#if he's not going to make lore for his transformation then i'll have to do it myself gdi

[convexicalcrow]

Love how Pharaoh Cub and Scar's relationship is in your stories. Defiantly want to see Scar being smug when he wins against the Pharaoh, only for it to vanish when he still gets dominated by that man. lol. (Side note, can I ask for some details on the Pharaoh's personality vs Cub's? And in how they differ in treating people?)

Oh yes, when I have the last chapter of the first part of the Lost Prince AU posted tomorrow tomorrow, I'll have to get back to the Pharaoh TCG fic, now that Scar's finally won. I have a few ideas brewing. >:D

As for the Pharaoh vs Cub, I have some thoughts. Here I'm talking just about them as characters and how I tend to write them. And this does touch on shippy things and D/s dynamics but more to illustrate the differences, just as a head's up for ppl not comfy with that kind of thing. <3

in the context of the Pharaoh as his own separate being, he's very... domineering, in a way. He's a god, of course he's better than everyone else. He knows his own power and how to use it. This is not to say he's just a tyrant, because he's not. He just demands respect and will punish anyone who fails to give it. In his land, in his pyramids, the Pharaoh's rule is absolute and you will obey him. But he will be sweet to those he cares about and loves. Even in submission to, say, Beef, it's a choice, a command, he's setting the rules of their engagement and their dynamic so he gets what he wants out of it.

also ofc he possesses Cub, he IS Cub, he knows what that boy likes ffs. XD

Cub isn't like that. He's more of a brat. Maybe he'll obey, but maybe he won't. He does his own thing, but it's not coming from a sense of divine authority, of being over everyone else. He's just entertaining himself. Cub's the 'seek forgiveness rather than ask permission' kind of brat (most of the time anyway). He's also not a mouthy, loud brat either. He's the quiet type, the ones you don't really notice until you realise the mess they've caused lol. Not really interested in leadership; more interested in building secret tunnels and stealing artefacts lol. He's a sneaky boy. :D But he also cares a lot too. He knows their boundaries and where to draw the line, because he's silly but he's not stupid.

Unlike the Pharaoh who is in control when he submits, for Cub, he really isn't. At least, obedience is earned (or taken) by higher powers, whether that's King Ren or Scar or the Vex or the Pharaoh, it doesn't matter. For the Pharaoh, there is no higher power than him; for Cub, that isn't the case. Lack of control is what he likes.

You can contrast this nicely with Cub and Scar and their relationship with the Vex. For Scar, there's a more business-like feel to their arrangement. He doesn't kill Vexes bc he's not allowed, and they give him all the riches he could ever want and place him in positions of power like the Mayorship. For Cub, it's totally different. It's subservience to a higher power, a possessive power, something deserving of worship and respect. It brings power too, and magic, and prosperity, as long as he gives his body to the Vex to do with as they please.

This is why Scar is the Power, and Cub is the Vessel. Scar represents the power and magic of the Vex, and Cub is what that power fills and is channelled through. Adding False as the Will gives that magic purpose and direction. She makes their work more effective, though they've done plenty on their own.

The Pharaoh would never bow to the Vex the way Cub does. He has his own magic that is just as powerful, if not moreso, than that of the Vex. He sees his Vex magic as useful, but he has better tools at his disposal, so he uses them instead. After all, he is a god. Gods do not bend their knee to silly creatures like Vex. But he does lean on it a little with Cub, because Cub is weak to it like Scar is.

The Pharaoh's magic is also very hot and fiery, whereas the Vex prefer ice and coldness. They are opposites in that regard. The Pharaoh's magic simply burns all the effectiveness of Vex magic away, which is why he doesn't really use it himself. He's the son of Ra, the sun god. Ice magic is useless against him. The Vex can't possess a god either; he's not a player, in the way Cub was a player before he was Pharaoh. I mean, he IS, but he also really isn't. The Kingly Ka, the divine soul of Horus that makes someone Pharaoh, is what makes him divine. He's no longer simply human after that point.

The Kingly Ka was never passed on to young Cub tho. It's not young Cub we see as the Pharaoh in the TCG arena, but old Cub. Pharaoh Cub. The one who is divine. It's on the card, too. Cub is not the Pharaoh, he's a separate being now. He died at the end of s7 after building a pyramid, which is traditionally the tomb for a king, and s8 is Cub's metaphorical journey through the afterlife before he returns for s9. This is me getting back on my Book of Caverns bullshit, but it is the title of a real Ancient Egyptian book of the afterlife, and what did Cub spend s8 building? A canyon filled with caverns! The moon crashing into the earth can be seen as his way of understanding his death and transformation/rebirth into his young skin in s9. bc that's how I'm dealing with the whole 's8 was a simulation' lore from RenDoc.

Anyway. I think that's enough brainrot for now. I don't want this getting any more unhinged than it already is lol. :D If you have further questions, please do ask! I'd love to ramble about this some more. <3

[gtwscratch]

Project X Master Post

Project X is a Wild Life/Life Series AU where the Lifers were kidnapped and tested on like lab experiments, and through this testing, they gained superhuman abilities.

I'll eventually start writing for this, but at the moment, I just want to focus on designing all of the characters that will make appearances. As much as I want to drop everything and just work on this, I'm a college student, so please be patient with me, thank you! <3

Official Playlist

Project X: A Life Series Lab Experiment AU

Official Works

Project X on Ao3

Initial Headcanons (Original post about the AU)

Fan Works

Project X Fan Works

Subject Files

Subject 001: Grian Xelqua

Subject 002: Scott Major

Subject 003: Pearl Moonshine

Subject 004: Martyn Woods

Subject 005: Scar Goodtimes

Subject 006: Cleo Nekyia

Subject 007: Joel Smallishbeans

Subject 008: Bdouble “Bdubs” Hundred

Subject 009: Ren Diggity

Subject 010: Tango Tek

Subject 011: Etho Slabs

Subject 012: Impulse Vee

Subject 013: Skizz Hoffmann

Subject 014: Gem Taylor

Subject 015: B. “BigB” Statz

Subject 016: Mumbo K. Jumbo

Subject 017: Lizzie Shade

Subject 018: James “Jimmy” Solidarity

Q&A

Can we write things based on the AU?

Will there be any (relation)ships?

Was numbering the subjects random, or is there lore to it?

Will there be Shiny Duo? Are Wild Life teams significant? Trauma scale???

When were the photos in the files taken, were the subjects kidnapped, and will you get into their backstories and lives before the experiments?

Are you gonna kill someone??

How are the subjects separated, and how do they communicate with one another?

Do the other subjects know Cleo, Impulse, and BigB are alive?

Who did Scott used to share a cell with, and how are Cleo, BigB, and Impulse handling isolation?

Are you going to incorporate the games into your AU? If so, how?

How did Ren react when he first transformed, and what does Martyn think about sharing features with him?

Is anyone biologically related to one another?

How much surveillance do the subjects get?

How old are the characters in Project X?

What does it look like when one subject comforts another during testing?

How did the subjects get comfortable with each other?

Can Gem (and by extent, Grian) see Mumbo and Skizz when they project? Do they act the same as when they were alive?

How does everyone like to be comforted after tests and experiments?

Is anyone outside of the facility trying to find the subjects?

How was everyone kidnapped, and do the subjects tell each other how they were abducted?

How do the subjects react to their favorite/comfort subjects being threatened? Have the scientists ever gone through with their threats?

Where is the facility located?

How long have the subjects been in the facility?

Can Gem interact with objects when astral projecting?

Do the subjects know each other by name or by number?

What do Ren and Scott sound like when they shape shift?

What do Mumbo and Skizz act like as zombies? Can their spirits interract with Gem and Grian when they astral project? Who is/are the main protagonist/s?

Can Scott partially turn into animals, or can he only fully turn into animals?

Do any of the scientists feel bad for the subjects?

When astral projecting, do Gem and Grian look different from Skizz’s and Mumbo’s spirits?

Does Scar have PTSD from accidentally killing the scientists, and does he feel bad for killing them? How did Martyn get the scar on his leg? What are some of the tests that the subjects go through? Was Grian kidnapped first, and if so, how did he react?

Is there anything in the subjects’ cells?

What do the subjects eat?

Are there any intricacies to the subjects' powers that the other subjects know but the scientists don't?

Is Cub going to relevant to the plot?

Did Skizz and Impulse knew each other before they were abducted?Did anyone else know each other?

Did Scar need mobility aids before testing, or were they needed afterwards?

How were Scar and Martyn chosen differently to be subjects?

Would Martyn have been chosen as a subject if he hadn't noticed his picture being taken, and did he know Ren before everything?

Did any of the subjects fight back during their kidnapping?

Were the scientists scouting anyone else out to be subjects?

What was Skizz and Impulse's relationship before they were abducted, and what was Impulse's reaction to Skizz's death?

Are there going to be backstories for everyone's scars, or did you place them where they are for fun?

Do the scientists and guards work in shifts? How does the facility get supplies? Are there any places that don't have cameras?

Do any of the subjects not get along with each other?

What method was used to kidnap the subjects?

What do the scientists do when the subjects fall ill or worse?

Have any of the scientists ever used Scar to threaten the other subjects?

How many doctors and guards have to be present for the tests and experiments?

Can Mumbo and Skizz's ghosts travel farther than Gem's astral projection?

Will we learn what The Incident is?

How does waking up Bdubs work?

Do the scientists have favorites subjects and vice versa?

What happened to Skizz's and Mumbo's bodies?

Before Cleo was isolated, who was her comfort person/people?

Do the security cameras capture video and audio?

Does BigB bleed, or would it have turned into tree sap?

Would Martyn be given noise-cancelling headphones?

What happens when Scott dissociates?

Are the subjects allowed any items in their cells?

What happened with everyone's jobs before they were abducted? Did the facility send in resignation letters to make the disappearances less suspicious?

Who all knew each other before being kidnapped?

How are the subjects moved?

Are there any plans for treebark in the AU?

Does Grian's appearance change when copying the other subjects' powers?

Did any of the subjects' attitudes change after The Incident/Skizz's and Mumbo's deaths?

[blorbocedes]

when I got into f1 a few years ago, im pretty sure the friends who had introduced me to it hadn't expected how much I'd get into it. I certainly never expected it. but wow. max was my guy before I even knew who he or f1 was, and then I was so privileged to watch him win and win and win. the literal peak of his career. 4 championships in a row. this season was extremely enjoyable as a racing fan, I had full belief max would win the championship so it was a matter of how and not if. and he proved me right! but such a competitive season, so many other teams getting their foot in, so many new first wins, surprise upsets. from next year it'll be a completely new f1, half the grid is gonna be freshmen, lewis in ferrari which I still haven't digested. ultimately in a way im glad this final race was a lando win and ferrari podium because it showed how much the status quo has shifted. max nowhere near the podium and how redbull are going into next year no longer the favourites to win. and unlike the last 3 years where I watched every single race I realized I can't do that anymore. At times f1 was a wonderful distraction when irl got really hard, but at some point - like the drivers going thru radical transformation, lewis leaving merc, nico leaving monaco, max becoming a dad! before this season lando had never won a race and now he's ready to fight for a championship crazyyy - I had to wonder if putting away time and cancelling plans for 24 weekends keeps me stuck in the same place. change is hard and scary. having a routine, of f1 to go back to is nice. but when does it become a crutch? was something I was thinking of this year. that's why I chose to enjoy watching every race to the fullest, and I honestly had a blast. because I knew I couldn't be doing that anymore. my favourite part about f1 is the community and the friends. I love you guys, I love writing, I love digging up lore, I love reading fics, I love the drama of silly season, I love the funny talented interesting people, sometimes even the fan wars are entertaining. and I don't want to lose that. so when I say my last full season, I mean I don't think I'll be making time for all 24 races next year. but I plan on sticking around and being here, for a while at least. I mean, we have this whole season to now digest and go crazy over and that part is done best with community. I have entire fics left to post!!! I don't know how much I'll be around next year, maybe I'll miss f1 too much by March, maybe redbull will be really fast. I know I'll always cherish this year as the best entire f1 season I followed, and im happy to end it at that. sorry 2 the haters who thought I was leaving for good 😁

tldr: this isn't the last you'll see of me. still here. this isn't the end. it's the slow start of the long goodbye

[sunflowerwizard]

I've seen enough people mischaracterizing Early Access Wyll, so here's the best breakdown of his original character I can give.

I'll start this off by plainly summarizing Wyll's EA backstory, some of his core personality traits, then do a bit of analysis.

BACKSTORY

EA Wyll mentions being "born and bred in the upper city" into nobility. It's unspecified what exact level of influence his family occupied.

In datamined voice lines from EA (take with a grain of salt) Wyll refers to being from House Eltan specifically. Eltan was the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate in the first Baldur's Gate Game, and the founder of the Flaming Fist. Forgotten Realms lore states that the Eltans are no longer in charge of the Fist and have somewhat diminished in power, but again. We don't know to exactly what level.

