#but the scientist is pretty much the reason why i started this au in the first place

[deconstructthesoup]

On my hands and knees praying that one of the chapters I'll get to write for Slay the Professor is the Scientist

[nataliedecorsair]

I wanted to give you some of Pticenoga's Borderlands AU backstory, how she was raised by Shade and before starting her shenanigans with Vaughn.

Plus a bonus comic about how she decided to set up a meeting for Vaughn and Shade, but didn't tell Vaughn who is supposed to be there x) Mostly because Vaughn has met Shade before in his macabre World of Curiosities museum and thought that Shade is too weird for him. Well, that's the kind of person that would raise a feral harpy siren, gotta deal with it!

When she was very young, nothing bothered her much as she was just a wild baby exploring the world x) And Shade was a good father figure to her. However, as she grew older, she realized that she doesn't really "fit in": yeah, Pandora is a crazy planet, but not every person there is crazy. There are plenty of "regular folk" like Shade or other people from their town - and many others. And she was frequently called a monster, a mutant and many other things by the regular kids and even adults. She was wild though, could bite them or fight with them in a pretty feral manner, and, even though she protected herself, it didn't help the situation much. She wasn't crazy enough (and too small) to fit in with the psychos or bandits, was "too human" for actual monsters living on Pandora, and for a long time she had no idea she was a Siren, as even for Sirens she looked too different. Only when she hit her teens, she was able to confirm that she is one, started using her powers, and in her human form she could see the full extension of the glowing pattern she had on her skin. She still, however, didn't know why she wasn't born "normal", and there were no older Sirens around.

At some point, she decided to become independent and live on her own. Her "wild" upbringing was helping that a lot, and she felt fine being away from people. She'd still visit Shade frequently, of course, and at some point she'd even met Zer0 and could hang out with him for some time. As Zer0 is a mystery himself, they had some common ground between them (though constantly listening to his haiku were exhausting xD). Sadly, Vault Hunters attract attention, not always positive, and that was the reason why she got spotted by a big bandit gang (could be the beginning of Vallory's gang, but before she took over). And local scientists like Tannis already declared that there may be some connection between Sirens and the Vaults. And they noticed that she's a Siren, but also pretty young (and dumb). After the first Vault on Pandora was opened, there was plenty of weird and valuable stuff around, but it wasn't so easy to get it when you're just regular bandits. And when Eridians, the aliens that are guarding the Vault, are everywhere. The Sirens like Lilith were too strong for them, and hiring a Vault Hunter is expensive, so they decided to wriggle into her favor and use her to gain access to the area. She didn't know she was dealing with bandits first, she naively thought it's a rare case of nice fellows just wanting to be friends and such, plus the Vault could have answers about her origin, and the new "friends" confirmed it.

At some point, she realized she was being used, and got into a fight with the bandits - and lost, as there were too many of them, and she had too little experience, and they knew about Shade. She got kidnapped and told that she'd do everything they told her to do, or they'd kill Shade, so she had to obey. She helped them to fight the way to the Vault and get some of the riches, and during the process she felt that she really does have a connection with Eridians - they boosted her powers and helped her to get free, and kill every presenting member of the gang. She was worried about Shade though, so she left immediately to find him before the remaining members found out what happened and could harm him. But she was too late - the water source in their town of Oasis was poisoned, and every single person there died. Except Shade though - he lasted longer, but dehydration made him insane, and he turned corpses into the stuffed dummies he could talk to (though she didn't have much of a problem with this part). As she was gone for at least several months, he didn't believe she's real, and she had to adapt to the new reality.

She never got back to the Vault after that as she felt it was a source of more trouble than anything good (in her view, the price was too much for a bunch of physical stuff).

That lasted for years, and became a bit easier as her powers, enhanced by the Eridians, wasn't only serving the destruction,  but could eventually "heal" some part of Shade's mind, so the moments of clarity became more frequent (she didn't know it's the reason, though). And you still need money, whether you like it or not, so, when Shade decided to use his World of Curiosities as a spot of illegal deals and smuggling, she didn't resist, but would watch over him in the shadows in case something goes wrong.

Eventually, she calmed down and just embraced herself. And, after some time, she met Vaughn, whose personal struggles she could sense right away, as she had to experience "being different" herself.

[sunnyknight-original]

What Kind Of Monster Was He?

A @forgettable-au fan (colored) animatic

MINOR BLOOD WARNING!

*Was he the kind to do too much, or not enough?

…OK, SO WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS-

I had planned to finish this into a full fledged animation, but a lot of the parts I did end up finishing just didnt live up to what I imagined…I waited for more motivation to happen, but it just didnt so HERES THE COLORED ANIMATIC CAUSE IM REALLLY HAPPY WITH WHAT I HAVE and ive sat on posting this for like a 2 weeks 😭 which is an eternity in my time

Im gonna post the unfinished “finished” part on my side account @o-sunny-day though! and probably have people yell at me cause it actually isnt that bad AND IT TOTALLY ISNT I just… art. You get it. ENOUGH YAPPING! ITS TIME TO YAP!

except not yet, MORE BACKGROUND INFO HUCDHUC- but its background info on explaining the lore…

The explaining is much less expansive than in Dear My Dear just because I didnt work on it long enough to think every bit of it through. This is just a clean, nicer looking, and colored version of the very first storyboard.

I usually think about and put more effort into the little stuff while making the FINISHED bits since ive had so much more time to think about that in all the preppin n sketching.

BUT I liked the explaining format I did for Dear My Dear so im sticking with it!

The main idea for this was to do a study of Wingdings’ character from what we’ve been given, mainly focusing in on the expectations he puts on himself because holy shit the lyrics for this works so stupidly well it makes me mad LOOK AT THIS???

its ridiculous. i love it. I didnt know Jack Stauber helped write Forgettable AU???? woww!!! ANYWHO thats the gist of it, not much context is needed past that. Onto the sillies!!!! (per usual excuse the shitty quality of the pngs idk why Tumblr does that-)

Did you know love? Will you rest in peace?

Wingdings and Sans holding hands as kids, before turning to a casket like appearance for adult WD. The flowers hes holding are pretty important too, Marigolds to represent grief, Lilys, new life, and Forget Me Nots for this lovely little line I found when looking up good flowers to use-

“a promise to always remember” ….stop that.

That actually also has a double meaning in this case too. 1, ofc the forgetting of Wingdings. But ALSO Wingdings forgetting something himself. Forgetting who he is. Almost like a Zuko ATLA situation.

Did you have a family?

Who knows where theyre parents are, but this is HAPPY TIME and we’re gonna assume they were so awesome and very kind but had to leave or went to a farm in the sky for whatever reason.

The colors here I had a lot of fun with. Their parents had warm colors but the boys have cold, still with warm accents. Its said they more or less raised each other being very independent as shown in the second part with them running out the door by themselves.

How was the view from the shelf? Did you ever believe in yourself?

Before, we started with the beginnings. The good things, the only thing Wingdings cares to even recall. Now we’re seeing his life really start to turn upside down- making first contact with The Player :D

He’s hesitant to reach out, but is intrigued, before getting a rushing revelation of his reality and how it isnt “real”

Rather than feeling crushing existential dread, he more feels pressured to be BETTER, to figure a solution, to do something. Thats what white represents here

WHAT KIND OF MILK WERE YOU?

We then switch to more examples of how Wingdings is taking this pressure (not well) The soft tones of yellow that were shown before, turn to way brighter, intensifying that feeling that he should be fine, he should be happy, drowning in success of being the Royal Scientist.

But he just desperately wants to just go back to a time of nice coldness.

The warm vs cold tones in this I had so much fun with, coldness is supposed to represent hostility usually, while warm is nice and happy. (same with Black and white. Scary, relieving,) But these points often contradict each other, its hard to tell what you’re feeling vs what you’re supposed to be feeling. Just like Wingdings!

WHAT KIND OF LIFE DID YOU LIVE THROUGH?

The white lab coats, the expectations, theyre on all of them. But Wingdings has essentially become his expectations.

He questions what life he wants to live, one being himself and alone (speaking in wingdings) or not himself and with company (speaking in a “normal” font) Still, he frames it in past tense as he believes theres no going back now, based on what he knows.

“One of the last happy moments they had together” stop that. (i cant find a link to when that was said but I know it was once, about them taking a photo together….)

DID YOUR LIFE RUN RICH WITH CALCIUM?

