#dream+his variants will be next i suppose

[shinechermont]

I drew a lady Nightmare for my first not-request.

Original Nightmare by jokublog

This was the original reference for the pose. I don't where it came from, @ari-cuno just gave me and I said yes with flying colors lmao

[swordfright]

what are your logistical questions about the guard dog au?

Ohhhh boyyy. Well. First of all I'm sorry it took me like a month to answer this, I got busy.

I wanna start by saying I wasn't around when Guard Dog AU was created, it was before my time (just barely) but I have read dozens of fics with this premise so bear in mind that I thiiiink I have a pretty solid understanding of how GD is supposed to work?? But I could be wrong about some details, in which case please feel free to correct me! Also, I wouldn't normally poke holes in someone's AU because at the end of the day, AUs are supposed to be fun fantasy what-if scenarios and not airtight canon-compliant thought experiments. The only reason I feel comfortable doing it with Guard Dog is because, from what I can tell, this AU wasn't created by any one specific person, it just sort of manifested on twitter in like 2021 and now there are literally hundreds of pieces of fan content about it. What I'm saying is, Guard Dog is The People's AU and that's the only reason I don't feel weird answering this ask.

Yeah, so. My logistical questions are as follows:

What's Sam's motivation for letting Q borrow Dream?

When in the timeline is this taking place? (because that affects EVERYTHING)

What threat is Dream purportedly guarding Las Nevadas from?

How does Dream's presence change the preexisting dynamic in Las Nevadas?

What is Quackity actually getting out of this?

Who does or doesn't have the revive book at this point?

I'll try to address these as neatly as I can. So, my understanding of the premise: Quackity somehow gets Sam to agree to let Dream out of the prison so he can live out the remainder (or some unspecified portion?) of his life sentence acting as security for LN. In some variants it seems like this is happening after Dream gives up the revive book, but in other variants that's not the case or it's left unclear. There are a couple points at which this feels implausible/OOC, namely:

1.) Sam would never let Dream out, even on parole. He does not want Dream under anyone else's watch. He wants Dream in Pandora at all costs. You cannot convince me he would just let someone borrow the prisoner for a bit, for any reason - especially not Quackity, who imo Sam probably sees as a greater threat to his authority as warden than almost anyone. Think about it: aside from Sam, Q has probably had the most consistent contact with the prisoner during his incarceration; Q's violence and general temperament mean that Sam likely knows Q killing Dream is a possibility, and that without the warden's supervision this could very well happen. Sam obviously isn't concerned for Dream's wellbeing, but he does want his prisoner alive because otherwise he's not a prisoner and Sam's not a warden. So yeah. "Just me and him" line etc etc. Dream ain't never gettin' outta there if Sam has anything to say about it.

2.) What is Dream actually capable of contributing to LN? In other words, would initiating Guard Dog actually pay off for Quackity in tangible ways? It depends on where in the timeline we are. If this is happening post-torture era or even mid-torture era, Dream is likely physically incapable of performing the feats of combat he was capable of prior to prison. Hell, even if Guard Dog era is happening instead of the torture era, Dream has still been in prison for a while and is probably already experiencing the disabling effects of prolonged malnutrition and neglect. So if Dream is known for PVP and his PVP skills took a severe blow recently, then what use is he as a security guard? Which brings us to the next question...

3.) What threat is Dream even guarding LN from? Quackity's foremost enemy is Technoblade, who has largely peace'd-out between Doomsday and Jailbreak. Q is evidently not eager to reignite a direct conflict with Techno because he got his ass handed to him last time. Also, he's aware that Techno and Dream are allies, so why would he put Dream in a place that's easier to rescue Dream from than Pandora? You could argue that maybe by publicly turning Dream into a glorified slave laborer Q is indirectly flaunting his power (the power of ownership) in Techno's face, but I don't see this as terribly likely given that (based on some of the visitation dialogue) Q misunderstands the nature of Dream and Techno's relationship. Critically, he doesn't seem to realize that they are comrades in addition to allies. And I think flaunting ownership of Dream would only make sense if you thought you were really hurting Techno in the process - Quackity just doesn't seem to have picked up on the fact that this is even a possibility. Based on all this, the enemy Dream is supposed to be fending off probably isn't Techno, so who is it? Las Nevadas is pretty much a neutral state. Q has people he doesn't like, but his list of Actual Real Enemies is surprisingly short. The population of the server is also comically small, so like...intruders? What intruders??? It's not as if Q really has to worry about strangers breaking in and robbing him or something, which is usually what guard dogs are for. My current answer to this question is that the threat would have to be the Egg. Possession by the Egg can turn people you know into strangers, and the entity that is the Egg can travel/infiltrate new spaces by way of the vines. Also, this conveniently answers the sub-question of "what threat can Dream defend LN against that the actual members of LN couldn't?" If you suddenly have to worry about contamination, it makes sense that you would send someone disposable to deal with the contaminant - not your own friends or employees. Speaking of which...

4.) Dream's presence in LN would change the faction's dynamic and Quackity is sooo poorly equipped to navigate that. Quackity's whole shtick is that he's charismatic because he can't be strong. He's volatile, conniving, violent, insecure, hedonistic, profit-motivated and has poor impulse control, but he's also able to project confidence and affability in ways that have been advantageous to him. There are two sides to Quackity and he seemingly likes to keep them separate. If Guard Dog is happening after the torture arc, then Quackity is used to showing the worst aspects of his personality only around Dream. In Pandora, he's a torturer; in Las Nevadas, he's a leader. So what happens when those two places effectively become the same place? If LN is Dream's new prison, how is Quackity supposed to act there? Sure, he's not particularly kind and caring when dealing with his staff (most of them were recruited via intimidation, after all) but they've never seen the side of him that Dream has seen. How is he supposed to maintain that authority over Dream while continuing to be the version of himself that Fundy and Purple and Foolish and co. know? Quackity talks a big game about (and makes gestures toward) not caring that people know about the torture, but he obviously does have reservations about it. When Wilbur asks him about visiting, he dodges around the question. When he discourages Foolish from breaking in, he's weird and cagey about it even though he knows he needs to come clean. When Tommy confronts him about the torture directly, he says "Don't ever say that, not even as a joke." He's defensive. This is another one of Q's hilarious contradictions: he wants to enjoy the benefits of being known as a dangerous person without the downsides of people being actually scared of him or finding him repulsive. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, and Dream's presence in Las Nevadas puts that impulse in jeopardy. There's a big difference between people suspecting you may have done some torture vs people actually witnessing that torture firsthand, or even seeing its aftereffects. Not to mention, there are now other people for Dream to interact with besides Sam, Q, and the prison guards! That changes things, even if Dream isn't allowed to speak to them directly. In Pandora, Bad and Ant had one job, which was to keep the prison running and keep Dream inside it - that's not the case with the LN crew. These people have shit to do! Foolish is building Quackity a replica of the Eiffel Tower, he doesn't have the time or interest to be a prison guard. I could go on but you get my drift. Things would get so weird so fast.

5.) The revive book complicates all of this. If Dream actually did give up the book and Sam understood how to use it, I could be convinced that maybe he would let Quackity borrow Dream for a bit - because hey, if he kills Dream then Sam can just revive him! However, I don't feel confident saying that Q wouldn't just kill Dream immediately after getting the book. We know Q enjoys torturing Dream, but we also know that he seemingly gets bored of it after a while. We also know he has at least some level of concern for propriety/his own rep, so he does have plausible reasons to just straight-up kill him after getting the book. Like, he got what he wanted (necromancy knowledge + a fun 3 months of recreational activity) and if he kills Dream then that's one less person to potentially spread word of Q's uhhhh proclivities around the server - which, again, he paradoxically does seem to care about. Even if Q's plan was to relocate Dream to LN to better access to his fave chew toy and never intended to kill Dream, would Sam believe that?? Q can't directly go against the warden's orders when he's visiting Pandora because that would be stupid and dangerous, but in Las Nevadas? Hm. I think Sam may see Guard Dog as an attempt on Q's part to move the prisoner to a location fully under Q's control so that he can kill Dream without risking retaliation from the warden. Basically, I think this au only has a chance to work in a scenario where Dream has given up the revive book to Sam, but not to Quackity. Because otherwise, Sam just wouldn't let him go. Quackity does want the revive book, but moreso he enjoys torturing Dream, so I do find it semi-plausible that Q would initiate Guard Dog even if he didn't have the book yet.

Ummmm so yeah! These are my questions and thoughts about Guard Dog! i think it's a really fun AU with a lot of potential, but there are kinks in the premise (pun intended) that I find it difficult to wrap my head around. anyway please talk to me about this because I think about it all the time and I wanna hear some other folks' takes too.

[cha-melodius]

For the kiss ficlet prompts please 😊

💗

💗 slow kiss / gentle kiss / inevitable / soft (played around with tenses a little on this one, what are ficlets for if not experimenting lol. read all the kiss ficlets)

It feels inevitable when it happens.

After all the years of longing—of heartache, of supporting each other through breakups and rejections, through family drama, through ups and downs in their personal and professional lives—it’s a quiet thing. There aren’t any fireworks, or flames, or bolts of electricity, but that doesn’t make it any less mind blowing. It’s the warmth of the sun on your face, it’s a cozy blanket, it’s a perfect cup of tea, it’s a feeling of home that he only truly gets when Alex’s arms are enveloping him in a hug.

Henry hadn’t expected the night to end up like this. Alex had come back to their shared apartment earlier than expected after what was supposed to be a date. Like, within-thirty-minutes-of-leaving early. Ever since his last long-term girlfriend dumped him (for reasons Alex never fully explained to Henry, and Henry hadn’t pushed), Alex had been going through dates like popcorn—women, yes, but also men for the first time since Henry’s known him—never keeping anyone around for a second date. This was extreme, though.

“Did she stand you up?” Henry had asked. He couldn’t imagine anyone being dumb enough to do that to Alex, but then again, he’s never been able to understand any of Alex’s exes.

Alex had shaken his head, looking a little lost as he’d dropped down on the couch next to Henry, like he hadn’t fully understood what had happened. “I… left,” he’d said absently. “I took one look at her and I knew it wasn’t right.”

“Little superficial of you, don’t you think?” Henry’d tried to joke.

Alex hadn’t cracked a smile. “No, that wasn’t it,” he’d said seriously. “It was something you said before I left.”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” Alex had confirmed. “You said, I hope she makes you happy beyond your wildest dreams.”

“Right,” Henry had said slowly, not understanding. They always said some variant of that before each other’s first dates. All your dreams come true. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of. It was a little inside joke, something ridiculous and over-the-top, that you couldn’t know from only a single date.

“Yeah, well. Maybe I realized I already have someone like that.”

Alex had shrugged, like this wasn’t a fairly large revelation. Henry couldn’t imagine who it could be, considering Alex didn’t really spend that much time around people other than Nora, June, Pez, and him.

“Yeah?” he’d asked, a little unsteadily. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, actually. Except it was Alex, so he had to. “Who?”

Alex had given him a look that he couldn’t interpret and wrung his fingers together. “It’s you, Henry,” he’d said softly. “It’s always been you.”

Oh. Oh. “Oh.”

“I understand if you don’t feel the same way,” he’d said quickly. Fidgety. Nervous. Like it wasn’t obvious Henry’s been head over heels since they met. “I just… needed you to know.”

As if controlled by some other person who was far more collected in the face of this revelation, Henry had lifted a hand to Alex’s chin and tipped his head up. Pressed their lips together, soft and slow, and melted into Alex as he’d always wanted. Let himself get lost in the slide of Alex’s lips and the gentle push of his tongue. Not urgent or desperate. Maybe they had a lot of lost time to make up for, but they didn’t have to hurry.

After all this time, it was just Alex and Henry—just them.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 59: Tetsuzanko

Little Shen negotiating his demands with his teacher is just so wholesome and pure. Here's this kid who is wearing rags and robbing adults for money all while telling his sister that he's the strongest in the world, and he enters a tournament and gets beat, thus proving he's not the strongest, but it doesn't affect his self-confidence at all.

He's still so confident that he proposes conditions for allowing someone to teach him, and it's not that he's being egotistical or delusional, because he admits he got beat at the tournament.

His leverage in this negotiation is offering the opportunity to train the boy who will become the world's strongest. That's how sure he is that he'll achieve his dream!

