#lore post incoming.... eventually

[proximitystory]

“i dont need to be huge, only so big as to ever be noticed..”

sparkbird-envy

((shayfer originally created by carl, hes a cool guy:3))

[21teapot]

Reunion AU

HC LORE DUMP THAT NOBODY ASKED AND/OR CARES FOR (except me) INCOMING:

- The squad met up again after years, because they all kind of lost touch after what happened with the abyss and all the other fucked up shit in Velvet Cove. (DO NOT ask me how they managed to get Kat out alive, I don't know myself lmao).

- After Swann moved to Canada, Kat started another chemo and was eventually cancer free around her 20's. After that, her parents took her on a trip to Vancouver to just take a break from everything and she unexpectantly reunited with Swann in a bookstore there. They stayed in contact and little by little rekindled their friendship and eventually even their love for each other.

- ~10 years later Swann and Kat have moved in together and settled into their small town life in Canada. Swann discovered Noras Instagram while researching different types of clothing for her upcoming book and decided to contact her right away (Kat was super hyped).

- Nora has somewhat stayed in touch with Autumn (and by that I mean liking her very rare post on Instagram...) and immediately told Swann and Kat. They messaged her and she was surprised to hear from them after all this time, but equally as excited as everyone else.

- After some debate they agreed to meet up at the Blue Spruce in Velvet Cove. (For old times sake. Nora was against it at first and suggested taking them to some luxury resturant in LA, but they could sway her.)

- Swann brought her polaroid camera with her (She loves this thing just as much as her old camcorder, which sadly broke. Even though Kat has offered multiple times to get her a new and better one, but Swann insists that this one is just fine.)

- They meet and after a couple heartfelt moments, memories being relived and countless beers, Nora hijacks the bars guitars and musical equipment... chaos insues and the rest is history.

- Photo is taken by Nora shortly after their first performance after 27 years as Bloom & Rage

[qwardivior]

DEMON BUSTERS!! — About Nezuko

Next Part>>

<<Previous Part

And so, the long awaited Nezuko post has arrived!!! Sorry for the long wait everyone, I had to work out some lore stuff and this kept getting delayed, so let’s just get right into it! In case you don’t know or need a refresher, in this modern kny au the Demon Slayer Corps has updated and rebranded into the Demon Busters! People have been dying to demon attacks at alarming rates so to make their jobs easier they’ve been running ad campaigns! However this installment is a little different as this is NOT an ad campaign! To protect Nezuko they did not run an ad campaign on her. Instead, this is known as an ‘about’. Several other characters will be getting an about section but let’s start with our favorite girl Nezuko!

— Lore Dump Incoming!!—

In this au, Nezuko got turned on her birthday. It was supposed to be a fun celebration, she would spend the night at her friends’ house and then go home the next morning to help her family prepare for New Years. Of course when the day actually came, there were complications as Tanjirou would not let her go for whatever reason, stating that he had a “bad feeling” about it. But nothing ever happens in their small town! In fact, the biggest event in a long while was their father’s death a couple months prior. Eventually, after some back and forth they just chalked it up to him being paranoid and she was able to go.

It wasn’t just paranoia. Nobody knew that anything was wrong until the next morning. Tanjirou had gone to pick Nezuko up since nobody had heard anything from her, and was met with a gruesome sight. Just like in canon, Nezuko was the only survivor, but she seemed to be a little off… Firstly, she had tried to attack Tanjirou before quickly coming to her senses after a man called Giyuu Tomioka appeared, stating that he was a “Demon Buster” and she was a “demon” and that he had to slay her. And secondly she no longer had a taste for human food and just slept all the time! Luckily, nobody was slayed, and the siblings were instructed to find a man named Sakonji Urokodaki, Tomioka’s teacher. But they couldn’t just leave! Not after everything. So they came to an agreement: because Nezuko was able to quell her hunger and more or less function like a normal human, the two would go home for now, and then Tomioka would come to pick them up at a later date. As it turned out, in order for Nezuko to get her humanity back, she’d have to become a “Demon Buster”. A perfect way to bring in the new year..

In this au Nezuko keeps her humanity and is more of her own person. This makes it easier for her to get around and get info from other demons easier. She also conquers the sun slightly earlier, but we’ll get to that later. She wasn’t able to really show herself to her family that often until she was able to learn how to disguise herself from none other than Yushiro. Her having a sense of self and a personality separate to Tanjirou also allows for them to go their separate ways a bit more. Of course they stick together but it’s not like Nezuko is bound to the box. They have missions that sometimes requires Tanjirou to go completely solo, thus Nezuko is left to her own devices.

Overall, I really want to explore Nezuko’s character more and there’s so much more to her than what can be explained in a single post. I guess you’ll just have to tag along to find out more huh? This will also allow me to expand more on her relationship in regards to Zenitsu. In canon, it seemed a little one-sided since we weren’t able to get Nezuko’s point of view, but in this au I want to show more mutual interest so it doesn’t come off as weird as it did in canon. This also allows her to make her own friends (read: Muichirou, Senjurou, Genya, and more). Nezuko is a very fun character to explore in this au and I can’t wait to show you guys more!

Also did I mention that a lower moon is seeking to kill her? No? Oh, my bad.

———

Hey! Thanks for sticking around. Sorry this one took a while! After this we will most likely be getting Tamayo and Yushiro!! Inosuke and Kanao will have to wait a little bit longer because I still have to figure out things lore/design wise. As for Hashira, the next one will either be Giyuu or Shinobu! That’s all for now and thanks for all the support on this au!! Feel free to ask me about anything lore-related! I’ll see you in the next one!

[loveriotss]

[ 🥐 ] LOVE ALLIANCE : ALLIANCE D'AMOUR ⸻ MEET : y/n l/n's crew | k.bakugo x gn! reader smau series

phantom hero : mirage - y/n l/n → quirk : phantom touch - allows the user to create temporary constructs that can interact with the physical environment. these constructs are only visible to the user and can be anything from simple shapes (walls/shields/etc) to more complex forms (weapons/creatures/etc). [ a/n: i havent decided if y/n's quirk will be relevant enough but if it is i'll make sure to give more info about it! i wanted to give a quirk just incase ykwim. ] → a well loved and popular hero. praised for their skills and charming personality. → gets moped into dating scandals for even the slightest interactions with other pro heroes 😭. → had a crush on bakugo in highschool

zero gravity hero : uravity - ochaco uraraka → founder of gravity guidance : a quirk counseling enterprise that helps young children/students with their quirks. → might have returning feels for a certain ua teacher. → has occasionally hosted game and talk shows!

rain season hero : froppy - tsuyu asui → girly is does NOT gaf about rumors or scandals about her. → will proudly say or tweet whatever is on her mind (her pr team has given up i fear). → she has many amphibians and exotic bugs as pets.

ua teacher : deku - izuku midoriya → his embers last forever. although he is significantly weaker than before, he works to regain his strength. → yes his classmates are still actively funding for a hero suit. → currently he teaches at ua academy.

speed hero : ingenium - tenya iida → he is also an author. → he enjoys writing in his free time, it helps him feel calm. → mother of the group, always looking out for his friends and assuring that their needs are met.

hot and cold hero : shoto - shoto todoroki → does modeling on the side. → not hard to spot his face on a big billboard. → donates a lot of his income to quirk therapy and villain rehabilitation centers.

ᯓ★» LOVE ALLIANCE !

masterlist | next >

ᯓ★» ALLIANCE SECRETS !

୨ৎ : shoto got his brother touya into modelling too! although it took a bit of convincing, he eventually agreed. it's not his main career at the moment, but he's enjoying it as he tries to figure out what he wants to do in life. ୨ৎ : tsu has doxxed MANY people (haters). beware before you post smack about her or her friends because trust you'll find your ip address in your comments. ୨ৎ : iida also likes painting! he mostly paints geometrical shapes with muted colors when he's going through writers block. ୨ৎ : ochaco is a big fashion girlie! when she's not feeling tired or lazy, trust she'll glam out! (pro hero money PAYS) ୨ৎ : izuku has many fan boys and girls of his own (just like how he fanboyed over all might in his student days). he is grateful for their admiration!

ᯓ★» AUTHOR'S NOTE !

my au my rules i don't want anyone of you commenting on izuku's quirk situation. "ermm that's not accurate to the lore 🤓☝️" SHUSHH. do you guys like the little random things i gave them to do on their side!!!! also also pretend they do have those official tick marks bc i added those later but felt lazy and didn't update the screenshots.

ᯓ★» TAGLIST !

( comment on masterlist to be added + pls check ur settings if you're unable to be tagged ) @chsvok @ch3rryjampi3 @emmab3mma @pikachuzhc @cholios @zaiban2989 @hearts4heidi @ikissfade @themultifandomgirl @god-hangry-otter @solecitoszn @sunlix143 @rikislove @fackeraccount @chaoslibra @4rmins @harryzcherry @luvvvamy

©loveriotss — all rights reserved to me. don’t try to copy/steal my work. do not use any of my ideas/translate my work without my permission.

[itsfheang]

IRON & EMBER - Chapter 2

[ CH. 1 ][ PLAYLIST ] [ AO3 Link ]

RATING : Mature (Eventually) TAGS : Jayce x Viktor / Post Arcane / Fantasy AU / Mage!Viktor / Knight!Jayce / 7k words / Part 2 of ??

CHAPTER DESCRIPTION : Jayce fills Viktor in on the people they knew in their reality, and what they are up to in this one. They go on a shopping trip to get some clothes made for Viktor by local seamstress, Gwen, then tour the city before a realization hits Viktor like a ton of bricks. 

AUTHOR NOTES : While I do know a good deal of League of Legends lore, I do not claim to be an expert and for the sake of the story I am taking some creative liberties with characters that were not present in arcane. (additional author note at the end)

CHARACTERS : Jayce x Viktor (Arcane), Gwen (League of Legends), Mentions of other Arcane cast.

CHAPTER 2

Viktor awoke to the soft glow of morning filtering through the window. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, he sits up and finds Jayce’s blanket carefully draped over him. A small note on the nightstand catches his eye.

Scribbled in an all too familiar script, Gone to check in with the captain, back soon. Help yourself to anything you want. - J

A small smile tugs at Viktor’s lips as he sets the note aside. Rising to his feet, he stretches slightly before heading out to Jayce’s kitchen. His fingers absently trail along the wooden countertops as he checks the cupboards, finding the expected—plates, cups, and utensils. Opening another cabinet, he finds an assortment of neatly labeled jars filled with tea leaves. His lips quirk in approval as he continues to rummage for the rest of what he needs.

The fire in the hearth has begun to die down, but he spots a small stack of spare logs nearby. Kneeling, he carefully arranges a couple into the embers, prodding the fire back to life. Satisfied with his work, he sets the kettle on the hook above the flames, waiting for the water to boil.

As he waits, Viktor takes the opportunity to examine Jayce’s home in the daylight. It is a cozy abode, humbly decorated yet inviting. Plush rugs soften the wooden floors, and an array of plants are tucked into corners and along the windowsills. It seemed this world’s Jayce had an appreciation for greenery, and his Jayce had come to love it as well. 

Curiosity nudges him to explore further. He wanders down the hallway, noting the layout. Besides the guest room he had occupied, there is a spacious storage closet and a modest washroom. Another door leads to a double set of stairs, likely to an attic and basement. The last door is Jayce’s bedroom. He hesitates for a moment, tempted, but ultimately decides against intruding without permission.

A sudden whistle from the kettle draws him back to the kitchen. He swiftly moves to remove it from the fire, carefully pouring the steaming water over the infuser of tea leaves. The fragrant aroma fills the air as he retrieves the book he had been reading the night before. Wrapping Jayce’s blanket around his shoulders once more, he settles into the couch with his cup of tea, immersing himself in the pages while waiting for Jayce to return.

Viktor has lost track of time and how many cups of tea he's downed by the time he hears the door open and looks up to see Jayce enter. A boyish grin spreads across Jayce's face as he takes in the sight of Viktor, seemingly more relaxed today than he was the night prior.

"Ah, good, you're up! I got stuff for breakfast, and the Captain gave me the week to help you get...uh...readjusted, as I worded it to him."

"You didn’t need to do that, Jayce. Isn't that your income?" Viktor asks, frowning slightly.

Jayce waves away his concern. "Don't even worry about that. I could take a lot more time off than a week and be fine. Plus, you're more important right now." 

Viktor softens at his words, not used to being considered important, but not disliking the idea if it’s Jayce who thinks he is.

He heads to the kitchen with the sack of goods he purchased on his way home. Viktor watches as Jayce pulls out fresh eggs, thick slices of bacon, fruits, and fresh-baked bread, immediately setting to work preparing breakfast. He moves with an easy familiarity, appearing as comfortable in the kitchen as he was in the lab.

"Did you learn to cook here?" Viktor asks curiously, watching him work.

"No," Jayce chuckles. "It may surprise you to know that my mother taught me to cook when I was young. If you ever left the lab, maybe I could have cooked for you now and again," he adds teasingly as he effortlessly prepares the meal.

Viktor continues watching, a smile crossing his face. Seeing this more domestic side of Jayce gives him butterflies. He snaps out of it as Jayce slides a delicious-looking plate of food in front of him.

"Th-thank you," he says, feeling a blush creep up his neck. Hopefully, Jayce hadn’t caught him staring.

They fall back into casual conversation.

"So," Jayce asks, "I'm sure you have a ton of questions. Where do you want to start?"

Viktor wasn’t prepared. Jayce was right—he had so many questions. Start simple. Start simple, he tells himself, calming his sudden nerves.

"Well, you told me about what happened to you. What about those we knew? Mel, Heimerdinger..." He hesitates, remembering the terror he saw in her eyes as she turned to dust before him. "Sky?"

Jayce looks at him with regret. "I’m so sorry about Sky, V. We should have listened to Heimerdinger. But you’ll be pleased to know she is alive here, and doing quite well. She’s an alchemist at the Academy—one of their top healers, in fact."

Viktor’s eyes light up. At least in this world, he hopes she will lead the full and amazing life she deserves. "That does bring me some comfort."