Calcium….bonesss :3 Hehehehdhehfhehehheheheh still dont know why he has holes in his hands so we’re movin on

DID THEY LAUGH AT YOU OR DID YOU LAUGH AT THEM?

Compared to the childhood Wingdings remembered, heres the sadder, bleaker, more realistic version. He always thought they were laughing at him but… maybe they werent.

DAIRY BELOVED. YOUR DAYS ARE GONE,

It doesnt matter now though. Because in the NOW, Wingdings has become consumed by his expectations of himself, seeing this has the “only option” to do the only thing that he feels will give his life meaning and purpose, establishing connection with THE PLAYER

But the grocery list goes on…

And yet life continues on without him, and his room is transformed into a more livable space now that someone is…living in it. Always hurts so much making the differences between Wingdings and Papyrus’ room. It feels like making something out of the man Wingdings COULD HAVE been. Because honestly thats just what Papyrus is,

Thank you to my bestie @fruitytrip for helping me with all of my art in general but especially the storyboarding on this :3 <3

[galactic-knightmare]

The tADC fam but BUGS

...I had the sudden urge to draw Hollow Knight stuff but I'm still hyperfixated on tADC, so the solution? CROSSOVER ...which is weird. I'm usually really not into crossovers, and I don't generally like them all too much, but for some reason my brain thinks their Cool with tADC?? and I end up thinking of lore and stuff for them?? idk man my brain is. going through something lmao. AAaaannyway, lore n' stuff under the cut!

starting wiiiiithhh Kinger! :

Since Hollow knight doesn't have computers- or they do? I have no idea how to describe Monomon's lab. so instead he's kinda like a scientist but not? whatever it is that Monomon is. big brain boi.

Anyway he worked with Monomon and the Pale King on creating the vessels, but had no idea exactly what they were- he thought they were just going to be like the kingsmould- just mindless machines that are shaped like bugs. he did not know they were essentially the king and queen's kids, which were being experimented and killed en mass. So naturally, when he found out, he was pissed.

So when Hollownest starts falling after the failed sealing of Radiance, he ends up accidentally finding a surviving vessel, albeit a strange one. he ends up kinda loosing it due to guilt and stuff, so we end up with our beloved Kinger we all know and love (just fluffier and a bug)

Queenie :

Queenie is a retired Wasp warrior in this, having either come from a different Kingdom, or the arena of fools. She ended up acting as a guard for hire, and ended up meeting Kinger and becoming a sort of extra guard at Monomon's lab where they were working. One thing leads to another and eventually they end up married.

Aaaand now we have two options for this- the Angst Option, or the less Angst Option.

the Angst Option is that, like how she abstracted in the series, in this AU she ends up with the infection, and either dies completely or ends up with her infected corpse hidden inside a locked room in their house. very depressing and stuff.

the non-angst option is that she got injured pretty badly while defending their home from some Infected bugs, and ended up bedridden, so she doesn't leave their home that much anymore, thus why you don't generally see her.

aaand now Pomni! :

Pompom is one of the three known survivors of the Deepnest tribes. (the others being Hornet and Midwife, four if we're counting that unknown weaver we see at one point) She's stuck as a lone hunter, usually sticking to greenpath since there's more things to hunt. eventually she meets Kinger and they end up befriending each other. as scatterbrained as the moth is, he's one of the few non-infected beings around now, so she's happy to have some company now.

despite coming from a family of weavers, Pomni really isn't fond of weaving. She's somewhat like Hornet, with preferring battle over words. despite how quick to attack she is though, its mostly due to nervousness. they can't attack you if they've already been stabbed. outside of battle she's the Pomni we all know and love- nervous and anxious to an extreme.

While she's fond of Kinger (and Queenie in the non-angst version) she's got mixed feelings with the weird Vessel that lives with the two. More often than not, she ends up either wanting to slap him or hug him. the two usually end up on patrols around Greenpath together, although hardly any hunting gets done during those.

Aaaand finally my beloved boi, Caine :

He's the vessel! obvs. but something went a bit wrong. either he got into something he shouldn't, or he ended up experimented on by someone else. (or maybe he just had a brief encounter with a grimmkin that decided yes, this smol pale child shall now have some of my powers for shits and giggles). Either way, he's ended up as a hybrid of the two, with the raptor-claws, tail, and facial markings of a Grimmkin, but the spikes and everything else of a Vessel. The grimmkin glow/nightmare energy however is a liiittle fucked for some reason though, since it's blue and green instead of the normal red.

either way, he managed to escape the void unlike most of the millions of vessels, and ended up in the care of Kinger (and Queenie) eventually. He usually follows the two around like a lost puppy, though since meeting Pomni, he's started following her around too. he steers clear of Hornet obviously- his bio half-sister scares him (as she should- we all know how she handled vessels before Ghost)

Hes also unusually short for a Vessel, and a Grimmkin honestly. he's not that much taller than Ghost, who's still in the child-stage of a Vessel. his tail also isn't fully right either- instead of the spiked tail of a Vessel or the Scorpion tail of a Grimmkin, it instead doesn't even have a tailtip, and is instead constantly leaking soul/nightmare energy. Its concerned Kinger greatly, but theres not much he can do about it.

He's also not genderless like other Vessels- or he is, but prefers he/him. or hes a gremlin like how I picture Caine, and is technically in a way genderfluid? idk how to describe my son lmao

[no-psi-nan]

Now that I've been thinking about Kusuke more, I think I can better articulate what makes Kusuke different from Makoto.

My latest understanding is that while Makoto doesn't think he's doing anything wrong and wants to escalate his involvement with his sister, there's a lot of evidence that Kusuke is actually trying to END his weird fascination with his brother and shift to a normal sibling relationship.

To support this theory, I'm gonna roughly describe Kusuke's appearances / timeline and what I think his motivations were.

Obviously this all starts when Kusuo is born. Pretty normal sibling rivalry for a while, though it escalates as they both get older and stronger and their parents don't stop them.

Kusuke creates the limiters. One limiter was supposed to stop Saiki's powers while inserted, and the other one was to keep Kusuo hostage for their games. I believe Kusuke thought that by suppressing Kusuo's powers, he could establish the "proper" hierarchy of older brother beating younger brother. But it wouldn't be a complete win for him without beating Saiki at full power, so the second limiter ensures Saiki will still compete with him. Kusuke's trying to get better at games and fighting, so he's thinking that if he can beat Kusuo with the limiter in, then he just has to train until he can beat Kusuo with the limiter out.

Up till this point, there's no evidence that there was any sexual component going on. And conveniently, right as he would be hitting puberty, Kusuke high-tailed it to Cambridge. At this time he still thought that by working with other scientists, they could figure out how to completely remove Kusuo's powers.

After that, Kusuke doesn't make an appearance until Kusuo goes to him about the broken limiter. He's left cameras all over the Saiki house which is bizarre and wrong, but to be slightly fair to him, he grew up without any privacy due to Telepathy, so it kinda makes sense. And technically if something went wrong with Kusuo, Kusuke is the only person who could help, so it would make sense that he should keep an eye on things. Still fucked, but he's not exactly an ethical guy overall.

Once Kusuo needs his help, Kusuke tests to see if he can finally beat Kusuo conclusively. He hasn't done this since he left Japan, and it's actually entirely possible that this is the first time that he ever reacted like that to a loss. Still, despite apparently having the best time of his life, he's annoyed enough by the next morning to bully Nendo and Kaido for no reason. Perhaps he realized that his excitement was messed up??

After this, Kusuke doesn't show up again for a while, except to warn Kusuo and their parents that there was a defective part in the limiter. The fact that Kusuo accidentally screwed up the past and met the WWIII AU Dr. Kusuke isn't technically Kusuke's fault and was definitely not his intention.

Almost every single Kusuke appearance after this point is directly related to The Final Game, in which Kusuke will defeat Kusuo in a super epic battle and then cement his dominance forever (and destroy the rivalry / humiliation kink potential) by slam-dunking the power deleter into Kusuo's brain.

Kusuke's next appearance is scamming his grandpa. Not very nice, but I think he was actually testing how much his grandpa loves him before moving in with his grandparents and launching his "elderly robot gang" plan of attack on Kusuo. Notice that his grandmother, who Kusuke likes better and brings gifts for, doesn't get put in a robot suit later on, she gets eternal youth like she wanted (well, at least Kusuke's best shot at it). But Grandpa was definitely going to be used against Kusuo as a hostage and to Kusuke it's justified because his Grandpa doesn't love him.

