#idk how to explain it but just. damn. if the city is a monster i think that’s its heart !!

[necromycologist]

trying to catch up on the readalong and. uhmmmmmm guys do we think it’s significant that courage square is at the direct centre of nevermoor…

[safety-writes-noms]

It's October, so how about big vampire? Little one is safe ofc, maybe it'd be cold in there tho...

ooh vampires? I love vampires theyre so cool. Maybe Miguel since he’s already got the teeth for it anyway.

THIS IS NOT NSFW AT ALL!!! KINK BLOGS AND NSFW BLOGS DNI

I feel like he’d hate himself for becoming a vampire and then turn to becoming Spider-Man/saving the city as a sort of atonement for becoming a “monster”. And then he creates the society and realizes “oh damn, no one is like me theyre still human” so he just decides not to really talk about his vampiric traits since he never really talks to anyone anyways (except maybe Peter or Jess)

he hides it well enough, resorting to blood bags for sustenance or maybe even just going out hunting at night to quickly satisfy his thirst with a to-be villain, careful not to take too much.

slowly over time he grows more attached to the people who regularly interact with him or bother him (he doesn’t actually mind too much anymore). The problem is that his vampire instincts have also gotten attached to these humans. He doesn’t realize it until he feels that urge, deep in his gut, that whisper of ‘they could always be safer’ and the empty feeling in his stomach all the more prominent.

it terrifies him at first. He’s like ‘I already have to drink blood to sustain myself and now I want to eat the people who are closest to me? Wtaf?’ And then begins to distance himself in an attempt to prevent some sort of situation where he loses control and noms someone. he just gets more and more irritated and upset bc he wants to be near Peter and Jess and the spiderlings but he’s also scared he’s going to snap and his instincts are slowly getting increasingly worse as time goes by without him caring for them —

and then that leads up to him nomming someone. Maybe he’s gotten a code red alert on his watch, sees that’s it’s a spiderling and his instincts just immediately take over bc one of his precious kids are hurt?? All of his earlier reservations staying away have vanished completely. All he knows now is that he has to get in there, get his kid/kids out of that dangerous situation.

(I like to imagine that miguek can shift his size, like from his normal huge 6'9 height to even bigger. idk chalk it up to funky vampire magic 🙂)

so now there's a huge territorial and protective vampire dropping down out of nowhere. imagine being an anomaly and being so sure that you're going to win this fight and escape and then a giant monster-man hellbent on protecting his kids depends from the sky. what are you even supposed to do at that point? pull out the white flags ig.

either way, Miguel finally manages to satisfy his instincts and gulps down one of the kids. I feel like there's great opportunities for angst too, whether that be Miguel not being able to explain that they're safe and won't be hurt bc of how deep he's into his instincts, that basic sort of trope.

but for at least that moment he can relax, slink back to his office and curl up somewhere his vampire instincts deem safe enough and settle down to metaphorically lick his wounds, happy with the prospect of his belly finally full and his chest warm. he'll probably freak out when he snaps out of it tho

[weirdocat83]

Tbh I thought there’d be more “watching/reading the series” fics. Like, MDZS is an entire series centered around miscommunication and they know that and took advantage of that to write time travel fix-it fics and watching/reading the series fics! And it’s literally the novel that came right before TGCF! And TGCF has so much that is left unsaid. Xie lian’s feelings during the war versus Mu Qing and Feng Xin’s and even possibly Hua Cheng’s! Xie Lian’s encounters with white no face and his time as the “white clothed calamity” with Wu Ming! Half of the shit that happens in the black water arc! Anything that happened during those 800+ years from any of the Xianle quartet’s perspectives! So much could have light shed on it! But there are like no fics that go into their trauma! It’s stupid! When I first entered the fandom I was genuinely wondering “where is the angst????” Because there’s mostly just a sea of fluff. And I get that the angst in this series is… traumatizing for lack of a better word, but it would be so easy to just… build on that? They have so much trauma. Just give them a situation that brings it up around people who didn’t know or traumatize them more?

Group time travel would also be AMAZING. Like, imagine that Jun Wu is too powerful so they collectively use time travel. Xianle quartet seeing people they haven’t in 800+ years and having mental breakdowns about it. But also a closer relationship than everyone remembers them having. Xie Lian not remembering how to be a crown prince anymore. Them missing everyone else (He Xuan, Shi Qingxuan, yin yu, lang qianqiu,etc.) facing the fact of “if we don’t fix this, everything will go to shit again and idk about you, but I cannot go through that again.” Alongside explaining what has happened to them because they need to change things and to change things you need to know what already happened. Also 100% making fun of Hua Cheng because he’s tiny and can’t do anything to actually threaten/hurt them. Mind you he’s probably plotting revenge for later.

Also! They live in a world of evil spirits and monsters. ADD MORE MONSTERS. ADD MORE FIGHT SCENES. We have like, what? 6 different martial gods? Show them doing their damn jobs. Show them going up against a strong or tricky wrath! Show them continuing to hone their skills against each other ever since Jun Wu! Or even show them dealing with the aftermath of everything and creating failsafes in the infrastructure of heaven’s government so another “White No Face” doesn’t happen!

Also OP was right about one of them getting pregnant. It’s implied it could happen and hualian pretty much live for each other so it wouldn’t be too out of character for them to have kids. Give them kids! I read a fic centered around Xie lian turning into a kid and it touched on the possibility of them having kids in the future. And hua cheng was a little scared he wouldn’t love any kids as much because he’s a ghost who has devoted his entire being to Xie Lian. And if that’s not a good prompt for some hurt/comfort paired with the stress of being a first time parent, idk what is. Also you’re gonna tell me they wouldn’t be amazing parents?? Yes, they’d struggle, neither have living parents and neither had an ideal childhood but 100% they’d both be amazing (and probably overprotective) parents.

OP is right again about Hua cheng doing different art forms. Give him doing projects with architecture in ghost city, providing more homes for the ghosts who live there or even renovations! Have him make pottery with his gege so Hua cheng can show him how to make pots/pans/cups/teapots for when they eat dinner together! You could have Hua cheng showing Xie Lian how to make his own clothes, embroidery and all so he could customize what he wears or Hua Cheng nervously showing Xie Lian a pair of robes he made for him. You could absolutely show Hua Cheng complaining to his gege about how he’s trying a new art form and how difficult it is to learn. 5+1 could also be implemented here (5 times Hua cheng made something for Xie Lian and 1 time Xie Lian made something for Hua Cheng).

Speaking of 5+1, dear lord could you do a lot with that. As previously mentioned, artistic endeavors but also cooking lessons (5 times xie lian made something inedible and 1 time he made something good) general exhaustion (5 times xie lian overworked himself to the point his husband had to drag him out of the heavenly realm and 1 time hua cheng overworked himself to the point Xie Lian had to come get him) or really anything else. They are PAINFULLY domestic and this could carry over to the others too. Like FengQing (5 times FengQing picked a fight with one another and 1 time they didn’t) or Beefleaf (5 times Shi Qingxuan brought Ming yi food and 1 time He Xuan brought Shi Qingxuan food).

You could also easily just have anyone doing things in Ghost city. Hualian mostly but the other gods too. Hua Cheng has said that other gods come there, they just don’t like saying what they do there. So 100% the cast could be there for some reason or another and they just don’t say anything. Or even two people are there and they accidentally meet each other there.

Please, if this gave you ideas, write them. He’ll, if you do, link them. I’d read those.

Just some musings on Heaven Official's Blessing fandom, specifically slash fanfiction.

First off, let's address the elephant in the room: Russian-speaking fandom? Huge. English-speaking fandom? It's there, but it's more like a flickering candle compared to a blazing inferno.

Fluff overload! With so much sweetness, it's like drowning in a sea of cotton candy.

Where are the 5 + 1 fics? I've thought it's was a given in every fandom.

No Harry Potter crossover? Is everyone just afraid of mixing magic systems, or are we all too busy imagining Hua Cheng and Xie Lian as Quidditch rivals?

AU galore! It's like everyone decided to take a detour from the Ghost City.

Mpreg? Surprisingly sparse. Did everyone forget about the potential for celestial offspring, or are we just too focused on Hua Cheng's artistic endeavors?

Speaking of Hua Cheng, why is he always a painter? Is there some unwritten rule that says San Lang can't explore other creative outlets? Someone, please give him a pottery wheel or something!

[strangerthings4theories]

Billy Is Going To Find The Byers

IMPORTANT: If you haven’t read my post “The Demogorgon Is Billy’s Dark Reflection,” please check it out, as it goes hand in hand with this one. Thanks :D

A few months ago, we all got our first look at some of the new characters for S4. I checked them out with great interest. 

“Lt. Colonel Sullivan... military dude in Hawkins... cool, makes sense. Victor Creel... ooooooh, played by Robert Englund, betcha he’s gonna be one of El’s predecessors. Eddie Munson... damn, he’s super sus. Argyle... Jonathan’s new bff, who delivers pizza for--”

I stopped.

And freaked. OUT.

Argyle delivers pizza for Surfer Boy Pizza.

Surfer Boy Pizza.

SURFER BOY PIZZA.

A whole constellation of dots connected, and I knew IMMEDIATELY where this is heading. Let’s walk through it step by step... starting with the inception of Stranger Things itself.

The Duffers love the movie Jaws, to the point that they give it pride of place in their list of inspirations. Hell, Stranger Things probably wouldn’t have existed without it. Initially, as a homage to the movie, the show was set in a Long Island beach town called Montauk. The setting didn’t change until the Duffers began pre-production:

They began by scouting locations on the northern tip of Long Island, but the community - so integral to the script - didn’t look as they had imagined, and its distance from New York City made the idea of anchoring the production there unfeasible. A new approach was required. (Worlds Turned Upside Down, p 25)

After that, they rewrote the script to take place in Indiana, and “Hawkins was born.” 

Still, you can tell their love for Jaws lingered. Hopper’s truck looks like Martin Brody’s:

Meanwhile, the Demogorgon was inspired by the shark, and the show isn’t shy about that fact. In S1, when Nancy explains her theory for what the Demogorgon is, she likens its bloodlust to that of a shark:

In the final episode, when Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve are hiding from the Demogorgon in Will’s room, the Jaws poster hangs prominently in the left side of the frame:

Furthermore, the Demogorgon’s behavior emulates that of the shark. Like Nancy points out, it hunts alone, emerging from the Upside Down (*COUGHTHEOCEANCOUGH*) to pick people off one by one. And though we don’t see its full form until the end, its presence haunts us throughout, infusing the story with dread.

Okay! So the Duffers originally set Stranger Things in a beach town, and the Demogorgon was inspired by the Jaws shark. Cool. What does this mean for us?

Everything.

Think about it. The Byers have moved to a new town. We aren’t sure where they went, but in S2 Bob suggested Maine. Maine is on the East Coast, not far from Long Island.

And as you can see, it has hundreds of miles of beaches.

If the Duffers have any sense, they wouldn’t drop the Byers in another town like Hawkins. That would be redundant and hella boring. Instead, they would seize the opportunity to explore a new setting with a different feel. Not an inland town surrounded by woods and farmland, but... oh, idk... a beach town.

On top of that, the Byers’ move gives the Duffers the perfect opportunity to return to the show’s roots. Finally, they can bring Montauk to life.

If that’s what they’ve done, and the Byers have moved to a beach town, we’re headed for prime Billy territory.

Billy OWNS the beach. In the context of the show, we get our first glimpse of a beach in his mind, for God’s sake. And he’s deeply connected to water as an element. He’s a surfer, lifeguard, swim instructor... need I say more?

He’s also likened to the Demogorgon - the monster inspired by the shark in Jaws.

I’ve already discussed the similarities between Billy and the Demogorgon. Those were fresh on my mind when I read Runaway Max for the first time. So, when I read this paragraph where Max describes the Camaro, I freaked out (I do that a lot):

Once, for two weeks back in April, I thought that Camaro was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It had a long, hungry body like a shark, all sleek painted panels and sharp angles. It was the kind of car you could rob a bank in. (pp 12-13)

It’s a motherf***ing equation, y’all. Billy (by way of his Camaro) = the Demogorgon = the shark in Jaws.

And the Byers have just moved to a town where the local pizza place is called Surfer Boy Pizza.

A name like that doesn’t make sense unless they really are in a beach town.

Hence why I completely lost my shit when I read about Argyle. When you take all the evidence together, it looks like the Duffers have set up a situation where, figuratively, our heroes will think they see a shark in the water (aka the Demogorgon). 

But they’ll find out it’s not a shark. It’s a surfer boy coming back to shore.

Hints and leaks have confirmed this idea so far. The Stranger Things social media accounts teased the following exchange last year:

“What if it’s the Demogorgon?” “It’s not the Demogorgon.”

Just a couple weeks ago, we got our first photo of the Surfer Boy Pizza delivery truck (credit: strangerinsidebr on IG). And the writing on the side is telling.

The writing in the center doesn’t say, “Surfer Boy Pizza delivered hot to your door.” It says, “Surfer Boy delivered hot to your door.” The ‘pizza’ is way off to the side.

They’re making a joke, guys. A fuckin joke.

“Surfer boy delivered HOT to your door ;)”

Jokes aside, the potential for Billy’s intro scene is so CLEAR and VIVID that I took a stab at sketching out how it could happen. Obviously I don’t think it has to happen this way; the writers have plenty of wiggle room. But it illustrates the kind of scene I have in mind:

Episode 3: “The Survivor”

All this time, hints have been building that Billy is still alive. Creepy things keep happening that remind us of Will trying to communicate from the Upside Down in S1 (flickering lights, people feeling "haunted" by his "ghost," etc). At the end of the episode, a thunderstorm rolls into the Byers' beach town. Will and El are together at home, probably alone. As it's raining and thundering, strange things begin to happen that frighten them. They get a creepy phone call; the power goes out, but only at their house; etc. Remembering that horrific night three years ago, Will races to the window to look out. El follows him. Through the rain, they see a form swaying toward the house. Terrified, Will wants to leave, but El stops him. "But El, what if it's the Demogorgon?" "It's not the Demogorgon." They back away from the door and wait. To their shock, the chain unlocks by itself. The door opens, and their visitor walks in, looking like a drowned cat with a nosebleed. Billy.

God, I’m freaking out again just writing all this out lololol. I need to go lie down. 

BILLY’S COMING BACK, BITCHES. 

Peace.  ✌️

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series (So Far)

Billy Is Not a ‘B’ Character In Stranger Things

The First Rule of Analyzing Stranger Things: The Upside Down Is Symbolized By Water

The Lifeguard And The Rip Current: Our First Big Hint That Billy Is Alive

Why Haven’t We Seen Dacre On Set?

The Demogorgon Is Billy’s Dark Reflection

Frequently Asked Questions

For updates, follow the hashtag #billy is alive meta

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 289: Looks Like the Gang’s All Here

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “you guys don’t really need to know what’s gonna happen to Deku and Shouto right now” and cut away to Toga and Ochako before anyone could get a word in. Skeptic utilized the power of Freak Shounen Coincidence to magically zero in on Ochako and Tsuyu amongst the fleeing crowd. Toga was all “IS THAT OCHAKO” and immediately leaped down to fight them, ignoring Spinner’s heartfelt speeches about Villain Found Family because fight now, hug later!! Down in the streets of some unidentified crumbling city, Ochako was approached by a sweet old lady and was all “I better help this sweet old lady who is definitely not leading me into a trap”, which unfortunately turned out to be poor decision-making on her part. Anyway so now she and Toga are going to throw down. AND ALSO, P.S., BEST JEANIST IS STILL ALIVE, and that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything right now, but BY GOLLY I JUST HAD TO SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS.

Today on BnHA: Iida and Hadou are all “is it our turn yet”, and Horikoshi is all “yes”, and so the two of them finally burst onto the scene and are all “hello Shouto, Gigantomachia is on his way, btw do you need help” and so they all get ready to fight Tomura together. Meanwhile in Unnamed Ochako And Toga Fight Town, Toga is all “what’s up Ochako, oh is this the All Might doll Deku gave you, I guess you must like Deku as well, just like me, we truly are the same, btw I can use other people’s quirks now” before she vanishes in a flurry of knives and ambiguity, as mysteriously as she came. So that’s a thing that happened. The chapter ends with Gigantomachia and the League STOMPIN’ ONTO THE SCENE, JUST IN TIME FOR ENDEAVOR TO WAKE UP AND BE ALL “OHHHHH SHIT.” YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT, “OH SHIT.” Finally the pieces are in place for Dabi to reveal his true identity to Hadou and Iida, JUST LIKE WE ALL EXPECTED.

before I start, thank you so much to everyone who sent birthday messages on Wednesday!! I had a good day; my quarantine impulse purchase guitar that I ordered months ago but had been backordered finally arrived, and so now I can do something productive with my time as I continue to while away these months in isolation! not to say that capslocking over fictional characters and their shounen escapades doesn’t also count as being productive lmao. anyways, my fingers hurt so typing is kind of a bitch right now, but I’m having fun still. IF KAMINARI CAN DO IT THEN SO CAN I

anyway so let’s see what mishaps my various catastrophe-prone children are getting up to this week

okay there are several things happening in this panel which I want to comment on

IIDA!!!

