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lostonehero · 4 months ago

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What remains after eternity

Aftermath

Trevor frowns, staring at the vial of dark red, nearly black blood. He knows for the fact that all the progress they had was erased. He couldn't tell how long it'd been, but that didn't really matter. He can make a few observations, Lyf regrew and cuts off his wings multiple times to have food to share. Marius has finished his heat transformation, and his new parts and abilities seem purposely dormant due to the starvation and virus. He glanced over to the pair of sleeping twins who hadn't moved. He doesn't envy them.

"Trevor." Janet's voice makes him turn to face her. "So?"

"I barely started." Trevor sighs. "It's not good, Raphaella started the ivs, and the broth is being kept warm." He puts down the vial of Marius's blood. "I've got samples from his spinal fluid, blood, and marrow. The progress that has been made is completely wiped out. We're back at square one. I hate to say this, but I welcome the challenge. I know it's not a game. I just..."

"Treat it like you would of before." Janet gently headbutts Trevor. "They need you to be at your best for this. You should also be nice to his metal arm. Remember it's sentient."

"I almost forgot about that." Trevor smiles softly. "Alright, I need to do some tests. Do you mind keeping watch while I bring my samples to Raph's lab?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" Janet chuckles. "Aurora has my back to alarm for you."

"I do!" Aurora chirps. "I have also informed Nastya who was the first to find Marius. As per the twins' request, only the ones inside myself have been informed besisdes Nastya. Raphaella and Misery are waiting for you, Trevor."

"Thank you, Aurora." Trevor collects his samples and heads off.

Janet hums when he is out of earshot. "Aurora, be ready for whatever comes next."

"I always am." Aurora clicks.

.....

"If you keep asking me what I think I'm going to light you on fire and see if your ashes works which I know won't." Trevor growls.

Jonny clears his throat. "Want to repeat that?"

Trevor gasps, stumbling off his step stool. "Dad! I uh..."

Jonny laughs. "Still my baby boy." He smiles softly. "Get up and tell me what you've figured out. I know I ain't the best with this science shit, but Janet asked me to check up on you."

"It's not good." Trevor sighs as Jonny takes a seat on the exam table. "Whatever progress they had was wiped out for Marius, er Byron? I don't know what to refer to him as since he isn't lucid or has woken up. Anyway, it seems that without the updates from Raph or Misery, the virus mutated and took over again. At this point, I wouldn't suggest curing it.... I mean, well, the best thing to do would be to work backward kind of." He hops up next to his dad to sit. "There isn't getting rid of this virus. If I could engineer it to basically fuse to his very DNA, there could be a chance that it would change him, but he would finally be whole again. I just don't want to do anything drastic like that without consent. I mean, I would have before, but he's like family now, and I know he can't answer for himself...."

Jonny rubs his son's back. "Relax Trevor, you can ask his mate, or even his daughters." He pauses as Trevor leans on him. "Just explain it to them and give them the risks and how it would work."

"Are you sure you're ok with this, with me?" Trevor frowns. "I've done so much awful. I hurt so many people in the name of my own selfish need. I just... I feel like you shouldn't be ok with this."

Jonny snickers. "Trevor, I ain't no saint either. I've killed for less. I've hurt others for even less than that. I'm a terrible person, and honestly, I can't say I regret my actions." He sighs and gives his son a half hug. "You have a moral compass that I had beaten out of me. I'm proud of you regardless of what horrors you committed. You hesitate, and I wish I could say I could do the same."

"Thank you." Trevor pulls his dad into a tight hug.

Jonny can feel a wet spot where his son is crying. "Come on, we should check on them."

"Aurora?" Trevor mumbles in his dad's chest.

"Yes?" Aurora chirps.

"You're a little shit." Jonny can feel his son shake in a silent laugh.

"Is Lyf awake yet?" Trevor continues to cling.

Aurora chuckles. "That is quite adorable."

"Fuck off." Trevor mumbles.

"Alright, alright." Jonny pats his son's back. "Is the space cop up yet?"

"Lyf has woken up for a brief moment of panic but fell asleep as soon as he saw his twins. The twins are currently trying to wake him to eat some broth, but they are unsuccessful, so they are currently lying on either side of Lyf. I think they are playing 20 questions with Janet." Aurora chirps. "Nastya has managed to wake Marius to feed him some broth, but he is not lucid in the slightest."

Trevor pulls away, rubbing his eyes. "I'm not surprised. The damage on Lyf's body is self-inflicted. He cut off his own limbs, mostly his wings to feed the both of them. With the rest and iv, his body is probably in shock, adjusting to not being in survival mode. Similar occurrences have happened when Thomas and Laz have been trapped in places. Laz sacrifices himself to keep Thomas alive." He scratches his neck. "Tink used to be a scholar before they went mad. They may have done something similar. Aiden is made of stone he can't accomplish that. Izzy has mentioned something similar, but I've never observed it. What I mean to say they are all different species, but they're all acolyte, so with what I have observed, it should take approximately a week for Lyf to be fully recovered unless Yog Sogoth gets involved. Well, he will still look starved, but he will be mentally and physically healed." He hops off the table.

Jonny smiles proud of his son. "Well, that means you have time. You can discuss the options with the twins to start with."

Aurora hums softly. "Raphaella would also like to look at the samples now."

Trevor sighs. "Fine, fine." He waves Aurora off. "Can you come with me to check on them?"

Jonny nods and hops off the table. "Of course I can."

.......

"Aren't you two spending time with your respective husbands?" Aurora chirps spotting Thomas and Mae.

Mae rolls her eyes. "Laz, Charlie, and the fledgling god have been talking for hours at this point, and I'm bored listening about human things. They're allowed to catch up, but fuck I don't care in the slightest about their history. I don't even know what the fuck they're talking about." She throws her hands up. "Like what the fuck is a ice box? Why are they're churches so fucking lame? How the fuck did they accomplish anything? Like I wanted to hear about the war, but all of it is stupid god bullshit. If I wanted that, I would bother Nexus or Scratch."

"Please don't." Thomas sighs. "Human culture and history isn't excatly something either of us are interested in. That kind of stuff is Janet's thing. I love Laz, but we'll he also gets fucking bored when we talk New Texas." He cracks his back. "Besides, I want to play chess, and Trevor is the best at it, and I want a challenge."

"I ain't a fan of chess, but I do have to ask dad when Izzy and the others came by and why Izzy and Grams are doing the horizontal tango." Mae blinks as Thomas stares at her.

"What the fuck did you even say?" Thomas stares at his twin.

"Grams is fucking Izzy. From what Pa said, because I actually saw him out as far as he could go away from Grams. They've been at it for like six hours at this point. Also, Pa is a hologram brain in the machine thing. Why does he have a limp?" Mae crossed her arms. "Also, Carmillia was nailed to a cactus."

"I clearly went a different route than you did." Thomas shakes his head. "Does Pa look pathetic?"

"He looked confused." Mae shrugs. "Anyway, Aurora, do you know what happened?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about." Aurora pauses. "I can ask your father."

"Nah, I'll find him." Mae hums softly. "Besides, I heard there's newbies here."

"I wouldn't call them newbies they're technically older than us." Thomas sighs. "Well, that's what Laz says."

"Unfortunately, he's normally right." Mae huffs. "Hopefully, Alex is lingering around somewhere here. I'm so bored I may even play a hand of cards with them."

Thomas snickers.

"Oh fuck off. You suck at cards it's not even fun winning against you." Mae headbutts her brother from the side.

Thomas headbutts back and then gasps. "I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!" He points spotting Trevor who freezes like a deer in headlights.

Mae growls, letting off a string of curses, making Aurora squeak out in surprise. She pulls out something from her pocket and growls louder, shoving it at Thomas. It was an old, worn doll looking closer at it. "Fuck you Trevor." She headbutts Trevor hard enough he falls on his ass.

Trevor blinks incredibly confused. "Um.... What did I do?"

"You helped me win an old bet." Thomas chuckles softly, holding up his prize that Trevor recognized immediately.

"Ok how the fuck did you convince Mae to bet that first, Secondly what bet?" Trevor huffs as Thomas helps him to his feet.

"I knew you became a mad scientist, Mae didn't believe me, and so we made a bet ages ago." Thomas sighs. "I will probably give this back to her, though. It ain't right keeping it knowing how much it means to her."

"You brats kept that thing?" Jonny interrupts startling the two. He plucks it from his eldest and hums. "Where's yours?"

"Technically, that is Thomas's." Trevor rubs his arm. "He gave it to Mae after a nasty encounter with raiders that burned it to break her. It didn't go as they planned."

Jonny had a slight blush on his cheeks. "Fucking if you want a new one I can just make another one." He looks away. "Why are you two back?"

"You would make us another one?" Thomas swallows. "I uh... well, of course we're too old for it, so you don't have to."

"Shut the fuck up." Jonny rolls his eyes. "You're getting new ones. That means you too, Mae. Get the fuck out of the vents."

Mae hops out of a vent landing next to her dad.

"How the fuck do you keep doing that?" Aurora chirps.

"It's just climbing." Mae rolls her eyes. "Why go all mad science now?"

"It's a bit complicated." Trevor frowns.

Jonny sighs. "You're the only two not here for what happened. It's only been 12 hours, give or take. Marius and Lyf have returned in worse shape. The gods took them and sent them back, and none of us knew how long it's been for them. They're starved, and Marius's virus has completely taken over again somehow, even worse than before. None of it is good, and the twins requested we don't tell anyone until they return to Aurora."

"Oh." Mae crossed her arms. "What do you need me to do?"

Trevor lights up slightly, pulling out a list. "I have a request for supplies and ingredients for my work."

Mae snatches it and looks it over with a smirk. "Honestly, Trevor, I expected something more insane. Yeah, I'll grab this shit. You're going to integrate this virus into his DNA to have his body adapt and change so he won't be sick. That's clever."

Trevor stares at Mae mouth agape. "How the fuck...?"

Mae winks. "I'll handle it." She grabs the small cloth doll from Thomas. "I'll be back in an hour tops."

Thomas shrugs. "Don't look at me! I would have suggested isolating the virus strain and reverse engineering it to become a boost to his system and heal himself from the inside out."