The elderly robot gang plan is revealed and fails, so Kusuke has to think of some other way to defeat Kusuo in a super cool matter.

In the next new year's chapter, both Kusuke and Teruhashi show up at the Saiki household. It's not clear why Kusuke showed up (perhaps he just wanted to hang out with his family and mess with Kuniharu), but he does seem to test whether Teruhashi could be good hostage material - the grandpa plan failed and we know he later recruits Toritsuka. Luckily for Teruhashi, she's able to prove that she is NOT to be messed with, so that's another angle that's been shut down.

Next Kusuke sends the birthday bomb trials. This is explicitly to measure Kusuo's strength as Kusuke comes up with the perfect counter weapons. He's not trying to kill Kusuo after all, and later he actually gets nervous that the cat tank blast might be too powerful.

Then there's the KochiKame parody chapter, where Kusuke has a little fun getting Kuniharu his job back. No attempts to mess with Kusuo in this one and they interact super normally.

Then Warp the robot cat debuts. Since roboticizing humans didn't work for him, it seems Kusuke is going all-in on developing robots with as much functionality stuffed into them as possible. While Warp also serves as a gift for Kurumi, I think its also a step towards developing Kusuomega.

Ok there's also a chapter where Kusuke tries to get his grandma to divorce his grandpa. Just Kusuke being an asshole lol.

Kusuomega appears!! Since Kusuke's original plan was to throw a bunch of robot old people at Kusuo, it makes sense to test whether throwing a bunch of normal robots at Kusuo would work. Yeah, making Kusuomega lick his shoes is fucking bizarre and making him "fully featured" is also messed up. But Kusuke does also have to prove that he's willing and able to make Kusuomega do freaky shit at Kusuo's school to "properly motivate" Kusuo to fight back at full power. Kusuke puts a lot of effort into ensuring Kusuo doesn't half-ass their games and fights, going all the way back to the installation of the limiters.

Kusuomega was easily defeated, but instead of making more robots, Kusuke realizes he can use Toritsuka as both a weapon and a hostage. He immediately gets to work on that.

Then the cat tank arc, The Final Game. Kusuke was going to win Once And For All.

Except he didn't. Still, he gives Kusuo the option of whether to use the power deleter or not, without the leverage of publicizing his powers. Kusuke has accepted that he can't beat Kusuo, and that he's never going to get another chance to beat him full strength, because he knows Kusuo is going to use that power deleter. This is the ultimate sacrifice for Kusuke, since Kusuo's powers are his one interest and passion in life.

From then on, Kusuke is completely cooperative, helping Kusuo with the volcano problem and giving him genuine advice in trying to prevent his powers from returning. Naturally he gets a little excited at the prospect that Kusuo's powers might be back, but he does respect Kusuo's attempts to deny them back out of existence, setting up Kuniharu to fight the meteor instead of insisting Kusuo do it, even if this might mean they all die.

So in summary, it seems like:

Normal sibling rivalry -> limiters to try to end sibling rivalry -> escape to England -> Kusuo shows up so Kusuke tries to beat him for the first time in years and gets off on the loss -> Kusuke works towards a final conclusive game where he can win and then delete Kusuo's powers

While Kusuke justifies it as older siblings should always be superior to younger siblings, he clearly senses there's something wrong about their dynamic and he works hard to "fix" it in the only way he knows how: with an overwhelming win. And when even his biggest efforts fail, he accepts that he'll never win this way and lets go of their rivalry, shifting into a more normal sibling relationship. And Kusuo recognizes that and even seeks his help with the volcano for the first time.

So while their situation is definitely fucked for most of the series and Kusuke definitely did pretty much everything wrong... Things aren't QUITE as bad as they seem and it looks like the "bro-con" issue is gone by the end of canon.

Which sets Kusuke pretty far from Makoto, imo, who never recognizes for a second that his attraction is problematic and that even if that wasn't his sister, he should never treat another person that way.

Anyways, I figured it might be helpful to explain my thinking on Kusuke in more detail like this, so hopefully this was interesting and makes sense!

[justyourtypicalwriter]

Wondering if you have any headcanons for what jobs the kids pursued when they got older

Hi!!

So l actually haven't put much thought into this (I probably should) as I don't currently have a "post cannon" middle ground between the show and PC (pre-teen/teen/young adult) so I'll just give you their most used occupations in my "incredibly scuffed clashing with cannon" aus :)

Stan - Anything revolving around animals or child education. Veterinary, wildlife rescue/rehab, music teacher, world history teacher. I highkey pulled the world history one out of my ass. I just remembered all the epics and legends I learned in that course and I feel like Stan would be all over that

Kyle - Law, child psychology, music, art. Law for obvious reasons, yes follow in your fathers footsteps not because you want to be like him but because you want to be BETTER than him (sorry gang, I hate Gerald as much of some of yall hate Randy). Child Psychology is pretty widely accepted by everyone it sense for Kyle to want to help kids (add in watching his friends go through childhood trauma and not being able to do anything about it as a motivator and the story is chefs kiss) some of my Kyle's would KILL to have this job but I fuck them over a little to much and they can't (sorry bb, I love you I swear). Hear me out: slutty indie singer Kyle and his shitty band of childhood trauma repressors to challenge Crimson Dawn, PEAK rivals to lovers. I have no clue why but I’ve been chipping away at a starving artists au since May and bpd artist icon Kyle has lived rent free in my head ever since

Kenny - Paramedic, doctor, firefighter, scientist. I LIVE for Kenny getting high stakes jobs that match his high stakes life style so I feel he’d excel at jobs where he’d have to get creative on spot. I also adore the smart Kenny who still acts like a himbo thing. PC, he’s a smart little freak and I love that

Cartman - CEO or entrepreneur. I will always be a sucker for self made business man Cartman wether he’s an antagonist or protagonist. I think it adds so much to his character. Either he’s the antagonist and does some fucked up shit to the protagonist (typically Kyle or Butters let’s be so fr) and an issue for the plot is no one believes them since he’s held in such a good light by the community. OR the antagonist is a higher power and by helping the protagonist, his playing all his cards and risking loosing EVERYTHING

Butters - Baker. I’m sorry, he deserves all good things and the Vic Chaos plot doesn’t really do it for me. I want to give him a cute little bakery to just relax and decompress from that traumatic ass childhood

Craig - Astronomer, racing, detective, forensic pathologist. I feel like the first two are pretty self explanatory lmfaoo. And Kivea and acreekinthenight turned me on the other two. Craig having a high risk, stress heavy job really allows more character development and lore opportunities

Tweek - I’m guilty of criminally negligent my little meth addict and I think the only job I’ve given him is keyboardist for Crimson Dawn. Kinda wanna give him a gun and see what happens

Clyde & Tolkien - Film/screen play writing, club owners. Now these aren’t the only jobs I write for them. I’ve got plenty of separate ones but ever since I started the SDAU, I live for them working together in the film industry. And they’re literally THE club owners. Chaotic as fuck but the

Jimmy - Comedian. Let the king keep his crown bro. I could never cut the comedy aspect out

Wendy - Something in politics or child education. Wendy for president man, she’d have my vote. Also I could picture her and Kyle working at the same school. They’d gossip so much smh

Bebe - SALON OWNER BEBE MY LOVE!!! Let her be an independent business woman and still kind of a bimbo

[gabessquishytum]

I'm having a galaxy brain moment: Winter Soldier AU 👀

Hob and Dream both grew up together in the same neighborhood. Initially, Hob was the lanky one, as he was from a family significantly more poor than Dream. But he always fought everything and everyone, especially those who dared pick on Dream. His beautiful, dark, lonely friend.

When they grow up, Hob wants to be a soldier, fight in wars, but his physique doesn't let him. Dream, who volunteers at the same time, is sent to the front, to their mutual dismay as they are now separated.

Until a scientist named Death because the experiments haven't gone tremendously well sees Hob and asks him if he wants to be their next lab rat for their "Immortality Serum", a treatment that will make him incredibly strong and pretty much indestructible. Hob, being the Himbo we know and love, and thinking how impressed Dream will be with his new muscles, says yes.

Cut to Hob in tight Spandex and other cute outfits being shipped to the front, where he is reunited with Dream. On a mission together, Dream falls off their train and is declared dead. What's worse, right before hia descent he told Hob he loved him.

