#i know this is such a weirdly specific au to do

[d-lanx]

New WWE AU Idea: Newscaster AU

Ok, I need to put this down somewhere before it drives me insane. It's a stupidly niche AU idea but it's taking up so much brain power for me right now for some reason. It's a journalist AU where the WWE is a TV news channel. Details below the cut.

But basically I've been thinking about all the people who've been running the PLE pre & post shows & hosting PLEs this year a lot. And with the whole news-style interviews and sitting around on sets that often look like news studios, what if they were all actual reporters in a news channel? It's a bit of a weird one I know, but it's been rolling around in my head all weekend.

Btw I have no idea if USA news channels call their emplyees the same sort of titles as we have in the UK so excuse me if the job titles are a bit scuffed. But basically here's all the roles they have, why I chose those roles for them (in brackets), and what they get up to as part of this AU news channel:

Michael Cole: Senior Newsreader- (Because of his commentary work and journalism background). Out of all the people currently regularly on TV, he's been there the longest and is highly respected. Always trusted to keep a level head in times where the world feels like it's gone to hell.

Corey Graves: Business Correspondent- (Because he has a degree in marketing). Feel like he'd do a segment kinda like "The Martin Lewis Money Show" we have in the UK, where he goes through government changes to finance-related stuff, explains it and how it'll affect the average person, and then answers questions from a live studio audience and gives them advice.

Wade Barrett: Environmental Correspondent- (Because he has a degree in marine biology). I get the vibe his favourite animals are tiny and obscure things like a specific type of sea pickle on the verge of extinction or something and he defends them aggressively to get people to help save the species. Has memorised his evidence for global warming and can reel it off with ease, but is sick of having to do it so much cos people STILL DON'T BELIEVE IN IT????????

Pat McAfee: Sports Correspondent- (Do I even need to explain why? He's a mad man and I can't imagine him doing anything else, even out of a whole cast of people on a sports show like WWE). Feel like most people try to keep somewhat calm and professional on a news show, but he's just himself the whole way through, making him one of the most popular reporters on the whole channel because people want to see his OTT reactions to certain events. Feel like he'd also probably be in charge of the news station's radio show, too, what with how he has the Pat McAfee Show in real life.

Big E Langston: Political Correspondent- (He just gives me that vibe being all analytical about wrestling feuds). He's just as tired with politicians' nonsense as we all are, to the point it's hard to hide his dissappointment when they say something stupid and he has to remain unbiased. Never lets politicians get away with evasive answers when he interviews them, but smiles the whole time as he makes them wish they were never born.

CM Punk: War Correspondent- (The man is always scrapping for the love of the game, so of course he'd be in the centre of a war). He's had bombs dropped on his head more times than he can count and regularly goes for runs as a workout to make sure he's still fit enough to run for his life when he's in active warzones. Can tell you all about the complex international relations and battle strategies but secretly has a morbid interest in death & gore which is what actually got him into the job. Once got shot on live television, showed off the wound on camera and finished his broadcast before getting medical treatment. Was only mildly miffed about nearly dying, mostly excited by the whole experience.

Jackie Redmond: Justice Correspondent- (Basically her analyst role in WWE gives me the vibe of someone discussing a crime case). Can tell you all about how 17 people have been skinned alive and cannibalised in graphic detail so casually as if she's talking about the weather. At this point in her career, pretty much nothing can phase her. So if something actually manages to leave her speechless, you know it's bad.

Cathy Kelley: General Reporter- (Basically cos it's just what she's doing in WWE). Going wherever she needs to be to interview people and get to the bottom of a story. Has interviewed some really dangerous people that are twice her size all in the name of finding a good story and everyone's just like "for the love of god please think about ur own safety for once."

The Miz: Media Correspondent- (Cos of his reality TV background and generally over the top vibes). He'd be all over red carpet events and he's definitely still hoping to use his media journalism as some leverage to get into show-business himself. Celebs see him at events and pray they haven't been spotted so they don't have to talk to him, cos he can be a lot. But this little bastard has the eyes of a hawk and will hunt them down. Especially if he's persoanlly a big fan of them and their work.

R-Truth: Weatherman- (Cos he's a ray of sunshine :) ) Just imagine the batshit insanity of him telling people about a storm or how nice the weather's gonna be or something (I'm thinking like a Bob Hale skit on the original Horrible Histories, that kind of madness).

Sheamus: Tech Correspondent- (Cos he's a former IT technician so he can be all brainy). Constantly treated like IT support rather than a journalist and is sick of having to switch on servers people promised were already on, and listening to people with no idea what they're talking about prattle on about the benefits of AI. But at least he gets to talk about flying cars and robot dogs all day and muck about with new tech for a living.

Triple H: Editor In Chief- (Basically the top role in journalism to match with his current role in real life). Running things is like trying to herd cats, but hey, he can put on a pretty damn good show. Trying desperately to move on from the scandals of the days when the previous editor-in-chief was in charge of things.

Obviously some of them wouldn't be able to use their ring names in those environments. Plus I'm probably forgetting some people who should be in this AU that have been involved in pre/post shows, hosting, and commentary, but my brain's a bit too frazzled to go thru all the PLEs right now.

But like... come on... look at them and just imagine for a second... do you see the vision???? Or have I finally gone a bit mad??

LIKE JUST LOOK AT THEM!!

Also it gives me even more reasons to think about punk in suits <3

Also also if he were a war correspondent and had to go out into dangerous places, they'd make him wear gear which means more of this. vvv

Also CM Punk & Big E Langston are the two people I'm blaming for putting this AU in my head just so you know. Cos look at them!!

But also since punkintyre died, I've been reliving my sheamus/punk shipping days and just imagine sheamus waiting for his husband to come back from reporting in an active warzone and being worried for his safety (especially if he's been hurt before [whump time?]). And then all the excitement and relief when he gets back and giving each other special attention cos they were both so stressed and now they're just so happy to see each other again.

Also imagine Punk being inept with technology and needing help from tech savvy husband who's so proud that punk's finally learnt how to attach a file in an email. Punk probably sends Sheamus facebook minions memes and Sheamus despairs.

And then Punk excitedley explains all about battle strategies and war history and Sheamus excitedley explains back about the complexities of designing a self driving car or some shit. They're both just being massive nerds together. Even better when their interests overlap, like the design of tanks or something. Feel like they'd be talking for hours and everyone is like "guys come on, we have a show to run" but they're too busy with their hyperfixations (autistic sheapunk anyone? [is that what the ship name is??]).

Just think of the shipping potential!!

And this whole countdown show also was major inspo cos to me it just looks so much like a news show.

And these three just give me the vibe that E (being a political correspondent) would obviously be doing a show for the elections. And since law and war are both very close to politics, he'd get punk and jackie in to keep him company and the three would do an overnight show reporting on election results as they come in, chatting shit the entire time.

Btw I still don't know what this all means for the other WWE wrestlers. Defeats the point of using commentators and hosts if I also have all the wrestlers also being journalists. So maybe they can be the people featured in the news. All having "normal" jobs like politicians and military and scientists and shit. And these guys can be reporting on their nonsense and bullying them in interviews.

I feel like I could add more people to it, like having ring announcers as general news readers, and Shawn Michaels, Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis as editors or something. And I'm probably forgetting other people who hosted PLEs or were presenters on pre/post shows, and other commentators. So there'll be plenty more that could be added.

Sorry about the info dump but I needed to put this somewhere. I'm not the only one seeing the vision on this am I????

[antisocialxconstruct]

.

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

listening to my Tideturners playlist was a mistake because I am having SO many feelings about the Sidewinder again.

she's not just any AU of Mai Trin; she's a version who's endured the absolute worst case scenario and lives every day in fear of losing everything all over again. but her story flips the entire narrative of Guild Wars 2 on its head; it's all a matter of perspective, and hers comes from an entirely different angle than we're used to.

what is a monster? as they say, to a bird, a cat is a monster.

the Sidewinder's monster is the Commander.

the first Commander she ever met was a tyrant who set the world on fire just to watch it burn. nothing could stop his rampage until there was nothing left to destroy. he made Scarlet Briar's war look like a playground scuffle; in fact, he did it by killing her and seizing her army to do it with. the Sidewinder doesn't have to wonder what a rogue Commander is capable of at their worst. she KNOWS.

and she also knows that if even a single one knew about her outpost, about her, about her people, and decided they were a threat to get rid of, there's absolutely nothing she could do to stop them. the most she could hope to do is be enough of a speed bump that the rest of the Turnabout can escape and make her sacrifice worthwhile.

she's spent decades building up a new world, a new society, and a new identity-- and in a split second a single person could bring it all crashing down. that absolutely terrifies her. it's all so fragile.

a major part of the Sidewinder's personal arc has to do with overcoming that dread to find common ground. because, truth-be-told, much as she'd insist otherwise? she's not so different from the Commander herself. she's fought long and hard to become someone worthy of the trust and respect that so many refugees from so many, many different worlds have placed on her. it's not enough to have it, she wants to DESERVE it. and even if she'd claim she's not there yet, most would agree she's succeeded. she's the beating heart of the Turnabout; none of it would exist without her. she's given all of them the hope that the heroes of their own worlds couldn't.

Mai Trin never wanted to be a leader or a hero or a politician. but as the Sidewinder, she's become all three out of necessity. she had no other choice. no one else was left alive to do it in her place.

so she puts on her mask, and she steps onto the stage, and she talks big, but deep down she knows that if the worst case scenario came back, there was nothing she could do to protect them, not on her own. the only thing that might stand a chance is another Commander, and is she really prepared to take a risk like that? is she willing to put it all on the line to fight for a future without fear?

and even if they are the right choice, even if they do agree to help in spite of it all... can she put one of the last good people at risk, knowing just what horrors they'd be up against? facing someone who's killed others like them a hundred times over, allowing them no rest even in death as their shambling corpses are conscripted into his undead army? how can she, in good conscience, expect anyone to face something so horrific with stakes as high as THAT? which is worse; that they turn against her, or that they trust her and die, adding another force of nature to their enemies' ranks? the Sidewinder doesn't know the answer to that question, if there is one.

there's so much weight on every choice she must make, and the consequences of every wrong move are unfathomable. she might not be the Commander, but that, at least, is one thing they have in common. the decisions they make will decide who lives and who dies.

all the Sidewinder can hope is that when she finally does make that leap of faith, she'll be ready to handle whatever results lay in store.

