#cause most of the time The worlds timeline and events stay the same

[threeacttragedy]

Entry 14 – The One Where They Call It Chaotic but We Call it Predictable

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Yes, I am fully aware my entries have been sparse of late, and, no, I am not planning to stop my general Lukola ramblings any time soon. In fact, once I run out of material, I’ll probably dabble with fan fiction because, meh, why the hell not? Any ways, the reason for my slight absence is that I’ve had a special guest staying at my house – one by the name of “Dad.” Yes, that dapper gentleman has been roosting on my porch for the past few weeks (because that’s the only place I allow him to smoke), drinking an ungodly amount of Coca-Cola and holding my shih tzu like she’s a human baby. He did pry himself away long enough to be my date to see “Wicked” (he loved it, by the way). Oh, and he was obliged to my incessant babblings about Lukola. In fact, he even opened my mind to a few theories of his own and made me laugh hysterically at his reaction to the Jakolas.

It has always been my intention to delve into a certain section of our timeline – the part where Luke seemingly ran off into the Summertime Sunset with his friend group, which included Antonia. That period in time is the cavity of my Lukola table puzzle. The left side isn’t connecting to the right side because there’s this gaping hole in the center called Hot Boy Fucking Summer! Before June 12, things made sense to me. Even with the muck we find ourselves in now, just about everything after July 30 has made sense to me. So, of course, Hot Boy Summer was a topic of discussion with my dad. Actually, it was an “all afternoon” one.

I originally presented the Before, During, and After of Hot Boy Summer in chronological order to my dad only to get blasted with, “Stop doing that shit!” after I mentioned “Bless the Telephone.” His gripe was that – like the Claddagh ring – I had failed to disclose to him information that may alter his opinion about the event for which we were theorizing. Specifically, if I knew that the Claddagh ring preceded June 12 and I knew Nicola’s aptly named “Chaos Week” followed July 30, then disclosing those details to him before asking him to theorize about what happened in between those two dates (i.e., Hot Boy Summer) was necessary and even critical to his final opinion.

I don’t believe there is much explaining to do on the front-end of Hot Boy Summer – at least not to my well-versed Lukolas. We presumably all watched the same World Tour (including that trip over to Galway so Luke could meet Nicola’s mother) and I’ve already discussed the Claddagh ring in Entry 6 of my blog. That leaves us with the tail-end of Luke’s summertime jaunt, which steers us into Chaos Week. For those of you who thought I was going to discuss Hot Boy Summer in this entry, I’m sorry – this one is dedicated to that erratic period of Nicola blowing her war horn, beckoning all Lukolas within a worldwide radius of London to commence at her feet. And, commence we did!

Have you ever heard of “chaos theory?” Broadly speaking, it’s the idea that small changes can result in major changes over time – like cause and effect. That’s kind of how I’ve looked back at Chaos Week. We’d spent most of the summer on one bummer of a vacation, with Luke and Nicola (presumably) spending time apart from one another. Sure, we’d had few fireworks explode here and there with pap pictures, and we saw JVN enter the ring as the fan favorite best friend but, on the surface, Hot Boy Summer was, well, rather static. It had carried on with a monotonous “blip…blip…blip…” until suddenly our radar detected a quiet but distinct “blip-blip,” which didn’t register in any of our minds until we had a torpedo coming straight for us!

I don’t believe we can attribute Chaos Week solely to Nicola. Yes, yes, I know, Nicola’s online presence in early to mid-August was chaotic, hence the name “Chaos Week.” But, I do not believe Nicola started Chaos Week. She sure as shit drove it home but, in my opinion, it wasn’t her actions that set everything in motion. Nicola wasn’t the “blip-blip;” she was the torpedo.

So, what was the “blip-blip?”

Luke returning to London – alone – on August 2, of course.

The friend group, which had included Antonia, was nowhere in sight.

Hot Boy Summer had come to an end (I imagine this to be the reason Nicola started blowing her war horn).

In my opinion, Luke’s return set everything else into motion. He was that second pendulum that caused the first one to spiral out of control.

But, we ate that shit up, didn’t we? Yeah, we sure did, and we loved every day of Chaos Week. What’s funny to me is that everyone remembers bits and pieces of Chaos Week, but they never seem to get it in the right order (how chaotic, right?). This happened, then that happened. No, no, that happened first. No, this happened first. The only way to really look at Chaos Week is to give order to the disorder. And, we’re going to do that via a very generic captain’s log, so…

Welcome aboard!

Mission: Chaos Week

Origin: Somewhere in Mayfair.

Destination: Happily Ever After.

Time of Departure: Fuck, I don’t know. When did you board this ship?

Expected Time of Arrival: Hopefully before we all wither up and die.

Log Entries:

August 2. Luke returned to London alone. Yeah, yeah, I know, I already told you that, but I had to add this:

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August 4. Nicola decided to wake us all up from our somber summer with a plate of French toast. Umm, okay, that’s fucking random. I’m going back to bed – but wait, didn’t Luke say brunch was his “fav meal of the day?” Yeah, I swear I have that polaroid around here somewhere.

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August 7. Luke – after being absent on social media for what seemed like a lifetime – suddenly popped into his Instagram stories to post some delightfully cute Bridgerton Bloopers. The entire fandom rejoiced at Luke’s return to social media! And, let’s be honest, we only cared about the bloopers with Luke and Nicola. Hmm, Luke always has this intriguing, yet subtle way of surprising us. Did you hear that?

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August 7. Shortly after Luke posted his Bridgerton Bloopers, Nicola swooped in and dropped a very loud Wordle anvil on her Instagram stories. <clang!> Was she clocking people for making fake social media accounts using her name? Did she really solve the Wordle in two? Actually, most of us ignored that part of the post entirely and went straight to Mr. Google to ask, “What does ‘anvil’ mean? Okay, how about in the Urban Dictionary?” You know you did, too! In all seriousness, though, when this first dropped, I considered whether she was directing the “anvil” at Luke. After all, let’s face it, Nicola was the one who promoted Bridgerton post-Papsmear while Luke disappeared from the limelight. It’s only natural that she might be a bit peeved at him suddenly promoting Bridgerton. However, in hindsight, I believe this to be nothing more than Nicola calling out the person making fake social media accounts under her name. During this time, there seemed to be an influx of fake social media accounts using Nicola and Luke’s names (Luke would address this same topic on his Instagram stories on August 24). And, as fun as it would be to theorize that the “anvil” was directed at someone (other than Luke, of course), it was, in fact, the Wordle for August 6. That said, I do believe that “Wordle” has become synonymous with “Luke” at this point. So, I’ll give you that.

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August 8. JVN reposted their “[w]hen you catch someone trying to sneak a pic but you were born for these moments” to his Instagram grid. Did you think JVN wasn’t going to be included in Chaos Week?! They produced some of their best shit during this time! Any ways, Nicola liked this grid post, which confirmed my belief that Antonia played some part in the Italy pap pictures (for a full explanation on this, read “Entry 11 – The One About the Heart of the Ocean”). Thanks for the recap, JVN, although most Lukolas probably didn’t need to a reminder as to why they disliked Antonia.

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August 9. Nicola posted the Scrabble board to her Instagram stories. Whoa, hold up, Jakolas! Yeah, we know Jake played Scrabble with Nicola and – guess what – we Lukolas don’t care. I mean, I’ll even throw the Jakolas a small scrap of meat and say that Jake could (emphasis on could) have helpedNicola with the Scrabble board. Why am I being so charitable? Because that just makes me more confident Jake has always supported Lukola. You will not convince me (or probably any Lukola) that this Scrabble board was directed at anyone else but Antonia. In my opinion, there are only two things in this picture that matter – the central word “HEYA,” or “HEY A,” and the Guinness coaster. In fact, if I had been playing on the opposite side of this Scrabble board, I would have challenged this word. That alone says exactly what it needs to say. This is not to dissuade you from theorizing on every other word on that board, though. I’m simply saying I do not need any other evidence to persuade myself into believing the board was directed at Antonia. Now, if you want to take the two corner words and speculate that Nicola was having “SEX” with “DAD,” go right ahead – I won’t argue with you.

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August 10. Nicola posted to her Instagram grid the now-deleted birthday greeting to her friend, Camilla. The caption read, “…Remember the time paparazzi took a picture of us and to protect me you grabbed my face?” If that’s not an indirect jab at Luke’s friend group, I’m not sure what it is because it sure as hell doesn’t scream, “Happy Birthday,” to me.

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August 11. Nicola decided to get out her blow torch and light every beacon fire she could find starting in Bowral and ending in London by posting the “Drink Your Milk” shirt to her Instagram stories. You could practically hear her rallying every last Lukola still standing: “Rise, Lukolas, rise!” In fact, I think some even rose from the dead that day! What was the crisis? Well, only that the “Drink Your Milk” shirt was exactly like the one Luke was seen wearing on or about June 22. Now, now, this was a charity promoted by Jonathan Bailey so it’s entirely possible Nicola was gifted her own shirt. But, guess what? The Lukolas didn’t give a shit! They deep dived into reflections on sunglasses and creases in t-shirt sleeves! And, no, I’m not speculating on that hot mess (if you’re interested in learning more, I promise you there’s plenty of TikToks for that). In truth, it never mattered to me whether the shirt belonged to Luke or not. What mattered was the perception that it was Luke’s shirt. It blew up the Internet and I would stand by my belief that, if the fandom’s perception of something was detrimentally incorrect, Nicola (or Luke) would have corrected it. Nicola did not correct this. And, no, Jakolas, don’t even talk to me about that scrap of green blanket in that picture. I don’t care if Jake played Scrabble with (presumably) Nicola at some point over the summer while sitting outside on a goddamn green blanket. The “Drink Your Milk” post was not a secret coded message to Jake. I would stand on a hill and argue that all afternoon. Why? Because – again – Nicola did not correct the “Luke’s shirt” narrative. She let the fandom run with it. In fact, we all got our own blow torches that day. Mine’s turquoise and engraved with my initials.

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August 12. JVN posted a “Special announcement” to their Instagram grid. Right about now, you might be, like, “What the fuck does this have to do with Chaos Week?” I told you, JVN has this way of slipping shit into to their posts that make you do a double take – usually a day later while you’re daydreaming during your drive to the office. This was one of those posts. The announcement was: “I’ve been waiting for this announcement until after the Paris Olympics had finished, as to not take away from the incredible success of USA Gymnastics…@teamusa has been following my journey and growth as a gymnast and showed up at my house to personally invite me to train to be a potential member of their 2028 team. While I hate taking a slot away from 2028 potentials like @simonebiles & @stephen_nedoroscik (as it appears quite obvious I’ll make whichever team I attempt to)…” What made this post stick out is that it is, in fact, bullshit. As in, it is a completely made-up story. Team USA did not visit JVN at their house; they’re not joining the USA gymnastics team. It’s not even that funny, to be honest. So, what was the point of it? It’s confusing as fuck when you read it at face value; however, when you drop it into the Lukola timeline, I’m convinced it alludes to something bigger. On August 11, we had Nicola posting the “Drink Your Milk” shirt – which sent the fandom into believing Nicola was wearing Luke’s shirt and that Luke’s reflection was in her sunglasses. On August 13, the day after this post, a torpedo was launched at us (warning, warning, anyone got a phone I can use?). When you look at this post as the middle piece connecting Nicola’s August 11 and August 13 posts, I believe it tells a story. Let me rewrite it for you but imagine it now coming from Nicola’s perspective: “I’ve been waiting for this announcement until after the Paris Olympics Hot Boy Summer had finished, as to not take away from the incredible success of USA Gymnastics Luke’s friend group, which included Antonia…Luke @teamusa has been following my journey and growth as a gymnast and showed up at my house to personally invite me to train to be a potential member of their 2028 team [choose your own adventure on this one]. While I hate taking a slot away from 2028 potentials like @simonebiles Antonia & @stephen_nedoroscik Rory (as it appears quite obvious I’ll make whichever team [“girlfriend” or best friend] I attempt to)…” Huh, at the very least, this post is starting to get the side-eye from you, isn’t it?

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August 13. Oh, my God! My hair is on fucking fire!!! Nicola dumped “Bless the [Goddamn] Telephone” on her Instagram stories. Whose voice is nice to hear again? What is she trying to say?! Maybe nothing. No, it’s something. “It’s nice, the way you say my name; not very fast or slow, just soft and low; the same as when you tell me how you feel; I feel the same way, too; I’m very much in love with you. I’m very much in love with you.” I don’t need to elaborate any further on this post. It speaks for itself. Chaos Week had officially launched its massive torpedo (full of firecrackers and pinata candy) and the entire Lukola fandom was hysterical – in the best way possible. However, I will interrupt this happy moment with – Jakolas, please don’t start trying to link this song to Jake because Jack Rooke used it in an episode of “Big Boys.” Yes, we are aware Jake played a minor role in that show as a love interest to the main character, Jack. Again, Nicola did not shut down the fandom’s perception that the song was for Luke. Sorry, not sorry, Jakolas. If any part of Chaos Week was for Jake, I believe Nicola would have shut the entire thing down after realizing the fandom was associating everything with Luke.

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August 15. After giving the fandom 48 hours to process “Bless the Telephone,” Nicola posted to her Instagram grid, “Very demure, very mindful.” In my opinion, Nicola was acknowledging that her recent posts (ahem, “Bless the Telephone”) were intentional, and she was aware of how they were being taken by the fandom (ahem, that they were for Luke).

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August 15. JVN posted to their TikTok account “Slick Back Bun.” Hands down a fan favorite moment with JVN. “Sometimes I just need a very demure slick back bun…I don’t do my slick back bun like all the other girls. Here I’ll show you how to do it…I’m just going to take the hair and twist it around itself, so I just have a little cinnamon roll bun…” Do I need to elaborate on this one? Seriously, do I? Slick back bun – Antonia – yeah, okay, got it, we’re still going knives out on Antonia. If you haven’t watched this, it is still on JVN’s TikTok and Instagram grid. It was clever how “demure” JVN and Nicola were being that day.

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August 16. Nicola posted another song to her Instagram stories. This time it was Clairo’s “Juna.” It was not just a sweet, romantic song; it was full on sexy. “You make me wanna try on feminine; you make me wanna go buy a new dress; you make me wanna slip off a new dress…With you, there’s no pretending.” Alright, alright, enough! Wait – no, no – come back! I didn’t mean it! Please, please bring back your music to Instagram, Nicola!

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At this point, in my opinion, Chaos Week ended; however, I’m going to reference one more log entry mainly because, if I don’t, it will get overlooked in the small gap between Chaos Week and when the Jakolas enter the picture on August 25 (see “Entry 8 – The One About the Adjacent of Convenience” for that side show).

