#cause I have a burrows end DR

[moorlandwayfarer]

Do you ever just get that urge to run around barefoot - maybe on all fours - and splash in water and climb and just. Idk. Sob.

[myemuisemo]

If Doyle's goal is to deconstruct gothic horror, he's hitting on all cylinders in chapter IX of The Hound of the Baskervilles, "Second Report of Dr. Watson," in Letters from Watson. I could believe he is: A Study in Scarlet ended up being about the romance of the frontier West going very wrong, and The Sign of the Four gives us the romance of a Moonstone-like story gone very wrong. Racing about with romantic notions is not the key to success in this universe.

Watson does... Watson just... WATSON.

The man is rather deaf

Suddenly, Barrymore is somewhat deaf. There's been no sign of this before. Ah, serial-writing, where if you forgot to foreshadow something convenient, you can't go back and fix the earlier chapters!

Sir Henry goes a-courting

Watson truly does not understand Holmes' instructions to simply observe without imposing his own expectations. What does he actually see when following Sir Henry to his meeting with Miss Stapleton?

Sir Henry has contrived to meet Miss Stapleton on a walk, whether by appointment or learning her routine. They speak in a serious manner. Beryl Stapleton resists Sir Henry's efforts to embrace her. They are interrupted by her brother, who is not happy about this scene. From this, Watson constructs a romance of a sister prevented from happiness by a possessive brother.

Sir Henry later reports that Beryl Stapleton reluctantly agreed to the date and used it to try to warn him to leave the moor, just as she tried the first time we met her. Watson nonetheless makes no connection that perhaps Jack Stapleton doesn't want her warning Sir Henry off the moor.

Stapleton's explanation that he can't bear parting from his sister should have set off "not quite healthy" alarm bells even in 1889. His responsibility ought to be to see her settled appropriately.

Nothing here suggests that Beryl Stapleton wants to marry Sir Henry. Yet Watson is determined to find a romance.

Sir Henry and Watson go a-stalking

Mrs. Barrymore should have just stashed her brother in a disused outbuilding or back bedroom. I know we're having decorators in, but find an attic. Heck, the house probably has a priest's hole.

Common sense dictates that, knowing Selden's rough position on the moor, one keeps the Barrymores away from windows until morning, at which time one contacts the prison warden with the news. Let the warden field a team to surround the hiding place!

But no. Addled by testosterone and cigar smoke, Watson and Sir Henry hare off into the moor in the dark, causing Selden to flee to who-knows-where.

Of Selden's face, lurking:

Foul with mire, with a bristling beard, and hung with matted hair, it might well have belonged to one of those old savages who dwelt in the burrows on the hillsides. 

Modern archeology reveals that the Bronze Age inhabitants had combs.

Watson's vision

In the aftermath of having completely effed things up, Watson sees something odd.

There, outlined as black as an ebony statue on that shining back-ground, I saw the figure of a man upon the tor. Do not think that it was a delusion, Holmes. I assure you that I have never in my life seen anything more clearly. As far as I could judge, the figure was that of a tall, thin man. He stood with his legs a little separated, his arms folded, his head bowed, as if he were brooding over that enormous wilderness of peat and granite which lay before him. 

My first thought was "please be Sherlock Holmes, having thrown off his disguise as a humble peddler, prison guard, or moor sheep!" Then I realized Holmes would be face-palming at the foolishness he'd just witnessed, so it's more likely a shadow, an oddly shaped tree, or either Barrymore or Stapleton stalking our "heroes" about the moor.

Where are we now?

We know a secret of the Barrymores (that they were helping Selden the murderer). Is this their only secret?

We have reason to believe the Stapletons have secrets, none of which we've discerned. Whatever those are, marrying Beryl to Sir Henry apparently wouldn't forward their goals.

If it's intentional (not a serial-writing slip-up) that the black-bearded man in London acted as if he had perfect hearing, then that wasn't Barrymore.

The purpose of killing Sir Charles and threatening Sir Henry remains unknown. Also, the whereabouts of his second missing boot.

[wolveria]

The Raven's Hymn - Ch 37

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: “Whatever causes you so much anguish, I wish to hear it. Do not hold back on my account.”

AO3

You rinsed out your mouth in the sink again, washing your face while you were at it. Taking one more precious moment to stall for time, putting off the inevitable and having to speak the impossible. Doing that, after all, would make it real.

Turning off the sink, you leaned against it, facing the SCP but not quite ready to look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry,” you began. “It wasn’t you. Or… it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I am relieved to know I was not the direct cause of your distress, but that’s not what concerns me.”

049 hadn’t moved from the threshold of the containment chamber. He stood there, his eyes more guarded than usual, but the worry was still there. He was unsettled.

You stood up fully, letting go of the sink, and you automatically glanced to the bed. The sight of it turned your stomach, and you looked away with an unsteady breath.

049 finally entered the chamber the rest of the way, and he pulled out the chair to his desk.

“Please, sit. You look to be in discomfort.”

Quietly thanking him, you took the seat, wincing at the metal seat. You didn’t know how he sat on this thing for hours, and you briefly contemplated requesting a cushioned chair as a replacement. But of course, what was the point? Uncomfortable furniture was going to be the least of your worries soon.

Not knowing where to start, you rubbed your thighs and stared down at your slippers. The words lodged in your throat—no, long before that. They sat in your chest, buried in your stomach, burrowing deep so they wouldn’t see the light of day.

But then 049 crouched down, bracing one knee against the floor so he could meet your eye from your hunched position.

“Whatever causes you so much anguish, I wish to hear it,” he said softly. “Do not hold back on my account.”

You pressed your lips together, fighting to keep your expression under control. Each kind word from 049 was a prick to the heart. This affected him just as much as you, and the burden now lay on you to tell him. Maybe it was unfair for Dr. Puli to put this on you, but it was a little too late for fairness.

Even though you had no idea how 049 would feel, or react, the best thing would be to not drag it out and tell him as simply as you could.

You gave a nod and another breath, suddenly grateful that you were talking like this. You didn’t think you could do this while sitting up straight, let alone standing.

You began to talk.

“Leahy wants to make Foundational personnel with anomalous abilities. And he plans to do this by forcing humans and SCPs to procreate. To… to have children. And he wants…”

You maintained a flat, clinical tone until the end, where your voice cracked.

“…He wants you and I to be the first.”

You wondered if he’d heard. He didn’t react at all. Not so much as a blink.

“It’s insane,” you said in a rush. “It’s-it’s beyond unethical. I don’t even know how it would work. If it would work. We’re not the same species, we most likely have differing numbers of chromosomes, not to mention gamete recognition—I mean, why does he think you would even be able to… to…”

“I possess compatible anatomy.”

You stared.

“You possess… compatible anatomy.”

“To propagate offspring via sexual intercourse, yes.” He paused, a slight tilt to his head. “Though I’ve never made the attempt.”

“You’ve never… had sex?”

049 looked away.

“I believe that’s what I just said.”

This was by far the most ludicrous conversation of your life. If you weren’t already crazy, you might be well on your way.

“But… even so,” you pushed on, not wanting to linger on that earth-shattering revelation. “Even if we could—surely nothing would come of it? And even if an embryo formed, it’s impossible it would survive long enough to be carried to term.”

“I have not taken the time to contemplate or study such a case,” he said slowly. “It’s not a scenario I believed would present itself to me. I do not know what is or is not possible regarding… chances of fertilization.”

“It doesn’t matter.” You rubbed your forehead, trying to relieve the pinch of tension there. “None of it matters because we’re not going to do this. We’re not.”

“I’m afraid, dear doctor, that the Site Director is not a reasonable man. It is not in his nature to negotiate or compromise.” His gaze was soft. Sad. “If this is his design, then he will find a way to manifest it. Whether we cooperate or not.”

You swallowed down the bile threatening to climb up your throat.

“But it’s unthinkable. And if it is possible then-then it’s even more important we don’t do this. Children? Going through this is cruel enough, but bringing children into it? It’s… this can’t be real. Oh, God, this can’t be real.”

Covering your face with your hands, you propped your elbows on your legs and gasped for air. Silent, panicked cries rushed through your thoughts.

We can’t! We can’t!

A light touch pressed to the backs of your hands and then rested into your hair where your fingers were pressed into your scalp. You looked up. 049 had moved closer, the curve of his beak nearly touching your knee.

“Do you trust me?”

Your answer was without doubt or hesitation.

“Yes.”

His eyes grew warm, and he pulled you slowly into an embrace, one you could have easily escaped from. But you didn’t. He spoke directly into your ear in a tone so low you knew the mics couldn’t pick up the words.

“Then know that no matter what befalls me, I will find a way to free you from this prison.”

His words were so startling, so certain, that you weren’t sure what to say. He was talking a containment breach, he had to be.

Before, you would have cautioned against it. Anomalies rarely escaped their facility walls, and procedures following recapture were always harsh, conditions worse than those leading up to the breach.

But that was before. Before Leahy’s insane plan, and the certainty that if you didn’t do something now, worse things than this would be in your future.

“What can I do to help?” you whispered back, barely breathing the words so they wouldn’t be heard.

“Nothing, as of yet. When I have an answer, you shall know.”

You nodded, the side of his hood brushing your cheek. You lightly placed your fingers on his shoulder for comfort as much as you did stability.

“And until then?”

“We… do as they say.”

The words were heavy, as if they cost him a great deal to utter.

You leaned forward, curling into his robes, acknowledging you heard him, that you agreed with his assessment. It was as much permission as either of you were able to give.

049 moved his arms further around you, holding you no longer on pretense. It was comfort, a reminder that you weren’t alone in this.

As you rested your cheek on the cusp of his shoulder, you thought back to what he’d first whispered. You hadn’t overlooked his wording when he said he would free you from the Foundation without mention of himself. You had little doubt of his priorities, and you would just have to make sure he was included in this escape plan.

One thing was for certain; you were not leaving without him.

Next Chapter

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E19

Chapter title: Unknown From M.E. (Part One)

Summary: Knuckles has been having some odd dreams lately…what could be causing them? The team bands together to explore a new area and find out.

AO3 Link

First | Previous | Next

[The camera opens up in a first-person perspective. We see two red arms, ending in white mittens with double knuckle-spikes on each hand.]

The echidna pushed aside a tangle of vines, walking through a dense jungle. The scenery looked nothing like the forests of Seaside Island, instead appearing distinctly more tropical in nature.

It seemed quite familiar to the person walking through it, at least, since they climbed over fallen trees and pushed through the undergrowth with ease. Clearly, they were quite confident in their own abilities. 

