#currently got nothing to post so here another one lol

[arolesbianism]

I have obtained a new oc and in the process I've already signed myself up for needing to make at least 3 new ocs for his story which he now has despite me initially Intending for him to be a side character for a different side character to hang out with. My townhouse has over 200 characters on it.

[tillsfan]

new official arts analysis..

i really like how. doll-like sua looks here. i love when vivimeng depict sua as a husk of a person, dehumanizing her because she really had nothing without mizi.

the sua on the right seems very content, leaning into her reflection. she honestly seems kind of proud in my opinion. this is her satisfied with her decisionto sacrifice herself without mizi’s knowledge, content with the happy lives they lived while they could live it. sua was accepting of her death, happy it would be her and not mizi, because she KNOWS she wouldn’t survive on her own. mizi is strong, sua isn’t. we also know sua is very selfish. maybe she looks so content because she knows mizi will continue to think of her? maybe she’s aware of the impact this would have on mizi, how she will never leave mizi’s mind, making it easier to accept her own sacrifice.

the sua on the left is creepy, soulless. i always imagined this version of sua is mizi’s current perception of her.. sua was still an angel in her eyes, she was literally mizi’s god, but mizi didn’t know as much about sua as she thought. she knew nothing at all. the sua she knows now is not the sua she knew previously, the innocent and happy sua she grew up with. she’s a shell of a person now, haunting mizi’s mind. did sua plan this? how did she know this would happen? why didn’t she tell me? why did she lie to me? i’m sure questions like these are circling in mizi’s mind, never to be answered.

ivan looks. deranged. to start. he’s way more focused on the camera than sua, looking down on us. also unlike sua, he’s sweating and crying(?), and is leaning away from the reflection. this immediately pushes the fact that ivan didn’t exactly plan his death like sua did hers. we’ll never truly know what was going through his mind, but i always felt like his lash out at till was an impulsive decision. he knew one of them was going to die, and when he saw till no longer fighting, he realized the reality that he wouldn’t be able to keep on going without till. so he ran, letting out all his emotions in his final moments. he is also a very selfish character, so i feel he’s ecstatic that in the end, he got to leave a lasting impression on till like he wanted. either that, or he’s grateful he finally got to let out all his emotions towards till, making till suffer yet saving him in his final moments.

another detail i noticed is that the ivan’s hands aren’t touching each other like sua’s, his hands have their backs faced to each other. the ivan on the left isn’t ivan’s true nature, it’s the facade he’s known to have showed those around him. he’s detached from this persona he put up, therefore not touching his palms. he’s also looking at us like he KNOWS something we don’t. unreliable narrator ivan strikes again.

okay so till’s is SIGNIFICANTLY different than both ivan and sua’s. he’s the only one facing away from us, the blood on him not visible. the side of his injury is also facing away from us. there’s also a lack of branding on him. i feel this is the most obvious piece we’ve gotten signifying that he’s going to be alive. they’re deliberately hiding any way for us to see the aftermath of his injury.. vivimeng has been treating till’s supposed death So much more differently than they’ve treated the other characters deaths. in his final comic, his post ‘death’ official art, and now this (which i will elaborate more on in a different post. i have an 10+ paragraph long analysis on why i believe till is alive LOL..)

his reflection is also not a normal mirror—it’s a true mirror. the hand placement isn’t mirrored like ivan and sua’s, it’s as if he’s directly holding out to the till in front of him. i believe he has a true mirror because he has always been true to himself. he never put up a facade or lied like ivan and sua did, as he never needed to. he was always his most authentic self, not only living for another person like the other true, but also for himself. we don’t see the mirror till’s expression, but we can see his mouth. he’s frowning, showing a lack of acceptance to his fate. i genuinely think he’s going to be okay. he’s a fighter, even in this photo, he’s still fighting. he refuses to accept that it’s his time to go, not sparing us a mere glance of assertion regarding his death.

note that i’m not saying these are the true meanings! just how i interpreted it. <3

[hoonieyun]

letter from: heeseung ⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

you're my wishlist, looking at you got me thinking of christmas. snowflakes in my stomach when we're kissing and when you're coming down the chimney, oh it feels so good... -sabrina carpenter "a nonsense christmas"

pairing: lee heeseung x reader

genre: romance/fluff - a BIT of angst - idol!heeseung - long distance relationship

warnings: suggestive, kissing, profanity, and overall 18+ (not proofread lol)

summary: heeseung comes home for the holidays

christmas herald masterlist ⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

word count: 3302

You didn’t think you could fall in love with Heeseung anymore than you already did but as you smiled at your phone while looking at the photo of Heeseung holding a duck shaped snowball, you couldn’t help but miss him even more. 

As you were going to continue smiling at the handsome photo of Heeseung, you’re interrupted when Heeseung’s contact photo appears on your screen, indicating that he was calling you at the moment. You quickly accept the call and soon enough, Heeseung’s handsome face that you were just staring at appears, he’s bundled up in warm clothes and a scarf so big that it almost covers half of his face. 

“Hi, baby! How are you?” Heeseung asks, flashing his classic smile that never failed to make you swoon. “I was literally just looking at the photo you just posted!” you tell him with a laugh. 

“Wow, you love me huh?” Heeseung teases and you roll your eyes in response, smiling at him regardless of his teasing. The two of you briefly catch up on your days and what you have planned for the week. Heeseung was currently in a car on his way to schedules you assumed and you were in bed, cozied up in a large knit blanket and a hoodie of Heeseung’s that he had left for you. 

Dating someone who is constantly in the public eye and famous doesn’t come easy, but as you face hardships it only makes the sweet and tender moments even more worth it. You and Heeseung have been dating for 2 years now, going on 3 this upcoming Christmas and the only thing you could wish for is that he would come home for the holidays, but with Christmas arriving in the next 24 hours; it was highly unlikely that would happen. 

“What’s on your mind, pretty?” Heeseung asks, bringing you out of your thoughts. You hadn’t realized that you were spacing out, “Oh! Nothing, babe. Was just thinkning about how fun Christmas will be tomorrow. Wish you were here!” you say, a slight pout at the end. Heeseung’s eyes soften at your words, he wished he could spoil the surprise but he knows waiting will be worth it. “I know, my love. I want to be with you more than anything in the world right now.” Heeseung says. 

“But your Christmas present should arrive tomorrow!” he continues. “You didn’t have to get me anything!” you ask, pouting even more but knowing Heeseung was always one to spoil you. “Alright, I’ve gotta go, my love. Merry Christmas, love you. I’ll talk to you soon.” Heeseung says and you bid him goodbye but not before blowing him a kiss through the phone and Heeseung catching it in his hand in response. The two of you laugh at the interaction before ending the call, a sigh leaving your lips as you spend yet another Christmas without the love of your life. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

Heeseung sighs as you end the call and a smile spreads on his face. You had no idea about his Christmas gift for you and although he felt guilty for leading you on a bit, he knew it was going to be worth it in the end. 

“Is she off the phone?” his manager asks and Heeseung hums in response. His manager tells him that they’re almost at the airport and tells him to make sure he’s got his passport and boarding pass ready. Soon enough, they’re at the arrivals wing of the airport and Heeseung is making his way inside to catch his flight all the way to the love of his life, you. 

Heeseung would arrive sometime on Christmas morning so he was excited to be able to surprise you. He had coordinated with your mom to make sure the surprise works, ensuring that your family holds the secret and doesn’t spoil it for you. Heeseung has been planning this surprise for the last few months and did everything he could to make sure that his company and managers would allow him and in all honesty; he was going to make it happen regardless.

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

The next morning was filled with half joy and half yearning. You wished you could wake up and find Heeseung sleeping soundly next to you in bed but like every other day for the last year or so, you woke up in bed alone. Christmas morning should be filled with only joy so you weren’t going to let Heeseung’s absence overshadow your enjoyment of Christmas day with your family. 

You spent a quick amount of time after getting out of bed to get ready. You were going to spend Christmas day at your mom’s house, as you usually did, and you wanted to put yourself together but not too much. Your mom had told you to wear holiday pajamas so you had gotten dressed in a red plaid pajama set. After getting dressed, you quickly packed your car with the presents you were bringing to your family and made your way to your mom’s home. 

Pulling into her driveway, you were met with several cars that belonged to some of your relatives. Your mom suddenly runs out to greet you a Merry Christmas and after sharing a warm hug with her, she helps you bring everything inside so you could greet the rest of your family. 

It was all smiles and warm hugs as you entered your childhood home and what sadness you had from Heeseung’s absence was soon filled with the joy brought by your relatives. You make your way to each family member, hugging and greeting them, when your sister asks, “Merry Christmas! No Heeseung again?” and although she meant no malice behind it, it left a bitter taste in your mouth as it was another reminder that you haven’t been able to spend Christmas with him for the last few years. You shook your head slightly and unbeknownst to you, there were side eyes and smiles exchanged from your relatives as you responded to the absence of your boyfriend. 

The greetings were short lived as right after everyone began exchanging gifts and opening their presents. Several of the kids were cheering in joy as they opened their presents to see toys, stuffed animals, and clothes with cartoon characters you didn’t really recognize. 

You smiled at all of the happy kids and glanced over at the older relatives who were thanking one another for their gifts, the presents being more of convenience for quality of life and a mixture of small personal presents that they knew each other would like. You opened several presents and thanked those that gave you one but although you didn’t want to be a debby downer, all you wanted was for Heeseung to be with you. 

From the side, your mom was looking at you, watching you and trying to read your expression. It doesn’t take much for her to know that you were merely yearning for your lover and she couldn’t help but feel for her daughter and as much as she wanted to comfort you and spoil the surprise, she knew better than to do that. Knowing that the surprise would be worth it in the end. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

Heeseung ends the call with your mom excitedly just as you’re pulling up into the driveway. He tells her that he had just landed and as soon as he gets his bags, he’ll be on the way to your mom’s house to surprise you and give you the best present you’ve ever had on Christmas. He was so excited to see you and couldn’t wait to get you in his arms and never let go. 

Your mom would occassionally send him updates on you, letting Heeseung know that you had arrived, what you were wearing, how you were feeling, and although he felt bad that you were a bit sad on Christmas, he knew that his presence would be the best present to make you feel better. 

And after what felt like the longest drive of his life from the airport to your childhood home, Heeseung is pulling into the street and instructing the driver to drop him off a few houses down just to be sure you don’t see him coming. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

Your mom receives a text from Heeseung and she smiles at her phone, “YN, honey. Here, open this!” she says, handing you a gift bag that had a bright red bow on it. “Mom, you didn’t have to get me anything, but thank you.” you say, giving her a hug before opening it. You excitedly open the gift from your mom, being taken back to when you were a child and you’d be ecstatic opening presents from your mom.  

You throw the glittery tissue paper to the side and pull out a white hoodie that was folded neatly but in a way that covers the front. You unravel the hoodie and a smile breaks out onto your face as a laugh erupts from your lips. You flip over the hoodie to show the rest of your family and they all laugh together, the hoodie has a photo of Heeseung as a baby and a santa hat is edited onto him. You thank your mom once more for the cute gift and although you still wish Heeseung was actually there, the hoodie itself helped a lot with how much you missed him. 