"Most of the people we knew are here in some form. Cait is Knight General—basically in charge of the whole garrison. Vi is a fellow knight too. Powder never became Jinx. She and Vi are quite close. Powder and Ekko are exceedingly bright students at the Academy, from what I could dig up of their records." Jayce chuckles. "Though even in this world, she still has a knack for blowing things up. If anyone is going to push this Piltover forward, it will be those two. Zaun and Piltover have a much better relationship here, it’s not perfect, but those from Zaun have far more opportunities to do great things."

Viktor always knew Jinx—er, Powder—had the potential to do so much more. "And Mel? Heimerdinger?" he asks, wondering why Jayce hadn’t mentioned them first.

Jayce leans back, rubbing the back of his neck. “Mel… well, she’s here too, but she’s not exactly the same as we remember. Since magic is not as prominent here, she never was touched by the arcane. And Heimerdinger—he’s still at the Academy, of course. The old yordle’s a legend in every world, I suppose.” He chuckles, though there’s something contemplative in his expression.

Viktor watches him closely. “What else do you mean by Mel is not the same?”

Jayce sighs, drumming his fingers against the table. “She comes from a different background here. She’s still powerful, still influential, but since she never became an empath her mother had a much easier time molding her, she’s part of Piltover’s council but she is not the same woman we knew.”

“There is still a council in this world?” Viktor asks in surprise.

Jayce nods, leaning back in his chair. “Same council we knew long ago. Heimer, Mel, Salo, Cassandra... the gang’s all here, still running things.” A wry smirk tugs at his lips. “No Jinx to ruin their parade.”

Viktor considers the implications of this. The council had once wielded unchecked power, their decisions shaping the rise and fall of industries, lives. Their influence had been both a guiding force and a dangerous weapon. Would it be different in this world?

“Thankfully,” Jayce continues, “without things like airships and Hextech to capitalize on, they’re far less ruthless than the versions we knew.” He pauses before adding with a chuckle, “Well… besides Mel. She wants to turn Piltover into Noxus 2.0.”

Viktor raises a brow. “That does not sound pleasing.”

Jayce lets out a tired sigh. “Yeah. She's as ambitious as ever. The only difference is that now she supports Noxus' ambitions instead of Piltover’s.”

Viktor hums in thought, drumming his fingers against the rim of his cup. “And the rest of the council?”

Rubbing his jaw. “The dynamic hasn’t changed much. Heimerdinger still tries to be the moral compass, but he’s outnumbered. Cassandra plays politics, Salo and Torman are still opportunists. Shoola and Iridius are generally level headed if not overly cautious” He exhales slowly.

Viktor watches him closely. “And you? Where do you stand in all of this?”

He watches as Jayce rolls his shoulders, forcing an easy grin. “I keep my head down and do my job as a knight. No desire for a role on the council again.”

Viktor narrows his eyes. “That does not sound like the Jayce I knew.”

Jayce lets out a short laugh, but there’s no real amusement in it. “Yeah, well… things changed. Priorities changed.” He reaches across the table, his fingers resting lightly on Viktor’s arm. “My focus became finding you. Piltover could burn if it meant I’d find my way to you again.”

Viktor feels warmth creeping up his neck again at Jayce’s touch and the confession. It’s not the first time since waking that Jayce has made it clear Viktor is his priority, and yet, Viktor finds he may never quite adjust to hearing it. He swallows, forcing his voice to remain steady. “Well, now that you found me, what is the priority now?”

Jayce hums in thought, his thumb absently brushing against Viktor’s arm. He still hasn’t moved his hand. Viktor pretends not to notice how much he likes the gentle gesture. “Well, we do need to stop at my tailor, and I’d like to give you a proper tour. But I guess, most importantly, making sure you’re okay.”

Viktor is caught off guard. “Wh-what do you mean? I’m alive. I’m okay, aren’t I?”

Jayce gives him a pointed look, one brow raised in skepticism. “Viktor. You thought you were dead. You woke up in a world that is almost your own but isn’t. The only person here who really knows you is the man who—" Jayce hesitates, but only briefly, "—who tried to kill you. And then thought he died with you after you turned into an arcane primal force that nearly tore the world apart.” He exhales slowly. “I’d say that’s a lot to cope with.”

Viktor looks down at his mug, unable to argue with any of that. His fingers tighten around the ceramic as he studies his own hands—the faint, shifting hues of purple and gold still lingering beneath his skin. Everything had changed so suddenly, so drastically. But what unsettled him most was what he hadn’t been able to put into words, the thing that had been gnawing at him from the moment he woke.

The arcane had not abandoned him.

It was weaker, fainter, but not gone. And it felt different—more untamed, unshaped by human hands. Something primal and raw.

He lifts his gaze back to Jayce, taking in the concern knitted between his brows. The trust in his eyes. The quiet devotion Viktor still wasn’t sure he deserved. Jayce had never needed a hammer to break him down—he was doing it now, brick by brick, just by being here.

“I—” Viktor hesitates, but then he feels the faintest squeeze on his arm, calming him.

“I still feel it,” he finally admits. “The arcane. It’s weaker, but… different. Not like what we created with the Hexcore. This feels…” He searches for the right word, rolling it over in his mind before settling on, “…ancient.”

Jayce's fingers twitch slightly against Viktor’s arm before he finally pulls his hand away, running it through his hair instead. He exhales sharply, his jaw tightening for a moment as if holding back whatever immediate thought crossed his mind.

“Ancient?” he repeats, voice measured but laced with concern. His brows knit together as he leans back slightly, studying Viktor like he’s trying to see beneath his skin, past the surface, to whatever it is Viktor feels. “How do you mean?”

Viktor flexes his fingers, “It is not the same as before. Not the refined energy we channeled into the Hex gemstones, nor the volatile force of the Hexcore.” He hesitates, weighing his words carefully. “This feels…as though it has been waiting.”

Jayce’s frown deepens. “Waiting for what?”

Viktor shakes his head. “I do not know.”

For a long moment, Jayce says nothing. He just watches Viktor, his fingers drumming absently against the table. Viktor knows that look—it’s the same one Jayce always got when working through a problem, when he was connecting dots that others hadn’t yet seen.

Then Jayce shifts in his seat, crossing his arms. “Does it hurt?”

The question catches Viktor off guard. His first instinct is to say no. But he stops himself before the lie can take shape. It does not hurt in the way the Hexcore once had—it is not a clawing, consuming force, not a hunger gnawing at his insides. But there is something else, something just beneath the surface.

“It… pulls,” he admits slowly. “Like a current in the ocean, always there, waiting for me to follow.”

Jayce looks troubled by that. His fingers drum once more against the wooden table before he abruptly pushes himself up from his chair. He paces a short path across the kitchen, running a hand over his jaw.

“That’s—” he stops, lets out a short breath, then turns back to Viktor. “That’s a lot. A lot for you, a lot for me to process.” He laughs, but it’s hollow. “Hell, V, you’ve been awake for barely a day and we’re already talking about ancient, primal magic?”

Viktor tilts his head. “Would you prefer we discuss the weather instead?”

Jayce huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “No. I just—” He exhales, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I don’t know what this means for you. Or what it means for Piltover.”

Viktor watches him closely. “You are afraid.”

Jayce sighs. “Not of you,” he says, firm and immediate. “Never of you.”

He leans forward again, bracing his hands on the table, close enough that Viktor can see the worry etched in his features. “But I am afraid of what they’ll do if they find out.”

Viktor doesn’t need to ask who he means. The Council. The same people who in their world had feared magic, feared the idea of Hextech, who tried to control it the moment they understood its power. If they learned that Viktor was connected to something older, something raw and untamed…

“They will want to study it,” Viktor murmurs.

Jayce nods grimly. “Or worse.”

The room falls into a heavy silence, the weight of unspoken possibilities pressing between them.

Then, softer, Jayce adds, “I’m glad I took the week off. It’s no longer just to help you adjust, Viktor. I need time to figure out how to keep you safe.”

Viktor looks at him, truly looks at him. Jayce, who had spent years trying to fix what was broken, who had lost nearly everything in his search for answers. And yet, his first instinct was still to protect.

The warmth from earlier creeps back into Viktor’s chest, unsettling in its own way. He looks away, back down at his hands. “I see.”

Jayce studies him for a moment longer, then claps his hands together with forced enthusiasm. “Right. Well, heavy conversations during breakfast can’t be good for digestion. Eat up. We have a city to explore, and you need new clothes before people start thinking I kidnapped you.”

Viktor huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head. The conversation isn’t over—not by a long shot—but for now, he allows the shift, lets the tension ease.

There would be time to unravel the implications of his connection to the arcane and what he was possibly capable of. For now, he would let Jayce distract him. Just for a little while.

They finish their meal in content quiet. It turns out Jayce is actually a fantastic cook, and Viktor finds himself looking forward to more of his meals. He had never placed much thought into food before—so often, it had been an afterthought, something consumed in hurried bites between long hours in the lab. But here, with Jayce, it feels different. Something to savor.

When they finish, Viktor insists on helping clean up, despite Jayce’s protests that he’s a guest. They move easily around each other in the kitchen, Jayce washing the dishes while Viktor dries them, stacking them neatly back into the cupboards. It’s a simple, domestic routine, but Viktor finds a quiet satisfaction in it, it’s something tangible amidst the overwhelming strangeness of his new reality.

Afterward, Jayce sets about trying to find Viktor something more suitable to wear. The process is… less than smooth.

Jayce tosses him a sweater first, thick and warm, but the moment Viktor pulls it over his head, it nearly swallows him whole. The sleeves hang well past his hands, and the hem drapes nearly to his knees. He flaps his arms, the extra fabric flopping comically.

Jayce snorts, leaning against his dresser. “Okay, that might be a little big.”

“A little?” Viktor deadpans, staring at his own sleeve-covered hands. “Jayce, I look like a child wearing his father’s clothing.”

Jayce hums in thought. “You know, it’s kind of cute.”

Viktor pulls the sweater off with an exasperated sigh and throws it at Jayce’s face. “Find something else before I freeze to death.”

Jayce laughs as he peels the sweater off his head, tossing it aside before digging into the dresser again. He pulls out another shirt—this one a simple button-up. Viktor slides it on, relieved that at least the fit isn’t as disastrous. The sleeves are still too long, but rolling them up to his elbows fixes that well enough.

Jayce, ever the menace, nods in approval. “Okay, now you just look like you walked out of one of those novels you read.”

Viktor huffs, adjusting the cuffs. “Better than an orphaned waif, I suppose.”

Jayce grins. “I don’t know, the ‘tragic, windswept genius’ look works for you.”

Viktor rolls his eyes. “You are enjoying this far too much.”

“Can you blame me? It’s not every day I get to play dress-up with you.”

Viktor ignores that comment entirely and sets about wrapping the excess fabric into a sash Jayce provides, at least making the fit more manageable. 

Jayce steps back, crossing his arms as he surveys the finished look. “Not bad. You could almost pass as a respectable citizen.”

Viktor raises a skeptical brow. “Almost?”

Jayce smirks. “I mean, you still look like you’re about to deliver some ominous monologue about the dangers of unchecked ambition.”

Viktor places a hand over his chest in mock offense. “How dare you. My monologues are never ominous.”

Jayce just gives him a look.

Viktor sighs, finishing the last of his adjustments. “Are we done?”

“Just need shoes.” Jayce kneels, digging around until he finds something suitable. He holds up a pair of boots first, then eyes Viktor’s slim frame and shakes his head before swapping them out for a pair of slip-ons. “Try these.”

Viktor steps into them, relieved to find they fit well enough. Jayce stays crouched, resting his arms on his knees as he studies him again, something softer in his expression now.

“You look good,” he says, quieter this time.

Viktor feels warmth creep up his neck, suddenly very aware of how closely they’re standing. He clears his throat, brushing his hands over his sleeves. “Yes, well, considering the alternatives, I will take what I can get.”

Jayce grins but doesn’t argue. “Alright, let’s get going. We’ve got a whole city to explore.”

As they step out of the house, Viktor glances once more at the cozy space Jayce calls home. He hadn’t expected to feel comfortable anywhere in this world. And yet, somehow, he does.

Maybe it isn’t the place at all. Maybe it’s the person in it.

The streets of Piltover bustle with morning activity as Jayce and Viktor make their way through the city. It’s both familiar and unfamiliar—buildings in the same places but constructed differently, people dressed in styles reminiscent of what Viktor remembers but with subtle, unfamiliar details. The air is crisp, laced with the scent of fresh bread from a nearby bakery and the faint metallic tang of worked steel from the smithy down the street.

Jayce walks beside him with an easy confidence, offering a reassuring presence as Viktor navigates this strange-yet-familiar world. He catches a few people offering them polite nods or greetings, some even calling Jayce by name. It seems, much like before, Jayce is well-known here.

“You’re quite the local celebrity,” Viktor muses as they weave through the crowd.

Jayce chuckles. “Not really. I just do a lot of work around town. Engineering, repairs, that sort of thing. Helps getting to know people.”

“Mm. And here I thought you were simply charming your way through life.”

Jayce shoots him a grin. “That too.”

They arrive at the tailor’s shop, a quaint yet refined boutique tucked between a bookshop and an apothecary. The sign above the door reads Hallowed & Co. Fine Tailoring. The moment they step inside, the scent of linen, wool, and polished wood surrounds them. Bolts of rich fabric line the walls, neatly organized by color and material, and mannequins display expertly crafted coats and waistcoats.

A young woman emerges from behind a curtain, adjusting the lace cuffs of her blouse. She’s dressed in layers of ruffled fabric, her ensemble meticulously coordinated in deep blues and blacks, accented with delicate silver embroidery. Her long azure-blue hair is tied back with black ribbons, and when she sees them, her face lights up with a delighted smile.

“Jayce Talis! You’re in need of my services again?” she teases, resting a hand on her hip. “Did you already manage to get grease on the last outfit you ordered?”

Jayce lets out a good-natured laugh. “Not this time, Gwen. It’s actually Viktor who needs your help. We need to get him a full wardrobe.”

Gwen’s sharp eyes flick to Viktor, scanning him with an appraising gaze before clasping her hands together. “Oh, what a wonderful canvas to work with!” she exclaims. “And you’ve got the perfect frame for something refined. Tell me, Viktor, do you have a preference, or shall I simply dress you as I see fit?”

Viktor, mildly taken aback by her enthusiasm, clears his throat. “I prefer a structured, practical style? I think? I don’t really know fashion all that well.” 

