#either because they trust kids. or bc kids are easy targets

[cannotgiveafuck]

Thinking about Billy Batson and horror and the kind of emotional / psychological damage that would be wrought on a child in that genre when he’s smart and savvy and could turn into a Champion of Magic, but is still very much a vulnerable kid. More aware of the world than those his age, but sees things through a lens adults cannot. Privy to things that only show themselves to those most likely to see them.

Anyway, have a little snippet. Might pick it back up again later.

This was the fifth night in a row that Billy was getting by on little to no sleep.

Don’t get him wrong, he could go a day or two if the going gets tough. Sometimes the winters were especially cold, or the summers really hot. Sometimes the storms got so bad that his place had leaked or the wind threatening to knock everything away. And sometimes, not now, of course, but back when it happened, sometimes Uncle Ebenezer had a bad few days that made sleeping in that house neigh impossible.

So, truly, Billy was no stranger to lack of sleep. He could survive, trust him. He could survive just about anything. But five nights was pushing it, even for a fellow like him.

The first night hadn’t even been noticeable. All sorts of noises happened in the apartment he was squatting in. There was the family down the hall with the crying baby, and the couple a few doors down that had shouting arguments, an old man across from him that couldn’t hear very well so his late night television was always turned up, and Madison next door had her new boyfriend over a lot and they were quite loud. So, Billy was used to all sorts of loud noises - but, see, those were normal noises. Just as traffic outside or a car alarm or police siren were all normal.

What wasn’t normal was the silence that shrouded over the apartment the moment his clock hit midnight.

But, Billy didn’t even notice that first night. So tired from the week long mission he was away for with the Justice League, his head hit his pillow the moment he got back and while he wanted to be out like a light, he spent most of the night tossing and turning. And really, he did not notice anything the second or third nights either. Granted a few days leave from hero work, Billy spent that time doing seasonal errands around the neighborhoods and shops. He had to earn money somehow, and not a lot of tasks were out there for eleven year olds to do. Those nights, too, were of fitful bouts, his eyes closed and willing sleep to really pull him under, but true rest just out of reach.

It was that fourth night, when he was laying there, eyes opened and staring at the ceiling with its ages old stain and crack, listening to the normal noises of the apartment complex - that was the night he noticed something was off. When all that sound was just... gone.

Billy didn’t even really notice at first. Eyelids heavy with every blink, but sleep avoiding him, the ringing in his ears that only silence could make. And when he did notice it, his brows furrowed in confusion. Thought that maybe, for once, everyone finally decided night time was for rest. Wondered if everyone else was snuggling up in their beds and under their blankets with the night chill really creeping in fierce, as it does when the heat goes out or couldn’t keep up with the winter winds. And sure, it was May, but man, it really was very cold inside all of a sudden.

He pulled the covers tighter over him, burrowing into them to stave off the shivers suddenly wracking through his small body. Eyes closed, urging sleep to please, please let him rest, Billy heard the wails of a child, or maybe a baby, just down the hall. 

Billy thought, you and me both, kid...

The fifth night, the last one he had before heading back to the Watchtower, Billy couldn’t explain why he was still awake. Staring at the ceiling again, watching the reflected lights of cars go by, listening to the old man’s television play an infomercial - he thought maybe he should do more Marvel work overnight at this rate. At least he’d be doing something useful with his time instead of trying to get sleep that would never happen. At least Marvel never was bogged down by the heavy weight of human limits.

Silence fell over the apartments again.

There was that wailing child again, too.

By the time Billy started to tune into it, really listen to the sobs, he was sitting up from his mattress, gaze on his front door. The cries were right on the other side.

Logically, Billy knew that as a hero, he should be rushing toward that door. He should be pulling it open and checking on the kid who should not be wandering the hallway crying away. He should be seeing what was wrong and try to fix it, save the day as he usually did. It was what Marvel would have done.

However, Billy did not move a muscle. He stayed right there on his bed on the floor, staring at the door he knew was locked several times over. His body refused to do anything that involved getting up and opening the door. His body barely seemed to want to breathe. His mouth shut tight and his lungs taking short, quiet breaths, even as his heart jack hammered in his chest.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong, and not with him. Billy didn’t survive the streets this long by not listening to his instincts.

And right then, as scratching and pounding started up against the door to try to get inside - Billy’s instincts told him not to move. Told him not to let that kid inside because that the thing on the other side wasn’t a kid at all. Not when its cries got loud and lower and more guttural with every shake of the doorknob.

Not when the words that seeped through sent shivers down Billy’s spine. Made him grip the blankets, almost made him call forth the power of Shazam - the shriek of: I’m hungry, let me in, let me in, I’m hungry, hungry, hungry.

[hopefulstarfire]

Have some dnd gang hcs

They are all so fucking supportive of each other's interests and like kinda latch onto those with each other.

The entire gang all support Tomoyas love for Zombyre. They went to the movie premieres with him, sit down with him whenever a new issue releases like a book club, etc.

Miho actually hosts a book club with the gang and tries to find one's she thinks they'd all like but still defaults to fantasy or romance stories. They all also have a whole regency themed little party with tea and shit every time a new season of Bridgerton drops.

Kats whole thing is fashion, baking and Duel Monsters. Those are her life blood. Miho loves getting to do shopping trips with her and they all love playing the card game together.

They will never say no to Kats cookies either. Ever. Those things are crack for them.

They actively play Dungeon Dice Monsters for Duke all the time. Kat loves getting to test the games for her and her brothers company and everyone else really enjoys the mechanics. They are the biggest cheerleaders of the player base for the game and help try to make it even better.

Obviously they all love ttrpgs bc of Ryou and he loves getting to be a GM and see the excitement everyone has for it. He finally had a friend group that consistently wants to play with him and it fills his heart with joy. He also gets to tell them all sorts of spooky occult stories and Tomoya, Duke and even Miho eat it up. Kat not as much bur she will grin and bear it for her bestie.

Bakura is like. Miho and Tomoya did not trust him after the First Incident with him and knowing what hes pulled with Ryou. Understandably so. However, he didn't really target them afterwards, especially not with Kat in the picture. Even Ryou still doesn't fully trust him but he's just happy someone can get him to not cause this poor kid more and more grief all the time. And he's happy to see some improvement in his spirits demeanor. Duke is still adjusting to the Bakura thing and Kat is just trying to make it easy on everybody because she loves this boy. And they don't necessarily become friends with Bakura or maybe in a weird way they do but they can handle being around him if Kat's there. So he gets to join in on the hijinks more frequently.

Movie! Theater! Trips! They love getting to go to see a ton together and get all the snacks.

They also cherish late night drives for fast food or mall trips or getting to just stroll through the park.

Chelsea and Vance open up their house for sleepovers all the time for them and they always have the best time.

Ryou has convinced them to go ghost hunting before and it was hilarious. Duke thought it was all horse shit but had a good time. Kat was genuinely scared and this bitch is dating a literal ghost. It was a great time.

They get to go to KaibaLand for free a lot because Kats got the business connections.

And also Mokuba and River kinda latch onto this group to hang out with, but especially Mokuba.

Miho and Kat were the Matchmakers okay when Ryou and Tomoya expressed interest in their respective partners? They were on it. They had several different game plans at the ready on the fly to make it happen.

Duke is the one in charge of the brain cell in this group.

Ryou is sleepy and just wants food and cuddles and he gets to curl up with his friends in a cuddle pile whenever he wants? It's the best time.

They have all accidentally barged in on Bakura and Kats date nights at least once. Bakura is Salty.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Regarding your questions:

Yeah Lorenzo does call him that when he is agitated, just to piss Ava off, which is never a fun time for anybody, but nobody said the Varia have good coping strategies. All Lorenzo knoes is that if he has steam built up he usually provokes ava so they can argue and he can just let out his frustration. In later years that even goes into sexual directions (all consensual).

Ser is close to aaalmost all his sisters. His father turns out went around "experimenting" and trying to impregnate as many women as possible to find out how flame inheritance works and if it is possible to sucessfully try for a child with either multiple flame types or directly a sky flame. Turns out thats not how that works AT ALL and the women p quickly realized he is a piece of shit, which is why Sergeys mother actually directly sought out the other women to support each other. To what Ser knows there could be siblings he doesnt even know of, bc his mother never found them or they didnt want to be in the support group. The kids were raised almost all together at least the first 5 or so (Oldest to youngest: Maria, Chloe, Jingyi, Sergey, Emilia), but even as more children joined them, Ser seems to be the only guy for a good while until 2 of the kids transition in their teens. The whole household is extremely supportive of everybody even tho the women for the most part still primarily cared and raised their own. So Sergey wasn't completely abandoned when his mother died. It was just the incident that happened to Leo that kind of broke him into apathy. His family tried to help but he wouldnt LET them help. Maria and especially Chloe tried the most to snap him out and where the first he contacted when Asuna died (he could NOT catch a god damn break). So he and Chloe are super close and now that he is an adult he wants to support Maria how she supported all of them as the oldest of the kids. Jingyi moves to China after becoming an adult but she visits for chirstmas and keeps letter correspondence with Sergey, which helps him better his mandarin.

Leo knows the most languages as he knows many spoken languages (he can hear fine after all), but also learned several different sign languages. And yes it HAS been beneficial especially before everyone kinda learned some sign language because of him. For example during a mission where they have to get some goods from a dealer, the dealer is deaf and mute so he comminicates exclusively in portugese sign language and hired an interpreter. HOWEVER, this guy he hired is a fucking scam artist and sells highly overprized (which is why they were sent to investigate in the first place) and it turns out that its not the dealer causing trouble but his interpreter. Which Leo picks up on, since they didnt tell anyone Leo CAN hear and call him out on his bullshit. So Leo just frowns and taps Sergeys shoulder, signing that the guy is lying in german, to which Ser loudly proclaims "You're a fucking liar, aren't you?" and trust me, nobody liked hearing that. Leo signs the guy that he shouldnt expect mute people to be easy targets [you son of a bitch], and Lorenzo gets a bit more THREATENING in his approach.

Ser: you rarely get that angry.

Leo: [I don't like people taking advantage of others that are impaired]

Ser: yeah, I get that.

Lorenzo: in any way we're done here, lets leave. Hey Ser, how do I sign [thank you]?

Ser: pft, Lorenzo we just established that Leo can hear just fine.

Lor: I know, dumbass i wanted to broaden my fucking horizon.

And Sergey shows him the signing for thank you in the german and italian sign language (it has slight differences). Lorenzo signs Leo a thank you in italian and Leo just beams happy and gives a thumbs up.

Additional interesting thing i thought about. Probably half if not almost all of the Vatia members are italian. And italians are known to also use their hands and gestures a lot when speaking, so every time I imagine anyone having a verbal fight its probably a LOT of different handgestures in rapid succession, which is DEFINITELY something to get used to (i also believe Hayato is prone to that especially after he returns to italy bc its just so very ingrained in him, having been raised and lived in italy for many years. Which is also fun if you imagine the fucking same with Biancchi and Shamal)

YAY! More Varia boys! Also, thank you so much for answering my questions! Lorenzo and Ava together amuse me and I support that later ship, and you are right – the Varia most certainly wouldn’t be full of people with great coping strategies. Poor Ser though. His father is a jackass of supreme measures…he reminds me of Endeavor from BNHA so his father automatically pisses me off though Sergey’s mother? Awesome woman there and go her! The communal household seems really interesting as a concept and I’m glad it was such a supportive and kind atmosphere. Really, I’m glad that before all the shit rained down on him, that there was some happiness and I’m glad he’s got those close family members, even though I doubt that even later on he really lets them help him too much. I love Leo knowing that many languages and really showing how useful he is in that situation, which is a really great one.

Oh, I like the hand-talking! I do figure Hayato is a hand-talker, just because I’ve always headcanoned him as someone who’s very expressive in his body language, even when he can’t be verbally. Bianchi gets the hand-talking really bad when she gets angry, in my opinion, haha! Interesting bit of knowledge about my country/province, but French Canadians also are huge hand-talkers and where that’s a large portion of my home province, it’s a learned trait for a lot of even the English speaking people haha!

[capaimagines]

bang chan - safe

Pairing: Mafia leader!Bang Chan x Reader | Genre: mafia, angst & fluff | Warnings: mentions of a break in, fighting, mafia themes | WC: 1.6k

Request: Bang Chan mafia leader where you and Chan are having a night in when he hears someone downstairs and goes to check it out and calling for backup when he hears you scream upstairs bc one of the attackers had you !! Your got7 mafia fic was amazing

Safety and security was the one thing Chan always promised you. He wanted to keep you safe at all costs. You had put all your trust in him that he would keep his word. Being a small town girl you really had no idea about the inner and outer workings of the mafia. For a while there, you truly believed that things like that were all fairy tales and stories parents would tell their kids to warn them off of the idea of gangs and such.

When you met Chan that had quickly faded. Even then he had kept you safe, you were just an innocent passer-by. You had moved to the big city to land a good job and make money for your family. You hadn’t expected to walk—quite literally—into the crossfire of Chan’s group and another group. One of the men from the other group had grabbed you, pressing the head of his gun into your temple.

You were trembling and Chan could sense that, within seconds he had stood up. He may be a mafia leader, but he never harmed someone who was innocent. Especially a girl as cute as you. He had shot the man in the centre of his head without hesitation. Of course he didn’t miss; he never did. You had fallen to your knees in horror, trembling and shaking with nerves and disbelief at what just unfolded in front of you.

Chan, being your knight in shining armor, took you back to their base and helped calm you down after reassuring you that he only wanted to help protect you and that he or his team weren’t going to hurt you. You two started talking more and more and outside of his work, he was just a normal boy also finding his way in the world. It didn’t take long before you two started dating and he had always kept his word. He was to always keep you safe. You never had to look over your shoulder or fear that you’d be snatched when you were on your own.

Tonight though you had asked Chan for a night in. All you wanted to do was eat junk food and watch movies while you cuddled with him. A typically normal boyfriend-girlfriend thing to do. He had happily agreed and you two were sat with a tub of ice cream between you as you intensely focused on the Disney movie playing on the screen. You were so focused you almost missed the sound of glass breaking. Almost.

Of course Chan had heard it. He always seemed to be on high alert 24/7. You couldn’t blame him though.  His career path was more dangerous than most and he couldn’t afford to be caught off guard, but that’s exactly what was happening right now. He had sent everyone home for the night, wanting to just spend time with you.  

“Stay here and have Hyunjin ready on speed dial,” Chan told you.

