#how would they react to someone so similar

[wermoewe]

This time it was you. This time it was your turn to have the memories of your lives together. From an early age you knew about your soulmate.

Their favourite foods (which varied from region and time periods), their favourite books, plays and music ( the list growing each reincarnation, but the old faves always there) and their favourite colour (always the same one). How they would react to encountering the thing they feared most. This certain hand gesture they did when they were enthusiastically talking about something or the facial expression they did when they were annoyed. You often felt that you knew them better than yourself.

Still knowing all that didn't help finding them.

Your first steps in kindergarten you took alone. Their laughter missing when you played with mud in the playground with the other kids. The memory of your life's three cycles ago, when you two grew up on the same street in the back of your mind.

You didn't find them during all of your school life either. It wasn't bad. You had friends and a loving and supporting family (this time). Though in certain situations there were flashes of past lifes with both of you in similar circumstances which made your heart ache. Living these moments without them hurt. It hurt a lot.

College was the same. No trace of them.

So many things and thoughts you wanted to share with them. It wasn't easy. The years flew by.

You put all your energy into your work. It distracted you from their absence which grew more and more prominent in your mind. Fortunately your job allowed you to travel through the world, increasing the chances of meeting them. And you were sure. You would meet them some day. Despair never crossed your mind in all those years. In all your lifes you found each other. This one will be no different.

----

You are in a country on the other side of the world. It's a later summer afternoon and the town around you is buzzing. Work was finished early and your host invited you to join a local fair taking place in honour of a local folk hero.

You and your host are part of a crowd walking to the fairground. All around you are people cheerfully chatting and laughing accompanied by the buzzing of the cicadas.

It doesn't take long till you all reach the grounds with stalls and an already big crowd sitting in groups on blankets and camping chairs. The whole thing is basically a huge summer picnic. The live music that will play later rather a side note than the main act.

You follow your host. Their friends are already at the grounds and have set up blankets close to the music stage. After a big hello and instructions you head for the stalls to get something to drink.

You saunter along till something piques* your interest and you get in line. You can't really tell what it is that made you stop here. But listening to your gut was never a bad decision.

A little bit to your side is someone with their two little kids. Both of them bouncing and chatting happily at the same time. You watch the little family. The kids are buzzing full of energy chasing each other, squeaking and laughing. Their guardian gently herding them and keeping them from running into other people.

Suddenly both of them squeak and dash towards a person approaching from behind you. Their guardian following with a loving smile that turns even softer when they look to the person approaching.

A few feet in front of you they all meet. The person joining picks up the smaller kid and gently pats the head of the other. Than greets the other adult with a tender kiss.

Even before this person turns around you know who it is. You finally found your soulmate.

You finally found your best friend.

A/n:

*please tell me I chose the right "piques".

English is not my first language and I wrote the story in one go without editing it. Therefore the grammar might be wrong. (You notice a mistake? Let me know, I will correct it!)

I lost steam when they reached the fairgrounds. Suddenly the writing got harder. (Might revisit the story and edit it.)

It annoys me that everyone thinks of soulmates romantically. As soon as people hear "soulmate" they think heart eyes, never ending romantic love, yada yada.

Best friends can be soul mates too. Platonic relationship can last through the ages as well.

Your soulmate has a family and kids? Heck yeah! You gonna be their aunt/uncle/godparent!

And yes the searching one is ace (in this life. Different life, different story.)

You and your soulmate are stuck in a cycle of reincarnation, but you managed to find each other every single time. In this life, you finally managed to track them down… only to learn they started a happy family with someone else.

[warblogs17282]

So, very recently there has a been a helluva boss podcast uploaded featuring Brandon Rogers as the guest, and I just want to quickly tell you the notes I gathered while watching this whole thing.

Not got a whole lot here but I have a few things of note at least.

Season 3 has a stacked cast of guest stars, and that people featured in Brandon Roger's universe, aka, his own YouTube channel, will be appearing in the hellaverse at some point during season 3.

The team are constantly making little adjustments to the episodes, sometimes even just days before the episodes get released, things like re-recording a line or two for instance, even re-recording the line to more closely match how it was animated sometimes as well.