"That's not.... where the... How the fuck do you know that?" Trevor stares at Thomas since Mae is already out of earshot.

Thomas looked uncomfortable. "Let's just not look into why we knew that stuff."

Jonny takes a breath. "Thomas, I'm going to need you to keep the twins away when Trevor looks over Lyf and Marius. They know of your brother and don't trust him in the slightest."

"Sure, I can do that." Thomas nods. "Why are you referring to them as twins? You don't refer to me or Mae as twins."

"They're identical." Jonny pinches his brow. "Impossible to tell them apart. Their names are Freya and Selene, and unlike you and your sister, neither of them are older."

"Ah." Thomas frowns. "You alright with that, Trevor?"

Trevor nods. "Yeah. Just be careful they're more on the xeon side of their lineage and are incredibly toxic like physically."

"It's not like I'll die." Thomas stops. "I'll be careful."

Jonny nods. "You both better be careful."

"Yes, dad." The two say at once.

......

Lyf gasps, and the remains of rainbow static fill his vision. He froze as his vision slowly game back to groans and whimpers of pain. With effort, he sits himself up. Both of his girls were on the floor at either side of his bed. He watched in mute horror as their limbs reformed, and a mark glowed on their backs.

"I warned you two." A male voice sighs.

"Be nice, Trevor. Also, your hair is on fire." Another male voice rings out.

"Fuck not again!"

"W-What?" Lyf's voice was barely a whisper.

Both twins left bloody handprints on the side of Lyf's bed, burning through the blanket.

"We're ok."

"Just give us a second."

"Don't push yourself either of you." Lyf finally looked over to recognize the voice belonged to Thomas. "Just because you've got the mark of Terminus does not mean it's easy no matter how often you test it."

"We know!" Both twins growl at him.

Thomas holds up his hands. "I ain't looking for a fight. Neither of you is in any condition for that either. Give Lyf some space. He's awake."

The twins step back with a stumble holding there quickly, closing wounds.

"N-no." Lyf croaks out.

The other male, who was Trevor? Lyf wasn't certain. "Relax." Trevor helps Lyf to sit up fully. "Take a breath, and please don't pull out your ivs. Janet is currently keeping an eye on Marius as he plays and wanders around." He takes out a thermos and gently feeds Lyf. "Now that you have something in your stomach. Your twins are fine they look to have just finished healing, and they know it was an accident."

Lyf takes a deep breath. "Freya, Selene?"

"Yes!" The two say at once.

Lyf smiles softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"It's not like you could kill us."

"Selene!"

"What? I'm right."

"You don't have to say it."

"Freya, we both know Papa would freak out if we were mortal."

"Girls." Lyf sighs he looks awful and exhausted but relieved. "Girls, that's enough."

"Yes, Papa." Both say at once.

"Before you ask, I'm working on the next steps for Marius." Trevor crossed his arms. "Mae got what I needed about six hours ago. Thomas has been trying to get the twins to eat and sleep in proper beds, which hasn't worked. The next process will be done within the hour if you wish to stay awake for that. I'm taking a different approach, and hopefully, that will be a permanent solution." He looks away. "It's not going to be an easy process, and I will be locking myself in the same room as Marius to see this through."

Lyf looks down at his hands. They were discolored greatly. He knew he looked horrid. He hurt his own children. He balled his fists. "Don't you want to know what happened?" He sounded broken.

"I'm not my father." Thomas frowns with a tisk before Trevor can answer. "I can make my own assumptions, however. It's been ages, and the food was non-existent. You cut off your own wings multiple times just to feed Marius, and you neglected yourself. Your hair isn't evenly cut it was probably burned with an acid like substance, most likely the rain on Xeonia. Even with the adaption from your heat bond, it did not protect you from the harsh reality of the planet. From added context, you arrived on Xeonia before Marius was even born and stayed long after, but before the spread of the virus of the first time. You're paranoid, obviously from losing your children when they were young, younger than we were with our dad. Marius quickly lost lucidity after your kids vanished. He was hiding it from you and them with games and stories."

Lyf sucked in a breath staring at Thomas.

"S-stop!"

"D-Don't."

Thomas narrows his gaze, ignoring the pleads. "It didn't get better. Wars are horrible when you're searching for answers. Even more so when you're trying to keep your own partner nearby. How many times did you reduce him down to his arm to get through? More than you can recall."

Trevor scurries out of the way. They all had these fits dad would call them. They never remember when it started. Only know the story once they finish telling it. It's a curse from their grandfather's side. The gods don't even know what it is. He hates it. He could never purge it from himself.

"A time of peace came and went you almost abandoned Marius as dead weight." Thomas tilted his head. "You locked him in a bunker, didn't you?"

Lyf shakes. "I... I.."

"He wasn't aware. He starved with no one to care for him. I wonder how many times he collapsed from the sheer exhaustion of it all. You dug him out once the rumbles of a new war were coming, and you saw first-hand the true reason why he lies. Why he pretend to play dumb. Why he never talk about his home planet."

"That's enough!"

"Shut up!"

The twins seemed stuck in place as Thomas barely glanced at the two, returning his gaze to Lyf.

"Tell me, was it worth it? Was it worth it to witness the horrors? It wasn't a war. It wasn't a drought, and it wasn't a famine. No virus, no dictator. It's just pure evil throughout the planet. Horrors even the gods couldn't stomach. You couldn't flee. You would leave Marius behind. You could never abandon your mate. A war would have been mercy. A famine would be heaven. A virus would have left to sanctuary. What you witness. What you saw was nothing but pure madness and horror. Tell me, did you enjoy watching Marius's parents get -" Thomas can't continue holding his throat from a clear bullet wound, and the static in the air lifted.

Eyes landed on the figure holding the smoking gun, and the screaming from Thomas as the mark did its job was silent.

"Some stories shouldn't be told." Mae's boots sounded so loud against the metal floor as she slung Thomas over her shoulder. "Janet strapped Marius down for you. Get to it." She watches Trevor basically run out of the room.

"Why?" The twins watch Mae put Thomas in a bed, wrapping him up tight.

"How did he know that?" Lyf swallows.

Mae looks back to Lyf. "It ain't your business."

"The fuck do you mean!"

"You shouldn't know that!"

Mae lights up a cigar and takes a deep breath before walking close to the three. She blows out thick smoke on them. "It ain't your fucking business. You aren't my fucking kin." She growls tail lashing behind her.

The twins growl back.

In an instant, both twin's braids fall to the ground in a bloody heap. Mae tosses her cigar on the mess, causing a fire separating them. "I won't say it again."

"Sallie, stop." Thomas's voice was strained. The wound in his neck was still sluggishly bleeding. He sits himself up. "We all have some version of this. Dad has it the worst. I ain't proud of it, and I'm sorry."

Mae watches the fire die, leaving a sickly sweet smell behind. "Tommy."

"Dad ain't get his storytelling from age." Thomas grimaced, holding his throat.

"What do you mean?"

"Did the gods curse you?"

Mae let's out a hiss. "It ain't the gods."

"Sallie...." Thomas wheezes and swallows. "None of know what it is, and neither do the gods."

"Just drop it." Mae growls.

Thomas gets up and grabs Mae's hand with his bloody hand. "Stop." He takes a breath easier. "Come on, let's just find dad."

Mae nods, holding onto her twin tight.

Lyf waits to speak until they leave. "Girls, I'm sorry I hurt you both."

"It's not your fault."

"We're fine!"

"That's not the point, and you both know that." Lyf sighs. "You both don't have to pretend I know we're basically strangers, but you both are still my babies and... and I just want... I want to be your dad."

"You're already our papa."

"That's all we want."

Lyf smiles softly.

"Besides, we've already seen you at different points in the timeline before us."

"We know you're different, and it doesn't scare us. We're different, too."

"We also know you still can't tell us apart."

"We also know that we love you."

"Alright, push the beds together and lay next to me. You both need to recover. I know your hair is alive. No arguing it's just a flesh wound." Lyf smiles as the beds come together, and he lays back down.

"It is just a flesh wound."

"Our hair already grew back."

"Hush girls." Lyf chuckles.

.......

Jonny glanced up at his twins and returned to his sewing. "Get your bloody hands away from my work, and you can stay."

Mae seemingly realized that she had blood on her hand as she let go of Thomas's hand. "Dad I..."

"No." Jonny clicks his tongue.

"No?" Thomas growls.

"No, neither of you have to say anything." Jonny puts down the half finished doll. "You two haven't changed no matter how old you get. You only hold each other close like that after the curse rears its ugly head. I'm guessing it was Thomas from the dried blood around his throat. Now, you two can either sit while I work or get cleaned up." He sighs, watching his twins sit together by him. "Just because I am able to use it doesn't mean I expect any of you to be comfortable with it. I will say it as nausea till it gets through your thick skulls. I don't know what it is, and it shouldn't define either of you."

Thomas looks a bit embarrassed. "Sorry for getting mad."

"I should bring back that stupid fucking jar just for you." Jonny huffs picking back up his project. "You have my temper boy, and I expect nothing less."

"It was about Lyf and Marius." Thomas crossed his arms as Mae leans on him.

"And? Thomas it takes a pair of eyes to just look at the two to know something went fucking wrong." Jonny rolls his eyes. "Tell me something I don't know. You're smarter than that."

Thomas huffs but he had a small smile on his lips.

"I saw gramps." Mae hums.

This causes Jonny to stop and stare at his daughter. "Why?"

"Well, I asked. He seemed confused, but Grams and Izzy were going at it in the sand. Grams let him wander while she was busy, and he kind of just stood there. He has a limp, which is weird because he's basically a ghost in the machine." Mae shrugs. "I also saw angles of Grams. I don't think I will ever be able to forget."

"Ew." Thomas makes a face of disgust.

"He still has that limp." Jonny sighs and returns again to his project.

"I went a different way, so I didn't see any of that. I'm glad about that." Thomas sighs. "I think if he's still out, Alex would ambush him for a game of cards."

"That was his game of choice." Jonny hums. "I have been meaning to talk to him. I ain't looking for closure, so don't either of you start." He looks up to give a look to the two. "Mom says he's better now, and I don't know. I think I might want to try. You brats can bother him. I never said you can't."

