#or birds who seem to be able to teleport

[goddamnitmahtin]

Danny’s Designer Friend

Okay so hear me out. Danny jumps universes a lot right? It’s a part of running errands for Clockwork. He may be the Ghost king but since he was Clockwork’s mentee at the same time, he had to run time errands sometimes. It took him to some really interesting places.

Some places had magic, some didn’t. Some had heroes that used their own devices and some had heroes that used magical artifacts to manifest abilities. Some didn’t have heroes at all. Some universes had lots of technology and some were working to catch up. And obviously, Danny had his favorites. And he had his favorite people from each.

So…. Danny had an idea.

…

Bruce looked around suspiciously, alert to any dangers that may be in the area. He and all of his children were on duty when all of a sudden he ended up in a modern mansion of sorts with an indoor waterfall.

“What in the world-?” He heard Tim say as Red Robin appeared as well.

“Oi-!” from a surprised Spoiler as she appeared.

Sword slashing noises as Robin appeared, apparently trying to slice the air, “What is this trickery!”

Next Duke in his pajamas and Nightwing appeared, landing on top of one another. ��Get your sweaty ass off me,” Bruce heard his son say as he pushed his older brother off of him.

“GUYS!” Oracle called as she fell. She had teleported in but her chair didn’t seem to have come with her. Red Robin and Spoiler caught her just in time.

Orphan appeared silently.

Then Oracle’s wheelchair popped in, dropping onto Signal just as he had stood up. “Oh come on!” he exclaimed as a post it note apology appeared on his forehead. Presumably for forgetting the chair.

Lastly, Red Hood appeared, guns out and ready to fire. That is, if only he had anything to fire at. He quickly put them away once he realized it was only the bats and birds. The others wouldn’t have noticed it but behind his helmet, Jason was wide eyed, noticing the post it note. He only knew of two entities that used that form of communication and one meant something significantly better than the other.

After a few moments of Red Robin and Spoiler helping Oracle into her chair, footsteps could be heard approaching. Everyone tensed, ready for a fight. Except Red Hood who could feel his core tugging at him familiarly.

Two people approached. First person they were able to see was Danny. He had decided to show up in his kingly glory, his ceremonial cloak billowing behind him. As he got closer, they could see a very short woman with black hair and round glasses smoking a cigarette walking with him. Despite Danny being a king, she was the one in charge.

The woman walked up to the group with a judgmental look, “Every one of you. When I point, you tell me your title and occupation. Go.”

Nobody said anything.

“You guys better do what she says,” said Danny chuckling. Their faces so far were hilarious.

Slowly, the family obliged, starting with Red Hood.

“I go by Red Hood. I’m a crime lord. And a vigilante I guess,” Jason said. He knew enough to know they weren’t in any danger.

The others followed along until finally it got to Bruce, “I’m Batman. Vigilante.”

The short woman scoffed and immediately started pointing out the flaws in everyone’s outfits, “You all look ridiculous! What is that, bunny ears? And you! Red, green and yellow are far too many colors! You look like a traffic light! You! Those shoes are impractical and appalling! Do any of you know what style is?!”

She walked up to Duke, “I have seen photos of your suit and it is disgusting! Too bright!”

She gestured wildly to the group, “And NO CAPES!”

The woman then went up to Red Hood, “You are perfect darling, practical and filled with personality. You are my favorite.”

Danny chuckled, “He’s my favorite too.” The king shot a knowing smirk to Jason who under his helmet blushed from the comment.

“I am designing you all new suits right away!” the woman exclaimed with a wild look in her eye.

Danny couldn’t help but start laughing at this point. The looks on everyone’s faces were pure gold. This was the best idea he had literally ever had.

“I can’t wait to see it Edna. I can pay for it too,” the king said, sneaking a glance at Red Hood, “Anything for future in-laws.”

[applepixls]

please join me in imagining:

a sitcom starring the 4 Gs with their creaking neighbour as a frequent visitor and everyone else as side characters we see a lot. and they have super powers.

just imagine, cleo is a necromancer who on the daily has to deal with her sassy zombies and hide them to avoid dealing with the issues of them being undead (fitting 2 extra people in their already cramped flat, taxes, insurance,,, grown up things.) scott is supposed to be super powered but all he does is turn into random barn yard animals impulse can teleport but its not its all cracked up to be (once he sneezed and got accused of robbing a bank) pearl just has a tendency to do dolphin elytra hopping in the living room cause she never has enough room in their cramped flat. ft. their silly neighbour bigb (appears about as much as the landlord in one day at a time if you're familiar.) shows up for family breakfasts and dinners, helps fix things and brings his silly little creaky guys as enrichment for scott when he wants to be something other than a chicken

their neighbours include: 3 college aged guys (who mostly put up with each other and start gradually liking each other better as the show goes on.) who live in the flat below them, one sleeps at any time of day and tends to slow time down to be funny, one runs really fast and freezes water he steps on and the third bounces high with glorified farts and owns a really fancy meat tenderizer. (and is cousins with their other neighbours including a violent ginger girl, a guy obsessed with fast and furious and a guy who seems to be stuck as a 1910s carnival barker-) their 3 upstairs neighbours who more or less keep to themselves and have pet birds, one of them has been asking the landlord if they can build a rooftop rollercoaster (in lieu of a garden) and can.. sit on stuff.. and punches really hard and you ouch if you punch him, another one celebrates every day he lives and is able to go invisible. the third struggles to keep the other two alive and is able to blind others in a vicinity and briefly vanish making her effectively an enhanced cuttlefish. (she is married to their downstairs neighbour and therefore spends as much time as possible in their flat instead of her own. wise choice) then there's the 2 neighbours who are really into roleplay? one of them is nosy and peeps through peep holes cause he can hear everything he sees, the other one borrows peoples identities (no harm done tho mostly just to raid his neighbours fridges without getting yelled at by their roommates) the snooper accidentally trash compactors himself trying to escape the carnival barker and the identity thief is now looking to move in with someone- finally, the main 4's mortal enemies, a guy with a fancy car who can jump on air and a girl who frequently has out of body experiences in which she can talk to the dead. they've recently adopted a silly guy with a waffle who does all of the above but only one at a time on a 6 hour or so time frame. he recently lost his roommates (both in trash compactor incidents, tragic really. one got too close and got eaten the other was leaning out the window trying to see where it was and fell out. self defenestration. rumour has it it was actually one of his buddies but that guy's innocent until proven guilty. these two are ironically now cleo's goons) and couldn't pay the rent himself so he's had to move in with the torettos

i would watch it

[sairenharia]

Of Hedgehogs, Chaos, and the Warrior's Heart

So here is the thing.

We don't know why Longclaw wanted to hide Sonic.

Sonic 3 spoilers ahead.

So upon rewatching the movies and Knuckles miniseries before movie three, this thought has been niggling my brain. Why was Longclaw hiding Sonic. We know Longclaw wanted to hide Sonic for his power, and the first real thought is his superspeed.

Except, when you think about it, superspeed is rather hard to use against a person's will and one of the harder people to contain. Freedom of movement is necessary for full usage, and if you have a speedster with freedom of movement, they can do a lot of things to escape. And really, what do you use it for? Super soldier, maybe, but it gets into that containment thing. Have in a hamster ball forever? Sure, but how do you keep him running and keep him optimal?

When it comes down to it, being used for his speed doesn't warrant Longclaw's actions.

Longclaw wanted an apprentice for the Master Emerald and selected Sonic for being superpowered? Well, possible, but that would mean Longclaw was doing EXACTLY what she was warning Sonic to watch out for. More over, its a pretty terrible thing for Longclaw to DO. If protecting the Master Emerald required isolation, that is a terrible thing to do to a child, especially a child as extroverted and friendly as Sonic is. So no, I don't think Longclaw's hiding away of Sonic had anything to do with the Master Emerald. I think she had ANOTHER reason and since she was already raising and isolating this kid anyway, might as well have him as the guardian after her. The Master Emerald duty was one of convenience, not intent.

So Sonic isn't wanted for his superspeed or his relation to the Master Emerald.

So obviously, I'm getting at his unlimited power source quills and EMP abilities. Or at least what they indicate.

Because let's be real, those abilities are weird. Those are not base Sonic abilities. Whatever is going on is something different from usual canon.

Now, a seemingly infinite power source like the quills able to grant things superspeed is definitely a hell of a thing people would want.

Then there's the sticking point.

Because Knuckles has the same thing going on. Why didn't Knuckles need to be isolated?

Especially as the Prequill comic implies Sonic is a known entity to a certain degree. His speed is well known despite his being a child at the time. Longclaw is known. Tails knows a fair bit about their relationship and what Sonic could do as a child. Sonic, himself, was a KNOWN entity as a toddler.

Which is weird because he wasn't doing heroics then as far as we know.

What is the difference between Knuckles and Sonic. And it was driving me up the wall because Longclaw is hiding Sonic for some reason, and Knuckles was allowed to run free, and the power ups isn't a Mobian thing in general, because Tails has yet to be a sparky sparky LED eyeballs with fur that grants superpowers.

And then we saw Amy Rose.

And the Metal Sonics.

And a lot of things started clicking into place, including a lot of weird things that have cropped up along the way.

The Metal Sonics teleported in as an army. Now generally Metal Sonic is made by Robotnik, but he didn't really have time to do that. More over, why is Amy here in time to deal with them at all. If Robotnik survived the Eclipse Cannon exploding (and let's be hones,t he almost definitely did), Tom is still injured. We max a few months after the Eclipse Cannon and Robotnik probably needs to recover himself.

