#or just rewriting it in general

[b0mblover]

Sharks and White Bread HinsaoJiro

By: J

No tws unless you count white bread ig.

1,500~ words

Uh. How do you write a character that literally doesnt even have a canon design? make it ooc of course!

i can’t believe i hate hinsaori so much it looped back to loving him. oh god. what next theyll go to therapy?

Tsuruhiko Multi Grain?

this is essentially crack taken somewhat seriously.

im so sorry for writing this

Hinsaori came out of his room and was searching through the kitchen cabinets. Bread. White. Fucking. Bread. It's all he's wanted for a while. All day. Everyday. Every meal. White fucking bread. But of course. It wasn't healthy to only have bread for every meal, and even if he didn't care for his own nutrition, Kouga wouldn't let him. He's always so sweet to everyone, how did Ota get so lucky.

But, this was his first two slices of the day, and Kouga wasn't home to kick his ass, so he could eat his two slices of plain white bread in peace.

He sat on the couch, rubbing his hands deviously one may say, planning to absolutely devour this 'meal'.

So that he did. Absolutely devouring that bread- less violent devouring, but the taste was so good to him he might as well be. 

On his second piece, Nito had come out of his room, he was still here? Ota had thought Jiro had left with the others to do gods-knows-what, apparently not though.

Jiro essentially threw himself onto the couch cushion, absolutely bodying it, with a sigh. 

Jiro was. Hard to read. To say the least, his expressions either were the opposite of what he feels, or exactly what he feels. It's just figuring out which is when that's the hard part.

Hinsaori put down the bread slice in his hand before speaking

"Uh.. Y'okay?" (BEHOLD. MY AMERICANISM. *EVIL LAUGHS CHOKES AND DIES*) 

Jiro looked over to the long haired man, looking him up and down 

"Yeah, just.. Thinking" he said in a monotone voice. 

Why did he look at Ota like that? Did he do something wrong? Was it because of the bread?

"Wellllll you wanna say 'bout what?" he asked before slightly cocking his head.

Jiro sighed and paused, considering how to word his statement.

"Well.. You know the thing about 'if I can't swim, and sharks can't walk, it'd come down to who's the better cycler'? Like, how would the shark stay on the bicycle? Wouldn't it fall off and be disqualified?"

That...What The fuck is Nito on right now. 

Hinsaori just stared at Jiro for a while, "wouldn't it be disqualified" does- does Nito know that sharks can't breath out of water-.

"J-Jiro. You uh, feeling okay bud?" he asked putting his hand on Jiros’ shoulder, seriously has he even slept? 

"Yeah, just wondering y'know?" Jiro responded before looking at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing there was.

"Have you slept?" Hinsaori was starting to seriously worry for the others health, sure Jiro could be impulsive, and destructive, and an absolute dumbass, but this? This was new.

"Hm? Yeah? Why are you asking aren't *you* the insomniac?" He had a point, but where did that question even come from? Sure the guy wasn't serious all the time, but that expression..

"oh god I can't do this- Jiro. Where the fuck did that question come from." 

and in return, all he got was a blank stare and a shrug.

Jiro stood up and walked into the kitchen, Hinsaori could hear him putting a kettle on

"Tea?" he asked 

"No I want to drink boiling water"

"What." 

"You heard me birdman. Just eat your soggy bread."

What the actual fuck. 

Hinsaori sighed, setting the bread slice he'd been clenching for the past 5? Minutes now, on the table and walked into the kitchen as well.

He pulled out a knife from the knife box (wtf are those called) 

"Who are you and what have you done with Nito!" he pointed the knife (somewhat playfully) at the assumed double

The Dumbass number 2 reached around him, pulling another knife out of the knife box, handing it to Hinsaori

"the one you have is dull" stating blankety before turning back to the kettle

"also would you like some tea or coffee?" he asked unmoving

"I- sure?" he lowered the knife, even if this somehow really wasn't Jiro, whoever this was clearly wasn't okay.

Jiro moved to the cup cabinet, 2 down from the stove, and pulled out two mugs, one plain black, another white with some black and red writing.