HADOU!!!

“some time after” jesus fucking christ though, how long have Deku and the rest actually been fighting?? like it’s absolutely absurd to imagine that they’ve been managing to hold off Tomura for more than a few minutes, and yet everything we’ve seen these last couple of chapters suggests that this is indeed the case. which is just pure insanity tbh. excuse me sir, but I have an emotionally maturing son, a homewrecking grandpa, and a sleep-deprived one-legged platonic husband who are all in DIRE NEED of medical attention just FYI

lastly, I direct your attention to these two cool cats in the background who are both riding on hover surfboards. living it up like it’s Back to the Future. why are there two of them. do they both just happen to have the exact same quirk. what are the odds. ARE THEY TWINS. I want to know everything about them dammit

anyway so Hadou is asking Iida why he’s tagging along, because unlike the others, he can’t fly and is thus vulnerable to Tomura’s attacks and such

well Hadou I’ll have you know that it his DUTY AS THE CLASS PRESIDENT to tag along and THAT’S WHY

oh shit you guys IIDA SAID “FUCK THE LAW”

“plus Bakugou-kun, whom I am not particularly close to, but nonetheless hold nothing personal against!” well uh, kind of a weird distinction to make there bro, but okay. listen everyone, it’s a tense situation; if Iida feels the need to clarify the ins and outs of his interpersonal relationships with each of the people he’s rescuing then please just respect that okay

anyways though have I mentioned how much I fucking love Iida Tenya though you guys. feels like I haven’t mentioned that enough. I LOVE HIM. there

FINALLY

AFTER THREE WHOLE WEEKS WE FINALLY CUT BACK. OH MY GOD. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG OF A TIME THAT IS TO BE HOLDING YOUR BREATH. [EXHALES]

is it bad that my immediate reaction to this page was A LOT OF LAUGHING, though. fkldlksh this entire situation is SO ABJECTLY TERRIBLE that if I were Shouto I would almost be fighting the urge to look around for a hidden camera at this point. ASHTON KUTCHER WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE. OH THANK GOD, IT WAS ALL JUST A PRANK

anyway so uh. heh. how screwed are we at this point, exactly. oh and also, whose speech bubbles are these. who the fuck would look at this situation and these bleeding children and say “HA!” what kind of monster. just ignore that paragraph right before this one please

OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT

TOMURA I CANNOT BELIEVE I’M SAYING THIS, BUT PLEASE LISTEN TO AFO FOR ONCE AND JUST LEAVE

pretty please. we kind of have a situation here. not that I wouldn’t love to see what this icy flamey boi could do if push came to shove, but I also have had just about enough of watching children get maimed for today though

OH SHIT

THE TIMING OF THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL BUT I DO NOT CARE!! THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED THANK GOD

“WHAT UP GUYS, WE BROUGHT YOU SOME TERRIBLE NEWS” FKLSHLKHLK

WELL GEE IIDA THANKS SO FUCKING MUCH!!

lmaoooo a wild Lida has been spotted what the fuck is this translation though

I don’t know which is better, the “Lida” (DO YOU EVEN READ THE SERIES BRO), or the “CHRIST” gkfhkg. CLASSIC LIDA

OH SNAP HADOU

sobbing at Manual cradling the still-warm corpse of Gran Torino like a tiny baby khlk;h. BUT ANYWAYS HADOU SAW HER TEACHER ALL BLOODIED UP AND IS READY TO THROW DOWN, YESSSSS, THE MY LADIES ACADEMIA ARC CONTINUES

(ETA: listen you guys, there were many things at the end of this chapter that brought me joy, but perhaps none more than the inclusion of Hadou in the final two page spread looking all serious alongside the Todorokis, as if she has any fucking clue at all wtf is going on slfkhlkhgghsl. what I wouldn’t give to see her and Deku and Iida all making frantic bewildered eye contact at each other throughout the next chapter lmao.)

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT DEKU

ARE YOU PROPPING YOURSELF UP WITH YOUR ARM THAT’S IN SPLINTERS, I CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE YOU RIGHT NOW. SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP SOME SENSE INTO THIS CHILD. SIT YOUR ASS DOWN

LMAO TODO’S READY TO TAKE AFOMURA ON. THE SHARED HERO BRAINCELL HAS ALREADY EXPIRED. FUCK IT LET’S DO THIS

“true, I already watched him murder my dad, my boyfriend, my other boyfriend, my teacher, and dozens of other people, but gosh darn it, I just feel like the fifteenth time’s the charm you guys.” shit, I ain’t even mad. who’s up for yet another episode of Todoroki Shouto Attempts to Murder a Bitch

-- “TIME TO CUT AWAY!!” laughs Horikoshi as he gleefully dodges out of reach before I can punch him, that SON OF A --

goddammit. you’re just lucky that I’m invested in the girl power fight too

YESSSSS OCHAKO

DON’T BE SORRY FOR KICKING ASS! NEVER BE SORRY FOR KICKING ASS

damn, looks like she managed to touch Toga’s shirt but not Toga herself. both of them are so fast

now Toga is monologuing from the shadows

we’ve all been there, Toga. sometimes you see someone you really like and it’s just like, ahhhhhh gotta kill them am I right

lol I love Toga so much you guys, but I’m also kind of wincing in anticipation of whatever essays are gonna materialize out of the fandom this week explaining how hero society has failed her utterly and she is just a victim here. CAN YOU NOT SEE HOW SHE JUST WANTED FREEDOM TO BE HERSELF AND MURDER A BUNCH OF PEOPLE flhkklhl

OH SNAP SHE WENT AND TOLD HER THE THING!!

and it was fucking awesome and scary as shit, Ochako. like damn, still sends a chill up my spine just thinking about it

anyway so now Toga is continuing to explain that she can use the quirks of whoever she transforms into

and Ochako is kind of freaking out, which I don’t blame her for, since it’s probably really upsetting to hear that your stolen blood and quirk were used to murder a bunch of people. shit

so now she’s all “WTF WHY WOULD YOU EVEN TELL ME THAT”

??? was this somehow the wrong answer?

for fuck’s sake. Toga you literally came down here to ask her if she would be willing to kill you, and here she is telling you “I would never be happy about killing someone, that’s fucked up”, and you’re all “......”

like come on though, what else do you want her to say?? and why does Ochako look so shocked now

OOP

LMAO

THEIR FACES DKSLHFKG. TOGA NO THAT IS MEAN. and jesus christ Ochako it’s just a toy. I know it has Sentimental Value and shit but is this really the thing to be getting distracted about right now

FOR FUCK’S SAKE

JIN-KUN WHOM OCHAKO HAS NEVER FUCKING MET?? THAT JIN-KUN??!

OM NOM NOM

this entire confrontation makes absolutely zero sense to me you guys. just. Horikoshi was all, “this is the kind of stuff girls talk about when they’re battling to the death, right?” just, are you okay my dude

anyway so Toga has somehow deduced that Ochako got the doll from Deku, which means that she and Ochako are exactly alike in every way, and this is somehow an important plot point, and now they’re finally getting back to the fight lulz

OH SHIT

OCHAKO BOUT TO SLAP THE SHIT OUT TOGA WITH THIS BOOKCASE ON A STRING AND THIS LOUIS BAG OH FUCK

so now Toga’s all excited and she’s all “THERE’S SOMETHING I OUGHT TO TELL YOU, I’M NOT LEFT HANDED EITHER” oh snap

fuck, it almost feels like she’s trying to warn her. Ochako idk maybe you should run shit I do not like this ( ﾟдﾟ)

but of course she is not running, and she’s all “I’ll have you take responsibility for your actions”

HEY NOW

WHAT IS FUCKING HAPPENING, DID TOGA JUST FUCKING MURDER TSUYU, WHAT THE FUCK. I AM TERRIFIED, I DON’T WANT TO SCROLL DOWN, SHE THREW LIKE FOURTEEN KNIVES INTO THE DARKNESS, WHAT THE FUCK

OH

IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I MAY HAVE OVERREACTED

so did Toga just Swip a bunch of knives for no reason and then abscond, lol what. CAN ANYBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THAT ENTIRE SCENE WAS. ASIDE FROM GETTING TO SEE OCHAKO TRY AND YEET A BOOKCASE AT SOMEONE

fuck, she was crying??

DID MY GIRL TOGA JUST KILL AN OLD WOMAN, NAKEDLY LURE OCHAKO INTO A BUILDING, ANTAGONIZE HER INTO SAYING “I’LL MAKE YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR KILLING A BUNCH OF PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE YOU FELT LIKE IT”, STEAL HER DOLL, GIVE HER DOLL BACK, TELL HER “OH SO YOU LIKE DEKU TOO HUH? BTW I CAN USE OTHER PEOPLE’S QUIRKS”, AND THEN RUN AWAY CRYING??? BRUH

-- OH SHIT, OH FUCK

[SIRENS BLARING WILDLY] [AUDIENCE LEAPING OUT OF THEIR SEATS] [T-SHIRT CANNONS BOOMING IN THE AIR] [VIKING WAR HORN SOUNDS IN THE DISTANCE] FUUUUUUUUUCK

well never the fuck mind about Ochako and Toga and WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT ALL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE, I guess, BECAUSE!! MACHIA MADNESS HAS ARRIVED. SPEARS SHALL BE SHAKEN!!! SHIELDS SHALL BE SPLINTERED!!

AND LOOK WHO WOKE UP FROM HIS NUMBER ONE HERO BEAUTY NAP RIGHT ON CUE, TOO!!! ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS... IIIIIIIIIIT’S TOUYA TIMEEEEEEEE

[axemetaphor]

im definitely not ripping off my friend by making a list of au ideas i have no siree //gonna slap this under a readmore cause i. well i say a lot. all of the time. i tried so hard to format this Good but tumblr fucked me up i am so sorry

so first-off i know i already have one WIP AU (Auckland) on ao3 so i wont talk about That one cause like. spoilers. i actualyl have it like 80% created so its likely gonna truly get finished for once and i dont wanna ruin shit

the other one ive posted about is something me and ben (catgirlrepublic) have worked on together its not at all close to done or anything but it's. a fun little crossover. Between jdate and my fuckinuhm. Original characters story “Untitled Villains Project”. the sketches of the comic version ive started is actually my pinned post 👉👈 its like the first chunk of the story, i think half of part 1? yea.

Tldr john fucking Somehow is able t oget into contact with a certain curious scientist from another reality who’d just love to study the Soy Sauce, most certainly not for her own nefarious purposes

John and Dave meet up with the scientist, her name is Boss, and her lab assistant, Toxic, and after a bit of a preliminary Vibe Check where john determines her trustworthy (which Dave doesnt agree with,) the two agree to be taken to the world UVP is set in. from there they stay in Boss’s lab (big old fucking abandoned military lab). John and Toxic are fast friends due to mutual love-of-chaos. John n Dave get to fuckin, camp out on an air mattress.

The day after they arrive, the two get split up, not exactly intentionally; big plot points of UVP are liek. Fueled by Boss sending Toxic to go fetch her “research materials,” which are usually important artifacts

Fuckin side note i guess i have to explain my dumb bullshit: Boss’s, uh, field of expertise so to speak is actually fckin, basically the scientific study of magic and superpowers n shit like that. This shit’s all real in that world. Toxic’s got fuckin superpowers, so do 4 other main characters, whatever. It’s got a bit to do with spirituality, iss Boss’s hypothesis. So she has Toxic fetch important artifacts that might have “energies” to them. The thing is actually way more fuckin complictated than that, this is just Boss’s initial hypothesis.

Motherfucking anyways. So Boss gives Toxic a job to do, and John get excited about how Cool that sounds, and ends up going with Toxic, leaving Boss and Dave alone. Neither is thrilled about this. But Dave and Boss get to have a bit of conversation (while Toxic and John are off bonding and having a good time) and come to a… mutual grudging understanding of some kind. They still dont like each other though lmao

Theres gonna be deeper shit going on but we havent sorted it out yet/tbh havent like Written For It in a while but i still like thinking about it a lot lol

Also pretty sure our endgame is john and dave steal toxic and bring them back with em lmao boss is kind of not nice and toxic would most certainly be better off in Undisclosed. Actually theyd fucking love it. Theyd become a local cryptid im sure. Undisclosed’s mothman is a teleporting spike baby.

I have. Another crossover AU that i might. Post something about for halloween? Maybe? If i have it finished?

Crosses over into, you guessed it, another one of my original-character projects. God, am i vain or something?

I promise this is just because i think blue and dave should get to team up to beat up some monsters

Quick briefing on my fuckinuh. Original character story, this one doesnt have a name (yet? Idk lol my work never actually goes anywhere sso who gives a shit). It centers around two grim reapers, Red (26, bi woman) and Blue (22, aroace agender asshole). In this reality or whatever, grim reapers function kind of like low-level office workers. They get told who’s going to die + when by some middle-management types, and upper management only involve themselves when punishment needs to be doled out. These Higher-Ups can be seen as analogous to Korrok; they’re decidedly not human, never were, and fucking terrifyingly powerful. Additionally, grim reapers are sort of .. designed to be “background noise” people. In reality theyre supernatural beings and, uh, look Real Fuckin Weird (the whole deal has a neon aesthetic im terrible at drawing uwu) but most humans just perceive them like extras in a movie. A body’s there but the camera’s not focused on it.

To the narrative: the shit starts when Red n Blue get relocated to Undisclosed. Relocation is something that just happens every now and then to reapers; they usually work in teams, but they get split up into different cities to avoid any strong bonds forming (a counter-union strategy from the Higher-Ups).

Red, Blue, John and Dave end up running into each other for the first time in a McDonalds where John n Dave are getting some 4am “hey, we just survived another horrific monster fight” celebration burgers. John and Dave are the only two people who can see how… strange Red and Blue are. Nobody else notices.

John unintentionally pisses Blue off, leading to Blue whacking him upside the head with a dildo bat. They all four get kicked out of McDonald’s. Dave and Red both are less than thrilled

Blue and John end up resolving their differences, somehow. Red and Dave briefly bond over their dumbass best friends being, well, dumbasses. They all part ways amicably.

somehow-or-other (idk yet) they end up running into each other a few more times, and eventually john invites them over to his place, and the four (plus Amy now!) get to know each other a little better

while there, Blue gets a text about some guy who's gonna die and John offers to drive them to where that's gonna go down. they take him up on the offer and get to have a bit of one-on-one conversation

after that ordeal though Blue has had Enough of people and bails, leaving John to head home alone

theres a sort of mirror-development going on with the five of em. Red, John, and Amy would all like everyone to get along, though theyre a bit tentative about it (John moreso than the other two, actually, jsut cause. well Red n Blue could still be Sauce Monsters). Dave and Blue on the other hand do Not like people enough for this shit, and Dave's not unconvinced theyre Sauce Monsters. he will not trust them until proven he should

the story's kinda nebulous but i got an idea for some Shit going down that involves both Sauce Monsters and also the Higher-Ups to have some fuckin absolute chaos go down.

Oops! All Trans

Everybody is transgender. Everyone

Ive actually workshopped this one both with ben (catgirlrepublic) and ghost (ghost-wannabe) lmao its a fun lil concept ive had from the get-go cause i mean. What’s an internet tran gonna do other than hit all their favourite media with the Everyone’s Trans beam

Dave transitioned post-high school and faked his death for it. People go missing in Undisclosed all the damned time, after all. He moved to the next city over, transitioned fully, then came back as a completely new man. Yes i know this doesnt exactly fit with the “everyone knows David from high school” thing alright, hush.

Anytime anyone brings up John’s old best friend (pre-transition Dave) John throws an entire fit like an overdramatic grieving widow. Full-on sobbing “why would you bring her up?! I miss her so much—” to the point that people just stop bringing up because Jesus Christ That Sure Is Uncomfortable KJHGFDS.

This is a scheme he and Dave came up with prior to Dave leaving, though Dave hadnt exactly anticipated John putting on this much of a performance about it��� but it’s stopped Dave from ever having tto hear his deadname again, so hey.

Amy transitioned sometime in middle school/early high school. Her family was super supportive and loved her a ton and most people just know her as Amy. she was super shy her whole life really so. Yeah. people just dont think to bring it up lmao also i Feel Like big jim would absolutely wallop anyone who gave her trouble of any kind

John’s nonbinary (genderfluid specifically) and not exactly Interested in transitioning ? like hes fine with how he is. mostly.

he came out to Dave in high school but hes not out to anyone else exactly. Maybe his bandmates. Probably any other trans person in Undisclosed knows, too, cause theyre safe to tell lmao. Johns mostly a “he/him out of convenience” kinda nb who’s cool with any pronouns but does prefer they/them most. Dave and Amy use they/them when the trio are alone

Also this is a totally self-indulgent caveat that i think would be great, Dave’s actually agender but because he's transmasc and transitioned when he thought there were really only two options, and being Boy at least felt less weird than being Girl, he just kind of assumed he was a dude. It’s only through a lot of (like fucking years and years hes probably in his 30s/40s when he puts 2 and 2 together on this one) talks about gender with John that he realizes he actually feels like No Gender. Masc aesthetic with none gender.