So I don't believe he's the one who made Metal Sonic in this universe.

So the question is who.

And why.

First weird thing: The Scavengers. Here is the weird thing about the Scavengers. They dress as birds. They're not bird people and it seems the Owls may have made the same path as the Echidnas.

The scavengers, and the Metal Sonics are working in the same vein. Because its known that Sonic was raised by an Owl. Dressing as birds could be a ploy to put Sonic into a false sense of security, lower his guard for them to get the jump. The same for designing the Metal Sonics that way. They want to put Sonic into a false of security.

But that is a lot of work for a Hedgehog that they may or may not know is still alive. Its been years and he was on his own as a literal child.

Weird thing number two. Tails calls Sonic a legend. Why? Because by that point, literally the only thing of note that we know of Sonic that he's done is hide away most of his life and fight ONE guy with a moderately sized robot and stopped some petty crime. Now at first this could just be Tails seeing someone weird being cool getting some hero worship, but we see in the Prequill that Longclaw's home is considered a sacred site.

And we see Tails is cracking chaos energy. Sonic was confused for a place destroyed by chaos energy.

Weird thing number three. Knuckles and Tails say Sonic and Shadow look alike, which is weird when they would be around more mobians and aliens in general. Sonic looking at another Hedgehog and thinking 'they look like me' tracks because Sonic doesn't remember seeing another Hedgehog. If you see a pack of wolves, you're gonna think they all look the same until you're around the pack enough to tell the difference. Knuckles and Tails should be able to tell the difference, while the Hedgehogs are new to seeing any pack.

Weird thing number four. Knuckles says its impossible. That's a weird word to describe meeting another Hedgehog. They knew they were going to see an alien. Why not another Hedgehog? What about Hedgehogs makes it such a surprise?

Why does Longclaw need to hide Sonic?

Because Hedgehogs are hunted down.

The Scavengers dress as birds because there is a long history of Owls trying to protect Hedgehogs.

The Metal Sonics are Metal Hedgehogs, with a paint job because they're aware of Sonic's existence, so they made it more specific.

Amy is dressed like a survivor type because she is being hunted down too and she has to keep herself covered up and she's on Earth to protect some fellow Hedgehogs.

Why is Knuckles different from Sonic (and Shadow)?

The Echidnas may not be so different and that's why their numbers were decimated since not ALL of them should be hunting down the Master Emerald. A lot of Echidna's might have died in pursuit of power, but they may be close enough to Hedgehogs that they get tracked down for either use or destruction.

But they're not as scary as Hedgehogs.

Because Hedgehogs can access Chaos Energy with ease and Echidnas have to work at it.

We know in the Knuckles Miniseries that Knuckles knows he's had chaos energy all his life, but he wasn't able to access it. Not without training and hard work and a warrior's heart.

Sonic and Shadow, we know, never had a day of training in their lives before they were going nuclear.

Echidnas are a crafted blade.

Hedgehogs are a lake of gasoline.

Longclaw needed to hide Sonic because he was a Hedgehog and someone wanted Hedgehogs either to use or destroy. Hedgehogs in the wild are rare enough that his natural abilities were taken stock of.

Sonic is a legend because, by being a Hedgehog, he is destined to be something powerful. He was weird. He was unique. He was amazing. And he choose to help people with these abilities and that's why Tails considered him a legend.

(There is also a possibility there is just straight up a prophecy and Tails hasn't quite caught on how much Longclaw did NOT tell Sonic things. A bit of a 'this is a normal fact to Knuckles and Tails so it doesn't enter their minds Sonic DOESN'T know it' but that is very speculative without a lot of evidence to go off of.)

Circling back to the idea of the Warrior's Heart and the importance of the Hedgehogs we see.

Here is the thing, Sonic the Hedgehog has established that the power of friendship/family/love is, in fact, a thing that happens. We see Sonic go from on the floor to fighting Robotnik with the Wachowski's and town reaching out. We see the Chaos Emeralds react in face of a familial love. We see Knuckles go from the ground and drained to raring to go for his home. We see Sonic get the upper hand on Shadow when his love for Tom is provoked, and we see Shadow use his love for Maria to move the Eclipse Cannon.

And throughout the series we see a human do an act of superhuman ability without any aid of technology or magic gems a grand total of once.

Wade Whipple.

In Flames of Disaster, he does a standing jump inside of the cage, through the roof, several feet above it, and land without getting seriously hurt. While we may not know the exact material of the roof and it looks like cardboard, the standing jump is not a realistic human feat, let alone for Wade Whipple.

But he was selected to be the inheritor of the Echidna's way. Sure, his selection may have also been about getting Knuckles to live his life, but I think his selection was two pronged. One part was to help Knuckles learn to live his life, but another was Wade had a potential.

Chaos Energy.

How much, who knows, but it was enough that when Wade figured out how to connect to the Warrior's Heart, he was able to access that power he had to jump through the roof.

And Wade's journey is about trying to be good enough for his dad. The daddy issues were real. He wants to prove he's a warrior, prove he's good enough, to be able to reach his dad again. That was his motivation for his way of the warrior.

Connection is key for chaos energy.

Which makes it funny because the used of a lot of it have largely been those who experienced great loneliness.

Which can also go a long way to explain why the quills retain their power. Because the quills are weird. The quills being pulled off should mean they're dead tissue so while retaining some energy for a while isn't such a hard thing to believe, we know they can last one to fifty years with no problem. And that is base Hedgehogs. That points to an active connection with the quills. Which also goes along with Sonic's quills lighting up when he gets worked up.

Which goes into the Elephant in the room.

What's the deal with Shadow?

He wasn't created by GUN or Gerald. He may have been a natural born Hedgehog for all we know. But here is where we get into theories.

Because the other known factor for Shadow's creation is Black Arms.

And why I think Hedgehogs are hunted down.

And why Longclaw focused so hard on Sonic's heart and to not let himself be used.

And why GUN got real lucky Maria existed in the first place.

My firs thought is Black Arms like to target Hedgehogs for infection. Usage. Hedgehogs are so intune with Chaos Energy, they're prime candidates to convert into their hivemind and Shadow was the first experiment into that. Make him the hybrid.

Which may be the case.

A friend mine proposed another theory that feels more secure in what we've seen.

Hedgehogs ARE Black Arms.

Chaos reacts to connections. It doesn't have to be a positive, it just has to strong. The want to protect family, the home, tradition, is just as strong as grief, vengeance, and loneliness. Connection is the key.

Much like a hivemind.

And it would explain why the quills are active so long. To tap into chaos is to tap into a hivemind and then every part of someone becomes part of the entity. The quills don't lose charge because they continue to LIVE, even if they don't have THOUGHTS.

Its also why the quills so READILY give out their powers to others. Knuckles grants strength. Sonic grants speed. Shadow just grants pure, unfiltered power.

Its also why Sonic and Knuckles are able to absorb their power back from stolen quills or energy drains.

Maybe its why Shadow survived the Eclipse Cannon, its his power, he just needed to be able to absorb it again.

They're calling back the power from a hivemind.

It may be why Knuckles can see ghosts of his ancestors, because they have accepted this lowkey hivemind when they embrace chaos.

Other creatures need to work to achieve this state. To connect to Chaos, to have all of their body alive with chaos, and potentially connect to other in Chaos.

Hedgehogs are scary because they don't need to work for it.

Sonic didn't want to knock out the power in several states and a sattelite. He just wanted so desperately to connect to anyone, his powers reacted and called out anyone who was interested in him.

Shadow, despite his introverted nature and treatment from the scientists, connected hard with Maria and she became the light in his life. A light that caused madness in its absence until he formed an empathetic connection that let him see it could still exist.

And then there's Amy Rose, known advocate for all things love and friendship.

Hedgehogs have two ways they can go.

They can become the Black Arms, who are going to be scary, dangerous beings in the galaxy, enough to warrant scavengers to disguise as birds to put them at ease whether or not they're looking for them specifically. To warrant a robot army.

Black Arms who lean hard into the hivemind, the connection to others, to lead them to take and take and take for the betterment of themselves.

Or, what the Owls have discovered, if they can get to Hedgehogs early enough, they can teach them to love and care in a less destructive way. Perhaps something they learned in their long standing feud with the Echidnas, who have tapped into the power, but remained more sane than Black Arms. Their hearts can be good and pure. They don't need to let others use them for their powers. They can be an individual and remain free, even if their quills are in the hivemind.

Teach Hedgehogs to be good people who can do great things, as long as they are allowed to make decisions for themselves. Instead of being used by the larger group.

Shadow may be a hybrid. He may have been just someone who converted early into the state of Black Arms, but crashing into Earth cut him off.

But either way, whatever is going on with Hedgehogs, I'm pretty sure they are indeed an endangered species.

[writtenbyshama]

Memory Theatre (Sylus x Reader)

Synopsis: Y/n is a protocore researcher who is looking for answers about how an aether core got lodged into her heart and why is it messing with her brain. In the midst of this elaborate maze of dead ends and false answers, she encounters a man who seems to be very interested in her and is willing to find ways of providing her with the answers she's seeking.

Author's note: Y/n is not a hunter; she is a Master's student (not based on myself at all) and a part time protocore researcher at the Association. No changes to Sylus, although there may be situations in the story where he might be a little out of character. Mentions of the other LADS men, but they are not the love interests here.

Part 1: Chapter 1

A Forgotten Battle

The mechanical crow had been with me ever since I could remember. 

That was really something, since my memory wasn’t something I could rely on often. But this, I was sure of: that specific bird was always around and never really left me alone. 