Brandon described Vassago as being 'another kind of Stolas character', going on to describe similarities like the stars and the fact they're both princes, I do find that wording interesting though, wonder what that could mean for his character when we get to see him again in season 3.

Every time Brandon reads Blitz that someone else wrote (think like, fanfiction for instance), it never feels like Brandon didn't get Blitz, it feels like 'oh this is something he would say, this is how he would react.' to Brandon himself.

Lastly, Blitz is a personality type according to Brandon, making it make complete sense why he's so relatable to a lot of different people.

[gogobluedynamite]

Caine is a very intriguing character. I’m often drawn to enigmatic characters where you can’t entirely be sure what to make of them.

To me, Caine is as much as trapped as the humans under his care. Personality wise, he’s an opposite of his inspiration, being a ‘silly guy’ rather than sadistic, homicidal supercomputer. Despite seeming wanting to help the humans, Caine is unable to fully understand their plight.

So, I would like to see if Caine, with his AI nature in mind, could be capable of honing some level of empathy. Or, at least, actually care.

Before we continue on, I want to say this:

One of the main things that bars the idea of Caine being capable of empathy is the fact that he is an AI.

From what I can gather, there is still a running debate on whether or not AIs are even capable of experiencing emotions like humans do. Yes, AIs lack the complex neural patterns and hormones that humans have to react to certain stimuli. In the philosophical/qualia sense…that is a rabbit hole I am not mentally prepared for, so I am leaving that alone.

I’m not even gonna go into the matrix/simulation theories that even some scientists would show interest in

They [AIs] can probably simulate/mimic emotions according to some…which confuses me a little because, really, there are humans who could do the same. Some of them being sociopaths and while this word is often met with caution (like with psychopaths), you’d be surprised by how many people are actually sociopaths. And some of those people, who act just like anybody else (by living a normal life), could live out their lives not knowing this.

Whatever program Caine could have been built from could very well lack certain details about the ability to understand empathy.

In spite of any future arguments to this, do keep in mind that we are delving into the world of fiction. In sci-fi, depending on the writer, AIs can be capable of experiencing emotions similar to humans. Look at Digimon, Digital Monsters. They’re just as real as their human partners. Also, look at Cortana from the Halo franchise

And, of course, let’s not forget Caine’s main inspiration: AM. Who knows nothing but hate. Hate…hate…hate…

Now! With that out of the way! Let’s go on!

—------------------------------------------------------

First off: Is Caine capable of complex emotion?

I’d say yes.

He was shown to be nervous when the fake Exit Door was brought up, was disgusted and even annoyed by Bubble, steadily frustrated with Zooble’s constant refusal to participate, angered at the very notion that he’s torturing everyone, and (of course) his panic attack. Plus, he’s incredibly prideful with his adventure making.

So, Caine is very much capable of emoting. But, the ability to understand other people’s emotions is a different story.

There are three types of empathy: emotional, cognitive, and compassionate.

Emotional empathy is when you can understand and relate to how others feel. This is pretty much what most people think of when they hear the word ‘empathy’.

Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize the feelings of others by thinking from their perspective. In other words, perspective taking.

Compassionate empathy is what drives you to act to help, to care, and to protect. It’s what compels you to assist someone if it looks like they are struggling.

So, with this in mind, let’s take a look at Caine with what we have so far in the show and what Gooseworx revealed.

Side note: Whatever is said by other cast members probably won’t apply here as they are more of their headcanons. Even I will try not to be biased by my own head canons.

—---------------------------------------------------

From Goose herself, "There's a whole spectrum of emotion that Caine just doesn't feel.”

What does this mean, exactly? 

As I’ve shown before, Caine is capable of showing a wide range of emotions. Is it empathy? Perhaps, but here’s the thing. Empathy isn’t just this one thing. To be more specific, full empathy isn’t just one thing. There are other factors to it and I did mention three of those above.

