#like maybe they're trying to kill each other in an end of the world scenario

[honetii]

best part of having a post apocalypse story is making non apocalypse aus I think

[somehow-a-human]

Whose POV is it Anyway?

Bodysnatchers & Cosplaying a bookseller

DO NOT ASK NEIL ABOUT FAN THEORY

I'm back! I took a few days off of doing internet thingsss so I took a break from writing this series of posts but I'm back and continuing with episode 3 in its entirety!

For reference & context, I recommend reading these posts:

Whose POV is it Anyway? - Introduction

Lens Filters

POV "Your 'Something's Wrong' Voice"

POV a Trip to Hell and a 25 Lazarii Miracle

POV a Companion to Owls

POV The Dirty Donkey & I think I Found a *Clue*!

Shall we get cracking?

Episode 3 gifts us the arrival of Muriel! Sweet adorable Muriel! We see them arrive to the bookshop, with the Bronze Glimmer Glass filter in full effect. Aziraphale is the only one there so it makes sense we'll have Aziraphale's POV to start. Cupperteas ensue, and Crowley arrives to be grumpy but fully accepting that Aziraphale is taking their car, I mean, he's already brought the plants inside. His sideburns are long here as well.

When the duo head into the backroom to discuss what's going on, the filter changes, the lighting is much cooler toned, and we're now looking through the Black Diffusion FX filter in Crowley's POV. Crowley's sideburns are also short now, and if my theory that POV is also correlating with his hair length, it's standing here.

As Aziraphale drives off, we see Crowley watch him from the window and sigh, sideburns still short, still his POV.

I'm going to stick to the present day storyline and switch to the bodysnatchers minisode at the end!

The time Aziraphale and Crowley spend apart in this episode is interesting to say the least. If we're trying to look at the lighting and possible lens filters used to determine the narrator or POV for these scenes... I think they're switched!

When we see Aziraphale driving the Bentley, the scene isn't awash with glowy warm lighting which we know isn't reserved just to the bookshop since we've seen it used in the record shop, coffee shop, and in the Job flashback.

It's rather cool toned lighting for a yellow bentley. Aziraphale's whole trip to Edinburgh is cool toned. The time he spends in The Resurrectionist, the graveyard, everything. I would have expected Aziraphale's magical little newspaperman cosplaying extravaganza to be dripping in his golden glow through the gorgeous Edinburgh when I started thinking about the scenes and these lense filters and these metas.

But then you look at the opposite, Crowley alone in the bookshop with Jim. Something he would hate right? Sounds like worst case scenario for him. He loves the bookshop but he's there alone with Gabriel who tried to kill the person he loves more than anything and didn't have an ounce of compassion, while Aziraphale has taken himself and his car very far away.

But what is Crowley's experience like? He and Gabriel are chummy as ever, they talk about rainstorms, vavooming, gravity. Crowley dresses down and is wearing sleeve garters? A bit old fashioned for Crowley but not for Aziraphale no? He's playing bookseller, carrying books around, albeit not quite correctly, chucking them at the end. Every scene is drenched in warm golden haze and Crowley's sideburns are long the entire time.

They aren't together, but they've always probably got one thing on their mind...

I think we're seeing these scenes through each other's eyes, or the POV is swapped if you will. Maybe that's why Crowley is wearing sleeve garters and cosplaying bookseller and being very kind to Jim? And Aziraphale is being the worlds cutest little investigator to ever exist. I think maybe they're imagining each other, or it just points to the idea that they're apart but still the only thing they're always thinking about.

Okay, cute lovebomb, now let's talk digging up dead bodies!

There isn't a lot to go off of for lighting in this minisode, but there is one detail I wanted to point out that has to do with Crowley's hair length. In all locations BUT the crypt his mutton chops are longer. When they enter the crypt both times, they are shorter.

You can see they are a distinct "J" shape in most scenes but in the crypt scenes (for example when he drinks laudanum and busts through the roof) they have been trimmed back). So if I'm going just on hair length, all scenes except the crypt are Aziraphale's POV.

If you can look past my terrible image quality, you can see on the right image his chops are notched where on the left they're doing the opposite.

NEXT

POV 1941

[starflungwaddledee]

So this is just a question out of curiosity . So I first found you from the comic where Bandana Dee and Morpho fuse, and I really liked it (even inspired me to attempt to make my own Morpho Magolor character). But now I'm wondering, if it's part of an AU, what IS the AU exactly. Like what's different about Kirby, Bandana Dee, and some of the others here?

hi there, thank you so much!!

I'm glad you enjoyed that comic and the idea of the morpho fusions; they're very fun to play around with! the chrysalis au is less of an entire developed alternate world state, and more of a what-if scenario

(another cheeky lil' image from the vault! this is a slightly older/less detailed design before i'd figured out what i was doing with the markings on the visor and the spear and the larger open patches on the wings to make them more fragile, etcetera)

the main thing is probably that i headcanon morpho as 1) actively targeting kirby in this au, and 2) being capable of 'possessing' someone without permanently killing or absorbing them

additionally i like to think that each possession could look different, based on who is absorbed and why. in morpho dee's case, he is minimally changed (and minimally armoured) on purpose by morpho: to make it harder for his friends to effectively battle him

kirby, bandee, and the others are all mostly unchanged up until bandee's run in with the butterfly. and after that it's obviously extremely tragic and stressful a rescue mission!!

maybe i'll eventually come back to add more depth of plot to this au, but for now i think the tasty parts of this one are delivered in the active conflict rather than the world state itself!

as for other fusions, i'd love to see yours if you make one! I've considered a magolor one myself, but i recall seeing one some time ago that was so phenomenal i'm scared to even try; though do you think i can find it now to link it... ? no 😭

i do however have others from alternate endings of this au....!

[mrssimply]

Hi!

Sorry to brother you with one of your old cyberpunk 2077 works, but I've been tortured by "what if" scenario. What if it was Kerry who died in "Until we meet again" world?

HELLO!

First of all, you're not bothering me AT ALL, I'm super happy you want to talk about that fiction. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, Until we Meet Again has a very special place in my heart, because it's not only a work I'm proud of, it was also a friendship adventure!

But back on topic.

I really never thought about it before seeing your ask, and it really threw me in a loop. I really came up blank at first, like it was just impossible.

Also, a funny thing is that @koda-shoulda-woulda-but-didnt and I were talking about a similar scenario he had for a story a few weeks before your ask, so my first move was to send him that with "maybe you should answer it xD".

No that I've thought about it a little bit more (sorry for the delay), here is what I can say.

[Spoiler for the fic, obviously, so I put everything under the cut just in case]

What makes the situation in the original fic particularly tragic, is that V is the cog that finally makes it work between Johnny and Kerry. Him dying also means the end of that (which is why Johnny end up nearly killing Kerry out of grief). Any other member of the trouple dying would've been a better outcome (I know it sounds harsh like that) simply because V is the only one in that trio who know how to articulate emotions and deal with them. The other two are too emotionally immature to get by by themselves. They deal with grief by turning it into violence against themselves, against each other, against the world.

V being alive means he would've been here to help Johnny through his grief. I think in that case, despite the process still being pretty violent, Johnny would've come out better and more balanced. I think he might have taken a bigger leadership role into the revolution (in the fic, people think he and Kerry are the leaders but it's actually Rogue who is doing all the work, they're just here to fight and kill people and then they basically disapear, you won't even see them at the debrief). V being here to help him through the process would've had a similar result than what we see in game, he would be more tempered and less angry, he would try to do something positive for the world. But I also think he would become particularly paranoid about V coming to harm, so he would constantly be trying to stop him from going on dangerous jobs, and they would fight a lot about how, since V is the leader of their revolution, he shouldn't be on the field so much, he should send Johnny, Johnny is there for that, it doesn't matter if Johnny dies (You can imagine V's reaction to that particular argument).

Helping Johnny through his grief also means V doesn't have a lot of room to deal with his. V dealing with his grief would be pretty much invisible anyway, he would deal with it inwardly and silently. His mother would help him deal with it, but she would be the only one he would let in. I think it might even lead people to wonder if he was really attached to Kerry, if he seems to be doing so fine just a few months after. The truth is, he would probably be so worried and focused on Johnny he would "forget" to deal with his own emotions, and it would backfire at some point, probably months or even years later. The moment Johnny would show the first signs of being able to walk on his own, V would probably crumble, and he would totally try to hide it from Johnny, from fear it would worry him. Grief would make V close up on himself more, he would be really exhausted from it. He wouldn't grow cold, quiet the contrary, he would throw himself at the grief of others, help them through it because it's the only way he knows how to deal with his. But he would certainly become more... mysterious?