[halflifebutawesome]

BEHOLD! FOR THE SECOND TIME, THE GBVRAI LINEUP! now with another weird old dude!

waves my hands around vaguely I wanted to make a nicer looking lineup and more coherent post actually explaining the au. I've now made 2 gbvrai lineups but never a plain old hlvrai lineup. Whatever.

There's a complete AU explanation and individual character profiles (?) under the cut! check it out! ASK ME ABOUT IT !!! SMILES!!!!!

The basic gist of this au is that the science team, are a group of ghost hunting paranormal researchers. The Ghostbusters. You mightve heard of them. This isn't a 1 for 1 au where certain characters take the role of others, it's more just. What if the science team existed in the Ghostbusters universe. They're just the Ghostbusters now.

On a particularly odd case, they bust a ghost that seems... off. It's sentient, it's talking back, and it's psychokinetic energy is off the charts.

Thinking nothing of it, they return to the firehouse and prep the trap for containment disposal. Gordon's the new guy, so he's the unlucky dude who's been assigned the job of disposing of the traps. All the while the ghost will NOT shut up. It's weirdly powerful and seems mostly unbothered. It's name is Benry, and he's a little freak.

the ghost containment unit has been unstable for a while, overfilled with ghosts, but they have to dispose of Benry somehow, so they go ahead with it.

In this AU I'm kind of combining the Resonance Cascade with the Manhattan Crossrip (the Manhattan crossrip is the big scary ghost event that happens at the end of GB1). Basically what happens is that Benrys weirdly powerful ghostly energy, combined with an unstable ghost containment unit, tears a big rip in the fabric between the ghost realm and ours, letting all sorts of ghouls and specters free.

Imagine the Resonance Cascade, with all the aliens getting out and ravaging Black Mesa, but it's a bunch of ghosts getting out and ravaging New York. Gordon and the rest of the team have to fight their way through the ghost filled streets of NYC, and close the crossrip.

Heres some closeups and more individual info/thoughts for the gang!!

GORDON FREEMAN! The new guy. Again, this is less a direct 1 for 1 swap au kind of deal, and more just putting these guys in situations. Gordon's HEV suit, tho, I wanna talk about.

In Ghostbusters canon, they DO have a weird fucked up hazard suit. It first appears in the TRGB episode "Xmas Marks The Spot", where Egon uses it to travel into the ghost realm. I know it makes another appearance in the comics, in a way that's more HEV-esque, but I never finished the comics so idk. It's real tho.

I imagine here that the ghost containment unit is more like the reactor in half life, where it's hazardous to be around for too long, probably bcos of like. I don't know. Concentrated psychokinetic energy. Sure. In any case he needs to wear the HEV to use the containment unit.

My design here is taking the chest piece, helmet, gloves and belts and modifying them to look a little more HEV-esque.

Bennyyyy. Benrey benry beny. He's a ghost, as far as they can tell. It would be more appropriate to call him an entity of sorts.

He's not a ghost simply for the fact that he wasn't ever human. He wasn't ever a living person that died. He's some pure, really powerful, concentrate entity/being that leaked through from the ghost realm. He looks like. A guy, for the most part, but he's a mimic. Something pretending to be human. He's been around for a while, and has settled into this form. He's mostly corporeal, but can phase in and out as he pleases (noclipping) Switching from corporeal/incorporeal when it's funny.

He met Tommy when they were both a lot younger, Benry being fresh out of the ghost realm, and have been bestfriends ever since. ☝️ my au my weirdly specific tommybenny dynamic. Dw about it

TOMMY & SUNKIST!!!! Tommy has grown up around ghosts his whole life, and is pretty in-tune with them. This is proven with his bond to Sunkist, who's decidedly not a real dog, and his longtime friendship with Benry.

I gave him the goggles cos. Tommy's my fave and Ray's my fave and I think they're fun. Also cos if it WAS a 1 to 1 swap I would def have Tommy as Ray. Anyway. He's been a part of the Ghostbusters since he was little, like I said he grew up with them and around them. He's really knowledgeable about ghost types and physics. He knows all the ghost rules.

Sunkist isn't like. His dead childhood dog cos that seems. Kind of sad. Instead she's kind of a church Grimm or hell hound. An entity taking the form of a big huge dog that Tommy befriended when he was a kid, and has now kind of bonded to him. She's pretty corporeal as far as ghosts go, and can interact w the physical environment pretty well.

DARNOLD ^^ my friend darnold. Darnolds not usually super involved in the actual ghostbusting, and prefers to stay behind. He's more of the research and tech kind of guy, he studies the readings and takes measurements.

He's interested in psychokinetic energy and ghost residue and all sorts of like. Ghost sciences. Why some people stay behind, why some people just seem to die and disappear, the properties of the ghost realm and the ghosts themselves. Corporeality and degradation of personhood the longer someone's been a ghost.

When the Resonance Crossrip happens, he opts to stay behind and observe the effects of the insane amounts of ghost energy on the corporeal world.

Hes also a transfer over from the ghost engineers! That's a fun thing for me. I love the ghost engineers idc frozen empire gave me everything I wanted

FORZEN. Forzen is... the same thing as Benry. A mimic, something taking the form of a normal ghost to blend in or hide in plain sight.

He came through with the Resonance Crossrip, but obviously like. He knew Benry before (we WERE bestfriends..). He's not as powerful, which is why he wasn't able to sneak through when Benry did. He's also not super corporeal. He can only interact with the physical world if he's exerting a LOT of energy. Prone to flickering in and out of vision.

Upon coming thru the Crossrip, he kind of just. Decided to hang around the firehouse. Didn't wanna go much further, for fear of being ghostbusted and sent back into the containment unit. The source is the last place they'd look for him!

Darnold, who's holed up in the firehouse, is more than delighted to meet a ghost who's sentient and willing to cooperate to do some tests and experimentation to get never before documented results. They bond and they're cutesit. ☝️ DARZEN WIN. hi splash 👋

Dr Coomer and Dr Bubby are two of the three original founders of the Ghostbusters! They've been around for a looooong time. They're also married obviously but that's like a given.

They helped found the Ghostbusters, having met in college while both were studying parapsychology. I imagine their like. Parapsychology -> Ghostbusters pipeline was very in line with how GB1 starts, where they used to work in an academic environment before getting kicked out and founding the GB.

They're also both. Psychic. Because frozen empire has once again given me everything. Coomers got some like. Idk something that lines up with his self awareness in HLVRAI, maybe prophecy? Vauge visions of the future? Bubby has pyrokinesis. Duh.

and... Mr. Coolatta..... Tommy's dad...he was one of the founders along w Coomer and Bubby and at some point he. Died. And is now a reeeally really powerful ghost. maybe from the exposure to ghost energy or smth?

Now hes got gman powers and just kinda hangs around. Pretty corporeal and solid and. Present. For lack of a better word. But he IS a dead guy. Used to be human.

This is why Tommy kind of grew up around ghosts and knows alot about them :) Mr Coolatta is pretty benevolent, and mostly just kind of spooky and fucked up.

And that's. About it? I believe?? PLEAAASE ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS I have so many thoughts. I've been working on this for like 2 months now. Lol.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

enamored with the bill possessing Ford's body au. If you would feel up to it, do you have more tidbits? :3

I’m happy to see so many people enjoying it!! I have a lot of additional tidbits so I’ll just stick to giving a few for now:

— Dipper finds out Ford is the author a lot earlier, for the obvious reasons of Bill being present in Ford’s body. He doesn’t put the pieces together right away, only because initially, he hates Bill, disappointed that the ‘scientist’ his parents spoke about that he wanted to impress turned out to be nothing like what he had hoped, ignoring and dismissing him instead, even taking a liking to Mabel before him! He has this idealised version of the author in his head, someone who he relates to and finds comfort in, and he doesn’t want to taint that vision by suspecting it may be someone who he hates. He may be a mystery lover but he is still a twelve year old with a grudge.

It’s only after he and Bill start getting along that he brings it up, and Bill doesn’t think to lie. He’s just that surprised Dipper found it. He does lie about not remembering things though to avoid Dipper’s questions about the paranoia and why he hid it — as on the spot kind of thing, and that becomes Dipper’s mystery fixation of the summer.

— Stan and Bill have various nicknames for each other, with Bill’s main one for Stan being ‘Fez’, and Stan’s main one for Bill being ‘Goldie’.

— Speaking of them, when it comes to their relationship, they are genuinely friends after thirty years of living together, but what that friendship entails is where it gets complicated and I don’t think I can summarise here. I’d say it can best be described as two people who have come to understand each other very deeply, and are similar in a thousand ways, but they would rather throw themselves off a cliff than acknowledge or talk about that. There’s also the lingering anger and resentment on Stan’s end, not for taking Ford’s body, he knows Bill doesn’t want to be stuck here either, but for what he did to Ford before that, how he hurt him. He, much to his confusion, does care about Bill, and Bill, much to his own confusion as well, does care about Stan back, but their friendship is built on something awful, and that doesn’t just go away.

— On a sillier note, it was in 1990 that Stan realised Bill was his only friend and that he sort of enjoyed his company, and that truly was a horrifying moment. On the other end Bill finally admits to some degree he might care for Stan in 1994, which happens while both of them are drunk, and Bill likes to claim it didn’t happen. The image below also probably summarises the lighter aspect of their dynamic better than I could word it here:

— Bill has taxidermy as a hobby and actually gives Dipper and Mabel a few lessons in it, creating some displays for the shack. Weirdly good bonding activity.

