#ooooooh nooo

[tunastime]

A Gear of the Heart, Starting

just a little something I wrote for somebody's (@shepscapades) birthday back in November :3 after I asked what etho and bdubs would've been like shortly after etho's deviation. this is the few times before last life where bdubs realizes etho might be a good friend, and how their relationship changes. comes right before A Gear of the Heart, Turning! (4653 words)

Etho remembers quite a bit.

He remembers the ricochet of the explosion through his left side. He remembers a dozen errors across his vision, showing every unit damaged by the blast, the fractals of fracturing snaking up his arm, the shattered remains of his central programming lingering like a livewire. 

Over and over he can remember the pitch of Bdubs’ voice and had to wonder his own diagnosis at that moment. Bdubs watching his android die in his name—he remembers that, too. Bdubs didn’t even ask for that. It was something Etho gave to him. He’s not sure he could even say why, either. 

It remained a bitter flavor he couldn't identify, even as Xisuma assured him he was okay. Something had happened then, sitting on that floor, thirium in hand. Some movement in his chest he couldn’t place. It wasn’t anything physical, but it felt like some gear of his nonexistent heart had started, turned—rotated. And all he could do was ask himself why. What’s he supposed to do with that?

He doesn’t know. Fine. 

Etho goes back to work at someone’s request. Not even his own request, either, so he has to wonder if maybe Doc put him up to it. Him being Bdubs. Him being Bdubs who shifted back and forth on his feet at Etho’s door—a facade of a base in the process of being designed. If one could even call it a base, yet.

And even though he was increasingly certain that Bdubs had been told to ask—and Etho asked him if he’d been asked to help, and he was adamant about asking by himself, that’s what he said. He said: “You think I gotta be told to ask people for help? I can’t just be doin’ things on my own?” and it had felt so much like doublespeak that Etho didn’t even fight to differentiate his tone. 

But Bdubs had asked if he wanted to help with the horse course. Terraforming—it should be right up his alley, if he’s still into that kind of stuff. Figured he was the expert—or so it goes. Etho had nodded. He wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do. He supposes he could have easily said no. 

But every part of him yearned to say yes.

So he did.

The dust sifts through his fingers.

Etho perches in the grass, partially hunched as he leans over his line of redstone, shrouded by the hill half-built around him. He’d spent most of the week prior carving out the lines of the track, setting posts for buildings, laying out blueprints for Bdubs to finalize. Today, he lays his line meticulously, dust shifting in his hands. They still shake a bit—nothing a human would notice, nothing that disrupted the flow of his lines, but the overworked gears still shifted in protest as he worked. He could see the faded overlay of the project in his vision if he focused. It crackled, slightly blue-yellow, orange glowing indicators where action was needed, where there were mistakes to be corrected.

It isn’t his redstone to fix. The lines under his hands were—freshly laid by his near-expert technique—but the deeper lines, noteblock announcements, droppers, doorgates, the flourish of the house course, weren’t. Etho smooths out the line he was standing near with his thumb. 

There was nothing wrong with the laid redstone, really. It’s just. Well. It’s not even. It takes up so much space. It lacks the efficiency and tidiness he practiced to a precision. It radiated Bdubs in an overpowering way, one that might turn a gear of the heart—one he didn’t have, of course. Etho’s lines are neat, rigid, conforming to his perfect mental map. 

He lets down his section of dust, drifting over to the dispenser system. He pushes a line further into place, brushing dust back from the side. Further on, where the line crosses, he readjusts it, he smooths them from start to end of line. His hands work where his mind recalculates, looking for errors along the redstone already laid out by Bdubs. Programs bubble up to assist; he dismisses a message, and another as he works. The line straightens from source to sink. 

As he passes, searching for another correction, he hears someone above him. In the corner of his vision, another message notification pings: from Bdubs.

They’re all from Bdubs, actually, now that he notices in full. He blinks, mouth twisting into a frown. Whoops.

He hears someone—Bdubs, he realizes, as he notes the fall of his feet, and the sigh he hops down from his horse, the shuffle of said horse, hooves on grass—clear their throat. Bdubs shuffles around as Etho moves back over to his finished redstone, dusting his hands on the sides of his pants. He lifts the small bag of dust, twisting the tie shut around his fingers as he travels back up the line to recheck the connections. 

“Etho?” Bdubs calls. Etho straightens, just on instinct alone, glancing up at the stretch of sky he can see. It’s bright blue, barely dotted with clouds, and the grass looks warm with sun. He fixes where the dust starts as he sections off the end, tossing the rest of the redstone over to his sling bag.

“Under the hill!”

Bdubs leans over the edge, tilting his head at Etho as he peers into the dark. It takes him a moment to find Etho’s face, partially obscured by black fabric and the fluff of wool around his collar. Etho tilts his head, raising his eyebrows.

“Did you need something?” he asks, arm hanging loosely by his side. Bdubs frowns, too, watching Etho’s expression. As his eyes seem to adjust to the dark, his gaze falls on the lines of redstone. He pauses there for a long moment. In that moment, Etho feels something in his chest grind, almost to a noticeable ache. If he could pull in a breath to settle it, he might have, but the sensation and minute sound passes as soon as he moves his hand to press flat against his regulator. Bdubs is gone when he looks up, reappearing only as he drops into the cavern, catching himself on the wall. He readjusts his cloak around his shoulders, shuffling into the low-light.

“Etho,” he says, still frowning. Etho looks him over. He watches Bdubs set his hands on his hips, but his heart rate stays even and his temperature level. The only thing that changes is the tone of his voice, fluctuating with a pattern Etho recognizes as forcing something. Bdubs takes a long breath in and lets it out. Etho’s eyes find the twitch of his fingers as he folds his arms, rather than the sharp curve of his mouth.

“Yes?” Etho asks. He feels his pump work a little harder. It kind of hurts still, whatever’s stopped working in his chest. He flicks his eyes, recalling a diagnostic, setting it to run in the background as he closes out of the overlays and the world returns to yellowish-grey. Bdubs is still frowning.

“You mind tellin’ me what’s wrong with this redstone?”