Jiro opened the little tea pouch thing (idk what it's called, tea foreskin ig) and put it in the black mug, before putting copious amounts of sugar into it as well...maybe This was Jiro?

"Tea or coffee" he asked

"Uh- coffee is fine" he replied, even if this was Jiro, would he know how to make his coffee?

Jiro put one 1 teaspoon of coffee grounds in the white mug, then two of sugar, damn, does Jiro really pay that much attention to everything? Sure it's not overly complicated, but he didn't even ask and Jiro isn't one for assuming.. 

Jiro stirred his tea, then Otas coffee with the same spoon before handing the mug to him. Before he took his painfully sweet tea and walked back to the couch. 

Hinsaori did the same after putting the knife away. Plopping down on the couch cushion beside Jiro.

He took a sip of the coffee and.. Damn. Damn! It really was good, it was his usual but for some reason it tasted so much better? What the hell did Jiro put into this shit?

He wanted to ask, but he watched the man make it. There was nothing else in it. Maybe it was just because he was still tired-ish?

Seeing how words didn't get him very far, he rested his right hand on Jiros leg, sipping with his left. Instead of jerking away like usual, Jiro let him. Drinking his 'disgusting' tea. He sat it down on the table beside him, and closed his eyes. Fuck he really was tired huh? He could feel Hinsaoris warm hand through his pants, it felt nice, especially considering the cold weather as of late, he almost wanted to sink into it more, no matter how impossible that was.

Hinsaori, noticing that Jiro had finally relaxed, sat his coffee on the floor by his feet, just far enough away to not kick it by accident.

He brought his right hand up to Jiros forehead before speaking,

"Y'know, if you're tired we can go lay down, you don't gotta push yourself" Even though he'd said he'd slept.. Hinsaori was doubtful, he wasn't an insomniac sure but for some reason he had this odd habit of pulling all-nighters, even if he wasn't doing anything specific. 

Jiro halfway opened his eyes, before pushing his head into Hinsaoris shoulder, whispering "yes..Please...that'd be nice." Letting impulse take over. He didn't feel like he needed to explain himself to the others, that he didn't need to explain why he lied about not sleeping. There was always some unspoken understanding between him and the others. It.. It was nice.

"Alright-" Hinsaori started as he ruffled Jiros’ hair lightly, god Jiro felt as if he could melt into the guy.

"Go ahead and get into bed, I'll be there in a second mm? Alright?" 

Jiro vaguely tried to nod his head, really only nudging himself into Hinsaoris’ shoulder bone. "Yeah..", he moved finally, taking a few swigs of his tea, he stood up, walked to the kitchen, threw the tea bag out, rinsed the mug, put it in the sink, and headed to bed.

Did Jiro really finish his tea that quickly? Jeeze.

Hinsaori picked his coffee off the ground, taking a few sips, yeah there's no way he's gonna finish it that fast, so he sat it on the counter beside the sink, he'll deal with it later, all he cared about right now was snuggling with the unsnuggleable.

He walked into his bedroom to find Jiro, facing the wall, blanket pulled down, waiting for Ota. He shut his door behind him.

He unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, he considered changing but he felt comfortable enough, he could always just rewash it.

He got into bed and pulled the covers up onto both of them.

He stared at the ceiling fan, he never turned it on, Jiro always had to have a fan on, or at least the noise, even in the middle of winter. It's a wonder that his still works considering how often it's on.

Just staring at the ceiling, he didn't feel as tired anymore. He rolled over to Jiros back, huh. Jiro usually turns his back to the wall, maybe he's over thinking it. Yeah. 

He mentally crossed his fingers that he wouldn't be killed for what he was about to do, and wrapped his arms around Jiros lower torso, resting his face in between his shoulder and head, so close to his ear..

Jiro moved his hands to Hinsaoris, resting them there. His hands were always so cold compared to everyone else's, he'd never admit it but, he loved holding hands, how warm it was.

He was at peace.

He whispered something out before falling dead asleep to the world, Hinsaori followed soon after.

"I love you."

"I love you more. Always."

. .

Kouga, Reina, and Noriko got back later than expected. Even though they were an activist group, they were still people, which meant they still had to run errands. 