You quickly put the hoodie on and at the same time, the doorbell rings. You look at your mom confused as you scan the room, all of your relatives that you knew were attending Christmas at your moms were already here so you weren’t completely sure who that could be. 

“Are you expecting someone else, mom?” you ask and she merely just asks you to get the door. As you get up to open the door, you don’t notice that your relatives have sneakily pulled out their phones to record and were all biting back smiles and laughter as you approach the front door. 

A surprise waiting for you. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

Heeseung’s heart is beating faster and faster as he walks up the short steps up to the front door and as he presses the button of the doorbell, it feels like time stops as the bell rings from the inside. 

He swears he could hear his heartbeat louder than anything at this moment and he wasn’t completely sure what he would do as soon as he saw you. He had run through so many scenarios in his head on what he would do. 

He thought about just randomly appearing in your moms house. 

He thought about hiding inside of a comically large gift box and popping out.

But as he waited for you to answer the door, all he could think about was wrapping his arms around you and feeling the warmth of your love envelope the both of you. 

Heeseung is brought out of his thoughts when the sound of the door unlocking and opening takes over the sound of his heart beating in his ears. The door slowly opened and there you were, standing behind the door, beautiful as ever, eyes wide and lips slightly parted as your eyes met one another. 

“Merry Christmas, my love.” Heeseung says, flashing a smile you hadn’t seen in person in so long. 

But before Heeseung could approach you with a hug, the door gets slammed in his face. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

“What the fuck..?” you say, turning around to look at your family to which you find them all laughing with their phones out recording your reaction. Your breathing was suddenly so fast and you couldn’t process what was happening. 

How was Heeseung standing at your mom’s doorstep at this very moment? 

You couldn’t even fully process what was happening before Heeseung was ringing the doorbell once again. You swing the door open and as Heeseung is about to say something, you jump into his arms with a hug and he catches you. Wrapping his arms around your waist as yours are around his neck. He’s softly rubbing your back while whispering comforting and loving words into your ear. All you could hear was the beating of your hearts together as he whispers into your ear. 

“Merry Christmas, my love.” Heeseung says once again and this time you don’t slam the door in his face. You pull your face away from his neck to look at him, like you were making sure that he was actually there. 

“How are you here right now- Actually, I don’t care.” you say as you tighten your hug and bury your face in his neck once again. Heeseung laughs at your reaction and brings the two of you inside. One of your cousins helping Heeseung bring his suitcase into the house. 

He sits the two of you onto the couch and you situate yourself on his lap. Not even caring that this was way more PDA than you were usually comfortable with in front of your family but you couldn’t bring yourself to let go of Heeseung and neither could he. 

You and Heeseung save your conversation for later, for now the two of you were just happy to be in each other’s arms as you celebrate the Holiday with him and your family. They’d occassionally ask him questions about his life as a KPOP Idol and each time you would shush them and each time Heeseung would gently pat your back to let you know it was okay. 

That’s what you loved about Heeseung, he was always so accommadating and put so much effort into being a part of your family. You couldn’t help but just smile at him as he spoke with your family, they all got him something small but meaningful for Christmas and he soon passed out gifts he brought from Korea. 

“Oh! Before I forget…” Heeseung says as he slightly shifts underneath you, removing his winter coat to unveil a similar white hoodie like the one your mom got you but he had a photo of you as a baby with the same santa hat photoshopped onto the photo. You burst out into laughted at his reveal and once again wrap your arms around him. 

After a few hours and enjoying lunch together, your relatives leave your mom’s home with you and Heeseung leaving the very last; making sure to help your mom clean up before leaving, Heeseung’s idea that only made your heart swell with love even more. 

The two of you bid farewell to your mom, giving her a hug and kiss before heading back to your apartment. Heeseung in tow behind you as you walk over to your car. Heeseung offers to drive and although he hasn’t been in your hometown for a few years, it seems like his memory of the route to your apartment had never left his mind. 

You can’t help but stare at him as he’s driving and as cringe as it may seem, he had one hand on the wheel and his other was gently set on top of your thigh. The two of you spend the car ride singing to Christmas songs and laughing, enjoying the moment together and extending the moment into your apartment. 

Once the two of you enter your apartment his hands are on you and your lips connect. Sharing a kiss that the two of you have waited for for what seems like eternity. The kiss was electric and it felt like the first time you two had ever kissed. At the airport when Heeseung had finally asked you to be his girlfriend right before his flight back to Korea. 

The two of you spend the next few hours in your room, limbs tangled with one another, and your pillows and blankets thrown onto your bedroom floor. 

⋆｡˚❆˚ ｡⋆

“I can’t believe you’re here right now… this is crazy.” you say as you lay your head on Heeseung’s chest while he softly plays with your hair. He explains to you how he made it happen and how he had been planning it for the last few months with the help of your mom. 

“How long are you here for?” you ask, afraid of his answer but to your surprise and joy, Heeseung let’s you know that he’ll be there with you for New Years. He had to pull a lot of strings to be able to get a vacation away from the company for a week or so and with the help of his members, he was able to do just that. 

“Remind me to thank the guys.” you say with a laugh. “What about me? I’m the one that made it happen…” Heeseung says with a fake pout and all you could do was give him a quick kiss on his pouty lips. 

Christmas without Heeseung wasn’t easy, hell, life without Heeseung wasn’t easy and living so far from one another was the ultimate challenge to your relationship but somehow, through his busy schedule, he made it work. 

His dedication to you was a true testament to his love and you couldn’t help but ponder on a future with Heeseung where the only distance between the two of you would be the length of the walk you’d have to go on as you make your way down the aisle. He was someone you could see forever with and you knew that he was the one for you, and so did he. 

“What’s on your mind, pretty?” he asks and you sigh before answering. “Just thinking about how lucky I am to have gotten you as the person I’ll love for the rest of my life.”

“Rest of your life? Are you sure… I mean I know I’m a catch but forever's a… long time.” Heeseung teases and you merely just laugh and slap his chest in response. “Please, if anything, you’re stuck with ME.” you say, grabbing his arm and wrapping it around you tightly. 

“And I wouldn’t want to be stuck with anyone else for the rest of my life.” Heeseung says, giving you a small kiss on your crown. “Thank you… this was the only thing I wanted for Christmas and just when I thought that I would go another Christmas without you… you’re here.” you say, a small tear falls from your eyes and Heeseung pulls you up to look at him, wiping your tears away. 

“I know it’s hard not always being together but just know that I spend every hour of the day and night wanting nothing more to have you in my arms and to go home at the end of the day and to wake up the next day seeing your beautiful face. 

Thank you, for being so patient with me and sticking by my side through everything.” Heeseung says and even though you had briefly stopped crying, you couldn’t help but cry even more at his loving words. 

“Besides, maybe next time I’ll just fly you out to Korea.” he says and you laugh once again while wiping away your tears. 

Heeseung was good at that, making you cry because of how much you loved him but also knowing how to comfort you at the same time. It’s like he knew you so well that he was more connected with your emotions than you were with your own. 

“I love you, thank you for everything. You’re the best present I could ever ask for.” you say, giving him a kiss. 

“I love you too. I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas and way to enter the New Year than to spend it with you.” he says, once again pulling you into his arms for a hug. 

A hug that you wish you never had to let go of. 

copyright 2024 - present © hoonieyun all rights reserved

all writing here is fiction & not in any association with characters mentioned.

if you enjoyed reading this please consider reblogging and following <3

[hellsitedotcom]

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*·˚ FIRST KISS HEADCANONS : SUNDAY *·˚

Yeah, Sunday escalated a little, which is why he was moved to this post, lol. That's...kinda throwing off my initial plan for these posts. Anyways, bone app the teeth??

*·˚ warnings/info: well, there's obviously going to be mentions of kissing; reader implied to be shorter than Sunday. *·˚ english isn't my native language!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

⭒˚｡⋆ Sunday ⭒˚｡⋆

⇢ Sunday the kinda guy to have his first kiss after an old-fashioned date or something. I mean, my characterizations of everyone keep changing more extremely than the weather in Germany, but yeah, bare with me for the current one. ⇢ Spending time with Sunday (and sometimes Robin) was almost like an everyday occurrence to you. You were...friends? Well, you certainly were close. It wasn't unusual for you to be alone with him, have long conversations about nothing and everything, go out to get dinner with him. ⇢ And you didn't expect today to look any different when he invited you over to spend time with him at his place, thinking he just needed some company in Robin's absence. After all, you were close, and that's what people who got along with each other did - spend time together. ⇢ But, as you spent time with him, laughing over anything you found funny enough, you felt the energy between you was...different than usual. Sometimes you caught Sunday looking at you a little longer than usual, physical touch lingering, and eventually, you found yourself standing beside him on a balcony, overlooking the Morning Dew Dreamscape, your meeting slowly coming to an end.

''I don't think I'll ever get over this view,'' you sighed, leaning against the railing as you watched Morning Dew's sunrise. You had been to a handful of different Dreamscapes, but nothing could ever compare to those that shared the beauty of the morning sun with you. Beside you, Sunday chuckled softly, his shoulder almost brushing yours as he joined you, ''Well, maybe there's a beautiful sunrise somewhere out there just waiting for you to finally witness it.'' ''I have to find a way off this place first, no?'' you quipped, glancing over at him, ''And I guess I can't really do that until Robin returns. Can't just leave you alone, can I?'' When your eyes met his, you found that Sunday had already been looking at you, a gentle expression on his face. ''Well, I'm glad you're still around,'' he muttered quietly, his smile making you flustered, ''I don't think there's anyone whose company I enjoy more.'' ''Yeah? Huh, I don't think Robin would want to hear that,'' you joked, your voice softer than before, almost hesitant. The atmosphere around you was changing, the innocence of the early morning hours suddenly filled with another emotion, one you couldn't name just yet. Sunday just laughed at your response, turning to face the sun, ''I doubt she'd be surprised.'' ''I'm sure she realized it long before I did,'' he continued, catching you slightly off-guard. With a perplexed expression, you just stared at him, repeating his words in your head. You knew that Sunday considered you someone he shared a close relationship with - otherwise, you wouldn't be here right now - but it still made your heart skip a beat to hear him voice it all so openly. In the pale morning light, you found yourself entranced by him, watching the way the soft rays danced across his face, making his golden eyes shine even brighter than you had ever seen. His words kept repeating in your head, quietly, like a choir as your mind went through all the possible meanings behind the simple sentence. ''I hope she doesn't mind that I'm her brother's favorite,'' you finally spoke again, sounding far more off than you had expected, making Sunday turn to meet your gaze. He was smiling, a mixture of amusement and endearment on his face, ''She knew that it was bound to happen.'' ''Besides,'' he added, turning around to fully face you, ''I care about the two of you in very different ways. Robin is my sister, my family. And I love her the way you love your own blood.'' A heartbeat of silence. The world around you seemed to slow down, the ambiance noise as if muted while Sunday continued his speech, ''While my feelings for you and my sister aren't...that unalike, there is an important distinction. I feel familial love for Robin, while I feel something much deeper for you.'' The beating inside your chest made you think your heart was about to break out of your rib cage, and you didn't even realize that you had stopped breathing, unable to break eye contact as you stared at the man, straightening up while trying to process his words. Neither of you was saying anything right now. You were both just looking at each other, the atmosphere completely changed. Sunday seemed as if he was expecting an answer, but your mind was racing in overdrive, unable to form coherent thoughts. And, while Sunday was starting to grow slightly nervous given your...lack of response to his ''confession'', something inside you just- switched. The words came out of your mouth before you could stop them, catching not just you, but also the man off-guard. ''May I kiss you?'' Another heartbeat of silence. Then, a soft chuckle, relief flooding Sunday's expression, ''You may.'' And you did, leaning forward, the nervousness terrorizing you as your lips met his in a soft, brief kiss before you pulled away again, your hands shaking slightly.

