#do i tag this spoilers? I'm going to just in case but it doesn't seem super spoilery

[elftism]

fun fact about library of ruina on steam deck:

The UI doesn't scale to the screen but the dialogue text does lol

edit: this is because I had the game on 864 x 486 resolution LOL ignore this

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Yuutsum 3

SUMMARY: What if you also have a Tsum? Then your Tsum and the Tsum of the person you like keep giving signs that they like each other?

CHARACTERS: Twisted Tsumderland 3 Tsumsitters (Ace; Trey; Ruggie; Jamil; Vil; Idia; Malleus; Silver)

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader 

WARNING: Spoilers for the Twisted Tsumderland 3 Event and the Tsumsitter cards Vignettes.

WORD COUNT: An average of 810 words per character.

COMMENTS: This was originally a request from @taruruchi for my 1k celebration. Which you can read here. And since so many readers liked it, I decided to do what I normally do when this happens: Do this for ALL the characters! Grouped by event in this case.

The request also includes Jamil's and Silver's tsums, but I wrote them before part 3 was even announced on the JP server. In other words, I had to pretty much guess what their tsums would be like, but now I could write them more accurately.

And I ended up get carried away writing Vil's and Idia's parts. 😅

I hope you enjoy 😉

Yuutsum 1 (Riddle; Cater; Leona; Jack; Floyd; Epel; Sebek)

Yuutsum 2 (Deuce; Azul; Jade; Kalim; Rook; Ortho; Lilia)

CONTEXT: Like the original Twisted Tsumderland 3 event, this takes place after the events of the first and second Twisted Tsumderland. And, surprise, your Tsum is back! But it’s the only one, all the other Tsums that came with it are completely new visitors.

Just like the other times, your Tsum seemed restless and wanted to leave Ramshackle Dorm, probably to go look for the other tsums. You decide to take a walk around the school building first and you notice a gathering in the cafeteria.

“If you give it devoted, loving care, I'm sure it'd be willing to show its gratitude!” You hear Ace's voice say from behind a wall of other students.

You come closer, with your tsum in your arms.

“So... Who wants to look after the tsum?!”

“I'll do it!” a Scarabia student offers.

“What are you talking about?” A Pomefiore student counterposes. “That's gonna be me!”

And an argue begins. You stand on your tiptoes and crane your neck to look over some students' shoulders and see an Ace-tsum on the table.

“Okay, easy, guys. You can all take turns trying your hand at looking after it.” Ace interrupts. “If things go well, you might get to see more tricks. And hey, if they don't do any, you can just return it tonight.”

Even though you know this is about Ace and his tsum, you can't help but feel a little sorry for the things Ace is saying. It's like he just wants to get rid of his tsum. Poor little guy. And your tsum agrees.

“I can take care of it!” Your voice rings out, Ace and Deuce recognizing it immediately.

The students in front of you turn and see that you have another tsum in your arms. They make way for you while commenting on how cute it is.

“(Y/N)?!” Ace and Deuce say in unison.

You lean over to look at Ace-tsum who is looking at you with bright, surprised eyes. You say you can take care of it since Ace doesn't want to. Your tsum jumps from your arms to Ace-tsum's side. You add that you have your tsum to help you supervise it and that you already have some experience with an Ace. He blushes a little.

“Wait (Y/N)!” Deuce says.“This is supposed to be Ace and my task. And you already have your tsum to take care of.”

“Don't worry, Deuce. We both can take care of it. Right, Tsum?” Your Tsum agrees and rubs its cheek against Ace-Tsum's cheek. “Better us than someone who treats it like a burden.” But Ace-tsum moves away from your tsum and Ace grabs your arm to pull you with him to talk to you alone.

“You dummy!” He tells you in a lower voice. “Listen, I'm not just trying to get rid of my tsum, okay?! I'm trying to find someone who adores it so much that they would love to fawn over it and take care of it. This will be better than being with someone who is only taking care of it out of obligation.”

You ask, then, why can't you take care of his tsum.

“Because I was trying to get some idiot to do it, not you!”

Then you hear and see that more students have joined the group that fawns over Ace-tsum. And it seemed like they were finding something cute?

You two go back to the table and see your tsums having fun with each other. Ace-tsum was showing magic tricks to your Tsum and seemed happier with your Tsum's surprised reaction than with the students' applause. Your tsum approached Ace-tsum and began to rub their cheeks against each other, like cuddling. Ace blushed again.

“Fine...” Ace gives up. “It seems like it wants to be with your tsum anyway.”

“Why don't we all take care of the tsums together again?” Deuce suggests, “Like we did when mine was here.”

You and your tsum agree.

“Yeah, I guess we can do that.” Ace says, then smirks. “At least now I can split the work between three.”

Surprisingly, Ace's Tsum is much calmer when it's around your Tsum. In addition to being extremely affectionate with your Tsum, it also seems to really enjoy impressing it with magic tricks and things like that. As if it loved having your tsum's attention and affection back, completely ignoring Ace's embarrassment.

Your tsum wanted to go somewhere, so you pick it up and let it guide you out of Ramshackle Dorm. You pass the Botanical Garden and the Alchemy Workshop and arrive at the Hall of Mirrors. Your tsum wants you to cross the mirror to Heartslabyul.

You do so, enter the building and you end up crossing paths with Trey in the hallway. He was carrying a cake container. You feel your tsum move slightly in your arms when it sees him.

“Hello (Y/N).” Trey greets you. “I see your tsum is back.” He smiles at it and you feel it move again. “This time one similar to me showed up too, so I'm also tsumsitting. I assume you're here to see it.” He chuckles seeing you and your tsum nodding. “It is in the lounge. But before that.” He opens the cake container revealing a beautiful cake with icing and grapes decorating it, and some slices already missing. “Do you want to try a slice? Tsum decorated it.”

If you like grapes, he will be happy to see you eating a slice. If you don't like them and are sad because you would like to try the cake, He will suggest that you go to the kitchen and take out just one piece that doesn't have grapes for you to taste.

“Here.” He says taking just a forkful of the icing cake. “This one doesn't have grapes.” He holds out the fork with the piece of cake in your direction.

You can take the fork and eat it yourself or you can eat it while he holds the fork. If you do this last one, he will laugh and then smirk slightly. Independently of what you do, you'll feel your tsum moving in your arms again, but not enthusiastically.

Trey asks if everything is okay with your tsum and you answer that it might be sad because it can't taste the cake, after all tsum don't eat.

“Oh, don't worry.” He says to your tsum with a sweet smile. “You liking the way it looks is good enough already.”

Your tsum makes that happy tsum sound and suddenly jumps out of your arms towards Trey who catches it and you see it nestling in his arms.

“Ha ha ha. Your tsum is more cheeky than mine. No, that's not a bad thing. I find it quite cute actually.”

If you are more outgoing, your tsum will make that happy sound again and smile at him with its eyes. If you are shy, your tsum will shrink a little and hide its face in his arms.

He will, happily, carry your Tsum in his arms to the lounge where his Tsum and other students are, but when the three of you get there...

“Is everyone done? I'll get the dishes - uh...” Trey and you see what appears to be his tsum attacking students with a toothbrush. “What’s going on here?”

Cater explains the whole madness with Tsum wanting everyone to brush their teeth. Trey ends up taking his Tsum's side and the students run to brush their teeth. Cater tries to apologize by saying that it took him longer to eat and even tries to say that he wanted to spend some time with your tsum. But it's no use, both Treys look at him with a menacing smile.

“Ah, I'm sorry! I swear I'll brush therm! Don't come near me with that smile on your face!” And he leaves the lounge as well.

Only Riddle, you, Trey and your two tsums remain. Trey-tsum points his toothbrush at you with that smile.

“Let's give (Y/N) a pass this time.” Trey defends you. “They are from another dorm so their toothbrush and toothpaste are not here.”

Trey-tsum lowers the toothbrush in agreement. Your Tsum jumps out of Trey's arms and lands next to his Tsum. They both make a happy sound and the two begin to rub their cheeks against each other as if cuddling.

“Your tsum is very affectionate, isn't it?” Trey comments with a smile.

Trey-tsum jumps onto your shoulder, presses its face against your cheek as if it were giving you a kiss, and jumps back to your tsum’s side. Then the two jump onto one of the sofas and snuggle up together as if they were nesting.

“How cute.” Riddle comments with a slightly mocking smile seeing Trey blush.

You were taking a walk around the school campus with your tsum in your arms when you heard Jack's voice calling you.

“Hey (Y/N), glad I found you.” Jack says. You turn around and he sees your Tsum in your arms who greets him smiling with its eyes. “Your tsum is back? So you should already know that other tsums have appeared too.”

You say you had already assumed that and ask if he was looking for you.

“More or less. The truth is that I was looking for someone who could help Ruggie with his tsum.”

You feel your tsum move in your arms when it hears Ruggie's name. Jack tells you that everything seemed to be going well between them until they started arguing, or rather fighting over the money they earned. Your tsum has the same reaction as you, probably an unsurprised sigh.

You agree to help and go with Jack to Savanaclaw. You find Ruggie and his tsum in the lounge fighting with each other. Riggie has an envelope in his outstretched hand trying to get it away from the tsum, while the tsum jumps at Ruggie to try to get to the envelope while hitting him.

Your tsum jumps out of your arms and sneaks up on them while they are focused on fighting each other. When it is close enough, it prepares itself and as soon as it sees an opening, it jumps and takes the envelope from Ruggie's hands. Then it runs to you with the envelope where its mouth would be and jumps back into your arms, handing you the envelope.

Ruggie looked at your tsum and you with the most threatening look you've ever seen on him, until he realized it was you and his expression changed drastically and his ears went down. His Tsum's reaction was the same. He even stutters your name in surprise.

“And h-hey, your tsum is back!” He tries to divert the conversation and ease the situation.

You don't fall for that and ask why they were fighting over the money. Ruggie explained to you that he still tried to give 20% to his Tsum since it doesn't need money to eat or things like that and that's why it seemed fair to him. But his tsum didn't like the idea and was trying to keep most of the money.

You ask your own tsum if that money is the same as in the tsum world, basically asking if it would be of any use to Ruggie-tsum, and your tsum shakes its head no.

“See?! It's not even any use to you. And I would be generous enough to give you twenty percent.”

Ruggie's tsum turns against him again, your tsum jumps out of your arms and throws itself at Ruggie-stum, hitting it. But it doesn't hit your tsum to retaliate, instead it tucks its tail between its legs and lowers its ears while your tsum seems to scold it.

Ruggie laughs at that situation and approaches you asking, also with his ears down and his tail between his legs, if you could give him back the envelope. But you reveal that, knowing him, you knew that he was not taking care of the tsum, but rather taking advantage of it to earn more money with its work.

“Hey, The tsum was the one who wanted to work for m- I mean with me. We earned that money by working together by choice.”

“So why not split it fifty-fifty?” You suggest.

“WHAT?! Are you cra-”

“If one of you worked as hard as the other then you deserve the same amount, don't you?”

He tries to bargain by reiterating that Tsums don't need to eat, but you continue the discussion saying that if it's not like that they won't stop fighting and it will never be resolved. If Ruggie keeps rejecting ot, your tsum will throw itself at his head to hit him. And then he will finally give in and split the money 50-50.

After that your tsum will convince Ruggie-tsum to just rest with it, trying to push it onto one of the lounge chairs. But instead Ruggie-tsum seemed to want to play with your tsum and the two of them started play fighting like two cubs. Which ends up looking more like they are hugging and cuddling.

Ruggie comments that despite what happened they seem to really like each other. After playing with each other for a while, Ruggie-tsum will come over to you to see if it can get some petting from you for being so cute. And if so, it'll turn over on its back so you can give it belly rubs. Ruggie will tell you that you're spoiling his tsum while trying not to show that he's jealous.

You find out that a Tsum similar to Jamil has appeared and is with him in Scarabia by crossing paths with Kalim while you were taking a walk with your Tsum around the school campus. Needless to say, Kalim was super happy to see your tsum again.

On the way to Scarabia you could feel the enthusiasm of your tsum. When you arrive, Jamil and his tsum are in the lounge playing a card game.

The two Jamils realize that someone has entered the lounge. They look at whoever has entered just to greet them, but as soon as they see that it is you, they both smile.

“Hello (Y/N). I see your tsum is back.”

Your tsum jumps from your arms and approaches Jamil's tsum. When it gets close enough, they brush each other's cheeks. Jamil blushes and pulls his hood a little tighter.

They will finish the game they were playing and then invite you and your tsum to play with them. You will play against your tsum, Jamil will teach you and his tsum will teach your tsum while you both play. Jamil will try to make you win, while Jamil-tsum is trying to make your tsum win. And perhaps for this reason, he teaches you by whispering in your ear so that the tsums don't hear your plays. Even if you don't win, Jamil will say that you played well and will be happy that you understood how to play.

You play two or three more times. Whenever you or your tsum win, it's because Jamil and his tsum agreed to lose to see you both happy. But in the last round Jamil-tsum climbs onto your lap while your tsum goes onto Jamil's lap. Thus forming pairs for the last round.

While Jamil-tsum helps you with the best moves, Jamil asks your tsum for its opinion with a cute smile. They both know that your tsum can't help him win, but he enjoys interacting with it in the same way he enjoys interacting with you.

The two teams end up tied. There is a good chance that the bouth Jamils planned this result.

You were going to get up so Jamil could prepare something for the two of you to have a snack, when you heard something. The sound of an insect coming in and cetting closer to you. Jamil jumps and runs to the door leaving your tsum behind while his tsum uses you to hide. You feel it trembling against you. The insect lands on one of your cards and you see that it is a... little ladybug.

If your reaction is something like, ‘Aww, a cute ladybug.’ Jamil will complain, outraged.

You ask Jamil to bring you some jar with a lid with holes and leaves inside. When he asks you what for, you say that you're going to put the ladybug inside and release it in Ramshackle Dorm's garden. He thinks you're crazy but that's okay as long as you lock that thing up and take it away. He brings you an empty spice jar with two leaves inside. You ask if they are poisonous plants, he sighs and says no. You smell the leaves and they seem normal.

The ladybug was on your finger, you open the jar to put it inside but it flies back towards Jamil who screams and runs away again. When the ladybug returns, it goes after Jamil-tsum, who also starts to run away through the lounge. The ladybug finally lands on your tsum's head and the two of you put the insect in the jar and close it. You tell Jamil it's done.

When he comes back, you try your best to contain your laughter as you remember him running away from a ladybug, but he notices your little smile and looks at you sullenly, despite thanking you.

Something similar seems to happen with the tsums, but your tsum dosen't contain its laughter and Jamil-tsum attacks it with what appears to be tickles. After your tsum surrenders the two seem to start cuddling each other.

Jamil is embarrassed by this and pulls his hood even further to hide his blushing face.

You were walking around the school campus with your tsum in your arms when you arrived at the Courtyard. A group of Pomefiore students focused on photographing something separated you from Vil and Rook on the other side. You and your tsum noticed that they were photographing Vil's tsum, and it seemed to be enjoying the photoshoot itself.

Your tsum jumps from your arms to the ground and tries to pass between the feet of some students to get closer to Vil-tsum. But those students notice something moving near them and look down at your tsum.

“Aw, it's another tsum.” One of the students says.

“Yeah, but this one doesn't look like anything special.” Another student comments.

“In fact, it looks so ordinary.” A third student agrees. “Could you please not interfere with Vil's Tsum photos?”

Your tsum still tried to advance a little further, but the students stopped it by putting their feet in its way. And even if you were complaining, they didn't care, they were in the middle of a photo shoot, the staff and spectators shouldn't interfere.

“Listen, if your tsum was half as beautiful as Vil's tsum we might still consider it, but I don't believe his tsum would even want to be seen with yours.”

