#but got better. but this doesn't fit with the rest so into the void it goes!

[ramblebrambleamble]

"Knowing you, I presume that there is a reasonable explanation for all of this, but I am struggling to think of what it might be."

"A distinct disinclination to die," she said crisply.

"Ah. That would do it."

They looked at the smoking pile of rubble in silence for a moment. Then;

"And the Hammer of Thor? What happened to it?"

She bared her teeth at him in something a more generous man would call a smile, and he nodded acceptingly, which was just as well, really, seeing as the last person to press the point had just been buried under City Hall.

[phatcatphergus]

Hi, you reblogged me with a lore dump about Q! Tubbo and you mentioned that you'd be willing to do a character analysis? Please, I'm invested at this point

Ahhhhh omg hi! I can't believe you came back for more lol. You shall soon be a qtubbo stan like the rest of us.

I do want to preface this by saying that this is my personal lore interpretation so it's subjective. So many people have great analyses of his character, so I recommend watching a couple streams or looking at the tag for a broad scope as well!

That being said...

I think the best word to describe qtubbo is loss.

He was brought to the island having already lost parts of himself he didn't know. Through his time on the island, he lost respect, credibility, friends, family, teammates, nieces and nephews, penpals, godkids, mentors, and himself. He never had something he didn't end up losing, whether by choice or force. He loses what matters most to him, yet he continues giving his all to everyone he meets.

He came to the island with loss and no sense of who he was or where he came from, yet he spent all of his time for the benefit of others. He worked day and night so that other people wouldn't experience the loss of what he could prevent such as items or supplies. He never wanted anyone to experience what he experienced, even when they were the ones perpetuating it.

No one ever cared about him unless it was for a reason. His relationships were transactional and needed to be because who would ever care for someone with no firm sense of self or where you came from? When he couldn't provide a transaction of care, he made himself useful, he became indispensable so that even if people didn't like him for him, they could use his skills until they didn't need him anymore.

The only time he actually felt that someone cared for him, just to care about him, was Fred. Fred had no emotions, no sense of self, and no past to speak of. Fred was someone who had no reason to hate or use Tubbo because Fred was like Tubbo. Fred was the first person who could care for Tubbo because he wanted to, and not because of his use or someone's sense of responsibility.

Losing Fred meant losing the one person who cared about him without strings attached. Anyone else only cared about him because he was useful, a leader, an engineer, a neighbor, a business partner, a babysitter, someone to steal from, or just someone to poke fun at. Until Sunny.

With Sunny, Tubbo knew better than to expect her to stay with him. He learned from his past that he doesn't deserve something as wonderful as Sunny, that he can only love and wait until she is ripped away too. If he wasn't good enough to keep Fred, why on earth would he be even partially enough for Sunny.

He mourned her loss the day he got her. He knew he wasn't the best for her, he wasn't anywhere close to what Sunny deserved, but he did his best regardless and loved her more than life itself. Sunny became his tether and the only reason for him to stay alive. Sunny needed him like he needed Sunny. Sunny was the only reason he kept himself alive after Fred's funeral. Through the jeers, through the belittlement, through the disregard for his feelings, Sunny was there and provided him with enough purpose to keep going.

Fit and Pac dating made his only sense of security start to crumble. The two people he figured would stick by his side were moving along without him. They wouldn't need him in their life because they would need each other. They don't need his friendship anymore, his usefulness has worn itself out. He doesn't see them extending a hand to him as they step forward because he's too focused on the empty voids in his past where others should be.

He tries to break them up, and even if they hate him, he can rationalize that he did it for the right reasons. They may hate him but they're stuck with him, kicking and screaming by his side. Everyone tells him that he needs to find Fred, that he's projecting his romantic life onto theirs. In reality, he is too scared of leaving the island the exact way he started, with nothing to his name and no one by his side.

His character is such a battle between what he wants to do and what he feels that he needs to do. His entire run through purgatory was fighting others for eggs that weren't even his. He spends his days working on projects for other people and picking apart his failures when others can only see his success. He works tirelessly so that Sunny won't ever understand what it's like to be underestimated, beaten down, mischaracterized, and alone. Even if the world is against them, he will be in her corner to fight until his dying breath.

He loves so deeply and so purely. He tries to compensate for the lack of it that he has received after giving it away to whoever asks. He is depressed, anxious, and on alert. He has gone through trials and events with his head high and carrying the weight of others on his shoulders. He loves and he gives and continues to even when the people he gives his love to throw it to the side.

He has people in his corner, but his fear of them leaving has already made them vanish in his mind. He's a killer and a father. An engineer and a friend. A penpal and an adversary. He is loss and he is love.

[bandaged-writer]

𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 [𝗽𝘁. 𝟮]

what they gift you for valentine's day/white day [pt. 2] feat. fyodor, nikolai, sigma, tecchou + jouno

i forgot to mention it, but these are based on this tweet , so don't @ me for fyodor's part lmao 👩🏻‍🦯

— 𝗳𝘆𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗼𝘆𝗲𝘃𝘀𝗸𝘆

↠ it is during a match of chess and a cup of tea that fyodor casually mentions having a little gift for you fitting for the occasion. ↠ placing your chess piece one step further, you hum. "it really isn't necessary. i'm content just playing chess with you and enjoying the evening by your side," you assure fyodor, but he dismissively waves his hand through the air. ↠ and he makes you give in, talking about how much you've supported him in sickness and health, how the light of your smiles cures his blighted soul and how it's the least he can do. and you know his words ring true, because there's a little sparkle in his usually void eyes. ↠ "fine. what did you get me?"

↠ you might expect something simple like chocolate, some sort of jewelry or a book that he thinks will be to your liking, but oh no. fyodor got you something much grander than that. ↠ "i thought it would only be appropriate to gift you a piece of land. here." fyodor shows you the documents and your eyes nearly plop out of their sockets. ↠ you're nothing but an ordinary person with an ordinary job, but you didn't put your extraordinary boyfriend into the equation. what the hell were you supposed to do with your own piece of land? ↠ "fyodor, you're supposed to give away something simple like chocolate and not land. jesus, how much did it even cost?" ↠ "oh, is it not appropriate?" fyodor asks like he genuinely doesn't know any better, and he truly doesn't. the concept of romance is something he used to read about in books, but experiencing it himself is..different. ↠ you admit that you don't know what to do with a piece of land, but fyodor knows how to make you swoon, regardless. ↠ "one day, we will put a nice house on it in which we can live together. a place just for the two of us. how does that sound?" ↠ maybe it is romantic, after all.

— 𝗻𝗶𝗸𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗶 𝗴𝗼𝗴𝗼𝗹

↠ nikolai is a wild card and unpredictable, even for you. yes, you love him but you'd lie if you said that you could read him like an open book. often times, you had to read between the lines that make up nikolai's being. ↠ he sneaks up on you, spins you into a hug and wears a grin that reaches his eyes. "now! what did i gift you for this most special holiday?" but you never get the chance to answer. nikolai tends to answer his own quizzes, after all. ↠ to your surprise, his comical facade of a jester melts into a face so tender that you swear he was a different person. "i got you this little something." ↠ out of his cape, a white little bird comes flying and rests upon your finger. you don't really know what to say. you could hardly understand the meaning of the bird hopping along your finger. ↠ nikolai takes his mask off. "it's a symbol of how free i feel whenever i am with you. you have seen my most horrible sides as well as the one that is completely sane." ↠ he claims that with you, he doesn't have to fear judgment or your disapproval. "because humans always have a reason for doing what they do." or so you always say. ↠ now, you're learning to appreciate the little bird and smile at the creature. "now it's not half bad. you really saved yourself there," you joke and press a kiss to his cheek. ↠ and maybe nikolai can never be truly free, because he was captivated by you.

— 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮

↠ sigma is probably so busy stressing out about what to get you until the day suddenly rolls around and he has nothing to give you. that is until he spots a deck of cards on his desk and smiles. ↠ he remembers how badly you wanted to know how to play poker and gamble for his kisses, but your lack of knowledge never really allowed it. so the unused deck was perfect! ↠ "here, now the best option you have is to play this card andㅡ" ↠ "uno!" ↠ "..no." ↠ can't tell if you're serious or just fucking with him. ↠ despite a couple of difficulties, you eventually learn how to play poker and occasionally win a game or two against sigma. he willingly showers you in kisses and maybe he does lose on purpose. ↠ as long as he gets to see you smile, it's all worth it. ↠ "gotcha! you owe me another kiss." ↠ "i guess you win. come here to collect my debt." ↠ sigma's kiss is slow and sweet, thick like honey and true like the promises he whispers in your ear late at night.

— 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗼

↠ this man gifts you a bundle of sugarcanes. not because you look like one, but you're sweet like one, he says. ↠ "i've never had any, honestly," you confess, tecchou right next to you with affection in his eyes. ↠ although tecchou is somewhat oblivious when it comes to romance, he can be awfully smooth without really meaning to. he steals a sugarcane from your fingers, one end between his lips and the other end waiting to be conquered by your own lips. ↠ "they're very sweet. wanna give it a try?" ↠ heat rises to your cheeks, but you don't back down! you've kissed tecchou plenty of times, so you should be used to his lips on yours and yet.. ↠"f-fine.." ↠ tecchou edges closer bit by bit, his eyes watching your every move intently and he spots the goosebumps on your skin, the furrow of your brows. oh, you're so perfect for him, he silently swoons. ↠ however, tecchou's patience runs thin. he grabs the back of your head and clumsily smashes his lips against yours. the taste of sugar and something that is uniquely you causes butterflies to flutter through his stomach. ↠ although he is an oddball, you wouldn't want to change a thing about him.

— 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗸𝘂

↠ jouno might be blind, but he can still hear your body loud and clear. your heartbeat, the flow of your blood, your body temperature. to him, the sound of your heart is the most peaceful one of all; rhythmic, periodic and most importantly calm. ↠ he dislikes the noisiness of the likes of tecchou or teruko, so your calmness rubs off on him whenever he steps foot into the lovely home that was once an empty house before you. ↠ jouno soon realizes that you cannot hear him like he can hear you and he decides to do something special for you. in the late evening, when you were asleep and blissfully ignorant to the world, he grabs a little notebook and sketches the waves of his heartbeat. ↠ to be precise, the waves whenever his heart was beating in perfect sync with his own. ↠ "this looks an awful lot like an EKG," you deadpan and jouno facepalms. you're lucky you're cute or else he'd give you the tecchou-treatment. ↠ once jouno is done explaining what this little gift is, he can hear tears brimming your eyes and your lips stretching into a smile. your heart stumbles. ↠ "jouno..this is reallyㅡ" ↠ he's quick to shush you by putting your hand on his chest, smiling like the sly fox he always is. "we're in sync right now." ↠ yes, this is much more flustering than a kiss.

[anavi-vrg]

Undead Unluck Cinderella!AU: The Masterpost

Hi :3 it's been a while, but i had been non-stop drawing to bring you all the Cinderella!AU cast with UU characters, i will write the basics of the story later bc i'm incapable of writing long paragraphs.

The drawing that made me start this AU

Let's start with our protagonist, Fuuko as Cinderella:

But our dear protagonist needs her mice friends:

We got our mains first: Haruka, Top, Gina, Sean and Chikara, taking the places of Jaq and Gus

I remember that there were mice kids/children, the younglings!