Shen: "Do it for the exposure! It'll look great in your portfolio!"

It's still not clear what kind of person Shen's teacher is at this point. We know he's interested in strong students and that he's smiling at Shen, but he seems eager to push Shen to his limits.

FENG?! That Feng?! It all makes sense now!

Feng is waiting on his student to surpass him and needs him to get as strong as possible so that he can have a fitting opponent someday. You know, like a certain other "Best in the World" from another series:

Each of them promises to wait as long as it takes for their student to reach their level, too! Feng has an even more Mihawk-ish quote later in the story, one that almost matches word for word.

But unlike my beloved Mihawk, Feng specifically promised not to age, which is a bit of an odd thing to say unless it's related to his negation ability.

Back to the battle, Shen immediately uses Untruth as he and Feng charge at each other with the sun shining over both of them as in the panels from the previous chapter.

Oho.

Feng is surprised, but Untruth doesn't seem to throw him off his game too badly. Narration boxes explain how Shen's ability isn't foolproof. He has to keep in mind everything he knows about his opponent's skills, tendencies, mood, and the chances of his ability backfiring--all in real time during a fight. He basically has to think for two people during a battle.

That last panel is so pretty!

Shen realizes that this guy is going to be more trouble than he'd thought! He begins to put the puzzle together:

Andy and Fuuko hadn't had a chance to tell Shen about Life Is Strange and its anti-aging abilities because the battle started almost as soon as they arrived.

Feng's style name is written on his outfit. It has the Under symbol and then 八极 "baji" in simplified Mandarin.

Baji is short for Bajiquan, a Chinese martial arts style. Feng has his own variant style of baji, but we haven't yet learned its name. When Feng uses the Zhen Jiao step-in, Shen recognizes it as one of the fundamental moves of baji and it adds to his suspicions that this mystery opponent has the same fighting style as his old master.

It's a quick, explosive, close-quarters kind of combat that's honestly terrifying:

After escaping with the step-in, Feng soars high above and shields himself with one of the jiangshi. Shen remarks that using a "human" shield to block attacks is something his old master would do--we're slowly learning more and more that Feng might not have been a very caring teacher...

Feng, wearing a hooded robe the entire time and concealing his identity from almost everyone in the series: "Heh, I suppose it's no wonder you don't know who I am!" Yeah, no shit. That's how disguises work!

Shen proves once again that he has no sentimental reservations about punching the zombified corpse of his former rival, but Feng spins away from the punch and lines up for his next wicked sick move.

Bajiquan's most famous move is the tetsuzanko 鉄山靠, "iron mountain lean," a kind of shoulder check/throw/battering ram. Feng's version is called hakkaizanko 捌廻山靠 "eight cycle mountain strike/lean."

It's a well-known baji move with Feng's own spin on it. He hits Shen so hard that he has a flashback!

"Aren't schools supposed to be free of dummies" is hilarious, but in just a few pages, Shen says that he can't go to school because he's a dummy. Poor kid! He doesn't even think he belongs in school! He has a lot of confidence in his strength, but not in his smarts. It's especially sad because we know that Shen's actually not dumb at all! T.T

Was Feng really joking though? He's so hard to read!

The siblings go outside to train under the full moon. Mei learns the tetsuzanko and appears to master it in a short time-- but the sfx covers up her joyful moment in the last panel, and it continues across each panel of the flashback as Feng's true nature is revealed.

"Rather than having three disciples, what if I just have one extremely traumatized disciple?"

Feng was never interested in training Shen for Shen's sake. He wasn't trying to get all the glory for himself, either. I mean, he could've won that tournament hands-down if he wanted to, but he didn't even try (and we see here that he could easily beat the current champion). All that Feng wanted was to train someone who could get strong enough to give him a good fight, and he was willing to hurt that person as much as he could in order to make them into a meaner, stronger version of themselves.

The story cuts back to the present and we FINALLY see Feng's face! Noooooo, he's handsome! How can I hate him now?!?!

I don't think we've ever seen Shen look like this before. He has the same wild look in his eyes as he did when Feng first recruited him! Now Feng is hoping to use that wild side of Shen to create his ideal opponent. Is Shen just taking the bait?

Masterpost

[agoddamn]

@cardinalgoldenbrow ...is this a bad time to admit that I don't think that Kullervo is real? I have a larger theory on that, but I straight up do not believe he's real and I don't use anything from his story on a literal level to support any of my interpretations.

(Very short version: Kullervo is a native of Duviri. This means that he does not exist in the real Origin System, but is a reflection/growth created by someone that fell into Duviri; just like Thrax is for the Drifter. You'll never guess who I think his source material is!)

Ughh...I really hate the--

Alright, let's agree on terminology right now to help keep all this straight. I'm going to call unpiloted sentient warframes (ie Dagath) preframes. I had been using 'protoframe', but obviously 99 is doing something specific with that so I need a new term.

I don't like the preframes, story wise. I think they exist in an awkward state of canon where their real purpose is to justify frames having personality for both visual reasons (Khora and Atlas animations illustrate very different personalities) and to preserve the twist of the Second Dream.

Practically, Warframe as a story is less interested by the implications of frames representing a real independent human personality; you are either wearing them like a skin suit or taking control of them and using them to kill just like the Orokin did. In the second case, nothing has really changed for the 'life' of a frame. They just got new bosses and the daily grind stayed the same.

"But you took away their pain! Umbra!"

The Sacrifice makes the point over and over again that Umbra's case is unusual and unique. You have not communed with any of your other frames like this; that's why the Operator is surprised and confused in the first place.

I'm actually not even sure that Dante is an autonomous preframe. Because--

You don't get to be any kind of frame without the whole Infestation thing.

Following that, this means that preframes weren't always consciously rebelling, but losing themselves to the Infestation. You get Infested, you lose brain function. That's always been consistent about the Infestation, even the 'tame' Helminth variant, even in the Entrati family.

This also makes most sense to me because if there had been some way to get a functional, obedient preframe if you just found someone obedient enough to mutate, the Orokin would have just kept doing that and had no need for the Tenno. As much as Ballas isn't the most reliable narrator, I think he's being honest and accurate when he talks about how preframes simply could not be controlled. I don't think it's just a matter of personal respect.

I do agree that preframe Insurrections make most sense for what Loid is talking about, but even that doesn't quite add up, because Loid says that he found out that Dante died while he slept. Dante would never have still been active up until Loid went into stasis if he didn't have a Tenno pilot; he says himself in the next line that people harboring (what we're assuming but Loid hasn't actually stated are) preframes were not tolerated.

Dante seems to have been publicly active up until Loid's stasis. Loid is surprised to hear of both Dante and Drusus's deaths. These facts don't fit Dante being a preframe and suggest that he had a Tenno pilot instead.

Neither Drusus nor Loid ever directly states that Dante was an autonomous preframe. Loid says that Drusus purposely blurs the line between Tenno and frame identity because of his fondness for Dante. This doesn't necessarily mean that Dante was autonomous, but that Drusus wanted to believe that he was.

We see in the text that Drusus is extremely emotionally motivated. Personally I'd fully believe Drusus avoiding an inconvenient truth, particularly since the Tenno were supposed to be a complete secret. He could very well have met Dante, found out about the Tenno later, and lied to himself.

[thevindicativevordan]

Jon hugged Injustice Superman, then got sent home and took the completely wrong (but wholly expected) lesson from the experience; stop trying to do more, lest you become an overachieving fascist.

Is Jon done? How on Earth do you walk that back? It's all so sad.

Anonymous asked: Any thoughts on the "resolution" and ending of Jon's mini, as well as his lukewarm future with more Tom Taylor writing?

Anonymous asked: Comics this week? Especially the ending to Adventures of Superman and the prospect of T*m Tayl*r continuing to write him?

Suppose with three asks I have to write up a post don't I? What a waste of time this all ended up being.

Haven't been reading this mini, was smart enough to learn my lesson after Son of Kal-El, but I did ask someone to DM me details just to see where Taylor left Jon. Someone was kind enough to share the details and even send me the final page. Not only is it exactly what I thought it would be, but I can't even console myself with Taylor "leaving" Jon. He's dragging the poor boy with him over to Titans, which sucks... but I've already emotionally severed my interest in Jon. After starting off by asking his dad to do more, Jon meets an evil version of his dad and gives up on trying to achieve anything beyond preserving the status quo. Only two choices for Superman are to be a hapless bystander or a fascist tyrant, and Jon's big emotional conclusion to his journey under Taylor is choosing to be feckless.

Making it all a complete farce is that Clark is doing more himself! He went to Warworld and led a slave rebellion to topple Mongul! Since returning to Earth he's teamed up with Steel to revolutionize Metropolis with Kryptonian tech. PKJ has had Clark outright say that his conversation with Jon pushed him to do more, including gathering the Superfamily together to work together as a team. Williamson has Clark trying to redeem Lex and use SuperCorp for good, and Williamson Superman is all about multiple characters "taking the next step and moving forward" per Williamson himself. Dichotomy Taylor presents here is utter bullshit, as seen with how the other Superbooks are being written. You can do more without falling into fascism, it's not a binary choice. And Jon's pacifism here is worthless because it doesn't actually change anything or benefit anyone. Murderman is still evil and won't stop, we know he has to be taken down with violence by an alternate Clark no less, Jon's hug failed to reach this guy. For fuck's sake he breaks alt Jay's arm just to make Jon mad, this guy is cartoonishly evil and beyond sympathy. Speaking of alt Jay, he's fucking dead right? No way does Murderman not kill him after Jon disappeared.

As for ol' Murderman himself, I guess Taylor might be seeding stuff for the inevitable Injustice 3. Val-Zod and Red Tornado Lois are left stranded in the Phantom Zone, which you'll recall is where Murderman ends up in what is likely to be the canonical ending. If that's why Taylor left them there then he'll probably just rehash this mini with Murderman meeting Red Tornado Lois there - she'll tell Murderman to stop and he'll flip out on her. What is left to even do with this character at this point? He's a one note dictator who reacts with murder and assaults to anyone who stands up to him. Any attempts at sympathy are wasted by how he is a mustache twirling bad guy. Only morons who worship these shitty game tie-ins as the only DC they've read think this is profound. Otherwise Clayton Henry was drawing a variant cover for Beast Planet that featured Val-Zod, maybe Taylor will bring those two back for that book. Either way I don't care. Done with Jon, Yang is coming back to write Kenan, that's the real news. Sweet dreams Jon, you had the potential to be great but now you are utterly unsalvageable.

[sortofanobsession]

Of Hunters, Gods, and Hooded Vigilantes (Moon Knight/TVA Hunter Reader)

Author's Note: I have been sitting on this one since (and a few other loki ri) since Loki ended. @selfryed suggested I post it . Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. I know not everyone likes Reader Inserts. But you all know how much I love Moon Knight crossovers. I'll write those boys into anything. Suggest away if you wish. Unbeta'd and Posted on mobile so please forgive any errors.

Sylvie, B-15, Casey, and OB pop up but no Loki or Mobius in this one. Sorry guys. Random letter and number combos for non important hunters.

Content warning: canon typical violence, some swearing, mentions of death, crying,

You track the rogue variant that had been messing with time, not quite as dangerous as He Who Remains. But somehow this guy had an artifact that he couldn't be allowed to keep. B-15 had sent a team that consisted of you and two other hunters.

It turns into more of a scuffle than expected. Hunter L-24 was calling for backup as you gave chase. You hated the fact you weren't in your actual armor. You had been trying to blend in. But you regret that now with the cut on your temple, dangerously close to your eye, and probably bruised rib. It hurt but that's the job. And you had the guy in the ropes until… until you didn't. Time was iffy with what this guy had taken and one second you were running through a side road through the highly populated area, but thankfully sparsely-filled street in what you knew of consisted of public housing. Next, you are cut off from your team in an alley. A manic laugh has you turn on your heels. You had really hoped you wouldn't have to use the pruning stick. This was supposed to be easier. Your hands move as if on their own with practiced movement of charging the weapon.

“Listen, buddy,” you said with false confidence to hide your unease. “We tried doing this the nice way, but you’ve forced my hand.”