You were about to say something, comment on...everything that had been said and done today, but before you could come to word, Sunday cut you off with another kiss, this one longer, deeper, and as you stood there in the light of the early morning sun, you found yourself hoping the moment would never pass.

Sunday held you close after that, his forehead resting against yours as you just stood there, allowing the rays of sunlight to engulf you, the pale golden hue like a sign that you had made the right choice, that you had found the right one.

For the longest time, neither of you wanted to leave, lost in the other's embrace until Sunday slowly pulled away, a sigh escaping his lips, ''I fear I probably have to get back to work.''

''I- I know,'' you muttered, looking up at him, ''Just...a few more minutes? Is that alright? I just...I don't want you to leave yet.'' Your voice was quiet, almost fragile. You couldn't remember the last time you sounded this vulnerable.

And Sunday noticed, eyes widening momentarily before he began to smile, grabbing your chin to tilt your head up and place another brief kiss to your lips, ''Just a few more minutes, then I'll have to get back. But you're welcome to stay with me if you want.''

[1moreff-creator]

Theory: Mai Akasaki’s Sixteen Killers

The theory that everyone in DRDT’s killing game is responsible for the death of Mai Akasaki. 

If you’ve been around the DRDT theorizing sphere, you might have caught sight of a very particular thought floating around; that one way or another, everyone in the killing game is responsible for Mai’s death. It comes up every now and then, so I figured I'd throw in my own take on the matter. Let’s pull a Poirot, and solve this Murder on not-quite-an Orient Express!

CW: Murder, suicide, poison, mentions of religion

The Prologue: Mai is Dead? Who is Mai?!

Alright but maybe I should explain who the hell I'm talking about for the uninformed :v

Mai Akasaki is a more or less secret character, who’s only had nine seconds of screen time in the main series (Teruko’s dream in 1-6), but is most likely Unnamed Classmate from the Bonus Episodes. A full introduction and several important theories I believe about her can be found in my Mai post. Although some parts of that post are outdated, it gives what I consider to be a good overview of everything we know about her. 

But in case you don’t feel like reading 15k words of rambling about this cryptid of a character, here’s quick summary:

-Probably part of Hope’s Peak East Class 27, classmate to most if not all the cast. After all, she’s Unnamed Classmate from the BEs. 

-Really nice girl everyone adored like a god.

-Xander and her fucked around (presumably staging some kind of rebellion against Hope’s Peak).

-She found out (per Veronika’s Mai quote, “A for who didn’t foresee the consequences”). 

-Presumed dead. 

To elaborate on that last point, given it’s part of this post’s thesis, I’ll quickly show the evidence. 

Most explicit. Mai’s numeral XI (and if you don’t know what a numeral means in the context of LGI, or what a "Mai quote" is, I urge you to read my secrets masterpost. This isn't an entry level theory lol :v) shows up alongside “God is dead,” alongside with an arrow pointing at Mai’s portrait when the word “God” shows up on screen. Not only that, this is the only grey numeral in the entire MV.

Then, just one line afterwards, the Kubler-Ross model of the five stages of grief shows up, a model often associated with death.

Even more evidence: the flowers in her tattoo are probably Mai flowers, a discovery by the-fox-in-the-socks. These flowers are associated with the legend of a girl named Mai who, among other things, died. Read their post for full clarification. 

So… yeah. Mai’s dead. But, can we really claim the cast is to blame?

The Basis: Someone’s Fault

There is currently one person in the cast who is heavily suspected to be in some way responsible for Mai’s death, two more who I brought up in my Mai post as likely candidates as well, and even more which have looser connections to her death. 

Teruko - Via Second Anniversary Art.

This gif shows Mai’s gloves disappearing from the top of a frame otherwise containing only Teruko, and in the middle flashes a code that (by rearranging the “rows” of the columns in numerical order) translates to “It’s all your fault.” So, Teruko at least is probably implicated, presumably through her luck if nothing else.

Xander? - Via Sixth Bullet

The LGI MV tells us there are six bullets to find, with the hint that we can’t actually find all of them. Indeed, only five bullets can be found. However, that could lead someone to speculate that the sixth bullet is loaded in the gun. Said weapon is labeled “(not a) prop gun”, connecting it to Xander, and aimed, while not directly at the Mai portrait, still too close for comfort. The idea here is that Xander might be considered responsible for her death because it was his idea to rebel against Hope’s Peak, and that may be what got her killed. If that makes no sense to you, again, please read the Mai post, I've already written too much about this girl to repeat myself too much T_T

Whit? - Via Tetraphobia

When Whit’s numeral XV appears on screen, we also get the instruction “subtract 4, due to tetraphobia.” XV - 4 = XI, which is Mai’s numeral, again “God is dead.” This could connect Whit to her death, with the idea being that he’s Whit so if there’s a way to look suspicious he’ll take it. That is to say, I actually don’t know how Whit could be connected to Mai’s death :p The only way to salvage Whit’s innocence in regards to Mai is to assume the tetraphobia thing is meant to connect him to footnote 11 instead of numeral XI, but footnote 11 is the Diana one, and while there’s ways to make that work, theorizing about Diana is genuinely harder than theorizing on Mai. So, for the purposes of the post, we’re gonna ignore that connection to Diana, and say that this could connect Whit to Mai. 

Ace??? - Via Highlighted Text

This is the most recent allegation to come up, and it’s based on an observation regarding Eden’s dialogue in 2-16.

Eden [2-16]: I never said that I forgave him. It's just that... The Ace I met for the first time wasn't a murderer.

The bolded text is peculiar. While it could just be for emphasis, it’s also possible it’s bolded to bring attention to it because it’s an assumption which is wrong. As in, Ace was a killer since the start of the killing game. If that’s not about Taylor (which it very well could be considering Ace’s dialogue, let's not ignore that), it could be about Mai. 

Veronika??? - Via Mai Quote

Veronika's Mai quote: A girl who didn't foresee the consequences.

Hers is the one that references consequences, after all!

Yep, that's the full connection.

David???? - Via Mai Quote Order

His Mai quote is the only one after Veronika’s in the Mai order given by the source code of Mai’s page, an order which has not been entirely forgotten. This could maybe make him suspicious if you squint harder than anyone’s ever squinted before. Does this one even make sense to anyone who is not me? Who knows.

Min????? - Via Footnote 6

Footnote 6, “[Prayer]”, flashes on screen at the same time Min’s numeral X is there.

Since Mai is a “God” in the MV, the prayer goes to the God, the scene is referencing Min’s murder kinda through the trial… Yeah this is uber weak. It’s kinda similar to saying Eden’s suspicious because her Mai quote makes no sense; just because it’s weird doesn’t mean it can be cleanly connected to the Agenda.

Yeah that’s kinda it. But, if only a few characters are being even tangentially connected to Mai’s death, how is it possible that everyone is catching an allegation? Well…

The Thread: Rule 14 & “Murder on Orient Express”

“Rule 14: All murderers must be held accountable for their crimes."

The strange wording in this rule has been a topic of speculation for a while. You could take it to mean that blackeneds who lose trials get executed, but then it wouldn’t be “all murderers,” it would just be “the murderers who get found.” Thus, the theory that there could have been multiple murderers in the cast even before the killing game properly started was born.

This is especially notable given a recent reveal: MonoTV's purpose.

MonoTV (DefaultTV) [2-16]: But there is no reason for me to punish Ace a second time. That would fail to serve my purpose. Ace: What? Charles: Your purpose? DefaultTV: Naturally. To run this killing game until the death of every participant.

There is no rule that states anything along the lines of "everyone has to be dead by the end," not directly. That is, of course, unless Rule 14 applies to everyone. If all murderers must be held accountable for their crimes, and everyone in the cast is (by some loose definition of the word) a murderer, then it follows that MonoTV would be designed to "punish" (read: kill) each and every one of them.

And this isn’t the only allusion to the possibility. The next topic to cover would be “A Murder on Orient Express.” Uh, spoilers for the book, but it’s a murder mystery where the big twist is that every suspect, every passenger in the train, had a part in the death of the victim. 

How is this connected to DRDT? Well, for starters, it’s one of the books referenced in LGI, with three appearances; one is just a reference to the David reveal, but the other two are more notable, one being attached to Teruko’s numeral XIII and the other directly preceding the “democratic-ly” shot, which directly references the killing game. A connection to the protagonist, the “main antagonist” and the killing game itself could be noteworthy…

If this wasn’t LGI. Teruko’s numeral is also attached to text from “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” the David scene has references to “Dogra Magra” and “No Longer Human,” and if it’s just about number of appearances, Hamlet has a whopping eight showings. If showing up in LGI was all these stories needed to be considered plot relevant, we’d need to figure out a connection to, like, a million other books, a scientific paper and several Wikipedia articles.

No, the more relevant references to Murder on Orient Express actually come from the main series itself. For starters, Teruko references Agatha Christie in 1-1. 

Teruko [1-1]: Strychnine... I think that many mystery novels mention that sort of poison. A****a C******e uses it as the murder weapon in one of her books.

However, Agatha Christie has written more than one book. In fact, the book Teruko references is "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," which I researched but couldn't find any way to connect it to DRDT (unless the concept of double jeopardy somehow becomes important). No, we need something else to refer us to Murder on Orient Express.

Which gets us to the biggest connection between DRDT and the book itself. And because dev hates me, specifically, it’s of course, in Thrown to the Wolves. 

Like, really, why is this execution in particular the most theory relevant execution in the history of fangans? I take psychic damage every time I revisit 1-12 please save this poor Min fan-

The final question Min receives is “Who wrote the murder mystery novel Murder in the Calais Coach?”. And “Murder in the Calais Coach” is the US’ localization of “Murder on Orient Express.” Notably, this is the only time in the main series (as far as I remember) that a proper noun referring to a real thing isn’t censored with asterisks; TEDtalks, Agatha Christie, and Amazon have all been censored this way. 

Xander [to David, Prologue-2]: You're just as incredible in real life as you are in your T*****k videos!

MonoTV [2-14]: But ever since I ordered 100 tons of concrete blocks from Am***n, I have been blacklisted from all online order companies.