They would have that relationship where they try to protect the other so much they end up hurting themselves and the other. It would drive Rogue mad because they end up making decisions to try to protect the other from harm instead of beeing rational and seeing the big picture. She would totally learn how to play on that anyway because she ain't the Queen of Darnkess for nothing <3.

But I think in the end, he and Johnny would've broken up, probably in a weird way where they just drift silently appart, and don't talk about it and one day Johnny takes his stuff and moves out and V doesn't say anything about it so he thinks that's it, that's what he wanted. They both think that the other left because being together hurt too much. And they would be those weird exes that clearly still love each other, get jealous when the other is seeing someone else (but I'm not sure V would ever have any other relationship, but Johnny would absolutely have a string of meaningless flings he would parade in front of V just to get a reaction, and be disapointed when V seemingly doesn't care). Contrary to Johnny and Kerry in the original fic, they would'nt sleep with each other anymore (V's rule).

Now, another point is also how Kerry ended up on that mission, and I think it's pretty easy. He nearly did in the original fic, actually. The moment they get on the chopper, he regrets not going with them so it's easy to imagine he would decide to go at the last moment. I really think he had his gear ready, but he hid it from Johnny and V because he lept hesitating to go. He really wanted to get out of merc life, go back to music, but at the same time the mission looked pretty dangerous and he needed to be with them. During the mission, Johnny and he would fall back on their habit from the war, so Kerry would follow him in his mad taunting of Smasher, and Kerry would take the hits instead of Johnny. Also, V would totally be haunted by the idea he could've lost both, since they were standing so close. For a moment, he thought they were both dead, since Johnny still took some bullets too.

As for Kerry being brought back to life as a clone, Arasaka would follow basically the same idea as in the original fic. I just think it would work even less because Kerry is a LOT more feral than V, so he would've made a pretty bad bodyguard xD. So instead of that, they would've turned him into a starlet like the Us Crack. Getting him on stage and singing in front of thousands would've been the only way to keep him somewhat in line, and that way he also brought them money. His stage persona would be wearing a mask or a helmet to prevent people from reognize him. He would be a pop star, but couldn't help but lean into rock, and fight his creative team to push for more gritty sounds, like this band, Samurai? And the team would be like "oh no, Kerry-san, Samurai is super bad, lets focus on your collab with Us Cracks?" (he would've totally been working on a hard rock cover of their collab song with the girls in secret).

That's how Johnny and V finds him: they are to meet with Yorinobu in secret during the concert to get the relic, but Saburo learns about it, comes to the concert, cue chaos happens (everyone survives, including Jackie who was part of the team on site, of course). In the mayhem, V and Johnny end up fighting off Arasaka guards on stage, and by some Divine Intervention on the author's part, Kerry's helmet gets thrown off his face.

I think the key difference in that story would be that... Kerry was sorta happier in his rebirth as a clone: he gets to be on stage, to sing, be heard and admired, it's bascally what he wanted. He also gets pampered from the starts (since they're observing the long term consequences of cloning and using the relic, he's basically a diva), so he wouldn't know any of the hardships he knew in his past life. Sure, he gets the same feeling of missing a vital part of himself, but it just makes him a better musician, and he probably thought it was part of being born to create music.

Meeting Johnny and V is first a rush of joy when part of himself recognize his soulmates, but the more he learns about them, about who their are, what they're doing, and who he was before... The less enthusiastic he is about it. Johnny of course doesn't react well to that (what a surprise), because it's such a slap in the face to have Kerry reject and critisize the life he had, saying he was pretty much miserable from what they're telling him, and that he doesn't want it. Seeing his best friend, the one that was here from the begining, that saved him time and time again, dismiss their time in the war, their struggles, and their causes, being such a fucking bitch, he would hate it.

V, ever the respectful baby that he is, tries to give Kerry space, understand his perspective etc etc. But at the same time, the grief he burried deep inside of him is coming full force, and he's going to have to face it now. Kerry is actually a lot more interested by that, by this mad who seems so fucking sad, who has such pretty puppy eyes, and who treats him like he's divine, and yet it's so different from the worship he gets from fans. Kerry would actually want to make him feel better, because when he looks at V, he just wants to hold the man and cry.

Kerry and Johnny would probably reconcile through music (very original, I know), when Johnny discovers the cover Kerry and the Us Cracks were working on. It sounds like a Samurai song, and the lyrics that sounded so bland over a pop song actually resonate a lot more with heavy riffs behind. Suddenly, it's a revolutionary song.

The rest of the fic's events would probably happen the same way. I think Kerry would've about the same struggles to reconcile who is and what he was. Also, I imagine the conversation with Alt would be enlighning like "Oh yeah, Johnny loved me but even I wasn't such a fool I couldn't see he loved you more and was just afraid that saying it out loud would curse it and you would be taken away from him, and hey, look, he was right! Now, kiss your doppleganger so I can get back to destrying Mikoshi".

I think the story would end on V finally crying, finally talking about his own grief, finally being conforted by Johnny and Kerry.

There. I aswered. It was a wild ride actually, and a very interesting exercise. Thank you so, so much anon for asking about it. Allowing an author to talk about their stories is the best gift you can give them, and me in that occurence!!!

So really, thank you so much, whoever you are <3

[bthump]

What if the eclipse rape didn't happen, but Casca still survived somehow and retained her sanity? Do you think she'd follow Guts in his quest for revenge or carve her own, distinct path? How would her opinion on Griffith shift, would she hate him/deeply resent him/try to understand him/a mix of everything?

To be honest, I'm more interested in how you think this scenario should play out in order to feel satisfactory than in how Miura would've handled it, because I really dislike his portrayal of Casca post-eclipse. Also, there's a sequence leaving rent free in my head of Casca being mad and yelling at Griffith for sacrificing the Hawks and basically betraying the blind trust she had put on him and shattering her whole worldview in the process lol. Without Miura silencing her and the eclipse rape taking away her dignity and virtually destroying any hope for a fulfilling future interaction with Griffith, she would've had a solid chance to grow and develop really interesting changing dynamics with our two protagonists, and it's a shame it was stunted...

Thanks for the ask!

For me, when it comes to what I'd want to read or write in this scenario, I think Casca should go her own way and separate herself from Guts. Partly for worldbuilding-logistics reasons, actually - two branded sacrifices can't stay in the same place for long without majorly fucking up that place, as we saw in the Conviction arc.

But mainly because I like the idea of the two of them separating and doing their own thing, and I think it would work with the themes. Like the story could use their two characters to explore differing reactions to trauma - the healthy and the unhealthy. The making connections with other people and growing reaction, and the killing stuff as a coping mechanism reaction. Guts and Casca would essentially be foils for each other.

Unfortunately Casca's stuck with the less fun healthy reaction lol because only the unhealthy gets to be mired in fucked up homoeroticism with Griffith and I'm unwilling to sacrifice that for the sake of a more interesting female character.

So with that division, it would make sense for the narrative to divide the behelit and the armour between them, and in this case Casca should get the armour while Guts gets the behelit. The armour is in a way a test of self control and you can be pulled back from succumbing to it, while the behelit is a one and done monsterizing device, so the armour goes to the healthier one. Casca also collects friends in this scenario while Guts miserably Black Swordsmans around (Farnesca, anyone?)

So ultimately Guts gets my ideal post-Eclipse arc of obsessing over revenge/equality with Griffith and eventually becoming a monster just like him, whereupon maybe one or both die, or maybe Guts ironically rejoins him in a homoerotic "tragic" ending for him 😏

And Casca kind of gets Guts' Millenium Falcon arc through which the story reiterates the importance of relationships, where she wrestles with her own inner darkness but grows past the need for revenge and turns to other goals.

And then maybe her story intersects with Guts and Griffith's in that Griffith needs to be stopped to save the world from dragons or whatever so she allies with various people and does that, and is able to succeed specifically because she's not obsessed with revenge and can keep her head or something like that. Yk, like she uses the armour but is able to come back from it. Whatever.

I don't know or really care what the climax would be here. Does she kill Griff and maybe Guts too? Does she serve as a distraction while a magic thing happens? Or maybe they're reverting the world back to low fantasy and it has nothing directly to do with Griffith and Falconia and she has to slay a dragon or something. Idk, point is she gets a moment to be badass and maybe be tempted by a monsterizing power-up but doesn't succumb to it.