— Very specific ‘episode’ idea in my mind where Stan and Bill get framed by Faires that Bill angered a thousand years ago for a crime they didn’t commit, and Dipper and Mabel have to figure out how to prove their innocence, finding more about their Grunkles along the way, and also having to beat a fairy in a game of poker.

— Mabel at some point comes to the conclusion her “Grunkle Ford” had a bad breakup that he still hasn’t gotten over and makes it her goal to help him through it. This is part of her summer mission. It comes up frequently. It’s ridiculous I know but what is Gravity Falls without a generous amount of both angst and utter silliness.

I’ll probably leave it at that for now! But if you’d want more or have any specific questions, I shall do my best. I’m still figuring out some stuff too so input will be helpful.

[kayit-z]

I was listening to enchanted anddd...

-> English/spanish translation in alt. The english version of the au is at the end

✧ Little in another life/universe au

Roier, Quackity y Missa tienen una banda llamada "Bastardos con Semen", usualmente se presentan en clubs, cafés y bares. Una noche, tocaron en el Club Qsmp, donde phil y missa se conocieron después del show.

~ Una pequeña voz en sus cabezas diciendo "¿nos hemos conocido?" ~

Pasaron el resto de la noche juntos, missa contando historias que le pasaron o escuchó, mientras phil estaba atento a lo que decía. El músico era divertido, en una forma rara y carismática, a veces susurraba y hablaba muy rápido (como si no quisiera que phil lo escuchara) o hacia unos sonidos chistosos que hacían reír al rubio.

Missa... missa trataba de no sonrojarse cada minuto, phil era guapo, dulce y lo hacía sentir protegido. Sabía que si un monstruo lo estuviera atacando, phil dejaría todo por ir a rescatarlo.

~ Es como si ya hubiera pasado. . . ~

Después de un año, missa sigue pensando en esa noche. ¿Será que phil lo recuerda... donde sea que esté? Talvez se vuelvan a conocer en otra vida ¿quién sabe? Tal vez terminen cuidando a dos niños huevitos, un niño llamado chayanne y una niña llamada talullah, estén en una isla dominada por un oso blanco llamado cucurucho y no pueden escapar. . . Bueno eso es algo -demasiado- específico.

Sea como sea, missa se pregunta si phil sabe lo encantado que está de haberlo conocido.

• English version

Roier, Quackity and Missa formed a band called 'Bastardos con Semen' (if you know you know xd) they usually perform at clubs, cafés and bars. One night, they played at Qsmp Club, where phil and missa met after the show.

~ A little voice in the back of their minds saying "have we met?" ~

They spent the rest of the night together, missa telling histories while phil listened attentively. The musician was weirdly funny, in a charming way, sometimes he whispered and talk quickly (as if he didn't want phil to listen) or he made this little squishy sounds that made the blonde laugh.

Missa... missa was certainly fighting not to blush every minute, phil was handsome, sweet and made him feel protected. He was sure that if he ever gets attacked by a monster, phil would throw away everything to go and save him.

~ As if that already happened. . . ~

After 1 year missa still thinks about that night. He wonders if phil remembers... wherever he is. Maybe in another life they'll met, who knows? Maybe they'd raise two little egg kids, a boy named chayanne and a girl named tallulah, in a island they cannot escape and ruled by a white bear called cucurucho. . . well that's kinda -really- specific

Either way, missa wonders if phil knows how enchanted he was to meet him.

[hanglimi]

waltzes and bets - hanni

TAGS - hanni x f! reader, just fluff, enemies to lovers, college!au

WORDCOUNT - 1.9k

WARNINGS - none that i know of?

A/N - this is written weirdly because i'm inconsistent and wrote this over the course of like, a full month, but i still hope you enjoy. also the ending is rushed i'm so sorry.

hanni never thought her college life would be so dreadful.

that was a lie.

she knew that the workload would be painful, and the sleepless nights would definitely take a toll on her mental health, but she never knew that specifically, the roommate portion of her college life would be so dreadful.

the door to their dorm slammed shut as her roommate decided to finally come in for the night. it had been at least three days since you had shown up to their dorm at all, and hanni was incredibly surprised to see you enter. you were definitely drunk–she could tell by the way your speech was slurred, and the overall appearance of your clothes–but it was still progress.

“are you drunk?"

you simply ignored her as you approached your room to sleep. considering it was 2 AM, she could understand your tiredness, but she still didn’t appreciate the silent response.

“bro!” she shouted, already infuriated with you despite it being 10 seconds of interaction in the past couple of days.

you turned to face her, and she didn’t realise how close you actually were to her face until she could smell the booze off your breath, and study each intricate detail of your eyes. flustered, she pushed you down onto the couch, and stood with her hands on her hips, keeping her distance from your sleepy gaze.

“do you ever stop to think about how I feel when you come here drunk, and after such a long time of not even being here at all?” hanni fumed, and she felt her face getting warmer at the thought of your inconsideration. “like, just think about it. you waltz in here at 2 AM, ignore my question, and-”

during her heated rant–practically monologue–you had knocked out on the couch, even going as far as snoring, quite loudly. she groaned, and almost slapped you awake, but decided against it. hanni quickly packed up her laptop she was using for studying, and eyed your form as she slowly walked towards her room. sure, she hated you, but wouldn’t it be the good thing to make sure you were comfortable as you slept?

she was just being nice, right? a nice, kind roommate, who deserved a better one.

you groaned as you opened your eyes, your head already starting to hurt from the insane amount of alcohol you had taken the night before. you felt like shit, and unfortunately, it didn’t seem like you had woken up in yunjin's dorm like you had been doing the past few days, but instead at the actual dorm you were currently paying to live in.

your back cracked as you lifted your body up from the couch. you had fallen asleep on it last night after being lectured by hanni–something to do with waltzes, but you never really knew nor cared for what she complained about half the time anyways.

surprisingly, the back of your head didn’t seem to hurt as much as it usually did when you fell asleep on couches, and your body was warm compared to the temperature inside of the room. that’s when you noticed the pillow you had been laying on, and your blanket splayed across your body, half of it on the floor. obviously you weren’t drunk enough to forget to sleep comfortably, which was a win in your book.

you got up from the couch, glad that today was a saturday and you had no plans to attend with friends. the dorm was obviously empty, only the rare creak of the floorboards as you paced around, and you let out a content sigh. today was going to be your dedicated relaxation day–a day to destress before exam season officially started next week.

only an hour into your “spa day” and immediately after your shower you already heard a knock on the door. deciding to ignore it, you continued to sing along to your music as you got into comfortable clothes, hoping it was just a student forgetting their dorm room. unfortunately, your bliss didn’t last long as the person knocked again, quite forcefully this time.

“i’m coming!” you shouted, groaning as you slipped on a shirt and struggled to step into your pants while walking towards the front door.

you opened the door to an angry hanni, crossing her arms, and who you assumed to be her friend, minji–the girl she was constantly on a call with–stood behind her.

“what the hell took you so long?” your roommate grunted as she peered into the dorm, her face blanching at the mess you left on the floor. hanni was sure she had told you earlier this week to clean up the place because she had a friend coming over, and you couldn't even do that. she shouldn’t have bothered to trust you. she groaned and pushed herself through you to walk inside, motioning to minji to give her one second as she closed the door and stood in front of you.

“i told you I had someone coming over today and you still left this place a mess?” hanni’s voice got louder while she spoke, and you swore you saw smoke coming from her ears.

“i had better things to do,” you said simply, and grinned at her shocked face. she only got angrier at that. she raised her fist and hit your shoulder repeatedly, intending to bruise it, but you only laughed it off, letting her have her moment before pushing her backwards and creating space between the two of you again, slightly missing the warmth of her presence.

“i’m sure minji won’t even mind,” you drawled, walking towards the couch and sitting down, pulling out your phone, “it’s not like I threw up on the ground or something. there’s just some dishes in the sink and some clothes on the floor.” you finished, but it seemed as though she had already given up and gone to open the door to let her friend in.

“sorry about the mess, minji,” she said, venom still in her voice. “we’ll just hang out in my room today.”

you don’t know why, but your heart felt disappointed at the sight of her back turned, leaving you to sit alone in the living room. you’d have to check in with your doctor soon.

two days had passed since the “clean up” incident–as hanni liked to call it– and she was still talking to her friends about it. she laid on her bed, propping her phone up to make sure the other 4 on the facetime could see her properly as she ranted.

“unnie!” hyein whined, accidentally dropping her phone on her face in the process. “you’ve been talking about y/n for two days straight!” she said, picking her phone back up and rubbing her face up and down.

“hyein! are you okay?” dani asked worriedly, as if she could reach through the screen to comfort her.

hyein pushed her camera backwards to fit her hand into the frame, showcasing a thumbs up to the older girl.

“are you mad because she didn’t clean up, or because she didn’t listen to you?” haerin asked, staring intensely at her camera.

“w-what?” hanni sputtered, her cheeks burning red at the question. “obviously the former!”

minji raised her eyebrows, and hanni wished it was possible to slap her through the screen.

“okay,” she dragged out the word, “maybe it was a bit of both.” the chaotic sound of four people speaking at the same time erupted from hanni's phone, and she quickly lowered her volume, considering the walls of the dorm were thin.

“guys, guys!” she yelled, trying to get the girls to calm down. “it’s not even about that, it's about the principle-”

“that's what they always say, but then in a couple of days i’ll see you guys kissing or something.”

“minji!”

-

the thing minji said stayed in hanni’s mind for longer than she would’ve liked, and now she couldn’t go a day without thinking about how it’d feel to kiss you. she would be lying if she said she wasn’t slightly attracted to you, but it definitely wasn’t as big as her friends were making it. unfortunately, it wasn’t helping that you seemed to be getting nicer over the course of the last couple of weeks. actually listening to her when she asked you to do something, making her favourite dessert while claiming you made “extras”, and things like coming in early and actually sleeping in the dorm.

