#or like. me-send. the motivation to make it was a godsend

[emberglowfox]

i thought this post was funny. they would

[cowgurrrl]

It Ain't Me Babe

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader

Author’s note: A holiday present from me to you ❣️

Summary: Ellie’s first art club meeting [2.8k]

Warnings: creative insecurity, mentions of financial instability, teacher things, Ellie talking about Sarah, more flirty flirt, I think that’s it??

Nothing has ever been as annoying or guilt-inducing as an unfinished piece of art. Sure, every artist— no matter the medium— has felt like an uncreative, unoriginal hack, but it still feels just as new as it did the first time. Moonlight streams through your window as you glare at the canvas, hoping for an idea or stroke of genius. It's late. You should be in bed, especially since it's a Sunday night and you spent your weekend working at the bar down the street. But you're holding a paintbrush between stained fingers and praying for a miracle. It's been eight months since you last sold a piece for a whopping $200, chump change when it comes to living in Austin these days. Even with two jobs and doing commission work, you're living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe that's why it's so hard to create? That has to be the reason. You don't remember it being this hard when you were younger.

Creating art was the only thing that brought you solace during your teenage years. It didn't matter if it was drawing, pottery, painting, sculpting. All that mattered was that you were doing it and you were good. You won awards, scholarships, and attention. Your art teacher, Ms. Henry, was a godsend. Grey-haired, glasses-wearing, colorful Ms. Henry glided through lessons and projects like it was second nature. She always had pencils in her hair, a mug in her hands, and a kind word on her lips when you entered her classroom. She's the one who pushed you to go to your artsy liberal arts college full of people richer and better than you. Even with her love and support, you struggled and almost dropped out after that first semester. 

"There's always someone better," she told you when you ended up crying across from her in a coffee shop. "But there's nobody in the world who can make what you will because there is and never will be another you. I mean, God, what a gift. I'd hate to see you waste it." That sobered you enough to keep going and eventually pursue a teaching certification. Ms. Henry has since retired to the Pacific Northwest with her wife, Mable, and sends you a postcard every once in a while because she believes smartphones will be the downfall of civilization. After so many years in education, you're ready to agree with her. 

You sigh, feeling your motivation fluttering away with your breath, and plop your paintbrush down in the cup engraved with the words "DO NOT DRINK" in bold. The canvas doesn't look like much of anything right now— just a mass of colors and shapes that could potentially pass as an abstract version of a landscape. It looks like the other painting you left at the school to work on when you have time. And the painting before that. And the one before that. You curse at exactly the same time your phone buzzes with a text. 

You awake?

You don't bother responding and go straight to FaceTiming her. She picks up on the second ring, her beautiful, round face greeting you with a smile. You met Andie during high school, and her effortlessly cool attitude and bulky violin kit quickly became a part of your heart. You two were inseparable all four years of high school, dividing your time between rehearsals and time spent in the studio, but college took you to art school and her to a prestigious orchestra program in Vienna. She's been there ever since graduation, playing for diplomats and royals alike, but she comes home for holidays, and you've been trying to save money to go see her. Being so far from her is hard, but you make it work. 

"Why are you awake?" You ask by way of a greeting, more than accustomed to your seven-hour time difference and her early riser habits. She laughs, and you hear a tea kettle whistle in the background. 

"Well, hello to you, too," she says. "I have rehearsals all day today, so I got an early start. Why are you awake?"

"I'm staring at my waking nightmare." 

"Oh, God, are you having another spiral?" 

"I'm a hack."

"You're an artist."

"I got rejected again this weekend," you say as if to prove your point, and she sucks her teeth. "They said my art didn't fit their vision for their exhibition, but to feel free and submit another time."

"Well, they must not know great art when they see it. There will be another exhibition and another chance for you to show off your amazing skills. And when you get accepted, which I know you will, I'll fly in, and we'll drink fancy champagne and talk shit the entire opening night." She says, and you sigh. Her persistent optimism is one of the things you love about her, but sometimes, all you want to do is sulk. 

"Or I could fly to you when your first composition gets performed, and we could do all those things in Austria instead of this shithole."

"Hey, some of us like that shithole."

"Some of us haven't lived in the shithole in ten years." 

"Touche," she concedes. "But I'm serious about what I said. You're a good artist, just going through a little bump in the road. One day, we'll be really sexy and successful, and we'll look back at this and laugh with our rich spouses while drinking expensive wine."

"One day," you say, smiling. "How are rehearsals going?" She groans at the question, and you laugh. Whenever you talk to her, she's working on a new show or with a new conductor and always has something to say. There are many things you could call your best friend, but lazy is not one of them.

"I feel like we're stuck on this one part, but the conductor won't listen to me. He says he knows better than I do, which might be true, but also, if he just listened to me, then we can move on. I don't know. I'm sure if I poke him enough, he'll have to listen to me."

"Sounds reasonable." 

"That's what I'm saying," she says as she shuffles her coffee mug and breakfast to her dining room table before checking the time. "It's midnight there. Don't you have school tomorrow?" She asks, and you sigh.