You nodded, quickly pulling out your phone as Chan seemed to whip a small handgun out of nowhere. That was something that took you some time to get used too. Weapons of any kind just randomly hidden around the large home. Chan slowly opened the bedroom door before looking back over his shoulder at you. 

“Don’t leave this room or open the door for anyone. I’ll come back for you,” You gulped at his words before nodding, feeling the anxiety start to take over you.

Chan quietly closed the door and you quickly stood up to lock it. You hadn’t noticed with your shaking hands that you had pressed Hyunjin’s contact and were currently connected to him. You heard someone saying hello and scrambled for your phone.  

“Hyunjin! Hi! Sorry, we heard glass breaking downstairs and Chan wanted me to—HEY!”

You whipped your head around as someone plucked your phone from your ear. You did not like being interrupted in the middle of a conversation. When you had a knife aimed at your throat though, you couldn’t complain too much. The man was significantly larger than you. You had never seen him before but with the crazed grin on his face, you were happy this was your first meeting, and last.

Being the girlfriend of a mafia leader didn’t leave you completely defenceless. You knew how to defend yourself if you ever had too, you had just hoped you would never have too. You eyed the man in front of you, the glint of the metal blade hitting off the light which caused you to gulp, trying to understand how the hell you were going to knock that out of his hand without getting cut.

“Sorry, pretty girl,” The stranger cooed and you swallowed down bile, “You’re going to have to come with me,” You stood up slowly, never taking your gaze off the blade. 

You briefly met the man’s gaze and clicked your tongue, “I don’t think so. You’re not really my type,” You could visibly see the man startle at your response. He obviously thought you were going to be an easy target.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to die here with your pretty boyfriend.” He remarked that you could only scoff in response as you rolled your eyes.

“That’s not really an option either,” The man looked very confused at the small figure that was talking back to him. He wasn’t here to play games though. His orders were clear. Either he brought you back with him alive or killed you there. He made his move and you quickly ducked down, thankfully Minho had taught you a few little tricks with examining one's movements.

You moved, yet not quick enough that the blade grazed your shoulder. You hissed in pain and turned to narrow your eyes at the man in front of you. He looked shocked, yet again, that you were putting up a fight. He growled, coming towards you again and you didn’t get as lucky. His knife cut into your hand as you grabbed for the blade which resulted in a hiss from you due to the pain, jumping back and that’s when he wrapped his arm around your neck.

“CHAN!” You screamed as loud as you could. You were so pent up on adrenaline you hadn’t heard anything that was going on downstairs. Now, your ears were open and you could hear banging and grunting coming from down there. You had only hoped Hyunjin was smart enough to know he should bring the others.

Thankfully, you’re assumption that Hyunjin was smart because a few seconds after you screamed, the bedroom door was kicked open by none other than Changbin with Chan hot on his heels. You were struggling against the man’s hold in hopes to wiggle out.  

“Let. Her. Go,” Chan looked deadly and Changbin’s glare was no better. You were close with all the boys, but Changbin was probably one you were closest to besides Chan.

“Sorry, pretty boy, I have orders so she’s coming with me,” You felt something press against your neck and you groaned, finally letting your hands fall.  

“I can’t believe this is happening again!” Everyone around you seemed pretty shocked at your words.  Here you were, on the brink of being kidnapped or dead and you were making comments like that?

You heard the click of Chan’s gun being cocked and closed your eyes. You had seen the very quick flash of silver hair outside the window, signalling that it was Felix. You weren’t the one dying today at least. It was going to be the barbarian that still had his hands on you.  

“Last chance,” Chan stated firmly, “Let. Her. Go,” Chan’s voice was dripping with venom and his grip on the handle of the gun was iron tight.

The man only laughed and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes. You inhaled a large breath and drew your elbow, swinging back as hard as you could. It was enough to surprise him and loosen his grip, which helped you to promptly slip away and scurry towards Chan. He saw the blood on your shoulder and the cut on your hand. His eyes darkened as he turned back to the intruder.

However, before he could pull the trigger, Felix graciously crashed through the window and tackled him. His hands were bound behind his back before he could even understand what had happened. You only smirked at the man as Chan ordered for him to be brought back to their base.  

“I told you I wasn’t dying today, pretty boy,” You spat the words out and it seemed to anger the man but there wasn’t much he could do as he laid on the floor and hogtied.

Chan sighed as Changbin and Felix carried him out. He turned to you with a worried smile, immediately inspecting your hand, “I’ll come with you and let Minho patch it up. But I’m fine, Chan. Really. See?” You held his hand to your heart so he could feel it beating, “I’m right here, I’m breathing and I’m alive. Now let’s go! We just got this carpet and now my hand is dripping blood all over it.”

Chan could only chuckle as he gently guided you out the bedroom door and down to the car. Once he made sure you were safely settled in, he backed out and started driving.

“Are you really okay?” He asked after a few minutes of silence. You smiled and nodded at him then puckered your lips together before looking back out the window.

“Felix is going to owe us a new window by the way. That wasn’t cheap.”

[you-have-made-a-fatal-error]

Could you rank the Nancy Drew games from your least favorite to favorite?? I’d love to know!

ok! in the form of a tier list bc otherwise i’m sitting around arguing w myself about whether i should rank game x at 22 or 23 or 24 etc etc- and that’s just a mess tbh

untouchable tier: scarlet hand and shadow ranch - tbh i enjoy scarlet hand just a little bit more BUT. on the whole. these two - all the elements that make up these games work together to create a whole greater than the disparate parts. and also having a ‘super extra god-tier’ would be dumb. so we have two.

real güd games: ghost dogs, deception island, blue moon canyon, castle malloy (fight 🔪🔪🔪 me), shadow at the water’s edge, alibi in ashes - all build a strong atmosphere but each for whatever reason doesn’t make me see god. alibi in ashes maybe a touch lower than the rest but only just.

(you might have noticed that i have crystal skull straddling tiers 2&3 - look i know that i like it but it has been a long long time since i’ve gone back to it - for no reason really except that it’s not currently installed on my pc and installing it would involve.. you know.. waiting until it’s installed? anyway it’s there bc i don’t trust my memory on this)

tier 3 games i enjoy but know are flawed: og secrets can kill (self-explanatory really), treasure in a royal tower (because honestly i’ve played it so many times the atmosphere doesn’t really build for me anymore, it’s too automatic and too easy to race through now i know how it’s progression works), blackmoor manor (i just - this game has a lot of elements that don’t quite come together nicely for me. some of them are just a bit too much i think. it’s not even that i don’t enjoy them - but maybe silly ghost hunt AND serious gaslighting AND witchy alchemical shit AND a snarky parrot are too much for just one game?? i understand WHY there are huge tonal shifts bc don’t wanna get too dark n scary in what it ultimately a kids game - but they can be. a bit much.), kapu cave (which i tbh kind of love, but i’m not gonna argue it’s top-teir quality - aside from quigley i mean), and trail of the twister (lot of fucking annoying characters, little to no snooping - but i kind of enjoy just about all of the tasks)

‘meh’ teir: haunted carousel, secret of the old clock, danger by design, phantom of venice, captive curse. captive curse could honestly be lower, but thing is anja is by far the most memorable bit and she’s also far and away the best bit? danger by design could maybe be higher, and then i remember it went ‘nazi romance’ with it’s historical backstory? but jj and the catacombs and honestly the vendors and weird minette- but nazi romance. also every time i play it i’m forced to contend with the fact that i absolutely owned heather’s brown-with-pink-pinstripe pants in ~2006 which is not something i like to revisit. haunted carousel, secret of the old clock, and phantom of venice are the games this tier was made for. there are good elements, sure. but there are also elements that are jarring and/or annoying as fuck.

if this tier list was a pass/fail course, this would be the line separating pass from fail.

‘nah bro’ tier / the ‘i could probably split this into several tiers’ tier: stay tuned for danger, message in a haunted mansion, the final scene - all feel weird to me, they don’t really jibe with the rest of the series. they very much yell “we’re still figuring this shit out”. which is fine and neccessary - but not what i’m looking for most of the time. at the time they were made stay tuned for danger and haunted mansion would pass, but we’re not there anymore. icicle creek is, well. honestly it’s ‘meh’ in it’s truest form, even though i called the last teir meh. the characters all kind of suck, tino the douche shows up again, you have to cook at specific times and that’s a bitch and a half. and there’s no big, stand out element that might bump it up a tier. i don’t actually hate fox and geese though. waverly academy is ass honestly, and if i had added a tier below this waverly would be in it. it’s not quite the worst, but ohmygod it seems to hate teen girls - who are also the target audience for the game, which makes it even worse tbh. and all the puzzles are shit. tomb of the lost queen just kinda sucks. i like it marginally better than waverly, and I do enjoy the hierogylph-decoding puzzles even though they’re absolute NONSENSE bc that type of puzzle appeals to me, but the characters are bad hotchkiss is bad the new interface is bad and i can’t use any of the 800 million oil lamps when nancy needs a light. bad. thornton hall and sea of darkness would be in the waverly tier below this one if i had added that extra tier. thornton hall has atmosphere but absolutely fucking nothing else and the writers straight up did not do their jobs, nothing makes any sense at all. the definition of fake deep tbh. but... atmosphere is enough to save it from the ‘utter shit’ tier below. sea of darkness has nothing going for it and then it had the gall to add chrismas bullshit as though it wasn’t a game released in MAY also I oppose the holidays in general, BUT at least they got a new fucking writer. still not great though.

THROW IT IN THE TRASH tier: secrets can kill: remastered - obvious trash. ransom of the seven ships - no suspects, terrible game mechanics, shittier version of loulou who was honestly already skating on thin ice with me - trash. deadly device - deirdre is shitty, the new interface is still bad, i can BARELY interact with the environment, the characters are nonsense, nothing is appealing, everyone has weird stick-thin gumby arms - TRASH. silent spy - TRASH and also NONSENSE, get your spy/international intruigue/terrorism out of my nancy drew game. alibi in ashes is prime nancy is personally involved in a case material, and spy is the fucking anti-ash. TRASH. labyrinth of lies - TRASH and NONSENSE and peak fake-deep nic-era dialogue - hopelessly up its own ass and doesn’t realise it actually has nothing to say. TRASH. shattered medallion - awful fucking nonsense, somehow nancy cares even less about her friends than she did in ransom, nothing means anything and no one has any clue how tv shows work. also, and i feel like this isn’t stressed enough, turns fuckin nancy into the type of person who would appear on a reality tv show. and why is bess even there? why would she be literally anywhere near this tv show production? it’s bad, it’s nonsensical, and it’s TRASH! throw all of these in the garbage, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

...and i left midnight in salem and the two dossiers out of the ranking bc i haven’t played them. (haven’t actually played secrets can kill 2 either but lbr i don’t need to in order to know it has no redeeming qualities)

erm. ta-daa?

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 21 - The PTSD is strong with this one & we need more braincells

Hello hello! Welcome to the commentary. How’s everyone? I’m frozen solid because it’s mid-June in Spain and yet we had 11°C yesterday. Fucking awesome!

I AM NOT WEARING MASCARA SO I CAN CRY ALL I WANT. I DONT KNOW IF THATS GOOD OR BAD THO.

Can I just take a second to appreciate how much this big strong powerful men emote? I mean, I know this isn’t western media where the tough guy can’t show emotions, and I don’t know that eastern media has the same hangups about men emoting but just... it’s so refreshing.

Huaisang bb you’re so sweet.

Oh, oh the PTSD is strong with this one.

Also, bless both JC and NHS, they absolutely noticed WWX flinch and, in their own ways, went and steamrolled over it so WWX wouldn’t feel scrutinised.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO INFORM YALL THAT I GOT A KITTEN ON MY LAP. (She’s kneading my boob, which, ow, but...)

*BICHEN GRIIIIIIIP*

How do y’all think the guards go deliver bad news to WRH? Like do they paper-rock-scissor it? Draw straws?

NMJ did you have to?

And once again I wonder what would’ve happened if JFM had let sect leader Yao kick it.

Ughvhfnevus it’s this clown. Same as with Su She, if you see a bunch of screaming it’s just me not wanting to listen to Jin ZiXun.

The Nies: let’s throw a banquet to honour WWX’s return

Every asshole there: *gossips about WWX while in the room with him*

Once again I wish I could transmigrate (and speak mandarin lol) and just start delivering tongue lashings.

Listen, I have no idea how to play Guqin, but I did play the guitar for years and even from here I can see how much YiBo’s hands don’t match the melody. Nothing against him but why does this always happen? I know they got classes, so was the music not written by that time or something? Because one thing is not hitting the correct notes, another is plucking slow notes when the tempo is much faster.

JC: Since yours and LWJ’s unhappy separation...

My dumbass: do you mean breakup? *eyebrow waggle*

You will pry my “JC knows his brother is pinning after LWJ, he probably doesn’t want to know anything else” hc out of my cold dead hands thankyouverymuch.

WWX: *spouts a bunch of misdirection to avoid giving JC a straight answer*

JC: Bull-fucking-shit.

Should I count how many times WWX PTSDs all over the place or would you like me to leave your hearts intact? That’s two so far.

Ok ok, I feel that, if someone with a bit less trauma and a bit of insight (NHS maybe?) had seen the bit where ChenQing fucking hurts Shijie thing would’ve gone differently. I mean, yes, LWJ keeps warning WWX that this shit is gonna fuck him up, but as I said in my previous commentary LWJ also has the communication skills of a hermit crab so that wouldn’t work, and JC would be too wound up and WWX too busy trying to conceal his lack of golden core for that conversation to go anywhere. But if someone who WWX knows is a good egg (I’m not gonna say trusts bc paranoia) had sat him down and told him “your new instrument that you use for your new form of cultivation just hurt the person you love most please be careful when you use it.” I think it would’ve worked wonders towards his health overall.

I know Shijie says it’s like Zidian, but she’s not working with the fact that this thing is made for and by the Dark Side of the Force and I’m sorry but I can’t help but see ChenQing as a bit of a horrocrux almost. Or like, if you like me think the Burial Mounds is an Entity, something that’s a bit more sentient that it lets on.

Speaking of reputations and NHS being a good egg, I have oh-so-many ideas (I won’t say plot bunnies because I can’t write for shit) in which NHS for Reasons (time-travel? Letter from the future? His massive brain?) realises just how much damage WWX is doing to his public image. And he might be a sheltered dandy, but he saw what being the son of a sex worker did to Meng Yao despite how hard he worked (I’m assuming he doesn’t know about the whole betrayal business). This is way fucking worse, like hell is he going to let one of his best friends paint a target on his back. So he pulls back his sleeves, engages his slytherin brain and proceeds to lay down a plan to throughly destroy WWX’s reputation as a powerful genius.