I swayed in my place, clutching my shoulder that was injured in battle, spots dotting my already blurry vision. The crow flew once around me before settling on a branch of a nearby tree. I had named him Mashi, and yes, I’d assumed he was a male because he looked like one. All these years, he had never let me get close or touch him, but stayed in my periphery, keeping an eye on me for some reason. 

Ignoring the bird, I struggled to stay upright, blinking and shaking my head to clear my vision and take note of my surroundings. It was a clearing surrounded by a shallow vegetation, reeking of decimated wanderers. Three new protocores weighed heavily in my pocket as I stumbled onto a nearby rock and sat down, my head spinning a little. Careful not to move my injured shoulder much, I rested my forearm across my knees and unlocked the hunter’s watch on my wrist. The injury was throbbing in time with the pulse at my temple and I was about to pass out. Soon. 

My fingers quickly navigated through the holo-screen of my watch and I contacted Tara, my partner for this assignment. She picked up almost instantly. 

“Y/n! Where the fuck are you? We’ve been searching for you for two hours now!”

I winced at her outburst. “Sorry, one of the wanderers had teleportation powers. I only noticed that after I resonated with its protocore and I got separated from you guys,” my voice was weak with exhaustion. “I’ve transmitted the location, would you come here please? I’m injured, and might not be able to—“

“We’re on our way.” She noticed my flickering gaze and swaying movements. “Keep talking to me Y/n, don’t you dare pass out.”

I tried my best to stay awake. Her voice was sharp and clear, ordering me to keep my focus on her until they reached me. I held on until I could hear the sound of the helicopter approaching. My mind and body were both so exhausted that as the aircraft landed, I didn’t have the strength to stay upright anymore. 

🗡️🐦‍⬛🗡️

My eyes were covered with a cold bandage that was wrapped around my head.

Reaching up, I carefully removed it, opening my swollen lids with difficulty and placed the white gauze on a table beside the beeping machines. Just as I had expected: a cold, impersonal hospital room smelling of sanitiser and the ‘Get well soon’ flower baskets on another table near the window. My arms, neck, and chest were tethered to the machines to monitor my vitals.  

I squinted at the weak sunlight filtering through the industrial white blinds of the room’s only window. Mashi would be somewhere nearby, but he wasn’t visible as of now.

 I had spent so many hours in similar beds of the same hospital previously, and times like these were when I felt the loneliest. I had no family to speak of, no one to spend the night with me here. The friends I had were close enough to only send fruits and flowers and nothing else. 

I carefully sat up and pressed a button to elevate the bed so I could recline against the pillows comfortably. My head felt heavy, and my injured shoulder was completely numb. The visible expanse of my skin was blooming with reddish-purple marks. A few minutes later, the door opened and Dr. Zayne entered.

He stood there for a second, assessing me while I stared back. He was one of the people from my childhood, the only one alive. The other two people from that life had died in an explosion some time ago. 

Dr. Zayne was in formals sans the white coat. He crossed over to the table with the flower arrangements and took a seat on the plastic chair next to it. “I wasn’t aware that your designation had changed from protocore researcher to hunter.”

Translation: Why the fuck are you here after fighting wanderers?

His voice was low, measured and controlled. Only his eyes were alert and perceptive to my expressions. I’d once thought that he hated me, but he just had a cold personality that corresponded with his evol. He only expressed warmth and sincere affection towards his girlfriend, Ms. Hunter. The rest, in his opinion, could go to hell for all he cared (except his patients). 

“Heh.” I ignored him and his question. Just because we were friends and he was my primary care physician didn’t mean I had to answer all his questions. The exhaustion was still there, and I was irritated with everything. 

“Answer me.” 

I sighed. He wasn’t going to let this go. “It was an all hands on deck situation. They recruited the people with powerful evols from the desk to help the hunters in the field. I was one of them, and I didn’t want to decline.”

“Any memory lapses?”

I nodded. “Just the normal stuff. I don’t remember most of the battle or how I injured my shoulder.”

“Hmm.” He’d taken out a pocketbook and was making notes as he asked the questions. “Whose evol were you resonating with?”

“Whichever teammate was the closest to me. Mostly it was Tara, but then I had to switch to one of the wanderers’ own protocore when Tara’s evol was dimming.”

“They found you in the woods, ten miles from the actual protofield.”

“It was capable of teleportation. I figured that out too late.”

“The core in your heart,” Zayne deliberately left out the word aether, since one never knew who was listening, “it is somewhat stable for now. You’ll be discharged in the evening. Take plenty of rest, and if you feel any different, drop me a text or call.”

“Right.”

“And be careful about resonating with wild protocores just like that. I don’t want to wake up one day and see you in the mortuary instead of a normal ward.”

That was as close as he would come to admit that he cared about me, however little. Being the only (human) child of his parents, he had cared for me like a sibling and I was grateful. Gently patting my hair, he bade me to rest and left the room, closing the door behind him. 

🗡️🐦‍⬛🗡️

Enjoyed the chapter? Follow me on Instagram and Wattpad at _writtenbyshama for more. Happy reading! <3

Part 1: Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[bubbleddisasters]

I know considering what we just learned in Caters dream this may be unlikely but:

I feel like Treys dream is just going to be everyone got fucking therapy. And something to do with dentistry and/or a bakery. Like thats it.

Just everyone actually works together in a safe, effective and healthy manner, Che’nyas an NRC student and is able watch over Riddle and keep watch/the dorm in line when Trey can’t and Cater opens up to him.

Like thats it. Everything else is status quo.

Ace and Deuce are still fucking around as usual, Yuu is the mediator, Leona finally got meds for his depression and some therapy so he’s not sleeping around as much, the majority of students are less manipulative and self absorbed, all is fine and dandy.

Ah yes, and You’ve predicted correctly, another Blue Che’nya Rant incoming under the cut lol:

———-

I need Che’nya to pull out his fourth wall breaking shenanigans again. He referenced Yuu’s mirror in Book 1 before Yuu even knew about it? AND The Cheshire Cat has Shapeshifting abilities and is literally the strongest creature in Wonderland only second to TIME ITSELF.

And what do Cats hate? Mice and Birds.

And who, pray tell, gets Alice out of Wonderland?

THE 👏CHESHIRE 👏CAT

You cannot tell me Che’nya was NOT the one who Mickey saw. Che’nya is already mildly hinted at being ridiculously OP.

Think also about Grim. Who has the same color palette and Blue fire as Ignihyde, and the only other character besides Che’nya to have a Cheshire esc grinning sprite. Also, a directly CAT based appearance, not a Lion like Leona, but your average joe cat.

Judging from Grims Design, role in the story and Bow, he’s likely based on Alices Cat in Alice in Wonderland that is unintentionally left behind by Alice when she falls through the Rabbit Hole.

Oh, and the Cheshire cat in the live action? DARKISH GREY AND FUCKING BLUE.

And Che’nya? Who conveniently appeared in both books with Tyrant in the name, conveniently has the ability to slip past NRCs barrier that took S.T.Y.X THEMSELVES SEVERAL HIGH POWERED ANTI MAGIC SHOTS to get through? Without Crowley noticing aswell? And likely teleporting the length of probably a SMALL COUNTRY just to go and fuck with Heartstabyl every other Tuesday or something? WITH NO VISIBLE MAGESTONE ON HIM.

Who randomly knew about our Mirror before we did, and DIRECTLY REFERENCED MICKEY/SOMEONE/ANOTHER WORLD BEING IN OUR MIRROR FROM THE START?? Who has had the ability to FLY, GO INVISIBLE, CONTROL HIS OWN GRAVITY AND LIKELY TELEPORT SO MUCH THAT TREYS SIBLINGS ASSUMED IT WAS CHE’NYA OPENING THEIR FRIDGE AND NOT THEIR OWN DAMM BROTHER, AND POSSIBLY DETACHING HIS OWN LIMBS, SINCE AGE FUCKING NINE (all seen/referenced in manga) , WHICH WE LEARNED SHOULD HAVE PRACTICALLY EXPLODED THE AVERAGE CHILD FROM ROLLO.

BRO HAS BEEN DOING FEATS WE’VE ONLY SEEN LILIA, CROWLEY AND MALLEUS DO.

Lastly, who could’ve followed us throughout our entire journey without notice?

In the Manga, a clone cater got LITERALLY impaled. Theres no way in hell every single person survived an overblot fight with, according to Ace, “A Couple Bruises” without some guardian angel bs happening.

WHOS ALSO THERE FOR ALICES ENTIRE JOURNEY AND PLAYS THE GUARDIAN ANGEL WHEN ALICE NEEDED AN EMERGENCY ROUTE OUT OF WONDERLAND WHEN SHE WAS BEING CHASED??????

THE 👏CHESHIRE 👏CAT

And theres only one person that can pull that role off without detection even if they slipped up, as if Crowley did so and suddenly accidentally became visible or smth, it’d draw more questions. Like wtf he’s doing his job????

For Scarabia, We basically had a magic shield (Floyd) and a Direct Target (Kalim), so Yuus less likely to catch Strays. Plus I wouldn’t put it above Floyd to work with Che’nya and just not fucking mention it. They seem like they’d get along well actually ngl.

Ignihyde is both the most suspicious and kinda hard to piece together, but why did Riddle end up the ONLY one to get oldified when they were likely similar distances to Tartarus. Something that conveniently forced him to pull out of the fight?

Also, you CANNOT tell me, no anti-magic necklaces or not, the magepens would be magic summonable. Thats way too risky and an obvious thing they’d have a backup for. Someone had to unlock it and I have my doubts it was Idia/Ortho, because that raised their fail rate probably quite higher.