Gwen beams. “Oh, that’s not a problem. We will figure out what works for you together.” She gestures toward a fitting area. “Come, let’s get your measurements.”

Jayce claps Viktor on the shoulder. “Have fun with that. I’ll be over here looking at fabrics.”

Viktor shoots him a flat look but steps forward as Gwen retrieves her measuring tape. She works quickly and efficiently, jotting down notes in a little leather book while occasionally humming to herself.

“You carry yourself like a man who prefers deep, understated tones,” she muses, glancing up at him. “Charcoal, navy, emerald, perhaps a rich aubergine?”

Viktor nods in approval. “I favor subtlety.”

Jayce, from across the shop, holds up a bright ruby fabric. “What about this? You’d look good in red.”

Viktor eyes it for a moment before shaking his head. “Too bold.”

Jayce snorts, muttering, “Still allergic to standing out, huh?”

Gwen grins. “A more classic palette it is.” She turns, sifting through a collection of swatches before pulling a few options. “This midnight blue with silver threading would make for a stunning waistcoat. Or, if you want something a little warmer, this forest green wool is both stylish and practical.”

Viktor considers them before selecting the navy. “This.”

Gwen nods approvingly. “Excellent choice.”

Jayce, meanwhile, has found his way to the sleepwear selection. He picks up a luxurious-looking robe, deep maroon with gold embroidery along the sleeves, and holds it up. “What about this? You could look regal while sipping your evening tea.”

Viktor barely spares it a glance. “I am not a prince, Jayce.”

Jayce smirks. “You could be.”

Gwen giggles.

Viktor huffs, but there’s a faint hint of amusement in his expression.

They move on to selecting casual wear—linen shirts with subtle detailing, lighter vests for layering, and well-fitted trousers that wouldn’t restrict movement. Gwen sketches quickly, making notes of embroidery details and fabric textures.

Finally, they reach the topic of shoes. Viktor selects a few pairs of finely crafted leather boots—one set for everyday wear, another more formal, and a simple pair for lounging at home.

By the time they are finished, Jayce is leaning lazily against the counter, arms crossed, watching with an easy grin. “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

“I suppose not,” Viktor concedes. 

Jayce glances at Gwen, who is finalizing the order. “How long will the work take?”

“Given the urgency, I can have the essentials ready within three days. The more intricate pieces may take a week. But given your current predicament,” she gestures to his current attire. I have some premade outfits that should fit you better that I can send you with now if you’d like.”

Jayce nods. “Perfect. Just send the bill to me.”

Viktor frowns. “Jayce—”

“No arguments,” Jayce interrupts, giving Viktor a steady look. “Consider it a gift. You deserve to be comfortable here.”

Viktor exhales deeply, a mix of resignation and gratitude mingling in his chest. He realizes, with a sinking certainty, that he has no way to pay for the clothing himself. Instead, he watches as Jayce leans in to speak with Gwen, who is busily finalizing the details of the order.

Gwen nods curtly and disappears into the back of the shop. Minutes later, she reemerges carrying two carefully folded outfits. The stack is neat and precise—an ensemble that hints at Viktor’s refined taste—with a pair of leather boots. Gwen’s eyes sparkle with pride as she holds out the neatly stacked bundle. 

“There’s a changing room over there if you’d like to try them on, I can make any minor adjustments you might need.” She gestures to a door to their left. “These should hold you over until I can have the basics made to fit you perfectly,” she announces, her tone warm and confident.

Viktor runs his fingers lightly over the fabric as he accepts the clothing, feeling the texture promise both comfort and a touch of elegance he hadn’t appreciated before. The gesture, so unburdened by transaction or obligation, speaks volumes about Jayce’s care—and perhaps about the new life Viktor is slowly beginning to accept.

Jayce catches Viktor’s eye, his own smile softening. “You’ll look sharp, V. I don’t want you to feel out of place.”

Viktor manages a small nod, a silent acknowledgment of the gift—and of Jayce’s unwavering support. 

Viktor thanks Gwen with a nod and slips into the changing room, the door closing softly behind him. In the quiet space, he unfolds the neatly stacked bundle on a small table and examines the garments with a measured eye. One outfit, in particular, catches his attention. He runs his fingers over the fabric: a deep, elegant navy blue corset-style vest that promises a structured, dignified silhouette; beneath it, a deep maroon button-up shirt exudes warmth and subtle flair; paired with high waisted black trousers, the ensemble speaks of understated sophistication.

The maroon shirt slips on effortlessly, and as he pulls the trousers up, he is pleasantly surprised—they fit him perfectly without a need for adjustments. He carefully dons the vest, noticing immediately how it hugs his frame in all the right places. In the mirror, the reflection that meets him is both striking and refined—a man reborn in style, his features set with determination and a hint of vulnerability.

After a few moments of quiet self-reflection, Viktor steps out of the changing room. In the soft light of the boutique, he stands before Gwen and Jayce, who are waiting expectantly. Gwen offers an excited smile and a satisfied nod, her eyes gleaming with professional pride.

But it is Jayce's reaction that stops Viktor in his tracks. Jayce, usually so composed and confident, appears utterly entranced. His eyes widen as he takes in the sight of Viktor in the elegant attire. A blush tints Jayce’s cheeks, and he fumbles for a moment as if caught off guard by a revelation he hadn’t anticipated. For a heartbeat, the world seems to still, and Viktor senses an unfamiliar vulnerability in Jayce—a quiet bashfulness that softens the hard edges of his usual demeanor.

“You… you look remarkable,” Jayce stammers, his voice lower and more hesitant than usual. He avoids Viktor’s gaze for a moment before managing a small, sincere smile. “I—I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so…elegant.”

Viktor arches an eyebrow, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he studies Jayce’s reaction. “Thank you,” Viktor replies quietly, his voice carrying both gratitude and a touch of irony. “I suppose change isn’t so bad after all.”

Jayce’s bashful smile lingers as he steps closer, his hand resting on Viktor’s shoulder in an all too familiar manner. “No, not at all,” he murmurs. “In fact, I’m rather… excited…about the idea of change.”

Gwen breaks their momentary trance with a polite cough, drawing both Viktor and Jayce back to the present. Jayce flushes, quickly apologizing. “I’m sorry,” he says, glancing at Gwen with genuine gratitude. “Thank you again, Gwen.” He gathers the other outfit for Viktor, handing it over for her to wrap up.

Gwen smiles warmly as she safely packs the second outfit for Jayce. “Of course, Jayce. It was my pleasure.”

After saying farewell, Jayce and Viktor step back out onto the street. Jayce once again offers Viktor his arm. The gesture, while becoming as natural as breathing, causes Jayce to make a mental note to construct a new cane for Viktor—one that will perfectly match his new look. “Guess now I’m the one making you look bad,” he teases, his tone light as he grins.

Viktor raises an eyebrow in playful reproach. “I don’t think that could ever be possible,” he blurts before he realizes what he was saying, catching himself and looking away. Dressed in a form-fitted tunic and slacks, complemented by a dashing overcoat, the idea of Jayce making anyone look bad was unthinkable. 

Together, they meander through town at a leisurely pace. Jayce points out various places and sights—a bustling market square, a quiet garden tucked between cobbled streets, even a fountain whose waters catch the afternoon light just right.

Viktor can’t help but smile as he watches Jayce in this world. Here, in these streets filled with simple pleasures and genuine conversation, Jayce seems so undeniably happy—a stark contrast to the relentless urgency they once both carried. For a long time, they had been consumed by their efforts to harness magic, to reshape the world according to their ideals, and in the process, they’d clearly forgotten how magical the world already was.

They finally reach a beautiful park in the heart of the city—a lush oasis where a wide river meanders through the city, its gentle current sparkling under the afternoon sun. As they step onto the manicured lawns, Viktor’s eyes light up with a distant, bittersweet recognition. The park’s winding paths and the river’s steady flow remind him of his childhood: of afternoons spent near the water testing his mechanical boats, marveling at how the current danced around his creations.

For a moment, Viktor is lost in the reverie of those bygone days. Then, in a flash of sudden clarity, his eyes widen and he blurts out, “Rio!”

Jayce, startled by the unexpected outburst, jumps aside as Viktor whirls to face him. “Jayce, in the year that you were here, was there any trace of shimmer?”

Jayce furrows his brow in confusion. “Shimmer? N-no…actually, no. Shimmer never seems to have been invented here. Why?”

Viktor grins widely, a wild light in his eyes. Without thinking, he nearly leaps forward, throwing his arms around Jayce in a tight, exuberant embrace. “We need to go to Zaun. I need to find her—” He catches himself mid-hug, quickly disentangling his arms as he realizes the precariousness of his position.

Jayce, still visibly confused and now trying to steady his racing heart, “Zaun? I mean, that’s no problem, but who exactly are we looking for?”

Viktor’s grin grows even more determined as he steps back, his eyes shining with a child-like excitement and urgency. “Rio. A man named Singed used her in his creation of shimmer. If shimmer was never invented here, then she might still be alive, somewhere down in Zaun. I have to find her.”

For a long moment, the only sound is the gentle murmur of the river and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. The weight of Viktor’s realization hangs between them, charged with memories and possibilities. Jayce studies Viktor’s fervent expression, caught between confusion and adoration. The sight of Viktor so expressively happy makes him feel as though his knees might buckle beneath him. He doesn’t know who—or what—Rio is, but if she can make Viktor this happy, then he would turn the entire city upside down to find her for him.

Jayce clears his throat softly, his voice uncharacteristically hesitant. “Viktor… you’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” His eyes search Viktor’s face for any sign of doubt, finding none—only the unyielding determination of a man set on a course he must follow.

Viktor nods, his gaze fixed on the shimmering water. “Absolutely. Rio isn’t just a piece of my past. She’s a part of me, she brought me joy as a child but Singed used her. Distorted her. Turned a creature of beauty into something twisted for his own gains.” His voice trembles with a mix of hope and anger as his memories of his time with Singed flooded his mind.

Jayce steps closer, his arm instinctively slipping around Viktor’s shoulder as they turn their attention back to the river before them. “Then we’ll find her,” he says, his tone firm yet gentle. “I’m with you every step of the way.”

For a moment, Viktor’s eyes glisten with unshed tears—an amalgamation of relief, gratitude, and a rekindled sense of purpose. He glances at Jayce, the unspoken feelings for him with every heartbeat. “Thank you, Jayce. I—I know this isn’t going to be easy, she’s a rare creature. But Singed had built his lab around her habitat, so it’s a place to start. I need to see her happy and free.”

Jayce’s smile is soft but resolute. “Tonight, we rest and gather what we need. Tomorrow we will start searching.” His words, though simple, resound with a sincere commitment that touches Viktor deeply.

As the river continues its quiet song and the park’s natural beauty wraps around them like a soothing embrace, Viktor and Jayce stand side by side. A journey into the depths of Zaun, into memories long buried. Shimmer had been the start of what had torn them apart and now, perhaps, finding Rio could be the start to bringing them fully back together.

In that moment, with the afternoon sun gilding the water and casting long shadows among the trees, Viktor glances down at his stained hands. He still feels the fear of the unknown, of not knowing what he is capable of, but with Jayce at his side again it doesn’t feel so all consuming. 

They continue their tour, Viktor buoyed by the newfound hope that Rio could be out there somewhere. His spirits are noticeably higher as the afternoon wanes. With the sun beginning its slow descent, Jayce suggests they head back to his home—but not before a detour to a quaint restaurant with a lovely outdoor patio.

The restaurant exudes a relaxed charm: warm, glowing lanterns, ivy creeping along the stone walls, and smaller lanterns casting a gentle glow over the tables. Seated under a pergola draped in flowering vines, they place their orders and settle into a comfortable conversation as they wait for dinner to arrive.

After a few moments of quiet conversation and the soft clink of cutlery in the background, Jayce turns to Viktor with genuine curiosity. “So, tell me more about Rio,” he says, his tone both inquisitive and supportive.

Viktor’s eyes light up as he begins to explain. “Rio is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered—she’s a rare mutation of a Waverider.” He leans in slightly, as if sharing a secret. “Waveriders are normally found around in the Guardian Sea, near Bilgewater. But somehow, Rio ended up in caves in the upper levels of Zaun, where the water from Piltover flows through.”

Jayce nods, listening intently as Viktor continues. “What makes her extraordinary is her regenerative abilities. She can heal herself at an astonishing rate. Singed saw that potential and exploited it in his relentless efforts to defy death. In his desperate bid to create something that would stave off death—he harnessed her regenerative power. That, in turn, gave birth to shimmer, and Rio’s unfortunate downfall.”

Jayce’s eyes widen in surprise, his mind racing with the implications of Viktor’s words. “So, shimmer…it’s tied to her, to this mutation?” he asks softly.

Viktor nods. “Exactly, and if shimmer never took hold here, that means Rio might still be out there, untouched by the ambitions of those who would misuse her gift.”

As their meals arrive, the rich aromas of freshly prepared food mingled with the evening air. Their conversation resumed as they broke into their second bottle of wine, the mellow notes of red filling the space between each sip. Between bites of their meals, Viktor leans forward, his eyes alight with determined speculation.

“Tracking her down,” he begins, “won’t be easy. Despite her large size, Rio’s a herbivore. I’m thinking if we can get the right fruits and vegetables—something irresistible—we might lure her out of hiding.” He gestures animatedly, nearly toppling his glass in his excitement.

Jayce nods thoughtfully, his gaze flickering between Viktor and his half-full glass. “So we’d set up a sort of… bait?” he asks. “Some kind of feeding station?”

“Exactly,” Viktor replies, warming to the idea. “It won’t be foolproof, but it might just work, if she managed to find her way into those caves in this world too, that is.”

As their conversation drifts between plans and theories, their laughter mingles with the soft murmur of the restaurant. Eventually, as the meal winds down, Jayce signals the waiter and settles the bill, thanking him with a courteous nod. Viktor, a bit more flushed from the wine than before, stands abruptly—and wobbles.

Jayce is quick to react, steadying Viktor with a firm hand on his lower back while chuckling. “Easy there, V. Don’t want you falling over.”