Suddenly, however, a faint chanting could be heard off in the distance. 

The servers are the Eight Chaos…

The echidna looked up sharply in the direction of the voice, startled. After a moment’s pause, they began to walk closer to where they’d heard the chant. 

“Hello?” they called, their voice pitched high with youth.

Chaos is power, enriched by the heart…

The young person began to run through the forest, chasing the sounds to the foot of a mountain. They looked up at the peak and began to climb, digging their spikes into the solid rock. However, the next time the voices came, they sounded further away.

The controller serves to unify the chaos…

Abruptly, the echidna dropped from their perch, beginning to dig into the ground instead. As they burrowed deeper and deeper, they heard the chant one last time, guiding them into the very center of the mountain.

This is what we have been sworn to guard.

And with that, the echidna emerged into a room—a room that gleamed green from every surface, sparkling and shimmering like it was made of one massive crystal.

They reached out to touch the floor beneath their feet…

…and Knuckles fell out of his hammock in his home, gasping for breath.

[The intro sequence goes off perfectly well! The individual character introductions and team shot all stay the same.]

[This time, the villain intro shows a red glow that illuminates a massive cave painting, one that’s difficult to make out. However, it appears to depict many different creatures holding oddly shaped machinery. Some of them are being struck by a mysterious unidentifiable force, dropping their possessions in the process…]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

Another day, another attack from Dr. Eggman, located in the town square. As always, Sonic and all his friends were there to fight back, frustrating the ever-persistent (or perhaps simply just in-denial) doctor. 

“Come on, Sonic! Can’t you just give me one win?” he complained, hovering warily nearby in his Eggmobile.

“I already gave you a win, remember? It was on New Year’s Eve!” Sonic shot back, spindashing several badniks as he spoke.

“That one doesn’t count!”

“Yeah it does!”

“No it doesn’t!”

“Yeah it d—!”

Before Sonic could continue his argument with his nemesis, Knuckles stumbled into his side, having overshot his left hook.

“Wh-whoa!” the hero yelped, struggling to stabilize his taller friend. “Knux, you good?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine!” Knuckles gave him a thumbs-up. “Just didn’t sleep a lot last night, but it’s no problem!”

Sonic frowned, but let it go for the time being, opting to smash more badniks instead of pressing the echidna on the matter. Soon enough, the tide of the battle was turned, and Dr. Eggman was forced to retreat, grumbling all the way back to his evil lair.

“Knuckles?” Amy called, tugging on her hammer from where it had gotten stuck in a bush. “What happened back there? You don’t normally kick my hammer instead of the robots…”

“Knux here says he didn’t sleep last night.” Sonic showed not a single sign of remorse as he revealed this information to known health enthusiast Amy Rose.

“Sonic!” the echidna cried, shooting him a distinctly betrayed look.

Amy immediately dragged her hammer out of the bush and de-summoned it as she rushed over to get a better look at Knuckles. “Oh no, you’ve even got dark circles under your eyes!” she fretted. “Do you want that sleep hygiene checklist I mentioned a while ago?”

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “I dunno, I mean, I don’t drink coffee before bed or anything like that! I just had some weird dreams lately, that’s all.”

“They’re not nightmares, are they?” Shadow asked softly, giving Knuckles a cautious look.

“Nope! Just weird! It kinda feels like someone’s trying to tell me something…” he mused.

Sticks clambered up on top of Knuckles’s shoulders, squinting at him warily. “Do you need me to make you a tinfoil hat? I can make ‘em good so no aliens talk to you in your sleep!”

“Before we decide if it’s aliens or not, I think we should ask Knuckles what these strange dreams are about.” Tails said decisively. “It may be nothing, or it could be important, but we won’t know unless we have all the information.”

“Would you like to talk about it here, or would you prefer to go back to one of our houses first?” Amy asked kindly, taking one of Knuckles’s hands in her own and giving him a reassuring smile.

Knuckles beamed back gratefully. “The second one sounds great.”

Once they’d all settled down in Tails’s living room (“Just in case it does turn out to be something that requires further investigation!”) and Amy had helped make everyone drinks (“We may be close, but that just means I get to be a good host even in your homes!”, she’d quipped), she sat down on the sofa next to Knuckles, leaving a small amount of space in between them and looking up at him hopefully.

“So…in the dream, I’m somewhere else. I can’t see it super clearly, but it’s someplace that isn’t Seaside Island.” Knuckles began. “I’m smaller, I think, and I hear some people talking, so I go looking for them. It sounds like the noise is coming from inside a mountain, and I dig inside, but once I get there, all I find is this cave made of green crystals. Then I wake up! I just wish I knew who was talking.” He frowned, genuinely somewhat concerned by the fact that he couldn’t identify this mysterious person. 

Tails leapt to his feet excitedly. “So it really could be someone who’s trying to communicate with you! Is it the same dream every time?”

“Yeah, it is!” The echidna couldn’t help but be infected by his friend’s enthusiasm, brightening up as the engineer began to scan him.

“Huh…” Tails hummed, frowning down at his screen. “I’m not seeing much out of the ordinary, but my screen is a little on the fritz.” He tapped the side of his device, concerned.

Shadow teleported over beside him, making the fox squeak as his fur puffed up briefly. “Sorry.” he muttered, already looking over the device. “Can you scan the ambient wavelengths around Knuckles? That might be a better way to tell if someone else is sending him messages.”

“I guess…my software might have some trouble with something that subtle, but if I boost the strength, it could work.” Tails mused, flying over to his friend and adjusting several settings in an effort to improve the data.

The android moved a little closer to Knuckles as well, only to freeze, his eyes wide. “Tails? Actually, I have a feeling that technology, incredible as it may be, is not what is required here.”

“Why not?” Tails shot him a distinctly skeptical look.

“Because,” Shadow began, “he is currently surrounded by an incredible amount of raw Chaos energy.”

Suddenly, everyone began shouting at once, making Shadow wince at the shocking increase in sound. Thankfully, they all noticed the effect almost immediately, backing off and watching him and Knuckles expectantly, but with a distinct aura of concern.

“It isn’t necessarily dangerous.” the android explained. “Raw Chaos energy simply refers to energy that originates directly from one of the eight Chaos Crystals, without having been absorbed or filtered through a Chaos user’s body.”

The tension in the room dropped significantly.

“But Knux doesn’t have a Chaos Crystal, does he?” Sonic asked, still looking confused. “All he has is that Fregosi Sapphire thing.”

“Yeah! I think I’d know what jewels I do and don’t have!” Knuckles added.

Shadow inclined his head slightly. “This is true. However, distance is not always an issue when it comes to Chaos. From what I have heard, these crystals existed long before the time of even the Ancients, with some legends claiming that they are fragments of whatever force first brought Chaos energy into the world. Legends aside, there was enough scientific research done on them in my time to suggest that the Chaos Crystals do have a limited form of sentience. Essentially, they have their own wishes and desires, and they are capable of limited communication, if they find someone they deem worthy of their attention.”

“Um, that’s definitely not creepy or anything,” Amy said. “Seeing as we’ve spent time around them once or twice already.”

Shadow exhaled in a way that almost sounded like laughter. “Don’t worry. The crystals have always been supportive of people who intend to help others. They want the world and those within it to remain thriving as much as you all do.”

“So how do I find out which one’s trying to talk to me?” Knuckles asked.

“If you will allow me, I can do my best to help.” The android folded his arms. “I can assist you in tuning your personal energy to the same frequency as whichever Chaos Crystal is causing this, so that we can work together to find its source.”

“Why wouldn’t I let you?” Knuckles looked over at him, bewildered. “Go ahead!”

Shadow blinked, momentarily silent with astonishment. “You do realize that you are, essentially, allowing me access to your life force, yes?”

Knuckles shrugged. “I mean, I already trust you not to beat me up every day. I do that with all my friends! I don’t think this is any different.”

A small smile made its way, unbidden, onto Shadow’s face. “Very well then. Let’s give this a try.” He moved to stand directly behind where Knuckles sat on the couch, placing his hands on the echidna’s broad shoulders. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be!”

“Very well then, close your eyes.” 

As the other four looked on, golden energy began to glow and swirl around Shadow’s hands. It twisted and spun in the air, before slowly making its way down Knuckles’s arms to his hands. At the same time, its color gently faded from gold to green.

Abruptly, the energy shot towards the echidna’s heart, glowing so brightly it was almost difficult to look at—

—and then it vanished, and both of their eyes snapped open as the two suddenly gasped for breath.

“Are you both alright?!” Tails exclaimed.

“I believe so. That was…” Shadow wheezed, “…not a source of Chaos energy I have ever sensed before.”

Knuckles beamed. “I am in contact with it now, though, and I think I can find it! Thanks, Shadow!”

The android struggled to meet Knuckles’s eyes. “Well…of course. Anytime.”

“A new source?! Do you think you could direct me to it if we were flying in my plane?” Tails asked excitedly.

“I think I could!” Knuckles stood up from the sofa, a determined look in his eyes. “Let’s go find the thing that’s giving me weird dreams so I can sleep normally again!”

Shadow laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Only you all would have to hunt down a mysterious energy source because its mystical dreams were disturbing your sleep.”

“Well, it’s not going to hunt itself!” Sonic declared. “Alright, guys, let’s do it to it!”

Everyone stared at him blankly.

“Uh, I was just—I was trying a new thing.” Sonic stammered, explaining quickly. “Audiences said they wanted us to be a little more genuine, so I thought I’d give it a go, and—you know what, let’s just go find this weird energy thing!”

[Cut to Tails’s plane, carrying all six heroes as it flies over the ocean.]

“It should be coming up on our left now!” Knuckles shouted, trying to make himself heard by the entire team over the roar of the propeller. Tails quickly banked to the left, soaring downwards and coming in for a smooth landing on the beach of the island that Knuckles had indicated.

Once the echidna had hopped off the biplane, however, he froze.

It took a moment for his friends to notice that he was standing stock-still, staring into the jungle beyond the yellow sand of the beach. Amy walked up to him, giving him a concerned look. “Knuckles? Is everything alright?” she asked gently. Knuckles blinked rapidly, before looking down at her with a stunned expression.

“This…this is the island where I grew up.”

“WHAT?!” everyone collectively shrieked, staring at him incredulously. 

Knuckles grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “First my gliding, then this…I guess I forgot to tell you guys a lot, huh?”

“I knew you grew up in the wild like me, but on another island? How’d you even leave?” Sticks asked.