Etho blinks. The diagnostic comes up clear.

“What do you mean?” he says, his expression shifting into something copying amusement. He’s trying. He’s at least trying to mimic the emotions he sees. Soon enough it’ll feel natural, he’s certain. “What’s wrong with it?”

Bdubs snorts, which turns into a laugh, which turns into Etho smiling a bit wider, a bit more confusion lingering in his expression as he leans around Bdubs to check his meticulously placed line. Bdubs turns away from him, facing the system, the clock that linked the start gates to the timer below.

“What’s—” Bdubs scoffs, shaking his head. “What’s wrong with it? Etho—” he holds out his hand, waving Etho over. Etho lingers at his shoulder as he steps forward, peering over the curve of it and the moss and small leaves and flowers draped over his neck. “It’s too perfect.”

Etho makes a sound like a scoff now, a caught sound in his vocal unit, a stuttering start to his sentence that doesn’t form right away. He’s trying for surprise, the pitch of his voice rising unexpectedly.

“It’s too perfect?” he asks. 

Bdubs nods. After a moment, Etho thinks he sees his expression shift, the high of his cheek rising. When Bdubs turns his head to look at him, just for a second, Bdubs is smiling.

“Bdubs,” Etho says, sighing, turning away from him, to his bag on the far side of the room. He shakes his head. That something-nothing in his chest flutters and fades and disappears all at once, instead replaced with the urge to smile back. Bdubs laughs, and Etho can imagine him tipping his head back, mouth curved up as he giggles to himself. Etho shakes his head. As he starts to pull away from Bdubs, he feels him catch his sleeve, holding fast to his elbow.

“Etho, wait—” Bdubs giggles. “It looks really good.”

Etho raises his eyebrows. Caught in Bdubs grasp, all he can do is look at him, head tilted, trying not to let the amusement show on his face. Bdubs giggles, face breaking again as he does.

“Etho…” he tries again, fighting back a smile. Etho tilts his head the other way, as if to prompt him further, looking for anything. He stays silent. Bdubs hand lowers slowly, that smile faltering just a fraction. Maybe he thinks Etho’s upset with him. There’s a flicker of recognition in his eyes. “You gonna say anythin’? Or you just gonna stand there?”

Etho smiles, finally. He shrugs a little, glancing over at the fixed lines of redstone.

“I fixed your redstone,” he says cooly, sticking his free hand in his pocket. Bdubs blinks. He jerks away as Etho’s smile grows, shoving him hard in his shoulder. Etho wobbles for a moment, smiling to himself, scrunching up his face as Bdubs’ expression morphs. He does laugh, after a beat, poking Etho in the shoulder as he does. Etho hopes he can see the smile in his eyes. He saves, logs, keeps this moment. He’s sure in the low light that his LED spins yellow for a moment. It feels right. If there’s any feeling to catalog.

Bdubs huffs. Etho thinks he hears him say something under his breath. It sounds a lot like thank you.

It’s out of habit, rather than obligation, that Etho finds himself back at the horse course. Of course he ends up here, his feet moving him about as if his brain-not-brain had no thoughts of its own. Man. Some days, it really felt human.

He wanders across the plain, eyes lingering on fully-built buildings, knowing the schematics and plans, watching as those plans-now-buildings stretched higher above his head, where they nearly threatened to pop the sky wide open. 

Bdubs had sat down with him earlier that week, papers spread out between them. He’d stopped by, actually—worked his way up the mountain to the base Etho had finally finished, papers in hand, looking like he was on the verge of collapse. He’d dropped the blueprints on the largest table Etho had managed to clear, spreading out the designs for huge, complex buildings. Etho watched him explain, listened for the inflection of when to offer suggestions, heard the way Bdubs’ voice grew quieter, almost conspiratorial, as he explained his palette. There was something methodical in the way Bdubs spoke, not only in the approach to his colors, but to his style. As much as it seemed eclectic and strange, he watched the pieces fall together as Bdubs spoke of his gradients. There was something deeper there, a precision that Etho, all of a sudden, in that room, craved to emulate. To write to disk. To save. To do more than just copy. 

He’d built the horse stable first—all to his own specifications. It was Bdubs later who came in to detail, tilling up the dirt around to plant grass and flowers, sectioning off parts of the empty stable. It was almost difficult to compartmentalize that Bdubs was finished with it now. That they’d worked each line of the redstone and Etho had supervised the first steps of building, and now he could look up and see the very top, or almost, if he were to strain, of the spikes above the buildings. 

And in just a few weeks, Bdubs was onto another project. Etho smiles to himself. He can’t help it. There was something rather comforting about that. Something about Bdubs dragging him along to help, pointing him toward the thing he was good at, and asking for help. Bdubs showing up at his door with plans. Bdubs cracking jokes with him, and looking for a laugh Etho couldn’t replicate yet. It’s like something clicked. Or was just on the breach of it. And Etho liked it.

Etho clears his field of view, taking in, instead, the stretch of sky where it met the ocean, along the line of hills and grass and flowers, and further still, to the smudge that looked like Bdubs. He blends in too well—the green of his coat barely noticeable against the field of grass that splayed out from the side of his build. There were still materials strewn about—chests half opened, shulkers stacked waist high. 

Bdubs stands to the side of a dark grey and white horse, one hand placed on its nose, the other digging through his bag. Etho watches for a moment. Bdubs fishes around for that entire second that he lingers, searching for something, until he pulls out an apple. Another falls to the ground, rolling away from him. He holds out the fruit for the horse as Etho clears his throat. 

“Hiya, Bdubs—” he says as Bdubs startles, twisting around to see him. He huffs, an immediate frown coming to his face. Bdubs turns to fetch the dropped apple, holding it high above his head as the grey horse nudges its nose into his empty hand. He pats it instead.

“Etho,” he says, tone thin. He sighs, shaking his head. “Scared the life outta me, you know that? You gotta make some noise when you’re walkin’ around.”

Etho smiles, a nice and easy reaction to the annoyance in Bdubs’ voice. It’s getting easier. At least a bit. The smiling part, that is. The inflection that comes with being happy.