“I hate changing these-” hanni grunted, the step stool underneath her wobbling slightly, “stupid batteries.” she glared up at the ceiling. “i can never reach the smoke alarm.”

“did it die?” you asked, yelling from your room.

“what do you think i'm changing the batteries for?” she deadpanned.

“i’m going to ignore what you said,” you made a face at her as you walked out of your room, obviously having just woken up from a nap. “just get down, i’ll do it.”

you walked up behind her, and held her waist, guiding her down the stool, reaching your hand out for the screwdriver and batteries. she blushed at the contact and coughed, handing them to you, her head moving upwards to watch you replace the device.

“sometimes i forget how short you really are,” you giggled as you stepped down from the stool, placing the tools in your hands on the kitchen counter.

“shut up,” she replied. her voice was still caught in her throat, the ghost of your hands still on her body.

you gave her a weird look at the sound of her voice before walking towards the fridge, opening it up and glancing over the limited options college students could afford. while you looked for something to eat, hanni stood still, watching your every move, thoughts invading her head.

you turned around to look at her, and cocked your head, your heart speeding up at the intense gaze she was staring at you with. it had taken you a while to realise you had slowly developed a crush on your roommate, and it took you an even longer time to confide about it with your friends. obviously they had teased you and laughed at you the first couple of days, but they had eventually decided to help you in the end–giving you tips on how to improve the strained friendship (if that's what you could call it) between you and the girl, and maybe get her to like you.

“why are you looking at me like that?” your voice came out quiet, and breathy, heat spreading up to your cheeks as hanni continued to stare straight at you.

“you’re actually kind of cute,”

the words came out mumbled, and even in the quiet of the room you couldn’t hear her.

“could you repeat that?”

“i said,” she started again, taking small steps towards you, cornering you in the kitchen,

“you’re actually kind of cute.” she ended, a smile on her face.

“thank you guys for inviting me tonight, but it’s getting pretty late so i think i’ll take my leave-”

minji would’ve been ecstatic if someone had told her in advance that she’d have to see her best friend and her best friend’s roommate kissing on the couch, and being a little too close for comfort. just so she could have mentally prepared a little bit.

“minji!” hanni screamed as she fell from the couch and onto the ground, and you pressed a hand to your mouth to conceal your laughter, your emotions thoroughly confused on if you should be embarrassed, horrified, or cackling.

“i knew this would happen!” minji yelled as she covered her eyes with one hand, and used the other to guide her way to the door. “i’m telling everyone!”

“did your friends bet on us?” you asked, your eyes widening at minji's words. your emotions finally deciding to land on mortified.

“well, it wasn't necessarily a bet per say-”

“you are so annoying!”

A/N : i'm not necessarily back, but i just wanted to get something out because i have been struggling through writer's block. everything is just kicking me down rn so if i go MIA again don't be surprised. 😭

anyways, hope you enjoyed this!

[the-kr8tor]

could i get garlic cloves and a ❣️ for hobie? r is trying to sneak him somewhere as a bat. or maybe sneak him out of animal control or smth? -@thesevenofstaves

YEEESSS MORE VAMP HOBIE!!! I wrote this with IPOB in mind, I hope that's okay! Thank you, bestie 🩷

Pairing: Vampire! Hobie Brown X fem! Reader

Word count: 1.3 k

Tags: No use of Y/N, no specific physical description of the reader, Set around my vampire Hobie series (In pursuit of blood), CW blood, mockumentary AU, Wwdits AU, Fluff!

In Pursuit of Blood fic

Katy's one year celebration 🎉

“So yeah, that's how I found out that my great aunt was a succubus—” you stop talking suddenly, blinking, eyes roaming around the walls of Hobie's mansion. The camera crew follows you as you look under the couch and even peek inside the grand piano. “Do you guys fucking hear that?”

The camera shakes its head. You look at it weirdly, “you could just say no, Jason, like a normal person—” you gasp, “there it is again!” You frantically move books from the bookshelves, making the crew dodge oncoming hardbounds. “Is this a prank? Am I getting punk’d right now?!” You scream, footsteps heavy as you trudge along the big living room, tossing and turning things around. “Hobie! Where the fuck did you put the speakers you mythical bloodsucking straw!”

You suddenly straighten up, finger scratching your ear, eyes turning from confusion to amusement. “Oh you fucking idiot!” You guffaw, palm slapping your knees in laughter. The crew look at each other, not knowing what to do when their subject turns cuckoo. “Okay, I'll—” you breathe for air, tears in your eyes as you laugh. “I'll save you, you big ancient baby.” Nodding, you roll your eyes, “fine, I'll be subtle. No explosions, yep…wait not even a little? I bought this new thing from amazon— yeah okay, bye! Close the fucking link I don't want you in my brain!”

Your shoulders sag, smiling at the befuddled camera crew. “Good news I'm not crazy! That was Hobie talking to me telepathically and he— you know what, I should just show you what he wants.” You beckon them over to the front door while you put on your jacket and take your keys. “It's called the mind gift,” based on the producer's eyes, you already know that she was about to ask you the question. “You get old enough, you start getting different abilities. Don't ask me how, that's just the way it is with vampires.”

The camera hard cuts to you driving in your new kia. In the corner of the shot you can see the camera man's hand gripping tightly around his seatbelt as you drive recklessly, like you just learned how to drive yesterday. Or you just knew what a car is.

“Relax,” you say, smiling sweetly at the camera even though you pass a red light. “No one's even on the road this late at night. So calm down.”

Hobie's voice once again appears in your mind, ‘hurry up, love, I think this chihuahua next to my cage wants me. And it's not the hunger type of want.’ You snort at his comment. ‘Please? I'll make it worth your while.’ he says with flirty undertones, making you roll your eyes, cheeks warm.

The camera visibly shakes. The mic picks up a faint ‘I’m gonna die.’ The crew following behind you with their own van can barely keep up with you. They pity Jason right now.

“Okay, listen.” You start, the car is zooming past the road beyond the speed limit. “Hobie wanted to hunt some poor rich sap but,” there's rapid honking around you, “something happened, he wouldn't tell me exactly what, so he had to get out quickly and turn into his vampire form. Now animal control caught him at the park because he was too hungry to return to his form.” The car suddenly screeches to a halt, making Jason the camera man almost fly off his seat.

You park your car at an animal control center, the camera zooms in your determined face. “Operation: save my idiot vampire roommate has begun.” Your head quickly swivels towards Jason who seems like all the colour on his face has gone. “Don't fuck this up for us, Jason.” You point at his still chest.

You exit your car with the slam of the door. The rest of the crew follow closely behind you as you enter the animal control center with an uncanny smile that has the front desk worker perturbed.

“Hi, this might sound weird—”

“What's up with the camera crew, lady?” The man asks, blinking away the bright lights, weirded out by the whole situation.

“Oh, we're making a documentary.”

“About what?” The man brightens up, subtly fixing his hair with his hand.

“Uh…” you look at the crew for answers, they're not helping with their empty looks. “...About bats, yeah, bats. We're from national geographic actually.” You hear Hobie in your head ‘national geographic? Really, love? You don't look like the Steve Irwin type. Although, you'd look good in some khaki shorts.’ Blinking him away, you continue to convince the man. “And one of our bats escaped from their enclosure. You see that man over there?” Raising your finger to point at Jason, you accuse him as he stands there awkwardly. “His name is Hobie,” Hobie's laughter in your mind echoes. “And he's an idiot y’know, he's a nephew of our director so we just had to take him in. You get me?”

The man in the front desk nods, judging ‘Hobie.’ “Yeah, I know the type.” He whispers to you. “We have someone like him here too.”

You nod in understanding. “They're not the brightest, right?” Hobie's cackling laughter buries deep in your mind, almost making you laugh too. ‘you're making me have it, huh?’ Jason frowns at you while he zooms in your apologetic face.

Tapping the desk, you smile at the man again. “So! Our bat, please?”

“I'd ask for papers like usual but I'm too lazy.” Now it's you judging the man. “If you can get him from the back yourself without getting rabies then you're free to take him.”

“Yeah, okay.” You shrug, and you hear Hobie breathe a sigh of relief. Opening the doors, you're greeted by a dozen small animals, all angrily calling out to you. “Wow, this reminds me of my cousin's room!”

Your eyes roam over the cages, looking for a familiar bat. The producer points at a bat on your right, she has her hand on the lock but you stop her midway. “That's clearly not him. Good try though.” The bat squeaks, lunging at the cage, almost biting the producer's hand.

Hobie's voice calls out to you, then you see a black bat with large wings rattle its cage. That's Hobie alright. “Aww,” you tease, “is it just me or you look extra adorable right now?”

‘Open the bloody door!’ Hobie telepathically screams at you, continuing to rattle at his cage. Squeaking angrily. You guess that he's starving now that he has tossed being sweet.

“In a minute.” You say, pulling out your phone to take numerous pictures of him. There's selfies of you with the angry bat, and even a group picture of the crew and bat Hobie. With one final click of the camera, you finally open the cage.

Hobie comes flying off towards your face, clinging to you, claws holding on to you and his tiny bat body covering your entire head. ‘Thank you, lovie.’ He says in your mind, his tiny fanged face nuzzling you sweetly. The camera crew takes numerous angles of the whole ordeal. ‘Take me home, ‘m hungry.’

“Will you let go of my face first?” Your voice is muffled by his fuzzy bat body.

‘nah, you're too comfortable.’

“No blood for you then.” You warn, and it works as he reluctantly moves over to your shoulders instead. ‘Fine,’ he grumbles, squeaking disappointedly.

Waving goodbye to the front desk who again stares at you all confused, you have successfully rescued your idiot vampire roommate. Placing him on your passenger seat, he shakes his head when you coax him into turning back to his form.

Jason records from the backseat, eyes flicking from you and the agitated bat. He knows exactly what's about to happen.

“What am I supposed to do? Let you drink from me again?”

There's a bout of silence, and then Hobie the bat nods his tiny head.