I’m guessing LWJ and JC protest, and maybe WWX, and NHS just hits them with “do you want him respected or alive?” And they shut tf up. He glues himself to WWX, and brings up as many instances in which their behaviour can be compared as he can (we got drunk and punished at cloud recesses, we slept in class, we skipped to go fishing, I don’t carry my sword either). And, because assholes be assholes, people like Sect Leader Yao or Clown Cousin are quick to start spouting their own derogatory bullshit and thus WWX the untamed powerful prodigy dies a fiery death. Now he’s just a mouthy kid with a quick mind that “does tricks instead of battle” (I’ll never get bored of using that Thor quote). I also like to think that people who personally know WWX and are not pieces of shit go give NHS a tongue lashing for messing with what they thought was his friend, NHS takes that as a test of good eggness and bring them into the plan. Soon the whole Cloud Recesses class is swearing up, down, left, right and centre that all the shit WWX has ever successfully pulled is just an insane amount of luck and quick thinking.

I don’t know how would they work him into the battlefield (disguise? Mask?) to unleash his demonic cultivation but that’s Plot and I don’t do that.

Also, because I’m a terrible human being I want to say that people assume LWJ is on “pretty but useless” WWX like white on rice because *insert derogatory comment about being good in bed and sexual favours*. Because y’all know the assholes here are Like That. And WWX is horrified because holy fucking shit he’s gonna drag LWJ’s reputation down, he can’t have people thinking HGJ is ok with having him as a concubine pretty much. But before he can act LWJ politely all but confirms that yeah, he’s tapping that, y’all wish you were but he doesn’t share and none of y’all are good enough for his Wei Ying anyway. CUE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE I AM INDEED TRASH FOR THAT TROPE.

Muahahahaha y’all thought I was gonna devolve into my personal hcs and not include my fave trope? Shouldn’t y’all know me better by now?

(Btw I like this bit ^ so I might polish it a little and post it separately as well, just a warning if you find yourself reading an eerily similar post by me)

WuJi is playing and LWJ is pining so much. Also, if LWJ did not just realise that, just like Yu the Great, WWX had no other option but tame resentful energy I’ll eat my blanket.

I refuse to believe Jiang Yanli didn’t become the unofficial war camp therapist/sounding board/only sane person/everyone’s mum/I just need a hug and a corner to cry in peace. There are not enough fics about Shijie being her gentle BAMF self while in the camp and it’s a pity. My crops are dying y’all!

Also, I will fight anyone who scoffs at Shijie being the epitome of the “gentle woman who cooks and waits for the men to come back from war”. Look at her mum, do you think it is easy for a kid (she was a kid in the flashback when WWX ran away) to see that day in and day out, to have that as a “role model” and decide that she was not going to be like her mum? That she didn’t like what she saw in her so she was going to be kind and gentle? And do you think it is easy for a person barely in their twenties to deal with years of verbal and psychological abuse for again, being gentle and kind, and not grow a hard shell of bitterness to protect themselves? And to keep being gentle and kind while at war, with your parents dead and your siblings unraveling before your very eyes? Shijie is so fucking strong and I love her.

Hey look, the White Walkers!

“Resentful energy is just energy” ok, valid. But my dude, you’ve got black ghost smoke coming out of you and can hear people screaming in your head. I’m not saying it is evil, like someone’s uptight set in his ways arrogant uncle; but it sure as shit ain’t healthy.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (that’s a Clown Cousin scream btw)

Ok ok, just one little thing: IF SOMEONE ELSE CALLS WWX WEI YING AS A SHOW OF DISRESPECT IMMA SCALP THEM.

...are those crows eating that man alive? Yikes on bikes.

(Assume my comment about YiBo’s Guqin playing also goes for Xiao Zhan and his flute. I can’t play the flute but the tempo doesn’t match his fingers)

I’m just gonna say it, I think 3zun (well, 2zun as of now) suspect shit went down badly for WWX, that’s two questions by both of them in a very soft conciliatory tone. They are genuinely interested/worried about the topic, and don’t seem to come off as chiding or judgemental. I mean WWX is a weirdo irreverent kid and they’re sect leaders, they outrank him so much it’s ridiculous. I’m also counting the fact that both their baby brothers like him towards them being so kind. But I also think WWX just triggers all their big brother instincts the second he walks in.

Oh there’s a thought, Shijie, Wen Qing, NMJ and LXC take a look at everyone’s shitty parents and just decide to adopt everyone.

What happened at Yiling was a traumatised teenager (is WWX even 20?) PTSDing all over the place with the Dark Side of the Force whispering in his ear and an all powerful trinket at his disposal. Not saying I approve of all the torture and murder but he clearly isn’t revelling in them.

That is some outstanding bit of big-brothering on LXC’s side and I love it. Also, my dumbass just realised LWJ probably wasn’t quoting WWX when he was being punished (what is white what is black?) I think he was quoting his big brother. Which is magnitudes deep too, but in a different direction and I might love that scene even more.

Ok fuck it, I’m gonna tangent. So I had a terrible boyfriend when I was 15-18. He alienated me from my friends, sunk my self-esteem to the molten core of the earth, tried to convince me my parents were abusive and encouraged (aka threatened manipulated and cajoled) the slow tanking of my high school marks. I have A Problem when I see media where someone latches onto their significant other and everything they are shifts towards that person. Now, love, true genuine love, is powerful, and I believe it can be the catalyst for shifting your world-view for the better. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem with people sticking with their romantic partner if it is clear their previous “family” is so much shit. I don’t have a problem with LWJ coming out of his shell and defying corrupt precepts because his love for WWX made them see they were wrong, or getting sassy and unrepentant during his punishment (I have a problem with the punishment bc that’s abuse but...). But I do side-eye WangXian being the only thing in their orbit. People need people, and WangXian have other good people around them. So I kind of love that yes, WWX showed him the system was corrupt, but it is the words of his brother he is sticking by to the defy said system.

Let’s go back to our scheduled slew of held pinning glances shall we?

LXC after That awkward run-in: WangJi I wasn’t gone that long, what the fuck did you two oblivious pining idiots do?

(LXC has “bitching” tea sessions with Shijie and you can’t convince me otherwise)

LWJ: *is being dramatic and not knocking on WWX’s door*

Me: oh my god you fucking idiot

Shijie: *walks in*

Me: oh thank god someone with a braincell.

Ah yes, there we go triggering WWX’s paranoia again. Why would he get a break.

OH MY GOD YOU PAIR OF FUCKING IDIOTS. THATS IT, FUCK THIS SHIT IM OUT.

@ LWJ: bitch wtf was that? I know you’re shit at talking but have you thought about writing it down? Letters anyone? It worked for mr. Darcy.

(Yes LWJ is mr darcy and now I want an au where LWJ writes WWX letters and just pours everything in them, WWX finds them, any everything is sunshine and rainbows)

While this bullshit fight/misunderstanding is all on LWJ’s shoulders, I’m also going to scream at WWX. Because yes, he is in PTSD hell, but he trusted LWJ before, and yet he can’t get past his perceived notion of LWJ’s character (and his own inadequacies) to trust him again and ask for help. Plus, you know, he thinks he doesn’t deserve he’ll bc *waves hand at WWX’s trauma conga line*

These episodes can’t be good for my BP.

Thanks for reading!

[inkvvells]

⧼ toby regbo, cis male, he/him/his / quarter-life crisis by judah and the lion + desks piled high with books and materials, always crowded but never messy; guilt and shame that eat away at him with every mention of family moments and memories he chose to not be part of; three cups of black coffee to make it through the day, four if there’s too much that needs done (there’s always too much that needs done). ⧽ ━━ hey, isn’t that PERCY WEASLEY? i read a daily prophet article on them, once ; the TWENTY-NINE year old pure blood WIZARD is a GRYFFINDOR alumnus who has gone on to be a MINISTRY EMPLOYEE. i’ve heard they can be quite DRIVEN & METICULOUS, but i don’t know… they came off very OSTENTATIOUS & NEUROTIC in that interview. it really is hard to know what to believe these days though, isn’t it? — [pinterest]

who ordered a pretentious, family-abandoning guilty nerd? no one?? guess this one is on the house then. i’m???? super inspired in writing this bio and its more of a character analysis than anything else bc he’s an established enough canon that we don’t know much about personally so i went ham but i’m not about to ask y’all to read the mess i’ll inevitablty type up for him, so here are a few brief bullet points for now bc i want this up:

learned that the best way to get praise was to do everything he was told, be as respected as bill and charlie, and look after the younger kids. he took these lessons and ran with them into overdrive because percy only knows two modes: zero or one-hundred. hence how he turned out to be a killjoy

stupidly smart and stupidly ambitious. the sorting hat considered putting him in slytherin and he debated with it until the hat got annoyed with him and gave him gryffindor instead. you can pry that hc out of my cold, dead hands

so much of him is based in guilty: for the fight he had with arthur, for putting up so much distance between him and his family for years, and for not coming back to them until the very last minute. there’s also an immense level of guilt thinking he had a part in fred’s death, because he was there when his brother was killed and he wonders if he hadn’t caused a distraction, if fred might still be alive. he’s never spoken about any of his guilt because he’s about as good at communicating as he is at having any chill (aka, not at all)

after the war (and all of the grief and pain and healing that followed), percy made his primary focus on rebuilding his relationship with his family. it’s not been easy, but if the war taught him anything, it’s that he will not lose even more time

currently employed at the ministry (duh) in the department of magical transportation because jkr said that somewhere, i’m just too tired to cite the source

i’ll make a stats page and link it later along with the rest of the finished bio, thank u and good night

BIO — under co.

Born the third son to Molly and Arthur Weasley, one of the very first lessons Percy learned was that it was easy to get lost in the crowd. In a family that finally tapered off at seven children, there was always someone crying, laughing, or making some sort of racket (sometimes all three at once). It was such a loud environment, and it was clear early on that Percy didn’t like loud. He liked things to be quiet and structured, because that made sense to him.

While all of his brothers were causing chaos, Percy was more likely to be found trailing after their mother. It was the only time when he felt like he got one-on-one time — he’s never been all that great at sharing, you see, even within his family. Even better than the time, he quickly realized that it was the best way to get recognition in a family as big as his. Rather than trying to make the biggest display for reinforcement, Percy learned to set himself apart by doing exactly what he was told. When his older brothers were away at school, and the younger kids were causing Molly to want to tear her hair, there was an overarching, sometimes unspoken (often times not) question of, why can’t you lot be like Percy? Responsible Percy, who completed all of his lessons as soon as possible and made sure to not track mud into the house and make a mess. It didn’t matter that it made him less likable to his siblings. It didn’t matter that that lack of likability sometimes felt like a lack of love, either (not that he would say that out loud). Their family was under enough stress, with seven kids and strained finances. He wouldn’t be the one to add any more stress.

Over time, it became less about being the responsible one for the sake of being good, and more so just... because that’s who Percy was. He could be overbearing to a fault, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that he sucked at communication. Whenever he scolded the younger kids for even the most minute thing, it didn’t come from a place of anger. In Percy’s mind, rules were established to keep you safe, and if his siblings broke any of the his mother’s rules, it meant they were making themselves unsafe. He may have been garbage at showing it, but Percy always has and always will love his family. The thought of something happening to them, especially something he could prevent, was not okay in his book. They needed to listen in order to be safe, and if that meant he had to act like an overbearing mother to guarantee that, then so be it.

While he was his mother’s shadow growing up, there was also a deep respect for his father. That respect greatly shifted as Percy grew up and learned their family’s status in the wizarding world, but as a little kid? He wanted so much to be like Arthur. That’s why his desire to enter the Ministry has existed as long as he can remember. Thus began a serous case of tunnel vision further fueled by Percy’s own ambition. Once he set his mind to something, good luck getting him to change it. And Percy’s mind was set on the best.

One thing Percy has kept to himself for years is something said to him during the sorting ceremony his first day at Hogwarts. Slytherin would suit you. Percy determined that that stupid hat must be broken, and mentally argued with it for a solid minute before it put him in Gryffindor — like his parents, like Bill, and like Charlie. His only real care? That he couldn’t stand to feel more disliked in his family than he already did.

His school years were everything that he needed them to be. By the time he started, he already had everything planned out. Get top marks? Done (friendly reminder that Percy got twelve O.W.L.’s, how tf). Become prefect? Done. Become Head Boy? Check, check, and check. Of course, it was far more than just a bit stressful when the twins started school and his lecturing towards them went into overdrive. Then Ron, who’s life seemed to be put in danger every five seconds after befriending Harry Potter. And then the entire debacle that was Ginny’s first year. Needless to say, Percy got his first grey hair at aged sixteen. But he managed to deal with (read: ignore) all of his stress and worry, and left Hogwarts with Os on all of his N.E.W.T.s and a job offer at the Ministry. Everything was going to according to plan.

Everything did not go as planned. His first year at the Ministry was an absolute disaster, to put it lightly. His boss never learned his name, which was humiliating enough. But Percy knew that what he wanted involved playing along in order to work your way up, so that’s exactly what he did. And it worked! Even when most of his correspondence with Crouch was done through letters, it felt like something. Being asked to carry out Crouch’s role in the Triwizard Tournament felt like a reward. Nevermind that he was 18 at the time and that job should have been done by somebody much more established than him. So when word got out that someone had been Imperio’d for ages by someone, Percy was an easy target to blame for not noticing. He could have bit back that had barely known Crouch beforehand, why was it being put on him? He didn’t fight back though. That wouldn’t do him any good. He took it all in stride, bit his tongue, and did what he’d always done: exactly as he was told.

We don’t discuss the fight and his subsequent abandoning of his family.

