#he doesn't even come back in like. most versions of the date he just ditches you and undyne comes to that decision herself

[bonetrousledbones]

listen yall know i love papyrus and he genuinely is smart but its still so funny to me when ppl say he Manipulates undyne to be friends with frisk in a super intelligent way when the most he does is jump out the window and come back to call her a pussy before leaving again

[nathabat]

Can you write about how Syzoth and the reader meet and eventually fall in love? Thank you!

oh my god YES ofc anon, this fills my brain w so many thoughts™,,,

✰ content: ## SFW , fluff with light angst (mention of Syzoth's previous family, his loss, Shang Tsung's bullshit no offense baby girl) , probably barely proofread. I speak more casually here because it's a lot of personal hcs LOL. GN!reader, you/your pronouns used.

Syzoth's romance would be THE definition of a slow burn. Meeting him with Cage and the others doesn't really speed that up, but he certainly learns to really appreciate you as a fixture of the group when you help him mourn and wrap his head around his loss. It's really abrupt, so he needs to take his time coping with the knowledge before he even thinks about taking someone else romantically. So he'd value someone with patience and boatloads of empathy. Even if you were a bit awkward when comforting him, he'd manage to find a bit of charm in your ramblings in attempt to soothe his troubled mind.

Of course it's not like you seek him out right off the bat either, so it's a lot of mutual pining as well when yours and his feelings come to light. Syzoth would feel a little guilty, like he's betraying the memory of his lost loved ones by seeking out a human of all things. I like to think Cage plays wingman- and his version of that is forcing as much proximity as possible. Like orchestrating plans just to ditch you two so you're alone for HOURS, and when he comes back he coughs really loudly to announce his presence.

"What? I didn't know what you two love birds would be getting up to while i was gone! Just had to make sure I wasn't walking in on anything scandalous-" (please hit him for me)

Jokes aside, he does really well at teaching Syzoth about "human courtship" and dating culture, and to boost the poor guys confidence. You're like a beacon of pure light and joy to Syzoth, you picked him up when he was down, how could he ever be worthy of you? How could he even repay your kindness at all???

Syzoth does his best at dropping hints after he realizes you've been oblivious to his courting and attempts at wooing you. Turns out, offering you a piece of his roasted swamp creature snack isn't the sweetest gesture- cut him some slack, he's still learning. He'll lay compliments on HEAVY, and he's surprisingly keen to most details of you as a person, but also generally of your appearance. Like if you trimmed an inch off your hair, he compliments how much shinier your hair is after the loss of your split ends. Ignoring the fact that it sounds slightly backhanded

New shirt? He wants to know why you got it. He thinks that certain colour brings out the hues of your eyes! (he thinks that with everything you wear. I think he's just in love with your eyes) New tattoo or piercing? He really wants to take a good long look at it, hear your thoughts and what drove you to such artistic choices, and gushes about how much he adores your self expression.

"It is a beautiful thing, how open you are I mean.. It's like you bare a piece of yourself to the world. I really like it."

He is always so incredibly sincere, flustering the second you also get embarrassed by his words. He isn't a poet, you just make him feel profound and beautiful things.

The first time he properly asks you out, he's nothing short of a nervous wreck. With his clammy hands and shifty eyes, quietly asking if you'd like to accompany him to an Outworld festival. The second he hears a yes from your lips, he's brightening like a star and thanking you. he's not sure why, but he just feels so grateful and lucky for such an opportunity!

Th evening is nothing short of perfect, Syzoth glued to your side like a protective force, his tension easing only when you grasp his hand and point excitedly at some merchant stand that's boasting the cutest trinkets ever. He's smiling wide under his mask as you tug him forward, squeezing your hand gently as his thumb rubs over your knuckles. His heart is melting in his chest when you make him try on a hair pin. His hair is much too short to hold it, and it almost clatters to the ground if you two didn't fumble to catch it- it's a pretty ornament, but he ends up getting you a gorgeous hand crafted necklace.

A beautiful white jade circular pendant held to the chain by a silver frame of koi fish. He thinks it's stunning, even more so as you bite your cheek to contain your excited ramblings as the cold metal grazes the skin of your neck, followed by the warmth of his careful hands as he fastens it in place <3

Maybe you don't kiss on the first date and that's more than okay, because the mere second you had kissed him for the first time, you swore he turned bright red and looked rather faint... It's probably best to ease him into such affectionate gestures.