"And an early morning staff meeting and art club after school." 

"Sometimes, I worry about your mental health." She says, and you laugh a little too deliriously to prove her wrong. You stay up talking with her for a while before finally getting hit with a wave of fatigue and crashing into bed. 

The next day is not any less hectic than your weekend was. The staff meeting early in the morning is mind-numbing and completely unnecessary. The printer in the teacher's lounge breaks halfway through a heavy-duty print job, and you're left scrambling for new activities and lessons. Not only that, but your students were more out of control than usual, prompting a veteran teacher to come in and scold your class on your behalf. It would be kind if it didn't make you feel two inches tall and your students didn't look at you like you betrayed them. You spend your planning period indulging in the silence of your empty classroom and fighting off a migraine. 

The second the final bell sounds, your art club kids are knocking down your door, more than ready to work on their projects for the winter showcase. The winter showcase is hosted by a local art gallery that opens for submissions from students every fall. If a student's work is taken, it gets shown in the gallery, and they get entered into a prize to win money and a chance to paint a mural downtown. It's a big deal. So far, you haven't had a student win first place, but you've had them get very close. You always assure them you're proud of them no matter what, which is especially true when Ellie slinks into your classroom with a shy smile.

"Hey! We're just setting up supplies to work on stuff for the showcase. Do you have something to work on?" You ask, gesturing to the students working around the room in a buzz. 

"I think so. Are you gonna play music?" 

"Who do you think I am?" You make a face, and she laughs. "Why don't you find a spot and get comfortable while I queue up a playlist?" She hesitates for a second before she takes a deep breath and musters up the courage to approach another student to ask if she can sit with them. They start chatting easily, and her shoulders relax as she gets more and more comfortable with all the new people. You put on a random playlist and move around the room to answer any questions about colors or give an opinion when asked for one. Over the course of an hour, Ellie makes her own little group of friends, and they all talk as if they've known each other forever as they work. She seems so in her own element, and you can't fight the pride beaming in your chest. Okay, so maybe your job can be pretty cool sometimes. Not fame and fortune cool or traveling overseas cool, but cool nevertheless.

Students gradually start packing up their things and leaving when they get texts from impatient parents in the parking lot or close to dinner time, but Ellie stays behind, bobbing her head to a beat or bouncing her knee under the table. She's the only one left in the classroom when you start packing your stuff and preparing the room for the next day. "You've got a ride home, honey?" You ask, and she glances nervously between you and her phone.

"Yeah. My dad should be here soon." She says. 

"Alright, well, I've gotta lock up here, but I'll wait outside with you until he gets here."

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"It'd make me feel better knowing you weren't left behind. Plus, I'm the adult responsible for you until he picks you up, so it's kinda illegal for me to just leave you here." You say, and she looks hesitant again but nods. Together, you walk out of the classroom and through the empty hallways until you get out to the scorching September afternoon. You stand outside in silence for a few seconds, taking in the sunset, before you turn to look at her.

"How'd you like the club?" You ask. 

"It was fun! I met lots of cool people."

"I told you, kid. You just needed to give it a chance."

"I know, I know," she rolls her eyes, and you smile. "Thank you for pushing me to go. I don't think I would've gone without you." She's so genuine and kind in her tone that it throws you off-kilter. You're used to being berated by students, staff, and parents. To be told you actually had an impact on someone is not commonplace, to say the least. 

"I'm sure you would've found your way there without me." 

"Maybe, but you helped me get there a lot sooner than I would've on my own." She says, and you take a deep breath. It feels nice to be acknowledged, especially after the day you've had, and Ellie seems to sense it. You're looking for something to say when she looks down at her shoes and kicks a stray rock. "Just take the compliment and move on. Don't make it a thing." 

"Alright." You say, laughing, and she cracks a smile, too. Traffic will be horrible on the way home, and you have nothing to eat for dinner, but it's okay. You did one good thing today. That's all you need. 

"Sorry, my dad is taking so long." She changes the subject, a touch of anxiety creeping in, and you shake your head. 

"Does he always work late?" You ask, and she shrugs.

"Sometimes. Dad and Uncle Tommy have been picking up jobs to send money to my sister in Boston. "

"What's in Boston for your sister?"

"Medical school. She's about to go into her internship at a hospital there."

"That's a big deal." You say, and she hums. 

"Yeah. She'll probably save the world or something one day." There's a hint of something nostalgic in her voice, and you decide to push just a little. 

"Do you miss her?"

"A lot," she says. "She's my best friend."

"She's lucky to have you." You say. She smiles but doesn't say anything. You want to ask more about her family, but a rickety, greenish pickup truck comes rumbling through the parking lot before you can. Ellie shifts her backpack on her shoulder as her dad and uncle come into view, and you smile at them. Joel, however, looks frantic. 