Kouga was in the kitchen with Reina unpacking groceries while Noriko took off her shoes on the couch, before she went to stand up to put them away, she saw it to her left..

A piece of white bread. Just on the table. Sitting there. Menacingly.

Today was Hinsaoris date with death.

[gloriousmonsters]

listened to most of The Art of War while hanging clothes at my job earlier and I'm going to just distill down the real advice for y'all without the twenty thousand similes and metaphors and such

Wars are expensive have them really fast

Don't kill your soldiers they need food and stuff

But sometimes put your soldiers into inescapable life or death situations because that's how you really get them to be workin' hard instead of hardly workin', y'know

Have more guys than the enemy and be smarter. The best way to win a war is to have every single favorable condition for winning a war. Hope that helps

DO NOT fight in a salt marsh

If your boss gives you a stupid order, don't follow that order

Be 15 min early to the battlefield

Attack the enemy's weak points. But also they might be faking weaknesses so don't attack if they seem weak. But attack their weak points. But also-

For the love of god don't let anyone read omens

[rewritingcanon]

idk why im in such a bad mood rn but it actually PISSES ME TF OFF how the entire marauders fandom collectively decided to take this bum-ass loser character with one discernable impact on the storyline (regulus. im talking about regulus) and make him a super complex, three-dimensional MAIN character in the era that’s being literally paired with JAMES POTTER(???) when they could’ve taken a character who AREADY has existing complexities and everything they could ever want and develop them. but they won’t because that character is a fucking woman ☠️☠️

the way the black sisters would have the entire fandom in a fucking chokehold if they were boys. do you actually think sirius and regulus would be as cherished as they are now if they were women? hell fucking no, regulus would be hated on so badly. the way we were given narcissa and fucking andromeda too? here’s the entire fandom yapping on and on about how cool regulus is for rebelling against the dark lord when narcissa was doing it and fucking getting away with it too (because she’s better and doesn’t suck ass). here’s andromeda going against her entire bloodline ON HER OWN but yet shes still so overshadowed by sirius (who literally came after her). then you got bellatrix who is canonly one of the most powerful (and cuntiest) witches in the hp-verse and you decide to go and develop BARTY instead. think about it. they’re both crazy except one is more of a loser and is a male so of course the fandom will choose him.

and then. of course. lily evans who is literally the mother of the entire verse itself is still out here fighting for literal recognition and development from the fandom. and those mfs still give it to regulus instead ☠️☠️

[ganondoodle]

(wip) totk rewritten botw2 edition

rough ideas for the reworked healing system- bottles+potions are back and must be used in real time, cooked meals are not storable but better than potions, different types of portable pots?

wasnt sure if the portable pot should have different effects or just have designs you can change, but decided to add a few different types for roughly different types of players without too many options that could overwhelm but still add some variety to any gameplay AND a more meaningful reward for bigger quests!

-my goal with this is avoid the pausing to spam apples into links mouth to heal problem, to readd some difficulty with more limited healing in general (bottles must be found or gained as a reward, usage in battle like in skyward sword via wheel menu and then used in real time) and adding more variety via the design of the pots, a neat new item since they are portable (set up a campfire, then option is added to add the pot for cooking), and make cooking a lil more interesting besides it spamming your inventory even more with healing stuff AND add some meaning to bottles and potions again bc imo they were one of the most useless things you could get when playing botw/totk- which is why cooked meals are not storable but with better effects, think of it like a bit more customizable and zeldafied elden ring mechanic with the usual heals and the one time physic buff

so if you got into a bossfight and lost it, you could set up a cooking spot before the arena to give yourself a temporary buff via a meal and restock your potions for in battle healing and/or effects depending on how many bottles you have, if you have trouble dealing damage for example you can use the firey pot to add some extra attack dmg (and yes it stacks if you do attack effect in the firey pot it adds extra attack damage, maybe even with a hidden bonus)

(got similar planned for the parasail .. like dif types with dif effects like faster gliding speed but more stamina usage- one used like koga does in aoc that lets you glide fully soundlessly ...)

(legend of zelda)

(also no NPC will give you a shitty cooked thing as a 'reward' anymore, if anything its a bottle that you can use like in the old games ..)