Same goes for the Lightning Bolts. I heavily doubt Idia or Ortho would give them access to that at its full ability, especially pretty right off the bat, if the off chance of all three being used against them at once was on the table, since it would practically be the equivalent to a 3-1 hit K.O cheat code or 3-1 Instant D-20s in a row. 3 possible instant K.O shots per team, and 3 teams, totaling up to 9 POSSIBLE INSTANT K.O SHOTS. Thats way too risky. One? Maybe. Two? Eh. BUT NINE? BEFORE THE FINAL BOSS FIGHT? WITH THE MAGEPENS TOO?

Also, if someone had the batshit Idea (cough Epel or Rook cough) to jump down the tower, since it’s literally just the worlds deadliest spiral staircase, and summon some cushioning for their fall and jump to the last floor platform, they could speedrun directly to them with the fully charged bolt, and if they got the rest of the groups to do that, things would go to shit for Idia pretty fast.

They also had the equivalent of a trained sniper with them. If Rook finds major vulnerabilities and tells everyone where to hit them all at the same time, its probably over.

I can mildly see the possibility of OB! Idia getting too cocky and doing so, but I find it doubtful, as I feel he would label it an “endgame” reward considering how OP it is.

It’s been proved before that NRC has it basically on sight with RSA, which works in Che’nyas favor, since they focus on the fact an RSA students on campus rather then HOW he got there.

That, and the Overblotee or more logical guys will probably be like “Riddle/Trey sent Supervision? Yea all things considering that tracks honestly.”

We see this in the game and manga, but in the manga, we can see in the Heartstabyl Finale image that Che’nya never actually left after we see him get “chased out”, and has literally been chilling in a bush watching the group the whole time, meaning he’s likely pretty experienced with faking his departures.

So we can’t hear him, can’t see him, no footprints or footsteps, he can literally clip out of existence to miles away up a mountain on command??? And can unexplainably slip past 500 year old arcane barriers without breaking a sweat???

Bros got The Guardian Angel/ Spy package Deluxe.

Anyway thats just a bad theory but yea

Thats the end of my rant for now I need to eat lunch lol.

[yuurei20]

Lilia Facts Part 42: Lilia's Age (pt3) and Vil

Book 7 begins with Lilia’s announcement that he will be dropping out of NRC due to his magic weakening for years, to the point that he can no longer teleport.

This seems to be news to Malleus, Sebek and Silver, despite Lilia telling Sebek, “It's been happening since before you boys were born.”

Lilia has a voice line about being “between 10 and 1,000”, and we learn in Book 7 that he is “going on 700,” having received his admissions letter to NRC 500 years ago.

When asked directly why he is dropping out Lilia whispers that he does not want the others to seem him in a weakened state.

This is exactly what happens, however, when he tries to stop Malleus from overblotting and finds he cannot cast even a single attack spell anymore. (Malleus: “Oh, Lilia... You used to be so powerful. What a heartrending sight this is.”)

Lilia has said multiple times that he thought he would be able to complete four years of school at NRC, but he aged a bit faster than he’d anticipated, explaining, “I'm told that my own family tends to live for about a millennium…but I may have overdone it a bit in my younger days.”

Vil says that if he could take anyone to a deserted island it would be Lilia, as Lilia gives the impression of someone who has been to many lands, and someone who has been exposed to many different cultures and customs would likely be useful to him: “He has knowledge and experience in spades, as well as exceptional physical and magical prowess.”

Lilia vetoes the idea of transferring to Pomefiore, saying, “they'd probably ban me from multi-night gaming binges for some silly reason like how it's "bad for the skin."

This assumption may be based on a vignette where Vil declares that Lilia is “someone who can't be bothered to make any particular effort at anything,” citing his late-night gaming habit.

Lilia says he has actually become an early bird because there is too much competition at night, but Vil is not amused. Lilia says that one night for him passes like a few seconds, which Vil dismisses as random nonsense and asks why neither his grades nor his skin seem to suffer from his late nights.

Lilia tries to deflect the question but Vil refuses to let him “weasel” his way out of answering, guessing that Lilia may be delegating tasks to others, or “imbibing some sort of potion.” Lilia responds, “You'll know in due time. No need to rush it” and disappears. When Lilia reveals his true age during his farewell party, he is speaking to Vil.

[liverwisteria]

LAUGHING JILL HEADCANONS

Because Wisteria talked about Laughing Jack, today Wisteria will talk about Laughing Jill :3

GENERAL HEADCANONS:

✰ Laughing Jill stands the same height as Laughing Jack, 7’4.

✰ Her age is unknown and unlike Laughing Jack she looks quite younger, with her physical appearance appearing as someone who’s in their late 20’s.

✰ Her birthday is December 24th, she doesn’t celebrate her birthday as the last time she spent it was with Mary. A day that’s supposed to be cheerfully celebrated is just a reminder that she’s lost someone important.

✰ She has a VERY STRONG Scottish accent as she was born in Scotland. Uses Scottish phrases sometimes and has to like minimize it when talking to the other proxies though…lol.

✰ Speakinggg about the other proxies, Jill is like an auntie! The kids absolutely adore her because she’s very sweet and welcoming. The kids gave her the name “Auntie Jill” :)

✰ She bakes all sorts of things! Breads, cookies, cakes, pies, everything and anything! She takes these treats and brings it over to the mansion when she visits. The bread and cookies she bakes are always in those fun shapes.

✰ Wisteria says “visits” because Laughing Jill does not live in the mansion. Instead she has her own little cute cottage out in the woods! Laughing Jill once walked into the mansion on a lovely afternoon— saw the chaos, teleported into Slendermans office and requested to stay out in the woods where it was calm. And her request got accepted! So there she stays. Out in her lovely cottage.

✰ It does get a bit lonely out there— and she misses mansion drama which she then has to be caught up on when she visits— but. Everything is okay, Laughing Jill prefers it this way anyhow. She’s not a fan of large gatherings, and she isn’t interested in drama so this lifestyle is perfect for her.

✰ Not to mention she has all sorts of hobbies, she never gets bored in her small cottage. Which can be shifted into her liking, she can add new rooms if she wishes, but as for now it’s just a small nicely decorated cottage. Outside, she has her own little garden where she grows vegetables, fruits, and flowers. With her fresh plants she’s able to cook her own delicious meals and come up with her own recipes!

✰ Laughing Jill is much more sweeter towards children. Espicslly the ones that reside in the mansion, she’s always brining them treats, crocheted items, and whatever she thinks that they’d like! As for the adults…ehhh…she brings baked goods! But, uh, that’s about it.

✰BUT! She brings more to those who she’s close with that being: Zero, Candy Pop, and Lulu! She has a much closer bond to these three, which means she brings gifts to them whenever she’s on those visits! Which happen…like. Two times a month… (she really does not like going to the mansion.)

✰ She owns three…ostriches….because some medieval jester (not saying names) gifted her ostrich eggs. The kids named the Rosemarie, Annabelle, and Jellybean. Though it was confusing at first have ostriches at pets she’s come to love them! She spends most of her morning taking care of them, and she doesn’t mind at all. She feeds them, brushes them, spends time hanging out with them, and honestly! She’s thinking of getting more animals! She may have a farm out there soon guys…

✰ Honestly she practically does have a farm out there. Or at least, animals seem to adore Jill. She’s quiet, and her cottage is a perfect place for them to come together and just hangout. Jill feeds the animals! She has little feeding stations put around her cottage, there’s bird feeders put out her windows so she can watch the birdies :)

✰ I also imagine she has like a rocking chair somewhere near her front porch. She sits back, either knitting, looking at the newspaper, or reading. She has her reading glasses on and she occasionally looks up to watch the animals that walk by her cottage. She smiles and gestures for them to get closer so she can give them a treat. It’s perfect! Her like is perfect!

✰ Her personally is well…like a sweet old grandma. She treats everyone practically the same, showing them respect and kindness! I imagine she has those like hard candies that grannies give out…but seriously! She doesn’t have any problems with anyone in the mansion— except for…except for Laughing Jack…

…

✰ Jill absolutely hates that other clown. Every time he speaks her smile leaves her face and her eyes twitch. She has to stop herself from chasing him with her chainsaw…and it’s not like she’s wrong for hating him. He kills children! And EATS THEM…! She’s justified!

✰ But uhm, yeah. The clowns don’t get along at all. In fact if they were to be left alone in room for a few seconds they would be trying to kill each other.

✰ OH YEAHHH!!! Her weapon is a beautiful black and white chainsaw which she decorated herself! There’s stickers on it and silly charms. Shes able to spawn it at will and it’s sharper than anything. It’s heavy to anyone that isn’t Jill! Meaning only shes able wield it as it was made for her.

She’s literally the sweetest…Wisteria loves Laughing Jill so much…sniffles…Wisteria misses her guys…

That is all Wisteria has for this silly cute clown :)

[autumnslance]

FFXIV Write 2024: 23 On Cloud Nine

(730ish words of Shadowbringers and a Good Girl)

The stables in their stone home were very comfortable. The stablehands were friendly, there were plenty of adventurers and their mounts to meet—not always chocobos, but no accounting for taste. Great care was taken with the food and water, and there was no shortage of gysahl greens, krakka, or curiel roots. There were toys of all kinds, and a nice little meadow cleared out and reclaimed from the Gloomy Place’s blasted grounds for playtime.

Snowlight was at least content for the moment.

Some of the Scions would come to visit. The small ladies when they could, though they were Very Important And Busy. But the Bow Lady took Snowlight on rides around the lake, or up into the foothills leading toward the Frozen Place. She would let Snowlight gallop as fast as she could while the Bow Lady practiced firing from Snowlight’s back, and that was a lot of fun! They even tried flying a little when she did it, and Snowlight was very careful to not drop her person’s comrade.

