#no icons because i don't have them yet oop

[bugsbenefit]

attraction in ST

or. oh god stop stripping the show of it's themes no please no it needs those, stopppp

actually making this post now bc i'm sick of people claiming anything remotely sexual or even kissing happening to the party (an opinion that often pops up in the context of byler) in s5 would be horrible, sexualising, or out of character for the show

ST has always had a realistic approach to kids growing into their sexualities. the show's never shied away from directly addressing sex and sexual feelings so i'm honestly amazed by the extremely puritan interpretation of the show. i'm assuming, in good faith, that a big part of it is coming from people not having seen the actual show in ages and are just forgetting how explicitly the show handles sexuality. instead of just assuming it's from culturally raised christian people, who feel uncomfortable seeing any portrayal of sexuality, no matter how tasteful or realistic

i'm also saying all this as an ace person myself, i get not being into sex and not wanting to see it. however, refusing to acknowledge entire themes of a fictional show just because i don't experience them is bizarre to me. sexuality is vitally important to a lot of the characters and isn't just there to be fun(gross). essentially, ST is the opposite of porn without plot

so just as a little reminder what's actually IN Stranger Things. canonically.

sorry i had this sc for ages and wanted to include it Somewhere, so here you go. at a little starter... dorry

also this is an old draft seeing the light of day now, if anything's worded weird it's bc i didn't read all of it over again so oops, grammar hard?

TLDR: the show has never shied away from explicitly addressing sexuality. buying into the puritan fanon version of the show is going to make your s5 viewing experience worse because that show doesn't exist

season 1

we're starting the show off with Stancy, which is very sexually charged in general. (even in s4 Nancy still experiences physical attraction to Steve despite them having unchanged compatibility) the plot surrounding them in s1 explicitly focuses on Nancy having sex with Steve and later regretting that choice. the scene that everyone remembers, is of course, the "explicit" (not really, because ST is really tasteful with how it shows these teens explore themselves) sex scene

they're in sophomore and junior year of highschool here. around 15 and 16 years old - yet the show doesn't shy away from letting them figure things out. and it's not like this sexual theme is contained in only that scene. it keeps coming back the whole season as Nancy tries to sort her feelings out and deals with the aftermath of that night

also sidenote here while still at Steve and his party: even Steve's friends are very casual with their sexualities. and yes, they can even explicitly mention sex and specific sexual acts, no holding back here

Nancy's character conflict in s1 very much hinges on her sexuality and sexual themes. and it's not like there is a magic you need to be at least this old rule to know what sex is on the show like so many people seem to believe, because even 12 year old Mike seems to very much know what his sister and Steve are up to. he even goes out of his way to use it against her

iconic line! but i've seen insane takes trying to spin this into something not alluding to something sexual. i'm sorry to say if he doesn't think they're full on having sex he at least thinks they're getting very intimate with each other regardless

so not even the youngest characters on the show are "innocent and pure" the way fandom likes to claim when it comes to sexuality. and of course they aren't. real 12 year olds know what sex is, they're young not oblivious

and the following seasons make that even more obvious

season 2

as of s2 the kids are getting more involved with the sexual jokes, not just making them about other people but even being directly involved with those themes themselves. which is also realistic. with 13 sexuality starts to get thrown your way by every possible form of media. lots of them start developing crushes, have no idea how relationships work, etc. it's messy, typical teens thrown into the dating game. (i say all of this from a developmental media psychology perspective thanks uni and not personal experience sorry lmao, i'm a bit too ace to have my own input here)

s2 features comedic and awkward mentions of sex(ual activity) towards Lucas and Max,

older peers giving their 13 year old friends well meant advice on how relationships work,

and has even younger characters play around with attraction/kissing/love as well, which is incredibly normal for kids to do at that age

they're all young and the show treats growing up realistically. while the theme of attraction or sexuality gets more relevant for them (in scenes that are often received with awkwardness by the characters themselves) the show offers them safe territory to stand on. none of them are directly confronted with sexuality and are instead offered people to seek advice from for example

meanwhile the sexuality theme for the older kids is still very much explicit. just as Nancy's arc is still heavily tied to her romance and sexuality (which ties into her non conformity themes - she's an ambition driven person trying to escape the culdesac life first and foremost)

not only do we get another sex scene (this time with a cut away), there's also explicit jokes about it after

sexuality on the show is continuously awkward and messy. Jonathan and Nancy are only 16-17 here - no one really knows what they're doing or what the right way to go ahead is and Jonathan rightfully almost does a spittake here. out of pocket Murray

sexuality. is. awkward. (we get is s2 thanks)

season 3

s3 gets even more explicit with it's awkward puberty sexuality themes

from Dustin talking about how much he likes kissing Suzie (and her liking him not having teeth for it?) which weirds Steve out to the repeating, awkwardly received, "happy screams joke" (which gets a callback in later scene)

sexuality is still awkward for them. it's a realistic approach to what 14 year olds act like and know. they're actively dating by now, they're kissing people And have messy relationship situations. all while still acknowledging knowing what sex and attraction is, duh, of course they know that. but i'm explicitly pointing it out because i see obscene amounts of people claiming the characters are completely sheltered and even implying that they know what sex is would be gross. to that i say, do you not remember being 14???

and while i'm at s3, also let it be mentioned that even the adults are suffering at the hands of the sexuality theme here. Hopper's hookups with random women are focused on in s1, but now that he's getting closer with Joyce they get very explicitly told to just have sex. literally

not putting the whole dialogue in here, i already have too many images because there's so many sex mentions in this show and he really just tells them their mating ritual is painful and they should tear their clothes off and fuck right now

thanks Murray, always insightful

season 4

and s4 has stopped just confronting the kids with the existence of sexuality, but is tentatively starting to explore mature themes more directly - which allows them to tentatively start exploring their own sexualities instead of just having to acknowledge the general concept of sexuality

Max gets to ogle shirtless Steve

Lucas has something under his bed that's never confirmed as anything except "100/10 gross" but had 90% of the audience i saw immediately assume something sexual (magazines or the like)

and has a bunch more direct nudges, from the kids "experimenting sexually" as Murray says

to Argyle explicitly telling Jonathan he needs to have sex with Nancy again

to Hopper and Joyce's escalating make out in a church while shirtless

to visual innuendos (i'm looking at you hose scene. this one wouldn't be such a big deal if there wasn't a genuine moral panic about it last year. which was crazy. people literally had to pretend the scene didn't exist to escape the witchhunting mobs, except instead of being killed for magic it'd be for looking at a canon scene and acknowledging it. crazy times - aside from that there's also more visuals you can take as innuendos in s4e1 which there's already posts about out there so i'm not getting into them here, i'm more focused on the overt textual references)

to Yuir extensively talking about pleasing women and making them cum (I'm sparing you from that, the sc in at the top was already enough)

to explicit graffities all over the place, like here as an example "give me head until i'm dead" which is in frame for the whole phone call and Steve talking about his bitchlesness. and is also some of the only easily legible text (i hope this is readable, most of my screenshots kind of died a bit so maybe you need to look at an actual clip to see the text)

that is aside from the "DRUGS" poster which touches on another point s4 makes. the show doesn't just explore sexuality, it also puts the kids into more mature situations in general (not talking about the deaths, this is a horror show), specifically drugs

Jonathan uses weed as a coping mechanism the whole season and Eddie even sells the stuff in full bags (insane weed selling practices btw, even i know that). Chrissy (17-18) wants to do weed and ketamine. and we also see Lucas (14) hungover after drinking at a party for the first time

the show does not shy away from portraying realistic teen experiences

Murray called s4 very well, the kids pound some bears, smoke some ganja, play nintendo, and experiment sexually

literally. you have drinking, weed, and confusing queer sexualities. they took this list step by step

and all of those pretty normal things teens tend to explore. and i say that as someone who was decidedly not into those things. the ace experience is a bit different, but i can still acknowledge how that period was like for my allo friends and people in general

there is an extreme push in this fandom to reject any form of sexual jokes or references in the show, made mostly by people being uncomfortable with portrayals of sexuality. however, the themes not only still exist, they're also very prominent throughout all 4 seasons and are important to a lot of the characters directly

and it's also noteworthy here to see how ST approaches it's sexuality theme. it grows with the characters. starting out as jokes and being received with awkwardness to slowly letting them figure things out on their own time and turns. an extremely realistic progression and very common for coming of age narratives such as ST. it's a far cry from shows exploring sexuality or sexual themes for the sake of the viewers enjoyment like Euph0ria (don't want it to show up in tags)

based on what we currently know s5 could very well be taking place in 1988 or later which would place the party at around 16-17 years old. going into the season with the fanon version of the show that is completely clean and non sexual will 100% set you up for disaster

ST is very realistic and non exploitative with it's exploration of teen sexuality so there is obviously nothing to worry about in the sexualization department, that's just puritan fear mongering. however, it's very likely that we're going to get more than holding hands or pecks on the lips from the characters that are now older than characters we've explicitly seen hook up before. there could be more intimate scenes or making out, yes. but there's also at least one basically guaranteed vulgar joke in there, all seasons have them

there's no real theorizing or speculation about s5 here, anything could happen and i'm not placing bets, i want the characters narratives to be wrapped up well first and foremost and trust the writers to do it well. however, going into s5 with some of the mindsets i've seen circulating on here and expecting the show to be "clean" and cater to a version of it that's never existed outside of purified fandom could genuinely make you feel blindsided by the shows canon themes

not targeted at anyone or anything specifically, just using this as a bit of a reality check of what the show is actually like after recently rewatching all of it in one go

[sabertoothwalrus]

Hi, I’m completely obsessed with your art style, especially your sketches, so I was wondering what brush you use for them? I also use csp so I thought I’d ask :]

oh my god I have so many... a lot of them I've made, which you can download here! The ones I use most often are "tilt pen chisel", "sharp pen", "sharp pen bubbles", and "shading brush pen"

I have a lot downloaded from assets or imported from photoshop. some of my favorites include:

Graffiti A - I just got this one and haven't posted anything using it yet but I really like it. it does cost 20 clippy but the past couple years CSP has done a daily login bonus thing where they give you clippy points for free. I have 1,720 left that are about to expire soon OOP

Freehand Style Brush Set - I LOVE THESE. There's one from this set I slightly modified and have been using a lot lately. I used it for my icon, my business cards, and the splash drawing on my website.

@meruz 's brush set - these have some really nice texture to em

the true grit texture supply free sampler pack - just downloaded these and used it in my icon drawing, I can tell I'll be using it a LOT

I have a lottttt more that I download from assets, but I don't use a lot of them.

And for reference, my go-to canvas size is 3000x3000px 300dpi. My brushes are made to be used at this size range and they may not look the same if you work much larger/smaller. I also like my brushes to not have any anti-aliasing. it helps because 1) tumblr compresses everything anyway, and I like my lines CRISPY CRUNCHY 2) when I lasso + transform something, I can set the interpolation method to "hard edges" and it doesn't make it blurry:

[agirlandherquill]

through the puddles of ink

since it's a new academic year, a new chapter of my life and i thought, since i've been on tumblr for around eight months now that it's about time i properly introduced myself - this would shock the person i was when i first started this blog, but as it's grown so have i, and i think university has indefinitely helped my confidence - so, without further ado, here goes i'll start this properly by explaining the title of this post - through the puddle of ink

ink is important because obviously it is the basis of literature, the foundation of stories and fitting to my blog name, you dip the quill in the ink to write, to forge an adventure that tests the imagination and takes a reader to wonderful places and puddles because let's face it, ink is messy, ink is chaotic, just like me, my characters, and my writing and because through the looking glass is a very iconic title i also watched that movie in the cinema years ago, i took inspiration, and here we are now - this post is a reflection of me, the beautiful nightmares and writing gremlins that co-exist within my brain and a way for me to get to better know my mutuals, anyone and everybody on writeblr!

here comes the scary part - only for me, and my semi-awkward self - introducing myself, i've never been very good at this stuff so bear with me - and have mercy on my nervous soul,

for the longest time i've loved the sort of self-imposed anonymity of this blog, and don't get me wrong i still do adore my blog name but I thought it was about time I properly introduced myself, so, let me just shuffle some papers in the library of my mind, find the right phrasing for this and... (cue angry hitting of the keyboard) hello! my name is Erin and i'm a writer, a lover of chaos, and a semi-functioning tempest somehow existing within society - i love and ramble about lots of different things - books, shows, songs, you name it, i can waffle and sometimes i can waffle well (that is how i am now going to describe my writing, because it feels like it fits so well)

phew, i got that out, that tiny paragraph was a lot of effort (and i've beaten writers block more often than i can count)

this little post might not seem like much, but to me it's a lot, and i'm happy to have made it this far, and i'm so looking forward to continuing to grow alongside this blog and writeblr (i love you all, no seriously)

and now onto some very much needed rambling about my works, because there's a lot the lovely folk of writeblr are yet to know (and it will come, in time, but here's what i can say for now)

Ruin's Reprisal - we all know the tale of this, my oldest, most functioning (cough, using that term loosely) work - well, where to start? well, i'm on the final stage of proofreading, and once that's all done i'm hoping (let's be honest, dreaming,) to have the final draft complete and out in the great wide world come christmas/new year (that is a courageous goal, even for me, but who knows, maybe i can pull it off, just maybe)

A Deal Of Daggers - it's almost time for nanowrimo, which marks two years since the idea for this first came to me, and i cannot wait to spend autumn working on it (not that i am participating in nano properly this year, what with student-life obligations, but i'm going to write what i can) and i've been steadily chipping away with a few chapters already

those are my two main works, and probably the only works i've been focusing on over the last couple of months - and i've fallen completely and wholeheartedly in love with them all over again, as i do, every single time i open the files on scrivener

as far as my tired but over-eager to write brain can think this should be it for everything i wanted to include in this post until the next post (which won't be long, i can guarantee it),

~ Erin, A Girl and Her Quill, or whatever this hellscape would like to call me :)

~ ~ ~

now for the tag list! (i forgot to add it when i posted, oops!)