With a huff, you give him your hand to bite into. “One sip, Hobie, enough to turn you human.” He nods, mouth opening to take a bite. You look over your shoulder towards the camera. “Cut the fucking camera, Jason.”

Hobie sinks his teeth into you just as the camera shuts off. But not the mic though.

[quitealotofsodapop]

After the whole mess with the Brotherhood is handled in Soft Boiked au, Wukong has another situation to handle. MK now knows he's a Stone Monkey, the same species as Wukong himself. He may also suspect Wukong to be his biological parent, although Wukong goes on record to say that no, Yubei was the only kid he actually birthed, MK may be his cub in his heart, but they share no biological connection that Wukong is aware of.

But even if MK isn't biologically Wukongs, they have the situation of his true form. Specifically, teaching MK how to Monkey. Wukong thinks it'd be easy, MK already acts so much like a monkey it's hard to imagine him struggling, but the problem isn't that he can't act like a monkey. It's that he doesn't have the confidence to do so knowingly. He can climb and groom just fine, but when it comes to things like diet and soaring through the trees, the way macaques do, he struggles. He gets grossed out at the thought of picking through someone's hair and eating bugs, he hesitates when he should use the branch he just climbed as a springboard to reach the next tree, he feels uncomfortable doing thinks like chirping and hooting. His upbringing makes him hesitate to listen to his natural instincts, and while it's nothing against Pigsy or Tang, it's just that societal expectations of modern China are causing MK to hold back.

Wukong had faced a similar problem when he'd gotten back from the Journey, after spending so many years being punished for 'hyperactive and unsocietal behavior' up until Tripitaka had it beaten over his head that Wukong was not only pregnant but that these were normal monkey things and not disrespectful in nature at all, he struggled to adapt to being a monkey again.

The fact that MK was already dealing with self esteem issues and then got stuck in a scroll with a ink demon in the shape of his monkey form that would only dig at those insecurities only made it worse.

Prev.

MK is in for a loooong learning montage after learning he's a Stone Monkey, thats for sure!

It's not an easy road.

Lots of "George of the Jungle"-esque mishaps involving tree climbing occur.

Could have it been a little easier if MK had been raised as a monkey demon? Yes. But he also would have faced greater social challenges, not to mention if any of Wukong's enemies "sensed" what he actually was.

And don't even get MK started on the "picking bugs out of each other's fur and eating"-part. He found a tiny garden spider crawling in Macaque's fur during a troop grooming session and nearly passed out.

MK, trying to psyche himself up to eat the bug: (*gags*) Macaque, sniffs himself thinking that's the problem: "What? I showered recently." Yuebei: (*reaches up and steals the bug from MK, eating it instead*) MK: (*very grossed-out sigh of relief*) "I love you, mooncake."

He feels like he's behind even little Yuebei of all people when it comes to learning to Monkey! At least she can chirp and hoot without anyone looking at her weirdly...

Wukong sighs and jokes it's like teaching two cubs at once.

Luckily, MK isn't alone. Turns out, Wukong has gone through the very same thing he has nearly twice over! Subodhi canonically strikes and punishes Wukong for happily jumping and hooting when he's excited for class, so Wukong literally had his instincts beaten out of him. And later still when he became Bimawen and a Peach Attendant, he found himself subconsciously suppressing his "monkey" habits in order to avoid criticism from surrounding celestials.

While the Tang Monk had been confused by Wukong's monkey habits, he adapted to them - with a lot of "gentle" persuasion from Guanyin, Ao Lie, Sha Wujing, and many of the allies they made along the way of course. Afterall, part of Tripitaka's character development is him starting out close-minded and opening himself to the fact that people just gonna act and be different. After Tripitaka learned that Heaven and even Wukong's first master had punished and resented his nature, he especially made sure Wukong understood that he didn't want him to see his behaviours as "unnatural". Just him.

MK also gets a lot of encouragement from the rest of his "troop".

Pigsy and Tang feel really bad not being able to indulge MK's natural behaviours as a cub, but they were always understanding that he was just their special little guy. If he was hyperactive or overstimulated, they had ways to address it. I love hcs of Tang being neurodivergent, so he when sees Baby MK throwing tantrums and just be like "Mood."

Red Son and Mei secretly begin flexing their own natural behaviours so MK doesn't feel as left out. Though MK was def confused the first time he got friendly-headbutts and nips.

[ask-the-pioneer]

Hello and welcome to @ask-the-pioneer! This is a scripted ask blog dedicated to a slugcat OC of mine called Marbles (she/her), titled the Pioneer. She is a re-interpretation of Artificer’s blue slugpup, set in a AU where the pup survives, grows up, and receives a name. The main story begins some short time after the end of Artificer’s campaign. At that point in time Marbles is already a young adult (early 20s in human years). She parts ways with Hunter - her mentor - and ventures out to seek the knowledge contained within the pearls that she was always captivated by.

This blog is run by @kalivasquez (@kalivasquezart). Keep in mind I’m not a native English speaker. There may be spelling errors or weirdly constructed sentences at times. This is my first ask-blog ever so idk what I’m doing but I’m trying my best 👍

CONTENT WARNING: This blog has content rating of +18 due to potential sensitive themes: mental trauma, depictions of violence, suicidal ideation, blood and gore, or other graphic imagery that may be uncomfortable, scarring or otherwise triggering to witness. Viewer discretion is advised. Posts containing mild themes will be tagged appropriately, while posts showing heavy themes will have "mature" filter applied to them. Please be aware that all the content shared on this blog is intended for an adult audience!

More info below the cut!

Blog Rules 📜

Last update: 10th of October, 2024

By default you address the main character - Marbles, aka the Pioneer - in your asks. If you wish to inquire me directly (as an author of this blog), please include “[OOC]” at the beginning, or otherwise indicate that the message is directed at me and not the character.

Asks are answered in-character. Sometimes the character may react to your ask in a seemingly negative way. Please keep in mind that it is done from their point of view, and it does not imply that I (the author) personally reacted badly to your message.

I appreciate all the asks that I receive. However, I reserve the right to not answer some of them, at my discretion. It is not guaranteed that you receive a response. Still, I’ll try my best to answer as many messages as I can.

Be aware that some asks I receive may be skipped over, especially ones that are short and vague, in favour of more complex asks that help me push the plot of this AU forward. This is also relevant for asks that refer to the same subject (duplicates).

Please be tactful! Asks that are inappropriate or confusing in their intent (like spam, baits, asks containing slurs) will be deleted. Sorry!

Do not send me asks via direct messages (DMs)! I keep my DMs open in case someone needs to contact me for other reasons, like incorrect tagging or important offsite matters. If you send me a DM meant to be answered like an ask, your message will be ignored and deleted.

More rules may be added later. Please check this section again periodically.

General Character Info ℹ️

As of now, this ask-blog has only one acting character - Marbles the slugcat, aka the Pioneer.

Name (given): Mirmyntasseth, Eight Marbles Cast in Stone

Title (given): the Pioneer

Nickname: Blue (for family), Marbles (for friends, after being named by an iterator)

Pronouns: she/her

Age: young adult (very early 20’s in human years)

Personality: energetic, curious, savvy, humorous, short-tempered, resilient, drive, a little naive and too trusting, exhibits mild case of abandoned child syndrome

Specific traits:

good at finding pearls (she loves them, goes about as crazy for them as scavs) and other trinkets,

knows martial arts, can incapacitate enemies by hitting their pressure points,

can craft explosive spears and grenades - they do less damage, but stun for longer; crafted explosives have deep orange color,

already has a mark of communication, granted by NSH,

Tools:

Marbles is often seen wearing a light colored “sling bag” on her back, where she keeps her pearls and other items,

at a muuuuuuch later point in time, she receives a gift from a kind interator - her very own citizen ID drone; the drone can read from pearls and translate slugcat speech into other languages.

Current reference sheet:

For more in-dept info and drawings/references of the character, please visit Marbles' ToyHouse page.

AU Timeline ⏱️

the story of Pioneer takes place some years after the end of Artificer's campaign, and begins at the same time as Hunter's campaign in-game

this AU assumes the following timeline for slugcat campaigns: Spearmaster -> Artificer -> Hunter -> Gourmand -> Survivor -> Monk -> Rivulet -> Saint,

Artificer/Hunter/Gourmand campaigns happen close together, with Hunter/Gourmand overlapping slightly; all three scugs are roughly the same age, with Arti being the oldest (early 40s), and Hunter the youngest (39),

Saint and Monk are still slugpups by the time the story of Pioneer beings,

Spearmaster is unlikely to be present in this AU as it is assumed that over 432 cycles have passed, meaning they are no longer alive,

Rivulet is unlikely to be present in this AU as here their campaign is assumed to have taken place *much *later in the future,

Saint is thought to be stuck in a time loop, and *may *appear in this AU.

AU Setting 📝

Pioneer’s Backstory (before the events described in this ask blog):

Marbles/Blue (the Pioneer) was born in the Garbage Wastes area, raised by a single mother (Artificer); the other parent remains unknown,

she had a sibling (who was also the runt of the litter) - a brother named Bryn, the green slugpup; the two were fraternal twins,

she got separated from the rest of her family in a scav toll incident,

was not killed, but abducted instead by the scavenger toll tribe, brought into their local shelter just before the rain started,

initially assumed to have been taken in as a fodder in case of predator attack,

in the end she has earned her keep when she learned how to make grenades and explosive spears, turning herself into a valuable asset for the tribe,

was treated fairly well, but never truly incorporated into the local scavenger community,

had stayed with the tribe for many cycles, learning how to fight and survive, but also how to look for valuables (mainly pearls) and haggle with other tribes,

could probably have run away, but she held on to hope that mom would come back for her,

whenever she got “lost”, the tribe would look for her to bring her back,

after one of her short solo expeditions, she came back to the camp only to find out the entire scav tribe has been wiped out,

ran away and been wandering aimlessly for a while, eventualy stumbling upon Hunter who adopted her, took back to NSH's superstructure, and underwent training alongside him (under NSH’s supervision),

promised to accompany Hunter during his important mission, but had to suddenly part ways due to unfortunate circumstances (just before the beginning of Hunter’s campaign).