Phil, Bunny, Tatiana, Lucy and Betty (almost forgot her)

Mice! Veronica and Tella are here to take care of them/protect them from the evil cats

With how many chores have to be done everyday around the house, there have to be some specialised mice:

In the kitchen, Billy works with the sweets, Enjin helps with the almost everything (he's too passionate for this job) and Rip cuts the veggies. Yusai can´t be let near the drinks alone, but she always knows the best one for the occasion.

There's so many clothes that need mending and cleaning, the Sewing Team: Latla, Kurusu and Leila, are the right mice to do the job.

(ps. i bet Kurusu and Gina smugled that book to make cute dresses for Fuuko)

Sooo many books to keep clean and organised in this house, good thing Mice Anno Un and Akira are doing their damn best to keep the house library in peak condition, they even have the time to dramatise Fuuko's favorite romance books for everyone

Mouse Feng does everything around the house, why? because he wants to be better than Fuuko in everything

Miscellaneous Mice bcs i don't know in what role do they fit: Grandpa Isshin, Creed, Mei, Shen, Mui, Mui's little brother (do we even know his name?), Ms. Hawkins and Void.

And we can't forget our dear doggo Burn, taking dog Bruno's place

This Au is not complete without some villains

Human! Luna as Lady Tremaine, BUT she's not Fuuko's stepmother, Lady Luna is a distant relative, grandfather's niece and further kinda deal

Lady Luna has three kids:

Big Brother Soul, the kind of person to say "BuT wE aRe FaMiLy" when he does something bad to Fuuko but would absolutely not tolerate any of Fuuko's mistakes

Middle Brother Apocalypse, evil? no, no, no, he's a tsundere, the kind to say "i'm not washing the clothes because i want to help you or anything! it's just that you are too clumsy". Fuuko sees right through his bullshit and thanks him eveytime she can to Apocchy's embarrassment

And Little Bother/Sister Ruin (i'm more inclined to fem!Ruin), she's considerably more aggressive to Fuuko than the rest, her aggressiveness spurred on by her mom Luna and big brother Soul. Apocalypse has tried to help her to no avail.

THE CAT! Why should we limit ourselves to one evil cat, when we can have FOUR?

Shadow hides in the dark corners and stairs, waiting for an unsuspecting victim, putting themselves in the middle of the path to make them trip

Blood wakes up and craves violence, he scratches the furniture, the curtains and people... Fuuko stays the fuck away from this evil cat

Spoil can't be let alone with the food, he steals it but he doesn't eat it, no, he enjoys watching it spoil and the faces of disgust from the people that find his masterpiece, fortunately dogo Burn is always guarding the kitchen.

Seal enjoys watching the desperation in peoples' faces as he slowly pushes the fine glassware from the top drawer to the cold hard floor, unfortunately for Seal, Mouse Feng is always watching

Do you remember the Gran Duke? the poor man was so close to die, but for this AU, we have the Grand Duke and Duchess, Nico and Ichico (Which one is who is up to you)

We got our King! King Juiz, KING JUIZ, KING JUIZ!!!

If you saw the third animated Cinderella movie, you would remember the Queen's paintings, and i decided that we need a Queen (an alive one), salute our dear Queen: Queen Victor!! (do you forgive me for putting him on a dress? 🥺)

At last, we need our prince for this AU, but why have only one?!

Crown Prince Andy and Second Prince(ss) Julia

We need our Fairy Godmother to bring some miracles to life! And i couldn't pick anyone else for this role than my beloved, Spring 🌸

Let him have some fun!!

This is the real last one, but although it wasn't a sentient character, it would be unforgivable not casting Clothy as Fuuko's dress

(Can you imagine what Andy would do to Clothy once he discovers that he's Fuuko's dress? 💀)

That's all the character designs for this AU, and now i can start drawing some scenes for this AU.

Enjoy this AU compiled timelapse for all the designs in the meantime!

[wishing-stones]

hey there! first time asking and i am.. pretty nervous :') not sure how nightmare's body works for your au, but how would the boys™ react if nightmare was somehow weakened enough to have his passive body revealed under all the corruption and not die? (or yes die, if that's what you're about lol) thanks!

Awww don't be nervous! I don't bite.

Nightmare's body is largely permanently colored by the corruption, but it can weaken, and he's still a (mostly) complete, white-boned skeleton under it.

Without active corruption, Nightmare is around 5'6" (or your height) and has some damage around his right eye socket. The light still forms, but his vision isn't so great. (Still a far cry better than 'normal,' where he can't see at all). His eyelight in that socket is purple, and the one in his left is cyan, no matter what form he's in. Sometimes it'll be half-and-half, if he's especially weak or in his feelings, but he's usually got the full heterochromia thing going on.

Fortunately, it just kind of retreats into the inner void of his body/skull if it's too weak to fully encase him, so it's all or nothing with the curse/corruption. It won't kill him, but he is much more vulnerable when he's passive.

The guys would be surprised, to say the least, but they'd also make the (correct) assumption that he's not as sturdy as he usually is and should be guarded. Nightmare definitely tried to hide this, but with a bunch of intuitive, smart underlings, it's hard to maintain the illusion that 'everything's fine, I'm just going to stay in bed for a while.'

Still, no one's going to lose respect for him, or make fun of him (in any seriousness-- we all know Killer is Required By Law to give him some guff) in any real capacity. He'd get a little babied, actually, until he told them all to knock it off, and then it's only Axe who babies him. (He can't get Axe to stop.)

Everyone is sworn to secrecy, because he especially does not need Dream finding out about this. He'd never stop crying, and Nightmare doesn't want to deal with that, thank you very much.

This does happen every great so often, especially after things get reconciled with his brother. Without active malice and hatred to feed on, the corruption kind of ebbs away and 'rests' to regain strength, and then it comes back strong as ever. He's actually quite strong when it comes back because it's refreshed, and he usually feels his oats a bit when it comes back.

It's the only aspect of the curse/corruption that he can't really control. Since he doesn't have a ton of enemies anymore, or at least ones who would be able to take advantage of such a situation, it's just a mild inconvenience rather than a cause for alarm.

More little facts about this:

He sounds different while passive. If he tries really hard, he can get into his normal, deeper register, but it takes a bit. He sounds a lot younger (still an adult, but younger and higher) and gets a little bit sensitive about it, actually.

He's also sensitive about his height. He loses 8 inches or better, and he doesn't like it. Yes, he wears platforms to make himself at least taller than the others (save Axe) if he's up and about, and not sulking in his room.

He views it as an inconvenience, but he hates feeling vulnerable. He's worn the corruption so long, to not have it makes him feel naked, and it's not something he handles terribly well.

He's also more sensitive to: temperature, touch, elements, and Intent. He gets cold easily, so he's usually close to some heat source. This sometimes includes the boys, and they have cuddle-puddled to make him feel safer.

He will break out his crown and wear it. It's a newer one-- his old crown won't fit because it didn't grow with him. he wears a silver crown with a more elegant crescent moon fixture (not entirely unlike this, but solid and without decoration) with a three-quarter moon taking up the void of the crescent, leaving a small gap between the two. He also wears much less gold and much more silver, although he does wear gold with purple, since it's very regal looking.

Hand-in-hand with the above, he breaks out good fancy clothing, too, since he's not in danger of staining it, and it feels nice on not-corrupted bones. Silk, satin, velvet... very fine clothing.

He also wears a weighted cape. While he doesn't always have his tentacles out, he will over-correct for their weight when they aren't present, and he's fallen over before when turning because of it. (After Killer was done laughing, he helped devise the cape.) It's a lovely little capelet that hangs over one shoulder, but drapes otherwise evenly across the back to the small of his back.

He's usually passive for 1-2 weeks, and then it won't happen again for a couple years, if he's lucky, or 10-12 months if he's not. This only started happening once Dream broke out of the statue, so while it's a fairly new development, it's one that he's learned to deal with and has procedures for.

I mentioned it before with Dream in R&R, but his bones have kind of a pearlescent sheen to them. Dream's is warmer (like a cream pearl), but Nightmare's is cooler (like a silver pearl). They're both Demi-gods, after all.

Interestingly enough, I've been working with this idea recently.

[void-ink-studios]

This Isn't a Time Room, It's a Time Home

In which Scarab learns a bit about himself as he tries to fill his days in the Time Room.

And this will be the last chapter before a 2-part finale to this series. That doesn't mean I won't be writing these two ever again! If I get ideas, I'll come back and write them! But I'm running out of steam posting 2,000+ word fics every day, and I'd like to end this off on a good note. 20 chapters, totaling 50,000 words seemed like a nice, even spot to stop. So, get ready for that, and I hope you all have enjoyed the ride!

First part of the finale will drop tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Word Count: 2,000

It had been a long time since Scarab had his own space.

A long... long time.

He had a burrow, back at the Mounds, that he'd decorated and made his own. It was a cozy space, if he remembered correctly.

He remembered a love of collecting and preserving the flowers and wild plants he found on his patrol routes. He remembered making simple decorations out of his discoveries, and cluttering his burrow with them.

That was a time that he wasn't constantly on the move. When his life was simpler. More stationary.

He hadn't been stationary for eons.

His life as an Auditor had him constantly on the move. He had... nothing. No home. No place to rest, not when he wasn't really allowed to rest.

If he rested, it was at camps or hotels in whatever world he was tracking a target through. And if that camp happened to be on a floating asteroid in the middle of the void, then so be it.

Scarab didn't complain. Maybe couldn't is the more accurate term, but it's not like it mattered.

The point was, he didn't settle down. He didn't have a place to be stationary, to decorate, to... own.

He wondered if that was sad. He wondered if other Auditors ever got to... settle. If they had a home, somewhere in the Judgement Hall, or elsewhere.

But, that wasn't the case now.

Now, he had no choice but to be stationary.

Everything in the Time Room had a degree of stillness to it. If clocks could work in here, he would probably be able to hear and focus on each and every individual tick. Nothing moved here, other than what they made move. Nothing changed here, other than what they manually changed.

Prismo didn't seem to mind it too much. It was his existence, everything he ever knew (until recently) was in this infinite cube.

Prismo was powerful. He could make the Time Room in anything he wanted. He could conjure almost anything he wanted into the Time Room, rearrange its walls however he saw fit, make it as personal as something could be in the cosmos.

And yet, all that was there, that was uniquely Prismo, was a Hot Tub, and a room full of pickle experiments.

Scarab wasn't sure what to make of it.

He asked the Wishmaster about it, and he only received a shrug. "I dunno man. Kinda hard to have decoration tastes when all you got is a yellow or gray wall of cubes. I like the Hot Tub, and I like the pickles. If you think it's boring, feel free to go at it yourself."

That had made Scarab chirp, curiously.

He looked around the empty corners, and... he saw potential.

He hesitated at first.

"Prismo, did you... mean what you said, before? That I could... decorate the Time Room if I wished?"

The Wishmaster cuddled him closer, sleepily humming. "Yeah, Lovebug. I think that'd be... cool."

Scarab couldn't help but chuckle.

"Cool, hmm?"

"Yeah... You've been everywhere. You'd have a better idea of what looks nice than I would. I saw have at it, sweetheart."

