#just saw someone ask for sources in the replies of a post (even though they are literally so easy to find with a google search)

[sarcastic-clapping]

sometimes i open the replies to a post on here and remember that some of you people are so insane and out of touch with reality that you've invented a new and substantially worse subspecies of chronically online, the likes of which scientists have never seen, and i have renewed appreciation for my beautifully curated coven of beloved mutuals who huddle around me and protect me from having to gaze upon your derangement on a daily basis

[anon-sect]

I saw you posted transformation with celebrities and you recently posted a transformation into feets, litterraly become part of someone else. Can you transform me into Benji Krol's dick please? I would give anything to become his.

Picture source: internet

Calvin was a huge fan of Benji Krol ever since the early days of his YouTube and Tik Tok videos. He watched all of them at least twice, including the new ones. He was so excited when he heard that Benji was doing a contest where the winner would get to meet him in person and be a part of one of his videos. With the famous Tik Tikor having tons of fans, his chances of winning were very slim, but he would try anyway.

A month later, Benji announced the winner of the contest via one of his videos using the handle of the winner. Benji would be sending the information where they would meet via the handle's email. Calvin couldn't believe that he was the winner out of thousands of others who entered. One hour later, he saw he had received an email from Benji, congratulating him and sending him the information he needed. Calvin was super excited and couldn't wait.

It was three days later that Calvin met Benji in person. He saw that he was indeed a cool person. After a great conversation, he did a crazy video with Benji. He promised after editing it, he would post it online.

"There is one more thing that you won, also." Benji commented as he came back in the room with two drinks in his hands. He handed one to Calvin.

"What else did I win?" Calvin asked as he sipped down the drink. It had a fruity taste, and he loved it. He quickly finished and placed the glass on the table. He saw Benji smiling.

"Oh, it's something very special." Benji replied, looking at Calvin.

Calvin saw Benji looking at him as though he was waiting on something. He suddenly felt extremely drowsy. It was like he couldn't fight his sleep. He just simply passed out without realizing it.

Several hours later, Calvin woke up from his slumber. He was in some dark place that also felt a little sweaty. He tried to speak but had no conventional mouth to say any words. He tried to move, but all motion was that of twitching around. He was so confused. The last thing he remembered was chatting with Benji on the couch. He continued to try to move, but it was much. His whole body felt weird. He felt like he was attached to something he couldn't break free from.

Benji felt his dick twitching in his pants underwear and shorts. "Oh, you are finally awake. Your prize you won is the to be the extra inches on my dick. You and my dick are one now." He laughed as he felt his dick twitching even more than before. "I suggest you calm down. It's permanent. You are mine, and you aren't going anywhere." He added as he posed to take a selfie picture in the mirror. He was satisfied with his contest. One of his fans was now a member of his body.

Calvin couldn't believe what happened to him, but suddenly, his thoughts were being changed. He was Benji's dick. He did like watching his videos. Now, he could be with him 24/7365. He couldn't believe his luck. This was not a curse but a blessing. This was where he was meant to be. And there was no better place than to be a permanent member on Benji's body.

[twopoppies]

Hi Gina!! First of all, I wanted to thank you and Daisie and everyone else here for the amazing Larry masterlist. I'm a new larrie myself, though I've been around the fandom since 2011 (tho not super closely) when WMYB MV was released. I was deep diving on receipts, and as per usual, I took it all in with a grain of salt and kept all my conclusions rational and unbiased. I just wanna add something you might consider a receipt, connecting to one of the tour receipts ones I’ve read on Daisie’s tags (I dove into both yours and Daisie’s tags lol). This isn't so big and new at all but I thought I'd add. Sorry in advance if I am too vague with this lol

A quick context: I had worked with small event productions here in my country, and had become pretty close with suppliers (tech, security, venue, etc). I got curious about an entry I read from your receipts tag which happened in an international tour here. Anyway, I am pretty close with our security supplier, and I thought I'd check if there were traces of them working with the boys. After a few google search, I saw them with Louis on a video during his tour here - confirming that at least for that show, they did work with Louis. He has been very open to me ever since we met, so when I DMed him about being involved in the show, he enthusiastically answered that they did all 1D-related ones in the country.

Anyway, bottomline, I tried to ask if it's true that Louis was here during Harry's concert because I've kind of heard it somewhere (being the receipt I read from Daisies' account). That’s when he got weirdly super silentl and left me on ‘seen’/‘read’ (which had never happened EVER before). I waited with the chat box open; he se seemed type after a few mins - and then stopped completely. When I realized he (c)wouldn't reply, I didn't push it and said he doesn't have to respond and that I respect if he’s bound by certain contracts. After that, he immediately replied, basically just saying "Thank you" (for understanding, essentially). We just chatted a bit more before ending the convo.

So I guess I'd say it somewhat solidifies that theory in my head because I personally know them, and if there's really something super big they cannot share at all, they WONT. I knew there was something because it was almost comical for me how he suddenly left me on ‘read’. So if it's not a big deal at all he would've shared because we've talked about other works they've done in the past (he was so enthusiastic and shared all the names of the shows they've done with 1D a few mins prior lol) - but when I specifically asked if Louis was with Harry here for his tour, he immediately closed off and stopped replying - and THEN thanked me when I said he didn’t have to reply lol (I didn’t ask anything else, just that exact wording, straightforwardly asking if L was there during H's show, and I didn’t phrase it in a playful or teasing way like I am implying there’s smth gossip-worthy between them I'm fishing out of him)

ANYWAY, I’m not even sure if this is worth posting but I needed someone to share it with and I thought it could be like a backup info for the future hahahaha I am trying to be vague because I do want to protect myself and my (in a way) source (?). But if you need any clarification from me - I’d be open to elaborate more in the dms (I’m rusty with tumblr so I hope I can navigate this properly lol)

Ofc, a part of me wish I could've gotten something, but I also respect them for staying quiet. And even if they did share something big, I might've had second thoughts on sharing bcs I was mainly asking it for my own sanity tbh, knowing that I knew who the security team was lol So I guess my point of sharing this with you is to basically share that the usual NDA thing with H&L, whether as a whole 1D unit before or as solos, is definitely enforced here. That the silence somewhat solidified my belief of other Larry receipts such as 1.) in relation to the Argentinian security confessions, and 2.) the receipts pointing out that those two fly together sometimes in the tours.

Idk if this is worth posting at all, but I just really needed to let it because I feel like I might be getting biased but also not (it was very fishy for me for sure lol). Thank you!

Hi, darling. No, it’s totally worth posting! I agree with you that it says something without saying anything. Are you able to tell me what year you were asking about? Or what country? I won’t post anything you don’t want public.

I’m really glad to hear that people take their NDAs seriously and even if it was from years ago they would still be professional about it.

Thank you so much for sharing this. If you think of anything else you can add, LMK. Or send me a DM. I’ll keep it private. 🩷

[hydrasra]

Not from this world

SYNOPSIS: waking up in liyue felt like a dream. though it quickly turned into a nightmare.

DISCLAIMER: this is just an idea that popped in mind while I was rereading my POST about lumine's friendship with the other archons in a sagau! impostor! gold blood! au. tho with a slightly different take at the start. I might work further in it depending on my creative battery. some swearing here and there, may be more oriented, some ooc moments here and there maybe. LUMINE IS THE CHOSEN TRAVELER. no gender mentioned for the reader. NOT BETA NOR PROOFREAD (shocker)

me in a post: I'm not going to post for a small while

also me: *gets randomly hit by an idea and has an urge to write it down*

ii. REUNIONS AND ANSWERS

news about an impersonator looking like the creator spread fast to sumeru, fast to the acting grand sage first. however, he frowned, that had nothing to do with him.

why should he worry about that? those in charge will catch the impostor eventually once he makes matters go public.

and that's why, during a meeting with the lesser lord, she enquired him about what was bothering him once said meeting was adjourned and she pulled him aside.

"nothing is bothering me, lesser lord kusanali," was his reply.

she smiled up at him, eyes closing, "if that truly was the case then you wouldn't be frowning," she let out a small giggle.

if alhaitham didn't know any better, he would have actually confused his lord to an actual child, and not an archon.

weighing the pros and cons of telling his archon about what has reached his ears first and foremost, and his colleagues as well, instead of the grand public.

truly, there were no cons against telling nahida.. so he did.

she only reassured him that she would look further into the matter and to not worry about it nor tell the public until she was certain she understood what was going on.

"you called for me, greater lord kusanali?" wanderer asked as soon as he stepped inside the sanctuary of surasthana and was greeted by her at the door.

she did not even try to correct him, "I need you to accompany me inside to irminsul."

he frowned but nodded nonetheless.

"I want to find out what is going about the rumoured impostor," she started walking to the center of the room.

more confusion seeped inside the puppet's mind as he followed her, "impostor?"

nahida looked at him from over her shoulder, "someone is, apparently, impersonating the divine creator."

all that could be heard was footsteps. running footsteps.

some were angry stomping almost, some were faster than most. only one stood out: it was light, and if agile could be a sound, it would be those footsteps.

and luckily, it belonged to you.

"where to?"

the wanderer flew to some, what it looked like on your end, random direction. if it weren't for his vision glowing, you would have lost sight of him in the unusual darkness of the night.

thinking about it now, why was it so dark? even the light provided by the moon did almost nothing to light up the world it seemed. was teyvat angry and trying to protect something? someone? you and your companion maybe?

"just a few metres more, your grace," you heard him said as he too decided to run along with you. his footsteps sounded, almost imperceptible however, mechanical.

you could only nod as beads of sweat rolled down your face and the wind caressed your body.

"quick, in here!" another familiar said and when looking at the source, you saw nahida opening the leaves that acted as doors of an abandoned hut, a device floating besides her and producing light.

without a single ounce of hesitation, you immediately grabbed wanderer's hand and made a turn to the right. nahida opened the doors further with the help of her device that immediately turned its light off once you both were safe inside.

however, it wasn't safe yet. the angry running footsteps could be heard. they weren't far now. all you could do was hold your breath, no matter how much you wanted to take a deep breath and finally relax a little after running for what felt like hours, your survival instinct just wouldn't let you do so, not until you were sure they were out of earshot.

"where did they go?!" they were right beside the well hidden hut.

"we lost them!" a raged filled voice could be heard

"keep on looking," that was a familiar voice, someone you treasured in the game and spent hours to build, to make stronger. so that's how they repay you?

'i see how it is, xiao.'

"we will have to let the authorities in sumeru know they the impostor is now in their land along with a companion," keqing's voice could be heard, stern and frustrated.

you looked around and barely saw anything, only the silhouettes of your... friends? as questions slowly filled your head, 'why can't they leave me alone? what did I do?'

retracing your steps from ever since you awoke into the world of your favourite game, you found that you did nothing wrong. maybe you the only mistake you made was to step into liyue harbour while smiling and was simply greeted back with polearms pointed at you and them screaming at you for impersonating someone. but who?

"argh! let's just retreat for now," one of the soldiers said as they all seemed to agree and walked away.

"I will let the tianquan know and ask her to deliver a letter to sumeru's officials," keqing spoke, determination present in her voice, "this impostor is to be eliminated at once."

as their voice faded into the distance, you finally let yourself heave a sigh of relief as nahida made her device light up once more, finally allowing you to see inside the small hut.

wanderer was squatting near the door, peering outside and nahida was looking at you, a small smile on her face.

oddly enough, this was comforting.

"evening, your grace," the archon bowed and that made you frown.

"why are you bowing to me?"

"it is a sign of respe-"

"please, don't. it makes me uncomfortable," and nahida only nodded at your words.

it was quiet for a few minutes as you pondered what was happening then you spoke up, making everyone in the room to turn and look at you, "why did you both call me 'your grace'?" and at the genuine confusion and curiousity, nahida spoke up once more after sharing a look with wanderer. was irminsul wrong about you?

"it is your title."

you shook your head, "last time I checked, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth nor am I royalty."

before nahida could speak once more, wanderer cut her off, "didn't you create teyvat? you are our creator and the one that guides us, it is only fair for us to call you by your title."

'create teyvat?'

you understood the guiding part as that was, in a sense, true, though you did not create teyvat.

"I did not."

silence once more, then the knowledge archon spoke, "what is it that you mean, your grace?"

"I did not create teyvat but I... I guess you are correct about me guiding you?"

and that prompted you to explain it to them; how teyvat was created by a group of people, not you, how they wrote each and every single person's in this world past, present and future. but that only seemed to make nahida look at you fondly.

"so there are more creators?" wanderer asked, frowning and you simply nodded.

"in a way? they aren't gods, they are all humans, like me."

"but you aren't human," nahida said as she took a few steps and stood in front of you, staring up at you in determination, "and the proof is on your leg."

ather words, you frown in confusion and looked down at your leg, your jeans had been cut through and you had a cut as well. your eyes widen at the small amount of blood trickling down your leg and sipping through your jeans.

it was gold.

"how did the hunt go?" ningguang asked from her seat in the jade chamber, expecting to hear good news from the yuheng as she kept on writing in the scrolls that contained important information.

the silence that greeted her was what prompted the tianquan to look up, "well?"

"we lost them both," xiao spoke, appearing behind keqing and giving her a scare.

although that was a funny sight, ningguang couldn't find it in her when she heard his words, "what do you mean by that?"

keqing cleared her throat, "we lost them both in the forest near sumeru."

"did you hear? there's an impostor that showed up in liyue," donna expressed to marjorie who nodded.

"I did! I also heard that they are hiding in sumeru and that some weirdo with an anemo vision helped them out."

"how could they help out an impostor when the real creator has been quiet instead of offering them to appease the creator's anger?!" donna exclaimed, huffing right at the end.

lumine watched and listened from afar as those two kept talking, "an impostor?"

"huh?" paimon looked up from eating her food, "waf d'you meaf?"

"don't speak with your mouth full."

swallowing down her food then letting out a satisfied sigh, she asked again, "sorry. anyway what did you mean?"

lumine glanced at donna and marjorie as donna went back to standing behind flora to keep an eye on the child, "those two were speaking about an impostor."

"impostor?"

"something about someone impersonating teyvat's creator."

"who in their right mind would impersonate the creator?!"

lumine let out a snort, "maybe lunatics like you."

"hey!"

as paimon went on a ramble, lumine got lost in thought. was that why you haven't guided her on the right path today? though a day for you could be months for them, should she, perhaps, say months instead of today?

it wouldn't hurt to visit sumeru and ask nahida, right?

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

[uniquevoidflowers]

For @mad-navi

I was that anon ask for this post: https://www.tumblr.com/mad-navi/764169572942233600/if-someone-were-to-write-you-something-lu-what?source=share

I tried to combine all the tropes you gave me so here's the finished story.

Word count: 9241

“Who’s era is this?” Wind exclaimed.

Time swallowed a lump in his throat when he recognized his surroundings. A town in the centre, a vast field surrounding it. A swamp, a mountain, an ocean, and a valley. He still wasn’t sure what Termina was. Another country? A different dimension? A dream? Although going through that portal had felt very real. He cleared his throat from sudden roughness. “It’s mine.”

“Doesn’t look like what we saw,” Four muttered under his breath, eyes flashing violet for a moment.

The old man decided to pretend he didn’t hear that. “We’ll head to the town, considering they have the most rumours about mostly anything. If we want to find information about our quest, we’ll find it there.”

“No castle?” Warriors raised a brow.

“Save your questions,” Time replied tiredly. “This isn’t Hyrule.”

Everybody’s expressions turned to vaguely confused to some curious, some understanding. They wandered closer and it was...odd to see no scary-faced moon looming over Clocktown, but something settled in his gut, calming him a little. He walked to the first entrance he found and a soldier pointed a spear at him, expression hidden by his helmet. Time flinched. “What—“

“We’re not accepting visitors now! Leave!”

“And why is that?” Warriors stepped in. “We may be armed, but we have no intention of hurting anyone.”

“Clocktown’s business is none of yours. This is your last warning to get out of here!”

Time sighed. “Alright. Just send word to Anju and Kafei that Link was here.”

The old man corralled everyone and led them away. Twilight eyed him with concern in his beast-like blue eyes. “Why are we leaving?”

“Whatever crisis going on is our business but we’re going to get nowhere by arguing with a soldier. If something is going on in the town...we better check everywhere else too.”

He saw the forest, that hid the huge swamp and headed towards it, the others wordlessly following in suit. As the sun disappeared, the trees overhead covering it, Time adjusted to sudden darkness. He heard someone panting and turned around, confused. They hadn’t been walking too long, he thought. Sky started wheezing, stopping to try and pick up his breath. The skyloftian had a history of low energy and breathing problems. He had told them it was probably because of altitude differences. “Here,” Wild offered him a potion that was the colour of the sky when it was bright out.

Sky gave a grateful nod and gulped the liquid down, wincing but stuffing the rest in his pocket. Time thought not much of it, considering this was unfortunately a pattern. Soon though, more coughing and hacking filled the air, and he found himself doing so as well. The air turned thicker, and sour and it became more than just breathing problems. Warriors narrowed his eyes and covered his mouth and nose with his scarf, and Time realized they would need to turn back. He rushed everyone out, carrying the skyloftian who had scarily collapsed, falling unconscious. Time’s heart pounded against his chest wildly. The Deku Scrubs...the monkeys and the witches...are they okay?

For what its worth, though Termina wasn’t a great experience and he’d never wished to return, he still cared about it. Those kind people who’d helped him as a kid, even though it seemed impossible for him to save a land from impending doom. In many ways it was...

ADFADF—

He shook himself out of it. Now was not the time. They reached out of the forest, and fresh air returned to them. He set the chosen hero down, and turned to the others, expression grim. “I’ll go in alone. Captain, can I borrow your scarf?”

There were loud protests in response, the captain included.

Time raised a hand, getting a bit irritated. “I know what I’m doing, and I’m quite capable. Someone needs to figure out what’s going on and I do not want a repeat of what just happened. There is no way anyone else is going there alone.”

“Take someone with you,” The captain demanded. “What happens if you don’t return?”

Before Time could reply, Legend raised a hand. “I’ll go. Before any of you ask, this needs to be handled responsibly.”

Silence followed and the old man merely gave a nod. If anyone he could bring the veteran hero with him, the most experienced of all of them. Perhaps he had an experience with poisonous air such as this and could help. “Someone can use my pelt,” Twilight offered.

“You alright with the vet taking it?”

“...Yeah, sure.”

That wasn’t very convincing but Time didn’t feel like pointing it out when there was a situation they absolutely had to solve. The veteran took the pelt and the old man took the long scarf and they headed inside, fabric draped over their faces. It was almost comical how big the pelt was over Legend. The veteran looked at him and rolled his eyes, likely seeing the amusement. They didn’t say a word though, for fear of the air getting into their lungs somehow. It would’ve been muffled by the fabric anyway. They got deeper and Time stopped the vet from stepping in the shallow swamp water. He yanked damp grass out of the ground, and put it in the water. When it remained as well as it could be he stepped in. When seeing the veteran’s confused expression he signed, “Last time it was poisoned.”

Confusion molded into understanding as they set forth. The witches’ hut stood tall and he gestured for his companion to follow him in. Kotake saw them enter and stared into his eyes, narrowing her wrinkled yellow eyes. “You seem quite familiar, young lad.”

Time has to fight the urge to draw his sword. The Twinrova...I forgot the witches were them...