The echidna shrugged. “I didn’t originally mean to—I just went out on a raft one day trying to catch fish, but a storm blew in suddenly while I was out on the water. When I woke up, I was on Seaside Island, with no idea how to get back. And as much as I wanted to, once I met you guys, well…that started to seem less important.”

“Aw, Knuckles, that’s so sweet!” Amy latched onto his arm, her eyes wide and sparkling. 

Tails flew over to him, hovering around excitedly. “Does this mean we’re gonna get to see the village where you grew up?” 

Knuckles sighed, his mood suddenly much lower. “As far as I know, there’s nobody else on the whole island. If I had a family, I don’t know who they are—I hatched alone and learned to survive that way, too.”

Shadow walked up to him, giving him a sympathetic look. “I am glad you survived. It’s incredible that you were able to do so, and the world would have been at a loss had you not.”

The echidna had a small smile on his face at that. “Thanks…” he muttered, half to himself.

“And hey, that doesn’t mean you can’t show us around the place where you grew up! I want all the secret Knuckles lore!” Sonic added, shooting his friend an encouraging smile.

Thankfully, Knuckles perked up quickly and began to lead the way forward into the trees. “Let’s go check it out!”

After some navigating through the jungle, the six emerged into a clearing surrounding a massive mountain that soared up through the clouds, around which were clustered a variety of buildings. All of them were at least two stories tall, bolted into the side of the rock and made largely of intricately carved wood. Outside each one, a knotted rope hung from a hook, with different patterns of knots for each individual house.

“I used to live in this one here.” Knuckles explained, gesturing to the largest building there was. The building was marked above its door with a classic diamond-cut jewel symbol in green pigment. It was twice as wide as most of the other houses and rose eight stories into the air.

Tails whipped out his Miles Electric and began to scan it immediately. “This is a marvel of architecture! I’ve never seen wooden structures of this height before on Seaside Island, either Ancient or modern!”

Sticks frowned. “Hey, Knuckles, do you still feel that weird energy?”

The echidna jolted back to attention, having briefly been lost in his memories of the island. “Oh, right! Yeah, I do—I think it’s inside the mountain, just like in my dream! I can’t actually dig into it, though, it’s made of solid rock.”

“Well, maybe there’s an entrance somewhere?” Amy mused, eyeing the rock in front of her thoughtfully. “There’s a gem painted on the front of that building, so surely they must have known about the existence of powerful crystals, if nothing else.”

“Hey, lil’ bro, I know you’re all hyped about this village, but you think you could spare your scanner for a sec to find us a way inside this mountain?” Sonic asked, tugging playfully on Tails’s shoe—the only part of his brother he could reach, since Tails had started flying in excitement some time ago.

“Sonic!” the fox whined, shaking himself free and landing a safe distance away. “Of course I can!”

 He held the Miles Electric up, scanning the general area. “Ugh, there’s so much ambient energy here, it’s making my screen glitch out really badly!” Tails called, frowning at it—

—and then nearly dropped his screen when the glitching stopped entirely.

“Um.” he added nervously. “…thank you? To whoever…or whatever…fixed that?”

The entire team shared wary glances. 

“Sooo, if I can still trust this to be even remotely accurate, it says there’s an opening on the roof of that tall building that Knuckles used to live in.” Tails said.

“Nice one, pal!” Sonic zipped over and ruffled Tails’s hair, making the fox yelp and bat at him in an attempt to get his brother to release him once again.

Quickly, the entire team scaled the house, using their various skills. Amy hammer-jumped to get herself to the second level and clambered up from there, while Sonic just sped directly up the mountain alongside it. Sticks climbed the structure with ease, Knuckles punched his spikes into the rock of the mountain, and Tails, of course, simply flew all the way up (stopping to rest once). Meanwhile, Shadow actually ascended through the inside of the house before teleporting through the roof.

[Please envision a cross-section of the house with all of this happening at once for the desired effect.]

Once they were at the top, Shadow scrutinized the mountain’s face skeptically. “That…doesn’t look an awful lot like a door, I’m afraid.”

“Maybe Knuckles has to be the one to open it?” Amy suggested.

The echidna placed the palm of his hand hesitantly against the rock…and nothing happened. 

“I’m sorry, guys, I really thought it was up here!” Tails’s ears drooped unhappily at the thought that he’d led them wrong.

“No, I can feel it stronger through here—I’ll try again!” Knuckles insisted. He pushed both his palms fiercely against the side of the mountain, willing it to move as powerfully as he could.

And with that, a circular outline flared green around where he stood, before receding outwards into the mountain…leaving an empty, pitch-black tunnel beyond.

“Well, that certainly isn’t a safety hazard.” Shadow muttered.

Sonic smirked. “Just ‘cause you don’t have special light-up gear doesn’t mean you’ve gotta be nervous, Shads—we’ll keep you safe!” As he spoke, his bandages and bandana lit up, and the other three with glowing gear did the same. (Meanwhile, Sticks pulled out some of their bioluminescent paste and smeared that onto their face, arms, hands, and legs.)

Shadow stared at Sonic unblinkingly for a long, uncomfortable moment. Silently, he held up one hand, palm up, and let golden Chaos energy blaze to life around it. 

“Hmph. Show-off.” the blue hedgehog muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Let’s just get in there, alright?” Amy sighed, pushing past them both and into the cave. “We’re here to help Knuckles, not inflate either of your egos any more.”

The rest of the team filed into the cave behind her, walking one by one down the path. Between the six of them, there was more than enough light to see by. It illuminated all the walls of the cavern…as well as the split in the path up ahead. 

“So which way do we go from here?” Sticks asked, frowning at the two different tunnels. 

Knuckles closed his eyes for a moment, doing his best to focus. “I think we go…left.”

“I trust you, pal.” Sonic patted his forearm briefly, turning to go the way he’d suggested. 

“Can you really feel the source of all that energy?” Tails flew up to hover alongside Knuckles as they continued down the path. “What’s it feel like?”

“It feels sorta…comfortable? But also lonely, I think.” the echidna explained, before stopping as they reached another junction, this time with three pathways. “Uh…center this time.”

The caverns continued in a similar manner, branching and diverging in various ways, with Knuckles leading them through all of it. At one point, once they’d been walking for quite some time, Amy spoke up hesitantly.

“We’re sure this energy thing isn’t just leading us in circles, right?” she asked, smiling nervously. 

“I don’t think it would do something like that.” Knuckles spoke with surprising confidence despite his low volume. “Something like this…I think the people who made these tunnels knew it needed to be kept safe. If it really is as powerful as it seems—y’know, with all the causing dreams and fixing Tails’s scanner—then it’d probably be pretty bad if someone like Eggman got his hands on it.”

There wasn’t time for more than a second or two of silence before a green light began to shine from the end of the tunnel, immediately drawing everyone’s attention. Amy shook her head wryly. “I’ll admit it. I was wrong to doubt you, Knuckles.”

The team rushed forward, eager for some freedom from the dark, cramped tunnels. Quickly, Knuckles entered the chamber beyond—only to stop short, causing everyone behind him to slam into his back and then sprawl all over the floor. As they began to get up, in various states of grumbling and collecting themselves, they all froze and stared in awe alongside him at the place they’d found.

A massive cavern soared over their heads, formed entirely out of green crystal. Huge gem stalactites speared out from the ceiling, while the floor was polished and smooth. Various ledges were present at different heights along the walls, which formed a near-perfect circle around the jewel-like floor. And within every single facet, an otherworldly green glow shone, casting all of the heroes in its own color.

“Whoa, Knux…what is this place?” Sonic breathed. 

But it wasn’t Knuckles who replied.

“Chaos,” Shadow swore. “It’s the Master Crystal!”

[robynator]

burrow's end spoilers!

i am not a huge fan of horror. as a rule, i avoid horror movies and books, because oftentimes the violence in them is just too graphic for me

that being said, burrow's end is shaping up to be my favourite dimension 20 season, namely because of the horror aspects of it. very few streamable dnd shows have been able to recreate the dread and anticipation that i feel while actually playing dnd, but burrow's end does it perfectly

there is, of course, violence and gore (notably the infamous bear scene) but that doesn't bother me as much as it does with other mediums, probably because it's dnd and im sort of used to it. and yet it's the more "psychological" aspects of it that draw me and from what ive seen, many other people in as well

at first it's the not knowing, the uncertainty that causes the unease and later it's putting the pieces together, realizing where the stoats are and what they're dealing with, while they themselves are still ignorant on the basis of just not having the background information we do

i can't not talk about the tapes and the chilling revelation that it was the first stoats that were behind everything. hearing dr wenabocker at first say that everything was under control (and it's likely that he was right), and then only a couple tapes later say that there were clear signs of sabotage, that the cables were chewed through

and, of course, the attack, which is so far probably my favourite part of the show. it's shocking, and downright horrifying to hear and i genuinely had to take a quick break after that, just to process it. carlos luna, you absolute madman, that was incredible

and then we were introduced to phoebe

phoebe, who was behind it all. phoebe, who suggested they sabotage the plant. phoebe, who ripped her sibling's jaw off, when they wouldn't listen to her. phoebe, who gleefully attacked dr wenabocker and may or may not be puppeteering him right now. phoebe, whose return even the first stoats feared (and awaited)

ive thought about the implications behind taking over someone's body to further your own goals long before burrow's end but this has reignited that train of thought (i made a post about it months ago, relating to lockwood & co.) so i know for a fact that i will be thinking about the horror of it for some more time now. especially if that gets confirmed — and im hoping it does

aabria iyengar is a brilliant dm and storyteller and this entire season i have been consistently in awe of the pure genius of the narration and symbolism and plot points, and how she's able to craft such a masterful story

[sapphic-scylla]

Why Dr. Takuto Maruki in P5R is Very Wrong and Why His So-Called “Perfect Reality” is Deeply Upsetting

(This is a hyperfixation rant that spoils a great deal of the ending of P5R and addresses mental trauma and therapy in great detail. So please, make sure you know what you’re getting into when reading this. Also, while I have played P5R many, many times and have experienced a pretty hefty amount of my own trauma and suffering in my own life, I’m not an expert on psychology and matters of the mind, so most of the thoughts on his mental state are purely perspective and opinion.)

Dr. Maruki in P5R infuriates me beyond any character in any game I’ve ever played for so many reasons and for the longest time, I couldn’t pinpoint why. Because a lot of people thought we were stopping a good thing at the end of P5R and I couldn’t explain why I didn’t agree until this week and I’m now going to go into detail on why this man is making a massive mistake.

Starting with the obvious red flags:

Totalitarian society is the idea that a person or very small group of people not only keeps an entire society in line, but controls how people think and bends their will in service to the state, which is what Maruki is doing. It may look like utopia, but when mind control/“actualization” is required, that already sends warning alarms.