Post Tagging 🏷️

I use the following tags:

#rain world, #rain world oc, #rain world au - default tags added to all answered asks (unless OOC),

#rain world spoilers - is included in posts that may spoil RW lore, for example: when answers hint to the conclusion of Artificer’s campaign,

#rw - rain world-specific characters that are present in a post, such as: “#rw hunter” or “rw five pebbles”; i will try to use the full name(s) intead of abbreviations,

#au lore - posts that contain important worldbuilding information for my AU,

#ooc- out of character posts, or anything else that doesn’t fall under “rain world” umbrella,

(more tags will be added to this section once I actually start posting stuff)

I also tag sensitive content with appropriate tags like #tw [trigger], if shown.

Text Key 💬

Most dialogue takes form of narrated drawings, where Marbles speaks in her own voice. The speeches are a part of the drawings themselves.

However, if a post contains additional text, the following key is used:

[Narration]

[The road was long and arduous, and she was glad to have finally found a shelter]

(Thoughts)

(This place is full of scavengers, I should be able to trade those pearls for some food)

“Speaking”

“How come you have not seen a vulture before? Climb up to Sky Islands, they are everywhere!”

//OOC

// more art coming soon woohoo!

Credits 📑

image in the blog's header belongs to Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Yoŋasabi script (slugcat language, original conlang) in the top banner by @opashoo

all the other drawings posted on this blog were made by me, unless stated otherwise

[the-music-maniac]

What the fuck do you MEAN Ron Kamonohashi has the blood of both Sherlock Holmes and William James Moriarty.

HE'S THEIR DESCENDANT?!?

I'm sure they're gonna give us a different explanation but as far as I'm concerned, Ron is their love child and SherLiam is canon now

I need a fic where specifically the Sherlock Holmes and William Moriarty from Moriarty the Patriot are in a modern au and have to deal with raising the little shit that is Ron Kamonohashi. Dare I say detective genius dad and criminal genius dad with their detective/criminal feral child.

Edit:

No but could you IMAGINE the chaos of three eccentric geniuses in one house, we got Ron Kamonohashi in his teenage years probably absolutely hawking down a bag of black sugar syrup at top speed while William is trying to pry it out of his jaw like you do with an unruly cat that's eating something it shouldn't be, Sherlock's in the background watching this unfold like "just be glad he's not doing drugs or something" to which William would probably point out, Sherlock's smoking habit isn't any better

Meanwhile William's side of the family are arguably equally as insane as Sherlock and Liam so they're just a horde of weirdly rich crazy uncles that take Ron out on questionable adventures, Sherlock's side of the family aka John, Mary and Ms. Hudson is relatively normal in comparison but still dote on Ron - Mycroft repeatedly says that he can't believe his little brother is now responsible for taking care of a child, pretends he doesn't give a shit and yet somehow always ends up visiting his nephew.

Sherlock is still a free-lance private detective/consultant for the police force who takes cases whenever they come around, and when Ron asks him why he's usually home he jokes around that he's a kept man/housewife because William was rich when he married him, to which Liam laughs and asks if he even knows how to boil water without burning it -

It can be up to you whether or not William was or is in crime or not, I can imagine in a modern au he could've been the leader of an organized crime group for whatever reason, eventually decided to get out etc. etc.

And then Ron still meets Toto and brings home his cop boyfriend to meet his batshit crazy parents and one of them is a former CRIME LORD LMAO

Toto is able to withstand the sheer level of crazy that is Ron's family, obviously cause it's Toto

John Watson takes a liking to Toto. Gee I wonder why, it couldn't be because he sympathizes with being the detective partner of an eccentric genius could it

[your-unfriendlyghost]

2 questions about the top gun AU thing cause I wanna eat it

Do you think there’s anything specific that would bring Steve and Maverick closer or do you think it kind of just happens? Or does it not happen at all

Does Steve ever tell Maverick about his dad? If he does how does that get received?

Good questions man, thanks so much for asking!!

1- I think it happens slowly over time- there’s a lot that causes it to happen though. Little things that pile up, on both ends. Like Maverick noticing little things that remind him of himself as a 17 year old, Soda talking to Mav and reporting to Steve that Mav’s actually pretty cool, Goose hanging back with Steve during aviator nights out and telling him a bit about Mav’s backstory-

“His dad disappeared when he was a kid, and his momma- your ma- ran out on him real soon after- he never had a real good parent…But he’s trying his best. He’s not used to being an authority- hell, he’s pretty used to rebelling against it. He’s figuring it out, and he’s gonna mess up…but he’s trying his best, just so you know.” (I’d word it better if this were like. Serious writing but this is more like an outline I guess lol)

And then Steve just sorta processes that. He knew Mav had more to him than he showed Steve, but now that Steve actually has context for why Mav is the way he is, Steve can’t quite make himself hate the guy anymore. He doesn’t like him either because of this, but he starts to maybe see Mav as a person rather than just a roadblock in the way of his goal of getting back to Tulsa.

Also, I think weirdly a fight between Mav and Steve should be the final catalyst for them getting along better. Like Steve goes out and does something stupid and dangerous, like a drag race or getting drunk or something, and Mav comes to bail him out- but Mav also gets mad at him. Very mad at him.

So Steve gets angry too, and says something along the lines of “You’re not my dad or even my real brother, so quit acting like you are!”

And then Mav remembers having said some very similar words to Goose back when they first became friends, and suddenly sees Steve’s perspective better than he has since meeting him. And he says as much- something like “Oh…that’s…Jesus, kid, I said the same thing when I was just about your age…”

From there, Mav can actually see how Steve is a lot like himself, and Steve can too. They still butt heads over things, but with more of a mutual understanding and more actual care for each other.

Plus they’re both into a lotta the same things so once Steve stops being stubborn they bond over that (yk, being adrenaline junkies, liking cars/planes/motorcycles, even having similar insecurities )

2- Steve probably does? Maybe?

When they first meet and Steve’s being rebellious and annoying, I could see him mentioning being kicked out of the house a lot as like. A brag. Like “look I’m real tough, I grew up on the streets”

But later on, once they’re closer, I could kinda see him delving more into his real feelings about it? Idk, Steve seems pretty emotionally…aware, I guess, so I think he knows to an extent that some (not much mind you but some) of his bravado is a front. And under the right circumstances I could see him talking about it with people-I mean in the book, even Ponyboy, a kid Steve doesn't really like, knows about Steve's feelings towards his dad.

Idk if he'd talk about it with Mav though unless Mav told him something vulnerable first. And I don't think Mav would tell him many real vulnerable things, at least not unprompted.

I dunno, speaking from my own perspective as a guy, the only times I really talk about vulnerable subjects are with my best (and I mean BEST) buddy…or girls/women, like my sister, grandmother, and ma. Not much to other guys, especially not to other guys who I compete with the way Steve does with Mav. It can kinda feel like acknowledging you have vulnerable feelings makes you weak. I mean it doesn't obviously, but that's kinda how it feels, I guess? So I honestly dunno if Steve would ever tell Mav about his dad.

That said, I think Steve would tell Goose and/or Carole about his dad lol

[doctorsiren]

Ace Attorney Les Miserables!

I had this idea like a month ago, and it was the same day I began my “Javert’s Soliloquy” animatic with Miles Edgeworth (which I still need to finish, but school and other work has been in the way)

Les Mis was the first musical I listened to back around 2015 and I became OBSESSED. I would listen to different CD recordings of it from my public library using a CD player because I didn’t have a phone at all. Les Mis introduced me to loving musical theatre, so it is Very Special to me 💖

Anyways! I have two different scenarios based on which act you look at. The assigned characters for act 1 can’t easily just go into act 2 UNLESS you continue to focus specifically on the dynamic between Valjean and Javert. If you focus on the dynamic between Marius and Cosette, then I’d go with my Act 2 assignments because it just fits better for an act 2-specific focus.

Act 1!

I drew this about a month ago, but I never posted it bc I hadn’t gotten around to the act 2 doodles. Here are the characters:

Phoenix Wright is Jean Valjean

Miles Edgeworth is Javert

Mia Fey is the priest / bishop

Thalassa Gramarye is Fantine

Trucy Wright is Cosette

And I’m thinking about the Confrontation between Valjean and Javert…like dude what it fits where Javert is like “You know nothing of Javert! I was born inside a jail! I was born with scum like you! I am from the gutter too!” But instead of jail and such, it’s Edgeworth talking about how his father was a defense attorney, which he sees (now that he is a prosecutor) as “scum”

If we continue to focus on the dynamic between Valjean and Javert into Act 2, then Javert’s Soliloquy,,,don’t worry guys I’m doing a full animatic (it’s with normal AA, not with this AU, but it’s still using the song)

Act 2!