Anyway yeah, idk I'm not super imaginative so my answer is basically "Berserk but Casca gets Guts' role and Guts gets to be gayer" lol. But that said, I would love to see Casca get to express her feelings so yeah that also fits into my thoughts here. Maybe she doesn't directly yell at Griffith but rather tells someone else about what happened and how fucked up it was? Or maybe she gets a Hill of Swords style reunion as well and does get to scream at Griff. It'd be nice. I do think that, in the brief amount of time we saw both her and Guts after the sacrifice and before the Eclipse rape, she was angrier with Griffith than he was.

[lakesbian]

Dearest Aisha, I hope this letter finds you well on this horrible sunny day. I’m leaving you this message because my heart is twisted in twain, and you must know that it’s not you, it’s me. What we had was wonderful, but alas, my future in the Bay is either woefully short or non-existent and as such I must bid you adieu. Or in plain English, I’m leaving because this whole plan Glory and Taylor cooked up isn’t my thing and would just put a target on my back. Maybe things would’ve been different if we weren’t pulling up the curtain, but oh well. Try not to be too upset about it. I left the playstation behind, and feel free to save over my old files. Say bye to the others for me, just don’t be too mushy about it. -Alec.

JESUS. WHY DO PEOPLE THINK HE TALKS LIKE THIS. alec wouldnt say bid you adieu if you paid him. or Twain. or Dearest Aisha. oh my god hed gag before saying dearest aisha. hang on we need a full count off of the sins here

the base premise that he didn't discuss his feelings about victoria and taylor's plan with aisha beforehand is absurd--they're extremely communicative with each other

the base premise that taylor would go along with anything victoria cop dallon said in the first place is insane and makes me want to see the person op thinks victoria is killed badly by bugs

the base premise that Aisha is fine with victoria cop dallon's plans instead of going "alec isnt this fucking sucks." is insane.

the base premise that alec is the only undersider not okay with victoria cop dallon's plans is also insane. I'm going to be real with you they would kill her immediately and without hesitation for alec and they dont even like him that much.

again, it's absurd to act as if aisha and alec are noncommunicative enough that he would drop this on her as opposed to telling her he was considering leaving off the bat. also i think she has enough wrong with her that she would want to go with him. but i digress, that's besides the point because

alec would not want to leave without aisha in the first place. people latch on so hard to him casually suggesting leaving the undersiders in that one early chapter but like. he's doing that bc it's in the context of a hypothetical scenario where his dad is getting after him. he always unequivocally backs them & follows their lead when they get into Shit That Is Not About Him--he's just both not wanting 2 burden the undersiders w/ having 2 deal w/ his dad + assuming that they wouldn't necessarily Want to help. once they say they would help he's like. oh ok. and this is certainly the last time he ever even considers leaving. those are the only ppl he has he's not walking his ass out of there. he Thinks he doesn't care but in any situation where he's at risk of exiting or losing one of them he leans HARD into backing them up. e.g. knocking himself unconscious to help brian sacrificing himself for aisha suggesting leaving town As A Team when the s9 is there and explicitly mentioning stopping to pick up rachel first. his actions demonstrate how he feels even if he isnt consciously aware of it. this entire situation is cartoonishly implausible but even if it did happen he would just not react this way

anyway the fic literally just ends like this.

A/N: And so the curtain rises. Or sets? Maybe it’s an interlude? Or a intermission? I didn’t really think this metaphor through. Writing Alec is hard, but I’m hoping I managed well here. No, this is not an elaborate rug pull or “oh he shows up later”. Alec is gone. He doesn’t show up for the rest of the story. And the reasoning for that should be laid out pretty clearly here. Maybe in another world, where Tori and Taylor resolved the communication issue before this point, they could’ve had that conversation. But they didn’t and he didn’t. So the only way out was out. Alec was never going to be willing to unmask. And with that knowledge, what happened last chapter should be a lot clearer. Today’s rec is an essay on Alec’s Costume by ewingstan on Tumblr, which does an excellent job breaking down his character in terms of psychology and code switching between his cape self and who he is regularly. Or rather, how there’s not much difference at all. I’ll see you all next week.

YOU DID NOT MANAGE WELL. HOW ARE YOU READING AND LINKING GOOD ALEC POSTS (albeit ones i had a bit 2 expand on but like. Its a good post it stands on its own.) but not internalizing Any Of Them. my god. this is so funny. there he goes fucking off into the sunset leaving literally his entire life behind because op understands nothing about him. resti n peace boy. ok thus concludes my Complaining. i'd apologize but its my blog and i can do what i want forever

[amoneki-ramblings]

003 for the ask: which Kaneki is your favorite to ship with Amon?

Oooh that's an interesting ask (I was gonna answer this earlier but I kinda forgot, oop-) let's go !!

Does this one count?? I feel like this could just be categorized under Shironeki; I'm not really sure if this counts as A Kaneki it's just A State he's in sometimes, but I also can't deny how horribly ill any scenario with Amon and Centipede Kakuja Kaneki makes me. Maybe it's because any situation involving this would probably be a given for angst and/or hurt/comfort but like hear me out (about to spew the most Incomprehensible nonsense at you). Something something bringing back someone from the Brink. Something something trusting someone to have not lost himself completely even after he stares you straight in the eye like he doesn't recognize you at all. There's this one detail in the scene at Kanou's lab where you don't see Kaneki's 'human' eye for (i think) the entire time he's on his rampage except for when he tries to remember Amon and when he tries to remember "this world is wrong" and I just think that's a little fucked up (also the way Amon says "yeah" and almost-smiles because he trusted and knew all along when Kaneki admits he doesn't actually want to kill and eat, guh. and-) and Wow I really need to stop before I end up with another hundred word analysis about that scene okay moving on

Shironeki !! - Peak Amoneki era right there. Ironically I don't have a lot to say, they're just Good (also probably because I dumped a lot of my thoughts on them already with one of the previous asks). They're The Classics yknow ?? You can do whatever you want and it's great, guy who's chasing after another guy who's always just out of his reach, guys who are kindred spirits, guys with the Best Dynamic Ever it's hard to go wrong, really

Haise :)) - While they're different I still want to fit Haise on here because God. They should've interacted. I could've been so insane about them if Amon stayed in the CCG In my heart he's tied on this scale with Shironeki but alas canon couldn't even let Haise see Amon. Haise trying to learn about Amon (with the bonus Live Kaneki Reactions) was very interesting though, I think he would've absolutely Loved him if he got to know him as a colleague. I have that whole au just for that. I just think the blend of silliness and them getting to know each other with the pain of. Haise. And the conflict of trying to separate him from Eyepatch/Kaneki just makes it very well-rounded. Wait what do you mean they never Actually interacted and I just made all that up? What do you mean I had to make an au for all that?? (also sidenote but Amonhaise and Amoneki at the same time is also a really funny dynamic imo )

Kuroneki - It's hard to imagine how their dynamic would be before. Everything, though I suppose them seeing each other after their first encounter but pre-torture could be very interesting. Amon sees the ghoul who basically leapt into the air to tear a chunk out of his shoulder and he's just Some Guy. Internally Kuroneki is like "oh God it's the investigator he's going to kill me I'm the reason his partner died this is it" and Amon's just confused like "this is the really the same guy??? but he's??" That actually reminds me I read a really good tumblr drabble once of Kuro-amoneki that's genuinely pretty great I recommend it :)

[khaleesiofalicante]

Today I come to you with: A lot of questions (you probably won't answer but still need to put them out there). Without further ado:

Can I just say that I called it? It's so much different when we finally get to see the way people in the Other Timeline lived. So much pain, and the death of one person can prevent that from happening, and David Max Rafael Alec and Magnus haven't seen it, so they don't know. David probably wouldn't care(or would he hesitate a little? I'm not sure). But a trip to the future would be enough for the others to change their tune I think. Or maybe not?

I have a feeling Magnus/Other Magnus trying to choke each other is a misunderstanding. Like Magnus tries to reach out but because it's from a different time line Magnus feels like getting chocked so he fight back and Other Magnus is surprised that he would get attacked because he doesn't know he's initiating it. I have a feeling if Magnus stops fighting that they'll be able to communicate?

I also have a feeling that Magnus seeing Older Max helps him connect some dots that somehow make it that he is the one who changed the timeline

Will Older Max try to figure out who changed the canon event and will the person responsible try to hide it or come out with it to Older Max?

So Arthur doesn't have to die in every world or does he die at a different age?