Percy doesn’t like to think about the almost three years that followed. Why would he? The first few weeks were spent seething with anger, towards his father and towards himself. After the anger cooled, it was replaced with overwhelming guilt. Not for the doubt that he’d had in his parents’ side, oh no. He was still very adamant that they were delusional for trusting the word of a teenage boy and an old (though arguably respectable) man over the governing forces, those same forces that he’d been in awe of since he was a kid. No, Percy’s guilt lay in the accusations he’d shouted, and the blame he’d placed on his father for their family’s financial state.

listen i’ll elaborate on his time during and after the war later, it’s like 2am and i’ve been fighting with my laptop for hours and this is already sO MUCH THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR, PERCY IS JUST MY CHILD

[lovelylogans]

*cracks knuckles* it’s time for me to go galaxy brain on main.

i present: an overanalysis of virgil’s deposition (specifically, deceit weaseling badgering the witness)

so, virgil is very clearly reluctant to take the stand:

to which deceit responds “very well. you don’t usually have anything helpful to add anyway.”

to me, this reminded me of the past lines (i forget which eps and i’ll edit this post when i find it) in which numerous sides speak about virgil being unhelpful, pre-accepting anxiety arc: “virgil always seems to get you down,” “we’re talkin’ toons, dr. gloom!” in “becoming a cartoon” in which the other sides actively ostracized virgil bc he was unhelpful, or brought the group down.

let’s take a look at accepting anxiety part two (which is only 13 minutes long and we thought it was a MARATHON, weren’t we cute back then?) when virgil rises up, he says “i’ve decided to duck out... i removed myself from the equation. i quit. decided it wasn’t worth it. it didn’t seem like i was wanted. you all made that pretty clear anytime i showed up.”

later in that ep, 

 this clearly rankles virgil, so he takes the stand: agitated, on edge, keyed up—precisely as deceit wants him. 

“okay! ask me your questions.”

look at his posture, the tone of his voice—he’s hunched forward, arms crossed, bangs in his face. he’s on defense (from the defendant i’m so sorry i’ll go) and he’s irritated. deceit then asks him the clarifying question:

“you are in control of thomas’ fears, are you not?” honestly, it’s a fair question. he poses a similar question to logan earlier (logic as an oversimplification) though he does eventually highlight logan’s other roles (for instance, his punctuality.) 

however, look at that phrasing. you are in control of thomas’ fears. not you are thomas’ fear response. not you represent thomas’ fear. you are in control of those fears. 

back to accepting anxiety part two! “i’ve always aimed to protect you!” 

to quote logan: “look, anxiety, you’re a natural fight-or-flight reflex. that’s what you’re instilled in humans to act as.” 

to quote virgil himself an ep ago: “me being able to elicit fear doesn’t mean i haven’t grown.”

virgil’s been established, yes, as anxiety. however, it’s anxiety that he doesn’t want to overpower thomas with. in accepting anxiety two, as thomas says, he wants to work with anxiety to overcome those fears, rather than without him. virgil can elicit fear, true, but that doesn’t mean he intends for it to be so aggressively overwhelming—or, at least, that’s been my interpretation of canon, and if i’m missing something please feel free to let me know.

back to the most recent ep!

“oh my go-we all know each other! who are these clarifications for?? CUT TO THE CHASE!” again, i think this might be needling at virgil’s past. as fear/anxiety—someone not to include, someone to excise, someone to, well, fear. keep away from.

but look at how agitated he is. he’s so clearly on guard here, he’s so clearly defensive, he’s lashing out and shouting. after two questions. and admittedly one pointed comment. virgil does not want him here, he does not want to be in this situation, he wants out. cut to the chase indeed.

“is it true that you once said that ‘weddings are outdated, overly expensive pagentry?’”

i just really liked that imitation. i do also think, though, that this imitation tells us something about the past deceit and virgil relationship (friends, enemies, whatever it was.) personally, i can only get better at interpreting people the more time i spend around them. for example, a professor i have 3 days a week this semester? i can do a passable “oh, my” impression of her voice. but my roommate, who i have known since i was about 13? she and i have literally started saying “hell yeah!” in the exact same tone of voice, at the exact same time. i can do a much better impersonation of her. and granted deceit and virgil have the same face and similar voices, but look at deceit’s impersonation of patton (pretty spot-on) and logan (less passable) and then look at his impersonation of virgil. that’s on-the-nose. that’s practically perfect.

that’s an impersonation you get after a lot of time, study, and practice.

“yeah, well, i also once swore to thomas that the drink he left alone in the other room for ten seconds was definitely poisoned and if he drank it, he would die. i’m not exactly a beacon of truth.”

first, it’s just nice to know that i’m not the only one who panics about drinks getting poisoned. second, that line i bolded. that’s a turning point. that is a target. that is what deceit will narrow his focus in on.

“so you’ve changed your mind then?” see? narrowed in. focused. virgil knows it, too. look at his posture: he’s drawn his shoulders back, though he still has his arms in front of him. 

“next question.” however, i do think that there could also be an undercurrent of history there, which i won’t speculate about; i’m gonna just assume that it doubles back to the dilemma of this episode, ie, the wedding vs the callback.

deceit chuckles, there, and let me just say thomas that is a VERY good evil chortle, 10/10. anyway, “very well. as thomas’ anxiety, do you have any relevant information about his norepinephrine levels in regards to these two conflicting commitments?”

SCIENCE BREAK! note that i’m a journalism/english major and i nearly flunked out of chemistry in high school, so i’m mostly relying on google here. anyway, deceit specifically mentions norepinepherine, which directly stimulates adrenergic receptors. however, in my own research (again, not super known to be trusted here) i’ve found that anxiety is epinephrine. minor differences, sure, mostly centered on the effects that they have (norepinepherine, for instance, causes your blood vessels to narrow which increases blood pressure level, which epinepherine doesn’t do.) epinephrine, however, is the primary aspect of “flight-or-flight” response, aka virgil’s specialty. norepinephrine results in the formation of epinephrine: so essentially, deceit is asking if there’s an increase in norepinepherine, which would result in an increase in epinephrine: basically, is there gonna be a bad/anxious time happening any time soon.

science break over! virgil does not have the patience for it that i just spent researching and you just spent reading, though:

“i think it’s ridiculous that anyone is entertaining any of this. guys, he’s a liar! you literally know him as deceit!”

it’s true, we do know him as deceit. we also knew virgil as anxiety, which is where a popular strain of theory has popped up: ie, virgil being known as anxiety, and the name ‘virgil’ being a sort of lie. i’m not sure how much i agree with it, though i do think it’s a viable fan theory.

“glass houses, virgil. you yourself said that you are not a beacon of truth.” 

his tone—especially when he chides virgil about glass houses with the finger wag and the little tsk—is mocking. he’s taunting virgil. as in beware calling me a liar—we both know that you aren’t as honest as you seem.

“yeah, because i’m wrong a lot.” virgil’s still on the defensive.

“oh, so you’ve never been reluctant to share anything with the group then?”

this. this is the line that makes me think that it’s not quite centered on the name, coupled with deceit’s next line. if any of you have siblings—you know how you taunt them with something, or tease them, and they say “DON’T” or “STOP” or you get that response that you were looking for, because little kids are jerks, and you just say “whaat, i just meant insert thing here...” it’s vaguely like the “i’m not touching you!” defense. this scene gives me very similar vibes. deceit is definitely taunting virgil over something that he didn’t share—whether it’s with the named sides we’ve got, or if it’s with the unseen friends of deceit. 

let’s throw it back an ep, shall we? to that endscreen. “you are hilarious virgil, you always have been...” and “just be sure to keep up that personal growth, virgil. maybe soon, you could be rid of us all.”

definite history. definitely a pattern of needling virgil over their mutual past.

“don’t.”

“what?! i just meant your name...”

look at him. he’s delighted he’s gotten the reaction he wanted. he’s delighted that thomas is now glancing back and forth between them, curious about that history. and again, see, look, the petulant little “whaaat? i just meant...” and hey, look, another moment of deceit needling something of virgil’s past with the sides: they kept trying to figure out his name, saying his name was a big thing for him, and now deceit is bringing that up, too.

“DON’T!”

he’s an ANGERY boi! he does not want deceit prying, he does not want him bringing this up in front of the others, especially thomas, and he does not want to revisit the past.

“maybe that’s why it’s so easy for you to recognize me for what i am. like i said before, it takes a liar to know a liar.”

this is the point where patton breaks in, and this little scene is ferreted away for fanders to overanalyze until they’re dizzy (guilty!) but hey, that parting line, huh?

it takes a liar to know a liar.

so i think the main question is: what’s virgil lying about? is it his past as a “dark” side (which i think is pretty widely accepted fanon, and very heavily hinted in canon) or is it about a potential betrayal he did to the dark sides, or is it something that the “light” sides (and therefore the audience) don’t know about virgil yet? something that could really affect their trust of him?

either way, this scene was a little over a minute, and yet it provided this much for analysis, so. even if i’m wrong about most of it, i am not wrong about the fact that the deceit and virgil conflict is gonna be intense, everybody.

[cometcrystal]

super kids pair dynamics

note that when i say “pair” i dont mean Ship Pairing its just every possible duo in this group, minus jack jack, because everyone other than vi and dash’s dynamic w him is “you are baby”

just so this has some semblance of organization, it’s gonna go in alphabetical order. so chance > dash > gigi > rose > tony > victor > violet. i’d do minny but i think i’ll leave that to ramon and em to decide since she’s their character and they’d know her better than i do!

chance & dash - obvious but theyre Boyfriends once theyre older. at present in canon they just have baby crushes on each other but neither has realized it yet. they share a brain cell, and i mean that in both the Dumbass way and in the “their minds are so in sync its crazy” way. they name their children by mashing their own names together. that’s their wavelength

chance & gigi - they get along pretty well i think. gigi uses some of his morphs as inspiration for new gadgets, like lizard-esque wall climbing gloves & shoes. he likes to sit and watch her work sometimes 

chance & rose - barely know each other. their super suits are both green i guess

chance & tony - while chance is chaos enough for dash, he’s also got a more reserved side, and it comes out when he talks with his in-law-in-law tony. they are both dating a parr and that says enough. they probably watch the same tv shows

chance & victor - doesn’t really like the guy. he eventually slightly warms up to him but he’s the one victor targeted in the first place, so he’s always gonna be on the defense around him. for a while, anyway. victor proves himself eventually and the two are never exactly close, but chance knows victor’s upbringing was Bad

chance & violet - they have kind of a sarcastic relationship. he is able to safely snark to her without getting called a wiseass. when he’s in-morph she’ll tease him by being like “prove you’re chance do a trick”. best siblings-in-law ever

dash & gigi - they get on each other’s nerves just a little bit but not too bad. he’s always willing to be the guinea pig for when she needs to test smth and she both respects and fears his gusto. she teaches him some judo moves upon request

dash & rose - they don’t know each other very well either. i dont think rose and the younger kids are very close at all

dash & tony - dash instantly thinks tony is the coolest person in the world the moment tony calls him “buddy” and he will butt in during his sister’s dates to be like “hey tony hows your day been”. tony thinks dash is a funny kid and humors him but also tries to end the convo quickly so he and vi wont try and kill each other. once dash finds out tony’s an empath hes constantly like “hey what number am i thinking of”

dash & victor - is one of the first people, along with gigi, to be on the side of “let’s give victor a chance”, surprisingly. he hasn’t forgotten what he pulled on chance but he’s also like “his dad was killed by syndrome. that can’t be easy” and kinda sorta feels a connection to how victor lashed out. victor doesn’t take dash seriously at first but seeing dash in battle one (1) time turned him around bc dangit the kid’s clever

dash & violet - chaos siblings supreme. ive already talked at length before about how much these two love each other and how they’d die for each other in an instant so i won’t get too deep into it, but they know each other better than anyone else does. they share the same trauma and they work together in hero work near-seamlessly, despite how much they bicker in their everyday life

gigi & rose - softd for each other. rose needs someone who’s super understanding (lol) about the super thing, since she’s so skittish and defensive about it, and gigi’s had a toe in the super world her whole life bc of lucius. they have nice quiet convos while doing diff stuff in the same room and also theyre girlfriends. the only time the phrase “soft uwu wlw” is allowed

gigi & tony - “the only people violet parr is soft for” squad unite. they have a two-person book club where they #stan jane eyre and they also share turtlenecks bc theyre the same size. they try and pair up as partners in science class whenever possible

gigi & victor - supported victor’s second chance early on, partly because she had almost no hand in what he did other than being kidnapped. she’s sympathetic to him mostly on a hunch. she might invite him to her and tony’s book club later and introduce him to gothic literature. he thinks she’s suspiciously nice to him and is slightly defensive around her at first

gigi & violet - the definition of wlw solidarity. ride or fucking die. see the adventures of violet and dash book 2 for the love jewelry they made for each other. when vi’s not fighting crime with her usual partner dash, she almost always teams up w gigi

rose & tony - they have drama class together and have a light-hearted friendship. one day during an improv exercise in class one of them messed a sentence up and started laughing and the other joined and the teacher had to intervene bc they couldnt stop giggling. when she gets anxious and tony senses it he puts a hand on her shoulder and she appreciates it

rose & victor - these two have an unlikely bond because of their weird and stressful family situations. in general, she opens up a little bit before he does, and sorta relates to his closed-off-ness. so it’s either her or gigi that usually offers him an extra cookie or w/e at first

rose & violet - had a crush on her when they first met bc shes a fuckin lesbian. violet was immediately rose’s wingwoman when she met gigi tho. they probably have philosophical debates when they hang out, which is usually taking a walk through the park or going to the zoo

tony & victor - tony’s actually ends up being victor’s closest friend. since he’s an empath he can tell that victor’s being sincere when he eventually says he’s sorry to the others, and besides rose, tony’s the one that’s the furthest removed from what happens in the books. so he’s kind to victor, and victor’s not as defensive around him cause he figures his kid’s a wimp and couldn’t lie about trying to get me arrested if he tried. but yeah this is probably the person victor gets along best with

tony & violet - this is another dynamic i’ve talked about at length before but the TLDR is that he’s constantly amazed by her even before he finds out she’s a super, and him being the most “normal” one out of all the kids is comforting to violet. i hesitate to be like “she likes feeling normal” but she does like feeling grounded and loved by someone she can just relax and take a break from Super Stuff with. they’re each other’s superheroes

violet & victor - she’s the most Sus of him when he comes back, and he’s not exactly keen on her either. she only agrees to give him a second chance because of what tony says in his favor. but after working with each other for a long time, they both respect and trust each other. like when theyre adults, if you asked either of them about the other, theyd be like “i’d defend them in battle, and i know they’d do the same for me”

[ts-2020-olympics]

EPISODE 5 - “https://streamable.com/2bc03” - Beck

So, I have a very good idea as to what happened. Karen thought they were the one to go with their score, and successfully convinced everyone else to get rid of me. Either to get the gold or to get rid of me, I'm not sure. But I'm on to them. Make no mistake.