I Just Think It’d Be Neat Is All Okay

Also Amy came out to Dave about being trans early on in them seeing each other and his response was to get very nervous before blurting out “me too” and then just being too embarrassed to talk about it for the rest of the day. Hes got a lot of hangups on talking about it actually it takes years for him to get comfortable in that

by contrast when Amy comes out to John about it his response is to yell “EYYY ME TOO” and give her a big ol hug lmao

I think itd be neatt if Amy ran a like. Transfem help/advice blog on tumblr. Kind of helped-with by John who can give her transfem nb insight for certain asks. I also just think that would be neat.

Cowboy AU - i put this one last cause its got drawings to it actually. Theyll be at the bottom

Basically just. Hey you ever watched a western. I think they look neat

This is another one me n ben have come up with lol

The soy sauce and all that shit still exist, im not sure where korrok fits in yet but ill figure it out

Theres no real like solid narrative yet ? but heres the barebones of everybody’s arcs.

John

Johns an absolute troublemaker, Of Course. Hes wanted in several towns for absolutely stupid shit. Hes a loner who shows up, causes chaos, gets drunk, does some drugs, runs away if people get too mad at him

He definitely had the same kind of deal with the soy sauce as in canon— he was at some kind of party, somebody offered it, he took it cause why the fuck wouldnt he, now he can see monsters and shit

Hes kind of a mooch also. Like. dont let him stay in your barn man he’ll never fucking leave and drink all your booze.

He runs into Dave when they happen to just, cross paths in the same town. the bullshit John stirs up ends up involving Dave in a way that makes it seem like it's his fault too, and they both get run out of town

after that he just tags along after Dave. hes decided this guy's Cool he wants to stick around. Dave is pissed at first, but not enough to shoot him or anything, and eventually, John grows on him

Dave

Dave also is a loner but unlike John hes simply so fucking awkward and bad with people. He doesnt feel like he belongs anywhere so he just travels

He’s the stereotypical Lone Ranger tbh. He wanders from town to town, solving their problems, though hed deny its out of any moral obligation (it kinda is, a little bit, tbh. He does like feeling useful). He shows up, fixes things, leaves. He's kind of a legend but most people think he's hiding something dark. other people jsut know him as that guy who farted real loud in the middle of the saloon and promptly skipped town out of sheer embarrassment. you know how it goes with Dave

He ends up involved with the Soy Sauce when a snake (not Actually a snake,) bites him. The snake’s more like the wig-monsters, really. Anyway, it injects him with the soy sauce, he fucking trips balls in the middle of the desert, he can see monsters now

He runs into John and shit goes tits-up, as said, but they become traveling buddies after that. he'd never say so, but he's glad for the company, actually. it's nice. hes not used to companionship but he feels a strange kind of easiness hanging out with John....

not sure how the Monster Dave concept will like fit in to this reality but like. trust me i want it in here. I'll Figure It Out.

Amy

Amy’s been living in a town John and Dave end up passing through and she is very curious about these two new Handsome Strangers who claim to fight monsters and just kinda. Persistently tags along til they let her join for real

Her family’s all dead, unfortunately, just like in canon, and she’s been living alone for a few years before meeting John n Dave. she had nothing left in that town to stay for, she'd been fantasizing about escaping on wild adventures for a long time and this felt a little like a dream come true. (Dave still gives her a spiel about how Difficult it is, but really, her fantasies were pretty grounded-in-reality already. i jsut think thats how she is, yknow?)

Shes the first person to react to the whole “we see monsters” shit with a kind of “oh, okay. neat” kind of response lmao

John and Dave fix whatever the fuck is up with her town (maybe that’s where the Korrok shit can fit, who knows) and Amy ends up being integral to that. After, she insists they take her with them because “they need her now” and Dave just cant really say no. John too is very much "the more the merrier!" and hes actually glad to have another person along he loves people lmao

At the start she has long hair but after she joins them she chops it short with a knife for convenience

also she still is an amputee. justt. idk. it was a wagon/stagecoach accident rather than a car accident lmao. just to clarify since i hadnt mentioned it, i wouldnt rob her of her ghost hand or yknow. all of the significance to her character that Missing A Hand has. although also now im going to have to research what was used as painkillers way-back-when, but im betting shes still got, like, her pain pills, they probably had those, maybe i wouldnt have to try too hard there. old timey medicine could be WACK though,

Shitload

Yeah hes in tthis shit mostly cause i liked designing his cowboy self lmao

Hes a kid (like 16, 17, technically i think in those days that was more Young Man than Kid but whatever. Hes Young i mean.) who got possessed by the Worms out in the desert and, by his family’s perception, just went missing!

Hes also a wanderer, but he ended up at the same town john and dave met in, at that same time, and starts following them after, already aware of who/what they are.

He keeps his face covered 24/7. actually he covers a Majority of his self for reasons. kinda want him to be a slightly more horrifying Worm Entity rather than human idk,

I kinda dont have much for this boy yet sorry Shitload

images !

with some editing notes for me cause im doing a very specific aesthetic with this lmao. i might change some lil details/colours though ...... idk

im also kinda 🤔 about shitload's colour palette. i want things assoicated w the sauce to be black'n'red predominantly but i think his palette might mirror dave's too closely. also im working on a korrok design i jsut am too busy to draw it now

[bts-story]

Hi! first off i love your way of writing keep it up :), second can i request a fluffy a little bit of angst one shot with yoongi, where your his little sister, your both idols, and you are performing in an award show with your group...him and the rest of the members along with the other idol groups are watching and halfway through your performance you fall off the stage (through the hole thingy where they come up from idk what it's called) so yeah hihi thank you!

It’s Alright — SUGA 

It’s all over the tabloids already.

It had only been four minutes and twenty-eight seconds since it happened, but videos and pictures of the incidentwere scattering all around internet like it was the latest breaking news. After all, it was broadcasted live on television, so anyone knowing about theaward show of the year, would probably have been sitting comfortably in their sofa, watching and enjoying the performances from all different kind of idol groups.

Until it happened. Of course, nothing could have prepared the audience, nor the cameramen or the staff, or yourself for the matter, when you found yourself literally falling off the stage. It’s weird because, one moment you were up there, following the dancing moves you knew by heart, singing the lyrics you learned months ago – and the next minute, it’s like you’ve literally been swallowed by the ground.

It took a moment for you to realize what the hell happened, because the second your head bumped against something hard and cold, you couldn’t really remember much. All the things happened next was blurry to you. And only when a figure came in front of you, shaking gently your shoulder, you recognized your manager, his face slowly turning back clear.

“… you alright?” He turned around, but still the sound of his voice seemed far, far away. There was a loud buzz ringing throughout your head, it felt like you just been hit by a freaking train. You can’t really seem to focus on anything but the pain inside your head. “… s’okay, she just bumped her head a bit hard.”

Everything seemed fussy all around. You couldn’t really tell how many persons were with you in the room, or how you even got there, for the matter. “What happened?” you asked, and suddenly, the fuss around seemed to quiet down.

You cleared your throat, blinking as many times it took for your eyes to adjust to reality. The ringing was still there, a tiny bit quieter than before but in all, it didn’t seem as bad as it looked like. And considering the very frowned brows on your manager’s face, the crease on his forehead and the way his bottom lip was caught up between his teeth, it seemed actually pretty bad. Didn’t he just say you only bumped your head hard?

“You fell down the trap door.” Okay, it sounded dumb. Like really, really dumb. It sounded even more like a scene from a comedic television show or something. You would have laugh, in any other situation. If the loud buzz inside your head weren’t there.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed in the room and, jumping around to the sound, the door of the changing room let appear a man, suit on his shoulders. Worried eyes stuck on his face but what was most shocking about him, was the gritted teeth on his face. Tightened fists and eyes searching all around the room to find his prey.

“Jesus, what the fuck happened to you?” Yoongi. The one and only Min Yoongi, music-genius to some, ever complaining pain in the ass to others. In all, the curse of an older brother the world brought upon you.

Yoongi crossed the few steps separating him from you, and if there was anyone in his path, he would have shoved them away with a quick move of his shoulder. The moment he reached you, he kneeled down, examined your face left to right, up and down. His hand came to reach on your forehead, eyeing that weird look on your face.

“It’s okay, Yoongi-ssi, she just bumped her head a little bit hard.” Your manager spoke, reassuring. However, it only seemed to anger Yoongi more.

“Why was that door open anyway? Who’s in charge of that?” Yoongi asked and his voice rose with every word. There was no need to explain how worried he was. Behind the scary voice and the frowned brows was actually hidden the worries of an older brother, powerless in front of the scenery he witnessed only moments before. Seeing his little sister fall off that hole made his stomach twirl on itself. “S’not fucking complicated to push up a button, is it?”

“Oppa – it’s okay, I’m fine.” You tried to reassure, grabbing his hand because there is no use in yelling against your manager. And the latter isn’t even responsible. Maybe it ishis job to be sure everything’s in place, that there is no possibility whatsoever for his idols to be hurt. But in any case, it’s not his job to run all around the theatre place and check every little nail dug wrong in the wood.

“You’re not fine, you could have hurt yourself really badly.” Yoongi argued and that loud buzzing was slowly fading away now, more distant and annoying than anything else at the moment.

And Yoongi is fuming. Literally, he can feel blood streaming around in his arteries, can sense a vein pumping nervously on his temple and the way his fists were tightening in angry balls would probably hint anyone of how furious he was. His whole face was scarlet red, mouth twitched unpleasantly and each of his steps was crashing against the hard ground of the changing room like a giant ready to erase an entire city.

He wasn’t that green monster, with knives for teeth or claws at the end of his fingers, however, he did look as menacing; his eyes darker than the sky during a storm. What you usually say, more often than not, when you mention that never-fading sulk on Yoongi’s face that makes him look like he’s ready to rip a soul out was true now, and it couldn’t be truer than that in this very moment for Yoongi, really, was ready to murder anyone crossing his path.

“Hey, could you leave us for a moment, please?” you asked all around, gentle eyes hinting no worries. Everything was fine, and it’s only when you nodded to your manager that he dared leave you two all alone.

“I’m gonna check if the rest of the girls are fine,” he said then because indeed, when you fell off the hole, the other members of your own group were pleaded to end their performance. No need to say no one was really up to it, however, it was the best choice not to alarm anyone. Just imagine the stupefaction and confusion if the whole show was cancelled. Show must go on, after all.

Once the door was closed and there was only you two left in the room, Yoongi’s breathing seemed to calm down a little bit. “Are you hurt?” he asked gently, taking your hand in his own and oddly, it reminded you back you both were kids. When you would hurt yourself while playing in the playground, or when you accidently cut yourself with a knife in the kitchen of your parents’ house, back in Daegu.

Those times seemed like a long time ago, however, Yoongi adored that same look in his eyes, just right now like he did back then. Frowned brows and a delicacy a few people knew about. “I’m okay,” you said with a smile. And it was true, the buzz was getting more and distant with each minute passing. “I got a little knocked up, that’s all.”

Yoongi examined your face, searching in the deep of your eyes if you were telling the truth. But he seemed satisfied, after a moment, a small smile creeping up your lips to back up your statement. “Can’t you just watch it? Seriously? You’re so clumsy all the damn time,” Yoongi growled but it wasn’t angry at all. It sounded like an accusation without any bite.

He wasn’t really pissed anymore, still that frown between his two brows only hinted he was still worried. “I don’t have eyes behind my head. How was I supposed to know the damn thing was still open?”

You punched him lightly on the shoulder and circling his arm around your shoulder to keep you close, Yoongi planted a gentle kiss on top of your head. “I’m gonna die of worry before my time if you keep doing shit like this, seriously.”

Yoongi was definitely not angry anymore. You could tell by the slight smile at the corner of his lips, or maybe by the way he pulled you close before finally letting go. Nevertheless, before exiting the room to go back to his seat, in the audience, where he should be, he warned you one last time about being careful and drink some water. You knew, however, the man in charge of closing the door was about to spend a really bad moment once Yoongi find him.

In the meantime, you’re fine and that’s all that counts. Luckily enough, there was more fear than pain.  

—————

Thank u bby!!! Hope you enjoyed this one <3 

- Nageoire 

[ljungfrun]

Bleach, From Pilot to Ch. 423: Things I Forgot Or Were Excluded From The Anime

Turns out I had forgotten a lot of things tho they might not seem that important. Anyway, the list is long so I’ll keep it under the cut. It’s a bit messy but I was just writing it as I was reading and then I somehow expected myself to remember what I was talking about. Posting it for anybody else who could use the reminder.

Please keep in mind that I’m pretty sure the translation I was reading wasn’t a 100% correct but I couldn’t be bothered to find a better one. Seems like it improved later on but I’d still take it with a grain of salt. (Like I’m pretty sure this translator couldn’t read hiragana properly, and some names were really messed up.)