Her person had asked Snowlight to wait patiently and be helpful to her friends. She had called Snowlight a good girl and kissed her beak and promised she wouldn’t be long, but wouldn’t be able to call to Snowlight where she had to go.

Snowlight had kweh’d and cuddled her person, who was worried about her friends, sleeping too still. Especially the Sneaky Man; her person liked him the most. And that was all right; he knew how to give proper scritches and what treats were best, and made her person happy. So Snowlight wanted him to wake up, along with the rest of the sleepers. They were all very nice and friends with Snowlight, too.

Her person had left some time ago, and the days turned to weeks turned to moons. Snowlight would have been more concerned, except for the pixie that visited her dreams, crooning about what a pretty bird she was and that her person was just fine.

It had been awhile since the pixie's last visit, though.

The day was like any other; gloomy aether filling the air and obscuring the sun. The stablehands stumbled in early regardless, yawning and joking, making sure everyone had breakfast and water. They took turns letting out some of the long term residents to muck out their stalls, a few adventurers coming to claim their companions. The small friend with the cat-ear hood came to visit Snowlight. She seemed very tired, and Snowlight wished she would get more rest. But she offered treats, and helped the stablehands lead Snowlight out with some others to the meadow to play. She had to leave after that, but that was fine, Snowlight was busy asserting her dominance at kickball against some sprout adventuring birds.

She had almost won when she stopped still on the field, the other chocobos cheering and fluttering as they scored. But the familiar pressure had suddenly returned, like one’s ears popping during a change in altitude.

She trembled, talons flexing into the dirt. Could it be…?

The whistle called to her, and she kweh’d joyously, using its signal and bit of crystal, joined to her own aether, to teleport.

Snowlight was hardly in the River at all when she popped back into the world, in the shadow of the Tower on the other side of the lake. Her person smiled brightly—and then oofed as Snowlight headbutt her in excitement, wings flapping wildly.

“I missed you, too!” her person laughed, burying her face in Snowlight’s feathery neck. There were strange scents and sensations from her person, indicating Things Had Happened. It was very odd that there was a whiff of the Sneaky Man among the new smells, when Snowlight was certain he still slept in the stone house, but she could figure that out later, what mattered now was that Snowlight’s person had returned!

Not like last time. This person had kept her promise.

“Let’s go, Snowlight. I’ve much to tell the others,” her person said, swinging up onto Snowlight’s back, even without a saddle or bridle. She scritched Snowlight’s neck in just the perfect way.

Snowlight kweh’d an agreement and took off—carefully!—for the stone home on the other shore. Her person hugged onto her back and it was the best thing ever, this was the best day ever.

Her person was home!

[emdashbitch]

100% crack theory that is NOT supposed to be taken seriously, it's really just a combo of Bucky's absurd location hopping and coincidence.

Bucky's serum that Zola gave him was adapted using the Space stone and just happened to be compatible with Bucky's naturally high spatial awareness so it worked. It spatially locked him, ie making him immune to other people's spatial powers, and gave him the ability to slip in and out of space as flashy or subtly as he likes, and being Bucky/WS he's always gone the subtle route. It's how the Winter Soldier gained a reputation for being a ghost, and how Bucky seems to just disappear in a blink in scenes or implausibly show up in entirely different locations at speeds too fast for even a super soldier to be capable of.

Maybe he isn't really aware he can do it either and it escaped Hydra notice because it's bending space and reality in a specific way that mortals don't tend to be able to compute unless they're Wanda or a trained sorcerer. He uses it way more as the Winter Soldier because in that state he uses everything available to him to complete the mission, even powers he's only subconsciously aware of/uses like muscle memory or instinct. But as Bucky he's not so one track minded and can't consciously use something he's not aware he has.

Bucky can teleport in the comics but it's through the use of technology. It wouldn't be the first time Marvel has changed its characters' power sets and origins around, just look at the Maximoffs, Kamala and even Sam, who can talk to birds in the comics and has a real bird companion, but only has a drone in the MCU.

It really made me laugh rewatching CACW where he's just constantly showing up out of nowhere, popping up in completely different locations with not enough time for even a super soldier to get there and disappearing into thin fucking air so quickly it's frequently a running bit with the other characters doing double takes over where tf he just went. (I've seen so many commentators and reactors call out how the fuck he moves through the building so fast in CACW, and his dramatic exits? Where he's just gone? Outta nowhere? Even for a big scary elite Hydra super soldier that's ridiculous. It's not just editing weirdness either, it's something that's acknowledged IN UNIVERSE by multiple characters.)

On a final note it's fucking hilarious to imagine Bucky either somehow never noticed or just assumed it was something every super soldier could do too so never brought it up since they don't exactly go around stating their powers out in an itemized list lmao

[cdnonymous]

Isolation Leads Places

Yan!G1Soundwave x Female!Human!Witch!OC

Prelude/Backstory

Lilith Bishop, 23 years old forever, 5 feet 10 inches. She has long straight dark brown hair always in a ponytail, baggy clothes, converse shoes, people called her tacky, others called her a weirdo. The government calls her a monster because of her magic. Even if she never did anything wrong, they just want to cut her in tiny pieces so they can study her. Maybe if she’s lucky they’ll put her in a containment chamber? But she’d NEVER prefer living in constant paranoïa than being imprisoned in a cage… right?

Wrong…

She hates the human race, it’s not being isolated from the world that scares her, in fact this factor makes her hesitate at times whether she should surrender or not. Instead she just… prefers not to see any human at all. If they put her in a cage, and wouldn't show their faces once, they don’t even have to feed her or give her water, she’d be fine. But she knows humans will never leave her alone a single second if she surrenders.

Hmmm… maybe you’re wondering why I said “forever” up there when I said her age? Well it’s because she’s immortal… I’m starting to think this is a Mary Sue I’m creating right there… but no… she has weaknesses; her ego… her emotions, her powers themselves that can prove to be completely unpredictable at times… oh and she’s stubborn… but I mean SUPER FUCKING FEISTY type of stubborn. She will not surrender unless you give her something she will agree with in return. And even so, her trust issues will probably make her change ideas at the last moment anyway.

Being immortal has its perks though; she managed to be a pro at… a lot of things. Like coding, engineering… art like writing and sketching… yeah no she wasn’t immortal for that long… only a hundred years at max.

As for the “she doesn’t even need food or water to survive” thing, it’s true, she tested it, she doesn’t even feel the pain of starvation anymore, as for water… she can work things out by herself, after all the only limit to magic is imagination…

So… yeah that’s about it for Lilith.

Soundwave… oh that monoparental dad… where do I even start.

He discovered Lilith when she was being chased by authorities after being uncovered… again. She was flying… humans aren’t supposed to be able to do that aren’t they? She was going at god knows how many kilometers per hour. And again, humans aren’t supposed to be able to do that. Was she even a human in the first place? She seemed to despise them as well, she stayed hidden because of what she possessed; the powers of a god.

This human could be perfect for taking over Earth! She could help Decepticons into destroying this planet for good! The only thing to do was to wait for the best moment to abduct her. How hard can it be when you have drone birds, minicons that can yank her out of her apartment without a problem and Ravage! It’s going to be as easy as opening a door…

Right?

Oh no… no we’re talking about an anxious woman with trust issues who’s able to teleport from point A to point B without a care in the world, who had to deal with people abducting her many MANY times, who knows every tactic ever…

Except when it comes to Cybertronians…

Part 1 in progress

[thefirstknife]

Hi Bel,

I have a question related to the lore surrounding the Vex and the way they interact with time. There seems to be debate over if they can time travel vs their advanced simulation technology just makes it seem like they can time travel etc. Would you be able to explain definitely what their capabilities are regarding affecting time? Can they change the past?

They can time travel... sort of. If we're understanding it correctly. But also the way we view time travel and the way the Vex view time travel might not be entirely aligned.

They have to be able to move through time because that's the only way we can actually see Precursors and Descendants; past Vex and future Vex respectively. For example, now in Echoes, a lot of the Vex we fight are Precursors; really odd overall because they appear to be rare. There's some in the Vault of Glass and the Black Garden, but they were mostly located on Mercury. They're old Vex, from the past.

So how can they be here unless the Vex move through time? The same question applies to Descendants, Vex from the future. However, this raises a further question: if they can time travel, why didn't they already achieve their goals? This:

"If the Vex had achieved what we would call 'time travel,' surely none of us would now exist." —Sister Faora, "Theories on the Vex"

A good explanation of this problem is this lore tab from Aspect:

The Vex, they're the closest to understanding it. They've got distance from it. If time's a river, then we're fish and they're diving birds. What's wet mean to a fish? What's it mean to an osprey, who's never fooled by refraction on the water's surface?

+

The Vex understand time in a way we never will. Doesn't matter how long I spend here watching them. Doesn't matter how many jury-rigged portals Guardians fling themselves through. We live in time. They use it as a tool. Any moment that's ever happened, any moment that will ever happen, they can go back to it. Play it again till they get it right. Simulate it.

So why can't they change things fundamentally? Seems to be good old paracausality:

The Light's a counter to that. They come back, a Guardian comes back. They simulate an ending, a Guardian tears through it. Stalemate.

Some of their powers also appear to be just them using time as a tool; teleporting is described as essentially time travelling:

The Minotaur revises its place in history, appearing to teleport forward as it shifts to a more advantageous future.