Well, to recap past round, Ben ended up winning the gold medal and returning to the game, which I really appreciate, so he'll be immune next tribal he attends, which am sure he is happy with.   That led to Nik W being the next person eliminated.   Then, as well at the arena, Stoner won the silver medal for his tribe, I won the Bronze medal for my tribe, then Pete won nothing.   Today's immunity challenge was a maze, went into the maze thinking I should get a decent time, as I did mazes a bit as a kid, but then my dumb self didn't save the maze properly so had to redo it, then my internet decided to act up so had to refigure out lightshot which cost me more time.  So I ended up with a really rough score, thankfully the 40% bonus will help a little, but I just feel bad and embarrassed by the time I got, and feel like if my tribe loses, it's going to be because of me.   I can't even be too active tomorrow to discuss vote with people if my tribe loses as I am going back home tomorrow, which just makes matters even worse.   So, at the moment, I don't feel too hot, but at the same time, I shouldn't let one bad round set me back either.

first loss as a new tribe, rip. I don’t know how this vote may go because i’ve chatted and bonded with everyone on this tribe, well except kevin and kinda nicole, and no one is really sticking out like an asshole. The new mari-whatever tribe has been just chill vibes which is nice but makes strategy much harder cus like what if they’re all secretly just agreed in getting me out? Who knows. I did talk with Landen and we agreed we wanna work together, he threw out the idea that he may be leaning towards voting out an old Shosha member and he hasn’t talked with Kevin or Nicole at all. I’m talking to Eve, Sammy, and Jacob C as well, maybe we could be a voting block...? We’ll see. 

Sarah felt she’s in danger because of Billy trying to get her out last tribal. I can’t have Sarah out because her and I trust each other so then I think of this idea. Nik just got voted out, Billy is targeting Sarah now... what if I spread a rumor that Billy has a plan to pick off all the yujo members and has a hit list and is playing way too hard now? So basically i tell all my allies that eve and I are really scared because someone told us that Billy wants to pick off the yujo people for an easy vote these next few rounds in the hopes that people won’t trust him if he’s playing too hard like that and hopefully the word gets back to the sonkei tribe members. 

So we have a problem, Eve and I are sticking together as former yujo so we let each other know what the other person has found out. So anyways I talk with Landen for a little while, I trust him, and he proposes this plan to vote out a former Shosha tribe member which i’m not against. He says he’s talked a little with Sammy and Jacob C too. So I let Eve know and she says interestingly enough she’s been talking to Nicole and Nicole proposed that her, Eve, Kevin, and myself all vote together and Eve says maybe against Landen. Eve also let’s me know that Nicole and Jacob C are very very close. So now Eve and I are split, I want to vote with Landen and get a Shosha tribe member out, she doesn’t wanna go against Nicole and wants to vote Landen out. We’re kinda the swing vote here and I want us to make the right decision. 

tribal is getting closer and closer and nobody wants to make a decision! They’re ALL asking ME what to do which i guess is nice but i don’t want them all thinking of me as the decision maker this early. Right now it’s between landen or kevin going so i’m doing what i can to make sure everyone’s fine with writing Kevin’s name down. 

Let's make this quick because I am obviously stressed as fuck and I just had the most whack ass dream about this game. In it, half this cast got kicked out of the game for being minors and it was actually a Facebook game, then we appealed it and held a whole trial bc some chick compared us to South African famous wanted murderers and we were offended so we held a trial and won the appeal and all the minors got back in the game but then there was instant tribal council and it was a live tribal and we were all whispering to send home someone named Charlotte who isn't even in this cast I... Yeah. So  you can tell THAT'S how paranoid I am about this tribal council, my brain is driving me insane. We going in a million different directions!!! Anyway here's what happened last night. As SOON as I sent in my video confessional saying things are going to be fine, Pete messaged me (hilariously enough, he literally just messaged me with news AGAIN, but we'll get to that later.. it wasn't big enough to change the whole confessional) and said that things had blown up. Essentially what he told me was that Nicole is very close with Eve, but she's also very close with Jacob. Because of this those three kind of took control, and essentially Nicole wants to work with Eve/Pete/Kevin/Jacob. That would leave me and Sammy on the bottom. I knew as soon as I heard that, that Nicole's plan was to vote me out tonight. Jacob loves Sammy, so if they're working together closely, I'm the target, that much is obvious. So basically this entire day would be a race to make sure that we can sway Eve and/or Jacob and make sure the votes are on KEVIN, not on me. Because he doesn't talk to anyone. I gave my best pitch to Eve, but I don't think it worked that much, she doesn't like being in the middle. Nicole/Sammy/Jacob were all like "I'm at work" "i'm driving somewhere" "i'm at a party" lol we love excuses. I'm not buying your fake shit, you just don't want to talk to me. Notice how I said would be though.... Teehee! Well, turns out, I told Juls about all this madness, and my hero, the light of my life, has decided to help me out by giving me a Sit-out-at-tribal advantage! Not 100% sure how it works yet, I REALLY hope I get to make some dramatic play with it at tribal and actually talk about using it... But if not, I'm just glad for the safety. While I'm not 100% sure if it would be me or Kevin going home and if we could sway the votes, I'm not willing to risk my safety at the arena. It's just not going to happen. And I want to see how interesting things get when I return! So when it comes to this tribal, that's honestly my main plan. Sit out with Juls' advantage. Laugh as the fireworks play... Hope to GOD that Kevin, who probably gets sent home, dies in the Arena too. Gotta have faith he can be beat. I'm not amazing at challenges, good, but not confident enough that I'm willing to risk my spot in the Arena now that it's gotten down to all active people who are giving it their 100%. Notice how I said I'd make this quick but I didn't? Yeah this is a mess. So... tonight is going to be VERY. Very fun. You could even say it'll be a disaster..? For them, at least.

So, Darcy could prove to be a useful asset to bring close to the end. He voted for me last round, and he said he figured that'd reduce trust between us. Honestly, he's absolutely right, I want very little to do with him now, but I'm just "playing nice" until it's time to cut him out.

Billy is going. Kinda hope he comes back so we can win. Even if we don't it's nice to have an easy vote. I think I need to position myself just a little bit better here. Even if i'm not near the bottom, I need to act like it. I need to have chris and jordan's loyalty over emma. And Emma's over theirs. I need to be in the power position, without being viewed that way. Me not going on skype might help that perception. I'm good at these challenges, this one not included, so I should be solid going forward.

i’m playing a spreading info game.... is it gonna get me in trouble? maybe! it might! but it could also get me far so high risk high reward. please pray that the info i’m leaking doesn’t get tacked back to me

This first part of the game for me has been some of the worst gameplay that I've ever displayed. I've received votes every single tribal, I've made no strong connections, the only guy I trusted 100% got his ass voted out, and I'm sitting in the Arena for the second time. It makes you wonder how the fuck I do this shit without breaking down. Well, that's sort of what I did. I broke down after that tribal man, hard. I fkn hate getting emotional man but it felt like complete SHIT being alone and neglected. Truth is, every way I put it, even though I don't wanna admit it, I got no one but myself to blame. What I need in this game is a reset button. When I come back, and I WILL come back from that arena, I need to start a clean slate and get all that chaos the fuck outta there...for now. Fuck I need to win that arena. So bad. When I go back to Sonkei, Imma make sure that I'm the one on top. 

So for starters, my tribe won immunity the other day, so we got the tribal break we deserved!   Now, waiting on arena, where Juls from my tribe, Landen from Miraitowa, and Jordan from Sonkei are competing for Silver and Bronze, then Pete and Billy are competing for the gold.   In which, my ideal scenario is Billy winning the gold and coming back, as I feel like he could be a potential ally I could have come another swap or merge if him and I make it there together.  Then I'd want Juls to win the silver, since it'd be helpful for next challenge for yushu, then can potentially win another immunity!  Preferably in this scenario, Landen wins the Bronze, just so that one of the other tribes don't end up coming back with two medals.  Anyways, this game is fun, and I made final 19, now to see if I can find anything in Olympic Village this next round, as I have still yet to find something.

I'm going to go ahead and try to improve this situation slightly. I think I have the makings of a fantsatic position, it just needs to be perfect. Billy and Emma fighting at tribal while Chris was doing his own thing pretty much sums up everything I needed. I need either Chris or Jordan to be my new #1. Jordan appears to be a paranoid nut, Chris is the opposite. I tend to have greater successes with the paranoid nut, but who knows. They need to like me back, which is easier said than done. If Billy comes back we are likely winning the challenge. We won't of course, cause that's who we are, but who knows. My semester starts up tomorrow, which is going to harm my activity a tad, and I'm already not that active, but we'll see how that influences anything.

I DID IT I DID IT I FUCKING DID IT THEY ALL THOUGHT ID JUST BE A FORGETTABLE PREJURY BOOT ID SUCK AT ARENA AND BE DONE AND GUESS WHAT IVE NEVER DONE ANY SKYPE ORGS BEFORE AND I STILL FUCKING DID IT SCREW YOU JACOB C SCREW YOU SAMMY SCREW YOU NICOLE AND SCREW YOU KEVIN I AM HERE BECAUSE I FOUGHT FOR IT AND I FUCKING WANTED IT BAD AND I TOOK OUT BILLY TO BE HERE!!! HELL FUCKIN YEAH DUDE IM NOT PLAYING NICE WITH ANY OF THESE BITCHES ANYMORE 

I’ll do a video later. Billy got voted out which was unfortunate as I really like billy and vibe with him but it doesn’t make sense to flip when I think I’m in a good position right now. I had a good convo with Sarah, really vibe with her. I have my alliance with Jordan, Jacob, and Em which I feel good about they’re just real quiet. Need to talk to them more 1 on 1. I have my duo with Pines that I feel real confident about. I hope that’s not my downfall this game but I think pines and I are gonna do great things. 

https://streamable.com/2bc03 - pete wins the gold medal.mp4

Well baby dolls, basically eve tried to exclude me from an alliance but I beat that bitch to the punch! And my fearsome foursome played her like a fiddle while she thought I was going home unanimous in all actuality we had the upper hand and dropped the hammer on Pete 4-2, with Landen volunteering for the arena Eve was left to fend for herself for cute little 24 hours and chaos ensued when she realized what happened hopping between calls and chats to damage control for her lack of judgement in including me into things, therefore she feels on the outs and while I was a part of this scheme and to an extent playing a role of the victim who found solace in a group of three who wanted to vote for me, all of which is false, I’m still using these moments to rebuild a bridge I never knew got burned to ashes so she can potentially INCLUDE me in things going forward, after all we’re both out of the loop right? ;)

Tribal was quite spicy. Nobody reacted to Stoner rolling a blunt while em and billy were arguing and my soul left my body from trying not to laugh. Just found out Billy is not coming back, which honestly whew, because I feel like he'd come back with some vengeance. He's probably a good team player normally, but my only impression was..not great! Hopefully we can come together as a tribe now and aim to NOT go to tribal in the first place. Although I still feel like, entering into this new tribe, there are many, many layers. Salty, spicy layers. Like a delicious onion dip. 

Nicole, watch your ass. 

So let me backtrack to before tribal. You’re probably wondering how I got here! *record scratch* Anyway, so we constructed a tribe to have a 4-3 majority, and in doing that there was always going to come a day where when we lost we would have to choose who was going to go between Pete, Eve and Landen. I feel badly because, they’re newbies and obviously putting a reasonable effort into this game BUT, it’s the name of the game, if the returnees didn’t band together we were going to get picked off and have a hard time like Karen is on their tribe. Anyway, so the day comes and we have to go to tribal. NONE of the newbies talked to me about game before we lost. I need to point that out.  As soon as we lost Eve said “what the hell are we gonna do now”....m’am! WE? WHO’S WE? anyway, I played along and was just about to tell her we were going to vote out Pete when she says she was on a tribe with Pete and could make a good number for us. She says I can pull in Jacob...Jacob can pull in Sammy...hold on a minute. Are we leaving out Kevin? WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE KEVIN? This might as well be a Home Alone sequel because they’re leaving Kevin out of EVERYTHING! or at least that’s what I’m being told (more on that later). So I don’t want any weird advantages to get pulled out of anyone’s pocket at tribal and so I obviously go along with it, I say everyone is fine, Jacob will vote with them, we hate Kevin. Basically whatever we need to do. Honestly, I don’t feel bad. You can’t not talk to people for a full two rounds and then decide when you lose you now have a majority. Anyway so, good thing we kept the Pete vote a secret! Because I feel like Eve would have been able to make whoever had the advantage (Juls, I think) use it on Pete and then we would have been REALLY screwed. Anyway, it worked out. We voted for Pete. He left. Eve yelled. The more than curious thing that happened after the vote that makes me second guess my whole alliance is the fact that Beck came out of nowhere and told me that Sammy knew about the advantage because Juls was talking about it on a call (WHICH IS AGAINST THE RULES BC SHES AT THE ARENA BUT I GUESS WE JUST FORGET THAT PART FOR NOW BECAUSE THERES A BIGGER POINT) Anyway, in short I need to focus on keeping more info for myself and not telling my alliance. I’m used to having a ride or die alliance that I can pour info into like I did with Kinky Booties in Seychelles. I knew that info was going to aid in me going forward. Here I’m not so sure. They could literally vote me out next if they want me and push Eve into my spot because she’s a newbie and in that way, less of a threat. But anyway I tell Beck, as I’m telling them, Beck keeps writing to me as if he is being instructed to tell me more info. I don’t know if it was Juls (again, against the f*ing rules, these newbies are..!!!) or if it was someone in the alliance, maybe Jacob or Kevin. I wouldn’t think Sammy but, I don’t know. Anyway I don’t feel safe, and I’ve beat my lowest placement that I’ve ever gotten BUT, that doesn’t mean I want to get out just yet. I don’t feel good about winning this game but I would like to make it onto a jury for once (I’m always at FTC if I get past premerge 🥳) That’s all I got so far,  check back in for my MENTAL BREAAAAK after immunity results for next round bc if we lose, I’m gonna cry. I can’t deal with this again, especially since the whole Pete situation has been pawned off on me. 