This gives us an explicit connection, at least. Sure, it’s not guaranteed to be important just because it showed up in Thrown to the Wolves (I doubt the Riemann Hypothesis or that one enzyme system are important to DRDT), but combined with the other Agatha Christie reference and the lack of asterisks, it really seems like this could truly be significant.

So we've drawn the link between the book and DRDT. Combining it with what we talked about earlier about Rule 14 and MonoTV's purpose, it really seems like there's a solid argument to say that the whole cast might be responsible for the death of one particular person. And if that's the case, because of what we talked about even earlier, it's very possible that refers to Mai's death specifically.

Further evidence is MonoTV's Mai quote, "It's all your fault." The fact that the mascot of the killing game is saying that on Mai's page already suggests a connection between Mai's death and the origins of the killing game, so combined with the fact the purpose of this game is killing all its participants, it can potentially be taken as further evidence for the "Mai on the Orient Express" theory.

Now, to be clear, even with all of this, the evidence is... extremely loose. Understandably so; Mai and the killing game's origins are series wide mysteries which likely won't even get close to being solved until much later, so any theory which connects them is going to lack any amount of truly significant evidence. However, I feel there's enough there to at least consider it for the time being, and to keep the possibility in mind going forward. That's kinda the thesis of the post basically, "keep this in mind in case it comes up again" :v

As an add on though:

Alternative Theory: Unique Victims

Also known as: Holy shit is that a motherfucking Milgram reference?!!??!?

The idea here is that instead of everyone being responsible for Mai's death in some abstract manner, they all each killed at least one person before the killing game, but they each have different victims. "Killed" by a very loose metric, mind you, where being partially responsible for someone's suicide counts as murder in the eyes of the killing game organizers for some reason. This would be consistent with the previously mentioned Rule 14 interpretation, though the connection to Murder on Orient Express is notably weaker, as you need to generalize "everyone is responsible for the death of one particular person" to "everyone is responsible for someone's death." The advantage it has over the other theory is that we have a better idea of what each person's murder could be:

-Levi killed four people, that one's easy.

-Arturo blames himself for Felicity's death, at least.

-Min poisoned her competition. Potentially non-lethally, but potentially lethally as well.

-Teruko still probably holds some responsibility in Mai's death, or at least believes she does.

-Ace has been implied to blame himself for Taylor's death.

-Charles and Whit have Elliot and Elizabeth respectively. We don't know the full context of those two's deaths, so Charles and Whit could be responsible technically somehow.

-Veronika's done something worse than her motive secret implied, which could be murder. There's no evidence for it, but you know, it's possible.

-We know less than zero about Diana, to the point it's not impossible to make a theory that David caused her death.

-Xander has survivor's guilt... It's really not the same thing but y'know. You can kinda twist it into self-blame for death.

-Maybe Eden tried to kill Xander when she gouged out his eye? (Again sorry if you don't know what I'm talking about, should've read my secrets masterpost :p). If the cast calls Nico a murderer for attempted murder, then this could work. Technically.

-Hu attempted suicide. This is the biggest stretch in history, but there's some way to call Hu her own murderer with the same idea as before, that attempted murder still makes you a murderer. You know, ignoring that attempting suicide is completely different from murder. I'm trying, okay?

-Maybe Arei ruining her sisters' lives can be considered murder? Absolutely not, but again, I'm trying.

-If J, Rose and/or Nico killed someone before the killing game, it's never been implied. So, yeah. We're cooked on that front.

There's admittedly more set up for it than I'd realized before writing all that, but it's still not particularly perfect. I'll point to Arei as a particularly big problem for this theory, because there's almost no way for us to easily learn that she's killed someone now that she's dead, assuming her secret isn't somehow considered murder. Not to mention that Rose would probably have her murder as her secret if she remembers doing it. That, alongside with the Mai theory's closer connection to Murder on Orient Express, is why this post is mostly focused on said Mai theory; I find that to be the stronger possibility.

But of course, that's just my opinion. These theories are highly speculative and very likely to be wrong, but I wanted to get them out there somewhere. Hope you enjoyed them, and thanks for reading! If you made it this far, then you deserve a copy of Murder on Orient Express to read... or something like that. See ya'!

[henrioo]

°•*⁀➷ THE BIG CROCO BROTHER: CROCODILE

꒰ SYNOPSIS ꒱ : "Being a father was not easy, imposing limits was necessary and no matter how cute his face was, that of the Crocodile's only son, he couldn't allow you to do whatever you wanted... Especially when you're running around with three deadly wild animals."

꒰ WARNINGS ꒱ : PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP! NON ROMANCE, Father and Son! Male reader! Child reader! Soft dad Crocodile! Cross guild! Savage animals (bananawani), the reader has a powerful man in his control (his own dad)

꒰ WC ꒱ : 1k

꒰ NOTES ꒱ : And here I'm again, trying to post again and idk, nothing much to say today, my mood is horrible and my life sucks, but here some family fluffy to see if that motivates me to write again. Also the names of the wani are terrible because my discord friends choose them lol hahahah blank/no pronouns/fem=block

Crocodile was listening to Mihawk talking about the latest news he had gotten on his last trip, Buggy was looking at some maps that his henchmen had given him and the lizard himself was looking at the management papers of that entire alliance. At least now it was working a little better and giving more profit than headaches, but Crocodile still refused to accept that a circus really had so many needs and needed such a big budget just for those pathetic shows... that clown was probably deceiving.

“FUCK!” Buggy shouted, making the dark-haired man snap out of his reverie and try to figure out what the shouting was about.

It was then that he saw a peculiar scene that had curiously been repeated a lot in the last few days. One of the baby bananawani was biting Buggy's leg, another seemed to be eager to eat the clown's colorful papers and the third and last was trying... no, he was begging for a lap to the strongest swordsman in the world who simply stared at him without reaction.

You see, being a parent is extremely difficult. Being a father and being a pirate with a young son and with Crocodile's current situation is even more so, he wouldn't want that to be the case but he really managed to be quite absent, he tried to make up for it by spoiling you and the problem was that he spoiled you a bit too much. You weren't a bad or rude child, but you simply faithfully believed that you could have the world at your feet if you asked your father nicely. Of course you could, but it wasn't good for your ego to be completely sure of it.

So, in a way of trying to teach you some good values like responsibility and any other nonsense, he left you in charge of taking care of three bananawani babies. You needed to feed them, take them out of the water tank, clean the tank, all the normal activities of a normal pet. With the difference that your pets were deadly creatures even as babies and were more than ready to rip off some arms for your protection.

“(Y/n), what did we talk about getting them out of the tank?” Crocodile sighed, this wasn't the first time the babies had wandered around the ship instead of being safe in their water tanks. He can still hear the cries of the henchmen who received unexpected bites because their pets were out of control.

“I’m sorry daddy” you said entering the room, you quickly went to the baby in Mihawk and picked him up. Not completely up since that single bananawani baby must have been heavier than you, so you just held him the best you could with his entire lower part dragging on the floor.

Buggy whimpered trying to pull the baby off his leg which only made him bite harder, causing the clown to scream again. Crocodile sighed and got up to help you deal with the mess.

“They’re still too young to wander around alone, they’ll just create trouble” he tried to convince you again.

“But... Miss Banana Split was sad” you said worriedly as you looked at the lizard in your arms who was smiling happily like a baby in his parents arms. Crocodile could feel Mihawk's eyes on him from the animal's name but he decided to ignore it.

“They are sweet animals, they don’t get sad” he tried to convince you, ruffling your hair.

“Of course they stay! Mr. Banana even whines!” You said with a huge hurt pout, heavens you really loved those animals...

“Look at feelings, I don’t know, but this pest is really hungry and is about to swallow my leg, so if you can have a father-son moment another time, I’d appreciate it!” Buggy screamed desperately, shaking his leg again, trying to free the animal, but in vain.

“Sorry, Mr. Buggy… Drake is eating too much these days…” you said, releasing the one in your arms and going to take the other one off the clown’s leg. Luckily the animal was happy to be picked up by you and easily released its prey.

“Drake?” Buffy looked at you perplexed, was that the fucking name you chose?

“Don’t you dare” Crocodile growled at him as if he could read his thoughts. It was a clear message, make my son ashamed of the names he chose and you will become real bananawani food.

“They like being close to you daddy” you said petting Drake who was rubbing against you, the other two cubs at Crocodile’s feet.

“Of course they do, I was there when they were born, that doesn't mean you can let them loose like that” he crouched down to your height “They're still cubs and without training, you won't find it fun if they actually eat someone's leg would you?” Crocodile would find it hilarious, but you were a good-hearted child so you just shook your head “See? So for now let’s keep them in the tank and teach them some tricks, if they can behave you can spend more time with them, okay?”

"Okay!" You smiled happily at the possibility of continuing the walk with your animals, without waiting any longer you picked up Drake and dragged him out of the room, followed by the other two animals.

Crocodile sighed, satisfied that you would obey him for now, at least this way he would stop hearing the clown crying.

“Drake? Seriously? What the fuck is that name? For a bananawani!” Buffy said shocked once you were far enough away, he wasn't even paying attention to the ruined maps.

“Shut up…” your father would also love to know where you got that name from but that was an answer that not even you had.

“I actually found Miss Banana Split quite charming” Mihawk said with a cocky grin at Crocodile who just snorted, getting annoyed. He didn't mind having a son as his weakness, but having that weakness exposed and made fun of was something he hadn't gotten used to yet.

“Go back to work” he said irritably, just wanting to pretend that none of that had happened.

[enden-k]

btw sry to the ppl who came for fanart and get blasted w all the oc stuff LMAOOO

its nothing new but i fell out of a few fandoms, gnshn mainly. due to all the ongoing drama w hoyogames caused by the fandom over the stupidest things (im not involved or get involved in any of that but it always happened i saw stuff here and there on my tl and its just wow), then all the stupid shit hyv pulled in the past months and get away with constantly, then how extremely time consuming and demanding and repetitive everything became etcetcetc i kinda have issues with playing their games. theres jsut no energy or interest left bc all this above is kinda outweighing anything that made me enjoy it before?

(i still adore a bunch of characters and might draw some again but i really am not sure if i will get into the game itself again. im just tired and nothing keeps me there anymore tbh)

zzz is enjoyable as its v chill on time and the team behind it is a new one so the game is sm more different it rlly doesnt feel like a hoyo game anymore. hsr is also ok tho i dont always keep track w it lately, sometimes i just get a bit bored of it when theres nothing interesting baiting me into finishing story stuff lol

whaaat i mean to say is thats kinda why im not rlly doing much fanart lately??? since there was no major thing that had my constant attention and kept me drawing 1000 things at a time lately. i jump from interest to interest rn when it comes to fandom stuff and draw whenever inspo strikes i guess

rn im going back to old fandoms again and rewatching/rereading/replaying all my most favorite things for some happiness. im currently hyperfixating real bad on my fav animanga once again so i might post some doodles of that or other shows i rlly enjoyed and rewatched, maybe even fate or FF stuff again

i rlly have to say since i stopped actively playing gnshn/spending so much time with keeping up with hoyogames and do all my stuff there every single day, i feel mentally SO MUCH better and suddenly have sm good time to use for other things (also ngl i feel like having to keep up daily w those type of games/playing sm gacha turned me really stupid and impatient over the years)

i even got back to draw OCs and create a new comic again after almost 6 YEARSSSSS of not working on my own stories. im feeling really happy rn, drawing stuff that is not gnshn/hyv related be it my OCs or other things i rlly enjoy like alnst etc (its prolly also another reason why im going back to old, favorite things rn bc i wanna create for everything that is dear to me and i didnt do before bc i didnt have my artblog back then yet)

anw sorry for rambling sm LMAO i guess you can consider this some kind of an update/explanation!! OC art and mixture of hyperfixations, favorite things and whatever im into atm, NOT a gnshn only artist

[askchilchuck]

Hey, how can I help you?