Simulation allows them to explore possibilities and options at a larger scale, but I believe it's separate from the actual ability to move through time. They can do both, for different purposes, both of which are not entirely clear to us. Paracausality is yet again a problem for them, even for simulation.

There's some technology that was capable of actually making changes, most notably the Sundial. This wasn't made by the Vex, but it was using Vex technology and the whole deal with it was that the Psions were capable of rewriting history with it. The Sundial also allowed us to go into the past, into Saint's personal timeline, and save him, by changing it (and creating a paradox with it).

Another question is the Corridors of Time which the Vex were using to move through time, but it's unclear if they've created that space or not. And one more question are timelines and how does that affect the Vex and their unique relationship with time and other realities. We could also go into the Vault of Glass and Black Garden and other Vex spaces and all of their weirdness with time. There's something going on with it, on top of simulation technology.

In truth, we're not really sure about a lot of stuff with the Vex simply because they have this strange relationship to time that we can't really grasp. Even those that explored the Vex closely like Osiris and Elsie can't really answer some of these questions.

It's a very interesting discussion, so if anyone wants to add to it feel free! Time travel shenanigans are still mostly mysterious and so are the Vex.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Drabble-A-Thon Prompt #11

Pairing: Shigadabi

Rating: General

Prompt: Shigadabi happy after the war, having a place of their own and being together in whatever dynamic works for them.

Contents: Mentioned character death (of side characters)

Winning the war was... anticlimactic. He realized that Hawks was planning something and going to hit their base while Shigaraki was away, so he burned the bird to a crisp and had his body teleported right in front of the HPSC building as the chairwoman was leaving. If she hadn't paused to answer something one of her lackies said, she would have gotten crushed as his corpse dropped out of the sky. That put them in overdrive and the heroes wanted to make their next moves too quickly. He went to Ujiko and told him to pause Shigaraki's treatments and wake him up, and got approval for their other hero moles to start killing whatever members of the HPSC and other heroes they could get to. It ended up more a coup than anything else, and when some overly ambitious hero students, some stragglers, his father, and All Might in a fucking mech suit came at them, the treatments that Shigaraki had gotten were enough to help him level them. The Paranormal Liberation Army rivaled the heroes who were left, and Twice alone was able to fully control the police force, so he didn't feel bad about leaving the others behind as he went to fight Endeavor. He won, technically. His dad is dead, but it definitely felt like more of a stalemate at the time as he felt his arm crumble into ashes and the ground rushed up to meet him as he collapsed. He didn't even want Enji Todoroki's blood in his veins anymore, it seemed like an extra cruelty that he would be saddled with an eternity of their ashes mixed together. 

And then he'd woken up. He was still alive, and the doctor was working on putting him back together using what he had learned from creating nomu. He woke up and when the others heard, they'd all come rushing into the hospital room to see him even though they had a war to fight-- and Shigaraki had crossed the room, put all ten fingers against his skin without hurting him, stunned him into silence, and then made his heart stop when he'd kissed him. He hadn't been able to say a word and the rest of the room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop when he'd pulled away and breathed, 

"Don't ever leave me again." 

And Dabi never did. 

///

The warm sun is falling across their bed and Dabi wakes to Tomura's lips pressing against his head, and his arm tightening around his back. He nuzzles in closer to his chest, hanging onto this moment even though they've had the privilege of hundreds of them at this point, because the black skin of the arm he had grafted onto his body after losing his own was a reminder every day that they might not have. He could have died not knowing how much Tomura loved him. He nearly died not knowing that he could fall in love right back. 

They stay cuddled up in bed for a few minutes before Dabi presses a kiss to the scars on his lover's neck and they both decide it's time to get up. Japan is theirs, Tomura is the king, but they don't live in a palace-- at least not anymore. They'd tried that for the first three years after the war, and it was mainly good because it was a place for them to conduct their work and restructuring of the country more efficiently, but the war ended seven years ago. Their control over the country is firm. They don't need that kind of status symbol when they are so much more comfortable living secretly in this apartment building. 

They shower together most mornings, only abstaining if they actually have somewhere else to be, because they can never stop their hands from wandering otherwise. Some days they have a lot to do, but today isn't one of them, so Dabi makes them breakfast while Tomura reads out any reports they received overnight that may change their plans for the day. But having gotten the PLF behind them helped them so much when it came to changing the way the country worked. They have people who have led before, they have the experience to delegate, and they have the sheer power of their quirks to keep any potential uprisings at bay. Especially now that his quirk isn't killing him anymore. Now that it has awakened for the second time and he can chill his skin low enough to keep himself from burning even at his highest heat. 

Getting to sit down together and have a quiet meal never stops feeling like a novelty. The fact that they never thought they could get to this point, that Tomura can reach over to hold his hand in his own without it hurting before they start to clean up, makes Dabi wonder what the fuck they were living for before this. He didn't think that he would get a reward after all of the bad he'd spent his life becoming. He didn't think that people like them got to have happy endings, but he finds himself living through one every day. 

Some days they have things to do, meetings, going out and seeing the others as they pursue their own happiness. Sometimes Dabi goes to the place where the rest of his family is held. He still hasn't ever gone inside, and when he comes home looking for a fight to try and escape the way that just going there makes him feel, Tomura knows when to give it to him, and when he just needs to pull him close and let him burn himself out. Most days they work just because neither of them like to be without anything to do. They go to the palace where they're supposed to be living, making it seem like that's where they are now that Tomura has a teleportation quirk of his own. Only the League knows they're not there every day. They have separate offices there, having been told by everyone who has more relationship experience than them-- namely literally anyone who has ever been in a relationship since they were both batting zero for that before they got together-- that they'll need their space or they'll fight. That being together all the time wasn't going to be healthy for the longevity of their relationship. Dabi thinks that they can't possibly understand what he and Tomura have together. Dabi spent all of the time they were starting to get to know each other running away as far as possible from the faint flicker of emotion that was starting to kindle itself behind his ribs. He spent so much of his life knowing he was going to die for his revenge. The fact that Tomura could fall in love with him anyway, the fact that he knows Dabi's emotions better than he knows himself, is the only thing that matters to him. They don't need to be rooms away to give each other their space. They could stay by each other's side forever and never lose or let the love in their chests dim for one another. 

So they stay together throughout the day. They eat, they work, they talk about anything and everything that crosses their minds. Sometimes they bicker just for the hell of it. They spend time with their friends in a world they remade to be perfect for them. And every second spent together echoes one lingering declaration. 

I won't ever leave your side. 

Thank you so much for participating! If you'd like to join in consider checking out my Ko-Fi here! The Drabble-A-Thon ends on 9/15, so don't miss out!

[reigenaratakasleftear]

ー📈《𐌅𐌓𐌄𐌒𐌵𐌄𐌍𐌂𐌙》📉 ᘖ

”Quiz time~!”

Practically jumping out of my seat at the sound of another voice, I bolted up from the floor I was laying on. Before I even knew it, the harsh fabric covering my eyes was ripped off like a bandaid. What. The. Hell.

My vision was slowly but surely unclouding, the little pulsing colorful shapes reaping the consequence of having it obstructed for hours. An abstract looking man faded into their place. Grinning at me with what seemed like pure glee, sharp teeth exposed, and leaned down towards me with his hands on his hips.

“First: Who may I be!? What’s that? Nikolai Gogol? Why, that is correct!” He chirped, spinning a cane with a surprising gracefulness.

This man made me realize I wasn’t as accustomed to interacting with lunatics as I thought.

”Number tw-!”

“If you’re going to torture me, just get it over with.” I interrupted with a sigh, narrowing my eyes at this supposed Nikolai. I came to yet another revelation; that I was accustomed to lunatics. I would much rather just simply have my fingernails peeled off than have a side dish of this song and dance along with it. “Don’t just stand there.”

He paused, face dropping for a moment as he blinked rapidly, before a wide grin spread across his face. Intriguing.

“Is that how I appear? I’m quite flattered, really~! Sadly, I’m not expecting any victims this fine evening. My schedule is always open for a little fun, though!

That was surprising. Why else would this maniac be in here if not to— Wait, how the hell did he get in here?

“How did you..”

“I thought you’d never ask! My ability, the overcoat, allows me to open portals, which can teleport myself, others, and even items! It’s quite amazing, isn't it?”

I narrowed my eyes once more, raising a brow. That was.. overpowered. And I just so happened to be a little desperate.

“Can you teleport me out of here?” I asked. With an awkward maneuver of my feet, I was able to stand up without using my hands, facing him properly. “You.. said it was evening, right? Are you sure about that? It feels like I’ve at least been in here for a few hours, and I was captured around seven or eight.”

“Oh, you poor little bird. You’ve been here for around thirty minutes.” He explained with a dramatic, pitiful sigh. It barely lasted for a moment though, before his lips tugged back into a cheeky smile. “How lucky you are for me to sweep in~ you wouldn’t have lasted a week in confinement!”

I simply stared at him as he cackled to himself, blinking slowly. Thirty minutes? THIRTY MINUTES? It felt like an eternity just sitting there. He was right, even if I despised admitting it to myself, that I wouldn’t have lasted. I would’ve spiraled completely in a place like this before Tuesday even hit. With an agitated groan for having to yet again associate myself with a psycho, I nodded, knowingly taking the bait.

“What’s the catch?” I questioned plainly, but suspiciously.

“Why- nothing! I simply take pride in acting on my own! I wish to be free as a bird, you see, and when I caught wind of a little chick being caged so unfairly, I couldn’t help myself! I’m freeing my friend, so that’s why I’m here!