If focusing solely on Act 2, it’s easier to reassign characters than to continue on with what there was because dynamics. So the new character assignments are:

Phoenix Wright is Marius

Miles Edgeworth is Cosette

Iris Fey is Eponine

Gregory Edgeworth is Jean Valjean

Manfred von Karma is Javert

Pearl Fey is Gavroche

Mia and Maya Fey are the other Barricade Boys

So in this version, I guess Valjean wouldn’t have adopted Cosette?? Unless we wanna make Gregory be the adopted father of Miles and not his actual father. But hey uhh weirdly a von Karma redemption? Very very very rare to see that from me

Also!! I was assigning characters and was like “hm well ofc Iris would be Eponine if Phoenix is Marius bc 😭 she loves him” and then as a separate thought was like “well Pearl would obviously be Gavroche bc little child” AND THEN I WAS HIT WITH THE REALIZATION THAT IT WAS PERFECT?? Because Gavroche and Eponine are siblings!!!! IT WAS UNINTENTIONAL

Anyways I’m just super big brain

Oh yeah and that uh

Means all the Feys die :(

[pencileraser1]

dead poets society theater au headcanons

so for context, i'm a stagehand, i've worked for events as well as in community theater, so this is mostly based off of that. doing my part to add dps to the dps tag, and this was what i could come up with

ok they're all involved in a small community theater production of the tempest over the summer

neil is an actor, he's playing ariel, this is one of the first roles he's landed. he'd done theater in school as puck, which didn't go so well, but it's been a while since then. he's graduated college recently after studying medicine and is finally somehow at a point where his father has less control over him. despite this, he's somewhat unsure what he wants to do now, if he wants to continue with medicine cause it's what he knows, or try to make it in theater.

todd is the assistant stage manager, he was really unsure about taking the job, but the stage manager, cameron, who he was pretty good friends with, and who he'd worked on a crew with before, specifically wanted him. despite this, he's worried that he's too anxious and not assertive enough to do it

cameron is the stage manager, and a bit of a hardass, which means the crew loves him and a decent chunk of the actors hate him. he's good at his job, he's very organized and really good at getting shit done and people together, but he'll also chew you out if you fuck up

meeks and pitts are lights and sound respectively, they've worked on a ton of shows together before and are pretty close. every show they work together, they bring a bag of snacks with them for the crew to eat during performances

charlie is the prop master, and a stagehand. he has a knack for finding weirdly useful shit in random places, and is brilliant at constructing props. despite this cameron is constantly having to bug him to get his stuff finished on time. he and cameron have a sort of love/hate relationship, they clash really bad at times but they both understand that the show would not be as good if either of them weren't there

keating is the director! he works really well with newer actors, i'd imagine he's pretty similar to peter weir in a lot of ways. he can take a little too long to reach deadlines, as getting the show perfect is a lot more important to him, which annoys cameron a bit

knox is also an actor, he's playing ferdinand and is convinced that he and chris, who plays miranda, are destined to be together or something. chris doesn't see him like that though

chris is miranda, she was originally interested in the tech/design aspect of theater, but a while back they needed more actors, and she ended up volunteering. she started as crew when ginny first started acting, because ginny was nervous to do it alone

ginny is iris, she has more free time this show since her role is smaller, but is always at rehearsal whenever chris is there, so she ends up sitting around and watching a lot. she quickly becomes friends with neil, who is similarly always around todd

anytime he's not busy, neil is hanging around todd. he's started doing parts of todds job for him, getting batteries, taping doors, sweeping the stage, doing other miscellaneous errands. he spends so much time with todd that he somehow ends up as crew in the program in addition to ariel. he starts getting to the theater early when the crew shows up just to spend more time with todd. cameron has started treating him as an extra stagehand

[bendycxmet]

Makeup, Makeout—Vash the Stampede

Summary: Relaxing one night with Vash leads you to wanting to do makeup on him, and leads to more than you could have hoped for.

Word Count: ~2.1k

Pairing: gn!reader x Vash the Stampede

Content: modern AU, tension, teasing, some heavy making out, makeup, overall fluff

“Yo Wolfwood, you going anywhere today?” Vash peeked into his friend’s doorway.

“Want me out for a specific reason?” inquired Wolfwood from his desk in the corner of his dimly lit room, the only light coming from his computer screen as his lithe fingers danced over the keyboard, furious clicks sounding as he shot away at the enemy team. “Playing hooky? Thought that was my job.” With a quick glance, Wolfwood glanced at his blonde roommate, fidgeting with his vermilion hoodie, shrinking into the cotton material under his gaze.

Wolfwood snickered.

“They’re coming over aren’t they?” Vash sheepishly hummed at his friend’s guess, hinting to him that his guess was right as ever. Wolfwood sighed, pausing his game and removing his headphones so that he can turn to face Vash.

“Vash, when are you two going to finally date each other? We all can only handle so much pining between you two,” he said, referencing the times he, Milly, and Meryl all shared exasperated looks at the only two in the room that didn’t realize they had feelings for each other. 

“Give me a break? I don’t even know if they like me!” Vash groaned.

Wolfwood sighed. “Yeah yeah I’ll head out tonight to the girl’s apartment upstairs and give you two lovebirds your time alone.”

Living in the same apartment building as your friend group can really come in handy sometimes. You were more comfortable living with the girls, obviously, since they cleaned up after themselves and weren’t as noisy as the boys rooming a floor away. 

“Thank you…I appreciate it. It’s been a long week for them. They just wanted to have a movie night with me. No offense to you guys.” Vash chuckled, not blaming you for wanting to avoid the others, seeing as they were more…energized in their interactions half the time.

“Don’t sweat it. Already knew. Milly and Meryl texted me earlier inviting me to theirs so we could eat out at the new noodle shop since they said they saw how restless you seemed. We all know that means they want some alone time to recharge with their favorite person…” Wolfwood insinuated, winking at Vash. “Don’t have too much fun tonight.”

~~~~~~~

“Can I give you a rocker look?”

“Huh?”

You and Vash were cuddled together on the couch, watching some seasonal movie on TV as the end of the year was finally upon you two. You felt extremely cozy, a large plush blanket covering your body, your arms wrapped around his middle, smushing your face into his shoulder as you peered up at him, his arm softly placed on your back. He could hardly take the way your eyes peered up at him. 

It had been rainy that day, thick fluffy clouds slathered across the sky, a cold that licked at your skin all day until the warmth that radiated from Vash chased away the chills you had. 

The boys’ apartment, although weirdly put together in their decorations, was welcoming. Vash’s plants lined the wall that welcomed in the sun’s rays the most, not a leaf out of place. Poorly strung lights were loosely strewn across the ceiling, illuminating the living room in a warm glow, reflecting off the group pictures hung on the walls. The sky peeking in through the blinds revealed that it was blue hour, a contrasting gloomy blue to the warm tones of Vash’s apartment. All of these components proved to be a perfect spell for you to fall asleep on his couch. You needed something to wake yourself up.

“Yanno. With makeup,” you deadpanned, as if it was the obvious answer to his bewilderment.

“But…why? We don’t have any makeup here.” Vash tilted his head to the side, looking more like a confused puppy than ever. 

“I think you got the perfect face for a rocker look.” 

You could never tell him that it’s because he was already gorgeous, you were just curious how much prettier he could be with makeup on. 

“Besides, I have my makeup on me right now.”

“...were you planning on this?” Vash teased, squeezing your sides as a toothy grin fought to crack his face. You squealed at his movements, sadly having to wrench yourself from his warmth. 

“No! Mmm… maybe… anyways! I thought it would be good practice!” With that, you got up and quickly gathered your supplies from your bag. Black eyeshadow and eyeliner, a simple look that no doubt will send you to your knees once you saw it on him. 

“Hmm, ok how should I go about this…” you looked around, first glancing to his bedroom wondering if the dingy light in the bathroom would be enough. Yet, he was much taller than you, so peering up at him would hurt your neck…

“Uhh, we could just do it right here, no? I mean, it’s comfortable,” Vash offered from where he lounged on the couch.

“I guess you’re right!” With that, you plopped yourself down. Only, you don’t know what got into you. Or how shameless you were in that moment. Well, with how you were seated in Vash’s lap, knees on either side of his legs as you rummaged around in your makeup bag.

Vash froze. He was warm before, but now he felt hot. He peered at you as you grabbed a makeup palette, opening it and looking at your options, oblivious to the effect you had on him. You were rambling about how you came across this look, seeing a tutorial online earlier in the day and feeling inspired to try it on him as the guy in the video had similar features to the man between your thighs.

“Ok, ready. Close your eyes for me,” you said, opting to use your finger for the black eyeshadow. Doesn’t need to be perfect. 

Vash rushed to close his eyes before you made eye contact, hoping you couldn’t see how wide his eyes became from your previous movements. 

You hummed as you gently swiped the pigment onto his pale complexion, perfectly content and focused with the task at hand. Vash fought to keep his breathing under control so as to not reveal how fast paced his heart was, the action proving difficult as he felt your warm breath swoop over his cheeks, the scent that is so uniquely you filling his nostrils, indicating just how close you truly were.

Vash felt you lean back, thanking the heavens he was able to get a second to clear his mind of you. This was short lived as he felt you lean back in.

“Alright, now I need you to open your eyes for me. I gotta do the eyeliner on your bottom lid.” Vash breathed, slowly opening his blue eyes to stare down at a spot on your shoulder, avoiding eye contact. 

“Heyy~ I need you to look up now.”

He looked up at the low hanging lights, choosing to focus on one bulb. You went to work again, slowly adding the eyeliner to his lower lids. You were nearly done with the second eye when a shuddering breath reached your ears. The haze in your mind from focusing on applying makeup cleared, a veil seemingly lifted from your senses. When had you gotten so close?!

Shit. Vash nearly made it through your routine, just up until you leaned impossibly closer to him. The moment the warmth radiating off your face connected with his, your chest flattening against his, he couldn’t help the staggering breath that left him. The position you two were in was becoming too intimate.

You took a deep breath before taking in the sight before you. Damn, you did a good job. The onyx pigmentation contrasted perfectly with everything that is Vash. His fair skin. His wonderfully blue eyes that were always regarding you with such kindness and reverence. He was a sight to behold. He was hot. 

Your senses were completely engulfed by Vash, your surroundings blurring. His light floral scent, his warmth that came from where you two were touching, his wet, slightly parted lips…his heaving chest… wait. What the hell is going on? 

It was finally then that you realized what you had been up to for the past five minutes. You were seated, too comfortably, in his lap. Your proximity to him could be labeled as promiscuous with how your thighs were hugging his.

“O-Ok, I think I’m done. You’re making me jealous! How dare you have better eyelashes than me. Anyway, you look really cool! Let’s go look in the mirror!” you rambled, reeling from your revelation. 

Get out. Abort. Move away, goddammit! You’re cutting it close! Your mind all but screamed at you.

You went to push away from him, but you found yourself not budging an inch. Confused, you looked down, seeing Vash’s lean arm grasping your back, keeping you close to him.