[slymanner]

Pretty funny/cool that metal sonic is the only character to have a past self and another past self to EXIST at the same time.

like sonic and tails had their classic selves sure, but the modern versions of them were also their present selves, they weren't sonic and tails from like adventure 2 or heroes or anything.

so it's interesting how metal gets TWO versions of his past self in the same white space but his modern self never appears like, ever in both games 😭

[mishy-mashy]

Bruce is actually really attractive, and I have enough reasoning to make a list

He's:

Tall (. Tall enough to hit his head on the vault doorframe)

Long-legged

Has a straight nose bridge

Has high cheekbones (more noticeable in 2nd pic below)

Has a strong jawline

Sharp eyes, but they aren't small (plus eyebags if you're into that)

Overall, he has strong, attractive facial features

Has broad, refined shoulders. You can tell he works out (or he did, when he was alive)

Even has a thick, muscly neck

He has MUSCLE. Is SCULPTED. NOICE. VERY NOICE. (nice arms. Nice shoulders. Nice neck. Nice legs. Nice butt-)

(There are actually panels where you can see some of his muscles. Other than those already shown here, he's got bricky thighs-

-and in the panels where we first get his name dropped, he's got those shoulder blades too-)

The one time we see him smile, and he actually has a scary one

Has small, kinda sharp pupils, and his eyes remind me of a cat. We only ever saw him tense or defensive, so his resting/listening face is really cute

Other than the physical appearance stuff, he also:

Takes shit without batting an eye (patience, knowing it's just how Kudo is, etc)

Kudo being all "Cut the crap Bruce and give it to me straight", after Bruce tests his blood and is rightfully Concerned because they just faced AFO

Put up with Kudo's experimenting and testing over Yoichi's transferable Factor

Did ya'll see the look on Kudo's face when he realized he had Yoichi's Factor/will? Kudo was going to start in nonsense and Bruce just dealt with that.

Also something I noticed when looking back at the images here; Bruce has bandages on his arms in the void. But not when he faced AFO in the sewers.

Were he and Kudo cutting their arms open in their experimenting over Yoichi's theory? Is this why Kudo has two gauntlets instead of his one? Why we never see his bare arms in the void? That he always keeps his arms down so there's no slip?

Is smart enough to run blood tests, plus has enough common sense to pick Shinomori as his successor

He picked a guy who avoids society, has an Ability to detect danger so he can always stay away from AFO, is also a coward so he's never going to go throw himself into danger, even without knowing instinctively he stands no chance, etc.

Meanwhile, Kudo chose Bruce, who he played Hot Potato Yoichi with; but he did also trust Bruce, and put the only pure combative Ability in OFA through Bruce.

These two made their choices based on what they valued and saw the Factor needed.

Is logical, analytical, and calm.

He tried advising Midoriya on their Abilities in One For All, especially his own.

Midoriya then tried ignoring him about using Fa Jin for the first time, but found he was right, thinking: "Dammit!! I had [Lady Nagant] right where I wanted her, but... ugh! The Third was right. My parallel Quirk processes are all screwed up!" (ch. 314).

Plus, when Midoriya fixed his processing mistakes, Bruce was analyzing the way he reached his new conclusion. Pure facts, no bias, very calm, just saying it as it was.

We never see him panic. When he's caught by surprise in the sewers by AFO, Kudo, and Yoichi's little bubble event, he immediately reacts. He doesn't falter, he just knows he has to do something right now.

Was more willing to listen than Kudo to Yoichi's beckon, and probably was just following Kudo's rejection of Midoriya

While we don't see Kudo's face, we see Bruce's eyes when Yoichi calls on his heroes. Bruce was more open and receptive, or at least more impacted.

Bruce was also the one to start talking, while Kudo just kept quiet.

He actually communicates a lot

When Yoichi called them to support Midoriya, Bruce started talking to paint a picture of why they thought the way they did, so Yoichi understood where they were coming from.