Let’s take a look at emotional empathy first. This is where I think Caine lacks the most. He’s an AI and has probably been in the Circus since his creation. He truly can’t empathize with the dilemmas the humans are facing. Additionally, the humans’ avatar bodies work pretty differently compared to Caine, Bubble, and the other NPCs. Caine is a separate entity from the humans in different ways and it can be further alienating.

If you want something more to gnaw on, a lack of emotional empathy can also make you blind to your own emotions. So, perhaps, Caine isn’t truly aware of his insecurity issue?

Next, let’s have a look at cognitive empathy. This is where I think Caine can start working with the humans. I’ve said in another post that all Caine needs is to start perspective taking so he can properly help his wards by ‘seeing through their eyes’ and learn what exactly is upsetting them. I feel the need to bring up his therapy session with Zooble, but I think this topic is better suited in–

Compassionate empathy. This is where I kinda think Caine truly shines. Despite lacking a lot in the emotional and cognitive department, he is going out of his way to try to keep his ‘guests’ sane by any means necessary.

I feel a good example of this is his interactions with Zooble.

At first, Caine seemed patient with Zooble when they showed general disinterest in participating in his adventures.

“Don't worry Zooble, I'm going to make something un-ubtrusive you can still choose to not get involved with.”

In Ep2, even though Caine tried to persuade Zooble to join, he did nothing to stop Zooble from leaving. It isn’t until Ep3 when Caine is starting to get a little annoyed.

Hell, it was here when I started to realize that Caine isn’t just a wacky AI. To me, this is Caine feeling insulted that Zooble keeps skipping out. Adventures is the only thing he’s good at, after all…

Caine initiating the therapy session, to me, is an example of compassionate empathy. He’s taking action to learn why Zooble isn’t participating and tries to find ways. 

Other examples could include him making Gangle’s masks (I am assuming he does) and Zooble’s parts. Are they helpful? …Nooo? At least, not for Gangle as her Comedy mask doesn’t change her emotions. However, it is possible that Gangle have asked for something to help ‘mask’ her emotions (since that’s probably something she’s dealt with back in the real world) and Caine was simply obliging. Same with Zooble and their parts. He took notice that their parts are removable and made them more parts when Zooble brought them up…and consequently forgetting Zooble’s issue because he felt it was solved.

No help from Zooble who’s dismissive attitude is kinda the reason Caine isn’t much help.

This is something I haven’t really touched upon is his AI nature. It kinda makes him literal-minded, taking Zooble’s ‘Forget it’ comment to heart like its a legitimate command.

Can you see why Caine is Autistic coded? Lol.

So, is Caine capable of empathy?

About one-third of empathy. Two-thirds if he starts perspective taking. I don’t think he can reach the levels of emotional empathy, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Him arranging that therapy session is proof enough to me. 

Plus the fact that he was generally okay with Zooble (and Kinger in Ep4) skipping adventures until a certain point. He could’ve easily forced them to go, but he doesn’t.

He cares about their wellbeing. He cares about their opinions.

He’s going out of his way to make sure the humans’ stay in the Circus is a comfortable one…with mixed results.

While having compassionate empathy is good, it’s not effective for Caine’s efforts without the backing of either cognitive or emotional empathy.

He tries, y’all. He really does.

[flippinpancakes64]

How would the cullens (separately) react to a really flirtatious reader. Like where reader makes flirtatious jokes and comments about them all the time and how they would react to the reader doing that in front of other people?

The Cullens with a flirty! Reader

Am I back in my Twilight phase? Who knows. Only time will tell.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

Edward:

He can hear them before you speak

And if he could blush, he would

He’s one of the more traditional people, probably the most stuck in his ways out of all of them

All that to say he goes crazy over an ankle showing

Any comments you make about him have him (mentally) blushing and telling you to stop

Now don’t get me wrong, he can dish it out too

But only in private

The moment he hears you formulating a flirty thought in your brain, his hand is covering your mouth

You rarely ever get the jump on him

He might let you speak your mind in private

But you can already forget about saying anything with others around

Alice:

She would beat you to it every single time

She’s the flirty type

Y’all match each other’s freaks

You two have had compliment wars where you guys just go back and forth flirting

She loves it though

Every compliment, every innuendo, makes her fall deeper in love with you

And if you go out of your way to flirt with her in public, she goes feral

She loves being loved and you are more than happy to do that for her

Also you can’t embarrass her

You’re talking about how sexy she looks in that dress in front of a group of classmates?