A man who felt his only option was to bend the will of another Persona-user against her will and wield her own power against other people (while she is in deep trauma and mental struggle might I add) is a deeply upsetting move and does not uphold what he perceives his moral standards to be.

Reality-bending power is very dangerous and giving one imperfect man the ability to not only rewrite life and its progress is vastly unwise. Especially if that man could also just as easily erase people from the narrative and no one would ever know they were gone. Just the flick of a finger and whoever didn’t fit his plan just didn’t exist. Bad. Very, very bad.

A man using the persona named Azathoth is like a billboard for petty despot. Azathoth is a Lovecraftian deity of Change, Creation and Destruction and the most powerful entity in all of Cthulhu Mythos. Yikes.

People praise Maruki for the same reasons they hate Yaldabaoth. Both should be hated. What people don’t understand is that they are serving the same shit on different platters. Humanity isn’t strong enough or smart enough to handle their own free will, so I will do it for them. Maruki just gift wrapped his to look like paradise instead of servitude.

Maruki is a vessel of DISTORTION. This man thinks he’s capable of running all of reality while suffering under debilitating trauma. And instead of actively getting help, he sets a vendetta against reality itself. Smart? No!

What was it that Brennan said in Burrow’s End? “Power should make you tired.” Taking godlike power for yourself and using it to reshape society to your liking is ALWAYS a red flag.

Everything about him screams cult and brainwashing. Everything. The outfit at the end, the way he speaks, the verbal and physical manipulation he uses to make you think he wants what’s best for you. No one who says they want to “save” you in a very religious way has your best interests at heart.

Putting people in places like a puzzle is a very dystopian theme. That’s what Maruki’s entire plan revolves around: the idea that, if something has the potential to cause you pain, it is to be avoided. That includes family, that includes jobs, that includes desires. Complete avoidance is his plan and he executes it by bending the minds of the masses to believe that what he says your role in society is is gospel.

Utopias crash regularly. Especially ones based off of peaceful living. Every utopia is a lid covering a festering sickness that, no matter how well buried you think it is, will spill out onto the surface eventually. And it’s devastating when it does.

There were still homeless people and impoverished people in Maruki’s “paradise”. Explain that.

That’s all the physical red flags. From a therapeutic perspective…:

Swallowing, avoiding, bottling, neglecting, or walking on the scars you gain from trauma is always a recipe for disaster. Physical and mental scars are very similar. Treating them with the appropriate care, time, and patience for the specific trauma can help them heal over. It’s why therapists and psychologists exist at all. To help you treat those wounds and help them to heal. It’s never said to be easy, but it’s doable if you’re willing to put in the work. Maruki’s not only bottling all of society’s trauma, but this whole mess started because he was doing it to himself. Trauma festers if left unchecked. It can dig into your mind and heart and make you irrational, bitter, vengeful, lonely, and often angry, sad, and numb. However, being willing to reach out and stumble towards people who can help you work through it can ease the burden, so you won’t do anything you’ll regret.

You can’t make the whole world happy. Checks and balances. Someone’s joy is often someone else’s misery. It sucks, but that comes with the territory of being mortal.

Pain is intrinsic to the human condition. It sucks. It really does. No one likes to experience pain or misfortune and I really do understand the idea of wanting the world to be anesthetized to pain and suffering, but that’s the side effect of free will. You can’t expect a world to live free and with the capacity to make their own decisions without conflict.

Mistakes are meant to be made. We don’t learn anything otherwise. Mistakes bring pain, pain brings learning, learning brings growth, growth brings joy. Yes, sometimes pain is sourceless and you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it sucks, but, again, as rough as it is, it’s part of the human condition and taking that away means taking away free will. The difference between the P.T.’s and Maruki is that the P.T.’s were changing the hearts of the people that were using their free will to silence other’s free will. The only exception is Futaba, and she specifically asked them so that she could start taking steps to working through her trauma, the opposite of what Maruki wants people to do.

Taking a W in life isn’t as rewarding if it is constantly happening. All of the rich people I’ve ever met are fucking miserable. When you have everything you’ve ever wanted, you forget what it’s like to feel actual joy because there is nothing to work towards anymore. If I had to choose between getting torn to shreds as I climb towards my goals and suffering defeat after failure to finally reach it and feel that pure happiness or have it given to me free of charge on the house perpetually, I hope my hands bleed as long as I finally get where I’m going and look back on how far I’d traveled to get there.

Scars, cuts, and bruises tell stories. I was always told as a kid that scars make you look tough, but I also learned that it was ok to cry and scream when I got hurt. Taking pride in the immense amount of emotional cuts and wounds and beatings I’ve taken was something that took forever to learn, but if I hadn’t taken any of those beatings, I’d still be the sheltered little Mormon boy that couldn’t speak up to save his life. All of those stabs and scars made me into the fluidflux, curious amalgamation of interests that knows how to stand up for herself and punch back if she has to. Not all scars are scars to be proud of and not all scars are glancing blows. Some hurt. Really bad. Bad enough to leave trauma and impressions. However, it’s telling you that, no matter how unlucky you are, you’re still alive. And that’s what matters. Because any scars you can walk away with, even if it’s not physically, are wounds that will heal given time and patience. And if it leaves such a scar that it will never truly heal, please reach out for support. Friends and confidants are there for a reason.

Maruki never reached out for help. And I know. That’s rich coming from me, who, to this day, claims that the most difficult thing in the world for me is to ask for any kind of help. But traversing the rough road that is trauma healing is easier traveled when you have people to help you.

At the end of the day when you strip Takuto Maruki down to his bare essentials, what you see is a man who is deeply traumatized, wallowing in his own regret and pain to the point where he is self-destructive. This same man is seeking to become a god of the world, pulling the strings to every single persons life and forcing people to live his ideal of what he thinks is the perfect reality and attempting to become untouchable while doing so.

The protagonist suffered so much injustice and unfairness in his life. Wrongfully accused of assaulting a deeply corrupt politician, he became the pawn in a deal between two gods as he struggled to stick his neck out for a society that deeply rejected him and still proceeded to change the hearts of 21 people without reality-bending capabilities just by talking with them and supporting them in their endeavors. It seems small, but in the end, 19 of those people come together and feed his support right back to him. The 20th person was his biggest rival, someone who betrayed, almost killed, and actively worked to destroy him. He ended up fighting by his side even if it meant in the end, he would die. And the last and 21st person was Maruki himself.

You don’t need godlike powers to change the world. You already can just by connecting with people on a personal level. Maruki sacrificed his own self-care, mental stability, and, honestly, the love of his life in a Faustian bargain with an entity that was trying to usurp the vacancy Yaldabaoth left in the universe’s power vacuum. It quite nearly cost him his life if the protagonist hadn’t been there to stop him, fight him, and show him that you don’t need to perform miracles. You just need to be there for people when they need you.

[a-dragons-hoard-of-stuff]

Finally finished Kipo and the age of Wonderbeasts!

It was a fun show, always has been, and it had a nice ending. Though there is one thing that bothered me…

Why were there so many deaths that were shoehorned in? Like who’s bloodlust was not satiated by the mob frog’s and other Dave’s deaths?

Cause first if all why were all the de-muts not re-mutated? What happened to Song making a vaccine? There’s no mention of it after they get supplies for it and then after the time skip there’s still normal animals! Like what???

And then Hugo died. Somehow? I genuinely don’t understand how he was hurt enough to die. Like he was throwing humans around left right and center at the coronation! He survived getting buried in rumble as a teen! How did getting flicked by a mega mut end him? He even had his flamingo car to take the hit/fall!

Like I do actually kinda like that they didn’t just kill off Dr. Emilia. But also it would have been way better to just kill her instead.

Her death has way more potential for making sense. She could have had severe side effects from the shot she gave herself on account of wanting to still look as human as possible as a mut. A building could have comedically fallen on her after her attempt to stab Kipo.

Not to mention there’s no way she’s still alive when the time skip happens. There were bones in the old science burrow. And it’s unlikely Fun Gus would understand the concept of giving his ‘buddy’ and break or feeding her.

So there was no point in not killing her off if the show needed a death that bad!

But yeah it feels like someone decided the series ended too happily and they needed more perma deaths. So they swept the vaccine under the rug and decided redemption equals death.

[exoticalmonde]

LUNDInium Outskirts /but it's her insane doodles/ PART V

Important Notice: Everybody who loves Mlynar should like this post now, so Dr. Lundi would finally doodle him as this meme. She already did the one where he's washing dishes in the back room of some type of fast food and we need to commission her for more love.

We have McLateranolds, we need Subwaymierz now.

Important notice over, back to the doodles!!!

---

We were talking about how I was going to include some cooking and just soft stuff between Dr Lundi and Eve and Mlynar and Hoederer as they advance in their adventure through Sami.

"Thankfully, there are just enough thin pieces of wood to gather, and Lundi helpfully offers some spare rope from her backpack to bind them together for easier carrying. The moss appears a little later when Eve strays from their already carved path towards an ageless oak tree. 

She takes a picture, waiting for the film to develop so she could slip it into her pocket, while Lundi carefully approaches a burrow of fangbeasts with a rusty coat similar to her friend’s tail. 

The light from her wings disturbs the tiny creatures, while the bigger, older one, cracks open one viridian eye, fur standing on end. It’s a simple warning she heeds, stepping back from the careless family to join the Doctor of RI-8. 

When they’re back in their camp they find Mlynar gathering snow into a small cooking pot. It seemed that while Eve had filled her backpack mostly with sample-collecting materials and clothes, Hoederer was the one who had packed their supplies. He was now sitting on a small chair inside, parting their rations. Potatoes, carrots, a bizarre-looking type of dry pasta and some herb mix.

“Just in time.” He greets them as all three enter the small shack, closing the door firmly behind them to stave off the cold. 

Breath was visible in the brick-walled space, but that was quickly mitigated when the warmth of the cooking pot begins filling the air with the aroma of spices. Hoederer throws together a portion of the ingredients to create a creamy soup which causes Eve’s stomach to grumble where she sits.

The windows fog up, but the hatch at the top of the barrack easily cracks open just enough to let the smell of food and steam disappear into the wintry scenery.

Near the fire Dr. Lundi is squinting at the paperwork in her hand while Mlynar’s fixing up something else. Evealia can’t see it from this angle, but she definitely notices the longing way the Sankta Doctor checks on him from time to time. 

Whether the colour of her cheeks was due to the bubbling warmth she’s sitting next to or something else - her friend decides not to look too close to figuring out."