“I’ll try next time,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. His hands find his pockets as he looks around, eyes following the path around the buildings. He’s sure the pollen and moss will be stuck to his clothes for days before he gets them out.

“Mm,” Bdubs hums, unconvinced. “I’m sure you will. Now, what’re you doin’ here? You don’t have anything better to do?”

“That’s a good question,” Etho says.

Bdubs turns back to him for a second, just a glance over his shoulder as he cocks his head to the side. He raises his eyebrows before he turns back to the horse, who’s started to nose at his bag. He drags his hand down its nose.

“You’re tellin’ me you don’t have an objective right now?”

“I never have an objective, Bdubs.”

Bdubs snorts again . Etho steps over, slow, minding the horse. It sniffs as Etho holds out his hand, nosing his gloved palm. He pats the horse's nose, somewhat stilted, smoothing over the soft bridge of his nose.

“Right,” Bdubs hums. When Etho glances over to him, Bdubs glances away, as if he’d lingered as Etho stepped over. He’s not moved from Etho’s side, which. Makes something fit into Etho’s chest in a way he isn’t expecting. He rests his hand on the horse's head, looking over at Bdubs in full.

“I can’t come see how the horse course is looking, now that you’re done?” he asks. Bdubs makes an embarrassed sounding noise, watching the rise of the buildings to their left. The horse sniffs, and Etho lifts his hand away, letting it fall to his side.

“I—I got excited about it,” Bdubs mutters. If Etho leans enough, he can see the beginnings of a flush creep over his cheeks, up the shell of his ear. Something about that, too. Etho looks beyond him, though, studying the rise of the buildings as Bdubs does. He nods to himself.

“I can tell,” he says, amusement slipping into his voice, almost naturally. Immediately, Bdubs whips around again, face twisted in offense.

“Hey!” he snaps. “You makin’ fun of me?”

Etho shakes his head, spreading his hands out in front of him as he does.

“No, no. Not at all,” he says, hoping the smile he’s giving is reaching his eyes. “I’m saying we make a pretty good team.”

Bdubs makes a little huff of a sound, but his posture and expression softens. Etho studies it from the moment it appears, trying to place the emotion behind it. He seems upset—but not from anything Etho said. He almost looks guilty.

“We’ve always made a good team,” Bdubs mumbles. Etho blinks.

“Since when have we been a team?”

“Since—s…” Bdubs blurts, then backtracks, folding his arms over his chest. “Well we’re a team now!”

Etho raises his eyebrows, stepping away from the horse and more around Bdubs’ side. He leans in a bit as he stands by his side, bumping their shoulders together. Bdubs doesn’t recoil. Instead, he pushes back, just for a moment, and they jostle. Bdubs hums, sighing through his nose.

“Are we?” Etho asks. Bdubs nods, short and firm.

“Mhm! ‘Cause I said so.”

Etho nods with him. There’s that thing again, a turning, jostling, in some part of his chest that really shouldn’t turn or jostle. He can feel his temperature tick up just a few degrees, a fan kicking on to settle the temperature, thirium sludging warm to cold through his limbs. A team, huh? He couldn’t beat Bdubs’ conviction, that’s for sure. Maybe it was a bit of guilt, then. Maybe something in Bdubs had realized Etho was much more of a help than a hindrance. Maybe Bdubs wanted a friend. Maybe he just felt bad and the feeling bad got to a point where he had to just do something about it. Etho didn’t know. He didn’t live inside Bdubs’ brain. And picking at Bdubs’ every emotion was a task enough to drive his processor into the ground. He could already feel another spike in temperature, LED glowing yellow-blue. Maybe it wasn’t all bad. Etho sticks his hands in his pockets.

“I’d like that,” he says, finally pushing out the words as his programming jumps into gear, “What’s our next project then?”

Bdubs goes back to jostling him before he turns away, moving from Etho’s side to collect his horse. Gathering the horse's reins in his hands, Bdubs pauses.

“Ooh…” he says, frowning a little. Etho watches the little furrow of his eyebrows—thinking. Bdubs is turning the idea over in his head. Bdubs steps back over with the horse in tow, already walking in the direction of the horse stable. Etho jolts forward, taking several big steps to match Bdubs’ pace. “Well why don’t you come back to the clock and we can talk about it, huh?”

“That sounds nice.”

Bdubs makes an affirmative sound, leading the horse around and into the stable. Etho watches him unlatch the gate, ushering the horse into the pen.

“I can put the kettle on and everything,” Bdubs says. He lifts the bridle out of the horse’s mouth, running his hand along the length of the horse’s nose. Etho doesn’t mean to watch him as he does, but the action is so purposeful. There’s a moment where Bdubs’ expression is unreadable—unreadable as in Etho simply can’t place anything on it. Unreadable in the amount it changes—something softer than he’s seen, something far away. Bdubs’ whole demeanor seems to shift as he stands still for a moment. Etho isn’t sure what to do with himself. He’s just standing in straw and dirt and stones, all of which he can feel under his shoes. He shuffles a bit, back and forth, to make his presence known, before he says:

“You know I can’t drink anything, Bdubs.”

And Bdubs rolls his eyes, squinting over at him, stepping away from the horse to hop the gate.

“Well you can at least fake it,” he grumbles. He folds his arms again, wrinkling his nose at Bdubs as Bdubs leads him out of the pen and into the open field around the horse course. The shadow of the buildings above them hasn’t changed, yet. The sun is still high and warm in the sky.

Etho laughs. At least, he makes a sound that he thinks passes as a laugh. Bdubs laughs too, though, so it must sound pretty convincing. He nods, the smile on his face feeling much more natural than he ever could have expected. 

“I could fake it,” he laughs. “Sure.”

Bdubs grins at him. It’s nice. It makes the walk back to his base a little more bearable.