With this, your tsum becomes too sad to keep trying and returns depressed to you. It doesn't even jump into your arms, you have to bend down and pick it up.

Meanwhile, the photo shoot stops abruptly and you hear some students say: “What's wrong?”, “Why do you want to stop suddenly?”, “Did we do something wrong?”, “Have we crossed boundaries?”

You see the students in front of you make way for Vil's tsum. When it sees you, its eyes shine, but when it sees your tsum, sad and curled up in your arms it gets upset and turns aggressively towards the students.

They realize that the tsum is upset with them for insulting your tsum, but it doesn't know which one was and they start saying it was the other one.

“You're the one who said it didn't look like anything special!”

“’In fact, it looks so ordinary.’ that's what YOU said”

“And who said their tsum wasn't even half as beautiful as Vil's tsum?”

“At least have the decency to admit your rudeness.” Vil appears, also unpleased, and with Rook beside him. “None of you have the right to decide who can or cannot approach the tsum. It is the one who decides who deserves such a privilege.”

“What a disappointment to have dormmates with such little tolerance for other unique types of beauty.” Rook says sadly. “And so insensitive too. ‘I don't believe his tsum would even want to be seen with yours.’ Which of you has the courage to claim such a phrase?” Rook looks at the three main suspects with an amused smile but a menacing look.

Both Vil and his tsum got angry upon hearing this.

“It was him!” The other two pointed to the culprit.

“It is also quite ugly to denounce someone so shamelessly.” Vil rebuked them and clapped his hands decisively twice. “The photo shoot is over. Go back to your duties. And the three of you have a meeting scheduled with me later in the Pomefiore dorm. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes Housewarden. We regret our words.”

“I sure hope you do. But that won't lessen your punishment. You may go now.”

As the Pomefiore students leave, the others glaring at the three who insulted your tsum, Vil-tsum turns back to you and jumps into your arms, knowing that you would catch it. It cuddles up to your tsum as if it were comforting it, rubbing their cheeks and giving it kisses, or at least that's what it seemed like since tsum don't have mouths.

“How can they belittle such a demonstration of love and such a beautiful couple!” Rook says dramatically. “Je suis choqué!”

When you start having trouble holding two tsums at once, Vil approaches you and puts his arms around yours to help you.

“I am deeply sorry for the atrocities you heard.” He tells you in a soft voice but then smiled smugly. “You can help me think of an appropriate punishment if you like.”

Knowing that you were having difficulty holding them, your tsums end up jumping from your embrace to the ground. Your tsum still looks a little sad and Vil's tsum doesn't take its attention away from your tsum.

“Don't listen to them.” Vil says to your tsum. “Just because you don't fit their standards doesn't mean you're not beautiful. You should only care about the opinion of those who you really care about and who care about you.” He looks at you. “They are right about one thing, you two look ordinary.” He will smile in amusement if you look at him sulkily. “But who said that was ugly? The beauty of the ordinary is the most difficult to perceive, only those who truly recognize it deserve to appreciate it. And if you want to know my opinion, two extraordinary things become flashy, but one common thing brings balance and harmony. The kind of thing whose value and importance you only realize when it disappears.” He looks back at your tsum. “Don't listen to the opinions of ignorant people.”

Rook was crying with emotion and murmured how beautiful that moment had been. Your tsum, also moved by his words, jumps into Vil's arms. He almost got a fright, but he caught your tsum.

“*sigh* How cheeky.” Vil said, smiling softly. He holds your tsum as if he were holding a beloved baby.

Vil-tsum approaches you calmly, with an aura of dignity and sophistication. You lower yourself, kneeling on the ground and it climbs onto your lap. Like a cat demanding in the way you pet it.

Vil-tsum won't let anyone else take a picture of it unless they want to take a picture of it and your tsum together. If your tsum is too shy and doesn't want to take pictures, then Vil-tsum will also refuse.

Vil's tsum will try to convince him to give you and your tsum a beauty treatment. And if it doesn't succeed the first time, he'll steal Vil's cosmetics for your tsum. But since it's you, Vil ends up accepting.

Vil will have to keep an eye on Rook because he will become obsessed with your tsums together.

Your tsum was restless in Ramshackle Dorm and seemed to want to go somewhere. You picked it up and let it lead you out of the dorm. Your tsum made you pass through the Botanical Garden and the Alchemy Workshop until you reached the Hall of Mirrors, where it made you pass through the mirror that lead to Ignihyde. Once inside it doesn't take long for Ortho to appear to greet you.

“Hi (Y/N)!” He looks at the tsum in your arms. “Oh! You're back too. It's great to see you again! Are you here because of my big brother's tsum?”

And now you know why your tsum wanted to go there. Your tsum nods its little head. Ortho doesn't even bother to tell you where they are because they can only be in one place, but he says he'll have to leave because of the meeting with the Film Research Club and wishes you luck in dealing with his brother and his tsum. You go to Idia's room and knock on the door.

“Ortho? Did you forget something?” Idea asks instead of opening the door.

“No. It's me, (Y/N).”

He stammers your name in surprise. “W-w-w-what are you doing here?!”

You explain that your tsum was the one who took you to Ignihyde and that Ortho told you that an Idia lookalike had also appeared. Suddenly you hear a commotion inside the room and Idia asking in panic what it was doing.

The bedroom door opens. You see Idia lying on the floor in the middle of the room and in front of you an Idia-tsum staring at you. When your eyes meet his, his own sparkle and the blue in his hair takes on pink hues at the tips.

Your tsum jumps out of your arms and lands right on top of Idia-tsum. What no one expected, not even your tsum, was that Idia-tsum's reflex would be to take advantage of this to take your tsum, as if kidnapping it, to a kind of fortress made of cardboard boxes in the corner of the room.

“Welcome to the club.” Idia tells you as he stands up. “It also kidnapped my tablet. Now it has two captives.”

As soon as you enter, the door closes behind you again. You go to the cardboard boxes, kneel down and look inside. You see, through a gap in the boxes, the two tsums very close together playing a co-op game on the tablet.

“S-sorry about that.” Idia tells you embarrassed. “I can't get along with this tsum. I've been trying to get my tablet back for hours but it is so stubborn. ...What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

You think about it and say that if they stay calm like that until it's time for them to go back to their world, there shouldn't be any problems, right?

“OF COURSE THERE IS! MY LOGIN BONUSES! Why do you think I'm trying to get my tablet back?! Listen, I don't care what the tsums do as long as they don't cause me any problems or interfere with my games. And this tsum manages to do both. My room wasn't this disorganized before, but it keeps fighting me. You're good with delinquents, help me!”

If your tsum is really like you, it wants to get Idia-tsum out of those cardboard boxes like you want to get Idia out of his room. Which means if you have an idea you know your tsum will help you. You think about that co-op games and how Idia can be competitive when he believes he have a good chance of winning. Aka: in video games.

So you have an idea, but to do so you have to whisper the idea in the Idia's ear so the tsums don't hear. When you get closer he gets flustered. You suggest playing a 2 vs 2 game and invite the tsums to play, and encourages him to be as provocative as possible to ensure that his tsum accepts the challenge.

“And then what?" He whispers back to you "We'll have to entertain it while I get the tablet back.”

“I can handle that part.” you guarantee him.

You both follow the plan, luckily Idia has 4 controllers, probably because they are all different models. At first, Idia-tsum doesn't fall into the trap, but soon Idia's smugness kicks in

“Of course you don't accept the challenge. You don't even have opposing thumbs, how could you beat us?” The boxes move. “Or is it because you're a noob?” The boxes move again and it looks like Idia has an idea for the ultimate strike. “Oh, I see, it’s because your teammate is a normie who sucks at games.”

One of the boxes jumps like a spring and almost hits Idia in the face, as if whatever was underneath it had exploded. Idia-tsum jumps towards one of the controls with an irritated look and his hair completely red. Idia himself gives one of those scared YEPs, but for some reason he smiles when he sees that reaction from his tsum.

Your tsum jumps to the other controller next to Idia-tsum who looks at it and waves like a true duo preparing for battle. Idia gets prepered beside you and gives you a similar determined smile before he starts the game.

During the fighting game, it was as if Idia had forgotten about his tablet and whenever it seemed like you were having trouble he would get upset on your behalf and defend your character with his. His tsum did the same to your tsum.

It was only at the end of the round that Idia suddenly remembered the tablet and jumped out of his chair to pick it up from the floor next to the cardboard boxes. His tsum did the same thing, but you managed to catch it in time and held it in your arms with a strong hug. It struggled at first, but when it remembered that it was you who was grabbing it, its hair turned completely pink and it covered its eyes with its little hands.

“I collected...”  Idia raises the tablet in his hands. “The Tablet!”

He looks at you with a triumphant smile, but if you are giving his tsum affection and kisses because it’s so cute, the tips of Idia's hair will also turn pink and he will be flustered.

Your tsum will jump right up to his face and give him some affection too, like rubbing its little face against his cheek.

“H-h-h-h-have you never heard of personal space?!”

You were walking with your tsum in your arms around the school campus when Lilia suddenly appeared.

“You're back!” Lilia surprises you and your tsum by appearing upside down in front of you. “Hi (Y/N)-tsum. It's so good to see you again. This is actually perfect.” He turns around and puts his feet on the ground. “You see, a Malleus-like tsum also appeared.” You feel your tsum move happily in your arms. “And Malleus decided to throw a party for it. I was looking for you to invite you, but now that I see that your tsum is back I know that both Malleus would love to have both of you at the party.

Your tsum gets so excited that it almost falls out of your arms.

“Good thing you're excited, because we're already late. Come with me. The party has already started.”

Lilia accompanies you and your tsum to Diasomnia. The lounge is full of Diasomnia students paying attention to Malleus and his tsum. Lilia asks you to follow him down the stairs and when you reach the last step the students in front of you look at you and respectfully make way between you and the two Malleus. Like soldiers taking positions on both sides of the road.

The two Malleus look confused to see what the students were doing and when the two tsums' eyes meet your tsum jumps out of your arms and hops towards Malleus-tsum very quickly. Some of the students (Sebek included) took one step forward to stop your tsum from "attacking" Malleus' tsum, but stop immediately at Lilia's signal.

Malleus-tsum did not move, excitedly waiting for your tsum to reach it. Your tsum did indeed attack Malleus' tsum, but with love and affection. Your tsum gave it a lot of affection and Malleus' tsum simply accepted it with smiling eyes, only occasionally reciprocating the affection. Malleus also looked at your tsum with a special affection in his eyes.

You approached the tsums to get a better look at Malleus’s. It approached you with that dignity that Malleus himself also has, looked at you for a few seconds and bowed. All the other students at Diasmonia suddenly did the same. Even Sebek, although he did so a little reluctantly.

You bowed back and asked if you could pet it. The other students looked at you again with extreme attention and some held their breath. Malleus-tsum pondered, creating suspense in the lounge, but then it made that happy tsum sound and jumped into your arms, super happy. It accepts any and all affection coming from you and it doesn't matter how strong your hug is, just like Malleus his tsum is also extremely strong and resistant.

Meanwhile, your tsum also jumps into Malleus' arms without warning. Hence the students' gasps echoing through the lounge.

“So fearless, jumping towards me like that.” Malleus smiled smugly. “You really don't fear that I might crush you?”

The other students were wary, but your tsum didn't seem to care what he was saying and jumped onto the top of his head, nestling between his two horns. Once again the students gasped in fear. Only Lilia and Silver were calm. Lilia was laughing.

“My liege, please forgive this insulting-” Sebek said, but was quickly interrupted by Malleus's good-natured laughter.

“How cheeky. I wonder who gave you permission to go up there.” He raises his arm to bring his hand closer to your Tsum in his head, touching its little nose affectionately before patting its head.

While you were hugging Malleus-tsum, one of its horns stung your cheek. It immediately stopped and looked at you worriedly when it heard you say ‘ouch’. When it realized it had hurt you, its little eyes watered. You said it was okay, that it hadn't really hurt you, it was just a little sting, you were fine, you hadn't even gotten a mark. But even so, you had to keep comforting it.

After that, Malleus-tsum wanted to dance with you and Malleus with your tsum. You did so. And the next one, the two tsums wanted to dance together. Following this same logic, Malleus invited you to dance.

At the end of the party, when your tsum gets tired, Malleus-tsum will accompany it to you and Malleus who are sitting together. But your tsum will lie on Malleus' lap, and he will pet it lovingly. Likewise, Malleus-tsum will lie down on your lap, even if it is not tired. It is extremely happy for you to pet it.

Malleus laughs happily when your tsum turns over onto its back so he can give it belly rubs.

Malleus-tsum looks at you and Malleus and thinks you're not close enough. It jumps from your lap to your side and gives you a little nudge on the leg with one of its little horns. You jump and lean against Malleus. You apologize, but Malleus still puts an arm around you. And now satisfied, his tsum returns to your lap, which is so close to Malleus' lap that the two tsums can nestle together too.

You were walking around the school campus with your tsum, but it got tired of always walking in your arms and now it was jumping around by your side.

You were crossing the bridge that led to the Mystery Shop grounds when your tsum, who was jumping on the edge of the bridge, slipped and fell into the water below you. The current took your tsum to the lake in front of the Hall of Mirrors building, you followed it running. Your tsum managed to grab onto a ledge in the rocks very close to the waterfall.

You didn't know what to do. You couldn't get down there and there was nothing to help you.

But at that moment something jumped into the water near your Tsum, grabbed onto it and grew so big that it was blocking the passage to the waterfall. It was Silver's tsum!

And speaking of him, Silver appears right after and uses his magic to make your tsum levitate and fly back into your arms. But what about his tsum? The water coming from the lake was accumulating and creating more pressure on the tsum.

But the two Silvers seemed to understand each other well and the Tsum quickly returned to its normal size and let itself fall down the waterfall, but Silver managed to use his magic to catch it in the middle of the fall and bring it back to land safe and sound.

Your tsum jumped out of your arms to hug Silver-tsum, who hugged it back, or at least the tsum version of a strong and affectionate hug.

If you do the same to Silver to thank him, he will be surprised at first, but will hug you back gently with a smile on his face.

“I'm glad you and your tsum are safe now.” Silver tells you. “My tsum and I fell asleep nearby. We both woke up to the sound of something falling into the water and your fright.”

Neither your tsum nor silver's tsum wanted to let go of each other.

“Were you heading back to your dorm? We will accompany you.”

He used his magic to dry your tsum and you for grabbing it right after it came out of the water. Your tsums seemed to agree on something and then your tsum jumped into Silver's arms while Silver-tsum jumped into yours. Your tsum was nestling in Silver's arms, while his tsum was on guard and alert to your surroundings.

“I think they want me to protect your tsum while my lookalike protects you.” Silver assumes, placing his arms protectively around your tsum.

You go to Ramshackle Dorm together and as soon as you arrive in the lounge, your two tsums go to the sofa and snuggle up very close. And now in a safe place and next to your tsum, Silver-tsum falls asleep very soundly. Both you and your tsum find it funny how soft he looks when he sleeps so deeply.

“There goes another attempt to stay awake for as long as possible.” Silver says smiling, also finding it funny. “But I can't blame it. I also feel very relaxed around you.”

You stay with your tsums in the lounge. There's a good chance Silver will fall asleep next to you. Or on your lap if you let him.