They leave the restaurant, both men it turns out are a bit unsteady on their feet, and they find themselves laughing at each other's missteps. When they finally reach Jayce’s home, the evening’s fatigue mingles with their lingering mirth. Jayce fumbles for the oil lamps, his fingers clumsy in the dim light, while Viktor struggles to haul fresh logs into the fireplace. After a few humorous stumbles and gentle teasing, Viktor manages to coax the fire back to life and finally collapses onto the couch with a contented sigh. A few moments later, Jayce joins him, stretching and releasing a long, weary sigh.

Now, with the sun nearly set and most of the illumination coming from the flickering oil lamps and the steady glow of the hearth, a chill begins to seep into the room. Even with the fire burning, Viktor shivers slightly. Jayce notices immediately, sliding his arm around Viktor and pulling him closer.

For a moment, Viktor tenses at the unexpected embrace, but then the warmth—both physical and emotional—slowly relaxes him. They settle into a comfortable silence together, watching as the sun sinks lower through the bay window. Outside, lamplighters begin their nightly rounds, and one by one, the street’s oil lamps flicker to life.

Perhaps it was the wine, or perhaps Viktor was simply feeling brave, but as he leaned into Jayce he took a chance at resting his head softly on his shoulder. He allowed himself to dream. He wished this quiet, tender moment could be his life every day, even if he knew there was still so much to unravel. Closing his eyes, he surrendered to the comfort of the present.

AUTHOR NOTE: I took a few creative liberties with Rio. In the show Singed claims to have “cultivated” her mutation, but in League Lore, Pixiemanders are a naturally occurring mutation of the Waverider species, so in this, Rio is a naturally mutated Pixiemander. I also interpreted the fact she was dying as something caused by Singed’s experiments, so no experiments, no dying Rio. I want a happy ending for our girl mkay? <3

[gl1tchr]

Gotham City Limits Rogue Bios

These are the same little lore dumps from my original post, but as text so they can be more easily read/accessible!!! Since it's huge blocks of text, I'm sticking them all under a divider, and I'll update this post when I finish more rogues!!

Jonathan Crane, "Scarecrow"

Jonathan Carter Crane was born and raised in Louisiana by his heavily religious grandmother after the passing of his parents. As a child, her fire and brimstone preaching struck immense fear in him, especially when she would claim his mother was burning in Hell for being Protestant and not Catholic. As he grew older, he was not swayed to belief by her teachings, and would silently reject the faith while he still relied on her. At 23, Crane received his Bachelor’s in Psychology and one of his professors would pull some strings to get him into a Master’s program at Gotham University. Crane would bury himself in his education, and the study of the human mind would become his one comfort in life. He went on to earn his Master’s and PhD in Psychology, deciding to remain in Gotham to teach. While he attempted to find contentment in his life in Gotham, Crane found himself increasingly obsessed with fear, which affected his teaching, hitting a rut in his 30s. 

When a mugger attempted to rob him one night, Crane pulled a gun on him. The mugger revealed he was not armed, and only had a flashlight in his pocket to look like a gun. Crane grabbed the man and forced the gun to his temple, taking immense joy in the terror he had caused the young criminal. After setting him loose, Crane came to the realization that he was meant to instill fear in others the way his grandmother had done to him, and became the Scarecrow. He would don his frightening costume, inspired by undertakers, highwaymen, and, of course, scarecrows, to terrorize criminals - or anyone he deemed worthy of punishment - with his signature Fear Toxin. This outlet has allowed him to continue teaching undistracted, though it won’t be long before his double lives converge and he can no longer separate Jonathan Crane from the Scarecrow.

Edward Nashton, "The Riddler"

Edward Theodore Nashton is a Gotham native, the lone son to parents who had very little affection for one another before he was even born. When he was, their relationship became even more tumultuous, leading to a divorce in Edward’s childhood. While his mother remained the same, his father deteriorated into severe alcoholism and would abuse him both emotionally and physically. He tried to tell his mother about the abuse that occurred when he went to his father’s, but she didn’t listen, and nothing was ever done. For much of his life, Edward would feel he simply wasn’t heard. In his teens, Edward began toying with cybernetics and discovered a knack for programming. The more he learned, his pace increased, finding it difficult to fill his time with as much stimulation as he possibly could to quell the volume of his mind. In his 20s, Edward would work for a short time at a cybersecurity company before becoming bored again. He would attend college at Harvard, earning his Master’s in Business Administration, specializing in finance. This allowed him to work freelance, offering accounting to whomever he wished to work with. Unfortunately, he would find himself unsatisfied once again, feeling as though the things he was doing weren’t enough.

Edward eventually realized he could be selling the information he learned from his work, making him an incredible asset for insider dealings. Much of his early criminal behavior was white-collar crime, however, as he became entrenched in the lifestyle, he began dealing with more and more shady individuals, including organized crime. Realizing he would need a more legitimate source of income to cover his tracks, Edward got his teaching certificate and began working at Gotham University teaching finance. In this way, he has been able to control a great deal of Gotham’s criminal underbelly from the comfort of his classroom, and with the safety of anonymity.

Jervis Tetch, "Mad Hatter"

Jervis Benjamin Tetch is the youngest of seven siblings, and the son of two professors of science at Oxford University. While his older siblings excelled in the sciences, Tetch was drawn to the arts. While his parents didn’t outright shame him for this, they showed little interest in encouraging his creative endeavors, often drilling him about the difficulties those in the arts faced in having successful careers. Feeling as though he would never get the attention he wanted from his family, he decided to finish his studies abroad in the states. With his grades, he was able to get a full-ride scholarship to Gotham University, where he would be enrolled for only two years.

During his time in college, Tetch would fall into a deep depression. Feeling isolated with no support system, he turned to recreational drug use to get through school. This drug use would fuel a bizarre infatuation with the story Alice in Wonderland, which he used for inspiration for many of his projects for class. He would also begin acting strangely, his classmates reporting he’d become oddly talkative and outgoing in the weeks leading up to the horrific murders he would commit. Allison Wells would be the frequent target of his odd behavior, reporting to several of her friends she felt unsafe around him. Eventually, Allison would inform Jervis she was seeing someone, and her friends would confront him outside of class demanding that he leave her alone. After a particularly aggressive episode, Jervis would drug and kidnap Allison, her boyfriend, and her three friends, holding them captive in an abandoned building near the school for several days before slowly picking them off, ending with Allison. Jervis is currently serving multiple life sentences in Arkham for quintuple homicide.

[moongothic]

You know I was wondering if Crocodile ever did have any kind of involvement with the Revolutionary Army in secret (lest the Government finds out and revokes his Shichibukai status), what kind of involvement would that even have been

And now, with both the Vegapunk/Ohara flashback and Kuma's flashback, it's being made very clear to us that the Revolutionary Army was broke as hell 22 years ago. Like the fact that this has been brought up twice now in a relatively short span of time is interesting to me, that's usually a sign it's not an unimportant plotpoint

But you know who would have had money to help fund the Army

A funny little warlord who would eventually go and build a fucking casino to run for funsies. A warlord who had to give the Government some of his Pirating Income to keep his warlord-status

Like Crocodile hated the Government anyways so why not help fund the Revolutionary Army in secret, out of spite if for no other reason

Vaguely related, but I keep on remembering this scene (post-Enies Lobby), which at first glance just seems like a basic Lore Dump

But then there's the

"Yet..."

(Or "however", she says "no ni" in Japanese and you could translate that in many ways, I would probably have gone with "however" but that wouldn't have fit into the speechbubble)

Mind you, the conversation just kind of ends there, next we see Garp realize he probably shouldn't have mentioned Dragon infront of such a massive audience, so wherever that "yet" was going to lead to we will never find out, because Oda conveniently changed the subject before we got to it

And you know. Like yes, Robin could be just expressing her shock over finding out that the leader of the Revolutionary Army had a child with someone

But also, Robin was a part of an organization that was trying to overthrow one of the founding countries of the World Government in an explicit attempt to go against said Government (compared to like, Blackbeard, who currently wants to make Fullalead into a "pirate country" that's a part OF the World Government)

Like you don't have to be a genius to look at Crocodile's ultimate goals and compare that to what Dragon is doing and find a few similarities here and there maybe

(Also like, Crocodile's equivalent in Romancing SaGa 2 is meant to be Wagnas, the queer-coded leader of the Seven Heroes (whom the OG Shichibukai are based on) who "hoped to help the world". You know, an interesting detail and all.)

Not to mention, during the time Robin spent with Baroque Works, if Crocodile was ever in contact with the Revolutionary Army at all, considdering she has the ability to easily spy on people and that she didn't trust Crocodile one bit, it wouldn't be unsurprising if she ever spied on Crocodile and/or just overheard a phone call or knew about Crocodile having secret spending habits or something

(Mind you, I'm not saying "she knew" Crocodile was involved with the Revolutionaries, more that she might've been Suspecting Things, that "yet" being about her connecting the dots while unsure if her conclusion was right or not)

Of course Crocodile's plans can't have been Dragon Approved by any means, especially considdering the Army had been looking for Robin for over 10 years (pre-timeskip)

Four years of which were with Crocodile. Like if he was FULLY allied with the Army and KNEW they were looking for Robin, surely he would've called Dragon and been like "hey I found the kid from Ohara, wanna come hang out" or something. But no, he had bigger plans and kept Robin a secret from the Revolutionaries and the Government alike

Also like, I have seen people question why the Revolutionaries weren't involved with Alabasta's rebellion at all, and "Oda hadn't come up with the Revolutionaries yet at the time of writing" (/"OP was meant to end at Alabasta at one point so there would've been no reason to introduce the subplot at that point") aside Between Baroque Works being a secret organization working undercover (thus the Army might not have been aware of the civil war being manufactured), the framing of the King making him look bad and very much the type of monarch that deserved to be overthrown in the Army's eyes, and Crocodile maybe lying through his teeth about what was happening in the country... Yeah, the Army's lack of involvement with Alabasta suddenly makes sense

EDIT Minor addition: Just realized that because Crocodile was technically working for the Government, if the Revs ever did send forces to participate in Alabasta's civil army and taking down the throne, the Government could've easily ordered Crocodile to step in to stop the rebellion and take down the Revolutionaries, right? Because he was supposed to be on the Government's side, right? And surely the Army wouldn't have wanted to fight against Crocodile if they were secretly allied (Croc's secret betrayal aside), and if Crocodile refused to fight the Revs the Government could've seen that as a reason to revoke his Shichibukai rights (which wouldn't be great if they wanted to keep Crocodile in a position where he could fund the Army?). So it could've also been a case of it being for the best for everyone's sake to let this one play out "naturally"

But my point is

I'm just deeply intriqued by these little details and wonder if I'm Actually Masterfully Connecting The Dots Like a True Genius or just seeing a pattern where there's none. Like this is far from confirming the theory, I'm just saying, the pieces do kinda fit together do they not

[partywithoutsmiling]

Some musing on the Wanderer!Branch AU

(Okay, bit of a chaotic lore dump incoming, as this is probably the first time I am putting it to words)

Okay, important info first:

I headcanon it that Branch- and thus the other Brozone bros- are half-pop half-rock in their herritage; this headcanon is an old one, ever since World Tour dropped, and honestly only supported by the fact that Total Eclipse of the Heart that Branch sung as trolling is considered a Pop Rock song XD But hey, one doesnt need to have many reasons to make headcanons pff

(I have some tentative lore about his parents- and his grandparents- too, and how that would effect Branch and his Bros growing up, but I will leave that for a separated post)

But anyway, with Branch's Pop side being moderated by his Rock side, he would have always felt a bit out of place among his tribe, even he grew up perfectly happy with no tragedy in his life (I know switching Branch's and Poppy's place when it comes to being grey is all the rage right now, but I still feel most are missing all the necessary nuance to really make it work, but lets not get into that pf)

Obviously, that feeling of not fitting it only got hundred fold worse since his PTSD and him being grey, as Pop Trolls doesn't seem to be known for mental health support. Branch eventually leaving is not him going 'Screw you all, I will find someone who appreciates me' (much like Clay did) but more of a 'I am sorry, I won't get in your way anymore, I wont be a burden'

Basically massive amount of self-loathing and severe lack of self-worth. When Branch had his final breakdown and decided to leave, I don't think it would be with the precise goal of finding anyone (yes, part of him hopes he would be able to find his brothers and at least find closure one way or another, no matter how much it terrifies him).

Honestly, Branch probably didn't dare to examine his decision to leave any closely than he needed to, lest it would stand out to him for what it really was- a suicide trip.

This was Branch that doesnt know anything about the wide, outside world; he knows Bergen Town, knows of the old Troll Tree, and now knows the Forest and their Troll Village. But everything else is uncharted territory for him. He knows of the Neverglades, because of a faint memory of John Dory constantly talking about them when he was a baby, but has only a vague sense which way they are (I headcanon they make up for the border of Pop and Rock territories)

His preparation for the trip was abysmal, and so was his plan in general. He just picked a direction- opposite of Bergen Town, away from them- and started walking. When he first encountered the towering high peaks of Classical Territory, he immediatelly recognized that they can't be the Neverglades- very much not fitting the description that he remembered, so he walked past/around them, smack dab into Country territory.

Compared to others, I don't think the Country Trolls would have been very welcoming to him at the beginning; used to hard life, inhospitable land and abundant death, Branch would be an unexpected disturbance; obviously not a Classical Troll, who borders with them the closest but never comes down from the skies, obviously not a Funk Troll, who with their technological advance might as well be myths at this point- and obviously not a Pop Troll, since he doesnt shower them with obnoxious music and doesnt even look the part.

Had he been at his 100%, they would have probably been quite content to send him packing, figuring he was just a Rock Troll going solo career (little insert headcanon: Rock Troll Rite of Passage is going on a Rock Tour, and sometimes the more adventurous Rock Trolls strays into other territories to bother and cause mayhem other trolls. Barb's Rock Tour was her Rite of Passage, and being a freshly fanged Queen, she took it to another level)

But Branch quite helpfully collapsed on their doorstep, half starving and dehydrated, and they weren't so callous as to leave him there for the elements to take care of him.

Naturally, their help hardly came for free, and even if they didn't ask, Branch would have already feel indebted to them for wasting resources on his wellbeing. A Survivalist himself, he easily spotted the tight budget they were running, and felt guilty for being a burden yet again.