Which is how this AMAZING doodle came to be. She melted through. Dr. Eve is still there being supportive of her silly ways to show affection.

---

Data provided by RI-00, the ship where Dr. Pinkie is stationed:

"While Rhodes Island 00 enjoys a lifestyle that would be considered lavish to the other Rhodes Island, no one would ever doubt their combat prowess. That is to say, being consistently 0.7 meters or more above their statistical average height across all Rhodes Island deviations usually means their size alone is intimidating on the battlefield.

Outside of general issues with size accommodations for the tallest operators, most members are not perturbed by this anomaly and continue to enjoy a more luxurious lifestyle. After all, in comparison to Pinkie's true size, this discrepancy in height is really nothing at all."

A later Third-Party investigation has determined that the biological changes may be a result of their standard diet, which has been discovered to be composed of 61% Wildlife Seaborn, 22% Columbian Agriculture not yet approved by the FDA, 15% normal foodstuffs, and 2% Lateran imports.

After multiple evaluations, it has been deemed by Rhine Labs LLC that this does not violate any standard Health and Safety protocols are therefore no actions will be taken to force compliance to a more generally established standard of living.

Report from 30 May 1103

UPDATE:

After further investigation, it has been brought to attention that the deviations of Rhodes Island 00 are not as substantial in the male operatives as opposed to the females. More specifically, the anomalous properties seem to be dichotomized between the males instead; taller males have the tendency to deviate less strongly from the average height but develop effeminate characteristics, whereas shorter males develop growth cycles as seen with female operators, but with little height deviation.

While such deviations should have been more obvious to other Rhodes Island ships, Interdimensional Cooperative Engagements were only enacted in a recent period of time. Operators of R.I. 00, simply put, have never lived any other life but their own, and are in fact content with their lives despite obvious visual differences, and thus once again Rhine Labs LLC sees no reason to attenuate to the standard deviation.

Approved and Accepted by the O4 council.

Report from 06 June 1103

---

From what I understood, Dr. Lundi and Dr. Pinkie had a conversation about Ulpian and that somehow spawned and then there was a WAHOO intervention that inspired Dr. Lundi to make more doodles. I will be honest, some of the best reaction images were created that day.

The only thing I remember was that I entered the chat and I saw Lundi screaming and crying about Ulpian.

Just look at them

---

Intermission so you can look at the ADORABLE Hollow Knight Drsonas Dr. Kryo did for us. We also have abilities!!

For the reason why Dr. Pinkie is missing, well...

---

Having entirely normal reactions.

---

Pinkie: "I've turned your life upside-down. You hate fish, you hate religion, you hate horses..." Lundi: "OH NO, WAI!"

Also Lundi, 2 days later:

We all love to see it.

[bigender-swag-battle]

please ignore my 2 failed attempts to send in an ask lmao 💔neways:

janice is that boygirl bigender who doesnt bother changing her appearance between genders save for when its a Bad Dysphoria Day And He Needs To Wear Something Masculine Right Now n then she raids the rest of the EM's closets to steal burrow n never return their clothes (floyd n lips are often subjected to this, they ended up buying two of each clothing item they get, one in their size n the other janice's), floyd is that girl-nb bigender who doesnt bother presenting feminine, but doesnt care cause its her gender presentation n she can do whatever she wants w it, n if he wants to present as masc n use he/him along w she/her then the shes gonna do just that, lips is that boy-nb person who gets mistaken as androgynous but in reality theyre just lazy w his masculinity, but despite that he'll end up pulling out the most hypermasculine outfit they have in their closet come time he has to preform on stage or do an interview w the rest of the electric mayhem, zoot is that bigender person whos purposely vague about the two gender they identify as so nobody knows what two genders it ids as, they just know that zoot's Not A Guy Or A Woman But Its Definitely Multiple Genders, also zoot'll say that one gender is dreamy n feminine while the other is sleepy n masculine but never explain what he meant by that, itll say that one is masculine but not a man n the other is feminine but not a woman n then never explain what that means, animal is similar to zoot except animal doesnt know that its bigender, he just thinks everyone experiences two genders at once, he just thinks that everyone has one feral n rabid gender n another musical n drumming gender, that everyone just feels masculine one day n androgynous the next, that everyone is experiences this, dr teeth is that boygirl bigender person who has duplicates of an outfit but the duplicate in question is literally just a masc/fem version of the outfit shes currently wearing, she'll have an (edited) entire closet dedicated to fem outfits n another dedicated to masc ones, he'll wear what is essentially the same outfit that he had on the other day but Dress Edition, he'll wear a full face of makeup but dress masculine

Oh hey I remember reading this on the submission form! I love how thought out these headcanons are, shoutout to The Electric Mayhem

[dollkichi]

HELL YEAH I CAN!! There are at least 3 or 4 MC (or at least in their own stories) Danganronpa OCs I have! Mainly for V3 cause its my favorite -w-

Roselyn Monet (Sandasu)

Ultimate Actress or Ultimate Pediatrician it depends honestly..-

Black and French, moved to Japan for business

One of the Chpt. 3 victims (found in the infirmary) (I made one appear out of thin air I'm so talented/silly)

Shes shy and jumpy, very Mikan coded pre and post-game, but in-game she's a bitch/aff!!! She's very cold and distances herself from people but if you persist enough she miight open up~ (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Had two ships with two guys I've selfshipped with- Stage Play (Kokichi x Rose), Detective's Script/Black Rose (Shuichi x Rose) I end up using the former for videos more, but I do have quite a lot of Stage Play ones!! >w<

She actually is a part of a longgg story on her own!!

And I couldn't mention Rose without mentioning another part of her story!

Hayase Miya (Sandasu)

Lil' Ultimate Seamstress

Youngest (Has two older siblings who are twins!!)

Ultra Despair Girls!!!! Would have been a part of the WOH but I scrapped it!!

7 (But 8 now!!! Her birthday is on July 20th!!!)

While her biological family is (somewhat) alive, her adoptive ones are dead ( • ᴖ • ｡)

Her adoptive parents died at her brother's hands, and she killed him out of fear and self defense technically-?

Traumatized little girl with a specialty handling needles, she's very shy and proper!!

Rose's cousin, i guess???

She miiight get adopted <3

This one isn't well known unfortunately!!!! But I still love her!!!

Sukoshi Shizukana

Ultimate Social Outcast

Specifically pops up Post-V3!!! She knows nothing and is only thrown into the loop because she's married to one of the participants tbh

Me and my platonic wife usually roleplay her and (her) Post-game Kokichi!! The married couple ever pt 1 because he loves her and she's kinda like "wtf??!?!?/pos"

They also have two sons!! Akihiko and one I haven't named yet (っ- ‸ - ς)

She's gone through...a lot.

Recovering Alcoholic and drug addict because she wants to get better for her son (her parents weren't great before they died

She's a very scared yet sweet girl underneath her rude and passive aggressive front, her talent pushes people away

She has two D.I.C.E members who are parental figures to her because she deserves it!!!! Give her good role models!!!!

And THIS is perhaps my most well-known and beloved DR OC!!!!

Ai Kegareta

Ultimate Succubus, and is a literal Succubus!!!<33

Her past, In-game and Post-game was not kind to her

Princess of the Lust Ring in hell, and the youngest of 16!!! (๑•̀ㅁ•́๑)✧

She's Kaede's half sister, but they look so alike the only things telling them apart is Ai's demonic features and her natural pink-blonde hair (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

She's a very innocent and bubbly girl!! She makes friends with everyone (or at least tries to) and believes there's good in even the worst people!!

She had a very sweet mom before she died, and was left with a shitty stepmom who hated her and abused her (¬⤙¬ ) After killing her mom since they were twins!!! (๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

She's British this isn't important just though to drop it /silly

Ai is very shippable (my mootie and one of the lomls even selfships with her!!) But AiOuma has burrowed itself deep into my brain and nested there I cannot escape it because they're so. Fucking. Cute. But also really angsty I have way less AiOuma videos for how much this ship circles in my brain

GONTA AND AI ARE BESTIES!!

Rantaro was also her first crush~ ♡

Ai's worst fears are losing loved ones and being replaced in any manner. So you can imagine how bad it was losing Rantaro, Kaede, Kokichi and Gonta was and having to live up to be like Kaede or up to her image (╥‸╥) Being mistaken for her sometimes also stings, she was part of the cast, yes, but she also felt like Kaede overshadowed her in a way, but never resented her for it outwardly, at least...

She's the light in any room, but the darkest shadow in her own mind.

AND THATS ALL!!!<33 Fun fact, I was listening to Kokichi x Listener ASMRs in the middle of my teacher yelling at us because Angel doesn't care about a whiny adult~ (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

– 🩷🎮

THIS WAS A DELIGHTFUL READ!! Their talents are all pretty unique. I don’t think I’ve seen an ultimate pediatrician, social outcast, or succubus before. I wonder what your post game is like, definitely sounds intriguing.

What does being either the ultimate actress or ultimate pediatrician depend on? Did you just like both talents or is there another reason? Was she originally one or the other before you thought of another talent you liked? ALSO NOO RIP TO HER… making stuff appear out of thin air for ocs though is so real. Also, videos? It’s always so cool to see people creating stuff with their ocs :0

UDG OC LETS GOOO ‼️ The lil ultimate oc was such a surprise, but a good one. Poor thing, I hope she does get adopted. If no one adopts her, then I will!! (/silly)

She’s been through so much omg :(

I haven’t seen many lil ultimate ocs… probably only like three total if I count yours. People should make more lil ultimate ocs.

How did Sukoshi get the talent ultimate social outcast? Why does she only pop up Post V3?

Super curious to see how hell and demons would work in the Danganronpa universe if you ever wanna talk about that. It’s interesting how Ai is so innocent when she literally comes from hell. She’s see the worst of the worst there and yet she still thinks like that? Perhaps it’s because she’s from there that she does because she’s able to see the worst do good. I am all for the Gonta and Ai besties, Gonta deserves a friend‼️

Giggling, how did you not get in trouble for that?? Also, considering how many times that he’s been brought up in this ask, you seem to really like Kokichi. Is he one of your favorite characters?

[bloodsweatandbeerspart1]

'Cause if I was a man, I'd be Daron Blaaand

That's right, call me the man, because the last time I posted in here was while I was doing my punishment for coming in dead last for the inaugural season of Blood, Sweat, and Beers. But these are new times, times during which the leading receiver in the NFL is Taylor Swift (receiver of attention, that is), and times of the broken down and defeated becoming the UNdeafeated... well, not really, but you now what I mean.