~~~~~~~

“You’re a coward.”

“Excuse you?!” screamed Vash, his words slurred as Wolfwood kept him upright on their walk home from the club.

“All that liquid courage and you didn’t make a single damn move on them?? No matter how drunk everyone in that club was, people could tell how in love you two were!” Wolfwood pressed.

The group had gone out on a chilly Saturday night, searching for a fun time, choosing to head into a local club, where they all got positively hammered. Everyone had several rounds of tequila, you and Vash taking the lead and stumbling on the dancefloor. The entire night, the remaining crew rolled their eyes at your blatant affection for one another. Your hands were around Vash’s neck, his hands protectively encircling your back as you two danced song after song, bodies closely swaying to the beat, in your own worlds until Vash had to run to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach. 

“We were just dancing, like everyone else!” Vash yelled.

“If only you saw it from our point of view…prove me wrong. Next time.”

“Whaa…?” 

Wolfwood breathed a sigh of relief as they entered their apartment building. 

“Next time you’re that close to them, make a move. Normal friends don’t usually get that close to each other. Time and time again.”

Although Vash was drunk out of his mind that night, he managed to catch every single one of Wolfwood’s critiques. Wolfwood’s recommendation managed to lodge itself in the recesses of his mind. 

~~~~~~~

His pupils were dilated, probably matching the way yours looked at that moment. You shuddered as his hand slowly moved up to caress the back of your head. You didn’t dare move away this time. 

Make a move. Wolfwood’s words echoed once again in his head. 

Yeah, maybe I will. With that final thought, he closed the tiny distance you had created.

Warm. That’s all you felt in that moment. You had imagined countless times what it would feel like to finally kiss him, but none of your childish fantasies lived up to this moment. His plump lips were soft as they moved against your own, pulling gasps and full-body shivers from you. He angled both your heads, deepening the kiss. He groaned at your reciprocation, the arm around your waist squeezing you tighter against him, unknowingly brushing you against his hips. Your arms went to hug his shoulders at the same time his hand came up to carefully cradle your jaw, his thumb swiping across your cheekbones. You were panting into his mouth at this point, all oxygen leaving your body at the deep kisses he was giving you, his tongue swiping across your bottom lip as a heads up before delving in to explore and get to know a new part of you.

He’s gonna be the death of you.

He hoped you could understand him. In the kisses he gave you, he hoped you could hear his confessions of love and admiration he has harbored for you, his apologies for taking so long to give them to you. One day, he would say them out loud. Not today, though. What you both needed at this moment was each other’s physical presence finally molding and mixing together. 

~~~~~~~

3am. That’s gotta be enough time for those lovebirds. Wolfwood sleepily pondered, key turning in the lock to his shared apartment. 

"Let us know how they are! They haven’t responded to our texts for awhile now. That’s gotta mean something!" The girls’ voice rang in the back of his head. Crossing the threshold, Wolfwood’s eyes immediately fell on the pair on the couch. 

He snickered. You were in a peculiar position, arms and legs wrapped around Vash’s hips and waist, your sleeping face tucked into his neck, soft, even breaths occasionally blowing against the blonde’s skin. It was as if your unconscious body was unwilling to let go of Vash now that you finally had him. Your head failed to cover the circular bruises littered on Vash’s neck, your own neck mirroring his.

Vash shyly met Wolfwood’s eyes. Although the room was dimly lit, Wolfwood could see Vash’s face had been beet red.

“You two really are idiots.”

A/N: thx for reading! everything is crossposted on my ao3

masterlist

divider by saradika

[theamityelf]

Makoto in Dr2 au: How does Makoto shift the dynamics between students? Are there any unexpected friendships with Makoto acting as the catalyst? Are certain people nicer, or more guarded? Who's presence does Makoto specifically seek out at the beginning? The end game trio is definitely Hajime Chiaki Makoto (with Nagito lurking about), but I imagine that he would've hung out with Fuyuhiko/Hiyoko/Peko at least a couple times (or tried to). Maybe Makoto even managed to befriend them on some level before their chatacter development/death/both. He's friends with Byakuya and Kyoko, he obviously doesn't mind prickly or cold personalities.

Also: do Hajime and Makoto both have gambling and/or gifting habits, or is it just one? In case of the latter, which?

(Despair disease Makoto is so funny here, I genuinely can't get enough of it.)

I love it!! Great questions. And thank you for enjoying Despair Disease Makoto, lol.

(Masterlist for my Makoto in Other Killing Games AU's)

Makoto's social presence: Okay, so in one of my posts, I said that Makoto initially becomes friends with Mahiru, and I definitely think there's a chance for him to (maybe accidentally) fall into an older brother role with Hiyoko (see this post) and a younger brother role with Akane (since she's strong and has younger siblings to compare him to). He makes progress getting to know Peko before he makes progress getting to know Fuyuhiko (and also his progress with Peko helps him get close to Fuyuhiko). He gets along very well with Chiaki, though it's not really emphasized until later. What I'm basically saying is, I think he's going to be either a protectorate or pet to most of the girls in Class 77.

He still does his best to talk to everyone as much as he does in THH, but the way the group sees him, at least initially, is as Mahiru's little helper and Sonia's polite little gentleman and Ibuki's chew toy, etc. (It's not romantic on the girls' part pretty much at all; Makoto is attracted to some of them, but in the same way he's kind of attracted to Sayaka, Chihiro, Hina, etc. in THH.)

Kazuichi is jealous, and Fuyuhiko is lowkey grateful that someone else is being infantilized.

ALSO, because I believe Makoto should be allotted one incredibly important overheard conversation per killing game, I want to say he hears Fuyuhiko and Peko kind of alluding to the nature of their relationship in private, and he keeps this to himself.

The way this looks in practice: A lot of the time when Mahiru is chastising the boys for not doing something or another, she'll make a point to add, "Except Makoto. He's helping me carry groceries, so he's excused," or something of the sort. At a point, Fuyuhiko starts doing this, too. Like, "You guys make me sick! Except the kid, I guess."

Also, I imagine Makoto always immediately looks away when Mikan does her fanservice tumbles, and Mahiru approves of that, too. All the girls do. (I'm not saying that Hajime is staring, like, out of perviness; I'm more saying that Hajime doesn't have an immediate "Yikes! Her thighs!" reaction that Makoto, in my mind, would. Like, for example, when Akane says "Hajime, you can touch my boobs if you want," his reaction is "H-ll no." I think, given the same offer, Makoto would kind of stammer a little bit before turning it down. Kinda startled, ya know.)

The girls get protective when Teruteru flirts with Makoto. Ibuki will straight up cover Makoto's ears, like, "No! Protect the innocent ears!" Makoto is kind of bewildered by the treatment, because he's not that much younger than any of them, but he just kind of goes with it.

Mikan actually does fewer fanservice tumbles because now Makoto is the clumsy guy and she gets to fuss over him and tend to his scrapes. This actually weirdly facilitates some semi-positive interactions between her and Hiyoko, because if Hiyoko ever sees Makoto injured, she'll call for Mikan (albeit while peppering insults in there), and Mikan really loves being needed.

And on the other side of it, when it comes time to suspect him for things, people (especially Kazuichi) will often bring up, "Why do you think he acts so innocent?" "Why do you think he went out of his way to get the girls on his side?" And he's just like, "I don't! I didn't! It just happened! I don't know why they treat me this way, either!" Meanwhile he's holding everyone's beach bags and Akane just wordlessly tossed him a bottle of sunscreen.

Kazuichi has tried to imitate Makoto's behavior, but his opportunistic spin on it just puts people off.

The way this affects the canon social dynamics: I've read a really fun fic where having Makoto in SDR2 caused Kazuichi and Gundham to become friends (The fic is called "A Change in Variables: Makoto Naegi", by Keroshroom; it's great.), but here Kazuichi still very much opts for Hajime as his go-to guy friend. In the same way that he canonically considered Nekomaru unqualified for the Chapter 2 beach house outing because he "can't keep a secret", he would probably say Makoto is "in too deep" or "too close to the opposition".

Basically, Kazuichi is not close to Makoto, but he might be closer to Hajime than in canon as a result of Makoto, since Makoto is someone else to distrust. Inexplicably from a different class, inexplicably appealing to girls, and eerily similar to Nagito.

Mahiru, Hiyoko, Mikan, and Ibuki gravitate together as a friend group, first of all because canon says they were a friend group at school, and second of all because Makoto takes the edge off of the things that would otherwise have slowed that development down (like the animosity between Hiyoko and Mikan, as mentioned above). It starts as them "borrowing" Makoto from each other, and then at some point they're actual friends and they're telling Makoto to give them privacy to hang out together as girls. (Which is around when he transitions from between being primarily Mahiru's friend to being primarily Hajime's friend.)

Peko and Fuyuhiko might be able to hang out together openly. Of course, it depends on how all the death stuff goes, but there's at least a good chance. If Makoto knows about them and is chill about it, it might allow them to chill a little bit, depending on how Other Things play out.

I think Sonia and Gundham progress at the same rate as canon, as do Akane and Nekomaru.

He might deliberately create a bond between Sonia and Fuyuhiko (because they're both leaders; they should talk about that!) and Mikan and Akane (because if Mikan likes taking care of people who are often injured, she should hang out with Akane more!), and maybe Ibuki and Gundham (many reasons; this post is getting so long). I can't help thinking that, in Chihiro-and-Mondo fashion, at least one of the connections Makoto creates ends in tragedy.

The gift-giving thing: Oh boy, you have no idea how much I've wished there were some difference in game mechanics between the protagonists here, lol.

What I'm going with is, they both do it, but Hajime is doing it in an "I keep finding these stupid Monocoins and there's nothing else to do with them" kind of way, whereas Makoto is doing it in a "Great, another Monocoin for the MonoMono Machine! Those gifts are a great icebreaker," way.