SO we ended up switching the vote within the last few hours to save Karen <3! Karen made a push to save herself by going after one of the OG Blue tribe (Ben) and I was fine with the vote since me and Beck had already been in the works to blindside him in the future and since I think Karen will be more reliable at the moment I was willing to stick my neck out if Juls and Caeleb were down for the plan. With that being said I left it in their hands to make the decision so that it feels like I'm with them and shows them as power players to Beck. As soon as they made the decision I ran to Beck with the news so that he would be in the minority and for him to tell Darcy. I ended up voting Karen because I knew she would be safe but I wanted to create doubt and paranoia in everyone's mind on who voted with Ben and I think I wouldn't be the first suspect you think of. Only a subtle move. For the arena I was rooting for Billy to win to cause chaos on the Sonkei tribe and so that Pete would go home because I think Pete might become a big threat and I rather he be out now than later. Also apparently Juls used the exile to make Landen safe from their tribal council it was obvious they were each other's #1 but now other people are starting to see it. I think that we need to put an end to it because she's telling people like Sammy about her power who she's not even on a tribe with, so it shows she's planning on jumping ship the moment she's not on this tribe. Juls NEEDS to go home. I'm gonna push for her to go home this round, next time I'm on call with Beck I'm gonna try to convince him his best move is to get rid of Juls so that way a big threat is outta the game, and it makes the game that much smoother sailing. It might upset Caeleb but honestly I find people like Darcy and Karen very easy to work with and willing to work closely with me in the long term in comparison to himself or Juls. So my plan is to try and get Beck to consider going after Juls stating how she is not going to be loyal to us come a swap unlike Karen or Darcy would be. 

I, big dumb dumb, would like to retract and apologize about what I said about Beck and Juls bc when Beck told me I actually did message Juls saying I’m stressed and it didn’t occur to me that I ALSO BROKE THE RULES. I turned myself in but, yeah......it’s way harder to remember not to talk to people than I realized. Shame on me for JUDGING THEM for being newbies and not knowing how to follow the rules. This is the opposite of my proudest moment lmao 

Whew what a round. BIlly is gone and honestly gonna miss the guy, I think he would have been a great shield for me at early merge, but im not too bothered by it, because Pete is somoene I think I can work with, so like good either way with this one. If we go to tribal again I am going to be in a very awkward position. Because I dont want to vote out sarah and I think the rest of the tribe does, meaning Im gonna need to make a decision if she is gonna be expendable to me or not. ideally we win until a swap but judging by our performances so far... I wouldnt count on it. I think if we did lose Id convince stoner to work with Sarah and to take out one of emma or jacob. I liek them both but at this point Im running out of options. Im sure theyd do the same in my shoes. I'd like a tribe swap, but in the same sense Im a lil scared of a tribe swap too haha.

Reallllyyyyy tired of going to tribal. Kinda scared of billy now 

[hccxtewrites]

@bloodkingdomrp - talk tag okay straight up this is probably gonna get too fucking long and i’d like to neck myself over it; but i’m beca, aussie trash and i’m currently in the middle of butfuck nowhere suffering from bad internet connection, so pls appreciate what it took for me to get this done. i’ll be playing two kids; the cataclysmic and the paradox... and .. i’m putting this shit under a readmore...

the cataclysmic: zephyr jackson - kovali underboss, 39, co-owner of purgatory.

Ye ol’ zeph here is from Northern Ireland, born to one of the many respected members of the IRA and his mother who did little more than take up a spot beside his father and claim she was a natural when it came to being a mother. not true, then again she certainly could have been worse.

Something was always a little off about him, a little too interested in what his dad was doing behind closed doors and a little too intent on listening in on everything that he shouldn’t have. It led to him knowing more than he was meant to and figuring out that he wanted what his dad had and.. well, more, even if he had to take it somehow.

after slowly convincing his dad that he was ready to find out about the business and that he wanted in, no matter what the cost, he was shown the ropes and tacked himself in with some hitters in the organization

low and behold, ya boy ended up murdering both his parents in cold blood and taking everything his dad had built up for himself, pinning the murders on another even though it was v clear that Zeph was the one behind it. He won’t hide it if he’s ever asked, and tbh he’s pretty impressed by anyone who’s willing enough to even bring it up most of the time. 

With enough respect and fear built up, he solidified himself within the IRA and looked to expanding, to which he looked directly to a man as twisted as he was; Rafal Kovali. After a little bit of peddling product, Rafal agreed to the alliance on the premise that Zephyr stuck around for the take over of Chicago and he’s been here ever since, doing Rafal’s bidding and enjoying every single fucking minute of it. 

He’s.. not a great guy.. like at all, but he’s got some amiable qualities. It’s not completely unknown for him to take certain people under his wing. Aka The Phoenix (sera) and also The Prospect, but they’re the kinds of people who find out more than most that there’s pretty much nothing that Zeph won’t willingly do himself before he asks anyone else to do it for him. 

He’s got a lot of plans, terrible.. horrible plans, but he’s patient af and doesn’t have a huge temper or anything so a lot of the time it’s pretty impossible to see the point that he just.. snaps. He’ll smile while breaking necks just ‘cause

doesn’t trust anyone, literally. even if he does trust you -- he doesn’t, don’t believe the few minutes of softness he could show just because he has a pretty smile, he’s probably already planned out how he’d get rid of you if you got in his way.

connects: he could use people he’s known since he got to chicago, whether that’s an amicable or not.. preferably not. i’m so fucking down. one night stands that went horribly wrong are always my fav. people he’s gone up against that either still feel some kind of way about that; maybe we’re all pissed since they’re both still standing. people within the kovali that he doesn’t trust --- people in the faction that.. he does trust. people trying to push his buttons and failing miserably bc what buttons. maybe someone who doesn’t really know who he is? they know the name but have never really seen the face before.. honestly, i’m down for any kind of crazy fucking shit you could throw at me from left field.

secondly.. the paradox; monica “nic” pelletier, 28, exotic dancer. Unaffiliated, but in debt to the Faction

baby girl here was abandoned by her mother on the doorstep of a church when she was nine months old, nobody in the church wanted her so she ended up in the system for a while until she landed with the Pelletier family who were, exactly what every foster kid wants in an adoptive family tbh.

except, something just never clicked for her and she never felt at home in her home. it was always just like, staying over at that weird cousin’s house that you didn’t really know much about but had to visit every summer. anyway; queue the child rebelling.

she swan dived into bad crowds, bad choices and a terrible outlook on life and who she was as a person, but something about her never really looked as defeatist as she felt and part of her made it easy to believe that she was actually enjoying the life she had to the people around her. Jokes on them, she was ready for the void super early on

Met The Traitor (Julian) in school and that swept her up like some bullshit OG fairy tale nobody asked for. It was toxic and fucking euphoric and they’ve been on and off again for most of the time they’ve known each other until more recently.

Found out the hard way that she’s a sucker for a good high and very quickly became addicted to anything illicit that she could ingest just to numb herself a little longer. this got her really tied up with the mad scientist and a whole lot of Faction members that she really shouldn’t have.

was given a full ride to some fancy ass art school and purely out of spite, since it was everything her adoptive parents wanted for her, she tore up the offer and waltzed right on into the nearest stripclub and landed herself a job working the bar for a while, until her boss was looking for a quick fill in after firing a girl and honestly, she’s never looked back. loves her job; doesn’t for one second feel any ounce of regret for it. center of attention and the ability to refuse it at the same time? goldmine. 

But, working the stage didn’t pay quite enough to double back the debt she’d racked up from her addiction and eventually the Faction and the people she owed the money to started asking her to do random, small jobs. e.g petty theft, break and enter. It led to a B&E turned assault, which ended in a high speed chase in which she lost control of the car and plowed headfirst into a railing, killed three of her friends in the back and when she woke up, trapped in the car --- julian was gone, had left her for dead cause he didn’t want to be caught and lost his the power he’d gained within the faction.

skip forward and ya girl has been bailed out of jail, but that’s not the last of it. The casanova has found out that she’s a fucking wreck and forced her to do his bidding... in becoming the “other woman” in The Senator’s marriage and started a whole new shit fuck situation for her there.

connections; people who knew the three friends who died in the accident, i’m potentially putting in connections for her brothers when the OC’s become plausible but her brothers friends are always good. People she’s borrowed money from to pay some of her debt, one night stands, ex friends and people who don’t agree with the life she doesn’t seem to care about changing, i’d love someone who was a target for a job the Faction put her up to; a robbery or even something as little as a distraction. people who encourage her shitty decisions too much.

i’m honestly just here to fuck shit up and be fucked up by everyone. i’m talking replies that are too long and screaming into the dead of night about how the FUCK i’m gonna reply to some bullshit ass crazy shit. 

---- apps i wanna see?? the infiltrator, the casanova, the hotshot, the contractor

[crazynekochan]

Ok so what if during the killing game monokuma turned gundham into a kid as a motive and gundham doesn't remember anything after he was 7 years old which is how old he is and is wondering where his mom is and is very scared of everyone so now they have to take care of him and try not to worry him because they know hes an orphan, I also think akane would grow close to kid gundham bc she's used to calming younger siblings (btw no ones dead yet)

Now this is a way to make the killing game start x) Gundham would be a walking target in his age because the child wouldn’t be able to fight back at all, to the horror of the students when they realise this

The students would start to care for Gundham, trying to calm the child who is scared of everyone because his mother always told him to not talk to strangers. Not to mention that he’s looking for his mother, because at that age his mother is still alive and he isn’t an orphan yet

I also agree that Akane would quickly get attached to the child, because she is a natural big sister and knows how to handle children after caring for all of her younger siblings for more or less her whole life

Imposter would also take up the role as main supervisor together with Akane, since they are shown to be a quite caring person during the DR3 anime, and because it still fits into their role as leader of the group

Other people who would sometimes look after Gundham are Kazuichi, who canonly adores children and I believe Gundham would let the other close to him as well, since it is also canon that Gundham has some sort of interest in him and follows him most of the time and trying to hang out (may be due to liking him or wanting to watch him, who knows?) Only problem is that Kaz is at the same time freaked out about just how the hell this is even possible

Sonia is of course also a good choice to sometimes look after Gundham, since she would be the one the child would have to easiest time talking to, due to their shared interests. She is also the one who knows the most about the other’s hamsters (she is the one to care for them after all after his death) and so takes them in as well for the time being

Hajime also looks after the child sometimes, since he is an easy going person who can easily calm people, however he is as well a bit awkward since he has only very little experience with children

Nekomaru is also a favourable choice for a caretaker, since he probably knows quite a lot about handling children to an extend and is also a great choice for a bodyguard should someone try to harm the defenceless child

Chiaki also looks after Gundham from time to time, since she has this way of making people feel calm around her. Though Imposter always makes sure that one of the more stronger students stays close, because Chiaki isn’t exactly strong and tends to fall asleep way to easily

The others hardly look after Gundham because they aren’t exactly the best with children and especially not the most trustworthy with him either.

Nagito is way too unstable

Teruteru isn’t exactly family safeenough for the others to trust him

Mikan is way to clumsyand could harm him

Hiyoko has no interest anyway and is also not very trustworthy in the eyes of Imposter

while Mahiru would be good with children she is a bit too strict for a scared child who needs to be calmed (she is also not exactly strong enough should someone try to harm him)

Peko and Fuyuhiko both are way too awkward to handle a child and might scare Gundham even more (though to different reasons)

Ibuki might be good with children, however due to the possible danger for Gundham during the killing game she could act too reckless

[superbfurbz]

Hey, sorry to ask but, I want to 'like'/own a furby, can't cant because of past experiences. (spooky stories as a child, intense spooking from family members) And i know it's all fake, but theres always 1 part of my mind thats like "but what if it is" And i really want to stop that. any tips?

hey it’s okay! if ur gonna get advice anywhere it makes complete sense to talk to ppl in the furby fandom. i’m sorry your family went so hard on convincing you furbys were scary. since i was a kid i’ve had really strong feelings about adults or older kids that do this to little ones, and i think it’s very mean and unfair. you and so many others share this experience, so it’s clear what you say to young people matters and you’re setting them up for unnecessary stress by giving them irrational fears. i hope one day you will finally feel at ease around furbs, but until then it is totally okay to take your time and work through your own process.i don’t have much, but i have two approaches. i hope one of them (or even a combination) might help you over time.

1.) The Realistic Approach: This is all about continuing what you’ve already been doing. Sometimes ppl have this idea that one can “snap out of” an intense fear or a phobia, but that is by and large untrue. Fear is complicated, and rooted deep. Ppl can be deathly terrified of something and not even have an explanation why, making it harder to identify the root and cope with the fear. In your case, you have the advantage of knowing exactly why you have these feelings about furbys, and in addition, you know it’s not your fault or own doing. Remind yourself that your family members were having “fun” at your own expense. They don’t deserve the satisfaction of your fear. What you deserve is to be able to like things and experience things on your own accord. Furbys are toys, and they are electronic ones. All of their glitches and quirks can easily (and most have!) been explained away. I’m not sure what your family told you specifically to instill this fear in you, but one of the most common complaints I’ve come across is the “they come alive in the middle of the night with no batteries” thing. It makes sense that this would startle ppl, esp small kids. But instead of stoking the scary fires, these kids should have been given an explanation and a small robotics lesson. If anything these are missed opportunities to encourage a child who could take a strong interest in tech and design and dumping an irrational fear on them. Electronics in general can store small bits of energy, and through either a trigger such as sudden movement or the passage of enough time can allow for that stored energy to travel through the electronic and “turn it on” for a brief moment. If you ever work your way up to getting a furby and in the rare event that this occurs, try to remind yourself of that. The same goes for more common glitches like funky garbled audio- the furb has sustained damage or wasn’t put together properly.

2.) The Fantastical Approach: This is all about using your imagination to free you from the constraints of your fear. There are far more possibilities than what I’ll be mentioning here, so please feel free to come up with your own tactics if none of these jive for ya. Personally, as a child, my family did very extreme and mean things to scare me. One of these things was the classic ~there’s somehow a monster that’s terrifying and cruel but it will only come for children ooo~ (if this doesn’t sound too bad, know that i am omitting a lot of very gross and borderline abusive details bc this blog is meant to be a safer space). However… it didn’t really work on me. I would hope and wish and pray for a monster to take me away. I felt that a monster would understand me far more than my own family. Or, how cool would it be to have a friend that only you can see? The way I rationalized it, monsters are incredibly powerful- they can do almost anything they want (except walk around in the sunshine i guess lol). So a monster is a magical, mythical thing. If a monster approaches you, it means you’re special and interesting. This magical creature that generally holds humans in disdain- or at least, at a distance- wants to get to know and befriend you! The way I saw it as a kid and still do, is, how is the boogeyman that much different from a unicorn. And because of my experiences and inclinations, the answer for me is that they’re not different at all. Magic is magic, it just comes in different flavors. How could you spin this for yourself personally? Well, maybe furbys never “chose” your relatives. Perhaps they had some around the house, but how well did they treat their furbs? You might have been a tender child, an “easy target”. You might have been a caring, considerate, meticulous child. If these qualities were/are true of you, furbys would take very kindly to you. In fact, I know any furby in the world would be so proud of you for wanting to work through this, and I know they would understand the fear isn’t your fault. I bet a furby would choose you, because you seem like a sweet and patient and thoughtful person. Maybe your family was jealous, their furbys would turn on as they are meant to do but no special connection could be formed. If you were to have been able to get close to a furby, your relationship may have been very special. In a way, you could think of working through this as getting back to something you’ve always deserved, even if it is just a bit of fun and comfort!