With only 2 weeks left in the Fantasy regular season (whaaaat), let's take a look at the terrifically average teams of Blood, Sweat, and Beers, and break down how most are still playoff contenders. Now, some of you may have that tiny Jim Mora voice in your head that's saying 'Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! You kidding me? Playoffs?!', but consider this - 75% of teams in this league are still in the running to win the Golden Goat and its accompanying $350 cash prize, and that is wild.

Amon a roll (Ali) - Playing a QB, WR pair from the same NFL team is always a risk, and it seems to be paying off for Coach Ali this season. With the Herbert Allen duo, and additionally Dr. Sir Christian McCaffrey, his highness (I believe he has earned this title), Amon a roll has been able to consistently put up some of the highest single-game scores this season. However, this team faces an upHILL battle playing the highly successful Hanna conference to close out the regular season.

Highway to Hill (Jake) - Remember when Coach Jake reasonably drafted Joe Burrow who got a fat contract then laid a giant disgusting goose egg all over the beginning of Highway to Hill's season? Doesn't matter now though, because like his TE Travis Kelce, Coach Jake has shot for the stars and has snagged several strong performers throughout this season, keeping him a playoff contender. Does Highway to Hill make the playoffs? I say yes, so long as Taylor Swift attends the Chief's games the next 2 weeks.

Fields of Dreams (Lexi) - The reigning champ team finds themselves in playoff contention once again, which is not surprising, considering how Coach Lexi is a jack of all trades who excels at all she does. However, she is currently last place in the Hanna conference, and that mostert. Fields of Dreams' season will get a bit spicier at the end though, when they face the current champ, Amon a roll, with most of their team on bye week.

The Friendzone (Jack) - With 3 of the original The Friendzone starters on IR, this team must get credit for its resiliency. Similar to Amon a roll, The Friendzone is a phoenix that has risen from the ashes of last season. But this phoenix of a team has also been without life during several matchups this season, and any falters in performance in the upcoming weeks could cause The Friendzone to be friend-zoned into last place before they know it. Is the friend zone an actual place, and do mayonnaise bears live there? Coach Jack may find out.

When Life Gives You Evans (Steven) - When Life Gives you Evans, or literally when your wife (inadvertently) gives you Evans, you think you would play him to defeat your spouse with their former player. But Coach Steven did not play Evans and lost because of it, and now he must continue to Chase the waterfalls that are the playoffs, because his team is the first on the outside looking in.

Dallas wears Prada (Niki) - Dallas wears Prada sports a high-end name, but this team has put up points-for that are in the bottom half of teams' performances for this season. That being said, this team had 4 games determined by 5 points or less, and could easily have 2 more wins than their record shows. All jokes aside, Coach Niki can still kick and scream her way into the playoffs, but she is going to have a bad time if she plays her 54839574932 Cowboys players against the Eagles next week.

Rookie of the Year (Jenna) - Within a league full of near 0.500 teams, these bottom 2 teams are unfortunately the only ones guaranteed to not make the playoffs. Although Coach Jenna smartly picked up C.J. Stroud later in the season, this team struggled with overall performance from Week 1, particular consistency with the quarterback, and was never quite able to find its footing. There is a silver lining, though - Rookie of the Year ends its season playing against 2 teams that are currently ranked in the bottom half of the league. Coach Jenna may still be able to dodge The Punishment.

Duuuval of the Lights (Alyson) - Although this team name makes me the happiest, the team itself makes me the saddest :( Duuuval of the Lights currently LEADS in least amount of points-for and has the TOP losing record, therefore is currently the MOST-FAVORED contender for last place. Although Coach Niki's biases towards Dallas have seemed to generally favor her, Coach Alyson's bias towards keeping Trevor Lawrence with the Jax Jags seemed to keep her team from ever reaching greatness, particularly in the QB position. In order to NOT be stuck with the punishment, Duuuval of the Lights will have to pull off their first win in the Florida girls conference, but hey, at least it's the weakest one. :)

And now, before we go... Call me AWS Next Gen Stats, because here are some random stats that no one asked for to prove superiority in things that don't matter. You're welcome!

Girls v Boys (win percentage average): 0.450 vs 0.583 UT v FL v NV (win percentage average): 0.583 v 0.361 v 0.583 Gerner conference (v other Gerner): Tied 1-1 Hanna conference (v other Hanna): Tied 1-1 Florida girl conference (v other Florida girls): - Rookie of the Year (Jenna) 2-0 - Dallas wears Prada (Niki) 1-2 - Duuuval of the Lights (Alyson) 0-2 Utah conference (v other Utah folk) - The Friendzone (Jack) 2-1 - Amon a roll (Ali) 2-2 - When Life Gives You Evans (Steven) 1-2 Bow twins (v each other): Amon a roll (Ali) 1-0, Dallas wears Prada (Niki) 0-1 Parents v degenerates (win percentage average): 0.583 v 0.472 (setting your lineup must be a distraction from raising your children, we get it) Highest single-game score: The Friendzone (Jack), 186.6 Lowest single-game score (you suck): Also The Friendzone (Jack), 59.86

Go forth, my fantasy friends. May the best team win, and for the love of God, Niki, please continue to put all of your faith in the Dallas Cowboys, because it seems to be working out, at least for them.

P.S. Sorry not sorry for all the Taylor Swift references. It's her world, and us and the NFL are just living in it.

[radarsteddybear]

Whumptober Day 10 - I Thought I Was Just Tired

Fandom: Original Fiction (H.O.U.N.D.S.) Prompt(s): infection, cold compress, "I don't feel so good." Rating: Teen Additional Tags: whump, hurt/comfort, friendship, found family, spy-fi

Minnow and Cassandra walked into Mr. Thaddeus’ spacious office.  Mr. Thaddeus looked up from where he was sitting at the circular conference table. 

“Ah, ladies.  Come in, come in.”

Cassandra practically fell onto the couch against the wall with a loud sigh.  Minnow remained standing by the door, body tight and rigid.

“What a week,” Cassandra said.  “All’s well that ends well, though.”

“Well said,” said Mr. Thaddeus.  “I read your report.  You said that Loewe escaped via submarine?”

“We think so,” Cassandra said.  “We found traces of…”  She trailed off as her eyes fell on her partner.  “Minnow?  Are you ok?”

Minnow had begun to sway, a distant look in her eyes.  She didn’t answer.

“Min?”  Cassandra stood and took Minnow by the elbow.  “Come on, why don’t you sit down.”

“I don’t…feel so good…” Minnow said.  Suddenly, her knees buckled.  Cassandra caught her and brought her over to the couch.

“Good heavens!” said Mr. Thaddeus.  He pressed a button on the console on the table.  “Thaddeus to Medical.  We have an agent down; cause unknown.  We need help in my office immediately.”

Cassandra felt Minnow’s forehead with the back of her hand and frowned.  “You’re burning up!” she said.  

“I’m sorry,” Minnow whimpered.  “I didn’t realize–”

“Shhh,” Cassandra said.  “It’s all right.”

The door to Mr. Thaddeus’ office slid open and two orderlies from Medical wheeled in a gurney.  

Minnow made a face.  “I don’t need–”

“Oh, don’t you start,” Cassandra cut in.  

The orderlies made to lift Minnow onto the gurney, but Minnow shooed them away.  She stood and only nearly toppled a little bit before Cassandra grabbed her by the arm and guided her onto the stretcher.  The orderlies wheeled her off to Medical, Cassandra following close behind.

***

“Influenza,” Dr. Murphy declared.

Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief.  Minnow groaned.

“How long do I have to stay here?” she asked.

“You should be good to go once we finish getting this bag of saline into you,” Dr. Murphy said.

“That’s not so bad,” Cassandra said.

“Make sure you get plenty of rest and stay hydrated,” Dr. Murphy said.

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Cassandra.

Dr. Murphy gave a nod of approval before taking her leave.

Cassandra turned to Minnow.  “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I’m sorry,” Minnow whimpered from under her blanket.  “I thought I was just tired.”

“You’ve got the flu and you thought you were tired?”

“I didn’t realize–you know how I get after a mission, and–”

“I suppose you’re right,” Cassandra said.  “You still scared me half to death.”

“I’m sorry,” Minnow said again.

“It’s all right.  Like I said before, ‘all’s well that ends well.’”

Cassandra eyed the IV bag and saw that it was just about empty.  “I’ll go grab the nurse, and then I’ll take you home, ok?”

***

Luckily, Cassandra had driven to work three days earlier (the last day she’d been at Headquarters), so they didn’t half to navigate a taxi or a bus.  She was able to get Minnow up to her apartment and tucked into bed with little trouble, then set to making soup while she slept.

Once the soup was set, Cassandra went in to check on Minnow.  Minnow was asleep, but she groaned when Cassandra placed a hand on her forehead.

“‘M cold,” she mumbled.  “And m’head hurts.”

“I’ll get you some more blankets and a cold compress, ok?”

“Ok.”

Cassandra knew Minnow’s apartment about as well as she knew her own, so it didn’t take her long to find the blankets or a clean washcloth.  She tucked the blankets around Minnow and dampened the cloth with cold water before putting it on Minnow’s forehead.

“Is that better?” Cassandra asked.

“A little,” Minnow said.

“Good.  Are you hungry?”

Minnow quickly shook her head no and burrowed further under the blankets.

“Come on.  I made soup.  It’ll help warm you up.”

Minnow didn’t answer, so Cassandra returned to the kitchen to pour some soup in a mug.  She popped in a straw to make it easier for Minnow.

“Just a few sips.  It’ll help you feel better.”

Minnow stirred, but she didn’t quite emerge from her blanket cocoon.

“For me?”

Minnow lifted her head.  The compress slid off.  Cassandra brought the straw to her lips, and she took a few sips before burrowing back under again.  Cassandra replaced the compress, flipping it over so that the cooler side was against her skin.

They continued this routine over the next 72 hours, Cassandra bringing Minnow fresh compresses and coaxing her to take sips of chicken broth at intervals.  Minnow mostly slept, often fitfully.  When she was awake, she spent the time blowing her nose, unsuccessfully trying to read A Treatise on the Microbiome of the Garden, and complaining about both.

On day four, Minnow’s fever finally broke, and her appetite began to return.  Cassandra made some rice to go along with the soup, and the cold compress was left to dry out on the night table.  

Cassandra came in with the soup, and Minnow looked up from her treatise.  “You look exhausted,” she noted.

“Yeah, because I’ve been sleeping on your couch for the better part of a week,” Cassandra said, setting the soup down next to the compress.

“Come here,” Minnow said.  She felt Cassandra’s forehead with the back of her hand.