(p.s if you'd like to be included/notified too, interact with this post :))

@humbly-a-doppelganger @imawholeassmood @frostedlemonwriter @yrndrgn @abditorywriting

@riveriafalll @lead-to-code @casualsuitturtle @floweryprosegarden @joeys-piano

@catwingsathena @godsmostfuckedupgoblin @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @anaisbebe

@drchenquill @leahnardo-da-veggie @tiredpapergirl @pastelpinkhobbies

[tr1ck5]

It's so funny how some people think that Quistis should've been Squall's love interest instead of Rinoa either because they think Quistis is prettier and/or because she's known Squall longer. Yet they conveniently ignore the facts, from the game itself, that:

1) Squall literally never liked Quistis in any way whatsoever, not when they were kids in the orphanage and not at Garden. He literally said that when they were kids, Quistis was "difficult to deal with." She annoyed him as a kid. Even after they forgot their childhood, he still didn't like her during all those years at Garden.

2) Then he himself pointed out how inappropriate she was being towards him because she's his teacher. It doesn't matter that she's only a year older than him; she was still in a position of power and authority over him for at least a year. If he actually reciprocated her feelings, their relationship would've been extremely inappropriate and she could've gotten in trouble for it.

Also, these same people like to claim that Rinoa forced him to become her Knight, or really forced him to do whatever she wanted him to do, when he literally made that decision of his own free will. He chose to be Rinoa's Knight because he wanted to. He chose to take Rinoa to Esthar and free her from her coma because he wanted to. He chose to rescue Rinoa from space because he wanted to. No one forced him to do any of that shit.

I swear, these certain people make me scratch my head and wonder if they even played FF8 at all 🤦‍♀️ @angelosearch @doortotomorrow @ethernalium

Listen dear anon, while I totally agree with you on all of this; I've learned a long time ago that people will ship who they wanna ship regardless of canon so I just let them do their thing (and that's part of the beauty of fandom!!) and honestly I've actually read some interesting Squall/Quistis fics in the past that made it work! While it's not my preferred ship *by far*, there's always room for imagination.

That being said, one of the big reason that I personally think Squall/Quistis doesn't really work is that they are simply *too alike*. Both of them have this independent, serious, lone wolf type personality, not to mention we can assume both of them were pretty much prodigies (Squall being looked up to despite everything and being top of his classes + Quistis becoming instructor at friggin' *eighteen*).

Squall thinking Quistis was "annoying" and "difficult to deal with" actually tells us a lot about how Squall also views himself, consciously or not, I think. Tl;dr: Squall doesn't like himself very much -> he and Quistis are pretty alike personality-wise -> ergo: Squall doesn't like Quistis very much. At least that's my reasoning! Now, I do think their relationship gets less tense as the game progresses (though I don't buy her whole 'oh I thought it was love but it was really sisterly love'. Girl was still crushing on Squall, but decided to put a stop to this awkward situation between them in her own way so they could both move on... Maturity!~)

And yes, her pursuing him rather aggressively while being his direct superior is of course one hundred percent inappropriate, but we have to remind ourselves that... She's a teenager. They're all teenagers. Despite the training and the weapons and powerful guardian forces they're still all a bunch of kids on the cusp of becoming adults, with the maturity and wacky hormones that go with it. Of course they're gonna make mistakes.

Look at me going off again oop lol

The whole "Rinoa forced him to become her knight" angle is new (and quite baffling) to me, I must admit. The iconic line ("Even if you become the world's enemy, I'll be your knight") wasn't even said out loud, the idiot said it in his head lmao. But again, fandom gonna fandom, whatcha gonna do!

[420thewritersroom]

Thunderstorms in Spring

~Welp, just as fast as I posted that first installment, now we have a second one! I didn't expect everyone to like the first one so much, and I wanna thank you guys for your loving words! And the previous piece honestly gave me so much work to go off on that I decided to continue with a sequel (will this become a possible series, idk, but there's a second one now, so who knows).~

~I, once again, want to thanks the artists in this community who made their pieces of White Haired!Raiden and contributed to the whole "Oops, Kung Lao's Dead Again" AU, you can find them credited in the previous post since I don't want to annoy them with constantly tagging them whenever I make another installment with this series lol.~

~Before we continue just wanted to put some mild context to ensure this makes sense. Fire God Liu Kang starts getting deja vu as certain coincidences and events start playing out that are too eerily similar to how things played out during the MK9 game. All roads were seemingly leading to Kung Lao dying in his timeline, and Liu Kang struggled with how to cope and deal with this. On one hand, he did not want his friend-…His new teacher…To die, especially since he tried so hard to tailor-make this timeline to ensure everyone got a happy ending.

Yet, at the same time, he refused to stoop down to Kronika's level and start altering the timeline until it was his "perfect" utopia. However, his fears and suspicion about the situation become even more realized when Raiden gets gravely injured, and the only thing that prevented him from kneeling over was the thunder amulet infused with his person (and some other magical shit, idk). From this, Raiden gains his iconic white hair, and this gives Liu Kang a heart attack. To make a long story short, Kung Lao ends up dying at the hands of the villains, Raiden is going through the stages of grief, but he's going down the same dark path as the previous Raiden, now becoming Dark Raiden. And Liu Kang has to finally interfere.~

Still confused? Too late, now on to the story!

Previous // Next

Wilted Cherry Blossoms, Dark Thunderstorms, Burning Hopes: Remastered

Characters: Raiden, Raiden's Sister (Fuji), Johnny Cage, Kenshi, Mentions of Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Madam Bo, and Jax

Word Count - 8,001 (wow!)

Ships: Johnny/Kenshi - Past Raiden/Kung Lao

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (with less blood), Heavy Talks About Character Death

~The Netherrealms - Undisclosed time and place~

Sulfur, ash, smoke, burning stone, and landscapes; the smell of the Netherrealm. Although Raiden's memories are fuzzy at best and nonexistent at worst, he remembers this in near clarity. His vision presents him looking up at the hellish sky as if he's lying down on the ground. He remembers not moving; it's too painful to move. He remembers breathing heavily. Is it because of the suffocating air of the Netherrealms? Or perhaps because of the blinding pain that Raiden remembers experiencing.

He can remember not just hissing and groaning in pain but screaming and writhing-silently begging for it to end. In this mnemonic dream, everything was selective when it came to what he saw, heard, smelled, and tasted. For taste, he can taste the iron of his own blood mixed in with something foul. Could it be the rancid air or the fact that this mixture almost tasted like poison?

His hearing in this dream is quite literally selective. Some people sounded horribly muffled, requiring Raiden to strain his ears to hear them. Others, he could perceive with great clarity, and then there were those he could not hear at all, their lips moving with no audible sound. Then there was his sight. Like the other senses, Raiden was faced with blurred faces, some only possessing one discernable feature, such as their eyes, nose, mouths, ears, hair, etc. Others were completely faceless to Raiden, with only their speech or smell being the one thing Raiden could cling to.

But what often overrode all these senses was the overwhelming pain he felt at this moment. Three figures stood above him. One was featureless; the only distinguishing aspect of this entity was that they were female-presenting as their speech sounded feminine, but it was horribly dimmed. Another figure was only distinguishable thanks to the glowing eyes they possessed and distinct dragon tattoos that crawled up their arms. If Raiden concentrates, he can maybe recollect what this individual is saying, but this pain prevents him from doing so.

Then there was Kung Lao. Deadass, just his long-time best friend, Kung Lao. Out of all the figures in front of Raiden in this instance, Kung Lao-he could see and hear with such perspicuity. Kung Lao stood beside the lying Raiden, tears in his eyes, slurring his speech, holding tightly to the thunder wielders' shaking hand.

"It's ok, Raiden! It's ok, you're going to be ok!" Kung Lao sobbed, trying, but failing, to smile at Raiden despite his tears actively gracing Raiden's face.

Raiden doesn't remember if he said anything back to him. His sight throughout this scene remained on his friend…At least, he thinks they're friends. There's a foreign feeling that encompasses him whenever he looks at Lao, and it's an overwhelming sense of love. And, I mean, people can definitely love their best friends. He and Kung Lao had known each other since they were children. Lao was a reckless, poor kid, and Raiden was a boy from a well-off family. Despite their class differences, they saw something likable about the other. But this love was more than just having a natural affinity for someone he's known all his life.

This felt…Stronger? Louder? Raiden doesn't know how to describe it. If it wasn't for the pain, Raiden would get lost in Kung Lao's chocolate eyes. He would untie his short ponytail and play with his hair before readjusting his look. Raiden notices little details about his friend that others might not have picked up on. Like his dimples when he smiles, even under such stressful circumstances, the way his face piercings adds to his cocky personality, and his undercut brings back fond memories of the pair trying to learn how to cut his hair which ended disastrously. Raiden wanted…To kiss him dearly…

And just like how Raiden held his perspective on Lao, Kung Lao hasn't torn away his gaze on Raiden, spitting out promises of what they will do together once Raiden was right as rain in rapid fire. What ended up redirecting Kung Lao's attention was when the figure with the glowing eyes was mumbling something.

"What?" Kung Lao snaps his head over to the tattooed figure with hopeful confusion on his face.

This tattooed individual, Raiden could not understand fully. However, he was able to catch on to some words: Amulet, Raiden, Entity, and Consequences. The fully faceless being, who was also present, gestures as if they're conversing with the pair - but Raiden cannot hear their input on the matter.

"I don't care how you do it! I…I just want him to survive! Please, Liu! Save him! Save Raiden!" Kung Lao cries, holding onto Raiden's hand like his life depended on it. As if, if he didn't clutch onto Raiden, he would lose him forever.

The tattooed individual holds their gaze toward Kung Lao, their silence and body language hinting that they were…Uneased and uncertain. The tattooed looks at the feminine figure and nods, saying something in the mumbled jargon they spoke. But the three individuals in front of Raiden were all in agreement. They were going to save him. He was going to survive this…Somehow.

Kung Lao focuses back on Raiden, smiling at his downed friend. "Look at me. Look at me, Raiden. You're going to be alright! Liu is gonna help ya. You…" Kung Lao looks Raiden over, primarily where his stomach is. Why was he looking there? "You're going to be alright. I love you. I love you so much, and I'm not going to let you die, ok?"

Raiden feels his heart flutter as if Kung Lao said something that would've usually made the thunder wielder swoon. But what was it? Despite being able to understand everything Kung Lao was telling him, his dream censored him; twice it did. Raiden feels something swell within him, this desire to respond to Kung Lao. Words at the tip of his tongue that he wanted to get out.

But then the pain gets worse. A LOT worse. His body was on fire as if electricity was coursing through his body. Raiden screams, making sounds that one would not think a human could make. He writhes, so much so that he feels someone holding him down. He remembers wanting it to stop; that dying was a better alternative than enduring this much pain.

-

Raiden jolts awake, sitting upright, sweaty, and breathing heavily. His eyes roam about his room, taking stock of what's around him. It was just a dream. He's in his room, in his bed. Not in…That hellish place…Whatever that was. Yet, he's not calming down. It felt real, too real. The pain, the heat, the people talking to him. It was as if he experienced it before, and there was a part of himself that felt like it was factual. But it was so…Surreal…

"Ugh! Aaah!" Raiden clutches his stomach, where his lower and upper body meet. It's happening again.