At the end of the day, if this is something you can’t shake, that’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid of things, and as eager to jump to chastising as some ppl can be about this, it is okay to have irrational fears. Irrational doesn’t mean invalid, because having ppl pound an idea into your head when you are very young is plunging that fear into a mind at its most open state, when you are learning so much about existing in the world, right and wrong, caution and risk, payoff and reward. Your fear of furbys won’t get in your way in general, and you can obviously have a completely happy life without ever ridding yourself of this fear. I can only hope this offers you something, at the very least I hope I gave you a safe and wide space to air out your feelings. Thank you for trusting us with this, and I’m genuinely so proud of you for trying to work through it all!

If you do attain your goal, however, know that there is a furby out there who can’t wait to finally meet you. They’ve been so patient, rooting you on from wherever they are, believing in you and knowing you’re a worthwhile person to know and love.

your pal, Bug

[imagine-darksiders]

What would the horsemen think of their friend (not s/o) who is not used to having positive attention to her/him bc in the past s/he was abused by their parents and starved of affection and attention so they’re all used to being alone. Bc I understand that feeling 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m so sorry, but I ran out of steam during War’s and Fury’s. They’re both in the works though, so I’ll try and upload them soon.

In the meantime, here’s Strife and Death. Being all nice????!!

xxxx

Strife: “Hey! You hit all the targets! Good job kid!”

The gunslinging horseman stands behind you as you aim your pistol down a makeshift firing range that he’d set up to test your accuracy. You jolt violently away from him when you spot his clawed hand raise towards your shoulder. 

“NO!” you shout, ducking beneath your arms and cowering away from him. 

Strife immediately freezes, bewildered by your manic reaction. Staring at his hand for a moment, he raises an eyebrow. “The Hell? I didn’t even touch you, what happened?” 

Hesitantly, you lower your arms slightly to peer over them at your friend. “I-I thought you said I did a good job!” you whimper, “Why were you going to hit me?” 

Strife’s head jerks back as though you’d just struck him physically. “Hit you? What in the hell would I do that for? I was just gonna do this.” With that, he once more stretches his hand out towards your arm. You tense and slam your eyes shut tightly. A few seconds pass without incident, but then, all of a sudden, you feel a warm palm gently pat your shoulder. 

Cracking open one eye, you swivel it around to watch as Strife retracts his hand and rests it on his hip instead. 

“See?” he chuckles, “Can’t believe you thought I was gonna hit you.” The horseman shakes his head with a laugh, but it soon fades when he sees you avert your eyes and stare off into the distance. “Hey,” he calls out, ducking his head slightly to try and catch your attention, “What gives, kiddo? What’s with all the reticence?” He notices the way you’re clutching at the sleeves of your jumper and downright refusing to meet his gaze. Sighing, Strife straightens up again and purses his lips at you, scratching the back of his head. “Hey, I get it,” he starts. 

You finally flick your eyes back in his direction, regarding him cautiously. The horseman grins when he meets your stare, continuing, “I ain’t exactly the most gentle guy around. So you’re scared I’ll accidentally hurt you, right?” He says this cheerfully enough, but his eyes flash with a sliver of hurt. 

“No, that’s not it, Strife,” you sigh. As reluctant as you are to confess your past to the horseman, you can’t bear the thought of your friend thinking that you don’t trust him not to hurt you. Because you do trust him, completely. “I know you’d never hurt me, I just….” 

Frustrated, you run your hands into your hair and grip the strands hard, tugging them as you whine desperately, trying to find the right words. Sighing, you let your chin drop onto your chest. “…I’m not….used to this,” you whisper, at last. 

Strife squints one eye down at you and dips his head. “Huh?” 

With a groan, you jerk your hands out and gesture to the horseman. “This. This! I’m not used to…this!” Your voice catches in your throat, making you cringe at how childish you sound. “You, treating me like a friend. Patting me on the shoulder, saying ‘good job!’ My own mum and dad never did anything like that. It’s all so…..so….” Trailing off, you let your arms fall limply at your sides even as the horseman steps closer to you hesitantly. 

Strife studies you for a while, taking the time to absorb the things you’re saying. At last, he exhales softly.

“So….Rough home life, huh kid?” 

Surprised, you blink, hard. “H-how’d you know?” 

Strife shrugs and sniffs, swiping a hand under his mask’s nose. “S’not that hard to figure out. So. Your parents sucked, huh? Not that I’d know about that. Didn’t have any myself. Well, there was Death, but he’s an asshole. Then again, even he used to say ‘well done’ every now and then, so I guess he wasn’t that bad….” Strife comes to a stop when he realises that he’s just rambling on at you now.

Smiling behind his mask, the horseman slowly lifts his fist up to your face. Though you watch it carefully, you don’t flinch away when he lightly knuckles your chin playfully. “Well, you’d better get used to all this,” he states, gesturing up and down his body, “Because like it or not, you’re stuck with me. No more of this ‘lone wolf’ bullshit for either of us, okay?” 

A quiet hum of laughter oozes from your lips. Smiling minutely, you nod up at your friend. “Okay,” you agree.

He puffs out his chest proudly and regards you with an empathetic look. “Guess we’re both just a couple of kids who had to grow up too fast,” he rumbles softly. Strife doesn’t say it out loud, but you know he’s referring to becoming a horseman. One minute, he’s a happy-go-lucky, foul-mouthed Nephilim, the next, participating in mass genocide. A decision like that would age anyone.

“Yeah,” you whisper, “I guess so.”

Neither of you speak for a while, which strikes you as odd. For your friend to be silent for more than five seconds in a row is highly peculiar. But as you watch him carefully, you find that he’s looking at you with a deeply thoughtful expression in his eyes. If you strain your ears, you can faintly hear him humming to himself. 

Without warning, Strife easily closes the distance between you both and you tense noticeably before being enveloped in a near-suffocating hug. Shock courses through you yet again and you wonder what on Earth you’d done to deserve an impromptu display of affection. 

“St-Strife!?” you squeak, faintly pushing on his chest, unsure of what you ought to be doing with your arms. Instead of letting you pull away from him though, the horseman furls his strong forearms even further around your body and bends his head to rest it on top of yours. He seems reluctant to release you just yet. 

“Take it easy kid.” You can feel his chin move against your hair when he speaks. “Way I figure it,” he murmurs softly, “You’ve got a lot of lost affection to make up for. And it looks like I gotta be the one to dish it out because your deadbeat parents sure as Hell ain’t here to do it.” Pulling away from you slightly, though not enough to let you go, Strife gives you a lazy wink. “Can’t have my best bud feeling like crap now, can I? You ever want me to tell you you’re awesome, just give me a shout.” With that, he finally removes his hands from your back and gives you the space to escape his hold. 

It’s a strange thing though. You hadn’t realised just how starved for some - any kind of positive connection you’d actually been. With Strife around, you’d suddenly become aware of what you’d been missing out on all these years. On Earth, before the apocalypse, you’d just accepted your solitude because you thought it was what you deserved. Then out of nowhere, this loud, boisterous, hard-headed horseman had come careening into your life and opened your eyes to how things could have - should have been. 

As you clench your fists to fight back the wave on oncoming tears, you gently tilt your head forwards, letting it clunk against Strife’s armoured chest. Suddenly home doesn’t feel quite so far away. 

Death: With an excited squeal of triumph, you throw your arms up into the air, a crude, wooden staff clenched between your fingers. You’d finally, finally managed to nail the parry that Death had been trying to teach you for the past few days.  

The horseman is equally pleased. It’s been a long time since he’s had someone to spar with and you’d vastly improved since he found you. He’s actually, dare he say it, quite…..proud. 

“Well,” the horseman sighs, slinging his arm around your shoulder. “It only took you four days to master a very basic tactic, but somehow, you persevered.” To show you that his words held no bite, he allows his free hand to fall on top of your head and starts to mess up your meticulously detangled hair, only because he knew it would probably annoy you. But the large, cadaverous hand that ruffles your hair slows to a halt when Death notices how rigid you’d gone beneath his arm. “Y/n?” he calls. 

No response. 

You can only stare straight ahead, enraptured by the soothing sensation of having your hair tousled, as simple a gesture as it is. Suddenly, you become aware of Death leaning his head down to peer at your face, curiosity and concern swimming behind his eyes. “Y/n? Are you alright?” 

Shaking your head slightly, you relax and blush furiously. “Y-yeah! I’m fine.” Uncertainty roils in your stomach, but it’s swiftly overtaken by the mind-boggling desire to feel that mundane but desperately needed gesture of affection once again. You swallow your pride and take a breath before asking, “Could you, uh…Could you maybe do that again?” 

His arm is still slung around your shoulder when he rumbles in confusion. “Do what?” 

But inevitably, you lose your nerve at his question, so you just shrug and say, “Nothing. Doesn’t matter.” 

The horseman eyes you as you heave a great sigh and start trying to escape from under his arm, but he tightens it significantly when he realises what you’d been referring to. “Ah,” he exclaims, knowingly, “you mean this?”  

Without warning, Death drags you backwards into his chest and brings his free hand up to dishevel your hair once more. 

“DEATH!” you squawk, wriggling half-heartedly to get out of his grasp. Truthfully, you’re indescribably desperate to feel even a modicum of tenderness. But you have to at least pretend to put up a fight, for the sake of your pride.

 The horseman’s secret grin grows beneath his mask when you let out a burst of laughter and too-easily succumb to his gentle pestering. 

“War used to hate it if I did this to him,” he sighs wistfully, “he’d get so angry, it was…. amusing…..” The reaper trails off and he stills, giving you a moment to catch your breath. When you twist your head up to peer at Death again, he’s got a faraway look in his eyes. 

“Feeling nostalgic?” you probe. 

Coming back into himself, he meets your curious face. “Just….remembering the easier times.” The longing in his tone appears to catch him off guard. Death grunts and waves his hand about dismissively. “Bah, reminiscing about the past never changes the present.” 

“True,” you nod, pursing your lips and picking at the bandages on his arm that’s got you in a loose headlock, “but it’s good to look back on the happy times. Makes you remember that life hasn’t always been a train wreck. If there can be good moments in the past, who’s to say that good can’t happen again in the future?” 

Death’s only response is a quiet hum of acquiescence.

A heavy silence settles over the pair of you, thick and tangible, but not uncomfortable. The horseman busies himself untangling you from his gentle hold. He steps back whilst you turn around to face him.

Eventually, you break the silence in a small, timid voice. “They’re lucky to have had you as a big brother, you know.” Then, more quietly, “I wish I’d had a dad like you, growing up.”

A scoff bursts from Death’s throat, startling you. “I can assure you, Y/n, you do not…. Although I do appreciate the sentiment.”

Emboldened by the unfamiliar warmth settling in your chest, you shake your head and step towards him, frantically gripping his large hand with both of yours and giving it an urgent squeeze. 

“No, you don’t understand! You look after me! You don’t ignore me! You never make me feel like I’ve been forgotten and I know you don’t say it, but you actually care when I get hurt!” 

“Your own parents didn’t?” he raises a skeptical eyebrow, “I thought it was basic human nature to protect their young?” 

Frowning bitterly, you sniff and mumble, “not all humans.…” The ghosts of unshed tears begin to form behind your eyelids, but you make an impressive attempt to keep them at bay. 

Understanding immediately dawns in Death’s eyes. He exhales softly, finally giving your small hands a responsive squeeze and letting his eyelids flutter shut. “I see….” 

Gently, the horseman coaxes you forward by pulling your arm until you’re standing closer to him. He glances around, checking to see that there are no prying eyes, then crouches down to get a better look at you. “Well,” he rumbles softly, “it’s a good thing you’re sticking with me then.” Death’s hands reach out to rest on your shoulders and he rubs them comfortingly in an attempt to stop your tears from falling. “I know I’m not always the best company,” he sighs, “I’m certainly not ‘parent’ material and quite frankly, I’m terrible at comforting anyone. But I suppose, for you, I could squeeze in a kind word or two.” 

Sniffling, you peek up and catch Death’s coltish wink. Swallow a thick lump in your throat, you press your lips together to stop the sob from escaping, then launch yourself forwards, colliding with the horseman and throwing your arms around his neck. 

Long, black hair tickles your nose as you bury your face into his shoulder and cowl, feeling a hesitant hand delicately cup the back of your head whist its partner wraps itself around your side and tucks you even further into Death’s body. The horseman’s insides roil at the thought that you’d had to endure your childhood alone and unappreciated during what should have been the best years of your life. It’s a little known fact that Death has a well-concealed soft spot for children. 

“Just…don’t go asking for hugs in front of anyone else, alright?” he chuckles drily, “I still have a reputation to uphold.” 

You giggle and take a steadying breath to fix the shake in your voice. “I won’t.” Heart feeling lighter than it has in years, you whisper into his ear, “Death?”  In response, he shifts his head slightly, humming curiously. 

“Thank you,” you breathe.

Death nods almost imperceptibly, allowing his eyes to fall closed for a rare, peaceful moment. Suddenly, they snap open again when a thought crosses his mind. 

‘Did I just adopt a human?’

[gweyson]

how much would u hate me if i asked u to do every single uncommon question for an oc of ur choice?

the absolute madman he actually did it

im gonna put this under the cut sdjkfhsdjfsjkl also im answering for pascal because. Thats My Boy

1. What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

he’s gotten really good at it since he had to start hiding from murder robots... but even before then he was never a super fidgety person so he could sit very still !

