my mind is on the case..” 

“Hey hey, you shushed gently, it's okay, they are the priority here.”

“Why didn't we met at another time.” He said gravely.

“At least we've met, even though you had to be stabbed for it to happen.” He chuckled over the phone. “I have to go back, be careful out there.”

“You got my word.”

He hung up, you took a big breath of fresh air before stepping back in the building, thinking of what he said. What would have happened if you had met at another time?

Erin bumped into you. 

“The community is organizing a vigil in front of the Birch’s house tomorrow night, she handed you a flyer, you’re coming?”

“Yeah, I’ll drop by your place so we can go together.” she nodded and you sighed looking at the face of the two little girls on the handout.

Chapter 5: Respect all, trust few soon