To his surprise, when the country trolls found out he was a hard worker, a skilled architect and wiz engineer, they completely turned their wariness around.

It was the start of his 'finding himself' journey, but for the first time, Branch started to feel... appreciated. Yes, these trolls didn't know him- but they looked at him, looked at what he can do, and called him accomplished; they were praising his skills, and called him valuable.

(But some sense of danger remained with him; as far as he believed, 'Branch' was left behind to rot away in his bunker. So when introducing himself, and habit got better of him, he started with "Bra-" but caught himself and finished "-mble"; and that new name, 'Bramble', stuck XD Still a plant name, still close enough that he can learn to repond to it- and honestly, feels like fits him better right now, as he feel all out of sorts)

It was only the first step, maybe, but it was a step toward feeling that he had some worth.

I think, out of all the Tribes, he stays with the Country trolls for the longest; yes, the life there is hard, but that is perhaps why he feels most welcomed there. There are no useless nonsense parties, no senseless dancing- the times when they can finaly wipe their brow and relax is when the community gathers together and they just... talk. Sit around, share food, look at the stars and reminiscence.

It's all very subdued, and even though Branch is the most obvious outsider ever, he feels like one with the community, and that by itself is already healing a deep wound he didnt know he had.

When the country trolls finally start singing on their good day, Branch is rather taken aback (He forgot, that Trolls are Trolls, and Trolls sing)- but the sombre and slow melody and topic of the country speaks to him, and while he doesnt join- and they dont push him to join- he listens, and he appreicates.

It is with Country Trolls that he heals most of his trauma when it comes to music. His Grandma and his Brothers leaving him are still a big guilt that weights him down- and something he wont address for a long time- but Country trolls shows him that music can be wildly different. He still doesnt sing, but when offered to be taught to play a banjo (XD), he probably doesnt refuse- mainly out of fear of insult, but also because for the first time in his life, he wants to actually try.

As time passes, his more curious side comes out- he asks questions, wants to know everything- up to this point, he didn't even know that the Country trolls were country- and to them it was obvious what they were, so why would they need to introduce themselves?

That line of questioning leads to the explanation of the other Tribes existing, and that each Tribes' music is different.

And for the first time in his life, Branch felt something alien to him- burning Wanderlust. (Bit of his Rock herritage showing, eh? Solo Rock tour, Rite of Passage~?) The thirst for knowledge was always there- after all, his bunker had many journals filled to brim with information about what he discovered in the foods, helpful tips for survival and many plans for inventions- but those were always done out of necessity, discovered and noted down so that he could live another say. Never before he had a desire to discover simply for the sake of discovering.

Never before he also actually felt like he had the option to do so; the world has always been an inhospitable wilderness to him, only filled with a small handful of trolls and a town full of monstrous giants. His childhood was filled with memory of a large iron cage, and that trapped feeling didn't change; after all, his Bunker, for all that it offered him safety, was a different type of cage too. The whole Troll Village- Pop Village, as he learned now- was another cage as well. Gilded one, made of ignorance.

And so he knew his time with the country trolls came to an end- and it was because he grew to respect them and appreciate them, that he doesnt disappear in the nigh and haltingly tells them his decision to leave and explore.

Memories of his Brothers' argument echo through his mind as he waits for the inevitable blow up, but.... he is once again surprised when the trolls just accepts this decision and wish him all the best- going as far as to help him pack- properly this time- and wheedling out of him a promise to check in once in a while, whenever he is in the neighbourhood.

Equipped with a non outdated map, he decides to make visit all the other territories one by one, starting from Country and heading right towards Classical, going around in one large circle around Pop Territory- Going to Techno after Classical, and to Rock right after that. Funk is largely a mystery to him- the Country trolls are at this point content to believe they are just a myth- much the same way a unicorn is to us- but Branch wants to keep an open mind.

After all, he himself had no idea other kind of trolls existed, so why dismiss the Funk Troll existence right away?

His travels to Symphonyville proved to be as challenging as was the start of his trip towards Country territory. Being high in the mountains- higher than anywhere Branch ever went- really showed him that walking is easy only when the road is straight and flat.

The air growing colder and thinning, he probably doesn't make the best first impression neither- especially in his dishevelled state, he is once more mistaken for a Rock Troll, and it takes a gargantuan amount of effort to convince anyone that he is simply there to learn music, and not cause any trouble.

Out of all the Tribes, he would stay with the Classical trolls the shortest. They are strict teachers, and their culture is very frigid and traditional- and Branch knows that he would have to wildly change himself to fit among them. Yet looking around, seeing the tall spires of the buildings around him, he finds he doesn't really want to. The grandiose of everything is rather intimidating- but even if he tried his best, he would never fit well among the classical trolls, always limited by something (like his ability to fly)

And realizes that was okay. That was acceptable. And that the classical trolls knew he wasn't a good fit now, and would hardly ever be a good fit ever- but they never expected him to become someone he is not. He asked them to teach him and so teach him they will- but you cant force a white sheep to grow black wool anymore that you can force a black sheep grow white.

The moment they realize Branch is there to learn and not wreck their peace like wandering Rock Trolls tend to do, they definitelly warm up to him more- but it still with the mildest of disapprovals since compared to them, Branch looks like a scrunkly kitten and all of them are just itching to groom him properly XD

Branch himself is amazed at the variety of musical instruments that exists and very quickly finds that he is not a progidy in plaing them all pff. Wind musical instruments are most likely completely beyond him, and after some attempts gives them up for a lost cause. Percussion fairs a bit better; he definitelly has some idea how to keep a beat and a rhythm, but even there he finds playing piano the most comfortable out of them all, with drums being a close second.

It is with string instruments that he trully shines, especially those that he can play with his own hands, without the need to use a pick or a bow; a tentative hint at his connection to music, the vibrations just send shivers down his spine and makes him feel more close to the sound his playing produces. (Guitar and Harp becoming his favourite instruments from the get go).

Getting to Techno was trickier. Them living underwater makes access to their territory rather impossible- unless Branch happens to meet someone willing to cross then bridge between Land and Sea XD

It makes for a rather convenient introduction for minor genres; the land bordering Classical and Rock seems to be as the perfect land for various minor tribes to cohabit in peace.

Are there Techno Opera trolls? Siren like beings, that found their homes on the deck of boats, sailing from and to an island after island? Techno Classical that built their living on the coast line, wanting to be close to both land and sea?

In any case, Branch discovers that even with music it's not so simple as shelving it into labels, and that it is ever growing, ever evolving. He never manages to actually visit Techno Reef, but he doesnt' need to; compared to other trolls, the Techno Trolls are not insular, and quite happily come to the surface or to the coast, both to vibe with the offshoots of their genre, to discover what they came up with, but also to simply make friends and have fun.

It was the first time Branch encountered a large party not unsimilar to that of a Pop Troll one- and yet for all that the party was just as loud and wild as he was used to seeing, the sight of it didnt really fill him with uncontrollable panic. It definitelly helped it was once again more about the music and the beat itself, and about the mood of the partygoers than it was about the singing; it was about experimentation and trying out new things- and yet not every troll was dancing around like maniacs. They had the stage for sure, and large crowd was gathering there- but there were also the fringe areas and corners, where Trolls just sat and chatted and bopped to the beat. Not forced to do anything they didn't want to, simply allowed to have fun in their own way.

He doesnt really interacts with the Techno Trolls that much, beyond when there is a party happening on the surface. Gravitates more towards exploring the Minor Territory, and discovering that it holds more than just Techno Classical/Opera. Not wanting to stray too close to the border with Pop, he nevertheless encounters encounters various offshoots of Pop as well- and the K-Pop gang as well

This definitelly allows him to learnt that even the Trolls Kingdom are not free of corruption and the bounty hunters are not starving for contracts- crime does happen in the troll kingdoms, and when the local police force comes short, the bounty hunters are the next best thing to employ.

Speaking with the K-Pop gang, he learns- with a bit of unease- that there was an old contract unfulfilled, that searched for all the Brozone Brothers, and thanked his lucky stars he can in no way be connected to them. It was considered a cold one, where there was no hope among the communities of it ever being cashed in- but the knowledge someone was looking for them- specifically for the younger of the brothers (Him, Floyd and Clay) made him wonder who could it be.

(Part of him entertained that it could be John Dory)

(Other part dismissed it right away. After all, JD did specifically state 'Goodbye Forever'- why would he make the effort to employ bounty hunters to find three of his brothers, if he was even alive to do so?)

That meetings seems to set of a string of bad luck- at least, that's how he feels. Continuing down to Rock territory- of which he is most wary (after all, he was constantly being confused for one, and expected to cause mayhem and destruction- so what kind of Trolls Rock Trolls were to earn that reputation?

A very specific kind- wild and chaotic.

Compared to other Territories, no-one blinks when he just walks in and continues deeper into the Kingdom; and he can finally see why he was mistaken for a Rock Troll. Muted colours, sharp smiles and even sharper claws, it was like walking into uncanny valley, where nearly every troll wears his face. At that point, unknown to him, his colours are not completely grey and black, so he is sporting some faint hues, and very quickly learns that thanks to the direction he came from, Rock Trolls think he is from an Offshoot genre; either Punk Rock or Pop Rock (though they obviously hope for the former) They reconsider him to Folk Rock when he brings out softer tunes that he plays on a borrowed guitar; and for the first time in a while, Branch is asked to sing.

He panics, obviously- playing musical instrument is one thing, but getting over his trauma from singing is another- and quite swiftly and bluntly refuses, cringing after to wait for the inevitable "You are a Troll, why don't you sing?"

Only... it never comes. There are shrugs, and one "Cool." and then he just gets invited to an Indie Rock show, and that is that.

Completely baffled at this easy acceptance, Branch agrees out of shock, before he can trully think it through- and realizes it's the first time since he left Pop Village (at this point probably nearly two years ago) that he thinks back on its inhabitants and namely Poppy.

He feels rather guilty, for taking this long to really give them a concrete thought. Like yes, he did think of them at the beginning, when he lived with the Country trolls- but that was only in general way, comparing the different livestyles. He never really chose to think about the people he left behind.

Now, no longer blinded with grief, self-loathing and rampart paranoia, he does remember that not all adults in his life went out of their way to activelly fail him. King Peppy, for all that he was unequipped to deal with Branch's issues, tried to check up on him regularly; his Grandmother's friends or those who knew her, made it their goal to be kind, even if Branch tried to avoid them out of reminder what he caused

Hype, Trickie, Boom and Ablaze were old friends- his childhood friends- the ones he made after his brothers left, and the ones he pushed away after he went grey- and yet they still managed to be around, noticing them from a distance, even as he stopped speaking to them.

And then there was, of course, Poppy.

Just starting to mature when he left, it's not quite a crush that he feels for her (not yet anyway), but there is still some sort of appreciation for her- some part of him, that subconsciously aches at the need to be close to her, and feeling just that bit of her warmth and positivity- one that made him wistfully keep all her invitations and listen to the sound of her recorded voice.

For the first time, he wonders how they reacted to his disappearence. Wonders if they miss him- or if they curse him. If they do both- like he felt conflicted towards his brothers, the older he got and the more obvious it became that they are not coming back.

It was that thought- the comparison to his brothers- that pushed him to hesitantly think about returning back to Pop Village; to his bunker, to his old life- to Poppy.

It was a tentative thought really; truthfully, the desire was a half hearted spur of the moment, and not something he would drop everything for. He didn't miss his old life; where he was the village hermit, the outcast, the weird one. Besides, he just arrived in Rock, and he still had a whole adventure ahead of him, trying to find the Funk trolls.

And so, When in Rome, do as the Romans do- and so Branch steeled himself to attend a party, one that he was specifically invited to; after all, he had been at parties before now, within the reach of Techno Reef, it's not like this one is any different

Only it kind of felt like it- yes, the music was harsher, the beat went harder- but the harmonizing of voices reminded him so close of his own tribe that it just left him feeling jittery- and at first, yes, the party made him tense and hardly participate, but as it went on, song after song, he could feel himself slowly relax.

(Besides, there was something about rock music, that send warmth straight to the core of his being; something about it resonated with him more than any other music did, besides Pop- and where before he fought hard to not allow it to do that, perhaps, just this time, he could try the opposite)

(After all, they were underground, where Branch always felt the safest, and the Bergens had no idea other tribes even existed- he could indulge a little)

Of course, fate has a funny way of entertaining itself, and in the second of his indecisiveness, he gets bumped into and trips and falls- or he would, if pair of hands didn't steady him, and familiar voice asked him if he was okay

And Branch suddenly felt altogether three years old, getting fed empty promise and watching his older brother disappear through the entry to his Grandma's pod

And he is now in present, left staring at nearly 15 years older Floyd, his brother clearly living the best life, happily away from Pop Territory (away from Branch)

His name drops from his lips before Branch can stop himself, and that has Floy pause and squint at him- obviously not recognizing him, obviously trying to place him- before something clicks and his eyes widen and he goes pale

Branch most likely punches him- and then finds he cant stop heaving in fury and goes punch him again, not allowing Floyd a word in (honestly, he is not punching very hard, not apart from that first one)

Of course, Floyd is hardly alone, probably in a band, and his band mates are not keen on having their member be attacked by a random troll

Brawl very easily breaks out- honestly nothing new among the Rock Trolls- and ends up with all of them, especially Branch, thrown in a cell for their troubles, much to the protest of Floyd's bandmates, who curses and claims innocence

For the first time in forever, Branch feels hollowed out; yes, he had been hoping for a closure- but honestly, he had expected to find all of his brothers dead; not finding any of them living happily away, their youngest brother not even a blip of concern in their mind.

He certainly never expected it from Floyd, who essentially lived a stone throw away; who clearly was able to cross the distance it took from Bergen town to arrive in Rock troll's territory, just shy away from the Pop one.