Prismo proceeded to nuzzle and kiss him in their cuddle pile, putting an end to the conversation, but Scarab had the confirmation he needed.

He thought. Considered.

It started small. No conjuring just yet. Just manipulating the walls themselves.

Some places to climb and perch, both for himself and Cos whenever he came over.

He moved the hot tub out of the center of the room, more into the corner, and more of a statement, with a platform, stairs, and shelves.

Made a proper statement around the entrance to the basement.

Already, it was looking a little bit nicer in here.

Scarab chirped happily as he stood back and looked at his work. He preened when their game night crew commented that the Time Room looked a bit more... alive.

He clicked in consideration, eyes skimming what might look nice.

"Prismo... Do you have any objections to... well, anything I suppose?"

Prismo seemed startled that he was being addressed, pausing his fanfic writing to look around.

"U-Uhm... why are you asking me...? This is your project, yeah?"

Scarab tilted his head at him.

"This is your space too, Prismo. I wouldn't want you to... what, silently suffer in your primary living space. Just... you're allowed to have preferences, you know?"

Prismo gave an awkward smile before he tried to think.

"Uh..."

He seemed to have a mental click, eyes focusing on an empty corner. Scarab looked between that corner and Prismo, raising an eyebrow.

"...No statues. At least... none that look like people."

"I'll keep that in mind" Scarab hummed. "Thank you for telling me, love." He nuzzled Prismo's cheek, clicking softly.

So, no statues. That at least narrowed it down.

He thought about what seemed to interest Prismo most on their "field trips" to both Ooo and Fionna's world.

Prismo liked shiny things. He liked gold and crystals and the stars. He liked complex patterns, geometric and abstract. And he liked bold, bright colors.

Hmmm...

Yes, he could work with that.

He continued to play it subtle. Small for now.

He was still getting used to conjuring. So, no complex configurations right now. But that was fine by him.

Because Scarab found out something about himself. Or, rediscovered?

Scarab liked making things. He liked working on things with his talons, something small, meticulous.

Maybe writing fanfiction with Prismo rekindled this love, but working on his accessories for the Gala fanned the flames. He took pride in it, smiling wider than he could remember through learning how to make the shawl and necklace.

So, he set to work.

"Oooh, starting up the lair again?"

Scarab rolled his eyes, not dignifying that with a response as he slipped inside.

And the Time Room began to come to life.

Small crystal stars hanging from some of the perches, that sparkled, wrapped in gold wire.

Crystal ornaments on scattered shelves, wrapped with intricate metalwork, making their own stands. They shined with colors, from blue to purple to green, casting lovely beams of light all around, finally breaking up the yellow walls.

Boldly patterned, lose curtains, held in place by beetle shaped golden fixtures, framed the entrances to the Time Room gorgeously. There were eyes and hands and butterfly wing motifs, all intricately woven together into a truly eye catching design.

"Woah... Lovebug, this place looks nice!"

"Thank you, my dear... I think... I like it too."

Things could only really get more elaborate from here.

Scarab wanted something green. Something alive, something that could change.

So he got some seeds, from all over the multiverse, and got to work.

It was tricky, finding ways of cultivating something alive in the still environment of the Time Room, but Scarab was nothing if not persistent.

He relished in the feeling of leaves, of some organic beauty. He hadn't had the time to stop and admire the flora he'd find on his hunts, but now was as good a time as any to make up for it.

It reminded him of home. Of the lush green forests that rested in the center of his Mound, the ones he could spend hours flying through and playing in, ones he spent many nights camping in with friends.

It was something alive. Something he wanted to take care of.

The plants soon made their way into the Time Room. Quite aggressively, Prismo might say.

Vines curled around the perches, sometimes wrapping around and lacking together with the various crystal stars he had set up earlier. Ferns found homes on shelves, filling out corners, or in hanging pots from above.

Some plants looked strangely unremarkable compared to the elaborate ferns or chaotically elegant vines, yet they found themselves in places of pride, near the entrances and on prominent shelves.

Prismo couldn't help but ask about them.

"Just wait and see, my dear. You'll see."

And see he did.

Because while the plants looked unassuming now, they wouldn't be for long.

Prismo watched in wonder as the flowers bloomed. They opened in a beautiful pinks and light blues, filled the room with perfume and color. The Time Room felt alive, really truly alive, for the first time since before Prismo came to inhabit it.

Scarab admired his work, preening under the oohs and aahs of their guests.

But he wasn't done quite yet.

He pulled a few more shelves out of the wall, and made it a bookcase. There were books from Scarab's own travels, things he found interesting. Some were encyclopedias and bestiaries, culminations of information that Scarab found fascinating.

But there was a special shelf for Prismo.

That shelf was for the things Prismo wrote. That was for showing off what the Wishmaster had made for himself. Prismo sputtered at first, but was quickly shut up with kisses and nuzzles.

Yes, the Time Room was certainly refreshed. No more empty yellow walls where nothing ever happened. Now it was a space of both interests, a space for them to truly live.

Scarab chirped in excitement when he saw Prismo make his own little modifications. A fridge for drinks and snacks. A pantry for some open pickle jars. A music player to add some background noise.

Scarab couldn't have been prouder. It was nice to see Prismo... want things. Want things for himself, something that didn't threaten the architecture of the multiverse.

Scarab had meant for it to stop there. He was satisfied with the new pops of color and personality.

What he didn't expect were gifts.

Seems that the renovations were interpreted as invitations. Invitations to provide trinkets to fill the space.

Neither god minded one bit.

From Cos, a crystal ball, filled with a tiny dream core. It shined and swirled with blues and pinks, small music box chimes occasionally echoing around.

From Life and Death, a bonsai tree, circling constantly through the seasons, complete with a little sand garden and tiny rake. Scarab politely didn't laugh as he watched Prismo play with it for... perhaps a bit longer than what would be becoming of a god.

From the Organizer, a desk. A small one, nothing fancy, but a sturdy, practical desk. The laptop had taken a place of pride there, next to the fridge.

From Fionna and Cake, there were pictures. Pictures around the city, pictures of them and their friends, reassurances that they were okay and thriving.

Finn also gave pictures. Of a specific someone. Scarab learned a lot about Jake as Prismo hung each one up, a story attached to each. The beetle let the Wishmaster hold him, both staring that the photos that now covered the wall.

It was perfect, in their opinions. It was all perfect.

Except it seems that the cosmos had one more surprise for them.

Wish magic seemed to have strange effects on mortal plants and mundane crystals.

The crystals began to glow. They casted a pearly aura, a mist almost, laced with magic that rose up and swirled above them. Almost like clouds in a sky. The two of them spent a lot of time just staring up and admiring it. The clouds rolled and tumbled over each other like the real things, a light rolling thunder every once in a while, echoing around the room.

Scarab thought of home again. Of the forests. He'd always slept better listening to the rolling thunder and rain tapping off the roof of his burrow.

It made for a lovely evening, cuddling with Prismo in their blanket pile, listening to the faux thunderstorm, watching the tv wall.

It reached the flowers as well. The petals bled into unusual colors. Pink shimmering with an unearthly purple. Blue sparking with golden tips.

Glowing pollen spilled out the bell, floating ethereally. Like stars.

The legends of the Time Room had begun to shift, apparently. Word didn't reach either god until much, much later, but it made them chuckle regardless.

No longer was it spoken of as a clinical, featureless chamber. Prismo was not spoken of as an extension of the room. It was no longer "Prismo, keeper of the Time Room."

Now it was "The Time Room, home to the Almighty Prismo."

And Scarab couldn't help but indulge in maybe a bit of smug satisfaction when word reached them. The Time Room did not change unless they willed it.

But the Time Room was their home.

And now they finally willed it to feel like one.

[real-jaune-isms]

By Any Other Name

Usopp: Hmmm... well I don't know...

Zoro: The hell are you doing staring at our wanted posters?

Usopp: Just trying to get some creativity flowing. We get these nicknames and epithets from the Marines or other folks we cross, but some of them just don't feel right, you know what I mean?

Zoro: I guess I do, yeah. I've been a pirate longer than I was a bounty hunter, and they still call me 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro.

Usopp: Right. And I like the authority to it, but it puts way too much attention on my poor head to call me God Usopp.

Zoro: Hmph~ So you're trying to think of better names in the hopes we can start getting the word out ourselves and pray it catches on?

Usopp: Exactly! Want to help?

Zoro: Eh, why the hell not? So we start with Luffy?

Usopp: We would, but if we changed his from Straw Hat Luffy then we'd need to worry about changing our whole crew identity and symbol. What would it even be changed to?

Zoro: I dunno... 'Rubberman' Luffy? He's got that new form that's white hot like the sun or something, but the Sun pirates are already taken. 'Sun God' Luffy would be way too grand for him anyway.

Usopp: Yeah I think that one is best left alone. What about you? If 'Pirate Hunter' is out, what do you want the headlines to call you? 'Three Sword' Zoro?

Zoro: Yeah that seems pretty dead on. Might be getting a little ahead of myself, but pretty soon it'll be 'World's Strongest Swordsman' Zoro.

Usopp: *rolls his eyes* Riiiight. I'm sure Sanji would say you deserve 'Mosshead' Zoro or something like that.

Zoro: I bet he would, and I'd be all too happy to tell people he goes by 'Pervert Cook' Sanji. He might actually prefer it to his crappy family name though...

Usopp: Yeah. 'Black Leg' Sanji isn't too bad, but he's been doing his whole flaming legs thing for so long, I feel like that should get the attention now.

Zoro: Then he's 'Flame Leg' now, easy.

Usopp: Alright smarty swords, if it's so effortless then you come up with the rest of them. How about Nami?

Zoro: 'Thunder Witch'.

Usopp: Me?

Zoro: 'Sniper King', embrace the old persona now that you've proven you have the skills.

Usopp: Wow! That's actually really gratifying, thank you. Alright, Chopper.

Zoro: 'Monster Doctor'.

Usopp: Ah, points out both of his strong suits, I like it. Robin?

Zoro: Hmph. 'Bookworm'~

Usopp: Are you kidding me? With everything she can do, you'd give her a nickname for how much she reads??

Zoro: Ugh... 'Flower of Knowledge' then?

Usopp: That sounds like something Sanji might call her, not exactly intimidating to the rest of the world.

Zoro: Fine. 'Demon of the Void Century'.

Usopp: Ooh, now that's a good one. Franky?

Zoro: 'Walking Battleship'.

Usopp: Nice, sounds powerful. Brook?

Zoro: 'Bonesman' would be too on the nose, huh?

Usopp: Not that he has a nose, yohohoho~ ...Sorry, I couldn't resist doing a little impression. But nah, funny as it is, it's probably not a good name for the wanted posters.

Zoro: I dunno then, 'Soul King' is a good name on its own, maybe 'Rattling Swordsman'?

Usopp: Yeah, that could work if we needed an alternative. What about Jinbei? 'Knight of the Sea' and 'First Son of the Sea' are pretty damn good epithets.

Zoro: They are. Maybe 'Tide of Liberation' or something.

Usopp: That's pretty poetic, I like it. Alright, guess I'm satisfied, thanks for the help, Zoro!