(Please read below before interacting)

Hi! My name is Sophie! This blog has gotten enough traction that I feel the need to lay some ground rules for it.

1) This blog is intended to be PG13 so I don’t have to exclude younger fans from participating. I will not be answering anything that wouldn’t fly in canon, or is adjacent to it. Anything explicitly sexual, or can be construed that way will not be answered. This decision was made a couple months in, so do be advised there is some more suggestive content on the earlier posts on this blog. If you don't want to see that kind of content, stick to the newer posts.

2) Nothing related to suicide please. I tried playing it off the first time but between myself and some people around me, even the “KYS ��🥰🥰” jokes really aren’t funny, especially recently. Asks including it will not be answered.

3) No firearms. Related to rule 2.

4) Please no spammy asks. I’m honestly not sure how to answer them, and they clog up both the blog itself and the main tags.

5) No political asks. I understand how terrifying the results of the US election are, but I really need this place to be a break from all that. For my sake and yours. We both need spaces where we can recharge from this. Chilchuck doesn’t know what’s going on anyway, he deserves to live in ignorance from it. I love you.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to bully him, but these things cross a line for me. Thank you for understanding.

If you’re an RP blog, you’re more than welcome to interact! Even if you’re not a Dunmeshi blog! I don’t always have the time to do reblog chains, though, so please don’t feel bad if I miss you there. It’s easiest for me if you submit RP as an ask when the box is open. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If you’re 18+ and interested, I also do private RP on my Discord, linked on my Dunmeshi side blog.

IN LIGHT OF DUPLICATE CHARACTERS:

I think that’s awesome and also really funny. I encourage it. We’ve already got a loose MCU/multiverse plot line going on so we can totally make it work, too. Hell yeah. Hilarious. Love that. /gen

Blog lore:

This blog takes place loosely post canon. I try to avoid spoilers, but little things here and there are inevitable. Chilchuck has made up with his wife and they’re currently working on their relationship. Chilchuck is also in therapy. This is for a few reasons.

1) I don’t think he’d actually answer any of these if he wasn’t.

2) He doesn’t talk about it a lot, but it was one of his wife’s conditions before giving the relationship another go.

3) He just. Should be in general and I have control of it so it’s happening lol

My Chil is bi, but in the middle-aged “everyone’s had gay thoughts before” kinda way, cause I think it’s funnier that way. He also gets high from time-to-time now that he’s not dungeneering anymore.

Folks kept turning him into different things/animals, so goldstar/⭐️ anon gave him an amulet to put a stop to that. "Marcus" also altered the spell on the amulet to encompass all transformations, since inanimate objects weren't initially included.

Squeaker also used a device to prevent any crab transformations specifically from occurring, as well as ejecting all crabs within a 20 mile radius.

There’s also a cult stalking him for some reason. (This is an ongoing problem. They haven't hurt anyone, and they seem to only be targeting Chilchuck.)

The TVA (Marvel) is loosely involved as well as previously mentioned. Squeak fixed it (or so she thought. There's now a DMCU situation going on.)

Also, Chil’s knowledge of the blog/Tumblr varies depending on what would be funnier, but generally he’s aware of the internet. He only uses his phone to answer your asks, though. He has no idea how to do anything else and has no desire to. This means he doesn’t fact check people or knows anything about the greater internet experience. No one knows how he got the phone, or how it’s holding a charge. Don’t worry about it.

ADDENDUM:

Chilchuck has recently started googling slang, and anything else that might be confusing or annoying to him. However, he hates the search feature and trying to find answers on individual websites, and will take the AI generated answers without question.

I myself don’t talk in the main posts, unless it’s tagged #ooc. Otherwise, I’ll always talk in the tags if I’ve got something to say. Or replies. Or DMs. Main post is the only place I’m in character unless specified otherwise.

Emoji anons:

•⭐️/goldstar anon

•🦉/owl anon

•👻/ghost anon

•♡/heart anon

•🐭/mouse anon

•🍬/candy anon

•🥣/bowl (cereal?) anon

•🐻🏀/bear basket ball anon

•🃏/joker anon

•🟣/Gojo Satoru

•🪻

•🐦‍⬛

No other heart variants have been claimed. Also, heads up to all emoji anons, I’m going to start using just one tag for your asks going forward to make tagging easier! So I’ll just be using the emoji variant from here 💖

If you want to hang out with me in a less censored environment, I also run @chilfucked and @askchilchucknsfw which are 18+ only. I will ban all minors who so much as breathe on those blogs. I’m not joking.

I also reserve the right to update these rules as time goes on, so please check them again before submitting when the ask box is open again. Thank you!

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 169 spoilers and thoughts that i'm incredibly late on because finals are coming up but it's okay we ball and more below the cut

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two little creatures,,, i really like this little panel,,, why is he crouch like that,,, heehee silly guy

nothing too drastic happened in this ep but there's a lot to talk about (and a ton of thoughts i have abt the execution of it) sooo ya here we go!!!!

the expressions and the art in this ep were all REALLY good i really liked these HAHAHAA hes so fucking menacing,,,

JAVIER WAS ALSO FUN I LOVE WHEN HE PLAYS THE STRAIGHTMAN HAHAHAHA

javier ilysm "i have so many things to say,,, but i wont,,," LOL

the heavenly demon kings were cool too! though very short-lived,,, i will have more to say on that,,, their designs are pretty varied and i like that a lot!!! tho seriously why are there eight of them what happened to warrant eight LMFAO

ALSO LLOYD IMMEDIATELY SUBDUING THE DEMON KINGS BY SINGING LMFAOOOOOOOOOO he's got a weapon he's gonna fucking use it LAKJFDLSJKDF

zero hesitation he just blasted them,,, it's like taking an airhorn and firing it immediately in someone's ear,,, how evil,,, lloyd u bastard /aff

AND ARTANIS ARTANIS WAAAAHHH SHES SOOO PRETTY i love characters with horns like that ive had my fair share of OCs with those horns and together w her hair and expression and eyes i love her a lot <3 i hope she gets more sillies

it seems like she's the only one with mind reading abilities maybe its a demon king thing? javier did mention that she has a LOT more power than she lets on so maybe theres more to it? her introduction and her request for help came VERY quick she was quick to cry and while it absolutely makes sense that its bc her people really, REALLY need help, im also wondering if there's something more to it,,, she was very fast to trust lloyd; what else does her mind reading let her see, to what extent? not saying that she's an antagonist or anything, i do believe that she wants to help her people i'm just curious at how. fast this is. though it may just be because of a pacing issue thats causing this confusion in me,,, which i will talk about later below cause i wanna get thru these panels heehee

and lastly, OUR FIRST LOOK AT THE FORMER/FIRST DEMON KING CREDOS!!! and apparently he just. stopped invading and focused on farming!!!

one) i love collecting little bits of lore like this it makes me go heehee yay worldbuilding

and two) THIS IS WHAT BRIDGES TGED TO THE NEW PREQUEL THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING!!! AAAHH YESSS YES YEEESS I LOVE THAT A LOT

if you didn't already know, the author is currently publishing another webnovel set in Lorasia, and it's supposed to take place when tyrannus was a kid, basically a long LONG time ago

AND ISN'T THAT FAMILIAR? A DEMON KING WHO STOPPED INVADING AND WENT FARMING,,, THATS THE BITCH!!!

(it says here there were four heavenly demon kings here tho i wonder why they doubled HAHA)

i love love LOVE that the pieces were set up like this, idk if credos is mentioned in the novel at all but little building blocks that create bridges (however small) between works in the same universe are my favorite thing ever i like collecting those it's my favorite kind of worldbuilding thing bc it's like putting pieces together heehoo

i'll ABSOLUTELY be making a post yapping about this prequel and the Everything that is Lorasia soon, so i'll leave this off here for now :3 but just know IM VERY EXCITED/HAPPY ABOUT THIS LITTLE LORE BIT IN PARTICULAR

ok that's all the panels i wanted to talk about ,,, i was gonna dive into worldbuild yapping/speculations but again i wanna make a separate post dedicated to that

now,,, about the pacing of this episode,,, as aforementioned, it feels really, REALLY fast! it feels like we're speedrunning the build-up part of the journey, like within the episode it's like "oh we got new characters, we get to know them- oh okay yeah they're not bad people actually - oh new powerful character let's work together okay cool moving on"

and it's a shame because i really really like the art and gags for this ep, i think they're really silly and i think i could have really come to like these new characters with more time, but because we're going through this process so fast it's like,,, the setup is barely there, which makes the punchlines just short of satisfying,,,

i wanted more out of this episode, i expected something else. i haven't read the novel so i couldn't tell you how i'd adapt it or what the something i expected was but,, idk it feels like the pacing is off,,, lloyd was quick to piece together the status of the overworld demons based on their attire and behavior but i really wish it went about in a different way. i wish we could have had more time with the heavenly eight demon kings before they were just. subdued? and the two children too, are we gonna see them again? with how fast they were introduced and how fast they were set aside, i'm worried they won't show up again

i also kind of wish artanis' reveal was,,, more. i don't know how to explain what that means. maybe more ominous? more mysterious? just a little more, more hints to her character or her relationship with other characters or something,,, though maybe this is too soon and we'll see more of her later and i'll be more satisfied? i'm not totally sure

this episode just didn't hit the same, and that really upsets me because i really wanted to like this episode! i've read more manhwa than novel currently so even with it's flaws i still really like the manhwa, and i want to be able to continue liking the manhwa,,, i really hope that this pacing thing and these fast-paced bits is just within this one episode and that it'll be okay as we go forward. i really want to continue enjoying reading this!!!

it could be that the adapter is experiencing some kind of burnout, it has been quite a long time since the start of tged. i really hope they take their time with adapting the rest, i really wouldn't mind another break. if another hiatus is needed for the adapter to pace the story and the artist to draw the panels in a way that feels better or less rushed, i'd accept the hiatus fully

anyway that's all i have to say right now,,, ep 170 really feels like a gamble right now and im praying that it goes well, if i have more thoughts ill probably rb with more yapping idk

i'll see y'all next week (aka tmrw) (because this post is a lil bit late LOL) im praying im praying,,, manifesting that this ep was just a lil awkward and that everything else is fine,,, please,,,

[1000sunnygo]

One Piece 1093

//long post, manga spoilers ahead

Congratulations to Law for his second time trending as "Law's female form" and congrats to Kamiya Hiroshi too for trending alongside him!! (her?)