"I bother him plenty!" Aurora interrupts. "Valerie gives him free roam, and he tries to hide in my programming. It's quite fun scaring him. It appears that given freedom is a new way your mother has found a way to hurt him."

"Can you not interrupt a conversation with my children." Jonny rolls his eyes again.

Mae and Thomas giggle.

"Dont encourage her, you brats." Jonny puts his sewing project to the side. "What do you want, Aurora?"

Aurora ignores Jonny. "Children, tell me stories about Jonny raising you."

Mae laughs. "Oh, now I won't say shit."

Thomas snickers. "That's literally the worst way to get information from us."

Jonny smiles proudly.

"Nastya was right they are just mini, yous!" Aurora huffs. "Jonny took on space cats before he was reunited with you."

"Yeah and?" Thomas gets up, picking at the dried blood on his hands. "You should if seen dad panic when we reached 18, the idiot thought we would leave."

Jonny chuckles softly.

Mae gets up after her brother. "Fucker thought I would give up my game, and I will get you one day." She smiles. "Besides, dad had pets when we were growing up. He also taught us how to kill skin and cook them. New Texans are a social species. We don't do good alone. If you actually looked at Ivy's archives, you would know that."

"We are an uncomfortable close social species. Fucking if dad ends up knocked up and I start leaking I'm going to be pissed." Thomas groans. "It was bad enough when you were expecting. Laz freaked out so bad he thought I was expecting."

Jonny starts to cackle.

"It is not funny! That ass wouldn't touch me for months! Dad, stop laughing!" Thomas huffs now red face.

Mae giggles. "It was hilarious you're just a baby."

"Oh fuck you." Thomas growls.

Jonny gets up and grabs his twins by the ears. He takes a breath. "No fighting you brats."

Thomas and Mae huffs.

......

The sun was just coming over the horizon. Trevor was still in the room with Marius. It's been a week. Alex huffs watching the sun rise. They were outside Aurora leaning on her. They heard a noise that made them quirk a brow. They watched Tim walk by waving, but he was nearly silent. They decided to check it out.

Billy sat on the sand. He clearly had mass since he seemed to be counting the grains in his hands. He was in loose-fitting clothing, obviously New Texan. He was shaking enough to see that he was clearly rattled.

Alex knew that look. They knew that look from their own father after.... they sit next to their gramps. They pull out a deck of cards. "Well, you shuffling or am I?"

Billy jumps clearly, just realizing that Alex was next to him. "What?"

"Fine, I'll deal." Alex starts to shuffle. "Dad says your game of choice was anything cards. Never said if you were any good."

"I was a drunk." Billy hugs his chest. "Val won't let me back in my machine."

"Shame, you'll just have to entertain me then." Alex deals out two hands and places the deck down.

Billy picks up his hand with a raised brow. "Why?"

Alex gives a knowing look. "Does it really matter?"

"I suppose not." Billy seems taken aback. "You have it too?"

"We all have it." Alex hums softly. "I always assumed it was from grams, but seeing from your reaction, she doesn't know." They put down a card. "I ain't gonna tell."

Billy seemed confused. "Why? I ain't doing nothing for you."

"Suppose not." Alex picks up a card. "Why does it matter? It ain't like it will kill me."

Billy threw down his hand and raised his brow. "You ain't bad."

Alex hissed. "Neither are you. Not anymore, I guess." They take the cards and shuffle. "Janet, you can join us."

Billy whips his head around to spot Janet, who sits next to him.

"I can play a game or two." Janet hums softly. "Mae says you have a limp."

"Always had a limp." Billy raised a brow.

"That is annoying." Janst sighs. "Anyway, I did grab breakfast for you." She tosses over a wrapped sandwich. "I made it, had a feeling you would be out here."

"Where's dad?" Alex unwrapped the sandwich.

"Sleeping in as far as I know. Everyone's split up in two groups. There's the mess Tim made and doesn't quite understand, and then Marius and Lyf. It's a fucking mess." Janet frowns. "The twins are nice to talk to, but they're still scared of me."

"I can't help you with that." Alex quickly finished their food. "Just because we know each other doesn't mean I can just fix what they think of you."

Janet picks up her cards. "Ain't asking you to. So why play with gramps?"

"He's pretty good." Alex shrugs.

Billy frowns. "Val won't let me back in my machine."

"I figured as much." Janet hums. "Are you sure Henry's real? Haven't seen him once. Brian and Misery sure, but Henry, not at all."

"He's terrified of you and Trevor like how Laz is scared of grams." Alex hums drawing a card. "Ain't his fault, just look at what Carmillia did to Brian."

"That's fair enough." Janet furrows her brows, looking over at Billy. "Nanobots?"

"Correct." Billy tosses a card down.

"Unlike Trevor, I'm not one for science. I prefer history and different cultures." Janet picks up another card. "So why haven't you come inside? Aurora is amused by you, and dad does want to speak to you."

"I don't belong." Billy scowls as Janet throws down her hand.

"None of us belong anywhere anymore." Alex collects the cards.

"It's not like New Texas is the same. Our home is a museum." Janet leans back. "We want to stay with dad, but who knows how long that will last before the gods get bored." She lights up a cigarette. "You ain't special."

Billy blinks and looks away.

Alex puts their cards away and lays back in the sand.

Janet joins them. "Just enjoy the quiet moments." Blowing out smoke, she sighs. "Unfortunately, with our luck, it won't last."

"Ain't that the truth." Alex sighs.

Billy seems uneasy but joins them, laying down. "You should hate me."

"So?" Janet blows out more smoke.

"Time has a habit of dulling hatred into annoyance." Alex yawns. "Fucking every time you get me all introspective."

"Sucks to suck." Janet snubs out her cigarette.

"Fuck you." Alex huffs.

.......

"The fuck are you doing?" Jonny raised his brow at his four kids outside Aurora currently burying Billy in the sand.

"It's pretty self-explanatory." Mae rolls her eyes.

Jonny sighed and pinched his brow. "Why?"

"We're bored." Thomas shrugs. "Also, gramps hasn't moved." He was clearly missing one of his horns.

"Thomas got mad at losing, and I took his horn." Janet hums. "You really suck at any sort of game."

"Fuck you." Thomas huffs.

"Mae started it." Alex shrugs. "Grams came by, but she sucks at games like Thomas does, so she left."

"Again, it would be Thomas sucks at games like grams does. Respect the age difference." Mae sighs.

"Stop." Jonny rubs his temples. "Dad why the fuck are you letting them bury you?"

Billy shrugs. "Val won't let me back in my machine."

"Can you give a different reason that one is getting stale." Janet scoffs.

"You're just mad you can't take his horns because he's made of nanobots." Mae sticks out her tongue.

"I am going to get a better collection than Tommy ever had." Janet rolls her eyes.

Thomas blinks. "It's not really a collection. It's literally mine and Mae's horns I made into actual instrument horns."

"Fuck you." Janet scoffs.

"They've been at this for hours." Billy mumbles.

"Of course they have." Jonny crossed his arms. "Have any if you done something productive or just bothering your grandfather?"

"I say this is productive. It's family bonding, dad." Alex snickers.

"You can join us." Mae smiles softly.

Janet pauses. "Why does he have a limp?"

"Seriously?" Thomas sighs. "Obviously, it happened before what gram did."

"Then dad would know! It ain't like gramps will say shit." Janet huffs throwing sand at Thomas.

Jonny looked at his father, who again just shrugged. "Brats, I gave him the limp. Seriously it's not that fucking important. Now dig him out."

A collection of groans as Billy is pulled out of the sand and pushed in front of Jonny.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the worst now. Thomas, give me your chess board." Jonny grabs it from his eldest, sets up a pile of sand, and sits setting up the board. He puts his goggles on and motions to his father. "A game, and you brats can watch it you behave."

Billy raised a brow and cautiously sat down on the other side. "What's with the goggles?"

"My eyes are shit." Jonny sighs. "Barely can see without them."

Billy gives a soft, huh? "That's explains a bit. Ain't you going to shoot me again?"

"What's the point? It ain't like it will stay." Jonny makes the first move. "I understand why you did what you did. I don't agree, but I understand."

"I was a drunk." Billy moves the next piece. "I beat the shit out of you for being a kid."

"You were a drunk out of necessity. Ma doesn't know the truth." Jonny hums softly. "And I expect you to keep your mouth shut. Ignoring the culture of the time and how society was set up. It could have been worse. Gambling and drinking were your escapes, I know for a fact you only did what you did to Ma out of obligation."

The four watches held their breath.

Billy sighs. "If it wasn't me, it would have been another just how the world worked." He raised his brow. "You already knew that."

"Ma told me." Jonny hums softly, taking his father's piece. "I don't know everything, and I don't want to. All I know is that Ma wants me to give you another chance. Even without her encouragement, I wanted to have a talk with you."

Billy tisks. "I ain't worth that. I blew my chance." He moves another piece. "You shouldn't trouble yourself."

Jonny knocks over his king and leans back as his father resets the board. "I've had a lot of time to think. I've seen empires rise and fall. Love comes and goes, and monsters become heroes. I don't consider myself good in any capacity. I don't even know why my brats like me." He looks over to his kids then back to his father. "There really isn't anything left for me to do. I can't die. I don't age. It's only a matter of time till I'm alone again." He stares at the reset board. "After everything, you forgave me, and I never deserved that."

"You were a child." Billy moves his own piece going first. "I knew one day you'll kill me just as I killed my own father."

The kids' eyes widen as they stare at their father.

Jonny's neutral expression doesn't even flicker of a change. "So you wanted me to kill you."

"In a sense. It would have been a fitting end." Billy raised his brow at his son's move. "You don't see it that way."

"I don't." Jonny hums softly. "It's a fucking stupid ending to hope for. We've seen countless stories that played out in a continuous cycle. You picked a coward way out." He lets out a breath. "You were a drunk barely aware of anything around you. You took to the bottle to escape. You would have ended up dead on your own without me."

Billy's eyes widen as Jonny takes his king in only a few moves.

"It wasn't even a kill, I left you alive." Jonny sighs. "You weren't the man I heard about. Hell, even Ma told me stories about the rumors about you. Not that she believed them. I know there was truth in them." He finally shows emotion with a frown. "You were run out of every town till you ran to the shithole that was Jack's territory. I wouldn't call you two friends, but he knew your history. He offered you sanctuary in exchange to get rid of the growing resistance at the caves."