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[himluv]

I agree with you on the Solavellan ending. I love the angst and tragedy and I'm eating the idea of Solas and Lavellan having a lot to unpack once in the fade. Dramatic confrontations, tears, breakdowns and a slow road to forgiveness,. Delicious food. But I'm really annoyed with a portion of the fandom that seems to just gloss over the fact that Solas killed Varric, someone who was always kind to Lavellan and was even her friend. And even if you don't like Varric personally he is in canon a relatively decent person who tried to reach out to Solas on a compassionate level. Then he used a blood magic puppet of him to manipulate Rook... IDK the way that seems to mean little to nothing to a lot of Solavellans kind of bothers me. I'm not here to tell anyone how they can or can't play but the takes have been so bad. The infantilization, excuses and woobification of our boy are so egregious. Solas is complex and morally gray. Why would we be going through the effort of redeeming him if he wasn't doing things that would require redemption in the first place? I've felt really disconnected from the rest of the fandom because of all of the softening of his character people have been doing and it's refreshing to hear a take from someone who loves Solas but doesn't want to defang him.

Thanks for this thoughtful reply to this post! Sorry this took awhile, but I've been thinking of what I wanted to say. Long and spoiler-riddled reply below, and I don't even know how relevant it is to your reply, Nonny. Sorry!

I think A Lot of folks have spent the last 10 years rotating him in their heads like one throws a clay pot, molding him into something he could be based on what we knew about him. But, we didn't necessarily account for the other forms he could take. And some folks are very resistant to who he's canonically become by Veilguard. Because it's not a good form, he got Worse™ in his decade away from friends and love (shocker!), and it's hard to reconcile this version of him with the ones we may have made.

I get all of that. But I also LOVE that. It means he could still surprise me, and I got to experience this weird duality of love/hate I didn't expect to feel toward him. I got to see his lies in real time, know he was lying because I KNOW HIM, and go, "oh, you little shit (affectionate)". Like, that's just FUN! Which, last time I checked was in fact the point of video games.

I love that he is unpredictable and dangerous in this game. That we finally see him go all out, and use every skill and trick he has. That is THRILLING, especially because he's more dangerous and lethal and ruthless than I personally expected. Which... Is my fault. I should have expected it, because look what he did to Felassan. Look how he so easily killed all those Qunari in Trespasser. Look what he did with those spirits of chaos and disruption. Look what he did to the Titans! I should have known better, the games and books showed me time and again what he was capable of. I just didn't want to believe it.

I've seen some posts talking about how Lavellan approaches Solas at the very last confrontation. How carefully she goes up the stairs towards him. I've seen several interpretations of it, but there's one I haven't seen (which could be because I'm not hanging out in the Solavellan tag much these days).

She takes those stairs slowly, as if approaching a spooked horse, because the last time someone climbed a set of stairs to talk him down from his ritual, he killed them. And I don't think for one second Lavellan believes, if she handles this poorly, he won't do the same to her.

And I think she is 100% right. He would, perhaps on "accident" as he claims to Neve was the case with Varric (debatable - seemed pretty intentional if maybe a bit impulsive from here). But I firmly believe there is a world where Solas would stab his vhenan if he had to and certain conditions hadn't been met (and yes that would utterly destroy him).

She walks up those stairs to him, her vhenan, knowing this is it. Their final stand. She will save him from himself, whatever it takes, and she is prepared to die at his hands if it comes to that. And it so easily COULD HAVE.

I don't know. I just think that Veilguard gave us SO MUCH more insight into Solas and there's so much there to chew on. I think we're going to be able to go back through all the games and codices and so many little details are going to fit together and complete a puzzle we didn't even know we were making.

After all of this, I still have so much to think on 😂. I'm going to be living in Thedas for another decade at this rate!

Good. I don't ever want to leave.

[justporo]

I just read your headcanons about Astarion, they are so good!! And since he is the hardest for me to understand I'd love to read your headcanons/input about: Him trying to manipulate Tav into liking him, but she simply doesn't get it and thinks he is just after her body and blood (of course she never says that unless he would challenge her)

Alright, I had this sitting in my inbox for a while mostly because I had to give it a good think, my dear. And I'm really digging the idea that Tav is just super oblivious to his manipulation tactics, so have some

Headcanons about Astarion trying to manipulate a completely oblivious Tav

Astarion starts out flirting with Tav just the same he's always done with everyone: trying to pick up on a few things to work it into his routine (even if it is stupid)

"So, darling... knives, eh? I bet you're even sharper than your weapons, my dear." (spoiler alert: obviously this is not the case...)

Or maybe it is just, that you see through his games immediately and were prepared to help him from the start

He really, REALLY puts his back into it but his tactics just won't work with you, you don't seem to pick up on any of the flirting

In turn though, you really don't need to be manipulated, you just offer help "You know, Astarion, if you need some of my blood you can just tell me, it doesn't bother me."

And that makes him very suspicious of you because no one has ever reacted like this, this is not how this thing works! "I bet our sweet little leader very much has an agenda of their own, if you ask me." "And what would that be, Astarion? Go for world domination while the worm slowly devours my brain? Is it so hard to believe that people maybe just want to do the right thing." "Yes actually, oh valiant, noble leader, it is hard to believe - at least for me!" And you see the pain in his eyes as he says that

So the flirty behaviour turns into mean sass very quickly, he snaps at you at every given opportunity - because why would anyone just offer help to a vampire? Nobody could be this good, right? And then also: why did it take so long for him to meet someone like you?

But when you keep offering help and just support him, he breaks at some point; first because he has no other option it seems but later on he allows himself to believe if only just a little and he dares to have just a tiny fraction of hope

Later on when he confesses he was trying to manipulate you and fell for his own trap, you just wrap him in your arms and softly tell him, that he doesn't have to worry about stuff like this anymore; "I just want you to be happy and safe, Astarion, that's all."

And he might not fully or even partially believe you in this moment, but a seed of hope and love is surely firmly planted

So basically, just slam him with support until the sassy little vampire falls in the pit he dug himself, hehe.

Tag list: @spacebarbarianweird @sunfire-ancunin @tragedybunny @dependsonthedream @tallymonster @magazzne @micropoe10 @aoirohi @my-bunny-prince @lumienyx @fayeriess @azukiel

[yaffles-world]

Nightswimming

Viktor and his partner decide to go out for a swim.

WARNINGS/TAGS: fluff, mostly non sexual nudity but there is some cheeky brief sexual content, arcane Viktor but blitzcrank makes a cameo cos I said so, no use of Y/N, reader is wearing a dress but is called a good boy otherwise gender is not discussed, spoiler free. MINORS DNI

The wind was softly blowing, and the moon was bright and basked the area in soft white light. It was quiet, away from just about everything. Blitzcrank being the only remotely intelligent life for a fair distance, just in case there was trouble. Most of the animals that would be around were tucked into bed.

That was of course excluding Viktor, sitting carefully on the edge of a fallen tree. His shoulders were hunched over and his cheeks and ears were dusted pink. He was hyper focused on a point in the distance, as I slowly worked my hands over his back brace. I undid the clasps and worked on disconnecting it.

“Are you okay?”

Viktor's amber eyes flicked to mine and then back to his chosen spot in the distance. “Ah. Yes… I feel… naked?”

“Well, that's fair enough. You basically are.” I ran my hands across his back, trailing down the ridges of his spine. He shivered and his cheeks turned a darker shade of red. I gently hold his cheek to redirect his gaze. “If you aren't okay, tell me. If you want to do this another way, we'll figure it out.”

He sighed. “Practically, yes, there are alternatives to doing it this way. If I just want to… see if being in the water alleviates the pain. There's plenty of ways. But I don't want to do that. I want to do this… It's… Beautiful.” His gaze wandered off again and I detached his back brace, putting it beside me on the blanket. I moved down to his leg brace.

“I… It's been… I don't even know if I've ever been somewhere like this. With Zaun, well everything's… polluted and Piltover is so focused on steel and mechanical beauty. Which, there is certainly a sort of beauty to it, yes, but it's different to this. I've never see this many stars…”

I gently placed his leg brace beside his back brace on a clean blanket. I ran my hands down to the only piece of clothing left on him, his underwear, but he held my hands.

“Now, hold on there lubov. That doesn't seem fair.” He reached forward and hitched my dress over my knees and guiding me to kneel down so he could pull it up over my head. There was an initial shock of cold. Viktor pulled me in close and gave affectionate head scratches. “Oh, you are such a good boy for me, not even wearing underwear.”

I shrugged, trying to push down the heat building inside of me. “I just wanted it to be easier.”

He smiled smugly. It faltered when I pulled down his underwear abruptly, revealing a cock at half mast. He shivered again.

“Let's not get distracted here, my love. Are you okay if I carry you?”

“Ah, um, thank you, but that's really not necessary.”

“That's not what I asked you.”

“Well, ah… you certainly don't have to solnyshko but… yes I'm okay with it.”

I scooped him into my arms and pressed his body against mine. He was never particularly warm but his skin was soft and his hair was fluffy and brushing against my face. We walked into the water. It was warmer than expected given the cold night but it was certainly crisp. I slowly lowered him into the water, despite his protestations expressed through squeaking noises.

“It's cold!”

“Ah come on, this? You'd think you'd never been in water before.” I held him close. The water was about waist deep and his arms were wrapped tightly around my back, pressing himself into me with his head in the crook of my neck.

“Solnyshko, really, do you think I've spent my whole life not having a shower?” He pushed himself deeper into me somehow, now close to being fully buried.

“You know I don't mean that…” His ears tinted red. “Wait, Vik, have you never been swimming before?” I cursed myself. Of course he hasn't. Zaun waterways aren't known for being clean after all and who would have taught him? Especially with his body in the condition that it's almost always been in. “I'm so sorry, I didn't even consider that as a possibility. Are you okay? We really don't have to do this.”

He nodded, smushing his nose against my neck. “I trust you. I know you've got me.” I could feel his lips pull into a smile.

“Okay. Okay. No pressure at all.” I laugh breathily and he returns the laughter. “How do you feel?”

“Good. It helps, a bit.”

“Do you think you can detach from me?”

Viktor squeezed tighter with a strength I didn't know he had, but then he slowly detangled himself. He shivered slightly, then stood a bit straighter. He smiled a crooked smile.

“Okay. First step, I'm going to teach you how to float.”

Viktor nodded.

“The goal here is to stay flat and above the water. There should be no parts of your body sinking below the surface, or all of you is going to sink. Generally it's a good idea to focus on the stomach area and keep that above, and then the feet and the head. The head will naturally want to stay above though so the focus is more on the lower body. I'm going to help you. Are you ready?”

Viktor nodded and I put my hand underneath his back and under his knees, tipping him upwards to the sky. I kept one hand under his back and one under his thighs to keep him above water.

“Okay. You got it? Focus on keeping the air in your stomach. That's the point that's going to keep you afloat. And then don't let your feet fall under.”

Viktor hummed in affirmation. I pulled my hands out from under him, not without leaving a quick parting squeeze. Viktor remained steady above the water.

“Very good.”

Viktor whined softly, barely audible if not for the near silence of where we were. I stifled a laugh as his cheeks went bright red.

“Sorry, solnyshko.”

“Oh, no, don't be sorry for doing so good for me.” I scratched his hair. “Focus, my love.” I moved slowly down to his cock sticking up out of the water. “Now this is just too tempting to resist.” I gently lick the tip before going down. Viktor inhales sharply, before steadying his breathing.

“Solnyshko…” he breathes shakily. I hum, before moving back to be beside him.

“You truly impress me Viktor. You're doing so well. But, again… let's not get distracted. However tempting you are.”

I kick up my feet and float next to him holding his hand. His breathing slowly returns to being steady.

“Thank you for taking me out here.”

“Of course.”

We lay there for a while holding hands and looking up at the stars. The trees outline the sky, framing it with their dark, sprawling leaves reaching outwards.

“It's beautiful.”

“And so are you.”

[utilitycaster]

Do you think that Laura and Marisha are deliberately making their relationship somewhat toxic and unsustainable or do you think they see the relationship as healthy? It is just so different from all of the other relationships they have been a part of and not really in a good way. Would love to get your perspective on it if you have one

I am honestly unsure. I would like to say it's deliberate. Prior to it becoming canon, in fact, I, and a lot of other people who were less than enthused by Imogen and Laudna's romance and weren't entirely sold from the start, made the case that we expected they would be talking to each other and would put together a compelling story, not the dull fluff so common in fanon. While whether it's compelling is a subjective judgment, we know for a fact they didn't talk to each other. We know for a fact Marisha was surprised by the question of "Can I kiss you," and Laura was surprised by the answer. We know from a 4SD not long after (4SD #16, Kiss and Tell) that several episodes later they still hadn't talked. We know that Marisha perceives Laudna as holding Imogen back (and that Laudna perceives herself as doing so) from the Rose City Q&A. We know that from 4SD #20 (Episode Twenty) that Laura doesn't like conflict in narrative and Marisha does, and that Laura was thrown by Laudna's regression following Ashton's attempt to absorb the shard (4SD #19, Shard Candy).

I don't know if it's deliberate or not; I don't have any extra insight that isn't public knowledge any fan can easily access. But man, it doesn't feel like these are two actors on the same page about what's going on.

I've touched on this before but mostly in tags or whisper posts but I've always felt ill at ease with a number of for lack of a better term "fandom-approved opinions" and one of the ones that has baffled me the most is this idea that Marisha and Laura have exceptional chemistry. I watched Campaign 1 knowing the endgame ships but deliberately avoiding the fandom, and Vex and Keyleth did not even once occur to me as a thing. I watched the first year of Campaign 2 without a ton of fandom interaction because I was avoiding additional C1 spoilers and it seemed crystal clear that the obvious ship was Beau and Yasha; it felt like Beau and Jester only even had enough potential for me to multiship it as my general "whomever Jester picks" for like, 30 episodes. And yet people - people who didn't even ship either of the above ships and in some cases disliked them- would just say "oh man I can't wait until we get to a campaign where we can finally explore Marisha and Laura's incredible chemistry!" and it's like. I feel like I'm the kid in the Emperor's New Clothes on this! I understand that chemistry is to an extent a matter of taste and subjectivity, but it just increasingly feels like people looked at two campaigns of tables where Ashley was frequently absent and said "well, if I want an F/F ship that's between two of the women in the cast, I guess this is what I have to work with" and repeated to themselves that a flat pamplemousse La Croix was a Piña Colada until they started to believe it. I mean if someone wants to explain it to me in good faith I suppose be my guest and I will try to take it in, but it feels like people just treat this as incontrovertible fact and if you doubt it they're like "don't you have eyes" and it's like, well, pretend I don't. Explain like I'm eyeless and five because I have never understood this. They both have more chemistry with every single other cast member; it's not all romantic but man, I didn't even buy Laudna and Imogen as platonic best friends of two years. I have never had this problem with any other pre-existing character relationships Marisha and Laura have played, platonic or otherwise. It's literally just them. I just never feel like they're quite on the same page.

Back to the relationship between Imogen and Laudna onscreen, this was easily the best conversation since the start of the gnarlrock fight, and it is my hope it doesn't fizzle out the way that did. You can't keep kissing Laudna whenever she fears she's lost forever to Delilah, Imogen. Or you can, but that won't fix the problem. Again: are you disgusted? Do you feel betrayed? If you're not, why did you say that? If you are, how will you move past it? Do you want to be with someone who never feels like they're good enough for you? Laudna, do you want to be with someone who, no matter what they say, you feel you're holding back?

Early in the campaign, my feeling was that of our current situation, switched - Imogen felt her powers were a burden and a curse and Laudna kept referring to them and to her glowingly. It's just...ships passing in the night, no pun intended here. I hope it's on purpose and whatever comes from it is a good story - and either a tragedy or a happy story could be a good one. But I have a nagging sensation that Laudna wants out but is afraid to say no, and Imogen is afraid to let go, and I honestly don't know if the actors have realized this impasse and how the characters might resolve it, one way or another, besides the insufficient bandaid of a kiss whenever the conversation gets too uncomfortable.