I have no doubt that Law's role would always be special to Kamiya. The way he strained his voice to raise his pitch to a new high made my throat sore on his behalf..... But I liked it more than I expected! I could feel in my bones that it was an uncomfortable transformation Law wanted to free himself from as soon as possible bwahahah

I like the anime original dialogue とにかく、ヤベぇ！(tonikaku, yabee!) Even with my crap japanese it was as hilarious as hearing him say "Anyway, I'm cooked!" I don't think Law uses the term "Yabee" a lot so that felt refreshing lol

It seems the more controversial quote was this one, the speech in Japanese would be literally translated to "my strength isn't coming out as usual". Personally, I didn't immediately associate it to weakness due to being woman but moreso as an additional side affect that came with it, after all, it's dubbed as a disease. I like to think Doc Q didn't only come up with it as a deranged fantasy but to impose a real handicap for the victim to have their body modified in a way that limits their ability to fight and use their usual powers, either due to magic or just out of discomfort. Unlike Ivankov's fruit that alters hormones, it's just a physical change, it makes sense why it's more unnatural and uncomfortable.

The female Law scene was animated by Yuu Yoshiyama, he also did Hancock's scene from Amazon Lilly invasion episode. The scene was fanservicey but thankfully not as over the top as the Bonney scene from few episode prior to this one. The episode didn't drag on even during the slower parts, the screentime was well spent. The obnoxious, repetitive closed up reaction shots weren't there.

Moving on to B part, nothing much to speak of Ishizuka's brilliant storyboard that hasn't been said. My favorite observation was this:

Some parts where characters didn't immediately follow up with a second attack was frustrating until I remembered Blackbeard and Law both put their lives on line when they use their fruit and so can't take risks. Cheaper trick shots and silly gimmicks that people blame Law for not using more frequently were probably never the best option. That said, unfortunately, Law lost the moment he used both his strongest attacks onscreen and failed. I don't think the fight was longer than what we saw here. The anime just made it more obvious.

Another anime original dialogue I liked is Blackbeard saying "what a handy ability you've got!" right before their final clash. He was using Tremor fruit until that point and then he switched to his OG attacks, it was unsettling how he's not only fighting but looking at Law's abilities as something that he'll soon take away from him. Unlike Doflamingo, Teach had no pre-decided plan involving Law's fruit and considered selling the fruit as appealing alternate as using it for its abilities. Honestly, we can't underestimate Doflamingo's knowledge. There's no way he stays in prison during the final arc.

And finally the Kuzan scene,,

rightfully the most praised section and probably my favorite part of the episode too. According to his tweet, Henry Thurlow animated the Kuzan scene traditionally on paper. Let's give Toei credit where it's due; they let their animators take time, be creative and love their work. Otherwise we wouldn't get scenes like this.

And that's it! The first (and the last?) time we see Heart pirates in proper action. Ch. 1081 is only ~17 chapters away. Hopefully we'll see it animated around the middle of this year. Hopefully Law's current condition in the manga is updated by then, otherwise it'll be very painful.

Twice already. Petition to let Pandaman become an official member of heart pirates.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting to go on a walk and then telling the truth?

📚⛷️ for later

I (14f) am currently on vacation in the Alps skiing. For context, I have two younger brothers (12 and 6). What my family usually does is ski in the morning, have lunch, and then either ski some more or play board games together in the afternoon. Before, we used to go on walks in the afternoon but we stopped once we started getting better at skiing and got tired faster.

My mum loves to go on walks and regularly goes out. For the past few years she usually goes on walks in the morning when the rest of the family is out skiing as she has an injury that prevents her from skiing. Today I went with her as I am also injured lol.

My brothers and I do not like to go on walks. We’re very vocal about it, I do enjoy walking in the city (where I live) however and we all play a lot of sports so health is not an issue. This morning I decided to go with her and we went on an hour-long walk (It was snowing and the ground was very muddy, and my injury is worse when I breathe hard). She seemed upset that it wasn’t longer but she is the one who insisted that we go home.

This afternoon she drags everyone out on another walk. My dad and brothers were clearly exhausted (it was their first day and we had a 13-hour drive to come here) but my dad was a good sport and we all went out.

So now we’re all out walking and we keep the complaints to a minimum; obviously my youngest brother wasn’t very good at it but he sensed the tone of the walk and wasn’t too bad. After about an hour there comes a split in the path ; one continues straight and one goes directly up a very steep hill. My mom asked us what we wanted to do and none of us replied; I don’t know what my brothers did but I just looked at my dad. My mom then got very mad and said “Let’s just go home, you never want to do stuff like this” I argued that I hadn’t said anything, but apparently she could see it in my eyes.

While we walk back she was very mad still and kept complaining about how we never want to do stuff that she likes (sidenote: this summer we went on a 3-week long road trip where we went to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Sequoia National park, Death Valley, and Sedona; it was very walk/hike-heavy and it was largely because of her that we went). This is where I think I might be the asshole: at some point I got angry as well and said that she knows very well that we do stuff like this all the time, and why force us to do something that she knows that we’re not going to like? She has been giving me the silent treatment ever since.

Another sidenote since I’m trying to give all possible information: we always come to the same place since before I could walk, but always in winter. Mom been talking about how she wants to come here in summer a lot recently and is trying to sell it to us by saying how pretty it is and how many walks we could do.

Last piece of extra information: My mom had walked the entire valley that were in right now and back and least three times over the years ; the path was definitely nothing that she hadn’t seen before.

My brothers and I are staying in the same room at the moment so she came to say goodnight to the youngest only (this is not the right post for favoritism so I’m not going to go into that) and right before she left she looked at me and 12-year-old brother and just said that she knows that we don’t love her. I find this really childish and an immature way to deal with this.

Thank you for all the help

What are these acronyms?

[kahvilahuhut]

🔍 cynosure status update

i mean. it's also periphery update too though. teehee. feel free to also check out the drawing here!

🤍 New to the story? Check out the (current) wip intros: Cynosure / Periphery

omg it's been a while, hasn't it? haha. i must admit i might have gotten A Bit too deep into some university assignments (+ my thesis). I do sometimes talk about the story on my main, too, but it's nothing that important for the story itself, mostly just some fun facts about the characters, which means that most of the development I've done is in my brain. Or is nonexistent or something. ANYWAY! Here's a status update to tell what has been happening lately! Might actually make this into something I post every now and then.

In this status update I'm going to talk a little about how it's going with the story, overall thoughts, plot/character changes and some things you can expect during next few weeks (hopefully). I'll put it all under the cut to keep this short on the dashboard 🥰

Like always, if you have any questions about the story, feel free to send an ask - I'll always be happy to answer 🤍

overall thoughts

Right now one of my top thoughts is honestly debating whether i want to, like, actually write this somewhere as a nove, or whether I should do it as a graphic novel or something. That said, if I do go with the latter, you can still expect writing bc I like to write things out to plan them. Or vise versa make some kind of sketches for writing. My brain works in a weird way, I know lol

I have been doing some worldbuilding (specifically for the story AND something for the overall story world that I have). Let me know if you'd love to hear some things I have thought about!

I've also been doing some research about *checks notes* Boston, MA. Because that's where most of the story happens :^) Though it happens in 2200's so I still have lots of room to change things around.

Definitely thinking about adding more dark/horror stuff in the world as a whole bc there's been, like, a climate crisis. AND people do interplanetary traveling. Stuff like that ought to lead to some fucked up stuff. Especially when there's megacorporations involved. Cynosure wise there's going to be something, especially in Periphery, happening to one of the main characters. 👀

plot/character updates

(that have happened lately, at least)

One of the pov characters kind of got a name update! Tobias's first name has been changed to Ripley, and it's what most characters will probably referring to it as. That said, some characters (+ itself) will refer to it as Tobias bc that's its preferred name that's somethings its friends and wife call it

Another pov character (Samuel) got an interesting change of backstory, some tweaks in personality, and its plot-revelant actions have changed a little. Sammy's changes has thus made some already existing things I've posted on here non-canon.

Slowly finally putting together what I mah want to have in Klara's chapters and it's sooooo exciting.

Polished some things about the plots, especially the different parts of the acts <3

Got more thoughts about the project itself (or, well, what it should have). That also means I need to look more into pharma research or something. Very interesting...

Overall, lots to think about and lots to research about.

things to expect in next few weeks

(that is, if I won't drown in university assignments or something)

I've had some ideas for little stories that would be happening before the story, to show more information about the characters and the story itself (like what happened in the original project). Or maybe just some fun parts of characters' backstories. So I may post something if I manage to write it!

Some more character introductions + pov character post. Might make a "tag yourself" meme. Or a powerpoint wip intro

Something else, maybe? If you have an idea, let me know!

taglist (interact with this post if you want to be added or removed!)

@ecofear @fashionablyfyrdraaca @shadowfells @volkihar

@antoncrane @kk7-rbs @void-botanist @the-inkwell-variable @artbyeloquent

[jessiemeows]

A Cold Comfort

A/N: Hey guys I'm back with another small little story :) It's just something short and sweet, especially with winter being around the corner this is how I think Astarion would care for his partner if they were to catch a cold from freezing temps! It also helps that in my current game, the date is Nightal so basically it is winter for them lol. Again, I'll eventually I will post my longfic but I've just been holding off on it because life got in the way :( but eventually, it will make it on here lol.

Pairing: Spawn Astarion x F! RedeenedDark Urge Tiefling, My OC Amaya, Selunite Cleric/Paladin

Word Count: IDK roughly 700?

Very fluffy and sweet, Astarion being the little sweetheart that he is behind closed doors. This takes place after Cazador and after Bhaal.

Story:

The bitter cold of the Grey Harbor's icy waters still clung to Amaya's bones. After spending far too long rescuing Omeluum and a bunch of gondians from the Iron Throne, she'd caught a nasty chill. Now buried under a mountain of blankets in their small private shared room at the Elfsong Tavern, she shivered despite the warmth of their bed.

The door creaked open as Astarion sauntered in, his silver hair catching the dim candlelight. His eyes narrowed playfully at the sight of the blanket fortress before him.

"Little love, what in the hells are you doing?" he asked, amusement dancing in his voice.

Amaya's reply came muffled through the layers. "Nothing. This happens to be the warmest place in all of Faerûn right now."

"Oh, I'm sure you're not as cold as me," Astarion drawled, a smirk playing on his lips. "But do let me in so we can share what little warmth you've managed to hoard."

A small opening appeared in the blanket mountain, and Astarion wasted no time. He shed his ruffled white nightshirt and slippers before diving under the covers. Amaya immediately entangled her legs with his, pressing her frozen feet against his.

"Tsk, I knew you were being dramatic. You're not even that col— BY THE NINE HELLS, GET YOUR ICE BLOCK FEET OFF ME!"

"You said I wasn't that cold!" Amaya protested, fighting back a grin.

"That was before you turned into a literal ice mephit!"

Amaya turned away with an exaggerated pout, only to be betrayed by a sudden fit of coughing.

Astarion's teasing tone softened. "Look, little moon, I simply wasn't prepared for you to be so cold, usually I'm the one that's frozen to the touch. But that cough sounds dreadful. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she mumbled unconvincingly.