*he gets up and leaves*

Zoro: *picking up Robin's poster with a half smile* Heh... maybe I should call her bookworm, it's kinda cute for her. Better than 'Demon Child'... that one sure as hell doesn't fit her beauty. Really, she's more of an angel... 'Brilliant Angel' Nico Robin.

Robin: Consider me swooning, 'Stunning Samurai' Roronoa Zoro~

Zoro: The hell?? How long have you been standing there?

Robin: Since 'Thunder Witch'. *closes the door to the room* Now let's have a little talk about what you like calling me~...

[drops-of-moonlights]

I got an ask about favorite winx transformations and if my thoughts have changed at all in the last couple years that was lost to the void when my computer crashed like 3 hours ago and while I made one post about that aeons ago I don't want to go edit it again so I'm just remaking it wholesale lol. I think at this point y'all are familiar with my TakesTM so I don't need an intro, all the shit is below the cut. also this is for. all of them. like the comic ones included. also gonna provide images for them because it is all of them and most people don't know about the 9 comic ones.

*takes a look at the amount of transformations* oh god we're at 24 of these fuckers? lord. anyways we're going worst to best and honestly most of the worst ones will be the comic ones lol. Also I'm grouping MW and Charmix as Charmix Specials-style because they are just an accessory on top and the rest is the same so they will be judged together so that brings it down to 23.

23 - Paintix

This is by far the most creatively bankrupt of the transformations. Literally the exact same ugly top skirt boots combo 8 times. I have never found scans of the issue its featured in but they could have done so much more with a transformation themed around color? like c'mon here.

22 - Greenix

This one is better than Paintix for at least giving the girls different colors for more than just one (1) part but it's still the same exact dress 6 times with only minimal variation on the vines along the top, and it's sad, because this is supposed to be THE vegetation transformation as it represents the ENTIRE POWER OF LYNPHEA at your fingertips.

21 - Trendix

[IMAGE NOT FOUND]

THIS ONE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ACTUAL GRAPHICS BECAUSE IT'S FROM A BOOK but the idea is that it's just Fashion Cheatcode the transformation and only Bloom, Stella and Flora get it so it's low, but above Paintix and Greenix for cheating in a way I find funny.

20 - Magic of Sports

Okay this one isn't even a real transformation as they just get wings with their regular fútbol fits (it's from the 2014 world cup issue) but at least the girls are wearing different outfits and the wings are also different colors so it has that going over Paintix and Greenix.

19 - Magic Rock

this one's a crime. but a crime with more thought put into it than the rest, so it's higher than them. Props to them, they all have different silhouettes and there are forms higher than them that can't break that treshold, but that still is not enough. What are they wearing. what is that. Musa why are you a makeup brush. Also they use this form to beat ghosts and win a music contest. what.

18 - Tynix

I've never been shy about my dislike for Tynix, and I feel this shows it well enough lol. bullshit obtainment aside I just think it's ugly - the construction paper gems, the shitty undersuit, the clunky broken glass heels, the random ruffles, it's all bad. The wings and the hair are cool and. that's about it really.

17 - Enchantix

I've also never been shy about my utter hatred for Enchantix, so I won't really rethread old ground here, but basically I think it's bullshit overall and it's only above Tynix despite hating Enchantix more because I can begrudgingly agree some of them are pretty. Still hate they're all flowers tho that's just bad. if you removed or adjusted the extra pink and restored everyone's skintones so they're not whitewashed S8 Enchantix would kick the ass of OG Enchantix to the curve visually (except Flora's she took a downgrade)

16 - Mermaid form

Yeah I also hate this one. I just don't think it makes sense to have fairy mermaids when mermaids are already a species in Winx and when the show cannot make up its mind if being fairy is a CHOICE or if being fairy is a BIOLOGICAL CONDITION, we don't need this shit muddling things up further. Points for giving Tecna proper wings tho good for them.

16.5 - S8 Sirenix and Crystal Sirenix

I'm also throwing the two S8 Sirenix ones in this tier because I don't like them either lol. S8 Sirenix fairs better than Crystal but not by that much.

15 - Travelix

We start the area where I just think they look... fine. I like the idea of the visuals and this is a transformation that SHOULD'VE been in the show proper (really they would've made more dolls that way) but it's also not anything groundbreaking. For those curious this is the transformation granted by the Stone of Memories that allows someone to travel in time. hence me saying it should've been in the show proper lol.

14 and 13 - Sophix and Lovix (position changes)

Some of them are good! Some of them suck ass. And therefore they end here because they aren't more than just Believix, Summer and Winter editions.

12 - Butterflix

I love the Butterflix wings and hairstyles and I think it had a solid IDEA but they put TECNA in a tutu and some crimes cannot be forgiven. points for having Stella's bodice be sunbeams tho.

11 - Dreamix

I don't really care all that much for Dreamix, but it edges out Butterflix, and that's the reason for this placement. I still don't get what the netting is supposed to be but I do love the wings.

10 - Onyrix

Onyrix also only slightly edges out Dreamix - the colors are worse and the wings are bad but I find it more visually interesting than Dreamix and it gave us Blue Stella back, so it has rights on that alone.

9 - Harmonix

We're getting into the ones I'm more positive for! but half of Harmonix is gorgeous half of Harmonix is bad. LOVE the idea of the trails and it has THE best spells out of any transformation but I genuinely don't think it's a transformation SUPER fit for being underwater and given that's its purpose it kinda. falters lol. Also I don't get how the trails are meant to be like mermaid tails? Everyone says that and I just don't see it. I see them as waterfalls more than anything else really.

8 - Magic of Food

Yes. I'm ranking the food form this high. Why? Simple - it's actually. really well done? Flora and Bloom's hair is trash but they went for a weird concept and made a transformation that actually looks pretty appropiate all in all, and I know this is because it's a sponsored transformation but hey, that cash went to a good-ass look lol.

7 - Magic of Joy

LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT IT. ENCHANTIX WISHES IT HAD THIS EFFORTLESS ELEGANT SIMPLICITY. The wings being the same is lame but they all just look so pretty AND THEY TOOK THE TIME TO MAKE SURE TECNA HAD PANTS and I have to commend that. Bless you quokkas you funky animal you, thank you for giving this to us.

6 -Cosmix

OH COSMIX I WISH I COULD LOVE YOU MORE I genuinely find it pretty for the most part and it's the best Tecna and Musa have looked in years but I just cannot forgive Stella's vagina collar. I cannot.

5 - Charmix

What even IS there to say about the OG? the very first? It's iconic all on its own but I know my love of it is mainly guided by the happy memories of watching S1 and S2 as a child. That and some of the bags are not that great.

4 - Mythix

MYTHIX HAS RIGHTS AND I STAND BY THAT. IT'S WHAT ENCHANTIX SHOULD'VE BEEN. I am a person of simple tastes, I see magic wand I go apeshit. Also peak wings no wings rival the Mythix wings if you disagree you are wrong hate the dresses if you want but you cannot argue with me about the wings. I do agree some of the shoes are ugly tho.

3 - Sirenix

Yeah I love Sirenix. I understand the complaints about it being samey but I just love it - the ribbons, the hair streaks, the fins in the legs, the fish scale pattern leggings, I just think it slaps and it being wetsuit-based is so fitting for it. Shame about the same wings tho. Also we all know Sirenix has THE best transformation song ever made and that's a FACT.

2 - Bloomix

Bloomix is, objectively, the BEST the Winx have ever looked like. you cannot beat armor, you cannot. Stella's hair is a disgrace but it was the tradeoff for Flora being freed from her shitty hair blades for ONCE in her life and it's overall really good looking.

1 - Believix

Believix is peak and always will be. The perfect blend of fairy whimsy and modern aesthetics (for the time). The wings. the song. the transformation sequence. Really the only bad is Musa's shitty aerobics instructor pants and even then that fits her so I can't be TOO mad. Believix is love Believix is life.

[razsstory]

Chapter 1

It was a starry, cool night. Raz and his sister decided to go back to the dark eco pool that Raz fell into a while back. His sister decided to make some warning signs beforehand to hang by the pool. She thought that maybe putting up the signs would help people stay away from there so there wouldn't be any more accidents or incidents like Raz had. When sis was putting up the signs, Raz decided to walk around the pool to see if anything had changed since the last time he visited. He noticed that there was something shining on the other side of the pool and decide to check it out. He reached down and grabbed what looked to be some sort of amulet with an eerie face on it. He noticed it looked similar to a face that sis would describe in her nightmares. He also remembered that the face sis had described was on some sort of necklace made of chains that sis owned. He decided to keep the amulet in his pocket and take it home to inspect it further. As sis put up the last sign, they both decided to go back home and get some rest. 

The next day, he got out of bed and was eager to know more about this amulet. He grabbed the amulet off his nightstand and sat at his desk to look more into the amulet. The amulet was shaped like a circle with a triangular face in the middle of it. It was purple with two different eyes. The right eye was a circle with an X in the middle and the left eye was shaped like a triangle with a little curve inside of it. The mouth had sharp teeth with what looked like purple ooze dripping out of its teeth. On the sides of the triangular face were triangles sticking out to represent spikes. He also noticed that on the outer side of the amulet were five little empty holes that were shaped like diamonds. The holes were big enough to fit something inside them. He also noticed a little hole on top of the amulet. So, he took a piece of a long strip of leather from his desk drawer and attached it to the amulet so he could wear it as a necklace just like sis would wear. He put on the necklace to see if it would actually be wearable. To his surprise, the necklace fit really well on him. He suddenly felt some sort of connection with this necklace with his soul, like they were both linked in some sort of way. He started to feel a little lightheaded and decided to lay on his bed to rest to see if sleeping it off could make him feel better. The second he sat on his bed, he immediately blacked out. 

When he opened his eyes, all he could see was the deep, dark void that laid before him. He was questioning where exactly he was. He started walking slowly forward to see if he could see any source of light. All of a sudden, a spotlight flashes on just a few feet in front of him. He looks up and sees a familiar face. It was the face on the amulet. He looked down at his chest and noticed his necklace was gone. He looked back up at the face floating in the spotlight to see it just smiling and staring at him. “Who the hell are you?” Said Raz looking at the eerie face with a concerned look. The face floating above him stood silent. Another spotlight turned on right behind the floating purple face. Below that spotlight was a person that Raz had seen before in his past life. Before he had his incident with the dark eco. He remembered the person in that spotlight was a woman that he was close with that he had not talked to in some time. Raz’s eyes opened really wide. He started to walk closer to the woman in the spotlight. When he got closer, she vanished in thin air. “She never did care for you, now did she?” Said the eerie purple face. Raz slowly turned his head around and looked at the face. “She still cares. S-she's probably just busy with other things.” Said Raz. Another spotlight came on behind Raz. He looked back and saw the women with other people he had not recognized before. She looked like she was having fun with them. “Busy with other things, huh? Doesn't look like it to me.” Said the face looking down upon Raz. “Shes abandoned you. Thrown you away like an unwanted puppy.” Raz blankly stared at the group of people in the spotlight speechless. The face floated down right beside Raz’s right shoulder. The face then gently put his hand on his left shoulder. “She didn’t need you anymore. She replaced you with other people that she found more interesting that you.” Raz looked at the face beside him with a depressed look on his face. Raz had nothing to say. He thought that the eerie face was actually right. “You're just a replaceable asset to everyone, aren’t you?” Raz started to shake in fear and fell on his knees. The face faced right in front of Raz and continued to speak to him. “How long will it take for Strawberry to replace YOU.” The face said angerly. Raz bolted up and looked at the face with a sad look in his eyes. “SHE’D NEVER DO THAT.” Said Raz in a furious tone while he was holding back tears. “What’s wrong? Did I strike a nerve?” Said the face with a jerky smile on his face. Voices started to speak in Raz’s head that made him feel like everything around him was spinning. He fell to the ground and blacked out once again.  