Lance was supposed to die after Arthur but Arthur saw him in France so he could see the future where they changed a canon event like Lucifer. So if Arthur saw it Lucifer does too which means he knew they would end up changing a canon event- it wasn't news to him and there wasn't a way to stop it right? From the moment Older Max starred visiting, things would go that way?

In the Other Timeline Blackbane didn't meet, so they're not a canon event?

Older Max (because now that I saw how hurt he was by being called Other Max I don't like using it) changed a lot of things in the other timeline. Did anyone in the Academy run the possibility of Lance not fullfiling the prophecy after having made connections in Idris? (Closer to Rafe and Cami, in love with Theia, knowing Arthur loved Kincaid etc?). Like Lance didn't get to destroy Idris in the current timeline, are they sure that he would've?

If they knew that Lucifer was the one that killed Arthur in the Other Timeline, it's impossible for Lucifer to manipulate Lance into doing his bidding/blaming Idris. But I always felt like it would be incredibly difficult for Lucifer to manipulate Lance in any scenario- that boy is very shrewd and would've seen right through it. So how did he end up doing what Lucifer wanted? What exactly went down? Nobody knows what went down in the pandenium or Idris right? Will we find out or is it unimportant?

I love Max more than anything, that boy gets tortured everywhere and he doesn't deserve it. And what's worse people don't recognize it as much as they should or as much as they do David's trauma because he hides it better? Someone give that boy a hug and a break in all the universes and timelines, he deserves it!��� (They all deserve that, I want to make that clear, but I think this is Max's week with everything we've read, so let's focus on him right now)

Dots are starting to connect finally and I'm so excited to see how things will go down! But I feel like Older Max keeping Mavid in New York and not severing themselves from the shadoworld is super important, because it didn't allow the family to be so separated so now they have the chance to fight united, whereas in the First Timeline, Mavid was so secluded it would've been super hard for all of them to stand together. Of all the changes, that seems the most beneficial. And Kincaid of course.

PS: When I tell you I'm ready to go full Sherlock Holmes and explore the David/ Madeleine dymamic, the way they both acted after the deaths of their loved ones, from our reactions as readers to why I believe they have different triggers and it may have been different if the same things had happened in another world, I'm being deadly serious. It will be an essay so be prepared.

Thank you for an amazing chapter that blew our minds. Allergies suck and not being able to use your body as you want is very annoying. But you still gave us a huge chapter to obsess over and you deserve a huge round of applause. Again, thank you 🌼💛

I was wondering why you kept saying Older Max and then I read your reasoning and NOW I AM EMO.

It's always easy to judge someone when we don't know their story. So, of course. But it's hard to judge who will sympathize with him EVEN if they see the Other World. Magnus probably? Alec for sure. David is extremely unlikely, I think. That bitch will watch the world burn.

We gotta wait and see on this one. It's messy.

He's definitely gonna connect dots (Especially since Hermes told him some stuff too)

We'll find out before this season ends hehe

If your death is a canon event, you die at the same age. So, ONLY because his death/canon event was changed did he actually live past 15 in IALS. So, no, he won't die (prematurely) in any universe.

Lucifer def knew these hoes were going to a change a canon event.

That's not how it works. Lance and Theia are a canon event - which means they will end up with each other and not someone else. But it doesn't mean they will end up together against ALL odds. Like, if Lance died prematurely, it won't happen. But if he had lived, he would have eventually ended up with her (Even if he was removed from the shadow world in that timeline)

No. Their math (lol) told them two things: one, arthur is DEF gonna die. and two, when he does, Lance will be triggered. Nothing and no one else has anything to do with it. The issue here was that arthur's death was a canon event and it couldn't be changed in any way (OR SO WE THOUGHT?)

Several things here. We'll never know what went down in the pandemonium in the other timeline. We knows bits and pieces of what happened in Idris (Lance didn't kill anyone - he basically died/burst kind of - and the "door" between the demon world and human world was destroyed so it both converged - killing people). As for Lucifer, I wouldn't underestimate him. With him, it doesn't matter smart you are or brave you are. He knows how to get to you. And he doesn't fuck around with his methods. Very straightforward guy hehe.

VERY GOOD POINT.

I will await your David/Madeleine essay! There is a scene between them in the coming chapters that i can't wait to write!!!

Thank you for the love and yes i've been sick since yesterday and i hateeee it. hopefully i will recover soon x

[andreabandrea]

i really love post-game headcanons where frisk refers to flowey, either jokingly or seriously, as their best friend. their dynamic is so interesting to me, like. flowey feels like anyone who sees him and knows his secret will only want to have asriel back, but frisk never knew asriel. on the other hand, they know flowey - and flowey is the only other one who knows what it's like to save and reset.

and that gives frisk a connection that they don't have with the rest of their friends and family. even though in the true pacifist ending, things are all fine and dandy now, there could very easily still be trauma of like - every monster trying to and succeeding in killing them (except papyrus, who just beats them near unconscious and throws them in a shed). and if they did any neutral routes, they might have killed also, and nobody knows about it or remembers it except them. even despite killing and being killed, just the trauma of resetting and being forgotten and starting over several times could weigh on a person - granted, frisk is a very determined person, but still.

i think the concept that frisk doesnt want to change flowey, but instead meet him where he is, would be intriguing to flowey - and in some circumstances, i could see that being enough to convince him to come to the surface - and this has always been more interesting to me than "saving asriel"-type endings. some things can't be taken back. trauma can't be erased - but you can still move forward with your loved ones by your side.

i think frisk and flowey would help each other heal. frisk initially tried to run away from the surface for a reason, and maybe not a good reason - asriel implies maybe they were trying to end their life by climbing a mountain nobody returns from. flowey has a whole load of trauma that i surely don't need to elaborate on - but i will anyway.

a lot of flowey mischaracterizations stem from the reader taking his words at face value. in new home in the no mercy run, flowey expresses that he's emotionless and nothing but a heartless killer. a lot of fics tend to write flowey as nothing but a perfect calculating killing machine because the readers believe him. but his actions tell a different story; flowey loses his patience with the whole "i'm here to teach you about love" act if you dodge his bullets three times - it's childish, in a way, because he is a child and he's mad that he's not winning at this game. flowey clearly expresses sadness, anger, and in the no mercy route just a bit after new home - fear. (the way i've written it in the past is that he's constantly disassociating from himself and the world by portraying his death and trauma as part of a game, and the way he deals with emotions is filtered through this ptsd-like view, but i dont want to act like i'm the best flowey writer in the world or anything, i've also made a lot of mistakes).

regardless, flowey is, at the end of the day, also a child like frisk. he wants to seem scary to them, and in the no mercy run, he's trying to sound cool and appeal to "chara" - that's why he acts the way he does. it's like a child trying to scare another child or act tough for a beloved sibling.

flowey has also done terrible things to frisk; they're not exempt from the list of monsters that tried to and succeeded in killing them. and although i think all the other monsters can and would be helpful and healing toward frisk and flowey, there's something valuable about a bond like - "we went through this together." if frisk can forgive someone like asgore who succeeded in killing 6 humans, killed them a handful of times, and also made them kill him, i think frisk can forgive flowey.

this comes down more to headcanon, but i think the way that frisk and flowey would interact in this post-game scenario is that, like. flowey would never admit weakness directly. he would feign disinterest in the surface and its denizens, but only because he's afraid. afraid that people wouldn't want him around. afraid because he doesn't know what happens next and if he deserves to see it. afraid of what he could do. but if he, soulless that he is, ever did try to do anything harmful, frisk is the one person who could easily stop him. (not that they would have to - flowey only killed out of boredom, not out of a real enjoyment of it; with so much to do on the surface, and no reset as a failsafe, i can't imagine flowey starting to kill again).

i think frisk would be able to read between the lines about when flowey is hurt and upset and try to comfort him without making him feel weak. we see frisk's kindness and mercy scare and upset flowey once (post-photoshop flowey fight), but those aren't normal circumstances - flowey hadn't grown as much then as he has by the end of the true pacifist route. i think, with time, flowey could come to accept he deserves to exist as he is and accept kindness, and show it in his own way

without the ability to reset (barring the true reset), anything that happens from now on is permanent. flowey in the game relies heavily on his knowledge of past resets; without that, he's forced to admit (albeit if only to himself) that he's not as smart and powerful as he likes to claim. it's a scary new world, and the future isn't written, but i think flowey would be willing to face it again with frisk - someone he always wished he had as a friend.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Festival Accompanying Chapter 30

Who will win? A secret squadron with enough men to fill four vans and a truck, all of whom are equipped with taser guns, wireless communicatons, and supplies; OR six children with a mountain of mischief?