“Well?” Cassandra said.

“Just checking,” Minnow said.  She grabbed a tissue and loudly blew her nose.  “You never know.”

“You know, I think you ended up with the flu from a lack of sleep,” Cassandra said.  “And I think half of your ‘symptoms’ were really your body trying to recover from that.”

“Influenza is known to cause–”

“I know what influenza does,” Cassandra said.  “I just don’t think that most people who have it end up sleeping for more than 18 hours a day.”

Minnow hummed noncommittally.

“And we just finished up the whole cave business.  I don’t think you were sleeping during that whole thing.”

“I was getting an adequate amount–”

“I think you were trying to pull one over on me, and after all these years, it’s finally caught up with you.”

Minnow returned her attention to her book.

“I’m just saying that if you don’t sleep, your body’s going to throw a revolution and get that sleep whether you like it or not.”  Cassandra gathered up Minnow’s used tissues.  “This time, that revolution was the flu.  Who knows what it’ll be next time.”  Cassandra threw all of the tissues into the trash.  “Anyway, I’m glad you’re feeling better.  I’m going to head back to my place and catch up on my sleep before I end up like you.”

Minnow rolled her eyes.

“Promise you’ll call me if you need anything?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Cassandra gave a satisfied nod and left the room.  She washed her hands before gathering up her things and heading downstairs to her own apartment, where she took a luxurious shower before falling gratefully into bed for her own 18-hour nap.

[salmonprince]

It’s the hottest summer in recorded history and the haze envelops America east of the Mississippi. Smoke from Canadian wildfires dip down and burrow in pockets of Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York. Dry heat and humid oppression give way to billowing fires budding out of rustic townhomes, tearing down the block like some sort of deranged, translucent, suffocating Pac-man, ingesting everything in its path. Don’t start your propane grill on the roof. The pools in Baltimore are closed for the summer.

Much like a well-placed score in a film by an auteur who grew up in Benedict Canyon to studio executive parents and came of age with David Lynch and Ridley Scott movies, this summer feels like The End. There’s sex trafficking fear-mongering that leads to innocent bystanders being shot and vigilante civilians losing their jobs, well-built and stilted North Carolina homes are drifting from the Outer Banks into the vast sea, billionaires are being crushed into the size of a soup can while attempting to live out their most voyeuristic maritime fantasy, the Grateful Dead stopped touring, and the fucking Orioles are the best team in baseball. The pools in Baltimore are closed for the summer.

Do you ever think about dying? I didn’t really, at least not until this summer. Is my mortality catching up with me since I turned a quarter-century old, or am I just re-hashing the existentialism from Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie trailer? The two biggest film releases of the year, and maybe the past decade, are a brand-laden marketing monolith about the country’s most emblematic All-American babe and a reckoning with the man who created the inevitable end of the world. I think Oppenheimer will be vindicated, though, because this world will probably end before anyone has a chance to press the Dr. Strangelove button. The pools in Baltimore are closed for the summer.

Ring doorbells are profiling minorities in gentrified neighborhoods, women with unchecked mental illnesses are going viral on the internet for a breakdown on a Southwest flight, our social communities are dying with no valid alternatives, and black kids are drawing the ire of neighborhood Karens and local news stations alike for breaking into barren community centers in the shadows of a path to sure environmental perdition. The pools in Baltimore are closed for the summer.

Have we no hope? Are we beyond reproach? Our planet healed during the darkest era for society in my lifetime. Once people— creatures whose sole purpose since their creation was to dominate the planet instead of share the planet, causing irreversible damage and imminent ecological implosion— went inside, the world recovered more than scientists previously thought possible. Then, the terror-inducing pandemic became but a distant memory, and in its dying embers humans went back to what they’ve always been doing: destroying their home. There was no hope, and then there was hope, and now we’re trapped in a freeze frame of heat, smoke, sickness, and hatred. And the pools in Baltimore are closed for the summer.

[thecreaturecodex]

Sand Dweller

Image © Loic Muzy, accessed at his ArtStation here

[You knew we would get to the Cthulhu Mythos eventually, right? The sand dweller is a minor monster from “The Gable Window”, a story by everyone’s favorite Mythos punching-bag August Derleth. In the original story, they’re described as having “koala-like” heads, but not even Lovecraft himself would be scared of a koala. Recent Cthulhu games have tried to spice them up in various ways. In the most recent edition of Call of Cthulhu, sand dwellers are literally made of sand, and can combine into bigger monsters. Sandy Petersen, who has called sand dwellers his least favorite monster, made them psychic parasites in his 5e 3pp books--they grow inside the minds of serial killers before bursting out through their skin. I went a different approach. In “The Gable Window”, they’re accompanied by a mysterious tentacle, the origin of which is never seen. What if they made it themselves? That, combined with sort of a philosophical approach to “why sand?”, inspired my take on this monster.]

Sand Dweller CR 5 CN Monstrous Humanoid This humanoid creature has leathery skin studded with small, sandy scales, wide staring eyes and rounded ears. Its hands and feet end in shovel-like claws, and its teeth are small and sharp, with prominent incisors.

Sand dwellers are monkish hermits of chaos, devoted to meditating on decay and erosion. They refer to themselves as scorrhex when they bother to talk to outsiders. They live in desolate places such as salt flats, sandy deserts and caves, the better to reflect on natural processes of destruction. Their religion is an odd mix of venerating protean lords, beings of elemental earth and Great Old Ones, and their practices rarely make sense to outsiders. These practices do include occasional sacrifices, which is the most likely times they come into conflict with others.

Scorrhex prefer to attack from ambush. They can swim through sand easily, and often attack from below. Their mastery of earth and chaos allows them to create tentacles of sand and rock that lash out at their enemies. Sand dwellers usually fight in numbers; with some hanging back to command their tentacles while others engage in melee.

Sand dweller culture is egalitarian and ascetic. They require little food and no water, and are capable on living on a combination of plant and animal matter. Their teeth never stop growing, suggesting some sort of relationship to rodents, and so they wear these down by gnawing on hard objects. This is seen as a personal relationship to erosion, and therefore of religious significance. They do not collect much treasure, and what valuables they have are likely to be sand blasted, gnawed on or otherwise worn down.

Sand Dweller     CR 5 XP 1,600 CN Medium monstrous humanoid (earth) Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +11, tremorsense 60 ft. Defense AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural) hp 45 (7d10+7) Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +9 DR 10/magic; Resist electricity 10, fire 10 Weakness light blindness Offense Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft. Melee 2 claws +9 (1d4+2), bite +9 (1d6+2) Special Attacks rend (2 claws, 1d4+3) Spell-like Abilities CL 7th, concentration +8 3/day—conjure tentacle Statistics Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 13 Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 23 Feats Blind-fight, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Stealthy Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +9, Escape Artist +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +4, Perception +11, Stealth +12 (+20 in sandy environments), Survival +11; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in sandy environments Languages Aklo, Terran SQ sand walker Ecology Environment any desert and underground Organization solitary, pair or cell (3-12) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Conjure Tentacle (Sp) As a standard action, a sand dweller can cause a tentacle to spring from a surface within 30 feet, occupying an empty square. This tentacle has an AC of 12 and hit points equal to the sand dweller’s caster level plus Wisdom modifier (11 hp for an average specimen). The sand dweller can direct the tentacle to attack a creature within 10 feet of its position as a swift action. The bonus to attack equals the sand dweller’s base attack bonus plus its Wisdom modifier (+11 for an average specimen), and deals 1d8 points of damage plus the sand dweller’s Wisdom modifier +2 on a successful hit. It may also make a drag, bull rush or reposition combat maneuver with the same reach and a CMB equal to its attack bonus, but it may not move from its space. A conjured tentacle remains for 1 round per caster level. The tentacle cannot makes attacks of opportunity, and does not count as providing flanking. This is the equivalent of a 2nd level spell. Sand Walker (Ex) A sand dweller does not treat sandy areas as difficult terrain.

[comfyswitcherblanketfort]

i go absolutely feral for h/c where one character gets hurt and you think they are dead and the other character confesses that they love them and then the one dying gasps awake and gets healed and later asks "did you mean it?" and then cuddles and kisses!! bonus points if Geralt is the one confessing to Jaskier🥰🥰

oh babe. do you know what you’ve done? Idk if this is fluffy enough to undo the hurt I’ve caused. even to myself...

Warnings: H/C, drowning, hypothermia, swearing, chest compressions anyone else watch dr mike? 😂😘 its better in the end I promise!

__________

Cold. Every cell in Geralt's body was shocked to the point of pain by how cold the river was. He fought the instinct to gasp even as he was submerged in the freezing, churning current. Forcing his eyes open, he finally remembered why he'd plunged headfirst into a river not one full week into March. 

Jaskier's limp form was being swept away from him beneath the rippling foaming water. 

He managed to kick off a rock and grasp the bard by the wrist before kicking with all he had for the surface. He coughed and sputtered as he hauled them to shore, a cold weight that had nothing to do with the temperature settling in his stomach when Jaskier didn't do the same. 

"Jaskier." Geralt growled as he dragged him all the way up onto the sand before dropping to his knees next to him, "Jaskier!" 

He got no answer. 

His hands shook as they hovered over the bard's chest, the only thing that kept him moving was the too faint and too far apart heartbeat that belonged to the only person he'd ever really loved. His arms worked on their own, crossing one palm over the back of his other hand and pressing down on Jaskier's chest in a steady rhythm. 

He paused for a moment, listening for a stronger heartbeat. 

He heard nothing. 

He worked furiously now, pumping the bard's heart for him, barely keeping from cracking his ribs with the force before he pinched Jaskier's nose to check his airway, "No... No no no no no. No! Jaskier you don't get to die on me like this." 

He pressed down eight more times before sealing his lips to Jaskier's and breathing for him, "Don't you fucking dare leave me." 

He noted there were tears on Jaskier's cheek that couldn’t belong to him with a numb sense of wonder as he pumped his heart for him eight more times. Again, nothing happened when he finished his exhale and pulled away to lean on the bard's heart. And again. And once more. 

"Jaskier, please. I love you. Please don't go." 

He breathed for him again, this time hearing his heartbeat just once on its own. 

Geralt was yelling now, more terrified than he'd ever been in his life, "Damnit Jask! BREATHE! I can't lose you! Please just fucking breathe!"

A sob tore at his throat as he leaned over once more, whispering his plea as his heart crumbled in his chest, "Breathe. I love you, Julek. Please breathe." 

At the end of his exhale he felt something thump against his chest and he reeled backward. 