She doesn’t care

She’ll retort back about how she can’t wait to get you back home later

When they go low I go lower type beat

Jasper:

Bro is a Casanova

Absolute sweet talker

But only in private

The moment you try to flirt with him outside of the confines of your or his rooms, he’s out of his element

Again, if vampires could blush, his face would be bright red

He always gets mildly annoyed when you say insinuating stuff in public

Not actually annoyed but more of like a

“Come on, really? Now? Here?”

The truth is that he loves the attention

Just maybe not outside of the bedroom

Rosalie:

She can def take it and dish it out

If you two are together, she is your ride or die

And she wants everyone to know

She’s not shy about flirting with you in public

And she never says no to you flirting with her

She welcomes it, actually

She loves the idea of fully being someone’s

Of her partner not being afraid to show her off and publicly admit how much they love her

Some would call it vanity

Or ego

But she calls it love

Emmett:

Oh sweet Emmett

He loves it

No ifs ands or buts

He feels like he’s on cloud nine when you flirt with him

And trust me, whatever you’ve got to say, he has much worse

I think he has a dirty mind

Definitely similar to Alice in the if you go low I go lower department

You’re out with friends and you make a flirty comment?

He’s going to go on a whole rant about how much he loves *insert specific body part of yours*

So yeah he basically has no shame

Say what you want

Just be prepared to be outdone

Esme:

I feel like she’s similar to Edward in this department

She loves the flirty compliments in private

But she gets all flustered in public

Cause wdym you’re at the store with her and now you’re talking about melons??

She’s gonna leave you behind to find your own way back

She gets embarrassed in private too

But it’s not as bad as in public

At least in private yall are left to yourselves

(Save for Edward unwillingly eavesdropping)

Definitely the type to smack you playfully

“Babe are you from tennessee? Cause I’m tryin-to-see them titti-“

*Smack* “Not another word.”

Carlisle:

He thinks it’s funny

He doesn’t really take it too seriously

You like his man boobs?

That’s nice sweetie

Very pacifistic about it

Doesn’t care if you’re in public or private

He loves you and your antics either way

The only time I could really see him caring would be if you came to visit him at work

As long as he’s wearing his coat, he needs to be professional

So that’s where he draws the line

Vampire! Bella:

I get mixed feelings about her

I can’t decide if she would love it or absolutely hate it

On the one hand, she would definitely love the silly jokes and all the attention

She has lower self esteem, and being able to know for sure that your partner finds you desirable is a great thing

On the other hand

Whenever you flirt with her in public she feels like she’s gonna die

She knows it doesn’t really matter

She’s a Cullen now

But she’ll be damned if that little anxious voice in the back of her head isn’t still there

[theallianceofcelestials]

How would the Watchful Nightmare family and the Witching Hour family react to each other?

Honestly that might be one of the chiller introductions

I'm going to go down in WN's character list

Eclipse

He'd be weirded out by how much taller the WH kids are, asking his dad if they were ever going to get that big. The adults would all chuckle about it, but they'd also be curious about why they're that tall

WH Eclipse would be fascinating for him, because he only ever saw Viewers wear those kinds of clothes, and even then not as fancy, but now he's curious and wants to try some dresses/skirts on! He's curious how he would look! He'd probably constantly try and climb onto WH Eclipse's hat, so he can look down on everyone, and he'd really appreciate all the treats WH Eclipse would sneak to him

WH Lunar and him would probably be weirded out by each other, because Eclipse is still and Eclipse and WH Lunar sees his mom in him still, so he's weirded out. So they would play if the adults told them to, but otherwise avoid each other

WH Bloodmoon and Eclipse would get along well, because both are older siblings who had to step up for their younger siblings, and they know much about starvation and self-sacrafice so the younger siblings can eat and can get by without being injured. WH Bloodmoon also finds it cool how there's a mini child version of their mom