Hob is devastated. His one true love is gone, there is little for him to move forward. Eventually he crushes into some ice, and is declared Deep Frozen, until 100 years later.

The reason he was defrosted? He is believed to be the only one able to go after The Winter Soldier, a deadly assassin hiding behind a horrifying mask who seems to be taking orders from some dark master he can't refuse. It's because his master, Burgess, is using some specific magic words and runes that bind Dream to him.

Yes, the Winter Soldier is Dream. Deprived of his memories, his empathy, his identity. Hob doesn't know who he is, and they fight, until during a hand-to-hand he curses a swearword that was an inside joke between him and Dream. The Soldier freezes, and in that split second Hob is able to remove his mask. Imagine his shock when he sees Dream, his Dream, staring back at him with no recognition. But it is Dream, without any doubt. Nobody has eyes this blue, lips this pink, skin this beautifully pale.

He weeps for his friend, both happy he is still alive but also desperate because he isn't his friend? The Soldier goes back to trying to kill him, and Hob is about to let him finish the job, he won't fight Dream, he won't hurt him ever ever ever.

That gives the Soldier pause, he doesn't understand why his target doesn't fight back. That gives Hob hope, that maybe his beloved is still in there.

How will Hob bring him back?

Ahhh, this is a great au for them!! Mostly because I want to see Hob’s butt in the spandex. He would definitely cheer on the morale of the troops!

And Dream would look so cool in the Winter Soldier gear, maybe with his hair grown out and flying wildly around his face. Fighting hard against the brain washing as he tries to remember why this unfamiliar man might be important to him. None of it makes any sense, and Dream is just so tired. Burgess doesn't let him sleep properly, and although it doesn't impact his physic capabilities, it's just another method of torture because his mind can't rest. He can't dream.

He stops fighting Hob, because he's confused and because he's tired. He steps back. Hob sees an opportunity, and he seizes it! He starts telling stories from their childhood. All the games they invented, the raven that Dream nursed back to health, all the times Hob got beat up by other kids because he defended Dream’s "weirdness". Everything he can remember, finishing up with the moment Dream finally declared his love for Hob. Hob is weeping the whole time as he speaks, and Dream just listens in stoic silence.

And then his eyes fix on Hob’s face. There's the barest hint of recognition amid those dazzling blue irises. He's fighting hard against the magic. "I never got to hear your answer. If you loved me too, or not." He whispers.

"I did." Hob manages to sob. "And I still do."

And maybe it's enough to break the magic, at least for a moment. And even if Hob can't save Dream, at least he'll know. That he's loved. Even if Hob can't save him, Dream will fight for that love with his own hands, until he's free of Burgess. Hob’s fought for Dream often enough, and now it's Dream's turn to fight for him.

[dimmadomeglobal]

Hi, it's that anon that has the whole 'Dale Didn't Know He Was Pregnant Thing', I go anonymous because I don't use my main blog, which is what appears when you ask unanonymously. My actual blog is dvd-wren! I posted a little more about my Dev over there in case you're interested.

I wanna answer all the questions you could possibly have! So I don't mind answering the ones you left.

Why did Dale and Rhode sleep together?

They were both in their early 20s, and Rhode had seen Dale all on TV and thought, "Damn. That gold mouthed ginger scumbag is hot." Rhode himself was a very famous scientist who had done lots of impressive feats, garnering him a lot of money. Rhode had never been one to buy extravagant things, so he put his money to "good use" by essentially courting Dale with his investment.

They had a meeting about it, and when Dale asked about the conditions and whatever, Rhode simply replied, "You." and then proceeded to clear Dale's desk, jump on it, and one thing led to another - Rhode's rizz was brought to you by a sitcom he watched when he was 17.

What does Dev think of all this - and does he know he was born on the floor of his dad's office?

Dev does know he was born on the floor of his dad's office because Dale told him. "I was forced to birth you on my office floor, and you speak back to me like this?" (aka Dale was too ignorant to realise he was even pregnant) gave it away.

Dev never knew about Rhode, but he does wonder why he has no other dad or mum sometimes.

Dev is a pretty sickly kid (more about that on my post), and he partially blames Dale not taking him to the hospital when he was born almost too early to live and Dale not looking after himself while pregnant to start with, but some of his illnesses would have happened regardless.

ToT The audacity! Courting Dale by throwing money at him is just... wow. Rhode knows what he likes, lol.

It sounds like Dale holds some resentment towards Dev for that. Why didn't Dale take Dev to the hospital? Was he scared or just didn't give a damn or something? It's a miracle Dev survived, not gonna lie. Especially being premature, he probably lacked the surfactant needed for his lungs to function. I saw your post and WOW. Dev has so much he's got to deal with. Poor kid.

Dev has asthma in my AU too (and is my headcanon), and so does Dale. That's the main reason they use their au pairs so often: because physical exertion can trigger and worsen an attack. The au pairs aren't just for convenience; they're assistive devices. Dale's asthma is well controlled now but Dev's is pretty bad, especially since he's still a kid (childhood asthma and whatnot). He's in and out of hospitals constantly and he goes through inhalers like they're candy bars.

Thanks for answering! Your AU is very compelling!

[danpops]

My brain is unable to stop thinking about Dr. Robotnik (swaps with Tails) in my Sonic swap AU (that I have decided to call "Cough Cough Rolesies Swappies" because it's the first thing that came to mind and it's too funny for me to think of anything else). Despite having a pretty rough childhood, this version of Dr. Robotnik would end up deciding to use his machines to make the world a better place instead of completely conquering it. He says that he's doing it because he cares about the world, but it's really just spite for his father thinking he wouldn't amount to anything.

He would end up discovering the Chaos Emeralds at some point, more specifically the red Chaos Emerald, and see them as something that could be really useful for powering his machines. And that's how he would see them for a while, until a certain red echidna would pretty much burst into his garage (he works in a garage because that's funny) due to feeling a connection to it. Dr. Robotnik would end up being pretty pissed by this, not exactly seeing a reason to give some random echidna a Chaos Emerald HE found.

But that would pretty soon change when the echidna would explain why he was even looking for the Emeralds. The thought of having found something that was MORE than just a battery for his machines would very much end up interesting the doctor (not actually a doctor), despite not allowing himself to fully believe it.

Then Dr. Robotnik would get an idea. An idea to strike up a deal with the echidna, that he could assist him find those Chaos Emeralds with his inventions and HE would get the chance to experiment on them, figure out just what these mysterious gemstones were capable of.

Knuckles would, reluctantly, agree to the deal (mostly due to feeling kind of guilty for bursting into someone's garage without warning).

At first, Dr. Robotnik wouldn't exactly care much for the echidna, seeing him as more of an asset to help him continue experimenting on the Chaos Emeralds. But over time however, he would start seeing him as less of a means to an end and more like a friend (a son, but Dr. Robotnik would never admit it, and neither would Knuckles admit to seeing Dr. Robotnik as his father).

Pretty soon, Dr. Robotnik would pretty much end up being a mad scientist who spends most of his days either assisting Knuckles in finding an Emerald or make some random machine to either help the world or just because he wanted to prove it was possible. This would also serve as a reason for Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles existing in this AU, since Dr. Robotnik wanted to see how well he could replicate another person in robotic form.

Sonic would end up finding Metal Sonic to be really cool when the robot was first brought to Angel Island, especially due to the fact Metal Sonic can pretty closely match his speed.

Knuckles, however, would end up not exactly being a fan of his robotic doppelganger. Whenever those two would end up in a room together they would just... stare at each other until one of them left the room.

And that's pretty much all the thoughts I have for Dr. Robotnik in this AU (for now, at least). My brain has been all tuckered out and I shall now slumber for

[ella-the-fella]

EXPLAINING THE AU!!!

BEFORE I EXPLAIN I MUST LIST THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANNON APA AND THIS AU.

CANNON! APAEPU:

Was dismembered by blank and given to a scientist.

Doesn't remember his past that much

Works at the asylum (no shit) because of Inkitāru. (This is what i meant when Inkitāru was important to APA's lore because they're the reason he's in the asylum in the first place)

Mostly jolly and has good relationships with pretty much everyone

The virus remains in his system.

Has NOT met radium

Thinks anyone can change and still refuses to believe what blank has done.

In a relationship with CAR.oline!! (This isn't FULLY canon, it's like semi-canon but SHUSH)

ESCAPISM! APAEPU

Escaped blank BEFORE being fully dismembered, therefore there's no virus in his system.