By the time Etho gets his invitation to the life game, he’s grown accustomed to being at Bdubs’ side again. He wanders around Bdubs’ base like he knows it, makes it a spot he chooses to map, to memorize. Bdubs checks in on him when he isn’t around as much—asks him how his builds are going, wonders if he needs help. Bdubs lingers in his spaces too, like a plant trying to root, gives himself reasons to stand in doorways just a bit longer, just enough to extend their goodbyes. It feels right—in a way that almost gives reason to Etho’s deviation. Maybe, deep down, from their first introduction, Etho had decided to glue himself to Bdubs’ side and not become unstuck. Maybe he’d simply put that decision, his first ever decision, into motion that day. It didn’t matter much as to why anymore.

When Etho gets his letter, he doesn’t open it. He holds it between two fingers, turning it over and over. He doesn’t need to read it to know what it says. There’s a dark red seal on the back, shaped like a heart. He makes a little sound, some sort of click in the back of his mouth, before he stuffs the letter in his pocket, half-folded.

He finds Bdubs exactly where he expects. Bdubs is sitting cross-legged in his garden, hands in the dirt, when Etho arrives at the crescent moon base. If he looks closely enough, Etho can still tell that Bdubs’ own letter sits on his window sill in the kitchen, unopened. But he’s really squinting to notice, so he writes it off for now as a flaw in his own sight. 

Bdubs turns to him as he walks up. His hair is pushed back away from his face with his bandana, and his hands are covered in dirt, and he’s got a streak of black soil across his forehead that Etho tries not to look at for too long. Bdubs shoots him a toothy grin, going back to his bright orange tulips. If Etho looks long enough, he could probably guess the soil mixture, and tell him if it's good enough to be planting orange tulips in, but he doesn’t. Instead, he comes to stand behind him and Bdubs hums in greeting.

“Etho,” he says, looking up again, wiping the dirt from his forehead. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, nothin’,” Etho says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He forgets who he picked the gesture up from, but it’s become part of his natural body language patterns now, so he won’t be stopping it anytime soon. “I just came to see how you were doing.”

“How I was doin’, huh?” Bdubs asks, amusement trickling into his voice. Etho smiles, feeling his face pull.

“Mhm,” he says. “That’s right. I can’t come and check up on a friend?”

Bdubs laughs, sticking his spade in the dirt.

“Oh, we’re friends now?” he says, still giggling as he turns around. “I thought we were just a team.”

Etho watches him lean back on his hands, legs coming out from under him. He tries to read Bdubs’ expression and voice for any note of insincerity, or play, or teasing, but doesn’t find anything he normally associates with Bdubs. This just feels true.

“I mean, I figured with how much we’ve been working together…” Etho starts, to which Bdubs startles, waving his hands.

“No, no!” Bdubs yelps. “Etho, I thought the same thing! I just wasn’t expectin’ it from you.”

Etho blinks. It feels owlish, small, almost a wrong reaction to hearing Bdubs say something like that. But it’s what immediately happens, before he tries to open his mouth, and no sound comes out. He waits for a moment. He assumes his LED spins, maybe even red, as Bdubs watches him, face paling.

“Oh,” Etho says quietly.

“We’re friends,” Bdubs says, voice much smaller than Etho’s ever heard it. “‘S that alright with you?”

Etho feels like the proper response would be to laugh, if he could really feel anything at all besides every gear in his chest halting and restarting themselves. He makes a noise that sounds almost like a cough.

“Mhm,” he says. He watches Bdubs’ shoulders relax and finds that his own posture sinks with it. 

“Good,” Bdubs says, nodding along. “Was there anything else you wanted to scare me with?”

Etho knows this tone—playful. Teasing. He works up a smile and fishes the letter from his pocket, slightly bent. Bdubs’ eyes flick right to it, right to the red seal pressed into the paper. Immediately, he scrambles up, reaching for the note in Etho’s hands. Etho lets him grab it in his dirt-covered fingers, even as Bdubs tries frantically to dust off his hands as he notices. Bdubs turns it over itself, glancing up at Etho.

“It’s for you?”

Etho nods.

“It was on my doorstep this morning,” he says. “I can see you’ve got one in your window?”

Bdubs snorts, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I haven’t opened the damn thing. I’m excited up until the point I’m not, ‘cause I know I’m gonna lose again.”

Etho hums. As Bdubs hands him back the letter, Etho rests his hand on his shoulder, giving it a hesitant, light squeeze. Bdubs looks quickly down at it, before he’s back to staring at Etho’s face.

“Don’t worry, Bdubs,” he says, hoping his voice is full of amusement and affection like he feels like it is. “You’ll have me there this time!”

And Bdubs laughs, full and warm in his chest, and Etho jostles him around as he does, until Bdubs is smacking his shoulder and wiggling free. He picks up his fallen hat and his tools, and Etho follows him around the side of the house as he puts things away. As he shuts one of the chest, Bdubs says:

“You mean that, though? You wanna be on a team?”

Etho smiles, feeling his eyes squint, forces every ounce of new feeling into his words when he says:

“I don’t think I wanna team with anyone else, Bdubs.”

And Bdubs’ grin in excitement is more than enough to convince him he’s made the right choice.

It’ll be a long two weeks until the death game starts. When he returns home later that night, Bdubs’ plans for success turning over in his brain, recording for later, Etho reads over the letter enough to commit the page to memory. He keeps it safe internally as the letter finds its way to his bookshelf, half-sealed. Through him, like it’s just under the skin, runs an emotion he’s not yet familiar with. He hopes it's a good one, at the very least. He hopes so, as much as an android, a machine, someone just now familiar with the idea of free will, can hope. 

It feels good, though. And something makes him think that everything will turn out just fine.

[madraleen]

Delicious in Dungeon - Ryōko Kui Vol.10-11: "Oh, just Thistle, Mithrun and Kabru things" - A Commentary.

Vol.10 -for the record, second most well-designed character award goes to thistle, my beloved.

-low-key worried about laios' party now that we know the mithrun-goat backstory.

-no, truly, do we trust the winged lion? or did thistle seal it so that the mithrun thing wouldn't happen to him too?

-yeah, the lion "really doesn’t want to lose you here," laios, because he'll wanna devour you later! i don't trust that lion.

-ooooooh NICE, marcille wanting to make all races' lifespans equal, such a solid wish that could go horribly wrong, nice!!