[wadesbedtimestories]

I Like You (capital letters and all) by sambarnes (G)

3437 words, 1/1 chapter

Wade has always been an expert at fooling himself, and it seems like the emotional depth of his relationship with Logan is another one of such cases. Logan disagrees.

author's tags: insecure wade wilson, wade wilson needs a hug, angst, angst with a happy ending, miscommunication, hurt/comfort, wade wilson breaking the fourth wall

my tags: established relationship, insecure wade, emotional hurt/comfort, angst, misunderstandings, happy ending

review (light spoilers):

so my friend and i were discussing this post and i happened to be reading this fic at the same time which fit perfectly almost. if you know me you know i'm a sucker for explorations of wade being selfless to the point of neglecting himself and it's something that's explored a lot in the comics too, so this was DELICIOUS. this is the third part in a series and although it's not vital to read the other two they are just as good and set the basic premise (getting together) for this fic.

i've always been a fan of the miscommunication/misunderstandings trope and i also think it is hard to do believably without it being frustrating. then again, almost anything is possible with wade because the way his mind works is batshit insane, but either way this fic pulls it off really well.

i've read fics from other fandoms with this premise before, where a character tries changing themselves to get people to stay, but it hits so hard with wade. and one thing i particularly like about this fic is that besides the Main Problem (logan not having explicitly told wade about his feelings for him) logan doesn't actually do anything wrong. he doesn't flirt with others, he doesn't do anything to suggest he might not love wade. and yet the mind can do wondrous things to fuck with you and that is just so wade. there's just so many good choices made in this fic here characterisation-wise, and i love how logan's thoughts and dialogues were executed so much

and i'm not going to say anything more specific because it's more spoilerish than i would like but god fucking damn i love the bit about the coffee table. i could write an entirely separate post about it actually if you just gave me a second

favourite lines:

Regardless, the kiss—or lack thereof—isn’t what makes him reach said conclusion, okay? He’s insane, but not in that particular way. It just makes him rethink their entire relationship

Except, he doesn’t know what he can do to become someone that can be loved.

“Walk me through it, yeah, bub?” he says, trying his best to keep his frustration out of his voice. “Why do I not like you?”

read (and comment on!) the fic

masterpost

[shewasverynice]

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen 

⚠️ SPOILER HEAVY ⚠️

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death 

Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Character, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Yaga Masamichi, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu, Tsukumo Yuki, Choso

‎‧₊˚✧ Chapter 27✧˚₊‧

"Move!" Haibara shouted, charging forward and knocking Sarah back with his shoulder. She grunted, but let herself fall as the curse sailed overhead and missed its pounce. Meanwhile, Nanami was at the ready and sliced the curse nearly in half before it began to dissipate.

"Damn! That was close!" Sarah laughed breathlessly when she sat up, but when she grinned up at Haibara and Nanami neither of them were smiling. She closed her mouth, sheepishly looking down at her hands in her lap. "I… I'm sorry."

"No, It's— Don't apologize," Nanami sighed, shaking his bangs out of his face. He glanced at Haibara who looked equally frustrated as he caught his breath. Nanami inhaled deeply for a moment, held it, then let it out slow before he squatted down to look at her. "You're too careless," he said sternly, "How did you not sense it?"

"I dunno," Sarah mumbled, looking at her shoes.

"Seems like you've been having a harder and harder time sensing them," Haibara said once he'd caught his breath, "Right, Nanami? I've noticed it too."

"Yes, I agree," Nanami said, holding his hand out for her as he stood up.

She took his hand and pulled herself to her feet. "You… may have a point…" She said quietly, "But how can that be? I've never had trouble before?"

"I have no idea," Nanami admitted, "I don't believe it's possible to 'get used' to being around curses."

Haibara suddenly gasped and pointed at Nanami. "But what if she's more used to being around a lot of cursed energy and that's why she's not sensing the small stuff?" he suggested, then looked at Sarah, "You're always around Geto and Gojo, maybe that's the problem? That's a lot of cursed energy to just hang around."

"I doubt that's it," Nanami said thoughtfully, placing his hand to his chin. "If that was the case then why is it only her? Shoko-senpai doesn't have this issue."

"Well and Shoko-senpai doesn't really go on dangerous missions so we wouldn't be able to tell," Haibara said with a shrug.

"Sarah, Kento, Yu," Yaga called and the three off them looked up to the hillside before moving to their mentor's side.

"Yes, sensei!" they called, lining up in front of him obediently.

"Sarah, go inform the manager that we're done here," Yaga commanded then turned to the boys, "You two, stay put."

Sarah hurried off and Yaga looked at the two boys with a grim expression. "This was something I feared may happen," their mentor said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Haibara asked, tilting his head.

Yaga cleared his throat, clasping his hands behind his back. "Cursed energy is inherently a negative force. But every force has…" He trailed off, glancing at the two boys expectantly.

"Something else?" Haibara said, his brows furrowing.

"An equal and opposite reaction," Nanami said, his eyes narrowing as he considered the possibility. He glanced up at Yaga and asked, "Is being around all this cursed energy depleting her secondary energy?"

Yaga said nothing and Nanami nodded. Haibara still looked confused, but then asked, "We're not hurting her are we?" Yaga said nothing once again, instead turning to lead the boys back to the car.

"You recall when Gojo explained her secondary energy?" Nanami whispered to Haibara.

Haibara nodded, "Yeah, so it's the opposite of cursed energy right? But what would that be?"

"They've been called it 'Blessed' energy for now, although Geto didn't exactly agree with the name," Nanami explained.

"So if cursed energy is negative normally then her stuff is positive normally?" Haibara asked.

"That's what I am assuming," Nanami agreed, "Which would mean that when the two combine they may be wiping each other out."

Haibara gasped and covered his mouth. "It it because she and I—"

"No, it has nothing to do with your relationship," Nanami said, rolling his eyes. He looked ahead at Sarah as she spoke to the Manager that had come with him. The girl didn't seem any worse for wear and her cursed energy was always minuscule so sensing a change was out.

"If only we could ask what's happening to her without the stupid vow," Haibara grumbled, "I bet it would make sense then."

"Then maybe we should ask the real her," Nanami suggested, glancing at Haibara with a hint of a smirk.

"Really?!" Haibara covered his mouth after he'd shouted, looking around as if the whole woods hadn't heard him.

"Gojo can do it," Nanami said with a nod, "He must have. There is no other explanation for why he knows more than we do."

"Why do you think it's Gojo-senpai that did it?" Haibara asked.

"Because what can't that idiot do?" Nanami sighed.

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"You serious?" Satoru laughed out the question, staring at the first years in front of him.

"Yes," Nanami repeated, "Please take us to speak with her tonight."

"No," Satoru said simply.

"Aww c'mon senpai!" Haibara groaned, "You know how to do it! At least tell us how!"

"Nah, see that's a slippery slope for all of us," Satoru chuckled darkly, "We can't keep fucking with something like that yet. I've already taken too many risks myself."

"It's not like you'd get hurt," Haibara huffed.

"No, but she would," Satoru warned, leaning in closer to Haibara. "Don't fuck with it yet. Don't even consider it."

"You've yet to explain why we can't," Nanami said, "In fact, it seems as if you have a lot more information on her that you're willing to share even with your own boyfriend. Why is that?"

Satoru was taken aback, then he grinned. "Oh-hoh! You gonna try to make me tell you?"

"Wait, this is—" "Yeah! I am gonna make you!" Haibara said excitedly, stepping up to Satoru's challenge.

"Hell yeah, Haibara let's go!" Satoru said, jumping up from his seat, "You and me. On the field right now! If you win, I'll tell you two literally everything I know."

Nanami considered this for a moment, then asked, "Am I allowed to assist?"

"Fuck yeah you can," Satoru said confidently, "Two on one is nothing to me. Let's go!"

The training field was mercifully empty when they arrived and the cicadas buzzed all around in the hot summer air. Satoru adjusted his sunglasses, his signature smirk plastered across his face as he walked onto the field with his hands in his pockets. The other two moved to stand across from him, both loosening up with stretches and rolls of their shoulders.

"Five minutes," Satoru announced, his voice carrying that unmistakable mix of arrogance and amusement. "If you two can last that long, I'll call it a win for you."

Haibara’s grin was as bright as the sun outside. "Five minutes? That’s easy! I’ll make you eat those words, senpai!" He hopped on his toes, shaking out his arms, brimming with energy.

Nanami, however, furrowed his brow. His sharp, calculating gaze flicked between Satoru's relaxed stance and the mischief glinting in his eyes. He sighed quietly, adjusting the grip on his cursed blade.

The moment Satoru clapped his hands together, the sparring match began.

Haibara lunged first, his fists glowing faintly with cursed energy as he aimed a powerful jab at Satoru's midsection. Satoru sidestepped effortlessly, pivoting just enough to let the punch skim harmlessly past him. "Not bad," he teased, flicking Haibara’s forehead with a speed so quick it was nearly imperceptible. Haibara stumbled back, blinking in surprise.

Before Satoru could press the advantage, Nanami was upon him, slashing in a precise diagonal arc. Satoru ducked smoothly, sweeping his leg in a low kick that Nanami leapt over at the last second. With a quick twist, Nanami reversed his momentum, bringing his blade down in a tight vertical slash.

Satoru caught Nanami’s wrist mid-swing, twisting just enough to force him back. "Ooh, nice form, Nanamin! You’ve been practicing."

Nanami gritted his teeth, jerking his arm free and retaliating with a rapid series of strikes. Satoru parried each with fluid, almost dismissive motions, his movements a step ahead at every turn.

Haibara rejoined the fray, coming in from Satoru's blind spot. His movements were wild but determined, a flurry of punches and kicks designed to overwhelm. Satoru spun gracefully, dodging one attack after another, his arms weaving a dance that deflected each strike without a scratch. At one point, Haibara thought he’d landed a clean kick to Satoru's ribs—only for Satoru to grab his ankle mid-air and swing him in a controlled arc, sending him tumbling to the floor.

"Come on, Haibara, you said this was going to be easy," Satoru quipped, offering a mock pout.

Undeterred, Haibara scrambled back to his feet, sweat dripping from his brow. "I’m just warming up!" he shot back, charging again.

The two underclassmen shifted tactics, coordinating their attacks. Nanami’s strikes came in sharp, calculated bursts, forcing Satoru to sidestep and block with precision, while Haibara’s relentless energy kept him dodging. It was an impressive display of teamwork—every time one of them pressed, the other followed up with a well-timed blow. But Satoru, to their mounting frustration, danced through it all like a leaf in the wind, never breaking his stride.

Nanami feinted a high slash and swept low instead, aiming to trip Satoru. It almost worked—Satoru teetered slightly—but he used the momentum to cartwheel out of range. He landed with an exaggerated flourish, spreading his arms wide. "You’re getting there! Maybe next year, though."

Haibara, seizing the opening, hurled himself forward with a fierce uppercut. For a fleeting moment, he thought he’d caught Satoru off guard—until Satoru leaned back just far enough for the punch to graze his chin, then delivered a playful tap to Haibara’s temple that sent him staggering.

By the three-minute mark, Nanami and Haibara were visibly flagging, their breaths coming in short, sharp gasps. Their attacks grew slower, less coordinated. Satoru, by contrast, hadn’t even broken a sweat. His grin widened as he caught Haibara’s punch mid-swing, spun him around, and gently but firmly shoved him to the floor.

Nanami, seeing an opening, lunged with a powerful, cursed-energy-enhanced thrust. Satoru sidestepped and swept Nanami’s legs out from under him in one smooth motion, sending him sprawling.

The room fell silent except for the ragged breaths of Nanami and Haibara, both lying flat on their backs. Satoru crouched beside them, his expression smug but not unkind.

"Almost three minutes. Not bad at all," he said, ruffling Haibara’s hair as the younger boy groaned. "But you’re gonna need more than guts to beat me. How about I help you train? No charge, of course—my teaching is priceless."

Nanami sat up, glaring. "You could’ve gone easy on us."

"Easy?" Satoru laughed, standing and stretching lazily. "I didn’t even use Limitless. That was easy." He shot them a wink. "Come on, guys. Next time, aim for four minutes. Maybe then I’ll really try."

The training weeks rolled by in a blur of early mornings, aching muscles, and endless teasing from Satoru. Nanami and Haibara quickly learned that the hardest part wasn’t the grueling workouts—it was dealing with Satoru's mouth.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Satoru sang, kicking open the dorm room doors at dawn. "Time to make your senpai proud! Or, you know, less disappointed."

Nanami groaned, burying his face deeper into his pillow. "Do you ever stop talking?"

"Only when I’m asleep," Satoru said with a grin, yanking the blankets off him. "C'mon Nanamin! Haibara’s already downstairs stretching. If he beats you in the run today, I’m never letting you live it down!"

Downstairs, Suguru greeted Haibara with a calm smile, handing him a water bottle. "Good morning, Haibara. Ready for another day of pain?"

"You bet!" Haibara grinned, radiating energy despite the early hour. "I’m getting faster. I can feel it!"

Suguru chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder. "That’s the spirit."

Mornings began with runs. Long, endless runs through the school grounds and the surrounding woods, with Satoru jogging backward half the time, calling out taunts and challenges. "Haibara, you call that a sprint? My grandma moves faster! And Nanami, if you trip over one more root, I’m getting you real glasses."

Weights came next. Satoru wasn’t shy about piling on the plates, either. "You’ve got to push yourself past your limits!" he’d declare dramatically, lounging on a nearby bench. "Or, you know, just cry about it. Either works for me."

Suguru, thankfully, was the voice of reason. He’d step in with quiet encouragement, demonstrating proper form and reminding them to breathe. "Focus, Nanami. One more set. You’ve got this," he’d say, steady and patient, while Haibara chugged water and cheered them both on.

And then there was sparring. Always sparring. It was the highlight of every session—and the most humiliating part. Satoru would step onto the mat, his hands in his pockets, grinning like he owned the place. "Let’s see what you’ve got today," he’d say, as if they weren’t about to throw everything they had at him.

At first, every match ended the same way: quickly. A flick of Satoru's wrist here, a sidestep there, and they’d be on the ground in seconds, panting and defeated. But over time, something changed. The matches lasted longer—seconds ticking into almost a full minute, then a minute and a half. They started landing hits, tiny glancing blows that barely fazed him but felt like monumental victories.

"Hey, Nanamin, was that your fist or a mosquito?" Satoru teased one day after Nanami managed to graze his ribs.

"That was a warning," Nanami muttered, trying to catch his breath.

Haibara, meanwhile, got more creative. He’d charge in with reckless abandon, grinning even as Satoru threw him to the mat. "One of these days, senpai, I’m gonna wipe that smirk off your face!"

"Dream big, Haibara," Satoru replied, laughing as he helped him up. "But maybe dream a little smaller for now."

Months passed, and the grueling routine began to pay off. Haibara’s wild energy was more controlled, his strikes faster and more precise. Nanami’s movements grew sharper, his strategy more refined. And while Satoru still wiped the floor with them every single time, those precious extra seconds felt like victories in themselves.

One morning after a particularly long run, the group sat under the shade of a tree, sweat soaking their gym clothes. Satoru lounged with his hands behind his head, while Suguru passed around water bottles.

"You’re getting there," Suguru said, nodding at Nanami and Haibara. "I can see the progress."

"Yeah, yeah," Satoru chimed in, grinning. "At this rate, you might actually make me try in, like, a year or two."

Haibara laughed, wiping his face with his sleeve. "Five minutes isn’t impossible anymore. I can feel it."

Nanami didn’t say anything, but there was a faint smile on his face. He looked at his calloused hands, the ache in his muscles, and the fire in his chest, and he knew Haibara was right. Five minutes wasn’t impossible.

"Gojo-senpai," Haibara suddenly called, jumping to his feet. "I want to go one-on-one with you."

Satoru, remained reclining against the tree trunk with his arms behind his head, tilted his head up to squint at Haibara through his sunglasses. “You serious, Haibara?” he asked, a lazy grin tugging at his lips. “Because I don’t want you crying when this ends in, like, ten seconds.”