He can feel static dancing off his person in painful waves, coursing through his body from his stomach. He doubles over as he clutches his stomach in a hugging position. He can feel it wanting to get out again, this strange, unknown power, as it swells in electric prowess, begging to be let out.

"Raiden? Raiden!" Fuji's voice sounds distant, yet tangible, as she rushes to her brother's side. "Raiden, what's wrong? Is it happening aga-ah!" Fuji feels a jolt of electricity shock her, and she pulls away from touching her brother.

Raiden hisses through the growing pain, "Y-yes, it's happening again! It's stronger this time!"

"Come on, let's get you outside!" Fuji says in a hurried tone as she quickly dresses herself in whatever she can get her hands on in her brother's room.

Raiden groans as he tries to remove himself from his bed (something he kinda doesn't want to do right now) but ends up rolling off the mattress onto the floor with an audible grunt. Fuji is quick to Raiden's side again and helps him up with all her strength. Despite having a sleeper build in terms of muscularity and being leanly built, he was heavy to carry and drag around for someone of her strength and stature.

"Come on, come on, let's go, Raiden! We're almost to the door; let's go!" Fuji tries to encourage her brother.

"I-I'm trying, Ji. It hurts!" Raiden whines.

They both get past the front door and rush to hop onto Fuji's motorbike (she saved up ALOT of money to get this baby). She revs the engine and speeds away down the road, biking to a remote area so that her brother can let out…Whatever the fuck is going on with him.

"We're almost out of here, Raiden! Just give me-HOLY SHIT!"

Suddenly, an arc of lightning strikes the ground, deadly close to them. It's only now that Fuji notices that the night cloudy skies above were crackling with thunder and lightning (fortunately, no rain…Yet…).

"Raiden, control yourself! Just give me 2 minutes! AAH!" Fuji dodges a lightning strike that landed 3 seconds ahead of them.

"I'M TRYING!" Raiden shouts in pain, his hair and eyes glowing intensely as the power of the amulet strengthens. Throughout the trip, Raiden KNOWS that he was unintentionally shocking his sister, the poor farm boy constantly apologizing as he tries to reign in the energies coming off him.

Fuji is able to bob & weave around the constant lightning strikes and endure the shocks her brother kept giving her, just enough to reach not just the outskirts of the village but into the remote parts outside their settlement. Once they were a good 15 minutes away from Fengjian, Fuji slows down to park her bike, but this would nearly cost her. As they were about to stop, another strike of lightning hits them from behind, kicking up dirt, debris, and their bike. The motorbike ends up being tipped forward forcefully, sending the siblings flying.

"AAAAHHH!" Fuji screams as she soars above the ground before crashlanding into the tall grass nearby. Although she didn't gain that much air, thanks to her slowing down not too long ago, she still felt her ears ringing and her head and muscles aching. She makes sharp gasps as she slightly rolls in pain.

"Damnit, Raiden," Fuji hisses. "Fuck, Raiden! Raiden?" Fuji picks herself up, almost losing her footing, as she frantically looks for her older brother.

The sounds of her brother screaming gave her an idea of where he was at. He wasn't too far from her. Fuji could see lighting bouncing off his person as he was in the fetal position. As Fuji was attempting to approach him, Raiden yelled out to her, "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

Fuji immediately stops in her tracks, watching her brother uselessly as he suffered. Ever since he came back home a year and a half ago, ever since Liu Kang dropped her brother off at their family home, he's had these strange abilities. But nothing like this. It has never gotten this bad! It's gotten out of control. Whatever's happening to Raiden, it's trying to get out. Fuji anxiously scours through her brain as she considers WHAT she can do to help her brother that she hasn't done before. But…BUT WHAT THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE DO IN THIS SITUATION!?! Her brother is becoming a malfunctioning transmission tower! No amount of guidance from their parents, friends, workmates, or even TikTok inspiration posts could prepare her to handle this!

There is one thing she notices about her brother in this situation. It's almost as if he's trying to hold back whatever this electrifying beast is. This gives her an idea.

"R-Raiden! Raiden, you need to let go! You can't keep holding back…Whatever this is!" Fuji shouts as loud as she can, the raging thunder clouds, cracks of lightning, and howling wind overpowering her voice.

"NO!" Raiden screams in response, fear heavily apparent in his tone. "I-FUCK-I'LL HURT YOU! LIKE LAST TIME, I'LL HURT YOU!"

Oh…

Fuji stares uselessly at Raiden as that incident plays in her head again. It was a couple months since Liu Kang returned her brother home. Raiden was…He was going through alot. What, with his sudden memory loss and having to come to terms with the lost memories, Raiden was silently coping with this alone. It's unnatural for him to bottle up his emotions. Fuji has always known her brother to speak his mind when something troubled him…Then again, his trusted confidant when he didn't want to turn to his family was Kung Lao…Who's dead…Even Madam Bo he couldn't look to for guidance; she died many years ago (peacefully, surrounded by her family). And despite the natural trust, as siblings, they both had for each other; Raiden clearly avoided speaking with her about what he was thinking and feeling.

And it finally came overhead when the siblings had a mild dispute. She doesn't even remember what they were arguing about. Could've been typical brother/sister shit. Maybe she finally confronted him about his silence and reluctance to speak about what had happened to him. Regardless, things got a bit personal, and Raiden, who is usually the patient and calm one, even during their little disagreement bouts; lashed out.

And quite literally did he lashed out. Fuji probably should've seen the telltale signs when his eyes and hair were giving a dim, white glow, but she was too riled up in the conversation to pay attention. Then it happened, Raiden yelled back at her, and suddenly, an arc of lightning erupted from him. Striking Fuji.

With a highly concentrated energy of electricity, it shocked her to the point that her body shut down temporarily…But Raiden didn't see it like that, at the moment. His sister, his closest friend aside from Kung Lao, was lying on the kitchen floor, dead. Their elderly parents arrived home to see Raiden sobbing loudly as he tried to revive his sister while lightning was pulsing off him. They couldn't get close enough to each reach the phone to call for emergency services as arcs of lightning were going everywhere in the house, practically destroying it (the expenses were much, even for their family). And maybe it was the constant shock of electricity that restarted Fuji and kept her from fully kneeling over. Who knows, there was a lot of pandemonium going on at that moment, but she remembered jolting back to life, breathing heavily as she tried to scoot away from her brother.

But there was one thing she regretted that day. Being so scared of Raiden that she had the look of someone seeing a monster, a threat.

Fuji can ascertain that he's been holding it in ever since that day. Because he's scared of hurting her again. And sure, they would both go out of town to a remote area to let Raiden air out and release the energies of the amulet infused to his body. But there was a deafening disconnect since that day. And it pains Fuji that it wasn't until now that she realized she'd shut Raiden out because she was scared of her brother.

Another painful cry emits from Raiden. The storms above were becoming dangerous, Fuji felt like she was going to be swept off her feet by the roaring winds. Although Fuji was scared of the mystical prowess her brother possessed, she loved him more than she feared him.

"Raiden, you're not going to hurt me! I know you won't, I trust that you won't!" Fuji has to now scream over the raging storm as she puts some further distance between her and her brother, readjusting her fallen motorbike. "Whatever you're holding on to, you have to let it go!"

"Fuji, I-"

"Raiden, don't you fucking argue with me!" Fuji shouts, using her "mom voice." Fuji might be just as soft-spoken as her brother, but she knew when to assert herself and take up space when needed. "You're going to harm me far worse the longer you keep holding on to...Well, that! You'll destroy all of Fengjian doing what you're doing RIGHT NOW!"

I mean, Fuji can't say for certain that it will. But storms like this can definitely level villages, and she's not about to wait and find out if this is the case. Fuji yelps loudly as a soaring large tree branch flies by her, the dark-haired sister ducking behind her bike for safety. There's another resounding scream from Raiden, and she looks in his direction with extreme worry. However, there was something different about this scene.

Raiden was howling, sure, but he was releasing the energies of the amulet. The best way one could describe this scene is that it's like watching Raiden raise his power level as if he's a Dragon Ball Z character. The storm around this time worsens, so much so that Fuji ends up holding onto her, albeit skidding, bike while screaming herself.

Then it...Stops...The roiling thunder, the crack of lightning, the raging winds calmed. Fuji opens her eyes and looks to the still-night sky, the dark clouds slowly parting to reveal the gibbous moon above, the sound of thunder now becoming an infrequent presence. When she finally takes a look at her brother...She might as well be looking at an all-powerful being, maybe even a god.

Raiden was levitating, hair and clothes flowing as if he were in water, sparks of electricity visibly coursing through his being as his hair and eyes glowed a godly white. Fuji stared in awe as electric energies sparked off him, unsure of how else to take in this scene in front of her. Her brother would soon gracefully touch the ground again before kneeling over. Fuji cautiously approaches her brother as if she's entering an emperor's throne room unannounced.

"...Raiden?"

"...Yeah?" Raiden, now sounding like his usual, soft-spoken, self, looks up at his sister. His face plastered with the same amazement as she possessed.

"Are you...Ok?"

"I think so," Raiden looks himself over, watching the energies pulse around him. "...Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm alright now."

"What was that? This never happened before." Fuji starts getting more bold as she approaches her brother. She wanted to dust him down but hesitated as the energies continued to encompass Raiden.

Raiden is quiet for a moment. During this silence, the electrical current finally dissipated. "...I'm sorry, Fuji."

"For what?"

"For...For everything."

Fuji's heart nearly breaks the moment she hears Raiden's voice crack. Raiden's eyes become glassy as he begins to cry. "No. No, Raiden," Fuji takes the first step to break the space between them, holding his shaking hand in hers. "I should be the one apologizing. I...I'm not going to pretend that I know what happened to you that caused all this. These strange powers, you're new color," Fuji brushes some stray hair behind Raiden's ear, "Or why you can't remember the past...I don't even know how many years."

"But you clearly needed help. I can't assist with any physical help, but I can help with this," Fuji pokes at his heart, smiling at her elder brother. "I was scared of you, Raiden...Because you became...Unrecognizable to me. But I was wrong to emotionally shut you out. You're still my brother, and I'm going to still be your sister."

Raiden chuckles, smiling through his tears as he fondly looks at Fuji. "Thank you, sis."

"Now come on, we best get home. Mom and Dad, if they're not awake already, are going to be worried about why we were gone during an active storm. Also, you're still in your underwear."

"What?" Raiden looks at himself, finally realizing that he's still in a t-shirt and boxers. "W-why didn't you help me get dressed!?!"

"You were literally screaming and shooting lightning out of your hands, what did you want me to do?" Fuji responds as she gets her motorbike prepped for departure.

"I would've been fine with a hoodie or something," Raiden says, now in a bit of a jesting mood. He does notice that his sister is wearing his clothes and points at her. "Can you at least hand me my hoodie?"

"Can't. Not wearing anything under this."

"I can literally see your PJs under there, Ji."

"Ok, but it's cold. No thanks to you," Fuji sticks her tongue at him teasingly.

The pair continue their sibling banter as they make their way back to Fengjian. The back & forth is interrupted as Raiden grows silent suddenly. Growing increasingly uncomfortable with the silence, Fuji breaks the ice.

"Something on your mind?"

Raiden remains still.

"...Come on, Raiden. If something is troubling you...Listen, I might not have all the answers, but at least let me know what's going on."

-

~Two Days Later~

Raiden closes the mirrored medicine cabinet, the soft click of the small door indicating it was successfully shut. Raiden is faced with his reflection. White, shoulder-length hair, brown eyes (that occasionally turn white, he has noticed), upside-down heart-shaped face, chubby cheeks, oval brows; these features he has seen time and time again. Yet, this look still feels...Foreign to him. How did he get the white hair? Nothing in his memories can track down the point in time when he dyed his hair (Fuji says that he dyed his hair...But...).

He looked...Older. As if he's experienced many things in his life. What those experiences are though-he cannot tell you. Raiden places a hairband in his mouth as he gathers his strands to recreate the man-bun he fondly prefers to wear. It's the one thing that gives him a sense of familiarity. He can remember precisely how he favors pinning up his hair. Raiden looks at himself in the mirror again, staring into his reflections' brown eyes as if he's searching for something behind them. His gaze then focuses on a small picture. A photo was taken when he, Kung Lao, and Fuji went on a school trip in their elementary years. Their class went fishing that day, and he can distinctly remember his kid self getting frustrated because he couldn't catch a single fish that day. Despite living in a village that was on the water, fishing wasn't a skill Raiden acquired. He remembers Kung Lao always being able to catch a large or small one, bragging about how he was going to take his catches back home to eat.

Perhaps it was Kung Lao's bragging that made his younger self jealous and throw a fit. But in that same instance, Kung Lao actually taught him the tricks he used to capture fish. It was Kung Lao that turned that sour trip into a journey he will always remember.