“You still think you have the upper hand,” the man laughed, pulling a pistol. Oh that was not good. Those weren't even allowed in this country, you knew that. You hear the click of the weapon. But out of nowhere, the gun is knocked out of his hand by a metallic object. You lunge towards the weapon. And you can't reach it, but you do the next best thing. You pruned it. It disappears. Let the Void Lokis or Alioth have it. You turn towards the scuffle behind you, expecting to see your team. You are surprised to see a masked figure easily taking down the variant. You watch as the figure knocks the guy out.

“Uh…thanks,” you say as the vigilante turns to you as you power down your weapon.

You can feel eyes on you as you go over and pick up the artifact. The masked figure hasn't said a word. Just watching you. The wind kicks up as you place a pair of cuffs on the variant.

You grab your tempad and report in. “Variant secured, B-15,” you say. You look back and the hooded hero is gone. You hear the sound of rushed boot falls as your teammates meet you. You pick up the curved blade that had saved your life. You admire it as a timedoor appears.

None of you noticed Moon Knight in the shadows watching you.

— ◍☾ —

Marc couldn't believe what he was seeing. You were supposed to be dead. Everyone had said you were dead. It had torn him up not knowing what happened to you. What you went through. He always wondered if you suffered. If you had missed him. If he could have saved you if he hadn't left. But he had pushed that pain away and forced himself to move on. But that pain tended to pop up at random moments. He did not expect it to come up now. And it had Marc pulling back and letting Jake take over. But he kept watching. You looked so young. Like he remembered. Like time had barely touched you. How was that possible? Then again, they hadn't really aged much since Khonshu. But you weren't an avatar. He would have known or the bird would have.

And any doubt Marc had was gone when he heard your voice again. It was one he still heard in his dreams. One he couldn't forget. But Jake was wise enough to be cautious. If something seemed impossible and too good to be true, it probably was. So Jake removed them from the situation.

The next time Moon Knight was better prepared. There were too many questions they needed answered. So he started by seeing if you were you in the simplest way first. He called your name. And something in Marc shifted when you reacted by turning towards them. But his heart aches when you look at him and ask if they knew you. Even more so when you said you didn't even know you. And that was enough.

— ◍☾ —

The next time you are in that part of the timeline after you spent a few days working with the others at the TVA. You were in Eastern Europe tracking down a secondary artifact that was created alongside the one you collected in London. The same group of rogues. The same branch. Your ribs still ache from the last time. You were in full gear this time with a larger team. But you weren’t the only one with increased numbers. The variant had friends with the new artifact you were pursuing. Mid-fight again, out of the night drops the figure you now knew was called the Moon Knight. You hadn't read the hero’s file but you knew where he got his powers now. What you hadn't expected was what the caped hero did next.

He called your name. Well, not your name. It was what had been your name before you were taken from the timeline. You knew it was your name, but it didn't really feel like yours. Most everyone just called you by your hunter designation.

“You know me?” You ask because when you had skimmed your file to make an informed decision on staying at the TVA you think you would have noticed if it had mentioned a hooded hero with the power of a literal god. Then you laugh at your own statement. “I don't even really know me.” And before you know it you feel arms around you and with speed you couldn't even comprehend you find yourself somewhere else. You stumble back as you look at your new surroundings.

“What…what did you do that for?” You reach for your weapon.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” Moon Knight says, his mask disappearing to reveal a face. One that seems oddly familiar, but you didn't know for sure.

“Then why did you take me from my team?” You glare.

“I just want to talk,” he says.

You say nothing as you reach for where your tempad is secured.

“Don't you remember me?” he says. The whole suit vanishing now. He stands in front of you in jeans and a henley.

“I'm sorry,” you tell him but for some reason there are tears in your eyes. You don't know why but the look on the man's face breaks your heart. “I’m not…I'm not who you are looking for. I'm…I'm just a hunter.”

“But you are, you answered to her name, you're-” He's cut off as a slight woosh and shimmer of a timedoor appears. Moon Knight’s suit is back and he moves between you and the door. You actually find it rather amusing. As if he was protecting you. Too bad he is protecting you from your team. Your friends. Your work.

The timedoor opens and you are stunned to see Sylvie walks out in the god's fully armed glory.

“Sylvie,” you say in shock. Last you knew she had returned to her fast food life.

“B-15 called,” Sylvie states. And that tracks.

“How long?” You ask wondering how long had actually passed at the TVA if Sylvie was called in.

“Long enough,” Sylvie says and you sigh.

“Who the hell are you?” Moon Knight snaps at Sylvie.

“She already said who I was. I'm Sylvie. And you took my friend here against her will and I hoped that avian god of yours would know better. Stupid bird,” she spits as she summons her sword.

“What the-”

“He didn't mean it, Sylvie. He's confused he-”

“You defend this broken puppet?” Sylvie asks in amusement. And Moon Knight clearly didn't like that because you notice a slight shift in his stance and suit as a fight breaks out. And it's an interesting fight.

“Your bird god is weak, his hold is pitiful,” The silver tongued variant snides, “To need a human puppet.”

“Avatar,” Moon Knight corrects.

“Same thing, a human shield to hide behind,” Sylvie grins.

You gasp as Sylvie gets close enough to put a hand against Moon Knight's chest. And she sees it.

You hear a deep growl and Sylvie is shoved back. “Stay the fuck out of my head!” Moon Knight snaps.

You expect Sylvie to return to the fight but instead she appears next to you.

“Now, now, lover boy, no one is going to hurt anyone.”

“Speak for yourself,” he hisses.

“Your anger is misplaced, puppet,” she says before looking at you. “He does know you, knew you, the timeline you.”

“What?” You look between the female god and the hero. You see the masked hero’s shoulders go tense.

“I can show you,” Sylvie grins.

“Wait, hang on-” Moon Knight says, his mask dropping.

Sylvie takes your lack of a refusal an answer, her hand touches your temple.

You gasp as your mind is flooded with images. A history you didn't remember. It brings tears to your eyes and steals the breath from your lungs.

Moon Knight shouts your name again as you stumble back against the wall.

You’re overwhelmed. You hear shouting and the recognizable sound of Sylvie’s laugh.

“I did you a favor,” the female god of mischief says, her focus back on the unmasked man.

“No one asked you to,” a voice you now recognized as a version of one you knew lifetimes ago. You knew his name.

“Marc,” you don't even realize you say it out loud. You really did know him. His head snaps to look at you as you say it.

“You're welcome,” Sylvie says before she and the timedoor vanish. Marc curses Sylvie as he moves beside you in an instant.

“You're okay,” he says, his eyes full of an emotion you can't pinpoint. “We’ve got you.”

“Marc?” you say again, needing confirmation. Your hand raises but is hesitant to touch.

“Do you remember me now?” he asks, a slightly hopeful look on his face. His gloved hand grips yours.

“I…I do,” you tell him.

“Okay,” he says. “Good.” The suit drops away. His hand squeezes yours and he leads you into a building. An apartment building you realize. You follow him into a studio apartment with a large fish tank drawing your attention. Two goldfish swimming around. You approach it with amusement. You almost forgot that people really do keep pets. Pets aren’t really a thing at the TVA. No time. Not really.

You hear Marc moving around behind you, then his voice, hushed as if talking to someone. But when you glance at him through your periphery he doesn't seem to be talking to you.

“Make yourself at home,” he calls over to you, but his accent is different. You look at him with amusement. All your years, centuries, eons maybe, of hunter training has you fully turning to observe him. You had seen him change in flashes as Sylvie showed you what she deemed important. Conversations with mirrors. Changes. Shifts. He was like a variant with variants of his own in his mind. This is what she had meant by him having a broken mind.

“You're not Marc, are you?”

The man looks momentarily stricken. And you wonder if you should have phrased that differently. “Sorry, that sounded accusatory.” You carefully remove your helmet and move to set it on a nearby table. Your weapon too. “Sylvie didn't show me everything, so I…I don't know your name.”

“Steven,” he says without hesitation, now knowing that you aren't too afraid. Knowing that him fronting hadn't ruined things.

“Okay,” you nod. You activate your tempad and send a message to B-15 that you were okay and that if they needed you to just let you know. You contemplated leaving it with your weapon and helmet but you were still unsure what to expect. So you kept it secured in its spot.

“What do you remember?” Steven asks.

“Bits and pieces,” you admit. “But honestly, it's more like watching an old movie with some of it. It doesn't feel real.”

“I know the feeling,” his voice is kind and there is a sympathetic look on his face.

“I'm sure you do,” you nod.

“You're not afraid?” He asks.

“I mean, I have spent an unknown number of years, maybe millennia, lifetimes, as a hunter. No name, just a letter and a number. Reporting to superiors that worked for a lie. Made to believe I was always like this.” You say. “It's more jarring than anything to have real memories again. To think I had childhood. A real life.”

You sense a shift and his old, more familiar accent is back.

“What happened to you?” He asks.

“It's a very long story,” you say. “What's the last thing you remember of me?”

“While I was gone. You vanished, they said you ran away, but that was bullshit. You would have told me. Left a letter. Something. Then I come back to missing persons posters all over the city. But it's Chicago. No one was confident they'd find you. I couldn't find you. They wrote you off as dead when no traces of you were found anywhere. It was like there was nothing to find.”

“They wouldn't have, still won't,” you say sadly.

“What?” He frowns. “The hell does that mean?”

“It means I read my file, well, skimmed it. My nexus event was before that point. But the sacred timeline me. The me you knew, I'm sorry Marc but she’s gone.”

“But you're right here,” he states.

“Like I told you, I'm not actually her. I'm…from a different point in time. Before you left. Before…”

“What do you mean a different point in time? How is that possible?”

“Because the people I work for, the place I was, it's like a city outside of time.”

“How can anything exist outside of time?”

“How can a man fly and survive death?” You ask. “The details are complicated and honestly, I understand it less now than I thought I did before. We exist to protect time from those who tamper with it.”

“So you can time travel?” He asks.

“Yes, but,” you know you need to draw the line in the sand now. “But whatever you are thinking, please don't.” And he studies you. You look so tired. And sad. Very sad.

“It's not as easy as you would think. Changing time has horrible consequences. The things I've done. The people I sent to that monster. I thought what I was doing was right. That I was protecting the timeline. Preventing something terrible. Turns out. We were the terrible ones. All those branches. All those people. Feed to Alioth.” You were crying now. It was the first time you ever let yourself think about the all devouring monster you had sent so many to face.

“Oh darling,” you hear the British accent back. “You didn't know. We’ve all done things we regret. Especially us,” he glances at the reflextion of Marc. “You didn't know what you were doing, you said so-”

“You don't get it,” you tell him. You dug out the engraved token and placed it on the table. A coin, a momento Dox had given you once as a reward after a partially difficult mission. It looked like a souvenir coin. Embossed edges. You ran your fingers over the seal and motto.

“For all time. Always,” you repeat the motto you had molded your life to follow. The atrocities you helped orchestrate. “Anything any of you have done in your life is a fraction of what I was part of. I shouldn't be here. I don’t deserve to have this.” You grab your weapon and open a timedoor, you rush though. The door closes behind you.

Steven walks over and picks up the helmet you left behind and the coin you had placed on the table. Time Variance Authority. He looked at the others in their reflections. They all agree. They were determined to find out everything they can about time, especially time travel.

— ◍☾ —

Marc was angry. That woman just showed up, literally out of nowhere, and then nearly ruined everything. First she fights them. Then she gets in their mind, and Jake had violently objected to that. Having Khonshu in their head was bad enough. And it was already crowded with three of them in there already. But the real line was crossed when the woman that you considered a friend showed you the painful history you guys had. You had been so mad at him for leaving. Your tears were like ice picks in their heart. And he just got more angry with himself as you broke down over what you had been through. Everything he couldn't save you from. He didn't know what a nexus was but if it was anything like the turning point in their life, namely slowly dying in the desert until Khonshu stepped in, it couldn’t have been pleasant. So Steven takes over to let Marc process while someone tries to help you. The British alter had tried to comfort you but it hadn't worked. You explain a bit more and then like a switch flips, you panic. And you leave. Marc pulls further away to brood. They can't let this be the end.

— ◍☾ —

Time passes and your heart hurts less but you cannot forget them. You are helping look through pages of readings you were still not the best at analyzing. You were a hunter, not an analyst. But with fewer people now that many had left to live in the timeline, you had offered to help. To stay busy. You looked up from the file as Casey hurried towards you.

“We have a problem,” he says.

“Let me grab my gear,” you say.