“I came here once or twice,” He responded eventually, pulling down the scarf and being relieved to feel nothing in his throat.

“I can’t place your name, but you’re armed I see...perhaps you can help us?”

Koume nodded along gravely. Legend pulled down the pelt after a bit of struggling. “We came here to help. We noticed the poison in the air and was hoping to figure out what was going on.”

“Wonderful. You see, ever since the change in the air arrived, we’ve been forced to spend our days here, and it won’t be long before we run out of resources. We don’t get visitors around here and aren’t able to sustain ourselves,” Kotake explained. “If you two could go and fix things, I promise a reward.”

“What reward?” Koume grumbled and Kotake ignored her.

“We will,” Time agreed.

“Good boys!” Kotake crowed. “If you need our help, just come back! We’ll be here...”

The old man tightened the scarf around his mouth and nose once more and climbed out. Their best bet would be heading to the Deku Palace. The path there was more familiar than it should’ve been. When he was there last, he had taken to memorizing the route after countless loops. Rewinds using the cursed ocarina. Soon they reached it. A tall wooden structure made of logs, painted red on the bottom and green on the top, a white line separating them. Spikes covered the very top, along with shrubbery. The entrance was securely guarded by two Deku Scrubs. He sighed, and signed his plan to the boy beside him. The vet took the scarf, clutching it tightly, and Time slipped on the Deku Scrub Mask before the thick air could get into him. He felt the sorrow and couldn’t help but scream, anguish filling him with pain. It was the sorrow of the son of a butler, who had died alone, away from his father, his sweet princess. The vet looked on, wide-eyed and quickly wrapped the scarf around his mouth.

He hadn’t missed the feeling of putting on those masks, but he had a feeling that he would have to get used to it again.

They hurried up to the entrance, walking on raft-like platforms to get to the guards. “Halt! Human must leave.”

“He’s a friend of mine,” Time insisted. “He helped me get here.”

The guards looked at each other, skeptical. Legend narrowed his eyes. “See, I came here because this swamp is overtaken by poisonous air and I wanted to help with it.”

“By King’s orders, no one but Deku Scrubs may enter. Leave.”

Time gave the vet a helpless look and went inside, Legend huffing and pretending to leave. Time knew he wouldn’t go far without him. Inside, he walked past doors, heading straight ahead. The walls were stripes of green, white, and red, the sky hanging over him. Getting to the throne room was easier than last time. The King and the Princess sat on two thrones, the butler looking grim. “Your Majesty,” Time started. “Will you grant me permission to discuss an issue with you?”

The Princess gave her father a look, and the King sighed. “Yes, you may go ahead.”

“There’s a poison of some sorts polluting the air in the swamp and—“

“That is no issue,” The King interrupted. “How did you not know about this?”

“I apologize, I’ve been off travelling for a while now and just came back recently. What did you mean its not an issue? Residents living in the swamp are forced to stay inside their homes.”

The princess’s eyes grew solemn, tears welling up. “We polluted the air so no one can hurt us any longer.”

The King leapt out of his seat, stomping on the ground angrily. “Those nasty humans have only done us harm! I would take care of them myself if it wouldn’t cause my people plight!”

“What did the humans do?” Time started to sound riled up, even though he could only feel clueless at the moment.

The butler stepped over. “Our little saplings were stolen one night. A creature of black and red came in and revealed that the humans had wanted them to study. We were wary. We did not trust the creature. Why should we, after the human Link rescued me and our waters, and visiting humans were mostly kind? It warned us that the humans were planning to...oh, how do I put this into words...”

“They were planning to burn our homes!” The princess wailed.

“What?!”

“Sure enough, the princess’s room was burning the next morning,” The butler explained. “She barely escaped to tell the tale. Now some of her most sacred possessions are but ashes.”

Humans did this? A creature of black and red...hm...

“If I told you I could bring Link here, would you let him in?” Time asked cautiously.

The princess brightened. “Father, please. He did so much for us.”

The King looked at his daughter and softened for only a moment before agreeing. “I suppose so. Bring him in.”

“Alright. I will warn you he has grown older, so he doesn’t look the same as you last saw him.”

He came outside and found a spot to take off the mask, before heading back in. “Is that you, Link?” The princess asked.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Link never spoke though. How do I know you’re not some pretender?”

“I can tell you that you told me of your undying love for the Deku butler’s son. You spoke of him always hurrying to make you happy...that was what made him meet his end.”

The princess hurried up to him and pleaded, “Won’t you help us? Some of my items were irreplaceable but you might be able to save the saplings!”

He was careful not to mention that he wasn’t welcome in Clocktown right now, and he just nodded. “You have my word.”

“Now leave!” The King barked.

Time went outside and found Legend, who straightened up upon seeing him. “So, what’s going on?”

He explained and the veteran’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Do you think this black and red creature could be the Shadow we are chasing? Maybe the humans are innocent.”

“We will not know until we get inside the town.”

After weaving their way through the swamp, and relaying the information once again to the others, they began to think of a plan. Sky roused, and was fussed over, given a blue potion for safe measure. They could try and sneak in the town, but the champion grimaced and informed them towns like these had impossibly tight watch. Time wasn’t certain that could work. They could move on to another location, but they might reach another dead-end instead. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that attempting to get in the town normally might be the best idea, sneaking in as a last resort. The captain happily took his scarf back, more relaxed with it secured around his neck. Time’s curiosity got the best of him and he hesitantly asked, “Where did you get that scarf?”

Warriors tensed but saw it was him and gave a small, soft laugh. “My mother made this for me. I was the youngest of soldiers, maybe around 14 or so. The day I managed to get in, the Princess herself recognized my skills, and I was promoted to a captain after a couple of fights. Not a war mind you, but people thought of it as impressive. My mom told me that even if we don’t see each other often, that she’ll always be with me, and she gave me this. I never let go of it during the war.”

Time patted his shoulder, with a pained smile. “Your skill is commendable, both in earning a promotion like that, and in keeping on fighting even knowing you’d see your loved ones less. I hope you know how incredible that is.” Even if you were so young...

“Thank you.”

“We’re here,” The traveller informed them, recognizing the walls of the town.

Time drew in a deep breath and tried another entrance. After being denied he tried reasoning. “I’m Link. I used to be the boy that saved this town from the crashing moon, remember?”

The others blinked, surprised by the mention of the moon.

“Hey old man, what’s the biggest thing you’ve ever fought?”

“The moon.”

“Who?” The soldier asked, raising a brow.

“Nevermind,” Time muttered, defeated until he spotted a purple-haired man with gleaming red eyes. “Kafei! It’s me! Link!”

The soldier held the spear to his neck, glaring. “Get out of he—“

Kafei’s eyes widened and he hurried over. The soldier hesitated, dropping the spear for a moment. “You know him?”

“Is it that you, Link?” Kafei asked. “Last time I saw you, you were only a child.”

He heard the others sigh in relief and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He just nodded back at the man in front of him. “How are you and Anju faring?”

“Very well,” Kafei smiled, a fond, love-sick smile. “I could never forget what you’ve done for Anju and I. We may have never seen each other again if not for you.”

“It was a pleasure. Now, I have business in town, and I’m not sure why I’m being refused entry. Do you know why?”

“Oh...yes. Come on to my place and we can discuss it further.”

Time gave him an odd look. The soldier narrowed his eyes. “Look, man—“

“He’s a great friend of mine, okay? He can be trusted,” Kafei reassured.

“The thing is I have a group with me. It’s okay if they can’t come to your place, but could I get them rooms at the inn?”

“Group? Uh, I don’t think so. Sorry man.”

Time gave them a tired look and they all nodded. The skyloftian smiled. “We’ll set up camp. It’s alright.”

“Except for the kids,” The soldier cut in. “We won’t deny kids a good sleep at an inn.”

“...Kids?”

“Well the one with the green headband, and the one with the lobster shirt.”

Four blinked but didn’t say anything, and Wind pouted slightly. Time just gave them an amused smile and nodded. They went inside and the old man gave them lodging at the inn. Anju smiled happily. “I never thought I’d get business so soon. Has anything changed?”

“No,” Kafei kissed her cheek and Time would admit, it only made a feeling grow of missing the woman he loved. “But Link’s back. He has these kids.”

“Oh?”

Time laughed. “These two aren’t blood-related to me but I do have a wife.”

Four scowled and Wind looked mildly surprised. Kafei led Time away and sighed once they sat down on a couple of chairs in his house. “We don’t allow visitors anymore because of what they did to us. The Deku Scrubs came and chased people out of our town square, demanding saplings. The Zora came and vandalized the town, blaming us for apparently ‘wreaking havoc’ among them. The Gorons stopped communicating and trading with us. Skeletons popped up out of the ground, claiming vengeance for something they didn’t elaborate on...it’s been a tiring few weeks for us. The mayor was worried letting anymore people in could cause more damage.”

“Hmmm, and you’re sure none of you did anything of the sort?” Time hummed.

Kafei shook his head. “The town was searched by the guards. We don’t have anything and no one admits to doing anything.”

“I know what happened to the Deku Scrubs, though the Gorons, Zora and skeletons I have no clue about. The Deku Scrubs had their saplings stolen. From what I understand that’s basically their babies. They told me...a creature of sorts, black and red, blamed humans for it.”

“That’s...strange. What can we do to prove our innocence for it?”

“I was planning to find those saplings and give them back to their parents...Once I get them back, perhaps we can discover who stole them and prove the town had nothing to do with it. Then I can explore Zora Hall, Goron Mountain and Ikana Valley for answers. I have a group who are just as skilled as me, that can help me.”

Kafei relaxed slightly. “You’re a life-saver. This town doesn’t feel as lively and Anju’s going to run out of business soon...”

“Much is at stake,” Time agreed. “I’m not one to flee from danger.”

“That much hasn’t changed. You said you had a wife? Tell me, who’s the lucky gal? And how have things been going elsewhere? I know you don’t live in Termina.”

“I’ll tell you once this is all over. I’m afraid there’s not much time.”

“Well...alright then. I’ll see you later?”

“Hopefully.”

He made it back to Four and Wind who were sitting in the inn, matching scowls on their faces. It was almost crazy how identical they looked. Time hummed, making sure his presence was known. “What’s going on?”

“They won’t let us out of town. They said we should go back to our parents because we’re ‘children’ and ‘don’t need to go out into danger’,” Four seethed. “I’m sixteen for the love of the Minish.”

Wind nodded but the scowl faltered for a moment as a glint lit up in brown eyes. “Er, and they called him a little missus.”

Time blinked while Four glared daggers at the sailor, nudging him. The old man shook his head with an incredulous smile. “We’ll spend the night, because I have to start figuring out where to go to find these saplings...if you could find me a map...”

“On it,” Wind saluted and pulled the smithy away.

______________________________________________________

“The traveller and I are off,” Time called. “Captain, go along with the champion to the Zoras, and the sailor and skyloftian can head to the Gorons. The rest of you go to Ikana Valley. See if you can get any information. The rest of you can keep watch for the Shadow around the field. There’s plenty of spots you can uncover.”

Once they gave them their assent he started towards the ocean. He would search for the Gerudo of Termina once more, to see if they had what he was looking for.

The Zora coughed wetly. “They took it...Lulu’s egg...I-I have failed.”

He clenched his fists and started walking away. Hyrule followed, silent until the old man felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey, are you okay? It might not be my place to ask, but you seem...tenser than usual.”

Time sighed. “I’ll be alright. I’ve gone to great lengths to rescue this land, even if it caused me bad memories. To hear something’s happening...I just worry.”

It was a half-truth. He did feel that way but...he was more angry because of the Gerudo thieves of Termina. Hyrule gave a nod. “We’ll do what we can. I...get that. Did you know Hyrule wasn’t where I was born?”

“Oh?”

“I was born in a kingdom called Calatia, that borders it. Hyrule now is actually called Lesser Hyrule, and most Calatians don’t bother to come anymore. My parents sent me there to explore, saying their ancestors lived there and they trusted me to figure things out. They didn’t know the land was filled to the brim with monsters, and how little resources there were. I managed to get to one of the towns and get myself a place to stay. I couldn’t go back...I can’t...I was set on making my parents proud...and...they passed while I was away. I don’t have a home to go back to.”

Time’s shock must be present on his face because the traveller chuckles dryly. “I’m not looking for pity by telling this story. Hyrule became important to me, even if its not what it once was. So, I understand your worry. We’ll save Termina...This land isn’t Lesser Hyrule and you know this place already, unlike me.”

“Thank you. Caring for a land broken and beaten is commendable. I admire your strength throughout what has happened to you.”

“O-oh well...I had to make do, you know?”

“Hm. While we’re heading there, tell me about your Hyrule. I’m rather curious hearing you talk about it.”

The traveller eventually started. “Well, there’s not much wild-life. If there is, they’re constantly hunted for food that people are desperate for. I never hunt, I usually buy some from the lucky few that have it. My Zeldas are doing what they can but its not easy. Ah, sorry. It’s easy to look at the negative things, but there’s plenty to love about my Hyrule. The knights are trained especially well, and so are the people in villages, so most monsters can be taken care of without my help. Kids, get trained to find the easier monsters, although to have them trained is entirely up to their parents. The kids like to wander off, so most parents do have them prepared if they meet any monsters along the path. All the towns gather near the castle to celebrate Ganon defeated, and there are tons of different festivals. They’re a lot of fun, I have got to show you sometime.”

Time blinked, feeling his stomach squeeze. Kids?

The boy in front of him continued, oblivious. “The castle isn’t open to strangers, but if it was people would like it, I think. There’s these flowers in beds in the courtyard that I really like. They’re called Coneflowers I think. There are different colours but I see mostly pink in the castle. They’re some of the only ones who can thrive out there. We have tons of tales to tell as well, because uh, we all really enjoy telling stories, and though they can have some dark themes I find them fun to read. I collected a lot during my journey, because there’s not much else to do during the night. Can’t sleep much cause I need to make sure nothing kills me, but I can’t necessarily continue on in the dark of night when more monsters appear. Books were very comforting.”

Time needed the kid to switch to something else. Of course, he acknowledged the good parts of the conversation but every word seemed to make his heart ache a little more. He patted Hyrule’s shoulder with a pained smile. “Tell me more about those Zeldas of yours...there’s more than one.”

He launched into an explanation about the story of how he woke a sleeping princess from a long, long slumber, explaining how it was his second quest, and the first time he encountered the Triforce. When he finished the old man managed to smirk a little. “And just how did you wake up this sleeping princess?”

The traveller blushed profusely. “Uh, well there’s the second Zelda that I haven’t told you about—“

“With a kiss?”

“NO! I mean, yes, but it’s not like that! Dawn, would be so upset if it did...”

“Dawn?”

Hyrule turned a deeper red. “Uh...”

Time chuckled, clapping him on the back. “You can tell me all about this girlfriend of yours later. We’ve arrived at the ocean. Can you swim?”

“N-no,” Hyrule mumbled, shooting him a glare.

“Alright. Well, I’ll lend you...” Time froze.

Could he really give Hyrule such a mask? Let him face the anguish of the mask echoing a dead spirit? He took a deep breath. “I’ll lend you the Zora armour. It should help you breathe, and then you can hang onto me, alright?”

A pirate ship sailed in the distance, which was funny, because it was destroyed last time he was here. A new one, huh?

All the more reason to check it out.

Time put the mask on, enduring the endless sorrow poured onto him and then grabbed Hyrule and swam as a Zora, getting through the water swiftly. Coral, of multiple colours and long bouts of seaweed that stood tall whirled past him, and a sudden thrill made him smile. Of course he kept a tight grip on the boy clutching onto him, but it was impossible not to laugh and feel the water brush against him as he hurried along. He remembered it making him sick as a child. Now it brought him joy. Once they reached the pirate ship the joy was wiped away like it had never been there in the first place. Time brought Hyrule up to a platform, ripping off the mask and stepping in. The boat was wooden, littered with lanterns that glowed dimly. Various shelves of random junk sat on the walls. It wasn’t a whole punch of puzzles and boss-fights this time. No, it was a long winding pathway, going up and up. Soon, he found himself lost. Hyrule groaned. “I wish the sailor were here.”

“Why?”

“He said he’s a pirate. If anyone he’d be able to figure this out.”

“Hmm...I do wonder if this is just specific to the thieves here though.”

“True.”

“I had to swing from one light to another without falling to the rough boards below me. I held on to the lights for me dear life!” Wind told them all, eyes lit up with a light that never failed to warm people’s hearts. “A time-limit was placed on me as well! No time could I waste clinging onto them, I had to be quick!”

Time rubbed his head, silent for a moment before ushering his companion forward again.

________________________________________________________

“Intruders!” A Gerudo hissed. “You’ll learn that we don’t take kindly to people storming inside our boat.”

Time resisted the urge to retort something back and drew his sword. “I don’t want to make this rough, but I have heard that the Deku Scrubs saplings have been taken. I don’t know what possessed you to steal something like that, but you’ll learn, that I don’t take kindly to this degree of thievery.”

“What saplings?” The Gerudo’s face screwed up.

“Don’t play dumb with me!”

“Wait,” Hyrule stopped the old man. “If you don’t know what saplings have been taken then you won’t mind if we search the boat, right? I know we haven’t done anything to earn your trust, but we can clear your name. We’re trying to help the Deku Scrubs.”

“As long as you get us something in return, we’ll let you,” Another Gerudo piped up.

“Aveil, my lady, what—“

“A Zora egg,” Aveil smirked, a long scar stretching down her face from the last time they met. “I want a Zora egg in compensation for the privacy you’re about to breach by searching this boat.”

“So you do have the saplings,” Time narrowed his eye.

“No, I have no desire for a sapling of all things. Since you won’t believe us though, we can make a deal.”

Hyrule looked alarmed. “A Zora egg? I know next to nothing about them but isn’t that—“

“We don’t have a deal. I’m willing to give you something else though,” Time dug through his bag, feeling the rough edge of a gem.

“Pray tell.”

“I have golden rupees. Multiple of them. I will give them to you as compensation. Deal?”

“...How many golden rupees are we talking?”

“I believe I have three.”

“More,” Another Gerudo murmured. “Five would be enough for us all, Aveil.”

“I don’t have five, and I won’t be able to get five,” Time countered, irritated.

“Well, three gold rupees and a silver,” Aveil decided. “If you cannot give us that, we will kill you for trespassing.”

“A pirate’s word is word. If you make a deal with me, I expect the exact thing I asked for. Anything less and...” Wind trailed off, as the old man handed him some rupees. “Of course the same isn’t for family. Don’t worry.”

Time started to sweat as he looked through his bag, swords pointed at his throat. There wasn’t a single silver rupee in there. He glanced at the traveller who took the chance to dig through his bag, but no one was pointing swords at him. He stopped to give a look at Hyrule who realized what he could do and he rained thunder down upon Aveil, eyes flashing with the same golden light as the lightning that poured forth from the heavens. The Gerudo pointing their swords at him rushed to defend their leader, giving Time an entrance to defeat them. They eventually fled, and Hyrule panted, looking wide-eyed. “They’ll be back.”

“Hmmm...maybe. I see you’re exhausted though. We’ll do a quick search then leave and rest okay?”

“Fine with me.”

Their search bore no fruit, no saplings anywhere to be found no matter how much they turned things over and rummaged through barrels and whatnot. Time gritted his teeth. “Guess it’s not here.”

“All that fuss,” Hyrule muttered.