Thomas covers Mae's mouth before she can interrupt.

"It wasn't personal." Billy sighs, setting the board back up. "Val was the leader. Jack had me make an example."

"It went sideways." Jonny narrows his gaze.

Billy nods. "I was the fall guy. My reputation Jack used that. I ain't a saint boy." He sighs. "I was the town drunk in that shithole. Gambling and drinking are what I was known for now. Whatever I was before ain't anything."

Jonny holds the king in his hand. "That ain't true for shit." He tossed the king at his father, who catches it without blinking.

Billy stares at the worn wooden piece. "What makes you think that?"

Jonny crossed his arms.

Billy chuckles. "You really are my kid."

"Suppose I am." Jonny gets up. "Brats fucking behave." He turns and heads back to Aurora and stops right by her entrance. "I'll see ya later."

Four pairs of eyes stare at Billy.

Billy narrows his gaze. "That fucker."

"What was your relationship to Jack?" Thomas shoots off first.

"Did Grams really take Jack's eye?" Mae goes next.

"Just what were you known for?" Alex jitters excitedly.

"Did you have siblings?" Janet huffs as eyes stare at her. "It's legitimate questions! Gram has siblings."

"They ain't blood related." Billy flinched as eyes refocused on him.

"What!" The four shout.

"Vindication motherfuckers." Janet smirks. "So, do we have any great aunts or uncles?"

"They're dead." Billy blinks he wasn't exactly prepared to lie about these questions. He supposed his kid did find this a fitting punishment, and it wasn't painful, just confusing. "Jack and I er..."

"Jack was a worse man than Billy ever was." Audrey interrupts she was clearly in her android body. "We are still family."

Billy looked away. "Didn't say you weren't."

Audrey had a look of pity on her features and sighs. "Billy, where is Val?"

Billy's eyes glowed for a moment as he tensed. "My system is 20 clicks north."

"I ain't here to get you riled." Audrey sighs. "Is it true she is on a date?"

"You mean with Izzy?" Mae shrugs. "She did stop by lost at cards and went off. They did have fun in the sand, but I ain't saying they on a date."

"It would be nice, though." Alex hums.

"Fair enough." Mae nods.

"Wait, what do you mean by Jack was worse than gramps?" Janet raised a brow.

"Gramps is literally right there." Thomas points at Billy, who looks slightly uncomfortable being known.

"Well, yeah, but he talks like dad, and none of us can tell truth from fiction if he doesn't want us to know." Janet sighs.

Audrey gives a look to Billy, who shrugs.

"It don't matter if they know." Billy gets up on his feet. "It ain't like he's around."

Audrey grimaced. "You could say they were in a relationship. Not a good one, but it was something."

Billy scowls. "Don't coat it in honey and feed them shit." He sighs. "I was his toy as per requirement of my sanctuary. Part of that is why my boy exists. I was told to make an example of the leader of the resistance."

Audrey looked sick. "Right well." She pats Billy's back. "To be fair, I've never seen anyone drink shine that fast."

"I ain't need your pity." Billy huffs. "It's what happened.... why are you looking at me like that?" He looks at Alex.

Thomas made a o with his mouth as it clicked. The rest had looks of understanding.

"Well, dad did say we were allowed." Alex gives a look to their siblings.

"I suppose it wouldn't be much of a shame." Thomas nods.

"Wouldn't be that difficult." Mae smirks.

"I'm sure Trevor wouldn't mind being in the dark a bit longer." Janet narrows her gaze.

Audrey thins her lips. "Now kids, your grandfather wasn't a good man, but that doesn't mean he hasn't changed..... I...." She watches as the four grab and left Billy up. "Kids?"

Billy blinks clearly, incredibly confused. "Are you going to pull me apart?"

The four laugh and run off carrying their grandfather's. Audrey chases after them.

.......

Lyf looked healthier, and his twins stood at either side of him. He grimaced seeing the state Trevor was in as he left the reinforced room.

Trevor was in shredded bloody clothes. His eyes were sunken in from starvation. He had many new scars and discolored skin. He staggered out of the room with a heavy sigh. "He's asleep. I honestly can not tell you if his mind will be intact the next time he wakes. He's still suffering from the effects of starvation on that scale, but the virus to his DNA did work. His body had adapted to it entirely."

"What does that mean?"

"Can we see him?"

"Make sure you have food in case. He's a bit like a wild creature." Trevor sighs. "He needs more time to recover."

Lyf pushed forward. "Go rest. I'll take over the watch on him. Thank you."

"Where my dad?" Trevor swallows.

"Jonny is making lunch."

"Jonny is making a lot."

Trevor nods. "Thank you." He pauses. "Let him rest. There is no telling what is going to happen when he wakes up."

Lyf watches Trevor leave and heads into the room.

Marius is laid out naked. He is pale, and there seems to be new spines along his wings. He was still incredibly skinny, but he did have color in his face again. He was breathing that odd pattern that was normal to him and his species. His lower half up to his hips were covered in a thick fur that he knew to be soft. The bald spots in his fur on his legs and wings seemed to have healed, which was a relief. He looked peaceful asleep.

"Girls, leave me with your dad for now. Let me be the first he sees when he wakes again, and if he isn't himself, then let me take that damage." Lyf gives a sad smile. "I would never forgive myself if I let him hurt you, and he would never forgive himself even if it was an accident. I hurt you both already, and I don't want to do that again."

"Papa, we're already healed."

"We can handle anything."

Lyf gives them both a tight hug. "My beautiful little girls. That isn't the point." He lets go. "Let me do this."

"Papa that isn't fair."

"We can handle this."

"We aren't little kids anymore!"

"You can't just lock us out."

The twins can't argue anymore as a flash of rainbow static and the door was shut cutting them off from their parents again.

#the mechanisms #the mechs #wrae #what remains after eternity

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nanistar · 2 years ago

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do you think we could get a sneak peak of saltburn's clan production? like the scripts or the sketches? (of pages already posted of course) i really like seeing how different people approach the comic making process

sure thing!

so i usually post the next 2 sketches on my patreon for the $1+ tiers on tuesday or wednesday, so they get an advanced little view of it before hand. so the ones here are all gonna be older pages.

my entire script and notes i keep in one long google doc. and i send myself feverish notes on discord to be copy/pasta'd into the doc later. i also have a rough estimation of my progress in the story and how much longer i have per chapters, since im trying to keep it to about 30-36 per chapter. i don;t want to spend longer than 2 years on this comic (though im not gonna speedrun it or anything if it ends up going long, im just hoping it stays shorter lol).

i don't script things line-by-line or like a stageplay. i tried doing it early on but i found i made too many deviations depending on how i placed panels and looking back at the script was really annoying.

earliest script i have^

i tend to do dialogue on the fly when actually sketching out the pages, because i know what i'm looking for, so unless i have the specific dialogue that i want to remember to add, i don't write any of that down. although sometimes i get on a roll writing and dialogue flows, so i write it down and change it as needed. i have scenes in my head rather than pages, and i translate those notes later when i need to work on that scene. i very rarely get actual page ideas in my head, but i will say today's update with saltburn flying thru the air and recalling some memories i;ve had in my head for months, along with the one where salt sees the angel i had planned for a while. (i'd LOVE to be able to get a ton of pages sketched at once so i can not worry about it, but the nature of the way that i work is that i just can't think in that much detail far ahead of me. so i can only really do 2 at a time)

^so it tends to look more like this, fast back and forth dialogue to get my point across that i will make fit their voices later on. also i don't use linebreaks or anything just because im lazy so my notes are a fuckin disaster

my god.

as for the actual drawing of the pages, i literally just do it i dont know how to explain it. i sketch things as fast and loose as possible , i try not to have the same size boxes next to each other unless i'm showing the passage of time or a very minor detail change between panels. large panels for establishing shots. ect. sometimes if needed i will do a secondary sketch to figure stuff out, like i needed to do a bunch when working out the first few coyote drawings since ive never drawn dogs in action before. but usually i just whip it out

nightmarish.

this one is still my favorite, and despite looking much better than my normal sketches i did whip it out like normal (i just looked at refs for the other critters so it looks nicer lol)

additionally, i do every single page in the chapter on the same canvas because i love it when procreate crashes. i do all my panel boxes, and any "weird" shaped speech bubbles by hand. i only have one layer for flats, one for BGs, merge them together and do one overlay layer. if i need some extra definition i will add an additional shading layer but i dont like to. once im done with all the art i merge every layer together, send the page to myself on discord, and open it up on my 'puter and do the remaining text and normal speech bubbles in clip studio.

oh yeah people sometimes ask why i do 2 pages instead of one per update, or just do a bunch and upload it less often and the answer is because i don't want to be working on this comic for a very long time, and 2 pages gets me thru faster. if i spend too long working on a scene it starts getting boring for me and im more likely to cheese it which i dont like doing, but if i do two at once i can get stuff done faster. additionally, i cant just do a bunch and upload them all at once because i like the feedback, and it's better for readers to have consistent updates. i have the deadly autism/adhd combo, and my life is literally scheduled week by week and i have to stay consistent or i will die.

but yeah. my process is nightmarish and fast (despite spending like 4-8 hours per page) and loose and crazy but it works for me and keeps me engaged.

#nyask #sbc #thanks for asking i love to talk about my process tbh #when i look back on it im always shocked like what the fuck am i doing here #mine

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bismuthburnsblue · 8 months ago

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fitting on my flora bodice tonight! heres an image of her so you have a reference for what were going for!! (and so tumblr doesnt make the fitting image a thumbnaillll)

ive made an initial mockup from my pattern (s9653, got from a magazine!), heres the things i changed before i got to the actual fittings:

sized down from the "recommended" size (i ALWAYS find commercial patterns have way too much wearing ease for me)(i did mock it up to the guide size, but... no)

added allowance for a zip in the back (since im going to be shortening the button stand to fit the design, i figured the easiest way to make this wearable is with a zip. even if i wasnt, honestly- i kinda hate doing that many buttons)

and heres what that looks like! (im aware its a tiny bit tight around the bust, thats from my vagueing the size down, ill do that Properly when i transfer to paper) honestly im pretty happy with this- theres no fitting issues that i didnt expect from this pattern, which is a minor miracle with me & commercial patterns

now our next set of tasks is making the actual wanted changes!!! im going to add more shaping to the princess seam lines (at the waist on the front and back to make it actually nip in there, and above the bust on the front) and the notching for the button stand. i think thats all i want to do, but ill check again, maybe with collar and sleeve on, this time! (no point adding those when im making major changes)

(i know im also going to have to figure out the sleeve situation, but thats a later problem, i think!)

i should be able to get this all done tonight, ill catch you guys for an update a little later!!