(Though he seems to beat about the bush sometimes, since Kudo spoke up to be direct on how they couldn't just put their trust in some starry-eyed teenager. Plus, when Kudo tells him to just tell him what's wrong [double Factors])

When Midoriya first used Fa Jin against Nagant, Bruce came out just to tell him he knew what he was trying, but that Midoriya wasn't ready; and Midoriya found he was right. Midoriya just didn't want to listen to him then.

He asks Kudo for clarification after finding Kudo had two Factors in him after the sewer incident ("Just to be sure, All For One didn't touch you, right?") Kudo knew him well enough to go "stop beating around the bush and tell me", so Bruce was probably gonna start with questions, theories, and trying to understand everything in general, before saying "yeah you have two Factors. Don't know why".

Is strong-willed and loyal.

He followed Kudo, even to death, carrying on the cause he started until it ended with him.

Plus, when talking about how AFO needs a strong will to override OFA's own, we first see Bruce, Kudo, and Yoichi.

AFO couldn't steal OFA because the will was too strong for him, and that was back during Banjo's time. Since Shinomori never actually tried opposing AFO and just hid, we can assume the first Three (Yoichi, Kudo, Bruce) already had an accumulation of strong willpower that made OFA un-stealable. Those three are a strong enough foundation, and the main wills, that the other users just become bonuses.

Kudo, also saying that Midoriya needs allies with the same will and drive as him... hey Kudo, you're talking about yourself and your old allies, aren't you? That's why you look at Yoichi and Bruce when you say this.

Not only is Bruce attractive, but he's got good character. THE END.

[shummthechumm]

"son, i could move the sky for you"

~

so...midnight and sol in the rewrite... (more info below the cut!)

☆

in the scorched ruins of a long abandoned ravine awaits an elderly badger. for seasons, midnight retraced the ancient claw-marks of those before this time; fading echoes of now forgotten spirits. every night she patrols the worn stone, accompanied only by the distant pelt of stars above her.

the low humming of wind bouncing off the gorge walls was scarcely broken--be it by a passing critter or occasional loner--but tonight, something was different.

she follows the shrill wailing--lumbering after it with more energy than she had showcased in moons--down the ragged cliff edge, and into the hollowed out stone. there lay a scrawny cat--a kitten. midnight's ears itch at it's mewling, and her throat tightens.

she reaches out a clawed paw, and pulls the shivering scrap towards herself. the kit whimpers still, but unscrews it's eyes. brilliant sunburnt irises burn into her own; and a warmth she had long been deprived melted the aches of age away--if only for a moment.

those pools of yellow observed her curiously. after a heartbeat, the child nuzzled deeper into her wiry coat.

how long had it been since held new life? how long had it been since was held by someone?

regardless of the answer, she couldnt let go now.

☆

i love sad old people

Original/Alt. Version here:

[whattheskyknows]

Chapter 5 au where instead of Maki breaking into the hangar, it's Tsumugi. She breaks in using an Exisal but doesn't reveal herself. Instead, she uses the voice changer using Maki's voice so both Kaito and Kokichi think she's inside. Tsumugi wounds Kokichi using the Exisal's gun and tries to kick-start another trial because everyone is too depressed to do anything (including Maki, hence why Tsumugi has taken matters into her own hands.) She leaves pretty soon afterwards, assuming Kaito will sort everything out (Kaito tells 'Maki' to leave, promising her everything will be okay.) Kaito and Kokichi are still both alive but Kokichi is gravely wounded and Kaito's illness is getting worse. Kokichi points out that it's strange 'Maki' didn't leave the Exisal and reluctantly reveals he thinks the true mastermind is trying to continue the game, bating Kaito to murder. Kaito believes him eventually and they both work together to trick the mastermind. I think they'd go down the hydraulic press mystery route, although there's a different outcome at the trial.