“Well, I’d say it’s better we checked anyway. One place we know doesn’t have any saplings. I did find Goron drums though, which I took because it’s odd they’re there.”

“You sure they stole it?”

“These Gerudo are thieves. They stole Zora eggs once before.”

Hyrule fell silent as they got out of the ship. The traveller rested, considering the thunder spell he had used, and then they met back with the others. When asked, he shook his head. “Nothing from the area I thought would have them. We’ve got to search elsewhere. What have you all got?”

The captain looked at the champion sternly who glared back. “Well, if it weren’t for recklessness, we would’ve gotten better results. But, the Zoras didn’t trust us with any information after he accidentally destroyed something of theirs. I did learn though, that their home was somewhat ruined and something else destroyed, but that was all I could gather.”

Time hummed, opening his mouth but shutting it again. Disconnect between these two. He gave a stern look towards both of them. “While you may have prevented us from getting information, it was unintentional, so don’t beat yourself over it. Captain, thank you for gathering what you could.”

“He hasn’t stopped talking about it,” Wild snapped. “It was an accident.”

“All I did was scold you because you need to be more careful. We didn’t know the land. We may have ruined our chances with the Zora.”

“Captain, champion—“

“I am careful! Do you think I haven’t learned my lesson? I’ve ruined a lot of things,” Wild’s voice broke.

Twilight bared his teeth, stepping in. Warriors shook his head. “Not careful enough. For the record, at least you haven’t been breaking many weapons. Keep your hands to yourself. If you want to talk about it, we can talk later.”

“I’ve been doing what I can! You can’t blow up at me for making a mistake like this! If you want to throw blame around, why didn’t you stop me from making a mistake? Why are you being such a hypocrite?!”

“How am I a hypocrite of all things?”

“Have you been careful with our strategies lately? No. Have you been careful with what you say? I didn’t think so.”

“Break it up,” Twilight rumbled. “The cook with me, the captain with the old man.”

Time strayed to the back of the group. He chewed his lip, wanting to say something but deciding against it. The captain looked miffed. He could sort of understand where both groups were coming from. Warriors was upset because they could’ve come back with more information and he didn’t want a repeat of it. Wild was upset because he didn’t like the constant scolding about it after he had made a mistake. It had probably grown more intense after that. He sighed. “Well, sailor? Chosen? Anything to report?”

“Oh, yes,” Sky cleared his throat. “The Gorons weren’t angry. Very miserable though. The elder was kidnapped, and so was his heir, so they don’t really know what to do.”

“Kidnapped?” Time echoed, blinking back shock.

“Yeah, it was kinda crazy. Everyone just stayed in their homes, worrying. ‘specially cuz’ the heir was a baby of the Gorons,” Wind chimed in.

Oh. Poor kid.

He put a hand through his hair. “Any other news to report?”

“Ikana Valley was...” Four shuddered. “Something else. Some thief tried to talk us into giving them something and got terribly angry when we didn’t.”

“That wasn’t what we gathered, though. There was a girl and her father, and they told us a part of the valley’s just gone...Wiped out in a couple hours,” Legend cut in, grimacing.

“Which part?” Time asked.

“Uh, I think it was the graveyard and around it.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah, the undead have been leaving the valley, but new monsters have taken homes there,” Twilight added. “The girl and her father were concerned.”

Time took a moment to take in all the information given to him. “Even though I don’t like it, we might have to search the villages for the saplings. If they aren’t there, then we’ll have to assume that creature framed the humans and stole them itself.”

“The Shadow...” The smithy realized. “Could it have come here and caused all this?”

“It’s very possible. However, we don’t know where the Shadow is, and we won’t know unless we start searching.”

“Right.”

“We’ll start with Ikana Valley.”

They began to walk and Wild seemed a bit downcast. The rancher was talking to the veteran, occupied by something and didn’t notice. Time hummed, and turned to the captain who was chatting with the traveller about something. He sped up and put a hand on Wild’s shoulder. Wild jumped and looked over, before relaxing a little. “...Hello?”

“Are you alright, Cub?”

“...I’m 117 and I’m getting angry over this, when the captain’s right. I’m a failure.”

“Hey. I don’t think he means that. I think he just wants to keep us all safe, and avoid recklessness when it comes to these things. Don’t use your real age as an excuse, how many of those years did you truly live?”

“...17?” Wild tried.

“Was that you or him?” Time said gently.

“Him,” Wild replied, sounding frustrated. “But I remember some things of his life and its confusing whether I think of it as a completely different person, or my own experiences. Did you know there was a Zora Princess who fell in love with me? She thread armour by hand to give to me as a proposal. She died before she could give it to me...and now I wonder if she looks at who I’ve become and still loves me? I mean, if she was still alive, I think I would love her. But she’s not. Does my worrying even matter?”

“If she truly loved you, I think she would still love you after everything that’s happened. I think the fact that you’re worrying about it shows me how much you care about others.”

“...Really?”

“Yes. Don’t let failure bring you down because we all fail in our lives. Yes, you probably should have been more careful but it was an accident.”

Wild sighed. “Thanks.”

Time squeezed his shoulder and looked back at the captain. “You should talk to him. The captain.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s only going to get worse if you avoid it. You don’t have to do it now, of course, but sometime later.”

“Is that Tingle?” Wind gave an incredulous cry before Wild could respond.

Time’s face screwed up, realizing Tingle was supposed to be elsewhere, deeper in. “...Yes. He sells maps, although I’m not sure how useful they’ll prove because he sells them for other areas.”

“He looks familiar but I can’t quite place where I’ve seen him,” Legend mumbled.

Four blinked. “Oh the guy obsessed with Force Gems. Always stole them from me.”

“Great,” Time said sarcastically. “Tingle appears more than once.”

“Does anyone know a merchant named Beedle?” Sky asked hesitantly. “I thought of that time when I that I saw him in the cook’s Hyrule.”

Wild, Wind and Four raised their hands. Time groaned. “I hate time shenanigans.”

Everyone burst out laughing at the irony of it. The old man bemoaned, “Oh, hush.”

They went inside Ikana Valley. Termina wasn’t that big of a country considering the size of Hyrule. Well, he guessed that depended on the era. Tingle, a man in a pointy green bodysuit with a red belt and a clock necklace looked at their group and instead of having to pop the red balloon that kept him up, he popped his own and landed gracefully in front of them. “What’s this? A group of people with green clothes? Emanating strange magic? Sirs, could you by chance be forest fairies? Oh my! My name is Tingle! I think I am the same as you all.”

The old man resisted the urge to snort. If only he knew...

“Alas, though I am already age 35, no fairy has come to me yet...My father tells me to grow up and act my age, but why? I tell you...Tingle is the very reincarnation of a fairy!”

Twilight’s face scrunched up, and the traveller looked mildly offended.

“Now while I stand here waiting for a fairy of my own, I sell maps to help out my father. If you know where any fairies are please tell me! We’ll be great friends! Yes! Yes! I’ll sell you a map for cheaper now as a sign of my friendship. Will you buy one of Tingle’s maps?”

“We’re okay,” Time denied before any of them could speak up. “I have a good layout of the land, thank you.”

“...Fine, fine,” Tingle grumbled. “Oh, before you go, Tingle no longer sells Ikana Valley maps. Anywhere. Toodle-oo!”

They walked away, and Time led them through, checking every little cave and the Stone Tower. He never liked this tower, always hating the feel of it and how scared it made him feel. As an adult, he could safely say the feeling had lessened, but was still there. In the end, he got no results. He had no idea what to do about Ikana Valley’s issue, so he ushered the group out and they travelled to the Gorons. “I doubt they have saplings, but we might be able to find a trace of the missing elder and his son,” He had explained.

When confronted, the Gorons just shrugged miserably. So they searched. Sky asked if they had anything of theirs and someone held up a rattle, red in colour with the pattern of Din lined across it. The skyloftian clutched the back of the sacred blade on his back and walked out. “Sky?” Wind whispered.

The sacred blade gleamed with power, brighter than anyone had ever seen it, as the chosen hero stood, backs turned to them all and white sailcloth billowing behind him like a cape. The sun began to set, marking the near end of the day. Sky looked on at the sunset. “Fi senses them. You’re not going to like this.”

___________________________________________

“Are you sure?” Time asked.

“Positive. I know you don’t trust her, but she’s never been wrong about these things.”

The old man glared. “This is not the time to discuss preferences on that sword. If Clocktown has truly kidnapped these Gorons, they’ll likely have the Deku Scrub’s saplings too.”

Sky said nothing.

They hurried towards the town and avoided the guards. Wild tried to scale the town and could surprisingly get through so he pulled the others up. They sat on top of the walls and looked down on the unusually quiet place. The mayor, a man with pointy purple hair on his head and his face and an orange suit with purple pauldrons, and a couple of guards walked through town and everyone outside scrambled to get in their homes. The guards looked rather uncomfortable. “Mayor Dotour, are you sure this is necessary?”

“Of course!” Mayor Dotour yelled, turning to glare at the guard that had spoken. “Those nasty creatures invaded our homes and destroyed things! Do you doubt me?”

That was so...unlike the mayor that Time felt suspicion thrum in his gut. He saw the guards stiffen and shake their heads adamantly. The mayor huffed and looked around before pulling out a silver key and unlocking a room. The guards kept guard and the others leapt down. The knights pulled out spears. “Hey! There’s a curfew—“

“Wait,” Warriors hissed. “Do you truly like what the mayor’s doing?”

The knights blinked, looked at each other and kept the spears up. “No, but he has only ever had our best interests at heart.”

“You say there’s a curfew? The night is only just nearing, the kids wouldn’t even be in bed yet.”

“Well—“

“And you were just questioning him. He yelled at you and refused to explain. I think that’s good reason to disobey his orders,” Warriors continued. “If you truly are a knight in service of your people, you’ll realize something’s up, and needs to change. What else has the mayor done?”

“I hear wailing in here every night,” One of the guards admitted. “Sounds like a baby crying, and an old voice always tries to reassure it. Mayor Dotour never talks loud enough for us to hear him, though.”

“Sometimes I hear instruments but I’ve always just imagined it was the Milk Bar nearby,” The other one added. “Not only that but he’s told the town they’re not allowed to leave at all, and they must never enter this one building...it’s...something’s up, yes. These are only just recent additions, and Mayor Dotour never was strict like this before.”

“We’re looking for a Goron child and his father, as well as some saplings...ah, like Deku Scrub saplings,” Time explained. “They’ve all went missing.”

Concern flickered in both the guards’ eyes before they gave a nod. “You are all armed, I see. Perhaps you’ll be able to confront him.”

They swung open the door and the Goron elder was there, his son sitting on his lap. They were both chained up. The saplings weren’t there though. A collection of instruments sat on a shelf beside them. The Goron elder breathed a shuddery sigh of relief. “About time.”

The mayor startled at the sight of them. Normally wide, but tired, grey eyes looked back at him but his pupils were pure red. His eyes were narrowed. “It’s you all. Meddlesome brats. Now my guards won’t trust me. It’s no matter, I’ll dispose of them swiftly for betraying me.”

“Mayor Dotour. Or, is there someone else hidden behind this appearance?” Time unsheathed his sword.

He smirked, and then flashed a grin of sharp teeth before walking out. Sky narrowed his eyes. “He just...left?”

Twilight crouched down in front of the screaming baby and murmured, “S’alright little guy. We’ll get you out of here.”

The son blinked back tears. “H-Huh?”

“That’s right,” The rancher smiled. “Don’t cry. It’ll be alright.”

The chosen was looking through the open door, and the captain put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s gone. Perhaps he fled from us. For now, we need to unlock these cuffs, and get these people out of here.”

“There’s a hatch,” Legend called, pulling it open and looking under only to disappear, falling into it.

“Vet!” Four yelped.

The old man climbed down after him and saw a few lines of saplings. He ran a hand through his hair. “So these are where the saplings were.”

“What do you say, half us go with the Gorons and the rest take the saplings back.”

“Sounds good. You alright? Didn’t hurt anything during that fall?”

“No.”

They climbed back up to see the Gorons free, Twilight holding the baby, with a smile, and the smithy helping the elder walk out. The old man guided them all out and grew a bit suspicious when the guards were gone...that “mayor” said he’d dispose of them...There was a cry. “Folks!”

People peered out of their windows. The mayor pointed at them with horror. “They kidnapped the Goron Elder and his son!”

“Wait, that’s not true at all,” Wind tried.

The captain’s face hardened. “We were rescuing them from your mayor.”

“They’re blaming me! All I’ve done is try to keep you safe from people like these.”

The baby started wailing, and the elder suddenly collapsed, bleeding out from a wound on his leg. There were gasps and curtains shut, the people coming out of their homes. Kafei and Anju held each other, looking confused. “I’m Link,” Time told them. “I came here as a child when the moon was up in the sky, threatening to crush Termina. You may not remember me, but a few of you do, and know that I stopped it. I went around and helped who I could, on both smaller and bigger issues. Why would I be accomplice in kidnapping the people I helped?”

Murmurs and whispers. The mayor shook his head. “The moon being stopped was the work of the divine not some Hyrulean brat. Seize these Hylians! They have hurt our relationship with the Gorons by kidnapping them!”

The guards rushed forward, not the ones from before but entirely different ones. “Unhand the Gorons!”

“We’ll be taking them back to their home with the other Gorons thank you,” Twilight bared his teeth.

Time sighed. If they fought back, the people would trust the mayor more, and these were innocent people just following orders. If they let the Gorons go though, they could be back in the hands of their kidnapper. He hummed. “We’ll let you take us, if Kafei can escort the Gorons back to their homes.”

Kafei’s eyes widened. “Link, no, don’t let yourself get taken.”

“You’re siding with him?” The mayor hissed.

Time shook his head. “He’s not.”

Anju put a hand on her husband’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He relented. “Yeah, I’ll take the Gorons to their home.”

The people approved so the mayor could only nod along. The guards grabbed onto the heroes and took them away. Since when had they had a dungeon? He thought as they were tossed into separate cells. They only lighting was a dim ceiling light. “Old man why did you let us get tossed in here?!” Four hissed.

“Those Gorons had to leave.”

“We could’ve ran away with them, fought them off.”

Time was silent. He slid against the walls of the cell, exhausted from the days spent in Termina. He heard footsteps and looked to see the large purple hair of Mayor Dotour. He turned to them, and laughed. “I have got all you heroes where I want you. How does a public execution sound? Or would you rather I kill you all in the dead of night where no one will ever find you?”

“You are not Mayor Dotour,” Time observed.

“No shit,” The “mayor” transformed and suddenly they were looking at the Lizalfos. The Shadow. “You still haven’t given me an answer though.”

“Do you really need one?” Legend’s voice echoed throughout the dungeon.

“No, I wanted to do the public execution. I just need the Triforce of Courage from at least one of you, and I have more than enough heroes to choose from. Let’s see, why don’t we start with the Hero of Time?” Red eyes flickered to him.

When he got no response he shape-shifted into the mayor and got the guards to bring him out. The others began to protest. He heard their voices slowly fade as he was brought up into the light. Time watched the people around him. They were also silent, just like him, fear on their faces. They clearly wanted no part of this. He was about to talk to them before a voice from behind him spoke. “Hold it right there,” He turned to see a girl with curly red hair with a hibiscus nestled it. Her face was filled with freckles, and she wore a blue dress with a grey cloak. Marin. “Are you people willing to stoop so low as to watch this person get murdered and do nothing about it? Where is the proof he did anything?”

“Quiet!”

“Look at this guy! Is he the same person as he was? I don’t think so,” Marin continued, while the old man watched, dumbfounded as to how a girl in the war ended up in Termina of all places. “I see you’re all afraid of this man. You don’t have to be.”

The people slowly began to agree and the mayor’s eyes flashed a bright red. Suddenly he was able to move his hands again, rope cut that once bound his hands. The guards pointed spears at the mayor, who laughed. “Alright then. I was hoping this vessel would prove to be useful but I guess I have to do the dirty work myself.”

“Mayor Dotour” disappeared into thick mist and the Shadow appeared. The people grabbed what they could, ready to defend Clocktown. Marin leapt down and looked at him. “It’s up to you now to get rid of this monster. I’ll get the rest of your group out, I just have one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is Link in there?” She asked, tears gathering in her eyes. “The Hero of Koholint?”

He chuckled, despite everything. “There are multiple Links down there. I am one myself. The Hero of Koholint is not a name I have heard though.”

She gave a nod before blinking. “Wait, you’re name is...Link? Were you by chance in a war?”

He ruffled her hair. “I went by Mask.”

“Mask! You’ve grown up!” She cried, swatting his hand away.

“Go find your Link. I’m sure if he’s a hero, he’s down there.”

She hurried away, and Time turned back to the Shadow.

He charged at his foe with his blade and it was met with a darker, malicious one. The others soon joined him, along with Marin who avoided the vet but talked to the captain. Huh. The battle was quite difficult. The Shadow’s true strength overpowered everyone, and they nearly lost, suffering many wounds. Eventually, with blood splattered across town, the Shadow dissolved, promising to return. Time collapsed, being held up by Anju, who had rushed over. “—ink come on, don’t close—please!”

He lost himself to the darkness.

_____________________________________________

He opened his eyes and immediately wanted to close them but he heard a voice. “Hey, old man,” Legend murmured.

He turned towards the veteran and processed why he was here in a comfy bed, with Legend and remembered. He sat up, a but shakily. “So, what happened while I was out?”

“Sit back down,” Legend huffed. “I’ll explain.”

He told the old man of finding the true mayor, and explaining to the people that the Shadow was an imposter. “The saplings were returned to the Deku Scrubs, and the Zora were apparently missing important instruments that we gave back to them. The skeletons from Ikana Valley, though...haven’t showed up again. The town-folk were discussing about letting visitors back in and boarding the town up at night to try and stop any of the Ikana undead from creeping into their town. There was also talk about making another graveyard.”

“The Gorons?”

“Right. The elder and his son made it back safely, thanks to that man you sent off—Kaf something.”

“Kafei,” He said, amused.

“Whatever. I also...there’s someone here that isn’t supposed to be...M...Marin,” Legend hunched in on himself. “I don’t think it’s really her. The Marin I know is...long gone.”

“Well, I know Marin myself,” Time said carefully, thinking about what to say. “She was in a war with the captain and I. She said her home was gone, but she managed to get through a blue portal that appeared. When we tried to send her back, it didn’t work, so she went through a random one and...I suppose she might’ve ended up here.”

Legend’s breath hitched, and he ran a hand through his hair. “I accepted she was gone...and never coming back...I’m not who she once knew...”

Oh.

“I see. If you want to talk to her, tell her the truth, and I’m sure she’ll understand. Or if you need space, time, that’s alright.”

“Okay,” Legend slid down on a chair, expression unreadable.

Termina should be alright. Our next step is finding another portal.

The others came crashing into the room and the sailor ran and hugged him. “You gave us a scare, old man,” Warriors told him. “Those wounds were deep.”

“Well, I’m alive now aren’t I?” Time wrapped an arm around the sailor. “You all did an exceedingly good job these past few days and I’m proud of you.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Four called.

Time rolled his eyes. “Get over here. I hope you all don’t think you can’t give me hugs as well.”

He received hugs from everyone and blinked away something wet away. This was a far cry from his adventures, being in the company of a fairy. As much as he loved Navi and Tatl, he could’ve very much used a large hug like this. So, he thanked his family and tightened his hold on them, warmth settling into his chest.