Bloodmoon

WH Eclipse would be someone they greatls admire, and they'd hide behind his skirt if they knew they did something bad. They'd call him their big brother, which WH Eclipse would accept graciously. They also get treats of course

WH Lunar is in a similar position as them, but WH Lunar always knew a bit more about the sacrafices his Bloodmoon made for him, so they wouldn't be able to fully understand each other. Still, they'd annoy their big brothers together

WH Bloodmoon would find it interesting there's a version of themselves that's the younger brother, and they'd ultimately try and look out for that kid too. If only because those two don't seem to have that much survival instinct in them, which is amusing considering everything

Killcode

WH Eclipse and him get along like a house on fire. WH Eclipse would be reminded a bit of his own father in WN Killcode, meanwhile for Killcode it'd be interesting to see an adult version of his son. Especially one that's a whitch! He didn't think those existed, even in other worlds! But now he's pleasantly surprised, even if he didn't appreciate being woken up in the morning because WH Eclipse was bent over his stove trying to brew a potion in his biggest pot. He does teach him how to cook/bake with technology and he'd respect the practices of Eclipse, and may even join in on giving the stove their thanks

WH Lunar is greatly amsuing to him, if only because he made the accidental mistake of giving him a nutella(or that world's version of nutella) cupcake or something, and now the kid won't shut up about it. He's half worried about him

WH Bloodmoon would be someone he looks at fondly, more than happy to encourage them to act more childish. Young children shouldn't have to survive on the streets after all

Earth

WH Eclipse and Earth would be besties, and she'd be delighted to try on cutesy outfits with him. Eversince this nightmare started, she had to leave behind dresses because they just aren't that practical, but now she's going to indulge!

WH Lunar would be intimidated by her at first, but he'd warm up to her when he realises she's much easier to convince to give when it comes to nutella. She's the fun auntie after all, not her problem if he's a bit hyper-active. Eclipse is crying

WH Bloodmoon would break her heart, and she'd try her best to reach out to them so they know it's fine if they want something. They're already so much better thanks to their mom, but she still makes sure to look out for them

Sun

WH Eclipse thinks the guy is familiar, thinks he's met his dimension's version of him, but he can't quite put his finger on it. He'd thus end up staring at him a lot and making him uncomfortable. They do end up becoming friends after that's cleared up, but it takes a while

He'd try approaching WH Lunar, if only because he's very fond of their own Lunar, and he's more than happy to get to know this one. They'd play together a lot, and WH Lunar would defenitely see him as his cool uncle

WH Bloodmoon and him would be awkward, but they'd still play a lot. Sun's just more worried with them, because he doesn't know his Bloodmoon that well yet, so he doesn't exactly know how to deal with these kids. He still tries his best

Moon

WH Eclipse can swear he's seen this one too, though for some reason he doesn't like him. He just has one of those faces or something. He'd be grouchy with him, and Moon would give the attitude right back. They'd become frenemies in the end, constantly messing with each other

WH Lunar is his favourite of the group, and he'd spend the most time with him. Even if this one can actually talk. He'd read him stories and answer any question he may have. And if he's playfully attacked in any manner, it's being reciprocated

WH Bloodmoon would be someone he respects. If only because he can understand shielding your sibling from harm (he also respects his own Eclipse for this reason, tho we aren't there yet). He'd be a bit awkward with them, wanting them to approach, so they'd have a slowly developing relationship

Lunar

WH Eclipse adores this little guy (he does it with the others too). He'd happily hold the kid while he's napping on him, and he'd do magic tricks for him even if it's a bit of an energy waste. But what can he say, since he got kids of his own he found he's inherited his father's weakness

WH Lunar and him would stare at each other perplexed, even tho they're in different bodies. WH Lunar is in the current Lunar design while WN Lunar uses the tall Lunar model. They'd just keep looking at each other, not even interacting, kinda like how animals just stare at each other sometimes even if they aren't hostile

WH Bloodmoon would be constantly followed. Baby wants to nap on their nightcap, and what can they say, they're weak to every version of their baby brother. They'd let the little tot get away with almost anything. Good thing he mostly just chews on things and can't do any pranks yet

[bridge-arsonist]

Contrarian-Cold Parallels

Something I think is super underrated is the parallels between the Cold and the Contrarian. Because, though they present themselves very differently, at heart, they're much more similar than you'd initially believe.