Stopping there because I kinda want to write this as a fic because I've already started to plan out what could happen lol

[gracebethartacc]

I woke up and was haunted by visions aka Mlp redesign/rewrite ideas yayyyy :3

[tvckerwash]

I like to think that during pfl (using his s9 characterization, not s10) wash is the guy you go to when you want to know something (ah la a line in the fall of reach novel I believe where chief says the enlisted personnel always seem to know stuff bc wash is clearly enlisted).

he's in a position where he's privy to information from the higher-ups, and he's friendly enough with the lower rungs that he knows the gossip going around. as a bonus though, wash ain't no narc, so if you want that information you need to offer him something of equivalent exchange (consequently fueling the 'guy who knows things' thing). for example, north had to tell him about using equipment in the field in order to get him to tell him what his meeting with internals was about.

wash isn't the only guy who knows things, of course, but he's the guy who has the widest base of general knowledge. ct is also someone who knows things, but she's a lot more specific, and what she lacks in scale she more than makes up for with how in-depth her knowledge is. wash is where you learn about something from, ct is where you get all the juicy details (to the point of it almost being tmi). she also has an equivalent exchange policy, but people tend to be a bit more reluctant to get information from her because of what her knowledge is (and the borderline 'insane conspiracy theorist' energy doesn't help either).

florida? well...you don't wanna know what he knows. the cost is simply too high.

[sonknuxadow]

crazy how ive been seeing people absolutely losing their minds over the way amy is written in the generations remaster and how she was character assassinated and her crush on sonic was removed and im playing it right now and the literal first thing she does when you free her from white space is call sonic cute which is nowhere close to what she said in the original. wtf are you people on about

[mielwriting]

"Inazuma is poorly written" meaning the worldbuilding's great but the plot needs a rewrite. "Natlan is poorly written" meaning the worldbuilding needs a redesign but the plot is great.

[blimbo-buddy]

Thought of some little facts for the characters in the Mobilewashing rewrite. Some of these may or may not be changed

Nobody knows Nurse’s real name. Not even Captain knows, somehow. When she got her employee card printed out there was an error and all that came out was “Nurse”, she made them give the card to her. If you ask her what her name is she just tells you “I am a nurse, you know me as a nurse, so I am Nurse to you.” 

Swanz has been divorced for nearly 10 years, but him and his ex-wife wanted to try and discuss everything and hopefully try again now that he’d been sober for a long while now and doing better. Swanz is also not his real name

Shinsuke has a cousin from the West coast who is younger than him by 3 hours. They both started their internship around the same time too! Shinsuke forgot the name of the company his cousin works for though… something about a horse mascot?

Jim Co-Pilot’s real name is Jameson but he refuses to go by it, opting for the hundreds of annoying nicknames given to him. Anger management stress toys also never work for him, they always end up popped or shredded or completely destroyed

Captain is so, so very Australian and considers [Company Name] (An Australian company) to be his pride and joy as a fellow Australian. He also managed to get Swanz a position at the company as a ship mechanic since he knew him for some time

[ceask]

My cat always scratches at doors at random times in the night. Usually around 2, 4, and 6am. That's because this little bitch doesn't have a regular sleeping pattern and takes power naps, and gets a little concerned when she wakes up at night and everyone else is just. Not there??? We're not walking around, we're not talking, we're in our rooms alone and we're sleeping??? My cat cannot comprehend it.

And you know who else takes power naps instead of sleeping at night? You know who I snatched that headcanon from? (Pretty sure it was Dark)

Dust.

Dust literally saves everyone from Killer's cats scratching at doors and waking them up in the middle of the night. His sleeping patterns coincidentally matched up with the cats. So when a cat is wandering around, it would usually just scratch into Dust's room and calm down. Bonus if Dust and Killer actually share a room, and when they go to sleep all the cats are with Killer and when they wake up they're all with Dust. (Upsets Killer to no end.)

Okay, from here cw/tw? for schizophrenia and a semi-detailed hallucination episode

With my headcanon that Dust has schizophrenia, this would be an absolute nightmare for him.

A symptom of schizophrenia is hearing voices and sounds that aren't there. His main hallucination would be Phantom, and I've read that the voices schizophrenic people hear are usually far away. Like they are literally in the walls/srs.

Now imagine Dust hallucinating Phantom, while also hearing cats scratch at his door. Do you know how badly it would fuck with him. He would hear a voice from the wall, and assume that someone is trying to crawl into his room and scratch open the walls. So he just sits on his bed and hyperventilates. Bonus if the episode would involve physical hallucinations, with hands roaming on his face, head, shoulders, neck. And then with the sound of the scratching his brain would automatically make him feel nails scraping at his arms and legs.