Remembers everything very well due to still having his memory.

Still met Inkitāru. however instead of Inkitāru suggesting APA to work at the asylum, APA asks Inkitāru for help to find his missing partner (so APAEPU isn't his actual name in this au)

Not as jolly and is a bit more serious, doesn't get along with anyone as well as in canon

HE MET RADIUM AND DIDN'T AUTOMATICALLY WANT HIM DEAD YAYY

After knowing Blank's true colors, he realized how much he HATES him now. Still believes that most people can change.. HOWEVER... "If there's anyone that will never change, it'd be a sinner or a liar. My creator was both and deserves to rot in hell because of it".

Not as innocent anymore, can and WILL resort to violence.

Is much less emotional yet mostly feels hatred.

Does end up having to go to the asylum for "business" but we'll get to that later.

Does not meet CAR.oline until much, much later

NOW LET'S GET TO THE LOREE

after everything that happened, Apa was still in a daze... Yet he felt something new.. Something different.... RAGE

Now not only was he damaged and stressed about his partner, but now there's a new feeling in his body and it HURTS. "Im a BOT.. i shouldn't be feeling anything.." he thought.

After running for god knows how long, it starts to rain. APA ran into a nearby cavern for shelter. Then he met Inkitāru!!

Inkitāru felt bad for him and fixed him up..the two talked and became friends rather quickly!!!!.. But when Inkitāru asked why APAEPU was here, APA stopped with the joyful attitude and explained to him how he NEEDED to find his partner.

Inkitāru being the hot, handsome, sexy gentleman he is, agreed!!

"not so fast!! We can't just go god knows where while looking for someone!!! Not in THOSE clothes..."-Inkitāru

Inkitāru sewed up some pretty epic clothing for APA and off they went... ON A QUEST TO FIND HIS PARTNER!!

meanwhile Blank is still out and about, careless and free, not in jail for its crimes for some reason.... When its gets a call... A CALL FROM A VERY RICH COMPANY!!! they said that they heard about the robots Blank made and wanted to hire it!!! Blank being the money hungry piece of shit it is, agreed..

The corporation ended up getting so powerful over the years that now half the entire population is run by robots... Only very few natural beings remained due to the robots gaining sentience and becoming violent.. (The asylum gang is still alive keep in mind).

Inkitāru and APAEPU now have much more to deal with, given all the robots that want them DEAD.

OMG RADIUM APPEARS YAYY!! (APA hated him at first but was immediately chill with him after he found out he was friends with Inkitāru)

Radium states that he knows where APA'S partner is, but its not gonna be easy... SO THEY NEED HELPPP!!

NOWWW THEY GO INTO THE ASYLUM......

by force...

with APA being the most violent....

Of course everyone in there is shocked, confused, and terrified. Albert was especially confused on why the so called "hallucination" that annoyed him was with these strange people.

Forgot to mention this but CAR.oline, beast, and a few other patients also went missing after the "robot outbreak"

"We can help you find your pals if you help us find MINE. this is NOT an option and you will die if you don't agree."- APAEPU probably

"Don't worry he's just stressed out lmao"- Radium definitely.

AND GUESS WHAT??? EVERYONE ENDS UP GOING ON AN ADVENTURE TO FIND THEIR LOVED ONES!!! HORRAY!!! Terrible things will happen...

This au is still a WIP but i hope you like it so far :3

( @weirdsillycreature, @i-am-xp-64, @thetoxxicracoonofficial, @everyoneelseiforgottotag)

[snawbeanart]

a small tribute to those 2010's character tribute videos (some context under the Read More)

(Copied from the YT description)

Tribute video for Fawfuigi, a "what-if" scenario if Fawful had fawfulized Luigi early on during Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Also a tribute to those really old Mario tribute videos from the late 2000's - early 2010's (especially the Luigi and Mr. L ones that'd use this same song). Set quality to 144p for the optimal viewing experience. Song used is Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, and I drew all the artwork (though some are edited Nintendo renders / artwork. also some backgrounds are from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story).

If you're not familiar with the Mario & Luigi series and are wondering what's gone wrong with Luigi, he's been turned into a goofy prankster bean man by a genius evil bean scientist / engineer named Fawful. Fawful sparked chaos throughout the Mushroom Kingdom by starting an epidemic of bloated Toads, hijacking Bowser's Castle, stealing a forbidden object of great dark power, with the kingdom's authorities trapped in Bowser's stomach all the while.

Fawful does something called fawfulization throughout the kingdom during his conquest- this usually means he stamped his face and/or likeness onto something. He fawfulized statues, carpets, castles, animals, and even clouds. So what would be a bigger middle finger to Mario than fawfulizing his own brother?

The story of this scenario / AU (note this is an unfinished and pretty condensed retelling, I didn't want to write out all the elements of BIS that'd still happen but weren't really plot-relevant):

The morning that Mario and Luigi were supposed to appear at the Blorbs epidemic conference held at Peach's Castle, Luigi was strangely absent. Luigi is assumed to be late and the meeting continues until Bowser barges in and, under the influence of Fawful's Vacuum Mushroom, inhales all of the participants.

Meanwhile, the now-fawfulized Fawfuigi is running amuck, further adding insult to injury to the befuddled kingdom. He doesn't mean much harm most of the time, but his sense of humor can be very mean-spirited. His objective is to stall Mario from getting anywhere near Fawful, but can't seem to find the red plumber for a while.

Mario has been struggling without his brother. When he finally leaves Bowser's body, he's too late. The Dark Star the princess had warned him of was stolen. Things were only going to get worse.

When Mario leaves the town's caves and hobbles home to take a breather, he finds that his door has been slathered with rotten eggs. His shelves have been unconventionally reorganized. Someone had drawn over his family portrait with marker. Mario was infuriated but also baffled. Who and why?

He finds out soon enough. When he sees Fawfuigi, he knows that must be Luigi, but he doesn't want to believe it. He found him at Bumpsy Plains, setting up banana peels on the pathway to Bowser Path. When Fawfuigi spots him, he hurls a ball of electricity at Mario intending to start a fight, but Mario doesn't want to hurt him. Starlow urges Mario to do something to stop him, but after Mario fails to reason with Fawfuigi, he flees.

[teecupangel]

I am so sorry, I just now realized I sent my rant to you via an ask, I don't know if that is the correct way or if a dm would have been more appropriate. I don't know if I even made a whole lot of sense in the last 'ask' but I hope you will understand what I mean.

So that this one will be a ask/request, I wanted to ask you if you have still the ideas for the HZD AltDes Au? I scrolled through your notes ideas post and that one immediately catched my eyes. Like I can kind of imagine that either one would have a similar plot like Aloy? Maybe someone who worked either alongside Elisabeth Sobeck or would replace her(and therefore Aloy) and then it could follow a similar route like base HZD and Forbidden west. Maybe Desmond would be the genetical clone to the scientist working alongside Elisabeth like Aloy is to her but instead of just having the genetic necessary code he would retain the memory's or regain them to fight the rogue AI (I don't know the name anymore, I really have to play the games again, love them). If Desmond/Altaïr would replace Aloy or have similar plot like her, maybe the other one could either be like a childhood friend/stepbrother like in your fic Old Mentor or another 'clone' (with the explanation why there are two clones, so that it is guaranteed that at least one will see the light of day and potentially save the world from further destruction with the right genetic code (Hehe)). OR to connect it to the AC universe (and I kind of just got the idea from your Old Mentor fic) like, Desmond survives the solar flare, Altaïr is for whatever reason with him in the 21th century, helps him survive the eye etc. From some Isu crap or whatever they have a like a vision or something from the future (HZD, more like the war with the machines who absorb biomatter), they work on it to not really prevent it but like ensure that humanity will live through the catasrophe and put their DNA like Elisabeth Sobeck into the project for the future.

I just scrolled up and realized I might have just grabbed the plot bunny and ran like a mad man, ups

Nah, you’re good. I like reading rants hahahaha

I can’t find the HZD AltDes AU idea post so I’m not sure what I’ve already written and what I didn’t include in the post itself sooooo…

Let’s just make this a separate idea where AltDes happens during HZD lollol.

We’ll borrow a bit from my HFW x AC crossover oneshot Falconry for this one.

In this one, Altaïr would be Aloy’s twin although they look nothing alike. The real reason for this is that they were both born at the same time with Aloy being born from Sobek’s DNA but Altaïr is a bit of an anomaly.