[jeonscatalyst]

https://www.tumblr.com/jeonscatalyst/760611976056553472/just-saw-this-on-twitter-and-it-was-so-funny-to?source=share

The way they used to be like "oh look taehyung tricked jungkook into thinking it's for the two of them poor jungkook" this that because as you see in the caption them thinking that since jm was see first time with TK and as TK were hanging out they thought jm needed taehyung's support to mend things with jungkook 😭 i remember all these tweets they made when tae posted that vminkook pic and i even said that time you're talking about jimin and if there's one thing about jm then he will need NO ONE to keep mend things back in his friendships there's a reason his eq gets praised the most.

I also remember reading one of TK blogger in jkk tag before AYS jeju saying that they might make tae might play the meian role in jkk's friendship like they made it seem like in ITS and i replied them saying no one made it look like that and it wouldn't have looked that way if taehyung didn't ask jimin call jungkook lol. They still bitter about that. They thought jimin would need anyone's help to get back with jungkook (not like anything was wrong between them). And that acct who's ss u posted is especially a freakin manipulator thinking she knows better when of shit is just made. She has me blocked. And this bitch said that taehyung didn't know jk's room in ptd LA time because they used to hangout in taehyung's room 😭 like girl who's taking u seriously?

They wanna make jikook look awkward sooo bad but failing miserable ever since. They're talking about same thing in those reviews cause they expected jikook to be awkward but it's not happening so they calling it fake

Lmaoooo anon.

I remember seeing those tweets last year. I even saw someone saying that Jimin posted the fish Jk drew and left taehyung out even though he was there but it turned out Tae was on the boat but wasn’t actually there when Jikook drew the fish lol.

Taekookers thrive by manipulating and bending the hell out of the truth. That ITS convo continues to haunt them till this day and they desperately want to Jimin and Jungkook to be the two awkward bros and are trying to push that narrative to even out the playing field but no one is taking them seriously. The only way they can continue making sense of their ship is by coming up with 5373735262 theories about their ship being depressed, oppressed, suppressed and all the pressed. They can only do that by claiming that bighit practices all it’s trickery on taekook by editing their moments out of content or using subtitles to manipulate how fans perceive their interactions even though I’m sure deep down they know that’s not the truth. They keep saying bighit made taekook have the talk, bighit made taekook do this or that, infact every single time taekook don’t toe the line, they blame bighit and Jimin and it’s getting ridiculous. They also somehow think that Jimin and Jungkook getting debunked would mean that their ship is real💀

Imagine boldy saying that taehyung tricked Jk to be somewhere with Jimin and also claim that Jk was keeping his distance only to find out that Jimin and Jungkook were actually the ones hosting tae and Jk was actually around Jimin the whole time. Must have stung. That account is lucky I don’t fight shippers on twitter else I would have visited their page to laugh a little😂

[nekodere07]

Tanuki/Raccoon Joel and Kitsune/Fox Etho hide their true identities and pretend to be normal humans HC AU

Folklore AU inspired fr @mellozheist's (thanks for having stunning artwoks dude now I have brainrot and made this when I can't even turn this into a proper fic /pos) character designs of HC s10 Joel and Etho, where the former is a tanuki and the latter is already a fox hybrid but wears Japanese clothing this season. But in this idea, Etho hides the fact that he's a fox, so he looks like any other human until he isn't.

I almost forgot! Any relationship in this story idea is platonic.

Also posted on AO3 if you prefer to read it there :D

Joel reminisces about the time when he was an ogre a few years back, but shuddered since he thought it was cringe for past him to adore that movie so much that he changed into his favorite cartoon character. He looks at Lizzie's direction, and thinks he was relieved when she didn’t criticize him for who he was when she discovered the truth after Joel messed it up before.

While chatting with friends who are gathering in the living room, Joel notices his cup is empty and excuses himself to go to the kitchen, noticing how Grian is also following him. The noise from the living room fades once they arrive, having a quiet moment for themselves. Joel asks if Grian also comes to refill his drink.

Grian nods in agreement and heads to the counter to grab the tea box. Joel stands next to the blonde man as he waits for the other to finish, while Grian talks about how he's relieved to see everyone is doing okay even after months not meeting since the crossover.

Joel raises a brow and points out that obviously they're fine, and adds that why wouldn't they be. Grian explains that even though it was a bit, he was genuinely concerned what might happen to them after the Hermits left Grumbot for the Emperors to deal with.

Joel reassures his friend that as he can see, they're still alive and kicking before adding that Jimmy might not be since Joel's the one doing the kicking, mentioning how he built a giant portrait of them in his empire. Grian laughs as he pours water from the kettle, wishing that he could've seen the look on Timmy's face before offering to pour the water to Joel's own cup.

The brunette hands his as affirmation while saying that he looked exactly like a dumb idiot when he first saw that ghost when they tried that ghost investigator gig a few months back. The comments make both of them laugh and not long after, Grian casually asks if Joel wants to become a Hermit and join Hermitcraft. Joel abruptly stops and has to double back in his thoughts, asking himself if he misheards it but Grian answers his question when he repeats what he said.

There's a long pause of silence between them for a couple of seconds before Joel notices the casual look on the blonde's face morphs into wide eyes with a slacked jaw, tracing his gaze towards his back and twists his stomach into a knot once he notices the prominent brown tail on his back, now exposed for the world to see.

He's fucked.

---

Joel takes a look at the statues of Etho in front of his gate and glances at the real deal beside him, hesitating whether or not he should ask. It might be a touchy subject and he doesn't want to ruin the lighthearted moment they just had earlier. He jumps when someone clears their throat and turns to the source to see it was Etho. Etho says it might not be his business to ask, but questions whether Joel's okay.

Joel furrows his brows as he replies that of course he's okay, why wouldn't he be. Etho rubs the back of his neck as he explains that Joel's tail is slowly wagging while his ears are folded flat against his head, realizing it that Joel does that whenever he's upset about something. Joel smirks that Etho already notices his new body language in such a short period of time, pointing out that he really is obsessed with him.

Shortly, Joel sighs in defeat and says he's not gonna beat around the bush, so Etho should brace himself. Etho raises a brow in confusion and says okay. Joel asks if Etho is a yokai, making Etho flinch.

Etho averts his gaze while saying "I don't know what you're talking about." Etho thinks to himself that he sounded like Mrs. Tango when she tried to lie to them back then.

Joel adds that ever since he's showing off his yokai traits after that embarrassing blunder with Grian, he realizes that he can sense various energy flowing in the air and it's especially stronger on Hermitcraft. He then distinguishes something similar to himself and traces it to Etho, before reassuring that he never told anyone since Etho might be keeping it a secret like he did until recently and he wasn't sure if his assumptions are true or not.

Etho sighs and confirms that he's keeping his identity a secret. He asks Joel why he's hiding his. Joel says that it's been so long since he left Japan for good, long enough that he doesn't remember the language anymore, and was afraid that people might treat him differently if they know that he's a foreign entity. Nobody likes the unknown, so he's been pretending to be a human on different planets most of his life.

Joel then asks why Etho is hiding it, adding that based on the variations of species amongst the Hermits, he assumes that they'll be accepting despite of who Etho really is. Etho shakes his head and says that his kind already has a negative reputation in their home planet, more so outside of it. He doesn't want his species to influence his relationship with everyone. Joel nods in understanding and promises that his secret is safe with him.

Etho's eyes narrow and form crow's feet as he expresses his gratitude, a small indicator that he's smiling under the mask.

---

5 Hermits have been going outside the HC world for various reasons, but they promise to go back with souvenirs. When Gem, Grian, xB, and Zedaph have been falling ill and bedridden since they went back from the Hub, others have been trying to find a way on how to cure this unknown ailment that won't subside no matter what.

Etho, who's been one of the 5 but is miraculously fine, is never to be found publicly ever since the news about 4 Hermits being ill has spread. They see him going to the shopping district but never interact for that long whenever he meets someone.

The nerds of the community have been holing themselves in the archives of the stronghold to hopefully find a clue for the cure, only for them to find a book about yokai. They discover about tanuki, comparing it to what they know about Joel and laugh about how accurate the book is, especially about the part of Joel who traps/pranks someone but ends up embarrassing himself. Tango suddenly asks if his friends hear something, but they said no.

They continue to read until they reach the kitsune segment. They're horrified to say the least about the info, and realize there are similarities between the early signs of fox possession and the symptoms of their friends' unknown illness. They're trying not to be superstitious about the current situation since it might be a coincidence, until X receives a message from Cleo.

---

< Smallishbeans > hello Etho

< Smallishbeans > i tried to visit your place a couple of times but it always seemed like no one's home

< Smallishbeans > hopefully you're okay

< Smallishbeans > i just want you to know that it isn't your fault

---

They run to the infirmary, only to spot the 4 Hermits breathing heavily and convulsing as their hair roots start to turn white. Stress checks their eyes with a tiny flashlight one by one, and only then Cub sees that all their eyes are red and points it out. Tango says that he's aware that they shouldn't be superstitious, but he mentions that Etho's appearance oddly matches the descriptions in the book.

Doc agrees since he just remembered it now, but Etho's hair and both his eyes used to be brown until he apparently got caught up in an accident that changed his appearance permanently. Doc groans in frustration that he should've pressed about it more, but he didn't want to stress Etho since he wanted to keep that event a secret so badly.

Bdubs suddenly interrupts them with his greeting, making the nerds jump. Bdubs questions "Why the long face? It's not yet the end of the world, guys. There has to be something to cure them, we just haven't found it yet." Doc asks if Etho has spoken a different language other than English.

Bdubs perks and grins to compliment how Etho was really good with Japanese. During the early days of Mindcrack, he used to speak it a lot whenever they're alone and tease Bdubs just because he couldn't understand it. He then yells that no one can mess with him since he's a grown man and points that he only allowed Etho to tease him since he was pretty tense during that time, and switches to somber as he adds that it's prob bec of the tension before the war broke out. But since they left and moved to Hermitcraft, he refused to speak in Japanese even if no one was around.

When every healthy Hermit is kicked out by Stress, Cleo, and Hypno, they go outside to see others hanging out with various forms of worry in their faces.

X spots Beef amongst the crowd and asks the other nerds if they should ask Beef if he knows something else about Etho. Doc agrees and approaches Beef and receives a sorry fr the Canadian about not being in the mood to talk about their rivalry. Doc reassures that that's not why he's here, adding that it's about Etho.

Beef's reaction immediately switches to something dark as he asks "What happened to Etho?" Doc quickly says that Etho's okay, making the other Canadian relax, and he just wanna ask what's under his mask. He knows what he looks like underneath, but he's curious if it's different from many years ago.

Beef thinks aloud that there's nothing really different. Doc insists if he's sure, adding if there's anything subtle like unshaven chin or a tooth missing. Beef perks up "Now that you mention it, Etho used to have all of his canines intact but after we left Mindcrack, they may have grown longer, I think. It was so long ago, I don't remember the exact details. Oh, I almost forgot! He also lost one of them ever since then."

Doc agrees "Oh, yeah! I remember helping him make a substitute tooth, so he won't complain anymore about having a hard time biting meat" before thanking Beef as the nerds leave the scene, not noticing how a gaze has been following them the entire time.

Cub asks what they should do now, and if they search for other leads or rely on the superstition. Doc says that it's time for a confrontation. X points out that it's probably not a good idea to jump into conclusions when they're still unsure if it's a coincidence or not.

Doc replies that it'll probably be too late when that time comes, grimacing that he doesn't want to lose the people he cares about even though they're within reach. X sighs and agrees, but suggests that they should at least prepare in case something happens.

---

Etho brings in more shulkers into his soon to be storage area, dropping the one on his hands and wipe the sweat off his forehead with a sleeve. He's not sure how long he's been working in his base but based on how greasy his hair is, he must've been here for a long time. He turned off his comms ever since that accident, so he doesn't have any indicator of time other than what he can see beyond his windows. Electricity runs through his skin all of a sudden, making him jump as the magic in the air buzzes with tremendous energy.

Before he realizes, Etho jumps back the instant he hears something above him and just in time, he barely dodges the collapsed ceiling with a backward jump as everything is engulfed with smoke and something lands on the spot where he used to be.

He plants his hand towards the hilt of his sword in an instant, waiting for the cloud of smoke to clear. A spot in the middle of the mist forms a hole as something blurry comes out and pounces towards his direction, materializing the shield on his left hand in reflex and grunts once the unknown intruder lands on the wooden surface.

Etho gasps at the person in front of him, staring at their features with mouth agape. Their skin is now pale and hair gray, glaring eyes are fully white while red vein-like marks spread out to each corner. Their clawed hand raise above their head and swipes forward with tremendous speed, making Etho throw and abandon his protection but doesn't come out unscathed as their long nails grab his mask and graze small jagged lines on the lower half of his now exposed face.

His hand immediately covers his face while Scar yells to give his friends back. Etho can only furrow his brows in confusion. What does that mean? The other Hermit scoffs and complains to stop playing dumb, gradually emitting his magic stronger in every second as he adds "You have some nerve pretending to be one of us for so long," making Etho wince.

Why did he think for a second that it's going to be different this time? Just because he's been having the time of his life for the past ten years in this world, doesn't mean it won't end up like all the other places he perceived as his home.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, opening them back while he exhales and stifles his reaction towards the painful sensation in his chest, finally feeling like an empty room as he pulls out his sword.

The two jump forward as they begin their fierce interaction. It extends for who knows how long and unfortunately for Etho, his breath is becoming shorter and more hasty the longer the fight unfolds but due to his opponent's enormous magic reserve, Scar can still continue despite having run out of air like he did.

Suddenly, the former brunette disappears from his vision and quickly looks around but spots nothing. His ears pick up the noise of a pebble dropping and swiftly turns back, only to see Scar emerging from the ground like a ghost as he leaps to his direction but barely side steps with wobbly legs to dodge. It probably would've given him a huge advantage if he uses his animal ears, but he can't afford to expose himself now.

Gradually, his movements become sloppier and clumsier, even stumbling at a debris at one point that costs him his right arm.

Scar swipes his hand towards Etho's weapon, causing it to slip from the weak grip of his left hand before it flies and lands on the other side of their current position. Scar demands for the creature pretending to be Etho to let go of his friends if it wants to live, but Etho's reply is only his harsh breaths as he quietly stares at the other Hermit's direction.

Scar grits his sharp teeth and mumbles "then so be it" before stepping forward to swipe his claws. Etho shuts his eyes in anticipation of his demise but nothing seems to happen as he waits too long. He slowly opens them and spots something in front off him, gasping to see Joel standing between them. He looks down on the new member's feet to see the blood gradually forming into a pool before looking back up to make eye contact with the man himself.

"Joel, why are you--" Etho's breath is caught in his throat as he tries to ask.

"I--" Joel tries to smile but coughs blood instead. "--wanted to... visit my favorite fan..." He winces before breathing heavily. "...to see how he's going."

Joel drops to the floor but Etho manages to catch him on time, carefully laying his friend's head towards the green surface. He takes in Joel's pale features but every detail morphs into a blur, realizing shortly that he's crying. The only thing he can hear is the drumming of his heart against his aching chest as he can barely see Joel's lips moving, assuming that he's attempting to say something.

Wiping the ongoing tears vigorously wih his sleeve, Etho focuses on lip reading to understand what the brunette is trying to convey.

"I'm... glad... that... you're... safe..."

Etho interprets before seeing Joel's lips finally stop moving, intensifying the thumping in his ears as he registers that Joel's chest has also ceased to rise and fall. As if a rope has been cut in half, all of the decade's worth of suppressed energy in his body has unleashed like a tsunami, engulfing his entire being and immediately blacks out.

Scar, who's watching the whole ordeal unfolding before him, loses all his pent up rage while he can only gape in silence as Etho's forehead sprouts a pair of long fluffy ears, pristine white fur covering every part of his pale skin, nose and mouth lengthen into a snout with razor sharp teeth, tears multiple holes on his gloves as his nails extend into deadly claws, torso and limbs enlarge 5 times its original size while his back grow one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine tails, morphing his body into an entirely different entity.

The unknown creature roars, its voice reverberating and pushes him down like amplified gravity but barely holds his ground with wobbly legs as he can only cover his currently enhanced ears in hopes of preventing himself from going deaf.

What did he just awaken?

Not so fun fact:

[There are actually fox users who are hired by Hermitcraft haters to inflict harm on the Hermits, who had to go to the Hub before going to the specified planets they wanted to go. Those fox users use the foxes they tamed to possess the Hermits but Etho is different since he's a nine tailed fox shapeshifting as a human, so he's unaffected by it.]

[The reason why Etho's insistent on keeping his identity a secret was mainly bec of his experience in Mindcrack, when the people discovered who he actually was, they reacted negatively to say the least. He also kept that event a secret bec he was ambushed by a few members when Mindcrack was on the brink of destruction, and tortured him for info (and may or may not have treated him more terribly bec they knew he was a fox) but he refused to give any since he didn't want to sell out his friends (soon to be NHO), which caused him the scar on his left eye and lost control of his power and shapeshifting ability in the process, which prevented him from properly changing his human appearance.

He also can no longer change into anything else, so he's stuck as his human self. Luckily, he could still somehow hide his ears, tails, and eye, but the left one refused to change, so he just made an excuse that he had to make a redstone powered eye to replace his injured eye to explain that despite being wounded there, he managed to not damage his vision there.]

[thevalleyoftriumph]

hi!! saw your post of DID Chosen (am I allowed to call it that??) and I have been curious ever since, apologies if any of these has been asked before https://www.tumblr.com/thevalleyoftriumph/757624875107090432/so-um-for-those-who-arent-in-the-ava-community?source=share ^ Post I'm referring to just in case What are your characterisations of Chosen, Beast and Killer like? Going off of Killer not recognising Dark in the post, it was Chosen fronting in AVA3 yes? Who was fronting during showdown? Going once again off the post Beast is non-verbal/ mute/ straight up doesn't know how to talk, is that why he resorted immediately to violence upon returning from Alans PC? Assuming that was Beast Was Chosen co-conscious during showdown? Simply watching as someone else used his hands to tear his best friend apart? Or did he come back to find his life destroyed, and best friend killed, with no idea how any of it happened Also, what are Chosen, Killer's and Beasts pronouns? I assume they differ from eachother. And are your Chosen and Dark siblings? Sorry I'm aware this is an insane amount of questions, apologies if it is overwhelming Final thing, all I know about DID is from DissociaDID (may be spelled wrong) on YouTube, and I have no idea how trustworthy of a source they are, nor have I watched them in years, so apologies if any of the terms/ information I have here is out of date or proven false Anyway, that's all, hope you have a good day :]

hi oh my god anon i love you. sorry i just really adore getting asked about stuff i love yapping and youve offered me a LOT to talk about, please expect a MASSIVE wall of text. like i mean it the wall is huge and took me like, an hour or two to type up. you opened the floodgates anon.