...

Why can't he remember anything? Past that day, when the pair competed to see who could harvest the most cabbages and pay for the loser's meal at Madam Bo's, everything else is a blur. And maybe this wouldn't bother him much; people can have fuzzy memories, especially if they were beaten so severely they had to be bandaged with extreme care by a stranger. But it's not just a few memories that he can't recollect; it's practically all of them past that day at Madam Bo's. Even more alarming...

...He had forgotten that his best friend, Kung Lao, had died. Now, unless he's getting a grave case of early dementia, who would miss that their own best friend died, their own funeral procession? When his sister and parents came forward about this with him, it was only then that Raiden realized that some years passed as well. That meant that he was missing years-YEARS-of life experiences that were now gone from his mind. Even more confusing, he wasn't in a coma. At least, he doesn't think he was.

Ok, lemme explain. Based on what Fuji and his parents told him, some man named Liu Kang offered him a position of high-paying work. It required him to work in the United States, and both he and Kung Lao were offered the job; both men said yes to this opportunity. Looking back at it, in his family's words, they should've pushed back further as they were suspicious of this Liu Kang fellow and this job he was offering their son. But seeing the joy on Raiden's face and his determination to leave with Liu Kang convinced them that their son could handle themselves and pave his own future. Occasionally, he would visit home and send money & unique souvenirs before promptly leaving back to the States. Apparently, he was a martial arts teacher in the States, but everything else was unknown to them. It was a shock to everyone when they heard that Kung Lao died. It came out of left field. Based on what Liu Kang and Raiden told them, an accident happened where some equipment malfunctioned and blew up in Kung Lao's face, a lacerated throat being the primary cause of death. After that, Raiden was radio silent to his family. It wasn't until Liu Kang came to their house in the dead of night years later with Raiden in tow, bandaged and bruised, and left without another word. They haven't seen Liu Kang since.

Aside from the mild inconsistencies (if he was in the States while his family was in China, of course, there would be some muddled details), their story was pretty straightforward based on their point of view...Yet, deep down, Raiden couldn't help but...Feel like there's more to this story. Not that he's distrustful of his family; he truly believes what they said. However, somewhere deep within his conscience, it felt like the story they told him was the tale he WANTED them to believe. As if Raiden knew the truth that explains the holes and contradictions that riddled their recollection of previous events. Yet, the answers to these truths are hidden even from Raiden. Always at the tip of his tongue but forbidden from ever speaking them.

Raiden enters the kitchen; his mother and sister preparing breakfast and lunch for Raiden. Seeing him enter, Fuji smiles from ear to ear. "You slept in, lazy butt."

"Oh?" Raiden looks at the mounted clock, and yep! He's an hour and thirty minutes late to work. "Aw, crap!"

"Calm yourself, boy. I already called the Farm. They were understanding and said to come in when you're ready." His mother says as she sets down a bowl full of steamed Bao Buns. Enough to last until lunch, really.

Looking at the bowl, Raiden knew why they cooked so much. Kung Lao, the gluttonous butt he was, would always visit Raiden so that they could travel to work together. And without fail, he was always raiding their kitchen for any leftovers no one else wanted. It became nearly tradition to cook a bit extra in case Kung Lao decided to pay them a visit.

...Apparently, old habits die hard...Raiden smiles and kisses his mother gingerly on the cheek. "Thank you, mother. I don't want to keep them longer, though. I'll see you guys when I get back." Raiden quickly packs his own lunch, thanks to the assistance of his sister, Fuji, who was already 3 steps ahead of him and grabs a couple Bao Buns before heading out the house.

Walking to the Farm, Raiden couldn't help but feel a sorrowful, almost lonely, acceptance of the village around him. Every building, path, small body of water, old face, new face, everything about Fengjian felt like a ghost to him. It was familiar, yet so dissimilar to Raiden. This village has grown in the past years he was in and out of this settlement. But what disheartens him is the absence of his friend. Raiden only wishes that Kung Lao was here, perhaps he would've helped him make sense of all of this. This...Amnesia mess that he's in. And Raiden would've confided with Madam Bo...You know, if she were still alive. Her death had more consistency; she simply died of old age. It was still a shock; she was his adopted grandmother in Raiden's eyes. So in Raiden's mind, he not only lost a close friend but also a family member and valuable mentor.

Raiden found himself staring at points of interest that held significance to him, especially if it related to Kung Lao. There was a cherry blossom tree up a hill nearby that he and Lao would frequent without fail. Be it to do school work, to see who can climb that tree the fastest and highest, or to chill. It was there that Kung Lao, at the age of 15, expressed his desire to explore their horizons past Fengjian. Raiden still grins to himself, thinking back on the many adventurers Kung Lao wanted to have (although few of them were a bit exaggerated). How they both promised-once they were older-they would travel outside of Fengjian, and experience the world together. Somewhere, deep down, Raiden feels like this has come true if they have gone to the States before...But it feels like more was there than simply hopping over to another country.

There's a convenience store nearby where Kung Lao's house was. It was a favorite, and every time the pair visited it, Kung Lao would rant and rave about all the many meals one could make from just a few store-bought convenience items. Being a child of a middle-class family, Raiden was always baffled by the "dishes" Kung Lao would make, most of them hit or miss due to the cheap ingredients. But Kung Lao loved to cook. He probably would've wanted to become one with the kind of passion he had. But Kung Lao cooked to survive due to...Well, let's just say, he was a poor kid.

Then there was the Farm. They were always getting into some kind of trouble there. Playing daring jokes on each other, helping one another with the back-breaking labor, then the fulfilling trip to Madam Bo's Teahouse. All fond memories.

Before Raiden knew it, the day was already reaching its finale. Raiden worked overtime, something he was often known to do. And, you know, working such late hours without Kung Lao there was...Disheartening. Kung Lao wouldn't assist in the work. In his mind, his shift ended at 5:30 P.M. But he would at least stay with Raiden. To provide him company during the late hours. This time around, the nightlife critters and beasts were his only company. The walk home was seemingly worse. The darkened village felt quiet, with only a few shops open that had loud commotion going on. Friends hanging out and enjoying a good drink together as they drank and ate the rest of the evening away.

The only moment of solace Raiden gained was when he walked back into his house. His mother, father, and sister were loud in conversation as they went over the recent village gossip, village news & politics, and pastime activities they engaged in. It was a breath of fresh air having this personal community that broke the solemn silence that his best friend filled. The night ended with Raiden sitting down with his family and enjoying the dinner they made. It closed with him and his sister, Fuji, cleaning up after their parents as they turned in early for the night.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" Raiden gives Fuji a side glance as he continues to clean up dishes.

"You feeling ok?" Fuji eyes him curiously.

Two days ago, Raiden finally came forward with Fuji about the emptiness he's been feeling. Even though he's in a village that he was born & raised in, filled with familiar faces and family, the fact of the matter is that he dearly missed Kung Lao. But...But it was more than just grieving for a best friend, not that it would make a difference. But Kung Lao filled deeper shoes than just simply being a friend. When he's in bed, he feels like the mattress is too big all of a sudden. He can't eat certain dishes because it will all remind him of Lao. He finds himself crying to himself because he forgot for a moment that Kung Lao would not answer his door or his phone if Raiden were to call. All these things, even as a best friend, would be reasonable to miss and grieve over. But there was something more to their friendship than that.

"Do you think you loved him?" Raiden remembers Fuji asking him when he came forward with this.

"...I don't know...And if I did...Now I have to reconcile with the fact that I'll never get to tell him..."

Raiden smiles at his sister and playfully bumps shoulders with her. "Now that I'm home? I'm feeling good, for now. The rice and pork was really good, Fuji."

"I know right! I used this new spice that my friends were crazy about. It's a Korean spice-"

Fuji rambled on about how she made the dish they had for dinner, and Raiden eagerly listened and conversed with her. Even though Kung Lao was gone, he could try to fill that space with more people who loved him.

-

Outside the residence where Raiden lived, a shadowed figure rests on the rooftops of the sleeping Fengjian village, watching the building like a predator that has found its prey. Blazing red eyes stare through the open windows, watching closely the two figures who pass it daily, unaware they have an interested third party observing them. The being in question, however, was laser-focused on Raiden, watching his every move, taking them to memory. The show would be over, unfortunately, as they closed the curtains and cut off the lights, slumbering like the rest of the village.

The shadowed individual smiles, "Worry not, Raiden. We'll be reunited soon enough. You'll see. Then not even death will tear us apart."

And in a flash of mystical air and dead cherry blossom petals, the figure is gone.

-

~Somewhere in California~

Kenshi groans awake as he feels inklings of the sun peering out from the half-closed curtains. Half-naked, Kenshi, through his sight provided by Sento, is greeted with the ceiling of the luxury apartment belonging to Jonathan Carlton, Johnny Cage. Kenshi felt an added weight on the bed he slept on, knowing who was sharing the mattress with him. Despite this, Kenshi twisted his head to drink in the blissfully still-sleeping man beside him, Johnny.

You know, if you asked Kenshi that he would end up in the loving arms of a pompous Hollywood star, he would've had you killed for even thinking about it. Even when their relationship evolved from enemies to friends, Kenshi would've thought that was the final step in their relationship. Just being friends. But it all fell into place when...When Kung Lao died. Funny how shared trauma can bring others together...

You see, Before Kung Lao died, Johnny was good friends with Kung Lao. They both had their similarities. They were both friends with whom some would consider "the straight man" of their other half, they were both hella self-confident and prideful of their capabilities. The only thing that seemingly differentiated them was that one was poor while the other was rich. Oh, and the fact that Kung Lao was more disciplined when it came to his fighting prowess, compared to Johnny, who was more of a "free-form jazz" type of guy. Although Kung Lao expressed mild annoyance at the actor's Hollywood pride (even Kung Lao wasn't that egotistical), the pair worked off each other pretty well to be good friends.

So when Kung Lao died, aside from Raiden, Johnny took his death the hardest. Being perhaps the more foolhardy of the group (even with his years of maturity the more he was asked to help Liu Kang with other realm matters), that moment was when Johnny really "grew up." It's not like he was new to death, the kind of work they did, they have met many instances where they watched people die in front of them or saw corpses in horrendous states. But it was one thing when it was someone who you weren't close to or didn't know in general. It's another thing when it's someone you do know and have history with.

After Kung Lao's death, Johnny's way of coping was trying to fill in the shoes that Kung Lao left behind. Kung Lao always had a way of lightening the mood that was unique compared to what Johnny would do. Where the actor would constantly spill movie references that no one but Johnny understood, Kung Lao knew how to inspire from the heart. And that took skill and experience to pull off, something Johnny wasn't too well versed in. Looking back on it, Kenshi sees them in a more positive light than before. However, he can't say the same for Raiden. When they were still considered the protectors of Earthrealm, Raiden was spiraling into his own self-hatred and grief. With good intentions, Johnny tried to be a friend to Raiden, wanting to reassure Raiden that they had his back...It didn't end well.

Johnny's desire to keep their friend group together, even though they were drifting apart was harming Johnny more than he thought it was. So when Liu Kang suddenly announced that he would no longer be needing their services, Johnny was quick to take his offer. Now, to the untrained ear, one would think:

"Of course, Johnny Cage dipped out after the going got going! He's an actor who never saw any of the cruelties of the real world because of his wealth!"

Which, in some way, could be the reason. But Kenshi saw something else to Johnny's reason for dipping out. As stated before, Johnny put a lot of emotional energy trying to keep their friend group alive. He tried to fill the shoes that Kung Lao left behind, and in the process, he was draining himself as he tried to keep everyone happy while everyone was coping with Lao's death. No longer being obligated to be Earthrealms protector, meant that Johnny no longer had to hold onto the tearing strings since they were all going their separate ways.

Their relationship still wouldn't blossom until nearly a year and a half ago. Granted, looking back at their previous interactions, perhaps it was fate that they would find solace with each other. Kenshi, with the line of work he involved himself in, had to go into hiding but had nowhere to turn to. Hunkering down with Johnny would've been a foolish thought; he was the exact opposite of discreet. But, because he had to cut back on some expenses, Johnny was living in an apartment building that was a perfect "hiding in plain sight" spot. With Kenshi as his new roommate, Johnny got a bit personal with Kenshi as he was helped dress his wounds. The rest was history as Kenshi found himself kissing Johnny in the heat of the moment. A year and a half later, Kenshi is still in disbelief that they're together still.

While Kenshi would love to admire the sleeping person beside him, he knew that he couldn't stay long. He was still in hiding, and he promised Jax that he would meet him at a disclosed location to discuss next steps. He's careful to slip out of bed without disturbing Johnny, swiftly getting cleaned up and dressed before walking into the kitchen to prepare himself a cup of joe.