- I did not know there was a pilot chapter so yeah... that entire thing I guess. - Orihime being that open about her crush from the beginning - Orihime’s parents being such cruel people - Orihime’s hairpins being a gift from Sora - The backstory of the mod souls - Chad’s crazy about cute things - Keigo is from Naruki City, not Karakura - Mizuiro being really popular with girls - Renji and Byakuya with weird hoods, idk if that was part of the anime and so far there’s been a part from the anime that wasn’t in the manga (The part with Ichigo seeing Rukia fight a hollow in town before she comes into his room) - Orihime is bad with electronics - Ishida is poor - Tatsuki told Orihime that she is probably at the level of a black belt in karate (I don’t know if she was honest about that but she said it) - Orihime is really dang smart - I forgot Nemu was technically Mayuri’s daughter -Also Mayuri is awful, he belongs in worst dad club with Isshin (I also didn’t remember Isshin being SUCH a creep but I guess I forgot to write that earlier. Or I just decided not to since reviewing this list afterwards I realize I left some other creepy things out.) - Mayuri can turn into liquid - Zanpakutou Materializing Dolls, and other artefacts. So many artefacts. Never to be mentioned or used ever again. - Kira feeling super guilty over raising a sword at Hinamori. - Orihime just chilling with Yachiru, Ikkaku, and Yumichika after the was separated from Uryuu. Oh and Zaraki’s there too. - Hisagi having been accepted as a shinigami before he passed the exams, expected to become a seated officer - Rukia idolised Kaien’s wife - That Komamura was that loyal to Yamamoto - I remember Kenpachi fighting Komamura and Tousen, not picking a fight with Komamura, Tousen, Iba, and Hisagi. Neither did I remember Ikkaku and Yumichika joining in, it’s just entirely gone from my memory - Byakuya’s scarf is a really expensive heirloom. - Byakuya was really cold in the beginning, supposedly not caring about his subordinates (idk if he really changed later on but this stood out to me in the moment. Also speaking of Byakuya, I think he seemed older to me when watching the anime because of the voice.) - Really I had forgotten a lot about the animosity between Byakuya and Renji - Rukia doesn’t refer to Gin as “Captain Ichimaru” and he doesn’t mind since they’ve “known eachother for so long”. Apparently she’s deathly afraid of him. - Kaname got his zanpakutou from the grave of the lady he liked? I’ve always wondered how people get their zanpakutous anyway ‘cause I don’t think Zaraki had any training and I’m pretty sure it’s the same sword he had when he met Yachiru, yet Zangetsu comments on how the sword is crying. (I’m also curious about if people could potentially wield other zanpakutous, which I think is a thing in the quincy arc but I’m talking like... normal people. I think it’d be neat since there’s already two people that have just... picked up a zanpakutou before they even became shinigamis.) - Rikichi! He’s such a big fan of Renji! He got Hanatarou out of jail just to help Renji. He didn’t only get him a new uniform but also a hair tie and a bandana. I’m a little sad that he never seems to show up ever again? (At least I don’t remember him being in the quincy arc but that’ll have to be it’s own list I guess) - Ukitake and Kyouraku stopping and destroying Soukyoku - Kiyone calling Isane sister. - Soifon getting ready to take out Kiyone and the other vice-captain. - Kyouraku being praised for being the best at seeing the true character of anyone he meets, and Ukitake always being the centre of a crowd although (frail, but affable and kind) - Yamamoto thinking of Ukitake and Kyouraku as sons - Katen Kyoukotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari are the only zanpakutous that exist in pairs (allegedly) (I don’t remember why I wrote allegedly but I had some thought behind it......) - Soi Fong’s name was Shaolin Fong until she inherited her grandmother’s code name. - Soi Fong not being angry with Yoruichi because she ran away, but because she didn’t take her with her - Iba having been part of the 11th division, but becoming Komamura’s vice-captain (supposedly for his mom) - Iba wanting to get a chance to fight Ichigo - Byakuya only showing Senkei Senbonzakura Kageyoshi to people he wants to kill personally, Ichigo being the second person. I can’t recall if the first person was ever revealed? - Kira going along with the scheme and leading away Hitsugaya and Matsumoto from the Central 46 chambers. He was told they wouldn’t do anything to Hinamori - Hinamori joined the Gotei 13 because she admired Aizen, which would imply she met him before the soul burial training accident, but idk if that’s a translation mistake - Unohana confronting Aizen in the Central 46 chambers and calling him a treacherous reprobate - How Kyoka Suigetsu works. I forgot that for it to work on someone they need to see the release, and that after that the person who saw it will be completely hypnotised every time he releases it from then on. - Aizen was certain that he could use all three of Kira, Hinamori, and Renji back when they first met, but Renji was problematic so he was sent on to squad 11 while Kira and Hinamori were made Aizen and Gin’s vice-captains - Ichigo and Renji trying to fight Aizen together - Ichigo being a fucking monster! Who stays conscious after having their stomach cut open like that? In the anime it was just a really bad slash but since the manga is a but more graphic I’m only now like “oh wow that is really fucking bad” - There were names for the four basic types of combat for shinigamis. Zanjutsu(sword skills), Hakuda(hand-to-hand combat), Hohou(foot work), and Kidou. - Hollowfication is brought up this early, but I guess it makes sense because he’s explaining the Hougyoku. - Urahara, not Aizen, hid the Hougyoku inside Rukia. - Urahara was exiled for creating an intractable gigai? I don’t think so Aizen, but okay. Also he was trying to turn Rukia into a human soul. Hm. - Komamura coming in to destroy Aizen mid-monologue. Thank you. (After reading Ichigo’s last fight with Aizen I am so tired of him talking aaahhhhh!) - All the gate guardians except for Jidanbou are traitors, Kuukaku shows up with Jidanbou (was this in the anime???) - I remember Ichigo hanging out with squad 11 after the whole Aizen thing, but I did not remember Iba being there too which is nice. They didn’t get to spar tho. - Matsumoto and Kira getting drunk and venting about Gin, though it’s portrayed pretty comically. Matsumoto proceeds to invite pretty much anyone who passes by, except for Kyouraku. - Ryuuken is part of the shitty dad club. - Shinigami Isshin was revealed pretty much right after Shinji, I didn’t remember it being so early. - Also I didn’t remember the protection charm either but hey it worked. - Did- Did Orihime really only get to use Tsubaki ONCE?? - Also that entire fight with Yammy and Ulquiorra is just so much bloodier than in the anime - That moment when Ichigo tells Chad to leave D.Roy to him and Chad runs away, that hurt, ow my heart - Keigo being there to watch Ikkaku fight Eduardo. Also Keigo having a chat with Yumichika. - Ikkaku losing his molars in the fight with Eduardo is. - Yumichika going “oh and btw, make preparations for Ikkaku’s funeral” - Flashback about Ikkaku fighting Zaraki in the past. - Ikkaku being determined to fight and die under Kenpachi’s command. - Ururu kicking Ilfordt in the face- I mean Ururu going in to exterminate Ilfordt. - References to Toshirou’s bankai being incomplete. - Shawlong being the first arrancar to be created. (Allegedly? Supposedly? Succesfully? It depends on a lot, it’s a bit of an assumption.) - The power limit that is placed on captains and vice-captains when they go to the world of the living is symbolised by the division’s symbol. Oh and it takes away 80% of their power. Motherfucking damn bitch Ikkaku. Also good job Rukia. (I don’t remember what these last two sentences are refering to tbh) - Tatsuki watching the fight (I’m assuming the first) between Ichigo and Grimmjow, or at least part of it. - I guess I forgot to mention this earlier but Orihime being jealous of Rukia and her relationship with Ichigo - Tousen really not liking Grimmjow because he causes discord - Ichigo trying the beat the answers out of the Vaizards. - Goddamn Ichigo has a lot of attitude. - Urahara telling Orihime that she would be a burden in battle and Rukia talking to her afterwards. Orihime and Rukia need more talks. - Orihime getting kidnapped by Hiyori. - Hachi having similar abilities as Orihime. - Hachi also suggesting against Orihime fighting the war. - Orihime being so determined to fight. Goddamn I wish Tsubaki wasn’t her only way of doing damage. Give her one of those funky artefacts for fuck’s sake. - Yumichika not getting along with “Fujikujaku”. - The trees in Hueco Mundo are made of something quartz-like - Ulquiorra complimenting Orihime on her looks (Tbh I’ve forgotten about this scene again but I don’t think I intended to lie to my future self so I’m assuming it might’ve been something vague) - Orihime planning to reject the Hougyouku with her powers to destroy it, why don’t I see more about that?? - Wonderweiss being fond of Tousen. - Szayel sending out the execution squad after Dordoni - Only Grimmjow ever uses Gran Rey Cero (Idk if I ever really thought otherwise but it’s on the list so I guess it’s a confirmation I wanted to make) - Tesla threatening to destroy the Shun Shun Rikka - Nnoitra using Nel as a shield when Ichigo attacks at one point - Nnoitra and Neliel didn’t even fight after he tore off Dondochakka and Pesche’s masks in the flashback wtf. Now that I think of it, I’ve never seen manga screenshots of that part so I guess it’s only in the anime. Well that’s disappointing. Then what did Szayel even do? (Still sad they don’t fight more in the manga, bluh. Also I’m still not sure what Szayel actually did.) - Nnoitra thinking it a shame that they (him and Neliel I think) won’t get to fight again. - Mayuri observing Uryuu through bacteria, and Uryuu calling him out for violating human rights - Szayel rebirthing himself from Nemu, wtf. I’m not sure if that was in the anime. (Okay it was, she just didn’t get straight-up pregnant) - I also forgot about Szayel taking over Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou - The Jesus Szayel and Baphomet Mayuri chapter pages were new to me - Mayuri to Nemu: “Good job, keep suffocating Uryuu with your tiddies. If he dies, he dies.” - Nnoitra, after releasing Santa Teresa: “Kinda sexy, isn’t it?” (I don’t trust this translation a 100% but what was written was “I look sexy, right?”) - And Zaraki responding with “your reiatsu is making me hard…” - The Living World as seen through the Garganta in Las Noches is upside-down - Hikifune and the Royal Guard being mentioned during Turn Back The Pendulum - Hiyori looking up to Hikifune as a mother - Urahara being Commander of the Detention Unit in the 2nd Division, and the unit keeping people who wanted to withdraw from the Gotei 13, not just criminals. - Urahara making Mayuri his Vice Captain in the research institute - Barragan’s fraccions having packed together his throne and brought it with them - I can’t believe Charlotte’s magical girl scene was only in the anime but I suppose it makes sense - Hisagi’s fight with Findor  was also shorter in the manga which is… kind of a shame? Idk it was pretty well made in the anime, but I guess it’s because they were just coming back from a break and all. - Hisagi and Kira stopping Yumichika from rushing in after Ikkaku was beaten, Komamura stepping in to take care of the arrancar… whose name I’ve already forgotten once again. - Iba calling Ikkaku out for not using his bankai and punching him in the face. Good. I like Ikkaku but the pillar did get destroyed because of him so it was a pretty bad move. - Hinamori making a kidou net - Kira used to be in the 4th division, did I already write that? - The Gran Rey Cero being forbidden to use inside of Las Noches but leave it to Grimmjow not to care about any of that - Kyouka Suigetsu’s ability can be cancelled by grabbing the blade. - They sent Aizen to Avici, or I guess a prison named after Avici - Yamamoto scolding Byakuya, Shunsui, and Kenpachi for losing their captain’s haori and they proceed to insult it - They actually mention Mayuri going back to Hueco Mundo

[rigelmejo]

im thinking about how i heard avenuex once say that mxtx writes a bit simpler than priest... like they said mo dao zu shi is like... easier to read (although not as ‘literary’ whether i guess that’s good or bad depends on tastes?)...

and i’m at a midpoint with this opinion cause on the one hand: i do think maybe the descriptions in modaozushi are a bit more straightforward. However, everything is xianxia genre (is that the right genre for mdzs? i get confused between xianxia and wuxia). And although I know some key noun words, the way people TALK in this genre is a different style... like the MDZS opening alone is like ‘people rejoice the evil is dead’ and ‘for a generation he’s presumed dead’ and ‘the jiang clan, lan clan, jin clan, wen clan, the sect leaders, the yiling patriarch’ and... so many of those words like sect and clan and the society type words are all really genre specific. So like yes, the descriptions are clear... but how people talk? Sort of??? Until I get used to the genre.

Whereas... like Guardian is an example. It has a few god-past scenes like the one with Shennong and Kunlun that I’ve read without help. The ‘fantasy’ and ‘past’ elements in Guardian are like... idk they feel almost like they create themselves, like their in-story contained mythology to some degree (even if some parts are taken or inspired from broader genre and mythology ideas). So its simple to follow: Kunlun is god of mountains, Shennong is dying, Shen Wei is a ghost king, Shen Wei loves Kunlun, Kunlun knows he’s going to die, Kunlun talks with Shennong about how everything eventually has to die including Kunlun, the world is old and this is the early days and its just gods and the world and the ghost monsters at first. It’s hard to explain but... in some ways I feel like a bit of the old-fantasy scenes in Guardian read like a creation story, so they introduce themselves more based on ‘assume reader doesn’t know what is what or how it works yet.’ And the words they use in the old-fantasy scenes are generally dialogues I find easily comprehensible. However... a lot of my comfort with Priest’s version of the genre, is I have a lot of familiarity with the story-specific vocab for Guardian, whereas in MDZS I have more general xianxia vocab and proper nouns vocab, but not necessarily familiarity with the speaking styles. 

Also... some of Priest’s novels, like Silent Reading, are modern. That story’s setting is just easier in general to follow with less context, since its all real life applicable words. Guardian, while fantasy, often has mundane real life applicable settings and words, which also helps with figuring out words and context - in a way mdzs has less of. 

However... I definitely think Priest’s writing is... complex. While there’s some context that gets easier... well...

The sheer number of adjectives I don’t know? The amount of descriptive lines? Some are chengyu, some are likely self created metaphors by the author, some are clearly lines that have like 3-5 layers of meaning and imply extra meaning from their extended context (like if I knew who Shennong was in actual mythology? If I had more background on the Kunlun mountains? I imagine the scenes I read would mean a LOT more in terms of depth of implications). Beyond simply comprehending the actual actions taking place in the story, and the barest guess at how characters are physically showing emotion - Priest is doing a hell of a lot more with the writing. 

I read the intro to Silent Reading yesterday. The first paragraph is literally just about the city - about how its split in half, east and west, and its like a beautiful picture masking a monster like a woman concealing with makeup. How the old part of the city is poorer, the newer part is the shopping district and is flourishing, and how developers are buying up the poorer parts and raising the value of the whole city but putting more pressure on the poor. And then it goes MORE in depth - this is just the parts I could comprehend. It took 2 readings of the paragraph for me to catch the second half - how the wealth is affecting the city and how business interests are affecting it. And you know damn well the societal implications of this unequally effected society are going to come up again and again in the novel, since hey it was mentioned LITERALLY IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. How is that for establishing a theme? Along with the intro paragraph establishing that this city has HISTORY, that its CHANGING, and that it contains monstrosities - precluding the buildup of the eventual murder cases that will make up the bulk of the future plot. On the surface, its just a physical description of location - and that physical description was the easiest part for me to catch. But if its read more in depth, its saying a ton of stuff with just a few physical description sentences. And this was just... stuff I could pick up on... I’m sure there’s more.

Priest’s novels are so chock full of this stuff its a bit daunting. Nevermind the fact that since EVERYTHING is interwoven into main details, its more of a struggle to comprehend the main gist of the plot since deeper more meaningful descriptors and metaphors and stylistic choices are intrinsic pieces of each sentence. 

I tried reading Tian Ya Ke the other day, and I only got through a few paragraphs. One of the hardest parts was just following who is who, since Priest likes not always giving names at first, so its a mystery of who someone is at first and you have to get to know them as mysterious people based on what they do. At least, sometimes. Random unnamed coffee buyer turns out to be main character in Silent Reading - and the deliveryman an important secondary. In Tian Ya Ke unnamed man who visits a secret prison has some ties to spy organizations and is presumably a main character. So I can’t just speed through an ‘unknown’ persons details - I might need to hold onto them later in case they turn out to be a named character later, where I need to remember what they did before they were named. Also on these unnamed - there’s galore descriptions of how they smile, their noses, their eyes, their hair lengths, their glasses, their style of clothes - get comfortable sifting through gratuitious physical descriptions which will ALSO be full of things with deeper meanings if you can catch them!

I’m not sure how much MDZS does this too, because I imagine it does all of this to some degree. And my impression is skewed, since I have a traditional copy of the first mdzs novel - so I’m mostly lost because of traditional characters, before I even get caught on the genre words. But I do think it... ramps up the plot a bit faster than Priest’s? If that makes sense. Like, plots in Priest are fast, but I feel like there’s also a lot of ‘what’s in this character’s head or perspective’ moments (which is a lot like I write so I love seeing it). And idk it can be harder to interpret that sometimes, since all narratives are biased and you get heavy details in one perspective narrative then fall into another one with new biases and details. 

Tamendegushi, meanwhile? By far the easiest writing style wise. I think that also makes the ‘depth’ of the writing easier to notice - you have to do less comprehension of the basics, so it takes less time to notice what the basics might be conveying beyond their exact details. Very beginner friendly... I recommend this baby FIRST if you’re a beginner like me. ToT

I do wonder if mdzs would be easier for me to read rn...

[jq37]

**spoilers for sophomores and stagecraft the NYC Fantasy High Live Show**

I never actually got an ask explicitly asking for this recap so I didn’t do one because I’ve been super busy but I wanted to do a quick post on it before I go fully in The Unsleeping City mode. This is all off the top of my head.

I know we kinda knew the gang went back to school after S1 because of the little epilogue they had but that's still so wild. Imagine getting arrested and slaying a dragon and almost dying (and *actually* dying in some cases) and then having to go back and be a Sophomore with a bunch of kids who, as far as we know, have little to no practical experience (except the 7 Maidens who kick ass and not only slayed a dragon but did it for no reason except they felt like it, which is metal as hell).

Sidenote: I was gonna say "a bunch of kids who might as well go to Mumple," and as I was considering it, I realized that it's never actually explained what exactly that school's deal is. But it's such an unpleasantly named school that you're immediately like, "No thanks. Hard pass."

IDK if BDG watched the full FH season before he played or if Brennan just briefed him really well but he matched the tone and the setting from the first word out of his mouth. Him going up to the gang and being like, “You’ve done murder, right?” was just like an instant hall of fame line for me.

And all the regular cast slipped right back into their roles so well. They may not have remembered all of their spells and attacks but they remembered all the character stuff 100%

Possibly my fave line of the night was when Aguefort bamfed out of the room and Siobahn did a little leaning on the fourth wall, “He just did a teleport spell. The rest was flavor.” It was so smooth. 

My headcanon of Adaine’s life being mildly inconvenienced by random visions when she’s trying to, like, have her damn breakfast is validated. 

Oh, the other great Adaine line in this ep was when Falinel was trying to get her back and was like, “I get that you’re a teenager,” and she was like, “Do you?”

Also, I think it’s funny that Brennan didn’t expect Adaine to use the identification spell, even though the whole story hinges on the the gang fighting a monster using a powerful magical item that none of them recognize. 

“Don’t Emily Axford me on the live show.” She’s a verb. I love her so much.

Brennan explains that Fig and Riz are touring and “in deep cover” respectively and, hilariously, no one is very curious about the second thing at all. It’s like, “Same shit as usual.”

So Kristen’s highlights. Because I think doing this person is easiest for my memory.

Kristen is having ANOTHER crisis of faith and, this time, her tentative solution is to change Yes! to Yes? Which doesn’t help at all and arguably makes things worse because now her spirit guardians are a bunch of annoying philosophy majors (because Brennan loves dunking on himself as much as I love dunking on him).

Tracker MVP Line: I feel like if you don’t want to join a cult, Crossfit is a bad call.

Kristen playing the gay card to get Adaine to walk into her room (“Come in and be an ally. Are you an ally?”) and then Ally announcing that she and Tracker are both naked has equivalent energy to that scene in Critical Role where Percy knocks on Vex’s door and Laura gleefully announces that she opens the door buck naked.  

Gorgug is the most naive of the Bad Kids and also most likely has the most comprehensive knowledge of sex stuff which is hilarious to me. The duality of man.

Toss-up favorite Gorgug moments were his constant, “He’s doing it!” to Hargis’s awful acting and him grabbing the wig from Iris and turning into a cloud of gnats wearing tiny wigs (which Brennan allowed at the audiences).  That second thing was such an off the wall bonkers choice. That was like an Emily choice. 

Oh, there was a moment when he got hit by a charm ray and everyone went, “Awwww” and then Zac went, “I’m immune,” and everyone went bonkers. I cannot stress how wild the energy in the room was. 

Also, during Gorgug’s intro when his parents are like, “We’re just super happy you haven’t died and gone to hell yet so far.”

Fabian’s whole conversation with Cathilda about his mom attempting to use the kitchen was gold. 

Likewise, the whole interaction between him and Gilear was AMAZING. Fabian and I had the exact same reaction to hearing his engine was full of bees.

Sidenote, I love that he hates that Gilear is dating his mom and has zero self awareness that he’s doing the exact same thing with Adaine’s sister.

Lou/Fabian wasting good rolls on pure flavor is very on brand. 

The best thing about Fabian is he’s entertaining when he’s succeeding big and he’s entertaining when he’s failing big. 