The plan had been for Desmond to be cloned using Sample 17 but Sobek only had a small sample of an already small sample.

Not to mention, due to Ted Faro’s actions, the sample wasn’t in its best state but it did manage to create an imperfect clone unlike Aloy.

The two of them were raised together and Aloy acts more like an older sister to Altaïr who preferred to be quiet and seemed to see things that others cannot see.

Many things he’s weird and Aloy always try to beat them up because of this.

Aloy is pretty good with figuring how machines work while Altaïr likes to make new things based on the scraps and metal they get.

They were a constant headache to Rost, that was for sure.

The thing about Altaïr is… he has a friend.

A friend that only he could see.

Someone who grows with him and talks to him and play with him whenever Aloy was busy or Rost wasn’t looking.

The boy’s name is ‘Desmond Miles’.

Desmond thinks he’s a ghost. A person who had died and was now haunting Altaïr.

And he knows a lot of things. Not the machines but the much older tech.

Desmond likes to say that they were living in a distant future after humanity probably ‘fucked up so badly’.

It took years for Altaïr to understand everything that Desmond was saying.

To Desmond, his life ended when the world was just ‘starting’ to bring what he liked to call ‘sci-fi-esque’ technology to life.

The machines they hunt are part of that sci-fi-esque future that Desmond never saw.

But the really older artifacts that Desmond liked to call ‘technology’, those he knows or can guess what they do.

He’s ramblings are what give Altaïr an idea of how he can make new inventions using those parts.

At the very least, the parts that Rost didn’t take away because he didn’t want them messing with machines and stuff.

Altaïr knows that Desmond knows more than he’s letting on but it was fine if Desmond doesn’t want to share them yet.

Sooner or later, he will.

That was the kind of person Desmond was, after all.

.

Unorganized Notes:

Yes, in this one, Desmond is the ‘Bleed’ XD

To be more exact, because of the botched cloning, Altaïr is like Aloy, his own person who shared the DNA of their source (Sobek/Sample 17)

Unfortunately, because of both Sample 17’s current state when it was used and the genetic makeup of Desmond himself, Altaïr gets a ‘genetic ghost’ for the ride.

Desmond remembers everything. He does think that Altaïr is not really Altaïr but a person who just coincidentally got Altaïr’s name. He acts as a friend and companion to Altaïr growing up and he does see Aloy as a younger sister.

Which is funny because Aloy thinks she’s older than Altaïr and Altaïr never tried to complain about that and went along with it.

HZD and HFW plot go along with Altaïr for the ride as Aloy’s tagalong brother. Aloy gets a lot of sweet tools and weapons because the two of them together… well… Desmond is just glad they don’t have the drive and time to try and figure out how to make nuclear weapons

Altaïr (and Desmond) learned the truth behind his birth at the same time as Aloy and it doesn’t change the fact that Aloy sees Altaïr as her brother and Altaïr sees her as his sister.

(Rost lives because I say so)

Towards the start of HFW, Altaïr (with GAIA’s help) managed to create a small eagle machine that can show Desmond as a hologram by staying connected to Altaïr’s focus so Aloy and the others can finally see him. Before that, towards the end of HZD, they can hear Desmond if they connect with Altaïr’s focus with their own focus

Now the twist of HFW connected to Beta and Far Zenith also happens but this is where we get a few more plot points from Falconry

Far Zenith has a puppet by the name of Seventeen

And after GAIA talked to Beta, she believed she can use Seventeen to give Desmond his own body

[daevolloqui]

a short little thing, narumai in a shoujo high school au; naru still has psychometry but not pk, gene can astral project but isn't a medium, but neither detail is really plot relevant

Oliver Davis hated Taniyama Mai.

"Hold on, you're just gonna start off the bat like that? What did Taniyama-san ever do to you?"

"If you would let me finish..."

"Fine."

Oliver Davis hated Taniyama Mai. There were several reasons for this, naturally, because he was a logical person. He would not hate someone for no reason.

"Tell that to Mado-nee."

The first reason was this: her height. She was too short. Whenever he encountered her in the halls, he occasionally missed her passing by because she was a good head shorter than him and her face was far below eye level.

"Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

In addition, when she bumped into people, she tended to fall right into their arms. If someone were to catch her as she fell, their hand tended to come far too close to inappropriate locations. That led to the second reason, which was that she was too clumsy.

"...Noll..."

She tripped over herself all the time. It was as though she were asking for someone to keep a constant eye on her.

"..."

The third reason was her face. She smiled too much, at all and sundry; at the useless physics teacher who couldn't teach worth a dime, at the insipid gossips she called her friends, at the strange blond man who sometimes picked her up after school.

"Hey, wait, I do that too! There's nothing wrong with smiling a lot!"

She tended to smile even when it was clear that she had been upset.

"Okay, fair point, but it's only to not ruin the mood."

"She had the nerve to say my fake smile was terrible."

"She's right, though."

"I don't want to hear it from her glass house."

Fourth, she was too pretty.

"...What?"

Taniyama Mai was petite and smiled often; she was endearingly clumsy and hard to look away from, and she was too pretty. It was hard to understand how anyone could perceive Hara Masako as the prettiest girl amongst the second years when Taniyama Mai was far easier to be around—

"Hold on, you don't hate Taniyama."

"...I do."

"No, you don't. You have a crush on her, you idiot scientist."

"I don't get crushes."

"You just hate that you have a crush. Oh my god, did you really make a list of what you like about her and call it what you hate?"

"...No."

"How are you my brother."

"We're identical."

"And yet you have the social skills of a tree at sea! Come on! At least talk to her before you decide you want to ignore her forever!"

"..."

"Wait, you did?"

"I caught her falling down the stairs last week."

"Okay, that's...pretty good... Alright, here's what we're going to do—"

"I don't need your help."

"Yes, you do. Now listen."

--

"First, you need to actually make her see you in a good light."

"Why do you assume she doesn't already?"

"You started out this conversation listing out the reasons you hate her, and you're seriously still asking that?"

"...I don't think she sees me in any particular light."

"Well, we won't know until we ask, will we?"

--

Taniyama Mai wasn't sure why exactly Yasuhara-senpai, president of the school council, was speaking to her. They didn't really run in the same circles, unless you counted that Michiru and Kasai-senpai, Yasuhara-senpai's girlfriend, were both in the literature club.

"Do I know who Shibuya-senpai is?" she repeated incredulously. "I don't know which one you mean, but of course I do! How could you go here and NOT know those two?"

Yasuhara-senpai raised a brow. "How exactly do you mean that?"

"Well..." Mai blushed slightly. "They're both very handsome, obviously. And they're identical twins, too, so it's the best of both worlds for the girls; the friendly one and the aloof one...Ah, that's not to say that I think this myself."

"Then what do you think, Taniyama-san?"

Mai shrugged, blush fading. "I don't know them. Kazuya-senpai seems a bit harsh, but I would be too, if people I didn't know were obsessed with me like that. Ichirou-senpai is rather nice, I suppose. His business smile is definitely better than Kazuya-senpai's. Keiko talks about him a lot, but I can't help but think that it would be tiring to be that friendly all the time."

"...Taniyama-san, I don't know if you're aware that you're rather a bit like that yourself."

Mai blinked. "Eh? Definitely not. Yuuri says I'm mean to her all the time."

--

"Nonoda is a fool."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"If Taniyama-san was at any point 'mean' to her, then it was likely justified."

"Right, I forgot that you're in love. Anyway, this is good news."

"What, the fact that she barely thinks of me beyond my lackluster smile?"

"No, that she agrees that you're attractive—obviously—and she doesn't think your personality is terrible."

"..."

"Though, she didn't mention the stairs thing at all...?"

"...She hit her head on the bannister and I carried her to the infirmary. I left before she woke up."

"...Noll. How did you even hear that 'terrible fake smile' thing?"

"..."

"...Were you just standing around eavesdropping on her?"

"...Her voice projects well."

--

Mai bumped into a wall of solid warmth. "Ah—I'm sorry, Shibuya-senpai!"

The vice president of the student council, one half of the extremely attractive third year Shibuya twins, looked down at her with cool, dark eyes. "...It's fine."

They stood there for a moment. "Um, is there something you needed?"

"...Are you...heading home?"

"Ah, no—the ghost story club is meeting today!"