"I’m serious," Haibara replied, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. His confidence was contagious, and even Nanami raised an eyebrow from the sidelines, intrigued despite himself.

Suguru chuckled softly, sipping his water. "Go on, Satoru. Give him a shot."

Satoru pushed himself to his feet with an exaggerated groan, brushing off imaginary dust from his gym clothes. "Alright, Haibara," he said, clapping his hands together. "Let’s see what you’ve got. Just don’t embarrass yourself too much."

The two moved to the path, facing each other in the dappled sunlight. Nanami and Suguru settled in to watch, their interest piqued. Haibara dropped into a fighting stance, his easy smile not betraying a hint of nerves. "You ready?" he asked.

Satoru slid his hands into his pockets, giving a cocky shrug. “Born ready.”

The match began with Haibara darting in fast, throwing a clean jab aimed for Satoru’s chest. Satoru swayed like a leaf in the wind, effortlessly avoiding the strike and countering with a quick kick that Haibara barely managed to sidestep. Their movements were fluid, each exchange coming faster as Haibara pushed harder, and Satoru danced around him with infuriating ease.

But then Satoru’s sharp ears picked up something—barely audible over the rhythm of their movements. He froze mid-step, raising a hand to stop Haibara, who staggered back, confused.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Satoru said, pointing at him. "What the hell are you muttering?"

Haibara blinked, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Oh, uh... It’s nothing. I just… kinda think of music when I’m fighting. It helps me focus, y’know?"

Satoru’s eyebrows shot up behind his sunglasses. He slid them off with one smooth motion, revealing his glowing Six Eyes. "Hold on. Think of music? Like, what kind of music? Sing it."

Haibara recoiled, his face burning red. "What? No way!"

“Come on,” Satoru pressed, his grin stretching even wider. “Don’t be shy. We’re only going to make fun of you a little."

Suguru snickered from the sidelines, and even Nanami allowed himself a faint smirk. "You’re not getting out of this now, Haibara," Suguru called, clearly enjoying the show.

Reluctantly, Haibara cleared his throat and began to sing, just loud enough to be heard over the rustling leaves. “Defy youuuu... to the eeeend…”

Satoru’s grin turned to delight as recognition dawned. “The Offspring? Oh, you’ve got taste, kid!” He clapped his hands once, a loud, approving sound that echoed through the clearing. “But don’t butcher it. Sing it properly. This is sacred ground.”

Haibara laughed despite himself, shaking off his embarrassment. He sang a little louder this time, his voice steadying as he moved back into his stance. Satoru grinned, raising his hands in a loose guard. “Alright, rockstar, show me what you’ve got.”

The fight resumed, and at first, nothing seemed different—until Haibara’s cursed energy shifted. His singing faltered as he realized the air around them was shimmering faintly, almost like heat haze. His strikes became sharper, his movements faster, but it was as if the energy wasn’t entirely his own. Satoru’s grin widened, his Six Eyes glowing brighter as he took a step back to assess.

Then it happened. Haibara’s cursed energy surged, bright and fierce, rippling like a wave. The world around them seemed to flicker for just a moment, and everyone froze. Even Suguru sat up straighter, and Nanami’s eyes widened.

“Whoa,” Satoru breathed, his grin splitting into a laugh. “Well, well, well. Look at that. That’s a sign of something pretty fucking cool, Haibara.” He clapped Haibara on the shoulder, his amusement replaced by genuine excitement. “You’ve got something special in you, kid. Let’s see how far we can take it.”

"S-something special?" Haibara panted, looking at Satoru, then down at his own palms. He flexed his fingers, balling his fists back up. Something had happened. "What was that? Was that a cursed technique?"

"Not exactly," Satoru said tilting his head. He pointed at Haibara and said, "That was almost a domain expansion."

"Now hold on," Nanami said, standing up, "That's… impossible isn't it? He doesn't have an innate technique?"

"Well, technicalities like simple domain aside," Suguru chimed in, standing up as well, "It should be impossible. However, I trust Satoru's eyes more that my knowledge on the subject."

"It's interesting actually," Satoru said, tilting his head, "By all the taught knowledge it should be impossible. But I always had a theory about it."

"You talk like an old scientist," Suguru teased and Satoru only shrugged and poked out his tongue.

"So what you're saying is that I do have a technique?" Haibara asked, looking up at both his senpai, "You're not messing with me, right? You really mean it?"

"Here's the thing," Satoru said, throwing his arm around Haibara. He cleared his throat dramatically then said, "I don't know." Haibara slumped and Satoru grinned at him while he shook his shoulder. "Hey, relax, I'm not done! I don't know, but I do wanna find out. And you're gonna be my lab rat for a bit, yeah?"

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"H-hold on…" Haibara huffed, leaning on the railing up the tall staircase. He winced as he stood up, stretching his legs and rubbing at his thighs. "I'm so sore… Gojo and Geto have really been working us hard!"

Sarah chuckled, adjusting a few loose strands of his hair and then fixing his jean jacket for him. He stood still, a goofy little smile on his face as he let her preen before he just couldn't take it any longer and he grabbed her hands.

"You're so cute," he said, grinning at her, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long for this date."

"Pff," she scoffed, tugging him along with her, "It's not a big deal. I'm not really all that high maintenance."

"Hmm," he hummed a little, following happily behind her with a goofy smile. "But you could be if you wanted to. You're definitely cute enough for that."

"Shut up," she laughed, "What do you mean?"

"I mean if I could get you nice things I could—"

"Don't do that," she huffed, stopping suddenly enough that he bumped into her back.

"Huh? Did—Did I make you mad?! I'm sorry!" he grasped her hands tightly, turning her to look at him. His eyes were wide and already a little teary and she couldn't help but giggle.

"You're so quick to get emotional," she teased, wiping under his eyes with her thumb, "Don't be. I'm not mad or anything. I just don't need you thinkin' you need to buy me things."

"Yeah?" he said softly, "I know girls like gifts and things so I thought maybe if I—"

"I like you plenty, Haibara-kun," she said with a softer smile than he expected, "Don't worry. You're a lot of fun. Don't read into other shit people do, okay? Just be you."

Haibara grasped her hand in both of his, his eyes wide and sparkling. "Can… can you call me by my first name now?" he asked suddenly.

She raised her eyebrow. "Oh, right, I forgot about that," she mumbled, "Would that be okay with you? I know it's a big deal."

"Yes! Please! I want it so bad!" he admitted readily, nodding excitedly.

She laughed, pulling their hands down still intertwined down. She leaned forward, just close enough for only him to hear her say, "Well, how about we keep going on our date… Yu?"

Haibara gasped and dropped her hands, pulling Sarah against his chest. His hand pressed the back of her head in and the other arm wrapped awkwardly around her waist. He kept it inside, but she could still hear him screech with his mouth closed and she couldn't help the muffled laugh buried in his t-shirt.

"Oh? All that huh?" she teased, trying to look up at him only to have him push her face back down.

"Don't look at me right now," he mumbled, "I-It's too much."

"Yeah? Just 'cos I said your name?" she asked, more seriously that time.

"It's… it's so crazy," he answered, peeking down at her for a moment before he looked away.

"Weird, but really cute," Sarah giggled, tugging on his hand again, "C'mon, people are staring. Let's go!"

Haibara nodded and followed after her. Eventually the curiosity bested him and he asked, "I'm surprised you think so. You grew up here, didn't you?"

She looked over at him and nodded, "Mhmm, yeah I did. I just never… thought it was a big deal…" She said, then furrowed her brows, "Because I… I didn't grow up… here?"

"Ah!" Haibara gasped, "L-Look! There's a—a place with gyoza! That's your favorite, right?!"

Sarah grinned at him, "Oh! Hell yes! Let's go!"

Haibara sighed with relief. It was too close. Always too close. And why did it always happen to him? It was like he was constantly having to jump through hoops to keep her from panicking. How was he supposed to learn more about his girlfriend this way?

There had to be a solution. There had to be some way, right? Some way for him to ask her about herself and get an answer that wasn't based on some big fake memories planted by the higher ups. But that of course… that required him to learn how Satoru was doing it.

"Do you think I could last five minutes in a real fight with Gojo-senpai?" Haibara asked suddenly.

"Pff," Sarah scoffed, "I don't think anyone could if he was going all out." Haibara slumped and sighed and she quickly patted his arm. "Oh, don't take it too seriously okay?" She said with a smile, "It's not your fault. He's just naturally amazing at like… everything."

"Yeah, he really is," Haibara sighed, "I want to beat him though because I… I just need to. For something I need."

"Something you need?" Sarah asked, glancing up at the menu board at the stand with Gyoza.

"Yeah, it's like… something really important," Haibara said, "Something I can't get unless I do it."

"What makes you think you have to do that?" She asked, "Like… isn't there another way?"

"Another way?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah! If Gojo is an immovable wall, then maybe you can just… go around?" She suggested.

Haibara pointed at her, his mouth fallen open. "That's a great idea! Go around! I can do that!"

"Yeah! You definitely can!" Sarah said, patting his back. "You can figure this out!"

"You're right! I absolutely can!" He beamed, looking at the menu.

That evening, he dropped her off at the doors to the main HQ building. Nothing unusal. A quick peck on her cheek and she was off with a blissful smile and a blush. Haibara, meanwhile, was going to figure this out. There had to be a way. There just had to be!

Haibara crouched behind a large stone pillar near the entrance, his chestnut eyes tracking the subtle movements of the guards stationed at the perimeter. Each step he took was careful, or at least as careful as he could manage. He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned his attention back to Sarah once he was sure the guards had stopped watching him. She moved with tense determination, her steps brisk yet purposeful as she approached the two handlers waiting for her. Gojo hadn't lied about that part, not that he expected him to. Haibara stayed low, barely daring to breathe as he watched the exchange unfold. Sarah crossed the threshold, and the barrier flared for a moment, shimmering like heatwaves in the air. The sound of her scream pierced the stillness, and Haibara winced, clutching at the fabric of his shirt as if to shield himself from the sound. His teeth ground together as he watched the guards catch her trembling form, steadying her until she recovered. Her voice came next, muffled and too soft for him to discern, but it seemed calm despite her earlier cry. "Come on, Sarah," he muttered under his breath, leaning forward slightly to catch a better look. With a subtle nod from one of the handlers, Sarah was escorted down a set of stairs. Haibara waited, his legs cramped but steadfast, watching until the last shadow of her presence disappeared below. Only then did he move, emerging from his hiding spot and following quickly. He scanned the area, searching for another entry point. He tried the nearest side path, but yet another line of glowing talismans blocked his way, their protective energy sizzling faintly in the air when he approached. Another route led to a pair of guards stationed by a large gate, their stances alert. More alert than he was expecting. Haibara paused in the cover of a dense bush, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. "There’s gotta be a way in," he muttered, clenching his fists. Gojo did it somehow. He kept repeating that in his mind. But the usual brute force Gojo would favor wasn’t an option. Haibara was pretty good, but he was nowhere near that good. He sighed, running through his options. "What would Geto-senpai do?" His thoughts conjured an image of Geto’s easy smile, the way he charmed his way through situations with calm words and clever manipulation. “Yeah… maybe that could work.” Straightening his posture, Haibara adjusted his expression to one of weary exasperation and stepped out from the shadows, deliberately walking into the guards’ line of sight. "Hey, uh…" he called out, scratching the back of his head and letting his voice tremble slightly. "I think I’m lost. Any chance one of you guys could help me out?" The guards exchanged a wary glance, their hands hovering near their weapons. Haibara’s heart pounded, but he kept his face as neutral as he could, leaning on his best impression of Geto’s confidence. "Smile and sweet talk," he thought. "Just smile and sweet talk."

Haibara swallowed hard, forcing himself to keep his smile intact as the guards stared him down. He could feel the weight of their scrutiny, every second stretching out like an eternity. His fingers twitched at his sides, aching to fidget, but he held his ground. “I was… supposed to be training with the people who handle the ceremony,” he said, pitching his voice to sound just uncertain enough to seem harmless. Vague was good. Gojo had told him everything he needed to know about the ceremony—the strange ashes, the weird energy of the ritual—but how much could he safely reveal without giving himself away? One of the guards raised an eyebrow, his hand still resting on the hilt of his weapon. “Training, huh?” he asked, his tone skeptical. “Who sent you?” Haibara didn’t hesitate, the words slipping out before he could stop them. “Gojo-san.” His heart skipped a beat as soon as the name left his lips. "What did I just do?" Panic surged through him, but he kept his expression neutral, his mind racing for a way to backpedal. But before he could say anything, the guards exchanged a look and nodded. “Alright,” one of them said, stepping aside. “Follow us.” Haibara blinked, barely concealing his surprise. They bought it? Relief mingled with a new wave of anxiety as the guards turned and began descending the stairs. He followed, his footsteps casual as he could manage but his mind a chaotic whirl. His fingers found the hem of his shirt, and he began fidgeting with it, twisting the fabric between his fingers as they descended deeper into the building. The air grew cooler, the walls narrowing as they moved into what felt like an underground chamber. His eyes darted between the guards, their broad backs blocking most of his view. "I’m so screwed," he thought, his stomach twisting. "What was I thinking? Throwing Gojo’s name around like that? What if they double-check? What if—" He forced himself to take a slow breath, trying to calm the storm inside him. He needed a plan, something clever enough to get him through this. Geto could talk his way out of anything, right? Maybe Haibara could too—if he didn’t choke. One of the guards glanced over his shoulder, and Haibara quickly plastered on a sheepish smile. “So, uh… how often do they run these ceremonies?” he asked, his voice light, as if he were just making small talk. The guard said nothing, his eyes merely flicking to Haibara for a moment before refocusing ahead. "That’s not ominous at all," Haibara thought grimly, his fingers tightening on his shirt. He glanced around as they reached the bottom of the stairs, his sharp eyes taking in every detail of the dimly lit corridor ahead. The faint scent of ash lingered in the air, mingling with something darker, more sinister.

The air shifted without warning. Haibara’s body tensed as he felt it—a wave of energy washing over him. But unlike the oppressive, suffocating force he expected, this was something entirely different. It was soft and light, like the touch of a gentle breeze or the warmth of sunlight breaking through clouds. His racing heart slowed, his breathing evening out as a strange calm settled over him. His eyelids grew heavy, threatening to close entirely, and for a moment, he forgot where he was. It felt safe, like a long-forgotten lullaby sung to quiet his fears. "This has to be it," he thought, his mind grasping at the faint threads of hope. "The second energy… Sarah’s energy. They’re taking me to her." But the tranquility shattered in an instant. The guards halted abruptly, their hands gripping Haibara’s arms as they forced him forward. Before he could react, he was thrust into a cold, empty room, the stone walls closing in like the jaws of a predator. The stark chill bit at his skin, starkly contrasting the warmth he’d felt moments ago. His gaze darted around the room, taking in its bleakness, until it landed on the figure standing at its center. An old man, tall and thin, loomed over him, dressed in a flowing robe that seemed to absorb the dim light. His face was lined with age, his sharp eyes glaring down at Haibara with a piercing intensity. The man’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. “Did you tell anyone else what you know?” Haibara froze, his mind scrambling for an answer. His mouth opened, but no words came out, just a garbled mess of stammered syllables. “I—I didn’t— I mean…” he trailed off, his throat dry as sand. His hands curled into fists at his sides, his nails digging into his palms as the gravity of the situation pressed down on him. The old man’s gaze didn’t waver, his expression as unyielding as stone. Haibara’s thoughts raced, every possible response falling apart before it reached his tongue. But no clever words or cunning plans came to him. All he could do was stand there, the weight of his mistake pressing down harder with each passing second.