This also means that this iteration of Wyll was not Ulder Ravengard's son. While he still spoke about his father in EA, the descriptions and characterizations do not line up with Ulder at all. Additionally, he comments about "knowing of" Ravengard during the burning inn sequence, but otherwise makes no connection.

The most damning evidence of all that Wyll being a Ravengard was not originally intended, is Wyll wanting to be like his father and thus "going thieving in the wrong shadows".

Wyll gets caught stealing, presumably as a teenager, and his father uses latent connections within the Flaming Fist to get Wyll sent there. Effectively the fantasy equivalent of sending your unruly kid to boot camp.

Wyll mentions that he didn't adjust well to life as part of the Flaming Fist, was not a very good fighter, and was generally not well liked. The goblin at the windmill calling Wyll "Captain Failure" implies he might have been given higher status despite not earning it.

The way Wyll feels about goblins is a big change between EA and full release, and is explained as part of his backstory.

We didn't get the finer details, but we can assume Wyll in his time with the Fist bore witness to a group of goblins razing a village. Horrified and enraged, he tried fighting a goblin, was overwhelmed, and had his eye torn out.

This is when Mizora showed up and offered him a pact. Considering he was left for dead and probably going to bleed out, it's pretty understandable why he took the deal.

Mizora is not nearly as present in Early Access as she is in the current game. Karlach was not involved in Wyll's story at all, there's no devil transformation.

It's also more heavily insinuated there's a sexually coercive element of Wyll and Mizora's relationship, with him speaking to how every time he wanted to leave her, she found some way to pull him back.

Additionally, Wyll wants out of that contract. Unlike full release where Mizora is randomly captured in Act 2, she starts off kidnapped, and insists she'll let Wyll go if he frees her

It kind of ended up being a plot cul de sac, but Torturer Spike was the goblin that took Wyll's eye--which was a quest item you could pickpocket/loot off his body. Wyll had commentary on it and everything.

TL;DR: -Born to a noble family with Flaming Fist connections -Caught Stealing and sent to work for the Fist as punishment -Tried to fight back during a goblin attack and was gravely injured -Mizora offers a pact -Uses his pact to become a traveling monster hunter, presumably to make up for his past failure to protect people. Antagonistic towards goblins in particular -Ultimately wants out of the pact, but Mizora won't let him go -Wyll and Mizora get abducted by Mind Flayers -Mizora agrees to let Wyll go if he frees her from the cultists

PERSONALITY

This is a bit less concrete than changed story beats, but I can say this: a lot of Wyll's core traits stayed intact between EA and full release. He's still willing to put his life on the line for the Tiefling refugees, with a whole cut line about how the kids he's training deserve to have a carefree childhood. He wants to do good in the world, probably because he spent so much time in his youth feeling like a fuck up.

There's also a much clearer divide between "Wyll" and "The Blade of Frontiers". Notably, in EA he didn't introduce himself by name. Not even a "my friends call me Wyll" quip at Shadowheart like he has currently. During his old romance scene, he has a line about being used to being the hero, and not used to needing one. He's a symbol. An emblem of something bigger than himself. The fact he's so self-aggrandizing as The Blade makes it apparent he's not confident in himself as "just Wyll"

He's also decidedly more forward and flirty in EA, with no reservations about courtship. In fact, the main obstacle to your budding relationship is Mizora herself. Wyll's trauma from her treatment interrupts your first night together. Whether you have sex or just snuggle, Wyll has a line about how he doesn't want to start a relationship until he can "give himself completely" after being freed from his pact.

THOUGHTS & COMPARISONS

I'm also not entirely sure if I'd say EA Wyll is substantially angrier than current Wyll, so much as he had more opportunities to be angry during Early Access. I can understand why the goblin stuff was cut, because it did dip into "Let's make the one black guy fantasy racist" trope. However, it did very much feel like the narrative was pointing in bright, flashing colors that this is a trait Wyll would have to grapple with, learn, and grow from. The fact EA Wyll's most glaring character flaw was scrapped and didn't get much of a replacement in full release makes his story feel less realized.

While I appreciate the overtly sexual element of Wyll and Mizora's relationship was removed, I feel like the final version is somehow even more creepy. During Early Access she existed in the background as a vague villain you only experience via Wyll. And if you do his romance scene and see the way he panics at the mere memory of her, you get the impression of oh shit. This broad is bad news and I've gotta get my boy out of there. The same principle behind not showing the big scary monster too early in the horror movie. Once you've seen it, you can't let your mind fill in the blanks. Mizora went from this intimidating figure whose motives you couldn't fully ascertain, to a mean girl that thinks she's smarter than everyone else but is really just the bumbling lackey of a bigger fish. Who pulls Wyll around with an actual metaphysical leash like a dog. And you're meant to find this sexy.

My final point, and I've said this before: current Wyll's personality seemed more suited to being a scion of house Eltan, while EA Wyll seemed more suited to being Ulder Ravengard's dissapointment son. Current Wyll speaks and carries him like someone raised in nobility despite only being elevated to such status as a teenager. Perhaps this is cynical and maybe even a bit of a conspiracy theory, but I genuinely think he's only Ravengard's son to save on time and assets. Why give Wyll a whole unique family with its own story when we can just tie him in to the "rescue the grand duke" plot, regardless of how much sense it makes!

[semisomnosres]

I'll try to throw in a little bit of lore

A mysterious disease that only the Norisu clan could resist at the cost of their lives. Unfortunately, it was not possible to completely eradicate it and it terrorizes the city to this day, and only a ninja, thanks to the mask, can fight monsters without being absorbed by this filth. The disease is called the “Sorcerer’s Curse”; in ancient Japan it was believed that all illnesses and misfortunes were the fault of demons/yokai/punishment of the gods and other evil spirits. It all started with the fact that one of the first infected was mistaken for an evil sorcerer who cast a curse on everyone, which was completely wrong, but rumors spread like wildfire, and somehow, imperceptibly, this name stuck. (The First already has a shitload of things to do, he is one of those people who, if he could, would not blink so that he could work more, but coming up with an adequate name and then accustoming people to it is clearly not what he wants to spend his time on.)

Mutated beasts appeared just as unexpectedly along with the infection. Ugly, evil, hungry creatures, wreaking chaos and eating everyone they find. They usually live and hunt in their own territory, but at the same time they have the audacity to sneak into the city to hunt. The curse had a strong impact on the environment, poisoning the land for years and changing it over so many years so that some places resemble nightmares. (For example: Trees that look like a trypophobic hell, boiling swamps where even the steam burns to the point of pain, living pieces of meat growing straight from the ground and other delights that an adequate person would not want to see in person)

It’s relatively safe within the city, except for moments of monster attacks (which a ninja can handle) and shitty weather: hail of icy needles, acid rain season, etc. This is already common and people have adapted to such conditions over so many years. But there are also truly dangerous places where only a ninja or a complete idiot would go. (the level with the swamp from Dark Souls says hello)

From time to time, Randy has to go there voluntarily (forcibly), because only there can he get ingredients for some drugs (like those cones for creating smoke bombs) Infected people - It is quite easy to distinguish from animals - by preserved human features, personal belongings, hair, and the ability to speak humanly (but usually it turns out something incoherent, or the infected person repeats the same word) Over time, their consciousness and body will change more and more: they will begin to forget about themselves, become more aggressive and experience constantly incessant pain from body deformation and insatiable hunger (The speed of development of the virus depends on the person, some can retain their sanity and control over their actions to the last, while others They immediately break down and begin to attack those around them)

Although there are difficult situations, it will be possible to reverse the transformation, but there is an exception. - if they eat a person, or simply taste blood, then they are immediately classified as beasts and belong to extermination. (there is another point of infection, which I will talk about a little later). As in the canon, they are also called Abominations, but for a slightly different reason. In origa, their breath simply stinks, here the unpleasant odor appears due to the decomposition of cells by parasites. They smell like rotten meat in swamp soil and metal.

Logically, I decided to make changes in the approach to battles. (combat medics) They also use weapons/magic, etc., but in the original the ninja has a choice of how hard and how deep he will push the nunchucks into someone’s insides, there are more choices of poisons and types of heals.

Another idea is that it depends on the character of the ninja whether the treatment will be painless or even the feeling of an injection will be the same as being hit with a knife

And I will mention a person who has an important role in the city - McFist. As a true smart-ass capitalist, he managed to make money from the epidemic. (And more precisely, selling all sorts of devices for home protection, umbrellas against acid rain, alarms, etc. And his second profitable industry is the funeral home) Not to say that he is a straight-up villain here, he rather has the vibe of an annoying neighbor. It infuriates him that a ninja, in the heat of fulfilling his duties, can (accidentally) ruin some of his stores, and the ninja is annoyed that it’s up to him to clean up the consequences of some of his awesome ideas (for example, he will build a plant right near the borders of the city, where in the end the pipeline became for monsters highway directly to the city sewer system.)

[minas-linkverse]

I'd love to see your though proseces for Finding the Founding! (I love that whole mini arc so much! Even if I feel really bad for wild...)

This is the earliest update anyone's asked about, so I'll be starting here. ALTHOUGH... I kind of dread to, because looking at old art is incredibly difficult. I'll do it-- I'll do it for you all and my love for yapping.

Director's commentary: Finding the Founding Full update <-

I was still far from good at comic making, but I was very ambitious, so although the visual story telling in this update isn't up to my standards now, there's some neat things past-Mina did.

The establishing shot is both telling and cryptic-- I'd say it leans too much towards the latter but she tried. The goal was to have enough hints to clue the viewer who knows skyward sword into the fact that this was the Goddess statue courtyard-- Which would ideally build tension. However past-Mina was too waaay too subtle. I took the liberty to edit how I'd do this panel today: having a part of the statue loom over the panel. This way even the viewers who don't remember the courtyard's birch trees can tell something big is waiting.

Altho I do like the detail that there's some wood planks in the background. Reminds the reader that this is post-game and they're doing building 💪

Groose :) The lore with the accessory that Link, Zelda and Groose wear is that he made them for the squad. The motive was actually polyamorous yearning but he's too insecure to admit it yet. You can see he wears his different and it has alternate feathers, it's like. A metaphor for self isolating or smth.👍I love Groozelink but they're not established in the time the comic takes place, so we get a longing flustered groose instead... Not that I've gotten to show that in the comic yet. Er.

At this point in the comic I hadn't settled on a consistant lineweight, and hadn't started using bold outer lines yet. So although the art isn't bad, it looks chaotic and unfinished. You can also see I was using WAY too thick of a brush for the panels and made the text too small. Gotta start somewhere, I guess!

Another ambitious panel, I was trying to have Groose's dialogue make it more poignant that the statue is BIG and STARING DOWN but the art REALLY didn't work with it. The statue looks tiiiny and besides the clouds curving into a halo it's all just a very boring image.

I super quickly threw a fish-eye-lense distortion on the panel to show something closer to what I'd wanted it to look, but didn't have the skills for at the time.

In the last segment of the update Wild has a panic attack type-o-deal which is again made less effective by the art, but past-Mina did try real hard and I respect that.

These two sets of panels were meant to be kind before-and-after transformations.

Wild going from seeing a family talk -> to the wall being torn and the tree destroyed with a guardian on the move. THEN Groose -> melting into a malice skeleton. I really don't think past me did a good job with that. I should've included more details that stayed between the two panels so they'd be more clearly connected. It's a cool idea tho, and in later updates I started to figure out how to execute cool ideas, so... Practise for the win.

Also nobody ever pointed it out at the time, but Wild's hair actually goes from the hairstyle he has in the comic to a hairstyle much closer to what he had back in the war. That and the colour fading from his eyes are deets I can still get behind whole-heartedly.

In the final page of the update there's a massive tonal shift where the art goes simple and the dialogue silly. It really depends on the tone you want for your comic, as this kind of a move can completely undo any tension you built, but in this case I think it's a very well done whiplash feel-good(ish) ending.

I think LV's updates started very amateurish, but I did seem to have a pretty good grasp on pacing and tone since the start. I'm very proud of that.

_

You can probably tell I don't much like this update anymore, haha. I appreciate what it meant for me back then and have nothing against people who still like it. To me its just a great example of all the things where I was falling flat when I first started.

Besides the panic attack wasn't an idea I even liked back then-- It felt like sudden unnecessary melodrama that could've easily been replaced with more nuanced emotions. However I'd seen people hype up all sorts of angsty art in the fandom at the time and felt like if I didn't put in something intense people wouldn't care about my comic. It's silly looking back-- You should be true to yourself when you make art, that way you'll like what you make and it doesn't age as poorly.

Never-the-less, the journey of making this webcomic so far has been really good for my comic skills and although I cringe at the past updates: they're still valuable stepping stones on that journey and I'm happy to look back and reflect! Thanks for requesting this update for analysis, and hope others can get something out of it too!