August 22. Nicola posted the picture of Luke and herself from Bridgerton Season 3 to her Instagram grid. And, no, I do not consider this to be a “Polin” picture. The picture appeared to be an alternative version of the polaroid Nicola carried with her throughout the World Tour. She captioned the post, “I thought I’d already shared this but I hadn’t so here you go now it’s all yours.” She also shared this in her stories and captioned that “with the lovliest pal a gal could have” and tagged Luke’s crotch. The story would disappear after 24 hours, but the post itself is still on Nicola’s Instagram grid. This post can be taken in several ways, depending on your mood. Was she friendzoning Luke because she used the word “pal” in her Instagram story? No, I don’t think she was. The “lov[e]liest pal?” That’s about as confusing as their “unique relationship.” Was she telling the fandom to support Luke because she supported Luke (i.e., stop hating on him)? Yeah, probably. Was she telling the fandom that she thought she’d already made it very clear that everything she had been posting was about Luke? Yes, I believe this to be the most reasonable answer, especially when you consider her previous posts. The reality is, that man fills a hefty chunk of her Instagram grid – and not dressed like Colin Bridgerton. But, I also believe that this post may have been a preemptive strike against the narrative that would surface three days later on August 25. It’s entirely possible Nicola knew that the pap pictures of Jake at the festival would be released by DeuxMoi (after all, it took DeuxMois over a week to release them), and Nicola was reminding fans that her narrative involved Luke. Note, that Nicola would repeat this in October when she and Luke simultaneously posted their “Polin” picture to their Instagram stories, which was followed a few days later by DeuxMoi dropping pap pictures of Nicola and Jake.

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Oh, a few honorable mentions post-August 22: (a) Nicola posted a picture from her Stylist Magazine photoshoot – the one from the back seat of a car (i.e., the “modern day carriage”) on August 23; (b) Luke posted about how he only had an Instagram account on August 24; and (c) JVN posted his “two finger” hair straightening demo on TikTok on August 25 (yes, I only listed these honorable mentions to get to JVN’s “two finger” demo because that was some laugh-out-loud funny shit – and it’s literally on the heels of Nicola’s “modern day carriage”).

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August 25. What in the hot fucking kittens is that? Well, thank God, it’s not an iceberg this time. Whoa, they didn’t just pull that Non-Player Character from that group of guys and name a ship after him, did they? Hahaha, dumbasses. Oh, shit! It’s coming straight for us!

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End Log.

Well, how was Chaos Week? Did you have a good time? I’m honestly friggin’ exhausted. Seriously, even just writing all that down was exhausting. Like, my brain is fried. Oh, yeah, feel free to ignore that part at the end of our log. That shit happens every time the Lukolas are given a bit of fun. You’ll get used to it.

I took you on this excursion through Chaos Week today because I believe it is important to develop an opinion about what happened before and after Hot Boy Summer, especially if we’re going to theorize on it at a later point. And, as I mentioned earlier, the before played out in front of our eyes and the after, well, if we have the information available, why not peek in its direction? It’s almost like reading a book from back to front.

There are three things that happened during Chaos Week that have kept my feet firmly planted on the USS Lukola. One, Nicola wearing the “Drink Your Milk” shirt, alluding to the still uncorrected perception that it was Luke’s shirt. Two, “Bless the Telephone.” We started Hot Boy Summer with The Frames singing, “I’m gonna wait for you…” and ended it with Labi Siffre answering, “It’s nice to hear your voice again…” And, three, Nicola posting “Very demure, very mindful,” confirming – in my opinion – that she was very conscious of what her posts were telling the fandom – i.e., that they were for Luke.

But, as I was sitting here typing out my thoughts about Chaos Week, I found myself – oh, no, word vomit! – annoyed.

Yes, annoyed.

It’s not Chaos Week itself that has left me feeling annoyed. That was one hell of a “Bridgerton Ride.” It’s that Chaos Week set in motion this predictable pattern which solidified my opinion that “Lukolas can’t have nice things.” Seriously, we can’t have nice things because something always comes in and fucks it up.

You know how I mentioned at the beginning of this post that Luke’s return to London was the “blip-blip” that led to Chaos Week? Luke was the “cause” and Chaos Week was the “effect.” Well, Chaos Week was the “blip-blip” that led to the current state of the fandom. We now have three ships – the Lukola, the Jakola, and the Lutonia – sailing the Fandom Sea, and every time the Lukola finds itself flying high, it gets hijacked by one or both of those motherfucking side ships.

Every.

Single.

Time.

Somewhere in this hot mess, the chaos that originated from Nicola’s August social media spree found order! In fact, we’ve fallen into such a predictable pattern of events that the ebb and flow of the sideshow antics barely “blip” our radar these days. When bullshit starts bullshitting, I just breathe a deep sigh of unadulterated annoyance and think, “I’m so over this shit.” Honestly, I’m getting the vibe that many of us are over this shit. We’re not playing Scrabble anymore. We’re playing that never-ending game of Risk.

Sometimes I wonder if the fandom would have been better off if Chaos Week had never happened. That Pandora’s Box had never been opened and that the fandom had simply allowed the USS Lukola to sail off into the sunset. But, then I think about the people I have met along the way. The Ones that have made me laugh until my stomach hurts. The Ones with whom I’ve gone so far down a rabbit hole we’ve come out on the other side as different people. The Ones that I’ve rescued from the riptide. And, the Ones that have stopped me from rowing my dinghy to shore (because, yes, I’ve had rough days, too). You all know who you are.

So, I find myself putting up with the day-to-day humdrum of the Life of a Lukola, chatting with the people I now consider my friends, and waiting.

Waiting for something different to happen. A disruption to the current cycle. A new kind of chaos – preferably, the kind that mortally wounds the Jakola and Lutonia love triangles and finally allows the Lukolas to have (and keep) nice things.

But, in the meantime, I am still sitting here – listening for that quiet but distinct sound – but also contemplating knocking the Risk board off the table.

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[meraki-sunset]

i have a question about hiveswap as im just getting into it, considering that the events of hiveswap and hauntswitch both take place in the late 1900s, whats the point exactly?

we already know whats going to happen and that all of the characters are doomed fail on their goals and then die no matter the outcome. the caste system is never abolished, HIC stays in power, both earth and Alterna get destroyed, and doc scratch continues his plan without a hitch

none of it seems to really matter or serve any purpose other than worldbuilding for 2 already doomed worlds (3 if you count the cherub portal implying a lost society of cherubs)

Well, it is. It is worldbuilding, that’s what precuels are. They add extra context to events you already know will happen, they add to how they happened, how we got there. That doesn’t make them pointless.

It may seem irrelevant at first glance, but Hiveswap actually has a very important role.

It sets the stage for the arrival of the players on both Alternia and Earth-A

The events of Hiveswap are happening with an equivalent distance in years between both Alternia and earth

Which means the Beta children are about to arrive in their meteors (1995 - 1996) a little after the time when Joey and Jude are having this adventure (1994), which means the Alpha trolls will get to Alternia soon too.

Both timelines are mirrored in time, they both have the same exact amount of time before the end.

We know the Beta kids hadn’t arrived yet to earth during Hiveswap because it’s 1994, and that the Alpha trolls hadn’t arrived either because Trizza is the heiress, and there can only be one at a time, so Feferi isn't there yet.

This series of events are necessary for Doc scratch’s plan, otherwise he wouldn’t have intervened, giving Xefros a surveillance free communication channel, so Joey and him aren’t detected by the authorities.

He needs them under the radar so they can (while trying to send Joey back home) connect people with each other, cause necessary problems, kick start important events.

All which will set the stage for the 12 troll player’s arrival.

What do I think it’s the most important event Doc Scratch needs Joey and Xefros to make happen?

Trizza has to die. There can only be one heiress at a time, and if Feferi is about to arrive, then Trizza has to go.

The events of Hiveswap/HauntSwitch will cause the death of the heiress, either fighting against the Condesce, at the hands of the revolted trolls Joey and Xefros will influence, crushed to death by Feferi’s own meteor, who knows. But if this is the "equivalent to 1994 on Alternia" and all that is happening it’s really happening as a mirrored version of Earth’s timeline, then the 12 trolls should be to arriving at different dates during the following year. Which means she doesn’t have much time left, as we know Feferi was the only heiress on Alternia during Homestuck. And we’re 13 years away from the end of the world. It needs to happen now.

It's the same tactic Doc used with Rose, Vriska and Terezi

The only reason he ever “helps” anybody it's because he needs them to make things happen.

He needs Joey and Xefros alive, he needs the rebellion to go through (even if it fails, it'll fail in a way that it's usefull for him), he needs Trizza gone so Feferi can come to Alternia and so the final stage of this plan of millions of years connecting dots and manipulating people to create a hostile planet for the new players to grow stronger that their predecessors, can begin. The rise of the new players.

I personaly think Tyzias might be the one to intercept Karkat or at least be involved in it.

It could be her, Joey or maybe someone else, but whoever intercepts him will have to know about the signless and according to Tyzias’s password (69) she already knows about him and she knows his symbol, and seems to be a follower in the down low. Tyzias also must knows how the singless promised that there would be another troll like him, and according to Doc scratch's explanation:

The followers of the summoner decreased enormously, but the Doc said himself that there were still some of them hidden and I think he was talking about Tyzias and her alies.

Sometimes we forget that there was intervention from the suferer's followers to ensure Karkat's survival

That’s why he has the sufferer’s symbol, someone who knew it gave it to him. And we know Tyzias knows.

The ectobiologist and team leader also seems to always be the last one to turn 13, (as well as the last to wake up as their dream self) so Karkat should be the last one to arrive, ending that chain of events.

Of course this all means that, by the time the end of the world happens, and asuming they’re all still alive, all Hiveswap trolls would be adults carrying duties off planet and would die the day of the apocalypse during the Vast Glub along with all troll Civilization.

The same would happen to Joey and Jude, assuming Joey is successful and returns to Earth. They would die on the 13th of April 2009 with the rest of humanity, not knowing they had a part in it or that their lost brother was the detonator of the end of the world.

It’s tragic in the end, but it’s necessary. Someone has to play that role.

They are the stagehands who prepared the stage for the first act of the play they were never meant to see.

And who knows, it may not be the end of them, maybe we’re too quick to assume they didn’t get saved somehow. By some random paradoxical event or deus ex machine that teleported them away from danger. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

It's been a while since i wrote an analysis, i really missed that ^u^

[visionsofmagic]

past lover, new era [liu kang • headcanon]

―✹ you're liu kang's past lover.

[mk1!liu kang, fluff, a bit spicy, past lover!reader, gn!reader, new era!reader, short (headcanon) + requested by anon! thank you for the request. ^^ have fun, hope you like it! “Do you write for Liu Kang MK1 version? I’d love to read any kind of headcanon about him that you’d offer if you do!!”

�� being a past lover of liu kang comes with benefits and yet prices. there are many moments of love, affection, and passion you share with him but also, the dangerous side of it cannot be ignored; being the god of fire takes lots of attention after all. however, this never stops liu kang from protecting you at any cost without making you notice completely.

❦ since you don't know about being his past lover until he tells the story you had in the era he came from, you just find his focus and special attention on you a bit odd yet exciting at the same time because even after learning the truth, you can swear you will fall for this man in every universe and he will do the same; you're the most special person to him - his one and only.

❦ he will definitely train with you, giving you tips, abilities, and strength you can't imagine another one providing because he's so delicate with you; not hurting and not being so weak around you while training. he knows you're damn well strong - he remembers the times you kicked his ass countless times from where he came.

❦ he will try hard not to show he knows you from his past life but he simply can't control his desires when it comes to you, not when you sit right there and look at his frame with sparkling eyes. he remembers the promises you made - well, the one in his timeline but he bets you're all the same in every timeline - perfect from head to toe, inside to outside, in every aspect he can think.

he has thoughts of holding your hands, saying all the sweet things he couldn't say before, telling all about the truth, and not wanting to lose you once again. however, he can't, no, it's for you, and the timeline's good - for a moment at least until the events go crazy, out of his control.

❦ before telling you the timeline thing, how he is the one who created this era, he will make sure not to appear as a freak whenever he looks at you - watches you in other words 'cause he never is the man who can hold himself from looking at the person he wants to bend the whole timeline into their feet if they want to.

so, it's a bit weird at first times but you two start to get along, you stay beside him more than you do with others, helping him in every way you're able to, joking around him, acting as if he's not a god but only a mere human - like the one he was once, your best friend, and maybe even more.

❦ he will lecture you non-stop, can't help, he has to be sure you're safe and sound and he will always allow you to put your hands on his shoulders, smiling at him and saying everything is okay - is it? - he will think, then, he will forget about it all when he feels your lips on his cheek, a kind of warmness he feels only from you.

being his past lover comes with perks; touching him, kissing him, looking at him anytime you want to. he will try to hide the heat that rushes to his whole body, not the fire he has already, no, something different, something that burns him alive in a way that he wants it happening at a non-stop pace.

you will know your own effects on him, surprisingly, he's weaker and stronger at the same time - beside you.

❦ he will tell you about you to geras. he leaves some facts to only himself tho; how he can't control himself, how he wants to kiss you, hug you, tell to you that you can have him on his knees by simply saying it - how unfortunate he has duties.

he would choose you over the world, he believes, so maybe that's why raiden warned him to be careful while creating a new timeline - he doesn't care after a certain point: you kissing him.

❦ he will freeze for a moment, not comprehending what's happening but then, it will hit him; like a firework explodes in the night sky, all the memories will blow up inside his mind, flowing into his soul and heart.

he will not be able to move an inch but when you break the kiss, he will look into your eyes, seeing his own reflection in them mixed with sparkles and a bit of worry, he will not hold back anymore. he will take you by the waist, the other free hand finding your cheek, he will pull you to his arms, kissing your lips with such passion that you will lose your balance only to find it within him and his warm lips on you, "liu -"

❦ the kiss is the first one for you. for him, it will feel like a memory and yet a new adventure. it's the same - and different. he melts - you make him feel loved again without even knowing it. what a person you are, having him inside your arms long before knowing it.

❦ coming to his senses, he will stop his actions, leaving you dumbfounded for a moment before explaining everything, every detail to you because he can't do this to you - what was he thinking anyway? putting you in the new era's timeline and planning you will not fall for him? or worse, him falling in love with you all over again? how could you feel so same yet different, he can't tell.

❦ he expects you to hit him, reject him, or even leave him and all this behind. contrary to what he thinks, you nod, taking time to comprehend it entirely, and when you're ready to speak with him again, you give him a soft smile and say, "I fall for you every damn time then, huh?"

❦ he will smile too, 'cause you're still his one and only, a bit distinct yes, he doesn't mind - how he can? he doesn't want to waste another time to go nothing without you, all suffer, no, he chooses to be beside you this time and you beside him. what's the worst that could happen when he has you?

❦ after knowing you're aware of the condition you two are in, he will become more daring whenever you two have alone time, away from others and the whole world around you. he will look at you openly, not afraid to show his emotions, the love he has for you. he won't take his eyes from your frame the moment you enter his sight.

❦ he will put kisses on every part of your body that he wishes. will listen to cute little voices you make thanks to him, coming to his ears as the most beautiful melody he has ever heard. will allow you to kiss him back, out of nowhere, or just out of curiosity about how he will react to you. you have a special part in his life, you can do whatever you want to do with him.

❦ he will hug you so many times that you will leave tracking it down; from back when you can't hear him approaching and being surprised - ready to attack but calming down and smiling when you see his glowing eyes up close to your heated face, from front to let your hands find his wide shoulders - he loves to see your pretty face, from the waist when he sits and you stay between his inner thighs.

he will let you hug him in return, finding both peace and passion inside your embrace.