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@inthedarkshadows000

[romance-club-daily]

Why do many find the HS universe disappointing? I LIKE IT (no shade to those who don’t like it). Astrea’s broken heart being a part of the universe is mind-blowing! It adds such depth and complexity to the characters. Like, they could’ve kept the spoiler after Diamond Rush (which I’m patiently waiting on, lol)

I look at it as an exciting evolution of the story. It opens up new possibilities for character development and plot twists that we might not have anticipated. It feels like the author(s) is inviting us to explore a more expansive universe, where the stakes are higher and the stories can take unexpected turns. I’m excited to see where this journey leads us next!

I wish I could agree with you anon, but I can't, not for now (at least).

Ranting incoming! Sorry in advance! I have some points and you can feel free to disagree with me too.

Everything you brought up as an argument could work precisely because Astrea's Broken Heart (ABH) is not from the same universe as Heaven's Secret (HS).

I'm not against stories that are set in the same universe, given the post on the connections between contemporary and mundane stories that I pointed out a few days ago (7 Brothers, Garden of Eden, The One, Vying for Versailles and Elite Tag). I think these are easier because the lore is grounded in reality, nothing supernatural or anything like that. The connection between Chasing You (CY) and HS doesn't bother me either, precisely because CY is a story with completely different themes, the HS plot wouldn't directly affect the CY plot (they all die in the 1st apocalypse?. Probably. Nobody cares because that's not what the story is about). And honestly, it seemed more like an easter egg than something really thought out.

But ABH deals with precisely the same theme as HS (the same mythology in this case), except that before we learnt about the joining of universes, the way this theme was being dealt with was different from what we had seen in HS and was, in my opinion, a breath of fresh air compared to HS. The way the hierarchies were beginning to be dealt with, the interaction of the then angels with the Father, the characters' relationship with the subject and so on. New things (and better in my opinion).

But as soon as you say that this story takes place in a universe of an already established story (which already has 2 stories, 3 in fact), things start to go wrong. Because in order to subjugate a story to a universe, things start to become limited at certain points. There are things you can't do, and if the aim is to keep the universe cohesive in the writing, adding lore here and there like the issue of angels in Heaven's Secret Requiem (HSR) is valid and doesn't affect the story, but what about Mikael being the Father's right hand (because they call him Father), Raphael being that important to Him, but in the HS universe there's no mention of them, or the treatment isn't even the same?

The Beast also seems to be an important figure in ABH, a supreme evil. But putting it in HS is going to be what? Because we know that evil is the Shepamalum, the first Satan presented in HS1 was a minion and honestly, hell looked more like a corporation with a CEO taking part every quarter of a year? Is the beast going to be Satan #546465? Will it be antichrist #7894646? Or will it be Shepamalum? Or demon Larry who made a revolution calling for better working conditions and decided to sacrifice some people as a form of rebellion?

Jokes aside, I can't see how a story that's just starting its second season suddenly (because I don't know to what extent this was planned inside, but as an audience we only know about it now - another problem) has to subjugate itself to an existing universe with its most important hierarchies and lores that have already been established. The number of plot holes is going to increase a lot.

Which brings us to the point of how this was passed on to the public. How do you announce something important like that after the second season of a story, already established, and via Facebook of all places???????? Like?

I have theories. Firstly, the two stories were released on the same day. HSR as a direct spin-off. nice. ABH as something completely new, interesting, unusual. ok. Announcing two spin-offs of the same book, on the same day, would be insane and the accusations of capitalising on every drop of HS's popularity would be off the charts (we've only had that with the HSR part, but it would probably be worse). But doing it afterwards, the way it's being done, isn't much better, the backlash is there and I think it's fair.

They probably waited to see if the book was going to be a success on its own, so that they could talk about it and people wouldn't get too outraged (from the reactions it didn't do much good). They could have done this much more organically. This month's update would finally introduce us to the agency's superiors, and what better way to announce that a story is part of an existing universe than by mentioning existing characters! They could take advantage of this and introduce already known characters, or just mention them by name. It would be much more organic and we would see the connection in the story, not in a random Facebook advert.

Another point is that it could be that they didn't want to create a story of similar mythologies that rival each other. HS has its own fanbase, ABH is also creating its own, the way it's constructed is different, and I think the latter is better. Then, to avoid problems, they put everything in the same universe and that was that. But I don't really believe that because Alice herself (HS) is Elena's (ABH) editor in the story. Which leads me to wonder, was this planned from the start or did they see the potential later and change their minds in the middle of the first season? How serious is this for them to announce it on Facebook and not in the story itself? They had to have the guts to admit it on launch day, why hide it?

So as not to be too long-winded, and to summarise my opinion, I don't think it's an advantage for ABH because it limits the development of the lore too much, since what is going to be dealt with already exists in a certain way, the plot and the development of the plot worry me within this universe. On the other hand, it's advantageous for HS because the popularity of ABH joins it. I don't like the decision at first, I'm going to continue treating them as separate things. I really hope that they have a plan up their sleeve that is spectacular, that things work out and no story is harmed in the process, because ABH has become one of my favourite books. And I must emphasise that I also don't like the way they're trying to squeeze every last drop out of HS, the way it's been done has its ups and downs, HSR was a good decision, HS2 not so much. As well as having other stories that deserve continuation and an exploration of the universe (such as Moonborn with the werewolf and vampire clans, Sails in the Fog with other pirates, Heart of Trespia with the unexplored lands beyond the sea…).

I guess, that's what I think about it. And sorry for the long text again!

[lucky-clover-gazette]

prince's gambit highlights & annotations

chapter 19 and a half

(quoted BY HAND from the PAPER BOOK)

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

Damen was happy.

i love that it starts like this. for the first time in the entire series, it really is that simple

He felt the warm, wonderful, impossible fact of the situation. Bed slave.

interesting subversion here. i love how it hovers over discomfort for the reader, like we get why damen is pleased by this, but we can't 100% be on board with the sentiment. demonstrates damen's tendency to look away from the unpleasant in favor of the pleasant, even when those things overlap

'Come back to bed,' said Damen. 'I, said Laurent, and stopped.

ooooh he got the laurent speechless "i" with that one. laurent's probably feeling some shame and disbelief and maybe some dissociation? which makes the fact that damen takes his hand after this even better. it helps to ground him

'I—thought to towel you down.' The sweetness of it was startling. He realised with a little pulse of his heart that Laurent meant it. He was used to the ministrations of slaves, but it was an indulgence beyond any dream of decadence to have Laurent do this.

i think laurent's need to be clean after sex is a trauma/shame thing, so him offering the same to damen is almost a weird kind of protectiveness? like "it makes me feel better and safe after this overwhelming thing, and i want you to feel that way too." it's sweet in a different way from damen's understanding, or i guess just a deeper one.

Laurent had indeed taken care of matters, and had removed any evidence of their activities from his appearance. He did not look like someone who had just been fucked. Laurent's post-coital instincts were remarkably self-denying.

see comment above

'I lack," said Laurent, "the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with,' you could see him pushing the words out, 'a lover.' 'You lack the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with anyone,' said Damen.

i am so sad that this exchange isn't in the original book, because it's one of my favorites in the entire series. it pulls together so many thematic and character beats at one, with the book's consistent poignancy and humor. it's a great example of pacat's subtle dramatic irony and damen's corresponding lovestruck distraction from the truth. damen isn't being neglectful by misunderstanding laurent, he's accidentally manifesting a safe place for them both to be silly and strange and loving despite all the things he doesn't understand. which is what laurent really needs, to see that he can be loved and trusted, even if he's realizing this while actively caught up in his own lie.

also i'm a sucker for affectionate teasing.

'You thought of it?' 'You kissed me,' said Laurent. 'On the battlements. I thought of it.'

the contrast of damen looking at laurent in book 1 chapter 1 and thinking immediately "he'd be a very expensive sex slave" and laurent only starting to consciously think about damen in a sexual way after they kissed in the end of book 2...

Laurent was silent, as he fought an internal battle. Damen felt the quality of his stillness, the moment when he pushed himself to speak. 'You were different,' said Laurent. It was all he said. The words seemed to come from a deep place in Laurent, eked out from some core of truthfulness.

different from [redacted?] i sure hope so

'You can call me by my given name,' said Laurent. 'If you like.' 'Laurent,' he said.

LET'S GOOOOOO

gonna be a while until we get a 'damen' from laurent, but that's okay, i like the fact that i thiiiiink it comes after the reveal? and kind of a synthesis of the disconnected damen and damianos currently in laurent's head

'I'm not afraid of sex,' said Laurent. 'Then you can do as you like.' And that was the crux of the matter, it was suddenly clear from the look in Laurent's eyes. It was Damen's turn to hold himself still. Laurent was looking at him as he had since he had returned to the bed, dark-eyed and on the cusp. Laurent said, 'Don't touch me.' He was expecting... he wasn't sure what he was expecting. The first hesitant brush of Laurent's fingers against his skin was a shock. There was an odd sense of inexperience in Laurent, as though the role was as new to him as it was to Damen. As though all of this was new to him, which made no sense. The touch on his biceps was tentative, exploratory, as though it was something new to be marked out, the span of it, the shape of the curved muscle. Laurent's gaze was traveling over his body, and he was looked in the same way that he touched, as if Damen was new territory, unexplored, that he couldn't quite believe was under his command.

at the risk of exposing too much about myself, i will just say... real. and to see an approach like this depicted as endearing rather than unattractively strange is nice. some of this analysis gets a little too close to personal stuff that i'm not going to share, but i know why a lot of it hits and why it's helpful to me as a writer and a person to analyze.

also, just beautiful writing here. so little dialogue says so much, and the stream-of-consciousnesses from damen is perfect.

'He hadn't given himself over to sensation, he'd caught it up in an internal struggle.'

yeah.

Dark-eyed, as though touch was to him an extreme act.

from damen's perspective, it simply isn't. but to laurent, and a reader like me... man.

Laurent said, 'I didn't think anyone was good enough to get past your guard.' 'One person,' said Damen.

okay i get that damen was aiming for a double meaning here about laurent, but i do also want to make an almost certainly incomplete list of people who we know, at some point in this series, have gotten past damen's emotional and/or physical guard (whether to hurt him, seduce him, connect emotionally with him, or all of the above):

kastor

jokaste

the regent

laurent

nicaise

ancel

aimeric

kashel

erasmus

Then Laurent's gaze lifted—not to his own, but to the collar. His fingers lifted to touch the yellow metal, his thumb pressing into the nick. 'I haven't forgotten my promise. That I'd take off the collar.'

i think this is the exact moment where laurent's cognitive dissonance starts to irreversibly crumble. irreversibly, because he can't bring himself to keep reinforcing it. he knows who damen is, and what he did, and he still wishes to show him honor. i think he wishes for a lot more than that, but doesn't believe it's something he deserves. he still doesn't plan to tell the truth, probably for damen's sake more than his own, which is a kindness within itself. but i think laurent is accepting that damianos is damen, and in this moment at least, he feels at peace about it.

of course then nicaise happens and damen sticks around and laurent gets tortured and then they have to co-parent an army and shit just gets REALLY complicated in general, and then laurent does not feel peaceful about it at all. but right now, in the simplicity of damen's inevitable departure, i do think laurent feels a saddened kind of peace and acceptance of who damen really is: damianos the prince-killer, and damen, his lover. who he will love in return by setting him free.

'In the morning, you said.' 'In the morning. You can think of it as baring your neck to the knife.' Their eyes met. Damen's heartbeats were behaving oddly. 'I'm still wearing it now.' 'I know that.'

i'm intrigued by what they're really saying here. i'm mostly stuck on "you can think of it as baring your neck to the knife." laurent's comment could be a reference to previous dialogue, damen saying that he's only let his guard down for one person. as in, laurent's saying that he knows he's that person, and damen can think of laurent freeing him as removing the guard that laurent has both managed to reinforce and get past (the collar was literally a guard, in the case of the battle where it saved his life, and figuratively in many instances where his station as slave protected him). without the collar, and laurent's figurative protection, damen will find himself significantly more vulnerable than before—baring his neck to the knife of... life.

meanwhile, i think damen just wants another round while he can still have it. so he reminds laurent that he doesn't need to worry about that shit until the morning

(also: OH MY GOD. "BARING YOUR NECK TO THE KNIFE." NICAISE.)

His touch, once there, made its inevitable discovery. 'Overconfidence?' said Laurent. 'It's not—to a purpose.' 'I seem to recall otherwise.' Damen was halfway to being pushed down onto his back, with Laurent kneeling in his lap. 'All that self-restraint,' said Laurent.

hooray for another round of "sam tries to figure out what the fuck the dialogue has to do with the actual sex!" here's what i came up with:

l: (finds that damen is physically keen) (in the context of telling damen he's not allowed to touch, allowing laurent to do whatever he wants) you think i'm going to do anything about that for you?

d: it's there, but it doesn't mean that i want/need you to do anything you don't want to do

l: (choosing to take the literal meaning, instead of what damen actually meant, to deflect from his own discomfort) there have been plenty of times where you've clearly wanted to get off adjacent to me before (makes intent to fuck known) you must be restraining yourself so much

As Laurent leaned in, Damen unthinkingly lifted a hand to his hip to help balance him. And then realised what he had done. He felt Laurent's awareness of it. His hand was singing with tension. On the boundary of what was permitted. Damen could feel the shallowness of Laurent's breathing. But Laurent didn't pull away, instead, he inclined his head. Damen leaned in slowly, and, when Laurent didn't draw back, he pressed a single soft kiss to column of Laurent's neck. And then another.

He wanted to slide his hands up over Laurent's body. He wanted to see what would happen if this gentle attention was lavished on all of him, one part at a time, to see if he'd relax for even one, if he'd slowly begin to come apart, giving himself over to pleasure, the way he hadn't quite allowed himself to do at any moment except the climax, coming with flushed cheeks under Damen's thrusts. He didn't dare move his hand. His entire world seemed to have slowed, to the delicate shuddering of breath, the skitter of Laurent's pulse, the flush of Laurent's face and throat. 'That—feels good," said Laurent.

Laurent had forgotten himself enough to start moving against him. There was not even anything practiced about it, just a closed-eye seeking after pleasure. It was a shock to realise in the slight tremors, the flickering of breath, that Laurent was close, and how close he was, that he could come from being kissed, and this slow back-and-forth.

Maybe Laurent had always been this sensitive to tenderness.

it would make sense that the mindfucker supreme would also be supremely mindfucked, if he actually allowed someone to affect him in that way :)

That's it, Damen wanted to coax, and did not know if the words would be condescending.

a good call not saying it. praise kink would drive laurent insane, but probably not in a good way given his specific trauma. too close to past stuff, and hard to distinguish earnest sweetness from condescension

still hot though, which is probably part of why pacat included it in thought form

His own body was growing closer than he would have believed possible, from the feel of Laurent against him.

sex god fucking-since-he-was-thirteen damen discovering new orgasm strats from the traumatized not-quite-a-virgin-but-close laurent

Damen was smiling helplessly. 'That was adequate.' 'You've been waiting to say that.'

it wasn't even cleverly placed he just wanted to be a part of the bit 😭 and laurent is so fucked out that he can only half-heartedly mock him for the poor execution

'Let me.' Rolling him over and towelling him down, softly.

this sex scene literally has an arc. at the start: laurent doesn't even ask, just helps himself clean up, and offers the same to damen. is dissociated and unsure about what they've done. at the end: damen cleans laurent and laurent lets him, after giving himself to damen sexually and genuinely experiencing pleasure in his body.

'You can,' said Laurent, after a moment, meaning something else entirely. 'You're half-asleep.' 'Not quite.'

laurent assuming that he owes damen sex is so sad, but it also makes sense. and the fact that he doesn't take damen's respect of his consent and sleepiness seriously, because he's never been led to consider his own consent an important factor in whether or not he gets fucked. it's incredibly sweet to have this deeply erotic and gratifying moment for laurent where he doesn't actually have sex, because he doesn't need to, and that's respected and okay and portrayed just as lovingly and passionately as the actual sex.