Oh, my fave Fabian line I think is when Hargis comes in and is like, “You’ve murdered, yes?” and everyone is like yeah except for Kristen and he’s like, “OK but you’ve facilitated a lot of murder. You’ve blessed me to commit murders several times.”

Aguefort totally DESTROYS Gorgug when he tries to point out that maybe the school isn’t being run in the safest way and it’s amazing. 

Also, Brennan as Aguefort prompting everyone to yell, “Chronomancy!” was very fun. 

Truly, the most iconic moments of the session were BDG’s nat 20 roll to fool Iris as Professor Bargis (I can’t believe we got truly the only scenario where that worked because I thought he was doomed), Gorgug making his dex save for petrification (s/o to riz-gukgak) and then throwing out that “to be or not to be”, and Brennan grinning and slowly lowering his laptop screen because Hargis just did a one liner and killed the boss. 

This is really far down for this comment but I really didn’t expect Adaine to pull the wig right when she did and trigger the combat. I mean, if she hadn’t, it would have run even later and I got home pretty late as is, but I really thought there was gonna be at least one conversation between the Id-ing the wig and the fight.

Sidenote: My fave Bad Kid dynamic is that everyone is constantly ganging up on everyone. It’s exactly how I remember all my friend groups in high school being. 

Adaine makes very good use of spells like Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and Ray of Sickness. They’re like her go-to’s and they’re really low level. 

Did Brennan write this villain just the make fellow teen jokes and to have a valid reason to say, “You snatched my wig?” Discuss.

This is way longer than I intended. 

Anyway, as good as it the show was (and it was amazing) the wildest part for me is always gonna be that, after the show, I met Brennan and got confirmation that he has a tumblr, that was his account on that one post, and he is aware that I dunk on him on the regular. Truly not information I thought I was going to get when I started doing these and yet here we are. The internet is wild y’all. 

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

i have so many theories!!! theyre all screaming at me!!! i must write out them all!!!!! 

so here’s one that’s been knocking around my head since finals week began:

the Writing 3 Playlist on Spotify 

I think this bad boy is a hint at the game’s timeline

maybe not 100% explanatory, but I think we can guess certain parts of the game through this

and i just wanna tell y’all now, almost all of this is speculation, as honestly im 90% sure the playlist was created bc it had borderlands-y songs in it (although the last few have me scratching my head)

lemme explain why im writing this, though I’m very thirsty for lore

tl;dr: game goes like this: lilith powers stolen. go to promethea, go to jungle, find brick mordy and tina, get into a fight, lose fight, go find other VHs, get into another fight, Krieg shows up to save Maya, maya die. (oh no she ded), the twins have their we are GODS moment, the VHs get summoned to the Eridian homeworld, there’s a huge ass final battle, someone attempts to create an end-of-the-world scenario

so the playlist itself was created to help one of the authors of the game get into their borderlands jam 

it starts with a Cage the Elephant song, “Trouble”, the band of which we all know wrote the first song used in BL1. Not really much else to say here, but we do know the opening cutscene of the game involves our current team of Vault Hunters being attacked by the Children of the Vault. this is, of course, not indicative of any songs used in bl3, but we can assume it captures the general feeling of the game.

Second song: “Fire” by Barns Courtney (holy shit I love this guy so fucking much!! if you’ve never listened to his music, PLEASE do so! I really recommend “Rather Die”- I am in the process of making a bl3 animatic to it actually lmao). 

So anyway, I’m just sayin’, the lyrics of this song...

“Oh, a thousand faces staring at me Thousand times I've fallen Thousand voices dead at my feet Now I'm gone... And my mother told me son let it be Sold my soul to the calling Sold my soul to a sweet melody Now I'm gone... Oh gimme that fire ...”

Honestly, I would not be surprised if this song was about Lilith’s loss of her powers. I mean, she used to call herself the Firehawk because she burned the shit outta bandits. c’monnn.

The man, the myth, the legend himself even says that "[The song is] quite defiant as well, like this cannot be how it ends, it cannot be my situation."

Mooooving on

“Majesty” by Apashe and Wasiu

holy fuck i love this song so much. and its so very obviously about the Calypso Twins- at the very least its Tyreen.

“All the stars and galaxies address me as your majesty So better say your majesty, I might react erratically Throw you in a fire, purify you I'm the sire, my empire's on the rise You better find yourself a place to hide Your place to find, but say it twice My name divine, I'm aimin' high Don't look in my face or eyes Take a bow and save your life Glory to the emperor, my temperature is risin' Always hot, it's getting violent”

I mean come on if its not when we meet the twins for the first time after they steal lily’s powers, then its definitely when they do something absolutely badass and really show us why they’re revered as gods. Possibly related to the Holy Broadcasting Center?

“The Way I Do” by Bishopp Briggs 

this one honestly had got me stumped as to its purpose, i lowkey kinda think its getting Sanctuary 3 up and running (and possibly meeting Maya for the first time- still not sure about that). I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a whole thing for Scooter and this song fits pretty well. I imagine we also meet Vaughn and the Children at some point, so maybe here?

“Greeting the Menace” by Zack Hemsey 

yeah i uhhhh dunno. This sounds like a song about a dude getting tortured which scares me a bit lmao. 

I thought maybe this song and the next 2 could be VH-based songs, as the next 2 have no lyrics whatsoever and the third is called “Best Friends”, but who knows... If this is the case I could make the argument this is about Zane or Moze, leaning towards Zane cuz he’s pretty covered up, plus I think “Best Friends” would be more Moze’s style lmao

I could also see this being a song about Troy... could explain all the ‘body mods’ and the missing arm.

“ProtoVision” by Kavinsky

If we’re going with the idea that these next few songs are about the Vault Hunters, then I imagine this would be Fl4k’s. It’s got that synth and some guitar which I think fits perfectly with his robo-hobo aesthetic lol

Other than that, I truly have no idea what part of the story this song could reference since there aren’t any lyrics. Maybe Promethea’s city? I could kinda see it, it sounds pretty high-tech

Similarly, “diatribe.” by Oliver Michael

the beginning gives me a whole meditation vibe which I kinda associate with Amara and her phasecast skill which “sends out an astral projection” of herself. 

Then again, this could be the outskirts of the Promethean city... I could see myself wandering around the huge ass foliage and discovering an abandoned research base to this song idk

“Best Friends” by grandson

aaahh i love grandson. I think this could be a Moze-based song. I just get that vibe from her leather jacket... anyway

I also could totally see this as discovering Brick, Mordecai, and Tina in the research base (if that truly is where they are). Cause we saw them in the trailer hanging out there. 

tbh the lyrics themselves kinda remind me of pre-Tales Rhys and Fiona and all their friends

“All of my best friends Like to go and get fucked up Then they talk about all the lives they never got to live Oh, they're still waiting for some sort of invitation It's never coming along, oh no, you'll get just what you give”

but idk if that’s what its meant for

“Bap U” by Party Favor

hmm another ‘lyricless’ song. not really lyric-less but uhhh the lyrics are pretty nonsensical lol

I could see there being a fight scene with Brick Tina and Mordy as AIs helping out here, maybe exploring the abandoned research base?

“Not Human” by elegant slims 

oh you know what im going to say here hahaha

monster troy p l e a s e

i wouldn’t be surprised if Tyreen started accumulating more powers here, like perhaps the previous fight scene was over the Vault on Promethea and the twins were able to access it before us? and Tyreen gives the Vault Monster the succ

“Crack in the seams You're breaking through The animal inside of you You're not human anymore... Your eyes go black electric blue The animal inside of you Life on a string Watch it swing Hide your teeth”

and one (or both) of the twins start going feral lol

“Way Down We Go” by KALEO

one (1) fear and that’s that someone dies during the scene that corresponds to this song

hopefully its just the boys being depressed over a loss instead of a victory, but oof

anyway, you know what they say: “sometimes you gotta fall before you make it big” ;) thats a typhon deleon quote

“I’m a Wanted Man” by Royal Deluxe

I want to believe these next few songs are us recruiting the rest of the Vault Hunters not seen yet

I kinda associate this one with Axton since his whole History with DAHL, but who knows! It could be Gaige, too. or Maya since she looks like she’s being incredibly gay criminal on the Maliwan Monastery planet. Maybe both Axton and Gaige? I would love that

“The Devil You Know” by X Ambassadors 

Could also be Axton! I lowkey think its Salvador or Timothy Lawrence. The reason I think its Timothy is cuz the whole song gives me huge Handsome Jack vibes, but it could also be Sal cuz I totally imagine him becoming a bounty hunter to fund his gun addiction lmao

“00000 Million” by Ella Vos

this one also gives off Maya vibes imo. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one is about her and the introduction of Little Blue. I could also see Athena and Janey here, just living their lives out in a cottage somewhere. awww

“Jungle” by Tash Sultana

Ahh a love song [pukes] Hopefully this one is about Athena and Janey, cuz there is a depressing lack of both of them in all the trailers we’ve seen! It sounds lowkey sad, though. I hope nothing happened to them D:

“Don’t Wait Up” by Dustbowl Revival

this one gives me very big Fiona and Sasha vibes. 

Of course, there’s also the fact that the song is about a dad, and we still don’t know who the heck “the Father” is on all those Calypsos posters. We also dunno who in the heck “Mother�� is, either. Sounds like Father left the cult, though, oof, and Mother stuck around. Wonder what that’s all about, maybe he felt like the twins were working fast/efficient enough and left to do things himself? Very lost on this idea tbh. the song seems very out of place, but it has to connect to something, yknow?

“Dies Irae” by Apashe and Black Prez

For those of you who don’t speak fluent Latin (the fuck guys?? lmao jk), the title means "Day of Wrath". Nice, nice, nice. 

the lyrics, you might be asking:

“'Cause I'ma beast. Where you at? I've been unleashed. Whatchu doin'? Sink my teeth. Y'all can't fathom I'ma beast”

me: [vibrating in my seat] monster twins monster twins monster twins monster twins

at the very least this is definitely a fight scene here. Probably with the twins again (hopefully). Maybe they found some way to imbue the cultists with fucked up powers and are sending them against the VHs as giant demon things and as we fight through the temple (apparently with some Guardians) we realize the final one is Troy and/or Tyreen?

I like to imagine this is where Maya gets her powers stolen, if only because the next few songs... I think she’s around because she’s now the only person with Siren powers on the side of the Crimson Raiders, so they might need her help with the Vault in some way

“RAMPAGE” by GRAVEDGR

y’all wonder why I seemingly forgot about Krieg in the above songs? Well, this is why. 

The only lyric for this entire song is “Bitch, I'm on a rampage- mask on my damn face”

I mean come on, Krieg with his psycho mask on, the fact his action skill is literally called “Buzz Axe Rampage”, the fact he loves Maya as shown in his introductory trailer... it’d be so perfect. And I bet badass psycho Krieg would be the only thing able to beat back whatever’s attacking at the moment. I’m just imagining him smashing down a wall and going apeshit

“Black Out Days” by Phantograms

Another song I think is about Krieg and Maya. I don’t think Maya does too hot in this game, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she gets the Roland treatment if you know what I’m saying. I wonder if this causes Krieg to devolve back into insanity cause the whole song seems to focus around that. I hope not D:

“Hide the sun I will leave your face out of my mind You should save your eyes A thousand voices howling in my head Speak in tongues I don't even recognize your face Mirror on the wall Tell me all the ways to stay away”

To be honest I could also see it being that Maya gets her powers stolen and thoughtlock-ed by the twins to fight on their side (as she’s seen fighting with the big demon elemental things), and maybe we have to kill her or hurt her in some way to get her to stop attacking us. God I hope not.

Let’s hope this is someway about the twins and definitely not about our favorite Siren and/or Psycho

“The Finishing” by Stavroz

oof i think somebody dies... If its not Maya, my best guess is Krieg or Lilith. Maybe Mordecai or Brick? Oh I hope not, I love both of them way too much for it to be healthy. But, hey, at least Tina learned some coping mechanisms :(

“Intro” and “Apocalypse Please” by Muse

merged these into 1 because Intro is like 15 seconds long and is literally the introduction to Apocalypse Please. 

Definitely reaching the end of the game here... 

“And it's time we saw a miracle Come on, it's time for something biblical To pull us through And pull us through And this is the end This is the end Of the world Proclaim eternal victory Come on and change the cause of history And pull us through”

I think the twins (or whoever may have become the main villain- perhaps the Eridians?) have claimed victory/gotten the ultimate power in one way or another, and/or this is the Crimson Raiders getting themselves ready for a final stand-off with the big bad evil guy. 

I would really love if there’s a scene right at the end of this where the Twins have their huge “BOW TO ME” moment and then they just get COMPLETELY obliterated by a new villain. Just absolutely decimated.

New villain, like if they opened a Vault and whatever was being imprisoned there just wipes the floor with them (something like the Destroyer, if not the Destroyer itself), or fuck shit maybe even Tannis? or the Eridians looking for help in the war. or the Eridians bringing war. Who knows!

Again, could just be the Twins having gotten their hands on the end-game material, like realizing they can turn troy into big demon fuck (no i am not letting this one go) and we are kinda fucked now.

“Free Animal” by Foreign Air

I... have no idea lol

maybe Krieg getting rescued, maybe (one of?) the twins getting recruited by the Raiders for the final fight? It could fit into the ‘Beast’ imagery. Fuck, maybe even rescuing/finding Typhon or something? Idk, im kinda in the party that Typhon is going to be coming back some way or another lol, I’d love to meet the guy

“Dreams” by ZHU and Nero

This definitely sounds like a new BBEG has just been introduced or the big bads just entered the final phase of their plan, like the Crimson Raiders just learned about something life-changing and this is their “oh shit” moment

i wanna believe that the Eridians or another alien race (like the Seraphs!) are going to come in at the ‘end’ of the game and the Watcher is gonna be like “bitch did you really think I thought these dumbass ECHOnet streamers were the epitome of War??” I imagine we’d be on the side of the Eridians here, since y’know, the Watcher came to us for help.

Of course, the twins could still be the BBEG and have gotten their hands on that universe-destroying power that was described on the website (”to recover a map to ancient Vaults and prevent a universe-destroying power from falling into the wrong hands”) so maybe the Eridians called us in in order to meet and get help against the COV?

“Beyond the Fray” by Cassandra Violet

personally i think this one is about the Eridian homeworld

“I'll mark the day When we can meet beyond the fray Don't lose the will to see your home You find the way so we can meet beyond the fray I'll fight to see that you get home Consider this small clue Look beyond your point of view Make a space for honesty hide“

Wouldn’t even be surprised if someone made a sacrifice so we could get there... I imagine its hidden somewhere in the alternate dimension or wherever the Vaults lead to so it couldn’t be found, so maybe Lilith’s got her powers back at this point and she sacrifices herself to send us there?

idk...

“Outside the Realm” by Big Giant Circles

ah yes, another reason I think the end of the game involves the Eridian homeworld in some way. Have you heard this?? huge “we just stumbled upon a long-lost-alien-planet” vibe. I love it. Maybe even just a shot of Sanctuary III slowly gliding over the giant planet, having just exited phasewalk. God yes

“Battle Royale” by Apashe

another reason i think the final fight is some giant battlefield/wave fight instead of just against 1 or 2 enemies. not to mention the fact that the VH skills we’ve seen so far are crowd control based instead of raid boss focused. 

Its likely the VHs against the Cult of the Vault, but if we defeat the Twins halfway through the game, then the Cult will dissolve on its own. Either way, I really really really really really want a huge fight against an army. I don’t care if its against the Children of the Vault, the Eridians/some Guardians, or if its against the Seraphs or a new set of aliens we’re gonna get (maybe whatever the Destroyer was/is?). idk idc i just want a huge battle. I imagine we’re on the Eridians’ side, as I said above, but who knows, maybe the Watcher went rogue. 

oh and also, the next song:

“Doomsday” by NERO

oh hey, I recognize this song, it’s giving me major BL2 flashbacks lmao

Also the last song in the playlist, which is giving me the big fear (tm)

I imagine that we wouldn’t have been brought to the Eridian homeworld if it wasn’t kind of a huge deal, and what’s more of a huge deal than the end of the universe?!

that’s what i’d call doomsday, anyway.

could be the reason the Eridians are coming out of hiding after all this time. Either to stop our dumb human asses from opening the Vaults, or to get help against these alien fucks because our dumb human asses keep destroying their first line of defense- the Vault Monsters.