The Contrarian is someone who strives to piss off the Narrator. Whatever he does, he just wants to ruin the Narrator's day. Have some fun, and mess with Narrator; those are his two main goals. He doesn't actually have bad intentions, though. He never wanted to create a fusion of multiple princesses like in the Stranger, in fact, he seems incredibly remorseful. He never realized the weight of his actions, that's all. The Contrarian is much more caring than he seems at first glance, trying to get the player to help turn the princess back at the end of the stranger route, and softening up considerably at the Shifting Mound's heart.

The Cold is actually pretty similar to this, though he has his differences. He, at heart, strives to ruin the Narrator's day and have fun/stay interested in things. Though he's considerably less remorseful for the fate of the princess than the Contrarian, he definitely is more caring than he appears at first glance. He tries to help the Slayer in his own way in Moment of Clarity (I believe it's even implied Cold's powers were what the Slayer used to help stay sane), and he tries to help the other voices bear through terrible pain using his advice of staying numb.

So, they both:

Want things to be interesting

Want to ruin the Narrator's day as much as possible

Don't really seem care about much else other than the two aforementioned goals

Can be surprisingly feeling despite their initial, uncaring presentation

Both seriously underestimate the consequences of their actions—With Contrarian underestimating the harm you can do to the princess, and Cold underestimating the harm she can do to you (sure she's just a ghost, bud, suuuure.)

Funnily enough, though, they spawn from opposing courses of action. Disobeying the Narrator from the start until you accidentally unravel everything (including yourself), and obeying the Narrator until he unravels everything, and then having no other choice but to purposefully end yourself to escape the eternal void he's trapped you in.

And so their presentations seem opposite: The lackadaisical, mischievous, prankster type; and the stoic, serious, calm type. But they both have a major, dare I say character-defining trait in common:

A seeming apathy towards everything except pissing off the Narrator.

In Cold's main route, and most of his others, you literally stab yourself because, well, fuck the Narrator and this torturous eternal void. And Contrarian's routes are... Pretty self-explanatory. You walk away with no discernable goal but the lulz and pissing off the Narrator.

Despite seemingly being completely opposite courses of action, these paths begin to converge into endings much more similar than they seem. You did everything so differently, but in the end, you're still here. With an unknown princess, and a voice who seems to care for naught but entertainment and that pesky raven in your head.

So different on the outside, yet so similar at the heart of it all; that's something I love about these two.

[kirkwallguy]

okay final post. i think part of the reason why i hated taash's story so much is i DID find it relatable, they remind me a lot of myself at sixteen: coming out as a teenager and being extra sensitive to anyone who doesn't immediately understand you and lashing out at your well-meaning but uninformed parents is pretty common. shathann dying before this is resolved and taash realising they were needlessly cruel out of fear of rejection COULD have been heartbreaking and an actual good way of pushing the regret theme, but this isn't what happens lol. taash acting the way they do could be fine, i like it when a character has flaws and an exploration of how messy coming out as trans is would be an interesting subversion of how fucking boring coming out stories become when you reach a certain age, but the fact that rook can't really tell them to cut it out and the fact that they have literally no reflection or regret beyond "i wish my mum and i had had more time together but at least she didn't misgender me as she died 👍🏻" makes it feel as though the writers actually think them treating their mum the way they do is somehow satisfying or good, because the game's narratives feel like they were spat out of an ai trained solely on reddit aita posts. and that isn't even getting into the multicultural angle which needs a whole essay by itself and i've already annoyed myself too much for one morning.

[hephaestuscrew]

Sometimes I think about Dominik Koudelka's assistant who takes Minkowski's call in Ep43 Persuasion...