------------------------------------------------------------ This is where I will stop the musing for now XD;

Obviously there are more things to add; Barb would make appearance, not yet as a Queen but definitelly in charge of keeping any Rock Trolls in line (she is not called a Princess because the Rock Trolls don't use that title for their heirs) and while Floyd is aware she is the future Queen, that information doesnt get shared)

The discovery of Funk Trolls still awaits as well, as does Branch's return to Lonesome Flats, as he had promised to do

But that's for the next time :)

[sapphicrot]

ok im hooked. i need more streamer au lore

okay buckle up lol cuz i am boutta YAP. also for reference, these are their designs + “human” names, in descending order of age:

Moon (Kamaria), Suns (Cyra), Sliver (Sylvia), Opportunity (Felicity)

Indigo (no change), Wind (Chase), Sig (Sayani)

PIn (Piper), Yui (no change), Light (Phoebe), Pebbles (Felix)

So the streamer au doesn’t really have a set “plot”, it’s more just taking the iterators’ personalities and dropping them into the human world and letting them loose LOL. ofc there are references to their stories in the game, ie. Pebbles having cancer as a child, piper being a parentified oldest sibling, etc.

Sig, Piper, and Yui are all streamers and e-sports players, and eventually Pebbles joins in on Sig’s streaming shenanigans, either joining in with Sig’s chaos or doing his own streams where he screen records himself drawing. Moon mods Sig’s chat and very occasionally joins streams. Piper does do gaming streams but also does talking streams/GRWM type stuff and prefers doing those if they’re honest, and posts edited versions of the streams to youtube. Yui is pretty much a strictly gaming channel, and but will make appearances in Sig’s streams as they have a bit of a silly rivalry. Sig does have a decently sized fan following that he interacts with pretty frequently. She has done streams where she goes into the goddamn ao3 tag for himself and reads fics LMAO.

Sig, Pebbles, Moon, and Suns all live together in an apartment, and Piper and Yui live together as well (and are fucking BESTIES I’ll gush about that later). Sig met pebbles when she was still attending university, but subsequently dropped out after 1 semester because the whole streaming thing blew up. Pebbles still attends and is getting his B.A in fine arts. Sig met Moon through Pebbles and well. Obv they fell in love aww and then all moved in together. Pebbles met Suns later, they work at the library on campus and are getting their master’s in library sciences. Moon actually has a Real Job™ as a nutritionist and has a whole ass phd. Suns moved in with them after a whole lotta pspspsps-ing from Sig and Pebbles LOL.

Chase is Sig’s childhood best friend, they lived in the same neighborhood and are only a couple months apart in age. He isn’t a streamer and Sig unfortunately moved away for college so they don’t see each other often, but are still very close and have a minecraft world together that they’ve had for like, 7 years.

Yui moved from Korea after doing a semester abroad, but she never really found something she was passionate enough about to pick a major and eventually dropped out. Streaming provides enough income that she only needs a part-time job to make enough to live but it certainly wasn’t the future her or her parents expected of her. She can come off as a bit of a bitch, joking that she’s a “mean lesbian”, but it’s mainly because she feels she constantly has to be on the offensive. Given that she is an immigrant (specifically asian), for whom english is a second language, as well as short, queer, and a woman in a male-dominated space rampant with misogyny (esports), it’s not really a surprise she developed the attitude she has. She has a drive to prove herself but never really feels like she has, though since meeting the others she has become a lot more confident and comfortable with what she’s achieved.

(TW for abuse for this next bit)

Piper met Yui randomly in a coffee shop that was hosting an open mic night, and struck up a conversation with her. To Yui, Piper was the confident, sure of themself, had-it-all-together type of person she wanted to be. In reality they were living out of their car after running away from an abusive home in a conservative town and really, really wanted a fucking friend. Their mom had passed away when they were really young, and being the eldest sibling of 4, they were saddled with the brunt of raising them while their father had to work to make ends meet. He was very strict and at times verbally abusive towards them, and certainly wasn’t going to accept Piper being any kind of queer, pushing masculinity onto them that made them feel completely trapped. The second they turned 18, they threw their shit in the trunk of their car, withdrew every cent from their bank account, and drove off, never looking back. They feel really guilty for leaving their siblings behind in such a toxic environment but are too afraid to reach out to them, as they don’t want anyone to know where they went. They changed their last name to their mother’s maiden name just as a precaution (and because they don’t want to be connected to their father in any way, shape, or form).

(end of TW)

They’re incredibly attached to their car (a dented up white BMW from the 2000s) because it was their escape and their home for quite a while. Yui is completely unaware of all of this until some jackass backs into Pip’s car and busts one of the back taillights, which Piper can’t afford to fix and it sends them into a panic. This is the first time Yui sees Piper break down, sees them cry, and even though she is NOT a touchy person, all she can do is throw her arms around them and hold them while everything just bursts out. She immediately tells them to move in with her (and will NOT take no for an answer), and that’s how they end up living together. Piper is the first person Yui really lets her walls down around after being so hyper-vigilant about her self-image for so long, and they’re incredibly close. Yui was actually the first person Piper ever told to use they/them for them when they introduced themself. They’ve both really helped one another find their place and purpose in the world.

On a MUCH less heavy note LMFAO, Pip’s favorite band is glass animals, they’re really interested in fashion, and lowkey (highkey) a stoner. They share their weed with Pebbles to help him with his chronic pain, and that’s partially how those two get close. Pebbles and Yui also help them learn how to do makeup, since obviously with their upbringing they never had a chance to learn how to do it.

Piper is introduced to Sig (and subsequently Pebbs/Moon/Suns) when they tag along to a competition with Yui. Pebbs and Pip are kinda immediately into each other, but Pebbles is still with his piece of shit boyfriend (we’ll get to that in a second) and the two end up in a kinda terrible on-again-off-again fuck buddies situation that Piper just accepts as “good enough”. I prommy it ends up in a cute healthy relationship eventually but those two gotta FIGHT for it.

Speaking of Pebbles, he’s Moon’s adopted brother, and their parents are doctors. They actually chose to adopt Pebbles because he was sick and they knew they could handle it (both financially and physically), so he’s brought up in a very positive environment and is comfortable enough to come out as trans pretty early in his life. Moon is also incredibly supportive of him and becomes interested in going into the medical field because of both her parents and from helping take care of her brother for so many years. Pebbles has been in remission since he was 12, though has a pretty weak immune system and deals with chronic pain, so whenever he gets sick Moon is…very anxious to say the least. To be honest it’s one of the few times she loses her cool, and if Pebbles so much as has the sniffles she becomes anxious to the point of being unable to sleep and forgets to take care of herself. Sig and Suns practically have to force her to let them take a “shift” of monitoring Pebbles, and unfortunately she’s kinda a nightmare to deal with until Pebbs is better. She doesn’t mean to be this way but there were multiple times in her childhood that she thought she’d wake up without a brother and hasn’t managed to fully process all that.

Pebbles copes with a lot of stuff through art so that’s how he ended up being a fine arts major. He actually draws all the custom emojis for sig’s twitch chat, and they sell them as stickers too. Other than that his favorite thing to draw is just…the small, seemingly insignificant moments of life that he never thought he’d get to see. His final project for one of his classes is a painting of Suns and Sig sitting at the kitchen table in the morning sun, with Sig holding her head up, half-asleep, and Suns hunched over their cup of coffee. He takes a lot of photos too, as references but also just as a hobby. He keeps many of them pinned to a corkboard above his desk in his room.

He’s also a dramatic little emo (bc of course he is) and dyes his (naturally blonde) hair black, and Sig helps on the condition that she is allowed to dye his bangs a different color. It’s usually a peachy pink, but occasionally they choose a different color. Notably, when Pebbs is with his really shitty (ex) boyfriend, they’re dyed blue (hah ha get it like the rot. get it. im soooo good at symbolism). He met the guy at a concert and he’s honestly just a transphobic scumbag. Pebbles breaks up with him like 5 times (…and subsequently goes to Piper for. comfort…), but gets dragged back into the relationship multiple times until he’s complaining about something he did to Sig and it goes. Dude. that is NOT normal. Pebbles then breaks up with him for the final time and when he comes crawling back to try to beg pebbles to get back together, sig punches him in the face when he tries to get into their apartment, and almost ends up with an assault charge lmfao. Honestly if she hadn’t done that moon probably would have committed first degree murder so yknow. Once that dick is out of the picture Pebbs gets the much needed TLC from Suns, Sig, and Piper so it ends up okay in the end

I’ve already yapped at length about suns but yeah, grew up catholic ends up nonbinary with like two and a half boyfriends blah blah. They’re estranged from their parents but Sig’s family (and Moon and Pebbs’) accept them with open arms. Sig’s mom is filipino and speaks to him mainly in tagalog but sig never really picked it up (…aside from swear words…) and responds to her in english. Yui likes to make fun of him for not being bilingual LMAO. When sig visits her family back in the philippines and brings moon and pebbles, the two are really nervous and try to learn at least some tagalog before visiting. This prompts Sig’s cousins to relentlessly make fun of her because THE WHITE BOY KNOWS MORE TAGALOG THAN YOU??? CMON MAN. Whenever Pebbles whips out the fuckin duolingo ass “The apple is on the table” sentences they all cheer as if he just recited shakespeare or some shit. Most of Sig’s cousins are also fluent in english too so moon and pebbles didn’t really have much to worry about. Moon gets along with them but is older than most of them so she didn’t get as close with them, but pebbles hangs out with them daily for the entire time they’re visiting and even keeps up with a couple of them once they go back to america.

Suns also has really bad issues with food (specifically texture), and was really worried about the trip, but Sig’s mom and grandmother both help accommodate them and make their safe foods or find similar things so xe is comfortable. It’s really sweet and xe even learns to cook better from it. Moon and Pebbles’ parents also like Sig and Suns and Moon’s mom does NOT hesitate to whip out the baby pictures. Their dad is also a sweetheart to suns and they play board games together :3

sooo yeah thats all i can think of for rn! i probably left out a bunch of random little anecdotes but its really just. vibes man. they get themselves into goofy shenanigans and are just all kinda living their lives with one another <3 yeah we gave em angst but hey. it ain’t TRAGEDY or anything. uhhhhh here’s more doodles if you made it this far into this ramble i love you

[spotaus]

Figuring out lore for Eclipse and Ichor is like... a chronic past time for me, it's a guilty pleasure. But also I love my little guys. (Currently scheming for New Age)

Very very VERY condensed version of something I'll make into a longer post soon-ish

Eclipse was from the far west of the continent where Orchard resides. He comes from a Desert Land where many different cultures and groups agreed to come under rule of one 'higher power' guided by a council of elders.

A tradition is that every generation of rulers is provided an heir from a different kingdom. Eclipse was the only son to a Land whose rulers struggled with fertility and had no chance to produce another heir. He was promised away practically at birth to the toddler princess living in the capital. He stays with his parents (who love him dearly and raise him up right) until he's sent to be wed at Age 16.

He and the princess actually adore eachother. He's super doting and cares for her and is very pleasant with the people around him, and she thinks he's just so kind and handsome and her fairytale prince. Neither of them are upset in the marriage... until the topic of producing an heir comes up. Eclipse isn't comfortable with the idea (he loves her, but not in that way, to that extent) and tells her so. There's... not much she can do about it, Eclipse is efficient about politely extracting himself at every attempt.

And over the course of years, the Princess decides to seek out a new partner. Commit adultery. And... Eclipse doesn't mind. Publically facing they're as close as ever, and they still are amicable to each-other when they're around the castle. Eclipse still treats her like his wife, and she treats him like her husband, they simply part ways at night. Eclipse takes this personal time he's gained to work on his hobbies like fencing.

Eventually, the Princess has to make a choice. She can't divorce (that's simply not an option) but she can't force Eclipse to help her with an heir, but she ALSO can't have an illegitimate child... so she decides, with a heavy heart, to call in assassins and have Eclipse killed. If he dies, she can remarry, and no fault comes to either of their names in the end. She hires someone to kill him, and ensures it's scheduled on the day of a fencing tournament which he had been looking forward to competing in for months. (She wants him to go out doing something he loves)

And the plan would've worked (it wouldn't have) if a bystander from a foreign kingdom hasn't rushed out of nowhere to block incoming arrows from striking Eclipse.

Ofc, this figure is Ichor!

Ichor is from Kingdoms far to the east, past the mountains of Sanctuary into the Warring Terrain. As a child, his father, Royal Mage and Head Advisor of Catacomb. Made him and his brother into living weapons. Killing machines. His brother stayed, but after being captured and tortured by an enemy force and ignored by his home, he escaped and left the Warring Lands all together. He ran to Sanctuary, where he was briefly imprisoned at Age 16, before he plead his case to King Reaper and was allowed passage to the border on the land bridge. A free escape into a new continent.

Ichor began a nomadic lifestyle very quickly, first only wandering on his own, then with a caravan when his weariness of strangers faded.

Every once in a while he would be attacked, assassins from his home kingdom come to finish the job, lest he leak secrets. He's lucky he chose to continue training his physical form despite not being capable of summoning his magic. He usually dispatched them alright. Though, once he did lose his arm to an attack while he was around one of the caravans. He was wounded for four days before they arrived to a town with a famous mage. She rebuilt Ichor a new arm in return for stories of his travels and how exactly he ended up so wounded.

Eventually, when Ichor no-longer felt the need to keep piggy-backing off the kindness of the caravans, he started offering his services as a body-guard for hire! Usually he just walked around behind some wealthy person as an added layer of intimidation and protection (his favorites were when someone hired him to follow them around a town festival because they were worried about thieves. He felt a little silly, but the festival was very fun!) and this work carried him for several years.

That's how he ended up all the way in the capital of the Desertlands. An employer was visiting to compete in this fancy fencing tournament, competitors from all over the continent were present. Each person had their own special tent around the fencing location, and arena surrounded beyond. Ichor was just doing his normal duty when he caught a glint out of the corner of his eye. Someone... in the crowd? Readying some sort of... crossbow???

He didn't think much of it, moved away from his post and directly into the space between the Victor of the round (who was headed back to their tent) and that crossbow bolt. He made it just a second in time, bolt hitting his shoulder rather than its obviously intended target. He took it in stride and made sure he was completely in the way of this assailants line of sight. Another bolt his his cloak and itched at his spine (usually a fatal shot for any other monster). He whipped around and took a third a few seconds later to his chest, and sliced the fourth out of the air with his broadsword. Only then did the bolts stop and the person flee into the crowd beyond Ichor's awful eyesight.

Before this moment, the two had interacted briefly. Ichor had engaged in smalltalk when his employer didn't need him, Eclipse humored it. Now they recognized each other and were both equally baffled and concerned for each other's wellbeing. Though, it's Ichor who gets ushered to the medical tent to get those bolts out of his bones.