"Mmhm. Morning sunshine."

Kenshi nearly jumps out of his skin as he feels strong arms wrap around his waist. He smiles as he cranes his head back to look at Johnny. "Did I wake you?"

"Didn't feel your body keeping me warm, honey. You leaving already?" Johnny says in a husky tone as he nuzzles behind the blind swordsman.

"Have to. I have an associate who's waiting for me. I might not be able to stay here for much longer."

"Again?" Johnny complains in an overexaggerated tone. "How long will you be gone?"

"Don't know, depends on the situation."

This isn't the first time Kenshi and Johnny been separated for long periods of time, something they were both well accustomed to. Johnny was an actor/director, which means he was constantly traveling to other states and countries for filming. Working for the OIA (Outworld Investigation Agency) and the FBI, Kenshi was either traveling the world or traveling realms. Perhaps being the only Earthrealmer who didn't hang up the mantle of being Liu Kang's warrior.

Johnny continues to whine about being alone without Kenshi (even though he'll be alright), playing up his desperation for Kenshi to "stay home" with him. And Kenshi will admit, he can definitely see why he was, and still is, a popular star in Hollywood.

"Can you at least leave me a goodbye gift?" Johnny's fingers start to linger towards Kenshi's waistbelt.

"Johnny," Kenshi chuckles as he moves one of his hands away from his waist, kissing the fingers individually. "I can't right now; I'm going to be late."

"Aw, come on! Just a quicky?"

"No, Johnny."

Cage huffs, but there is no anger hinted there. He just kisses Kenshi's neck and sighs. "Fine. Just come back sooner than later, ok? Bed feels empty without ya."

"I bet it does," Kenshi jests.

"I know it does." As Johnny giggles, his eyes glance at the reflection displayed on the microwave mirror, and he sees…Something moving. A tall, humanoid figure attempting to stealth because it assumes it hasn't been seen.

Just as quickly as Johnny notices this, he quickly grabs a kitchen knife from the knife holder and swiftly throws it at the intruder. Even with his fast reflexes, they weren't as fast as the unwanted guest. The Intruder grabs the knife, blade in hand, while their glowing red eyes stay trained on the couple.

Kenshi, already alerted that something is wrong, calls for Sento to his hand. The magic sword unsheathes itself and flies over to their location. Before reaching Kenshi's hand, with his mystical sight and ability to utilize Sento, even if the weapon is not in his hand, he sharply gestures his one hand in multiple directions in slicing motions. Sento redirects its trajectory as it starts to aim for the home invader. Although the sword was able to get a few good slices in, the individual was fast…Too fast…

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment!?!" Johnny growls as he grabs another weapon of his own (it's another knife).

The figure doesn't respond, only growling as it attempts to rush at Johnny and Kenshi. The pair dodge out of the way, both separated on opposite sides of the person.

"Listen, I'm willing to not press charges AND give you the comfiest dirt nap you'll ever experience IF you tell us what you're doing in my place and why you're attacking us!"

"Something tells me they're not here to talk, Johnny," Kenshi replies as he commands Sento to his hand.

"Ok, dirt nap it is then."

The pair rush the intruder, hoping to overwhelm them with their combined might. Johnny's theatrical and dirty fighting tactics with Kenshi's samurai-like skills and roughhousing tricks. Yet, even with their combined might, this individual was swift and able to counter almost all their attacks while also producing devastating blows of their own.

Very quickly, Kenshi caught on that this person possessed some superhuman strength. Every punch sent Kenshi and Johnny flying in some instances during the fight. This intruder also had some cracks in their skin that had a glow to them. Unfortunately, while Sento gave him sight, it didn't provide Kenshi clarity on specific details like colors. Johnny, however, could see that this person had ashen gray skin, much like how a corpse would look, and the supposed "cracks" were actually the outlines of their inner veins, glowing to an unnatural degree.

Another thing too, this guy just would not quit. Their back and forth was eventually tiring Johnny & Kenshi as they missed one too many close calls that would've killed them. But this home invader had stamina for days. Johnny and Kenshi had to resort to going on the defensive as they had to dodge his attacks while waiting for openings.

Johnny is nearly choked out by this creature before grabbing the heated french press on the stove and slamming it against the intruder's head. Granting the actor time to build some distance.

"Kenshi, I'm gonna need you to think of something, and think of it quick because I'm going to be paying for all these expenses that this prick is breaking!" Johnny windily fusses as he lands a one-two punch on the intruder.

"Get him closer to the living room!" Kenshi says as he provides a helpful block for Johnny, using Sento to slash at the intruder before they can land a hit on Johnny.

"What?" Johnny looks at Kenshi confused before taking a punch to the face.

"Just follow my lead!"

Where Johnny's luxurious apartment was located it was built into a tall skyscraper building, and Johnny paid to get a good view of the city he was living in. That meant that his room was exceptionally high up in the building; leading to an estimated 250 ft drop. And Kenshi was getting some sneaking suspicions that this creature could survive all 250 of it.

Kenshi dares to get closer to the intruder, putting all his might into pushing and fighting this man closer to the living room which had an entire glass wall that showcased that good Californian view. Helping him, Johnny also jumped into the fray, along with Sento as they brought him closer to the glass windows. The intruder was able to block their attacks, but he was inching toward the glass, and they finally grabbed at Kenshi's throat in a crushing grip.

"You will join us, Takahashi. Our family will gladly welcome you." The intruder says.

"I'm all for visiting in-laws and relatives, but we're gonna have to decline the invitation to the family barbeque!" Johnny says. And in that same second, he drops it low and hits your man with the most devastating nutcracker they'll ever experience.

The intruder makes an audible moan as they double over, covering their private bits. Seems this was just enough to not only get them winded but grant Kenshi enough time to perform a flying roundhouse kick and send the intruder falling 230 feet back to the lobby.

"Yo, Kenshi! What the hell, man! I didn't think you were going to kill him!?!" Johnny exclaims. "Dude, I live on this floor!?! And it's 10 in the fucking morning! People are going to see, and then the police are going to be called, then what the fuck am I going to do then? I mean, sure, we were fighting in self-defense, I think that guy had the intent to kill us, but I'm a famous star, dickhead! What am I going to tell the press? Fuck, fucking A, I can already see it, 'Johnny Cage: Famous Actor, Director, and Killer?' Fucking fuck, Kenshi!"

Despite Johnny's angry rambles, Kenshi paid him no mind as he carefully leaned out the side of the broken window, trying to get a good view of the intruder and seeing if his prediction was correct.

…The motherfucker got up.

"Johnny, get dressed, we gotta go," Kenshi says in a hurry as he picks up Sento and the sheath it belongs to.

"Wait, what? Were you even hearing me-"

"We don't have time, get dressed!"

"Ok, ok, I am!" Johnny windily says as he rushes to his bedroom. "Fucking hell, what a goddamn mess."

As the pair are leaving the apartment, Johnny is just getting his best shoes tied, hopping on one leg as he tries to follow the hurried Kenshi. "Wait, Kenshi, what the hell is going on. You're doing that 'I know way more than I let on' schtick that you often do. Did you know that guy?"

"I'll explain once we're far from here. Right now, you're about to meet a good friend of mine."

-

~Wow, this was even longer lmao! I made a second installment! Very excited to keep working on this because we're about to get to the part where Kung Lao returns >:). Had a lot of fun writing Amnesia!Raiden trying to cope with Kung Lao's sudden departure in his life and writing his sister Fuji. BTW, you can check out this post I made of my picrew interpretation of what Raiden's Sister looks like (Fuji - Raiden's Sister). Not too happy with the Johnny & Kenshi scene, but I've been, once again, working all evening and well into the night with this one, so I'm gonna make my peace with it. Hope you guys enjoy it. Can't wait to start writing up the next installment! Pray that I make this one shorter ;A;~

[noctivague]

Revamping my altar - Part 01🙃

Let's ingnore the fact that I ghosted my blog for the most part of this year and jump right in as if nothing happened....

Starting point

I'm a very aesthetically driven person and I'm bored with my current altar, which has been remained the same for a long time. (I thought I had a picture but I don't and it's gone now so oops...)

I want to create something that puts me in an inspired mood just by looking at it. That looks inviting and beautiful and brings me delight and motivation. A little sanctuary nook kinda.

I want to revitalize things and symbolize the new era i'm in, due to the fact that i recently moved into a new flat, got a new job, and overall my life is very different than it was last year.

So here is the journey of making my new altar :) At the moment it's far from done but here is the first part of the process!

Part 02 will follow once I've received the things I ordered, probably at the end of November or early December.

Inspirations

So i went on a quest to find inspirations on pinterest that would sort of align with what i wanted to make.

ngl I dislike most of what I see because I find them too cluttered for my personal taste. The main issue is that i'm clumsy and i hate the idea of my hand having to slither through a forest of objects to be able to grab what i want lol

Still managed to find a few cool examples, here they are:

I love the rough, folk-esque, natural aspects of them, the blend of stone, marble and wood. The branches, the sculptures, the iconic symbols and the fact that there is a variety of heights of things, if that makes sense. I also like having a strong art piece in the middle, which i prefer over having a mirror like many examples i found. Idk i just find the idea of having to stare at myself at my altar a bit uncomfortable lol

But it's still different from what would be authentic for me and also i gotta do with what i have or what i can buy.

The thing is that my altar is not dedicated to a single deity so i can't go with one strong themed vibe but i have to put them all together. Currently, Apollo, Artemis, Hekate, Dionysos, Hermes and Demeter share the same space.

Furniture

Thankfully the new book shelf I got is quite wide and has three levels, which is plenty enough space to give everyone their own space and even host my incense, tarot cards and spiritual books.

I almost sold a kidney to get an antique cabinet, which looked really cool but was not going to fit in with the interior style of my living room, where my altar is located.

So I went in with a more modern yet slightly organic-shaped one:

Not 100% what I was looking for but at least the space is there. Love the curves an the contrast of the two colors, but I wish the wood was darker. I could sand and re-varnish but who's got time for that.

Current state of the sculptures

I've been collecting sculptures and hand painting them for a while now (you can check out my pinned post for pictures of some of them), and although I love what I made, I really want to get some new ones that are higher and I'm even wondering if I should just keep them white and gold instead of colorful.

Also, for the life of me, I can't find a sculpture of Hekate that I like. They either look too bland or too new-agey for my taste. At the moment, I have the classic three women holding torches and stuff that I hand painted in blue, yellow and silver, but idk it's not what I have in mind and I think I'm just going to resort to do clay modelling myself. I'll probably do a separate post for the process!

Btw I'll do a free giveaway in the future to re-home my old sculptures so stay tuned for that!

What I have in mind

Sooo I'm not sure of the exact height and width of the things that I have coming in, and I'm still looking for a strong art piece or relief to go at the center back so I'm not sure if my disgusting mouse-drawn photoshop sketch is going to be accurate at all lol

The more I stare at it the more I think it makes no sense 🙃

So basically, from left to right; Apollo (new statue incoming); Artemis (old statue at the moment but need to upgrade); Hekate in the center (need to craft that); Dionysos (new bust incoming); Hermes (new bust incoming); and on the lower lever Demeter (still love the statue as I think it's my best one so it will stay this way).

Still missing:

one or two candles i use during worship, preferably gold

art piece in the center, either a plaster relief or canva print of something

plant with long falling ''arms'' (idk the word in english)

dried branches to go in the left vase

a way to fix the antlers to the wall

an old key for hekate (need to go to a thrift store)

maybeee a bigger box to store my incense and ritualistic plates and glasses

I don't think I want a table cloth simply because I had one in the past and it was always a mess to clean. Having the bare table is much easier, especially considering that I will burn incense and candles and that gets messy.

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

Okay that's it for this long ass post, see ya in a few weeks for part 02!!!

[lady-of-the-puddle]

Welcome Back

Today I will be rating Beck's

Potential Partners?

The question mark is because some of them were definitely his partners, others will not admit it, and some came to...circumstances preventing a declaration of their love...anyway.

1. Bodhi

Literally on screen for 30 seconds max

We all clocked that shit instantly

Never brought him up again (thx to retroactive backstory oops)

Beck was actually visibly sad about him tho to the point his boss/dad had to ask if he was ok

Absolute cute couple though

8/10 I knew him for five seconds and now I have to kill everyone in this room and then myself

2. Paige

Y'all already know. Everyone knows. The whole grid knows.

The sexual tension is palpable

Which brings me to some difficult questions about the nature of programs and what physical functions they may or may not have.

Ugh I'm a sucker for the rivals to lovers thing tho

12/10 top ten hottest bi power couple if they don't kill each other first

3. Tron

I went over this in my tron's exes list but I must reiterate cause reasons

Can you imagine meeting your hero, your icon, your savior and he's....a bit of a bitch??

