#do you understand me.

[year2000electronics]

this exact frame is what billford is all about. to me.

[theminecraftbee]

Here is how to slowly, completely, and irrevocably fall into having someone know your soul as well as you do theirs:

First, be enemies, but of circumstance. Neither of you were really on opposite sides so much as connected to them. You think he loved them, though, that side that was only your enemy by virtue of not being your ally. He loved them, even if he didn't spend as much time with them. You mock him for this. For calling their leader 'king'. (Later, you'll hold onto mockery like it's all you have. You know it's not a game and you know he was really king, but without your ability to make fun of what's happening, you won't be much at all.)

You have a best friend then. This, too, is almost an accident, although to explain all the ways it's also on purpose will take longer than you have to explain. He's wonderful, and loyal, and going to die. So you die fast and young first, before him. You die in front of your friend. You die in front of him.

You don't regret it, the dying young, because it means you die before anyone else can die for you.

Second, watch your best friend fall in love with him, although that phrase feels both too pedestrian and too much like it's overstating the thing that really happens. You have your own drama for too long to really understand how it happens, of course. You're too busy facing a betrayal that will scrape the inside of your soul forever. (To tell the truth, you've already forgiven him for it, but there's something easy about being each other's enemies, so you keep going, orbiting around each other in betrayal betrayal betrayal. But that's someone else who knows your soul, another story.)

Then your best friend dies, as does nearly everyone else. You sit around a campfire with him. You tell him that your best friend trusts him; you'll trust him too. He stands by your side near the end, the two of you running together, another man's memories on your lips.

You're not sure what you regret, then, but you know there's something that won't undo that's a part of you now.

Third, learn the value of choices, as the universe tries its best to take yours from you. In this one, the people you're by the side of is at once familiar and strange. The finalists who'd protected you last time are now an ugly mix of your chosen soulmate and your enemy by making that choice; you attempt to hold on to your ability to choose even as blood makes it clear you can't. (The universe tried to pick someone who would fit you well, you realize later. More people who know your soul that this story isn't actually about. You care for him too, is the thing; you care for choosing more.)

You don't see him much, this time. You respect each other, though. It's hard not to respect each other after everything that's happened. Still, you don't see him, and he doesn't see you. Instead, you see the end of the game. You nearly hold it in your fingers.

You regret. You regret deeply. You are so tired of watching people die, you think, and you regret more than anything else that you couldn't stop it.

Fourth, become enemies, but this time intentionally. Enemies, maybe, is a strong word; you're assigned co-parents, except bad, divorced ones. There's something hysterical about the whole thing, in both the comedic sense of the word and in the original, more concerning sense, especially given the way you all have thought about your best friend-now-son in the past. (Family ties are a thing you'll come to value; it's just that what the names are don't count, really, not when you do this again and again and again. Plus, it's nice to be able to have an excuse to yell.)

It's almost fun again. Maybe it's almost fun. You trade barbs with each other, and try to kill each other, and this time the consequences are light enough that you try to help each other, too. You see each other a lot. You're enemies, of course, but you see each other a lot, as you are: scared, and tired, and not as frightening as you appear, and happy, despite it all.

You don't regret much. You die fast and young, alongside your allies. You see his face before you do though, and you think he's the one with regrets.

Fifth, trip over him as you run across the first session of a new game. You don't know yet what this one will be, if it will be betrayals, or more stolen choices, or family, or fun, or anything else, but you look him in the eyes and make a choice. You will be friends this time instead of enemies. And it's nice. He and you fit together oddly now, but well, despite the oddities. You've had time to learn to, from a distance, and then closer and closer. (People seem baffled you're friends now. You wish you could explain that that's how these stories go sometimes.)

You're pretty certain he'll leave you when the time comes. He says he's a runner, and not a protector, and yet, when the time comes to betray you, you both know he won't hurt you, and you're both surprised anyway.

"You might regret this," you tell him quietly. You both have scars.

"You might regret this," he agrees. But you also both have choices.

"Okay," you say. "Have you ever fallen in love?"

"Cleo," he says, brushing your hair aside, and he doesn't answer.

"I don't think I have," you say honestly. "I think it's something else. Have you ever accidentally given someone a piece of your soul?"

"All the time," he says, and that's that.

The end is coming soon. You'll find out if you regret it.

[autoraton]

Riz pulling so much weight for everyone and securing votes vs Kristen being the closest to failing out of school thus inadvertently screwing him. plus her inadvertently bringing Kalina back, who as it stands serves as an antagonistic and deeply painful force in Riz's life. there's just something really ripe and tragic about their friendship rn (even moreso if you wanna throw in the meta that the narrative was steered towards Riz running against Kipperlilly) and it's neither of their faults. I feel like I'm watching a disaster in slow motion.

[danmeichael]

"ewww this character is so possessive and creepy" have you never known love? have you not spent years of your life afraid of your own hunger? does the safe catharsis of watching someone else eat their fill not appeal to you?

[bonefall]

Does Gorseclaw look like a little business man? Give him a tie at the very least. Maybe a watch?

No but for some reason I decided eons ago that each of the major characters in Ripplestar's Rot would have suit themes. So far Ripplestar is hearts, Larkstripe is currently diamonds, Spottedpelt is clubs, Gorseclaw is spades.

I might change the suits around though, to mark bloodlines. Like, make both Lark and Ripple have hearts, Spot and Gorse get spades, Marshscar takes diamonds, etc. Unsure, I've gotta play with it.

So. You could say. You could say he has a business card.

[carry-on-my-wayward-gays]

Pure vibrating and foaming at the mouth w the unlocked potential for rancher fics now that Saint Jim is a thing

[stonerzelda]

gotta say every time i leave and come back its like way easier to understand that it is true when ppl say 80% of the bullshit people will be arguing abt on here and throwing fckin like. Lexicon ass words to sound smart about does not in fact mean or say anything at all

[dompler]

love bugs -- harley poe // other people's tongues -- the dan emry mystery band

[ithinkofnealcassady]

i just accidentally convinced my mamma to watch salò… possibly one of the worst things i’ve ever done to her.

[irl-morros-account]

I'll tell you one thing. I will and can become a cowboy.

When you am become cowboy

[feastofsnakes]

men who I need to get pregnant vs men who I need to eat whole and pick his armpit hair out of my teeth

[decompression-melting]

if my plantcest isn’t haunted by ww i don’t want it if my vashwood isn’t haunted by nai i don’t want it if my kniveswood isn’t haunted by vash i don’t want it

[thesean]

[loveoaths]

sith obi-wan is fun because you get to explore what he’d be like if he turned his back on his beliefs and leaned into hedonism, while still retaining his obi wan-ness and being posh and genteel and a passive aggressive bitch.

jedi maul is fun because he is the EXACT SAME only for the good guys now.

[motherearthsplantasia1976]

shes transfem To me.

[localvoidcat]

still thinking about ruth and dave. btw