❦ he will go intimate when you want him to, he is a gentleman. will allow you to sit on his lap the moment you need to, hugging you from the back, he will lower your face down so that he can kiss your lips, lose himself in the taste of you. will, surely, touch delicate parts of your body, earning soft, low, and sometimes high moans from your pretty lips. will chuckle when he finds you entertaining, almost too weak around him.

"pretty," he will call you - oh, he will call you with lots of pet names; my love, my one and only, darlin', sweetheart, honey... gentle with you, as always. "you have no idea how pretty you look right now. I can spend my entire life only to look at this face of yours."

[breached-containment-script]

Some arguments KA shippers make are valid and true. But that they don't necessarily do anything nearly enough to be valid anti-zutara arguments!

Stuff like, that quick burns probably wouldn't scar (Katara's hands) or that if she had gotten scarred, that Toph's feet should have gotten scarred too. This is valid.

That it's true that when Aang's negative aspects get developed to their final extreme forms in theories and fanfiction, it can feel weird and offputting to people who naturally gravitate towards staying approximately around canon vibes; that some descriptions of behaviour sound too strong to some people which results in pushing them away from zutara as a negative reaction to associated criticisms of Aang. But that also personal headcanon developments (even those with strong foundation in canon) are individual preferences and people are able to choose which headcanons to like, without using disliked ones to paint an entire show interpretation negative.

It'a true that most of Aang's bad behaviour in the show can be attributed to him being just a kid and not being self-aware enough yet. He's not intentionally malicious in most cases. His negative reaction towards Water Tribe culture and food is a depiction of a kid not knowing how to respect something that makes him uncomfortable, even if this kinda clashes with him having already had friends from all over the world. Unfortunatey, canon progression doesn't depict him learning as many lessons as he should nor does it show him outgrowing negative traits even though it should have. THIS is the source of headcanons which appreciate intentionally exploring main character developing in a negative light. His negative traits constantly repeat and have a common stay in his canon character. This is a fact, especially with his claim that he'd be in the Avatar state had it not been blocked, out of frustration that actors on a stage implied Katara doesn't feel the same way about him. This is a very bad thing, we've seen both him and others being afraid of it, it causing massive destruction and Katara having the burden of calming him down. How would she theoretically calm him down in the case he did enter the Avatar state because of this reason? Assuming she didn't have romantic feelings for him (which should always exist as a valid option for any character, to test if they have a healthy interaction) - she could pray he'd accept it and calm down on his own, or be under extreme pressure to lie that she likes him back. Even if she did like him back, having to admit under the threat of a destructive force being unleashed, IS NOT GOOD. Especially as the characters never addressed this later.

Yes, Zuko did a lot of bad things but not only are they overblown by KA-fans and Zuko-antis, they constantly purposefully ignore that he got punished repeatedly, suffered in canon for his actions and kept doing very risky and selfless things to make up for his past, they also forget that time flows FORWARD and that WHEN events happened on a timeline MATTERS. It's not an argument that Zuko burned Suki's village in book 1 when he helped rescue her and others by risking his life in book 3 and she forgave him. One thing is collateral damage in a cartoon filled with cartoon violence, and another when for example Long Feng kills Jet. Viewers should be able to discern the tone difference, because shows (or any creative work) especially with multiple writers, aren't homogenous, and aren't tonally or message-wise completely unified. Don't start your deduction argument from the idea that a show is fully consistent and is absolutely sending a singular message, start an inductive analysis from ideas about what a show's context is, what its goals are, what the tone feels like in each section, did it accomplish what it was aiming for, etc. Likewise Zuko could have been written even better in some areas and with more context!

However him hunting down heroes, knocking out Katara etc. isn't a gotcha argument some people think it is, because Katara knocked him out as well, twice even so badly he didn't wake up for quite some time; and he was struck, rejected, ignored, mocked and criticised by both Iroh, the gaang and Katara especially after he sided with Azula under Ba Sing Se, but then they forgave him as he actively worked to atone, and Katara herself forgave him for what he did. She then risked her life to save him back. The writing is very logical and consistent in this.

[deansapplepie]

Till THE DEAD do us part | Chapter 5

A/N: This story will take place in all the seasons, but it’s not exactly a rewriting cause I’d have to re-watch everything to use the exactly lines of the characters, also I think it’s better if I tell a side story without changing the main facts of the story.

This story has a Female Reader, but I don’t describe her appearance, so anyone can identify with her.

Chapter 4 Chapter 6

Chapter 5: We’re all gonna die

Summary: The group needs to leave the CDC in a hurry, they find a place to stay the night and head to Fort Benning in the other day. But if Y/N knew something is that if it was bad, it could become worse.

Warnings: swearing, little angsty, fluffy, nightmares, violence, mentions of death, mentions of a possible rapist (coughshanecough), a child get lost, blood (?), pinkies. Minors do not interact.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Grimes!Reader (Rick’s Sister)

Word Count: 4,016

Extra notes: I proofread the text, but English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistakes, of course with love. I’m consulting a timeline of everything that happened, but it can happen that I put events out of order, but I don’t think it’ll make much difference in the story. ALSO, I’m praying my Daryl isn’t too out of character.

You woke up with Luna scratching the door, probably someone was already up and she wanted to leave, see the person and play around. You got up and told her to wait. You went to the bathroom, brushed your teeth, washed your face and brushed your hair… it was kind of still humid when you went to sleep, so at the moment you could just say it was a mess. You changed your sleeping clothes into your ‘daily life I need to run if shit happens’ clothes and finally opened the door so Luna could leave. She went straight to Glenn and T.Dog that were talking in the corridor, Gleen looked awful.

“Good morning boys!” You said while approaching them.

“I’m never. NEVER. Drinking again.” Glenn stated, face contorted and hand on his stomach.

“That’s what we all say. You’ll drink again eventually and be hangover too. But with the time you get better at it.” T.Dog tried encouraging.

“I’m serious, I’m not putting alcohol in my mouth again.”

“Poor baby, I feel sorry for you. But well, world is ending and now you can at least say that you already got drunk and hangover once.” You hugged him sideways. At the same time it was bad to see the younger man in this situation, it was also a little bit funny to see him having this experience.

You let both of them go to the kitchen to have breakfast, you wanted to have breakfast too, but before you wanted to say hello to your family and seek some hugs. You liked hugs, specially in the morning. When you were little you would hug all your family in the morning, or at least the ones you had close so you could hug. At Uni, it would be your friends or your boyfriend that at the time thought you were too clingy, and when you received Luna as a gift, and were living alone, she would be the ‘person’ you would be hugging every morning. You also liked hugs during the day, but in this world you didn’t have time for this, and also you knew that most of people didn’t like to be hugged all the time.

When you was on your way to your family’s room, you encountered Lori. She looked terrible, and she didn’t drink that much. She saw you and tried to put a smile in her face. You just went to her and gave her a hug, this hug would be because of your necessity to hug people, but in the moment you knew she was the one that needed that hug.

“What happened? No offense, but you look like shit and I know you didn’t drink that much.” You asked leaving the embrace but still close and caressing her shoulders. “Did Rick and you have a fight? Do you want me to kick his ass?”

“He… he didn’t do anything. We’re fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry.” But you couldn’t not worry when your sister in law looked like she had been crying all night long. Would it be possible that Shane didn’t listen to your advice? You knew Lori was trying to distance from him, even if in the wrong way and even if the best thing to do in the moment was for both of them to sit and have a talk with Rick. But you knew she was trying.

“Of course I worry. We’re sisters. If it was Shane…” Before you said what you wanted to say Carl left the room and you had to stop talking. “Good morning little man!” You said and soon embraced him.

“Good morning Aunt Y/N, did you sleep well?” He asked after your embrace.

“Yeah, and you?”

“Me too, It was so good to sleep on a good place after so long.” Even the kids knew how to appreciate the comfort you all lose.

Rick apparently was knocked out, you didn’t blame him… he was the one that drank the most. Lori was going to wake him up, so you decided to go have your breakfast, siblings morning hug could wait. You took Carl with you, followed by Luna that would smell everything along the way. When you were close to the kitchen she ran lefting both of you behind.

“I think Luna can already smell the breakfast.” Carl commented, you laughed that was pobrably true.

When you arrived to the kitchen you discovered the true reason that she ran. Him. Daryl Dixon. And probably he was the reason why she started to scratch the door to go out making you wake up. ‘Are you in love with him Luna?’ You thought, because seamed that even your dog had a crush on the man. Talking about him, you hoped it would not be weird between you two today, because you would hate yourself for it. But he made a pinky promise, right? And he was not happy about making it, so he’s probably going to comply with it.

“Morning everyone!” You said once you were in the kitchen. Glenn had his face on the table hid by his arms and mumbled something incomprehensible, Sophia answered back, as did Carol.

“Mornin’” Daryl replied from where he was being overwhelmed by Luna’s love.

“I think that’s it, I’m gonna give her to you. It’s clear now that she likes you better.” You declared, he just mumbled something face getting tinted in red at your sight remembering the last night.

“You can’t give the gifts you receive to others, Y/N/N.” Shane complained playfully entering the room. Luna was a gift from him and Rick, like many other things you had. He came to you and hugged you, giving a kiss on the top of your head. “Good morning.”

“Morning…” you replied appreciating the hug. Now that you were on good therms again both of you felt comfortable about it. “But look at her Shane, she obviously doesn’t like me anymore.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” He said pulling away from the hug. You looked at him and saw a bruise on his face and neck, like someone scratched him pretty bad. ‘Shane… what kind of stupid shit did you do?’, you thought to yourself.

“What is this?” You asked pointing at him.

“Er… I think I scratched myself while sleeping, I woke up and was like this.” He gave the excuse, you didn’t believe, but you would not make a scene right now.

You sat on the table and ate your breakfast in silence, thinking about everything and trying to put the pieces together and you were not liking the path your thoughts were going, because the pieces you put together told you Shane was a rapist and you could not conceive the fact that maybe he tried to force Lori to something. You got chills at the thought, but was soon distracted when your brother entered the room.

“You look like shit.” You blurted your thoughts without thinking much.

“Good morning for you too, wanna know something? It feels like shit too.” He came to you and you hugged his waist not worrying about getting up from your chair.

During the breakfast Dale questioned Jenner about the things you needed to know, he was not wrong you really were there for answers. Jenner took you to the control room and asked the virtual assistant to play for you one of their experiments and you could see a person dying and reanimating afterwards. At the same time it was shocking, it was very impressive to see the human brain functioning.

In a short time you also discovered that your time in the CDC was getting short, you were going to get short on air, electricity and the whole building would go on flames. Like, how could he let this out and tell nobody the day before? You ran to take all your things from the rooms and get out of there as fast as possible, but the doors were closed and chaos was everywhere, some tried to break the doors, others tried to convince Jenner to open the goddamn door. And Jenner revealed to everybody that Rick thought it was a question of time for all of you to be dead.

“And he didn’t lie smart pants, we’re probably all gonna die soon or later, but we don’t wanna die right now so open the fucking door” you had already lost your patience and were considering if beating his ass wasn’t a so bad alternative.

You don’t know exactly how, but Rick convinced Jenner to open the door. The son of a bitch could open the door all this time! Jacqui decided to stay and there wasn’t much you could do about it. You tried to convince her, but nothing worked. Andrea also decided to stay and Dale stayed to try convincing her, you were not going to wait and see the results. You grabed your things and Luna’s harness and ran as fast as you could to the exit.

When you got to the exit you couldn’t leave using the door, the only way was a big glass in the building that apparently was bulletproof cause it was very resistant. To your lucky Carol had found a granade in Rick’s clothes while washing it and you couldn’t be more grateful about it. All of you shielded behind some stairs, Daryl “hugged” you kind of shielding you and Luna from anything and the granade exploded breaking the glass. As soon as the glass was broken Rick commanded everyone to go and leave. You saw all the glass on the floor and you couldn’t possible let Luna step on them. You tried to carry her with much difficulty, she was a big dog, even for a female. Daryl was almost jumping outside when he turned and saw you struggling to carry the dog.

“Come on! Hurry up!” He said a little pissed, a little nervous and a little angry too.

“I’m going I can’t let her step in the glass!” You stated. He grunted and came to you taking Luna from you, he carried her fast and easily to the “exit” what helped you being faster too.

“After all this shit, you better fucking obey me.” He said to the german shepherd putting her on the ground, taking your pulse and running to the cars.

As soon as you got to the car he opened the door, You entered it and next thing you knew he was telling you to get down, his body pressed on yours and an enormous explosion was heard.

His face was hidden on your neck, you could feel his warm breath and you couldn’t help but remember from the last night. You were feeling like a teenager full of hormones again. After some moment he raised his face and looked at you.

“Are ya alright?” He asked looking at your face. “Sorry if I crushed ya.”

“I’m fine. It’s okay, thanks for the help.” You answered, before you could do anything Luna, that was on the truck’s floor, licked Daryl’s face with no warning.

“Not my mouth Luna!” He complained, you couldn’t resist but laugh.

“I think we can get up D.” You said still laying in the car seat with him on top of you.

“Er… yeah, sure. It’s true.” He got up, opened the car door so you two could organize things to leave and for a moment you contemplated all the destruction that explosion caused.

Soon Dale and Andrea could be seen and you were glad that they could make it in time. First thing you decided to leave the place, you could decide were to go after it. You stopped at the Vatos’ place, you didn’t know this place, but it looks like Glenn, Daryl, T.Dog and Rick ran through it last time they were in Atlanta.

When you entered the place it was clearly abandoned, but soon you discovered dead bodies, some where shoot and others stabbed. You don’t know how Andrea could think hey were dead by walkers, it made no sense. That was cruel. All those elderly people executed.

“They were good people.” Rick sadly told you. “They tried to appear tough so other would not harm them… It looks like it didn’t last for a long time.”

He told you how they cared for these elderly people that were abandoned to die by the ones that took care of them. It was incredibly touching all the history and sad how it ended. Sometimes, you thought if this world were a place for good people.

You needed a place to stay, so you found an empty room so you all could pass the night before heading to Fort Benning. The room would be crowded for all of you, but at least would be sure everyone was safe. Daryl offered to take the first watch, sitting by the window. You chose a spot in the back of the room to put your sleeping bag and take some rest.

Hands. Dead hands. Grabing you. Pulling you. You fought against them, but they were too many. You had no weapons. Nothing. You tried, but you couldn’t fight longer and when you gave up fighting you were bitten, once you felt the stabbing pain, you woke up. Fighting for air. A burning sensation on your chest. Fuck. You hated nightmares, and since the world ended you had plenty of them. You sat and looked around for Luna, she was nowhere close to you and now you could use some cuddle with her.

In the dark room you could see Daryl’s silhouette at the window, and now you had an idea where Luna could be. You got up and approached the archer.

“Go to sleep, I’ll take watch now.” You said sitting by the other side of the window.

“Nah, not happening. My watch’s not over and T.Dog said he was taking next watch.” Anyone else would gladly go to sleep and let you on watch, but ‘Daryl’s fucking stubborn’ you thought.

“I’m not sleeping now, so you could use some sleep.” You stated and focused your attention on the window.

“Was it bad?” He asked and for a second you didn’t understand. “The nightmare.” He knew you had one, even in the dark he could see your sleep was not a peaceful one.