In one fluid motion, Astarion wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. "No, you're not. You're sick, aren't you? I knew you spent too long searching for that mindflayer. The Grey Harbor waters is treacherous this time of year—"

"Are you about to lecture me again about not taking care of myself?"

"I have never lectured you!" Astarion protested, then paused. "Well, perhaps occasionally. I just... I worry about you, that's all."

Amaya turned in his arms, nestling her head against his chest. He responded by holding her tighter, pressing a gentle kiss to her hair avoiding her horns from poking him in his eyes.

"It's just a small cold," she assured him between coughs. "It'll pass."

"This 'small cold' could worsen if not treated properly. I may be a vampire immune to such ailments, but I despise seeing you unwell. What if—"

"Astarion," she interrupted, "have you forgotten I'm a cleric? I've already taken medicine. It'll be gone in a day or two, hopefully."

"HOPEFULLY?"

"Now who's being dramatic?" She gazed up at him with those big brown eyes he could never resist, nuzzling closer with an innocent smile.

"Ugh, those eyes will be the death of me," he groaned. "You're fortunate you're so adorable. Would you like some tea?"

Her face scrunched up. "It won't be like that concoction you gave me in the Shadowlands, will it?"

Astarion rolled his eyes. "That was Shadowheart's recipe because you weren't eating properly then. I'm offering simple tea this time, love."

"Hmm... I suppose that would be nice."

As Astarion began to untangle himself, Amaya grabbed his arm. "Wait!"

"Yes, darling?"

"Can I come with you?"

"Don't you want to stay in your carefully constructed blanket fortress?"

"Yes, but I also want to watch you inevitably mess up making tea." Her laugh turned into another coughing fit.

"Ah, karma strikes swiftly," Astarion chuckled, unable to suppress his own smile. "Very well, come along. Perhaps we'll witness me somehow make tea explode."

He tossed his nightshirt to her and waited as she slipped it on, then wrapped her snugly in a blanket. After sliding his feet back into his slippers, he led her out of their room toward the makeshift kitchen that Gale created in the center of the inn's floor, ready to embark on his next great adventure: attempting to brew tea for his beloved.

_______________________________________

Some of my other small things I've written!

Underdark Trysts | Before Climbing the Netherbrain's Stem

[xaniyuu]

Thought I'd share my Golden Kamuy OC here!

Private Fukuoka Yuuzou, a new recruit that joined post Russo-Japanese War, 1907, when Golden Kamuy starts. His role does not matter much to the main plot point, in fact he was made for me to ship with Koito (more to explain below).

Yuuzou's hometown is left unknown, but he used to travel on foot since he was 12y.o for 2 years until him and his parents ended up in Kagoshima. He struggled to blend in and make friends because of their differences and his tendency to steal from people for the fun of it.

Yuuzou's first interaction with Koito would be somewhere when Koito first met with Tsurumi, except Yuuzou (16) never had the courage to walk up or even speak to Koito (14) until now. Ever since then Yuuzou would bother Koito with every chances he got, Yuuzou began viewing what they had as friendship. On the other hand Koito never liked Yuuzou from the start, the rumors of him stealing things from people turned out to be true; because he would often steal Koito's belongings and hide them for Koito to find, like a hide and seek.

Years has passed and Koito (18) went for the Military Academy without Yuuzou's knowledge, he waited for one full year until he heard the neighbors talk about Koito following his father's steps. From that moment on, Yuuzou's entire life goal is to follow Koito's path and to find him wherever he is.

Yuuzou (21) spent about a full year traveling by himself from Kagoshima to Tokyo, where Koito (19) is currently trained for the military (Only God knows how he managed to get there). Unfortunately though by the time he arrives, Koito would probably still be trained in there with very low chances of Yuuzou seeing him. And so, Yuuzou took an alternative.

He'll join the military! That way, he can see Koito for sure this time right?

Shaved: Yuuzou (23) freshly joined the military in 1907.

Undercut, man bun, and hair down: Yuuzou (25) waiting for Koito to come back from his missions.

Yuuzou spent 2 years at the training camp, why? Because he failed the first test which caused him to go over from the very beginning. (For this part I'm still unsure how long it takes for one to go through the training camp, but the main point I want to highlight is the fact that Yuuzou failed his test either once or multiple times but insisted to try again).

*(UPDATE: I just found out that apparently once you fail you get expelled? I'm not sure if this is accurate but it's definitely not gonna stop Yuuzou from trying again LOL. I'll think of a way!)

(How Yuuzou got his scar is still a huge draft of mine, but my initial idea was that it's related to Usami. In this unfinished comic especially, shows their dynamic and how Yuuzou talks back to Usami far more often compared to the other superiors.)

Yuuzou doesn't get along very well with Usami from the very beginning because he tends to talk back to his superiors. Nothing crazy, he's just a kid full of questions. Most of the time the superiors would answer him with a stern look on their faces, and Yuuzou wouldn't mind a little harsh treatment. When it comes to Usami, however, something about him makes Yuuzou uneasy.

From here on out, everything between Yuuzou (23) and Koito (21) is gonna be 8 years worth of slow burn, with Yuuzou watching over Koito from afar most of the time and trying to get Koito's attention in the most inconvenient way as possible like bumping into him or spilling his drink.

Their ship name goes by KoiFuku/FukuKoi! This is the first ever sketch I've drawn of them.

If you've read this far all the way down, thank you very much 💜 They're just another silly little hyperfixation of mine, hopefully I get to draw enough of them before my interest runs out lol

[bisonaari]

So!! How is Finland going so far for me?

If you've talked to me in the past days you've probably heard all of this so I'm sorry in advance, you can skip the post hahaha !

First of all: the temperature is the same as in Canada HAHAHA. Sure it's currently a bit colder, but nothing that would be unusual in winter in Canada. So we've been perfectly ok with our usual winter clothes!

We had troubles locating our airbnb when we arrived. But we've been helped by @katinkulta and @taidotonheiluja and everything went ok in the end! I have to admit that because of the stress, the lack of sleep, the fact that I don't speak finnish and the travel time, the first two days I REALLY wanted to just go back home hahaha. But I'm better don't worry. I'm just an anxious bean

The day after that, I've been helped by Elsa again (my saviour) and she went grocery shopping with me and my partner, so we finally got food! (I don't eat a lot when I'm stressed, but my partner is, surprisingly enough, a normal human being who needs to eat. Weird)

Elsa is absolutely lovely and I really adore her company. She's as much fun as she is on the internet! A blessing to have her as a friend <3

The day after that was UMK! We met with Elsa again and with @teal-skull to have breakfast together before the rehearsal started. WHY IS EVERY MUTUAL I MEET SO FREAKING NICE??? This will apply to every single person mentionned in this post because everyone is a sweetheart seriously!

This is also the moment where I realized that I just could… throw a "puhutko englantia" when speaking to employees at stores YES I KNOW IT TOOK ME TWO DAYS BUT I AM VERY DUMB WHEN I'M ANXIOUS OK so I did that and WOW SURPRISE!! The employees said yes and switched to english!! INCREDIBLE, RIGHT. Urgh I'm so dumb hahaha

The UMK rehearsal was incredibly fun, I've seen almost all the artists that I wanted to see in Finland good I can now leave and never come back (that's a lie). But like KUUMAA, Benjamin, Käärijä (with JUKKA !!! ON STAGE!! IN FRONT OF ME), Erika Vikman, Pilvi Hämäläinen (she counts ok), and all the UMK contestants were people who I wanted to see live so bad, and now it's done I'm super happy. I've seen Cha Cha Cha live!!!!

After the rehearsal we met with @omppupiiras @formulalakana and @smimon to go get food together <3 What is funny is that no one knew what the others looked like, but I'm so easily recognisable that we were able to find each other anyway lol

I'm so thankful for everyone that I've met so far. Also other friends that manifested in dms to help me if I needed it! Like @because-its-eurovision for example <3

Some things that surprised my partner and I in Finland so far:

I've said it to a lot of people but the trains are so silent??? Like in Québec, you can hear the metro a few minutes before you can actually see it arrived. Here we've been JUMPSCARED by sudden trains we didn't hear arrive???

Dish drying cabinets my beloved. How did I live before you??? This is SO useful holy shit

The food is so expensive ;A; I was expecting it to be more expensive, but not by that much hahaha. I guess we're gonna eat a lot of pasta during our trip hahaha

I love how pedestrian friendly the city is (I've only been in Tampere so far). The sidewalks are double the size I'm used to in Montréal! You can walk to anywhere, there are tons of trams and buses, this is fantastic (I'm too anxious to take the tram and the bus though lol)

See you in a while for another update!!

[some-creep]

Currently untitled sequel to "Little Bird" Ch 02/??

just like before i'll never finish it if i dont just post it lol. click >HERE< for chapter 1 if u didnt read it. A little Ari background lore and Adler talks to Falke.

S-23 Sierpinski, a remote mining facility located somewhere on Leng, home to some of AEON's best Replika staff ever produced, as well as a revolving door of Gestalt workers. Workers, perhaps, was being a bit generous. No one chose to end up there. You were "recommended" to transfer there. If you were lucky, you got discharged due to serious injury, but even that was increasingly rare. Perhaps AEON didn't enjoy the reputation their facility had garnered over the years; having startling few non-laborer Gestalt staff was starting to be seen as the first red flag to avoid an assignment there by any means necessary. But Gestalt staff were far more difficult to control if they hadn't been hand picked and raised for their positions, and even those individuals were far more likely to end up elsewhere to put their skills to good use. 

A new batch of graduates made for a potential pool of bodies to send off for some arbitrarily created role. Some dubois officer position that held no real weight but looked good on a public list of staff members. The perfect role for a Gestalt that no one particularly wanted anywhere else anyway.

And that had been how Ariane found herself shipped off across the galaxy, far away from home yet back to where she'd been born. Perhaps they had thought she'd be better suited for the quirks of life on Leng, but more than likely they just didn't care what happened to her. Her aunt had been so proud. An officer! And so young! Ariane wondered if she was intentionally delusional or just stupid. Maybe her aunt had gotten tired of caring for her after realizing going to “normal” school with the other kids hadn't immediately fixed her. 

At the time of her deployment, Ariane had been quite certain she would be dead in just a few months time. Management would decide the position wasn't working after they'd gotten all their usage out of her, and she'd be quietly reassigned as a laborer. She was still certain that would have been the case if not for the fact that Falke had taken an immediate interest in her. And now she was trapped, walking a thin line between Replika and Gestalt. A Replika staff member who did not belong; a Gestalt who had sided with her oppressors. Most days she tried not to think about it– kept her head down, stayed locked in her little radio room all day writing messages to report to Falke. None of it was ever important. Nothing she did ever mattered. After a while, she took to doodling while she worked, then reading, and sometimes even sleeping. No one seemed all that interested in what she actually did so long as she was where she was supposed to be at the times she was supposed to be there. 

It was likely because she was fucking her boss.