[muffin-snakes-art]

Hi. So I’m not a Layton guy and all THAT familiar with the lore, but a close friend of mine is, and as far as I understand Layton has a dead girlfriend? Can I please know who Magolor’s dead girlfriend equivalent in this AU is? I’m legitimately so curious. /pos

I have been thinking A LOT about which Kirby character would fit Claire's (dead gf) role. In the end I chose Taranza bc I feel he and Claire are the most similar in character. They're both really good at what they do (Claire: brilliant scientist - Taranza: immaculate mage), quick thinkers, humble, and have a lot of love to give.

I'll explain more under the cut (along with images of Claire and younger Layton for design ref), but Taranza could've also fit in as a couple other characters bc I made Sectonia as Descole. In this essay I will-

In Kirby there's an interesting connection between Magolor and Taranza. Primarily based on that one Magolor portrait in that haunted house in Triple Deluxe (like ok huh????) and also that one Star Allies Wave 3 illustration.

With that portrait existing, to me it implies that Magolor has met Taranza and Sectonia before the events of the game somehow. This theory is further backed up with the Old Friend mask in Merry Magoland. Magolor would HAVE to have known what Joronia looked like before her transformation, and that means he would also have met Taranza too at that time. I could be completely wrong about this HAHA but those are my thoughts on that.

When Wave 3 was announced, I didn't think much on the connection of the 3 characters other than they were from the first three core games of modern Kirby. But then they posted this art piece.

It's so cute how Magolor and Taranza combined their magic to create a shield for Kirby!! Both of their respective magic circle designs are melded together perfectly. Did they practice together on their own to perform this or was that a lucky in-the-moment occurrence? Either way, they must know and understand each other's magic abilities to a decent extent. Like how both Claire and Layton understands each other's careers and goals. Layton is a professor in archeology. Claire is a scientist researching time travel and other stuffs. Those fields go hand in hand, and the two do what they can to support and improve each other's passions.

Now onto the other characters that Taranza would've fit as and reasons why I ended up putting him as Claire.

So I put Sectonia as Descole. Descole has an extremely loyal partner/butler/henchman named Raymond. Yea Taranza would easily fit as him, but a few things made me decide not to. Descole may appear cold and not show it, but even in his madness he cares for Raymond. He does order Raymond around, but he still gives Raymond freewill to do as he pleases. Sectonia is very controlling over Taranza. If Raymond were to make mistakes, I don't see Descole punishing him for them. Sectonia would. She blasted Taranza away for mistaking Dedede as the hero of the lower world. Maybe when she was Joronia she wouldn't and wasn't as controlling but....I feel we don't have the full story on their relationship. I also focused more on Sectonia's overall in-game personality. I absolutely love seeing the two spiders enjoying each other's company and having fun, but in-game we never really got what Joronia really thought of Taranza. As Sectonia, she saw him as a disposable servant. You can say her personality was corrupted by the mirror, but I personally believe the mirror actually amplified her negative feelings and views. Negative emotions are brought up a lot in Kirby lore. I personally find that more interesting than just the mirror possessing her or something. I may be very wrong on that, but those are what I thought about.

Last reason, which is uhm, Raymond saves Descole from death FGDHSJ I don't think I need to elaborate on that. It would be so neat and ironic to have Taranza as Raymond, but I also wanna keep things in line as possible with Kirby lore canon.

Yet, who could be Raymond then? Idk fgdsj that's why I struggled so much. If Claire wasn't an option, Taranza would've been Raymond.

Now the one other character Taranza could've fit as is Descole's late wife. His wife was never mentioned by name, to my memory, and didn't have a huge role in the games. There's not enough information on who she was. I wanted to give Taranza a fitting role in personality and importance.

So in the end after all that thinking, Claire it is! I also don't know who else in the Kirby cast would fit her better and be Professor Magolor's late partner. One may think Susie would fit Claire more, but I've already decided she will be Emmy. Emmy's and Susie's personalities are very similar to me. And Emmy's lore? Fits quite well with Susie's. I'll draw that at some point.

So uh yea. Thanks for reading all that if you did! Hope you enjoyed the insanity

[redraven393]

Transformers one time? Yes, it IS

help it is so weird to see him without a face mask, it felt naked.

what are you up to OP?? uh? ah the archives! - Opp to loud- OhhHH~ Lore.

oh no time to bounce OP- wait, Orian Pax?? oh well I can still can call him OP- OMG YOU'RE A REGULAR AT THIS?

buddy you do not negotiate about this with feds- OP- PFFFT okay

HE'S A DORK!

uh? - Uhhhh???- OP???- omg-sure take the snacks- OMG WHY IS EVERYONE KNOW YOU OP???

Opp get caught- omg??? MEGSS???? I recognize that bucket head everywhere.

D-16??- aww they're BFF! - omg he is a dork- Sentinel Prime, eh? will he be a jerk this time around? - the surface?

--------------------

OP: just imagine if we have a Cog- D-16: I will transform into a shovel to hit you OP: ... I don't like how fast you answer that

YOUR HONOR THEY ARE DORKS!!

------------------

Megatronus prime is quite loved in this one huh? to still be called strong and not a tyrant? - and aww D-16 is a fan

did my eyes deceive me or is that fukin WHEELJACK & JAZZ??? YAUBSJ

to the MINES! - JETPACKS!

OHHH ELITA MY DARLING! -omg she's a manager- pfft OP please

ohh? this is a unique mining system- uh oh Wheely- oh no

JAZZ BABY NOOOO-

----------

Jazz: Just leave me! OP: ok Jazz: no wait :(

I love him

----------

THEY'RE SAFE!

aww Elita I am so sorry for you Darling- oh no OP don't- yeah kind expect that

oh, Sentinel home ~ is that Sunstriker? or am I crazy anytime I see the red and gold duo I just Twins???

wait its I-acon not La-con??? omg- huh he already sounds sketchy to me D-16

PROWL! - shut up Sentinel I knew you were a hack anyway- PROWL!!

ohh~ a competition at the 5000th birthday of Iacon?

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE He SAYS IT HE SAYS THE THING!

this version OP is so much fun btw I love him but just like D-16 I too want to shake him like a Maraca- OP dear pls don't take your only best friends to a death trap

glitch as swear words for the bots is everything-, FINALLY we are back to our roots of unique swear words

aww that is so sweet.

ARCEEE!!- IRONHIDE!

huh so Quenteson is in this mess huh? 50 years, so not a recent development but not that old either

the previous Primes are so cool!

oh? - OH- PAX PLEASE!!!- and.... they're off, okay who's planning the funeral for these idiots?

aww at least Arcee is rooting for them :) - BLURR!!!!- SKYFIRE!!!!

----------

D-16: if we live, I'll KILL you OP: okay bestie :D

dorks

-----------

Opp almost- SWINDLE- TAILGATE!! :D- JETSTORM!

NOO- oh no guys please don't be that dumb- they are that dumb omg- Fuk you darkwing

HOTROD! >:D - Mirage!!- oh wat? Magnets? - omg they might actually win this- fuking shoot for the skies next time I guess

CHROMIA! (you fukin bitch)

--------------

well, you guys did wonderful for Minerbots actually

Arachnid - oh? I didn't know we were chill like that Sentinel? are we cool? - are we cool or is he still like a douche? like not Villainy but just ya know an Ick?

is he a frat dude???/

well at least you guys are not going to the slums- Hi~ DarkWing you good buddy~?

fuk you darkwing- sorry boys guess I jinx it- uhm an empurata?

OMG BUMBLEBEE MY BABY BB!! :D :D

oh, darling what have they done to you- sheeshh Bee Honey you are not meant to be here, who is evil enough to make you stuck in here!

Orion dear, Dee darling please save this boy- STEVE! - oh honey D:

OH lore? YO?! - yeah you better watch yourself D-16- didn't the just tell you that they are going to the surface? AGAIN?

Yay you brough the boy- what is the surface anyway? are they like in an eternal lockdown inside the planet’s surface or???- Elita please! -

----------------------

omg? is the planet growing mountains? - you're in Elita? - yeah Bee you got the right idea- oh nooo-

off- ELITA Darling please- hey you were the reason we were out of the train in the first place- ohh robot animals?

Bee honey please-why is it not metal? - a city?? in the surface? rust?

omg-uhhhh tense- wtf was that -Plants? in a metal world?

HOLLY SHIT is that a dead body- is the dead Quinteson rotting body makes the plantation?

oh- omg the all there??- are they eaten or were they murdered>

oh? Alpha Trion? He LIVE!? - might want to rest up a bit old guy-

oh? - huh so AT is unfamiliar with Cog less bot? - Oh? so Sentinel is a bitch then?

oh, wait so there are multiple primes at the same time? huh

SENTINEL YOU ARE A BITCH

so, it just corroded away? - I knew them living under the planet was just fukin weird- wait, are they?? using the TFP dronecon?

OMG those bitch - yeah D-16 we need a revolution

hey now, no need to victim blames here, you all are screwed- no need to fight with each other

oh, shit ok chill my guy, I’m in for the murder but like chill

omg I say it again Sentinel is a bitch-

oh? AT what are you doing- omg is it okay to like took from the dead like this??-

Omg upgrade!!- let's go! - glad Bee is here with us btw my boy deserves this.

say it say the line AT- Nonoo he didn't say the line all I want is for some to say the line WE WERE SO CLOSE TO THE LINE!!!

Opp uh oh someone is here- well if you won't say it I will

Till All are One Alpha Trion

it’s the TFP Dronecon!!! :D where is the REAL Steve- OMG he's a MAXIMAL! a RHINO! - Airchanid, you bitch

pfft L- yeah for someone who never have cogs before having them will be quite difficult - Bee so far have the most natural ability in this

HE'S A TANK! - OH NO BB D: - oh he's okay- aww look at all these dorks

oh no D-16 have a taste in blood- hmm tension is in the air

SENTINEL YU BITCH (I’ll say when ever I see him) -god he's frat boy personality sound so fukin annoying now.

Till all are one Alpha Trion, rest in peace

SHUT UP SENTINEL- okay wait so are all of them a triple changer? is that like a more normal thing here?

the nonmetal nature in Cybertron is still messing me up tbh.

------------------

oh no is this D-16 emo era? are we getting closer to Megatron?

I mean yeah, he's right OP there is a reason it took 50 cycles for even any of you to realize this and you guys got some Hard proof

UH OH- WHOOO???- they are surface bots?? -

STARSCREAM!!! - SHOCKWAVE!!!!!- SOUNDWAVE!!!! AHUVS AGVTW

omg Bee honey- oOhhH the high guards, eh? - OP please.

where are the other members of your usual trios Star???- uhhh yeah you guys are intense

oh? go off D-16 my king??? - OoOHhh

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT

uhh? Star are you a masochist? - oh shit that is some big ass gun-

oh, shit here comes the revolutions - oh no mommy is here.

Piggy bag ride let’s go!

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT- part 2

well at least Star still have his cowardly persona- Yeah Go ELITA! oh no- ah shit

---------------

not my boy nooooo- where all of the positive thinking go OP??

PFFT okay ELITA- Elita my queen please I love you but please!

yeah, there's no way you guys can do this alone YOU NEED to have more bots at your cause

YEAH, QUEEN GO OFF! - I love Elita did I say that already I’ll say it again. ILOVE YOU ELITA OUR QUEEN!!

also looks like there is no empurata in this verse HURRAY

I also love Shockwave and Soundwaves btw they are my blorboos

HE SAYS THE LINE!!!!!

--------

BEE YOU OKAY :D- SHUT THE FUCK UP SENTINEL YOU BITCH

omg so that's why he has that annoying high pitch voice-

-------

D-16: you are a traitor Sentinel: NU UH! >:(

I fukin het him

---------

don’t touch him you bitch- THAT BITCH!!- that fucker- YOU"RE DRAWINGS ARE SHIT!

OP SAVE YOUR BESTIE- fucker you can fly???-

oh, hey Ironhide??- YEAH EAT SHIT DARKWING- oh hey Springer????

Smokescreen?? oh hey Prowl -

SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH

say the line damn it- why is no one saying the LINE

------

fukin sentinel you bitch- D-16 honey please take a rest

yeah, ELITA LET'S GOO-THE MINERS LET'S GOOOOO

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT - part 3

EWWWW WTF AIRACHNID- KILL IT KILL HER

Perfect landing if I do say so myself- hey you guys~

bestie we're here for you :D - okay still in that murder drive I see- what is your power exactly Soundwave

FACE MASK FOR MY BOY >:D- lmao get wrecked fuker- KNIFE HAND!

Sentinel you bitch- someone record that bitch's monolog so we can stream it to everyone later- oh yeah, we have the one who always see everything

omg the baby has a taste in blood now-

YEAH, GO OFF KING GET THAT BITCH!

someone make sure Bee is okay, he has too much fun in this

WELCOME TWICH STREAM CHATS TODAY WE ARE EXPOXING THE GOVERMENT!

okay guys maybe let's still be gentle in the mines those stuff is explosive right??

D-16 Please be chill omg- let's not destroy the whole city and like have more collateral damage

shut up sentinel you bitch - OP WHY??!!!- okay you guys let's focus on Sentinel first then-

OP! - omg fukin why!!! why can’t any of you be chill- that's why you need to be chill for once!