If the twins actually DO remain the main villains throughout the whole game, then I imagine this is them prepping to destroy the universe

but maaaan i really want some aliens... maybe the universe destroying power IS the aliens? aw hell yeah

[pnksausage]

a/n: i saw this perfect prompt and immediately thought of daniel when i thought of who to place into the position of the person coming from the fantasy world!! idk if it’s because he’s so childish (in a good way) or what but i thought he would work the best with the prompt!! i wrote this more for fun than anything so it’s super sloppy skdfjkdslf please let me know what you think about this and i appreciate you reading my stuff! the song i named this after is here but there isn’t too much of a connection really?? anyway, hope you enjoy :-)

prompt: write the opposite of an Iskai (a story about someone who gets sent to a fantasy world). write about a fantasy person sent to the modern world.

so daniel comes from a world in which he’s one of the many adventurers trying to rid the world of evil but he’s not like super high leveled or anything

actually he’s one of the lower level warriors, think konosuba where the guy isn’t all that talented but he’s trying his best

yeah that’s daniel except he isn’t a giant shithead he’s a very kind boy trying to find his place in the world and do the right thing 

anyway

somehow he gets transported into the real world

one moment he was fighting giant frog monsters to earn some money to buy some new weapons and the next he finds himself in the middle of a city at night

he still has all his stuff from the fantasy world with him, though, including the outfit and weapons

so there he is in an alleyway eyeing the cat hissing at him from the corner with narrowed eyes before picking his head around the corner to survey his surroundings

there’s not too many people out because it’s the early morning hours and most people have already retired for the night or at least aren’t hanging around the area where he’s landed

except that’s where you come in

you’d stayed late at school to finish up some project you had started working on and hadn’t realized how late it had gotten

you hated leaving anytime after midnight because there were fewer people around and you were of course rather cautious of being attacked or something even if nothing bad had ever actually happened to you

so you were walking rather quickly, keeping your eyes forward and trying to ignore any odd rustling sounds to avoid getting spooked by nothing

but for once maybe you should have listened because the next thing you know there’s a tall guy with broad shoulders dressed very oddly jumping out in front of you

before you can stop yourself a shriek breaks free from between your lips and he’s quick to wave his hands around wildly

“ah, i’m so sorry!! i didn’t mean to scare you!!”

you stop screaming but..... take a couple steps back just in case eyeing him suspiciously

sure, he seemed nice enough and he hadn’t hurt you yet but you had always been warned not to talk to strangers

especially strangers that dressed like that 

had he come from a cosplay convention nearby? you hadn’t heard of any of those... maybe you should check the school board more often-

“um.. hi i’m daniel and i’m supposed to be defending the world from the big evil... nobody has ever seen him but i guess he’s super strong.”

you stare at him blankly. who the hell was the big evil

“anyway... i was wondering if maybe... you know the way? i’ve never been in this village before... so..”

village? big evil?

wait, was that a sword in his hand???

you immediately assumed that he had to have been coming from a costume party or something along those lines and decided that he had gotten a little too into character or maybe just had a few too many drinks

either way one thing led to another and suddenly he’s sitting on your couch while you rustle through his bag

you had permission of course!!! but you wanted to make sure everything dangerous was out of his reach so he couldn’t turn and attack you or something

but by now you were positive he wasn’t... going to... do that

he would have already and if anything he just seemed confused

the whole way to your apartment he’d constantly stop and ask you a million questions about the simplest things

why did those signs have lights? why wasn’t fire the main source of lighting? coffee?? what’s that?? woah food is so cheap here i’m hungry can we go get some-

so after quickly making a pitstop in the convenience store near your apartment which took longer than you had expected because he wanted to try one of eVERYTHING which of course... you said no... because money..

still you let him pick out a few things and you quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn’t from... here

by here you meant this world

because... clearly... something was up

then again you didn’t believe in magic so you weren’t sure how it was possible yet... how else would any of this make sense??

so back to the present

while you were going through his bag and eyeing his possessions with both awe and confusion he was sitting on the couch taste testing everything you’d bought for him

by the time you’ve finished pulling out all his items he’s finished eating and you look up to find everything emptied completely and him eyeing you with a grin

“everything was good thank you, we don’t have cheese puffs where i’m from!!”

you can only laugh a little at that before you carefully lift up one of his weapons with a small grunt as it was much heavier than you expected

“i’m glad you like them but uh... what are we gonna do with these? you can’t wander around the city with this stuff unless you wanna go to jail”

when he looks at you with confusion you kinda just laugh a little bit again

“daniel there’s no big evil here you need to defeat we just... go to work and school and stuff so... i guess while i do that you can hang here??”

you only suggest it because you know he doesn’t have money and also know he doesn’t really have the knowledge to be going out by himself anyway

lucky for both of you you’re off school for a few days as it’s the weekend and you didn’t have friday classes anyway so you’re able to take him around and introduce him to new things

you had called up your friend seongwoo to ask to borrow some of his clothes as your stuff didn’t exactly fit daniel and you assumed that seongwoo’s would fit even if it were a bit small

when he had come over he’d immediately quirked an eyebrow at the sight of daniel resting in one of your bathrobes on your couch after you had introduced him to the shower in your bathroom because it was much more high tech than what he was used to

(he had spent so long in there you thought maybe he’d died so you had pounded on the door until he yelled back because you refused to open that door)

“he’s just a friend” you quickly explain trying to get seongwoo to leave your apartment as quick as possible but he’s just as quick to shove his way inside with a grin

“friends don’t share bathrobes though??” he kinda whispers before walking over to drop his bag of clothes near the couch and eyeing daniel a bit

“hey i’m seongwoo! you’ll be borrowing my clothes... so... what happened to yours?”

you curse how straightforward ong is and also know as soon as you two were along he’d tease you like there was no tomorrow

damn you ong seongwoo

“y/n said they were ugly and i needed to dress appropriately to the current day and age” daniel replies, grinning as he rises to peek into the bag

and damn you too kang daniel

ong looks over at you with a raised eyebrow and a small grin and you’re quick to look away attempting to busy yourself with something in the kitchen that was much more interesting and much more important than anything seongwoo had to say to you

but of course you’re still listening to their conversation too because you had yet to explain daniel’s... situation.... to seongwoo

i mean... how do you even bring that up??

“current day and age huh?” you hate the way he laughs a little “what were you dressed like, a grandpa?”

daniel’s about to reply but you’re faster

“yup. exactly. it didn’t fit him at all!”

daniel looks at you with confusion but you only beam at him in response to which he smiles at as well, content with whatever you’ve said

“ah... well i’m sad y/n didn’t tell me about her boyfriend, but i hope i get to know you better soon! maybe over coffee someday?”

“i don’t know what a boyfriend is but coffee sounds great!!”

you’re thankful ong doesn’t press for once... at least he doesn’t press daniel but he doesn’t hesitate to drag you to your bedroom to discuss the whole daniel situation

“so... who is he and why is he staying on your couch? y’know i have a free spot on mine instead”

“uh well.. i sort of found him last night and.. now he’s living with me??? for now??”

ong looks at you like you’ve grown a head

“you... found him?? like a stray cat? y/n what the heck do you mean??”

you fiddle with the hem of your shirt before answering, a nervous habit

“uh.. well.. he comes from a fantasy world.. or something. i don’t really get it either!! but his story checks out and i trust him but i think he could probably learn a lot more from you so maybe he should stay with you after all??”

it’s a back and forth like that for a while but you both eventually come to the conclusion that daniel is from a fantasy world and has no life skills suited for the current time and that he should definitely live with ong

yes. definitely.

but that doesn’t mean you didn’t constantly go over there to visit

and of course it was because you were worried about him and whether or not he was progressing and figuring out how to live in the world and not because you had begun developing a crush on him or anything

no... of course not

so like six months had passed since daniel had first arrived and you weren’t sure if he was going to stay forever or if he’d eventually be sent back to his own world but you found yourself growing more and more upset at the idea

but you tried to convince yourself that it was just because daniel had become such a close friend already that you were scared of losing him not that you’d definitely begun to fall for him

little did you know that he was feeling the same way but was at even more of a loss of how to explain it to you

seongwoo, of course, saw the way you both looked at each other and was devising a way to get you two together because he was convinced daniel was staying forever

after all, if he were going back to his world he probably would have done it already

and in all the anime he watched they were usually stuck in that world forever so....

not that anime was real life or anything but... apparently some things from it were true???

so that brings you to sitting across daniel in a cramped cafe playing too loud music and an annoying best friend laughing much too loud

it was weird, but you weren’t going to question it

conversations carried on like usual, daniel questioning things here and there and struggling a bit with usual everyday things

but he’d gotten a lot better since he arrived, especially when it came to things like chopsticks

but that’s not important right now

suddenly halfway through the outing seongwoo declared that he had something to take care of and before you could call him out on his obvious lie you were left alone with daniel who... suddenly.. wouldn’t meet your eye??

ah... this was.. awkward

you tried to keep up a conversation but it constantly fell flat on both ends and you didn’t notice the flush on his cheeks because he kept his head slightly down and eyes on the table so you thought maybe he only talked to you because you hung around seongwoo??

so after that “date” and after you walked him home so he wouldn’t get lost you avoided him for a while

you would only meet up with seongwoo if he promised to come alone and you wouldn’t approach him at campus if you saw daniel with him so you began to feel a bit lonely but... you didn’t want to make things more awkward

seongwoo noticed the change and obviously immediately came to the conclusion that something had happened between you two and questioned daniel about it but he stayed quiet not knowing ong had already figured out you two clearly had feelings for each other

which.. it was kinda sad YOU hadn’t pieced it together

actually you were oblivious until seongwoo showed up at your place one day with a serious expression on his face

too serious please stop seongwoo this isn’t right-

“you like daniel, right?”

... what? he knew?

“uh.. no. course not. he’s just a friend... well i thought we were but i think he hates me so... no”

seongwoo just looked at you like you were stupid and maybe you were a little bit in this situation but that’s beside the point

“he doesn’t hate you y/n... sometimes you’re so oblivious”

he rolls his eyes fondly then but you can’t help but look at him as though he’s said something completely crazy “what do you mean??? of course he does?? that day you left us alone he wouldn’t even look at me??”

to that he can only laugh and again you’re just left looking at him like... huh??

“y/n, daniel is like.. completely in love with you i can tell when he looks at you but he won’t admit it either”

daniel?? in love with you??? IMPOSSIBLE

but that whole night after seongwoo leaves after you denied the possibility 29849234 times it was all you could think about

daniel loves you too??

daniel with his soft smile and strong arms

the way he hugged you and the way he was so kind to animals and other people

daniel who always thanked you even for the smallest things and looked at you as though you had saved the entire world

thinking about it, it made sense

but still, you wanted to hear it from him

so you made a plan of sorts with seongwoo and after getting him to leave daniel alone in the apartment you showed up because seongwoo said there was no way he’d confess as... y’know.. it was daniel

this whole falling in love boyfriend thing was a bit new to him,, he had never worried about that kind of stuff in his world

you knocked on the door and waited patiently and daniel opened the door with wide eyes obviously not expecting you since you hadn’t talked to him in weeks now

poor boy

“oh.. hey y/n” 

he steps aside to let you in, smiling softly as you make your way inside 

he shuts the door behind you and fiddles with his fingers nervously, having not been alone with you for a while

“daniel, i have something important to tell you”

he looks at you expectantly, almost a bit scared you’ll tell him you never want to see him again

“i think that somehow, somewhere along the way i fell in love with you... and... i’ve never felt this way before so i was hoping you felt the same way?”

he’s silent. you’re silent. inside you’re screaming, sure that seongwoo and you had both been wrong all along and god this was the worst day of your life you were going to kill ong when this was all over-

“i think i love you too y/n”

you pull yourself away from your inner monologue to meet a blushing daniel’s eyes to which you flush a darker shade of pink

he was so cute

of course he was, it was daniel

you didn’t know he was thinking the same thing about you in that moment

not that you had a lot of time to dwell on it because the next thing you knew he had his arms wrapped around you and his lips pressed against yours

it was a little... awkward

you hesitated a bit too long and he had begun to pull back when you finally reciprocated

awkward first kiss or not, it was still amazing

you were kissing kang daniel, fantasy man from another world

heh that sounded pretty cool

not that you’d ever tell him you thought that during your first kiss, he was already bashful enough around you

after that you officially started dating which was... sort of funny because he really had no clue what a boyfriend was supposed to do and was typically too formal

so seongwoo gave him “dating classes” which ended up with daniel attempting to be smooth and failing miserably which was even cuter than daniel being daniel

maybe it was because he was from unknown fantasy land but it really did feel like you’d managed to maybe find what people called a happy ever after

only time would tell 

[angrydimples-blog]

DOING IT my extremely rough Timeline for my Defect FAHC AU as well as just a basic overview of the chapters and what not. Hopefully, I’ll begin chapter one soon? IDK. I fell in a slump like three days ago so maybe? 

BASIC RULES;

Killing scar lasts unless it’s an internal cause. (poison, internal bleeding, internal head trauma, swallowing a bomb and exploding from the inside out.)

Respawn is always a random location within a certain mile circumference of the city. Nude? Nude.

Body stays there until respawn, then it turns into ash and disintegrates. Leaving a mess. It’s tiring as hell to Respawn, mainly due to having to find clothes and a way back home, as well as just a general soreness.

 Geoff was the first, a farm man turned entrepreneur looking to make it big in the new town- he was there when the city was beginning to get built, as well as the first one to get the curse. His first death was getting beaten in an alley for scamming people, and the scar is three knuckle imprints on the right side of his throat.   He thankfully woke up only a couple streets away and thought he was just dragged there by the customers and had his snazzy clothes stolen. He found it a miracle that he didn’t have anything wrong with him outside getting naked. He didn’t realize this shit was fucked up until he got shot in the chest for pulling the same con, only to wake up out in the forest alive and with a bullet scar. Then it was time to freak out, which ended in another death due to a conk on the head from falling that left no scar. Waking up nearer to the town, he decided to go honest to stop doing that. Didn’t last long as he began to figure things out. While freaked out, he found this entire thing ‘cool as dicks’, and became more reckless. Though, through the years he’s slowed down as more people got under his wing. It took longer for him to notice that he stopped aging, mainly because he was reaching 50 and he looked the same as he did when he arrived. (how old are you? Old as dicks.)

Jack was second, escaping the rural south to seek medical success in the blossoming city and to continue learning. His death was a scientific one? As in he drank a concoction, a fellow doctor made to see if it helped numb the mouth for teeth extractions, and he was poisoned and croaked. No death scar. Poor guy woke up on the beach and rather confused because it was a rather painful death. He knew he died. The confusion continued all the way up when he went back to work and the fellow doctor freaked the fuck out that he was up and walking again. He applied the scientific method, though hesitantly, to the curse. Harming himself in various ways and killing himself with poison usually- the one time he decided to go out with a bullet through the jaw and up and woke up with his first ‘official’ scar on his neck/jaw- he learned his lesson and decided to keep using nonscarring ways to die. He tried his best to track the respawning but noticed nothing outside of staying within the area. Papers and papers were written in his apartment as he tried to figure this bullshit out. Geoff died under his care, which was the first time they met. They hit it off, easily taking his jokes and snark with his own rebuttals. It would have been better if the guy wasn’t dying. Internal bleeding caught too late, and the guy died as they were opening him to fix it. A couple of somber hours later he was stopped by a nurse and asked if he had moved the body. It seemed to have disappeared, but there was ash left? Jack instantly fucking knew because he had figured out the ash thing ages ago when he came back from a respawn with a pile of it and was annoyed. He hunted the fucker down, knowing he was alive and well. Jack pretty much exploded on him once he found him, finding the first person he could talk to about this shit and believe him. They stuck together like glue since then, Jack still keeping records of things to this day. (Did you use leeches? I’m not that fucking old.)

Michael was third. Somehow the guy managed to hitchhike and hide in trains to get from the east coast to the west without dying. He just wanted to escape from his home and pretty shitty life and explore. Homeless for a while, he found his money doing underground fights. The first death was in the ring, the guy had hardened the wraps on his hands, causing a harder punch. No death scar and he woke up very much confused and angry like Geoff, thinking this was a joke for passing out. He found out about the curse by getting stabbed after a match, the other was a sore loser and stuck a knife between his ribs and left him to die in some crummy corner. It caused his first scar as well as freaking the fuck out that he’s alive again. So after getting his shit together, he did what any rational person would do; find his killer and beat the shit out of him. Said killer ended up in Jack’s hospital, rambling on and on about how a guy he was sure was dead was alive and nearly killed him. Jack was the only one that took him seriously (with some salt, of course) and asked for a description of the guy and soon found himself in the middle of the underground fight club with Geoff cheering and betting next to his side. The first time they met was after the kid stumbled out of the ring, Jack excitedly talking about what had happened… Only to be brushed off and called a creep, ending up with Michael running away. (Are you still doing the underground fighting? Not really, I’m hired to do it above ground now)

Ryan was fourth. Came around the same time as Michael. He was escaping the police for a job gone bad and it was a big city he could disappear in. Jack and Geoff found him while staking out Michael, who keeps running away from the two older men who ‘need to talk to him’ and he really doesn’t fucking trust them especially since they know about the respawning thing. He smashed a bottle over Michael’s head after a solid 10 minutes of taunting him for drinking soda at a bar and killed him and ran off. After that Ryan was ‘haunted’ by the Jersian, him following him and causing him to see him in the corner of his eye. At this point Ryan was familiar with the curse, having been killed a few times doing odd jobs for mainly crooked police at the time. He took it all calmly (he didn’t, he’s a big fat liar and freaked out). Putting two and two together, mainly realizing it wasn’t a ghost because the Jersian rushed up to him saying ‘Guess who motherfucker’ and punched his throat. (and he’s never really been haunted by his kills before so it was unique). After talking Michael down, and in general explaining the whole respawn thing and finding out that yeah, they have that in common, though first Michael thought he was one of the two creepy guys that are following him. Deciding that figuring this out together was better than going at it alone (aka mainly Michael was looking for a bodyguard and also was lonely) they teamed up. The next time that Jack tried to talk to Michael it ended up in Ryan shooting him in the back of the head. Only to find a pissy looking Jack a couple of days later with a pretty bad scar in his hair. That was enough to convince them to join the two others, though hesitantly. (Do you have any regrets? Smashing that fucking bottle. Over 10 years and he still bitches about it.)