When he opened up his eyes back up, he found himself back laying in his bed. He looked around and noticed Strawberry was sitting on the other side of the bed with a concerned look on her face. “Everything okay?” Said Strawberry. “Y-yeah, I’ll be fine.” Raz replied while he was catching his breath. “Why do you ask?” “You were shaking uncomfortably while you were sleeping.” sis remarked. Raz sat up and looked down at the amulet he had still on his neck. He had more questions he wanted answers to. 

[wrens-garden]

My Avicane Oc - Talon

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/111486

This will be relatively long, more undercut. Finally, after much debate, I'm posting this

He is a honey buzzard. Generally on the weaker side, physically and emotionally. The perfect way to describe him in that regard is 'just better than the worst'. He uses any pronouns but prefers he/they.

The youngest of three children, having just turned 17. More emotionally sensitive and definitely not fit for the Avicane, but he succeeded all tests so, that's that. He, understandably, will remain fairly low rank wise. He's clumsy and loves flying, with a weird fascination of the void. He longs to leave the Avicane but doesn't want to leave Mavis behind, despite their strained relationship, and knows she won't leave the Avicane willingly. So he just sucks it up and hopes eventually he'll get used to it.

He doesn't remember a life outside the Avicane, Mavis is the only one who does, and she doesn't tell them much, only that she knowingly joined the Avicane.

His eldest sister, Mavis (24). And older sister, Avia (Would be 21). They are both crested serpent eagles.

Mavis excels at being in the avicane, she's great at it, she's enjoying her time and has risen up the ranks quickly. Avia did not make it through all the tests, she was fantastic, and yet she failed. Only Mavis is aware of what happened to her, Talon thinks she got kicked out and left them behind, but he has a small suspicion due to Mavis' refusal to answer questions about it.

I have a whole arc for him based on forgiveness, acceptance and learning to be a bit more selfish with his life.

Talon is better with animals over people. If he could, he'd hide away and farm for the rest of his life. His time in the Avicane, and every charged obelisk, gives him horrific nightmares that never go away about everything he's done and has to do.

Mavis eventually does realise he's putting her needs over his own, a couple of years too late arguably, and basically forces him to leave and remain away during the last mission they have together now she has a flight partner(I have a very angsty scene in mind, I might write if requested), she visits when she's able to but they both know she will never leave the Avicane, even for her siblings.

I've been toying with the idea of him succumbing to void sickness, so I'll keep you updated in that regard.

[nocek]

Ok I know it's a little bit late but turns out my big Okoye rant just has to be written down or it will keep bothering me. So here we go. Screaming into the void.

The thing is I like Okoye and I think she had nice thing going on in Wakanda Forever. That is up until the point that her plot threads were axed midway and rest of it was given to Nakia of all people? Which sucks for both of them. So in this essay....

The first Black Panther movie build her up nicely as Lawful Neutral character. Which is rare and for me makes really interesting character. She dutifully followed the law when Killmonger took the throne and then just as dutifully was about to kill her husband when it was revealed the throne taking wasn't so lawful after all. Both of those choices were incredibly emotionally hard for her and actually quite rare storytelling wise. Which I loved. What is even better: on top of all that she wasn't punished by the narrative for being lawful instead of going after her heart.

Great! I really, really loved it. Especially when in the new movie they started to nicely build up on that to give her own little plot and character growth.

Well. Up to a point.

But lets focus on what they were clearly building up to.

Okoye loves Wakanda. It's her character virtue since she is Lawful Neutral. But at the same time loving it too much and too blindly is her character flaw.

Wakanda is the best and thus doesn't need to change.

First we saw it in Infinity War with a little side joke about opening Wakanda to the world meant maybe Starbucks and not, well... war.

In Wakanda Forever in one of the first scenes she tells Aneka to give back the daggers since spears are traditional weapon. Which, by virtue of being traditional, are better and it's not going to change on her watch.

For that, the obvious plot resolution would be that Okoye needs to open up to new things (particularly technology). Unfortunately, the thing is, they sort of did that in the movie but in the worst way possible (and I don't just mean that Midnight Angel armor is ugly, you are right sister. It's ugly af) but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Wakanda is the best and thus I'm the best.

Okoye is a bit full of herself, or to be more precise thinks others are not as good since they are not Wakandan. She assumes she can deal with Americans and duh, she is right. She can actually deal with them like nbd. So does it really count as being blinded by her own/ Wakandan awesomeness?

Yes. Yes it does. I love that she is confident in her skills and she has all the right to be but she also knew there is new unknown threat. It was overconfidence on her part to think she can deal with Talokans too.

And she got her ass handled to her in fair fight.

And she broke her promise to queen Ramonda and lost Shuri.

Consequences as plot resolution? It's more likely than you think.

Because yeah. That's where clearly her further plot was axed and given to Nakia (which could be whole other big rant but just so you know: she was done dirty here too). Because let's be real it would fit perfectly.

Classic plot. Hero gets overconfident. Fucks up. As consequence hero loses their privileges/status/whatever. So they go on a quest not to regain their privileges or prove themselves but to right their wrongs.

Often they initially want to prove themselves, but then they learn they need to fix their mistakes because it's a right thing to do. Just after that the narrative can reward them with actually-you-just-have-proven-yourself-plot-twist - here are your privileges back and then some.

In Okoye's sake we can even cut on the second part of that plot. She just goes on a quest to right her wrongs and to save the princess.

Rewrite of a rewritten plot?

So her first overall wrong was dismissal of new technology. Could be righted easily by going to Griot to ask it to help her locate Shuri. It's even still in the movie but instead it's Ramonda who talks with Griot. It shows Griot can locate Shuri, they just added little scene with Nakia doing spy stuff and talking to people because it's her forte.

It would even fit the underwater cave rescue scene better. Because the forceful solution of going in guns blazing would fit more Okoye's desperation. Nakia is a spy. She would be more level headed and just sneak in and out unnoticed. Moreover, since she is more caring people person she wouldn't just leave that one girl to die.

But hey. If they didn't do that they wouldn't have the excuse for war and to have whole second part of the movie and "big" action scene at the end. Which is sadly mandatory in Marvel movies.

But going back to Okoye before I get sidetracked too much.

Just a rewrite... please.

With that the last plot thread for her to resolve would be redo of the fight with Attuma.

And it could and SHOULD follow the classic plot of like Rocky and countless others:

Hero loses a fight

Hero trains some more/ learns new things

Hero wins second fight fair and square

but nooooooo

Instead of mixing it with with opening to new technologies plot - as in asking Griot to help her find weak spots of Talokans. Or even just upgrading her spear to be better in fight with another vibranium spear if you really need to go this way (and clearly don't have time for training montage in this bloated movie)...

nope. Instead we go sorry Okoye you are just too weak. Here, have an armor. Which ok ties to the same new technologies plot thread but at the same time is so damn insulting to Okoye and her skills.

Like really fucking insulting.

It's like going to Cap or Black Widow and saying you are cool with all the fancy kicks and all but lets be real here. You are to week to fight real super powered villains - here have an armor.

Would anyone do that? No. Because it's insulting and goes against what those characters are at their core. Even if they are "too weak" they still would win by their skill, their smarts, their cunning nature or just by their sheer stubbornness.

Because those are their cove virtues.

Because that's how storytelling works.

And just FYI I'm not shitting on characters actually using armors. Oh no. Tony or Riri would win by learning and then building smarter armor. Rhodey would win because he is a solider and for him the armor is just tool of the trade - it's just a tank he happens to wear. But for Okoye or Cap or Natasha or any other hand to hand badass fighter it would go against the very idea their character was built on. It would be plot breaking Deus Ex Machina solution. Everyone would be bitching that writers written themselves into a corner and found very unsatisfying plot resolution that doesn't work.

But since Okoye is a side character and this movie has way too much going on in general, it's just left as it is.

And I'm very salty about that.

[shivasdarknight]

whats ur fave piece of surkie lore? or ur fave piece of her char design? (or both) :3c

im gonna yell at u but u also brought this on

......OKAY SO, i swear to god this is the most self indulgent shit but I gotta give a teensy bit of context first.

Surkie goes into enw as effectively a drk+rpr since rpr for her is more of an augment onto her preexisting classes? She doesn't use a rpr jobstone nor does she have a proper avatar, as she kind of just got dragged to Drusilla after she summoned a voidsent into her. That voidsent was Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, something she'd actively researched and sought out due to his supposed status as one of the very first voidsent who might have sympathy to her plight to restore the void with Cylva.

This is Diarmuid, btw:

His size is very fluid and he just kinda hangs out in Surkie's head. He's got a more humanoid form that looks like a devil trigger out of DMC and remembers what he used to look like as a mortal, but that's not something he ever shows to anyone.

Reaper is a compromise between him and Surkie due to their vastly different fighting styles (her being a drk main, him...well when he was alive he often used a sword and a spear in tandem with each other and had two sets so 4 weapons in total, the tails kinda echo back to that). So while Surkie is still dominantly a drk, stuff involving Diarmuid involves summoned scythes and whatnot since them learning something together was better than trying to find a balance between existing styles.

This is all to say that at the end of enw, in order to keep her alive, Diarmuid ends up partly fusing with Surkie to get her back to the Ragnarok, and they're kinda stuck together now. She's half voidsent now, it's fucked her up fundamentally, he's stuck on the Source, and now Surkie has a Devil Trigger.

Like. Seriously. It's in part designed after Diarmuid and his humanoid form, but also in part inspired by her dark knight glam from post stb-enw, which ends up getting destroyed - which is this set below, main piece being the Behemoth King top. Reason being is the Sin DT forms are based on suits of armor, with Dante's being more european armor while Vergil's is clearly samurai armor.

She lost this armor set at the end of ENW after it kind of became her identity. It got worn down from how she channels aether - which she wasn't even aware of doing, but it was what in part destroyed her first and favorite spear, nearly destroyed her Captain's naginata, and then decimated her armor. Granted, what dealt the final blow was the fight against Zenos, but her aether warped the plate so heavily that it was unsalvageable. It's what ends up leading to her post enw look with the Troian gear, which was tailored specifically to her insane and uncontrollable aether.

But this also means it's easy for her to suddenly swap into that voidsent form/DT.

She gets a hang of slipping in and out of it and she winds up fighting MOST OF THE 6.X BOSSES ON HER OWN. Initially it was just because I'm Fucking Gay and I wanted her and Barbariccia to go one on one (*COUGHS*), but then it led into her being the only one to take on Rubicante, and then ofc it just fit to have her go after Golbez on her own. As that DT. Rest of the team joins her for Zeromus, but regardless she still just went stupid crazy DT form against these guys and walked out of it alive.