D-16? - D-16 buddy pull him up please don't - BITCH WHY????- THERE IS NO REASON FOR THAT!!! NO FUKIN REASON?!-

well, you make your choices, better kill that motherfucker like you said you would.

Primus if you're in there somewhere please god you better save this stupid ass mech- Primus you here?

oh, shit yeah public execution- oh yeah D-16? is this where we going to start a fukin tyranny?

oh, hey guys chilling in the afterlife? - THE MATRIX! >:D

welp boys introducing the new leaders of the two factions Megatron and Optimus prime

MEGATRON BUDDY PLEASE FUKIN CHILL - my guy please be chill

hey Optimus, will still be calling you OP- oh dear the newly Exes meet each other

guys please we do not need to see you two having a fight between the Exes here at the public- ohh fire power Ey?

everyone is just running away and you know what same I too would not want to be anywhere near this shit

THE BATTLE AXE! - you guys need to not be her this is between them only

guys please- this is just some bad break up please someone learn to communicate?

good God Primus all mighty

WHY ARE YOU GUYS SHOWING US THIS AT THIS MOMENT FUK

welp there he goes up in the surface- is the Energon still not flowing?

are you flirting with Elita Op? after just breaking up with Megs not too long ago? (/jk)

--------

Bee: I GET TO WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT :O?! Bee: this the greatest day of my life >:D

I love him

-------

the Energon is flowing again let’s go!!!!!- the COGS!! LET'S GOOO

IRONHIDE!!! - SIDESWIPE!! - ARCEE - JAZZ - AUTOBOTS no wait so we are not warring with the Decepticon then?

ROOOL Credits

Oh, shit I guess we are fighting the Decepticon- cool tattoo btw Megs

[twst-hottest-takes]

My Hot Take: Grim is just as dateable as Malleus. Or the other way around: Malleus is just as dateable as Grim.

They are both beasts, who are physically very different from a human or beastman, but mentally much like them. Malleus just tricks humans/beastmen into finding him attractive, because he changes into a form that looks like a human/beastman. Now, I know that is not his plan when he changes into the beastman form, he does it because it is more practical to have hands and literally fit in with the other people, but it's a side effect, lol. Grim could theoretically do that, too, with a transformation potion, also in the scenario: if he wanted to seduce someone from another species. But he doesn't.

Some people see Grim like a child, because he is so short and acts a bit immature. But we don't know at what age/life stage Grim actually is. It has been stated at some point, that Malleus is still far away from being an adult by the normal development stages of his species, but his beastman form looks like a young adult. He may be a mentally far advanced/quicker matured prodigy, but if his beastman form reflected his age, he would appear much younger (understandable that he doesn't, because it would be awkward at NRC). So if you think that Grim is taboo, because he might still be a child, then you can apply the same to Malleus.

(Sorry, if I got something wrong, I don't know the lore that well yet.)

Okay, but, Anon, why in the ways of this wide and wonderous world would you even suggest that?

I have to push back hard against the concept of dating Grim, so if you don't want to read my rude responses to that thought just skip the rest of this post. (I promise it's not personal, Anon.)

He's an awful, selfish, trouble-making, trash-munching, feral, piece of ♤♡◇♧. Whatever degree of thought it would take to consider it "Okay" to date Grim is ignoring that he'd be a miserable boyfriend, and I judge anyone for suggesting otherwise.

Now, with THAT out of the way: Sure. You're right.

First off, Grim is totally going to have a humanoid form at the end of the game (tropes and all that), so yeah, the fact that he's currently a cat monster won't matter anymore once it happens. If he's a direbeast then he was likely a human who overblotted at some point in any case. I still argue against trying to date him in cat form regardless because that's getting into, "It's okay to ♤♡◇♧ Scooby Doo," territory and NO I am NOT going to pretend that I'll be nice about that garbage.

Secondly, most people argue against the idea of dating Malleus because he's too OLD so someone going in the opposite direction is just crazy to see. Malleus is not a child. Being "young for a fae" or "not fully matured yet" doesn't mean he's the fae equivalent to a minor. Older teens and young adults can still be considered immature so I will fight back on the front that his comparative age (treating him as younger) would make it inappropriate to date him.

Since I've already said that Grim is basically datable as long as he has a human form, my own arguments about Malleus being a dragon would be pointless. The same rule applies.

Conclusion: The blog owner thinks that Grim becomes "datable" the minute he has a humanoid form (ideally one that doesn't look like a child), but doesn't recommend it because the character sucks. Malleus on the other hand is passably datable already, dragon be darned. The fantasy age argument can happen somewhere else.

Thank you for your take.

(This was legitimately a hot one. Nice job.)

[kaneaken]

If requests are open,

Imagine we're secretly watching Winx Club, and diluc, kaeya, childe and zhongli (separate) barges in on us, (their s/o) to find us watching it.

how would they react? Would they tease? I would die of secondhand embarrassment

author's note; honestly, if someone walked in on me watching it, I would force them to sit with me. I had to cut out Diluc because I was getting repetitive, but I hope the other three can make up from him (⁠´⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.̫⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠`⁠) I hope you don't mind how late this is (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠) please enjoy :)

content notes; gn!reader, short bullets, bullet format, implied modern au

CHILDE

honestly, with having so many siblings, childe most likely knows what winx club is

tonia most definitely forced her brother to sit with her and watch the entirety of winx club

he knows the lore of the show like the back of his hand

and he has a favorite character (which I'll let you guys debate)

so, when he spots you watching it, he joins in

just plops onto the couch next to you and starts watching it with you

he's definitely like a live commentator

he always finds something to say about the show

whether it's how much he likes this scene, how much he likes that transformation, how much he wants to fight every villain of the show because he totally could beat them

(if you ever get a chance, ask tonia about winx club and her brother, and she'll pull up a photo of him dressed up as one of the characters)

KAEYA

kaeya definitely knows winx club, thanks to babysitting klee

now, kaeya, kaeya might tease, not in a mean way or anything

more of a 'can't believe you're watching winx club.. without me' kinda teasing

honestly, he's the type to start a debate with you over which transformation is best

you literally have to pause to show to finish that debate

he just does it to make you ramble and talk because he likes watching you do that

but also he gets really into the debate at one point (he's defending klee's favorite, so he's gotta put in the work)

you guys end up forgetting about the show and spend about an hour debating the whole thing

he won in the end

ZHONGLI

now, zhongli, like diluc, has heard of it maybe once or twice, but he's never watched it himself

when he walks in on you watching winx, he wouldn't pay much attention to it

if you ask if he wants to join, he'll definitely take a seat next to you

he's similar to childe because he ends up talking during the show

he'll see something and ask a question

like 'why are they transforming?'

'why are there so many different versions?'

you definitely have to pause a lot to explain to him the best you could

he definitely gets invested, even ends up asking you to let him know when you'll be going on a winx watch marathon again

[pyropsychiccollector]

Arkham Knight: IF

I've been doing a lot of Ace Attorney reworking lately... I figured this gives me the perfect excuse to dive into a one-shot for Arkham Knight. One of my fav games, in spite of the criticisms against it. (人◕ω◕)

As a forewarning: this universe is set apart from comics and established game universe (despite there being some similarities in the game's lore). I'm not an avid comic reader, so it is not my intent to upset anyone. I'm merely presenting a possible universe based off information I learned through the Arkham games and any tidbits I pick up from elsewhere.

And if you're wondering why I'm skimming over Jason being saved? Or a retelling of Arkham Asylum? Well, a good buddy of mine wrote a couple fanfics on those events a long time ago. I don't feel like treading the same ground as him, and I'm skipping Arkham City because it's just the major catalyst of what I wish to really muse on. Maybe one day I'll circle back and muse on it, but for now I'll focus on Arkham Knight. (人◕ω◕)

But I'll give a brief rundown of the events that led up to this. Batman manages to save Jason from Joker after a few months. Tim Drake still joined on as Robin because Bruce needs backup out there and he was making too many careless mistakes because of his tireless, relentless search for Jason. Moreover, Barbara was shot by Joker during these few months, which is why she couldn't step up as Bruce's sidekick in Jason's absence.

When the second Boy Wonder is saved and brought back to Wayne Manor, things are... tense. Jason has to recover physically and mentally from Joker's brutal torture, and he doesn't take it very well that Tim stepped in as Robin. However, Tim steps aside gracefully to let Jason reclaim the mantle of Robin since it's so important to him. Not that Tim quits as a member of the Bat Family - he just transitions to the title of Cardinal (may become Red Robin at a later date; for now Tim's thinking of Jason's feelings). Jason... isn't completely satisfied with the pity shown to him, but he hashes things out with Bruce and establishes that he's still Robin, that he still has a home at Wayne Manor. Barbara, Tim, Alfred, Bruce, they all still care for Jason. (人◕ω◕)

Arkham Asylum progresses similarly to canon, just with Jason tagging along as Robin and wrestling through his hatred for Joker. Doesn't help that Joker knows he broke this Robin, and uses every opportunity to steal him back... But it never pans out. Joker is prevented from a Titan transformation at the end of the night - Jason snipes it out of Joker's hand before he can inject himself. Keeps the events on the island from being televized, at least. And also - Scarecrow still gets devoured by Croc to some extent. That doesn't change. Dr. Young is spared from dying... though she does have much to answer for in developing Titan... (人◕ω◕)

Arkham City as such progresses with a healthy Joker and a mentally spiraling Jason. (人◕ω◕);;; He's starting to feel that keeping these crooks alive isn't worth the pain if they're just going to bust out again and be terrible human beings. But right now it's Joker he's focused on... because he targeted Bruce (and himself) on Arkham, and the Clown's being given all this freedom in Arkham City... He's not happy.

Bruce tries to keep him out of the Arkham City fiasco, but he slips in with Tim when Cardinal brings Batman the line launcher. Jason not hooking up with Bruce does bring a wave of uneasiness, and it complicates the mission to bring down Arkham City. Bottom line? Batman and Oracle still stop Protocol 10 after it's initiated, but Jason kills Joker before Clayface kills Talia. Batman, Robin, and Talia then take Clayface down together... But after Bruce blows up the Lazarus Pit, there's the matter of Jason taking a life and having to own up to that to GCPD.

Ultimately, Jason is arrested and sent to prison, but the lawyers manage to argue it was in self-defense, which shaves off years of his sentence. Being too invested in Jason, Bruce is kept in the dark about his son's rehabilitative process; Alfred is allowed to know certain details, but for some reason Bruce is kept out of the loop. They tell him their hands are tied due to Jason being uncovered as a member of the Bat Family, but even Batman can't... get anything out of Gordon. It's clear that something is amiss, but Bruce doesn't press too hard, even as Batman confronting Gordon - Jim begs his old friend to trust him, and Bruce...grudgingly backs down. (人◕ω◕)

So already, we see some stark differences in this timeline: Joker never became terminal because of the Titan, so he didn't infect all those people (including Bruce) with his blood. This means no people to cure of Joker's blood. Which in turn means when Scarecrow makes his move against Gotham, Batman has no excuse to keep Tim away from events, as much as Bruce would like to tackle this all on his own because of his failure to keep Jason from crossing the blood red line. (人◕ω◕) Alfred, Barbara, and Tim can tell that Bruce's guilt is gnawing away at him, but they won't let him face this night alone. They're also aware of some things that Bruce will... likely react negatively to.

But when Scarecrow has so much of the criminal underworld collaborating on a scheme to kill Batman and ruin his reputation...? Well. They can't treat this night like any other. (人◕ω◕) Batman's going to war, so the Bat Family is joining him on this crusade. All of them. (人◕ω◕) And not just the Bat Family... Gordon, Cash, GCPD, and some new faces that will throw Bruce for a loop. Scarecrow is relying on Deathstroke to run a militia in the hopes of overwhelming Batman with gear, weapons, and sheer numbers. On this night more than any other, Bruce needs an army of his own. (人◕ω◕)

The first stretch of the night involves Batman tracking Scarecrow down and stopping his plans at Ace Chemical, turning the facility into a bomb to spread his toxin across the entire eastern coast of America. That goes about the same, with Deathstroke remotely piloting the helicopter to kill Batman while he's searching for hostages. And his militia move to occupy Gotham while Batman is busy with Ace Chemical.

But as he's wrapping up the mess at the factory, Bruce is cut off from Oracle abruptly and this alarms him - believing somehow Deathstroke got to her. He demands Tim go check on the situation, and focuses on shrinking the blast radius since it's too late to stop the factory from detonating. Bruce manages to apply the four canisters of the neutralizing agent, and then ride out of there in the Batmobile. Outside, he gets updates on the city's situation from Alfred, and contacted by Gordon. Feeling Barbara's life is at stake, Batman requests to meet up and confess everything.

... When he rendezvouses with Jim, Bruce is given his first major shock of the evening: The Commissioner already knows Barbara is working for him, and he further already knows who Batman is. Gordon didn't want to say anything until preparations were complete, and he assures Bruce that only the people Jim trusts with his life know Batman's identity. They've been preparing this past year, ever since the incident in Arkham City. Preparing for a threat too large for Batman to contain by himself. As it stands, they're not as ready as Jim would like to be... But the criminals of Gotham have made their move, and all they can do now is react accordingly.