Gavin was fifth. A clueless vacationer that was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. A bit more than clumsy, a mugger grew tired of his squawking and poor attempts at finding his wallet and just shot the guy. And stole his wallet. His first scar was in the middle of his chest, though through time it’s usually hidden away by chest hair. After the usual freak out because he very much remembers dying, he kinda found… Joy? In it? At least a thrill and sense of adventure. The curse gave him a reckless freedom he had desired. There were news stories that covered the golden boy jumping off of buildings or just stealing cars and seeing what the hell he can get away with. Seeing a pattern, they soon began to stalk Gavin. He was the easiest to bring into the crew, seeing as it was a lot of what he was doing in the first place only with more structure. (you’re an illegal immigrant, you know? As if that’s the worst thing I’ve done.)

J was sixth and the newest find for them. Professional wrestler and monster truck driver, he knew his life would be a short but impactful one. It wasn’t a surprise to him that when his truck rolled over in the Los Santos stadium that it might be his last ride. It was a slow and rather painful death, his ribs crushed by metal and causing his lungs to rupture. So imagine his surprise to wake up without a single scar or wound or clothes in the middle of a park. At least his appearance is distinguished enough for him to get back in his trailer and get some clothes. He got more recognition due to his sudden disappearance from under the rubble and coming out of it without a scratch, but damn it didn’t sit with him well. So he went to research and found the tall tales of the FAHC, a group of immortal criminals tied to the history of the town. From King Pin to the Golden Boy, decades have passed and they were still wandering the place, wrecking shit as well as building shit. It all sounded bullshit, but some of the things talked about in forums sound a lot like what he had been through. It took forever to hunt one of them down to talk to them, Michael is the second easiest to come by after Gavin. It was a bar fight, which was typical, they had to be on the down low after a big heist, seeing as most of them were supposed to be dead. The red mop of hair was easy to spot, as well as the fighting giving him a big clue that it was the untrusting Wild Child he had to deal with. Following him outside, yelling his name over and over again, he nearly got his ass shot by Geoff who had been coming towards the bar to stop Michael’s bullshit. Jeremy explained what happened, telling him to shoot him if he doesn’t believe him and they’ll meet right at this same spot the next day. Geoff shot his brains out through the temple. Next day the short man was right there, exactly like he said he would be, staring down five other men who had the same curse as he did. (Do you miss the old lifestyle? What? No! I get to do the same shit and not die! How fucking cool is that!)

so that’s it. so far.

[nancykali]

I thought about this the other day: El and will bonding over punk music. One night will plays a mix tape Jonathan made for him and it's all these punk and rock songs, and El smiles, "Bitchin'" Will smiles back. "You like this music, too?" He asks Jonathan to make mix tapes for her and El listens to them a lot. The music reminds her of her sister; she traces the number as the music plays, and she misses that girl companionship. Maybe Max picks up on it (like she sees El a little distance (1/?)

(2/?) a little distant from the guys and idk somehow they’re like “we need a girls night” and one night they show up at Nancy’s house with backpacks and sleeping bags, unannounced to Nancy lol They hang out a lot, Nancy takes them to the roller rink and El is amazed and in awe of it; the music, the lights, roller skating! Afterwards Max takes them to an abandoned store parking lot that has a lot of rails and shows them her skate boarding tricks, teaches El how to ride one. El talks about her

(3/3) sister and how much she misses Kali. “We’re your sisters too” Nancy tells her in her sisterly comforting way, squeezing el’s hand. “Yea, bad ass sisters” Max agrees with a smile. Nancy tells El and Max that they should road trip to Chicago (I forgot the city rip) to visit Kali and El is quick to agree, telling them that they should go tonight lol Point is: Nancy, Max, and El bonding and being sisters. OH Nancy teaching max how to aim and shoot a gun!! And el messing with billy bc he’s shit

sorry one more thing: but the three of them have a rule to not talk about boys, but it’s hard for Nancy sometimes bc she likes talking about Jonathan & Steve, and it’s hard for El bc she likes talking about Mike too lol Max jokes, “Am I the only one who’s not that obsessed with my boyfriend?” but she slips up and talks about how smart Lucas is. Oh also lol since Steve is great with cars: the party is under a car w/ Steve as he explains and teaches them each part, etc.

~

AAaaaaa I love all of this! And imagine Max being so impressed with Nancy, especially after Nancy teaches her how to shoot. So she tries to teach Nancy how to ride her skateboard, and is even more impressed when Nancy catches on way faster than Steve (there’s a hc post floating around about how he absolutely failed at learning to skateboard)

*stage whispers* Do you ship Stoncy, anon, I’m hoping you do

Steve and Nancy bonding over their mutual love and protectiveness of Max. Jonathan driving them all to the Hargrove’s place so they can egg Billy’s car after a particularly bad fight between Billy and Max. 

Nancy taking the girls on a roadtrip to Chicago to visit Kali omggggg

El of course is navigation because of her gift. Max is asking questions a lot because she finds El’s powers so damn cool.

Max and Kali hitting it off right away because Kali sees so much of herself in Max.

You already know I’m going to say Nancy and Kali have mad chemistry because this ship kills me okay.

Also I just pictured Nancy handing Steve tools to use under a car as he asks for them. And the party being impressed with how much she knows even though she doesn’t even work at the mechanic’s shop. Nancy filling them in on the monster hunting roadtrips she’s taken with Jonathan and Steve. Jonathan bringing out photographic evidence that only Nancy and Steve know the hiding place for (because they can’t risk any of this getting back to the government or evil lab people).

Nancy teaches Will more about using weapons yeah but Jonathan passes on his lessons with Hopper on hand-to-hand combat, and Will joins the wrestling team in high school and gets a growth spurt and no one bullies him after his freshman year because my boy deserves to be left. the fuck. alone.

Once the monster hunting trio leave for New York City when Jonathan gets accepted to NYU, the party taking over the monster hunting in the Indiana area. Lucas and El are in charge of navigation and supplies and logistics. Max and Mike are the masters of weapons and are the best at planning attack strategies. Max is the “zoomer” so always drives. Dustin gets them in and out of towns and motels the fastest, knowing how to charm the pants off anyone. He’s the bard after all. 

I’m just rambling now, I’ve been sick with a stupid cold, anon, I know this isn’t the best response. 

[clefaiiiry]

Title: May

Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions, Pocket Monsters: Red & Green & Blue & Yellow | Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Versions 

Word Count: 3,631

Relationship: Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie

Characters: Matsubusa | Maxie, Haruka | May, Senri | Norman, Aogiri | Archie, Lance | Proton, Lambda | Petrel, Apollo | Archer (Mentioned)

Additional Tags: Team Rocket AU, Baby May, Adoption, Might get a second chapter haven't decided yet, Offscreen character death, First Meetings, Awkward Flirting, The best kind of flirting, idk man just take it

AO3 Version

To say Norman wasn’t popular in Team Rocket was an understatement. He did as he was told and kept to himself. He had few connections within the organisation and didn’t see the need to broaden his horizons. Hardly anyone could recognise his face and those who did would only groan about the stick up his ass. There was a rumour that he was close to becoming an Executive, though anyone caught whispering about such nonsense were put on Archer’s shit list.

Why he was ‘best pals’ with a scientist working in Goldenrod City was beyond anyone’s understanding. Maxie Matsubusa was nothing special in the seemingly endless lines of scientists, but Norman had decided he was worth his time.

Not that Maxie would ever complain. Norman kept the Executives off his back and showed a genuine interest in his personal studies. Anything to distract him from the damn Mew Project. Besides, it was nice to have someone within Team Rocket to be able to rely on.

Even so, that didn’t mean he expected to Norman to show up in his lab with a six-month-old baby in his arms.

“This is my daughter, May,” he said, as if that explained everything.

Maxie nodded slowly, wondering if he’d had enough coffee to deal with this. “Right...”

“Say hi, May,” Norman said, taking one of her little hands and waving it.

Without even meaning to, Maxie waved back.

After that day, Norman was never seen without her. May was usually strapped to his chest, waving at passing grunts. Petrel was especially fond of her.

“Awh, she looks just like you!” He said one morning, lowering himself to be at eye level with May and attempting to make her laugh. Norman muttered something about how yes, children generally look like their parents.

Despite Petrel’s best efforts, May just stared at him blankly. He was about to give up when she grabbed his beard and yanked. Hard.

The sound Petrel made was inhuman, but it made May burst into a fit of giggles.

Thankfully, Petrel took it in good humour. “She admires it!” He claimed, though somehow Norman found himself disagreeing.

The other Executives were less than thrilled with the development, but as long as Norman continued to maintain the same work output, they couldn’t really complain.

May just became part of the routine.

Norman brought her to visit Maxie every few days. Every time, she would hold out both arms to the scientist until he gave her a hug. He was clueless as to why she expressed such affection towards him.

“It’s because she likes you,” Norman insisted, “you’re basically her uncle by now, anyway.”

Some part of Maxie wanted to protest, but the way the girl would stare up at him with huge, adoring eyes was enough to keep it down.

It was a few months later when Norman did something unexpected once again.

“Can I ask you to do me a massive favour?” he asked, not looking up from May who was asleep in his arms.

Maxie frowned. “Depends what it is.”

“Archer roped me into a mission to Cinnabar Island. I need you to take care of May for a few days, week at the most.”

There was a beat of silence before Maxie sighed and reached up to readjust his glasses. “I’m thoroughly convinced that leaving me in charge of your child is a bad idea.”

“Who else can I leave her with? Ariana is out of the question and Petrel will definitely want to keep her if I let him anywhere near her again.”

“What about Proton?”

“I wouldn’t trust Proton as far as I could throw him.” Norman smoothed out the little bow in May’s hair. “Honestly, you’re probably the only person she won’t throw a fit with.”

A little groan came from May as she stretched out. Norman’s expression didn’t change as he lifted her to rest against his side, her head on his shoulder.

“Think about it,” he said, pushing up to his feet, “I’m heading off on Friday, so I’ll need an answer by then.”

Maxie didn’t even have a chance to say a word before Norman was heading out, May poking her head over his shoulder to wave as they disappeared into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind them.

The lights in the lab suddenly felt significantly harsher as Maxie sunk back in his seat. He rubbed a hand over his face and let out a long sigh.

It wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter, he couldn’t exactly leave May with someone like Petrel, but that didn’t make him feel any better about the prospect of caring for a small child.

Of course, this was when he realised that he couldn’t go back to work with how harshly his hands were shaking. His nerves frayed much too easily.

After a quick glance around to make sure the lab was unoccupied, he took the Poké Ball from his coat pocket and released Numel into the room. The creature blinked slowly, wobbling on groggy feet. Maxie smiled, lowering himself to his knees to pet the Pokémon’s head.

“Sorry, did I wake up?”

Numel huffed, but pushed their head into their trainer’s hand. Maxie chuckled softly, nuzzling his forehead into the Pokémon’s nose.

“Urh, hey, is Norman in here?”

The voice was so sudden that Maxie let out an undignified squeak. In his hurry to stand, the back of his head slammed into the desk with a loud thud. His ears were ringing as he clutched his skull, letting out a anguished groan. He was vaguely aware of a person crouching at his side.

“Shit, you okay?”

He tried not to flinch when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”

It was only when he opened his eyes that he realised his glasses had fallen off. He cursed under his breath, fumbling around with all the grace of a Magikarp.

The person at his side pressed them into his hand. “I got ya.”

Maxie muttered his thanks as he pushed them on and finally got a look at them. He momentarily forgot how to breathe.

The man crouched beside him was probably the most beautiful man Maxie had ever seen and he was certain that he would probably start crying if he had any less self-control. He did not, however, have enough self-control to stop himself from gaping for as long as he did.

“You sure you don’t have to go to the medical bay? That was a pretty bad lookin’ bump.”

“I’m fine!” Maxie yelped, covering his face with his hands. “I just didn’t sleep very well last night.”

The man laughed, and the sound warmed something in Maxie’s chest. “If you say so,” he said. The grunt stood, offering a hand to help up Maxie. The man’s grip was strong, the heat a nice contrast to how cold Maxie’s hands always were.

After another long moment of staring at the man, Maxie cleared his throat and looked away. “Sorry, can I help you?” he muttered.

The man grinned. “The name’s Archie. I was told-” He did a quick glance around the lab. “-that I could find Norman here?”

Maxie felt his heart rate finally starting the settle. “You just missed him.”

“That sucks.” Archie waved his hands quickly. “I mean, it sucks that I missed him. But I guess I got to meet you so that’s cool.” His eyes darted around, unable to settle on one point. “Ah jeez... Sorry that was kinda forward-”

“No, no, it’s alright, honestly,” Maxie said, fussing with the hem of his lab coat.

A grunt from the floor caught their attention. Numel was pouting, headbutting their trainer’s leg and huffing impatiently. Archie gave the Pokémon and pat on the head.

“Awh, hey little fella,” he cooed, “sorry did I interrupt cuddle time?”

Maxie folded his arms. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he grumbled, “I was just about to feed him when you barged in.”

“That’s a shame,” Archie said, “there’s nothing better than a good cuddle with your Pokémon. I do it all the time with my Carvanha!”

Suddenly Maxie was very concerned. “Don’t they have extremely rough skin?”

Archie shrugged. “Yeah, but they still deserve cuddles, right?”

“Well, yes, but-”

Archie shushed him. “They can’t help their rough skin. They’re just big babies who want hugs.”

Maxie stared at him for a long moment, feeling the colour return to his cheeks. Why was this man, who could most likely snap him in half without too much effort, so adorable?

“Anyway,” Archie announced, “as much as I hate to leave ya, I gotta take off.” He frowned for a second before he snapped his fingers and met Maxie’s eyes. “Oh yeah, I didn’t catch your name, did I?”

“It’s Maxie.”

Archie opened his hand and started trailing his finger over his palm. The movements were rapid, but flowed smoothly. Maxie frowned.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh?” Archie stared blankly for a second. “Oh, I kinda picked it up from a friend of mine. She always said that if you write someone’s name on your hand three times you’ll never forget it.”

Maxie hummed. “Nice sentiment, though I am unsure of how it would work in practise.”

“Hey, it hasn’t failed me so far.”

Once he was finished, Archie headed out. He paused in the doorway before turning back with a grin.

“By the way, I think you’d look way cuter with your hair down.”

In the next second, the door had been slammed in his face.

Maxie grumbled as he went back to his desk, glaring at the door for a full minute before the tension bled from his shoulders. He looked down at his palm. After a short while, he started tracing the start of an ‘A’.

“-And she needs a nap at one o’clock or she gets grouchy by bedtime. Hey, are you listening to me?”

Maxie perked up. “Yes, of course,” he lied.

Norman narrowed his eyes, but decided not to comment.

Maxie had never been fond of water, especially not a force quite as unforgiving as the ocean, but he begrudgingly accepted the invitation to see Norman off. The sea air made him feel physically ill, and the way a particularly high wave would crash over the pier was, for lack of a better word, terrifying. He just hoped that the way he’d plastered his back to the wall was subtle enough to go unnoticed.

Keeping May up this late would certainly backfire, but so long as she got the missed hours back somewhere Norman didn’t mind too much. Maxie, who was aware that he was the one who would have to deal with it, struggled not to take it personally.

Grunts milled around them, loading the stolen fishing trawler for the trip. Maxie was certain he’d seen Proton hanging around, but had managed to avoid the Executive so far.

A long yawn rose from May and she nestled herself further into Maxie’s side.

“Don’t worry sweetheart,” Norman said, a rare smile crossing his features, “you only have to stay awake a little while longer.”

May whined, reaching out to grab at her father’s sleeve. He let her grip his thumb.

“Thanks again,” he said without looking up, his voice somehow lacking in its usual firmness, “I know sort of sprung this on you last minute...”

Maxie shook his head. “You can make it up to me some other time. Besides-” He ruffled May’s hair. “-she’s not so bad. For a child.”

A rare chuckle rose from Norman. “Kids, eh? Who’d have them?”

The pace of which the grunts moved suddenly increased tenfold and Norman let out a long sigh. He shouldered his duffle bag. “Looks like we’re heading out.”

“Will you let us know when you arrive?” Maxie asked as May squirmed in his hold.

Norman shook his head. “Can’t. Complete radio silence. Proton is going to kill someone by the end of it.” He leaned down to press a kiss to May’s forehead. “Be good, alright?”

She only huffed.

“I’m sure we’ll manage,” Maxie chuckled.

With a nod, Norman turned on his heel and followed the grunts on board the ship. He didn’t look back.