Jaskier coughed and tried to suck in a breath as his hands dug at the sand in his disorientation. Geralt rolled him onto his side, laughing a little hysterically as tears were still flowing freely down his cheeks, rubbing a soothing hand on his back as he expelled a lungful of water. 

When he tried to sit up Geralt held him down, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes, "Shhh, stay there. You need to lie still." 

Jaskier's eyes finally found him, the fear melting into confusion as he tried to croak out his words, "You're crying." 

Geralt nodded, shivering as his body finally relaxed and let him feel the cold again, "You died." 

"Shit."

Geralt nodded again, feeling weak as he clapped a hand on Jaskier's thigh before rocking up to his knees, "You need to get warm, arms up." 

He scooped his arms under Jaskier's shoulders and knees, almost falling into another fit of sobs when the trembling man wrapped his arms around his neck and held tight. 

His bard was still here. He was alive. 

Geralt walked up the riverbank until he came upon their camp, Roach nickering as they approached. He set Jaskier down as gently as he could and began peeling off his wet clothes. All he could hear, all he wanted to hear, was Jaskier's heartbeat as he worked. Soon Jaskier was dressed and dry and tucked into his bedroll. Geralt haphazardly stacked some logs in a hole in the sand, setting them ablaze before he scooted the bard closer to the flames. 

There was more color in his cheeks but Geralt wasn't satisfied. He dug through their packs and found the kettle and some tea leaves. 

"G-eralt. You're blue." Jaskier's voice was weak and jarring, but as Geralt looked at his hands he realized he was right, "Tea ca-can wait." 

Geralt didn't much care if he stayed this cold for the rest of his life, so long as Jaskier was safe, but his bard looked so worried… 

"Get changed, Geralt. Please. I'm fine."

His upper lip curled back in a snarl, “You’re not fine.”

“Geralt.”

The bard’s usually strong and dulcet voice cracked on his name and Geralt melted. He’d rather get Jaskier to drink something, but he’d do anything never to hear Jaskier sound so desperate and weak ever again. He clenched his jaw and obeyed, wringing his hair out and sitting next to Jaskier and the fire. 

Neither of them spoke for a while, each looking into the fire and worrying about the other. 

As the sun was close to setting, Geralt insisted Jaskier at least eat if he wouldn’t drink tea.

“You’re not warming up.” he grunted, kicking some rocks into the fire to place under his bedroll later. 

“M’not a witcher.” Jaskier offered, a hint of a tired smile on his lips, he untucked himself from the cocoon of bedroll and blankets and held an edge open, “Come here.”

For once, Geralt didn’t hesitate. He slipped into the nest behind the bard, wrapping one arm over his waist and pulling him close while the other became Jaksier’s pillow. His anxious thoughts slowly faded into the background as Jaskier’s heartbeat picked up its pace just like it did every time they shared a bed. It After missing the sound for so long the normalcy and predictability of it was comforting. His eyes finally felt heavy and he was further lulled toward sleep as he nuzzled into the bard’s soft hair, familiar, sweet soaps and oils shutting out all other scents.

He almost didn’t notice when Jaskier whispered, “Did you mean it?”

Geralt pulled him closer, tilting his head to be closer to Jaskier’s ear, “Did I mean what?” he whispered back.

“When-” Jaskier sucked in a shaky breath which he forced out slowly before continuing, “when you said you love me?”

“I did.” There was no point in lying anymore. Geralt had lived two minutes of life without Jaskier and he was too terrified of having to endure any more to worry about what his pride thought. 

“I love you too.” Jaskier turned his head and placed a soft kiss on the inside of Geralt’s elbow before burrowing deeper into his embrace. 

Geralt pressed his lips to his hair, mumbling against his scalp, “Don’t ever leave me.” It was a terrified and heartfelt plea. 

“Never again.”

[kyogre-blue]

Tianqiu and Nantianmen

I think everyone probably already noticed this, but there's a fairly obvious thread being laid down about a future boss/event in the Nantianmen area.

tl;dr since this got long:

There is a dragon sealed in the tree in Nantianmen.

It is connected to geovishaps and possibly Azhdaha in Tiangqiu Valley. There may be two separate but connected beings involved.

It(/they) will awaken soon. (Future event!!)

Now, for the details below!

Let's start with the tree:

At the foot of this Moonlit Tree is a stone tablet:

And also a creepy little girl named Jiu:

The games very sure you are aware of her via the quest "The Secret of Nantianmen" which consists of purely going to this tree, talking to her, and fighting two geovishap hatchlings.

Her dialogue (with some minor lines removed):

"The awakening is coming... and with it, the storm..."

Jiu: You're a little early... Are you here to witness the resurrection of the most ancient, most awe-inspiring individual in Liyue's history?

[about Rex Lapis] Jiu: Hah... That usurper?

Jiu: Humans... They care only about history since the dawn of the age of mankind...

Jiu: Are people really happy to just draw a line under the litany of atrocities humanity's ancestors are responsible for, call it "ye olde worlde," and just get on with their merry little lives?

Jiu: Well, I hope that anyone who willfully indulges in this fantasy world of false prosperity will be consumed by it, and thus get what they deserve.

Jiu: The adepti thought to suppress it with trees. Hah! Fools! Little did they know that after thousands of years... the trees that hold the beast shall surely become one with the beast...

Jiu: And lo, it shall stretch wide its arms, and unfurl its body, and reach out with its roots... And the ley lines of the world shall heed its call.

Jiu: Then, once the beast has quenched its great thirst for that energy which only the ley lines can provide...

Jiu: I imagine any significance we presume to have in this world will vanish for good. Wouldn't you agree?

(Worth noting: Jiu refers to a "He" in a reverent manner during The Secret of Nantianmen, but talks about "it" "the beast" instead dring her normal dialogue. These may be separate things.)

Whatever is sealed in Nantianmen is also mentioned in the description of The Unforged, a claymore that ran along side Vortex Vanquisher. (The theme presumably being "past enemies of Rex Lapis that he only sealed instead of killing properly.")

A long time ago, a dragon there was to be found in Liyue. But it was not a dragon that soared through the skies, but one whose abode was the mountains. Indeed, this ancient dragon of stone was as large as the very mountains it called home.

The legends say that it slumbered in Nantianmen, seeming not at all unlike the surrounding hills.

Then, Rex Lapis came before the dragon, seeking to stop the earth's quailing. They say that for a long while, the land knew peace, and that Rex Lapis gained another comrade by his side.

But in the end, the union of dragons, gods and men was perhaps not to be... The dragon was sealed in the bowels of the earth, and fearing the burning ire of the gods and the adepti, that great vishap, that had once caused rock and stone to tremble, fled into the roots of the mountains.

But over the passage of millennia, the dragon would stir once again...

The legends hold that those who triumphed over the dragon stabbed this sword into the giant tree that subdued the ancient dragon. As one of the seals, monsters and malevolent mortals would be unable to touch it. Indeed, if the legends are true, only those with hearts as pure as clear mirrors could even come near it. Yet, if those legends are true, how did this sword come to be lost?

Nantianmen, check. Sealed in a tree, check.

You can see, this is all connected to geovishaps in some way, and their lore ALSO talks about then returning after a long time. Two hatchlings spawn when talking to Jiu causes an earthquake, The Unforged talks about "that great vishap," the Primo Geovishap's boss area is right near Nantianmen...

Here is the Primo Geovishap description:

After many years, the awesomely powerful Ancient Geovishaps grow accustomed to changes in their elemental environment.

Folktales hold that after the great draconic calamity that led to the ruination of Tianqiu Valley, the overlord of the Geovishaps and Primo Geovishaps was imprisoned deep beneath the earth, and so too did they burrow into deep and unseen places, awaiting their chance to rise once more...

(Note again that the vague language here and in The Unforged makes it entirely possible that the "draconic calamity"/"the dragon" sealed in the tree and the "overlord of the vishaps" are two separate beings.)

But here we get to the next point: Tianqiu Valley. And with Tianqiu Valley, there is an important name: Azhdaha.

One of the associated wiki pages suggests that the dragon in Nantianmen might be the Chi. But I don't think that's likely, given how far away Qingce is and that we do find what is probably the Chi's heart in a cave near the village there. Far more likely is Azhdaha.

Now, Azhdaha is mentioned in two pieces of lore. One is a tablet in Tianqiu Valley, during the "Trails in Tianqiu" quest.

Ancient Tablet: "At Tianqiu Valley the adepti's ancient trail grows cold, I fall down and weep at the ruins I see. Though defeated is mighty Azhdaha of old, there's no restoring this past land of beauty."

(The trail "grows cold" in Tianqiu, so it might have started elsewhere, like Nantianment.)

Something in the valley is very much lingering, based on the notes of the treasure hoarders who tried to solve the puzzles first:

Scratched-Out Treasure Hoarder Notes: "I'm to the point where I'm trying to crack this puzzle in my dreams, or maybe nightmares is more accurate... I saw an old man squatting beside me with a wide grin, urging me to hurry up and solve the puzzle."

Scratched-Out Treasure Hoarder Notes: "Hmm, no... was it an old man or a young girl? ...Ugh, I can't remember."

Old Treasure Hoarder Notes: "And all of the guys who've been in start acting strange once they get out. They insist that the monsters followed them out, but I don't see any monsters."

There is more details about Azhdaha in regard to the "Nameless Treasure" items:

Linlang: I just had a look at this one. These markings are definitely those of Liyue, and you can see inscribed here an anecdote about Azhdaha.

Linlang: They say that Azhdaha was a dragon spawned by a convergence of the spirits of Geo in Liyue, and that even Rex Lapis could not easily subdue it.

Linlang: Rex Lapis thus summoned three adepti to his aid, and together they created a cavernous realm.

Linlang: Rex Lapis then battled the creature, luring it into the cavern, before ordering the adepti to seal the entrance, trapping Azhdaha within.

Linlang: The patterns on the thing you brought seem to describe the three adepti joining hands to create the cavern.

And when you get all three treasures:

Linlang: You... actually managed to put them together? Please, let me see... Indeed, these three patterns, when put together, do tell the story of Azhdaha.

Linlang: This crane must be the adeptus Mountain Shaper, and this deer might be Moon Carver. But this last one...

Linlang: Eh? It seems like this pattern has been... intentionally ground away by someone, to the point where I can't make it out. Who was this third adeptus?

Yes, who was the third adeptus??

Obviously, there is a discrepancy here, saying Azhdaha was sealed in a "cavernous realm," but it's all vague enough that the mechanics can be explained away with more detail. Also, I do feel like there might be two connected beings, once in the tree, one deep underground.