After this encounter, Eclipse hires Ichor straight from the last guy he was working for, trades him for another Bodyguard. (Eclipse recognizes his life was in danger and Ichor saved it. He needs someone reliable. Ichor is offered better pay and he's also curious so he stays.)

I can skip this, but Ichor eventually clues in that Eclipse spends so much like w/ him because his wife is off with another person most afternoons. Eclipse doesn't seem bothered, so Ichor doesn't bother. Butttttt then he's out running a quick errand for Eclipse, he overhears a private conversation about getting rid of *him*, then finishing off Eclipse. It's the Princess and a few other people. He has to break the news to Eclipse. Initially they both say perhaps Ichor misheard, but Eclipse knows his wife. Ultimately he knows Ichor isn't wrong. That he has to get out before he's killed.

So, after MUCH debate over several weeks, Ichor suggests Eclipse just... run away. (After all, it worked pretty well for him.) Eclipse was trying to find politically viable solutions like committing a crime to a null their vows, faking his death, etc etc. Only... running away was a lot easier and a lot more publically 'understandable'. (Promised since birth, no time to live a life? Ofc a prince could simply run away.) Eclipse suggests, then, that he at least falsify himself committing adultry. That way the social baggage doesn't fall on his wife. Ichor just plays along and agrees. Then suddenly Eclipse is asking him to be his fake lover, and Ichor just agrees. Not the weirdest lie, and he doesn't really need to ever cone back to this kingdom, so why not? They're fake-affairing and run off together not two months later.

Ichor shows Eclipse the nomadic lifestyle, and while it's new, he's excited by it. Enjoys it.

As they travel together and get out of dodge (they're hunted a few times, but nothing Ichor can't handle), Ichor is able to show Eclipse so many new things and encourage him to have new experiences. Have fun at a tavern, buy new clothes, play darts, go on dates, make new friends, etc etc etc. It's intense, but Eclipse is a natural at the world beyond the desert amd he finds a new thing to embrace nearly every week.

However, he never truly wants to leave Ichor's side. He likes traveling with him, their horse and cart which (gets traded for two Ox and an old shop wagon some day), their late-night campfires, Ichors friends from his caravans and his humor. And Ichor doesn't mind him sticking around. He likes that his nights are less lonely, that he has a friendly face no matter where he goes, that he gets to help someone the way the caravans once helped him... and he likes this handsome and kind soul who chooses to come back to him. (Character arcs. Eclipse's involved finding himself, trying new things, understanding what romance means when it's not immediately positively recieved and how to react to love beyond romantic love. Ichor's involves trust. He wants to trust people, puts too much into people (to cope) but refuses to share important info to those who are close to him in fear of his honesty driving them away.)

It's years. They're... a slowburn romance no-doubt. Between Eclipse occasionally breaking away for a week so go visit a friend or do something Ichor wouldn't be interested in, and Ichor keeping a shockingly strict daily routine for himself (helps with the uh. Depression. And also his muscles :] ) all while constantly being on the move across the continent? Yeah, they have a lot of time together but most of that time is spent with Eclipse admiring the new surroundings and Ichor telling him about said surroundings!

For more family-based stuff. They only 'officially' become partners after Ichor is almost assassinated (someone was trailing them while they were solo between caravans. Ichor offered to just stop their wagon and confront this person. Said person does not, in fact, react well to this moment and decides to grapple Ichor and stab him with a short blade. It Is covered in poison. (It Isn't very effective because he trained himself to be resistant to lethal poisons lmao, but he DOES go down for a few minutes and Eclipse is sure he's gonna kick the bucket) ) and he finally has to explain to Eclipse that he's from across the mountains of Sanctuary and that he does NOT ever want to return and he thought he was done being hunted??? Ichor is sure Eclipse will cut ties, but he's actually weirdly understanding?? Eclipse doesn't leave. In fact he stays even closer than before!

As Ichor is working through explaining his past piece by piece, Eclipse and him get to some talking about his evasion of intimacy and his duality of Flirting and Doing Kind Things but also backing off when Eclipse tries to reach out the same way. (He didn't realize he was even doing that.) They decide they're going to work through it, and though there's a few fumbles in there, they come out on top!

Quick Notes-> These two are soul-bonded (logic still courtesy of Ancha :] I love this world building piece!). I think they got bonded MANY years into knowing each other, but I know it was their second time visiting an ocean coastline. Eclipse rarely had the chance to see the ocean and... well... Ichor can take him as often as they want. This second time he breaks away from a caravan to go show him one of his favorite spots he's ever visited (it's a black sand beach) and Eclipse loved it... The choice to soulbond here was kinda spur of the moment, but they were alone and the night was serene.

-> On that note: MAGIC comes into play finally! Eclipse's magic is light blue, and it's a slight future vision. He can see 5 seconds into his immediate future, which allows him time to respond in turn to happenings. It used to be difficult for him to use it because he couldn't keep his timing down, but when he was a young teen a foreign visitor offered to teach him fencing and he found that it was a great way to learn how to truly control his magic! (He can only see continuously for up to a minute at a time before he gets awful migranes). Meanwhile, Ichor *does* have natural magic, but because of things done to him by Balance? It's still recovering after all these years. Ichor is part beast-monster, so he has a transformation which comes naturally to him and which his bones will reshape and settle into. He *should* be able to shape into a dragon (about as long as a wagon + the horses infront of it) and about his same normal height. Unfortunately, he can't summon any of it atm and doesn't realize he still possesses the ability.

In the soulbond? Eclipse gets nothing at first. But in times of distress he can accidentally call on pieces of that magic. (Ex. Copper once almost fell into a river and he somehow lunged, caught Copper, and landed ACROSS this huge ass river. They had no idea how he did that, but his legs very briefly filled with the beast-magic and propelled him there lol-) Meanwhile Ichor gets like... spider-sense essentially. Like, he can kinda feel when something bad is going to happen to him. He can't tell what, or how, but he can sense it. It's very helpful when they're traveling, because if smth bad is happening to him, that means there's threat to his partner potentially. Luckily, the big bulky monster scanning around a crowd looking confused and frustrated usually scares off potential *people* threats. If it's smth like a bandit they usually don't even bother <3

Okay back to normal lore!

How they met Dream! Their caravan was traveling along the border towns of Sanctuary just around the outskirts, but they came across a group of travelers who were walking w/o any carts or horses in sight. They explained they were from a city destroyed by the floods and they'd heard of a safehaven for people like them. (This is shortly after Dream ran away from the neighboring kingdom w/ Blue and started the camp.) The caravan offers to help them travel there since it appears to be on their route anyhow. And... As Eclipse (and Ichor listening in from where he's driving their cart) listens to the woes of these folks? He knows he wants to help them as much as he can. Which... means that when they get to camp and see the state of things? Yeaggg. Ichor can't say no to his partner's big old eyes when he insists they help. Just a bit.

And... it's strange. Ichor and Eclipse introduced themselves to Dream and Blue early on, when they brought the first group of refugees in. And yet, they found that Blue was the only one who really kept tabs on them. They were constantly coming and going in the beginning. Ichor and Eclipse traveled throughout Orchard, acting as a little ferry service to gather those who needed to find the camp. They'd come in the dead of night and people would flock to them, climb into their cart, and journey back to the camp. Blue would always greet them warmly. Dream would wave in thanks then focus his effort on the new refugees. Ichor and Eclipse adored getting to tour this dangerous kingdom, and they saw the relief on faces as they arrived each time to sweep weary souls away.

Their first 3 years were spent doing this job, the amount of people getting lesser and lesser each time. Which they deemed to be good news! They didn't have as many people needing dire help. But... within their 2nd year? They had a little friend on their journey.

Ichor hadn't expected a soulling, not really, but he'd been hoping for one. I mean, the definitely had conversations about it. Ichor was a natural with the kids they helped on their little outings (He'd let them pet the Ox or sit with him up on the driver's bench) and Eclipse was admittedly a little fond of the idea of a miniature Ichor running around. They both agreed that, well, if they were going to have a soulling it would come to them. And! It sure did!! Like, way faster than they expected!

Neither of them even realized it until they were halfway back from another pick-up and Ichor was unloading stuff to camp for the night. He usually does the heavy lifting, that's why he does so much exercise after all, and one of the monsters they were helping came over and offered to help him. He accepted the offer and got up to small-talk... and then this guy drops the 'Are you sure you're alright doing all this lifting? I mean, with the little one?' And Ichor's like ????? It turns out this monster could literally sense that Ichor had another, faint, magic signature. They talk for a second longer before Ichor looks and literally almost can't stop himself from crying on the spot. (He didn't know he could carry! He thought his magic being blocked would be in the way! He thought it'd be Eclipse!! He's so happy!!!!) This random kind guy helps him calm down before offering to go grab Eclipse. So they can have a moment to process.

And when Ichor tells Eclipse he's so quiet about it, but he's so obviously excited. Like, the same boyish glee he gets when he lifts something heavy and turns to see if Eclipse was watching (he always is) or when he sees just the cutest baby cow in a pasture. And Eclipse is scared, but he's elated! They're gonna have a little soulling! A babybones!!

Though. They decide not to tell anyone just yet. They just escort folks back and forth. The whole time Ichor's carrying Copper.

And... ngl very funny. Neither of them... actually have a great grasp on what to do when the soulling is actually ready to be a monster. (Ichor was like a test-tube baby basically and Eclipse was said to be a gift from the gods so... eh. They never thought too hard about it.) They were LUCKY that they had just come back to camp with a few folks when Ichor finally doubled over and it hit him like a truck that. Well. That kid is getting outta here NOW. Eclipse has the Panicked Parent voice down and practically summons every monster and human who ever worked as a midwife in camp. One manages to take charge and pull them out of the chaos though lmao. They're all good in the end, and there's a healthy baby Copper!!!

And... his parents are dumb as bricks because that third year? They continue working on the caravan routes to bring more people in. I mean, Copper was a riot with the incoming people (always a good sign when your saviors from a safehaven are a happy couple w/ a healthy baby) and just such a joyous baby!

The only reason they stopped was because Dream needed more people out in the field and less incoming. He asks Ichor to act as a travel party leader. For recon. Spying. And... Ichir accepts, because he's put on the spot. Told it will be such a big help... plus, with the first Knight out and about? It makes travel more dangerous. What about his family? So, of course he changes course. Eclipse remains in camp with Copper. Ichor starts taking missions.

And from there it's history. Eventually they have Steel, and then help Nightmare escape with his Knights when he's kidnapped!

And honestly, I think it's very funny. If Dream hadn't separated the love-birds? Eclipse wouldn't have been around often enough to justify his bad feeling about Dream lmao. But because he was confined to camp, it meant that Eclipse saw him so often that he picked up on that magic of his + started paying attention!

Anyways! My tineline might be a lil off, but these two have been in my brain for a bit now and it's killing me lol-

[kcrabb88]

I got some excitement when I posted that little Blood Makes Noise snippet, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about it! Don't always do that before I post a fic but I'm really really excited about this so here's some of the fic lore to tide over until I get deeper into writing it since it'll take a bit with my other projects :D

It's set from 1988-95/96 in New York City during the height of the AIDS crisis

Qui-Gon, an ACLU attorney and anti-war protestor, adopted Obi-Wan when he was four after his single mom, a client of Qui-Gon’s, was killed by the police

Qui-Gon is Dooku's son, and they're Jewish. Dooku is a former US Rep and is cantor at the synagogue they all attend and things are ... complicated

Tholme, a PI, adopted Quinlan at age 8 (and later on Aayla). Quin's birth parents immigrated from Haiti and died when he was five

Qui-Gon and Tholme, who are close friends, move in across the hall from each other and Quin and Obi-Wan become the best of friends from age 8 on

Quin's a violin prodigy and composer who later starts a punk/rock band and teaches music in an NYC public school

Obi-Wan is a political science professor who also writes political and investigative pieces for The Village Voice and tutors low-income kids at his local JCC (Bail is his editor)

Both of them are in ACT UP and also did crisis line work for the Gay Men's Health Crisis group that was the pre-cursor to ACT UP

They've been stupid in love forever and keep sleeping together but don't become a couple until right after Obi-Wan's HIV diagnosis (for various reasons that will be explained in the fic)

Eventually Anakin and Shmi move into the same building as Obi-Wan and Quinlan and become super close

Obi-Wan writes hit pieces on Palpatine, a former US. Rep who now works for the pharma company that's responsible for jacking up AZT prices (and Palpatine just so happens to be Anakin's estranged grandfather)

Little Padme will also be in this! Her dad is a city councilor

Obi-Wan IS one of the lucky earlier on HIV/AIDS survivors (it's just a very hard road)

I won't spoil it all but! Some lore. Really excited to dig into this!

[strawbearyry]

Useless update incoming, but Im so happy!! Look look

I BOUGHT ALL OF THE DLC!! If you didn't know, I've been saving up to buy all of the DLC and some other games to play with my friends! I actually found out that there was a discount on visual novel games on steam so I IMMEDIATELY(I'm lying, I took hours to contemplate my financial decisions) cashed in some money in my account and bought them! Here's a small list of what I bought :

OLBA (every DLC)

Until then

Stardew valley

Monster prom

And tiny bunny!

I bought until then and OLBA for myself but I bought the others to play with/for my friends! Im not too into Stardew valley or tiny bunny but my friends are so I'm just squeezing in and hoping I eventually like it also! I don't mind buying it just for them, it helps me feel better knowing I'm putting in effort to connect with them more than I currently do. I hope I get my laptop after exams, or like directly when school ends! Not that it was confiscated or anything, I just don't have a laptop and my parents promised me one if I keep going to school hihi (Massive motivation)

Anyways, I'm hoping and waiting for school to end so I can enjoy summer! One of my biggest motivation is an image I painted in my head of me playing OLBA and other games on call with my friends while otw to the beach. Sighhhhhh I rlly wish it will happen! But my dad said I might get my laptop on my birthday (which probably already has school back around) or before my birthday, he said he'll try his best to get it before my birthday tho! I felt rlly spoiled at that moment, but I couldn't feel too much guilt except for a small inkling because looking at the big picture, I'm just trying to find ways to enjoy my summer before I go back to 10 months of school 😭PLUS I was asking for a laptop way back last summer, practically begged actually..