But you learn and get to know him and he opens up to you and comes to trust you with his life UGH my heart

9/10 I rated this 7/10 before but I'm not scared anymore they're GOOD

4. Cyrus

Look, he gets in with his bffs and the first thing they say to Beck is "you didn't tell us you had a new bf!" (Totally NOT paraphrasing that).

The fucked up stalker/victim pairing is SUCH good tea

And then he tries to kill him later? Delicious.

7/10 this one's for the toxicity 😏

5. Lux (I had to look up her name)

okay this one loses points because they WANTED me to ship this when we already knew Paige existed

I don't like to be told what to do

I mean, it's ok Beck has two hands(more like eight at this point) I can work with it

loved her jaded perspective turning into hope before she was fridged for male pai- I mean derezzed for reasons relevant to the plot 👀 that was definitely neat

Consider: she is pretty though

4/10 they're both a ten but I'm a bitter bitch so sue me

6. Mara

tbh she's such a cutie and deserves way better than whatever incel shit Zed has going on

no wonder she's in love with Tron/the Renegade (I mean, same) I would beg a superhero to save me from him too

she and Beck have such a good dynamic

would be such a cute friends to lovers pair

can you imagine if she found out her bestie was the renegade she's been visibly/audibly thirsting after? Queen shit.

8/10 This one is actually the least toxic here

7. The rebellion leader whose name escapes me (it's Bartik)

so this guy appears in legacy as the rebel leader at Castor's before getting derezzed five minutes later (shocker there)

this one just kinda leaped into my brain when I binged the show directly after watching Legacy

can you imagine inspiring someone to change sides completely and then become the leader of the very fire you sparked long after you're probably gone? Endlessly romantic.

6/10 I have yet to have a really bad ship tbh

8. Pavel

I hate it, you hate it, we all hate it

But it's still pretty hot

8/10 bitch on bitch violence

9. Zed

Ahaha I hate it

he's way too comfortable with the evil bad guy shit happening around him.

honestly I have no idea why Beck is even friends with him

HOWEVER

jock/loser pairing

Beck CAN AND WILL fix him

3/10 I don't think we can save this one boys

BONUS ROUND:

10. Tesler

LMAO I just thought of this

Why do I love it tho

Something about the Darkseid omega beam hands that make me think weird thoughts

Now I wish I had put this on my tron list

1/10 or 9/10 depending on the day

I really do love that Beck is just the most specialest boy, he's the grid's next top model, he's batman, he's everything. Istg this is a harem anime in disguise and I ship him with everyone.

I can think of at least two programs off the top of my head that I didn't include because I forgot until now, so tell me about your rare pairs, etc. I was thinking about rating Clu's crushes that he handles in a completely normal way next but that might be too much. This is what happens when we have no new content for 10 years.

[pocketsonny]

for the character ask game : how about a throwback to the girl meddy 👁️

Send me a character and I’ll answer these!!

MEDDYYYYY <3333 i still have the icons i'd made back when i rped her...

1: sexuality headcanon: bi bi bi also demiace

2: otp: tie between meddysearch and meddyroll…i love both a lot

3: brotp: aside from the above (bc most otps are also brotps for me), meddy and jasmine 🥹

4: notp: hmm can't think of any but i don't really ship her romantically with rock or jasmine

5: first headcanon that pops into my head:

HHH all my old old hcs about nurse navis being originally created to be disposable / meant to be like tools (in the company/hospital that created meddy) cause hospitals needed a lot of them and they would be assisting different patients all the time. so they were programmed to fulfill their purpose only: that their patients were their priority (yet without attachment bc caring too much for patients would "get in the way of their work", as they would die or leave eventually), they had to always obey doctors etc. and if for whatever reason they were unable to fulfill their duty or were considered to become defective they were quickly discarded and replaced by another. so their emotions were kept very in check.

meddy's creator was a kind doctor that considered meddy like a daughter, and who couldn't help being attached to the navis he made. but he worked for that company so after they were done making navis, they were sent off to hospitals, so he and meddy never met again. but his hope was that meddy would meet someone that cared for her, just as he had, and that she could care for them too; that she could understand what he meant when he spoke of love.

this hc is a mix of anime/game verse cause in the anime we see meddy with a previous appearance

from when she was jasmine friend's navi (who i called Mei); so my hc is that she used to be a nurse navi at a hospital, but got assigned to mei as a personal nurse navi. and mei considered meddy a friend from the start, didn't treat her like a tool, and meddy inevitably came to care for her, and experienced loss for the first time when she died. she felt that without her, her purpose also died, because she couldn't bear going back to working at the hospital and caring for another patient and potentially watch them die; and the moment she refused, she'd be deleted, and another would take her place.

but then mei's mom gave her to jasmine, and in their mutual grief over the loss of their friend they decided to stick together; and jasmine encouraged meddy to find a new purpose, a dream of her own :'')

(oop i rambled, maybe someday i should revisit these ideas and brainstom again...)

on a lighter HC, i think she and searchman meet occasionally for cybercoffee when they are on break from their duties <3

6: favorite line from this character: it's been a while since i played bn5 or watched the anime so i can't remember KASKJD

7: one way in which I relate to this character: we both like to help people!

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: girl why you fighting with roll over a boy when you two could kiss,,, just saying

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?: i think she's neither xD

[farshootingstar]

This one was kind of a doozy for me.

Here's the Vincent playlist for all the playtesters of culture out there! He's going to get some longer songs than usual in here as a treat (classical music can be like that, so yeah). I'll also admit right now that I'm not especially knowledgeable in the classical music scene, so I may not always pick out what's considered the best interpretations of the pieces at large. I feel like I should have something to say on why I chose some of these so, like the Kadsey playlist notes, this is long.

We're starting off strong with Chopin's 12 Études, Op. 10: No. 12 in C Minor as performed by Murray Parahia. Op. 10: No. 12 is the piece that Vincent performed in his route, which is the most obvious choice yet when it comes to these playlists. The reason I chose Murray Parahia's interpretation specifically is because of the way I chose a piece later on.

Next song is a swing into the macabre with The Séance by Blackbriar. I felt like referencing Vincent's interests in the supernatural early on. Seeing a ghost was definitely a formative experience for this guy.

Cut for spoilers below, just in case.

I don't want all of the classical selections to be "oops, all piano" even if that's Vincent's instrument of choice, so I'm also sprinkling in some other stuff. This one is Ernst's The Last Rose of Summer "Étude No. 6" as performed by Midori on violin, the same instrument as Vincent's father. I'm no expert, but the bow work sounds insane in this. I also like to think Vincent is a character that has a fondness for roses, since he tends to wear a purple rose boutonierre on his jacket.

I know someone that's a big fan of the v-kei group Versailles, so I slipped a little of their music in, since I think it's symphonic metal-adjacent. First up from them is Sympathia. I think it fits well with the fact that Vincent has some complicated relationships to deal with in his life (especially with how he views his deceased parents). That theme somewhat continues with La Maritza by Therion, with the singer reminiscing about her father.

I'm not really sure if Vincent's really into Impressionism when it comes to classical music, but I like to think he has some fondness for more emotionally-driven pieces, to contrast Ashino's soulless approach to art if nothing else. So, we're going to have some Debussy. 12 Études, L. 136: 2. Pour les Tierces (I'm so sorry for these titles; I sure don't pick for classical music to be organized this way) as performed by Mitsuko Uchida caught my attention. Apparently, Debussy said in his time that his études are "a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands", so yeah. This piece and the set it's from are supposed to be major skill checks and I respect that.

Dark Venus Persephone is something I chose to somewhat reference the Glory version of Vincent's mother, Lily (I specify the Glory version, since there will also be references to the Bureau version that's pulling the strings on the whole AI project). Basically, she's a beautiful and tragic figure that was gone before her time, fitting with this sort of song. METAL KINGDOM is next to amp up the energy a bit more, along with giving us some power of friendship vibes, since Vincent could really use that kind of positivity. I, Don Quixote as covered by Chrisopher Lee (yes, the actor that played Saruman in LotR, among other iconic roles; he was also a metal enthusiast and occasional opera singer) is next because no one can tell me that Vincent wouldn't have had some admiration for Sir Christopher Lee as a fascinating gentleman.

A Villain's Monologue and The Rapture (but it's Pink) are songs that I think could fit for either the true Lily in the Bureau or Ashton, since both of them have plans for Vincent and aren't interested in giving him any say in the matters (and some bits of each song kind of fit each character more). Hell, Ashino can count in this chaos, too, since he thinks Vincent's rigged to be chosen by us and plans to circumvent that himself (albeit without killing Vincent, which is a bit of a step up from Ashton's attitude).

This next one is very basic of me, but come on. Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, K. 626: Sequence: VI. Lacrimosa dies illa is such an iconic piece. If someone asks me what a requiem mass sounds like, I'd point to this. Death is Not the End comes next because death is practically a slap on the wrist for the AI characters in this story (as well as the player's avatar within the game, for that matter, since getting killed boots us back to the date selection screen with no lost progress). There also seems to be some reanimation stuff in there, so we could link that to Lily and the Bureau's plans.

Ghost is probably the weirdest song in this playlist, from a genre perspective, but it still feels on theme with the possibly supernatural aspect (especially if you take the music video into account, but this isn't about music videos) and the pessimistic doubt to it. Let's face it: Vincent's not exactly in the best situation in REBOOT, the game where we can finally get to know him. He's reluctant to reach out to his friends for help and his attempts to ask what's wrong with John and Kadsey lately have been brushed off in turn.

Next up is Chopin's 12 Études, Op. 25: No. 12 in C Minor as performed by Murray Parahia and I had decided to play a bit of a game in choosing that pianist. Usually, I look up a recommended artist for the solo pieces and pick something. For this one, I chose the piece and listened to several interpretations, picking out the one that spoke to me. This piece tends to also be called the Ocean étude and I assume it's from all of the arpeggios evoking rolling waves. Something about this specific interpretation sounds like an outpouring of grief to me, though I'm not sure if that was the intention from either Chopin's composition or Parahia's playing. Whatever the case is, this is the only version that nearly made me cry, so I knew this was the one. This was a fun little experiment and I'd recommend trying it, since interpretation in performance is very important to classical pieces. Also, this one ended up making me feel slightly more confident in my tastes, since I decided to look up info on Parahia and apparently his interpretations are extremely well-regarded in general.

Our Truth by Lacuna Coil us a song that gives me the vibe of "I reject your reality and I replace it with my own.", though I think we can hope for something more positive than what characters that have tried to change things have done so far.

Next is Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight" on C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2: I. Adagio sostenuto as performed by Paul Lewis. Moonlight Sonata is the other piece that Vincent plays in his route, but that one is if you reject his date. Of course, trying to reject him only ends up bringing us closer to him by some strange events and we get some delicious lore on top of that.

The Rabbit of the Moon by Moonlight Haze is next and I'll admit I chose that for Vincent's fondness for rabbits. It's about the Chinese fairytale of the jade rabbit, which I admit I only originally knew about since someone gave me a book about the Chinese zodiac that included that story. Not going to tell the whole thing here, but basically the rabbit is rewarded for the kindness of their attempted self-sacrifice to help a stranger.

This next one's actually pretty scandalous and would probably embarrass Vincent to no end: Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Yes, I know the title of the version I put on the playlist is in French, but I thought putting the translation would be convenient here. This feels like it could be a decent nod to the yandere end, since I haven't even really mentioned the REBOOT yandere ends in any playlists. They all play out pretty similarly (something I have speculations about), so I thought I'd just slip in something extra spicy for that. I imagine some of you may be confused by me saying that about this song, since it mostly sounds dreamlike, sweeping, and a bit romantic, but you'll know what I mean if you know either the poem it's based on or the ballet made later on to accompany the song (especially the ballet, honestly; that ending is bold, is how I choose to put it, and I'm not at all surprised that reactions to it had been mixed, since that was the same sort of audience that literally rioted at the premiere of Rites of Spring). This piece is something called a symphonic poem, which basically means it was made to evoke the feeling from some other piece of art- stuff like poems or paintings.

The other Versailles song I slipped into this is DRY ICE SCREAM!! [Remove Silence] and I like the energy in this one. This one comes off to me as a bit of a tragic love song and it's hard not to see everyone stuck in Glory as a bit tragic with what they're all going through, even if Vincent and John are less aware of the details.

The final song is Shared Hearts by Snow White Blood and Lilly Seth. It's a fairytale-themed song about an inseparable bond between sisters, but I chose it because of Vincent's found family: his friends and the player. Considering that in his true end, even if that's not the truest ending of the game, he finally reaches out for help and has renewed direction in his life, I really wanted something to reflect the bonds that support him. I hope that his ending stays happy.