--

Oliver knew Taniyama Mai's schedule perfectly, so naturally he knew which clubs she was in. He didn't particularly care for fantastical things like ghost stories, especially given that he and his brother were living examples of why things like ESPers shouldn't be real. But Taniyama Mai liked ghost stories and Oliver—

Well. Unfortunately for her, Oliver appeared to like Taniyama Mai.

She smiled brightly at him as he continued to stare at her, unsure how to continue the conversation. "Would you—like to join? Though, it doesn't really seem like something you would enjoy..."

"...I do find interest in unexplained phenomena."

"Really? But I don't think our ghost stories are quite on that level..."

"Then...why not allow me to be the judge of that?"

--

"How did it go?"

"Her friends are all idiots. Yoshida in particular."

"Okay, nothing new. I MEANT with Taniyama."

"...She is good at telling stories."

"Noll, did you say anything to her at all?"

"I also shared a story."

"...Not one of the..."

"Yes."

"...You have an evil look on your face right now."

"She was the only one who didn't react expectedly."

"Idiot scientist."

"She appears to view me favorably, despite that."

"Alright, let's try to keep it going like this..."

--

Mai kept bumping into Kazuya-kun—he'd told her to drop the formalities after joining the ghost story club meeting—and wondered if she was imagining it. He was brusque, a little mean to anyone who asked a question he thought was stupid, and seemed not very great at socializing in general unless there was a clear topic at hand—and yet he was strangely polite to her.

She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't help but find him a bit endearing. It was like taking a stray cat of sorts; she had been uncomfortable with his intense focus at first, but now found it almost relaxing.

And then he asked her if she wanted to go to the new cafe that had opened up near the station. Kazuya-kun, who clearly hated public spaces and interacting with others in general...wanted to go to a cafe with her?

"You like matcha-flavored things, do you not?"

She did, but...

"You don't really like sweet things, Kazuya-kun."

"I have heard they have decent tea and vegan crepes."

"Ah, you're vegetarian, right? Well, I wouldn't mind going but..." She grimaced. "Um, I need to save this week. Maybe—"

--

"I can cover for you," Oliver found himself saying.

She frowned at him. "That isn't fair. I can't ask that of you—"

"—if you agree to call this a date."

She froze. "Eh?"

"It is customary for the one asking to pay for the other, isn't it?"

"No, that's not exactly..." Her face steadily reddened. "A—date? You, with me?"

"If your intelligence has degraded to that of those philistines you call peers..."

"Stop calling them that!" Mai scolded. "...But...you...Kazuya-kun, do you like me?"

--

He stared at her for a long moment. Did he like her? His eyes caught on her pretty lips, her large brown eyes framed with delicate lashes, the roundness of her cheeks—

"Sometimes I feel the urge to squeeze you."

He was stupid. Mai's friends had finally passed on their idiocy to him.

Mai stared at him. "... Squeeze me," she repeated. "Like a toy?"

"...Perhaps."

"...I think this is what they call gap moe," Mai said, after another awkward pause, and then burst into helpless giggling. "Okay, Kazuya-kun. I'll go on a date with you—"

"Noll," he said.

"Hm?"

"You are aware my brother and I are—adopted. By a British couple..."

"Ah, yeah—wait, does that mean your names...?"

"They're our real names, but they aren't the ones we usually use. Those who are close to me...typically use Noll."

"Naru? That's a little cute, for you."

"...I would not consider myself 'cute', by any definition of the word."

Mai tilted her head at him, and then smiled mischievously. "I think you're cute, Naru-kun. I'll go on a date with you—I'm free on Sunday, is that—?"

"I'm free," he said quickly, and realized by the look on her face that he may have been too hasty in his eagerness.

"...You really do like me, huh?"

Mai smiled, small and pleased, and Oliver decided that actually, perhaps it was fine to appear momentarily foolish—if only to earn that particular expression on her face.

[klonoafan5]

Reverse AU

The Black Sun

“Testing. One, two, three. Is this on? Ah, there we go. Ahem.”

“My name is Dr. Jacob Freeman, Scientist of the White Wood Research Facility in San Dimas. I’m here in my lab to gather information on the town's strangest phenomenon. The Black Sun.”

“No one knows what it is or where it came from. For all we know, it has always been there which is why no one has really thought about it, let alone try to figure it out.”

“Which is why I volunteer to be the first. I’m going to keep an eye on it and record my findings on these tapes. That way if anyone else decides to follow my lead, they can use these as a source.”

“Or they can just call me a madman and throw them into the garbage.”

“...”

“Well, no time like the present.”

------

“Alright. I’m currently on day four.”

“The sun hasn’t moved any inch since I’ve started, but I’m not going to give up.”

“Einstein and all the other late great scientists didn’t give up on the first days and I won’t either. Some people call that stubbornness, I call it progress. Moving on.”

------

“Day Six.”

“I’ve been sitting here waiting for it to move or do something, but no dice.”

“Either this ball of…whatever it’s making of is really stubborn or just wants me to quit. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that this feels like I’m having a staring contest.”

“God, that sounds like a joke Paul would say.”

“Look who it is, everyone! It’s Dr. Freeman, ready to go on another round! Let’s wish him luck and pray that he doesn’t fail this time! Oh, who am I kidding? He won’t last the first few minutes, let alone a day! In fact, let’s get him some blankets so he can have a sleepover!”

“I despise that man. Thinks he’s so smart just because Tucker chose him as the Head Scientist. I can think of people much more suitable for the job. Like Emily or Shawn. Hell, I could’ve been  a better choice!”

“I only need one chance. One chance to show him what I’m capable of, then maybe..!”

He takes a moment to breathe.

“I’ll show him. I’ll show them all.”

------

The sound of breathing can be heard in the background. It’s slow and even. The audio begins to distort as the buzz of static seeps in.

The recording stops. And starts back up again with Jacob coming to.

“What time is it?”

“Shoot! I was asleep for that long? Did anything happen? Did the sun-”

“...No. Still there.”

He sighs, then lets out a groan.

“I can’t believe I’ve slept on the job! If Paul was here, I would never hear the end of it-!”

“...How will anyone see me as a professional if I do stupid things like this?”

“...”

“Okay. The time for moping around is over. Now, where’s that darn record..?”

He stops. “Is that...a sticky note?”

“‘Don’t close your eyes. Who knows who could be watching.’”

“I know this handwriting. I-It’s…”

“No. You’re a scientist, Jacob, not a conspiracy theorist. You have to think logically.”

“There could only be one of two things. Either a certain someone whose name I shall not mention snuck in and wrote this to mess with me. Or, against all logic and scientific reasoning, I’m sleepwalking.”

“But if that one is true, then what’s with the note? I’ve read stories about the things people do, but I’m pretty sure that writing messages isn’t one of them. Unless I happen to miss some.”

“I guess that’s one more thing to figure out then. For now, I should get some rest. God knows I need it.”

“...Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something? Ah right, the tapes. I should-”

“It’s on.”

“Why is it on?”

The faint sound of static creeps back up.

“Okay, whoever is doing this needs to stop right now. I know that pulling jokes on me is a common thing you all like to do here, but this is going too far.”

He turns the recorder off. It turns back on the moment he walks away.

“What? How?”

The static gets heavier.

“This can’t be happening. It can’t. I-I must be dreaming or…”

“I..”

“I need to go.”

-----

“Day Eleven.”

“After what happened yesterday, I’ve decided to take a break from my research and go back home to relax. Hopefully whatever is causing all these things to happen back in the lab doesn’t follow me.”

“It's nicer here. Cozier too. It even has a good view of the sky and…”

The moment he locks eyes with the sun, his body goes still. The static fades in.

“That’s right. I have a job. I must go back.”

“I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.”

The recorder stops. And comes back on with Jacob breathing heavily.

“W-What? Where?”

He looks around and sees everyone looking back at him. Emily, Shawn, and even Tucker.

“The facility? When did I..?”

His ears pick up someone groaning. He turns and sees a familiar face.

“Paul..? Oh God, what happened to you-”

“S-Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”

While Paul is being helped up from the floor by some of their coworkers, Jacob backs away and runs off, leaving the recorder and tapes behind.

[lover-of-skellies]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this yet. But if all sanses must be ranked for smooches. We can't forget who started it all.

So UT sans

Just regular old sans. Tell us the rating! Come on it must be good? Right?!