“Yep.” You gave a short answer, funny because most of the time you did all the conversation and Daryl didn’t have to talk much.

“Do ya really think we’re all gonna die?” Yes, you really thought, and that terrified you. You were afraid of dying, but you were absolutely scared of everyone you cared about dying and being left alone. So, you were terrified and also a little selfish for not thinking about how the others would be if you died first.

“Eventually? Yes. We’re out numbered.” You said, you just didn’t know when or how, but the odds were not on your favor. “I-I don’t wanna die.” You confessed, just because you thought everyone was going to die, it didn’t mean you were not afraid of dying. “And I don’t want neither of you to die.”

He could give you any harsh answer. He did got mad back at the CDC when he heard Rick said everyone was going to die and he also get pissed when you said he didn’t lie. But he could see you were frightened. He hated to show weakness, he was taught he couldn’t be weak. You were usually strong, of course you were very emotional like most women, but you were different… you knew how to fight, you’d kill walkers and not be afraid to protect the people you cared. Eventhough the first connection you made you were in a vulnerable moment, he could see your strength. So he could not bring himself to lose his temper with you at this moment. Also the fact that if your conversation got heated you would wake everyone up, helped a little.

“Don’t think about it. We’re gonna survive. We’re gonna fight. I can’t say that we aren’t gonna die, but we’re gonna be a pain in the ass of death, cause she’s gonna have to work her ass to kill us.” You thought this was the time he had most talked in all the time you knew him, it was not typical from him to talk much. “Ya aren’t giving up. Ya aren’t gonna stop fighting. Promise me.”

“Are you really asking me to make a promise?” You asked incredulously, he was so resistant to make a promise to you the day before. You were almost incapable to hold a laugh when you saw his hand in front of you with his pinky raised.

“C’mon, I don’t have the whole night.”

“Ok, I promise. I’m not giving up or gonna stop fighting.” You linked you pinky with his and sealed with your thumbs.

Daryl got up and went to T.Dog, waking him up to take the watch. He came at you and said: “Let’s sleep.”

“I’m not sleeping D.” You tried to say, you couldn’t dare closing your eyes and seeing the horrible scene from your nightmare.

“The watch is mine Y/N/N, you can go to sleep.” T.Dog said taking the place near the window.

“C’mon” Daryl called you again.

You followed him to the spot where you were sleeping previously he dropped his sleeping bag on the side of yours and gestured for you to lay down to sleep. You laid turned to his side, he had his back on the floor and stared at the ceiling, but he could feel your eyes on him.

“Go to sleep.” He whispered turning to you.

“I can’t, I feel that I’m gonna be there again if I close my eyes…” you didn’t need to say much, he knew you were talking about the nightmare.

“Ya’re not there. Ya here. I’m here.” He said and what he did next you didn’t expect. His hand went to yours and he intertwined your pinkies. And you could not help but feel a warm feeling in your heart. “Now, let’s sleep.”

The next morning you woke up with Luna licking all of your face. You tried protecting your face, but she wasn’t going to give up. You sat and didn’t saw Daryl by your side anymore. Everyone was getting ready to leave, so you had to do the same.

When everyone was ready a discussion about having less cars started, it was agreed that it would be better to economize fuel. You’d only remain with Carol’s Cherokee, the RV and Merle’s bike, that was now Daryl’s. You’d be all crushed in the cars, butyou had to make choices.

You were already leaving the room when Daryl stopped you. “I think it’s better if you go with Rick. The bike isn’t very comfortable for 2 during a long trip.” You should have seen it coming, but well… he was kind of right.

“Sure, no problem.” You smiled, he wasn’t wrong but you couldn’t help feeling upset. You liked travelling with him. “I’m sure Luna and me can fit well on the back of the Cherokee.”

Rick made sure to make some space for you in the back of the cherokee and you sat back there while Luna sniffed everything.

“Can I go in the back with you Aunt Y/N?” Carl asked you by time he entered the car.

“Sorry Carl, there’s no room for you AND it’s safer where you are.” You said, there was room and you knew he would play that card, he was a smart kid, so you played the “safe” card before he could come with something smart.

The rest of the car trip was uneventful, that is until you came to a huge block on the road made by several abandoned vehicles. You tried going until the radiator hose of the RV broke. You all got out of the cars and decided to look infor supplies or anything useful. You found some snacks, headache pills and a kitchen knife. Not much to be honest. You thought you’d be more successful looking for fuel and car parts.

You gave up and went to Daryl and T.Dog, to help and learn how to siphon fuel. You could be alone anytime and need it, so it was a useful thing to know. Then you heard Rick telling everyone to hide, a herd was coming. Fuck. Where were you supposed to hide with a fucking gigantic dog and at the same time make the dog quiet?

You brought Luna behind a van that was kind of transversal on the road and had concrete blocking on the other side you sat there on the floor and put the harness around Luna’s mouth hopping it would be enough to make her quiet until the herd passed. Memories of your nightmare came to your mind and you tried to calm yourself and your breathing, that wasn’t a good time to panic. They were passing while you prayed for whatever was out there that they would not see you. You were well hidden but if one of them tripped and fall on you, you were doomed for sure.

As soon as all of them were gone, Daryl came to find you. “Are ya ok?” You got up and nodded, but he knew you were far from ok, you were shaking.

Soon you heard a commotion and ran back to where everyone was. Sophia had run to the woods followed by walkers. Shit. If it could get worse, it would get worse. Carol was despaired and when Rick came back without the little girl she cried even more. Lori and you hugged her trying to reassure that they would find her. “Daryl is the best tracker, he’ll find her.” You said while rubbing her back.

T.Dog had an ugly cut on his arm, you take a first aid kit to clean it and cover. You were a doc after all, an animal doc, but nobody could ask much during the apocalipse, and you knew how to properly disinfect the wound. “Wow, it looks bad. I think you need stiches, but we also don’t have anything to do this. Some antibiotics would do good.” You commented while cleaning the wound and preparing to bandage it.

“It’s gonna be ok, I’m tough. Don’t worry.” He say, but you knew you all should worry and take a look on him from time to time, because if he had fever the chances of it going really wrong were big.

When Daryl and Rick came back without Sophia it was heartbreaking. They said they encountered a walker and they killed and opened it to make sure it didn’t kill or ate Sophia. Just imagining gave you chills. Carol blamed Rick for leaving the girl alone while he was actually trying to save her. You couldn’t blame Carol for her reaction, but you couldn’t blame your brother either. It was not his fault, it wasn’t Sophia’s fault too.

Soon all of you went to sleep with the promise to find Sophia in the morning. You laid with Luna and Carl in the back of the Cherokee and while they slept peacefully you couldn’t dare to allow yourself to sleep… until your eyes closed and you did.

Final Note: Thanks for everyone reading, liking, reblogging and commenting, it’s really good to receive your feedback.

Taglist: @sunnybunnyy2

[thelunarfairy]

I'm so confused about Tsukasa coming back.. he wouldn't have come back if Nene and Kou hadn't have visited the red house and told him he would be killed. But at that point all of the events with Tsukasa & Amane's lives happened before they visited him.. Wouldn't it have changed the future, and also the past, when Tsukasa came back? And does that mean that by the time Amane killed Tsukasa originally, it wasn't the true Tsukasa? Sorry for all the questions, I would just love to hear your thoughts on this!

Wow and here we go to talk about the temporal paradox! Hahaha I hate this thing because it makes my neurons fry.

Paradox is the opposite of what someone thinks is the truth, or in other words, temporal paradox is a phenomenon derived from time travel into the past. When the time traveler goes to the past, his disturbing presence, most of the time, generates logically impossible results, that is, a paradox.

It's interesting how Kou and Nene didn't think that if they had managed to get Tsukasa back home, the two might never have met Hanako, or at best Amane would have been their teacher.

But, Tsukasa came home, didn't he?

From what I understand it works like this:

Timeline 0: Amane dies from the disease, and later Tsukasa also dies from the same disease as his brother, since they are identical (assuming it is a genetic disease)

Timeline 1: Amane dies from the disease and Tsukasa stays alive (considering he won't get sick like Amane since they are identical)

Timeline 2: Tsukasa stays in the house forever, Amane grows up healthy and becomes a teacher.

Timeline 3: Timeline two is broken when Kou and Nene go back in time, Tsukasa returns with the creature and at a certain point, the twins die.

When we start the story, they are in timeline 3, but that doesn't seem to have been the case from the beginning. Tsuchigomori said that Hanako changed the future suddenly.

Which means they were following timeline 2. And at some point this line is broken and timeline 3 is born, we don't know at what point in life this happened to Amane, but we know that those who changed the past were Kou and Nene (maybe)

Let's remember that we don't know if Tsuchigomori knew of Tsukasa's existence, remember, initially they were in timeline 2, that is, Tsukasa had sacrificed himself and Amane was alive.

Then suddenly Amane changes the future, that is, Tsukasa came back, and if he came back, he went to school, and if he went to school, Tsuchigomori would know about his existence, and his future.

That's the big question, what is the future of Tsukasa? Was he supposed to have a future? Was Amane supposed to die and Tsukasa stay? Or was it Tsukasa's destiny to die and they changed it suddenly causing that great tragedy?

Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?

The Butterfly Effect is part of Chaos Theory, a theory that challenges Newton's classical physics. According to her, predictions are possible when the data is perfect. But in practice it is impossible to have perfect data, which makes predictions unfeasible.

In other words, small changes on small scales can change events forever. A butterfly can flap its wings somewhere in the world, and in another, this flapping of wings could generate a large tornado as a consequence.

Exactly that word, "consequence". The butterfly effect talks about the great trigger of consequences that start with something simple.

Kou and Nene convinced Tsukasa to return home (something simple) and in the future he and his twin would die together (big consequence)

The butterfly effect is present in JSHK, the fact that Tsukasa returned triggered events that should not have happened and thus leading to a great tragedy that is STILL underway, yes, it is not over yet.

Hanako said that Nene is destined to die, that is, "destiny" is being taken as an important factor and rule in the story, which means that if something is changed, there will be consequences. Hanako is trying to increase the effect even further by trying to save Nene, who is destined for death, just as apparently Tsukasa was.

When the butterfly effect reaches its peak in unintended events, it enters chaos, that is, something extremely catastrophic will happen as nature's response because it is against its rules.

Yeah, that doesn't seem like a good omen, does it? But to answer the question, apparently Amane killed the real Tsukasa and the creature in his chest, they came back together.

It turns out that when Nene meets Hanako, they create a bond of destiny. She can float through the flow of time, and is always related to Hanako or Tsukasa, that is, she is linked to the past, present and future of the twins.

Perhaps Nene's death is one of the consequences of the chaos, after all it was because she had altered the past so many times that the events began.

In short, someone destined to die did not die and for chaos to lose its strength and stability to return, that person must die. She could be whoever was originally the person (Tsukasa) or the person responsible, the one to blame for the chaos (Nene)

It reminded me of the court of time, you may have noticed that the guardians of time are responsible for judging, and now they are looking for someone to blame for the chaos established at the school to judge him and make him pay, and thus returning to normality, that is, the flow of time will return to its normal state.

It's interesting to see how time works in JSHK, it's not something loose and random, it has its laws and rules, and anyone who doesn't follow them goes to court.

I would love to talk about what the punishments are like and what could happen, but we don't know how the judgments of the guardians of time work, and it seems they will only judge on recent events, let's wait for more information to have a precise conclusion.

And, do you want some advice? Don't fry your neurons too much thinking about temporal paradoxes, they are unresolvable.

[irrelevant-86]

I want a Mostly Everyone Lives AU!!!

Like after the events of the first Life Is Strange game (wether Max chose to sacrifice the Bay or save it) Max decides fuck this I’m not accepting this shit. And she uses her powers again.

The first thing she does is travel back in time and save Chloe’s dad. After that she then uses old pictures of herself from over the 5 years she was gone from Arcadia Bay to put certain things in motion. She leaves notes for her younger self, guiding her to do things. She makes sure her younger self keeps in contact with Chloe after she leaves Arcadia.

We’re never told exactly when Chloe’s accident is in the alternate timeline where her dad lives. So I’m just gonna say for the point of this au it happens like near the end of the summer (about a month before school would start back up). So Max uses her time travel powers to set up with her parents and Chloe’s parents that every summer Max goes back to Arcadia Bay for a week near the end of the summer (the same week that Chloe’s accident is supposed to take place), and stays with the Price’s. So Max winds up being there the day the accident is supposed to happen and manages to pull Chloe into doing something else. Because of this Chloe isn’t in her car and doesn’t get run off the road and doesn’t get paralyzed.

Because of her being in constant contact with Chloe and Chloe not getting into the accident, Max also gets to meet and befriend Rachel alongside Chloe. Most of Max’s relationship with Rachel is through the phone and FaceTime. Chloe meets Rachel the school year before Max comes back to Arcadia, so this version of Max has a whole year to get to know Rachel. And Max has left notes and hints for her younger self to protect Rachel and Kate from Jefferson. And thanks to Chloe’s dad not dying, and keeping in contact with Max the whole time, and having Rachel there, Chloe doesn’t rebel as much as in the original timeline. She still gets her blue hair, but she doesn’t get in trouble at school, and keeps her grades up and doesn’t get kicked out.

The next change Max makes is that summer right before Max came back to Arcadia Bay. We know Max came back sometime in September when school started up. And by then Rachel was already dead. And she disappeared sometime between the end of the previous school year and the beginning of the school year when Max came back. So again I’m gonna say she died within that last month of the summer. So Max, knowing that that year she’s going to be going to BlackWell and that she’ll be having her annual end of the summer week at the Price’s, convinces her parents and the Price’s to let her stay with them for the whole of that month till school starts up.

With Max there in Arcadia Bay with Chloe and Rachel, she’s able to keep Rachel far away from Jefferson. Maybe even manages to expose him and his plots to the police before the school year starts up. Because Jefferson, and Nathan since he helped Jefferson, have been caught the whole Nathan shoots Chloe in the bathroom doesn’t happen.

Max also makes sure to find a way to get a lot of people to the lighthouse on the day of the storm just in case it still happens. Maybe she manages to convince the Vortex Club to have their end of the world party at the lighthouse the night the storm is supposed to happen. And maybe she finds a way to get the Price’s out of town as well for the night. And she even manages to, with the help of Rachel, get Frank and his dog out of town as well.

The storm does happen cause Max fucked with time and the storm is the price of that. Some people that are in town still die during the storm. And the town gets wrecked. But Max is able to save a lot more people this time around! Classes wind up going mostly online for a couple months while the school fixes the damages done to it during the storm. Max, Rachel, and Chloe all graduate together. And then that summer the three of them leave Arcadia Bay for the last time.

Chloe’s parents decide to move away from Arcadia as well after their house was destroyed in the storm. They move out pretty close to where Max’s parents are. And the three girls get their wish to leave Arcadia behind, and they get to do it together!!!

[a-student-out-of-time]

ASOOT Timeline: February 2013 (A Dilemma of the Highest Moral Order)

Hey, guys, remember me? Well I’m back with most of the Price of Fate arc (all except the last day, because that is not done yet). Please enjoy!–Timeline Anon

February 4: 

At 6 AM, Umeko takes all of her time travel research out of her lab at Hope’s Peak. Some is transferred to her house, and the rest is trashed.