#im trying to decide what colour fabric to get. i dont think i want something toooooo orange #im wondering if i should lean pastel or rusty. both are good! pastel probably a little more flora. rust maybe more wearable in my wardrobe #(outside of cosplay)#if you have an opinion on pastel/rust lmk! fabric shopping is tomorrow #i also might. MIGHT. make a petticoat too. i dream of broderie anglaise hems peeking out from skirts #its been a goal for a while. now may be the time. but only if there IS time #i should also tell you to ignore the dodge ass button stand. its just representing the width ok i prommy its fineeee #also also (god this is worse than main. idk if anyone even reads the tags i write so much) enjoy ur serving of tum #shes a rare treat for yall. im trying to be more open abt Having A Body; yknow? sewing kinda requires it honestly #you just dont get the same visual on my mannequin #so! tum. and a picture that isnt super posed. wow yall better b nice to me #sewing

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dreamsclock · 2 years ago

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THE ULTIMATE DREAMSCLOCK UPDATE!

hello. hi. as most of u are probably very unsurprised to hear, i have bit off WAY more than i can chew in terms of personal projects. this is now something i am beginning to belatedly realize is A Problem for many reasons. mainly a) i am chronically overwhelmed esp with the biggest exams of my LIFE next months and b) i can’t take on any more projects realistically that i want to begin.

poll + more info under readmore bc i have chronic can’t-shut-up syndrome (adhd)

SO. in order to actually produce content for you guys i am Cutting Back Which Fics I Work On. at least until july. this SHOULD allow me to finish at least some fics and hopefully move on in the summer to other ones, but since im indecisive i thought i’d let YOU guys decide which fics i continue to work on!!! so here’s a poll.

the top five will continue to be worked on, and i plan to finish checkmate + hold him close in the next week anyway. so vote for your next five faves, and from there i’ll figure out which ones i’m gonna continue

this SHOULD help me make a good dent in these fics while also working on stuff that makes people happy :]

IN ADDITION TO THIS. i am also only streaming three times a week. ‘only?’ you might be thinking. ‘sparrow dreamsclock, you don’t even stream ONCE a week!’ to which i say Be Quiet. kidding but i’ve been putting way too much pressure on myself to try and stream every night and then beating myself up when i’m too tired 😭 so hopefully limiting myself to three times a week helps!!

STREAM DAYS: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday

I could stream more than this!! But at the very least you’re promised three streams a week unless something goes horribly wrong.

AO3 UPDATES: Wednesday, Sunday

AGAIN this is to try and give you guys some kind of consistency 😭😭 i know im very erratic + unreliable when it comes to uploading so i wanted to try and provide a schedule. no idea WHAT updates these will be, but you know Something will be posted there which is awesome

YOUTUBE UPLOADS: Beginning May

‘but sparrow!’ you may be saying. ‘you just said the most important exams of your life happen in may!’ to which i say Be Quiet. Yes. I Know. I’m An Idiot. but i wanna start providing youtube content Too!!! whether this be dsmp analysis or stream highlights or original minecraft choose-your-own-ending games i’ve made, i’ll be uploading (hopefully consistently) beginning may!!!! more info to come. unless i forget of course.

ANYWAY. if you’ve sat through all of this then HELLO HI!!!!! sorry. this announcement sounds self important and dumb but honestly even writing this out has eased like a load of my anxieties. ever since the end of 2021 i’ve been so overwhelmed with the frankly dumb amount of projects ive given myself, and it’s most of the reason ive been burned out since then too :’) thank u for being understanding and thank u for being such a source of inspiration for me and thank u thank u THANK U for being the best people ever muah ily

this starts from TODAY Btw!!! will be uploading a chapter of checkmate tonight and also streaming which i’m looking forward to. we’re gonna Chill until summer and then i can go crazy with projects again. but this feels more manageable!!!!

tune in for my stream tonight at 9pm (fnaf time FUCK YEAH) and thank u again :]

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mourning-star-daily-comet · 8 months ago

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FINALLY!! SOMEONE talking about the weird runaway blonde girl (Claire?) and the Nicholas Wilson boy case. I haven't been able to find ANYTHING on them for MONTHS!! my neighbors are starting to think I made the whole thing up!! I swear, true crime is never taken seriously as an interest. it seems even you haven't posted about the case in a while, has it gone cold? or have you heard any updates? do you have any sources you'd recommend I check out? the subreddit has gone to shit, unfortunately :/

finally somebody is talking about the subreddit! it's nothing but propaganda on there or memes and shitposts made by accounts i can guarantee have never even visited, much less lived here (which if we've somehow forgotten was the entire reason it was created??? its ridiculous but the mods are all inactive so they arent doing anything about it)

anyways, i dont like to say much about my personal life (for anonymity reasons) but since ive already seen speculation about it, i might as well address my inactivity. i was, like a few of you guessed, in custody for something unrelated that i won't get into. im hoping to be back posting now, but im still figuring a lot of stuff out legally so i'll be a lot less active.

now thats out of the way, yes, i have a very important update! the two of them were found around a month ago when a 911 call was placed about an empty car parked in the middle of the highway. claire was taken in for police questioning. ive gotten back in contact with one of my original sources, and though it hasnt been made public information yet, nicholas was not as at the time he was in critical condition due to injuries and was hospitalized. my souces claim that he was found with multiple broken bones as well as many smaller injuries. fortunately, he survived, so im hoping once he recovers he can finally give out the full story of what happened.

this is speculation but i definitely believe, due to the evidence that has been presented, that claire was the sole perpatrator of the crimes and nicholas was forced into joining her. the state he was found in is INSANELY suspicious, considering that sears died from head trauma. ive seen some people theorizing that he threatened to turn her in, so she attemped to kill him the same way. this would explain the fact that the car was so hastily parked in the middle of the road.

the only thing about this theory that doesn't add up is that he was also found to be in an extremely severe state of blood loss, though he did not have any major wounds that would cause this. the only other explanation i can come up with is that claire's attack wasn't sudden as people are believing, but deliberate, the blood loss pointing to him possibly suffering other injuries over the time they were on the run. this recontextualizes everything we know about the case but it is the only theory (that i've seen) which explains that aspect, since as far as i know no one else has the insider information that i do.

so though the case is still technically unsolved, it is relatively clear what happened and a basic timeline can be construed due to the line of events that we know took place. im hoping to hear nicholas's statement in the future. so far he has either refused or been unable to speak on the case.

ill make an update when we get more information

-msdc

#mourning star #unreality #MSASKS

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ritz-writes · 9 months ago

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If it’s alright, for the Fanfiction WIP Ask Game- either ‘fluffy soulmates’ and/or ‘operation: make mk cry’

ofc its alright! 😊 I'll cover both

starting with fluffy soulmates, this is the second part of my red string au, good things come to those who wait, where wukong and mk are father and son and are platonic soulmates. @floofypan made this amazing fanart (pls look at it its amazing 🥺🥺) that kickstarted my brain, so ive been thinking about it nonstop. as of late ive been figuring out the rules of the soulmate stuff and slowly working out the timeline in my head. hopefully i can update soon!

for now, heres a snippet of the beginning

Sun Wukong finally had a soulmate, and it was his son, Xiaotian. It still felt weird for him to say that; to accept that he not only had a soulmate but an actual child. There were still days he didn’t believe it, a part of him waiting for the dream to end, but it never did. The dream continued. Xiaotian learned to walk and speak quickly. He had a favorite color and a favorite food. He called Wukong Bàba, which had the king sobbing the first time he heard it.

okay so for operation: make mk cry, im actually gonna hide it behind a read more line cuz its got some heavy topics. its been on the shelf for awhile now since i not in the best place to write it, but its def not abandoned

tw: self harm, cutting (seriously, dont keep reading if you arent okay with that. be careful please)

the premise of this fic is basically mk has always dealt with mental health issues. he used to self harm (not with the intent of dying tho) back in high school but was able to stop thanks to pigsy and therapy. but the stress becoming the monkie kid and having so many responsibilities caused a relapse. long story short, he accidentally cuts too deep one night and panics. so he calls macaque for help i dont have the whole thing planned out yet, and i honestly have no idea how it ends, but itd probably get the hopeful ending fic, leaning more towards happy ending

like i said, its got heavy topics 😭

#ritz answers #anon #ask game

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mekatrio · 1 year ago

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JUMPING IN JOY!!! WOOHOO!!! AWESOME!!!!! i came across that resource bc i was curious about my belief of zelda being more popular in western countries than it is in japan, so i looked around the internet to see if anyone had made any studies or research on that, to 'prove'/'show' whether this is actually true. unfortunately i didnt come across any big study that explored this specifically, but i did find that im definitely not the only person who believes that zelda is more popular in western countries than it is in japan:

i came across that epic awesome resource from prev post because i was looking around for resources about this subject matter and was listing down whatever sources i could find about it. but since im going to be spending my time reading thru the resource from prev post, i think ill take a break from looking for other sources and just post what ive gathered already! this is what i hv found (under a read more cuz its long 🤭) :

- a newspaper clipping on webarchive published in december 1998 that talks about oot's success in the west (they anticipated to ship 1 million units but are now anticipating to ship 3 million units), and that nintendo had spent $10 million in marketing (idk if its domestic or overseas or overall marketing)

- nintendo's webpage listing the top 10 highest selling titles on their consoles from the nintendo ds and onwards. im pretty sure these are the global figures, not domestic. what's interesting to me is that, with the exception of wind waker hd (wii u title that sold 2.37 million units), there had been no zelda titles that entered the top 10 highest selling titles on a nintendo console, at least not until the nintendo switch w botw + totk. and not on this page at least.. maybe theyd be on the top 10 for previous consoles like the n64 and gamecube 🤔

- youtube video Obscure in the West, Big in Japan by Retrohistories that talks about this study; Making Local video game history index by Akito Inoue!!! now this is super super super super interesting to me. to sum it up super densely, basically researcher Akito Inoue goes thru lists in both english and japanese, lists like Metacritic's Top 100 Games and Famitsu's Highest Ranked Games and many many other lists like these, and gives the listed titles a score out of 100. each title gets two scores, one for it's 'popularity' (possibly not the right term) in the west, and one for it's 'popularity' in japan. bla bla bla many statistical contingencies and whatnot, the video and this study explains this much better than i ever could, but essentially this info can be plotted on a graph, where the higher on the y axis = more acclaimed in the west, and the higher x axis = more acclaimed in japan. and this is what the zelda titles look like!

the 'most acclaimed titles' in the west vs japan are so different!!! thats so interesting!!! also this study was last updated in 2018 so thats something to consider. but its like wow.... why is it so different???

also not zelda related but IDC, but this is what final fantasy titles look on this graph!

its so interesting....!! what could be the reason for these disparities!!!! why does the west hate my boy squall!!!