-"kabru, make him stop"? really, canaries? really? everybody say "thank you kabru, for being a good influence for mithrun."

-YUH-HUH, "you're good at dealing with the captain" OBVIOUSLY!!! he eats when he should, he sleeps without help, everyone say "THANK YOU KABRU." ffs, canaries.

-thistle be watching everyone like "...wtf?"

-really, the teleportation expert is the most dangerous one, thistle? not the ones freeing the lion? interesting.

-right, that's what i'm saying. go seal the winged lion first. see, you only needed some food in you in order to think clearly, thistle

-argh, that's sweet, how falin's sleeping on her monster body, stop that's cute

-"laios! you okay!?" i don't know how he can ever be okay after suffocating falin, but hey ho. that was a hard sequence. that was hard. oof.

-oh wait, thistle's "wand" is his flute, that's cool

-no, not the "best by" date! lmao, laios, what a way to put it

-that's my deranged boy (thistle). standing on the table. for no reason. you show them. well. "deranged." it's more complicated than that. delgal literally pushed him to become a magician and put the weight of the entire kingdom on his shoulders, and then thistle had to use ancient magic, build a kingdom, create monsters, move everyone down there, protect everyone at all times, fend off invaders again and again, ALL OF THAT ON HIS OWN, had everyone praise him for it, and then had his nearest and dearest be like "actually, the thing we pushed you to do and praised you for, yeah, we don't want that anymore." thistle isn't randomly deranged.

-fumu fumu, that's a lot of dragons.

Vol.11 -lmfao that was kabru's dream that the nightmares ate, wasn't it

-gotta hand it to laios, that's good thinking, quick thinking, the whole dragons thing

-thistle's epiphany is to get everyone on feeding tubes...? like 24/7? for eternity?

-LION, STOP! LEAVE THISTLE ALONE! HELP, SOMEONE!

-wait, so thistle doesn't remember why he sealed the lion? 'cause i was theorizing he sealed him to protect himself, and lion confirms it, but not thistle

-MY HEART, thistle holding marcille's hand. SOMEONE HELP THEM! WHERE THE FUCK IS KABRU?!

-did thistle resurrect marcille??? OOOHHH

-erm, hold up, thistle will be fine though, right?

-kabru warning laios, good boy kabru. but also, tell him about the dungeon's lord!

-not kabru dissociating in real time as he eats bavarois

-goodbye, izutsumi, who knows where you've been teleported to. mithrun probably doesn't.

-ASFDHJ, marcille leaping onto laios to escape mithrun, SO CUTE

-pattadol is sweet, i like her. keep her around mithrun.

-oooh nooo the lion is unsealed, i don't like thisss

-i expect the anime to do justice to just how fast mithrun is

-it's a pity it's come to this. marcille would understand, if mithrun had had time to explain, but now he's trying to kill her and she's terrified and she only has the lion to lean on -.-

-THE FIRST PERSON TO REALIZE MITHRUN WILL RUN OUT OF MANA IS KABRU, ffs, have the canaries spared a second to think of mithrun's- ARGH

-kabru out there doing the lord's work. everyone else is useless. USELESS, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT KABRU

-YES KABRU, KEEP MITHRUN THERE! good boy. and yes, manga, feed me more mithrun and kabru moments, pls and thank you.

-of course it would be kabru that carried mithrun. don't worry, king, no one's taking him from you.

-kabru trying to talk to laios and laios trying to cut him off and leave is excruciating to read

-people really only listen to kabru when he's being honest and not putting up a facade, just sayin'. at least the people that matter to us do.

-i'm confused though. mithrun was the lord of a different dungeon, the one sealing goat demon. this one seals lion demon. why does lion demon know mithrun?

[weirdsillycreature]

oOoOoOh you wanna let Beast free from his restraints sooooo badly

NOO

NOOOOOOOOOO

IF I DO IT BEAST WILL KILL ME

NOOO

GET AWAY

HISSSSSSSSSSS👹👹👹‼️‼️‼️‼️

[ciginatree]

NOOO IT SIDNT USE THE LINK ignore what i sent before .

THIS got me thinkin about vinny. im so sorry

Ooooooh Vinny wouldn’t believe you if you said you’d never been eaten out before. When you finally got it through his brain he pounced on you, smirking and you know you’re about to have the time of your life. He’d grip your thighs around his face so hard so he’s practically suffocating in you. You don’t even know how he’s still after you don’t know how you’re alive either tbh

Tags: @Shilohrosechicken

@rumoured-whispers

@abiomens

@exitwoundsx

@miss570

@eternallytiredsinger

[kenniex2]

Ooooooh nooo oooh no ohh shit oh fuuuuuuck

[stockcarbaby24]

Ooooooh nooo what a shammeeeee

[megaera-of-pigeon]

Ohhh nooo oh myyyyy how ever did my name get on the list? Ooooooh wellll too late the poll is live sooooo I suppose I’ll leave it up 😘

[pezberrywhoreee]

cramps are so bad rn I think I'm going to die, pls tell me you're awake or not busy. I just need a distraction (also I'm bored :)

ooooooh nooo!!!

im soooo sorry, i was asleep but im here now!!

i'll text you <333

[vimesbootstheory]

7, 11 and 16 for the ask game?

ooooooh now we get into my weakness for listing favourites. thanks for this!

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

I've never really had to think about it, there's always been an obvious choice. I think it tends to be someone whose head I find the most accessible to enter, especially in terms of how that character uses language. also if there's a romance I'm more likely to write from the perspective of the person whose path to falling in love is more interesting to me.

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

Oh nooo it's my inability to take a question about favourites as anything less than completely literal, my old nemesis. Not sure if "right now" means like "fics I've read lately" but I took it to mean "all-time fics that are your favourites right now".

I feel like a hack because these are all highly kudos'd (and the FFN equivalent of that) fics in their respective fandoms, so I'm not bringing any hidden gems to light. Also apparently I am a longfic girlie, who prefers genfics from kid/family shows about messed up parent-child dynamics.