It's revealed that for this past year, Jason has been training a small militia of his own under the strictest supervision by GCPD. Trained them in everything he knew about how Batman fights and passing on the techniques and, to some extent, the gear. And through his knowledge of the Bat Family, of his connections with Wayne Enterprises and Lucius Fox, GCPD has been rebuilding Arkham Island without the city's council (or anyone) being any the wiser. It's difficult to ask the people of Gotham to keep trusting in the police when they keep letting things spiral out of control; Arkham City wasn't completely on them, but the public only sees the disaster that happened there. It still falls on GCPD's shoulders to do... something, anything...!

Hence, they're trying things this way. The public appreciates Batman to some extent, so if they have a task force that can operate like him and cut down on crime in the city... It should help in tackling the gauntlet that Scarecrow has thrown down with this alliance of Gotham's underworld. Batman won't be alone out there, and they won't just be using the GCPD's holding cells until the nightmare is over, Arkham Island's reopened... for the most part (a year is hardly time to fix everything wrong on that island). They can worry about the courts and the public's reactions later. Right now? Barbara's stationed there with a few of Jason's most trusted men. He's been making great strides in his rehab, though that could also be attributed to the friendships he's made with the personnel they've brought in - former soldiers of all ranks and sizes. Soldiers that were abandoned by their countries and left with nowhere else to go. The numbers may not compete with Deathstroke's army, but it's something.

Though he's troubled with Jason leaking secrets to Gordon and GCPD, Bruce is nevertheless thankful they've tried to contain these endeavors to people they trust without question. It still complicates things with more people knowing who Batman is, but for now Bruce will trust in Gordon, Lucius, Alfred, and everyone who spun this into motion. They're really trying to help Batman... And only time will tell how Jason's "army" will pan out after tonight.

Focusing on the here and now, free of having to worry about Barbara, and only the concern of Tim and Jason acting on their own in the city, Bruce lets his allies handle Bleake Island and make that their stronghold. He turns to Miagani to tackle elements of Deathstroke's militia and confront the Penguin with Dick swinging in from Bludhaven to help share intel on North Refrigeration. Knowing better than to even try sending him away from Gotham, Bruce allows his oldest son to keep tracking trucks so that they can destroy all of Penguin's caches.

Shortly after losing track of Penguin, Batman follows up on a lead that brings him to Stagg's airships and Jason hooks up with him, bringing along a few of his men to fight off Deathstroke's militia. The two of them finally chat after a year's worth of silence. Jason reveals that he was the one to come up with the idea of forming a "Bat Army" after the snafu with Tyger operatives in Arkham City. He hated feeling so overwhelmed in Arkham City, wondered if they would really survive the ordeal. Jason knows that by all accounts he betrayed Bruce by killing Joker; but to this day he still doesn't regret putting the Clown in the dirt. Jason is doing his best to power through rehab, to understand the gravity of ending lives... It's just, the Joker was deeply personal to Jason. After suffering for months under that sadistic torture, after stewing in so much anger and hatred over what that Clown did to Barbara and what he could do to Bruce, to Alfred, to Tim, to Dick... Jason has no regrets about that kill. When Jim came to him with the idea of working together to help Batman, Jason gave in without question.

Because... even if he and Bruce don't see eye-to-eye on everything, Jason doesn't want him to die. He's still loyal to the Bat Family, and he's felt capable and useful training these guys. It's a rush to be the Commander for once, to plan and make contingencies... He's not just Bruce's "underling" anymore. Jason needs Bruce to understand they're working with him, not for him. ... And yes, Barbara helped him iron out these feelings of his. Those were her words, and he agreed 100%.

It's sobering to see his son so grown up, to see all his "sidekicks" acting independently and yet so cohesively. What they're doing is bold and reckless, but it's no different than what he's been doing for years as Batman. And perhaps it's for the best they're operating as a team - for all the weaknesses that come with more people knowing their secrets, it's made up by the fact they have a reliable network of people looking out for one another.

Bruce and Jason confront Scarecrow together... But Deathstroke extracts his boss with the Cloudburst and escape. Still, they take Stagg into custody and Jason has a few more men collect the defeated militia members left on the airships. While they work on a strategy to counter the Cloudburst (approaching Ivy for assistance), and a strategy to mount an assault on Founder's Island... Some threats are knocked out by their allies.

When Two-Face starts hitting banks, Tim personally handles that one with Barbara offering remote backup. Dick tracks another refrigeration truck and takes out another of Penguin's weapons caches. Before he proceeds to Founder's Island, Bruce is asked to help restrain Firefly, who's attacking the fire stations across the city; Jason makes sure the pyromaniac stays down after the first loss. Jason's men go about tracking the missing firefighters, and investigating Professor Pyg's murders. As for Riddler, Talia resurfaces and takes him down with her sister and her faction of the League of Shadows; they leave Nigma for GCPD to collect. This liberates Catwoman without a need for a massive scavenger hunt.

With all of this taken care of, Bruce moves onto Founder's with Jason and his men providing backup with APC's. Bruce eliminates the Cobra Tanks, and then they go about combing Founder's Island, taking out Deathstroke's militia meticulously and searching for the Cloudburst. It's a slog with so many criminals and militia working together, but it gets easier as the night progresses because of the minor threats getting chipped away at. The firefighter's are rescued by Jason's men, including the Chief; Professor Pyg is taken down by Tim; Dick tracks down the last few of Penguin's caches and brings him down personally; Azrael is confronted by Talia and Nyssa, and freed from his brainwashing; the Man-Bat is identified and administered a cure by Jason with Oracle's help; Blackfire and his cult are taken down by Tim and Dick collaborating...

It's a long night. Deathstroke still rides out in a tank and sets off the Cloudburst... Bruce works with Ivy to quell the threat after dealing with Deathstroke's tank, yet the assassin does slip away after suffering defeat. Ivy disperses the cloud left hanging over Gotham, and because of their quick reaction time to the main threat she's left close to death but ultimately saved and hospitalized. This leaves Bruce and allies to chase down Scarecrow and Deathstroke, who do everything in their remaining power to fight back. They rely on distractions that Harley, Hush, Killer Croc, Freeze, Mad Hatter, and Ra's create to take Jim hostage. The threats are all eventually incapacitated or convinced to leave Gotham... But Deathstroke mounts a final massive assault on GCPD with drones and tanks, and has a final clash with Jason, while Bruce goes after Scarecrow and Jim.

In the end, Scarecrow doesn't even come close to winning, even with holding Jim hostage. He gets a dose of his own medicine and is left a twitching, paranoid wreck as they haul him in at last. Batman's identity isn't unmasked publicly, so there's no need to enact the Knightfall Protocol. GCPD is tangled up in court proceedings with all the crooks they rounded up, but the new Arkham Island proves to be a decent enough prison to hold them all. The important part comes next - turning the prison into a proper rehab center, nipping all corruption in GCPD's ranks before it can become a problem again. Working more intimately with the Bat Family from now on... that seems doable. Especially with Jason's trained militia being the main guards for the foreseeable future. The fact that Ivy helped Gotham after all her years of hating it... Rehabilitation is possible. They just have to keep trying; hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

It's a lot to adjust to moving forward... But Bruce isn't alone in his quest to protect Gotham. (人◕ω◕)

[speedycoffeedelight]

An Animalistic Disaster

CH-17: Mr. Cottontail

Masterlist

Summery:

Where you recollect more of your memories and open a bunch of trading cards. And a duo might have figured out the reason behind transformation, but we'll see.

A.n : There's going to be some heavy lore drop here. So just brace yourself a little. Also from now, the animal's dialogues will be in italics so it's easy to understand. I'll get to editing the previous chapters as well.

"I swear to god...one of these morning I'm going to have a heart attack."

You grumbled while sitting and held your head in your palm. You looked at Cherri who was in a makeshift cage made from a big plastic basket, trying to shake it and screeching. She had to learn her lesson some way. Your head was still pounding right now.

Then you looked at Husk who was trying his best to fit into the biggest shirt you had. The buttons on his chest were holding on for dear life. Honestly, it kinda made you jealous.

Husk was a black man who seemed to in his late 40's or 50's. He had black hair pulled back with white streaks on them as well as a small goatee. He had light yellow eyes that looked tired as hell. And the muscles in his hand, holy shit, it looked like he could easily carry you up like a feather. Husk was easily the best thing of this morning.

He of course also had feline features like before. A pair of black cat ears and tail adorned his form. He also had slitted black eyes. His nails were a bit sharper too.

And of course neither of you were prepared for him to transform in middle of sleeping, nobody was. God the embarrassment and confusion you felt when you opened your eyes to see an old handsome man staring at you with sleepy eyes, just as confused as you were.

You would have immediately swooned if not for the fact that you didn't know this guy and the fact he was shirtless, on your fucking bed, cuddling you.

So you did the first thing that came to your mind. You let out a loud scream and pushed him off the bed. He landed on the ground in front of Charlie and others with a big thud. "Oof, what the hell-" Cherri burst out laughing beside you. 'Now that's more like it!'

"Husk are you alright?" Charlie immediately kneeled down to check for injuries. "Husk??" You pulled the cover to your chest and looked down to see him properly. But you quickly averted your gaze when you saw he was shirtless with just a pant on. But that image will forever be engraved into your simp brain.

So after that was all over, you learnt what happened and caged Cherri. She was grounded till she learnt her lessons. You rubbed your head in frustration as Niffty brought you a cup of coffee.

"Here you go miss (Y/n)!"

You thanked her and took a sip. She still looked at you like she was waiting for something. Confused, you raised an eyebrow.

"...Do you need something Niffty?"

"You didn't pat my head." She said it like it was obvious and kept looking at you with wide eyes. You got surprised at this answer. 'She wants to be petted??' but then you remembered she was part dog now and that's probably the reason she was acting like this.

You reached out and patted her head making her smile happily as she wagged her tail. 'Adorable~' you thought in your mind.

Last night's memory was a bit hazy to you. You rubbed your head in frustration trying to remember it. Angel climbed onto the table grinning at you.

'Toots, didn't know ya were such a lightweight. Haha, but you gave quite a show last night, I'll give ya that." Niffty translated it, making you more worried. You asked her to recount the things to you. Pentious joined you since he wasn't there last night as well.

" I did what?"

Last night's memory came flooding back to you bit by bit as you listened. You, you finally petted Alastor's ears! You couldn't believe it.

'What's with the screaming, my dear?'

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. You grinned as you turned to face the stag. "I finally patted you, you smiling bastard!" You mentally cheered as you looked at him with a prideful smile. Alastor felt his face get hot again at that memory and he bonked you on the head with his antlers.

"OUCH what was that for!"

After you finished eating, you drove Charlie off to the cafe. Apparently Vaggie knew how to drive so she went with you two so she could memorize the roads. Once she memorizes she could drive Charlie sometimes as well.

After waving her off at the shop, you quickly departed. You let Vaggie take the wheel this time while you gave directions. Vaggie was an excellent driver. You were quite impressed.

Charlie took a deep breath as she got dropped off and watched you two drive away." This is it Charlie. You gotta make them proud. Right, let's do this!"  she entered the store after mentally cheering herself.

"Oh hi there Charlie. Good to see you back."

Adrian gave her a warm smile as he was middle of cleaning. He put the broom he was cleaning with aside and guided her to the counter. He gave her a new apron to wear that had the cafe's name on it.

"Alright, I'll show you the ropes first time. Then it'll be up to you."

Charlie nodded and took the apron.

"Also won't you take off those horns and ears? You're in middle of work now."

She gulped, right, these weren't normal. But she hadn't practiced what to say during this. She thought it would be okay since they didn't question it before.

"Uh...can they please stay on? I promise you they won't cause any trouble!"

"Huh? Oh..okay then. I just thought it might be easier if you took them off."

Just then a ring sounded out from the door, signaling someone entered the shop. Adrian flashed Charlie a quick look while smiling.

"Come on, it's showtime!"

At evening, you went to go pick up Charlie. As Charlie was about to get into the car, Adrian called out to her.

"Charlie, wait!"

You and Charlie both looked at Adrian who rushed to you guys with a small bag.

"A small gift for your first day at work." He handed Charlie the bag and grinned.

"There's a piece of strawberry cake inside. Have a safe return home."

Charlie delightfully thanked him and got back into the car. While you were driving she told you about her experience which you listened to happily. It seemed like the day went pretty well. Even though there weren't much customers, Charlie enjoyed her time there. Plus from what you heard and saw, Adrian seemed to be a good boss.

The next day, you drove Charlie again as Vaggie sat with you. Pentious joined you this time as some of his works were done. Husk came as well to buy some clothes and as well as take a look at the human world. During the drive, Husk remembered something.

"Hey kid, I forgot to ask you this before but who the hell is cottontails?"