“No need, no time anyway,” he says as he opens a timedoor. You follow him into the main monitoring bay. And the monitor is tracking a branch growing dangerously fast.

“I thought we didn't prune branches anymore,” you say.

“This isn't your normal branch,” OB says.

“Then I should get my gear, where's the team,” you look at B-15.

“You’ll be fine,” OB says as he opens a timedoor. You make sure your tempad is in its place. “Hold on, a solo mission but i-”

“Only you can handle this one,” OB says and guides you to the door. “You'll do great.” A gentle push and you are through the door. There is a large open tunnel before you.

“Oh, Loki, what did I get into this time,” you mutter looking up at the sky. “You'd probably enjoy this mess.” A woman walks towards you in the tunnel. You had seen pictures of her when you had been at Marc’s.

“I'm Lilah, come with me,” she says. You look at her outfit.

“You’re an avatar, right?”

“I am, and a friend of Marc and Steven,” she says.

“Are they okay?” You ask.

“Why don't you see for yourself.”

You follow her until you are in a giant temple. Statues and hieroglyphics surround you. You see Marc in front of a number of people on a dais.

Your footsteps are louder than you would want them as all attention turns to you.

Marc's eyes go wide for a moment and he calls your name. But before you can answer him. You are greeted by name by the woman in the middle.

She introduced herself as the goddess Isis. And you do your best to bury your nerves and act appropriately. You lower your gaze out of respect.

“At least this one knows respect,” a man says. He is scolded by another.

You are made to kneel beside Marc.

“I'm sorry,” he says.

“You did this? You made the branch?” You whisper. You can't believe it.

“You must be curious why you are here,” Isis states. You lower your head again and stare at the floor. She seemed to be expecting an answer.

“I…was sent to the timeline by my superiors, they said that I was the only one.”

“Your companions are not wrong, but it was more we believed it was only fair you had a say in your fate.”

“My fate, your grace?” You cringed. The only god you knew was Loki, and he hasn't made you act in servitude.

The goddess hums in amusement. “Spector here cares very dearly for you it would seem. Even willing to travel forbidden planes to find you again.” You look over at Marc but he is starting a hole in the floor.

“Why?” you ask him.

“You left, and we didn't want to lose you again,” he admits.

“Osiris, Thoth and Horus are not pleased with your meddling, Spector,” the goddess says. “Be glad it is me before you and not my beloved.” She grins. “The passage of time is not yours to hold, Marc Spector, Khonshu knows better.”

“He wanted no part of it,” Marc admitted.

“The only reason you are not facing harsher penalties for your actions is because you have honestly done worse. And your heart was in the right place. Love makes fools of most mortals.” The goddess grins. “But you step outside your station, Marc Spector, once more and your punishment will not be so lenient.”

She dismissed everyone.

You turn to find Lilah is gone.

“I'm sorry,” the recognizable voice of Steven says. “I am so sorry. I didn't know they would care so much. It wasn't like we moved the stars again. Not that noticeable.”

You turn to look at him. “I told you guys that messing with time is dangerous. Then what do you do, you go and mess with time. Have you lost your mind?!”

“Well, by typical diagnostic specifications, technically we did a long time ago, when I came into existence,” Steven notes.

“Steven!” You shout. “You can't just change reality because you missed me. That’s not-”

His expression changes. His tone and accent too. “And you can? Do you have any idea what it was like to have you show up years after being told you were dead and then you just leave. Gone to somewhere we couldn’t follow. And you thought we would just let you go? A heart can only break so many times. We failed last time. We weren't going to fail again, not when we could actually-”

You silence him with a kiss.

“Take me home,” you tell him when you separate for air. They don't have to be told twice.

— ◍☾ —

Marc hadn't thought he could have happiness like this again. Even after he had found you again. The three of them had agreed that having you in their life was important, but he couldn't have anticipated having you literally in their bed.

You snuggle closer and bury your face in the warmth of his neck. Whining at being woken. So abruptly. You feel the laugh from the body beneath you as he turns off the alarm.

“Rise and shine, sweetheart,” Marc says.

You grumble incoherently as you try to bury yourself in his warmth.

“You keep squirming like that, sweetheart and we are going to have a problem.” You giggle. “I'm serious, baby.” He moves the hair off your face so he can see you. “Donna will kill Steven if he's late again.”

You weigh your options. You shift your weight again earning a groan from Marc. “I could just use a timedoor and get him there on time.”

“Lo siento, mi amor,” Jake says as he takes over. “But you always say we shouldn't mess with time.”

You groan but don't stop him as he gets out of bed. You settle for stealing his pillow.

You yelp at the playful swat to your sheet covered behind. His hand rubs the now stinging skin through the sheet as Jake laughs. You glare at him but the face that greets you is one far too soft to be Jake Lockley.

“We’ll make it up to you, darling,” Steven says as he leans in and kisses your forehead. You pull him in for a proper kiss.

“Do we have time for pancakes?” You ask against his lips. And how could he say no to that?

You let him go and he looks at you like you hung the moon. Extra funny considering the lunar deity they serve. “We can make time for pancakes,” he assures you.

“You still want to watch that movie tonight?” Steven asks from the kitchen as you get dressed. You didn't have much other than your uniform so you had really just stolen a shirt that was far too big on you, his clean boxers, and a pair of socks so your feet wouldn't get cold on the hard floors.

You laugh as you remember you had stumbled upon one of Brad Wolfe’s schlocky films on a streaming service.

“Gods yes,” you laugh again. “X-5 was such a prick. Mobius said I have to watch them. They are hilarious, and they aren't supposed to be.”

“Are they scary?” Steven asks and you know in some reflection Marc or Jake is probably rolling their eyes, or laughing. You couldn't be sure.

“I'm sure Jakey will take over if it's too scary,” you wrap your arms around him as he cooks. He scoffs slightly but grins as you kiss his shoulder. “We've both fought worse than whatever monster Brad deals with in this one.” You grin. “Besides, we could take ‘em.”

“I'm sure we could, love,” Steven grins.

[pastel-rights]

Do you have any favorite sona designs?

... actually, I do have my biases towards different sona designs, yeah. Especially since I've drawn so many of them and I just have a collection of the official council-approved sonas. I can name a few under the cut~

Let's see... this IS in a somewhat particular order tbh? Not least favorite bias to most favorite bias but... I DO have my favorite sonas, both lore-wise and design-wise. You'll see as I get further down that I DO say "so and so is my third/second/most favorite" or whatever but the beginning bit is just. YOU. you know. Well, that's enough of that, let's actually get into this, huh.

I think the first sona I want to mention is Blackwail actually! ( Originally designed by @paperbcy )

Blackwail is Yuu's sona, and I've always had a certain affinity towards their sona, even if I didn't get the chance to draw them a ton. I loved their purple and red color palette a lot, and they were always just really delightful to draw in any capacity. They were always just... a lot of fun. And their different AU variants were always so silly, especially Whitewail and Doodlewail...

Of course, I can't talk about Blackwail without mentioning their right-hand protagonist, Nerissa! Nerissa isn't a sona technically speaking, but rather, she is an in-universe character Blackwail created! And ough she's so pretty I'm SKJEDFNKSJDFNKSJDNF /j

I think a good shoutout here would be their hospital variants? I like them a ton, but... not so MUCH they get their own spot. But they are very pretty variant designs and I do feel they are worth the mention.

...

I think the next sona worth mentioning is Pins' two personas!! Personally, me? I love the Eel Sona, she's always been my favorite out of the two sonas, so I'll mostly be talking about her. ( Originally designed by @one0p1nk )

Miss Eel is just sO PRETTY. I love her. Mwah. I want to give her a kiss (on the cheek) (respectfully) (and with permission)

Okay so enough of that, but I just really love what Miss Eel has going on with her palette and design... I really love those purples and the pops of white and pink. I also just love the butler-like vibes Miss Eel has going on, and the characterization of Miss Eel is just sooo good. Pins usually goes with the pink version of her sons (Miss Vampire) and usually that's the version you will see me draw most times but let it be KNOWN Miss Eel has a special place in my heart.

Miss Eel doesn't have a ton of lore unfortunately so she won kind of based on aesthetic appeal (and dream world shenanigans) over some other options inside my folder of sonas... hehe...

...

The next one is going to be... Linzer! ( Originally designed by yours truly )

I love myself a bad bitch with red hair I won't even lie to you.

Linzer makes her way onto this list for a few reasons. Design-wise, she's mostly neutral colors with this pretty red color for her hair. Lore-wise, she's an author who's responsible for stories such as "The Emerald Masquerade", "The Theatre of Darkness", and "The DECORA Incident" to name a few. She's supposed to be the version of me who runs Essence and AU lore!

I don't know what it is in particular that I adore about Linzer specifically, I just kind of enjoy Linzer as a whole in general, more than some of the other sonas. She's also just a bad bitch in general so. bonus points!!

...

This one might come as a surprise to you guys but... I think Satoru and Nihil are my third favorite sonas...??????

Especially if you know the beef I have outwardly with Satoru himself and how MEAN he is to my poor poor wife... He's actually really chill and fun behind closed doors. And he's really funny (he needs to stop calling me babygirl though /j) and I think this sona just captures their vibes really well... a little too well actually... it's giving "silly little freak" actually. I also like his secondary form a ton, ngl??? His secondary form technically has a different name but that's for later (not EVER /j)

As for Nihil, unfortunately, those two are kind of just "do not separate" coded. I really like Nihil lore wise and design wise, which is why she's so high up among the several dozen sonas. You might think these two are new, and you'd be. half wrong??? Satoru is new, yeah, but Nihil has been around for a while now, she just finally got herself officially drawn alongside Satoru.

Enter: The Boundary Walker.

That's Nihil's title! She's present in a lot of AUs and concepts (as well as the world where my ocs all originate from), but always on the outside, looking in. She's a record keeper and the main manifestation of an entity known as "The Nihility", which is where her name originates from.

and like, the lore these two have is it's own whole thing that also kind of got them all the way up here but that isn't what you came to hear so.

...

Okay so. Don't be mad. But my second favorite sona... isn't just one. But rather, everyone from the Halloween sona set. But if I had to choose just one, then.......... these two. Specifically, Joe. (The one on the left side in purple)

Simply put... these two are the highest up here because they are based on video game hackers! The purple and green color schemes the two of them has going on has always been one of my favorite schemes, but Joe in specific is based on a galaxy, and galaxies are one of my favorite things in the world to color...

I also just really love the asymmetry in the design, it's all over their design. I also think Klai's complimenting design just really adds to Joe's Halloween design?? Joe's design in a mix of light colors with a pop of neon purple, while Klai's is more the opposite, dark and neon with a pop of light green and white. Alongside these, they both have the other's signature color somewhere in their design and. God, I love it when designs compliment each other heheh.

As for them lore wise... chaotic hackers... chaotic hackers for life... look at them... this IS favoritism at its finest...

Joe and Klai just have really nice base sonas in GENERAL anyways so... I simply put a trick or treat spin on them and if Halloween isn't my favorite holiday <3

...

oh we're at number one already??? wow. damn.

so you might be wondering HOW did I get all the way up here to my number one, my FAVORITE sona, the sona to SLAY all other sonas... without even ONE of my wife's several sonas appearing??? It's baffling, I know!

Do I just not love my wife enough? Have I BETRAYED MY MUSE.

...

no lmao

Tae has so many really nice and really pretty sonas, like Tama, Tazai, Jason and more. And honestly, it was kind of hard to choose just one Tae sona since, there's so many and they're all so pretty...

And I hate to disappoint everyone by saying that it isn't Tazai and Yabel taking the number one spot.

It's surprising, yeah. From the amount of stuff I've drawn of them to their complete character lore to just how much I love Tazai (for better or for. worse.) and while he's quite far up there... I could never fully say he was my favorite sona. Not just of Tae's but out of everyone total.

And yeah, Yabel is a really fun sona both lore-wise and to draw but she was never my favorite of my own sonas either. But still I can't deny the facts those two would always be the most well-known and most popular sonas I've ever created and I probably ever WILL create.

Everyone knows their name, their faces, their personalities, and who they are as sonas. As people.

They are well known and well-loved for a reason.

......... but they aren't my favorite. Sorry if you bet money on them even appearing in this list /j

But, uh. my favorite sona of all time is actually someone I hate drawing lmao. Funnily enough. There isn't anything wrong with his design per say, I just struggled with it a lot... so it always put me a little off of drawing him again.