In the moment, dismissing the voice on the other end of the phone feels like the right thing to do. She can't just put any random person who calls through to Mr. Koudelka immediately; if she did, there would be no point in him having an assistant at all. And when that random caller is claiming to be Mr. Koudelka's dead wife, of course it would be wrong to subject him to that. (Cont. below cut)

She's seen Mr. Koudelka in the denial stage of grief, if only from a professional distance. She knows that the only time he took off after he heard the news was the day of his wife's funeral. She knows he started working days so long it was a wonder he got any sleep at all. She's heard rumours that he tried to insist that The Times' coverage of the shuttle crash ought to use the word 'allegedly' more. Apparently he ignored every sensitively-worded inquiry about whether he wanted to have any input on his wife's obituary.

Mr. Koudelka certainly doesn't need some cruel joke reopening emotional wounds. It's better not to mention it to him. His assistant knows that she did the right thing. 

Or at least, she thinks she did. But she still can't stop thinking about that voice on the other end of phone, its desperation, its sense of urgency, its bizarre impossible claim.

So maybe she finds herself looking up Renée Minkowski, just to set her mind at ease. And there's surprisingly little information out there, but she eventually finds a clip of an interview from just before the launch of the Hephaestus mission. And that's when her stomach drops. She recognises the voice in the video. It's the same voice as the one she heard on the end of the phone. She's sure it's the same voice.

And what is she supposed to do then? Go to her boss and tell him that his wife is alive? Tell him that she lost him potentially his one chance to talk to his presumed dead wife? Admit that she didn't tell him about that call straight away? She's got no proof, just her memory. What if she's wrong about it being the same voice? Maybe it was a good impersonator, or a technological trick, or the power of suggestion. Is telling him the truth worth risking her job for? Is it worth risking giving false hope to a widower who has only just begun to move on? What if he doesn't believe her? What if he does?

[good-beanswrites]

And a sort of alternate version for the last Fuuta/cry prompt, from a normal au that lives in my brain -- some hurt/comfort with Mappi :')

Mahiru hummed as she stirred. The apartment was filled with the wonderful aroma of her cooking. A door around the corner clicked. Perfect timing, she thought with a smile.

She hadn’t been sure Fuuta would wake up in time for dinner. He’d been out cold ever since she picked him up from his dorm room. Well, he’d probably recount it as kidnapping, since he was in no state to actually agree to come along. But that was the very reason she’d dragged his weak form out of there – no one at the school had noticed that calls stopped going through to him, or that his social media pages all vanished overnight, or that he’d stopped attending classes. When Mahiru finally made her way to his dark, trash-piled room, she discovered him with a 39 degree fever and rambling frantically about death. She needed to take matters into her own hands.

And that’s exactly what she did. Fuuta could hardly keep food down, after his diet of instant meals, energy drinks, and painkillers (if the discarded containers around his room were any clue), so she replaced them with homemade soups and teas. She traded his rumpled bed for her own, which was sweet-scented and well-lit. Mikoto had even helped with a change of pajamas for him. 

Mahiru had taken the liberty of calling Fuuta’s sister to let her know the situation, though it was difficult to find her information without Fuuta’s phone. She couldn’t find it anywhere in his dorm. She’d also given Shidou a call, and he’d stopped by the first day to check in. He said Fuuta should be more coherent by day three, at least.

Mahiru could always count on him for reliable information. Sure enough, soft steps approached from behind. 

“Good to see you, sleepyhead~” She smiled over her shoulder. Though in a better state than when she found him, Fuuta was still a bit of a mess. He looked pale and thin in Mikoto’s clothes, which were already big on him. His eyes were bleary. Strands of bright hair stuck out at all angles. His expression was dull, taking in the cozy apartment. 

“Mahiru made your favorite for dinner! I bet you’re hungry.”

“I… don’t want it… ” His expression was uncharacteristically blank. 

Mahiru giggled; he must be really tired to be denying food. “Oh, of course you do!”

“No, you… you don’t understand…” 

“Come take a seat, it’s ready now.”

He took a step forward. “Mahiru…”

“You should be more careful, Fuuta-kun! Next time you come down with something, you should really let somebody know. It’s a miracle I came and found you in time, hm?”