FIRST THINGS FIRST ☝ never apologize for being curious it is the most wonderous trait a person could have. i have spoken about some of these before but mostly in the replies or dms of people and thus it is perfectly okay by me to ask for me to repeat them here. secondly your questions are not at all overwhelming in fact i got very excited to answer once i realized how much youve asked. thirdly your phrasing is pretty accurate yes! ones you used are def pretty common, and i appreciate the willingness to be corrected - lots of phrases [though not specifically the ones you used, i mean more generally] are picked up and dropped by people for a whole variety of reasons ranging from comfort to accuracy to current knowledge, so being open to being corrected is a wonderful mindset to have when going into something youre unfamiliar with ! <3

anyhow, answers to the questions, numbered to each, under the cut ^_^ and just for ease im also going to actually type like a normal human being just this once lol. last warning here if you click "keep reading" youre in for a MASSIVE wall of rambling!

1: What are your characterisations of Chosen, Beast and Killer like?

I'd say my characterizations aren't anything too far from common interps, mostly regarding Chosen.

Chosen is a relatively soft spoken and monotone individual. He's prone to getting lost in thought a lot, especially when in conversation - he likes to think things through very much before speaking. A stick of few words, he likes being simple and blunt. He has a very hard time trusting people, but when he does, he trusts fully and deeply -- he is a very, very loyal person once that trust is earned. Even if someone he trusts does something to cause him to become upset with them, such as with Dark, he is willing to hear them out. Despite this, he's also very rash - much as he loathe to admit it. He may not speak without thinking, but he very much acts without thinking, sometimes even doing something without realizing it at first. This leads to a lot of things bad - such as him shoving Dark from the console in the flashback. He acts in ways he thinks he should, consciously or not. He's also got a bit of Dark's stubborness - once he sets his mind to something, it's a very difficult task to get him to back down.

Killer is, despite their name, very different from what you'd assume. They're a relatively happy person, all things considered, and despite having trust issues of their own, often tries to see the best in people. They're also a more ""casual"" fronter, bordering on co-host, as they usually end up in front for more minor things, or even just incidentally after they wake up. They're quick to adapt, usually masking as Chosen in these cases, but are equally quick to relax in safe environments and be more themselves. They're very talkative, and love learning about any and all topics that interest them. They also fidget a bunch - often with the ends of the body's scarf, or with their bracelet, gloves, belts, whatever is closest. Despite all this, they're also quite jumpy - they are primarily responsible for internal things, especially regarding their memories, and thus holds quite a few negative feelings and memories that they'd all rather not have. And yet, somehow despite all of that, they have a hard time with people. Like shown in the comic, Killer isn't always in front, and doesn't have access to nearly as many memories as you'd think for someone with their "role." In fact, they had no idea Dark existed until the very moment in that comic, which in my mind takes place years after Dark and Chosen ended up living together. How on earth they managed to go that long without meeting him, well your guess is as good as mine. I'd say it's a mix of good timing [or bad, depending on how you look at it] and generally "better" circumstances not requiring them to switch in as much as they previously had to.

Beast... Beast is a whole other can of worms, honestly. It's a general wildcard. The result of being treated inhumanely and without compassion, Beast is someone who is stuck in fight or flight mode for it's whole life -- and it's response is anything BUT flight. It is aggressive to anyone outside of the system, and anything it could see as a threat to their safety. Like I mentioned, it doesn't really speak - internally, it can't, and externally, it just forgets that the body isn't limited like it is, so it ends up silent. This leads to a lot of body language - it is incredibly expressive, and has a bit of a staring problem when it's not actively trying to maul something. Honestly if I drew sticks with eyes it'd totally do that thing that cat eyes do in the dark where it just looks at you super ominously from the shadows lol. Anyways, despite this, as I will always reiterate when talking about Beast's personality, it is not malicious. It is not evil, and it is not trying to hurt people on purpose. It is, first and foremost, protective and scared. It does not know HOW to calm down, or how to feel safe, because every time it's ever fronted, it has been faced with progressively worse and worse circumstances. It is determined and protective, and willing to go to great lengths to protect the system -- and perhaps, one day, if it can heal enough to trust others, it would do the same for them. If you thought Chosen was loyal, then you haven't seen Beast at its absolute best.

2: Going off of Killer not recognising Dark in the post, it was Chosen fronting in AVA3 yes? Who was fronting during showdown?

You'd be correct, for the most part! During the beginning of AVA3, when Chosen was still imprisoned as the ad-block, it was primarily Beast - thus, the chains on it's design, and its seeming unawareness of them. Then, once freed, Chosen had essentially force-fronted into co-front with Beast to fight his way out, eventually allowing Beast to sorta "pull back" out of front over the course of the episode - probably when Chosen and Dark team up. [And for clarification - when I mean "pull back," I mean sorta slowly being pulled from front in a switch. I'm not ever really sure how to describe what it feels like to slowly not front instead of being forcefully switched out, but this is how it makes the most sense to me. I'm sorry if it makes absolutely zero sense to anyone else lol]

As for who was fronting during Showdown, I'll admit that I haven't entirely decided. Initially for sure, during the flashback, it is 100% Chosen. Even during the early fight scenes it's primarily him - he's not being completely overpowered or even threatened with complete death [as, at the very least in my interp, Dark never intended to kill Chosen, just incapacitate so that he could go through with his plan. He only started striking to kill with the CG, but not Chosen - never Chosen.]

However, I'd say Chosen and his systemmates were, after a point, REALLY fucking blurry for a lot of that episode. Rapid switches that left them disoriented and dizzy and much slower to react than they'd usually be. When Chosen goes back to Alan's PC, that is when it's not necessarily unclear anymore. I'd say at that point particularly, Chosen has pulled away enough for the sorta blurry mess in front to be exclusively Beast and Killer, with Killer being busy masking as Chosen to get rid of the Virabot, but Beast being sorta hovering ominously over their shoulder internally thanks to the SEVERELY negative associations with the desktop. Killer's masking would probably have slipped a bit at seeing the CG, mostly out of personal shock at learning about them, but they would've left back to the Outernet before they could really think too hard about it.

The rest of the episode, especially when Chosen is seen overpowered by Virabots, is totally 100% Beast IMO. The situation of being contained, restricted, overpowered and in danger - life threatening to them, even if Dark never intended for it to be that way - it was much too similar to their early days on the desktop. Thus, Beast VERY solidly force-fronted and in doing so with taking complete ""control"" made it so neither Killer NOR Chosen were there for the ending of Showdown. A lot of the actions done once TSC came back were just done out of shock, and a very rare show of trust - TSC had shown Beast that they were willing to fight to protect them, collectively, even if it was really in response to their friends being harmed - protect one, protect them all, if that makes sense. TSC had removed the threat, and thus, Beast had sorta filed them away as one of the very few ""trustworthy"" sticks - even if it's not necessarily trust, it's the closest thing to it.

3: Going once again off the post Beast is non-verbal/ mute/ straight up doesn't know how to talk, is that why he resorted immediately to violence upon returning from Alans PC? Assuming that was Beast

Beast totally had a hand in it, yeah. Despite it and Killer being relatively equally "there" so to speak during the return to the PC in Showdown, Beast did have a MASSIVE influence on their collective actions. Killer fought because it knew it had to prevent bad things from happening, while Beast fought because it was the ONLY thing it knew to do to prevent bad things from getting WORSE. That is to say you're pretty spot on there lol

4: Was Chosen co-conscious during showdown? Simply watching as someone else used his hands to tear his best friend apart? Or did he come back to find his life destroyed, and best friend killed, with no idea how any of it happened

As briefly explained previously, Chosen wasn't the only fronter for a lot of it, and got completely booted out of co-consciousness after a point. Thus, while he knows logically that he fought with Dark, and when he DID front again, he could connect two-and-two together and realize that Dark got fucking murked, you're right to assume has remembers VERY little of the in-between and the specifics.

In fact, quite a few memories from even the co-conning were instead "given" to Beast and Killer. That's not exactly how it works but it's the best way I can describe it, based off my own experiences with co-conning with others -- sometimes you just don't end up getting the memories if there's multiple people in front, for one reason or another.

Anyhow, yeah, most memories of that day are kinda stuffed in the metaphorical closet. Chosen knows something happened between him confronting Dark and him ending up at home on the couch with a hole in the 2nd floor walls, but he just.. doesn't remember any of it. He can make the connections - he can look out the window and see the result of TSC's final blow to Dark from their house, after all. He can tell Dark isn't just hiding out somewhere. He's forgetful, not a fool. But he doesn't know what happened in the fight, or necessarily who killed Dark, and honestly Chosen's internal communication with his systemmates is absolute shit and there's no way in hell Killer OR Beast are leaving notes about a Really Traumatic Event in a journal for him, so his ass is NEVER finding out unless someone tells him.

[Which, to explain why he knows of TSC's powers in Wanted in that case, on some occasions memories do get ""passed"" from alter to alter. This is usually done in the case of "filling in" for the host, for example, where the alter requires information that another alter had taken in. This is commonly seen in situations where, for instance, a system is out at the store, but whoever entered had switched out for one reason or another, and the new fronter needs to mask as the other one to finish their task without "giving away" that something happened. This isn't the most common thing for Everyone I'd say, but it happens with my system sometimes, and also happens with some of my system buddies too. Thus, in my mind, it happens to Chosen too sometimes. It doesn't ALWAYS happen! Ie, that time Killer had no idea who Dark was. But it Can and so I'm portraying it here lol.]

5: Also, what are Chosen, Killer's and Beasts pronouns? I assume they differ from eachother. And are your Chosen and Dark siblings?

They do, yeah! While I've seen some systems sorta default to one or two sets of pronouns collectively, a lot of alters DO have preferences for pronouns pretty commonly. I mean, I myself vary wildly from some of my systemmates, a lot of whom, for example, use she/her, but I myself don't at all! It's honestly pretty interesting to see the differences, from a curiosity standpoint.

Anyways, back to Chosen. I would once again like to state that these are my personal headcanons and also I don't own Killer OR Beast, I'm just giving them character, and thus not everyone may agree necessarily.

Chosen: He/him primarily, but doesn't mind they/them too. He's kinda like that one tweet that's like "I think I'm nonbinary but I have a job so idc about that right now" in a way lol

Killer: They/them. Has a very wavery sense of identity though, so it's not like they'll get mad or anything at other pronoun usage. They honestly encourage people to get a little fun with it.

Beast: It/it's. Not in a dehumanizing way, but in a reclaiming sort of way.

Lastly, in my interp of Chosen and Dark, they are indeed siblings, yeah! I really adore the headcanon of all 4 hollowheads being siblings, it makes me incredibly happy, so it's like that in pretty much all of my interps/AUs. If it's work done by me, you can probably assue Chosen and Dark are related lol.

anyway yeah that's about it i'd say :] once again i love you so very much for asking questions, and i hope these answered them and didn't just run you in circles for twenty minutes ! i do have a bit of a habit of just yapping on and on and not being very clear, so if anything doesn't make sense or if you want me to expand on any points, or even if i've just repeated or even contradicted myself, then feel free to point it out or ask anything else! ^_^

[moviesludge]

guy from high school added me on fb a few months ago. i was never really close with him. he was more of a friend of a friend type. i thought I remembered him getting involved in military somehow. And I remember it seeming like he was one of those guys that is very intense. like you get the vibe that he might snap some day and kill somebody or something. freaked me out a bit but I think he disappeared back then. So he pops up as a friend request a couple of months ago. Super courteous and polite guy but political vibes were off to me even though he didn't seem to post anything really overt. Then I posted a MARS ATTACKS painting of three kids that had just beaten down one of the martians with weapons. One of the kids was Black and this guy comes in making a comment about "DEI" something something. I acted like I didn't know what it was and asked him about it. He described it in a sort of innocuous way and I replied like "oh ok" and then he deleted his comment.

He had weighed in a couple times on other posts I made, with a helpful and constructive spirit. He seemed thoughtful and proactive, which I appreciated, but I felt like I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. So Just a few minutes ago, I saw that he posted a link to a Matt Walsh documentary called "what is a woman?". I'm not familiar with that guy or the doc but right away I'm like ughhhh shit. So I look up Matt Walsh on twitter and of course I have him blocked. (I block everybody who sucks), so I check out his profile and of course it's an anti-trans pile of shit doc and the guy describes himself as a "fascist theocracy" guy. I don't consider myself a really sharp guy, but if you're perusing the "market of ideas" or whatever and you see "FASCIST THEOCRACY" you can stop reading. And if you don't, there is something seriously wrong with you.

So you know. 5 or 10 years ago I might have messaged the guy and had a conversation telling him that I don't want to be friends with someone who is into stupid hateful shit like that and posts about it, but I've tried that a few times and it goes about as well as you can imagine. I'm not interested in explaining why you should shut the fuck up and let people live their lives the way that feels right to them, as long as they aren't hurting anyone. That is some basic life shit, and I think you either get that or you don't. And if you don't get that and you feel the need to spread some stupid chudbrain garbage like that, I do not want to be your friend, no matter how nice and helpful and courteous you act towards me. And maybe that's shameful of me. I own that. Because I am far too angry of a person to have the patience to entertain the idea of trying to guide people back from embracing hate and fascism. I know it's probably better to be a good influence to people like that, but I need all the peace and calm I can get in my life right now (especially now), and I go from 0 to psychotically pissed off and stressed out when I have to see people floating dumb hateful garbage in my periphery. Maybe I can work on this in the future and achieve my own robust source of patience and peace, but I'm not there yet.

I've already cut ties with a couple of people I used to work with who were more or less acquaintances. It was the same type of thing as this military guy but I probably was a little closer to them and liked them a lot more. I worked with the guy at Blockbuster and he ended up marrying this girl who worked at the cafe at Borders where I worked. I don't know if he did, but she came from a really religious family. They were both really funny, nice people. Over the years she started to post about all this nutrition stuff. Like you shouldn't eat something that has x thing in it or y thing in it, etc. And then she actually became a sort of social media nutritionist. I don't know if it was like a full time job or not but it always seemed just slightly weird to me. Like the weird you feel when you have a friend who is just way too likely to believe a conspiracy theory and go down an internet rabbit hole. But I never saw anything really overt from either of them. And then J6 happened and I remember the husband was like arguing with me about how the rioters were "trying to fight a wealthy elite system" or something like that. And I was just so pissed off about it that I was like extremely adamant in my replies that these people were all scumbags and shitheads working for trump. So I guess I overwhelmed him with how pissed off I was and he responded like "ok then they should lock em all up" but I think he was just sarcastically agreeing with me so I would stop telling him about exactly what was really happening.

I recently heard someone mention that the nutritionist thing is some kind of common red flag for weirdo fascist qanon adjacent bullshit. I had suspected that to be true but was never really sure until very recently, just after the election when she was praising trump and rfk for the things they did and planned to do. That's where I finally had to draw the line. Although I did see a photo that one of them posted and one of their friends was wearing a "let's go brandon" shirt. I probably should have known then. I think I did but I didn't want to believe it.

I guess this is a good time to praise the people that stay friends with people like these and do their best to influence them. I've read stories about people who really did help their friends back from the verge by meeting them where they are and kind of showing them the harm of what they're doing. It's crazy because I see friends of mine who stay friends with people like this and I like want to punch their friend through the internet. I just cannot stand them. If you can tolerate that shit, you're a more patient and understanding person than I am, and I applaud your efforts.

[fuck-customers]

https://www.tumblr.com/fuck-customers/740474153557164032/this-is-totally-a-dick-move-but-im-doing-it?source=share

I wanted to address a reply I saw on this post that I submitted. (I prefer to stay anonymous on the off-chance that someone could figure out who I am from my blog. The chance is EXTREMELY small, but if you read the original ask, you'll understand my concern)

Someone responded, saying that (I'm paraphrasing) by leaving negative reviews, I'm causing corporate to cut hours to my location even more and this is hurting me and I should instead leave fake positive reviews.

Ok I GET where you're coming from, I do, and I'm sure others have had that same thought. HOWEVER, as I said in my original post, I. WANT. THAT. STORE. TO BURN. I said in my original post that I've worked there several years (actually 4+ years more than any other employee at my particular location) and I've gotten shit on left and right. By the company, by management, and by customers and while I am looking for another job, it would make me SO happy to watch that shithole burn.

In the time I've worked there:

-My hours are always the first to be cut whenever "budget cuts" come around

-I regularly get scheduled closing shift when the other shifts CLEARLY have not done their tasks (as in I clocked in less than a minute ago and my manager can clearly see that the amount of work left could not physically be made in 1 minute) yet the manager is on my ass every few seconds to clean up after all of them and if my shift ends and I cannot finish, I get a talking to.

-I have been physically shoved by a manager and berated in front of coworkers and customers and that + the already stressful day I was having made me hide in the bathroom and cry. Then a few days later, another manager who wasn't even there that day heard about the incident (not the crying part-I hid) and made fun of me for a small mistake and said that I deserved the other manager yelling at me

-I spent my first year covering every single shift whenever asked and cross-trained myself so I could work in all departments and get more hours that way (🤡) only to be repaid by never getting promotions or raises (I did stop covering shifts after it was blatantly obvious that I would not get a raise/promotion/anything but taken advantage of)

-I worked the entire pandemic every day, almost to full-time, yet they refused to actually make me full-time, scheduling me just under (30-35 hours) so I was essentially working full-time hours without being able to get full-time benefits.

-An SM that worked there for a year apparently was threatened by me (though in no way was I after her job, I even repeatedly expressed that I had no interest in becoming management) and proceeded to fabricate an entire false story and reported it to HR as an EEOC issue in an attempt to get me fired

-Plus the multiple leads that have come and go that either treat all employees like dogshit and/or me, specifically. Talking down to me/us and snapping at me/us.

-Not to mention the disrespectful customers who see that I appear young and automatically assume I am stupid and/or incompetent, the most memorable experience being the old man who straight up asked me if I had brain damage and the (separate) old woman who straight up asked me if I was stupid and then immediately flat-out called me stupid to my face 10 seconds later.

PLUS: the store has been extremely noticeably not managed. We don't get enough hours to actually clean the store up and when I personally tried to start some cleanup projects on my own, I was actively discouraged and scolded by management. The place is a mess and actual customers have complained to me personally and other employees that I've witnessed about how shitty the store looks and how shitty the shopping experience is, so odds are, real customers are making the same reviews. I'm just filling in for those who lost their receipts.

ALSO: In the years I've worked there, I have seen several positive reviews from real customers, in fact the store used to have almost exclusively positive reviews, yet I never once saw any rewards from that. I even had customers personally go up to my manager and tell him how helpful and nice I was, blah, blah, blah and he came back and told me what the customers said and never once rewarded me and instead cut my hours when budget cuts came around.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[partofmycharm]

The Neon Project - Part Two (Male Yautja x GN Reader)

Awkwardly popping in to finally post the second part. Genuine apologies to anyone who was interested in this story and thought I lost interest. I never did, I was just stumped on how to continue. Also just letting everyone know that I saw every comment on the first part. I love and appreciate all of them, and I'm sorry I never replied - I'll do better.

-

Summary: You lead Hadt'yk'e to a club to find an audit log necessary to kick-start your rocky alliance.

Content Warnings: mentions of drugs and alcohol use, mentions of nudity (not the reader), swearing, SFW.

Wordcount: 3130

Tag List: @fall-myriad (happy to tag anyone who asks😁)

-

Part One

Sirens wailed in the distance, audible even from your position, presumably loud and echoing amongst the empty streets. You guessed it was one of the street kids caught prowling the shopfronts for some faulty security systems. It only ever was because no seasoned city dweller dared to even touch the metal sidewalks past shakedown hour. Kids often thought they were invincible, though. Until it happened to them, where the military plucked them off the street and shoved them into the juvenile detention centres on the outskirts to never be seen again.