I've drawn this sona a total of... one time... (well technically twice because I JUST drew him today specifically for this ask when I realized I didn't have ANY other art of him... but that doesn't really count to me) which speaks to the testimony of whatever the FUCK he's got going on lmao. Every sona on this list has been drawn at least three times (with the Halloween sonas being an exception) so to only be drawn once... seemed a little dramatic for the number one spot...

Insert, the number one spot and the pain in my ass.

this guy.

...

yeah. /lh

There's a multitude of reasons I gave him this top spot... but if I had to give just one right now... it's something many of the others here on this list kind of lack to be honest?

... I just think he's silly! He's just generally (hehe, general) a lot of fun no matter what situation he is in, and he just has a really sweet and pleasant personality??? Like... he's just a guy. Everyone else has so MANY thoughts behind their eyes...

but this is just the look of a man who loves his wife

Everything about this sona (he doesn't technically have a name...) is just... really soft. He looks as sweet and soft as he actually is and he's just. really pleasant to look at????

I kind of just want to give him a kiss on the cheek he's so pretty. aaaaaaa.

He's always got this soft, almost dream-like expression that you just don't get with most sonas. Like, it isn't JUST tae sonas, no it's ALL of my sonas.

I don't know what it is, I can't really explain it without getting into the lore and the aus and his secondary variant and this post is already super long so you'll just have to take him as IS.

[munsonsreputation]

y’all are never gonna hear me shut the fuck up about this…but this is screaming 1989 is it NOT?!

I might be delusional but I am delusional for a REASON! this is clearly 1989 coded in some odd yet very obvious way…just bear with me here

1989 is the next re-record that might come before this year ends or possible early next year! in the karma music video there are multiple Easter eggs that hint to 1989tv but specifically the last scene….

she brings coffee to her supposed “partner” and the coffee has a design in which the clock strikes 12.

Since the announcement of Midnights, the clock has been a symbol throughout Taylor’s career — the variants of Midnights, the different editions (3am, till dawn, ect.), even the opening visual to the eras tour.

could this possibly be another tease for the clock to be used to announce 1989tv and the possible music video we could be getting??!

in the song “you are in love” she sings “coffee at midnight” and this is obviously the scene at the end of the karma music video!

while the song is loosely based off Jack Antonoff and his then partner Lena Dunham — the song is basically about two people who fall in love and it gushes about the simple and mundane life between the lovers while also acknowledging the moment they fall in love.

now I’m not saying Joe and Taylor are together or dating, but I am saying there is a possibility he could be staring in the “You Are In Love” (Taylor’s Version) Music Video!

1989 is an iconic era in itself and we were gifted with some of the most amazing, memorable, dramatic, and fun music videos (bad blood, ootw, wildest dreams, style, shake it off, blank space, and new romantics)

but what makes “You Are In Love” different is the domesticity of love and how it seems to not be so chaotic. in the song she expresses literally the different moments in which she and her partner fall in love through just living in each others lives in day to day scenarios.

EXAMPLES:

One look, dark room. Meant just for you. Time moved too fast. You play it back

Small talk, he drives. Coffee at midnight

Morning, his place. Burnt toast, Sunday. You keep his shirt. He keeps his word

You two are dancing in a snow globe, 'round and 'round

in the final scene of the karma music video we see that everything fades into the cup of coffee and ends up being served to her lover. this is symbolism in which I think means that her past with other partners seems to just fade away now that’s she’s with him because… SHES IN LOVE! HES IN LOVE! THEY ARE IN LOVE!

to receive a music video for this song specifically would mean so much to the 1989 era considering the fact that during this time Taylor was under scrutiny for her love life. we saw that depicted in blank space, a satire song she wrote based off what tabloids thought of her and her love life.

“You Are In Love” clearly talks about the softness in which her and her partner have in private. That while they may fight and argue, they talk it out nonetheless and make it work for them.

“He keeps his word

And for once, you let go

Of your fears and your ghosts

One step, not much

But it said enough

You kiss on sidewalks

You fight and you talk”

the whole point of “you are in love” is to express the highs and lows of a relationship outside of the opinions of everyone else, specifically the media.

“You can hear it in the silence

You can feel it on the way home

You can see it with the lights out”

in the lines above, it clearly has parallels to other Taylor songs in which she talks about fame and how it constantly follows her wherever she goes — an issue she has wanted to avoid when it comes to her love life. but in these lines it talks about when her and her partner are alone — just them by themselves together. they are in love and they can feel it even when no one is watching.

and where is no one watching?

in this scene where she brings him the coffee!!!! this is the dark room meant just for them! their shoulder brush as she sits down beside him! this is either his place or hers — THEIRS!

This was just a GLIMPSE of domesticity when it come to romantic love — but I’m assuming when we ✨hopefully ✨ get the mv we will see more of it! see the two of them just spending time together in a home, like in Lover mv!!!!

Now you’re probably thinking where does Joe Keery fit in all of this?! I HAVE ADHD AND I GOT OFF TOPIC IM SORRY!

we all know Taylor worked with Sadie for the atw 10 min version short film! in her actors on actors interview she discusses writing past Taylor in the film with Sadie in mind Bcs she saw her in stranger things and realized she wasn’t a romantic lead and would be perfect for the role! (Time stamp: 6:12)

knowing this information and that Taylor has definitely watching stranger things, could she possible be writing the “You Are In Love” music video with Joe Keery in mind?

Joe Keery hasn’t stared as a romantic lead in any movies / tv shows. in stranger things he only played Nancy’s love interest for 1 season before becoming the beloved babysitter we all know today. In Free Guy, while his character does crush on Jodie Comer, he isn’t necessarily the “romantic lead,” that part belongs to Ryan Reynolds. Then in Spree he plays a fucking murderer so yeah….

I’m thinking that Taylor really loved Joe’s performance in ST and possibly saw his other projects and wanted to see him in a larger role (romance wise). I personally think he would be perfect as a character in the “you are in love” music video or possibly short film!

Steve Harrington had a redemption arc but I don’t think we’ll be seeing him GRT back together w/ nance in s5 + the ending of Free Guy is left open so we really don’t know if his character and Jodie Comer’s stay together.

I know I’m probably sounding crazy or delusional but this is just a loosely based theory on what I see and know from the pics and Easter eggs! Taylor street style as of late has been giving 1989 and we all know how she also drop hints with clothing and what not so this is just a fun little thing I put together

this is just a theory so please don’t come at my neck….LOL! I know I sound delulu, but this is just all in fun and good nature as a fan of Taylor and Joe!

Let me know your thoughts and possible other Taylor and Joe collab theories! 🙈🫶���✨

[votederpycausemufins]

Another fic for the Metal Hearts au, hope you'll enjoy Oh, I've also started a discord group for people who enjoy the various Grumbo kids. Like Grum and Jrum and the Grum variants, but also Tegg, the shulker kids or even NPG.

But here's Chapter 1 of 'Do Bots Dream of Electric Lives?'

Grumbot had rebuilt a ‘small’ starter base for the sixth time. It wasn’t just that he had been tweaking the design, but he was tearing the build down completely before starting from almost scratch, still having blocks on hand. He stared at it for a few moments before pulling out his axe to start tearing it down once more, only stopping when Jrumbot ran over. “Noooo! I like this one!”

“This isn’t your base, this is mine. You can build your own.”

“But I can’t build.” Jrum complained. “And this isn’t even your base! You’re just building whatever!”

“It will be my base. I just want to plan it correctly. It will be my first.”

Jrum huffed and crossed his arms. “Nuh uh. Technically we shared a base with our dads!”

“Yes, technically. And there were two of those bases, so they would be on equal footing, so neither was really a first base, so this will be mine.”

“Well Dad said he just lived in a shipwreck he found. He didn’t have any plans!” Jrum argued, and Grum looked like he was ready to snap back, but then Mumbo came in to calm things down.

“Your brother is right, Grum.”  Mumbo patted Grum’s head for some reassurance. “You don’t need to have a plan for the upcoming season, and if Grian were here, he would agree.”

“But he’s not.” Grum huffed, and then pulled away to start taking down the test build.

“Your dad can have a life outside of Hermitcraft, you know. Sure, some of the other Hermits are with him, but he’s having fun with some friends he doesn’t get to see as often.” Mumbo then started to help gather any materials Grum was missing in the destruction and put them in chests. “Once you get settled in Season Eight, it might be nice for you to explore outside of Hermitcraft, at least a little.”

“I guess.” Grum replied, but he didn’t sound too convinced. “But it feels too early to try and think about such a thing.”

“Maybe. But mentally preparing yourself can- oh for goodness sake.” Mumbo cut himself off as he looked at a machine flying across the sky towards his base, pushing around a few diamond blocks that were familiar to him. “They finally made it in time for the end of the season.”

“Huh? What are those?” Jrum asked, looking ready to run after the contraption just to get the diamonds.

Mumbo sighed, though a laugh made its way in as well. “Last season, Grian Iskall and I made a big business called Sahara. Those were our profits which we sent to the next season, or rather, this season, to give us a boost at the start. Or whenever they arrived.”

“Which is only finally now.” Grum added oh, making Mumbo huff indignantly.

“Then you might want to grab them then so you can pretend ODEA made a profit.” Jrum added, which only made Mumbo look sadder, though laughing along once the bot started giggling.

“Well, I’m going to make sure Iskall doesn’t run himself ragged.” Mumbo said after they had calmed down from the joke. “Xisuma said he wanted you two to drop off anything you want for the next season. He’s already noted down your presents since they were already approved, but if there’s anything else, talk with him.”

“I suppose you’re telling us this hoping we’ll do it now?” Grum asked, putting down the blocks he was about to use to rebuild the test starter base yet again.

“I trust you two to make it over there on your own. And the sooner the better in case either of you realize you’ve forgotten something and need to talk with him again.”

Jrum nodded and grabbed onto Grum’s hand, already dragging them in the direction of Grian’s base, where a good portion of their stuff was. “Okay! We’re gonna do that then! And say hi for us!”

.

.

.

Grumbot watched as Jrum had filled another shulker box with items. “You know X won’t let you talk all of that to Season Eight, right?”

“But why not? It’s just a new home, right?”

“Not really.” Grum answered, getting up from the shulker box he had been sitting in, one of three he had packed, though he was trying to get it down to two. “It’s supposed to be a fresh start for everyone. Dad’s wardrobe is probably the only thing he’s going to bring along. You and I are just exceptions because we just had our birthdays and we’re younger.”

“But… So I can’t bring my shop wares?”

“No.”

“Or my diamonds?”

“Nope.”

“What about Professor Beak?”

Grum paused for a moment to think. “He might be allowed to come. But a new world is probably going to be dangerous for him.”

“That’s not fair! What can I even bring?”

Grum opened up one of his shulker boxes, showing off the pile of paper inside. “Well for the most part I just have my IOU’s. Another box has some of the toys and treats I got as well as the posters. The third has what building blocks I think I can get away with.” Then Grum shrugged. “There’s other stuff too, but that’s the bulk of it. I’m pretty sure Xisuma won’t give this back to us still in shulker boxes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t even get it back until starter bases are set up.”

“Wait, what are we going to do for charging at the start? If we don’t have a base…”

Grum hummed in thought. “I guess that’s something we should ask Xisuma. Someone probably has an idea if he doesn’t. He might even give us emergency redstone treats until we’re in a better situation.”

“I hope so.” Jrum said, though sounding a little worried. He stood there for a few moments more, just thinking, before slowly going back to his shulker boxes. “Grum, can you help me figure out what I need to take out?”

Grum nodded and then went over to Jrum. They went through the shulker boxes and pulled out items, mainly resources like diamonds, redstone and quartz. Jrum ended up with a little more than Grum, mainly because he refused to give up some stuff that, while we’re likely to be rejected, Jrum was hoping he could convince Xisuma otherwise or find some sort of work around.

Once they had picked up the boxes, Jrum had them go through the Nether tunnels so they could bring Professor Beak along more easily. It took a little longer than just flying to Xisuma’s base would have taken since their dad’s portal wasn’t the safest, and climbing while holding and controlling a parrot could be rather difficult. Still, the pair managed to reach Xisuma’s portal without any harm and only one close call.