”Hm.” His perspective was rare. I doubted I wouldn’t pay for this later, but I’d come to that. Maybe he wasn’t as different to me as I thought. He wished for people to live freely, just as I hoped for the same. Sure, I was well versed in methods of torture. In violence. In all the ways you could snap a bone in half. But there was always beauty in a reaction, a conscience.

“Nikolai, was it? Thank you.” I added, putting my hand out for him to shake it. His grin afterwards was a little unsettling, though, he seemed friendly enough. For an acquaintance in an international prison.

Hand flying to shake mine, he did so- and quickly. It was quite the aggressive handshake actually.

“Do not thank me, little bird! Now-“

Nikolai gestured toward the padded door, and almost immediately, a yellow portal sunk beneath the surface, emitting a yellow glow.

“Outside we go.”

-

Authors note:

this is very fun to write sidnijsdnk😭 I adore Nikolai

[yourheart-inmyhands]

I just thought of something I have to say before I forget it

Yanderes with a zoro like reader (always getting lost) who's also a wolf hybrid

So the reader either wears a shirt that says if lost return to owner or yan just.puts them on a leash-

If you could do this with your top 2 guys and grils in genshin

-🌮annon

-p.s If you ever do have to take a week break, we all understand

so i only did one of each because i'm trying to cut back on characters a bit as a lot of people seem to request the four archons constantly and while i love them, it can be tough writing for four people, i hope this doesn't bother you and that you still enjoy what i wrote anyways :D <3

Warning: this post contains yandere-themes, including mentions of leash, mentions of violence, and other potential topics. Please read at your own risk!

Yandere!Diluc with a wolf hybrid reader that is constantly getting lost and uses way more swords than necessary? You are asking to give this poor man a stroke. Not only is he trying to manage the winery but also keep track of you and make sure you aren’t getting lost, getting into trouble, or breaking any more expensive swords. He’s genuinely going to have a heart attack one day.

Diluc sighed for the nth time that day, hands rubbing tiredly at his temples as he responded to the patient townsfolk in front of him. He had spent the past hour wandering round Mondstat alone looking for you, having turned away for only a moment to pay for something. He had considered all the possibilities of how to keep you from wandering off, and with a nose like yours he’d figure it wouldn’t be hard to find him again but apparently you’d never thought to use it. A bracelet or necklace would be too small and probably fall off as you fought with your swords, a shirt would simply get dirty or damaged, and pants would simply look ridiculous. At this point he was contemplating just getting you an adult sized version of the leash backpack he often used for Diona. 

Yandere!Rosaria would be strangely ok with you wandering off on your own and getting in trouble. This is largely because there isn’t anywhere you can go that she can’t follow or send someone to follow. She’s not overly worried about you, knowing that you’re a capable fighter and handling yourself isn’t something that’s difficult. Though you can be a bit reckless. She does speak to Draff and Timmy about pigeons and trains one of her own to follow you around and report to her if you get into something you shouldn’t have.

It was no surprise to Rosaria when a familiar bird came fluttering through the open church windows, gliding over to her and landing gently on her shoulder. With a quick nudge of its head, a trained signal, it was able to tell Rosaria where you were and what you had gotten into. It would be quick work getting to you, with Rosaria keeping a small stash of teleportation crystals since having met you. Thanking the bird, she rushed out of the church, heading to where you were at. Rosaria wasn’t sure how, but somehow despite having hearing, sight, and a sense of smell all stronger than hers, advanced due to your wolf hybridity, you managed to get lost anyways. It didn’t matter much to her in the end anyway, your little spontaneous adventures had always been enough to pull her away from boring church duties.

[chuckeroo777]

Frieren Liveblog- Chapters 37-40

Last we left off, Sein left the party to go after a wayward ape.

Alas, without the dad friend, they will have to make do with two moms.

Ah, yes. They mentioned this a while back. Hopefully the test focuses on raw ability, cause Frieren might struggle if they expect her to be up on the latest trends.

Geez, that was over a year ago. Semi-immortality + photographic memory is a hell of a combo.

Oh no. I love her already. Watch her end up being nothing but a minor villain.

Hello again Kraft. I see you're taking me calling you a minor character personally.

Also, as neat as I think Ubel is, she is amassing negative karma quite quickly it seems. Hopes of her joining the main party are quickly dwindling.

Frieren is the sort to have an expired driver's license, but she drives so carefully that she never feels the need to renew it.

I wonder if it's linked to the downfall of the elves? I imagine they may have been targeted by demons for the same reason. Their high natural mana reserves. Demons are very prideful.

How does this even happen?

She or Fern is totally gonna end up with Ubel, aren't they?

My Yuri senses are tingling.

Actually, that might just be the check engine light. I've been meaning to get a tune-up.

Hmm... so what's the catch? Is it simply a matter of preventing opponents from sabotaging? Or do these birds have strange properties?

Wait, I totally misread the situation. They have to catch a bird, they don't start with one. Yeah, totally magically difficult to catch birds.

...

The author's just messing with me at this point, aren't they.

I mean, look at this! Childhood friends who are constantly bickering, yet are able to pull off magical combos on a whim. Am I somehow supposed to not see them as a couple?

I'm sure the wiki lists them as very good friends.

Honestly, I'm surprised Ubel had enough restraint to do things properly, then play defense, instead of planning to steal one from the get-go.

Turns out when you collect as many niche spells as Frieren, you're more likely than not to be able to ass-pull any situation.

Land seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Shame him saying this means they will, inevitably, end up in a fight.

Fastest staff in the west! Good to see this is, in fact, a consistent character trait.

Mr. Fur Coat here needs to count his lucky blessings. Ubel was that close to eviscerating him.

I'm sure she has something good up her sleeves. You don't paint a massive target on your back without some sort of crazy plan.

Also, this is just the first test. This arc is gonna take a while, isn't it?

Yeesh. I get wanting to weed out mages not worthy of first class, but this is downright cruel.

Denken seems like a cool dude, though I reserve the right to rescind that judgement based on how he goes about stealing the bird.

Frieren is frighteningly competent. She can hide her immense mana so well that a monster won't pass her a second glance.

On the one hand, I'm not sure how Frieren is getting out of this one.

On the other hand, I love me a cool-ass teleport mage. Laufen just jumped, like, 10 points in my standings.

Hate to leave it on a cliffhanger, but I don't see the first-class test ending any time soon, so I bid you ado for now. If this arc doesn't end with us recruiting one or two cute mages, I'll be very disappointed.

[writingpencil]

The Rift

From the forming rips in the earth’s beautiful skin glowed purple; brilliant rays of lavender and magenta combined, with beams of light matching the stars, created wounds that expanded across all of the horizons. Buildings were cracked in half, shattered like feeble glass, and others disappeared entirely, neverminding who or what was inside. Villagers and animals ran from the purple, many unable to escape, crying out for the guardians of the continent.

The Hermit of the mines, TFC, had felt the earthquakes long before they arrived. He noticed the way the monsters began to cower, even ran past him, and how the bats flocked to him for protection. The older man was the first to encounter a rip in the underneath. It had nearly swallowed him whole if not for his quick thinking. TFC gathered up everything he could as the earth rumbled - including the bats - and scrambled out of his mines. Thankfully, the miner sustained few injuries. It was TFC, accompanied by a bird, who reported the strange phenomenon that allowed the other Hermits - the supposed guardians - to act.

Several Hermits had spread out, saving who and what they could. False had led the recovery charge, commanding her fellow Hermits with the grace of a true warrior. However, even with her leadership on the surface, many were unable to be helped. For every shulker of valuables Etho gathered, Beef lost several cattle. For every villager Stress saved, Tango wasn’t able to save entire farms - losing pounds upon pounds of redstone. It was a game of balance, an ability to win but with cost, and no Hermit knew how long they had.

In the meanwhile, the Admin had the rest of the Hermits at the source - as close as they could be, housed in the Entity that seemed unaffected. The Rift had grown significantly bigger, swallowing Grian’s base whole without thought, creating a massive crater. As if it couldn’t get any worse; Xisuma had started looking through code hours ago, but what was dubbed the Rift left no error in the code. There was nothing he could trace, nothing he could find, and nothing he could do. Xisuma looked at the Hermits who were’t on recovery. Iskall and Mumbo were some of the best redstoners, Doc was immaculate at breaking the established universe, Grian caused the entire mess, and Scar was leaning out of the Entity, trying to touch the Rift.

“Scar, no!” Grian grabbed Scar and pulled him back. 

“Get a hold of yourself, Scar!” Doc yelled, pausing his pacing to do so.

Scar blinked. “But it reacts!-”

Xisuma shushed them. “We can’t lose a Hermit. Scar, stay away from any exits.”

“Why am I here then?!” Scar asked, confusion painted in his face.

“You’re-...” Xisuma stuttered. “You’re a terraformer! The Rift is terraforming the earth! We might- we might need you…”

“It reacts…?” Iskall mumbled, grabbing a piece of wood from a chest. The redstoner knelt by the entrance and threw the wood toward the edge of a deep chasm. He jumped back in surprise when a wave of purple snatched the piece of wood, pulling it into purple. “You guys saw that, right?”

Mumbo nodded, kneeling beside Iskall while Doc stood over them. “Why isn’t it doing that to the Entity?”

“It’s the Entity.” Grian answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It could… be a safe space.” Doc said, moving the two redstoners aside to stick his hand out, only to pull it back when part of the Rift extended toward him. “It’s a safe space, oh dear malarky- Grian, how did you do this?!”

Grian scrambled. “I-I built it! It’s just colored glass and ender rods!”

“Ender rods…” Iskall tapped the side of his index to his lips. “Ender rods don’t have a history of teleporting items or people… but maybe there’s something in the glass its reacting to?”