But anyhow! Enough of my yapping, (continues to Yap some more) I'm actually hoping I get to finish watching every Aphmau series in summer so I can complete my oc lore! I might update my oc a bit so i can post about her!

Thank you for letting my Yap (yet again) and I hope you guys are as happy as I am!

Peace ✌(◕‿-)✌

[micarockss]

Hello Rotomblr!

Not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing here, but I figured I'd give it a go. I'm Mica. He/him -- I'm 36 years old I study Pokémon, specifically 'mons that are shiny. I don't collect them, I just go out into the field and watch 'em :) Sometimes they decide to come home with me as well, but I do not force them to. I currently specialize in Paldean Pokémon, so if you have any questions on them, feel free to ask me! If you want, obviously. I can't force you (but I can give helpful insight, I promise). Also, I battle sometimes, but not very often, and I definitely wouldn't consider myself to be the best at it by any means. Instead, my partners help me with work, and above all, they're my companions. For those interested, these are the Pokémon I currently work with: Basalt - Shiny Female Camerupt Quartzite - Shiny Male Armaldo Dolomite - Female Crawdaunt Strata - Female Silicobra That's about it, I guess. I'll most likely post photos of Pokémon (both my partners and wild), along with other things. Pretty much anything I find worthy of sharing online. I hope all of you have a great day, no matter where you are, or what universe you're in. [END OF IN-CHARACTER POST]

AUGH. Trying this again except I actually (kind of) know what I'm doing!! Pretty big text wall incoming, so I apologize for that. - This blog is run by @/soupermarket. - Unsure if anyone remembers this blog from before I deleted everything, but this is basically just a huge retcon. I developed Mica a LOT more, plus I actually have an idea for what to do with him in the rotomblrverse!! Yippay!!! But on to the actual important stuff. ______________________________________________________________

Mica is pretty much just some guy. He's not anything special when it comes to battling, he just studies Pokémon (and messes around with rocks on the side). He grew up in Paldea (specifically Cascarrafa), but moved to Hoenn when he was 15. While in Hoenn, he did a mixture of Pokémon research/geologic work up until the whole Kyogre thing, which happened when he was 32. Once all that went down, he moved back to Paldea in search of new opportunities and a quieter life. This blog takes place post Alpha Sapphire. Hoenn was was very damaged, and most people were forced to either leave or completely rebuild, especially those living on the coast and in low-lying regions. Feel free to ask Mica about anything regarding that! However, I cannot guarantee that he'll give a completely honest answer, depending on what's asked ;3 Adding on to that, the events that happened are by no means canon compliant !! I did change up a few things, so this blog will most likely not align with the canon of your own, Slightly related to that, this blog will have an oc x canon relationship in it. Because I love being self-indulgent. Not going to mention just who it is quite yet, but it will come up eventually!! I just want Mica to be secretive about it for a little while, hehehe. However, I feel like it's probably going to become obvious who it is quite quickly.

______________________________________________________________

This blog is going to be low stakes, but may deal with some heavier topics in the future. I will update this if any come up, but for future reference, I'll be tagging things with "cw: (insert thing)"!! If anything I post needs to be tagged, please let me know. Speaking of tags. ____________________________ ic post: for posts that are in-character ic reblog: for reblogs that are in-character ooc post: posts that are out of character ooc reblog: reblogs that are out of character mcrocks lore: for anything that has to do with in-universe lore and info ____________________________ Suggestive jokes are fine, but no outright nsfw please. ENABLED: Pelipper Mail Pelipper Malice Musharna Mail Musharna Malice DISABLED: Pelipper Unmail Magic Anons

[wh00pwh00p]

BASTARDS LORE WAHHH

a lot is the same, if people know previous bastards lore (the bastards are talon, heartstopper and cat scratch) the main beats are the same

- they all still hate each other for the previous reasons (those haven't changed)

- a lot of their backgrounds have stayed the same the bit that's changed is the bit in between and added a bit of padding

- world building lore I've mentioned previously about the planet and setting are also the same (sci-fi meets fantasy kinda vibes for those who don't know)

the bastards are all about desperate people doing desperate shit whether its a good decision or not (mostly not but hey-ho) luckily for these guys it kina works out, they become a mildly fucked up found family who try their very best spurred on by eachother. they arnt perfect and progress isn't linear but they try :D

tw for mentions of drugs, crime (?), abuse/super shit parents and a general warning for possibly sensitive subjects under the cut (oh god this post is ganna get banished)

one day ill make lil character profiles for each :3

(and for any who dont read further: essentially i love the special task force trope and will devour any and all morally grey characters form a found family trope stories so all are here :3 though tbh the amount of this lore ill actively post about will probably be very low bc mostly i just like playing dress up with my babys its just sometimes nice for other ppl to know if they like the characters)

Talon (he/him) - draconic species/human - talon is blind with his sight tied to his bird (rogue)

for a lack of a better way of putting it talons dad was a real peice of shit after his mum left, worst dad of the year award goes to this guy

the ranch was also essentially forced onto talon (even though talon thinks it's an absolute money pit and although he believes in the cause his dad will not let him changed how it's run and funded) along with all his dad's horrific views on the lgbtqia+ and non-human races

(context: the ranch specialises in the breeding and raising of endangered and traditional animals native to the planet though it's run as a private for profit business but talon wants to open it up as a charity)

this leads to talon internalising a lot of self hatred based on his dad's views and feeling a severe lack of control in what he can do on top of that (he's severely insecure with daddy issues)

talon turned to selling drugs to supplement income for the ranch, only ever breaking even on monthly expenses

eventually in the story he meets cyrus (a wealthy scholar they are recommended to talk to and stay with) which forces him to confront his internalised homophobia as he catches some real aggressive feelings and cyrus is helping talon through his crisis in the worst way possible :)

Cat Scratch (they/them) - cat human (?) - anger issues central

a little reminder of cat scratches lore which is staying (but won't necessarily be mentioned below): them and heartstopper were friends at one point though cat scratch felt as though heartstopper betrayed them when the guy they both loved chose heartstopper though they promised to 'stay friends' ;) (dw I'm sure that doesn't end badly for heartstopper)

little is known about cat scratches background (I'm not lazy sssshh)

cat scratch bounced homes and schools like it was a sport, never having a moment of stability in their life leading to them almost lean into it and pushing the loose cannon aspect of their personality to the extreme

cat scratch could never hold down an average job for very long after leaving the foster system, they turned to underground illegal fights and to make ends meet and made their peace with living far less than comfortably

Heartstopper (she/her) - human - shes girlbossing very close to the sun

(pretty much all heartstopper lore will be covered here)

heartstopper had a remarkably normal upbringing, loving parents, good friends, good grades, she carried on her education and won the man of her dreams..... until on the day of their wedding he was nowhere to be seen

turns out cat scratch had conspired against her to ruin her, spreading rumours of infidelity and misconduct in the work place. heartstopper was let go from her job and disowned. labelled a whore, a bitch and a liability.

but heartstopper has standards she isn't going to let go of easily

she starts blackmailing, stealing from, stalking and hacking people she has a particular distain for. (shes gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing ok)

at one point she meets talon at a party, they bond over being deeply unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives however their relationship ends in a ball of flames when heartstopper points out how aggressively closeted talon is and he isn't willing to admit it.

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

little do they know, theyve all been being watched (well actually heartstopper knew shes just not ganna let them know that). all their crimes are surprisingly small enough to go under the radar but gives them plenty of transferable skills.

they are all "arrested" but are given the opportunity to work for their freedom. they get freedom if they can track down a mole in the higher powers within 4 weeks.

[viscericorde]

literal years ago at this point on here i once did this thing where i would post a bullet point list of random oc lore and it was fun for me bc it was low-stakes to think of and didn't feel like an inaccessible textwall to read. anyway i feel like doing it again but with my favorite brainworm this time around that's right baby. valerian time.

my general disclaimer for val as always is that he sucks majorly and his setting is where i store all my "wouldn't it be fucked up if" ideas so. if you like that sort of thing this is the read more for you

Virtually every part of his public-facing demeanor is curated performance. His mask only slips out of unwilling exhaustion or behind closed doors. Valerian tunes his behavior to what he believes will 1) allow him the conversational upper hand or 2) preserve his reputation. By nature, he’s extremely guarded and calculating, always assessing the response of a hypothetical audience.

Much of Valerian’s conception of love is conflicting yet coexisting extremes. Brutality and tenderness, sharp pains and soft caresses--these sensations must be intermingling ones, they must bleed into each other without boundary. He gently cups a lover’s face with the same hand that gouges out their eye. The deepest form of trust, and therefore the deepest love, is allowing the one who dealt you a mortal wound to nurse you back to health. His closest relationships nearly always have this sort of mutually destructive codependency. To Valerian, love at its most gentle is a vivisection.

Despite looking pretty fleshy, his body is all metal bones and synthetic tissue. He, by the most GENEROUS definition, counts as a cyborg in the sense that he's a brain and a bunch of neurons piloting an otherwise inorganic body.

That inorganic tissue still regularly develops what's best described as "tumors." Strange and impossible cancerous outgrowths that often contain vestigial eyes and teeth. This is a side effect of hosting a god in you long-term. Mortals just aren't meant to handle that kind of thing, it's like willingly irradiating yourself. But hey, that's just the hand that divinely-ordained duty has dealt him. He just cuts them out of himself and moves on with his day.

A notorious monologuing, sermon-giving, lecturer of an individual who loves the sound of his own voice. He thinks everything he has to say is very important and any advice he gives is a priceless favor. Very little will get him to shut the fuck up.

Capitalist theocrat. Unrepentant authoritarian. A die-hard believer in bootstrap mentality who gets genuinely angry if people have not gone through the same amount of suffering to get where he has been.

If it were up to Valerian, he would paint his office walls with his brains, expeditiously. However, as the living vessel for his church’s goddess, his life and Hers are inextricably linked. Causing Her death is unthinkable to him, for reasons of great love and pious devotion both. So, duty-bound, he remains. He has no say in the length of his career--the degradation of his mortal flesh or his goddess’s displeasure with him are the only things that decide his exit, whichever comes first.

Has an elaborate and delusional self-mythology in his head where he is the secret long-suffering heroic protagonist of the world and everyone is only contributing to his continued martyrdom by not recognizing this.

Very much not helped by the above point: he also views the world as a series of unspoken debts and favors that must eventually be fulfilled and paid back.

These two points combine into his personal justification for getting to treat anybody under his control however he wants. He has dismembered employees, firebombed low-income housing, and fed lesser deities to his goddess under this philosophy.

Every time I think about him i just remember this tweet:

[majesticfaba]

tell me about faba's lore. all of it. every single bit.

// OHHHHH let’s goooo my time has come!! My headcanons for him have changed a bit since I first started this blog, but these are my most up to date ones.

Long post incoming!

Faba is a single child and was born in Kalos to very successful parents, both who had careers in business. Needless to say, a super rich and successful household.

Growing up, Faba had the best of everything. Food… education, butlers and maids, Pokemon…. He was given a Drowzee when he was 5 as his first Pokémon, the “best” offspring of his mother’s Hypno.

Yet for all their gifts, his parents were never present. They were either working, or travelling together. The only time Faba could get their attention was if he achieved something they deemed notable. While he was born reasonably intelligent, he isn’t as naturally skilled as his high achieving parents, which always caused tension between them and left him feeling painfully lonely. Despite his parents noting his lack of natural ability, they still expected the very best from their son, even going as far to insist he is far superior to his peers and should be performing as such. (See where this is gooooing?~)

To make matters worse, they moved to Alola when he was 10, so the few friends he had managed to make before then were taken away from him, and he started highschool without knowing anyone.

After failing to make new friends due to his unique interests and shy personality, Faba instead focused on gaining the approval of his parents. He dedicated himself entirely to his studies and in doing so alienated himself even further from his peers. His sole existence was to achieve more and more, to be the very best, in order to win his parents’ affections. By his mid teens he had become a very distrustful, anxious person, and was well on the way to developing a narcissistic personality disorder as a means to cope with the pressures he felt from his parents, effectively becoming the person he had to be to win their love.

However, this mindset of his was now so warped that even when he was top of his class in everything and his parents were finally proud of him, he still felt deeply insecure and this restless urge to somehow do even better. His parents’ praise was therefore dismissed and— ironically after all his efforts to get their attention— when he finally gained it, Faba began to distance himself from them in whatever way he could.

When he got to university, he met Lusamine… the daughter of the founder of the Aether Foundation, Wicke, her childhood best friend, and Colress, Lusamine’s cousin. Faba immediately latched onto the group because of their potential to give him a successful career. Lusamine was impressed with Faba’s work, but didn’t/doesn’t particularly care for him as a friend. There’s a familiarity between them in the present, but nothing that could really be considered ‘warm’.

Wicke made/makes genuine efforts to befriend Faba, but after being used to being ignored his whole life, Faba found/finds her suffocating. Nonetheless, he… kind of appreciates her presence? In his own way. Not that he isn’t still an asshole to her (she deserves better)!!

Colress on the other hand found him very amusing and enjoyed the witty exchanges they’d occasionally have, but Faba took an instant dislike to him because he’s got the sort of natural ability that Faba always had to work his ass off to be on par with. So Faba just had this aggressive one-sided rivalry with him, lol. They eventually graduated. Colress went his separate way, whereas Lusamine, Wicke and Faba became the new generation of Aether admins. Lusamine took over the role of foundation president, and Wicke and Faba were appointed high ranking admins immediately.

One day a local school visited Aether Paradise, and the younger Faba and one of the school teachers really got along. A year later, they married. However, she couldn’t cope with Faba’s obsession with his job and they eventually divorced. After that, Faba became a full on workaholic, was quickly promoted to the branch chief of the Alolan branch of Aether Foundation, and his NPD skyrocketed.

Divorced, single, more or less friendless and not really in contact with his parents anymore, he became the narcissistically disordered, self centred, anxious and isolated, bitter asshole that we all know and love today 💛

…

(I love to explore how trauma can turn characters into awful people~

I also have ideas for that bitter rivalry to lovers arc for Colress and Faba, because if you somehow didn’t know… OTP OTP OTP they can and will make each other so much worse and I find that dynamic so fun— but I won’t put that here because this post is long af as it is).