The one issue with Xisuma’s base was that it was a number of buildings all separated from one another. Once the bots were out of the portal, it was then a matter of finding Xisuma. They dropped off their shulker boxes and Professor Beak next to the portal before flying around the base to look for the admin.

After finding nothing in the more common areas, the bots then started looking at the farms with similar luck or lack thereof. Around the time when Grum finally thought about giving up and just messaging Xisuma, there was a sort of screeching noise that came from one of the buildings, a noise that sounded like Jrum. 

Grum immediately flew in that direction hoping his brother wasn’t hurt. He landed in one of the buildings he thought they had checked already, but then more noises had the bot digging through the ceiling to find Jrum essentially hissing at Xisuma, who was barely managing to keep the bot away from himself. It seemed like Jrum wanted to tear the admin limb from limb, which was rather confusing to Grum. The one thing he could think of that would upset Jrum would be that X had already said a certain item couldn’t be taken to the next season. Well, that or the redstone contraption Grum had just noticed to the side. What it was, he had no clue, but that meant it could be the issue.

Grum went over to Xisuma and Jrum and then pulled his brother away, getting a thankful sigh from Xisuma. Jrum tried getting out of Grum’s arms to go back to attacking, but to no avail. “Why are you trying to attack Xisuma? Did you already start asking about our stuff and what we could bring along?”

“No!” Jrum shouted, still wrestling against Grum’s grip. “He’s going to burn all of his diamonds! He’s just going to waste them!”

“I’m not wasting them. I’m making it into a sort of… treasure hunt.” Xisuma started to explain. “Once we wrap up here, other people will be able to explore this world. They’ll theoretically know about the diamonds I’ve put here and will race to try and find them before they’re all gone.”

“That’s stupid!” Jrum argued, but Grum thought it was a nice idea. Jrum just liked diamonds a bit too much compared to most people.

“They are Xisuma’s diamonds, he can do what he wants with them. It doesn’t look like the machine is even going yet.” Grum assumed, since he could hear the bubbling of lava but nothing burning, but who knew if the redstone would work that way. “So can we just ask Xisuma to check our stuff over?”

“I assume you’re referring to the items you want transferred over to the next season.” Xisuma spoke up, getting a nod from Grumbot. After they took a few moments to calm Jrum down a little, they all went back to Xisuma’s portal to where everything was placed.

Xisuma looked through the shulker boxes, approving most of what was there. He explained how they would be stored and once the two had a starter base, either each their own or a shared one, most of the items would be given to them. 

As expected by Grum, Xisuma said the shulker boxes wouldn’t be returned. He also couldn’t let them bring over the blocks and redstone that had been a gift from Hels since the only reason they were allowed was because it was the end of the season. While the bots were saddened by that, Jrum cheered up when X allowed Professor Beak to go to the next season at the same time as the other items would be returned.

Lastly came two items that stood out from the others. Two pairs of elytra, each of them custom made for each bot. During the birthday parties for the bots, Prof, Doc’s Hels and creator of these elytra gave Xisuma what he would need to potentially make more. And as main admin of Hermitcraft, it was easy enough for X to use the information he was given and summon in extra ones.

For season eight, Xisuma was looking into more ways to change the world so the others could have a little more comfort. It had already been done with the armor stands people, mainly Cleo, customized, and recoloring materials was small but helpful. The miniature blocks that wandering traders gave was another thing the others enjoyed, and there were other things used on a player to player basis.

Certain concerns were only brought up at the parties and following meetings. Thankfully a few of those concerns had already been brought up, which was part of the reason they had the party at all. Technically the season was meant to end earlier than it was going to now. But trying to figure out ways to help the bots in the early stages of the season and even further into it had delayed things.

With the elytra being brought up, Xisuma explained how things would work, not just for the elytra, but also food and beds. The Hermits had already been informed that something new for the world would be changing the appearance of an object, to put it simply. Drawing from that, but taking it to a higher level, the commands the Hermits would have access to for that also had a variation specifically for Grum and Jrum. If either of them used the right command while holding the appropriate object, the item would change to what they needed. A normal elytra would be turned into a customized pair for them, while beds would turn into their chargers and food would be replaced with charged redstone that would be named the same as the food and couldn’t be used other than being eaten, just to keep things fair.

While Jrum mainly just nodded along, Grum made sure to take notes for the two of them, likely to also review them with their dads later to make sure everyone important was on the same page. Probably Xisuma would mention it to them as well, but better to be safe than sorry. Though sharing with a Grian was going to be hard. “By the way, has there been any updates about dad and the others?”

Xisuma looked up at Grum’s question, pausing in some extended explanation to Jrum in how the cosmetic feature would work. “Oh, I haven’t heard too much, and even then, there’s no telling how long it will last, but Grian thinks they probably won’t last too much longer. But it could also go longer than he assumes.”

Grum grumbled at the answer, but reluctantly accepted it. Some information was better than none. And it seemed Xisuma was one of the few people who was in contact with everyone in… what had his dad called it again? Third Life? Whatever. Since it ending would give the hermits a day or two afterwards to officially prepare to leave, it made sense X would want to keep updated to know when the season was really going to end. 

“Well, I think that’s about it for your items. If you want to check anything else later, feel free to message me and I can meet you at the portal.” Xisuma said after making sure he had checked them all. “Much easier than you two needing to search the base for me again.”

Grum thanked Xisuma while Jrum started stating the admin down, having been reminded of the diamond burning machine. He younger boy needed to be dragged away, but thankfully with Xisuma’s explanation of how they would get elytra, it meant they could keep their current pairs and fly home.

Mumbo unfortunately hadn’t arrived back yet, so the bots sent him a message to say they were back at the base. It was late enough at that point and the travel had drained their batteries, so Grum and Jrum turned in early. Jrum had a little trouble going to sleep at first, which led to Grum being kept up until he handed a book to Jrum to read, which seemed to quiet him down.

After a few minutes more, Grum shifted into sleep mode. It was mainly just to help with charging, but sometimes he would have some semblance of dreams. And with all that was going on, a little distraction seemed like it would be nice. He couldn’t control if he had dreams or not of course, but that hope was there. And it seemed like that night, he would have them, or something at least.

[okilokiwithpurpose]

Mobius' identity theory 19

On with my 20 days of pre-TVA Mobius’ identity theories event!

[Edit: previous - next | Masterpost]

Day 19: an ordinary life with an ordinary job

This one may be one of my favorites theories (but just wait for the nexus event!): what is Mobius' life had not been special at all? Moreover, what if it had been dull!

What if he'd been a lonely man stuck in a job he didn't particularly like but he kept doing anyway - partly because a man's got to make a living, but really mainly out of habit? What if he hasn't really had friends, hasn't really had family, hasn't really had hobbies? What if he'd gone through the same routing of commuting and work every day, his entire existence summarized but the expression "all work and no play"? What if he'd been a model citizen, dedicated employee, but that's all there was to it?

Now, it doesn't mean he didn't have dreams! Sometimes, in the dark of the night, he would have yearned for something more. Something different. Something exciting! He would have pictured himself travelling abroad, discovering new things, meeting new people. He would have contemplated taking his days of accumulated leave and heading for the nearby seashore, bathing in the sea, driving a jet-ski! But in the end, he would always forget it, putting it aside for "later", labelling it as "impossible"... And, hear me out, what if that had been his nexus event!

Because, in the Sacred Timeline, he was supposed to do it. He was supposed to leave everything behind, supposed to start a new life, supposed to reach for his dreams. Sacred Timeline Mobius was supposed to ride a jet-ski!

But our Mobius didn't. He kept doing what he had always done. What his boss, his colleagues, society expected of him. He didn't make waves and stayed in his lane, thereby becoming a variant!

And wouldn't that have make him a perfect TVA worker ? An man whose "crime" was to not have rebelled, not have caused trouble, not have left his job, not have allowed himself to look for more. Such a good little soldier should have fitted perfectly in the ranks of the Time Variance Authority!

Of course, that was before he met Loki...

I think Mobius might feel a little ashamed, a bit disappointed in himself upon discovering what made him a variant. It could be Loki's turn to remind him that his past should not define him - should not limit him! Now Mobius has found his spark, and his live is in his own hands!

[dojae-huh]

lol the edits with taeyong and doyoung and rose are so funny i had never seen rose with other neos! i guess people will ship any girl to a guy if they breathe next to each other.

yeah dotae are very platonic to me. that's just how i see them. and when i put dotae and jaeyong next to jaedo, they really pale in comparison to jaedo. i think it comes down to what people want out of their media romance. i gravitate towards a love like jaedo's. the way jaehyun acts with doie is truly unmatched and adorable.

i agree with your point about the rings + taking the focus off jaedo. i think what makes me call it fanservice is how doyoung pushed ring-gate to the forefront of the public eye. it was a calculated move on doyoung's part. lucas and winwin also have friendship rings and no one talks about it. other neos share similar things that dont get noticed or talked about. i dont think 6k is that much, because the og intention was to have nice rings with your bestie.

taeyong wanted friendship rings. taeyong told doyoung in private he wanted them. and doyoung made it public in that famous clip (kiss on the hand). and then he went and got the rings and called taeyong during the vlive telling him to show them lol we get it doyoung you wanna make it an announcement ahahahaha. at the time i didnt even think this, i thought it was super cute, and that it was just because doyoung was jealous of baekhyun. but in retrospect i see things differently. doyoung curates his idol image, didnt he say so himself?

and btw, i think taeyong is gay, or another lgbtqia+ identity, just not plain straight basically. but in love with doyoung? no. especially when doyoung is in love with someone else? that would be hella awkward for the entire 127 and it would bleed into their interactions at least a little. do you think jaehyun shows signs of being jealous of taeyong? i honestly never noticed that.

You are correct, people will ship anyone who stood 10 m from each other. I simply write two random names and google, most of the time I get a return of at least a few manips for any combo. These manips are mostly done for wattpad stories, maybe that's why you didn't come across them on TW. aespa is heavily shipped with Dream, for example.

Jaehyun/Karina is also a thing. I guess it's just the "most popular+most popular" and "most handsome + most beautiful" equation. And whether some particular combo becomes widespread is a chance thing (if an acc with lots of followers starts to post about a certain ship, naturally, it will get advantage over other variants).

I wish I can say that 6k is not much... heh.

Yes, Do used the rings, and Tae didn't like it (instead of the rings he talked too much about Do's new pendant, heh). I must say that I can't know it 100%, but, personally, I'm pretty positive Do called from his holiday with Jae in Guri, that's why Tae was hurt. The rings were supposed to be "their" secret thing, maybe Tae even envisioned some cheap ones bought together in some small store during a walk (or wanted to buy them himself, he did ask for the ring size, afterall), but instead the rings ended to be more as PR and a cover up. Tae even said the rings are DoTae+fans during that vlive.

I think Taeyong is straight, and everyone is lucky it is so, heh. Jae and Tae struggle to share Doyoung as it is.

Yes, Jaehyun was jealous of Taeyong (and practically all other members) before JaeDo started dating. There is an understanding now, though. One should remember that Jae was Tae's maknae before Doyoung even entered SM. JaeYong have their own hyung-dongsaeng history.

[idontknowmyownmind]

If you've been lurking in my blog, I'm sure you know my OG!Cale AU where he know the 'futures' and change them without KRS' interference. And one with KRS as Cale older brother by 2 or 3 years. Where they have their own stories, KRS with the TCF and Cale with his curses of keep repeating his life over and over and met his own companion.

Imma combine this two. With Cale have his own story and companion AND KIDS. Imma use the same oc kids I made with exchanging Raon, On and Hong with three other. I was refering to this, the story is pretty much same but with different purpose and a little flick here and there. Different set of allies too. Those who supposed to be KRS allies will be exchange with some oc from here.

I haven't made the oc of the adults with gacha but I already made for the kids. And I want to share them here!! I'm gonna list them from older to youngest.

(Supposed to be one of the unnamed wolf children)

Frank (with Cale since 6)

The name Frank is of German origin and means "free," and is a diminutive of Francis and Franklin.

Male

Race: Wolf

Age: 8

Attribute: Aura, a dready aura. A suffocating terrible aura.

Astraeus (since birth)

His name derives from the Greek aster, meaning "star,". Because he is born under sky when the stars shine the brightest.

Male

Race: Silver Dragon

Age: 7

Attribute: Dream, when dreams become reality and reality becomes dreams. An attribute that trades dream and reality.