- this site that lists down lifetime sales of various zelda titles, published in july 2023 and if im not misunderstanding, was published by J. Clement!

- and lastly, a bunch of resources from Ishaan Sahdev, who wrote The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History which i posted about in prev!! the resources are as followed:

- Breath of the Wild is the Highest Selling Zelda in Japan in 19 Years on the resetera forums, with this nifty graph made from info from Media Create, a japanese company that gathers and analyzes video game data:

- and this article, Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Beating All Expectations in Japan on Sahdev's website which uses this same graph, and talks about botw's domestic success in more detail (havent completely read this yet)

- two other posts on the resetera forums also by Sahdev, which have these useful figures:

- The Legend of Zelda - Series Sales page on the zelda wiki, which is maintained by Sahdev! (would you look at that, there are actual decent pages on this wiki!)

- and of course, The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History, which i believe will go into more depth on how Sahdev acquired these figures, which im very excited to read about!! this dude rocks!!!!

#save

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cinnamostar · 1 year ago

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hiii! i hope you’re feeling better. Do you have a favorite anime & if so, what makes it your favorite?

HIII BBY!!! yes yes im feeling much better today :’) all my hives are gone thankfully AND OHHHH THATS SUCH A GOOD QUESTION!!!

i thiiiink my favorite ongoing series is jujutsu kaisen :o i read the manga updates weekly! one of my fav series because there’s a lot of parallelism and symbolism used throughout the story, and im a sap for satosugu (i preordered their hidden inventory look up figures 😭!!).. although there’s a lot of fair criticism to be made on the story and how the author handles characters but im in too deep rn and am attached to each character .. i could go on abt this but i will stop myself LMAO

but overall, i have to say haikyuu will always have a special place in my heart 😭 my favorite anime since middle school, i forced my entire friend group to watch it LMAO they even got me a sugawara poster for my bday in hs. i love the friendship they develop over the course of the series and the character development is just SO good! and no matter what, the matches are always so good and i get emotional every time i rewatch bc idk . I love this series I’ve rewatched it too many times at this point.. im finally getting around to finishing the manga though , ive been avoiding it bc i do not want it to ever end 😭😭😭

also special shout out to: kimi ni todoke, skip and loafer, attack on titan

THANK U FOR ASKING THIS WAS SO FUN TO ANSWER HEHEHE 🩵🩵🩵

#I could talk nonstop about so many series #I ACTUALLY bought a physical copy of skip and loafer recently … i love it sm…#cinnamostar answers

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un-local · 2 years ago

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Hello again!! I feel a bit bad for flooding your Inbox but I was wondering if any other NPCs would appear in SWRD? Maybe some characters like Boggart, Thops, Patches and maybe even Raya? And if so would their quest lines stay the same or will they also survive like Rogier?

I am sort of wondering what would happen to D and Devin too in this fic but its alright if you havent thought that far out. Elden ring is such a massive game with so so much lore that you just want it to make sense so I dont blame you if you want to take your time and figure it out!

I’ve been trying to piece together things in it but Ive just realized that I just dont have the pieces to the puzzle to piece together right now. Looking forward to see how it all pieces together though!!

Sorry for so many questions and an insane ramble- I’m really curious about this fic and its genuinely piqued my interest since no one else really writes about Rogier- much less fix-it/canon divergence fic of him at all

Insane rambles are my specialty, anon. No need to apologize! If anything, I’m flattered my writing has inspired such consideration. Thank you!

Onto your question:

Currently, drafting is underway for Mags’ journey to Carian Manor. (I have various scraps and plot points planned out to end-game areas, though.)

Boggart has already made one appearance in-draft so far, with Rya having an offscreen mention. You’ll see that in the next update for sure. Bogs is a favorite of mine, so he has some other appearances in the works. They’ll be fun.

Blaidd will be quite interesting to write, but I don’t want to give too much away there :3

Nepheli will also eventually have more appearances, I think. But her personal quest isn’t on the menu just yet.

Darian and Devin... that’s a huge part what I’m trying to sort out with this fic. Same with Fia. I have things outlined, but actual, coherent implementation has been the real challenge.

With quests as abstract as theirs, making heads or tails of them has been a bit of a nightmare. But it’s coming along, albeit slowly. And honestly, that's just fine, because Liurnia alone should be enough to keep our plates full for now.

As for Thops… I had an interaction with him in the outline, but I’m unsure if it’ll make it into the final product. That remains to be seen. Same with Patches. Yura, Millicent… so on, so forth.

I will say that this fic is mainly focused on Rogier, and how he might evolve throughout a playthrough, so most NPC quests are likely going to remain largely unchanged. (Some may not even be finished to completion, since Rogier’s got such strong priorities of his own.)

God help us all, this game is a behemoth. We’ll see where it takes us!

#hare answers #still waters #hare posts

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cannibalmariku · 2 years ago

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( I’ve been kinda struggling with my muse for a while. Though he never left, life has just been a lot more eventful. I was pretty stagnant for a long time.

I have a boyfriend now and actual partner who doesn’t make me feel like absolute shit for the first time in my life, lmfao. Someone who doesn’t make me feel like me asking for the bare minimum is a chore. Someone who acts like they actually like me and having me around. What a concept??? oh, and he knows about my blog and the things I write and he doesn’t judge me at all. He even got me the big Yami Marik figure I’ve wanted for years for Christmas. ;w;

He’s gone out of his way for me so much and doesn’t ask for a thing in return, but I still do what I can for him and express my gratitude.

Ive been struggling a little with feeling attachment though, and I don’t know if its from the trauma of having my heart ripped open and stomped on or what, but its something I’ve been working on. I’ve been reflecting a lot and learning how to cope in healthy ways. I’m on medication and have been for a while now and in the last few weeks I’ve started working on losing weight. Ive already made some progress and I’m really proud of myself. I started painting again. I have actual good friends who I feel close to in person now and can rely on.

My cat possum has helped me heal in so many ways since I adopted him in July. I’m glad I got him when I did and that we’ve formed such a strong bond. It was hard losing my baby but he’s made such a big difference and helped me cope since shes been gone.

Overall I guess I’m in a better place then I have been in maybe most of my life now. I’m not saying all of this because I’m quitting or anything, its just why I haven’t been so consistent.

I love Mariku so much and I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of him. He’s always been like a security blanket for me, and a place to go when the real world has been to much. I would like to be more active again, I miss playing with him. But I cant promise that all the time. I’m very grateful for those who have been patient with me.

I recently have been feeling more of a muse again however and I want to try to write more again, even if sometimes its just my dumb little drables like I used to. Anyways, this was just a little update I guess and me just rambling. I hope that I can start reaching out again and be more social here. I love yall and I’m happy I kept my blog around this whole time. A hobby is a hobby, even if not everyone gets it. )

#ooc #tbd #just me rambling about life lol

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silly-thinkings · 3 years ago

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Gift From Cadmus Pt.2

I do not know why this is so angsty but alas~ i'm a hoe that loves to write up drama. Please enjoy! and let me know what you think :p

Bruce leaned back in his chair with furrowed brows. He eyed his computer curiously before he heard a knock at the door “Master Bruce? May I come in?”

“Yes Alfred.”

The Butler opened the door with his back facing him followed by a cart full of snacks and tea “You’ve been in your study for quite some time now. Is everything alright?” He asked pouring him a glass.

Bruce nodded his head “every time I make documents for Y/N it disappears the same day. Ive tried everything, from coding to firewalls and it still gets deleted.”

“Hmm… how peculiar. Have you asked one of the young masters about it?”

Bruce shook his head. He took a sip of his tea and let out a sigh “any updates with Connor?”

Alfred smiled “Miss Y/N will meet Sir Conner later today at the mountain.”

Bruce nodded. It had been months since Y/N joined the family. During those months Bruce has been actively ignoring Clark. Only speaking to him for things related to missions and nothing more. The sound of a child’s footsteps thumping along the ground brought a smile to his face. Y/N Burst into the room “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Timmy said that I’m going to meet Superboy today!”

Y/N flew past Alfred, almost knocking the glassware “miss Y/N, what have I told you about flying in the house.”

Y/N sat on her fathers lap and snuggled closely. She pressed her face on Bruce’s chest “sorry Alfred.” She mumbled.

Alfred gave her a curt nod “I’ll get started in packing your lunch.”

Alfred left the tray and exited the room. Y/N looked at her fathers laptop “What are you doing?”

Bruce pursed his lips “trying to figure out who keeps deleting your stuff princess.”

Y/N looked up at him with wide eyes. She gave him a blank expression before pointing to herself “I did it.”

Bruce’s eyes widened “what?”

“I don’t want people to know about me. I wanna be a secret.” Y/N gave him a smile before happily giggling.

Bruce shook his head and turned the little girl around. He sat her on the desk so that they had proper eye contact. “Princess. How did you delete them? Why did you delete them?”

He watched Y/N’s bubbly face turn stone cold. She got up from the desk and sat back onto his lap. Bruce watched as she opened the laptop and typed away at the keys. Many windows on the screen appeared followed by binary code.