Order me to stay, he wanted to say, and couldn't. Laurent was twenty years old, and the prince of a rival country, and even if their nations had been friends, it would have been impossible.

okay, but you just thought a few chapters ago that you could have totally courted him in those conditions. don't convince yourself you can't have this, that's what laurent literally just learned not to do in bed (very clever juxtaposition, by the way). i hope that someday these dumbasses can both manage to be honest with themselves at the same time, but today is not that day

'Until morning,' said Laurent. After a moment he felt Laurent's fingers come to rest on his arm, curling there slightly.

i think it's really unfortunate that this scene is not included in all versions of the book, although i do recall sex scenes in book 3 covering similar arcs/character development territory. but still. beautiful scene and i love them very much, and it also makes the nicaise stuff coming up feel even worse, and laurent's subsequent regression even more sad :(

[lucabyte]

any thoughts about postcanon loop and mira relationship? i dont think i saw much about it in text posts but it looks like you might have something. bats eyelashes

okay i have rambled about this in a few places in mostly privately and in the tags of my own posts and self-reblogs but. grabs your shoulders. can you fucking imagine how funny loop would be as mira's beard. hear me out.

like. i'm already here for isiloops. im also already here for miraloop and mirasif qpr. im also here for miraisa qpr. im also not a coward who thinks odile should be excluded from this but thats besides the point. what im saying is that the whole things a fucking polycule and there's yet still ways this could be made way, way funnier.

So. It's obvious that Loop's theatrics are more than a bit of a facade. (They drop them when taken off-guard or in serious moments with Siffrin, and Isabeau remarks on them seeming 'shy' at the end)

But we also know that they aren't *that* much of a facade due to their speech patterns being directly reflected in act 4-5 sif's inner monologue. It's clear that Loop's regular goofy bullshit is just the manic end of Sif's emotional state unfiltered and externalised, presumably because they went fucking insane.

So while I imagine they'd probably be slightly more toned down with the party in postcanon, I don't imagine the bonus confidence that comes with Constantly Performing like that would just like... go away? Plus, new identity means you've got no expectations to be held against so... I think it would make sense for them to keep up the theatrics, the bitchiness, the change in humour from dumb puns to sharp and cruel wit.

So the idea of them proposing to Mirabelle that they could just, *pretend* to be dating isn't out of scope, to me. In a situation where she's perhaps fretting about keeping up appearences as an ever-changing housemaiden, or has heard through the grape vine that someone is going to try and make a move on her at a formal gathering, I think Loop offering to theatrically play up being her partner 'as a joke', so that they can offer her support and comfort while still under that arm's-length plausible deniability, sidestepping the emotional vulnerability of 'feelings buddies'.

(Remember, after all, that Act 6 Mirabelle's 'no spoilers' policy means she only got Act 5 Sif's fucked up little talk? There's genuine question as to how long it could take her to unpack things again after that. She probably still feels that social pressure even in a scenario where she has something again to the regular friendquest talk again, anyway...)

It lets them be 'in on a joke' together, and also gives Loop an excuse to hold hands with their friends that doesn't require they be honest about things. ("Well there's the thing, Housemaiden! I've no mouth to kiss, so we don't even have to do gross things like that to keep up appearences!") And thus gives Loop a niche in the party to slot into that otherwise probably wouldn't be filled by anyone.

And would anybody question it? The chosen saviour of the country has a weird little ethereal freak on their arm. That sounds about right for a magical saviour, and means there's really no need for any explanation for why they seemingly only showed up after The King's defeat. They're clearly Mirabelle's spirit guide, or something.

. anyway as with all things loop feel free to place this after everyone knows who they are for this to become a "relatively normal thing that can happen",

or you can place it before everyone knows who they are for the added twist-of-the-knife that is "guilt over keeping secrets" and "a really awkward and potentially upsetting recontextualisation later on"

also in case you havent seen . images related -> (x) (x)

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 19/10

That's true - we don't know for sure that Trollian can fully emulate Sburb's surveillance capabilities.

If the trolls were sufficiently motivated, though, they wouldn't actually need to. Sollux could probably hack one of the kids' computers, to gain access to their Sburb viewport - although if he did, he wouldn't need a camera to snoop on their messages.

Is there a paranoia Aspect? I think I've finally found my calling.

anonymous asked: heya! ive just finished re-reading your ENtIRE liveblog and i to send asks about some stuff but i waited to finish so im sendind everything at once! (im gonna send stuff in a bunch of small asks so cat can stop just one instead of the whole thing in case of accidental spoilers) (aslo hi cat!) (also its ninnoy, havent sent an ask in a while but i changed my pfp to something slightly more spoilery so im in anon now) [...] the jade pen pal thing, do you have any new theories on who it could be?

None! I'm sure that it's someone derived from Grandpa Harley, but everything else is a mystery.

I have no particular theories about who he is, how he knows Jade, where he got his hands on so many endgame weapons, or why he's got such an antiquated accent if he's watching movies from the 80s. I assume time travel is involved, but that doesn't really narrow anything down in a comic like this. He (she? they?) is a complete enigma, and I'll just have to wait to learn more.

ALsO WHEREs YOUR sONAs? we havent seen them in so long im afraid sahlle might have actueally died of meteor strike (joking of course) also have you realized that "sally" and "cat" are both one letter of from a valid kid name? you could lend her one of your "L"s

I've actually been workshopping some Quest stuff for Sahlee this week! I suppose I'd need to figure out her Title first, though, and for that, I'd need to get a more solid idea of her personality, and how her experiences on Alternia have shaped her.

in one of your last posts you seemed to imply that the multiverse exists inside the timeline, but ive always read it as the opposite, the timeline inside the universe that would explain why the trolls can pick any time from the humans universe to talk to them but cant have private conversations with their own futute/past selves, its not an inherent part of trollian, they are just outside the human timeline (the memos are still trollian being time fucky) dont know if that makes any difference but its a thought also i realize the tag may be unecessary due to my quirk, but its too late to stop now

(NOTE: quirk omitted for readability, but the substitutions are [t -> 7, s -> 2] - sort of a variant of Sollux's quirk. I actually don't think we've seen any quirks which add a 7, so the voice here is distinct from any trolls we've seen so far. I like it!)

Originally, my assumption was that each timeline contained a duplicate of the entire multiverse. Doomed timelines don't seem to let you communicate with other universes/dimensions, though, so they don't need to contain other sectors of reality. I'm currently of the opinion that doomed timelines only contain an instance of the dimension they were doomed in. The only timeline which contains the entire multiverse is the Alpha.

This mechanic keeps doomed timelines simple, but in-universe, I don't know why it exists. Much like the Alpha itself, it's a mystery I can only speculate about.

has the shipping chart been updated since the last time we saw it? also you (at some point) said that equius<>feferi was a controversial ship so i had to go back to check the notes and i was the only person i found talkig about it so i guess im the whole controversy? if thats the case i would like to thank you for recognizing me as the equius<>feferi number 1 hater (all jokes of course)

I got a few skeptical asks about Equius<>Feferi, but you're the only one who discussed it on the post itself. I guess by some measures, you are the most dedicated hater, because your hate was posted publicly! 🤣

I could make one or two changes, but I don't want to post a new chart until the kids meet the trolls in person, hopefully at the end of the Act!

The Scratch, naturally - but I'm also looking forward to seeing exactly how WV was Exiled. He's currently on Skaia, and Jack has lost interest in him, so who's actually sending him through the portal?

Tavros is barely a presence on the Land he's ostensibly the hero of, and all of his actions are being dictated by a third party who can physically control his body. This third party does not acknowledge or respect Tavros's own desires, effectively forcing him to play the game in a way that she personally approves of.

She claims it will make him stronger.

@bladekindeyewear submitted: That was a long, thorough, and fantastic response! It's fascinating seeing your opinion on these things-- and I'm glad to see that considering the questions we've given you seems to have made you more paranoid. But I'm just not entirely sure you're paranoid ENOUGH. Not yet. Much like how you just found that "BREEZE" quote in your Breath research, back at around the time you've now reached in the comic, we had dozens of theory-miners combing back through everything that had been said and shown in Homestuck, over and over again, searching for anything we might have missed that might have been of some importance. [...] So, uh….. how do I put this… Would you prefer to strictly handle that sort of thing all by yourself, as you've said? Which I'd agree is still the best way that you should keep to, for the most part? Or would you mind if I gave you just a CRUMB of an example, only one? A tiny bit of text that we in the theory community only found at about the time you've reached in the comic, even though it was more than a thousand pages earlier?

Shit, this is such a dilemma. I'm honestly really torn.

See, I'd probably find old fandom theories absolutely fascinating to analyze. I'd love to know how closely my ideas align with those of the early Homestuck fandom, and whether I'm saying anything really out-of-pocket. My analysis of Sollux's ~ATH script was apparently an original theory, and it's honestly one my proudest moments.

But that's also sort of the problem, isn't it? If I dive too deeply into other people's fan theories, they'll start to affect my own - and if I'm introduced to a really compelling fan theory, it could end up replacing any homegrown theories that I could have developed in lieu of it. If someone had send me a well-reasoned ~ATH theory before I did my own analysis, I'd probably have been less motivated to make the analysis in the first place. After all, many of my questions would already have been answered by a clever theory I just read.

People are free to send me their own off-the-cuff opinions on what's happening in the comic, or their own takes on any meta I write. I get a lot of asks like that, and they're some of my favorites. There are also asks which spoil a little too much, but I'm still interested in their takes, so Cat's saving them for later. We don't really delete asks - we just delay the ones that aren't necessarily appropriate for a blind liveblog.

Obviously there's a fine line here, and whether a given ask is a theory or just an opinion is a little subjective - but in my opinion, the influence that asks and submissions have had on my analysis has been relatively minor. I don't think many of my theories have been spawned from an ask, or killed by one.

This is a little different, though, because it's part of a theory that was crowdsourced over several years. It doesn't sound like something that could be inferred by an individual, so I'm not sure if it's something an individual liveblogger should necessarily know about? If I start crowdsourcing my analysis, my theories will be less Wertsearch and more fandom consensus, and I don't think I'd enjoy that as much.

I really want to know, but I think I'll enjoy the liveblog more if I don't. When I finish the comic, I'll gleefully analyze any fan theory that anyone sends me - but for now, I'll just have to wonder, and come up with theories of my own!

Yeah, we've really been getting into it with Vriska lately. I've enjoyed trying to explain and predict her actions, and I'm glad people don't think I'm going overboard when trying to analyze her.

When a character does something interesting, I don't like to move on until I have a theory about why they did it. Sure, it may be refuted later, but it needs to be something that's consistent with what I currently know about their personality.

Vriska takes a particularly long time to puzzle out in this way. Her motivations are derived from a complex web (lol) of factors, including Scratch, Spidermom, her rivalry with Terezi, her horrendous relationship with Tavros, classism, teenage hormones, quadrant politics, highblood society and the Alternian culture of violence. They all inform her decisions, and any combination of them could have been the catalyst for the latest Vriska Incident.

I want characters to make sense to me, and Vriska is written to deliberately challenge my attempt to achieve this. Her meta is fun to write, so I'm glad it's also fun to read!

[master-of-the-mystic-arts-inc]

[ NOTE: This Blog Contains Spoilers For Multiverse Of Madness ]

`` ARE YOU HAPPY, STEPHEN? ``

Testing.. Testing...

Alright, greetings interweb. As you all probably already know, my name is Stephen Strange. (Dr. Strange to all of you, Stephen's just for buds.) I've saved the world countless times, traveled the Multiverse, and have neutralized the all-powerful Scarlet Witch .. not to say I'm bragging, but those are braggable feats. You'd think I'd be free to do as I pleased, however, winning is such a fickle and complicated bag of worms, one that doesn't come without consequences. The Scarlet Witch destroyed the Darkhold across every dimension, but the essence is.. sticky. I did what I had to to defeat someone who threatened the Multiverse, should I have not used the wretched book to do so? Probably. Am I willing to admit that to the ones I'm closest to? ..Not so much. The power of Darkhold is safe, believe me. There would be no one better to keep this gif-curse with.

With that out of the way, I'll be using this odd forum as a journal of sorts, hard to keep track of my thoughts these days. If you stumble upon this blog, use my words as newfound knowledge, but tread lightly.

[ Mod, RP Info, & Character Bio Below Cut !! ]

Mod Notes

Sup! Welcome to yet another pathetic man's blog. I'm Randy, I use he/him pronouns, I'm twenty, and I'm So Normal about Marvel. So So Normal.

RP Info

I've been hooked on the idea of Strange slowly turning evil for quite some time now, but now seems like a great time to bring out the ol' warlock. Completely open to plots, character dynamics, random asks, and rp memes! Crossovers as well as (over 18) ocs may interact, of course :3c. As the man told y'all, Steven has been 'infected' by the Darkhold, since he was the last to technically use it before it was destroyed. You'll see his morals start to spiral downwards, and a villain begin to appear.. I'm so excited guys.

DNI

This blog will contain alcohol, substances, unbased opinions, and nsfw material*, so minors begone! Bigots, proshippers, and other such weirdos are not welcome either, hate will be taunted and giggled at! Drama-makers can look elsewhere, I want none of that!

*NSFW will be put underneath a cut with the tag #[ nsfwrp ]

Tags

#[ the holder's ramblings ] - Stephen's textposts

#[ watchful eyes & chattering voices ] - Strange answering asks

#[ a shattering dimension] - Roleplays, open ones as well as threads

#[ a potential follower ] - Stephen interacting with other blogs

Universes

Untagged - Main Universe; His descent is slow but adamant, journeying to acquaintances to tame his rotting being. He's pleasant to be around, for the most part- as time goes on, this might not be the case.

[ vrs; the time anomaly ] - Made with @/starredshield; Stephen accidentally transported Steve Rogers out of the 40's a year before the events of Infinity War, staring out at eachother's throats, but growing softer as Strange realizes he has deeper feelings. Having to let him go, he goes back to normal life- going through the Darkhold events before finally reconnecting with Rogers in a much worse headspace. [ !! DARKER THEMES WARNING !! ]

A Holder Of Ancient Magic

Name: Stephen Strange

Age: Currently Forty-Six

Gender & Pronouns: Cisman, He/Him

Sexuality: Strange is far too busy with the possible incursion he caused to be worried about labels. (Evil Bisexual </3)

Home Universe: 616 Adjacent (If your character died during End Game, no they didn't /hj)

Relationships: Stephen has a couple of close friendships, one being Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme. He hadn't been the most open about his new-found powers after the events with the Scarlet Witch. He's cut contact with Christine entirely, far too upset about how their relationship ended, how happy she seems with someone else. Him and the Avengers are on good terms, though he tends to keep quiet about the Darkhold.

Current Appearance: Strange looks a bit more disheveled than he did in Multiverse Of Madness, eyes sunken as if he'd been spending far too much time in the Sanctum's library. Occasionally, there seems to be an odd slit in the center of the Doctor's forehead- mentioning will make the line disappear. He looks more akin to Sinister Strange at this point.

[stikybug]

This is extremely self-indulgent but i'm dumping all of my alexithymic!mc headcanons on the main tag , because her actions and what the characters say about her would be extremely funny considering all of this .

Spoilers for godheim main story under the cut!

MC has had trouble identifying many of her emotions since a young age, she never talked about it to anybody and learned to mask it very well. Her reactions are almost automatic, like they're actually hers.

The first time she really 'felt' the way others did was with the death of her mother. Sorrow, it felt so strong and unfamiliar to her. She had to find an outlet of some kind.