It was two days since the mission was supposed to end and Norman still hadn’t returned. Maxie didn’t find himself as concerned as he thought he should be. Missions went sour quite often. Arrests were growing increasingly common with how much of a nuisance Team Rocket liked to make themselves.

No one had sent Maxie any updates. Not that he expected them to, no one ever went out of their way to tell him anything, but he thought that he would’ve heard something by now.

He was brought from his thoughts by the sound of May muttering in her sleep, strapped to his back and drooling on his coat. It was more practical to have her there rather than leaving her in a corner of the lab to make a mess.

Maxie briefly considered waking her up when he heard yelling in the hallway. He lowered his papers and paced across to the door, poking his head out and frowning.

There were few people Maxie was truly intimidated by. Executive Proton was not one of them. He was nothing more than a brute who used threats of violence and blackmail to get his way. Maxie avoided him out of spite rather than fear.

Proton was berating some poor grunt, most likely just because he was bored and not because the grunt had actually done anything wrong.

“Go on, get out of my sight,” Proton said with a wave of his hand. The grunt scurried away with their head low.

Maxie waited until the grunt was around the end of the corridor before he decided to approach.

“Sir?” he asked.

The Executive’s head lulled back, and he let out a groan. “What do you want?” he grumbled as he turned, eyes narrow, hat sat at a skewed angle.

“I take it the mission was a failure,” Maxie said slowly. Proton’s laugh made him shudder.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Proton took out a packet of cigarettes. Maxie wanted to remind him that there was no smoking in the labs, but decided against it. “Archer probably set us up, but I can’t take that shit to the boss without any proof.”

With a frown, Maxie said, “do I dare ask for the details?”

Proton simply shrugged. “Lost some guys. No big deal, grunts like that are disposable anyway.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand?”

“Huh?” Proton noticed May and chuckled. “Oh yeah, Norman left his brat with you. Hope you’re ready for the long haul.”

Maxie felt his blood run cold.

“I should really be going,” Proton said, making little effort to hide the smirk spreading across his features, “Get back to work, Matsubusa. Don’t want that cute kid to go hungry, do you?”

Without giving Maxie an opportunity to respond, Proton headed off, rooting in his pockets for a lighter. Maxie only realised he was still stood in the hallway when May started crying.

The next week was a blur. Between working on the Mew Project that Archer kept pushing and making sure May was content, he barely had a minute to himself.

Not that he minded too much. Maxie preferred it to being left to dwell in his own thoughts.

He finally understood why parents became hopelessly obsessed with protecting their children from every potential threat, regardless of the intensity. It wasn’t like he was making an active effort to hover, but he found dangers in places he wouldn’t even expect them.

Part of that was certainly because he spent most of his time in the lab, May desperate to touch anything in reach.

The best solution seemed to be talking. It could amuse her for a good hour or two if he just kept voicing his ideas to a toddler who couldn’t yet engage in intelligent discussion. It was like having a lab assistant. A nonverbal, not very helpful lab assistant but she kept his spirits up and that was the most he could ask for.

Considering he was mostly parenting through guess work, he was impressed with how well he was doing.

That was, until May figured out that her real father wasn’t coming back.

May rarely cried. She preferred to voice her discomfort through whines and gentle prodding until she got the attention she needed.

But one night she wailed and howled for hours with no end in sight. No matter what he tried, Maxie couldn’t get her to settle. He would just have to wait until she tired herself out.

Even if it took all night.

There was a pounding at his front door and it took Maxie a solid five minutes to finally work up the motivation to answer it.

A brute of a man stood in the doorway, his face creased from decades of scowling. Maxie had never spoken to him before, and he was glad he had put off introducing himself to the neighbours for so long.

“Would you shut that damn brat up?!” he yelled, “Some of us need to sleep!”

Maxie wanted nothing more than to tell the man where he could stuff his complaints, but he forced composure. “I’m sorry,” His voice was strained, “But she’s a baby. Babies cry-”

“The damn thing needs a muzzle!”

The door was slammed in his face and there was a small dip of silence before May started up again.

Maxie decided he wasn’t getting anywhere and he pulled on a coat, lifting the shrieking girl into his arms. It took him a solid minute to wrestle her into some warmer layers and he left his apartment.

By the time he had reached the street level, May’s screams weren’t quite as intense, but she was still sobbing fiercely and burying her face into his shoulder. He rubbed her back and tried to soothe her, but it wasn’t enough to quell her tears.

The night air was cool and dry, but he’d rather stay outside rather than risk another encounter with a sleep-deprived neighbour.

“Max?”

Of all the people he expected to run into, Archie certainly was not at the top of the list.

“Didn’t know you lived ‘round here,” he said as he approached, still in uniform. He had likely only just got off his shift.

“Oh, I’m urh...” Maxie gestured clumsily towards his apartment block. “Over there.”

Before Archie could respond, another high-pitched wail came from May. She wriggled in Maxie’s grip and pounded her tiny fists on his shoulder.

“Got your hands full?” Archie asked, his expression making it evident that he was trying his damnedest not to laugh.

Maxie deadpanned a, “you could say that,” before he went back to trying to hush her. “She’ll tire herself out... eventually...”

Archie let out a light chuckle and shook his head. “Didn’t know you had a kid.”

“She’s not mine,” Maxie said. His lips tightened as he reconsidered his words. “Well, she is now,” he admitted, “her father left her with me.”

Archie nodded, but didn’t push any further. Maxie was thankful for that.

They stood together for a long while. Maxie wasn’t keeping track of the time. If May weren’t still sobbing her little heart out, he would’ve been able to appreciate it a little more.

Archie cleared his throat, a cloud of breath rising in the night air. “Can I have a try?” He held out his hands.

Maxie considered it for a long moment before he nodded. “Be my guest.”

With a level of care that Maxie didn’t know a man of his size could be capable of, Archie took May and brought her to his chest.

“Hey there, little lady,” he said, rubbing her back as she squirmed, “I’m sure Max would really appreciated it if you’d let him sleep.”

Maxie snorted, and would deny he ever made such a sound until his dying breath.

Between his soft voice and gentle swaying, Archie easily lulled May off to sleep. Maxie would’ve joined her if he hadn’t caught himself. Once she was finally snoring, Archie carefully passed her back.

“How on Earth did you-”

“Oldest of five.” Archie grinned. “You learn a few tricks.”

A fond smile graced Maxie’s expression as he glanced down to the girl sleeping in his arms.

“How about you?”

“Huh?” Oh no, how long had Archie been staring at him? Maxie wished he could hide his face.

“You got any siblings?”

“No, no,” Maxie said, “it’s just me.”

“Awh, thought you’d be the baby.”

Maxie scoffed. “Of course not.”

A little whimper made both men freeze. May shifted, but remained asleep. Maxie let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“I suppose I should get her back inside.”

“Urh, yeah...” Archie scratched the back of his head. “I’ll... see you at work then.”

Being cautious of how May was positioned, Maxie fumbled in his pocket for his keys. Between the dim light and his own poor eyesight, he spent more time than he would’ve liked with Archie hovering awkwardly at his side.

When he finally fished out the elusive keys and got the door open, he offered a weak smile. “Goodnight, Archie.”

“Goodnight, Max.”

“Please, call me Maxie.”

That stupid smile made Maxie want to huddle under his duvet until his stomach stopped doing backflips.

“Sure thing, Maxie.” The name sounded natural on Archie’s tongue. “If lil’ missy wakes up again, you know who to call.”

Maxie could only nod, not trusting his voice.

With that, Archie turned and headed off down the street. He stopped briefly and turned back, offering a wave and a toothy grin before he carried on. Maxie watched until he was out of sight.

[amidalogicdive]

I was tagged by @geekgoddess813 who was interested in hearing what I would say lol. IDK why, I'm such a pleb asdfghjkl  XD  hahaha! But, I did it for you!

Instructions:

To celebrate a year of FFXV and the end of the first year of updates, let’s spread the FFXV love! I haven’t seen a tag meme like this for FFXV yet, so I decided to make one. If you see this and want to, copy/paste this list and share what your favorite things about FFXV are.

Favorite Chocobro:

Oh, my god, this isn’t fair, so I can’t say Nyx?! Lol, ok no seriously.  If Noctis counts, he’s my favorite. If it has to be one of the other three, it would be Ignis. I’ve always loved Ignis and (fun fact) before I was a huge NyxNoct shipper, I was an Ignoct shipper. If ya look back I have a few Ignoct fics...that I still need to finish.  >.<

Favorite Guest Party Member (including Ravus and Libertus from DLC):

Oh damn, this is hard. This is really hard, I’ve deleted my response like three times cuz I keep on going ‘oh but what about…’ Ugh, do I have to pick, can I plead the fifth? Ugh fine…

Ravus - Because I loved getting more backstory on him. This poor boy was so wronged, and while he did come off as an ass, everything he was doing was for Luna.

Aranea - Girl got some sass and I love it, she was fun to listen too and I’m glad she was tossed into a DLC as a guest party member. We needed more Aranea in FFXV

Cor - Damn son, I love this man here. I need to know more, I want more backstory. Seriously, he got the respect of Gilgamesh!! GILGAMESH TALKS ABOUT THIS LITTLE IMMORTAL LION! *flails*

Yeah, I couldn’t pick  :P

Favorite Minor Character(s):

Can I pick two? CAN I?! Biggs and Wedge - Ok ok, they weren’t in it a lot but I loved them. They were funny and their loyalty to Aranea was just, ugh. I really liked them and I wanted more of their back and forth, especially with Aranea lol. When she asked them to drive a train into a daemon-infested city - which was basically a suicide mission for all they knew and they are just like, oh that's all? Yes boys, yes!  

Favorite Villain:

This is so easy, frikin Ardyn ‘Trash Jesus’ Izunia. What, you didn’t hear me, let me repeat: ARDYN ‘TRASH JESUS’ IZUNIA. Ok, let me explain something here. This boy, this BOY WAS SO WRONGED. He did everything that was asked of him, and what happens? He gets fucked over by his brother, the crystal changes his mind and the gods - not only do they turn against him, but they won’t even let him pass on into the afterlife. Dragonbutt needs to get some balls, but damn son, you did nothing! You caused this problem to happen!

This man had 2000 years of suffering, hatred, and betrayal built up inside of him and he went off the deep end. Like he said, it wasn’t even about Noctis. He was just the poor sap that was born to be the King of Light. This was revenge against a crystal that denied him and the gods that turned their back on him. And you can see it, you can see he’s still hurting, you can see there is a good man that’s been tainted by thousands of years of torment. When he tells his story to Noct, you can see the pain, and when Noct beats him, you can see that he thinks Noct’s going to do the same thing the Gods, Crystal and his brother did. Erase him. I love this trashy man, and I can’t wait for this DLC.

Favorite Kingsglaive Character:

No Surprise: Nyx. Do I really need to explain why? He’s an amazing, cocksure, humble, hurting little ball of fire that fights like the daemons and just makes my heart do weird things in my chest. This man is so frikin badass, even the Kings had to bow down to him and let him take charge. This dry sense of humor and self-sacrificing nature is just asdfghjkl and though all of it he never forgot who he was and what he was fighting for. Like he said, his life means nothing but giving a future to those who wanna see it is everything. Oh, baby, your life is everything, and he deserved better, damn it.

And don’t even get me talking about the fact that three, THREE frikin people put on that ring (four of you count Luche, but eh…) and all three asked the Kings for their strength and two of them for sure (Nyx and Ignis) offered to sacrifice their life and only NYX FRIKIN DIED.

No, don’t get me started - cuz we are talking more salt then the dead sea here…  >.<

Favorite Astral/Divine Being:

Funny thing, I have always loved Shiva since like FFVIII. She’s my Queen, I bow down to her… but before I realized that Gentiana was Shiva, I was in love with Gentiana. When I saw her in clips before the game came out I was thinking: Woman I don’t know who you are, or what your role is, but please I love you. Her being Shiva, my Queen, my everything… that just made it even better. Lol, so obviously - Shiva.

Favorite Character Overall:

Noctis. He is a very self-sacrificing and strong character who goes through a lot and honestly, finds his courage and self-worth. I think he had a lot of issues before, I think he was depressed and didn’t feel like he was right for the throne, and he was just playing a part. Once he was out there, once he realized what had happened and that he was now King, things changed. He because braver, and stronger. He started putting his trust in others as much as they put their trust in him. He realized that he didn’t have to do things and save people for the recognition, just doing was enough. You can see the impact that it had in comrades, where people (just random NPCs) talk about a boy or four boys in black who saved them, or helped fix their car or did some random act for them and how much it meant. He goes from a kinda sheltered boy to a King who knows what sacrifice is. I love his change, and how he keeps going. Like he told Iggy, they can’t stop, they have to keep going or everyone who sacrificed their lives for him, it would be pointless.

Noct is a good boy.  :3

Favorite Weapon:

Nyx kukri that you get in Insomnia, oh don’t act like you’re surprised lol. Noctis always has them on him and I use them a lot.

Favorite Location:

Omg, so many people are gonna disagree and be like: What?! *flails* - I like Altissia lol. It was confusing at first, but now I know my way around pretty well, and I love the 3x exp from the hotel.  >.>

And I love the arena and gambling lol, and that was the first time I head the whole “this place is so romantic” “And you're here with us, all three of us, you are a lucky man” and about died. Lol

Favourite Quest/Questline/Hunt:

The fishing questline. Hush, don’t laugh at me… I honestly really love fishing in this game and I loved the fishing questline with Navyth.

Favorite Boss:

Ardyn, lol. He’s such a shit and I love to listen to him shit talk Noctis as they fight. Ifrit was a good fight too, so kudos to that fiery SOB. lol

Favorite Monster/Monster Family/etc:

Tonberry, I’ve always loved Tonberry with their cute little lanterns and their stabby frikin knifes. They are small, cute and ruthless. It's like that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail “Aww it's just a little Bunny Rabbit…. RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!!”  Yeah, Tonberry!  :D

Oh, and Coeurls. Just cuz I like cats and much respect for something that can one-shot me with lightning from its whiskers lol.

Favorite Song:

Please like I can pick just one… So like here are my top whatever:

Nox Aeterna: So short but so much emotion. Nox Divina: Badass summoning music, yes, please! Noctis: It was not what I was expecting, and it was a very pleasant surprise!   Prayer De Luna: This is just asdfghjkl she’s got a beautiful theme and ya gotta respect it. Dewdrops at Dawn: So beautiful, simple and just all the feels. Just makes me think of the people seeing the sunrise after such a long time, or for the first time for some… and realizing what Noct gave up for them. Somnus: The original, the beauty that it is. This song is a godsend, I love it and I love her voice.

Favorite Boss Theme:

Does Somnus Ultima count? I mean its basically the second part of the... fight? Damn, I love that song! Ok if not, Magna Insomnia is epic, and love it. Also, Hellfire, damn that opening (the first like 18 seconds) sounds so ominous like wtf did I get myself into here lol.

But honestly, all around this soundtrack and all of the music is epic - honestly, there is no song I hate, except maybe Stand By Me - but only because it makes me FEEL THINGS PPL SJHAFKLHSJ!! Just kidding I love it too. ;-;

Favorite Non-Episode DLC/Update/Event:

Assassin’s Festival was awesome and I want them to put the whole roof thing into Lestallum full time so we can run up there and have fun lol. Think of all the NPC’s and shit they could put up there and quests they could add. Yes, please lol.

Favorite Episode DLC:

Ugh, ok. It’s a toss-up. 

I love Episode Ignis because it adds so much to the story and the alternate endings, yes, please. I love that SE made the end of this game so transparent and said that the ending of the main game was simply an Alternate Reality, something that could have happened. Now they start tossing in all these other endings and you realize that one choice, one thing did differently could have changed the whole outcome of the game asdfghjkl. I know some don’t like it, but like Episode Ignis said: Possibilities.  And I love those possibilities.

That said - Episode Prompto, and him finally finding out who he was, dealing with it and coming to terms with it. Finally having the courage to tell his friends, look this is what I am. Not only to see them accept him but for him to accept himself… it was great!

Other Favorites of Note:

I love:

flying the Regalia, except when I crash and kill them all. 

hitting the breaks when Noctis is sitting on the trunk and seeing him getting all pissed off.  

the fishing and I need to catch them all. 

the shit talking they do while fighting

the new character switch during battle and the geeky things they do and say.

just driving around and listening to the soundtracks.

the pics that Prompto takes.

Idk, there is so much to list. I mean is it a perfect game? No. But do I love it and do I enjoy playing it? 100% Yes. 

Anyway, I sometimes like all the plot holes that they leave all over the place. Perfect for me to build a fic around and let my own imagination inspire me. I haven’t loved a Final Fantasy game like this in a long time, and I'm glad that I do. It made me meet some really nice people and fall into a perfect little life raft of feels that makes up the NyxNoct fandom!

So, let's see what y’all gotta say now. I tag (and you don’t have to do it lol especially if you already did!): @prettyprompto @aithilin @courtingdestruction @grimmvertigo @jazzraft @midnightpyres @rsasai @argent-the-moderately-useful @ghostl0rd @ignoctgirl @cardigan-carm @glaivenoct @nicolareed @nicrt @stylishchocobutt  @bezier-curve