Those words hit you like a lightning as you brain started to overwhelm with memories. It's been a long while since you heard that name.

"W-where did you hear that name?"

"When you were holding me a day ago. You whispered you missed whatever it was."

"That was my pet bunny...I lost him when I was six. That night, my parents had a huge argument after dinner and we moved to my uncles house the very next day. In the end, I never knew what happened to it."

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You weren't allowed to keep pets when you were a child. Your dad claimed it would be a waste of time and it will take your attention away from your duties. One day, while you were walking outside on your lawn, you stumbled across a small frail baby bunny. There was only one and it looked like it didn't even have the energy to move. After looking around, you found no signs of any other rabbits around.

You found yourself in a pickle. Your heart cried to take it home and care for it. But another part of you warned that if your father found out, you'd be in big trouble. You picked up the small thing, lost in thought and whispering "What am I going to do with you little bunny? "

The bunny moved a little and sniffed your hand, making your heart swoon. You decided immediately "Heck with it! Having a small bunny will be fine! Plus they won't make any noises like kitties or doggies! I can do this! I'll just need to be careful!"

The bunny again stopped moving in your arms and seemingly fell asleep. Your eyes glazed over it, trying to think of a name.

"I think I'll call you....mr.cottontails!"

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Several months went by after getting mr.cottontails. You kept him under your bed. You always cleaned your own room by yourself so it wasn't a problem. You would let him run around your room once you locked the door and quickly hide him when someone was coming. Your dad was quite suspicious at how you looked so cherry recently but didn't question it. On the other hand, your mom was quite happy with this change in you.

Then one day, while you were on your way to your room after finished studying with your tutor, you spotted your dad. He seemed to be amused by something. He spotted you as well and gave you a smile.

"Isn't it a nice day today? Are you doing alright (Y/n)?"

You were taken aback by his sudden change of attitude but nodded and said everything was fine. Something was clearly wrong, you could feel it in your gut.

You rushed to your room after that and looked for your rabbit. It was gone... "Cottontail? Mr.cottontail??" You called out yet you couldn't spot the familiar ball of fluff running towards you like usual.

You spent the rest of the day trying to find him but no avail. There was no sign of him anywhere. And you couldn't even ask anyone else if they've seen him cause you're not supposed to have one in the first place.

Then your mind went to your father earlier, it had to him! That's why that damn man was smiling at you.

At dinnertime, you were fighting to keep your tears from coming out. You couldn't afford to let yourself be broken in front of him. You knew that he knew about you knowing what he did. He was just waiting for you to burst so he can properly punish you for going against his rules.

While your mom was serving you the stew for that night's dinner, she could sense something was wrong.

"(Y/n) dear, is everything alright?"

"Y-yes, mom, everything's fine. Don't worry."

"Of course everything's fine with her. (Y/n), today's stew is extra delicious, go ahead and try." Your dad said from across the table, grinning at you. You couldn't bear to look at this man's face properly. The rest of the dinner was quiet with you almost crying in the middle.

After you finished eating, you went straight to your room and locked the door and started crying. Sometime later, you heard your parents fighting over something. You pulled a pillow over you head to stop hearing to those as you sobbed harder.

You hated this. You hated screaming and fighting. You hated living here. You hated your dad. You hated it, hated it, hated it.

You wanted to go out and be with your mom. But you knew better then to do that. The last time you did, you just made things worse. You don't know after how long, it could have been several minutes or several hours, but your mom knocked on your door to tell you to pack and that you're leaving. The rest of the time went down in a haze and before you knew it, you both were standing in front of your aunt's house.

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After dropping off Charlie, you and Pentious went around shops to try and resell those fixed products and let Vaggie show Husk around a little. You successfully managed to resell some of the products.

After that, you bought some cloths for the bartender. Husk had been nagging you nonstop to buy some booze since the beginning. So you did, but you made him use his puppy eyes first. Husk hated every second of that but he swallowed down his pride for booze. He was too far gone at that point.

After coming home, you received a delivery of the cards you ordered. You immediately got down to opening them after squealing in happiness.

"Please give me an Alastor card.. please give me an Alastor card..."

"You really want Alastor's card that badly?" Charlie said laughing and sitting next to you.

"Of course I do! He's my favourite character!" You mumbled while collecting the packs from the box. Suddenly you could feel eyes on you from the back. You sighed.

"Alastor I can feel your smugness from here, stop it." You turned around at the deer behind you.

'I didn't do anything dear. I'm just standing here and observing ' Alastor had shit eating grin in his face. 'Though I am very much charmed you consider me as your favourite.'

"Someone tell me what he's saying. I know he's enjoying this too much." You picked up a pack and finally opened it.

Niffty translated it for you. "Yeah well I liked you better when you were in a cartoon, not annoying my ass off."

The first holo card you got was of Charlie's. Charlie's face lit up seeing it and immediately showed it to Vaggie. You got Angel, tom treanch and a new character called lute in too. After opening  three more packs, you were presented with holo Angel, Vellevette and razzle and dazzle. And you also found an ultra rare card of Lilith. Yet there was no sign of Alastor.

You were lucky enough to get normal cards for most of the cast present with you though. You handed them their own cards. Sighing you picked up the final pack and looked Alastor dead in the eye.

"You better be in here deer boy."

'Oh she means business this time angie.' Cherri chuckled leaning onto the spider. 'yeah and this shits hilarious to watch.' Both of their own cards were in front of them. Angel with his holo card and Cherri with the normal one.

"Is that a fucking condom you're holding there?" Husk was leaning down looking at Angel's card while pointing at it. Angel shot him a smug grin while wriggling his eyebrows. 'Yeah, it is. You like what you see here kitty?'

Husk didn't say anything and just knocked Angel away with a flick of his fingers. The corner of his lips turned up seeing how easily he can move angel away now.

'What, hey! What the fuck Husk?!'

"You deserved it."

With your heart pounding, you opened the last pack and pulled out the holo one. Others looked at you eagerly to see your reactions.

"I fucking got Alastor! Let's go!"

You jumped up on your bed from the excitement, surprising everyone.

"Look! Look! Alastor it's you!" You practically shoved the card in front of his face, making him take a step back. Before he could see clearly you took back the card to see it again while fangirling.

"Look at my little boy with all these creepy symbols around him! He's so pretty!" You were so happy that you couldn't care less that the real Alastor was right in front of you. Until Alastor nudged you on your head with his antlers and grabbed the card with his teeth.

"Hey, give it back!" You streached your hand to grab it but he turned around and placed the card on the table before you could do anything. He finally took a good look at his card. 'Hm, not bad.' You finally went to the table and snatched it back.

After you carefully stored the cards, you began preparing dinner while humming. Angel and Cherri was lazily sitting on the counter while looking at you.

'Hey Angel, how come we didn't transform yet? It sucks being in this form..'

'You tell me toots. That snake boy and kitty cat got to transform before I did. Now that's some bullshit right there.'

'There's gotta be some kinda link somewhere right?'

'There have to be! Wait..if we think about it... when they all transformed...they were all with (Y/n) right?'

'Shit, Angie you might be onto somethin'

You gave the guys their food. You had to drag Husk to the dinner table since he was passed out drunk on the couch. You called Pentious from outside as well. Recently he took on a new task. He volunteered to fix the shitty wooden sofa set you had. You were truly grateful for that.

During dinner, Cherri climbed on top of your right shoulder and Angel on left. You paused eating to look at them with confusion.

'We decided that we want to stay as close to (Y/n) we can from now on!'  Cherri said making everyone squint their eyes at them.

"Uh, guys...can y'all tell me what they're saying?"

Charlie translated it for you making you even more confused.

"But why?"

'Because we want to!'

Everyone just shook their head thinking this pair was just being their usual chaotic self. But you realised they weren't joking when you went to sleep and they both cuddled up to you, declaring they'll sleep there. Normally you'd think this was cute, however there were two problems.

One, is that, you might move in your sleep and accidentally squish these small creatures. Especially Angel.

Two, they were laying on your chest....

"Angel..Cherri...can I ask why you decided THIS would be a good place to sleep on?"

'What? Ya got nice pair of tit's and they make a nice pillow.'

'Plus Husk slept too did't he?'

Niffty who was sitting beside you translated it making you go blush madly. You quickly shoved them both away and pulled the cover closer to yourself.

"Fuck no. Pervert! I was drunk that time! Either sleep on a pillow next to me or get out of my room!"

At last they both slept next to you after you scolded them for some time. Next two days went the same way. Angel and Cherri were with you everywhere. They even tried to sneak into your shower before you found out and kicked them out. Currently they were both sitting on top of your kitchen counter, munching on nuts and fruits lazily. Husk was making himself a burger currently.

'Nothin's working...where did we go wrong?'

'We definitely missed something. Our plan was bulletproof! We're just missing one key point...'

'We spent the whole last two days with 'er twenty four hours. I think we have seen and know everything about her already! We even know how she almost cried while editing her news'

'Or how she tilts her head when she doesn't understand something?' Cherri piped in.

'or when she sings when she thinks no one was listening.' Angel said laughing. 'Oh her face is priceless when she gets caught. She still sometimes forgets that she lives with a whole bunch of demons now.'

'Have you noticed the BL manga's of her's-'

They continued chatting like this for a while, pointing out small details that you do, things that you like or dislike and laughing amongst themselves.

'Haha...that girl really is something..'

'Yeah, She's completely my type.'

'Ya might want to confess quickly then. Otherwise I might just steal her first ' Angel said winking. Cherri scoffed and bumped him with her tail.

'Hey what gives? I thought you were gay?'

'I am, But who am I to resist a sweet thing like her. She's an exception.'

' You already have Alastor and Husk to fawn over. Leave (Y/n) to me bastard.'

'No can do sweetheart. First come, first serve'

They both looked at each others eyes for a second then burst out laughing. It might seem like they were joking from the front, but they both knew they were seriously attracted to you.

Suddenly they both got engulfed in golden light. Husk stopped in the middle of biting his burger and looked at them wide eyed. Now in place of the spider and the squirrel, there were two humans.

Angel and Cherri looked at each other, wide eyed. Angel opened his mouth first.

"Shit I think I know the key behind transforming!"

A.n: Now I know there are tons of fanarts of human Husk with White skin but I'll always headcannon Husk as a black man, the same colour as his VA. And I'll die on this hill defending that.

Plus it's refreshing to have different veraites of race and colour presented (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~

Also might go on a little break since some of my important college exams are coming up. Hope ya enjoyed the chapter ~

Tag list: @legostars @glowinthedarkbones1150 @darifes @aria-tempest @rainbowcake1212 @luxylucylou

[dead-lights]

trai-lore!

because ya know. trailers. with lore.

i'll see myself out

but! before i go - I went and compiled all of the Vampires trailers I could find! I wasn't familiar with all of the shorts and I'm not 100% sure I found them all. There are a lot of contradictions, but aside from the gameplay trailer they can mostly be stitched together.

Also, I recognize I'm trying to wring blood from a stone, reading into things that EA never intended, but ya know. That's the point of exploring lore!

this is mostly validated by werewolves - Lily's dialogue confirms that Caleb was turned by Miss Hell, and the 7 years unlucky mirror confirms that Vlad ambushed her while she was brushing her teeth.

It looks like the bar Miss Hell attacks Caleb in is supposed to be in Forgotten Hollow. There are plenty of reasons he could've been there, but to me that implies that Lilith turned first, and he was there because that's where she hangs out now.

It looks like you're supposed to be able to see the normie parts of Forgotten Hollow from that cliff with the bench, rather than just more of the mountain. There's definitely supposed to be more than just those 5 lots.

I'm not sure if the person behind Miss Hell in the bar is anyone specific? they feel slightly familiar but I might be thinking of Leila Illes from island living, which came out afterwards.

It's unclear how Caleb ended up in the bathroom or whether he asked to turn - the animation is the same either way. In game, I've had a lot of success with both bat-form bathroom ambushes and the good ol' "ask for woohoo and then cancel the order as soon as you're alone together" maneuver so either is plausible. To me, it looks like she's reenacting her transformation, with her as Vlad, so she would've wanted unwilling prey. I've generally thought that Caleb followed her into the bathroom thinking he was going to get laid, but with that in mind it does make sense that she would've just ambushed him when he got up to pee (poor humans and their bladders can't handle their nectar). @charsimsalot has a lot of interesting things to say about how being forcibly turned would have affected Miss Hell in this excellent post about the apartment they built for the rebellious vampires!

That bathroom door is on backwards. I checked - that door only has a sign on one side. Maybe they really wanted to hammer home the point that this is a bathroom? the sink and toilet do a pretty good job of that...

Caleb is not a daywalker in this trailer - since this seems to show him in his earlier days, that 100% checks out. It takes 15 skill points to become a daywalker, which... yikes.

note: I know the sims is very gay these days but do keep in mind that vampires was released January 2017. Gay marriage wasn't fully legalized in the US until June 2015. It was a big deal that Caleb suave kissed a guy in the trailer!

fun fact: the song used for this, deadly flo, seems to be either very cheap or free to license. It is used in a few episodes of the Baking Championship franchise. Y'all, that franchise got me back into baking and directly inspired GOBC. I lost my absolute shit when I heard it playing! There are also parts of Holiday Baking Championship that sound suspiciously like the sims 2 theme... I kinda wonder if there's a simmer in their sound department.