“I was made by the DNA of Batman and Superman. They do not know of your true identities. If I am to be public knowledge, then you Batman are found. This applies to Superman, the Robins, all of the young justice members.”

Bruce was absolutely dumbfounded. She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, like a computer would. He continued to watch his six year old daughter find a file, download, and delete. And these files were from Lex Corp. “Lex Luthor already has his suspicions with some of you. And now, no evidence.” Y/n deleted files back to back without slowing down. having seen enough he shut the laptop making her freeze. Her face had a blank expression. Like a robot rebooting itself.

“Y/N Honey? Can you hear me?” Bruce softly caressed his hand on her cheek.

Y/N blinked a couple of times before looking up at him. She gave him a huge grin “Daddy! Did I tell you that I’m going to see SuperBoy today?”

Bruce Couldn’t find the words to speak. Y/N tiled her head “daddy? Are you ok?”

***

Connor let out a grunt as he walked past Dick and Jason “I said no.”

“Conner come on. She’s been dying to meet you ever since she escaped. What’s the problem?” Dick asked catching up with his friend and standing in front of him.

Jason scoffed “who would of thought. Like father like son.”

Conner growled. He turned to face Jason “how dare you. I am not like Superman!”

“You’re being such a hypocrite. You are literally acting like Clark did when you popped out.” Jason snapped, he pulled out his phone and showed a picture of him and Y/N “she hasn’t done anything to warrant this sort of reaction from you. So what the hell!”

Connor didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t know why he was so angry with her. He was feeling a bunch of emotions all at once, happiness, sadness, fear, betrayal. Conner grunted and turned back around to face Dick. “Fine. I’ll meet with her.”

Dick smiled as he placed a hand on his shoulder “thank you.”

Connor shrugged him off “yea” he walked to his room and slammed the door, making Dick flinch.

Jason scoffed “we are much better brothers than he’ll ever be.” He quipped.

The chime of the Zeta tubes caused both boys to walk to the large living room.

Tim held onto Y/N while she held onto his special coffee mug “hey guys. Thought we’d stop by.”

Y/N gently flew out of Tim’s arms and placed the mug on the counter.

“Oh my gosh! You’re his sister!”

“RAH!!” Y/N practically roared as she pressed her hands to her ears.

Jason quickly ran up to her “hey hey? What’s wrong squirt?”

Y/N looked around the room for the culprit. She locked eyes on the green being standing next to two other woman “get out of my HEAD!” The girl barked.

Dick held his breath trying his best not to laugh. Tim looked at him with a raised eyebrow “C-Connor did the same thing. When they first met.” He said through a chuckle. Jason glared at Megan while Tim looked at her confused.

“Hello Megan~ I’m so sorry, totally forgot about talking through peoples head thing. My name is Magan. This is Artemis and Zatanna.” She said pointing to the other two woman beside her.

Y/N did not care. She only glared at the Martian “don’t you ever get in my head again.”

Now Jason was biting his bottom lip trying not to laugh. To ease the tension Kaldur blocked her line of sight “You must be Y/N. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Y/N’s mood completely changed. She noticed the gills on his neck and tilted her head “You’re an Atlantan.”

Kaldur nodded. He conjured water bubbles around the girl making her laugh. Her rage completely forgotten.

“Connor… she’s here. And I don’t think she likes me.” Magan said through the mind link.

Connor heard the commotion. But that feeling didn’t leave him. The feeling of betrayal and guilt. He took a deep breath. Wanting to get this over with he stood from his bed and walked out his room. He angrily stomped towards the common area, but then slowed his pace. His face softened as he watched Wally run around with her on her back.

Then time stopped as the two clones looked at each other. Dick quickly pulled out his phone wanting to capture this moment while Jason held up a box that probably had Kryptonite inside as a threat.

Y/N got off wallys back and ran towards Connor “Big brother!”

Conner blinked rapidly. He saw flashes of memories that he didn’t know he had. She practically tackled him to the floor.

That’s when all the fun died down

Both of them just stopped. They both held a void stair denounce of life.

“Y/N!”

“Connor!”

Magan flew to his side while Wally Knelt beside Y/N.

He waved his hand over her eyes “what happened? It’s like they shut down.”

Tim tapped on the device in his wrist “B, we need you here ASAP.”

Ma’gaan placed a gentle hand on Connors face. She closed her eyes “excuse me.” Her eyes glowed as she went into his head

Everyone went silent as she placed her forehead against his. Ma’gaan let out a gasp when she returned. Tears slowly fell from her eyes.

“What’s happening?”

Ma’gaan looked at everyone with a pained expression “help me take them to the training deck.”

Wally picked Y/N up while Kaldure and Dick helped carry Connor.

~~~

Dubbilex walked with his hands behind his back while a little girl followed him.

“Please please please please!! One hour that’s all I ask.”

“Sister I cannot. That is for too much time.”

The clone opened another door “I promise I’ll go straight into my pod. We won’t get caught.”

Dubbilex looked down at the little girl. She was giving him those eyes. He let out a groan “fine fine. You and superboy can get out a bit.”

“YES!”

The little girl flew towards the pod housing superboy. She pressed some buttons opening the contraption. The teen inside slowly opened his eyes.

“Huh? What.”

“Guess what I found!” She didn’t want for him to answer. The girl took his hand and started walking down the halls towards a room.

“What the hell are you thinking SB. We’ll get caught.”

The girl shook her head and opened the door to a dark room. The two went inside and she turned on the light.

The teen bat is eyes, adjusting to the sudden brightness. He looked down to see the girl hold up what looks to be VHS tapes “I found movies!” She squealed.

Superboy shook his head “this is why you took me out of my pod?” He grunted

“Hey! I worked hard to get us this time together.”

He crossed his arms. “You gave him the puppy dog eyes didn’t you.”

She bit her bottom lip “maybeeeee.”

~~~

“What the hell… is all this.”

Y/N and Connor laid across from each other on metal tables in the training room. The tv monitors around the room were televising memories.

Martian Manhunter, Batman, red tornado, and Superman watched the various screens while the young justice teens stood beside one of them.

“These are memories.” J’ohnn stated. “It seems like they have been locked. Tell me, what caused them to come back?”

“They just… hugged each other” Dick answered.

Bruce noticed Jason seething with anger at one of the screens. He looked towards the tv horrified with the imagery.

~~~~

“You stupid girl. How could you be so foolish.”

“I’m sorry captain. I should of- GAHHH”

“The board will have my head if you messed it up!”

A surge of electricity ran through her body. She couldn’t run away, her head, neck, legs, arms. All strapped to the table. All the while Superboy slept soundly in his pod beside her

“If I can’t get to you, then surly you’ll start performing better if I get to him.”

Tears streamed how her face “no no no. Not my big brother please. GAHHHHH.”

The man slammed his fists in the table “let’s test this out then shall we.”

At the press of a button he released the girl from her metal bindings and roughly threw her in her pod infront of Superboy. Before she could proper understand her surroundings she was strapped in again with gas filling the container.

She looked across from her to see Superboy slowly opened his eyes, by the look of shock and anger on his face he could tell that the guy put a number on her. Then Superboy cried out. She saw the electrical current blast through but she couldn’t hear through the sound proof glass. Y/N cried as he slammed her hands against her pod, begging for them to stop.

“No! Please! LEAVE HIM ALONE! GAAAHHHHH”

~~~

Clark took a step back. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Never would he had imagined that happened to the both of them. Bruce was also shocked with the horrific torture these kids went through. Ma’gaan held onto Connors hand, she never looked away from his calm face. Dick, Tim, and Jason sat around their sisters table. Wally held onto Artemis as she looked away from the screens, unable to watch the horrors. Kaldur assisted Zatanna who was also fighting tears.

“Great. It’s a dead end. Way to go Robin.” Wallys voice rang throughout the room.

Everyone looked at Wally who was just as surprised “t-that wasn’t me.”

“Calm down KD. My sensors indicate that this is the way out. Into the vents.”

All the screens flashed to the same memory. The memory of Connors escape from Cadmus. Their first mission.

Although, Wally, Kaldur, and Dick didn’t remember the events on screen at all.

~~~

Superboy ran down the corridors with a bloody child in his arms. If only he were paying attention she wouldn’t have flown in the way like that. Five, five gun shot wounds and she was bleeding out profusely.

“B-big brother.”

“Quiet. We are getting you out. We’re escaping together. Just like we planned.”

Connor told them where to turn but they were surrounded by the clones of the facility.

“Guys.” Kid flash was running out of fuel, but he was more worried about Superboy’s kid sister.”

Aqualad gripped his weapon “please let us through. She is dying.”

Dubbilex shook his head “my brother, listen to me. I will grant you your freedom. It would mean freedom to us all. But you must leave her with us.”

Superboy stepped back “NO! I’m not leaving her!”

“Big brother. It’s ok.” She reached her hand up to his face. Superboy felt tears burn though his eyes “SHUT UP. You can be so annoying. We’re getting out of here together.”

Dubbilex opened his arms “if you go out there, with our sister in that state, she will die. If she comes with me I’ll be sure to heal and protect her. When the time is right I’ll send her to you.”

Now Robin stepped forward “hey! If She really is the Bats clone then she’s my sister too! We can take her to the cave and-“

“By the time you get there she’ll be dead!” Dubbiliex shouted. He was just as scared for his sister as the rest of them were.

Aqualad place a gentle hand on superboys shoulders “we’ll be back for her. This is her only chance of survival.”

Superboys grip on the girl tightened as he gently gave her to Dubbilex. She shook on his arms but still gave him a smile.

“Go see the world big brother.” She whispered. She then looked to Dick and let out a small painful laugh “does this mean I can call you big brother too?”

Robin wiped his eyes before giving her a grin “of course princess. When we meet again, I’ll get you some ice cream. My treat.”

Kid flash, Aqualad, and Robin started running again. Superboy pressed his forehead against hers “I will come back for you. I swear it.”

He reluctantly began running away. When he turned the corner he heard the most damming thing he’d ever heard his sister say.

“Brother Dubbilex.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Yes sister?”

“Make them forget.. about me.”

Superboys running came to a halt. “No. No way in hell NO!” Just as he was about to run back he froze. Then he shook his head, his mind felt foggy. Superboy looked down at his hands “what… was I doing?”

“SB! CMON!” Robin shouted.