(Supposed to be On)

Xiu 秀–elegant/graceful (with Cale since 4)

Female

Race: Black Cat

Age: 7

Attribute: Poison, produce poison. Every part of her bodies are poisonous if she want to.

Ilya (with Cale since birth)

A variant spelling of Ila and a version of the name Helen, meaning 'bright one' or 'shining one'

Male

(Demian twin)

Race: Red Dragon

Age: 6

Attribute: Time, a moment that never escapes time. An attribute that allows fate to change.

(Supposed to be Raon)

Demian (with Cale since birth)

This form originates from the Greek daman, which means 'mighty' or 'powerful'.

Male

(Ilya twin)

Race: Orange Dragon

Age: 6

Attribute: Expande, there are no limits to its strength nor growth potential. Everyone can push their limits and reach further. This attribute sharpen the five senses and raise the power of allies to their maximum limits.

(Supposed to be one of the unnamed wolf children)

Bhavishya (with Cale since 4)

Origin: Sanskrit. Meaning: Future

Male

Race: Elf

Age: 6

Attribute: Illusion, trap opponent in illusion.

Kairos (with Cale since 1)

Kairos (Ancient Greek: καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning 'the right, critical, or opportune moment'.

Male

Race: Mermaid

Age: 5

Attribute: Create, create anything.

Calandra (with Cale since 1)

The name Calandra is primarily a female name of Greek origin that means Singing Bird or Lovely One.

Female

Race: Shark

Age: 5

Attribute: Tamer, tame anything she deemed wild.

Nikolas (with Cale since 1)

The name is derived from the Greek name Νικόλαος (Nikolaos), understood to mean 'victory of the people', being a compound of νίκη nikē 'victory' and λαός laos 'people'.

Male

Race: Whale

Age: 5

Attribute: Weapon, weapons and tools mastery.

(Supposed to be Hong)

安(ān) – security (with Cale since 2)

Male

Race: Orange Cat

Age: 5

Attribute: Fog, produce fog. The density and range depends on his will. He can erase choosen people presence inside his fog.

NEXT

[dantesletritahs]

Miguel O’Hara fic. HELP.

So I just watched Across the Spiderverse... And I took a shower and my ideas wouldn’t stop. But I need someone to tell me that it isn’t cringe, or that it is. If it makes sense or if it doesn’t. JUST HELP PLEASE.

Very messy Chapter 1. (The rest is just the outline and dialogue)

Okay, let's do this one last time. You are... Nothing especial. You study a major that probably won't change or save the world. At least you speak four languages, so yay... But it's the normal people that keep the world spinning right? Heroes just help to keep it safe. You have beautiful flowers to care of. ‘I love you, my preciosas.’ You have so many friends. ‘Hey, we're going to grab a bite after class, wanna come?’ ‘I have to work, sorry’ Everyone loved you. "Why do you keep inviting them? The answer will always be no." Amongst the other you's, you were the one that was never going to do something important or remarkable for the world. The one with a normal life. Or at least you were supposed to. ‘Never trust Miguel O'Hara.’ That dream, again. Usually, you didn't dream, but when you did you saw a world so different than yours. So magnificent, including yourself. Lately, when you did dream, only one thing happens. You. ‘Why do you...?’ You touched your face, their face? The person in front of you looked like you, just... A little different. ‘Never. Trust. Miguel.’ And then you, or that other you, pushed you to a fall that woke you up instantly. And their, your, words somehow made sense. You had a recurring nightmare, fangs, blood, fading away. You tried to blame it on the accident, the trauma of losing your family all at once. Or it was maybe you're tiredness. Attending college, working till 11 pm, and doing homework till 3 AM had to have some effect. You just wished it wasn't this one.

THE REST (it’s even messier I’m sorry) What happens next (messy outline) is that Miguel kinda kidnaps you? Like he shows up in your reality, with zero patience he grabs you and takes you with him to the base or whatever it is. You're shocked but also asking so many questions, and the only thing he says is that you're the key to saving all of them, or at least, the only one that's left. What? Turns out you never dream because there were always a few variants of you, two, to be exact. You and another you. The other you (TOY from now on) had a degree or doctorate in something sciency that was getting close to destroying "The Impostor" (idk sounds cringe wanna change). The impostor had the ability to show up in anyone’s dreams and pretend to be them (or someone close to them) and implant serious matters that would prevent some canon things to happen, that meant Miguel had always to be pending on being ready when it got to that point. They (the Spideysociety) could never guess when or where it would happen because The Impostor implanting ideas took time, from weeks to months to years. What are you doing there if it’s TOY the one with the answer? Because TOY was murdered by The Impostor and now you are the only ‘you’ left. But I don't know anything about science? I study literature (or something humanistic/artistic). There’s no other option. If someone can understand you, is you. TOY’s work is coded; we hope you know how to decode it.

Miguel is going to confine you in a room, no one can come in without his personal authorization, and you can't leave. He's the one that drops by the most, when he does the lights automatically go out because it hurts his eyes. (IDK much about Miguel aside from what I learned in the movie and a silly post on Facebook).  The room has its own bathroom, a bed, and a desktop with a few pages and notebooks that could be saved from TOY’s apartment before burning to the ground. You have one condition to stay there, they bring your flowers to the room, your radio and your bookshelf. One day you were having dinner listening to some music when the lights go out, you were used to it by now but you had told Miguel (and others that time from time visit you, still a maybe) to never bother you when you were eating because you preferred to do it alone. Always. ‘I’m having dinner right now, Miguel.’ Nothing. ‘Miguel this isn’t funny, you know I don’t like being alone in the dark. It’s creepy.’ Nothing. Panicked, you stand up. Miguel isn’t there, someone else is. A shadow. But it isn’t another spider-person, you think since your eyes aren’t used to the dark yet. The shadow moves and tries to attack you, your first instinct tells you is The Impostor. It’s the only answer, but how? You look at the door, the dashboard was destroyed, and the door is open. You still have your book in your hand, you throw it at them and make a run for it. You hear them laugh. ‘You’re braver than I thought!’ It’s your own voice. You run as fast as you can, but you weren’t allowed outside and the place has a weird design. You don’t know where to run and can’t run in some directions since everything is designed for Spider-people. You’re getting dizzy. ‘Miguel!’ You keep running wherever you can but you’re afraid you may be losing ground. You trip and fall. Quickly you try to get back on your feet but The Impostor makes you stay on the ground. ‘I'm not sure what his goal is to have you here. You're nothing. Of all you’s, you’re the most useless.’ Miguel quickly arrives and takes the Impostor off of you, you cover your head, shutting your eyes off, crying. You hear the fight and can only deduce it ended with The Impostor disappearing. ‘Are you okay?’ He asks. Your panicking. ‘Hey, Hey, Hey. It’s over now. They’re gone.’ ‘Was that... Was that the Impostor?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘They looked like me.’ ‘That’s what they do. They impersonate. They can look however they want to. We have never seen their true form.’ ‘They were going to kill me.’ ‘It’s okay now.’ Unsure, he puts an arm on your shoulder as a form of giving comfort. ‘I... We, the system failed. Your face is in our database, they got in by looking like you.’ ‘But they broke the dashboard on my door to get in.’ ‘There is only so much The Impostor can do with their ability. From now on, you’ll be under surveillance 24/7.’ ‘No... No, please. My loneliness is the one thing you haven’t stripped me out of.’ ‘It’s the only way to prevent this from happening again, aside from other measurements.’ ‘Who’ll take care of me?’ ‘We will establish a watch rotation tomorrow. For now, you’re with me.’ ‘No, Miguel, please..’ ‘You think I’m excited about babysitting you? I’m not. But you are the only one left.’ He stands up and offers you a hand. ‘On your feet. I’ll let you get some rest, and then I’ll train you for combat.’ ‘But I don’t have... Anything all of you have.’ ‘You don’t need one to fight. You’re useless if you don’t know at least how to defend yourself.’

Then the two of you get closer, and you have some heart-to-heart talks about your family and your past, he doesn’t say much but he understands. You tell him about your studies and he learns that you know how to speak other languages, including Spanish. You sometimes exchange some words in Spanish. (My mother tongue is Spanish so sorry if it looks cringe but I’m going to exploit it). One time you were eating alone in a place with a view of the city, and Miguel approaches. you. You think is the Spider-person that was watching you. ‘I told you I want to be alone, (their name).’ ‘Leaving you alone is against the established rules.’ ‘Ah, Miguel.’ He asks why you like eating alone and just in general being alone. You tell him it’s because, after your family’s accident, you had to work twice as hard to better your grades, get a scholarship that didn’t pay all of your college fees, and then take on a job because you had no one left. The only times you could process your grief was while eating and having a shower, the rest of your day was busy with classes, work, and homework. Miguel apologizes for interrupting you but you ask him to stay and sit with you. That’s when you realize you love him. ‘I enjoy spending time with you.’ You say. And he knows. (Something that moves on the plot here)

The climax is that you dream again and you tell Miguel, because now you know it’s The Impostor. ‘I had a dream! It has been The Impostor this whole time!’  You tell Miguel about the ‘Never trust Miguel’ nightmare and since there were only two of you and one was killed, it could only mean that The Impostor has been the one showing up in your dreams.’  By this point, you have done zero progress on decoding TOY’s research and Miguel is getting impatient. Learning that you didn’t tell him about the nightmare is the last straw. ‘You haven’t done any progress at all and now you’re telling me The Impostor has been in your dreams for a while? This could potentially mess everything up. Starting from how they could’ve been implanting fake ideas and scenarios for a long time. It’s useless, I’m sending you home.’ ‘I thought you said I was the only one left!’ ‘And you are, but maybe someone else can understand TOY’s research. We are running out of time.’ You have been filling for a while that Miguel isn’t telling you the whole truth so you ask for it. Why did TOY study something related to physics and such? Why did they take such an important path if you’re supposed to be a character in the background? Miguel answers. ‘Because TOY’s family wasn’t supposed to die in their universe, unlike yours. However, The Impostor messed with their universe canon and they died. TOY found out that wasn’t supposed to happen and changed their major to try and stop them from doing that to anyone else.’ You answer. ‘And then they were murdered.’ ‘Yes...’ ‘Give me another chance.’ ‘It’s been to long.’ ‘Please. I.. TOY was supposed to be happy with my family in their own universe.. And it’s comforting, in a way, to know that. It isn’t fair they had to lose what I lost when they TOY didn’t deserve it. I want to keep trying. For them. For me. They deserved to have that life, at least. Miguel thinks for like two seconds. ‘Very well. Along with the notebooks and the other stuff, we found something else in TOY’s apartment. We wanted to test you with the notebooks, but maybe it’s better if I just give it to you.’ He hands you a small box with a lock. 3 0 4 5 (?) ‘What is it?’ ‘We think it may contain TOY’s research. The lock only allows three guesses before self-destruction and our stupid labs messed it up twice. The lock always goes back to the same numbers.’ ‘I understand why.’  ‘You do?’ ‘Yes. The reason it goes back to this particular combination is that it’s the right one.’ ‘They already tried one. That’s how they lost one try.’ ‘And the other?’ ‘They started moving the numbers back to zero so they could start trying every combination one by one. That’s when the box spoke saying there was only one try left.’ ‘Not so smart I see.’ ‘So what’s the code?’ ‘Well, zero means to, three means nine, five means ten...’ ‘...Whatever you say.’ 9 0 8 10 The box opens and a video of TOY begins. This variation of you is very similar, with the sad aura all over you, but there are some differences. ‘Hello there.’ TOY speaks. ‘If you, or me, is watching this, is because he found you.’ TOY smiles. ‘I trust Miguel O’Hara to hand this to you and to take care of you, of us. I’m sorry you lost your family and more sorry I had to do it too, I wished my universe could be a home where sometimes you could come back to. It wasn’t fair, to any of us. I was supposed to fix this, but there is not much time left... If you, the other me, are handed this, you will find my complete work, still coded just in case, on how to end with The Impostor. I have yet to find out how and why they are doing this but... I don’t think I’ll ever will. I trust you. I believe in you. Because, well, I know you. There is a fire in us, there has always been. Our lives entwine in this, us becoming so much more than what we expected. It doesn’t matter if you are majoring in (this), I know you will be able to descifer it and finish what we started. Good luck. TOY’S complete research shows up and now you begin understanding it. (The research is hidden between, for example, the lines of your favorite books and whatever, but I have no idea. Help.) So you start decoding everything and working alongside the lab people you start building whatever it needs to be built to stop The Impostor. Until something happens.