Salvage by MuffinLance [A:tLA]

Shadow of a Doubt by HaiJu [Danny Phantom]

And like the cycle of the year, we begin again by katherynefromphilly [Merlin]

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Just one! Sort of. A two-part series, with distinct enough core plots that it's almost like two fics, but the second's concept spoils how the first one ends, so. I'm a little shy about giving the premise to my current WIP away at this stage but how about my current draft for the fic summary:

"Daniel loses a firm hold on 2018. When he returns to the present, things aren't where he left them. Namely, Johnny."

thanks for sending this! it was fun <3

[carryoncastiel]

SPNWIN 1x13 - Season 1 Finale Thoughts

I have avoided all spoilers, let's see how this goes!

Oh it starts with the flashback of John coming back from the army

He's just sitting there for hours apparently

"John Winchester?" HEY I KNOW THAT DEEP VOICE

John: "Sir, can I help you". He calls him sir! That must be so weird for Dean lol

OMG Dean looks like a sailor! He has a turtleneck!!!

…and he gives John the fated letter from Henry

BOBBY!?!?!?

"We're not supposed to meddle with things, idjit". Oh so it is heaven shenanigans?

I cannot deal with Dean wearing that outfit, it looks so very not him lol

"One last hunt, huh?" "One last hunt." hmmmmmmmmm

Oooh the title card is different. It gets sucked into some interdimensional thingy or something? Well, I like it.

Henry has a lead on "the guy", apparently some hunter named Joan saw him. And Mary doesn't wanna go to that one college. The future without hunting is scary.

John wears the bad red plaid!

If Mary leaves hunting, what does it mean for her and John's relationship? Will we ever find out

Carlos looking at that Dean pic again:"Whoever he is, he is ruggedly handsome" 😏 Everyone has the hots for Dean and who can blame them (gonna be awkward once they find out who he is though…)

So either Dean has to kill the Akrida (since he is "not of this earth") or Ada has to burn her soul with the crystal. Decisions, decisions.

Lata is gonna look for a way to save Ada's soul if she has to use the crystal. My girl is gonna find a way!

So Joan who knows about Dean is also dead(or whatever state they are in)? Or she is some other being. Interesting.

Wait, Joan threw Dean and the Impala through the Akrida portal??? And only John's journal is left? What's going on…

Joan is the queen ooooooh. Now it makes sense.

John, don't stop her monologue, I wanna know more about her being human once!

Joan: "Join me, OR DIE." Girl, that's no choice.

She does the finger snap and is gone. Interesting.

Y'all didn't know Lata is still in the clubhouse that just got raided by the Akrida? Bad oversight.

Lata actually attacking the queen with a knife, breaking her pacifist streak. Sadly it doesn't do anything.

Joan Hopkins lived in 1673, wanted out of hunting and that's why she turned on her own kind.

Joan: "I lost my parents, my brother, all my family to the cause. And then…I lost my William." ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I SEE

So because there was always more to fight, always a new apokalypse and all, Joan decided mankind is the problem. Because they always need saving and hunters are the ones paying the price….. That's one way to look at it I guess.

The monster essence drove her mad. Don't pump yourself full of monster juice kids!

OH NO LEAVE LATA ALONE D:&lt;

Carlos having an amazing idea. Use the journal Dean left behind and the Osteum to get Dean back through the portal. Well let's go!

Poor Lata got posessed by the Akrida.

The Akrida were made by an "angry God" as a failsave to wipe out all existence. Yeah, that sounds like Chuck.

DO NOT THREATEN LATA I'M SERIOUS

Damn, Ada had to use the crystal to save Lata. I mean it was obviously gonna be used but still :(

They can only bring Dean back from the monster world at midnight. Of course.

John, are you really trying to get Mary to stay behind because whoever is gonna face the queen is probably not gonna come back? My dude, this never works.

John:"If we save the world then you're free." Such a meaningful line for this franchise…

So Mary actually does stay behind. Oh well

THEY HAVE SWORDS. SPN definitely needed more hunters using swords!

OH SHIT THE QUEEN ALSO HAS A SWORD. And the Akrida too. So many swords!!!

They really got the Impala through the portal! …but no Dean apparently. Eh, whatever we got the car that is also not of this earth. Vroom vroom bitches

Joan says she wiped out all the MOL. Wait a minute…

BABY TO THE RESCUE. Run her over

…But the Queen opens the portal just in time for Mary to drive the Impala through. Oh nooo

John falling to his knees. I'm sorry I'm getting destiel flashbacks again.

…of course the portal opens up again and Baby comes back. But now with a suspicious figure driving. WHO COULD IT BE

Oh hey Dean. Mary isn't back though. Hmm

No, she was in the Impala for the dramatic reveal. Okay okay.

Dean: "She[Baby] kept us save. Of course, there's not a lot that can tear me apart. I'm already dead" DUN DUN DUN

Dean was stuck in the world between worlds. Like Limbo you mean

NOT AMERICANA *sobs*

Dean was going for a drive in heaven, with a detour through the ~multiverse~. But what was he looking for?

"I was looking for my family." Yeah, we all were during that terrible excuse of a series finale…

"See, I come from a long line of hunters.I guess I was hoping somewhere out there was a earth, that has a version where my family had a shot at a happy ending." So here we have it. That ending was not a happy ending and Dean is looking for a better one.

So the Akrida were one of Chuck's last creations. Shocker.

Dean: "Now that the Akrida are gone, you can chose your own destiny. Write your own story". I wanna see that CW, give me season 2!!!

JACK!!!! OMG IT'S JACK. And Bobby again too.

Bobby: "This is all kinds of weird. Seeing Samuel witha full set of hair" LMAO

Dean is all "Sorry Jack I meddled with world. Guess I don't deserve heaven. I'm definitely not saying you should put me back on earth" lol

So Dean is gonna give other world John his own hunter's journal. THEY CAN USE THAT IN SEASON 2

Dean to Mary: " I know you think about quitting hunting. Believe me I understand. But you need to do me one favor. Keep an eye out for a yellow eyed demon" DEAN JACK SAID NO MEDDLING

He gives her The Colt!?!??! DUDE

Mary: "Your family…did you ever find a world where they had a shot at a happy ending?"