~~~~

Dick ran his hands through his hair. She made them forget. He looked to Wally and Kaldur who also held a shocked expression.

Clark and Bruce felt like the world crumbled around them. Superman was the first to move from his shocked state. He walked to Connor who was starting to stir awake “Son? Son are you alright?”

Bruce went to Y/N, after what happened this morning and everything he saw now, it’s no wonder she doesn’t remember the hacking. It’s as if her brain blocked all the trama that she went through.

Connor opened his eyes “did you just call me… Son?”

Clark nodded “are you ok? In pain anywhere?”

“ im fine.” He swatted Clark’s arm away. Connor looked passed him to see his sister laying on one of the metal beds. He eagerly got off his bed and walked over, immediately checking for a pulse “Idiot. You dumb little sneaking idiot.”

Bruce let out a huff “Mind your tone. That’s my daughter.”

“Well MY SISTER forced me to forget about her. dont tell me to mind my damn tone.” he snapped back.

Dick rubbed circles on Connors back “hey… she made me forget too. But this isn’t the way to handle it.”

Connor looked at her sleeping form. He could hear the steady rhythm of her heart beat, calming him. She almost died, and he wouldnt have known if she had. no wonder he was so angry at her. *** Ma'gaan walked in with a cup of water "Hey. the team's been asking about you. why dont you take a break hmm? she'll be here when youve gotten fresh air." Connor sat by Y/N's beadside. she'd been sleeping for ten hours now "I want to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up." he said in a soft whisper. Ma'gaan nodded placing the cup down. She thought about the memories that they both share. the pain that they bore. "Maybe... maybe i can help?" Connor scoffed "How?" "I can make both of you forget." she brought her hand close to him only for him to look at her degusted "Ma'gaan, mind altering is the very reason why I am pissed at her." "Yes but, think about her for a second. she could never live a normal life. A normal child life. let me help." "No. Dont you dare do anything." without thinking he picked up Y/N and began walking out the room. "C-Connor? where are you going?" "away from here. before you do something you'd regret." Ma'gaan couldn't stand Connor leaving. "Wait!" Connor stopped. Ma'gaan's eyes glowed a soft blue as she approached the two. she placed her hands on both of their heads "This is for your own good. Trust me."

#connor kent #young justice #clark kent #clark kent x daughter reader #batman x daughter reader #dick grayson #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #batsis

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unoriginalmess · 4 years ago

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A Second Mask: Chapter 4

Did that just happen?

Hello guys! It's me. I'm finally writing again. Sorry about the delay. I'm going to explain more at the end of the chapter, but I'm just going to keep the beginning short. So here is chapter 4:

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To say Adrien was concerned would be a huge understatement. He was downright disturbed. Its been weeks and still Marinette hadn't changed back to the happy, peppy, nice girl that he knew. AND SHE WOULDN'T EVEN TALK TO HIM ABOUT IT!

He tried to talk to her for a whole week after her original trasformation, but after the repeated firm rejections, he stopped altogether. He figured that maybe with some space, she might be able to work through whatever she was going through, but at this point, he's losing hope.

When he is feeling this distressed about something, he usually turns to his lady, but she has been acting weird too. Ever since she suggested they start sparring, she's started to show that she is going through kinda a rough time as well. She is the same ladybug when everyone is watching, but when it's just the two of them, she looks sad and tired. She has also started saying some concerning things while they are sparring. She has started talking about how she has started taking being Ladybug and the Guardian more seriously, and how she has less distractions now, which would be a good thing if she didn't say them so sadly.

The good thing is, the sparring has given him a chance to get out his aggression because of the whole Marinette-situation and his anger at his father in a safe environment. He didn't like the idea of hitting Ladybug at first (especially in the face) but with her not holding back on her hits, he felt more comfortable doing the same. It has helped them fight better too. He hopes that whatever Ladybug is going through in her civillian life will work itself out soon, but until then he will be there for her. He just needs to figure out how to be there for Marinette.

•••

Felix was making good progress with Marinette. After they first asked marinette about (insert fashion question of your choice here, I legit know nothing and I didn't have time to research anything for this chapter), she had started answering their questions on a daily basis. After a couple of days of that, she had started to rant to them about different things in the fashion world that were bothering her, exciting her, or confusing her that particular day. In response to that, they had started to respond to her rants with their own opinions on the subjects and even start their own rants.

It had gotten to the point where Felix would now consider them to be friends, though they know that Marinette would never call them as such, it was fine with them. They know she has trust issues, and they can understand why, so they are fine with being friends in everything but a name.

Felix was looking forward to their daily banter as they waited in their seat for Marinette to arrive. When she did, she was followed by a very pissed-looking Alya. Felix turned to look at her and noticed that she had what looked to be tears forming in her eyes. What they didn't notice was the little black butterfly that had entered through the window in the back of the room, and was making a beeline towards her.

•••

Marinette walked to school in yet another one of her newest fashion creations: a pair of oversized grey ripped jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt. She was actually really liking her new look, and the comfort that it offered was just an added plus.

She was actually feeling excited to talk to Felix about Gabriel Agreste's newest fashion flop. They were the only person that she had met that actually cared about fashion as much as her. It made her happy to talk to them. It kind of scared her how excited she was. Shouldn't she be distancing herself from everyone? she thought to herself. No. Felix isn't my friend, they aren't close to me, they are just someone I talk fashion with. Like a coworker, yeah. Totally. Felix is just a coworker. ("Liar" says the inner voice in her head)

She was shocked out of her thoughts when she was pulled to the side by someone as she entered the courtyard. Her mind immediately thought of an akuma, when the person spoke.

"Marinette! Girl," Oh it's just Alya. Wait Alya? "How long are you gonna keep up this cry for attention? Are you really THAT jealous of Lila? I know that Adrien likes her, but that doesn't give you the right to act like this! And you are hanging out with Felix, who accused her of sexually harrassing Adrien on their first day here-?" She looked absolutely furious at her, but Marinette had heard enough. She cut Alya off in the middle of her presumably long rant.

"ALYA!" Said girl jumped at both the inturruption and the tone of voice used, "First of all, this isn't a cry for attention, if anything its a cry for leaving me the fuck alone. Second of all, I'm not jealous of Lila. I'm not in love with Adrien anymore, and haven't been for a while. You knew that I was dating Luka right? Why would I care who Adrien likes? Lastly, I am allowed to hang out with whoever I choose, whether you like them or not. It's none of your fucking business Alya, and if you think that I'm just some jealous, attention-seeker why do you even care?" With that last question she stormed off to the classroom, leaving a speechless Alya behind her.

When marinette sat down in her seat, she just kept thinking about how Alya was just talking to her. How could she think that about her? They used to be best friends, and Alya wasn't even concerned about her not talking to her anymore, she was just concerned about her being "jealous of Lila". It made her so furious that she could feel tears trickling down her face. She sees the black butterfly out of the corner of her eye and without hesitation grabs it out of the air.

(Next part is taken from this post by @bigfatbreak)

"Go ahead and akumatize me- See what happens, Hawkmoth!" She screamed the words with a slight madness that the energy of the akuma was giving her, "Every leash has two ends! I just have to pull until I find where you're holding it!"

At this point, the entire class was frozen in place watching her and listening to her crazed-sounding voice threaten an actual terrorist. Marinette felt Hawkmoth's confusion and terror through the bond. What in the- She's sensing me through the Akuma?! The akuma then started to fly away, and when it couldn't it zapped her hand like it was made of lightning and fluttered through the same window it came from. Marinette felt like she had failed yet again and collapsed down on her desk, muttering, "Uuuuggghh. It escaped anyway... What a waste. I didn't realize that Hawkmoth was such a coward. He usually likes grandstand..."

She was startled when her hand was picked up by Felix's, "You likely scared him off by managing to locate him like that... A risky move, I should mention. I would ask that you not attempt that a second time. No one knows what his akuma is truly capable of. You'll want to keep off of this hand for a while, too."

"Oh, are those the doctor's orders? Why, Felix, it almost sounds like you care about meeee." Marinette was all too amused by Felix's concern for her. She also liked to tease them... AS COWORKERS DO.

"I have an investment in your presence. Now don't be cheeky and let's get you to the nurse's office," They said while holding her wrist and gently pulling her in that direction.

Marinette scoffed, "'An investment in my presence'??"

Felix chuckled while still semi-dragging her by the wrist towards the front of the room, being careful not to hurt her injury even worse, "What did I just say about being cheeky?"

On their way out of the door they passed a VERY distressed-looking Adrien. He seemed to be sharing the sentiment with the entire class of: Did that just happen?

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And thats chapter 4. It is VERY LATE! I know. I've been swamped with work, and when I went to write it, I had zero ideas on how to write this chapter. I never ended up getting those ideas. I just went where my writing took me, so if it doesn't really match the characters that's why. I will try to be better at updating regularly, but it probably won't happen. Sorry to everyone with a normal sleep schedule, but this is the time that I write things. Also I didn't have my outline with me while writing this chapter, so it might not have everything I planned to write in it.

I would like to thank you all for all of the support I've been getting on this fic. Despite all of the chapter delays, you guys have stuck with me through all of it, so thank each and every one of you. I love seeing so many people loving this au as much as I do. Without you guys this story wouldn't exist, and I would've stopped writing it after the first chapter.

As always, constructive criticism is always accepted. I love being able to improve my writing whenever possible.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day/night/whenever you are reading this. See ya next time guys, gals, and non-binary pals.

Taglist

@queer-illusion @apasponsor @heckinggremlin @1-ahiro-1 @hewantedbeefintheparkinglot @sassakitty @lennauts @rianoel @dorkus-minimus @khneltea @welp-that-was-unexpected @mlnchlymrshmllw @lovelyautumnsunflower @chariphrasis @lovesbooks @komatsuna-yuki @polyvirnl @innocentlyguiltyfrenchfry @qhobias @ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole @hammalammadamdam @cloudydaysomewhere @alcoholic-barney @basenikon @xxbehindthemaskxx @corporeal-terrestrial @shadowymemoirs @moonlight-densetsuu

#a second mask #feralnette #feralnette au #felinette #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #adrien agreste #felix culpa #marinette dupain cheng #here it finally is #idk why some of the tags arent working

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