You took the backroads — an interconnected web of tunnels that sat just below the surface. They’d been built years ago, a cooperative project between multiple rebel groups across the entire city. But they were old and a little precarious. Excessive foot traffic had worn down the stone, and the electrical equipment smugglers were able to source back then was poor quality at best, so there was a myriad of malfunctions that existed to screw someone over one day.

Hadt’yk’e hardly fit; the tunnels weren’t built for an individual his size. He kept his head low as you led him through the crumbling tunnels. You looked back at him as crumbs fell from the ceiling and rolled down his body. The claps of the debris hitting the stone ground echoed up and down the expanse of the tunnel.

It was difficult to not find his predicament amusing. When Hadt’yk’e clocked the mirth on your expression, he snarled lowly. It was an empty threat, perhaps just a warning, so you turned your head back to hide the growing, mocking smile.

An elevator sat up ahead. Your shoes scuffed the pebbles on the ground as you approached it and slammed your palm against the red button that jutted from the stone. There was a harsh creaking noise, and you waited in silence for a few seconds as the elevator jolted down to your level.

You pulled open the protective gate, which shuddered and groaned as it folded into each other. It revealed an old elevator covered in graffiti and peeling stickers. You entered first, but you never took your eye off Hadt’yk’e; not here, alone. He stepped inside after you, and it shook precariously under his weight.

“Watch it,” you said coolly. “Lift can only handle so many pounds.”

Hadt’yk’e glanced around, and when you pressed the only up button inside, he placed his hand on the wall. There was a horrible groaning sound as the elevator started to rise. The Yautja’s head craned up to carefully watch the grinding mechanics.

He wondered how many times it’d fallen, if ever. And exactly how far it would fall before coming to a crashing stop. His grip on the wall tightened, and he looked over at you to make sure you hadn’t noticed.

When the elevator stopped at the top, you stepped forward and pried open the metal gate. The antechamber was cold, and a green hologram glitched and bounced just ahead. ‘Human Only Territory’ glared at the both of you, almost mockingly.

At the grand double doors behind it stood a burly, silent man. You walked through the hologram, which disappeared inside your body for just a second before you approached the bouncer. He looked past you and at Hadt’yk’e, who came to a stop just a few steps behind you.

“What? You can’t read?” The bouncer remarked casually.

“Just biz,” you said harshly, leaving little room for argument in your voice. But the bouncer only sneered down at you with his one eye.

“This ain’t no grounds for business,” he said just as resolutely.

“It is now.”

The bouncer leaned down towards you, his breath ripe with spearmint. He spoke slowly as if he was spelling it out for you. “Humans. Only.”

Hadt’yk’e stepped forward, his shoulders squared. “Must I treat you like a youngling? This is business beyond your scope of practice. Step aside.”

“I’m no thug. I don’t get intimidated by freaks,” the bouncer said coldly. He leaned back and flicked his cool gaze to the purple Yautja. “Now beat it.”

There was a split second of tense silence before a loud crack echoed throughout the antechamber. You stepped back as the bouncer suddenly collapsed to the ground, blood dripping down the side of his face after the thorough hit Hadt’yk’e had delivered to his temple.

The Yautja stepped back and turned to you. You glared sharply. “No more of that shit. This isn’t a good cop, bad cop, action comedy.”

You pushed open the double doors and stepped over the bouncer’s thick, unconscious body. The club was basked with UV light — no strobes or flashing lights that made you feel nauseous. Most of the booths were occupied, and the smoking stations were blurred by a haze of white smoke. And, as the icing on top of the cake, just about everyone was topless, their skin painted with glowing designs of various colours. Psychedelic music vibrated the walls, floating up and down the two storeys of the club.

Immediately, eyes were on you. Well, not exactly — behind you, actually. Hadt’yk’e’s presence garnered an abundance of stares, sculpting him into an object of scrutiny. You could only imagine his discomfort, or perhaps confusion. No one went running, no one screamed, they all just glared as if his presence was a nuisance, like a persistent mosquito. Their red eyes followed his every step, gazing up and down the length of his tall body with a clear sheen of judgment.

The UV lights made the whites of your eyes and your teeth glow. You looked up to the second floor, which overlooked the club below. The railing was cold on your palm, and the metal stairs rattled under your combined weight.

Hadt’yk’e shouldered off the abundance of unwanted attention as he kept his head straight. He looked up at you as you trekked up the stairs, trying to gauge how you were feeling. But you, too, wore your emotions glacially cold.  To be fair, you weren’t the centre of these drugged people’s attention, whose eyes still followed the hulking purple figure until he disappeared onto the second floor.

You turned and held your hand up. “Leave it to me this time,” you said, if anything, quite coldly. The last thing the both of you needed was more trouble, especially here. When Hadt’yk’e chuffed behind his mask, you exhaled roughly through your nose and turned on your heel. Fletch was certainly going to get an earful for what he was putting you through.

A black leather booth wrapped around a corner. It was occupied by a middle-aged man with a metal left hand. He sips from a tumbler glass while two women sit on either side of him, dressed in only short skirts. Their upper bodies were painted with glowing red as they blew smoke from a small machine that bubbled on the glass table in front of them.

A security guard leaned against the balcony, watching you and Hadt’yk’e with careful eyes as you both approached. He folded his arms over his burly chest as if to puff it out more. When you got closer, the guard held out a hand and then made a shooing gesture.

“No, no, Sean. Let 'em through,” the man on the couch said. Isaac, his name was, the CEO of a technology company founded on Elysium. His products were popularly used in warfare. There were also rumours he had dealings with President Eustance, but that was neither here nor there.

Isaac pointed at you. “Fletch send you?” He asked, his voice deep and gravelly from years of chain smoking. The two women in the booth shifted, sending you and Hadt’yk’e selective looks.

“Yeah,” you said, folding your arms over your chest. “Just some side biz.”

“Huh.” Isaac nodded almost as if he was unimpressed. He hid it well as his sly gaze slid to Hadt’yk’e. “Who’s your friend?”

You sighed, your shoulders heaving. “Just a shadow,” you said through an exhale. Hadt’yk’e looked at you for a second, unimpressed, but not visibly so.

“Hmm.” Isaac’s hum rumbled over the music. “Yautja.” He grinned, pointing his pinkie finger at Hadt’yk’e. You raised your eyebrows at the blatantly insulting gesture. “They’re everywhere. Even when you can’t see ‘em.” Isaac looked at Hadt’yk’e, then. “Como las ratas.”

Hadt’yk’e squared his shoulders. He didn’t rise to the bait, though, You cut in before anything serious happened.

“As much as I’d love to sit here and discuss the quintessence of Yautja’s, I’m actually wanting to discuss something a little more important,” you said without even bothering to hide the sarcasm that dripped from your voice. Isaac raised his brows and gestured for you to continue. “Did Fletch send you the deets or not?”

“Fletch and I are no longer in correspondence with each other,” Isaac said. He pointed at Hadt’yk’e again. “It seems my absence has opened a few holes in your resolve.”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” you said easily, raising your brows as if to emphasise your point. “You have something that we need. A chip.”

Isaac shrugged. “I have many of those.”

“It’s an audit log of all the crafts that have registered on the touch-down pads,” you said coolly, breezing past his sarcasm. “As far as we know, yours is the only company that tracks that kind of data.”

The only company that does dealings with the Cobras, but you left that part out.

“Hmm.” Isaac hummed again, lifting his chin a little higher. “First you get some Yautja to fight your battles for you, and now you want to, what? Stalk some people? Neon City isn’t yours, you know.” He leaned back, placing his arms around the two women. “Maybe I should get back in touch with Fletch. Provide some moral support.”

“Do you have it or not?” You asked bluntly. Hadt’yk’e remained as stiff as a rock beside you. He’d crossed his arms at some point, trying to reinforce an imposing presence behind you.

“That depends on how much you’re talking.”

“A thousand credits for a night,” you said. Credits were the underworld currency across most human colonies, Elysium included. “I’ll get Temperance to return the chip tomorrow.”

Isaac waved a hand. “Two thousand. And an extra five hundred for the bouncer you almost killed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

With a heavy sigh, Isaac leaned forward and turned a glass tablet around. There were a few live video camera feeds, and the man tapped his knuckle on the entrance surveillance camera, which showed the unconscious bouncer. “Perhaps this will recall a memory.”

You slowly looked over your shoulder to glare at Hadt’yk’e. When you turned back around, you tilted your head to the side. “Deal. But we need it now.”

Isaac smiled, his gaze darkening with sick pleasure and greed. He snapped his fingers at the security guard. “Sean will retrieve it for you.” He nodded once at Sean, who made a point of directing the weight of his ire onto you before purposely bumping shoulders with Hadt’yk’e on his way past. Isaac watched, a sly glint in his eyes. “But I need to see the credits now.”

“Half,” you responded quickly. The jacket you wore only seemed to make your body temperature feel sweltering in this psychedelic club. You felt you were about to get high just listening to the music.

“I don’t think so.” Isaac wagged a finger. “I’m not about to be scammed.”

“Fletch isn’t interested in ripping you off.”

“Maybe not Fletch.”

You stayed silent for a few seconds. You then lifted your hand and yanked down your jacket sleeve to reveal the clear thin strap around your wrist. There was a small chip in the centre below the soft flesh underneath. “Transactions in his name.”

 Isaac sucked on his teeth as he observed you with a glinting gaze. “He trusts you.”

“Trust is scarce,” you responded quickly. You pulled the jacket sleeve back down and shot a pointed look at Hadt’yk’e, who remained unnervingly silent. Though, you supposed you had told him to just shut up and let you do the work.

“Right, you are.” Isaac leaned forward to grab his tumbler glass. He sipped the dark liquid inside that, upon closer inspection, emitted a faint smoke.

Conversation dwindled until Sean returned with a plastic baggy, inside it the audit log chip. He showed it to Isaac, who tsked and leaned forward to grab his tablet. His fingers tapped roughly on the screen, and when he turned it back around, you found that he’d brought up the secure payment tool developed long ago for non-legally authorised exchanges.

When you confirmed it was half of the agreed price, you brought Fletch’s transaction ship to the screen. There was an audible ding as the app processed the payment. Only then did Sean allow you to snatch the baggy from his hand.

“One day,” Isaac warned, holding up a finger. You almost scoffed — as if you would forget his rigid conditions. “And I want it back in perfect condition.”

“Your biz is with Temperance after this, Isaac. Not me,” you said coolly. You tucked the baggy into your pocket and took several steps back, almost bumping into Hadt’yk’e.

“Watch your shadow,” Isaac said, again gesturing at the purple Yautja with his pinkie finger. “Oh, and (Y/N)?” When you turned to look at him, he grinned. “You should visit more often. I’ll save you a nice warm seat.” As if to emphasise his point, he wrapped his arms around the women’s shoulders and squeezed their bare breasts.

You pretended to think about it for a moment. “Hmm. Pass.” You turned back around, walking off quickly to escape the heated conversation.

Isaac sighed heavily as he pulled his arms away from the women, who were both dazed, the whites of their eyes red from the drugs. “Chingado,” Isaac muttered as he sipped his drink.

Neither you nor Hadt’yk’e spoke until you exited the club. The bouncer was still unconscious, though he was being tended to by a topless man whose body paint didn’t seem so impressive with no UV lights. He glared sharply at the both of you, and you kept your head down until the shuttering elevator started to move.

“That was Isaac.” Your voice rang in the tight space, bouncing off the yellow metal walls.

Hadt’yk’e grunted. “He is no saint.” He folded his arms over his chest, evidently bruised by the unexpected ego attacks.

“He’s a CEO. Corp motherfuckers who think they’ve earned the right to treat others like trash,” you spoke quietly, staring at the chipped concrete ahead as the elevator rattled dangerously against it. “When in reality, they’re no better than us, creeping around after dark like rats. Only difference is, they’re only here to flaunt the money in their pockets.”

“Hmm. And referring to me as your shadow is not treating others like trash?” Hadt’yk’e asked casually, looking down at you through the eyes of his mask.

You glanced at him, quickly answering with a snappy response. “I don’t know if you noticed, but outsiders aren’t welcome here. You’re lucky no one tried to fuck anything up.”

The elevator came to a shaking stop, and you stepped out into one of the tunnels in the backroads, the same one that led back to one of the Cobra’s’ safehouses. Hadt’yk’e stepped out after you, watching as the elevator precariously shuddered in the absence of his weight.

“Only I’m lucky?” Hadt’yk’e asked after you both started walking through the tunnel.

“You think I care about the credits?” You made a point of scoffing loudly.

“Yes,” Hadt’yk’e replied quickly. “Is your survival not dependent on the lowly payments your temporary employers promise you with?”

“You’re dumber than you look if you think it’s difficult for me to find another contract that pays the same, if not more.”

Hadt’yk’e chuffed, almost with a disbelieving aura. “If it were me, I would be more concerned about what my superior would say if they found out I left my partner at the hands of intoxicated scum.”

You quickly turned on the Yautja, who paused in his path before he ran you over. “Let me get one thing straight. We are not partners. We are not allies.” You pointed between the both of you. “You are nothing but yet another Arbitrator dirtying his name to pay the likes of me, who is nothing but a criminal who could destroy your life if anyone else found out that you were here with me.” You lowered your hand. “Don’t fool yourself and think this is anything more than just a job. Don’t make yourself look like an idiot by thinking that Fletch would give a single fuck if you were to die at the hands of ‘intoxicated scum.’”

“Not even after paying so many credits for a useless chip?” Hadt’yk’e jutted his chin at you.

You squinted. “It’s two a half thousand credits. We have this thing called debts, and that’s nothing off my back.” You turned around and started to walk again. “And, by the way, this chip isn’t useless. It’s an audit log that tracks the movement of spacecrafts.”

“So, mine would be registered on this log, I assume?” Hadt’yk’e just about breathed down your neck.

“Don’t sweat it. Temp will give back the polished audit log.” You rested your hands in the pockets of your jackets as you walked, protectively curling your fingers around the baggy. “And besides, we’ll be able to track the precise location of the handover that occurred. You know, with your so-called buddy.”

“Hmm. Yes. The one you handed over to Weyland-Yutani.”

“Yada, yada, yeah, that one,” you said sarcastically. “We can record all the activity in that area and try to triangulate the possible coordinates of their facility. Could be in there within a few days, granted your friend is still alive.” You said the last part quietly.

“He will be,” Hadt’yk’e said.

You hummed. “I didn’t know Yautja communicated telepathically.”

“I don’t know what this means, and I don’t appreciate your goading.” Hadt’yk’e’s voice was stern as he followed behind you.

“I wasn’t goading,” you replied coolly. The end of the conversation saw you reaching the Cobra’s’ safehouse. The steel door was painted red, and you banged your fist a few times on it before a small hatch opened. Two eyes peered through, and when they landed on your figure, the hatch slammed shut, and the door rolled open.

You waved Hadt’yk’e through. “Ladies first.”

Hadt’yk’e grunted, staring down at you with his mask for a few seconds before he turned and strolled past the man who waited for you both to enter. You sighed, smiled in mirth, and followed the large male before the door rattled shut.

[sophieinwonderland]

Back to the "Sophie is dangerous" doc: Return to the Survivor's Network

In episode 1, we established that I'm a block evader for interacting with people who *checks notes* don't have me blocked...

In episode 2, we learned how, according to the doc's author, all Tibetan Buddhists are apparently monks?

What nonsense are they going to spit out next?

Let's find out as we return the doc!!!

First, I do want to preface this by talking about the Survivor's Network Discord Server and how I handled it.

Because I truly do regret it.

At the time, a former member of the server (Squid) posted about how members of the server were regularly mocking me, and were even using a Discord bot to roleplay as me to do so.

A current member at the time (KipAndKandi) made a post that seemingly confirmed for me that this was ongoing, which suggested to me that, based on the timeline, this had been going on for months by that point.

And as these accusations were flying, the Survivor's Network's members largely remained silent about it, which felt like an admission of guilt. If they were being misrepresented, then surely the SN members would come out to correct the record, I reasoned.

Eventually, members finally did come out to say that the roleplaying only happened a couple times. And the active member who seemingly confirmed it suggested they misspoke or were misunderstood. (I believe they said they had meant they saw the immaturity and the attacks on me, but not the roleplaying.)

All in all, I handled the situation in a very destructive way, and I wish I had tried reaching out to people in the server instead before going into war mode.

Having said that, I do have to address some just... utterly ridiculous takes on this controversy in the document.

WHY would this "interesting"?

This is, perhaps, the single most brain-dead critique the author of this document could have given.

In case you didn't realize, Squid hated me too! Practically all the sources I used could be described as "anti-Sophie." Both the current members at the time and the ones who left it. There were no "pro-Sophie" sources in that.

Believe it or not though, I don't base someone's credibility solely on how much they like me personally.

Honestly, it's bizarre that you think I would.

Is this how you think? "Well, this person dislikes me so their opinion isn't valid."

Frankly, I considered KipAndKandi's testimony way more valuable BECAUSE they didn't like me.

Here's the start of that post for context, where they stated they saw what Squid was talking about.

The fact that they were both supporting the SN and didn't like me at the time meant if anything, they would be biased in favor of the SN, and would have no reason to lie and make stuff up that would damage the SN's reputation, unlike a disgruntled former member like Squid who had a grudge against them.

More than that, the fact that they were new suggested it was an ongoing problem because Squid had been out of the server for months

Squid was disgruntled and had motive to lie or at least represent the SN in a negative light. Similarly, if I had followers or people who did like me in that server, they would be biased in my favor and also be less reliable sources.

I can't stress enough how utterly absurd it is that you think I should have dismissed their testimony simply because they didn't like me.

DissociativeDiscourse's Misgendering Post.

Now here we get to the other issue with the Survivor's Network which had to do with its admin, who posted the following, responding to an ask I answered.

Their screenshot of my post in response to a misgendering ask that echoed transphobic talking points:

Their reply:

And YES, it's fucking misgendering.

Why would this even be up for debate???

The fact that it's in response to a post I made and is using male pronouns is misgendering. Regardless of whether the misgendering is based on transphobia or pluralphobia. It's still misgendering.

In fact, it's very, very intentionally and maliciously misgendering with the "dude. bro. brother." line.

It crosses the threshold from "I'm going to ignore your gender and don't care if it hurts you" to "I'm intentionally going to repeatedly misgender you because I want to hurt you."

I legitimately debated whether this was technically transphobic or not, but the fact that it IS misgendering seems pretty cut and dry to me.

To be clear, I didn't believe in a grand conspiracy.

My thoughts on the SN is that you have a close group of friends in an echo chamber of sorts regularly attacking someone, cherry-picking their posts, and constructing a totem of what that person is. They each feed each other's anger and hate, building up this strawman.

And then this boils over into attacks outside the server.

I didn't think dissociativediscourse was leading everything directly, but I did have reason to believe that the other members of SN saw it and chose to not speak out about it because it was someone in their clique.

I don't necessarily believe that anymore. It certainly could have slipped under the radar, and just because a person is the admin doesn't mean they're all following that person's tumblr or watching their posts. But it's what I felt at the time.

Also, while not a conspiracy per se, there is a degree of coordination in their posts.

I thought the reports from Squid, seemingly backed up by KipAndKandi, were sufficient.