Next time will be John. I thought his list would be the most difficult, but it really wasn't.

[terastalungrad]

BB20: Thursday 19 October

Henry's sad to be nominated. He's just been himself, but that clearly isn't enough for some people.

(Henry - the problem is that being yourself has meant not doing any chores.)

Dylan is thrilled to escape eviction this week. Dylan actually received no nominations at all.

Henry says he had his views on immigration before he met Trish. Think we all know which views those were. Honestly, I'll be horrified if he stays in against Zak.

Trish feels guilty for nominating Kerry. She worries that Kerry can tell.

Yinrun is fed up of housemates walking away mid-conversation with her. This happens every day. She feels isolated, struggling to join in with certain conversations. Very hard seeing her so upset. She's worried she isn't as interesting as she thought.

People love you so much outside the house, Yinrun. :(((

Oh no. The only people she has are Trish, Jordan ... and Henry. She loses one of her very few friends if Henry goes.

As Yinrun cries with Trish, Matty joins to offer support. I'd really love Yinrun and Matty to become friends.

---

When I first met Elanor [my wife], we'd play this game where we'd spell letters on each other's hands to communicate in secret. A fun bit of early relationship bonding.

Hallie and Olivia played this game yesterday, but oops! Not allowed to use secret codes in Big Brother.

Hallie admits to the secret messages - that she claimed that Zak was a gameplayer, and that she reckoned Matty nominated her. (My reading is that Hallie thinks Matty nominated her, which he didn't. But maybe she meant Matty nominated Olivia, which he did.)

Hallie and Olivia are given prison outfits, and must be put in a prison in the garden.

Hallie: I've always wanted to be in orange.

Iconic.

Zak thinks Hallie's a nice girl, and that she only called him a gameplayer for attention.

I ... don't think this. Hallie's wonderful, but she's definitely a gossip, and has a cynical reading of others.

Still, I'm glad this didn't turn Zak into a Hallie hater.

Hallie asks Olivia to improvise a song about prison. I love this! Olivia's songs are so terrible, yet Hallie loves them.

Ahh, this might hurt Olivia. As a result of the announcement, Matty speaks openly about his issues with Olivia. Matty was the only housemate who nominated Olivia this week, but there's a chance his opinion will become contagious now.

In jail, Hallie feels like she's let her family down.

Hallie: Sorry mum! Sorry grandma! I'm not a vindictive bitch.

Olivia: I'm sorry mum.

Olivia: ...

Olivia: What does "vindictive" mean?

Hallie: I don't know.

Previously, Olivia told Zak that Matty slyly eats more than his fair share.

Zak's now annoyed with Olivia, and tells Matty about this conversation.

In the diary room, Matty announces that any friendship he had with Hallie is now dead.

Zak's really devastated by Hallie's low opinion of him.

A bit of paranoid misunderstanding: with the secret codes, Olivia and Hallie wrote the word no - N, O - and some housemates think they were spelling out Noky's name. They were not, they were the start of the word NOMINATED.

This is such a turning point for Olivia and Hallie. They received three nominations between them yesterday, but today everyone's furious with both of them.

It's interesting. The code game was just a game. They weren't being Nasty Nick from BB1. Plenty of people in the house have gossiped in private. Hallie and Olivia broke the letter of the law with their messages, but didn't realise it, and didn't intend to.

So now their private conversation has been made public, because they didn't think the secret messages would count as a rulebreak.

Oh, blimey. Sounds like Matty has a difficult history with food. He confronts Kerry, who deals with the situation ... kind-of badly. I think she felt she was being attacked, which wasn't Matty's intention. He wanted to open up about a difficult thing in his own life - and felt dismissed, since Kerry moved on quickly to defend herself.

Hallie apologises to Zak. Turns out Zak's especially hurt because he's been so positive about her. He accepts her apology nicely. And finally, he gets to respond to the accusation that's spread like wildfire through the house.

It's not that Zak tries to be everyone's friend to avoid nomination. It's that if he sees someone sitting alone, he can't help but come over to keep them company. He knows what it's like to be alone, and he can't bear to see anyone else in that position.

I believe this completely.

Hallie assures Noky that her name wasn't mentioned at all, that this was a misunderstanding. Noky chooses to accept this apology, but worries that she'll look like an idiot if she's wrong. Noky worries often about how she'll be perceived.

Hallie is really gutted about this misunderstanding. She really hasn't said a bad word about Noky.

Tom has identified a mouse living under the hot tub. He's named it Roger.

Oh no, Kerry confronts Zak about the Matty situation! Kerry's really tied herself in knots over this. Matty wasn't annoyed with her! At least, not until she dismissed his attempt at opening up.

Kerry's annoyed because she had a private, bitchy conversation about Matty with Zak, and is horrified that Zak told Matty about the conversation. Zak says that in that case, he simply won't have private conversations with Kerry anymore.

Zak talks to Matty. Matty's perception? There's a clique in the house, and they're the mean girls. Kerry, Olivia, Hallie.

[juniperhillpatient]

City of Walls & Secrets Re-Watch

Oh wow, this episode, ok. I was mainly focused on Jet & Zuko (again oops) during this episode. But, that's not to say the rest of the episode wasn't interesting, because it absolutely was. I loved the opening scene with the Gaang seeing the city, & Sokka & Katara's excitement was cute. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a tiny village where everyone knows each other & then see a big bustling city like that.

Joo Dee is right away so terrifying. Sorry Ozai, but you've got nothing on this chick. She is the stuff of nightmares to me.

It's the subtle, consistent creepiness for me. The feeling that something is not quite right. The way she shakes her head, smiling, at everyone that the Gaang tries to talk to & they shut their mouths. I love the underlying creepiness of Ba Sing Se. "Why do you keep all the poor people hidden & separate?" The dawning realization that there's something very wrong here. Also, Aang's continued lack of luck finding Appa is so depressing & I remember not being able to focus on much else because I was so worried about Appa the first time I watched.

I love Sokka & Aang pretending to be fancy rich people & goofing around. Sokka & Aang's bestie-ism moments where they're just being dorks are so precious. +100 iconic behavior points each. Another A+ comedy moment that gets me every time is everyone's confusion at the notion of just a regular old bear. Katara & Toph dressed all fancy was so cute, & I love Toph shutting down Katara responding to Aang's compliment like "don't speak to the commoners!" That moment just cracks me up. Katara gets +300 iconic behavior points for getting them into the party & +100 for making Toph's fake name "dung." And some people think Katara isn't funny!

Jet becoming increasingly obsessed with Zuko & Iroh is just so sad. What's important to note is that Jet was actually obsessed with Zuko before he found out that Zuko & Iroh are fire-benders. He wanted Zuko to join the Freedom Fighters because he felt a connection with him after they stole the food for the refugees together. He was following Zuko around & trying to convince Smellerbee & Longshot to give Zuko a chance & that's the only reason he was paying enough attention to see Iroh fire-bend. It's the betrayal & tragedy for me <3 Wow, I love a good ol' tragic fucked-up whirlwind love-hate romance dynamic.

And like - the thing is that Jet is right! He's more right than he even knows! Zuko & Iroh ARE fire-benders but not only that, they're Fire Nation royalty. Like not even just "yeah, they are fire-benders," no, they are literally both personally directly responsible for harm caused by the Fire Nation. Yet everyone around him treats him like he's crazy. Even his closest friends think he's becoming too obsessed. And it's understandable. Smellerbee & Longshot both want Jet to move on for his own good. They want to move on with their lives & stop obsessing over vengeance, & the Fire Nation. They want a new life, but Jet is still stuck in his obsessive hate. And like.....the thing is, the thing that gets me, Jet is not wrong to be stuck? The more I think about it, the more right he is. As we know, Zuko eventually personally helps the Fire Nation conquer Ba Sing Se. Like??? Hello??? Jet was literally 100% right to be obsessed & concerned.

Anyway. Jet & Zuko obviously both get +1000 iconic behavior points for having a dramatic gay sword fight in a teashop. I'm losing track of who's winning, but they might be at this point. Katara's also doing pretty good. Anyway, I will never get over Jet attacking Zuko to try & force him to fire-bend. It's dramatic, it's hilarious, it's tragic, & it's a great fight scene. They really do have the range. I absolutely love Zuko popping out with his dual swords like - "I'll give you a show!" Dramatic fucking king, I love you so much Zuzu. Also, can we just like, acknowledge that Zuko apparently had his swords on him while waiting tables? Good for him.

The end of this episode is pretty chilling. Jet getting arrested is just a rough scene. And the introduction to the creepy brainwashing that happens? Terrifying.

When the new Joo Dee shows up & she smiles creepily & says "I am Joo Dee"? Eugh. Chills, every time.

This is a great episode. Very creepy & foreboding. I love the introduction to Ba Sing Se. I just love a setting where Something is Wrong.

[lightshcwer]

୨ৎ 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗌𝗁𝖼𝗐𝖾𝗋 ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა multi-muse, semi-selective, low, sporadic activity, tumblr based muse blog. loved by opal (21+, she/her, est).

꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ rules under the cut MUSES / STARTERS / WISHLIST / TEST MUSES

01. baseline rules; obvious ones apply here. no taboo plots like incest, pedophilia, etc; barf. but also no hateful behaviour of any kind ( homophobia, racism, islamophobia, etc. ). i am however comfortable if a muse has a hateful past: i just don't want to "fix" your muse. no godmodding!! i'm not comfortable sharing my real age online but i am above 21 years old, and this is the minimum age i require of you to roleplay with me, as in your age and your muse's age, too. i will go through your profile and verify, so make this easy for the both of us and don't follow if you're a minor.

02. activity; please don’t harass me for quicker replies because i'm juggling full-time work and mental health. roleplaying is escapism, not work lol. so i ask for your patience but don't worry, i'll extend it right back :) if i suddenly disappear then come back, i'll be dropping all my old threads, simply because i don't want to waste energy continuing threads that have probably been forgotten. so if we had a thread pre-MIA era that you'd like continued, just hit me up!! odds are i'm just as excited to keep it going anyway <3

03. formatting; i don’t personally use gif icons, the sizes of my gifs vary from small to medium and to keep my page tidy. i’d prefer if you did the same but i don’t require it. you can have fancy little pretty format for your replies too it’s stunning and i appreciate it, but don’t expect it to be mirrored. what i do expect to be mirrored, however, is the length of my replies. if i give you a paragraph and you give me two lines in return that don't even move things along, i'm not gonna bother replying.

04. selectivity; i’m semi-selective, but, apart from stuff mentioned in point 01, i don’t really have a concrete list of things i won’t interact with roleplay-wise. shitty, i know, but it’ll mostly be a gut feeling. i'll try working on a banned fc list sometime soon. but if something isn’t picking up and we’re both feeling like it’s meh, we can always plot something else! shoot your shot, i don’t bite. as of late, i have an overwhelming preference for female muses. my muse for my guys is very selective and i don't wanna deplete it.

05. muses; i’ve had some of these muses for upwards of a year, but most are either new or haven’t been played or explored too much yet. i test a lot of faces and have a tendency of dropping them... oops. but if one you liked disappeared, just nudge me and i'll see what i can do!! i’ll be working on their bios for you later but also short introductions for all of them.

06. content; i’m a grown woman, so it goes without saying that i'll explore mature themes here and there. i'm honestly not triggered by much ( if anything ) so i don't usually tag triggers but if you kindly ask me to, i'd love to do that for you! i want this to be a safe space for everyone as much as possible! i'm also not huge on smut and i will be operating with fade to black should the need arise.

anyways, if you have any questions, shoot me a dm. this blog is still under construction, i'll probably add more rules as they'll spring to mind! if you’ve read this, thank you: appreciate you, and looking forward to rping with you hehe 

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

OKAY PHEW dialing 9-1-1 😭

Ohh it's Josh :o

Will he recognize her voice? Idk, but she'll probably say her name

Crappp there's them not having context with either of them 😬

Right right it would make sense for just a normal passenger to call too lol xd

And there it is :((

His look at Maddie 😭😭😭🥺💔

Oh and

Hi Maddie 🥰🥰!

Ahh yeah he's saying it :(( poor Maddie DDD:

AGH and of course Bobby's turning his phone off so he won't know 😭

Okay I do see what you're saying but I don't think they appreciate toooo much accuracy lol

Yep xd

Nah that's fair though, important stuff

Like how big does it have to be that they do want you to help lol

Yet 9-1-1 does that sometimes xD like you know the people it's possible to not see their faces for a second kol

LOL, that helps I guess!