..............................................................................and this form is also responsible for an uh. Incident. that results in their fifth child, Tseren, whose bio parents are surkie and ysayle.

because Someone's a bit of a monsterfucker.

and they don't learn about this until the Rubicante fight where Ysayle was going to get involved in the fight, but he refused to fight her on the grounds of her. yknow.

gg surkie

BASICALLY I GAVE MY WOL A DEVIL TRIGGER AND IM NOT CHANGING IT

[alovelyburn]

Sorry to bother you! I wanted to ask you a question. In this post (https://www.tumblr.com/alovelyburn/702015278075248640/hawkfawun-alovelyburn-re-the-eventual-ending-of?source=share) you said that "...GRIFFITH has died, FEMTO the demonlord just reforms within the Vortex to start the cycle again by being the first of the next set of 5 Godhand. Because in the end you can't fight destiny, and the wheel keeps turning." How is this possible? If you could easily explain in more detail. Thank you! <3

So, one thing we know about the Godhand is that they cycle somehow - every 216 years a new one wakes up, but there's never more than five. It also seems to reset at some point, because if it were like a conveyor belt where one Godhand gets tossed off the end when a new one gets on the belt then there would have been five when Femto showed up, it's just that the oldest would then uh, retire or something. Go wherever Godhand that have served their time go. also, because when we see Void's birth there is, much like with Femto, four others + him.

So if we look at that then it seems almost certain that Void was the fifth/youngest of the previous Godhand cycle. But now he's the oldest of the current Godhand cycle.

This leads to speculation that the Godhand cycle basically works... well that way: the youngest Godhand of cycle 1 becomes the leader/oldest of cycle 2, and then the youngest of cycle 2 becomes the leader/oldest of cycle 3, etc etc.

If we accept that (a theory, obviously, but the post you refer to was all supposition anyway), then the next thought is... well that means Femto is the foundational member of the next cycle. Which makes sense because of the obvious parallels between Femto/Void and Guts/Gaiseric. So the theory I guess would be that Void was the Femto of the last cycle, and Femto is meant to go on to be the Void of the next cycle (not their names, their roles).

Now, from here it's VERY much speculation whereas the rest is pretty obviously derived from canon facts (not that it couldn't still be wrong, just saying it's more solid ground than the rest of this post).

So since Griffith was also the one reincarnated into the world, which is something that happens every 1000 years, my thought was basically, perhaps the fifth of the Godhand reincarnates into the world, and then eventually reascends to take on the metaphorical throne of the foundational member of the next cycle while their four contemporaries go off and do whatever they do. This makes sense to me because Griffith is seemingly destined to set the next age of humanity - this gets said a bunch of times, right? So under this theory, the youngest Godhand of set 1 is incarnated into the flesh, changes the world/sets it in the direction it's meant to go, and then... presumably goes back to being a Godhand and starts the Godhand cycle appropriate to the new age that they just created.

That would mean, however, that once the "human" body is gone, the Godhand goes on - otherwise Void wouldn't be there anymore (under this theory!)

Which is how I got to the end of that post - that even if Griffith's "human" body dies, it doesn't necessarily mean Femto dies. The human body is, as Griffith himself called it, a vessel - he's a Godhand inhabiting a humanish body (a Griffith-like body I daresay), not an actual human.

It also fits the themes of the series because Guts keeps fighting fate but only ever ends up moving things to where they're meant to be. So by this theory, even if Guts kills or causes the death of NeoGriffith, ultimately he has only moved fate farther along by sending Femto back to the Astral plane to start the cycle again.

At one point Miura said one of the questions of the series is whether the cycle ends with Guts or continues after the story is done, after all.

I hope this is neither confusing nor condescending, but if it is, I apologize in advance. I feel a little like I'm overexplaining, but better to explain too much than too little I guess.

[abhainnwhump]

IMYM Chapter 36: Pastel Redesign: Ribbon

(Content warnings: Arson, panic attack, referenced torture, referenced major death, misgendering)

<- Previous Chapter || Masterlist || Next Chapter ->

It was easy for Ribbon to get ready to go to the Omega Timeline. Put on his pretty pink dress, put on his beret, grab Blossom, and then let Nightmare do the rest. His new soul felt as weird as when he first got his porcelain body. His emotions felt a lot . . . clearer, like they were under a thick blanket until now. No more paints, that was going to take a while to get used to. His spine opening was useless now, but it wouldn’t kill him. That’s what Nightmare said at least.

Error’s screams of pain and pleas to help him still rang in Ribbon’s ears. The first night with the soul, he felt guilty. He still felt guilty! Error needed him, but he could’ve been using him . . . it was a lose-lose.

Speaking of, Ribbon almost put his ruby necklace on, but he stopped. He wore it when Error’s soul got transferred to him, tucking the charm under his dress. It didn’t fit with the rest of his outfit. It hurt almost as much as the soul transfer itself. So much happened at once that Ribbon didn’t want to tell Nightmare. He worried enough and it didn’t even leave a mark. He didn't need the necklace anymore and hid it in his drawer, saving it for a much better outfit.

Ribbon left his bedroom and looked for Nightmare to get ready for the mission. Wait, but he said no fighting . . . guess he would find out when he got there. All Nightmare said was that they were going to take over the Omega Timeline.

Killer stretched when he stepped out of his room, holding his knife in his left hand. Something about him seemed happier than usual. But then again, whenever he closed his eyes, he seemed happier. He didn’t have the scary black voids in place of his eye sockets. He opened one eye and peeked at Ribbon, who watched out of the doorway. Killer walked over to him. “You ready for this, Ribbon?”

Ribbon nodded, skipping to Killer’s side. Dust stepped out of his room not long after. He had been either there or in the medical lab. Ribbon walked in on him once, that was a bad mistake. He focused back on Killer, pulling his string. “Mm hm, I think I’m ready. Nightmare said he doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

“Probably stand there and look cute. Or establish yourself as queen of the multiverse.” Dust stated, adjusting his baseball cap.

Ribbon stepped closer to Killer. Even though he hadn’t operated on him in forever, Dust still scared him. Horror must’ve been down by Nightmare already because he was nowhere to be seen. Dust started walking down the hall and Killer followed him. Ribbon chased after, staying close behind Killer so he wouldn't be left behind.

They made it to the main hall. Horror stood up while Nightmare lounged on his throne. Instead of his normal suit, he wore a nice cape over his shoulders with what looked like leopard fur. His entire outfit gave off medieval king vibes. Horror was dressed the same and smiled up at the three. Ribbon beamed. Killer and Dust walked to Horror and Ribbon skipped to Nightmare. His tendrils pulled him onto his lap. He rubbed his cheek for a moment, laying a hand on his soul. "How is your new soul doing? Does it hurt? Is it starting to feel more natural?"

Ribbon nodded. "Mm hm, it doesn't have that weird heavy feeling anymore. I don't even notice it!"

"Excellent, that means Error's death was worth it." Nghtmare set his crown on his head before passing Ribbon his tiara. He stood up. “Let’s waste no time. This will be our most important mission yet. I would say it’s also our easiest, but the Omega Timeline has prepared itself in Core Frisk’s absence. Their guards prepared for us. I opened a portal in advance to view what we were in for.”

Ribbon got nervous and spun Blossom. If Nightmare said they were dangerous, then it must be awful. Nightmare sensed his fear and tightened his tendril around him, reminding him he had everything under control. “But it won’t be anything we won’t be able to handle, I doubt they’re even expecting us right now. I don’t want too many deaths. The key to this mission will be to establish our place and take over the Omega Central. We can corrupt the AU on the way. Steal and kill whoever and whatever you want, it no longer matters.”

Killer, Horror, and Dust cheered. Nightmare cackled as he opened the portal, still holding Ribbon. They fell from the sky and landed on the ground of the Omega Timeline.

Ribbon looked around the massive mismatched void. It looked a lot prettier when he wasn’t held captive here. The buildings were all mismatched with parts of other AUs. Even the clouds were different colors. White, pink, blue, and even purple. The sky looked darker, like it was sad because it knew the guardian of it was missing. Or maybe it was Core’s emotions affecting it? Ribbon didn’t know.

Nightmare waved his hands and cast his magic over the AU. Black sludge spread across the ground and toward the town. The few sad monsters roaming the streets noticed it and screamed. They ran off into their homes and shouted for defense. How many of these were refugees from AUs they corrupted? They screamed, grabbed weapons, and summoned their powers. Nightmare held on tight to Ribbon.

The guardian’s expression darkened at the Omega Central. He glanced down at Ribbon, then at Horror and Dust. Before he could say a word, he lashed his tendril out to block a gunshot.

The monsters and humans of the Omega Timeline gathered around with weapons and magic. Horror summoned a chain of bones and fired them. They wiped out the monsters charging at them with weapons. The bones were twice as tall as he was and stabbed through multiple citizens. It moved in a straight line like a massive serpent. A human with a green hood and red eyes teleported behind Horror and slashed him with red knives. Horror raised his hand and punched them across the face. That didn't make them quit though and instead, they sliced his hand to rip it off. Dust backed them off with a gunshot. Killer did all the defense work. He fired blasters toward attacks that got too close to Nightmare. But then he pulled a strange object out of his pocket: A flamethrower. Ribbon had never seen Killer with one, at least never paid attention, and he was glad he didn't. Killer shouted and laughed, burning down every building and tree close to him.

But that was nothing compared to Nightmare. He raised his hand and tendrils, creating a wave of corruption over the Omega Timeline. It wiped everyone in its path like a hurricane. A dark coating took over the AU. Nightmare shot into the air with his tendrils to balance, holding Ribbon close to his chest. Even though he knew he was safe in his arms, looking down scared him. All the people looked like little figures from up here. The clouds seemed a lot closer. Each building looked like a splotch of paint.

“My, my, what do you think, my queen? This entire AU, it belongs to us." Nightmare raised his left tendril and fired another negative beam. "These people shouldn't slow us down severely. I plan to shut down Garden of Doors, no need for anyone to get in or out besides us. Horror and I will destroy the Omega Central and then the Star Sanses base, wherever that is."

"Ooh! Ooh! I can destroy the base! I think I know where that is! I want to be useful to you, please?" Ribbon pleaded with puppy dog eyes. He didn't like feeling useless. His job was to serve, he had to serve!

Nightmare caressed his cheek, lowering back to the ground. “Ribbon, I love you with all my heart, but you're far too dumb to do a mission on your own. Especially for such an important task. But if you know and want to help, you need someone to watch over you. Killer! Get over here!"

Killer threw fire at a small house. It went into flames almost instantly. Killer teleported back to Nightmare and Ribbon. "Yeah, Boss? What do you need?"

"I need you and Ribbon to go find the Star Sanses base. Find anything useful or intriguing, especially possible battle plans or items from Dream. Once you're done, burn the place to the ground. I don't want it in my multiverse. Be sure to keep her safe from enemies and don't let her hurt herself during the task. Do it and I'll give you another AU to wipe out via arson, I know you enjoy that quite a bit."

Killer blinked, black goop stiffening on his face. The word arson got him excited. "Destroy the Star Sanses base and keep Ribbon safe? Easy. Come here, dollface."

Nightmare kissed Ribbon on the head before letting him go with Killer. The two began to run away from the action, Killer using bones to shield him from magic beams. They stayed away from the action in the city. Nightmare's words and kiss replayed in his head and Ribbon realized something was off. "Wait, why did Nightmare call me 'her'?"