This whole chapter is a mook horror show. I actually felt sorry for how brutally the Wild Dogs were suffering from Satoko's traps.

They ARE getting seriously injured and I would not be surprised if at least one of them dies or becomes permanently disabled because of this.

I mean seriously, one guy got hit in the chin by a log.

This guy's arm could have easily been broken.

This arc doesn't have anywhere near the grisly shots that several other arcs have, but there is this one.

And then there's the psychological warfare involved. Each time they see one of their comrades caught in a trap, they would become more scared of each step they take.

And let's look at this scenario. This guy definitely didn't walk into a pitfall. I'd like to guess that he dived out of the way of one trap only to end up landing right into this pitfall.

Like, imagine seeing one of your teammates manage to avoid a trap only to immediately fall into another in the process. Avoiding the traps you see isn't enough because they're actually bait to lure you into other traps.

And this is just the biggest possible taunt anyone in the club could pull:

I can understand Takano underestimating Satoko's trap-building capabilities. Most of what we've seen are things like tripwires and snares. We've only seen the mountain traps in Curse-Killing chapter 1 and Festival Accompanying chapter 18, and we only saw small, mostly harmless traps.

I do have to ask how Satoko managed to set up the giant logs and oil drums though. There's also a pitfall with stone walls. Maybe it was a weekend club activity to set up the larger traps. And that pitfall could have been an old well.

Is it strange that I was actually rooting for Skylark 13 to beat Satoko?

He pursued her to this clearing and she gives him a challenge to take five steps and if he doesn't trigger a trap, she will surrender to him.

One of his comrades whose foot is stuck in a stump says "Don't step on the stumps!" One of his comrades caught in a snare says "Don't step in the grass!" One of his comrades in a pitfall says "Don't step into the bare ground!" There's literally no way for Skylark 13 to approach Satoko that doesn't potentially have a trap set.

So what five steps does he take? He decides to take 5 steps BACK the way he came. Surely since he managed to make it that far without triggering a trap, that means the way back is safe.

NOPE! Satoko expected that and triggered a manual tripwire trap that threw an oil drum at Skylark 13. He actually got out of that without getting hurt. The oil drum landed beside him. But Skylark 13 was done trying.

What would have been funnier is if the clearing had no traps at all and he fell for the one trap that was actually there.

Skylark 13 also made a mention to the protagonist of Golgo 13, a manga series about an assassin for hire. Golgo 13 began serialization in October 1968 and is still ongoing. It is both the oldest manage series still in publication and holds the world record for highest number of volumes for a manga series (213 at the time of this post).

This panel of Satoko looks...really off. Her feet are not touching the stump at all.

Satoko and the rest of the background were definitely drawn separately and then layered on top of each other here. But Suzuragi didn't make sure Satoko's feet would line up with the stumps she's standing on. I wonder if there's a panel somewhere else in this arc where Satoko or someone else was making the same pose. Maybe Suzuragi used that as a template to draw Satoko for this panel.

When Rika said Mion would have gone down in history in a different era, Mion mentioned Nelson and Togo as being "okay". I think she was referring to Horatio Nelson of the British Royal Navy and Tōgō Heihachirō of the Japanese navy.

I am curious about how many of the Wild Dogs have been defeated so far. Assuming each instance was a different person, I counted 26 personnel injured or ensnared in this chapter.

Next chapter, we'll see how the rescue team is doing.

NIPA BEAM!!!

back

[shoechoe]

YEAHHHHH 🦈🦑 i'm so thrilled!! i'm glad you liked it!! i think it does a really good job of working with what little squalo and tiziano have while making something really interesting! plus, i think being more grounded than jojo itself really lends to both the organised crime and courtroom setting. and what it says about stands is really cool, especially talking head!!

and i think it's really nice how squalo and tiziano's relationship is portrayed, it's very present throughout and you see how much they love each other, beyond just the physical affection. i love the conversations they have, especially squalo's side where he's so sure of tiziano's strength and hates seeing tiz looked down upon. (i do love the scene in clash and talking head– and i'm not saying their relationship isn't present outside of that –but it does feel like the anime is trying really hard to make you know they're gay, and didn't have much time to go into much else. and... i don't even know if the manga was intending it. i mean, i guess it's there if you really read into it? hard to say.)

and! there's also the hint at squalo and tiziano's team before unità speciale!! how exciting! i believe the implication is meant to be that squalo (with tiziano's help i bet) killed their team leader and were promoted? i do wonder if that would be related to them killing the leader or their work in the courtroom... maybe both? it could be, since squalo points out the leader isn't doing a great job of it. either way, i think it does lend to them being in unità speciale and i'll take anything i can get about them hehe. i did end up making some OCs and lotsa headcanons about that - but this ask is starting to glitch out so i'm gonna wrap it up before it goes weird again.

i like squalo and tiziano 👍

You're welcome. I'm so sorry I didn't check it out sooner haha, you were right that it's really damn good.

I have always wished for Vento Aureo's worldbuilding to be more grounded in reality, but then again I feel like it's only what you could expect from Jojo. Like, for example, I have complained before that Diavolo being the Boss despite nobody knowing his identity, including a name or face, makes literally no sense when you think about it, but honestly I've come to realize I have a soft spot for it. I still feel like Passione is extremely underdeveloped as an organization, but I can forgive the pieces we know that are logically incomprehensible when thought through, because... Well, it's Jojo, you know? In that way, I think best-case scenarios for expansions of VA and Passione really come from side stories like Purple Haze Feedback and Testimone di Gangster, and people's interpretations of the gangster world in Jojo's Italy really do shine in them.

I also caught that the story was likely trying to imply that Diavolo promoted them after the events of the story- I can't imagine why he would promote them just for killing their leader, so if I had to imagine it, it's probably their massive success keeping Passione in the dark and beating down resistance at the trial as well as their leader "disappearing" that pushed Diavolo to assign them a higher role as Unita Speciale. It's genuinely very cool.

Not to nag a little with my typical criticisms of Vento Aureo as well, but it's also interesting to actually see an anti-mafia investigator as an antagonistic force to Passione... I mean, if Falco were alive when Giorno became the Boss, he'd assumedly be fighting against Passione under his rule all the same. Makes you think about how Giorno would feel about (and similarly, what he would have to do to) a person like Falco, if Giorno's goal is to be a "righteous" gangster.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

reading your tags and realizing the angst potential of the childhood friends AU :3c (I love angst with fluff/good endings sm, cannot handle ones with none at all :,D)

like. imagine being his best friend when you two were young, knowing he's changed ever since you lost him for a few days, but you were there for him, hoping things will be okay. then you meet up with him, and things looked very promising! you knew him too well and he's almost the same Ajax you knew and adored! possibly pining for each other too hehe

that was until you caught him murdering someone you likely knew (but you weren't close or anything, you just know them from work maybe?) and seeing the look in his eyes, realized this isn't his first, second, or third time doing this. you knew the light in his eyes was gone when you found him again, you knew he was different, he was resorting to violence and you did expect him to still be like that, honestly. but not like this. the betrayal hits you hard, but you still gave him a chance. albeit it, at the cost of how betrayed and a bit emotionless towards him. it was different but you tried to warm up, even if this was the outcome.

imagine meeting Legacy for the first time though… he's having a meltdown, you probably heard or seen him once or twice, but not a lot. (probably in your childhood though eheh~) you'd approach him cautiously, trying to hush him down a bit. Legacy better kneels down because you'll gently hold his face, rest your forehead against his and murmur some soft words that you used to tell Ajax when he was upset as a kid. even if you're betrayed, it wasn't fair for you to feel like that towards Legacy, knowing they're somewhat different? you're not leaving his side even if he calms down, gently telling Legacy to please be okay and know that you're not mad at him.

possibly even saying that even if you're betrayed, you don't hate Ajax, because surely he's there listening, right? you're just upset that things turned out to be like this, but you can't hate him even if you honestly wanted to. you feel like you should, but you can't. he's your first, and only friend you have, and is someone you deeply cherished.

right now, you want him to know that it's okay, things will work out slowly. well, you want Legacy to know that the most.