Dean looking at all of them "I think I did."

James Heffield(Hepfield? Jensen stop mumbling!). Is this some significant kind of name Dean is using?

And they are gone. Maybe we'll see them again…

Lata did find a way to restore Ada's soul. The mighty LORE strikes again.

Mary saw every possible version of herself going through the portal but she's gonna find her own path.

John: "Do me a favor?" "Anything." "No Goodbyes"

But one last kiss

John is all sad while the others talk about the next case. But look, Mary is "not leaving here without you" (sorry). She wants John to come with her. ROADTRIP

They are in the car and want some music.

Hepfield was adamant on one thing "Driver picks the music…" Ah the famous line

That was it. Finale of season 1. I really hope we get a second season! I don't want to lose these characters yet :( I'm not entirely sure what to make of the whole Dean bit. On the one hand they did give me "the finale was not a happy ending" but then it's all about blood family again and not even a tiny, subtle mention of anything Cas related. I don't want to be too disappointed, since they gave us destiel parallels again but man I just miss Cas :((( I have to think about it more.

Bonus:

Bobby's face is my face when i saw Dean in that outfit. It weird lmao

[halt-kun]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 236 - Go South

I got spoiled on Insta, I saw one panel of this chapter

This is very annoying but it's life

I already know I'm going to cry

Is Kenjaku coming ? It was one possibility in my mind

So it's not a flashback but life flashing before Gojo's six eyes ?

I'm already tearing up

NOOO

and WHAT ? Sukuna not giving it his all ? You just mean he didn't use his whole technique ? Because in term of curse energy and skills he used a lot of them and even learned some stuff while fighting you

Okay, yeah so it's about his techniques, but why would he take Megumi's body then ?

We know Gojo...

Can someone hug him ?

Good for you

not good for your loved ones

do you plan on rejoining Geto in jjk's after life ?

Tears

babyyyyy, you miss Geto

Oh noooooo, more babies

I'm glad Gojo isn't dying alone if he is dying

GOJOOOOOOO

you're the best

you did good

everyone loves you

Wait what's that about

Oh okay it was a title drop

I love these guys

Nanamin didn't regret anything, same for Haibara (weridly enough) and Gojo either

Geto, well, he probably does

they're just a bit salty about dying but overall they're fine

I can't be sad

TEARS are coming tho

It is one probably

but a damn good one

CUT ????

by what ?

(that's the panel I saw)

Ohhhh so he learned how to tear through infinity which he couldn't have without Mahoraga

so you needed Megumi after all

but what kind of model allows you to do that ?

Ooooooh

well Mahoraga did good

It did

YEP HE WAS STRONK

(trying to not cry)

Another Strongest arrives

he is a piece of work and his techniques might be terrifying

Well

roses are red

violets are blue

Gojo's dead

Sukuna, soon, too

[folklouire]

promise me baby you won't. let them find us hold me in your arms let's let. our love blind us. COVER ME. shut the door and cover me ooooooh i'm looking for a lover who will. come on in and cover me HEEEYYY outside's the rain. the driving snow. i can hear THE. WILD. WIND. BLOWING. turn out the light. bolt the door. i ain't going out there NOOO MOREEEEE this whole world is out there just. trying to score i've seen enough i don't wanna. see anymore cover me come on in and cover me iiiiiiiiiii'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me WHAAAAAAAA

[zodapack]

AAAHHH MY BACK OOOOHH OOOOOOH AAAGH AAHHH DIES😞😞

GRANDPA!!!!!! NOOO!!!!!!!!!! WAAHHHHH!!!

[happyhappyfantrolls]

Nooo wait, she likes to doodle (scribble) like make art for DJ Cupcake to use as an album cover but she doesn’t understand that it doesn’t work that way! So she just makes a bunch— 😭

But she does mess with her cds though kekeke!

(Ooooooh! Ok, my bad, i thought she's drawing on top of the album covers. After all she's more like Uchiko, the menace XD. But, it's better because DJ Cupcake would love for her daughter to be creative and probably use one of her drawing for the album once bcs she's so proud of her )

[edie-n-al]

[tears gather in Cosmo's eyes]

DON'T HURT HER!

-C.G

"Ohoho, it is FA-AR too late for THAT!~"

[A woosh is heard from the speed and force of the hit, another thud being heard. A slight cracking sound could be heard, but just barely, as Edyth's agonizing sobs overpower the other sounds]

"Ooooooh, that one was GOOD!~"

[S lets out a loud laugh]

"YOU THINK THAT'S F-FUCKING FUNNY?!- YOU- Y-YOU MONSTER!?-"

"Funny? Nooo, no no! Just FUN!~ Ever-so-entertaining~"

[tsuki-sennin]

Desire Grand Prix was brought to you by Niram-P and the following sponsors.

-Blue Fox Instant Udon

-Pink Buffalo Jelly Beans

-Kurama Foundation

And contributions from viewers like you... thank you~!

Laser Raiser. Lazy Laser. Raiser Laser.

I can't get over the new device's name, Goddamn.

Anyways yeah, Episodes 22 and 23! I'll be watching those today.

Spoilers, I guess...

-Well now, Keiwa. If it wasn't Sae-san, then it would be you. If I was you, I'd be keeping a close eye on Neon-chan.

-"Are you ready, Keiwa-kun?"

-Wonder how you're looking in the polls?

-"Go sabotage."

-Forevermore.

-Goddamn, that's stake raising.

-Desaster Arc is almost over, bitches~!

-Buffa's in the game! Forgot to tell you guys that, but you'll be fine, right?

-Chirami, I don't wanna know how you made that squishy sound.

-"Christ, are you really selling my life as some stupid bad boy character? Is there someone I can sue? Can I call that green buffalo Rider from another Rider death game?"

-"You can win big~! Or go home ten thousand lives shorter~!"

-You're one sick son of a bitch, Chirami.

-Naptime.

-Jamatoless behavior.

-"World peace, finally :D"

-"Nooo... we're losing viewership by the Jamillion!"

-Sup Archie?

-"Don't rush me, bitch boy!"