Killer shrugged. "Nightmare kinda lost it after you two got married- who am I kidding, as soon as he fell in love with you. You haven't been able to tell?"

Ribbon shook his head. "No, not really. Sorry." The two kept walking. In the back of his mind, Ribbon knew where it the base was, but he didn't know why. Too blurry. He took the lead to take Killer on a special path until they made it to a white house splattered with rainbows. The paint peeled, no one had fixed it in a while. For some reason, his stomach churned at the sight of it.

Killer and Ribbon broke into the colorful house. Killer lock-picked the door with his knife. It seemed dusty, probably because there wasn't anyone living there right now. All the windows were covered with curtains. Ribbon shivered, It smelled almost sweet, like berries. Ribbon turned a light on. It kinda made him nostalgic.

“Alright, first or second floor? Nightmare wants me to keep an eye on you." Killer said. He summoned a knife and threw it at a lightbulb for fun, making it shatter across the ground.

"Um . . . first floor." Ribbon walked ahead and looked around at the decorations. He was careful. Sure this was the Stars' house, the bad guys, but it felt wrong to break anything. It was a nice building.

Killer had other ideas.

He fired mini blasters across the room and flipped furniture. He kicked a vase over and Ribbon yipped in surprise. Killer grinned up at Ribbon. "Come on, it's alright. Live a little! It's not like the Star Sanses are going to need it?"

"Yeah . . . they won't." Ribbon walked over to the window and pressed his face against it. If he squinted, he could see Nightmare standing on his two tendrils wrecking the town. Ribbon rested his head on his hand to watch. He couldn't see his face from here, but he bet Nightmare had that confident smile. The one that made him look so handsome and made his heart swoon.

Killer flicked his finger up and a photograph fell on the floor. Ribbon realized he should be helping him, that was the whole point of this. He knocked over another photograph, leaping over the glass. Killer ran down the hallway and opened the backdoor. The color pallete wasn't anywhere as nice as what Nightmare had. Mostly greens and blues like a lake. Ribbon chased after Killer. He lost sight of him and looked around, taking the chance to push down a clothes hanger.

Killer must've thrown open the back door. Out of curiosity, Ribbon peeked outside. The outside looked quite nice, though the grass was overgrown. A couple of pink flowers would make this place much nicer. It would cover up the creepy feeling too, helping the aching in his mechanical stomach. A Killer came back with a grunt and a bag on his shoulder. It was definitely stolen because Ribbon couldn't see why Killer would own a flowery white beach bag. Also, he didn't bring it.

"All the bedrooms are upstairs then because there's nothing down here. But I did find their training room and their wedding crash plan." He shook a rolled-up sheet of paper in front of Ribbon before bonking him on the head with it.

Ribbon blinked in confusion and Killer laughed. "You're way too easy to mess with. Anyways, let's get upstairs, get Dream's stuff, then blow this place to bits!"

Ribbon didn't resist when Killer grabbed his arm and brought him up the stairs. There were much less than the grand staircase at the castle. They made it to a hallway with doors on both sides and a round window at the end.

"Split up? I'll take the left side and you take the right." Killer jogged ahead. He dashed into a bathroom and destroyed something inside, a window from the sound of it. But he also ripped off the shower curtain, at least from the screech sound.

Ribbon took a breath to prepare himself. He looked at a mirror on the wall. It gave him the same icky feeling as seeing the place did. It looked so wrong. Ribbon raised Blossom and smacked it across the mirror, shattering the glass. A few pieces remained, the ones on his left eye, heart charm, splotch mark, and right shoulder. He stared for a moment before walking away. The doll ran down the hallway, wood creaking beneath his feet. As he looked around, he spotted a door on the ceiling. Killer wouldn't mind a little detour, right?

Ribbon hit the top of the door with Blossom until it opened. A ladder tumbled down and opened the entrance to an attic. Ribbon set Blossom on the side and climbed up the ladder. He coughed up dust as a cloud blew into his face. He hovered his hand around the air until he found a small chain. Pulling it, a lightbulb flicked on.

The whole place was tiny and covered in dirty boxes. Ribbon struggled to read the labels on them. The letters swam around like usual and looked dark even with the light. Sure he was stupid, but how could anyone read black marker in a dark room with brown boxes? His curiosity got the better of him and Ribbon reached ahead.

He grabbed a box nearby and used it to help himself up. Ribbon squinted at the label of the taped package. He decided to ignore it and just opened the lid instead. He had to hold the items to the light, but they made his eyes go wide. There were paints, photographs, art supplies, collectible statues, and clothes. Ribbon trembled, shaking with anxiety. The box became much easier to read.

Ink's Possessions.

"No . . . no, no, not this again! Erph!" Ribbon covered his head, dropping the photograph. It was of all the Star Sanses laughing around an AU they saved- destroyed, ruined. That wasn't him holding the camera with his tongue out while Dream danced under the stars, no! He wasn't like that! They weren' heroes. It was the same feeling as when he was in that creativity void all those months ago.

Cute doll, he had to think cute! He wasn't big and strong like this, he was little and had to be cared for! A housewife, a princess, not a fighter! This wasn't right. Ribbon reached into the box, digging around until he found some acrylic paint. He shook the bottle and poured it over the photo.

Fix it! Ribbon colored over it, using a paintbrush he found with it. He covered all the glass until there was no sign left of the picture. Seeing the blank image calmed him down. This whole thing was a mistake, but yet . . . it also hit a chord in his mind. Pink made everything better. It hid everything wrong. This place was going to be blown to bits within hours. The idea that had been building in his head hit him in the fullest color.

"A dollhouse . . . my very own dollhouse! It's perfect!" Ribbon lit up, shoving the thoughts out of his mind. He needed Nightmare's permission, but it would look so pretty! He promised It would get rid of this place too! He grabbed the paint and climbed down the ladder. Killer smashed a wood plank in one of the rooms. Ribbon walked into a bedroom, one he somehow knew would be empty. The more he thought about these ideas, the fuzzier they got, but it was still enough. Ribbon took a piece of old wood and painted the walls with pink details. The little brush made it hard, but he had a rough idea. What else could he do here? He could cover the whole place in bows and lace. Maybe Nightmare would let Blue live here too. His room had to stay intact. Yes, the whole plan was coming together!

Killer raided Dream's room. Crashing and shuffling came from the room before he came back out. Ribbon was too focused on his painting. He wanted every wall pink or white. Well, the blue in the kitchen looked nice, but it had to be pastel. Would Blue mind if he made his room pastel too? Hm, he wasn't sure. It would make everything cleaner and nicer. Nightmare's fixing might help him decide.

Killer walked back into the room and watched Ribbon paint. He took a double take. “Ribbon, what the hell are you doing? We're supposed to be destroying and raiding this place."

Ribbon blinked innocently from his spot on the floor. He pulled his string, getting pink paint on it by accident. "Um . . . I had an idea to fix this place up. Here me out!" Ribbon made a wide hand gesture toward the wall. "I could turn this place into one massive dollhouse! It's a good size, it's pretty outside, all it needs is some customizing! I can be more useful too! If you have enemies, you can bring them to me and I'll take care of them!"

“Doing . . . what exactly? A pink pastel house is the least scariest thing I can think of."

Ribbon hadn't thought that far. Typical for him. He twisted the paintbrush in his hand and looked up at Killer. A bunch of Dream's things were stuffed into his jacket pockets. He couldn't fit everything in his bag. Pens, small books, and the thing that caught Ribbon's attention, a stuffed bear. He pointed at it. "What's that?"

Killer took the bear out by the paw, chuckling. "This? Found it on Dream's bed. I can't believe he sleeps with a teddy bear. Boss is going to have a field day with this. Here, you can have it." He threw the bear at the doll.

Ribbon took the teddy and looked it over. It looked worn and used, but he still found it cute. He hugged it and set it in the corner of the room. What if he moved his extra plushie collections here? A stuffed animal room would be adorable. The bear stared at him with big black eyes. They looked like they stared through him into the other side of the room. Killer seemed to follow his gaze and stared at the bear too. The corner of his mouth began to twitch.

"Wait . . . . here me out. You're already a living toy, so what if your gimmick was that you made others into toys?" Killer thought out loud, setting a finger against his chin with a mischievous smile. "Boss has to have a spell for turning people into stuffed animals. If someone pisses us off, we send them here. They get distracted by the cute colors and I don't know, tea party you se up. You drug the tea with the spell and they start feeling sick. They scream in pain as they shrink and turn fluffy and helpless. Then you trap them in here, make one huge collection, just like the one Horror and I have. Except ya know, less blood and severed eyeballs."

Ribbon thought about that. He stared at the teddy bear, imagining what it would be It would be the best of both worlds, right? He got to help the team, they still got to do all the fighting, and Ribbon had a dollhouse. He squealed and clapped his hands. "That sounds like a great idea! When can we tell him?"

“As soon as we get back to Boss with all this. But one thing, if you're going to redesign, I'm destroying all this to clear it out. Then he can't complain about us not doing our jobs, right?"

"Deal!" Ribbon giggled. This was perfect. No more Ink.

Killer walked out of the room and Ribbon followed, grabbing Blossom from the floor. He stopped in front of the bedroom of Blue's room, taking a peek inside. He must be missing his room right now. Killer turned it into a mess, leaving his stuff scattered and ripped. There had to be something he could bring back to make Blue happy, especially because Error's death made him so upset . . .

Ribbon settled on a torn cyan scarf on the ground It was just a few holes and rips, no big deal! He could always sew it up too. It smelt like Blue did in the first few weeks.

The skeleton and the doll left the house. Ribbon looked at it from the outside, it would look much better with a solid white coat of paint. He needed roses and bunnies around this place too. Everything would look so cute in his house. He couldn't wait until he could put in action and Nightmare could see.

The Omega Timeline grew quiet, no sign of any more fighting. Killer held onto Ribbon's hand to keep him close. Ribbon carried the beach bag after a while to help him out. They walked through the empty main town. Ribbon clung to Killer. Bodies of injured and dead civilians lay around, others coughed up malice. Some watched them pass from their windows they quickly shut and hid inside. Did that mean they succeeded? Nightmare was okay?

"If I was Nightmare, where would I be . . ." Killer muttered to himself. He kept walking with Ribbon. They made it to a graveyard at the edge of town. The place was surrounded by a dark sharp fence made creepier by the dark sky. Mist flowed between both the monster and human gravestones. Ribbon trembled and Killer shushed him. A branch cracked in the distance, making Ribbon jump and scream.

"Calm . . . down." Horror mumbled, teleporting close ahead of them. Ribbon took a deep breath of relief. The murderer's red eye glowed and his body became more visible. He noticed the bag on Ribbon's arm and raised a browbone.

"Don't ask, I needed something to carry Dream's things in. I'm ninety-five percent sure this was his." Killer said before Horror could point it out. He looked behind himself for a moment before looking back at Horror. "So, how did the battle go between you vs the Omega? Did we win?"

Horror nodded, making Ribbon sigh in relief. "We did. Nightmare . . . sent them all running. He and Dust . . . up on the hill. Nightmare . . . destroyed some statue of Ink, could tell it was . . . him. He's looking for you. Looking . . . for Ribbon." He looked down at the doll as he said that. "C'mere."