Sans Classic gets an 11! It’s not the absolute best rating he could get, but it’s pretty damn close

1) Is Sans’ mouth dangerous? From the looks of it, nope. His teeth are flat, so there’s very little risk of your lips getting pinched or cut or anything. That being said, he gets 2 points for safety

2) Would he bite? Frankly,, I can’t see him being a biter. Even when he’s surprised, he seems like he’d be more likely to teleport away than chomp down on your lip. Is he aggressive? Like anyone else, he can be kinda aggressive if the situation calls for it and there’s no other way to handle said situation, but still. This is a smooch, not a surprise attack. If you smooched him, I can’t see him getting aggressive about it. For being chill and not biting people, he gets 2 points

3) Are there any health hazards to the smoocher? Unless ketchup and/or hotdog water breath counts, then no, he’s perfectly safe. He could be a little smelly if he didn’t shower that day and was in dire need of it, but that’s not something that poses a risk to anyone’s wellbeing. 2 more points for not being a walking health code violation

4) Does Sans have a sympathetic backstory? We don’t actually know much about that. He’s very mysterious about his past, and all we know is that he used to be a scientist, and that he’s probably the one financially supporting himself and Papyrus. He did agree to take care of Frisk and he does a fairly good job of that, even if there was a time when he did kinda sorta threaten them. Since there’s not much information about how he and Papyrus grew up or what kind of childhood they had, he won’t be getting full points, sadly. I’ll give him 1 point though, because lord knows it’s not easy raising and supporting a younger sibling

5) Does he deserve a smooch? He typically looks like he’s being lazy and doesn’t seem to do very much, but I’m inclined to believe that he actually does a lot more than we get to see. He works at multiple little pop up stalls/vendors throughout the game, he basically gets stuck babysitting some random kid that he knows nothing about for however long (and he’s a pretty good sport about that, all things considered), and then he’s the final defense In judgement hall, keeping Chara/the player from getting to Asgore if they’re deemed dangerous. His puns and gremlin behavior could get old pretty fast, but with all that he does, yeah, I’d say he deserves a smooch. He gets 2 more points for all of that

6) Is he cute or cool? I’m not sure if I’d call him cute, but he does deserve something for being the original, and the reason why his AU counterparts exist. He’s the start of all of it, so even if he’s a little basic in design and seems pretty lazy with a decently apathetic personality, he’s still cool enough to get points here for this area. 2 points for being the OG garbage boy stink man that everyone knows and loves

In total, his smooch-ability rating is an 11 out of 12. He’s a safe one to smooch, assuming you don’t mind his potentially stinky breath. The worst he’d probably do is ask you not to do it again, and the best thing that could happen is that he’d allow it and then proceed to get flustered and blushy, and attempt to play it off with some joke or pun that he thinks is relevant at the moment

[swimming-karyss]

(zoom in to see her freckles better)

More about Rouge, Makino and Goa(there is a simple map! to know who's where) under cut

In this au Rouge tries to hide her presence and identity as much as she can, and flees to Earth, as it's the most quiet and uneventful human settlement she could think of. She was able to find a place to live and not attract much attention, but her pregnancy isn't going so well, and her health is deteriorating, and then Garp finds her-

... to proclaim her as his daughter? ..?

Roger's last wish was for Garp to take care of his child, so obviously it also extends to the mother, right? right. And the least suspicious excuse for his help would be blood connection. Plus some protection from Garp's status. And the excuse for him not telling anyone about his daughter? also his status. He has too many enemies in the criminal word to let anyone get such information. Plus his actual son pretty much hates him too, so not much change there👍

With Garp's help Rouge was put in a good hospital, and while Ace was born without any complications, her health left much to be desired. She stayed under doctors's care for a couple of years, (I think Garp has brought both Ace and Dadan to visit her in the hospital on some occasions, once the boy was old enough). When her health has gotten better she and Ace moved to the Wind turbines district, because air there isn't as polluted as in the city, and it may help with her health a bit. She still can't be very active but slow strolls near the forest are already something. Rouge gets along with Dadan, because on good days she can match her temper very well, and while neither Rouge nor Ace really know how to approach each other, they will come to it one day. Her days are very uneventful, she tries to keep in touch with the news, and keep tabs on friends, but most of them lay low, so she doesn't get much information, and she can't contact them because it will bring attention to her. Another highlight of her days is Garp visiting during his vacation to check in on them. Rouge would rather not see him at all, but he complains about her friends specifically and some of the stuff he says can't be found in news (it's restricted information, Garp! you can't just- ah whatever), so only for this reason his presence is tolerable. It becomes more tolerable once he starts to bring Luffy with him(oh so what's why he spends half of his vacation month elsewhere), usually only for the duration of Garp's vacation, but after a couple of years the boy just stays for the whole summer. Rouge doesn't respect Garp in the slightest, and isn't afraid to show it (he knows he deserves it) but his sunshine grandson has nothing to do with it! plus, honestly, Ace and his sad kitten of a friend really could use some company. .....and they try to avoid him as much as they can. oh, these children....... But at least Ace seems to start to grow on Luffy as time goes on.

Also has anyone read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō/Yokohama Shopping Log? bc that's pretty much the state the Earth is in in this AU. In a sense that the civilisation there is slowly deteriorating, many things happened there, it's greatly scarred by wars and poisoned by humanity's negligence. But all of it is in the past, many humans left to conquer other stars, hoping not to repeat past mistakes, ecosystems have recovered with the help from humanity (it's our beloved home planet after all), and now it was left to nature to reclaim, while only some sparks of human activity remain. Goa kingdom is one of them.

(Also Moon&Mars were the first places humanity colonized, so to simplify, Moon is something like a countryside you go to visit your grandparents, and Mars is an industrial city that was built for the plant, and the plant long since stopped working, so while the city didn't stop existing, it's definitely not as active or populous as it used to be)

(Venus is known for its scientists and researchers, civilians don't live there. Some moons of gas giants are colonised, and gas giants themselves have research stations. Same with asteroids)

(inner circle serves as the Romance Dawn East blue, (the weakest of the seas and the quietest star system) , I couldn't really think about something for the Red Line, but as some kind of treacherous entrance to more dangerous world, asteroid belt would work just fine. I'll think what to do with Crocus and Laboon later... outer circle is a couple of first islands of the grand line. The whole galaxy is divided into six parts. Four sectors of the habitable galaxy(four blues), inner core(Mary Geoise) and the edge of the galaxy (the grand line) or something like that)

Kingdom of Goa is a coastal city-state on Earth. (king is more of a figurehead than a real ruler, in actuality it's an Oligarchy). It's a rather prosperous city, but only the central District of the city enjoys it fully. There is still a problem with wealthy people disposing of their stuff just because it's out of fashion, but the trash managing is a bit better thanks to sci-fi, so there isn't a giant area of trash heap.

'Countryside' is where Wind turbines district is! I've decided that it's more of a countryside than suburbs, bc I prefer to subject my beloveds to other kind of horrors. This district gets most of its energy thanks to wind turbines, hence the name. Some people have person wind generators, and most of the wind turbines is on the shore. Of course this means that the access to the sea is restricted, but. it's as close to the big city as it can be. I really wouldn't advise to swim in there anyway. even going to the mountains to swim in the river is less hazardous.

Makino's bar (simplified) ↓. It's a really cool bar with futuristic interior and neon lights. It's near the spaceport, too far to get a ton of visitors, but close enough to still see interesting clients. On the floor above is Makino's apartment.

Also Makino is older in this au, because I cannot put the task of raising a child and managing a bar on a teenager! Once Luffy started staying with Rouge for the whole summer Makino got her number to check in on Luffy. They continued communication throughout the rest of the year, because both of them could use both company(mostly Rouge) and friendly advice(mostly Makino). While Makino's bar is small enough for her to manage it by herself, there is actually a part-time employee here. Luffy found a concerningly intelligent kid somewhere, and she's not a big fan of letting children stay on the street. Plus he helps Luffy with his studies, and the boy really needs some help with that. (funnily enough, Luffy is the only one of the ASL who went to school... at least for a while)

Also while Makino and Rouge have never actually met personally, they have developed a great friendship! Once Rouge is confident enough in her health she decides to pay a visit to her and brings Ace with her. Makino is delighted. Particularly because she'll finally meet a dear friend! (yay!) and partially because she came to a certain realisation, and she is sure to have some fun once these people all come together.

I'm not really sure what to make of Shanks yet, so I'll leave him for a while. All I know is that he visited Earth in the end of August, to spend a year there. And it was the main reason why Garp decided to let Luffy stay with Rouge for the whole summer, to keep him away from that red haired idiot.