(may or may not be a re-occurring anon dropping some minor scenarios i'm too shy and i don't wanna flood your inbox with some ramblings ah- I love your FL content so much thank you for blessing us with this <3 <3)

aaaa you and me both, anon!!!! angst with happy endings is my bread and butter, since i love writing feelings but i want everyone to end up happy :D

oh but just imagine Foul Legacy inside Ajax's mind, watching you witness your best friend kill someone, watching you step back in horror- he whines so desperately, clawing at the boundary between Ajax's body and his to tell you not to be afraid, to hold you close and show how much they both truly care for you because he, the Abyssal half of your friend, loves you too

but he's too weak, and is stuck watching you grow closed off and wary of Ajax- it's so hard to give him a second chance when you're having doubts that he ever cared for you at all

so when you finally come face-to-face with Foul Legacy, he thinks you're going to despise him- after all, he represents everything that changed and warped Ajax into how he is today, so why wouldn't you hate him? but instead you approach slowly, whispering and hushing him to calm his frazzled nerves until he can at least tell the world apart, leaning into your touch as an anchor to reality so you can wipe away his tears. you can tell immediately, whether by the soft whines that slip from his fanged mouth or the way his claws wrap around your hands, that Foul Legacy is not Ajax- or at least, not entirely. so you settle yourself beside him, linking your hands around your knees and striking up a conversation about anything and everything to help him calm down. eventually you hear his breathing even out, occasionally rumbling or humming in response to something you said, and suddenly a weight settles on your shoulder as he unabashedly snuggles his face into your neck

it's been so long since you've been this close to him or Ajax, and when you pet his hair Foul Legacy shivers and purrs

he listens to you talk about the recent years and your conflicted feelings, the way you know you should hate Ajax but just can't, how you're so lonely all the time because you really can't bring yourself to believe that Ajax even considers you a friend anymore, and Foul Legacy whimpers at the way your voice hitches as you hold back tears

but then you smile, just barely, and scritch behind his horns, saying that there's no way you could ever hate him- none of this is his fault after all, and Foul Legacy's been nothing but sweet to you. you're not sure when he'll have to disappear and Ajax will return, but at least you can stave off the loneliness and savor his presence while it lasts, curling up in his arms and listening to his deep, rumbling purrs of relief

[urdgealesisbaby]

I don't know if you write for Seishiro Hiragi, but if you do can I please get an Seishiro Hiragi x Reader.

They both hate each other, and they have a disagreement at an important meeting, but behind closed doors, they're actually lovers.

It could be NSFW or not, I'll leave that up to you!

Hello! Sure thing! I have to admit the fact that I'm not really a fan of Seishiro Hiragi,but your request is just soo amazing and I like it very much!

Warning!NSFW CONTENT!(Only mentioned/implied)

Lovers behind the doors,enemies outside-scenario->Seishiro Hiragi x reader

Seishiro Hiragi

It was yet another day at work.You were working of course for the most prestigious family in the Seraph of The End verse,the elite Hiragi family.

Kureto had summoned you to attend a meeting and you had to attend to it,it was after all your boss who summoned you.

You did hate those meetings,you really hated them,apart from everyone trying to impress the Hiragi Family with their achievments so that they may promote to a higher rank or get more privileges,you also had to deal with the man called Seishiro Hiragi,the younger brother of Kureto Hiragi.

Although they were brothers,they were kind of the opposite of each other.Like yeah,they both were prideful because they were Hiragis,but Seishiro was even more prideful than Kureto,which was why Seishiro was such a pain in the ass for you.

You weren't the only one though,kind of everyone shared the same opinions as you:Kureto was tolerable,almost like a leader everyone wanted to be,but on the other hand,Seishiro? Seishiro was just another prideful Hiragi,nothing more.Or so you though?

No one knew what you two were hiding all this time.

At the meeting:

"Everyone,I need suggestions for keeping humanity safe and killing more vampires in a short amount of time!"Kureto says.

"I think I have a suggestion,what if we give more cursed gear to more people,even the common folk,so that they can protect themselves?"you say.

Then,Seishiro says:

"What a stupid idea coming from a stupid member of the council,if we do that,the world would become a chaos,we can't just let anyone have cursed gear this easily!"

"If you have a better idea,then say it,if you don't,then shut up and keep your tongue in your mouth,or should I remove it for you?"you say,annoyed by his remark.

"You dare speak like that to a Hiragi? Maybe I should have your tongue for that,wouldn't you say so?" he says.

"You two!Calm down,we haven't organised a meeting just so that you are arguing!Nobody will have nobody's tongue!Cut the crap!" Kureto says.

After the meeting is over,everyone is told to get back to their rooms,as it is becoming night outside.

As you walk on your way home,when you arrive at the front of your door,someone taps your shoulder.

"What a pretty outfit you have on....y/n"he says.

"I thought you were gonna say it was a stupid outfit for a stupid person"

"I got tired of saying that,repeating words can become annoying,wouldn't you think?"

He says that as he starts to get his face closer to yours.

"I...I agree....Seishiro-sama" you say as you melt in his kiss.

"You don't have to call me like that here,that's just work honorifics we use.In private,call me however you wish,prince/princess."

You two start making out while you enter your home.Then,he places you on your bed and you two start undressing.

"You.....have such a sweet scent,y/n"

"Thank....you"

He starts kissing your neck and you two both get very excited.

"Ahhh~" y/n moans.

"What is that,my little bird? You feeling good? You like what I'm doing to you?"

"mhm......Yes"

As you two start touching yourselves more passionately,him touching your chest and you toching his one,you two have a splendid night together.

That was it,that was your secret,that's what you two are hiding from everyone else.You love him,he loves you,and no one knows it.Except for you.

I hope you liked this!<3

[rappaccini]

What are the wips that ended up in Arachnophobia?

(from this)

oh man like... over half of them. tbh the reason why it's so fucking huge is it's a dozen fic pieces stitched together

first of all, to lose all my senses was the original version of arachnophobia. started writing it straight out of the theater. it was canon-compliant with atsv and roughly followed this scenario where gwen's on a suicide mission to redeem herself to miles because she's fully internalized the idea that she doesn't deserve to be a hero and the best she can be is a good loyal love interest who's remembered well after she's killed. except unlike in the scenario, it ends in a gwiles endgame where gwen's stuck in comphet hell, trying to convince herself she's happy. i didn't finish it because it was too depressing and i got too mad. all the salt ended up in arachnophobia.

as below, so above and the thief of life are companion fics told from miles and hobie's perspectives, like something more is for margo. same continuity, same timeframe, same eight-chapter structure, just going into their own canons and what they're up to while gwen's off punching walls and having a psychosexual friendship with gayatri. i might write these, but if i do it won't be soon-- hobie's fic might happen before btsv, but miles's definitely won't bc i want to wait until btsv gives us a canon personality for miles-42 and shows us what the fuck's gonna happen with the spot.

on a related note, ready to fly, ready to die and i may not be around were both earth-138a wips. i've already talked about the first, but i may not be around was about hobie's relationship with gwen-138a, and how she essentially shaped his ideology as a punk and was the founding influence of the revolution he starts. neither will ever be written because most of the details would be added to the thief of life, assuming i get around to it.

give it a hundred years, aka the bittersweet ghostpunk tinfoil hat fic where i go super deep into how whenever gwen and hobie have a significant interaction across different continuities, they're moving closer and closer to each other and to endings where they get to change their narratives for the better (aka the 'in every other universe we find each other, and it hasn't worked out yet but maybe it'll be different someday' dynamic the spiderverse writers think they have with gwiles actually belongs to ghostpunk. i will write you an essay on this.), might still make it into the thief of life. we'll see.

as for the e-65 fics...

melt my wings and call it fun took all the known details about earth-8, including the ugly implications about miles and gwen's relationship, and tried to piece it together. all the earth-8 backstory in arachnophobia (and as below, so above, if i ever write it) comes from this outline. however this outline did not give miles and gwen the benefit of sympathetic reasons to abandon their worlds, cash out on their identities and try to make their situation work. it also didn't put them on equal footing in private. it's just a very fucked-up story about gwen pretending she's one half of a power couple when she's essentially a trophy wife to a guy who's too immature for her, and trying to convince herself that being surrounded by nice things and having a good reputation are enough to justify the progressively shittier and shittier things she and miles are doing to each other to keep them (including a 20yr old gwen manipulating a teenage miles into a relationship he's not old enough for and miles pressuring gwen into agreeing to two unwanted pregnancies; oh my GOD earth-8 is terrible and fascinating and could've been so juicy if bendis realized what he was writing.) and telling herself the whole time that she has control over a situation that is definitely skewed in miles's favor bc that's absolutely how bendis imagined earth-8 when he created this relationship.