The news is out to the public regarding the Harumi-Emina class swap. Now, the Steering Committee is getting injunctions from the police department, and they debate whether or not to allow an investigation on campus. Their collective freakout is interrupted by Masa and Koichi, and Koichi delivers Jin’s decision: all future Hope’s Peak attendees will be approved by Jin and Koichi, the Steering Committee will no longer have any say in that, all current and upcoming attendees will be examined to see why they were chosen, the mass investigation will happen, and the Steering Committee will transfer executive power to Jin. Eventually, the Steering Committee does agree to this in an effort to save the school’s reputation. The investigation will begin after school. After Mass and Koichi leave, the Steering Committee reassure themselves that the school will be fine, as even if the Diet freezes their assets, they have benefactors overseas. There are also hints that they might be planning something regarding Masa.

Masa updates Chiaki, Suzuko, and Taro about the morning’s events. As the investigation is set to begin, it’s mentioned that criminal talents are most likely going to be expelled and barred from attending for the most part. Chiaki vouches for Mondo, and Koichi says that he’ll probably be all right to attend, but Fuyuhiko and Peko’s future at Hope’s Peak is in jeopardy because of this investigation. Suzuko and Taro will inform the rest of the Student Council, who will in turn inform everyone else. Chiaki advises Masa to take care of herself.

The original Ultimate Lucky Student is revealed to be a girl by the name of Umi Domoto, who is lucky but also quite unlucky and has been in the hospital often.

Masa briefly meets with Estu in Conference Room 37. Estu is revealed to have swiped the Izuru Kamukura Project Personnel File, containing the names and profiles of everyone associated with the project, from the Steering Committee while Masa distracted them. She doesn’t feel safe at school anymore, so she’s going to stay with Mayumi for a while.

In the afternoon, the Quantum Crew meets in the Void Warehouse. Hajime’s finally ungrounded. Nikei’s mad at Umeko for sharing her time travel research with the world, as that caused Yasuke and Masa to figure them out. Umeko assures him that the information never left Hope’s Peak. Then, they all reconnect with the 2030 crew, and Sunako finally explains exactly what she’s been keeping from them. It goes as follows:

A ship called the HMCS Apothegem, formerly of the Canadian military before being sold to a private buyer in Italy, became the personal lifeboat of the Preservation Project. The ship left Naples on New Years’ Day of 2025 and sank in the North Atlantic on December 9 of that same year. Only six survivors made it to nearby Greenland on the 14th, five days later: Sei Konno, Kanon Ota, Missy Vesper, Lyle D. Termina, Gaea Espere, and Echo Pine. Those six were the only survivors of a series of 50 killing games run aboard the ship by the Preservation Project, during which 445 Ultimates died. 

The Preservation Project was hoping to cultivate someone who would display a special ability as a result of these games. They did find such a person in Echo Pine, who awakened precog powers not unlike Mikako’s during their game. It’s because of Echo that the Kisaragi Foundation was able to create their time machine in this future. 

As Gaea Espere explains to the group, she was the one who sank the Apothegem after winning the 49th game and being forced to watch the 50th, and Echo proved vital to saving the few people they were able to save. After everyone escaped the ship, they hid out in Nuuk, Greenland for a while, where they were almost recaptured by the Preservation Project, but they were thankfully rescued by Mayumi, Masa, and the Kisaragi Foundation. They’ve had to stay in Japan under witness protection ever since. 2030’s Nikei is currently investigating the Apothegem’s wreckage to find out more information about the incident.

Takeharu Mizuta and Tsumugi Shirogane, as it turns out, were two of the biggest sponsors of the Preservation Project. The worst part is, in January of 2030, Tsumugi kidnapped Echo. 

According to Mikako’s visions, Tsumugi will go on to produce 53 seasons of a killing game television show, starting with smaller shows but growing into bigger broadcasts by the 40s. Emma’s son Whit will end up in one of these games. Because she’s got Echo, Tsumugi will always see the Kisaragi Foundation coming, and she will keep copy-pasting her mind into many bodies across the world, so that the killing games become an international affair. 

It won’t be until the fall of 2070 that the games will eventually end thanks to the cast of the 53rd season, which is entirely composed of the Quantum Crew’s descendants. These include Hajime and Hibiki’s granddaughter and Sayuri’s daughter Kaede (who’s also Natsumi’s granddaughter on her father Haruto’s side), Nikei and Taira’s granddaughter and Etsuya’s daughter Kirumi, Masa’s granddaughter Maki, and Sunako’s own grandson Kaito. It’s also mentioned that Kokichi Ouma is the grandson of Komaru (who marries Kasumi’s son Hirota), Korekiyo Shinguji is the grandson of Kikue and also Maki’s real boyfriend, Angie Yonaga is the granddaughter of Mio, Miu Iruma is the granddaughter of Miwa and Fumio (who both died in a car accident when she was young, possibly due to Ayumu’s bad luck), Ryoma Hoshi is the grandson of Kojikoji, and Tenko Chabashira is the granddaughter of Estu and Mayumi. All will be brainwashed with new identities that are purposeful insults to their ancestors.

After Nikei demands actual answers on why they should trust the 76 Squad, Sunako breaks down and tearfully reveals that Masa will be the only one to survive the war against Tsumugi. This is because of Hajime’s no-killing rule, which Tsumugi will take advantage of and circumvent at every turn, resulting in the deaths of every other member of the Quantum Crew. Masa will spend decades of her life fighting Tsumugi from the shadows, operating under a cover story involving her own “death” at the hands of the HSS, and she will lose everything and everyone else in her life in the process. Sayuri will also live, but only because she will cut ties with her family and go into hiding, partly because of resentment due to Kanade and partly because Hajime won’t kill Tsumugi. Her twin daughters, Kaede and Erika, will live in safety for a while before Tsumugi will find them too. In a surprise twist, they will grab Erika thinking that she’s Kaede, and it will be she who dies in Season 53. The real Kaede will live, but will never be the same.

There is no practical means to stop Tsumugi, according to Sunako. Not while she has Echo and her body-snatching ability. Their only chance is for the Quantum Crew to stop her in 2012…and Sunako says that she and Takeharu must be stopped, even if it means killing them. On the bright side, they have two extra days for the Takeharu mission, so there’s that.

As the 2030 crew logs off with the reminder that it wasn’t Hajime’s fault, Nikei is filled with regret for pressing Sunako on this, while Hajime remains desperately insistent that there must be another way to stop Tsumugi and Takeharu. Taira, Emma, and Nikei all angrily insist that the two Despairs must be killed for the sake of their families. Mikan and Yoruko manage to defuse the situation by suggesting that they all take some time to decompress. Hajime swears to use that time to think of a better way, and Yoruko drives him and Hibiki home. Kyoji will keep working on methods to counter Tsumugi’s technology. Sonia tells Nikei to think hard about whether or not he can really kill.

Hajime and Hibiki come home to his parents in tears. Yoruko tells Hiroshi and Keiko what happened and advises them to give them some space to think. Keiko says that her father, a private investigator named Daisuke Sato, is coming tomorrow to help with the mass investigation. Hajime is apprehensive, but glad that his Aunt Setsuna isn’t coming.

Late at night, Hajime cuddles with Hibiki and confides to her that he knew his no-killing rule would come into question at some point. He wants to know what Sunako meant when she said that this happened because of his actions, and when Hibiki asks why he’s never even considered the idea of murder, he admits that he’s still haunted by the Tragedy and wants to create a different world where they don’t have to rely on murder as a solution. He hopes that maybe if he finds out why the Despairs follow Junko, he can get them to turn on her. Either way, he doesn’t want to take life and death into his own hands, and he feels like if he kills even once, he can’t pretend to be a good person anymore. Tomorrow, he plans to do some research and ask around on the question. Hibiki comforts him; she’s also making plans to talk with Sayuri.

That night, Hajime has a terrible nightmare where specters of Apothegem survivors and casualties alike, along with Whit and Izuru, berate him for putting his no-killing rule above their lives. He sees Echo trapped in Tsumugi’s cage, begging for help, and wakes up screaming.

It’s Haruto and Jubei’s birthday. They turn 1.

February 5: 

Hajime wakes up at 6:20, rather upset over the nightmare. He gets a surprise 2030 check-in from Sunako, who has been able to trace back the ancestry of 13 out of the 16 V3 participants. In addition to the ones already stated, Shuichi Saihara is the great-grandson of Yuka and the grandson of Tato, Tsubasa, Eito, and Tomoe, while Gonta is the grandson of Akane’s youngest sister Teruko. K1-B0 was originally a therapy robot created by an engineering company founded by Kazuichi, Chihiro, and Ayumi, but will be hijacked by Team Danganronpa (his head will manage to survive that final explosion at the end, though, so he won’t really die). The only three that they haven’t been able to trace so far are Rantaro Amami, Kiko Omigawa (the blue-haired girl who served as Tsumugi’s final vessel), and Himiko Yumeno. Sunako is curious as to their connection to the Quantum Crew and theorizes that they might not have met their ancestors yet.

It’s also mentioned that Kaori’s husband and Kikue’s husband will both be toxic assholes, and that Kaori will die of a postpartum hemorrhage giving birth to Kaito, while Kikue’s granddaughter (and Korekiyo’s sister) will die of an illness.

Because of self-consistency, the only way to stop the Preservation Project, Tsumugi’s killing game show, the Holy Salvation Society, etc. is to stop the circumstances leading up to them. What’s more, Sunako still isn’t sure what effect the current investigation will have on things. Hajime plans to talk to everyone who he knows have descendants in the V3 cast in hopes that he can get their perspective on things. Sunako says that she’ll be happy if he finds another solution, but also reminds him that they’re fighting to save thousands of lives and that he doesn’t have to take responsibility for the hardest choice if worst comes to worst.

Hajime gets Hibiki’s input on his list. She tells him that he probably shouldn’t talk to 2-year-old Teruko or 11-year-old Sunako, and also mentions that he should check on Miwa, as some of the comments the latter made during their ski trip makes Hibiki think that something bad happened to her.

Daisuke Sato arrives at the Hinata house, carrying a refrigerator with his bare hands. He’ll be staying for about a week or so, depending on how long the investigation takes. As Hajime assures his family that he’ll be all right, Chiaki and Nikei see the fridge incident from the bus stop. All three of them go with Daisuke to help with the investigation. The school is crawling with police and investigators right now, but Harumi is taking the lead. 

Hajime briefs his friends on what he learned from Sunako, and he and Nikei have a quick debate about whether or not to kill Takeharu and Tsumugi. Nikei says that he has no problem dealing with this himself, but Hajime can’t ask him or anyone else to get involved. He asks for only two days, or at least until Nikei finds Takeharu. When asked about it, Nikei says that he thinks the Despairs should be killed, while Chiaki doesn’t know and wants a bit more time to think about it.

Mayumi indicates that she wants to talk to Hajime about something.

It seems that Class 77-B is under investigation right now. Teruteru is in trouble for the sexy soup incident, Hajime’s wanted for questioning in regards to the Twilight Syndrome incident, and Fuyuhiko and Peko are coming to terms with the fact that they’ll probably be expelled for their Yakuza connections. As Daisuke questions Teruteru, Hiyoko shows up and takes responsibility for putting the aphrodisiac in the soup. Hajime asks her if she’s sure about this, but Hiyoko tells him not to try and fix this for her, as it’s not his responsibility and he doesn’t have to fix everything, especially when it’s not even his fault. Hajime accepts her request, comforts her, and tells her to be careful.

Hajime tells Fuyuhiko about what happened last night and asks for his advice. Fuyuhiko advises him not to do anything that he’s not prepared to deal with and to ask for help if he needs it. He reassures him that he’s a good guy, thanks him again for saving his sister, and reminds him that he can’t save everyone.

Next, Hajime talks to Akane and Kazuichi. Akane, who’s used to violence from her childhood, wants to kill the Despairs herself, but advises Hajime to talk to her brother Hinata. Kazuchi reminds him that there isn’t always a third option, especially given how easy Tsumugi’s technology is to make.

Kyoji pulls Hajime into an empty classroom and begs for help. He asked Miaya to print off the records for his group therapy sessions, and now he needs to grab them, lest the police possibly find Kanade. What’s more, Eito and Tomoe are in the hallway getting asked questions about Eito’s mother. Kyoji asks Hajime to keep them busy while he grabs the papers.

Hajime goes to distract Eito and Tomoe, and Eito bemoans the fact that he still has no answers about what happened to his mom. He tells the story to Hajime and the cops, and Hajime immediately recognizes it as the Kamakura Project’s doing and mentally curses Kyoji for running away from Eito when he was asked about it. Eito just wants answers and doesn’t blame Kyoji, but would like to talk to him.

Meanwhile, Kyoji sneaks into the office and grabs all the printouts he needs. Just as he’s about to leave, he overhears Mai Shingetsu looking for Estu, and he immediately goes and confronts her. Hajime, Tomoe, and Eito hear the commotion and arrive in time to see Kyoji threaten to spill Mai’s secrets to the police if she doesn’t leave Estu alone. Even when she screams at him, he refuses to tell her, and Tomoe even gets some sass in before Mai storms off. Afterwards, Eito once again asks Kyoji about his mom, while Hajime encourages him to talk. Kyoji says that now is a bad time and that he needs to find Estu first, but gives Eito his number so that they can talk later.

Tomoe tells Hajime that he and Hope’s Peak were probably good for Hiyoko. Then, when Hajime asks her and Eito about murder, Tomoe says that she’d let the courts decide, and Eito agrees, saying that the death penalty exists for a reason. An overwhelmed and panicking Hajime goes to get some water and runs into Nikei. After he calms down a bit, they go to see Mayumi, and she asks for help.

Hajime, Nikei, and Kyoji meet with Masa, Mayumi, and Estu in the biology lab. Masa declares that she knows that one of the three boys is Kasugano, based on the evidence she has collected over the past several months. While Nikei accuses her of working with Hope’s Peak, Hajime has a breakdown, admits he’s Kasugano, and sobs that he only wanted to fix things but feels like he’s ruined everything. Mayumi comforts him and tells him that the investigation is Hope’s Peak’s fault, not his, and that he can be the symbol of hope that Japan really needs. The 76 Squad, as it turns out, wants to work together with the Quantum Crew to help get Estu out of the school, as the fact that she’s stolen the Kamakura File has put her at major risk, so she’s dropping out and running away. She has nowhere to go and asks if the Quantum Crew knows someplace off the grid. It takes some convincing, but Nikei agrees to let her stay at the Void Warehouse as long as she keeps out of their affairs, and they all agree to help Estu with her plan to escape the school. Estu once again suggests that Kyoji gets therapy, and the 76 Squad will answer Hajime’s questions after Estu’s escape.

Miwa has locked herself in a storage closet in the nurse’s office and is refusing to come out, despite Mikan and Fumio’s best efforts. Hajime shows up and manages to use his understanding kindness to coax her out of her hiding spot. It turns out that Miwa is very uncomfortable because the whole situation reminds her of her past: she was sexually assaulted by her former skating coach, fell pregnant as a result, and ended up giving the baby up for adoption. Now, she’s scared that her secret child could be discovered by the investigators, which would negatively impact her career. She hasn’t told the police yet, but Hajime convinces her to give the man’s name (Yasuo Furutani) to Harumi, who promises to catch him after the current investigation is over. Thankfully, Miwa is okay now, especially since she has her family, Nekomaru, and Fumio to support her. She also says that she doesn’t want to talk about death or punishment and just wants Yasuo to face justice.