The Impostor was caught trying to enter HQ using your face again, but it looks like they were doing it on purpose. The Impostor was easily captured and brought to the machine that was built to show their true form.  You were standing right beside Miguel when the machine is started up and... The Impostor still looked loke you. ‘What is happening?’ Miguel asks. ‘Why is the machine failing?’ ‘It’s... Not.’ ‘But...’ Panicked, you looked at Miguel. ‘But they look like me! Why do they look like me!?’ Miguel tries to calm you down and The Impostor laughs. ‘Go on say it Miguel! Say it!’ ‘What... What do they mean by that?’ You ask looking at The Impostor. ‘I AM you!’ ‘No...’ ‘Yes! And he knew.’ ‘Miguel...?’ You look at him and the guilt on his face confirms it. ‘Look, it's...’ ‘You lied to me!? You said there were only two of me! Are there more!? Did you actually mean something when you said you were going to look for somewhere else to descifer TOY’s work?’ ‘Yes... There are four variants of you... The researcher, The Impostor, you...’ ‘There is another?’ ‘Not for long!’ The impostor laughs. ‘You are the worst out of the four of us.’ ‘Shut up!’ Miguel screams. ‘But he brought you here because he knew I wouldn’t chase you. Because you are useless. You’re nothing.’ ‘Don’t listen to them.’ Miguel says. ‘No! I was right...’ You breathe heavily. ‘We were right, I shouldn’t have trusted you...’ ‘They are manipulating you.’ ‘Are they, Miguel? Do you think I would believe your words over mine?’ ‘The Impostor has nothing to do with you.’ ‘Oh, we have everything to do with each other.’ The Impostor laughs. ‘And it starts with you.’ The Impostor directs their gaze over Miguel. ‘What do you mean by that?’ He asks. ‘You see. When a canon doesn’t happen and the universe starts falling and disappearing and yada yada, your team shows up trying to fix things. And while they’re doing that, the universe is also compensating to not disappear in a matter of seconds, as it would happen if it didn’t compensate. When you saved a timeline where the family of one of your stupid people died, the universe overcompensated with another family. Mine.’ ‘What...?’ You wonder. What if your own family wasn’t supposed to die either? ‘My family wasn’t supposed to die in my universe. But they did. And it’s your fault Miguel O’Hara. And now, everything and everyone will die too! It’s only fair. I’ll make sure every timeline is destroyed because of you.’ ‘Destroying the universe won’t bring your family back.’ Miguel tries to reason with The Impostor. ‘Oh I don’t want them back. I want to make you pay.’ They look at you. ‘I told you not to trust him.’ ‘Did my family...?’ ‘Wouldn’t you like to know.’ Miguel calls out your name. ‘Look.’ ‘No.’ You answer angered. ‘I shouldn’t have trusted you. I shouldn’t have complied with any of this. I should have gone back home when I had the chance to!’ ‘Please...’ Miguel begs. ‘I want to go home.’ ‘Don’t...’ ‘I’m not asking.’ ‘You don’t understand.’ ‘I think I do, Miguel! I... I am better without you.’

Back home you are eating dinner on your kitchen table when your lights are suddenly turned off. ‘It’s me.’ You hear Miguel say and you stand up facing him. ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with you. You betrayed me. I trusted you and you lied to me.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Don’t... Don't you dare to use that with me.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Stop.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Just shut up!’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because I love you too!’ ... ‘How long have you known?’ You ask Miguel. ‘When you were attacked. That night...’ ‘No. How long have you known I love you?’ ‘When you said you enjoyed spending time with me.’ ‘What?’ ‘I believe it takes a special type of feeling to enjoy my company.’ You two laugh. ‘I hate you.’ ‘No, you don’t. Or... I hope you don’t.’ ‘You betrayed my trust.’ ‘I know.’ ‘And you know I don't give that easily.’ ‘I know.’ ‘You know how hard it is for me to trust someone.’ ‘I do.’ ‘And yet you lied.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘Come again?’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘The city is extra noisy today!’ He comes close to you and whispers inches from your face. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘That’s better and... I forgive you.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘But. I still don’t trust you.’ ‘I understand.’ ‘It’s going to take me some time.’ ‘I know.’ ‘I have one condition.’ ‘Which is?’ ‘Always tell me the truth.’ ‘I will. No more lies.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘I want to kiss you.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘You want me to tell the truth, here it is.’ ‘Kiss me.’ *smooch smooch*

How do you solve the conflict? How does it end? What happens next? I have no idea. Please help.

[spoopywhiskers]

Boi don't let me fall asleep during a snapcube persona 3 stream i got into some weird dreamception shit

I was the mc makoto (sadly not the pastrami variant) and we were sitting at a lunch table in a corridor wating for them to announce the exam results and then akihiko is like you guys we found fukka and places her like a stray kitten by the scruff at the spare seat and were all like yooo yoo hi fuuka and all handshake and great her like it totally not japan

And as soon i shake her hand the social link pops up and makoto flavoured me is like out loud to fuuka "tf thats not supposed to happen yet" and she just telepathicalluly goes to me "tee hee dw i read your mind and knew you wanted to minmax your social links mr wildcard so id thought you get started early"

So we keep waiting and we end up waiting so long that i fall aleep in dream and suddely im still makto but in a dream dreaming as him dreaming of being stuck in this mcdonals "MEGA BALPIT PLAYPLEX" but

everythings in the style of the persona 3 menus and lavenza is there in a mcdonals employee uniform for some fucking reason and shes like "tee hee the only way to get down without jumping is thought the TUBE SLIDE MAZE OF LOST SOULS and i look over the edge and like theres a good like 3-4 story diving board fall into an outside ballpit next to the burger ordering place and im like "hehahhahaha NAHHHH IM NOT DOIN THAT"

so i have to make my way down through the maze and the whole time im so consious that all the faceless little kids are looking at me like why is this big guy here and whys he keep getting lost the idiot and the whole time ynknow when your consious of your dreaming and you can still feel your body irl, it was like that but the body i was feeling was my first layer dream self as makoto under the fucking lunch table snoring like some cartoon charater

Anyway i eventually find a velvet room door in the maze and have to fuse a few specific personas correctly to proceed and igor(who is dressed as a clown) is like "ok bro you can wake up now." So i wake up back to the first layer of my dream cause yukari woke me up and i was liek "wait tf did i miss the results" and so i go see and turns out i was DOCKED A POINT FOR FALLING ASLEEP DURING THE RESULTS CEREMOMY and im like "WHAT TF YUKARI WHY DIDNT YOU WAKE ME UP" and shes like "awww i couldn't you looked so peacefull comedically passed out under the lunch table like that,i couldn't bring myself to wake you, plus youve been like not sleeping properly cause you've been up grinding tartarus the past week" and im just as makoto going "YUKARI THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS! YUKARI THEY DOCKED ME A POINT CAUSE I FEEL ASLEEP! YUKARI THEY LOCKED ME IN THE FUCKING MCDONALS PLAYPEN FROM HELL YUKARI WHY DIDNT YOU SAVE ME!!!!"

and then i wake up for real just as penny ends steam and my half asleep brain is so sad that it doent actually happen like that in game ...

[cherrynasb]

1.7 is THE perfect update for nasb2 AND HERE’S WHY

With the holiday season well behind us, NASB2 has seen multiple updates. We had 1.5 which added Mr.Krabs and brought the universal controller fixes offline, we had the 1.6 hotfix patch which fixed Grandma Gerties recovery and also brought forward some half way fixes to the way projectiles functioned but introduced a heap of issues and new “tech” with it. Finally, last Friday, fairplay labs pushed out the 1.7 update which might just be the best patch nasb2 has ever seen. Introducing a wave of new features like rotation mode, new items, new campaign power ups, and a long list of bug fixes and balance changes. 1.7 was capable of bringing all of this and so far NO huge bugs or exploits. (As far as I’ve seen)

What was fixed (there was a lot)

There was plenty of big things fixed with this update most notably the removal of the Flashing Mr. Krabs bug that I will NOT be showing on screen because it likely could cause seizures.

Fixed an issue where Projectiles and Items hitboxes would trade against character hitboxes where they were supposed to be destroyed instead.

Fixed an issue where Projectiles got stuck on platforms as they traveled through them.

They finally fixed the infinite victory screen bug, where the match would softlock if a player taunted with a certain timing during the “Finish!” screen.

Not only did this update fix some big issues, this update also added some pretty cool additions! (Grab footage)

New Game Mode – Rotation: 3 to 4 players can play in a King of the Hill 1v1 style of gameplay, where anytime a player is KO’d it goes to the waiting list, and the next player enters the fight. All seamless during the match. It can be played with Stocks or Timed variants.

New Stage: Added Clean, Double, and Triangle layouts for Food Dreams.

New Campaign power-up pack!

Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire: When both are obtained, all attacks ignore Block and Super Armor.

The Secret Formula and Krabby Patty Ingredients: When both are obtained it enables the chance for The Perfect Krabby Patty to appear.

The Perfect Krabby Patty: Ignores debuffs and a % of damage.

Jellyfish Jelly: Throw to spawn 3 jellyfish that try to shock your nearest opponent until they disappear.

Fenton Thermos: Throw the thermos and watch how ghosts appear to haunt your opponents.

Electrified Glove: Grab it to stun your opponents on your next hit.

Lawn Gnome: Throw the gnome and watch it follow you as it creates an electrical field in between you and him, electrifying opponents.

Ultra Snowzooka: Grab and shoot different sized snowballs depending on how long you hold the Light Attack button.

Finally there was a ton of changes to the overall cast. Including a ton of hidden changes not mentioned! Overall while there isn’t anything new bug wise this patch the balance changes are for sure head scratchers for plenty of the cast. Some characters were absolutely gutted like reptar who while was a top tier character had his overall damage on all his moves reduced slightly once again, and has had his Down Special nerfed to oblivion. Where as another Top Tier in the meta Aang, had his light up air buffed to combo into Strong Up Air. This buff to a character who was arguably top 2 at absolute worst easily has made him the strongest character in the game and we’ve already seen it in full display. Aang has been this good since launch and while he’s had small nerfs to his up special height and the ability to cancel out of it with air dodge, the character just has too strong of simple options like Sup Air that can single handedly deal tons of damage, combo into itself, and take stocks. This combined with their wide array of recovery options and triple jump make aang an extremely strong character and that hasn’t changed since launch.

Which leads into the main criticism of this patch. Which is just the balance choices. Yes reptar is strong and probably deserved the damage reduction nerf, but buffing an even stronger character (even if the change wasnt intended to do so) and not nerfing other extremely strong options like sup air gives off confusion signs in terms of what the teams balance changes are trying to do.

Other similar changes to characters includes Raphael with him getting nerfs to his neutral EX special Shuriken having a damage and shield damage decrease when generally he’s fallen out of the meta for a month or two now. Another mid tier whos been nerfed this patch unexpectedly was Ember. Who had her charged up air hit box size reduced which is arguably a change that should be directed at Aang. Both moves do the same thing yet Embers kills far later and now it is smaller than it was before.

I won’t be going over the full patch in this video but I felt it was important to highlight changes like this to address and question why things like this were decided on. I’m not opposed to most of the changes but I think its fair to ask why the same nerfs werent given to aang and why reptar was once again gutted seemingly out of the blue.

Granted the answer as to why is the extremely high use in majors with him still being the most played character in top 32s of events offline like Genesis.

But I digress. If you’d like to see a video discussing all the changes in detail for Patch 1.7 make sure to let me know by leaving a comment for it below.

Balance

So overall I think this patch has earned a thumbs up from me overall. If I had to rate the patch out of 10 I’d probably give it like a 7 or so. In the past I’d say the patches were closer to a 5 area. I think the game is headed in the right direction at a faster pace than I’d expect it to. Make sure as a community to keep leaving comments on socials or videos like this one expressing your thoughts on the patches as well.

Conclusion

I’ll be back next week with a new Friday NASB2 series of causal content so keep your eyes open for that, new YouTube Shorts and Tik Toks, as well as a wide array of Weekly events I have planned as well.