waiting for the sirens was about gwen, right after the lizard killing, coming to terms with the reality that peter65 was a terrible person. half-written, abandoned and eventually added to the gwens' conversation about peter parker in arachnophobia.

the pull of another is about gwen and her symbiote (her TRUE love interest tbh) learning to live together. recycled into arachnophobia, when gwen-b gets hers.

sixth sense of a calling was about gwen-617 founding the council of spider-women. recycled into arachnophobia's ending, where gwen-65b does it instead.

with a heavy heart's the sad ghostpunk fic. basically it's about gwen and hobie having a doomed relationship that ends in hobie doing what he'll probably do in btsv and encouraging gwiles to get together because in the end he doesn't think he can stop The Narrative. got the idea because thinking about the gwiles-8 wedding playing out with hobie sitting in the front row having to smile through the whole thing made my blood boil. never finished because i hate characterizing spider-punk that way. a lot of it's in pieces in arachnophobia and the thief of life-- but more in the sense that those fics are taking that idea out behind the shed and shooting it.

a million miles and running's the happy ghostpunk fic where they do actually survive and beat their tragedies together. never got past the outline stage because it was lifted pretty much entirely for arachnophobia and the thief of life.

[liliallowed]

slay the princess is so sansanomoly.

spoilers for the game btw:

I'm sorry I just can't unthink a scenario where sans is tasked to kill the anomaly cuz they will end the world.

but by killing them the world resets and ends, by sparing them it also ends, there's also the option of letting them out but that's a true reset...

all in all? I think he'd say fuck you to all three options and like... hang out.

like, just casually take a nap in the dungeon while talking to the anomaly.

the guy's too lazy to do anything 😭

and the greater collective consciousness of the player's routes would probably still linger. while the vessel is just salty he's being a troll.

he's not gonna fall for it lmao. he's just going like, abandon all logic and just defy physics as he does, going out of bounds to bring them a hamburger. or like... carry their heart in a safely contained space vacuum. around in a vessel that... maybe WON'T end the world when they escape containment...

he KNOWS how to manipulate the anomaly too.

it's a loop but I think he's going to stay calm and instead of blaming the narrator or the anomaly just... look for a solution with them. a compromise.

he knows how they tick. if he makes an interesting world or story, the anomaly will be curious and let the world live.

all in all, I think sans would even use the anomaly to his advantage. get a desired outcome. try risking for something.

maybe challenge them to reset. make bets.

he knows you're not a demon. he knows you're not an angel. just a chaotic entity who searches for more pieces and braches of the world and it's outcomes.

a timeline hopping explorer or a destroyer of worlds... when you're entire existence is based of a flimsy desire to be or not to be flickering between the two states I don't think sans would actually care.

he'd do what he can to preserve the world but SAVE it? that ain't his responsibility. it's yours.

also I keep imagining the skelly with an elderich horror monster 100 handed doll figure just casually sitting next to each other eating ice cream.

now to the slay the princess game itself!

anyways. I love these ships.

the princess does make a connection to us the player. she thinks we are similar. and we are! both even have the same motives in fact. she just... has more terrifying features with her vessel. ours is just a faceless blob of grey matter... so maybe we're both kinda creepy???

gurl you don't scare me. in fact. I already have my Dr strange "I'VE COME TO FUCKING BARGAIN" card ready to go. let's talk time loops. it's either me and you. so if you think IM scared of that? I PLAYED GENOCIDE FOR BREAKFAST BABY COME AT ME!

oh boi... you'd be surprised how many times I can endure the same conversation:3.

fite me! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A TIME LOOP DUEL!

I'm sorry that's cringe...

anyways I love this game. (saw a playthrough. didn't play it myself)

but I can definitely see a cross over... or would like to make one.

imagining dusttale player just looking at the princess face like it's their avrage Tuesday routine...

while the "hero" and dust stare at each other finding comradery in the voices in their heads.

also dust would yeet the princess into the void...

and player would probably get stabbed by the heros blade with a smug grin to show off they're also cursed with reset powers.

okay literally any of these four traumatized loop bound poor babies are gonna be hilarious to see interact

[theamityelf]

How Each Descendants Character Would Be As the Mastermind (Danganronpa AU)

Mal- If she were the mastermind, she would be less of a gremlin than I establish her to be in my previous Danganronpa AU post. She would have to be Descendants 1 Mal, coyly pulling everyone's strings but never seeming obviously antagonistic towards anyone. Like, she would use manipulation and passive aggression, but no clear bullying or accusations. Also, the whole thing was probably her mom's idea, and she's doing it to earn her mom's approval. That is to say, bringing down the other Ultimates was her mom's idea; the killing game itself was really hers, and she was happy to tell Maleficent of her plan until she realized she was actually going to have to do it. Her actions are being closely monitored by Maleficent at this point, so even when she feels quietly guilty about what she's doing to her classmates, she doesn't feel at liberty to do anything about it; she already made the mistake of giving her mother access to her class, and now she's just stuck in this plot. She does enjoy some of the deaths, violence, and conflict. If someone dies in a way she finds funny, she will fully have to leave the room so she can laugh without drawing attention.

When she gets found out as the mastermind in the final trial, she puts on an evil smile and gloats and mocks everyone, but she really is not happy to lose her friends. Maybe Jay remembers something she said early on that was actually a subtle warning or hint, but she still was helping Maleficent with the killing game at every step, and it's still her fault it happened. Maybe she gets a laugh-cry in, for old time's sake. Basically, she's tormenting herself almost as much as she's tormenting them, and Maleficent is behind a lot of it.

Evie- She would make a pretty sad mastermind, I think. She's not doing this because she likes it. She has some ideology that she's trying to promote or some end that she's working toward. She loves all of her classmates and hates to see them hurt and turning on each other. I feel like, in an actual Danganronpa game, this would be a case of "something something despair" being the full explanation. Just, she fell to despair at some point and felt called to share her despair with her friends and the world, out of some warped version of charity. She's very good at convincing others to join her cause; she definitely has a whole movement behind her.

When the class finds out that she's the mastermind, she lets them yell and protest. She just stands there with a sad look while they demand why she would do this. When they let her explain herself, she is quiet and miserable but unyielding. She fully believes that this had to happen; otherwise, she wouldn't have done it.

Don't get me wrong, I can imagine a version of mastermind Evie who is enjoying herself, but this is the version I most readily picture.

Carlos- He is a mastermind who is either having a ton of fun or feels nothing. He has the tech skills to pull off pretty much all of this himself. I think I best see him as a more stoic, Izuru-like co-mastermind with someone who's having more fun, so this could be a Mastermind Jaylos situation, or Carlos and Mal. Mastermind Carlos and Evie would be a situation where neither of them is having fun, but Evie believes in what they're doing and Carlos believes in Evie.

If it is a scenario where he enjoys being the mastermind, though, I see it having vibes of "genius who was never challenged enough finally doing something he finds engaging". Operating Monokuma, controlling all the contraptions in the school, running the broadcast, and all while being a participant in the game and interacting with everyone. His shyness isn't an act; he does get flustered being around them all, and he has to be careful not to accidentally say something he isn't supposed to know, and he is fully aware that they could kill him at any time. But he finds that kind of thrilling; with his intellect, he has never had to deal with the possibility of failure like this. When he's discovered as the mastermind, he rolls up in dalmation clothes and black and red sunglasses, laughing that they actually figured it out.

Jay- He would be a pretty laidback mastermind. He's the type of mastermind who would go, "Jeez, you guys are boring me. Can we skip this part already?" But he'd say it with a smile on his face. I feel like he is similar to Carlos, in that he thought up the killing game just to have some enrichment in his enclosure, so to speak. He's a smarter guy than he gets (or seeks) credit for, and he has a lot of unprocessed issues. With his looks and people skills, he can easily trick people into helping him set this up.

On the surface level, I think when he is revealed as the mastermind, he presents himself as enjoying the violence for its own sake (similar to Mal), but really, I think his reasons for doing it could be related to his plotline in Descendants 1: overcoming his "me vs. us" thing, practicing teamwork, and more broadly coming to terms with the idea that the world doesn't have to be an inherently combative place that is out to get him. If Jay in the Danganronpa universe has the backstory that I gave him in that other post, he could easily have come to the same survival mindset where selfishness is the only way to survive, and after spending some time at Hope's Peak and having this worldview challenged by these incredibly brilliant people who he's now built relationships with, he needs to see, once and for all, if cooperation can win out over conflict. If the world isn't dog-eat-dog, then they shouldn't kill each other, right?