People knew, of course. Ariane certainly wasn't bragging about being sexually exploited by her superior, but it was a relatively small facility where no one left regularly. At a certain point, everyone knew everything about everyone. This, of course, was not helped by the fact the Protektor Controller had outright seen her and Falke together. Falke was a terribly busy woman and oftentimes business could not wait. Sieben’s intrusion had not perturbed Falke, and so she kept toying with Ariane as she spoke to the STCR unit. 

Ariane had never felt so humiliated in her life. She locked herself in an upper-level bathroom stall and cried for a few hours before returning to her room for the night. And then…nothing happened. No one mentioned the incident to her. No one behaved any differently around her. Sieben knew without a shadow of a doubt and life went on as normal. Falke didn't bring it up the next time they saw one another because it hadn't mattered.

Ariane had been certain for a long time that Replikas weren't supposed to be able to have or even want sex. They didn't wear clothes because they had nothing to cover up. All the Replikas she'd ever met had been working. Teaching, nursing, policing, managing, things like that. She knew what the Nation told her about Replikas. Perfect workers, perfect copies, perfectly loyal, unburdened by silly distractions like Gestalts often were. Everyone should aspire to be just like them. 

Then, she met them. Talked to them. The EULR unit who brought her meals during the day had a girlfriend, a STAR unit. She always smelled like gunpowder because her girlfriend spent all her free time in the firing range. That unit went by Hunter and was considered well respected amongst her peers, which made Ariane anticipate her to be scary, but instead she seemed…nice? Even a little bit dumb at times. One track mind. She wanted to take Elster to the shooting range because she had decided Elster was cool for dating a Gestalt and that made them friends and friends went shooting together. Elster had yet to make good on that offer because Ariane wasn’t comfortable around guns and Hunter had intended it to be something of a ‘double date’.

Ariane had, after a while, given in to her curiosity and asked a question she knew was offensive but one she had no one else to ask. Did Replikas have sex? What did that even look like? She'd spent enough time around Elster to be well aware of the fact there was nothing down there but more plastic. 

Eule hadn't been offended. EULR-S2301. The oldest of her kind on base. She had a nickname, as all EULRs did, but amongst people outside her cadre she'd earned her title of being simply “Eule”. With that age came experience, and that experience had given her plenty of opportunities to explain the nuances of being a Replika to both her newly created peers and young white-haired Gestalt officers alike. 

She had been told, “just ask Elster what she likes. Everyone is different.” Unhelpful at the time, certainly. Ariane understood that in a general sense but certainly not an anatomical one. Eule eventually explained to her that Replikas could be disassembled for maintenance but amongst themselves they'd been clever enough to figure out they could get more out of it then a few changed parts. It was about vulnerability and trust, hardly any different than it was between Gestalts.

Elster had been either too shy or too oblivious to mention any of her needs to Ariane. “LSTR units don't have needs,” was a common phrase out of Elster's mouth whenever Ariane tried to offer her something for her comfort or benefit. After a while, she'd just started framing them as orders until Elster got the hint it was okay to enjoy things. 

LSTR units worked with their hands a lot. Every Replika did, of course, but LSTR units did so in such a way they were more prone to possible damage over time. Small movements, repetitive work, gradual wear and tear to internal components. The plate on their wrists popped off for quick, easy access. 

The first time Elster took the covering off of her arm made Ariane horribly nauseous. Wires and meat. Twitching, nondescript meat, vaguely resembling muscle as she understood it but not quite. She'd nearly fainted at the sight of it and Elster, flustered, had quickly covered herself back up. It felt wrong seeing her like that… Ariane's mind registered the sight as a serious injury that needed immediate care. The nauseous quickly faded into guilt as Elster was the one apologizing for scaring her.

The next time she'd been better prepared for what to expect. It was still difficult to fight her immediate reaction of aversion, but Elster was her partner. Elster had stuck around her almost since day one when she’d wandered into her bedroom for a last minute repair. Elster listened to her with great interest even though she rarely had context to understand what Ariane was talking about. She, too, was equally as passionate about what she was designed for, often going out of her way to help with personal repairs too insignificant to be officially filed as maintenance requests.

Elster was so sweet and accommodating, and at times just as out of her element as Ariane was. Elster deserved better than her. 

Ariane had often wondered after their first moment, did she deserve Falke. She hadn't argued, hadn't said no, hadn't tried to distance herself after the fact. She hadn't told anyone, tried to reach out, nor had she even bothered discussing it with the people she did trust. Elster cared about her but Ariane didn't even have the decency to confide in her. Maybe that was the reason she always lied about the marks Falke left when she wanted to play too rough. 

In a hospital bed after school. Erika and Isa carried her to the train to have her injuries looked at despite her protests.

“I'm fine,” she had insisted through bruised ribs and dangerous amounts of swelling. Breathing was excruciating. 

“I'm fine,” she had insisted every sleepless night after the fact.

Ariane was always fine because she had to be. If Falke ever caused her serious harm Ariane had to accept the fact she was just going to die because seeking medical treatment would be acknowledging she wasn't fine. 

For the moment, things were fine. In her stuffy little closet, trapped between a concrete wall and a polyethylene chassis, with textured fingers gently stroking her back, Ariane was content. It was a position she’d found herself in many times before and one she hoped to be in for the foreseeable future. She'd flipped on the small television set for some kind of background noise, and to help distract from the overnight workers wandering the halls. The facility never truly stopped, even if she needed to every now and again. Whatever it was she'd turned on, they'd definitely seen it before. 

“How was work?” Ariane asked. 

Elster only hummed in response, a non-committal noise of “it was okay”.

“Any under the table repairs today?”

She thought for a moment before replying, “I fixed a set of string lights for the EULR dorm.”

“Were they nice to you this time?”

“Nicer.”

Many of the EULR units on base seemed to think Elster was…odd. It made some kind of sense; they were talkative and social and Elster was designed to be a quiet loner. They were friendly and Elster wasn't permitted to be, so consequently she didn't have much practice socializing. ARAR units at least were social amongst their own kind, but Elster officially had nothing of the sort. 

“What about you?”

“Me? Oh. The usual. Boring. You should visit me in my office sometime. Maybe a little play break~?”

Elster frowned, resting her chin on Ariane's head. “While we're both working?”

Ariane giggled, “why not? You get breaks, don’t you?”

“No. I mean, if I’m expected to do something, I have to go do it.”

“You’ve visited me before.”

“Yes, to fix the wheel on your chair.” Ariane huffed, bumping her head against Elster’s chest. “You’re no fun, Ellie.”

Elster had made several small repairs for her since her arrival at the base. Her lamp, her chair, the fan in the corner of her room. Simple things. Pointless things. Excuses to spend time with Elster before she’d convinced her to share her room and then her bed. She enjoyed watching Elster work. Her focused expression as she pieced together how to solve whatever problem was in front of her. Sometimes she looked at Ariane the same way as she used her innate problem solving skills to figure out how best to pleasure her. To anyone else, being looked at like work might have been somewhat offensive, but for Ariane it was the highest compliment she could think of because it came from someone who legitimately enjoyed doing the things she did. 

“I thought you liked that I was serious.” 

“Yes, but. Mmn!”

Elster laughed, kissing the top of her head. “Well, I’m here now. If you’re interested in playing, that is.”

Ariane pushed against Elster’s shoulder, knowing full well that the Replika rolling onto her back was entirely to play along. Ariane couldn’t actually move her no matter how hard she tried. Straddling Elster’s lap, she took her hand and lifted her arm up. “Pretty please?” she asked, tracing her finger along a seam in Elster’s arm. 

Looking up at Ariane, she swallowed, nodding.

Adler was a perfectly fine employee when he wasn't trying to insert himself in her personal business. A habit of his that was becoming increasingly prevalent as time went on. Falke wondered if she hadn't been strict enough with him despite being promised he'd be plenty obedient without much work on her part. Whatever the case, she certainly felt like she was paying for her inaction now.

“Commander? I know it's an inappropriate time but I was hoping I could speak with you about a matter I consider urgent?”

Falke didn't see the point in entertaining him. She knew what this was about, but she also knew he'd never really drop it until she made him. And she couldn't make him without talking to him. Pity.

“Go ahead.”

Adler straightened his posture as he looked up at Falke, who was leaning against her door frame, head bowed to avoid hitting the top of it. This was her time off, and she figured it was unreasonable to expect all that much professionalism from her. “Myself and several other staff members have been concerned lately about your sudden changes in behavior.”

That was almost certainly an embellishment if not an outright lie on his part. Sieben hadn't seemed all that concerned about her behavior as of late, and other staff seldom interacted with her directly enough to notice any significant changes. Kolibri, maybe, but they hadn't mentioned an issue with her either. 

“Oh?” Falke raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. She waited a moment before throwing him a leading question, “since when?”

“Ever since that girl showed up and–”

“Officer Yeong outranks you. I'd be careful what you say next.”

He flinched, glancing around the room as if anything present might help him make sense of what Falke had just said. Was that actually true, or had the Commander arbitrarily decided it in the moment just to keep him in line?

“Be that as it may…” he began, slowly, hoping not to misspeak in a way that might further agitate the Commander, “her presence seems to cause too much of a distraction for you and I–”

“Are you really in a position to make that claim?”

Adler hesitated before nodding. He had made a promise to himself not to give up so easily. He had to do everything in his power to ensure his beloved Commander was operating correctly. “Well, I… yes. I think that I am. After all, it’s my job to support you and sometimes support requires pointing out problems and helping to solve them. I mean no disrespect.”

Falke rolled her eyes, stepping out of her doorway to stand up straight. “Your job is to obey me. It is not to question me. Now, I’ve been quite lenient with you up until this point as I have better things to do than waste my energy keeping you in line.”

“Commander, please. This isn’t you. I know you.”

“You… “know” me.” She repeated, flashing a smile that did not reach her eyes. “You know what your programming tells you,” Falke leaned forward, voice low. “You know what you are designed to know. You feel what you are designed to feel. There was a Falke before me, wasn’t there? And you knew her, too, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but she was different. She wasn’t the kind of leader you are. That’s why she was replaced. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you because I care about you. It’s different!” His instance only made her laugh. Adler looked away, furrowing his brow. What more could he say? Why had the Commander betrayed him like this? Didn’t she care about him the way he cared about her? Of course she did! She had to!

With a flick of her wrist, Falke forced him to look back up at her. “Look at people when you’re talking to them.” He wasn’t worth the effort, but his incessant need to question her meant he needed to be put in his place. “You realize, don’t you, I’ve read your files. I know everything about you. Your schematics, your issues, all of it. Nothing you feel towards me is real. New ADLR models are designed to be good little obedient tools to keep facilities running. We are not friends, and we certainly are not anything more than that despite what your pathetic little mind likes to think when I neglect my duty to keep you in line. You are a Replika. Start acting like it.”

Falke released her invisible hold on him, watching him stumble backwards, trying to form some kind of rebuttal. She did not wait for him to collect himself before she calmly spoke, “goodnight, Adler. I will see you at work tomorrow.” She could hear him trying to sputter out a “Commander, wait,” as she turned and vanished back into her room, bedroom door sliding shut behind her before he could finish.