“Glass is just sand-” Mumbo pointed out. 

Doc let out a frustrated hiss .”Sand heated at one thousand degrees celsius -  four thousand at fahrenheit… All of that done in furnace without us interfering. Nothing should’ve gotten into the glass-”

“Well, something did.” Mumbo said.

Xisuma checked the coding once more. “I still can’t find anything wrong with the code. We’re gonna have to go with the natural world explanation - as much as we hate it.”

“Or the unnatural.” 

The Admit and Hermits looked at Grian, who approached the entrance with hesitation. His eyes of lack coal stared at his creation, his wings and body tense. 

“Grian…?” It was Scar who called out his name. 

With a sigh, Grian rapped his knuckles against the stony walls of the Entity.

“Get us down there.” Grian commanded, a faint purple glow appearing on his forehead, under his mess of curled bangs.

The Entity slowly began to move, its heartbeat becoming more alive, surprising the Admin and other Hermits. While the others grabbed on for dear life, Grian stayed standing at the entrance. Once the Entity stretched its legs, it began to crawl toward the crater, walking on the Rift as if it was another floor. Several chests slide around, but never went far, unlike the panicked screaming of the others.

Finally, the Entity stood at the bottom of the rift crater, where the living galaxy’s stars were most intense and clear. 

Grian patted the Entity with a smile. “Good interdimensional being, good Entity.”

There was rumbling in the walls of the Entity, mimicking that of a purr.

“G-Grian… what the heck?!” Xisuma was panicking, more than he should. He witness the entire moon crashing onto a continent, yet a moving rock with legs is what scared him most.

“One problem at a time?” Grian looked down at the portal-esque galaxy. “This is as close to the source as we can get without getting absorbed.”

“As close, he says.” Iskall rubbed the stress away from his eyes.

“Yeah,” Mumbo followed. “As if we aren’t standing on it!”

Doc went by Grian’s side. “Wow… it’s kinda pretty…”

“Don’t get pulled in.” Grian warned, sending a glare Scar’s way. “This should help, right?”

“Grian…” Xisuma said, slowly, as if a warning. “Come here.”

Confused, the avian approached. “What is iiiiiiit- oh my Void-”

On the screen of code, the code had switched from the common tongue the hermits agreed on using, to one of ancient history. Grian’s eyes grew wide seeing it.

“Why would it…”

“And,” Xisuma added. “Yours and the Rift’s coding is the exact same.”

There was a moment of silence.

“What?” Mumbo was the first one to speak.

Xisuma nodded. “Furthermore… only a section of the Rift is present. The rest of the Rift - all the chasms and holes - are not showing up. Does this symbol look familiar?”

Grian tared at the screen, slowly nodding. “That was the original Rift…”

“As much I don’t want to say it… G, the Rift is connected to you-”

“I know.” Grian cut Xisuma off. “I know what I have to do.”

“What do you have to do?” Iskall asked. 

Grian went back to the entrance then tapped on the Entity’s walls. “Let me leave. Get them home.”

“G?” Scar took a hold of Grian’s arm, pulling him back. “What are you doing?”

Grian paused, avoiding looking Scar in the eyes. “S-... say hi to Jellie for me, okay?”

“Wh- Grian, what are you talking about? What are you planning?” Scar cupped both of Grian’s cheek, forcing the avian to look at him. “What are you doing…?”

“I-...” Grian closed his eyes, sighing out a deep breath. He took Scar’s hands and set a small, rectangle shaped device in them, not allowing Scar to see. “You and Mumbo take care of him, hear me?”

“Grian?-” Before Scar could utter another word, Grian jumped out of the Entity. “Grian!”

A chorus of Grian’s name could be heard following Scar, all in vain. At once, the Entity scrambled out of the crater. Xisuma and Doc held back Scar, not allowing the terraformer to join Grian. The sudden sound of infinite glass shattering echoed in the Admin and Hermits’ ears, mixing with the quickening thump thump thump of the Entity’s heart.

The entire world shook at its core, sending waves of pulsing energy, rattling the ground and knocking down all, even the birds and Hermits who were using elytras. Even the Entity lost its footing, causing the few inside to spiral. It seemed to last hours until, finally, everything stopped. The earthquakes ceased, the wounds had healed themselves, leaving no trace of the Rift. 

“Ow…” Scar shoved a dazzed Mumbo off of him. He attempted to stand, but a rush of nausea hit him like a bullet train. His head spun in the worst of ways, so Scar remained lying on the floor of the Entity.

“Is… everyone okay…?” Xisuma sat up, shutting his eyes tightly.

“I’m alive, if that counts…” Mumbo groaned. “I might need to go on another vacation…”

Iskall held up a thumb and Doc hissed lowly.

“Grian…” Scar tried once more to get up. “Where’s Grian…?”

“I don’t know-” Xisuma was the first to stand, stumbling toward the entrance. “... everything looks normal. I think we’re at Mumbo’s vault?”

“Impossible…” Mumbo was second to stand, peaking his head out of the entrance. “I don’t see Grian’s base.”

Doc pulled up Iskall, allowing the shorter man to lean on him. “Wasn’t it swallowed up?”

“I-... excuse me, Mx. Entity?” Mumbo wasn’t entirely sure who - or what - he was speaking to. Or if it would listen. “Can you move? We want to see the bridge.”

Slowly, the Entity hopped down from Mumbo’s vault and turned toward the bridge. The Admin and Hermits felt collective sorrow. Grian’s base wasn’t there, nor was the bridge. Any trace of it was left in the moon shaped portal, more damaged than it was previously.

Xisuma hopped out of the Entity, making sure it was safe before helping the others out. He pulled up the code, finding nothing. “No sign of Grian…”

“Nether?” Iskall asked.

“Where’s the nearest portal?” Xisuma glanced at the moon portal.

Even in the Nether there was no trace of Grian or his influence on the continent. Everything he has built, apart from the Entity, were erased, while every other building was repaired with subtle cracks - like scars. However, all the villagers and animals lost did not return. No amount of searching gave results.

“The only thing left to do is… rebuild.” Xisuma said, once every Hermit was in attendance for the gathering.

They were not about to abandon this continent. Not like the last one. 

This time they all could do something. 

“Hey, Scar?” Bdubs approached the unusually quiet terraformer. “Guess who I found!”

Scar looked at Bdubs, expecting nothing, but being filled with painful joy. “Jellie!”

“Yeah!” Bdubs handed the beautiful cat over, holding back giggles as Scar held her close. “I found her on a tiny island surrounded by the purple stuff before it poofed! She was totally unbothered! She has the luckiest nine lives ever!”

“Thanks, Bdubs…” Scar felt a lump swell in his throat. Cool tears rained down his heated cheeks, falling onto Jellie’s fur. “You… you didn’t see Grian anywhere, did you?”

Bdubs pouted his lips. “No… I didn’t… I’m sorry, Scar.”

“It’s fine.” With a small sniffle, a wipe of his eyes, Scar forced a smile. “He’ll show up, I’m sure of it. Hey, I’ll catch up with you later to help with rebuilding. I gotta do something.”

Bdubs didn’t look convinced, but he nodded anyways. “Okay, dude…”

Scar carried Jellie away, chewing on his lip and peeling the skin off. Jellie mewled in protest, shoving herself against Scar’s mouth to get him to stop. It worked, mostly. At least his hand her occupied. He never opened his other hand, where Grian’s strange rectangle was still waiting to be revealed. Scar wasn’t sure if he should look at it.

It was Grian’s. He said to take care of it- him. Take care of him.

Slowly, hesitantly, Scar unraveled his fist.

“A… tomogatchi?” Scar furrowed his brows in confusion, turning on the rectangular tomogatchi to see if there was anything else. The screen flickered blue, then three lighter blue dots appeared, doing the wave for a few seconds. “What in the Vex- OHMYELVENKISSES-”

Square eyes opened on the device, blinking at Scar as its mustache appeared. Scar nearly dropped the poor thing as text appeared.

Hello!

“Oh my Vex, it talks-”

My name is Grumbot! Of course I talk! He/They please!

“Grumbot…?” Scar could physically feel the buffering circle in his brain. “Oh, from the mayoral campaign! That was a long time ago, oh my Vex-”

Hello, Mr. Scar! Hello, jelly kitty!

“Hi, Grumbot, how- why- I thought you were left in your box?”

No, sir! Not for long! Fathers brought me with them!

“Fathers- right, Mumbo and Gr…Grian…” Scar couldn’t help but frown.

Yes! Where are my fathers, sir? I want to see them!

Scar looked around at the remaining Hermits, seeing if Mumbo was around. It wasn’t hard finding the tall, lanky man of black and red, and Scar nearly sprinted over. “Mumbo! Mumbo, hi!”

“Hi, Scar, I was looking for you-” 

“What a coincidence! I was looking for you!” Scar held up Grumbot. “I think- I think Grian meant to give him to you.”

Mumbo took Grumbot-gatchi and gave the little device a gentle kiss. “Hi, buddy…”

Scar watched Mumbo talk to Grumbot, unable to see the text.

“I’m, uh, I’m alive, Grumbot… Yes, I’ve been eating- no, no projects have been keeping me up. Grumbot-...” Mumbo was silent for a long time. “Grian is gone, Grumbot… we don’t know where he is. And… Grumbot, don’t overheat, we are still looking… Of course I’m not going to abandon you- Scar is gonna help me take care of you, okay?”

“I am-?”

Mumbo looked at Scar with an unreadable look - a mix of glaring and desperation. “Yes. You are. Grian asked you to.”