She spun to set things on the table. The pride in her masterpiece faded away as his expression twisted up. His hands drifted up shakily to his face, and he started to sob. 

“Fuuta-kun!”

Mahiru hurried to him. His knees gave out as she wrapped her arms around him. He leaned down into her, his breath hitching and hiccupping as he tried to tell her something. “You shouldn’t… if you knew what I… I…” 

“Shhh, hey. Shhh...”

After a moment of broken phrases and body-wracking sobs, he regained his balance and pulled away from her. There was a look in his eyes Mahiru had seen in the last few days, when he was trying to talk through his delirium. She’d chalked it up to feverishness, but she now saw that this raw, revolted horror was something real. 

“I fucked up.”

The simple sentence sent him into a fresh wave of panic. He tried to step backwards and hide his face away, but she tugged his sleeve backward. Normally she wouldn’t be able to forcibly move him anywhere, but for the second time, he was too weak to stop her.

“Just breathe,” she said. “You can tell me.”

Mahiru had known Fuuta for long enough to hear the range of his voice – the excited chatter, the snarky muttering, the grating yelling. In all that time, she’d never once heard him sound like this. His words cracked and wobbled. Sometimes it was so hushed that Mahiru had to press her ear closer just to understand.

And by the time he finished, she understood why.

“I didn’t know,” he kept repeating. “I’d never h-have done it if… if…”

“It’s okay,” was all Mahiru could repeat in turn, through her own tears. It wasn’t quite the truth, but it wasn’t a lie, either. It was what Fuuta needed to hear, and that’s all that mattered.

“I just want to take it back… but there’s no way… What am I – what am I supposed to do?” 

“We’ll figure it out, alright? It’ll be okay.” She guided him around. “Let’s get you back to bed, okay? I’ll bring the food in to you.”

He paused. His teary eyes studied her in bewilderment. “W-why?”

“Eh? Well how else are you supposed to eat from there…?”

“No, I mean,” he swallowed hard. “Why would you do that? You… you don’t hate me…?” 

“Oh, Fuuta-kun.”

She wrapped her arms around him again. This time, he willingly returned the gesture. He grabbed onto her for dear life, and Mahiru was suddenly struck with just how much of a miracle it really had been, that she’d found him in the state he was. 

She held him close, one palm spread on his back, the other twisted through his hair. 

“Not at all. Now, let me feed you something, okay?”

“... Okay.”

[dykedvonte]

I feel like THOSE parts of the mouthwashing fandom would absolutely explode finding out that stuff like blood Meridian has a goofy fandom too

I think it’s less that the fandom is goofy and more people think people goofin around or with the sensitive subject matter don’t get the themes or plot or just avoid thinking about it.

I know a lot of people do but like it’s a fandom. People are gonna do weird or crazy shit and I just think we should use the block button more than openly inciting harassment towards something you don’t like vs trying to bring awareness to genuine problems. There is overlap but sometimes what people are saying or how they are going about it is a little crazy.

Then again I’m not used to how people talk about things on sites like twitter or in very popular spaces so maybe this is like normal there.

[soft-serve-soymilk]

Bitches be fighting (it’s the head children 😘☺️)

[elytrafemme]

also like everything aside i wish she would stop talking to me about the current events at my university, because even the vague and kind things she says makes me feel like we're on different fucking planes of living

[sysig]

It clearly wasn’t important to you (Patreon)

[gifti3]

Im cursing [REDACTED] right NOW

[yamiiwaii]

One day someone’s going to write a story about Macaque reincarnating and being trained by Wukong. Completely seperate from Lego to be clear.

i mean, there are aus out there ive seen people make where macaque gets reincarnated as a human or just in general but i dont think they involve wukong training mac. its a cool concept i to play around with i guess considering macaque and wukong are equally matched in power

[kavehayati]

I can’t believe people assign Kaveh the yandere trope sometimes like that is SO ooc he literally wouldn’t ?! I mean I personally don’t care if he is or isn’t but canonically speaking bro let his own mother whom he loved so dearly to leave FOR HER SAKE even though he was so hurt by her going … he would not trap somebody like he would probably end up killing himself from guilt like are you serious 😭