Ribbon skipped after Horror, holding the bag close. As Horror walked up the hill, he spotted a golden statue torn to pieces on the top. The skull belonged to- nope, don't think about him. Think cute thoughts, not him.

The three walked for a while longer before finding Dust and Nightmare staring over . . . something. Ribbon squinted and realized it was ruins ripped from some AU, but this was different. Instead of the strange puzzles, this was a full-on maze, going on for miles. It was deep, dusky, and dark with a KEEP OUT sign in front of where Dust stood.

"Perfect, isn't it? I didn't even know this existed, though it's not out of the question." Nightmare stated as soon as they came up. He smiled at Ribbon. "I finally know what to do with the others. But that can wait. We have all the time in the multiverse. Now, is the Star Sanses' base destroyed?"

Ribbon and Killer went into an explanation of what happened at the house. Ribbon even explained the bit about him freaking out in the attic. They made it to the part about the renovation plan and that caught Nightmare's attention.

"A dollhouse? I can see the thought and congrats on your creativity, Killer." Nightmare tapped his foot on the ground once they finished explaining. Killer smirked at the compliment. Nightmare focused on Ribbon. "Will you stay safe?"

"Yep!"

"And do you understand that people are willing to manipulate you?"

"Yep! I'll be nice and careful. I'll call you as soon as something goes wrong."

He thought for a moment longer and let out a chuckle. "I need to run this experiment first, but if it works, then you can have your dollhouse. I'll be interested to see where it goes."

==============================================================================

A week after the trip, Ribbon wrapped his arm around Nightmare’s and they walked back down to the dungeon. Nightmare hadn't told him much about this new plan, other than it was a mind trap in the maze. While the others finally accepted Error’s death, they weren’t . . . all that happy. Dream was the scariest. He used to be kinda nice, but now he was angry, always angry. But also empty. He scowled at him with hate in his eyes, but his voice was empty and monotone. Ribbon didn’t know what he did to make him so upset. Now, He curled up on the floor, covered in bruises. Cross punched his fist into the wall. Core sat cross-legged on the floor, trying to use their powers. Epic lay on his back, beaten and bored.

Ribbon almost walked toward them, but Nightmare held him back, gently shushing him. “No, no. Let’s give them more of a surprise, my little wife. I haven’t been giving my toys the proper stimulation they need. This will be the fix.”

Nightmare snapped his fingers. Blue tilted his head to listen. He stood back and tried to figure out what it was. “Uh . . . guys? Did you hear that?”

Nightmare flicked his wrists and portals opened, making them all fall in. They screamed as they fell into the maze. Ribbon ran over and tried to peer inside, but Nightmare shut the portal. He loomed over him with a small smile. “Don’t worry, Blue will be fine. This is going to be interesting.”

(I'm so excited for the next chapter you guys have no idea-)

[sulky-valkyrie]

Happy Friday! I gotta get an enemies to lovers prompt in here: "you snatch a knife from your enemy’s grip and throws it at the ground, then you grab your enemy by the collar, and crash your lips against theirs. they’re surprised, but responds immediately" - for whoever you think fits best!

Happy Friday, Niri! This all hit me in the shower about two hours ago and it doesn't fit the prompt exactly, but I think it fits the spirit? Anyway, happy DADWC and I hope you enjoy a really rarepair weirdness! 💜💜💜 for @dadrunkwriting

Blasted forest.  Blasted werewolves.  Blasted… talking bloody trees!  Carver stumped his way around the edge of the camp, wishing he hadn’t drawn the straw to take the middle watch.  Leave this shit to the elf, or one of the damned dwarves!  They can see in pitch black, and I’m just tripping over my c - feet.  Void take it, even Morrigan could do a better job if she turned into a bird or a cat or something.

He paused and looked back at the rest of the group sleeping around the fire.  The campsite they’d picked out was too small for tents, so everyone was in bedrolls tonight.  Brosca was in theirs. Leliana was in theirs too.  More power to them, he thought spitefully.  Zev was in his.  Carver’s was, of course, empty, and Oghren was snoring leaning against a tree.  But Alistair, Sten and Morrigan were missing.  Had they left before he got up?  If so, why hadn’t Wynne mentioned it?

And if they’d left after Carver was on watch, why didn’t they say let him know?  Also, how had he missed it?

Furthermore, why would the three of them go anywhere together?  Sten distrusted women and mages, Morrigan hated Alistair personally, and Alistair just wanted them to leave him and each other alone.

Without the jingle of his mail or the thud of his boots, the night was far more quiet than it had any right to be - further proof that something about the Brecilian Forest was unnatural.  As he frowned and tried to figure out what to do, a faint metallic noise drifted from beyond the trees.

Like a weapon sliding on a shield.  

Before he knew it, he was leaving the camp and following what could only be the sound of fighting.

Maker, they really decided to just all three try to kill each other, didn’t they?  What the void for?  Why here, why now?  As he crept through the forest, he tried to remember if anything had been off during the evening meal.  Morrigan had been asking Sten questions that left them both looking flustered and annoyed, but that wasn’t really new. One of them was always pissing off someone, either out of deliberate spite (Morrigan) or stubborn obstinance (Sten).  But what did that have to do with Alistair?

A river was somewhere to his left, wide enough that the tree cover let the moonlight through.  The reflection made everything look and feel like the Fade, and reminded him of the times Bethany had accidentally dragged him into her own dreams.  He’d asked Morrigan about that one night, and she’d rolled her eyes and scoffed that he’d heard too many sermons on the evils of apostasy.

A few nights later, when he was on first watch, she’d asked him why he wanted to know, and listened to him with an intensity in those captivating yellow eyes that bordered on feverish.  In a roundabout fashion, Carver found her company the easiest of everyone, except Brosca.  She was an apostate, and knew all about the dangers of Templars, even if her mother had been a bit more… direct in getting rid of them than theirs ever had been.

She was still a bitch after that, of course.  Never gave him the time of day, or treated him with anything but contempt, but it was comforting in its own odd way.  She didn’t like him on his own merits, not for anything Garrett or Bethany had done or not done, and Maker, that was refreshing.. 

Focus.  Maker knew what Morrigan was up to now, or what Sten and Alistair might be doing to her.  He sped up, still moving toward the sound of metal, until something large and furry hit his back.  There was no time or space to pull out his sword, but he got his belt knife out as he felt forward and stabbed up behind him.  

The bear bellowed - Andraste’s flaming asshole, I’m wrestling a bear, I’m going to die - and swatted him to the ground as it fell on top of him, knife still stuck in its shoulder.  What’s the thing?  Play dead and they’ll get bored?  Or is that wolves?  Or mountain cats?  I’m so dead.

Carver grabbed at the knife and slashed at its throat, determined to at least make it pay for its next meal, and the damn thing batted it away as he leaned over him with a low threatening growl before everything felt sideways and watery, then Morrigan was on top of him, bleeding from shoulder and throat, and hands covered in dirt and moss where they dug into his shirt.

Is there any way tonight can get any weirder?  “What the -”

She kissed him.

Apparently so.

[sleepyblr-heart]

while i work on catching you all up on the rest of present's story, i think you eserve some fun facts about her and the world she lives in! Let's start with the world!

the story she's in is collabrative (or, maybe roleplay would fit better, but we've been calling it a collabrative storyline so. pbt.) most of the characters don't belong to me, instead belonging to 2 friends of mine (waves. hi eph and pup)

the world is made of like. 4 (known) dimensions. theres the normal universe, the 4th Wall (an endless white void with a grid pattern on the floor and a forest one of the gods planted), the Inbetween (which sits between the 4th Wall and the normal universe, it's a black void filled with Things), and hell.

there have been like... 8 gods so far. 2 of them got turned into babies. ones a cat. ones an object that got murdered and turned into a ghost. ones a fox that the oldest gods decided to fuck around w/. one of them's present.

the gods have 3 basic forms (or. 2 and a vessel.) Their normal, godly form (typically humanoid but never exactly human, the newer gods stray farther away from human than the older gods). A face form (which while mainly because it's easier to draw also only allows certain, allowed objects to see them in this form), and an Object form or Vessel (typically just a vessel, unless the god was an object at some point, like present!)

there are a few species outside of regular objects (though most will prolly not come up in my summary of present's story). They are: Shapeshifters, Body snatchers, Mimics, Demons, and also like One Entire Vampire.

Certain magics are invisible to the naked eye, while others are visible. However, there are like. 2 objects who can see invisible magic as well as visible magic (along with certain supernatural creatures, specially ghosts.) One of these objects is one of present's girlfriends, Baton.

The world has almost ended like. 5 times. Surprisingly, despite being prophesied to be the one who saves the world, she has had almost no hand in helping with any of these world ending events (mostly because none of the other gods thought to tell her much about the situation)

the gods have divine weapons (though they dont need to really be weapons. one of them has a watering can and one has a dog treat.) Present's is a violin bow (literally) and rapier! dont ask how the string attached back if the rapier is unsheathed i dont know either. magic prolly.

now to present specific fun facts!

She has a fictional condition which, when in a lot of stress (or feeling to high of any emotion, really) her body temp. gets so high she catches on fire

she also has an anxiety disorder. so you know. Wonderful mix!!

she currently works at an ice cream shop run by an employee of Litterally The Worst Company Ever (BBC (Big Boss's Crew)). It's a cover-up to try and find canidates to hire at the actual company.

She has 2 very accidental children, one being a kid named Hattish which baton adopted while present was still on BFP (hattish may have also kidnapped baton but we dont need to worry about that) and Phoney, a cell phone that just. Came alive while Snowglobe, present's other girlfriend, was calling her and baton.

when she has any free time (which is a bit rare atm) she writes music! she hasn't properly published any of it, but im sure she will at some point.

present (like most gods) can create magic arms, however she actually doesn't use them too much if she can help it. she's lived her entire life using her legs or mouth for stuff, it's a bit hard to get used to using new limbs after only a few years!

she doesn't like using most of her magic unless it's needed or someone asks. (mainly because she used to not be allowed, but also she's worried of accidentally hurting someone with it.)

after the first near world ending disaster, she thought she would be returned to her normal object life, and have her magic taken away from her.

she was wrong.

she wishes she was right.

she doesn't like the color purple too much, as it reminds her of fog.

but the color purple also reminds her of one of the gods, which is one of her best friends, so she doesn't hate it!

she started wearing wrapping paper as part of her transition! it's an incredibly personal thing to her, and the only people that have been allowed to help her put on wrapping paper when it gets fucked up (or when she wants to try a new color combo) have been family, her childhood friend Candy heart and her girlfriends.

she has scopophobia, meaning she hates looking and being looked at. the only people she wants to look at her are baton and snowglobe (she doesn't mind other people she's close with looking at her for a bit, but she still freaks out if it's for too long)

that last thing is important, mostly because the only she's worse at than reading other peoples feelings is reading her own. and the fact that she wanted those two gay fucks to look at her was what helped her realize "oh hey. fuck. love is a thing, huh. and im feeling it. goddam"

i think thats enough fun and Facts for now. remember!! go vote for her in the @original-character-championship!!! or dont!!! both outcomes are still very funny to me!!!