He was curious what they'd do. They didn't fully disappoint him. The survivors who didn't kill anyone, plot against anyone, or get killed all interest him. But in the long run, they didn't prove that they wouldn't kill each other, and he didn't prove that they all would. It's a lukewarm result. What's he supposed to do with that? Well, all that's left is to give them the choice of whether or not to kill him. They've won the game, their friends are dead because of him. But they're free to go. All they would get out of killing Jay is vengeance. Will they do it? (If they vote to kill him, he won't actually let them; he'll just mysteriously disappear with his adversarial worldview reaffirmed. If they vote not to kill him, then he has some things to reevaluate. Maybe these people really are his friends! He doesn't even mind that they think he's kind of a monster.)

Uma- This could be a case of her mind just breaking from having gotten through so many horrible situations unscathed, causing her to almost compulsively start to engineer worse situations for herself out of survivor's guilt or some other self-destructive urge. Or it could be spite; maybe she's tired of the weird social darwinism with which the Danganronpa universe treats talent and wants to show the "normal" people of the world that Ultimates really aren't so special. So, Option A- she's gone through so much that she feels invincible, but in a bad way, and has become so inured to catastrophe that she has to find some limit to her talent, and she's using this elaborate killing game to do it; Option B- she hates how the Ultimates are placed on a pedestal over everyone else and feels like she's giving something to the broader world by exposing their flaws.

Harry could either be in on the plot from the beginning (like Mukuro), be told about it during the killing game and join her, or find out when everyone else does but joins her anyway because she's the one he's closest to. Or he died during the game, worsening Uma's survivor's guilt or making her cling more tightly to her conviction that she's making a noble sacrifice. (If he or Gil dies in the killing game, she is absolutely wrecked emotionally.)

Harry- Okay, there's a yandere option and an angsty option. Yandere option: He's the mastermind because he knows that Uma is the Ultimate Survivor and he wants to see her triumph over all the other Ultimates. Maybe he didn't think they respected Uma's talent enough when they were in class together, so he thought of a "fun" way for Uma's talent to shine over theirs. (As the Ultimate Assassin, he can get very creative, as far as ways to kill people. They didn't just give him that title because of his weapon proficiency; he has great planning skills.) He has full faith that she will survive the killings, and his ultimate plan is for some fire or explosion to destroy the building after the final trial, which he is also certain that Uma will survive. ("What about the rest of us?!" one of the other students demands. "Best of luck!" Harry answers, with a grin.)

Uma would be shocked when all of this gets found out in the final trial, and after he gives a very yandere speech to her, she pretends to go along with him but then puts an end to his plan and keeps him pretty much on a leash. He's cool with it; he's proven his point, and really he didn't expect her to be willing to kill them all.

That's one all option. The other option is that actually he's only the "mastermind" in the scheme of their class; really, he was hired by some third party before school started, to assassinate them all. He still was the one to come up with the killing game, because he's still ridiculously creative about his kills. He joined the class with the intention of doing this but struggled with this decision when he made friends with Uma and Gil. He went through with the plan but does everything in his power to protect them and feels really bad about the whole thing.

Gil- Himbo mastermind. Just conceptually, I already love it. This could be because of a worldview inherited from his father (and this is about to be wildly stupid, so buckle in). Like, his strongest human connections always came with an element of sport or competition, and he was never allowed to express emotion or fondness outside of those contexts, so when he finds himself really loving his classmates, his only way to fully express the emotion of it is by making them fight.

Okay, so there was that idea. He could also be co-mastermind with someone else, which I think makes sense; he fits well into "cheerful henchman" territory, and while he is capable of hurting people, I don't think the killing game is something he would come up with or set up on his own, in most scenarios.

Although, invoking the Obfuscating Stupidity trope and making him someone who can inspire enough loyalty to get others to help him set up the killing game by acting as a himbo does seem pretty cool. Like, a version of Gil who is genuinely chill and cheerful and fun to talk to, but he also easily comes up with the killing game and has no problem setting it up, so he can watch his good friends fight all around him.

I think any version of mastermind Gil comes with some cognitive dissonance as to his own culpability. Either it's a matter of him not being the one to personally kill the others, so it's not his fault, or it wasn't his idea to do the killing game, so it's not his fault, or it's really just the circle of life and animals kill each other in nature all the time so there's no reason to get too bummed about it. Yeah, he'll miss his murdered and executed friends, but it happens. "Why the long faces, guys? At least the rest of us are still alive."

Ben- I feel like this would also probably be a case of mind break. He's the Ultimate Moral Compass for a reason; if he's behind the killing game, something has happened to drastically warp his mental state to the point where he thinks he's doing the right thing, similar to Evie and Uma. He would be a very earnest mastermind; whatever logic led him to think that this is what he needed to do, he believes in it fully, and when he is revealed as the mastermind, he is serious about trying to make the others understand why this was right and good. He really does care about his friends! He hates that they think he enjoyed doing this.

Audrey- I immediately think of a Queen of Mean situation. I feel like that would be her vibe as the mastermind. Very "Bow, peasants!" But it took magical brainwashing to get Audrey into that mode in Descendants 3, so what would get her there in the Danganronpa universe? It could be a situation where Evie fell to despair but didn't go out of her way to spread it; she just despaired quietly and channeled it into her work as Ultimate Fashionista. But Audrey, as the biggest fan of her fashion line and a princess who was already kind of on the edge emotionally, feels Evie's despair through her work and is also thrown into despair, and she's way more...proactive...about it. And she has the resources of her whole kingdom at her disposal to share that despair with her Hope's Peak besties.

Or maybe it's not related to Evie at all. But I do think she'd have to be brainwashed to go Queen of Mean.

Otherwise, as a brainwash-free mastermind, she would be very prim and a lot like Sonia in SDR2; she's bubbly and sheltered and into dark topics. Human consequences barely register to her, because she was raised as royalty, and lives are just pawns.

Chad- I feel like if he were the mastermind, he wouldn't participate in the game as an actual player; he would watch arrogantly from the sidelines and enjoy the show. The participants wouldn't meet him until the end. From the perspective of the audience, he would be very visible, in that he would be the host and have Kuzko-style interstitials where he talks about the participants over a freeze frame and makes fun of them. The killing game is his way of proving his superiority and earning the world's attention. He isn't smart enough to get all of it done on his own, but he's rich; he can afford to hire smart people to make his vision happen.

He would basically be Junko's queen persona. I don't even know if he would bother to make it a secret from the participants that he's the mastermind; he might have portraits of himself hanging all over the school.

Lonnie- She would be having a blast. She doesn't even mind being found out. She still considers all the participants her friends, and she is super companionable with them. "Wasn't that fun? Come on, I kept it fun for you guys, didn't I?" She definitely had some reason for doing all of this, and I feel like it would be a situation where some worse thing was going to happen otherwise. Like, maybe she was tasked with killing all of them (again, by some third party) but decided to do this instead; maybe someone hired her to kill them, not fully grasping that a skilled swordsperson is not the same thing as an assassin, and she pretty much just went "lol sure" but did the killing game instead. Internally calculating that if she doesn't agree to kill the Ultimates, her employer will just find someone else to do it, so she may as well set up a fun competition where their lives are enough on the line to satisfy her employers while they still have a fighting chance and she gets to enjoy the sport of it all. Or something like that. Basically, it's a combination of a guaranteed worse outcome and her thinking a killing game could be cool.

Jane- I feel like this would be an inferiority complex type of mastermind. Kind of like her outburst at the end of Descendants 1; she feels less special than everyone else, so she seizes power over them. She has the organizational skills to pull it off. I think she'd be a Laughing Mad mastermind. Like Chad, she has no larger reason for doing this. Unlike Chad, I think she would remain a participant even as the mastermind. As soon as she is revealed, she might launch into some rant about how all the Ultimates think they're so great but don't have the basic overall competence that normal people have.

Doug- I almost want to say that he would also be an inferiority complex type, but thinking about his character, I think I see him being more like, "I surprised you, right? You didn't expect that?" Idk, despite the way I tend to think of the character, his actual in-canon vibes are more "Well, that just happened 🙃" than anything, I think. Like, he would calmly admit to everything once they accuse him, like, "Yeah it was me. And the results were fascinating!" He isn't really a chummy mastermind or a sad mastermind or a broken mastermind. This was pretty much a science experiment to him.