☄. *. ⋆

[cookinguptales]

nandorisms said: I don't think it was ever going to work in the first place. Freddie was a bandaid. A last-ditch effort at trying to have a normal life outside of Nandor and his clusterfuck of a found family. But he isn't normal and hasn't been for years. Freddie was Guillermo trying to convince himself that he could move on, and Marwa was Nandor's effort to convince Guillermo to stay.

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tbh, I agree.

I think that Freddie very much was an "I don't need them, I don't need any of them" solution for Guillermo while he was in London.

Like... Guillermo was at his most loyal in s3. Like distressingly loyal sometimes. And what did that get him? At his absolute highest moment of happiness, he's shoved in a fucking box and mailed across the ocean. No one comes to save him, no one is there to comfort him. He has a moment in that box where he truly fears death, and he is despondent. He realizes that he has dedicated his entire life to people who (he believes) would not do the same for him, and he has in the process alienated his family and all the other humans who might have loved him.

Then he does live but he is utterly alone. He's away from the house and the very meager support system he'd created for himself, Nandor does not come for him, and Nadja seems to have largely abandoned him to his own devices while she did Council stuff.

So he's alone for the first time in his life, both physically and emotionally, and he meets this guy. And this guy talks to him and says nice things to him and doesn't actively abuse him, which puts him miles above most people he knows. So Freddie becomes really, really easy for Guillermo to romanticize. He's another option to the insanity his life has become, and one that is at that moment very attractive.

I think at that point, Freddie really comes to symbolize all the things Guillermo can have if he chooses to be human. This is a human man who thinks that Guillermo is normal and likes the "normal" version of Guillermo. Guillermo can go on daytime dates with this guy. He doesn't have to worry about being killed when he goes out with him. Freddie treats him like a normal human would -- which doesn't quite have the highs that Guillermo has come to expect, but not the lows, either.

Freddie is a guy that Guillermo could bring home to his family, which is another thing that Guillermo is strongly prioritizing in s4 after his experience in London. Which is one reason why it's so fascinating that even after he successfully came out to his family, it doesn't appear that he ever told them about Freddie. Was he just waiting for the right time? Or was there something subconsciously holding him back...

Because the thing is... when Guillermo finally makes it back to Staten Island, he realizes he was wrong. Nandor never meant to abandon him; if anything, Nandor believes that Guillermo abandoned him. Nandor immediately offers him this place of honor at his side, and it's something new. It's not professional and it's not romantic and Guillermo allows himself to throw himself into it because it doesn't upset the very delicate balancing act he currently has in his head.

And then... the others follow suit. Baby Colin comes to love his caretakers, and Guillermo clearly cares about him back. His sniping with Laszlo eventually calms down to a place of mutual respect, as far as childrearing goes. Nadja finally comes to trust him enough to help her manage the club (a bad choice, considering they are very similar in all the worst ways) and they have that really lovely bonding moment over family.

Guillermo, in other words, is being presented with a third option. Not the dismissive vampires from before and not the allure of normalcy, but a vampiric world in which he is ultimately respected, if not completely accepted as one of their own.

But Guillermo is loyal to a fault and he couldn't give up this fantasy of what Freddie could be to him -- someone who loved him, someone who he could be normal with, someone he wouldn't have to sacrifice his family for, someone who would finally, finally put him first. Until it becomes painfully obvious that Freddie would never be that person and Guillermo was only ever romanticizing a relationship just as toxic as all the ones he'd had previously.

And I think that that point Guillermo really had to come to terms with what he wanted and what he was capable of. I do really wish that the show had followed that character arc a little closer (Guillermo realizing that his human parts and his supernatural parts were at odds with each other and he was going to have to make some hard choices) but I think you can see that in his final choice.

Guillermo, to put a long story short, chooses a fourth option. He's given up on Freddie handing him his happiness and he's given up on Nandor handing him his happiness. He's finally chosen to throw himself bodily into the world of vampirism, giving up on his human potential and demanding full vampiric acceptance, and he's going to make that life himself.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We'll see if it works.

And god, Marwa is a whole different post. I have a lot of thoughts about the way that Nandor thinks of his wives (and Guillermo, to a lesser extent) as extensions of himself, his to control, possess, and manipulate -- but how the thing that he's really most attracted to is rebellion and the ability to think for oneself. And how that also tied in with how he saw Freddie as an extension of Guillermo and therefore something that he needed to possess as well.

lmao they're both so bad at this.

[fonulyn]

For the fic ask game, how about 5, 20, and 21?