That he'll be gone xD

Ohhh noo

Okay good we're connected to them

Okay they're figuring it out good 😭

But at least we won't be out of the sky!

Uh oh o.o

That's not good xd

Another hole that is 😬

Okay yeah move away move away 😬😌

Idk how well they can here but knowing they won't go down might help <3

NOOOOO she can't get a hold of Bobby 😭 I knew itttt augh

Why do they keep doing this to herrr and themmmm 😭😭😭💔🥺😬

Okay okay nice

Ope o.o SHE'S LANDING THE PLANE 😭

Oh gosh xdd

Good luck girly 😭 xd

Ope??

He's probably acting. but like xd ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ??

Okay yeah lol, as he's saying anyway

Poor Bobby xD this guy just doesn't get him and he doesn't really get him lol

Okay okay

Didn't you basically already say that, with studying him xD

Ahh slightly different I suppose

Nah he doesn't really. do that lol

No you don't Bobby xD

Hmm oop he is kind of volatile 😬

Hmmm interesting

Oh hey guys xD

I mean at least that he was there? But I suppose if they're busy they gotta wait till afterwards yk, it's not like you're there

Lol the egg salad xD because he's in the hospital y'all lol

Maddie calling I bet 😭

Hmm just to let them know?

Hey guysss you can all hear her now lol

Ohhh :o okay but how? Calling?

Ohh nooo and Athena 😭 of course :(((

Okay you got this girl!!

Alright good we've got a guy here who knows what's happening

She doesn't even know the basics of what things look like though xd

YES that kid :o :D! I knew he would help :))

Nice okay phew :o

WE'RE TURNED!!!

Safe for now :'D

OHH okay so they are on the phone with all of them!!

And Buck trying to get Bobby 😭 bro it's an emergencyyyy just put him on xdd

Oh gosh 😬😬 her poor leg D:

Oh and the copilot 😬

Ahh a panic attack :((?

Girly just jumped right in <33

Oof to all of that 😭

Nah okay okay cool just leaving him be, glad we don't have to do anything for him

LOL no he doesn't have a carry on xD

Okay phew found some stuff

Ohh nooo it's gonna be compartment syndrome isn't it xd xD

Okay phew she has a pulse :o

So not for right now at least xD phew :'D

Uhh ohhhh

OH NO IT'S DEFINITELY NOT 😳😬 O.O

He's foaming 😳😳😬

Okayyy okayy

That doesn't sound good 😭

And it ain't o.o 😭

Okayy so that's not helping

Oop?

SLFKFKJDHSG explain bestie xD so they'll actually answer lol

Yeah saying the medication itself might help xD

AYY LOL HIM!! NICE MAN THANK YOU

Ohhh right dilating blood vessels okay

Ahh yeah he's unconscious 😬😬😬 idk shove it down there xD?

Ohh that's smart thinking of that

Even though you apparently shouldn't xD

Okay okayy

LOL the "Hi. Me again" XD realll

LOL them again, icons xD

Yeah exactly, very helpful

LOL yeah XD to the whole benefits of being geriatric thing

Ohhh nooo compartment syndrome 😳😭 like I said xd o.o

Okayy okayyy

Oh right DANG airport security o.o

OHHH YEAH LOL, he's gonna melt it and sharpen it!!! Nice :O :D

Okay okayyy

Mixing it together alright

Good job girly

YAYY PHEW!! He's awake and okay :'DD

Good

Aww yeah you did save him :'))

Are they gonna be a thing (not in the show obviously but like end up that way lol)

Phew <33

LOL she recognizes it as a prison shiv xD

"WHERE DO YOU THINK" SHLDKFJLGD XDDD FAIR MAN

Okayy okayyy

(I'm behind so these are a bit out of order but you get the gist lol)

Ohhh noo

Lol yeah, going against her expectations a bit xD just because he can do it doesn't mean he's going around stabbing people lol

That guy's like alright fine I'll do it

Maybe he's shivved somebody lol

Eugh 😭

Okayy okayyyy!

PHEW YAYYY

She's okay 😭😭😭

YEAHH and everyone cheered!!! (like the meme/phrase) As they should!!!

Phew, so glad she's okay :'D

Ahh right they're a team

Yeeahhh you won't be playing now xD but you're alive and still a part of the team <33

Thank goodness

Everybody's okay xD

Hallelujah lol

[lord-tekron]

The Internal Crisis of trying to be respectful and not forcing The Springlock Paradox down everyone's throats VS going absolutely feral and plugging it in at every feasible moment is an intense struggle

---- So, just as a full disclaimer: I am running on like 2 hours of sleep right now when I wrote all this, so that leash of restraint is a bit more loose than usual, and it wants to go on this tangent of self-pity. I don't know what the end goal of all of this is, or even if there is one, but it feels more wrong to write it all out and not share it than to just delete this whole ass thing and put it back in the box. Does that make any sense? I think it makes sense. Again, 2 hours of sleep, I am running on FUMES.

---- Like, my brain refuses to have a middle ground, I either go full nuclear or I never do any advertising regarding it outside of when a new chapter is out and I share it. I don't even force my friends to read it, I share it on the group discord in the art section, it gets casually ignored, and then we move on, and I never bat an eye at it because I don't wanna be an asshole about it.

Do you know how OBNOXIOUS it is that after 6 years of this fnaf comic, the metaphorical striking of oil has yet to be struck? Like I don't know what I am waiting for is the worst part. Am I just waiting for a chapter to blow up and finally get based 6-10 upvoted on freddit? A popular fnaf icon giving a gold star for it? A 1-2 hour video essay on it? I don't fucking know man. Sure, I have occasionally stumbled into fanart of The Springlock Paradox and I fucking LOVE it. I cherish every art piece like I do with any fanart I get. But if anything it sometimes feels like the fanart boosts the artists more than me, cause they will simply follow the artist than me. And that is fine, but at the same time, would it kill them to at least look in my general direction?

And you know what really gets me sometimes? The few people who have read this comic LOVE it. So there is something there, but there is so few people who I can guess have read all of the currently available chapters. As I ramble, I still think the record within my friends is Oof getting up to chapter 9 before they put it down and never picked it back up. Like, I get it, luck is an unfortunately huge fucking factor in this game of creating stuff and it getting seen. But damn... Sometimes it feels like I am gambling against someone with loaded dice because this luck is some nonsense.

There is probably a secret formula out there that makes every other Fnaf AU somehow more appealing and gather a larger crowd despite it's content/quality. I just don't know what it is because I am busy working on The Springlock Paradox that I don't pay attention to what any of the others are doing that is working. Oops on my part I suppose.

I am gonna go watch a funny video now, I like laughing.

[chungledown-bimothy]

That tattoo is so good omg!! I've been wanting to get another one for so long, but I don't know what I'd get quite just yet!!

Ajdhhdd literally I looked at Saccharina and my brain just went "OOP, favorite character" but also like. As a lesbian, gooey was just 👀👀👀 (sorry if that's TMI or anything!)

That is such a good line!! Ally is so funny to me- the pure indignation they put into that line and others when it comes to Preston's unfortunate demise was always so great. Also, I love that they constantly try to cover different aspects of the queer experience!

Oooof, Mormonism is rough. I grew up in a predominantly Mormon town (as in, more Mormons per Capita than Salt lake city) and most of my friends growing up were Mormon. All of the architecture in the temples and stuff looked (from the outside, at least. I was obviously never allowed inside) so sterile! I can't imagine that. What did you do during the 3 hours of church?? Because catholic mass is only like an hour and as a kid I got so bored I wouldn't pay attention at all.

I would literally just study all the gargoyles/angels/faces in general carved into the walls and ceiling, as well as the stained glass windows and statues. My brother and I got into trouble a few times because neither of us paid attention 😂 one time, we both stood up because our grandparents and most people around us stood up, and we didn't understand why our grandparents kept frantically trying to get us to sit down until the priest started talking about how all the married couples in the church were standing 😂😂 (it was valentine's day).

AaAAAAA I'm literally so excited!!!! I've been on a FOB kick lately! What are some of your favorite songs by them?

I wish I could do that 😭 I work nights (7 days where I work 12-hour shifts and then I have 7 days off) and Wednesdays are my Mondays and Fridays, so I'm usually sleeping most of the day!! But once I'm at work, I'm absolutely gonna be juggling both to the best of my ability!

- 🪐

thanks! it was my first, and it's the only one i've gotten so far that hasn't aged terribly lmfao

"another?" mind if i ask about your current tattoo situation? (no worries, of course, if you'd rather not)

i've been so thirsty for so many npcs on this blog, being into gooey is so far from tmi lol

i love ally so much. it's a little bit headcanon-y, but i think that, with timothy, they've now had a character that is L G B and T (i choose to believe pete is bi) and, of course, ace icon liam wilhelmina.

oof that's a fuckin lot of mormons

i've only been inside temples a few times (i started dating a non-member and therefore was unworthy to enter any more), and i left entirely before i could do any of the Really Culty Stuff, but trust me, the inside is even more sterile looking than the outside. everything is white and beige and boring as all hell.

iirc they changed it to 2 hours a few years back (now they alternate doing what used to be the second and third hours), but the 3 hour system was:

the first hour was essentially mass. everyone in one room, getting preached at, sacrament (rebranded communion), singing songs.

the second hour was sunday school. idk how the adults split up, maybe it was one big class? i left when i was 17. but the kids were split up by age, each group had a teacher, and we studied different parts of the scriptures and sometimes church history.

the third hour was essentially 5 separate second, smaller versions of the first hour, separated by age and gender (everyone under 12, 12-17 boys, 12-17 girls, adult men, adult women), but without the sacrament.

it was fucking terrible lmao

holy shit that's hilarious 😂 i was always too Anxious to cause trouble, but my brothers definitely did a lot of jumping up on the seats and making noise

oh goodness um. of all the gin joints and thks fr th mmrs for sure. dance dance goes without saying. also my songs know what you did in the dark.

the entirety of american beauty/american psycho fucks HARD.

i'm not good at picking favorite songs, clearly lmao

that's a fucking killer schedule my god D:

[the-insomniac-emporium]

@zeleneagle okay what if I rambled for a few minutes instead of ten

So this was one of those things were the characters and themes came to me before the overarching plot, and they're still the main part of the concept. I think I have some notes somewhere with the original character names but fuck it that's on a whole ass other computer and I don't want to go digging for it

Primary theme/ideas boiled down to going through the five stages of grief, except the first four are paired up with a season. The fifth stage (acceptance) is represented by the cycle as a whole, the passage of time, though it was given a final section at the end to finish the story. As it goes, the season + grief pairing are as follows:

Denial = Autumn. The leaves are changing colors, the flowers are fading, the air is getting colder. But Winter is not here yet. If you close your eyes, if you bundle up a little tighter, you can ignore the signs. Maybe Winter won't come this year. Maybe it'll always be Fall, on the precipice.

Anger = Winter. The chill seeps into your bones, eats at your heart. It is so hard to feel anything; but anger is easy, it is always easy. You burn your other feelings, you light them up, letting the anger keep you warm for now. It does not last. When the anger fades, there is nothing left but ash, your heart left to freeze in the remnants.

Bargaining = Spring. You want things to get better again, right? They'll get better, right?... Just a little rain, a lot of rain, and the flowers will come back. You can take it, you can weather it. Give and take. Take the downpour, let it soak your bones, trust that the world will give something in return (just not what you want above all else).

Depression = Summer. It is so fucking hot. The sun burns overhead, bearing down on you relentlessly. No shade nor breeze is enough to soothe you. All you can do is find somewhere slightly more comfortable than elsewhere, lay down, and wait. Moving is hard. Caring is harder. Doing anything warms you up, makes the heat more unbearable, but staying still is driving you insane. Everything feels pointless.

Acceptance = Cycle. You go through the motions, you work on your flaws, you soothe your pain. Things keep happening, and you keep moving. Some days are better than others. But you don't give up, or at least never for long. By now you know things will keep changing.

Originally there were 5 main characters besides the MC, with 4 being mostly season-locked (i.e. not present outside of their section), and the 5th being hinted at/shown throughout, although only if the player chooses to investigate weird stuff (sacrificing time with the other 4 in the process). The 5th shows up at the end of every playthrough, and walks the player through the acceptance stage. All 5 characters are romance options, with the option to romance more than one at a time (originally the MC experienced each season separately, losing their memories of the previous ones), and the 5th only being an option if you investigated enough mysteries.

The current lineup has 9 characters, each season getting 1 female and 1 male romance option. The 9th (previously the 5th) one, the icon of acceptance/a character that may or may not be some kind of Divine, is non-binary/agender. I will talk about them later because oops this already took me longer to type up than it was supposed to

girl help I am having a thoughts about a huge original project that I will never have time (nor energy) to finish