2. How easy is it for your character to laugh?

he’s good at pretending everything’s fine when it’s all actually Rather Shit so. yeah pretty easy

3. How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

thinking mostly.... sometimes he’ll talk to someone and drift off from there but it depends on who’s on lookout or how quiet the group has to stay

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

he tries to remain suspicious of people he meets but at heart he’s too trusting for his own good tbh.... he does try to hold off on trusting stangers these days but hes still a little soft

5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

yeah pretty easy. like it’s easy enough to get him to trust you in the first place but once you do something to fuck that up then good luck getting it back lmao

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

laws arent really. a thing anymore djkfhdljk but when they were he’d like... say laws are immovable and very needed and then do stuff that completely contradicted that view

7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

cooking !! it reminds him of when he used to help his mum out with houseowrk/cooking. he. doesnt really like the feeling because it reminds him that he has no idea if his family is actually still alive or not :(

8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

“stop playing in the dirt”

9. Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

he doesnt swear heaps but he does enough that it’s not super shocking whenever he does. he sweras more the angrier/more agitated he gets

10. What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

he’d regularly lie to his mum just so he could get out of the house and go to parties lol. he’s not super haunted by it or anything (& he was a pretty good kid otherwise so he figures he was allowed at least this one not great thing)

11. How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

he’ll try to play along until he can figure stuff out but if he cant he’ll just go “what tf is happening”

12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

either gets someone to scratch it or uses like. a ruler or smth

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

he thinks he looks best in green but it’s... not his best colour

14. What animal do they fear most?

big dogs... scarey :(

15. How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

he usually just says whatever comes to his mind tbh. idk how to properly descrive it but like... the way he talks makes him sound smart but not arrogant about it yknow. like you hear him talk and youre like “yeah this is a guy who knows what hes doing”

16. What makes their stomach turn?

not much tbh?? like before everything turned Awful he was studying forensic entomology so like. hes got a bit of an iron stomach lmao. the smell of rotting meat maybe

17. Are they easily embarrassed?

not really? if he does get embarrassed he’s pretty decent at hiding it

18. What embarrasses them?

when he’s the centre of attention in a big group and he can feel everyone staring at him and his face goes all red and aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA

19. What is their favorite number?

7 !!

20. If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

he’d go on a really long tangent about it and possibly not even answer the question at hand tbh

21. Why do they get up in the morning? 

to not die, mostly

22. How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

he’ll become pretty aloof and just. not wanna talk. he’ll avoid the target of jealousy a bit as well oops

23. How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

he’ll do everything in his power to one-up whatever’s making him envious. it rarely works

24. Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

he is comfortable talking about it !! really the only thing that ever stops him talking about it is if someone else is uncomfortable with it

25. What are their thoughts on marriage? 

he likes the idea ! if he does get married though he wants to do it wayyyyy in the future he’s not ready to settle down

26. What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

before everything went shit he preferred driving, now he walks everywhere

27. What causes them to feel dread?

robots. or when astrid is pissed

28. Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

he says he’d prefer an unpleasant truth but when it actually comes time to deal with it he doesnt go too great lol

29. Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

he tries... whether he succeeds is another question 

30. Who do they most regret meeting? 

[redacted for spoilers]

31. Who are they the most glad to have met? 

astrid !! as much as he loves everyine else in the group she’s the only one who could realistically protect him if something were to go wrong. shes just more secure

32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

not really ??

33. Could they be considered lazy? 

nah not really !! he’s always been a hard worker

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

it follows him around for a loooooong time. whether it goes away or just fades into background noise really depends on the situation but it’s not easy for him

35. How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

he always tries to be supportive !! unless it’s something like. morally disgusting then No but he tries to support his friends even if he thinks whateber theyre talking about is kinda dumb

36. Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

he just kinda waits it out !! when the world was Not Shit his friends would be regularly trying to set him up with people so he never had to work super hard for it :’)

37. Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

i cant remember the name for it but he does the thing where like. he’ll associate thing a with thing b by finding something that connects them togehter? like a syllable in thing a sounds like thing b so. yeah. im good at explaining

38. What memory do they revisit the most often? 

either when astrid helped him bust out of the factory he was trapped working in or just miscellaneous memories of his mum & siblings

39. How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

he tends to ignore people’s flaws which can lead to issues

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

he tries to be self critical but he’s not really self critical enough for it to make a solid difference. usually he has to be told what he’s doing before he consciously realises it

41. How do they feel about children? 

he likes them !! he was the oldest of a lot of siblings so he knows how to handle them & he’s pretty good with them

42. How badly do they want to reach their end goal?

his end goal is to stop robots killing everything & for everything to go back to normal so id say he wants that pretty fuckin bad

43. If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?

“hey pascal are you into--” “yes”

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS (I wasnt sure if you wanted me to do these ones too so. shrug emoji)

A) Why are you excited about this character?

i made him for my comic which. i will start one day fdklgjdlkjgd..... also hes just fun to develop ! i gave him a bunch of traits i rlly like and also i made him like bugs a lot so. i am biased

B) What inspired you to create them?

uh. needed characters for the comic hehe.....i cant remember the exact process i went thru when making him?? i wanted someone who was close to astrid/who she could trust, plus i had the idea for a backstory (i think. like i said i cant remember my exact process)

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

not really, i came up with the concept before i actually made his character

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

he’s always had the same appearance !! even though i should probably change it a little because he looks different every time i try drawing him but shhhhh

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

hes someone i would think is super cool but then. would never actually talk to jkdsfhsdjkhfsdjk. he’d be nice to my face but i’m....not sure what he’d genuinely think of me oops

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

THATS MY FACKING BOY BABEYEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also excited bc i have angst planned ^____^

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

he’s too gullible and willing to trust strangers. he should know better but he’s too much of an optimist for his own good !!

H) What trait do you admire most?

he’s always able to put on a happy face when he’s feeling awful because he doesnt want anyone to worry & he doesnt wanna bring anyone down !! he’s always thinking ahout everyone else before himself

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

i dont know what this means..... yes??

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

uhh technically not ?? in his original concept he was gonna be in a poly relationship with 2 others but i cut the other members of the relationship. not because of pascal it’s because i thought the group would get too big and like. they value stealth and sneakiness. plus it’s harder for big groups to travel undetected

[taakofromtaz]

For the prompts: "Its just a cut, really." Ango angst?

oooo this was Very Good,

team building exercise 

words: 1607

under a read more bc it got Really Long,

[writing tag] | [fic index] | [prompt list] | [please consider donating!]

It’s not often that Angus gets invited on a mission with theReclaimers. In fact, Angus can count on a single hand the amount of missionshe’s been asked to physically go on while employed at the Bureau and the numberis both a blessing and a point of utter frustration. He’s been working on hisown for years now and this is the longest stretch of time he’s ever gonewithout some kind of action since he was given his first job. He can handleworking on his own so, whether Madame Director meant to or not, Angus feelslike he’s not being trusted to handle himself on the field.

It is painfullyobvious just how detrimental the unintended downtime has been for him themoment the four of them end up in a confrontation with a band of mercenaries.

Angus tries tostay out of the fighting, really, he does. He sort of knows the way these threefight, having seen them on the train, so he falls back a few steps with Taako,keeping Magnus and Merle between them and the obvious threat.

Magnus rushes in waving Railsplitter with one hand and hisshield with the other, Merle reads a passage from his bible in an effort to setup his Guardian of Faith, and Taako targets the weakest link to hit with awell-aimed Magic Missile.

Angus, meanwhile, is making a concentrated effort to bothfind a safe place to hide and formulate a plan of attack. Unfortunately, hefailed to take the number of mercenaries when they first ran into them and theamount that the Reclaimers are fighting now.

The numbers don’t line up.

Before he can call out a warning, large hands grab him frombehind, one around his waist and another covering his mouth. Angus screamsanyway, the sound muffled, until his snatcher—A rouge, obviously, Angus deduces—steps on his foot with a hissed, “Quiet,brat.”

Taako’s ears twitch and swivel and half a second later,Angus and the guy are pinned under Taako’s sharp stare. “Hey!” the elf shouts,twisting to face them. “Hands off the boy, dickweed!”

Magnus looks up from where he’s just downed one of the mercs.“Angus!” He kicks his opponent to the side and adjusts his stance, looking likehe’s contemplating the best way to rush in. Merle glances at them as hefinishes his spell. His guardian easily finishes off the mercs the three hadbeen fighting and dissipates, leaving just the guy holding Angus up like ashield.

The rogue moves his hand away from Angus’s face to pull aknife out and lay it against the boy’s throat. He hides himself somewhat behindthe boy and says, “Give me your shit or I kill the kid.” He shoves the knifejust close enough to draw a bead of blood from Angus. It surprises him that acut that small stings so much.

Taako shifts his weight and Angus can see him visiblyfighting himself from saying something sarcastic. Angus is impressed at the self-control.Taako tightens his grip on the Umbra Staff and jams the tip into the ground. BehindTaako, Magnus shoulders his shield and moves into a two-handed stance and looksbetween Taako and Angus, twisting his hands around the handle of Railsplitter.

“Easy, now, fella. Let’s not get carried away,” Merle says, holdinghis hands up, his bible closed and held in one hand while the other remainsflat and open.

The rogue jerks himself and Angus backwards. “One more step,old man, and the only thing that’s gonna get carried away is this kid’s corpse.”

“Oh, fuck this,” Taako says, and before anyone can comment,he lifts a hand, mutters a word in Elvish, snaps his fingers, and disappears.

Angus immediately recognizes the spell as Blink but therogue obviously doesn’t, and jerks away from where Taako used to be, draggingthe knife with him. Angus feels another sharp sting but thinks nothing of it asTaako reappears behind them and blasts the rogue with a wordless Fireball. Therouge screams and falls away from Angus, trying to put out the clothes he’swearing that have caught aflame.

Taako jolts forward and catches Angus by the arm and dragshim away from the mercenary while Magnus steps forward to finish him off. Taakostares hard at the boy, ducking his head down slightly to look at the scratchon Angus’s throat.

“I’m okay, sir. Really!” Angus waves a hand dismissively andgestures at Taako’s hand, still wrapped around Angus’s arm. “You can let gonow.”

It takes Taako a second, but he does let go, jerking hishand away like it was his idea to release Angus to begin with. “Good. Wouldn’twant you to die a shitty wizard.”

Angus smiles widely at the elf as Taako sticks his nose upand lords his scant few inches over Angus. “Of course not, sir.”

Taako squints at the boy for a long moment before he huffsand struts off, swinging the Umbra Staff up onto his shoulder. “Whatever, yalittle shit. Pay more attention next time, yeah?” Angus opens his mouth toanswer, maybe accuse Taako of not paying attention either, but Taako continuestalking. “Did’ja get ‘im, Mags?”

“Dead as dirt over here,” Magnus says, and kicks the rogueoff, blowing the corpse a raspberry.

Angus laughs as Merle steps up to his said. “You good, kid?”the dwarf asks, wiggling his bible. “I can give ya a heal if ya need?”

“It’s just a cut, really,” Angus insists. “No need to wasteslots on a little scratch, sir.”

Merle gives him a critical once over that says he doesn’treally believe Angus, but he doesn’t argue. “If you say so.”

“I do,” Angus says firmly, giving a decisive nod.

Merle rolls his eyes and trails after Taako, Magnus boundingup to his side in a couple of huge steps. The three start to chatter, Magnusleading the conversation with observations on how cool Taako and Merle’s magicis and how hard he hit the mercenaries. After a couple of minutes, Angus noticeshow warm his side feels. He dismisses it as the adrenaline of the situationwearing off.

Ten minutes later, he realizes that maybe he should havetaken Merle’s offer for a heal seconds before his vision goes dark and hecollapses.

Angus wakes up in Magnus’s lap. Merle is crouched besidehim, his hands glowing as he channels Pan’s divinity in a healing spell. Taakois leaning against a nearby tree, his umbrella hooked over one of his crossedarms. He’s pointedly looking resolutely in a different direction. Angus keepshis eyes cracked as slightly as he can, feigning sleep.

After a minute, Merle’s hands stop glowing. “There, good asnew. He might have a snarly scar, but it’s all healed up.” He pats his bible. “Thanks,big guy.”

“Good work, Merle,” Magnus says, smiling earnestly. Heglances down at Angus. “Poor kid.”

Taako scoffs and turns to look at them. “‘Poor kid?’ Healmost let himself die because he was too stubborn to say something.” Taakosighs, hard, and shakes his head. “Stupid.”

“What, like you haven’t done the same thing?” Magnus teases,cocking an eyebrow.

Taako glares at him, leaning more heavily against the tree. “Fuckyou. I have excellentself-preservation skills. Unlike somepeople whose names rhyme with ‘Agnus.’”

“And which one is that supposed to be?” Merle asks with asmirk.

Taako groans. Angus can’t see him all that well through hislashes, but it looks like Taako is fighting a smile. “Shut up, old man! I’mtrying to be mad, here!”

“Doin’ a piss poor job of it.” Merle’s voice oozes petulance.

“Don’t worry, sir. I liked your goof,” Angus says, finallydeciding he’d basically eavesdropped long enough.

“Angus! You’re awake!” Magnus smiles hugely down at him. “Youreally had us worried, bud!”

“You lost a lot of blood and that’s why you collapsed,” Merletells him, gesturing to his side. It’s covered in blood and Angus has no ideahow he didn’t notice it before. “You’re all good now, though.”

“What did I tell you about not dying?” Taako snaps, shovinghimself off the tree and uncrossing his arms. The umbrella slides perfectlydown his arm and dangles from his wrist and he puts his hands on his hips.

“Sorry, sir. I swear, I didn’t notice how injured I was!” Angussits up with help from Magnus and watches as Taako’s face relaxes somewhat.

Taako waves a limp wristed hand at Angus and suddenly his clothesare clean, the blood prestidigitated away. “Paymore attention next time,” Taako tells him for the second time in one day,and Angus flushes.

“Right. Sorry, sir.” He gives the Reclaimers a sheepishgrin.

Magnus hugs him. “I’m just glad you’re okay!”

Merle pats him on the shoulder and he climbs to his feet. “Nexttime, kid, just take the healing, yeah?”

“You got it!” Angus gives a thumbs up and smile.

Magnus stands up and pulls Angus up and up until he’ssitting on the man’s shoulders. “C’mon, guys! We still got a mission to do!”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me,” Taako says, rolling his eyes andgiving Angus one last hard look that ends with a single, quick wink. “Let’s getgoing. Preferably before I start to get old.”

“What, like you’re not already?”

“Very funny, old man!”

Magnus laughs underneath Angus and the boy smiles. Thesethree might not be the nicest all the time but they do care, even if they have a hard time showing it.