Not really that interesting - earlier versions of their outfits/vlad's dark form. Lilith cannot actually turn into a bat in-game.

vlad bloodvein can use "deprive needs" (must be a master vampire at minimum)

brandy can turn into a bat (should be a minor vampire at minimum)

based on the view outside Brandy's bedroom window, it looks like the virtuous vampires might live in an apartment in San Myshuno?

vlad uses supernatural speed to collect figurines

Not very interesting - just Brandy and Elle eating.

↓↓↓ WARNING - jumpscare below ↓↓↓

lmao what

this one doesn't even seem real, but as far as I can tell it was in fact released as a teaser for the full trailer.

This is the official trailer - it lines up reasonably well with other lore. Also the song is so fun.

Most notably: this trailer shows that Caleb is the one who turned Inna. No context is given. Other promotional material & the in-game paintings show that she was a thrall, potentially for hundreds of years before Caleb turned her.

The exterior of the house where Caleb turns Inna looks exactly like Wolfsbane Manor. However, Inna's bedroom doesn't match any room in the manor. It looks like there is a nearly identical house where Widowshild Townhouse currently is, so either Inna was in that house, or Wolfsbane Manor has since been remodeled. It would be kinda interesting if Caleb and Lilith decided to buy Inna's old house when they moved...

When Caleb turns into a bat, he's in the graveyard to the left of Vlad's house. Maybe he and Lilith lived with Vlad for a time? It kinda looks like Vlad had a lot of vampires filtering in and out of his place.

Elle real horny. I wonder what happened to that guy - he isn't a gallery vampire but he shows up in a lot of the paintings. As far as I'm aware Elle doesn't show up in any paintings.

This trailer is an absolute mess. It contradicts enough existing lore that it shouldn't be taken as any sort of canon, but it's a decent source of inspiration to fill in the gaps, and I pulled heavily from it when I was choosing powers for the gallery vampires.

Elle uses her mist form (I checked the animations) - she must be a grand master. She can use Command.

Markus Crow has supernatural speed - must be master+

Lilith is using a computer at the beginning of this, which feels weird because this is supposed to be at least 50 years ago. That said, technology doesn't advance in the sims, so, sure.

This makes it look like Vlad just broke into her house and turned her like he did with Miss Hell, but to me Lily makes it sound like Lilith was a more active participant: "I remember when my cousin, Lilith, first told me she'd met a fascinating man named Vlad. After that, she started spending a lot of time "training" with him. I thought she meant they were workout buddies. It wasn't until later that I found out she'd been lured to the dark arts."

Lilith's bed is a reward from the painter career - not sure if the implication is that she earned it herself?

I can't really see outside Lilith's windows, but it does kinda look like Forgotten Hollow? Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me - why would she and Caleb have to move to Forgotten Hollow if they already lived there? That said, that isn't Lilith. And that isn't Caleb. This was from when their names were Gina and Raylan.

Note that "Raylan" doesn't have the good vampire aspiration, and his traits are completely different. The others aren't quite the same as the gallery sims, but at least they still have the same names.

Looking out the window, it looks like the Virtuous Vampires are in Forgotten Hollow with everyone else. In one of the shorts, it looks like they live in a big city. I'm not sure which I like better!

Lilith is used as the example for supernatural strength. While she doesn't actually have that in-game, this is part of why I like to make her fitness 10 brute with vampiric might.

Elle continues to be real horny. Who is that guy? I like the implication that they had to go get it on as bats because Vlad was taking a nap and they couldn't fuck in his coffin :(

Bonus! While this isn't a trailer, exactly, it's a promotional blog post from Vlad's point of view and it is the best. Every last part of this makes me happy, from Caleb and Lilith ganging up on Vlad to Vlad referring to sparring matches as "epic duels" (or, in this particular case, what seems like a pretty good training sesh for Caleb).

Nothing about Lilith makes it seem like she doesn't feed on people except a) her household description and b) this post. That said, those two things about as primary as canon can get.

Vlad claims to own 100 gray coats

Vlad only fought Caleb. There could be so many reasons for that - was Caleb the one who made the challenge? Does Vlad not want to fight his offspring?

Vlad claims that the Encyclopedia Vampirica is mostly based on him. Make of that what you will.

Second bonus: Did you know that Vlad has a normie cousin??? There was a bit of promotional content for seasons involving the Climate family. This is that time they invited Vlad over for Harvestfest.

Please let me know if I missed anything! There's a lot of material out there, much of it no longer available on EA's site, so it's definitely possible there are things I didn't find.

[sockslikeautumn]

Please write more of yandere golden boy (Julian Peyton) and his transformation into a golden boy.

Julian Peyton

Yandere golden boy aftermath

Male original character x gender-neutral reader

SFW, 0.7k+ words, kinda angsty, addiction, trauma, reader, and OC are 18+!

Read the first chapter for more context!

Trigger warnings: Suicide, suicidal thoughts, mentions of self-harm, depression, implied turning yandere/obsessed, cigarettes addiction.

The reader has suicidal thoughts mentioned here!

You are entirely responsible for what you consume.

Thank you so much for requesting this! I literally cried when I read it because I had been struggling with writer's block for months. This isn't all that much of a chapter, but it is important so Julian's character doesn't feel rushed or out of place when becoming our yandere golden boy.

Reading the first chapter again, it does feel like I was creating one of those unique-esc OC's, like "Oh, he's also a lost child from the royal family and oh, he's also a half-dragon, half-demon mermaid!" But I rolled with it either way this time even though a part of his and YN's lore felt a bit too inspired by my own life than it should have.

If my one, and in fact, first ever fan and anon that I don't know personally wants another chapter added, I'll make it special just for you :)

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Walking into his house didn't feel dreadful for the first time. Sure, the familiar scent of nicotine didn't fail to hit his nose, but he didn't feel like running away instantly. 

He took off his shoes, old and worn-out. His footsteps creaked on the floorboards and he missed the feel of not being barefoot. Vulnerable. Usually, his head would snap to the living room to see if Mason was still breathing, but now that was the least of his worries. The bedroom door shut behind him. 

Trash, musty clothes, and cigarette packs brushed under his feet. It hadn't come to him that he could possibly cut himself on any glass from the empty bottles, without his will this time.

His safe haven didn't feel the best anymore. Something else felt much more inviting and more… pleasant than the feel of his dirty sheets and the darkness around him. 

You. Little ol’ sweet you from class.

What was your name again? He knew the professors often praised your name but he couldn't remember it.

It was average, you were average. Always trying to act like a know-it-all kid, blending into the group of people he never cared to look in the eyes. Though, now you couldn't seem to leave his brain.

Why... Why did you stop him?

You didn't have to, who would've even forced you to help him out? You weren't lying to him, were you?

No. It was too sincere. Too real to be fabricated.

You described yourself as worthless. You had perfect grades, friends, and a family that cared. What would you be struggling with? You weren't poor, you weren't bullied all your life and you didn't have to worry about someday living on the streets. Yet, you were so similar. 

You were suicidal, you were cutting yourself, seen on your wrist, and you were clearly going through a lot of pain. Was that why you felt inclined to help him? 

He glanced at his bed stand where his phone was, sunlight was trying to creep through his window curtains uninvited. With a groan, he went to grab it, the thing feeling like a brick in his hands. His eyes burned under his glasses at the light.

A solid 46% percent was in the corner and after a couple of minutes, he found the Facebook of his school. It didn't take long to find your face posted on the account, his starting to burn.

You weren't average-looking like he previously thought. Dorky smile, pretty eyes, and a diploma stating second place in your hands. It had your name written. 

Y/n L/n...

Blood rushed to his cheeks like never before. An unfamiliar part of him stiffened, a type of stiffness that was itching only for you. Yearning for the first time.

You were so beautiful... You had these sparkling eyes, silky hair, pearly teeth that he wished were like his, and soft lips he'd one day run his tongue over.

“Fuck..” He groaned from the bottom of his throat. He imagined his thumb was running over your cheek and not the many cracks on his phone screen.

What were you doing to him? He's never felt the need to feel someone's embrace, touch them, maybe even kiss them…

Whatever it was, he didn't want it to ever end.

Will he ever see you again? He did have school tomorrow, would you feel excited to know he hadn't killed himself when you left? Would you feel excited to see him?

He knows he shouldn't feel this way, you were just like the rest of them. Making him feel wanted, loved. But maybe now, he'd find a way to keep that love for himself. Keep you for himself.

Maybe tonight he'd finally clean his room, brush his teeth, and clean his messy hair. You'd like that for him, right? You'd want for him to not fetch his favorite razor and watch the skin roll between the blades, right?

His dry lip rolled between his teeth, your voice playing in his head like a broken record.

"Please, Julian, let me help you."

So shaky, like how the touch of your hand felt.

"Please, Julian."

Just his name alone on your tongue would have prevented his death.

"Julian..."

Just his name would do wonders for him.

Masterlist for Julian

I'm open to all constructive criticism, not bullying!

[maplethedarkshine]

The true chaos

Crack theory/headcanon/Somewhat of an au(?)/insane rambling/character analysis

Ok so I WILL do a crackshit theory about how Sonic is actually just the positive manifestation of chaos and this the same being

First one to say "so this is just the Kirby lore" will be sent to the guillotine /j

This is barely a theory, I'll basically be 10% making actual points and 90% just saying stuff because it sounds narratively cool

Obligatory "English isn't my first language don't give me shit if something is written poorly"

OK SO CHAOS AND SONIC PARALLELS

Letting Sonic speak for himself for a moment, the game itself brings to life the parallels this is not something I'm pulling out of my ass

They're both one in the same as the song says, forces of chaos (literally) that do what they think is right, the only difference is that Chaos' heart is tinted with pain, and as the song itself says, evil, while Sonic is devoid of it, and in a way, pure

Also line from the song that always stuck up to me:

"I'm not gonna think this way nor will I count on others"

Which is such an odd thing for Sonic to say, right? Why wouldn't he count on others? In the game the other characters are who gathered the chaos emeralds and the people cheering him up is what got him to transform into super sonic

Except that's wrong, because what Sonic's doing there is appealing to his feelings, because he understands Chaos' reasoning

That first part, "I'm not gonna think this way", because he can't say he gets how he feels. Again, he's devoid of that pain that's been tormenting Chaos for thousands of years by this point. He's not delusional, he know there's no way he can say with a straight face that he gets it.

What he does understand is that narrow-mindness, because he's like that too.

Just like the game itself says, both are using the same power, just one the negative energy of the emeralds and the other the positive

Two sides of the same coin

What's the difference between the two then? That Chaos has closed himself out from the world and let himself be consumed by pain, while Sonic has... His heart opened.

The entire Song is Sonic trying to appeal to Chaos to "Open his heart". Because he knows that trapping him back on the master emerald would only make it all worse, because such a free spirit like he knows that the worst thing you can do to another is removing that freedom to them, and because what got Chaos to be so corrupted is exactly being trapped- not only in a physical sense, but in a phycological way

He trapped himself. And while on the boss battle the only thing that happened was Sonic beating the shit out of him until he got it, the song tells another story

To make first point short: Open your heart itself makes parallels from the two and directly says they're in a way one in the same, both set on their ways, and Sonic gets Chaos to a point, and that's why he can't let him have his way, because he's trapped, and he needs to be set free from that hatred to be able to make a decision. And once he is, his decision is to stop the destruction leave peacefully

For a so claimed "God of destruction", destruction isn't his natural way if being, it got imposed to him; chaos is neither a good or a bad force of nature, it just is. And for a being literally named by it, he seemed to only embody the negative parts of it...

So where is the positive part of chaos?

On Sonic.

Sonic is Chaos. Sonic is the good of Chaos, the good that got banished from him the day the echidnas got too greedy with power

Ever thought how curious is that SA1 was the first game were Sonic has green eyes? Green as in the same color of Chaos' eyes? Green as in "they're both blue and green they have almost the same color palette"? Or green as in the color of the master emerald, mainly notorious for its connections to Chaos?

Also outside of the things Open your heart already implies, there's so more parrales between the two...

I mean, being of water vs guy infamous for not going well with water can't get more obvious than that

Sonic is, as a character, meant to be the representation of freedom, that's where the comparison to wind comes from... And what's more free than chaos? No direction, doing whenever you want as you wish, isn't that what Sonic is? He's notorious for never calling himself a hero, one of his more iconic phrases "what you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure"

Sonic is chaos (the concept) on the way that he's freedom, doing as he pleases, liberating, never changing his ways

Chaos (the character) is chaos (the concept) on the way that he's directionless, he's destructive, and never changing his ways

Sonic is Chaos (the character), because they represent the same concept on different ways

Sonic already has a villain to present the danger of order (Dr. Eggman, aka: mr control freak), so Chaos presents the dangers of chaos. "Do as you please" and "Keep your convictions straight" sounds good on paper until those convictions leeds you to hurt people and doing whenever you want leads you to causing pain and suffering.