Keiko picks Hibiki up from work, and Hibiki asks for advice about what to do about Sayuri resenting her due to Kanade. When Keiko asks why she would even still want Kanade in her life, Hibiki tearfully replies that she couldn’t let her go because she’s still her family and she was all she had for the longest time, plus she still feels guilty for the way she treated her due to being jealous of her. Keiko admits that she’s had similar issues with her own younger sister, Setsuna, who she was jealous of, and while Setsuna has grown up to be a massive bitch who is cruel to both Keiko and Hajime, Keiko still regrets her own cruelty to her in their childhoods. For now, Keiko’s advice to Hibiki regarding Sayuri is to just listen to her. She offers her more support and advice regarding her future marriage and pregnancy as well.

When Keiko and Hibiki get home, they find that Hiroshi is already home; turns out hundreds of businesses are being investigated due to their connections to Hope’s Peak, and Hiroshi’s work was shut down due to one such investigation. Worst case scenario is that he could lose his job. Keiko is angry about this, and mentions that Daisuke has beef with Hope’s Peak as one of his friends went there and it didn’t end well. Everyone stresses about how to tell this to Hajime without him blaming himself.

Hibiki talks to Sayuri, with Keiko there as backup. It turns out that Sayuri is upset that Hibiki even let Kanade back into her life at all, never mind making Sayuri go see her once a year. She hates Kanade  because of what she did to Hibiki and wishes that Hibiki had just let her go. Hibiki apologizes, admits that she and Kanade were nothing but bad influences on each other and that trying to “fix” her has only made things worse. Sayuri says that she doesn’t have to feel guilty all the time and that it’s okay for her to move on and be happy. With Keiko and Sayuri’s encouragement, Hibiki decides that she’ll tell Kanade the truth, and also face her in court if necessary.

Sayuri’s friendship with Haruto is going well. She suggests that he would be happier if Natsumi distanced herself from the yakuza life.

When Hibiki mentions that her parents abandoned her, Sayuri is confused, as she heard from Yoruko that Hibiki cut them off and didn’t respond to their attempts to get back in touch with her. Hibiki and Keiko are incredibly confused by this and will talk to Yoruko about it tomorrow. Sayuri signs off while declaring her love for her mom, and Hibiki and Keiko go make sundaes.

Hajime, Kyoji, and Masa meet outside Hope’s Peak to sneak Estu out of the school. They’re confident in their plan, as Kyoji has tested it twice with a watermelon. Harumi and Daisuke distract Mai by demanding answers about the drugs students are allowed to access at school, forcing her to show them her labs. Once the coast is clear, Mayumi and Nikei sneak Estu into a trash bag wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed in a cardboard box, then throw her out the window into the dumpster. She’s fine. To sneak her out the rest of the way, Kyoji dresses in a hazmat suit and claims that he’s transporting dangerous chemicals. With that, Estu’s free (and still has the files with her), and the group takes her on a bus back to the Void Warehouse.

On the bus ride back, Kyoji makes it known that he doesn’t think the others actually consider him a friend and isn’t used to having friends in general. Estu, still wishing he’d get therapy, suggests he talk to Ai Ibarazaki, one of his former classmates, who he’s worked with a few times and had a decent relationship with. Apparently, she was sad when Kyoji left. Kyoji says he’ll get in touch with her tomorrow. 

Hajime asks the 76 Squad how they feel about the whole killing thing. Estu says that revenge is just karma but that you should treat the dead with respect. Mayumi says that justice is what’s necessary, not revenge, that killing is wrong, and that karma will ensure that bad people get theirs eventually. Masa says that killing can sometimes be done with good intentions, such as the case of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, and that it doesn’t prove anything about who you truly are if you do it because you have no other choice. Even with their encouragement, Hajime still wants to find another way.

When the group gets to the Void Warehouse, Nikei shows Estu around, while Maku, Emma, and Sora reveal that they’ve found Takeharu’s location: the main office at the branch of MUFG Bank in Tokyo. He has 800 yen to his name, but always turns down promotions, he’s in the process of moving, and he hasn’t claimed any dependents. Nikei immediately starts railing for them to kill him right away, as he’s too paranoid about his family’s safety to wait around. Hajime and the others try to talk sense into him, since they barely even know what Takeharu’s deal is, but Nikei is convinced that he deserves to die for working with Junko. He suggests that they have the 76 Squad kill Takeharu and TSumugi instead, as they’re not part of the Quantum Crew and don’t have as many hangups regarding killing. An argument ensues, with Nikei and Hajime still at odds over the possibility of killing, and it ends with Nikei storming off while the other Voids promise to talk to him (they’re also planning to call Erina tomorrow). 

The 76 Squad hears all the yelling and offers to do more investigation if necessary. Hajime asks them to help investigate Takeharu, and fortunately, Estu just so happens to need a new bank account, so they agree to do so. Masa suggests that Hajime start writing down ideas.

Hajime talks to Kyoji; Kyoji agrees that killing is wrong, discusses his existentialist views and how he thinks that we are the ones who assign meaning to life, and encourages Hajime to stick to his beliefs if he so chooses, since they have meaning to him. Hajime thanks him and reminds him that what happened in the Tragedy timeline with him becoming Izuru wasn’t Kyoji’s fault.

Mayumi thanks Hajime for everything he’s done as Kasunago. He encourages her to stay by Estu’s side and tell her how she feels.

When Hajime gets home, he finds his parents, Daisuke, and Hibiki eating sundaes made by Hibiki and Keiko, and he takes one too. Hibiki and Keiko are planning to talk to Yoruko tomorrow. Meanwhile, it seems that all of the dangerous chemicals have been cleaned out of Hope’s Peak, but Hiyoko and Teruteru are going to be expelled for the soup incident.

Hajime and Hibiki fill each other in on the day’s events. Hajime’s still bothered by a feeling of hopelessness from everything falling apart all at once. Hibiki reminds him not to blame himself and to focus on the good that could come from this. They end up having sex to help each other feel better.

Mayumi and Emma talk about their families, and Emma gives Mayumi permission to stay the night at the Void Warehouse. She assures her that Nikei says a lot of things he doesn’t mean, that he’s only like this because he cares, and that he can get better. Mayumi offers her help if necessary. When Emma asks her how she became friends with Estu in the first place, Mayumi says that Estu’s been through a lot, that she was the first person to really get to know her, and that she’ll make sure that nothing hurts her. Emma is glad that the two of them met. Mayumi also mentions that Yoruko seems very tired lately and that the Voids should probably talk to Nikei about why he doesn’t like Masa.

It’s Kiriko’s birthday. She turns 18.

It’s Makoto’s birthday. He turns 17.

February 6:

Hajime, Hibiki, and Keiko all accompany Daisuke on another day of investigations. Hajime still has people he needs to talk to, while Hibiki and Keiko need to talk to Yoruko about Hibiki’s parents. 

Hibiki, Keiko, and Harumi meet with Yoruko and ask for answers. Yoruko denies lying about the Otonokoji parents calling her. Sora checks the phone records to clear things up, and it turns out that Maria and Sosuke Otonokoji called Yoruko twice. The first time ended in a misunderstanding, and Yoruko missed the second call (on the twins’ birthday), in which the Otonokojis apologized for their previous call and asked once again for information on Hibiki. Hibiki breaks down in tears, and Yoruko realizes how badly she messed up. Harumi figures that Yoruko genuinely remembered it all wrong because she suffers from compassion fatigue. Yoruko breaks down and admits that she’s been so busy helping everyone that she hasn’t had a break in a very long time. Hibiki, Harumi, and Sora encourage her to take time off to rest, which Yoruko agrees to do, and Hibiki and Keiko apologize for suspecting her of lying. Yoruko heads home with Sora. Hibiki decides to take some time to think before she contacts her parents.

Kyoji and Hibiki meet on the fifth floor, with Kyoji hoping to see Ai. Hibiki encourages him to say hi. They go to the greenhouse, where they see the plants and the chickens, and Ai Ibarazaki shows up, surprising them by walking on her hands. She’s very excited and happy to see Kyoji again. He apologizes for leaving without saying anything, and they hug. Ai mentions that she used to be scared of bugs, but conquered her fear in middle school and found her talent as a result. Now, she wants to go into forensic entomology. After she assures Kyoji that she’s not mad at him and will still be there for him no matter what, he promises that he’ll still be around for her too. They rekindle their friendship, and Ai becomes friends with Hibiki as well.

After Ai leaves, Kyoji confides to Hibiki that the fact that people still like him and forgive him makes him feel worse because he can’t internalize it due to his own self-loathing. He’s torn on whether or not he wants to see the file Estu took. Hibiki reiterates that it’s the Steering Committee’s fault, not his, and when he brings up his bleak-looking future, she even suggests that maybe they can change things so that he will not have to go to jail. She also tells him to see a therapist. When asked if he wants to have a family someday, Kyoji admits that he doesn’t know if he can be a good dad, or if he can even have kids. He’s keeping open the possibility of adoption, however. He also encourages Hibiki to take the chance to talk to her parents again. Hibiki decides that she will reach out to her parents and that she will do whatever it takes to keep Kyoji out of jail.

Kikue, fresh off investigators questioning whether or not she’s actually killed people, finds Gundham in the dining hall. He’s upset over what’s happening to his classmates, and no one has seen Sonia in quite some time, as she’s been holed up in her room. Gundham feels powerless to help them. Several of Kikue’s classmates are being investigated too, most notably Yasuke. To help Gundham feel better, Kikue decides to eat lunch with him, and they make lunch for Sonia as well. They talk about books, and when Gundham makes tea for Sonia, Kikue calls him cute. She tells him to focus on what he can do, and offers to talk anytime.

Thankfully, Sonia comes out of her room when Gundham and Kikue bring her tea. She’s been crying for two days because her family is concerned about her safety at Hope’s Peak. But she’s staying at school for now, and she won’t back down from helping her friends. Gundham and Kikue will support her. Kikue calls Sonia cool and hugs Gundham.

At the Void Warehouse, Nikei is practicing what he will say when he confronts Takeharu. He’s preparing for the worst. Maku and Emma are worried for him and know that this is not a good route for him to go down, so they’ve called in Erina to hold an intervention of sorts for their friend. They talk, he tells her about the current dilemma, and he insists that killing both Takeharu and Tsumugi is the only way for the Quantum Crew to protect themselves and their families, as he doesn’t believe that the world will give them a third option to take. Erina questions if he can really kill someone, tells the story of Nekomaru’s heart condition and the boy he met in the hospital, and says that while she wants to protect him, she knows that she has to let him live his own life. She asks if Nikei’s future family would want him to kill, and if Nikei himself truly wants to kill. After Nikei rants about his hatred of the wealthy elite and his incredulity that Hajime could ever think he’d end up just as bad by killing them, Erina asks him why he’s so sure that people like that can’t be trusted, and Nikei breaks down and tells her about his past. (This is also where we find out that his original last name was Arisaka and that his parents were local politicians.) Erina hugs him and apologizes that he ever had to go through that, while Nikei cries as he wonders why he still feels terrible for what he did. Erina wants to help him so that he doesn’t have to hide all this anymore, and she offers to come with him on the Mizuta mission and vouch for him if the truth ever comes out about what he did. Nikei thanks her, and at her and the other Voids’ urging, goes to get some sleep. He does, however, wonder how Masa survived Tsumugi’s rampage, and what it might’ve cost her.

The 76 Squad stakes out the MUFG Bank, waiting for Takeharu. Estu is ready to set up her new bank account, having engaged in slight fraud to obtain the legal documents she needs; the fake name she will use is Hikari Tano. She wants to change her appearance as well when she gets the chance, and she will get Kyoji to help change her dental records and DNA profile. She hopes to move to the Netherlands eventually.

Estu goes in with Mayumi to set up the bank account, while Masa waits outside in case Takeharu comes out. While they wait in line, Mayumi asks Estu if she’s doing okay and says that she will miss her, and Estu half-jokingly suggests she come with her. Mayumi, who’s grown to be a lot more comfortable with her sexuality thanks to Yoruko, promises to stay with her.

Masa spots Takeharu leaving the bank, sees that he’s writing a list, and follows him to a supermarket in Minato City. There, she watches him make a deal for an unknown formula with lysozyme and lactoferrin in it. Meanwhile, Estu overhears some bank workers talking about Takeharu: apparently, he’s on leave because he’s moving, and his wife died of an unknown medical complication back in June.

It’s evening, and Daisuke is still interviewing people, much to Hajime’s consternation. While he waits for him to finish up, he gets a text from Masa setting up a meeting at the Void Warehouse for 8 PM. He still has no non-lethal solution to the Takeharu-Tsumugi problem, and he’s freaking out about it. Distraught, he calls Ouma Mental Health Counseling and speaks to Hirota Ouma, Kasumi’s son. He asks him what he thinks about everything that happened. Hirota expresses his disgust at Emina and Hope’s Peak, mentioning that he himself turned down a spot at the school as the Ultimate Therapist, and says that it’s a good thing Kasunago turned up. He also tells Hajime that he and Kasumi can make time to talk if he needs it. After that, Hajime calls Mio, who is meeting with Ernesto to go over all the crimes Emina committed at Hope’s Peak. She tells him that the art world is changing for the better because of Kasugano’s actions. He asks her what’s the best way to figure out if he’s doing the right thing, and she tells him to take a deep breath and remember that dark times will pass and that it’s not his fault. She also offers to pray for him.

As Hajime continues to ponder the “to kill or not to kill” question and berates himself for people getting hurt as an indirect result of Kasugano’s actions, he runs into Taro and Tsubasa, who are discussing how Hope’s Peak is sweeping the Elementary Division under the rug. Tsubasa is determined to investigate it herself, and Taro offers to help her. Before he can talk to them, Hajime gets a flashback to their deaths in the Student Council Killing Game, and he flees the scene in tears. Then he reunites with Daisuke, finds out from him that Natsumi is once again in trouble for bullying girls around Tokyo, freaks out at the notion that once again something he did got people hurt, and screams at Daisuke to leave him alone and let him think before storming off. 

Hajime runs into the Reserve Course building in full meltdown mode, still insisting to himself that he’ll find a way not to kill. In the library, he runs into Honami, now in a different outfit that she made herself. Her life has been going well: she’s improved her relationship with her parents, has new friends outside of school, got a refill on her prescription, and is even learning to sew. Her relationship with Mahiru is also going well. Apparently, Natsumi was forced by her mother (who also slapped her across the face) to apologize to the girls she bullied. Hajime vents to Honami about the current situation, and when Honami asks why Hajime is still friends with killers and attempted killers such as herself, Hajime admits that he is just personally uncomfortable with being a murderer because he hates himself and blames himself for everything. He breaks down crying, and Honami hugs him and tells him that it’s not his responsibility to fix everything and that he has to let others make their own choices too. Hajime acknowledges that she’s right and thanks her. Honami also says that the Reserve Course will probably shut down soon due to the investigation, which improves Hajime’s mood.