I thought, if there was another side of the story, it would come out once the accusations went public.

In hindsight, I could have approached other members of the SN privately, and should have. But... the idea of DMing a group of people who pretty much universally can't stand me was scary. And I wasn't sure if I could even trust them. If they lied to me in DM, I would have no way to verify if anything they said was true. If they had to defend themselves publicly, someone in their server, or who had been in the server in the past, could call them out on any lies. But in a DM, there would be no possible way to know unless I tried infiltrating their server myself.

Again, I handled this the wrong way and I regret the damage this caused to members in the server. But I want to explain my rationale at the time.

More on Vetting...

There's one more thing I need to say, on the subject of vetting, the author says that there's no way to verify that the screenshots of DissociativeDiscourse were real.

This is because within 1-3 days of making my first post about it, DissociativeDiscourse went back and deleted the post.

So it's true that it's no longer there.

Because it was deleted.

There is no possible way to verify that it was real.

There's nothing that can prove it ever existed.

The only ones who know it existed are me, DissociativeDiscourse...

And OH YEAH! The entirety of the SN who read DissociativeDiscourse's apology to the server, which was then put into Circ's document addressing the accusations.

When the post resurfaced this year, the admin had this to say in the Survivor’s Network: i am going to be fully transparent. i am the one who made that post, on November 28th of 2022.

You can see the full "apology" post and my response to it from the time here:

Putting "apology" in quotes because it was a private apology to the server that feels more like it's apologizing for the optics and doesn't seem to grasp how the post was bad.

In fairness, they did try to explain why they didn't try to apologize to me directly, including this line...

She has a tendency to twist words in posts, or assume bad faith when there is none, and it was felt the apology would not be accepted in good faith.

And... I can see how they would get this impression. I think they're wrong. I think I would have accepted a sincere apology and would have dropped it. But I understand why they would feel this way.

There is probably a lesson to be learned here about the importance of communication. Because I think both myself and the members of the Survivor's Network were scared of trying to address the other in a healthy way for similar reasons.

And even here, I've felt guilty for how things went down for a while but didn't know how to address it or apologize. So from that angle, I can understand it. I think the reasons they chose to not apologize to me weren't too different from the reasons I avoided really apologizing for how my actions hurt the people in SN.

Because doing so can be hard and scary. Especially in these types of situation. I get why they chose the route they did.

Back to the matter at hand though...

Vetting...

To the author of the document... if you weren't part of that drama, I can forgive you for not knowing about this very public document with the confession that literally everyone knew about at the time.

After all, you're not omniscient. You can't know everything.

Even if, again, everybody else did.

It does seem like you should have asked DissociativeDiscourse about the document though before implying I may have made it up. Especially when, as you point out, one of my failures in that drama was not properly vetting claims.

But maybe you couldn't reach DissociativeDiscourse.

I mean, they haven't posted in months, right?

So... in your wisdom, you decided without contacting them to dredge up past drama including a post they made that they were so ashamed of that they deleted it within days of being called out.

But wait... You claimed you contacted and got permission from everyone in the document, right? So... did you manage to reach DissociativeDiscourse to ask if you could include them, and then just chose not to ask if they made the post because it wouldn't support your narrative if they admitted it to you.

I'm almost certain DissociativeDiscourse wouldn't have denied it after making a post after admitting to it and apologizing for it to so many people. And if they did deny it, I'm even more certain that you would have happily put that into your document to try to prove I made the whole thing up.

So what is it? Were you lying about getting permission from everyone? Or did you contact DissociativeDiscourse to ask permission but then just chose to imply it could have been made up without even bothering to ask them directly if it was real, when you easily could have checked with them?

Or, I don't know, maybe something worse: you asked, they did admit to making the post, but you decided to go the "can't verify" route anyway because it suited your purposes better?

Which is it?

Because none of it looks very good for you.

Anyway, that's it for this episode of the document drama. Stay tuned for episode 4 where we get to talk about even more bad takes on gender in the document that thinks misgendering plurals isn't actually misgendering. Yay!

[ryuichirou]

Replies

It’s July! Couldn’t write any shorter replies over the weekends, let’s catch up a little bit.

Most of them are related to things that we posted lately, but not all of them.

Starting with the Lilidia comic from yesterday.

Anonymous asked:

I feel disappointed in myself for thinking ilia and idia pic was going to be nsfw and doing all sort of stuff so I can see it with out anyone else.seeing what I'm looking at (in public)

Don’t be disappointed in yourself, Anon, this is the exact reaction that I wanted to get from this comic… Sometimes their gaming sessions get very heated and intense~

It’s been a while since we posted anything spicy with these two though, that’s true 🤔

Anonymous asked:

Istg, even when Idia’s DRUNK he sounds adorable.

(related to this hc post)

He is just way too much of a babygirl, isn’t he, Anon? Maybe it’s because I just can’t stop woobifying him lol But he really would be absolutely helpless against alcohol… Someone should record his drunk mumbling…

Anonymous asked:

lol is this comic a "what if" of book 4 where Riddle accepts Floyd's offer to stay with Octavinelle during winter break? Have fun goldfishie!

(this is related to this comiс)

YES!!! I’m glad you noticed! I couldn’t stop thinking about this scenario. Poor fishies are bored out of their minds celebrating the new years together, adding Riddle would make the dynamic so fun and fresh! At least for Floyd, I guess…

I drew this sketch in March, and now it’s July… winter break never ends 😎 happy new year!

Anonymous asked:

1. I just have this very strong feeling that Floyd got Riddle drunk for that exact reason.

2. I also have a strong feeling that Riddle's gonna come to in the morning and not know what just happened or what to do next besides blow his top and start screaming or something.

You are absolutely right, Anon, especially when it comes to the second thing lol Riddle is going to have an amazing beginning of the year. He experienced so many new things the night before…! And he remembers none of them. He does feel hangover + some other interesting sensations in his other regions though…

Anonymous asked:

Crewel would be my fave teacher, doesn't matter how mean he is. He just seems like someone interesting to be around.

Do y'all like Crewel in a way like that? Or any other teacher?

(this is related to this pic)

I agree, Anon! Crewel does seem like a scary but very cool teacher, who is young enough to feel somewhat relatable but also old enough to have this feel of “I’ve seen things, you all are just pups” lol

The comic was actually inspired by the thing my English teacher at the uni said to us instead of his introduction. He was about Crewel’s age, liked to dress up and bullied the boys a little bit lol I don’t know, he was professional but also a bit unprofessional at the same time because teaching us wasn’t his main source of income, so he basically just wanted us to know English and was an asshole about it all the time. But in a motivational way, I guess. He was also that one teacher that told me that I should draw for a living instead of being a sociologist.

Personal stories aside, I think my favourite teacher would be Trein LOL I used to fall asleep during classes all the time, so it would be difficult for me to stay awake during his lectures, and he is also hella strict, but I love winning over this type of teachers. It’s fun when they are mad at everyone except for you.

And Katsu finds teachers like Crewel to be scary and is a bit intimidated (literally said “terrified”) by him… Katsu would also be very distracted by his whole BDSM thing lol

Anonymous asked:

He just needs to sleep with Deuce that'll wake him up

Sleeping with Deuce is better than drinking coffee…! It could also distract Crewel from the lesson and give the rest of the class 40 minutes of free time lol I think Deuce should take this “bullet” for the boys.

Anonymous asked:

(¿spolier chapter 7?)  I saw Kalim's new clothing and thought about your Sultan looking for heir-Jamil please rethink your lifechoices-AU (I need to see how Jamil's plan ends up biting him in the butt in that AU.. Jami mama). By the way, what do you think Kalim's dream will be like? I think he already inherited his family's wealth (what!?), that dream Jamil remains a mystery tho.... whatsoever, It's going to be distressing, juicy and long-suffering Kalijami! (the best Kalijami imo!)

The attire really is similar! Well, no surprises here, since I based Kalim’s and Jamil’s clothing on the Sultan’s and Jafar’s, but still, it’s cool to see Kalim dressed like that. I am also happy to hear that you like this AU! Jamil’s plan is inevitably going to bite him in the butt, this is how things always are with Jamil lol

Since we haven’t read any of ch7 yet, I really can’t answer your question. While it’s inevitable to see snippets here and there, we don’t know anything about how the dreams work yet (no spoilers please). But you’ll find it out soon enough anyway!

Anonymous asked:

It's no secret you guys enjoy horror and gore! Somehow you draw it so beautiful *chef kiss*

I was wondering, have you guys ever seen/played Boyfriend to Death(+2) and The Price of Flesh?

It has a bunch of horror and gore in it dark all over and ofc it being an 18+ game there is 👀 you know 👀. But the characters are what's so great about it !

I really like Ren of out of all of them <3

If you do check it out, I highly recommend you check out their warning charts for the characters routes just in case because it does get VERY dark ( maybe I am over dramatic here but I don't know how else to put it without spoiling certain parts of the characters)

But also reading the about info on the carrd I don't think the warnings would be an issue ✨ but I thought I'd mention it just in case you two wanted to look it over!

I recently got into it and your account was the first thing that popped into mind when I finished playing the first two games ✨

Anon!! <3 I’m happy you like our horror stuff! And I am also very happy that you think of our account when you get into some creepy and messed-up stuff, this is super flattering to be honest lol

So thank you for the recommendations! We haven’t played/seen anything that you’ve mentioned, but it does sound promising with how you’re describing it. We’ll look into it, even though I can’t promise anything… still, it’s very appreciated!

Thank you again for your ask and for thinking about us.

[maleswillbemale]

Don't mind me just dropping receipts of JK Rowling engaging in holocaust denial~ Tee hee! :3

https://youtu.be/whJJGqVtkEk?si=aN1HXEfuR7BgxmgY

First of all, I should be financially compensated for having to watch this guy in an Ethel Cain shirt for thirty minutes.

Also, all of the voices used to narrate the posts were so blatantly exaggerated to make people he disagreed with sound cartoonishly villainous which was cringy as fuck. He was incapable of handling this topic with maturity or neutrality at all, and that made it incredibly difficult for me to digest this.

Here's what I learned, unbiased, from the video.

JKR saw a tweet from another user that claimed that nazis burned books related to trans healthcare as an argument point against her. This original tweet had no sources. JKR asked if this was a fever dream and commented that she would need to check her sources because it sounded false. Because it does. Because the original poster didn't provide any proof of this. That isn't Holocaust denial, that is skepticism towards a random Twitter user who made a big claim on a sensitive subject without providing further information. You shouldn't blindly trust what you're told online, especially on Twitter.

The books that the Nazis burned were by a homosexual Jewish man. Someone apart of the LGB alliance who was not JKR got into arguments over whether or not the author of the books was truly a good person, with accusations of him being pro-eugenics and supporting the castration of homosexuals being brought up with a book as a source. JKR posted a link to the thread with this information, but did not make the claim herself nor did she probably read an entire book or look too deeply into the claims happening, which granted she should have done, but she clearly took the elaborate thread and source for granted.

According to mister YouTuber, neither he nor someone else on his source team could find exactly what the LGB alliance claimed was in the book. He admitted things could have just been worded differently than on the thread, but the exact phrases such as "genes" were not in the book. Apparently the author was with a man 40 years younger than him though which I don't know why mister YouTuber brought that up (not even negatively, just randomly dropped) but okay I'll mention it here I guess

Hirschfield (the author of the burned books) was in fact racist and a supporter of eugenics by admission of mister YouTuber. Oops! Mister YouTuber admits that Hirschfeld supported castration for the "feeble-minded", but argued that there wasn't any evidence for homosexuals being considered under that umbrella for Hirschfeld. He also admitted that Hirschfeld, regardless of showing support for some feminist movements, still viewed women as inferior to men.

Hirschfeld's research partner created vaginoplasty, and it's mostly practiced the same way today. He (the research partner, Gohrbandt) also practiced horrific experiments on people for research in hypothermia apparently (and was never punished afterwards), but that's somewhat unrelated. Which leads to:

Mister YouTuber conflates criticism of Hirschfeld's political views and research to the criticism of modern transgender plastic surgeries sterilizing people, which is something JKR has expressed concern over before. This entire discussion isn't even remotely related to the denial of the Holocaust.

Next a user named Alejandra accuses JKR of Holocaust denial with screenshots to various articles that discuss the burning of Hirschfeld's books. JKR replies that the burning of Hirschfeld's books does not mean all healthcare books researching transgenderism were destroyed nor were trans people the very first victims of nazis, which Alejandra didn't claim and argues that she didn't. JKR responds with a screenshot from another user who was making those claims to clarify that despite Alejandra not saying it, others were. That was a bit off topic, but mister YouTuber goes on about people commenting unrelated to JKR even outside of the whole LGB alliance discussing the Hirschfeld mess as well, it's not just JKR going off about unrelated shit during this discussion.

TRAs were trying to twist the narrative of Hirschfeld's books being burned to instead mean that transgender people were the first target by Nazis and that ALL books pertaining to them were destroyed, which was factually not true and, frankly, incredibly insensitive. Mister YouTuber argues that a TIM named Dora who had vaginoplasty surgery at Hirschfeld's institute disappeared during Nazis storming the institute. Dora may have died or been arrested, the actual fate is unknown. I have no comments on this because no one ever said trans people never died to Nazis which he is insinuating and arguing against but I'll mention it here.

Mister YouTuber uses this incident as proof that trans people were targeted by Nazis and they lost all of their research - which was mostly worded with the same mythical usage as when people describe the burning of Alexandria, where people assume we'd be way ahead of what we are right now if the burning didn't happen. I wish I could drive home the fact that transgender people were killed and targeted (and still are today!) because they're seen as homosexuals. A lot of them ARE homosexuals. Man who is feminine = gay = a threat that needs to be dealt with. That is the reality of violent 'transphobia'. Homosexuals were murdered by Nazis. People like Dora were seen as homosexual males. Hirschfeld was a homosexual Jewish man.

The video then pivots to be about whether or not transgender people were killed by Nazis for being trans. JKR criticized TRAs for making the literal Holocaust center around themselves.

Mister YouTuber then goes on about transgenders being targeted by Nazis. We could go in a circle again explaining that transgender people were conflated with homosexuals which is exactly why Nazis would want them dead, or we could go over how NO ONE SAID THEY WERE NEVER KILLED BY NAZIS, but it's useless to keep having this argument. I will bring up that race was a big factor for transgenders when they encountered Nazis according to mister YouTuber's source excerpts though - 'aryan' transgendered people were almost always safe while Jewish and Roma ones were not according to this video's sources. When they (aryan transgenders) were charged, they usually had to pay a fine or go to prison rather than concentration camps. While still bad, it's not even remotely comparable and it happened far less because usually they were deemed not guilty in court since they were "racially superior"

Mister YouTuber brings up JKR's goblins in Harry Potter which is beyond a dead horse at this point.

Here's a direct quote from the fucking video YOU linked me from this man himself: "Joanne may have denied Nazi war crimes, but she isn't a Holocaust denier."

She literally only showed skepticism towards a random Twitter comment that didn't provide sources or any explanation. Should she have researched on her own time before responding with skepticism? Probably! But to stretch skepticism to mean Nazi war crime denial is just that: a stretch.

YouTuber uses anti-Semitic comments from other Twitter users as proof that JKR is bad somehow. Not her fault and there's plenty of TRA idiots who comment dumb shit all the time too. It's irrelevant. She has millions of followers and I see disgusting comments on random Twitter posts literally all the time, it's extremely common to have annoying bigoted trolls on there.

Anyways, here's my takeaway from this:

JKR needs to stop responding to random TRA comments who say dumb shit without sources. That TRA was using the Holocaust, a horrific and traumatizing part of recent history, as an argument point for the trans movement. She probably should have just ignored it or researched what the commenter was talking about so she could be better prepared.

With that being said, I didn't get any notion of Holocaust denial from her whatsoever. I saw nothing but skepticism at a random comment because people love nothing more than to be painfully inaccurate about historical events

I don't think Hirschfeld sounds like a good person at all thanks to his racism/hatred towards black people, his misogyny, his support of eugenics, and his bizarre 40 year age gap relationship, but I don't support Nazis terrorizing him for being a homosexual Jewish man fucking obviously. I would say that Malcom bringing all of this up is sort of irrelevant to what was actually being discussed. It's good to know that Hirschfeld had horrific political views but that wasn't really the point of the discussion going on so it felt really unrelated and out of place in my opinion, but Malcom isn't JKR.

JKR linked to Malcom's thread because he expanded on what these claims were talking about and he provided sources about Hirschfeld and his beliefs. She just didn't read the book that he used. I think she needs to be more careful about source checking and research, because otherwise she's ripped apart even if it's not her saying it.

'Aryan' transgender people were spared the horrific crimes of the Holocaust more often than not according to the very video that you linked to me. I hope white TIMs think about that before they make the Holocaust about themselves, which is exactly what JKR was saying she didn't want them to do. Because she doesn't deny that the Holocaust happened and knows it was a horrific event. It was almost alwaysJewish and Roma homosexuals/transgenders who suffered the brunt of Nazi hatred.

I don't read Harry Potter, and I don't have a deep attachment to JKR. I went into this video wanting to see where exactly the accusations she's receiving were coming from, and I'm left just feeling frustrated and disappointed. It's normal to not trust what a Twitter user claims at face value. It's normal to be skeptical about big claims surrounding the Holocaust. It's normal to not want something as serious as that trivialized.

There were some talking points in the video I didn't cover because I'm on mobile and I didn't have as much to say about it. The link is there for anyone to watch it and take away their own opinion afterwards.

My opinion is that I think JKR handled this poorly, but I do not think she is a Nazi nor do I think she is denying the Holocaust.

[socialjust-ish]

I reblogged this post, and @butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway responded. I think it's an interesting topic worth discussing, but butts has asked that we not fill up the OP's notes with giant discourse posts. I agree.

Here is a link to butt's response. Below the "read more" is my reply, because it is long and I am not going to ruin your dashboards.

Under what other fundraising circumstances have you asked people to perform their vetting in public for your approval (as opposed to the more traditionally accepted practice in community organizing of providing outlines that describe some but not all of your vetting procedures outside of the context of any specific call for funds)?

I generally work off the assumption that a fundraising post on Tumblr is a scam. Tumblr's search feature is not the best and I am even worse at tagging posts, so I don't have an easy way to search my blog.

But, on July 9th, I reblogged this post, about someone asking for help with a gofundme. I was, full dislcosure, in a sentimental mood and real sad. And the story got to me. So I reblogged it uncritically.

But here are the tags I made:

Maybe not the clearest indicator of "buyer beware" but the intent was for me to say "I believe these people, but you should do your own homework and be warned my belief is because I'm a sucker for a mom post."

Even with that context though, and with fully believing the post, I thought the responsible thing to do was warn anyone who saw the post that my reblog was unverified.

Because what you’re describing as “vetting” is, in fact, what I learned in my organizing work as “modeling vetting procedure for educational reasons” and includes getting the explicit consent of all involved to perform (in part due to the violative and invasive nature of most vetting techniques and approaches) the process in full via case study. This, notably, is not something that can ethically be done for anonymized public consumption, because literally no one would consent to their entire case study being made publicly available forever on the internet, and therefore cannot be ethically performed. Which is WHY the other, traditionally accepted, practice exists. To offer broad spectrum reassurances to an anonymized audience about the fact that vetting of fund calls is being performed, without unethically dumping a person’s entire life online during one of the most traumatic moments of their life.