-"Ohhhh noooooo, that sounds like not my problem!"

-Ohhhhhhh

-Daichi's the cause of the game.

-Where Jamato?

-Game Master's turn!

-GLARE2!

-Login!

-Hen! Sin!

-I HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER

-GLARE2!

-Time to fight!

-Tsumuri, what're you doin'?

-Go!

-Hide and seek~!

-That's a neat idea.

-"Good luck, everyone~! Keep the viewers and the sponsors happy~!"

-Oh?

"Right, I'm gonna clock out early, Chirami ain't paying me enough for this."

-LANDMINE!

-Guys who go "AAAAAAAAH" and girls who go "Nyeaaaaaaaah!"

-This is so funny to me.

-Sabotage!

-And now he's in the cage.

-Wherein he belongs.

-Draw on the man's face.

-"Wow man, the audience hates you."

-"Please stop reminding me."

-And with that, you've convinced literally nobody.

-"Sorryyyyy..."

-Can't exactly lie to what's essentially a professional con man.

-Guess nobody in this restaurant really cares?

-You're not exactly being discrete yourself, Neon!

-Guessing that guy's Na-Go's sponsor.

-Ah yep, there he is.

-Everybody's got eyes on Neon Kurama. Not always for good reasons.

-You're kinda creepy, dude.

-Here comes the fanboy. Ziin~!

-I don't really like that name all that much, but I guess I can't really change that, can I?

-Guess Beroba's got a good idea. Crush all Riders, let the Jamato run unopposed, make all of humanity suffer. Everybody wins with that arrangement, it'd seem.

-Anyways, welcome back to the silly!

-Worm~!

-He runnin'!

-Ooooooh, pressure plates.

-Bonk!

-This is neat to me, I don't know why.

-It's a similar suit and power set, but it's like a polar opposite fighting style to Girori's.

-Can't jump.

-Oh we're losin'.

-"You're too soft, Tycoon. Your bleeding heart might just be hemorrhaging at this point."

-Neon-chan!

-Ohhhhh, girl's playing dirty.

-Hey, hey, hey!

-There they be.

-Ohhhhh, Beroba's a rider too.

-...did she get giant?

-The seeds of distrust have been sown.

-"How impressive... I suppose having a housecat hunt as she please would eventually turn her feral."

-Think you're laying it on a little thick there, honey.

-The Dezastar... it's you, Neon-chan.

-Ace is just that goddamn good.

-Damn.

-Nevermind that, the Game Master's been kicked.

-Game Master Beroba.

-Goddess of Creation.

-...I get it now.

-Haxxored.

-There he is.

-Ziin.

-"You're ruining my quality TV time, Beroba. I'll stomp you into the dirt."

-Laser Raise Riser!

-Ziin Set!

-Laser On!

-That's a cool goddamn jingle.

-Ziin! His actor, Fuku Suzuki, he played Shotaro Ishinomori himself in Super Hero Senki. He's pretty good for a guy so young.

-Now he gets to be a Kamen Rider.

-These two random teenagers, a frog man mafia boss, and whoever that sweater dude is. Our sponsors, ladies and germs.

-"I want to be moved."

-Guess even Chirami's fully aware that Beroba's bad news now.

-"Kamen Rider...!"

-Nadgey, what did you think you were gonna do?

-Guy's got lasers.

-She wins this round, but it definitely ain't over.

-"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Beroba-kun."

-Niram-P, hello.

-Game Master. Producer.

-"Bleeeeeh!"

-She just noped the fuck out of there.

-Soooooo, Goddess... where'd you come from?

-Well, we're fucked.

-You get a second to breathe, Neon.

-Sousei no Megami!

-Ohhh!

-Secretary Jumpscare.

-"You got hacked and hijacked, you goddamn moron. I'll deal with you later."

-The Goddess is the DGP.

-Guess you're all angels.

-"No comment."

-"Soooo... wanna tell us why you know where the Jamato come from?"

-Man... Michinaga's getting a lot angrier by the second.

-You're a darkhearted man, Mr. Producer.

-I guess Chirami's really not liked by the upper management.

-Unfullfilled forever more.

-"Pwease get my Driver back, pweeeeease~!"

-For the sake of Real Fiction.

-"I'm going to use you to grant my wish."

-Hello, Kekera!

-"Get the Driver back, boy!"

-Woooow, free Boost once more!

-Be sure to use it this time.

-"Kamen Rider!" That's you!

-An entire goddamn flower garden.

-Ohhhhhhh

-He's a simp.

-Kyuun.

-Free buckle~!

-Lots of people root for Na-Go-san.

-Tsumuri's so DONE with these people's shit.

-Ziin, hello.

-"You're my dude."

-Oooooooh, he's jumpin' right in.

-I can't imagine how elated Suzuki-san is to be here.

-Jajajajajaja.

-Jajaja?

-Ja?

-"Duuuuude, I'm fighting with Geats!"

-Ziin Setto!

-He does the snape!

-Set Fever!

-Double Beat!

-...Back Beat?

-I see Ziin plays support.

-I have to admit, this is really cool.

-"Your destined enemy. He's here."

-Buffa just wants the game to end for good.

-OOooooooh, Jamato Zombie!

-That's siiiiick.

-Revolve On!

-Radical.

-Good job, Neon!

-We are... Kamen Riders!

-Ohhhhhh

-Nadgey's back.

-Man, they're really going at it.

-Beroba, hello!

-Never make that noise around me again.

-"World's over anyway, nerd!"

-Ohhh, he's down.

-The Desire Grand Prix is a game lightyears ahead of the curb.

-Geats from the ancient past... Ziin from the far future.

-3.5D!

-"Oh well... DGP's reaching the finale. Oh well..."

-Ohhh, Tsumuri...

-OHHHHH

-Kamen Rider Beroba.

-IS FUCKING MASSIVE WHAT THE FUCK

-Breaking Mammoth sized!

-"NOOOOOOOOOOO MY BABIES!"

-Oh...

-Oh... this is over.

-OH SHIT KEKERA REVEAL

-Goddamn

-Geats has me hooked.