Hajime goes home and apologizes to Daisuke. It turns out that Keiko and Hibiki have already told Daisuke the truth about Kasugano, time travel, etc. Now that he’s in the know, Daisuke is quick to reassure Hajime that Hope’s Peak are the ones to blame for Izuru. He tells Hajime the story of his childhood best friend, Masato Shimabukuro, the former Ultimate Surgeon, who was coerced into helping with the Kamakura Project via giving proto-lobotiomes to inmates from various prisons. This had a really bad effect on his mental health to the point where Izumi, his upperclassman, started getting suspicious. Masato eventually ended up committing suicide due to the guilt, blaming Hope’s Peak in his suicide note. Daisuke never told Hajime before because he knew how much he admired Hope’s Peak and didn’t want to break his heart. The suicide note can’t be used to expose Hope’s Peak at the moment, as it’s Masato’s word against the school, plus one of the Steering Committee members was in the same class as Daisuke and Masato. But the Kamakura Project has been slowed down, and everyone’s planning on tracking whatever new methods they use. Hajime, exhausted, tells his family and Hibiki that he loves them before turning in for the night.

Estu gives Kyoji the Kamakura File, which contains all the information about Masato stated above, proving that Kyoji was not the first to be used by the Project. Kyoji breaks down in tears, and the girls assure him that Hope’s Peak is the one to blame, that they will take the school down, and that they forgive him. But Kyoji still thinks he has no future to look forward to; he’s looked into where he is in 2030, and he’s alone, with no family and no friends. This attitude angers Estu, who demands to know why he’s so obsessed with his own misery and keeps sabotaging every chance he has at happiness; she screams at him that she envies him, because at least people care about him and he can still be himself. She tells him her own story: she grew up in a small village, but she was blamed by the townspeople for her mother’s death by childbirth, and when she was 12 they blamed her for another child’s death and set fire to her house, which ended up burning the whole village down. Her father sacrificed himself to save her, and she was the sole survivor. Now, she hates her talent, and very few people want to associate with her because they see her as creepy, not to mention how she was forced to help with the Kamakura Project. She even used to self-harm. Mayumi is her first real friend, and she’s in therapy now, but she’s getting ready to leave her old identity behind completely. She tells Kyoji that she doesn’t blame him and that all she’s ever wanted from him is an apology, and so he apologizes, and she accepts his apology. Mayumi advises that if he apologizes to the deceased’s families, he might avoid jail time. They all agree to be friends.

Estu’s long-term goals are quitting her mortician work and becoming a baker, while Mayumi wants to be an athlete. Kyoji asks them if they want kids, and while neither of them are interested in giving birth, they’d be cool with adoption. Kyoji shows them a video of them together with their baby in the future. This makes Estu feel a lot better. Mayumi gets flustered, and Kyoji privately advises her to go ahead and confess her feelings to her. With that in mind, Mayumi talks to Estu, affirms her support for her no matter what, and confesses her feelings. Estu immediately kisses her. While they can’t truly be together until the current situation with Estu is over, Mayumi promises to wait for her. They spend the night together.

It’s 10:30, and Hajime is still no closer to coming up with a non-lethal solution to deal with the Despairs. He vents about it to Keiko, who suggests that he write a list of the pros and cons of killing them (she also reminds him that he doesn’t have to take responsibility for others’ decisions). Hajime makes the list, but ultimately comes up with more pros than cons. Distraught, he goes to bed. Keiko comes in while he’s sleeping and discovers that the last item on the con list is “You’re not a murderer,” which has been crossed out. Hajime then has another nightmare.

//And so the timelining begins again

[plitaka]

ive got to finish reading your post as im still having my morning coffee but i have an interesting point on the coin! it is a sort of bs messing with these guys to be sure, but as an annoying visual novel player it reminds me of zero time dilemma (by all counts a horrible follow up game in its series but its got some good concepts) in that game it is ALL about the possible timelines you can end up on depending on one small decision.

theres a consistent idea brought up about how this one small snail caused the events of the world to shift because one woman normally ran one path but one time there was a snail on the other path and she chose it for that, afterwards she wound up killed. then the game itself opens with you confronted by your captor telling you if you chose the right side in a coinflip they will let you go and if you DO get it right they actually let you go, if you dont you have to stay and play his game in which basically a bunch of other branching decisions occur.

im not saying they specifically referenced this (possible though) or just the same principle of butterfly effect existing in the flip of a coin but the principle suits kafka super well!

Lmaoo I love how every single person that mentions ztd has to talk about how terrible it is, I’m not that deep in Uchikoshi hell yet but… one day….

anyway yeah!! She definitely strikes me as someone who could be obsessed with like, the butterfly effect but because she works for Elio she can know how small changes can effect the grand scheme of things. I will never shut up about how fragile things are the most beautiful to her and what’s more fragile that I future that can change at the flutter of a butterfly’s wings? God she suuuuuuccccckkkks I hate her so fucking much

[justafeweggnoodles]

Everything's Interconnected AU Timeline Part 2: X-life / Afterlife

Timeline masterpost :D

X-Life

The main difference in X-life is how the magic works. The magic of Jeremy and the witches are extremely similar. There was a war of gods thousands of years ago, leaving all but one of the gods in an extremely weakened. The weakened gods only had enough power to give one person abilities, so they chose a witch each. Each of the X-life witches powers relate to which god gave them magic, they also a part of their hair that’s the colour that corresponds with their god, this colour also typically shows up in other parts of their outfit. Not every god had a witch, a couple of the X-lifers got powers many years after X-life ended. The one that still had most of their power was Jeremy and got one of his champions to start a religion for them. Jeremy's champions were very similar to the other gods witches. One willingly took the mantle of champion and started the church of Jeremy, one was forced into it and had his body turned into Jeremy's puppet and the final one initially refused but eventually had no other option but to except. Two of Jeremy's champions were other gods witches, but the first one was Jeremy's 'witch'.

All the characters run out of life

The first champion left leaving Jeremy's puppet to try to kill everyone. This caused fighting and loss. This war was the reason all of the X-lifers lost their lives. Fwhip and Megan were the last of the Jeremys to fall (Jeremys is the word for the followers of Jeremy). One of the biggest events in this war time was the shattering of the coven's crystal, the crystal was an anchor for the gods and helped them stay connected. While being channelled through the crystal stopped the gods from being able to talk to their witches it also allowed the witches to practice more types of magic instead of being limited to their god's domain. The final three X-lifers alive was Jeremy's 3 champions. His puppet champion killed the one who became a champion last, as his mind was released from Jeremy's control and he realised everything he had done, the first champion returned.

Afterlife

When the X-lifers arrive in Afterlife they are joined by Mythical Sausage from Empires S1. The main goddess who looks over Afterlife is Saint Pearlecesentmoon aka Pearl from Empires S1. The X-lifers and Mythical lived up to 10 lives, each a different hybrid. The events are the same as the series. 

What happens to Afterlife's world after

As each of them run out of lives the disappear but when they had all reached the end of their lives, they woke back up. Now the X-lifers and Mythical can freely change between the hybrid forms and a base form. Pearl can now come down to Afterlife and freely walk among them, it is still a while till she does this often though. The other emperors from Empires S1 ended up living in Afterlife with the X-lifers, the Kingdomcraft people also join them at some point. No-one else ends up living in Afterlife but there are many other places you can get to and from.

Further explanations:

Part 1: Kingdomcraft / Empires, Part 3: Hermitcraft S8 & 9, Part 4: Newlife, Part 5: Points of connection

If you want more details on something or are just curious about the AU send me an ask :D

[brightlight-dazzlingeyes]

love means nothing | chapter 01

leon goretzka x original female character [+18]

synopsis: 10 years ago, after winning wimbledon at the age of 18, olivia araujo was tennis's biggest rising star. she had a cosmopolitan social life, a handsome boyfriend and all the time in the world. now she was pushing 30, single, lonely and after several complicated injuries she could feel her career coming to an end. warnings: sports-typical violence; mentions of depression; angst; timeline of events are not based on real life; minors dni.

masterlist | next chapter

Chapter 01 | Everybody’s Changing

“Trying to make a move just to stay in the game

I try to stay awake and remember my name

But Everybody's Changing, and I don't feel the same”

February, 2023, Lyon

Every sport has its own language, with every little detail about them having its own particular overcomplicated term. It helps to keep the normal people clueless and it makes us weirdos feel like we are better than everybody else. When explaining tennis to my normal friends the part they struggle the most is accepting the scoring nomenclature. So, let me try to explain it to you. A tennis match is divided in ‘sets’ and every set is divided in what we call ‘games’. To win a tennis match you need to win 2 sets, and to win a set you need to win at least 6 games. To win a game you need to score at least four points. The first point a player scores in a game is called fifteen; the second is called thirty; zero points is called Love. Why? I have no idea; it’s just the way it is. It’s a cute nickname. Basically, in tennis, Love means nothing.

I have been a professional tennis player for 10 years now. I heard every stupid pun and felt compelled to buy every stupid t-shirt related to the Love being zero thing. But now, alone in a 5 star hotel in France, the reality of the irony is weighing on me. You get used to hear it and I'm starting to think the corelation fucked up my head. I'm 28 and have been single for the past 5 years. To make the irony greater, I'm a singles specialist. In fact I haven't played in a doubles match for a couple seasons. For multiple reasons, my health being the main one. I had to prioritize. Can't play every tournament anymore, can't play all the categories.

It’s a life of sacrifices, being a pro athlete. That’s not news for me. But when you’re young what drives you is the belief it will all be worth it. It’s okay to skip college, lose friendships, miss your little sister’s birthdays– you’re doing it for a cause, for a passion. Because you already spent too much time in it, and you just can’t go back.

When youth fades the passion fades with it. The cause doesn’t feel as important anymore. The trophies don’t shine as bright. The cities you travel to are not as interesting. Or maybe it’s not an age thing. Maybe I'm just depressed. Or maybe it’s because my ankle is twice the size it should be. Another injury and it’s just the start of the season. I was playing Caroline Garcia in the Lyon Open semi final yesterday. She was defending like a lion and I was serving like I was 22 again. And then I slipped.

My week actually started pretty decently. I was in Paris, my favorite city in the world, having brunch with my dashing ex boyfriend. Sure, it didn’t go exactly as I planned, and he didn’t fall to my feet professing his love for me. If anything it was the other way around. You can’t blame me, Leon has changed so much since the last time we’ve met. He had just played against PSG for the Champions League round of 16, and before traveling back to Munich he agreed on having brunch together. We were staying at the same hotel and it was too much of a coincidence for me to let it pass. A once in a lifetime opportunity, really. In the past ten years of travel that didn’t happen once.

Leon and I dated for six months back when we were eighteen. That was a long time ago and we were young enough to be certain we were soulmates. We planned a beautiful wedding in Italy and two well-behaved children who would, naturally, become legends in our sports when they grew up. Well, none of that happened.

“You’re looking good.” He was being polite when he said that, and I was practically drooling for him. The man looked spectacular. I tried to behave in a friendly manner, it was brunch so it didn’t really feel like a date. 

“It’s been so long!”

“I know, I’m glad you texted. I had no idea you were in town.”

“To be fair, the entire Bayern Munich squad is a bit easier to spot. And I’m in Paris practicing, I’m only competing next week, in Lyon.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll make sure I’ll watch you on the tv.”

“I watched you last night! I was in the stadium.”

“Really?”

It was so strange being in the same room again. He looked amazing and sounded so mature. He was a grown man in front of me. So bizarre that I didn’t get to watch that change happen. We hugged when we said goodbye and it was so hard letting him go. We promised to keep in touch but I remember how that went last time.

Now, I’m lying in bed after my physio shoved as many anti-inflammatory down my throat as she was legally allowed. Tomorrow morning I’m back in Paris and we’ll run some tests. After the pills kick in and the pains get easier to deal with, it's the boredom that drives me crazy. Recently, when I’m feeling especially sorry for myself, I’ll google my own name. And there it was, first link! A condescending sky sports article about my injury.

The image reads: Olivia Araujo withdraws from Lyon Open due to ankle injury. Later, in the same article, there was a link to the tweet the Open posted.

The tweet reads: “Unfortunately, Araujo has withdrawn from the tournament due to injury ❤️‍🩹Thank you for the incredible play, Liv! Congrats to Garcia who moves through to the final!”

After the night reading and almost crashing my phone on the wall, I finally passed out from the pills.

***

“Say goodbye to Indian Wells.” Sara, my longtime physio and close friend, whistled. She was reading me the results of my exams.

“Never liked the desert anyway.”

“But if you behave we can get you to Miami! Or if you decide to take a vacation as I have been suggesting, you could just skip it and jump to the clay season.”

“Miami sounds like a vacation.”

“You know I can only get you 100% physically, right? The mental part, Liv, that’s not with me. But I can tell something's off with you.”

“Of course something is off with me, Sara, my ankle is all fucked up! Just get me fit and I’ll be fine. Promise.”

My phone becomes much more important than that conversation when Leon texts me. 

leon:

how did the exams go

feeling better?

:(

liv:

i’ll be fine to play miami next month

what are you up to

True to his words, Leon did watch me play and he did keep in touch. He sends me a pic of himself at the gym and I feel like dying. I’m still not sure if he’s flirting with me or what. I do know he’s single so at least it’s okay for me to thirst.

liv: you’re looking fit don’t make me jealous

leon: can’t help being young and healthy but seriously i do know how much it sucks to be injured you want to talk? i can call

I called him immediately after reading his text.

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

We both giggle.

“I’m actually not upset anymore. It could be better, but it could be worse.”

“So you’re an optimist now? Since when?” I can practically see him smiling on the other side of the call.

“Don't sound so surprised, you changed a lot too.”

“Yes? How so?”

“You’re all buff now.” I’m blushing as I say it and he laughs.

“But that, I just showed you how I did it.”

“I didn’t turn into an optimist. I just went through worse, so I can’t be too bothered over a sprained ankle.”

“Trust me, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

Those phone calls quickly became routine. I went back to Lisbon for my treatment, and the nostalgia hit me like a truck. Being in my family home while calling Leon and giggling hiding from my parents. It felt too much like being 18 again. For my parents, they couldn't see much of a change. They got used to me being here over the last couple of years. I don’t remember the last time I went over 6 months without an injury, and dealing with that in Lisbon was so much easier. My father, who’s my coach, and my physio Sara, both live here. The place I used to call home is now an abandoned apartment in Monte Carlo.

“At least it wasn’t your wrist.” My dad spoke nonchalantly over breakfast. I am the daughter of Fabio Araujo, still the best ranking male Portuguese tennis player in history, 20 years after his retirement. The best ranking Portuguese tennis player in all categories would be me. I’ve reached number 1 in both singles and doubles. But that was a long time ago, now I sit comfortably under the 100’s.

“Yes, at least it wasn’t my wrist. Could be worse, right?”

My mother was Eva Borges, she was a supermodel in the 90’s and was terribly disappointed when I decided to follow my dad’s steps. But she got lucky and around the same time she got pregnant again. My baby sister Chiara was a perfect copy of our mother. Mom’s obsessed with the idea of turning Chiara into a mini her. Making her a model, marrying her off to a rich man. It’s been working well for her so far.