So, first off, my wording may have been a bit poor, here.

I wrote that vetting is:

"Vetting is reviewing their information and disclosing what was reviewed and how it was validated."

What I should have said, for precision, was

"Vetting is when someone reviews the post's information. That person then discloses what type of material was reviewed (e.g., they spoke to them in person, they met over video chat, they have only spoken by text) but not necessarily the specific details of said material, and how it was validated (e.g., I met in person, I demonstrated it was a live feed, they had one witness with them, the photo includes a newspaper of today's date)."

So that's totally my bad. I shouldn't post on my phone.

My example of vetting was just that, an example. I wasn't suggesting that needed to be done for every case. I also probably shouldn't have added the last line about "here is the video for you to see."

But it's important to remember the context of these fundraisers: These people are already sharing their names, family members health conditions, and photographs of themselves online. It is not any more onerous or invasive for them to post a ~5 second video saying "Hey, it's me." These are non anonymized sources.

They're also, again, asking for five-figure sums of money. Some level of skepticism should be allowed and encouraged.

So I will ask again, being extremely clear about what I am asking and why.

First off, this is a snakry comment on my part, but this is not a clear question. It is 173 words long (113 if you end it at the first question mark), contains a few parenthetical tangents, and so many double negatives that I genuinely got a little bit lost. So, I'm going to break it down and answer as much of it as I can, but if you think me breaking it up loses context, feel free to advise.

In what other circumstances have you demanded the unethical revelation of private (and in mamy cases protected) information in order for you to personally verify the vetting process done by the person performing it,

Couple of points here.

As set out above, I believe my clarified definition of what "vetting" constitutes does not require the revelation of private information. It requires an authority figure stating "I have vetted this post, here's how."

If someone is posting a Gofundme online, and it is being "vetted" by a random blogger, the academic standards of ethics and protected information don't apply. You don't get to play the game of "This example of 'vetting' only works in an academic setting as an example" and simultaneously expect regulations and ethical standards used in the context of academia to apply. There is no "protected information" in the context of these fundraisers. These are anonymous people publicly asking for money from strangers. People considering providing funds can ask whatever questions they want to satisfy their respective level of skepticism.

I haven't ever demanded this information - even in my post above (because I gave an example of one method that vetting could include that disclosure =/= that's the only way to vet something) - because I don't typically donate to gofundme pages. But generally speaking, I demand this information for anything I do donate to. I once got scolded by a fundraising person on the street because I asked what portion of my donation would go directly to the charity, and what portion was a commission their contracting company received.

vs accepting their public conversations about tactic and technique (whatever else may be debateable about 90-ghost, it is NOT debateable that he has openly and publicly discussed his vetting process, even if he declines to publicize specific case studies, per ethical aid guidelines) as confirmation of process that you are within your rights to trust or not trust, but NOT within your rights to claim aren’t actually being done just because they are not being done for public consumption?

I did start my post by writing:

The entirety of the rest of them are just reblogs from 90-ghost. Of those reblogs, I think only two have 90-ghost saying anything, and all they say is "this is legit".

I'm not suggesting 90-ghost needs to publicly disclose the information of each family they supposedly vet. I was suggesting they need to do something other than tacitly reblog it.

I don't know who 90-ghost is. If you go to their page, their pinned post is a request for help for their personal fundraiser.

Their sidebar has two links, one to their twitter, one to their instagram. His Instagram post has two photos on it, one from 11 weeks ago, and one from 2014. His twitter appears to be more personal - sharing and reposting news about the war. A lot of it is not in English, and I'm a loser monoglot, so I don't know what is or isn't being said there.

But to the point: You cannot figure out how 90-ghost vets their posts easily. Despite your claim that it's "not debatable he has openly and publicly discussed his vetting process." It's actually pretty difficult to find. In fact, I can't actually find any posts of his explaining it. It might be easy if you follow him or are actively engaged with this community, but I'm not commenting on this because I follow him, or even OP. I'm commenting because I saw it on my dash.

Here's what I was trying to suggest was needed instead of these blank reblogs.

"Hi, I am 90-ghost. I have vetted this fundraiser. To learn what my vetting process constitutes, see this post [link to a post.]"

The silent reblog and the assumption it's vetted is what I take issue with, here.

If thus is NOT an ask you have made in other circumstances, can you explain to me what *specifically* about this set of circumstances means that the traditionally accepted public-facing vetting procedure discussion is inadequate,

Because charity scams, specifically charity scams related to Gaza, have exploded since October 7th. This is true of every natural disaster, according to Forbes.

and how this has NOT been present in other times when you have interacted with or spoken on the process and procedure of redistributing funds?

Two points here.

I don't typically interact or speak with the process of redistributing funds. I interact with what comes up on my blog. And so I click a link, and see that it's suspicious, and then look into it.

It wasn't until I started seeing posts about the Gaza fundraisers that I became aware of this issue with scam fundraisers. Don't worry, next time a hurricane hits, I'll be just as skeptical about those posts.

Additionally, and this is anecdotal, but you're asking what's different here, so this is the answer.

I reblogged this post on August 2nd. Within one hour of posting it, I had four asks in my inbox from "gazan Gofundmes". Prior to that ask, I had received a grand total of 0 gofundme posts in my inbox. That means one of two things:

Multiple people are watching every single reblog of their posts like a hawk, and critical or not, if a reblog was made, they then go and manually send an ask.

It's a bot network sending asks based on reblogs, like every other bot network on this site.

I deletedthose asks and so they're gone from my inbox, and I can't compare them to the verified list, but I reblogged one post and got four asks for others almost instantly. I assume it's pretty similar for everyone else who reblogs these fundraisers.

Even if they were legitimate, using a botnet to garner attention is... scam-like behaviour, if nothing else.

You have given zero evidence that any of these fundraisers are raising flags of illigitmacy, and are so far merely offering the possibility of illegitimacy and the protection of recipient private info fully in keeping with standard aid procedure ethical guidelines as enough to assume fraudulance.

Again, I'm criticizing the "vetting" done here, and people's apparent willingness to just trust a reblog as an endorsement of vetting. It is exceptionally easy to make hyperlinks on Tumblr. It is easy for 90-ghost or the spreadsheet to simply add a hyperlink saying "Vetting process is here."

The spreadsheet just says "this was researched by us."

What does that mean?

I understand that in the world of mutual-aid communities, you might have shorthand. But you need to understand that if you are trying to send a message to people who don't live in that world (like me) you need to provide some basic definitions and explanations of process.

All I've said (or at least, all I meant to say) in my post is "these "vetting posts" do not clearly explain how the post was vetted. That needs to be done, and people should think critically about why it isn't being done."

If you can, with a straight face, say "hey, silently reblogging a post and having to dig through that person's blog for pages and pages to find the post discussing how they vet things is a good system" then you and I live in different worlds.

That is….a wild speculation on your part that, by your demands, you are ill-equipped to actually validate or support on your own, which tells me you have (heaven forbid) decided to TRUST people in your sphere who tell you that you have cause to doubt these fundraisers,

I clicked a post uncritically reblogging a fundraiser, and went "Oh, these are vetted." I then followed the link to the supposed vetting, that they include, to find that it is a silent reblog from one person.

This was me, following the links on the post, to see how they vetted the post. And I was lead to that every time.

The post said "vetted here." The link it takes me to is not a vetting. It's a silent reblog. Even if we accept your standards for vetting (which I don't think are actually that far off what I consider vetting, I just worded it poorly) these posts don't do that. As I said in my first reblog - literally only two say ANYTHING, and it just says "this is legit."

That's barely any information at all. These people are asking for upwards of $50,000. If 90-ghost is trying to advocate for them, the least he can do is put in the 30 seconds of work to make the posts not look like scams. It's bad advocacy, if nothing else.

even though you yourself visibly lack the understanding of how that doubt should or even WOULD in aid work be put to rest.

Just to be clear, I fully accept the premise that if someone trusts 90-ghost, and 90 ghost says "I have vetted this post." then that's enough to justify donating.

What I'm saying is that a wordless reblog or "it's legit" is not proof of any of that happening. And if people from inside the community think that's convincing to the outside community, they are either naive, intentionally hoping people don't click the links to check, or some third reason.

If 90 ghost had a link at the top of the blog saying "Hey! Here is how I vet a post. If I reblog a post, it is a direct endorsement of this vetting procedure." I would be satisfied.

It's that they're operating on, apparently, an unorganized chain of faith that makes the "vetted HERE" links completely misleading. To figure out how 90-ghost vets posts, you have to dig through hundreds of their posts. To consider a quick hyperlink to a wordless reblog a valid source of vetting is unreasonable, in my view.

So my follow up question, once you’ve answered the earlier ones, is how are the conspiratorial accusations you are leveling here any different from the blind trust you are accusing others of having in things they don’t understand enough themselves?

I'm not entirely sure what the "conspiratorial accusations" here are, but I'm assuming it's my two bullet points re: What 90-ghost could be doing - this part:

There's no reason to trust 90-ghost just because they reblogged the post. How do you know 90-ghost isn't

A) In on the scam;

B) So (rightly) upset that this is happening that they don't care if some of these are scams on the off chance that even 1 is legit, and so are using their goodwill to "vet" posts.

If 90-ghost is doing a thorough vetting, that should be shared

If this is wrong and you're referring to something else, let me know

Again, this may come to me being imprecise in my language, so I apologize.

How I perhaps should have phrased this, is:

"A reblog alone is not enough to confirm a post is vetted. How do I know, from a silent reblog alone, that this post was vetted? If 90-ghost is vetting the posts, he should be sharing that by stating he has done so, and providing information on how he vets posts (again, not the specifics of the vetting for each individual, just a "here are the steps I take" post that is immediately visible and linked in any post he claims to have "vetted").

I don't think that's conspiratorial or unreasonable. I do think that, without that, it is reasonable to make those two assumptions. I don't know 90-ghost, because I don't follow this world closely. These posts are meant to be a "signal boost", so they're meant to go outside the usual circle of followers, right? So you have to assume those people won't know who 90-ghost or anyone else is. So if you want them to trust the process, that process should be explained clearly, consistently, and on each post or fundraiser. An empty reblog does not do this. And the fact that an empty reblog is used as the "vetting" post for every single post except two shows a pattern which is unusual and justifies skepticism.

How is your decision to trust the people undermining the credibility of online fundraisers without understanding enough about EITHER side’s points to convey them yourself with any actual evidentiary support (have you perhaps never actually SEEN the evidentiary support your trusted people claim is responsible for their perspective?) in any way different from the choice of people (knowing the risks) to donate to fundraisers that are being circulated by the Palestinian community and their allies?

Again, you are jumping to assumptions about what made me reblog this, or who I'm trusting. I saw the post, from someone I follow and respect, and saw that it had a bunch of links saying "vetted here." I followed the links, and there was no vetting, and no confirmation of vetting. That frustrated me, because when I read "vetted here" and "please give me money" I expect to be able to... verify the vetting before I consider giving money.

Perhaps they have reasons you have not seen (looked for?) to trust and make their own judgements.

Sure, but words have meaning. And a link that says "vetted here" implies that if you follow that link, you will be given information confirming a post is vetted. To come to the conclusion that "90-ghost reblogging a post = vetted" requires significant time and investment into the mutual aid community that is absolutely not apparent from the link. And so when all you link to are wordless reblogs that, justifiably, raises questions about how skeptical people should or shouldn't be.

Perhaps your condescension goes beyond questioning the capability of Palestinians to know how to organize aid calls and ensure effective distribution, and even extends into believing your fellow non-Palestinians are just too easily duped? Would be just as skeptical of you if they realized how much trust they were putting in another person?

Again, you are making a lot of assumptions from what I think is a pretty simple ask: Provide a clear and easily accessible link to how the vetting process occurs, and specific confirmation that a post was, in fact vetted. A silent reblog does neither of these.

Weird how YOU haven’t seemed to question your trust in the people who started this uptick in shaming of donation posts even though you clearly reference seeing posts that call that trust’s validity into question.

I saw one post, it's been linked above.

I don't actually think I reference any posts that call that trust's validity into question, here. The only thing I do reference is people "blindly" reblogging."

But that was based on the personal observation of someone I follow blindly reblogging the post.

Maybe the problem isn’t that people don’t know they’re choosing to trust someone, but that they have intentionally chosen to trust someone that you have chosen not to, and you cannot tolerate that someone might do that while thinking it was the right choice, because what does that say about YOUR choice if they think that?

Nope! Trust is fine and good.

I take issue with the misrepresentation that the links that say "vetted here" do not, in fact, vet the post.

That's my issue.

I understand donating to any individual fundraiser requires a network of trust, and don't particularly care what degree of trust anyone chooses to use or not use.

But uncritically reblogging a post with a dozen "vetted here" links, of which none actually provide any information on the vetting, is bad and silly.

I suppose saying it's suspicious is probably unfair. I try to follow the "never assume malice when stupidity would suffice" rule. But like... it's either malicious or stupid to think that's an adequate "vetting" - ESPECIALLY when trying to convince outsiders to the community to donate.

Again, imagine you are me: Someone not involved in this community. You have sympathy for Palestinians wanting to flee the country. A post comes across your dash which says "these fundraisers have been verified." You click the "vetted here" button. You are taken to a silent reblog of a post. You go, "okay, maybe this 90-ghost person is some sort of authority." You click to get to their home page. It has no links discussing how, why, or what criteria they use to vet posts. It also doesn't make it clear if a reblog is a "vetting" or just an endorsement. There are two posts in the list where 90-ghost says "this is legit." Why didn't he say that on the other ones? Are the other ones not legit? Has he only vetted the ones he explicitly says "These are legit"? If so, why do only two of these meet the criteria? What does 90-ghost do to vet these posts?

Do you see why that's an issue?

Or maybe you really do just think your fellow non-palestinians are too stupid to know that vetting processes are literally always about deciding who it is worth it to you to trust and making the most of a situation that can literally never be made asshole-proof?

Again, I understand this about vetting processes. My gripe is that a wordless reblog provides ZERO information to suggest anything has been done.

Feel free to just say that next time. It’ll be faster, and you’ll irritate fewer people in the process.

I think I've said it a few times, but just for total clarity:

If someone says they are vetting a fundraiser, they should set out:

Their methodology for doing so (again, not revealing the actual information they received, just what type of information they do receive);

A quick statement that confirms that specific post has been vetted so you can tell which posts are vetted, and which are sympathetic; and

Make access to the vetting process easily discoverable (e.g., a pinned post, a link in the reblog, etc.)

Failure to do these warrants skepticism, especially when the call for aid is meant to be broadcast outside of the community that already knows this information.

[indigosabyss]

DCST X Naruto: Automobile Fever

(Note: Kikumaru is Ukyo)

"... Do I wanna know what this is about?" Kakashi asked as he took in the remnants of a large cart that had been dismantled in the middle of the training ground he had begun taking Senku to.

Said cute little inventor paused from fiddling with metal pipes to fix him with an excited look, "Yes. You absolutely do. Ask me anything."

Kakashi knew a threat when he saw one, "I'd rather not, thanks."

"It's the automobile, take two!" Senku continued, uncaring.

"Maa, when'd you have time to do take one?" He was starting to realize that he was also assigned to Senku to monitor him. And if the bratling had started going behind Kakashi's back to make more inventions... Well. The consequences wouldn't be good.

"Oh, shit you're making another one of these??" A voice spoke up from the treeline as a figure dropped down, more weirdly shaped pipes in one hand and a bag of coal in the other.

"Hey, Ta- Person I've Never Met Before." Shisui backpedaled horribly.

"Shisui, your ex-teammate Kikumaru introduced us, if you've forgotten." Kakashi replied drily, "And care to tell me what the first one was like?"

Shisui's smile suddenly became a lot more wooden.

-----

Compared to Shisui's meteoric rise through the ranks, his genin teammate Kikumaru had gone a slightly more sedate route - not before getting promoted to chunin before Shisui though, which he still wasn't over.

His lack of promotions was probably because of taking long-term in-village posts which someone had to do, but had little chance of proving your merit.

On the upside, though, this meant that they could catch up anytime Shisui was cooling down between missions. Even if Kikumaru wasn't free, no one cared if an elite jonin hung by the entry gate for an hour too long.

Until he came back from his most recent one.

"Sorry, Shisui." Kikumaru looked at least a little apologetic as he adjusted the mess of pipes on his back, "Working on something."

"Training for jonin exams?" Shisui asked, falling into step beside him, because even if he hadn't managed it as fast as Shisui, Kikumaru still could pass the exams.

"I've told you, I prefer providing security for the Village." Kikumaru reminded him mildly, "And this is a project I'm helping a boy with. Shiraishi Senku, you'll like him."

They were on the outskirts of the commercial district, where the crowd had petered off until there was no one but them.

And a little boy who looked barely old enough to be in the Academy, sitting on some sort of weirdly made cart. (Which meant he was older than Shisui when he made his first kill.)

"Aw, hi kid!" He skipped forward to greet him. He couldn't help it, they were just so cute and innocent and he wanted them to stay like that forever.

"Shisui's a friend of mine." Kikumaru explained, setting the contraption down on the cart.

Senku nodded, thoroughly distracted by fixing random ends of the pipes to axles of the cart, "That's cool."

Clearly he wouldn't listen until he was done with this, so Shisui settled for watching intently.

He was now pouring water into some part of this mess.

And then he was putting coal into a separate part.

And then, he brought out the matches.

"What's this project exactly?" He asked at that point, because he desperately needed to know.

Senku beamed at him, "It's an engine! I'm powering it out of steam, but later on we can make a more efficient power source. For now, though, we can use the one billion percent reliable Wobbler design, which works by-"

His excited rambling was cut off as steam began to belch out of the chimney part of the metal contraption. Shisui took a step back, ready to grab the kid in case it exploded.

The cart rocked, and for a moment he thought exactly that was about to happen. He pulled Senku away to a semi-safe distance, waiting.

The cart did not explode. And neither did the 'engine'. Instead, it moved forward.

Wheels turning, with neither horse nor man pulling it, the cart began to crawl down the road, gaining speed rapidly.

"Awesome." He praised reflexively, as it jerkily turned a corner, "...Can you disable it?"

"Not without being on board." Senku replied.

Possibly possessed cart was now fully out of sight.

Kikumaru and Shisui chased after it over the rooftops in unison, not a word having to be said between them.

Even if they were elite ninja, it seemed they had been too slow on the uptake. Through the whole commercial district, there was a trail of destruction. Animals running loose, produce squashed. Inconceivable amounts of damages, all leading up to...

"That's the Nara compound." Kikumaru noted faintly, landing on the ground in front of where there should be guards. Seems they had abandoned their posts to chase after the possibly possessed cart.

Shisui activated his Sharingan, just to figure out where it went next, but it was pretty obvious, given that it had been going in a straight line since it broke down the Nara clan compound's gates.

"It's gotten into the forest." He confirmed solemnly.

---

"-as far as we can figure, either the deer ate it. Or it integrated seamlessly and now lives amongst them like the beast it was meant to be." Shisui finished.

"It wasn't alive, it didn't even have a logic unit!" Senku argued from behind them.

"I know a living breathing thing when I see one!" Shisui insisted right back.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, Senku-kun, I'm going to have to know exactly how this works. And we'll be starting this with smaller tests first."

He hated having to be responsible.