Art was the only time her emotions weren't muddled, but it could be because that itself was an abstraction of her thoughts. She didn't need to particularly parse through them and have many 'what ifs'.

Fast forward to the main story. Meeting the love interests elicits more than just a blunt emotional response. But it can't be called 'affection' just yet.

Godheim.

Mc feels guilty. She wants to return what seems to be some sort of budding affection for Alkaid, but she feels it doesn't last.

She doesn't realise little actions she does REFLECTS that. 'I'm caring for him while he's sick because I feel the strong urge to see him get better. No this isn't romance what are you talking about isn't this normal to feel?'

She feels it doesn't count because it seems to ebb and fade. She has the knawing feeling of wanting to be 'normal' for him. She wants to be better. She can't see the clear worry on her face, she can't see how she almost cries some times for 'unknown' reasons because she misses him.

It's oh so ever worse with Ayn. She would give her life over to him and what he cherishes in a heartbeat. But she feels so awkward when people refer to her as his girlfriend.

She doesn't love him back, probably. It's just an undying loyalty and understanding for him. It's a duty that she wants to fulfill. ( Why she wants to do it is completely lost on her. )

She thinks she's faking her care, for him, for the residents of the rat cave. It just doesn't line up with what she sees herself as. Despite this, she still almost forcefully wills him not to die. Not on her watch. She couldn't stand the thought of seeing him go.

By the time of Lars' route, she opens up to the idea of being closer to him. It was supposed to be an agreement-contract sort of relationship. But going slowly from 'alliance' to sympathy, devotion, and finally; what seems to be inklings of love she cannot do anything about but recognise. Nobody would risk their lives for an agreement alone.

Caring this much felt awful though, too many lives she swore she could have saved... If she was just a bit stronger, if she just reacted quicker. Maybe nobody would have to lose anything. All she could give was an attempt to comfort Lars during this time.

And while she went through the motions, she wondered... Maybe staying here would be alright? Maybe she could be his bride, or at the very least die beside him.

It was actually a laughable idea to her if you said she would feel something for Archmage Clarence. Anything other than annoyance or mild sympathy would be hard to elicit.

Him? The person who keeps picking fights with her? The person who insists on locking her up? That despite all her warnings decides that killing her is the best option? That Archmage Clarence?

She's interested in him when she spends more time in the Magi tower, unfortunately. He has his own motivations, he has someone he cares for.

She feels an unexplainable sadness at the true end of the magi. If it could happen to that little girl, how many more then would still meet that fate?

When she's actually faced with it in the end, she wants to start crying there. She can't, she can't cry in front of the man that only wants to see her live happily in the end.

The feeling persists, the memory of his is engraved in her mind forever.

Now Cael is an interesting case. She's not sure whether or not he could see right through her.

After everything in godheim, looking at him almost feels disconcerting. They share the same eyes, she never knew why she couldn't recognise that look in his eyes sooner.

Apathy. A cold heart. One that can't care or truly love anybody else.

Well, that's his words, not hers. But she can't bring herself to believe that. There's something like affection in the way he treats her, there's the warmth of blood so similar to everybody else.

So she says that, because she sincerely believes he's more than he thinks he is.

She still hesitates to call him, because one day he might tell her the same thing, and she wouldn't be able to deal with that.

...But maybe, they could figure out what the meaning of love is one day. And then they'll realize they were holding onto it all along.

[grif-o-cil]

Hey what's up passing by before entering exam hell because I watched Mouthwashing too and while I still have to really look through the tags to see if anyone adressed this yet I will yap about it anyway.

Spoilers ahead! Trigger warming for SA and death

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So am I the only one who actually fucking hates Curly?

Don't get me wrong, I know he's a victim. I'm very well aware that Jimmy was insane to put it lightly and everything he did especially to Curly was incredibly fucked up and that level of pain that he inflicted on anyone else was really just- really uncalled for.

But.

One must not forget who let Jimmy not only pull all of this shit to begin with, but also let him get away with him: Curly.

Curly was just as delusional as Jimmy; he keeps saying and believing that he can fix anything, that together along with others there is nothing that can go wrong (words that Jimmy retorts to him at the end). He believes Jimmy can do right, despite all of his striggles. He thinks everyone will despite:

Anya has failed to be a nurse multiple times and her competence is questioned, and as a med (vet) student for how much you can have good will and genuine care if you just suck at this type of task you suck, and you should step back before any more troubles are done. Also, he assumed she was gonna do fine and well and this slip-up of never checking on her and her mental health we know what that lead to

Relies on Swansie to look after Daisuke despite how much the guy kind of- hates the kid nor seem to really even care about him, berating and belittling him everytime. Now I saw the game I know he kind of did I know he wanted Daisuke to be the one saving himself but you cannot tell me that man was a good thing to the poor intern, and what he tells him before chopping through his frontal lobe is EXTREMELY ambigous. Even if it was love it still hurt and while Swansea sure was knowledgeable you don't really see him working too much (beside on the pod for Daisuke) so his sense of duty and responsability is questionable. So I can still say Curly's judgement was well-meant but misplaced

And were to even start with Daisuke. The kid should have not been there. He didn't even want to. Everyone in the crew was aware of it, told at least once for Daisuke to trail back to his parents and generally did not have an ounce of trust on him, but what did Curly do? Oh just believe that shoving him with a bunch of broken disfunctional adults was truly what he needed to become a great man one day! Curly even tells Jimmy in 1rst-2d flashback that he should have made more noise about taking in Daisuke or just let him get in at all, but did he do it?? Noooooooo he misplaced his trust again thinking Daisuke would have learnt anything, became a great mechanic and so on not really considering the reality of things

But then again Curly's delusions go further. Did this bitch really, REALLY think that he could fix SEXUAL ASSUALT with just a little talk??? That him simply going to Jimmy like "Hey man you kind of Messed Up fr fr wanna do something about it, pay child support and talk to Anya uhmm?" was really change the mind of a guy who was already willing to do and DID something as horrible as that, and that it'd all have been fine?? That doing so would have magically fixed Anya's state of mind, the fact she was robbed of any dignity and accountability and just bare with the pregnancy and to stay around her fucking assaulter??

Did Curly really think any of that bullshit would have fixed or even helped any of the two??? Even in the case the crash did not happen??? Did he think this was the right environment for Daisuke to be in?? That all of their problems would have magically be fixed by the time they'd have arrived???

Just because he was willing to take responsability, it doesn't mean he was good for it. Or that he did at all, since Curly let his Best Buddy running around and do evil even before the actual crash showing that maybe the Great Captain was not so willing to take responsability at all.

And look, I get it. I get it that Curly had a big burden on his shoulder, was working for a failing company, was sent out transporting damn mouthwash in space on a broken vessel that the Tulpar was and there wasn't much that he could do about it. But you know what he could have fucking done? Grow a spine. Tell Jimmy to fuck off and chew him out for what he did, stand up for Anya, be reasonable with his superiors ans Daisuke's parents about loading this poor kid in a senseless journey were he would have realistically learnt anything anyway.

THAT was something within his power. He did nothing. He thought he could have handled all of that and waited until the last fucking moment... not even!!! NOT EVEN!!!! Because when he catches Jimmy out of the cockpit after the bastard condamned them all to crash against the meteor, he still has the galls to speak to him as if he was his friend, what did you do. Tell him what did you BITCH YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID FUCK YOU EVEN ASK IF YOU DIDN'T WASTE YOUR TIME AT IT MAYBE YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING AND SAVE YOURSELF BEFORE BEING EATEN UP BY THE FOAM.

So for how evil this may sound, while- again the amount of pain and actual torture Jimmy puts Curly through for no reason than petty revenge, to just "make him get to the same level as all of them and watch lose everything"... Curly deserved at least ONE of those things to happen to him. This would have been avoided if he just did not think he could fix his "friend" and kick him out of the crew. Innocents lives would have been spared a miserable, agonizing and slow descend into madness and death including his own.

But he didn't. Curly was ultimately the one bringing this all to him.

He had the guts to go down with his own ship (or at least was willing to, but oh well in the cryogenic tank he went), sure, but that doesn't change the fact he was still the one to first send it to sink.

[duplicitywrites]

Thank you so much for replying to my other ask! I completely understand not wanting to revisit a fic you had wrote when you weren't doing the best, and I hope you're feeling better now! 🩷 I adore 'evermore' so much even though it's quite depressing aha 🥲 The way you wrote Harry's mental health and escapism was so good and Id love to hear some spoilers if you were up to it 😅

One thing I love about fanfic is the freedom of it all, and like you said "What is fanfic if not an ode to writing that felt unfinished?". Your interpretation of Harry as an abused child at his core in works like "damaged" always get to me. It always felt weird in the HP book series that Harry had such an awful childhood and was as well adjusted and happy in the future.

Another one of your works I was really interested in is 'perfect boys with their perfect lives', the Harry/Cedric aka a certain dark lord one. It really had me thinking about what could have happened in the graveyard if Harry hadn't escaped 🫣

i am, thanks! it was around covid, which was an awful time for everyone i'm sure, with weird life stuff piled on top of it.

i was going to answer all of the ones you mentioned, but evermore is actually one of few stories i have planned out in detail. this is why it has a planned chapter count (though that hasn't stopped me from going overboard before lol).

i guess i'll just give you the whole thing in case i never finish it kljsdgkljdgs it's pretty long, so under a cut it goes! but first some context for everyone else:

🍃 Evermore

Tags: Alternate Universe, Unhealthy Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Manipulative Relationship, Infidelity, Past Child Abuse, Dream Sequences, Depression, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Plot Twists, Happy Ending, Surprise Ending, Healing

Summary:

Harry is a married man who is living a charmed life. He has no need for the fantasy potions gifted to him by the Weasley twins—or so he thinks. After falling asleep on the train ride home, Harry dreams of the perfect man, a man named Tom Riddle. As Harry explores his dream life with Tom, he realizes that his actual life is not as charmed as it seems. The pristine image of his faultless marriage shatters, revealing a darker reality, and Tom Riddle becomes an oasis, a sanctuary for Harry to escape to. However, no sanctuary is eternal and no oasis is truly perfect. Harry must eventually confront his demons, inner and outer, before he can find real happiness for himself.

Notes:

these notes are arranged in order from where the most recently posted chapter left off.

there are probably some divergent points that occurred during the actual writing process, but this plan below (i'll admit i'm not quite brave enough to reread it all) is what the general storyline will be.

-

reality four - right where you left me

maybe harry's been harbouring fears of his potions being found? :thots: or his husband's made note of his changes in behaviour, accuses him of not spending time/being devoted

they get into an argument where harry gets a looooot of shit for stuff he doesn't deserve to get shit for, stuff that's not even true

harry yells back but gets hit, idk if by magic or not :thots: and he backs down, distraught. then once he's alone, he goes straight for the dream world

dream four - no body no crime

it'll be a much shorter version obviously, and the character roster won't be the same

i hadn't nailed down the specifics of the background and so i'm not sure how it'll look, exactly

harry is NOT married in this dream, he knows dream-husband but they are only friends

dream-husband is ginny's role in this particular iteration

but the climax of this scene is where harry is snooping around in the house, where he happens upon the dream-husband's diary

he's been looking for evidence to prove the murder

harry reads through the diary

and in the diary are tragic entries describing depressive thoughts, details of emotional (maybe even physical) abuse, etc.

this is a pivotal moment for harry, who up until this moment has been in denial about the failings of his real life marriage

reading this in the framing of it happening to someone else is enough for him to realize that it's wrong

what happens to him is not okay

but of course it's not that easy to just, shrug off years of marriage all at once; harry once again exits the dream, thus ending that particular dream universe

he's partly in denial but it's not as bad as before

he's been using the dreams as a coping mechanism up until this point

i've made it sound kind of frustrating but the dream worlds that harry goes to are meant to be very lush, romanticized

while we realize that harry's dream worlds are not ideal, he doesn't realize it right away

he thinks he's still doing something wrong

reality five - coney island

uh so next is probably another real life scene which shows tension between harry and his husband, only harry is no longer acting the way he did before aka accepting things without question

after the dream, harry starts to... notice things. he picks up on the slights, on the manipulative behaviours. he doesn't argue back for most of it, because he's still figuring it out and he's in shock, but he does start acting differently, which is noted by his husband

it escalates things further, a landslide of 'harry is no longer listening to me, is no longer under my control' type of deal where it results in more attempts to manipulate, which harry now sees is bad

voldemort grew addicted to power, made deals with politicians, gained a following

he looks back on past events and picks out the red flags, realizes that his marriage is not a marriage of equals. but just because harry knows these things, doesn't mean he knows what to do. he goes back to the dream world for comfort/answers

dream five - cowboy like me

this one is 'cowboy like me'

harry is there with his husband staying at a hotel, they happen across dream-husband, who is a con artist attempting to swindle an older woman

either harry is also a con artist in a similar vein, or he is mistaken for one - i'll probably decide once it's written out and i get a sense of the vibe

but he and dream-husband have some interesting conversations, flirting, etc

the theme of this dream i think will be further strengthening the similarities between harry and the dream-husband he's made up in his head

this dream ends with a bittersweet farewell

something along the lines of, despite their attraction for each other, they must part ways? :thots: or some other thing

but there will be a bit of a cheeky 'see you soon'

aka referencing the fact that it's a dream/dream world, that the dream-husband is a recurring character in harry's mental space

reality six - happiness

harry's down to two vials now, the bittersweet farewell of dream five has him realizing that time is running out in the metaphorical sense; we understand that soon he will need to make a choice

i might loop back to infidelity at this point, maybe in an attempt to bring harry to heel, his husband starts flaunting an affair? :thots: cause in the past, flirting with other people probably worked to make harry upset and easily manipulated

but y'know now harry is armed with his brand new knowledge of Marriage Should Not Be Like This and also he's got some shiny self-worth stored up, courtesy of dream-husband

dream six - ivy

in this dream world, harry is married to his current husband, but he is having an affair with the dream-husband; not in the sexual sense, but in the emotional sense. drawing on the dream five, harry is seeking comfort and solace from his bad marriage

this dream is meant to remove more of harry's doubts and encourage him to see that his current situation is bad

and i imagine we start to break through the fourth wall; dream-husband speaks directly to harry, referencing real life events that have occurred

he encourages harry to leave

harry is doubtful, obviously. this is all he's known and he's been gaslighted, manipulated, mistreated

he's terrified he will be found out and punished for it

but the dream-husband reassures him, promises him that things will be okay, etc.

he makes harry promise to take care of himself

and i'm thinking in true romantic sense, maybe they spend the night together? :thots:

reality seven - closure

we solidify that harry deserves better, that what has happened is not his fault, etc all the important, healthy things

we have harry reaching out to the people that have been slowly pushed out of his life (mostly by his husband). he’s reconnecting with them, being healthier, i think this section would end with harry going to ron and hermione and telling them the truth, telling them everything

harry is down to his last vial, so he's been saving it

like, he could obviously go and get more, they would give it to him for free, even, but you know it's kind of like

he shouldn't have to rely on that as a coping mechanism any more

dream seven - evermore

i'm thinking harry goes for one last dream, they sit together outside(?) or somewhere else that has significance for harry

they hold hands, harry talks about how much the support has meant to him, what he's learned about himself, what these dreams have taught him

sometimes things don't work out

he knows he needs to walk out and move on

i'll probably cry writing all this so you know it'll be good

the end - it’s time to go

then like i mentioned before, there will be a scene of harry signing divorce papers. his friends are with him, telling them they support him, and he feels... relief. he feels hope.

the story ends with harry attending a party, this time by his own decision. he's here to genuinely mingle with people, with his friends, and have a good time

and then he sees someone

much like the previous dream, it's someone who he once knew

they talk, they catch up, but this time it doesn't feel odd or uncomfortable

harry feels secure with himself, and we end on the hopeful note that this could go somewhere good