“There’s someone I want you to meet.” Chiara said when I arrived. “He’s very handsome. His name is John.”

John was a puppy. A baby pug. We never got to have dogs when we were kids, our parents were too busy and didn’t really like animals. Now Chiara was 21 and had her own place. She seemed responsible enough for the job, unlike me at her age.

“I’m talking to Leon again.”

“The football player?”

“Yes. The football player.”

We’re in her bed and I show her pictures of him. The pictures he sends me.

“He’s so hitting on you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know.” Chiara laughs when I say that.

“Well, I know. For sure.”

In my childhood room there’s a box with special items from my previous relationships. From Leon I’ve only kept two things: a Maroon 5 album he gifted me on our 3 month anniversary and a polaroid of us kissing. In the picture I was a blonde girl, baby cheeks being 90% of my face. At the time I also had a killer backhand that got lost along the way. Looking in the mirror I couldn't find a single trace of the girl in the brunette woman in front of me.

March, 2023, Key Biscayne

I was once a Grand Slam winner, now I'm out of the Miami Open after my first match. I got beaten 6-1, 6-2, in a 49 minute match. My physio blamed the injury and my father couldn’t really look me in the eye. He always gets like that when I lose. ‘Let’s go back to training.’ He’ll say tomorrow.

Florida is not an ideal place to be sad, at least not at this time of the year. The sun is shining too brightly and the palm trees are standing way too pretty for me to feel bad. Or guilty. I have been to the final of every Grand Slam. Wimbledon, I won twice. Roland Garros once. In hard courts there was only disappointment. Three years ago when I lost the Australian Open, I seriously considered retiring. The mental exhaustion of the sport became too much for me. So losing in Miami now isn’t exactly a tragedy. My ego has been bruised for a while.

So why keep going? I don’t know what else to do. Tennis is my life, is all I know. I can’t imagine starting over, and I do know the time for retirement will come no matter what. There’s nothing I can do to avoid it. I understand my father a lot better now, he made an heir, he taught me his trade, and now he still has a taste of the life he used to live. Maybe that’s what I should do. Pop a baby, repeat the cycle.

Back in the hotel room the realization of the loss hits me. I feel like crying. Or maybe punching someone would help too. Instead, I text Leon.

liv: i lost again and i’m in florida, that’s the worst part this place is awful leon: let’s meet up let’s have dinner together

[healbellls]

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted. Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: Vani OOC Contact: Asks, IM, Discord is meant only for my mutuals.

Who the heck is my muse anyway:

// This is a multimuse blog, in order to spare me from making this post way too big, I won't be talking about each and every muse I got here.

My muses are separated into three tiers:

Primary muses: My main ones. The ones I'm sure, I have a better grasp on and have far more consistency with than others. (Morty, Juan, Barry and Drake).

Secondary muses: Muses that were basically NPCs, turned into muses. They can be fickle at times, since they aren't exactly my priority. It only means I prefer reserving these guys, for far more plotted oriented stuff. Rather than just blindly tossing them around. (Prof. Rowan and Brendan)

Tertiary muses: AKA - friends only or long time partners muses. I only use these characters with a select few people, it is nothing personal. I'm merely managing my RPs, furthermore I have my own reasons for only wanting to use them with a select few people. I'll be the one approaching people about these muses. (Lance)

I feel like I got a pretty neat variety in type of muses, to offer folks. But at the same time, some may be a tad obscure to some folks. Which is all A-OK for me. I'm still deciding whether or not, I'll bring back some other old muses I had.

Points of interest:

// My muses aren't set in stone. Sure, there are somethings about them I can't and won't change, because they are integral to my portrayal. Aside from it, I'd say they can be adjusted to fit in with a lot of the newer things that are being brought to the franchise.

I know it may be intimidating/daunting, because of my preference for the older things. But that's way more a matter of preferring, to stick with what I grew up with and I'm familiar with, more than anything else.

What they’ve been up to recently:

// Timeline wise. I like using B2W2's setting as the "present time", for most of my muses. So here's a quick run down for it:

Juan and Morty: PWT, they can either be in Unova or they've returned from the event.

Drake stayed back in Hoenn, alongside Brendan. Who's 18 years old by then, and he is finally taking on the duties of being the region's champion.

Barry has been travelling around the world, visiting each and every region. In this moment, he should be in Unova, taking on the League challenge and checking out the PWT.

Prof. Rowan is still working on his researches in Sinnoh.

Where to find them:

// I kinda of answered this above LMAO. But, if we aren't speaking of a B2W2's setting then things change a lot:

HGSS's events - Johto region, Ecruteak city, Morty.

Pt events - Sinnoh region. Barry is traveling around the region, never really stopping somewhere for long. Rowan is also going around the region, his research has picked up a lot of steam.

Emerald's events - Hoenn region. Juan is in Sootopolis city, recently returned to his gym leader duties, and gets caught up with the weather disaster caused by Groudon and Kyogre. Brendan is specifically Emerald's protagonist, he doesn't stay in a place for long.

ORAS's events - Hoenn region. Drake is technically speaking, a mixed bag of Emerald and ORAS's takes on Hoenn. But due to being in possession of a mega Salamence, that makes him a lot more ORAS oriented. He is within the region, and arrives in Ever grand city just in time to be challenged by Brendan.

Current plans:

// I'm genuinely trying to stay active around here, and this isn't anyone's fault but my own! I'm adjusting myself to my new IRL schedule. Despite that, I'm definetely interested in getting the ball rolling around here.

I'm looking to start new plots and interactions, with both new and former partners.

Desired interactions:

// pspsppspspspspsps fellow league comrades pspspspsps come get ur shit co-workers.

Honestly? I just want to give a shot at these really old muses I got.

Offered interactions:

// I'm down to pretty much anything, I'm really willing to give a shot at! Just beware, some of my muses may touch on some subjects that could make others uncomfortable. And I trust you guys will do the wise option, and not engage with the ones you feel like will be too much for you.

It's all fine by me.

Current open post/s:

// None atm. I don't do opens, sorry.

I tend to reblog prompts, which I highly encourage to be sent! They help tons to break the ice between us!

Anything else?:

// I'm just happy to say I've finally got a place, for these guys. I missed them tons <3 As well as seeing so many familiar faces still around!

Repost, don't reblog it! Feel free to steal it, and say I tagged you!

[sweetescapeartist]

What do you think of the bit in Movie 9 where it was stated that it was Goku's fault that the earth was attacked by Bojack? Because if you really think about it, he was the reason that the earth was attacked and that Gohan was nearly killed in the first place. If he didn't blow up King Kai's planet, none of this would have happened. Of course, this backs up Goku's reason for wanting to stay dead because he attracts danger at best and accidentally frees villains at worst. I dunno, what do you think of the events of the second half of Movie 9 being all Goku's fault.

The thing is that often time, the movies didnt understand Toriyama's writing.

Goku felt like threats coming to Earth were due to him, but often times they weren't due to him. It was just coincidence or not anything connected to him at all.

Red Ribbon Army wasn't because of Goku.

King Piccolo wasn't because of Goku.

Raditz wasn't Goku's fault, but he came to Earth due to Goku.

Vegeta & Nappa didn't come to Earth due to Goku.

Freeza wasn't because of Goku. It was because of Vegeta's scouter relaying information & cause of Kami's Dragon Balls.

Freeza came to Earth for revenge against Goku.

The Androids & Cell were because of Goku as well as others. But they would have been made regardless if Goku was alive or not in order to take over the world as we see in the future timeline.

Cell becoming perfect was Vegeta's fault.

Buu was no fault of anyone except probably the Supreme Kai's incompetence & Vegeta's extreme arrogance that resulted in almost everyone on Earth being killed.

Its not Goku's fault all the time. Most of the time he has nothing to do with the threats. He's just there. Even in DBS, only Freeza coming back is his fault but that is shared with Future Trunks too. And the Earth being destoeyed by Freeza was both Goku & Vegeta's fault for getting too cocky in different ways. Goku Black was Zamasu's fault because Hit was obviously stronger than Goku was, but Zamasu chose to take Goku's body for some reason.

Do you want to know who's fault it usually was that all these dangers come to Earth? The Nameless Namekian.

He split and created King Piccolo who terrorized Earrh.

The Dragon Balls he made led the Red Ribbon Army on their search. (Along with other enemies.)

Vegeta came to Earth due to Piccolo talking about the Dragon Balls.

Freeza got involved because he heard about the Dragon Balls that Kami made and terrorized the Namekians.

Piccolo's cells are the reason why Cell was strategic and had regeneration that made him difficult to defeat.

Buu being revived was not the fault of Piccolo. Most of the fault falls upon Vegeta.

A lot of problems in DB are because of Piccolo/The Nameless Namekian. But at the same time, he is part of the reason the Earth and universe was saved. Different characters contribute to problems on accident (or on purpose for some) as well as contribute to solutions. But, everyone just blames Goku because he's the main character and cause he felt threats come to Earth cause of him. But he realized in the Buu Saga that he was wrong. It wasn't his fault. Dangers just appear.

[manie-sans-delire-x]

So I realized today that this month is my "anniversary" and that it only just became 2 yrs ago. I thought it was 3 yrs ago this whole time, I could have sworn it was, I remember it being over 2 yrs ago. Do you ever feel like reality just changes on you? Like you slipped into a slightly different timeline. You could have sworn things were different. That things that didnt happen did. Or that this exact chain of events has happened multiple times already and you get brain wiped everytime with only the sense of a memory.

Anyway. It upset me. Because this whole time I thought it had been over 3 yrs and I was angry at myself for still being so stuck over it and I was fearing that I was going to be like this forever. But the whole time it had only been a year and a few months? No wonder Ive been such a mess. I suppose I could have been kinder to myself in that case, more understanding.

So I graduated university 2 yrs ago. And in that span I was raped twice, had my friends not give a shit, got fired from my first real job, experienced lowkey traumatizing situations from my next job, turned back to prostitution to try and cover rent, lost my apartment anyways, witnessed a child die, got institutionalized and mistreated by the system, attempted suicide, had to move back into the most triggering environment possible, and then had less than consentual sex again. And I was plenty fucked up to begin with, way before uni and a complete mess during it too.

And still the hardest part is all the misogynistic bullshit that goes on in the world. All the fucking injustice. Losing rights. The gaslighting, the victim blaming, the denial. What happens to me is a microcosm of the larger system. Its the exact same thing with just a difference of scale. The cause is the same, the tactics are the same, the impacts are the same. I think of an article I read on a young woman suffering under the Talibans rule. She used to go to school studying to be a doctor. Now she stays at home with her "husband" and hasnt talked to another woman in months. They said she sleeps a lot more and talks a lot less now. It struck me because I do the same. As much as I deny my own trauma I saw the same suffering in her. Same impact, different scale.

Anyways, he texted me to tell me it was 2 yrs ago this month. He asked if I thought about him. I do everyday. He told me before that he would think about me, and that he masturbated to the memory. I suppose he "thinks of me" fairly often.

[waloeders]

the updated kosmos timeline/backstory is essentially:

*proceeds to write the longest most convoluted setup ever*

1) clive experiences the events of the entire game, gets to origin, where there's a bunch of horrible stuff, and instead of using the magic gathered to destroy origin, he makes a desperate attempt to travel back in time to fix everything, save the ones he loves and such

2) this is widely regarded as a terrible idea. but it works! kind of. he goes back to a few days before the start of the game, when he was an imperial bearer, except when he wakes up: kosmos is there.

3) hijinks ensue. he tells kosmos to go to lostwing and tell them cid sent him (they have yet to admit to clive literally anything, he just thinks theyre some rando in the woods abt to be caught+killed by his imperial buddies)

4) later, after clives saved jill, taken (+killed) benediktas powers and also reunited with joshua, they meet again. clive, cid, joshua n jote end up in lostwing and he sees them again and is like hold on. i never met them originally 🤨

5) more hijinks but they eventually figure out everyones on the same side, team "fuck ultima up" is partially formed and kosmos joins

6) back to cids hideaway! clive explains all, kosmos chimes in every now n then with extra tibits and together they come up with a plan to kill ultima before destroying the remaining mother crystals. also, they hope to recruit barnabas n maybe even kupka to fight against ultima

7) at some point? clive, jill and cid fight kupka and he takes on all 3 (shiva, ramuh, titan) powers. fun fact: doing this when far away from kosmos, hurts them! so its best to keep them closeby [they dont find this out until after titan]

8) clive confronts odin at belarus tor while cid distracts slepnir, joshua talks with dion, jill tries to prevent collateral damage during the fight and kosmos is there to back up jill

9) big fight, clive wins n takes odin powers and barnabas is an awkward third wheel to ultima "wow i love mythos" mcgee, which is when he discovers that no humans, not even ultimas followers were going to end up in the new world. this does wonders for his religious beliefs [read: absolutely demolishes them n hes in denial abt it for a while]

10) barnabas ends up being taken captive n back to the hideaway, meets kosmos on the travel back and immediately is like. okay this guys weakest for sure, i can definitely take him in a fight, even hands tied, maybe even manipulate him into joining my team! which is how they end up ridin the same chocoboro back n talkin lots

11) during his time captive in the hideaway, they get closer but at some point, maybe when clive and cid are meeting up with joshua n dion to plan how to handle ultimas fake half brother of dion/clive/joshua, barnabas escapes, takin kosmos hostage along the way

12) they end up back in waloed at the tower and barnabas has an argument with ultima for the first time ever. ultima doesnt like this and he also seems to recognise kosmos as, in fact, kosmos, not just some random dude like everyone else thinks

13) hes like ayo. kill kosmos ffs. that things kosmos, i taught u abt him hes dangerous and mean. and barnabas is like 🤨 hmm???? what??? no i dont wanna do that, ur not even takin me to the promiseland

14) *ultima cast eldritch blast* no but like yeah he just goes fuck it, i can manage a spell strong enough to kill these two (mainly kos cuz hes actually dangerous/a threat to him)

15) somehow, kosmos blocks it (unknowingly causing a massive shockwave across valisthea) and then teleports the two of them back to the middle of the hideaway aaaand passes out. 10/10. no notes

16) during his recovery, barnabas barely leaves his side unless slepnir stays. hes kinda in-out for it but he does get close + familiar with slepnir and also has a funny fever moment

17) later end of recovery, he gets moved back to his own room, which is when my prev fic is set :3

18) slepnir also joins after the events, i just havent decided on how it reads. so they just have a sleep/cuddle pile together :3 cute ! <3

yeah then idk just yet. i have some ideas abt havin a big group dight with ultima n the way barnabas acts bc of this new relationship + complete shifting of his personal/religious(?) beliefs. like at first he absolutely just goes yeah ill transfer it to someone else like mythos/clive and follow him instead. and then wait, kosmos stands up to ultima, hes so powerful wow! no, right, he should follow them instead.

u know what, follow me to therapy. go to therapy !! its an interesting dynamic to say the least.

kosmos and his dog that bites and his dogs horse who is also his horse that kicks. and kosmos, who just goes :( thats not nice.

if u read all this a) im sorry b) thank youuuu 🥰🥰 i hope this makes some sense even to ppl who havent played the game/dont know the storyline <3