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

usually i hang onto ideas and the hope i might one day maybe do them lol, but there's a few I ditched and am 99% never gonna write.

okay so, i had this idea for an au where the zombies never happen, Leon starts in RC as a rookie cop, and there he meets Claire and they become fast friends. at the same time, he meets an obnoxious and annoying firefighter called Chris on a lot of the scenes, and it's hate at first sight :'D well, not quite, but they get off on the wrong foot and Chris is kinda obnoxious because he recently had to come back to his hometown from the big city, bc he ran into some troubles there. he hates it in RC, he never wanted to be back, but at least he gets to be with his old crew (Jill and ...idk, other people lol). but yeah he's dealing with a lot of shit, and it makes him grumpy, and he also doesn't know how to flirt so his attempts may backfire and annoy Leon.

so anyhow after a bigger job they sleep together, kinda warm up to each other, Leon thinks he may have misjudged Chris. goes to bring Chris coffee to the fire station, then talks with someone, there's misunderstandings and Leon "finds out" (wrong) that Chris is dating Jill. Leon thinks Chris is a homewrecker and ices him out and there goes their budding relationship. Leon tries to date other people, doesn't rly like anyone, bc is still pining after Chris, and ...somehow they sort it out.

in one version Leon had a dog who loved Chris and it was awkward when they bumped into each other bc the dog wanted to run to Chris and Leon did not, lol.

i've got a jumbled outline and some dialogue snippets written but yeah this fic is never happening. if someone wants to adopt it, go for it!

20. What’s a favorite title for a fic you’ve written?

I don't even remember 90% of the titles I've given fics :'D I have this one big doc where I have all the names and I ctrl+F when I'm naming a new fic to see if I already used that name (or something very similar lol). maybe without hope, without fear, tbh. I think it's very fitting.

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

oh, multiple times. most recently I deleted like 2.5k of I crave therefore I am, because it just didn't work out like i wanted it to. the scene where they meet Ada was in a completely different setting, it was longer, and there was just... i got stuck. hated everything in my life lol. but then i deleted a big chunk and started over and I feel the fic turned out better, at least.

-

for these fic asks!

and thank you so much for asking! :D 💖

[tiramisiyu]

Since you are further into the game (for obvious reasons) than us closed beta folk, I had a question about Xia Yan: Would you say he is actually shy about romantic interactions or is only nervous about it as he doesn't feel he has much time left? (as even from the closed beta, it felt heavily hinted and then I saw your recent post so I can not say I am surprised... I do not think they will kill him, but I'm already preparing myself for future angst...)

Note: Both the ask and the answer contain Tears of Themis spoilers! (including spoilers beyond what has been revealed in beta)

Short version is, I think it’s all because of his worry about his time limit. He may have a tendency to get blushy about things, but I feel like he doesn’t hold back from displaying his affection for MC (aside from, like, actually confessing). Below the cut, I’m going to be looking at some content outside of what’s been released in beta (spoiler warning!)

I think that if the threat of Xia Yan’s limited time were not hanging over his head... he might have returned to Stellis a long while ago and... maybe even proposed to MC (seeing that the boy literally prepared a ring for her a long time ago???)

Most of the character development we see for Xia Yan, exhibited through his personal story and dates, has to do with his mentality on how he handles everything around him with the time limit hanging over his head. This is why I think that this is the key factor about how he interacts with MC (rather than being shy). Let me pull out some key timeline points regarding his development in this regard: (somewhat detailed spoiler warning)

At the beginning of 2030, he had already returned to Stellis but was actively avoiding MC over the course of several months. When MC finds out about this much later, she makes him promise to not try to hide from her like this again.

During Ch.2 of personal stories (the angstiest chapter), he was dead set on leaving MC at the very beginning, but thanks to the machinations of Yang Xiao, MC explains that she would (theoretically) rather enjoy what time they had left, even if it hurt her afterwards. At the end of Ch.2, he finally gives up on the idea of ditching her. 

In his RRG date, MC also makes him promise to not do things like: hiding away because of the dangerous nature of his work; leaving someone because he feels that they’ll be better off with someone else, etc. 

I feel that the sheer amount of focus that has been placed on this matter indicates that Xia Yan’s time limit (and on top of that, the nature of his work) is the main driving factor how he deals with MC.

He is a bit of an awkward cinnamon roll when it comes to romantic gestures, but he still doesn’t really hold back from doing them - he makes lots of amazing gifts for MC and is prone to making little statements about protecting her and being someone she can rely on.

... I think I went overboard here LOL sorry I just have too much to say when it comes to him