[ganondoodle]

rough concept for a zonau redesign, an underground species now mostly based on bats and monkeys + lightfern

accessoires are referencing gigama (engl. frox) alot since they now live mostly underground and they would be a big part of their culture (constructs seem already designed after gigama in canon but its never really mentioned)

(totk rewritten project)

[simcardiac-arrested]

IM SURE YOUVE ALREADY EXPLAINED IT SOMEWHERE but.. may i ask about the story in bitter choco decoration. I like those guys :)

you’d be surprised but i apparently have never talked about these particular ocs’ story in detail on this particular tumblr blog. so i shall do just that…. i tried to summarize but it got kind of long oops, as it always does when i talk about my mentally ill ass ocs

so! as u might already know the guys in the video are rikki and william, and the animatic happens from rikki’s pov. rikki is basically the golden child of the family—smart, well-behaved, always keeping her parents satisfied, etc etc. generally she is put under a lot of pressure a lot of the time. and then her family decides to get an insurance child so to speak—just in case rikki fails in life—but they don’t want to go through the trouble of raising another one, so they decide to adopt.

that’s where william comes in, baby! now he is decidedly Not the golden child. he is the problem child. parents thought they could reform him—well, not much to show for that. but him and rikki surprisingly get along, even though they’re opposites. william actually gets someone who cares about him for once and wants him to be okay, and rikki gets someone who wants her to be more bold, stand up to others and consider what she herself wants instead of people-pleasing. he even gets her to make snide jokes and cut her hair. they’re best friends, it’s nice. for a while.

but, none of it is perfect. you know how rikki always seems to be smiling even though she’s clearly not having a good time? and you know all those red eyes that appear pretty much everytime william’s on screen? rikki has so many layers of masks that william never really feels like he actually knows her. and william, even though he mostly wants rikki to do her own thing, can still kind of be selfish and controlling (because he’s a teenager, and traumatized, and scared of losing his best friend, but it doesn’t change the fact that rikki feels the same pressure from him as she feels from their parents).

so this all culminates when they’re in high school and rikki buries herself in work—she wants to secure a good education and a good job so that she can actually get them both out of this shitty abusive household. for the first time in her whole life, she has a Goal that she personally has chosen. she now has someone to work hard for. but she also ends up spending a lot less time with that someone because of her studying, and it eats at william and eats and eats until—it turns out rikki’s hard work has actually paid off. she’s gotten a scholarship, and she can leave for a good university and she’s finally achieved something that she herself has wanted to do and not anyone else. for both of them. for her brother.

except her brother doesn’t react with support, like usual. he’s not cheering her on now that she’s fulfilled her dream and beyond. he just looks betrayed. because they’re best friends. they promised to be there for each other, to get out of this hellhole house together. how could she leave him behind? how is he supposed to make it without her, who is he going to have on his side? william loves her and wants her to be happy but he doesn’t want her to leave.

so in turn—because rikki is a) an avoidant little bitch who would rather masterfully evade conflict than try to have an opinion and b) doesn’t want her brother to hate her forever and not speak to her ever again—in turn, rikki, as always, as second nature, lies. i mean, it’s her dream, it’s something she’s been working towards for years, but she’ll stay. she’ll leave it behind. it makes perfect logical sense to her—best of both worlds: she doesn’t spend the last summer at home with her brother resenting her, and she still gets to actually go to university. it is basically flawless.

all up until, you know, the day comes where she actually has to move out and go to university. and william inevitably finds out that she lied to him. and they fight. it’s not good. it’s not happy. they end up separating on really bad terms, and not talking for the next 7 years because william runs away from home pretty much soon after rikki leaves (it’s not shown in the animatic but he does go MIA, rikki visits home once on holiday to find that her brother is just Gone, no one knows where he is, her parents couldnt give less of a shit, not great all around!!!) then rikki ends up graduating and looking for an easy first job, just to kind of set her foot in Job World.

unfortunately, it is also the exact same easy, convenient job that her brother ends up picking. hoo, boy. long time no see.