Because thinking of it, Chaos had good intentions- he was protecting the chao from the echidna tribe that were hurting them for selfish reasons- he was protecting them, but after that? After that it was simply rage for the sake of rage- he flooded a city full of people that weren't even born when the incident happened and have nothing to do with it- people DIED, yet he wasn't changing his ways- his convictions never changed, and since he still thought the Chao were endangered he did what he did last time: protect

Those are, in paper, the same principles as Sonic on Sonic and the black night: do what you think is right, no matter if that will make some see you as the villain... Except what Chaos did is CLEARLY different and wrong

Because, as much as they're both selfish (selfish as in "most Decisions they make are purely based on what they want"), Sonic is coming from love and Chaos from hatred. On paper maybe Sonic could be seen as selfish (example: leaves station square as soon as Chaos is defeated because the rebuilding is no longer his problem) yet his heart is always on the right place. And maybe he just does whenever he wants, but what he wants is what's good for the people, so his selfishness turns him into a selfless being. Chaos is "doing whenever he wants" from a misguided place: he thinks he's doing what's the best for the Chao, just like Sonic does what's best for the people, when in reality the Chao don't even need him to do allat. Even if he's running by instinct, he's not achieving what he's trying to get, and his selfishness is just that- selfish, even if it came from a selfless core

Sonic's motto is basically to help the world only when it can no longer help itself, while Chaos "helps" it when the help is not only no longer needed, but actively just making it all difficult to the ones he's trying to protect, THAT'S were they differ

That's why, while both "selfish", one his presented as clearly right and the other clearly wrong. Because Sonic knows what he's doing, while Chaos is too blinded to see the truth. But once he gets some sense to him and sees that the chao are ok he does the exact same thing as Sonic: he simply leaves. Doesn't stay to try to fix what he did, because he knows that at this point the world can help itself, and he won't do the same mistake he did of trying to help at a point where is no longer needed

Sonic got him to open his heart (I'm so sorry for bringing it up so much I just love the song-)

Ok, so we got to how Sonic and Chaos are the same in a thematic way. Cool. That's nice

Now here's why Sonic and Chaos are literally the same person

Now this part I don't have as solid as an argument so take is as more lf a fun AU thing

Early jp classic Sonic was very much treated like a fairy-tale character. A mystical creature that would appear and disappeared when the adventure is over, and even in more modern games he's sort of like that (come on guys he's literally summoned from the sky in SatBk how more obvious can it get...?)

He's, in most game characterizations, a flat character. He doesn't grow because he doesn't NEED to grow. He seems to be inmune to corruption (Examples: In unleashed he's unaffected by dark gaia's influence outside of becoming more furry. On frontiers he smiles through the pain to the point Sage questions him what the hell he's doing) He's unable to be corrupted, as he's usually not the one to learn something from the story, rather the one delivering the lesson to another character (ak: Sonic 2 him indirectly giving confidence to Tails by just being there. Sonic and the secret rings he being what brought Sara our of her toxic relationship. The one SatBK monolog everyone already knows)

Sonic is a lot of things, a lot of them bad: impatient, a bit of a brat, annoying, but on top of everything he's pure. Sonic is incapable of evil. And thus him not changing his ways ever is GOOD

Chaos IS corruption, as in that's what defines the his character and character arc- because he's, unlike Sonic, NOT a flat character, in fact he's the one that receives the lesson by Sonic in Sa1

He's also treated as this mystical being, except that instead of being a fairly-tale it's a prophecy of a disaster. Chaos is not only capable of evil, but rather he IS evil itself for a good part of the story, and thus him not changing his ways is BAD, even if it goes under the same core premise as Sonic's motto of freedom- a decision made from blinded pain is not a decision made in your full freedom after all

That evil is not inherent to him; once again, it was imposed- forced onto him. And when he got purified... What is his role on the next time he happens to appear in the story, when he's given the freedom of actually choosing without being tied down by the chains of old wounds? To only make himself known when the master emerald is in danger (said in Sonic battle and the sonic forces comic prequel)

On other words, he only helps when the world can't help itself

He literally turned into Sonic the moment his heart was devoid of evil

Sonic was not only reaching out to Chaos, he was reaching out to himself- a part of him he never got to terms with, as "hate" is not something he's capable of, not in this form. He not only helped Chaos, but he also processed that hate- a hate that he never got to experience, but it's indirectly "his"

... Except it's not his and never was his

Because of course, realistically, IF this theory/headcanon was right, Sonic would see himself and Chaos as different beings. Because who cares of what was before? Yeah, what IF he came from the guy? He's no longer that person, and be will not get tied by boring concepts as the strings of the past

This is a kind of Solaris Mephiles-iblis situation, except while Mephiles is obsessed with being "one in the same" and "complete" again, Sonic will give the autonomy to Chaos to decide to be his own being. Sonic is Sonic and Chaos is Chaos, he will not do any attempt to go back to being "complete", because he already IS completely, and then he helped Chaos be complete to... Why change what's not broken?

Chaos is happy being a guardian of the master emerald and Sonic himself is happy just being some guy who loves adventure. To make them go back to what was before would be to force a sense of order on two beings of chaos, which is counterproductive. I'm sure none of the two would agree with it

If, as Open your heart says, the fundamental difference between Sonic and Chaos is one being trapped by hatred and the other devoid from it, and then the moment Chaos is set free from that feeling he takes an almost identical fairy-tale like creature role Sonic also has... Then what does that mean?

Perfect Chaos is a fake god because he's not truly "perfect", the resentment is what's keeping him from it, and the moment he lets go of it he truly reaches the perfect state of chaos... And basically turns to Sonic

Sonic is perfect chaos, as he's the good of it

Ever wondered where he comes from? Game Sonic never ever had an origin story, at best an "He comes from Christmas island, no we will not tell you or show you ever where or what Christmas Island is"

He doesn't seem to have parents or an origin story. As far as the world is concerned there's been this blue hedgehog wandering around and randomly helping people then disappearing to never be seen ever again. Ever since that Dr. Robotnik guy has been causing trouble the hedgehog has always been there to stop him, as if he came out of nowhere... As if he spawned thin air

And perhaps that's the easiest reasoning. Perhaps he DID come out of nowhere. Because you can't keep trapped chaos (the concept). It WILL find a way to get out, and it won't listen to you, and it's only agenda is to oppose order

And what happens when a destructive force comes and imposes order on the world? In a way Eggman created his worst enemy... Sa1 was not the first time he liberated Chaos

Because when the world needed him the most it brought back his ashes to life into a form devoid from the hatred and pain that caused his perish on the first place. Made the good that was vanished from his heart and the kindness forced out of him into a being of flesh and bone. And from his wounds of the past there'll be something beautiful for the present. The pureness that the echidnas took away from him so many years ago will be reborn

There'll be brought chaos

They'll ne brought freedom

There'll be Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog

[tehrevving]

What has been Vincent's thoughts on reader? Especially the latest date fiasco and his moody reveal turning into probably the best bj of his life

Holy crap this answer got so long and drops so much unrevealed lore lmao. Enjoy!

My general characterisation of Vincent with regards to sex is that he is very interested in giving, but not so much receiving. Most of his sexual experience was with women at 'Turk Academy', who gravitated towards him because he was great at eating out and didn't expect too much in return. Vincent is demi and bi in my fic, but has a preference for women (because they make more mess lmao), not sure if that's relevant but *shrug*.

Due to him being demi, most of his experience being casual and how Lucrecia used him (which I've hinted at a little bit). He doesn't see fingering/eating out/etc as things that are overly emotional or complicated. Especially in the 'modern' day, as he can just keep his clothes on during all of it.

Reader made a deliberate effort in the beginning to understand him and get closer to him, just as a friend of course, but I don't think it's too surprising that he 'latched on' to the first person to take an interest in actually getting to know him in a long time. I do wish I'd added an extra chapter near the beginning to make this a bit more clear lol, but oh well.

After Hojo's experiments on him, he doesn't think anyone could ever want him. He actually is that person covering the bathroom mirrors and showering in the dark lol. He interprets Reader initially showing sexual interest in him, not as her actually wanting him, but as her wanting him to pleasure her, which he has no problem with doing.

She tries to address this in chapter 9 (the one after the stargazing but before the eating out), and explicitly tells him that she wants more, but he's so in denial that while he says he'll try and be better, in his mind he doesn't believe her, and to cope with it reverts to trying to ignore all of it with sex. Which was basically his relationship with Lucrecia lol, everything is too complicated so we'll just fuck and ignore all of it.

Vincent caught feelings after the fight where he transforms and the conversation afterwards. He didn't realise that's what was happening at the time, and has been in extreme denial about it. A lot of his back and forth behaviour has been him trying to reconcile his feelings with his own self-doubt and just general trauma and issues, and that he generally didn't see sex as a big deal, until suddenly it is.

All of this then builds up to the point where he just can't handle it anymore. He hasn't tried getting off after all of the experimentation, and finds that he can't on his own. I might write this as an extra chapter one day, but I feel like he can't push himself over that metaphorical edge because of his self-loathing, hatred and fear of losing control over his own body.

When he asks her for help getting off that first time, he's actually asking for a lot of unspoken things. The fact that she doesn't shy away from him, is very enthusiastic, and works within his boundaries, is a huge deal. That interaction gives Vincent hope that all of this might work.

Which brings us to the Gold Saucer date. I love this chapter. It might not be super obvious, but almost every single interaction that the two of them have with the attractions and the other group members has narrative significance. (send me another ask and I'll do a whole analysis on that lol)

Vincent decides that he is going to use this time at the Gold Saucer as a test, to see if he thinks that he can make this work. Vincent has a lot of hangups about his body and that he's not normal. He has quite an old fashioned mentality about courting someone, dating etc (but not fucking lmao). And is very aware that he can't take her out to share a meal/drinks, or do a lot of general date things. He considers this to be a huge deal.

He starts off in a good mood but grows continually frustrated throughout the night as he is reminded of all of his perceived shortcomings, and the fact that none of them seem to bother her.

By the time the G-bike VR is finished, that frustration reaches its peak and Vincent is sort of minutes away from losing control and transforming. She tries to comfort him, but he realises that nothing she says to him will work. Like, she says it's not a big deal that he can't play VR, when that's not the problem, the problem is that he is so inhuman that even a computer is rejecting him. He tries to remove himself from the situation as fast as he can and storms off. At the beginning of the date, he had some hope that he wouldn't have to reject her, but at this point he is completely convinced that he is going to, even if he has to be forceful about it.

He just stews in his own anger and self-loathing, not noticing anything around him or how his emotions are actually physically affecting her. When she calls him out on it and he actually looks at her and sees that she is basically shaking and paralysed with fear (I think I played this down in the actual chapter, but in my first draft this shit was intense), he realises that he needs to control himself. The fact that she followed him and is still trying to help him even though he is making her feel like that dissipates a lot of his anger and just leaves him with the frustration.

He doesn't want to reveal too much about the experimentations that were done to him, and honestly I think he doesn't quite understand the implications of a lot of it either. So he tries to explain while glossing over a lot of it, which means he ends up talking about more of his general human sexual trauma instead lol.

He figured that she might not shy away from the monster arm. He had hoped that showing her that would just explain everything, but of course it doesn't. I think that Vincent's self-loathing means that he's not that good at predicting how other people will react. When he thinks through conversations in his head, he assumes everyone has a terrible opinion of him to start with. So, she catches him off guard when she talks about how she already knows he's a 'monster' and doesn't care.

He continually keeps throwing out these bullshit reasons, that ignore her feelings on the matter and she's sick of it. She realises that she needs to hold him the fuck down, make him shut up and realise that she doesn't care about his dumb excuses. But at the same time, she's also smart enough to realise that it'll just make it worse if she forces him. It's important that it's him that takes his clothes off, exposes himself, pulls her into position etc. I really like that scene and the buildup because it's clear that they're both trying to show and enforce consent while being angry and not talking about it.

As for the actual blowjob. Look, she sucked his soul out through his dick and he is now 100% ride-or-die committed. He has never had anyone treat his body with any actual care. Obviously the experiments were bad, but even before that, having had mostly one night stands and then of course Lucrecia. He hasn't ever had someone care for him like that before. The fact that Reader is showing that care for the first time on his ruined, experimented-on body, destroys him. The way that she checks in on him, reassures him, and has taken note of his own cues (The 'I'm here', is so fucking important), convinces him. All of those things are the actual, polar opposite to how Lucrecia treated him (and I do intend to write a prequel about that too lol)

I love their little sex affirmations. My fave part of the fic honestly. The way that they can bounce off each other, reassure each other and show understanding with a just a few words or hair pulls. I love it lol.

Anyway, Vincent starts acting a bit differently after the Gold Saucer date, and I am so excited to show you all. I am writing furiously, but these things can't be rushed lol.