He's unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the driver's side door before the car can even finish moving. There's dirt on his pants and a little bit of a sunburn across his arms, the muscles straining across the black fabric. He politely pulls the ball cap off his head to reveal sweaty curls as he approaches you, jerking his head toward the truck at Ellie. "Why don't you wait in the truck with Uncle Tommy? He's got a snack for you." He says, and Ellie lights up at the mention of food. When you're alone, he tucks his hands in his pockets and gives you an apologetic look. 

"'M so sorry. We got caught up at work and lost track of time. It won't happen again." He says, wringing his hands like he's waiting to be scolded, but you wave him off. 

"It's okay. Things happen, and I'm just glad she's got someone picking her up." You say. 

"How'd she do today?"

"Really good. I think she fits right in."

"She make some friends?"

"I can't give away all my secrets. What else are y'all gonna talk about at the dinner table?" You tease. 

"I guess that's right," he says as he stares at you, a muscle in his jaw jumping. "Thanks for waitin' with her."

"It was my pleasure." You say. You stand awkwardly for a few seconds, rocking back and forth on your feet. His eyes are locked in yours, and there's a silent competition to see who's gonna blink first. "Well, I should let you get home. Have a good night." 

"Uh," he starts, stopping you before you can even fully take a step. "I wanted to apologize for the other night. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't make me uncomfortable," you say a little too quickly, and he smirks. "I was very flattered. Besides, it's not the first time."

"Beautiful woman like you, I'm sure you've got 'em linin' the block for a chance with you." He says. You're dancing a delicate dance here. You're not not flirting, and you're not not interested in him, but if your principal finds out, it could cause a whole new world of problems. Still, it's nice to be wanted after so long of being on your own. You're not a saint, but you're also not doing anything inherently wrong, right?

"The teacher thing usually freaks 'em out before they can get very far."

"That's a damn shame." He's quick with it, and you have to resist the urge to roll your eyes at the line. A buzz in your bag reminds you of the time and why you're still at school, and you find your footing again. 

"Uh, I usually give out my contact information to the parents of my art club kids in case they need anything or need to contact me quickly. Since Ellie's an official part of that, I figured I should give you my phone number in case anything comes up. If that's alright?" You say, and he pulls his cracked phone from his back pocket. 

"Yeah, yeah. That's more than alright." He says, handing it to you to punch in your information. 

"It's for emergency purposes only."

"What d'you consider an emergency?"

"Mr. Miller-"

"Joel." He corrects, and you give him a look as you pass his phone back. 

"Don't abuse it. I'd hate to have to put you in a group chat with all the PTA moms."

"You're evil." He groans, and you laugh. Tommy, leaning over and honking the truck horn, interrupts your conversation, and he shoots daggers through the back window. 

"I'll see you next week, Joel." You say, dismissing him, and he hesitates for another second before nodding.

"See you next week." He says and turns on his heels to get back in his truck. You think you vaguely catch Joel scolding Tommy for being impatient, but you ignore his deep voice and the engine sputtering as you walk to your own car with a little more pep in your step than this morning.

TAGLIST: @abbyhaslongshorts @kiwiharrykiwi @sumsworldz @myloveistoolittle @anavatazes @marantha @cosmoscoffeee @shyminnie07 @beezusvreeland @eddiemunsonsbedroom @harriedandharassed @doodlebob-mp3 (look at how many of you there are!)

[theladyofrosewater]

So I was browsing the MCD wiki (which sidenote thank you @/lggy for maintaining the wiki you are a godsend) and I noticed that because of the sepia or whatever filter they used, Zianna and Aaron's wife Lilly look really similar so I thought "what if I made them sisters"

THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND. If I make it so that Lilly and Aaron get married early that would effectively make Zianna the sister of the Lord of Falconclaw and a pretty valuable person to marry in terms of alliances so Zianna would make the decision to marry Garte and therefore O'Khasis would never move on Falconclaw and hey if Garte died early (most descendants of Esmund have a habit of dying young in my rewrite) that would effectively let Zianna rule O'Khasis as long as she had an heir that could wield Esmund's relic.

It also would make Aaron more involved in the plot because I will be honest, while I do not hate Aaron because I can separate him from Jason enough. Aaron feels like a character who would have been a one-off character or at least one who was a side character to the level of say Lucinda. I know the Divine Warriors and Irene are supposed to be the kinda main story but I will be honest with you the Ro'Meaves and their absolute chaos are way more interesting to me. Zane was the season one's villain, Garroth and Vylad were mysteries that we got to upwrap with both Ru'aun as a whole and some stuff about the Shadow Knights. In making Aaron Zianna's brother-in-law and the uncle of Garroth, Zane and Vylad to me, besides just making him more connected to the main plot, does two main things.

Aaron in current MCD canon is really only connected to two characters Aphmau and Zane. I'm changing his relationship to Aph to be more of a mentorship one because I think he sees the young daughter he and his wife wanted to have but never got too because of Zane. to me it makes the massacre at Falconclaw be that much more personal because instead of this random priest just killing your wife, child, and entire village for no real reason imagine this. You're a lord of a village and relatively recently two of your nephews have died and one of them quite gruesomely, you've got one nephew left and he requests a family visit and you accept because hey the kid has always been a bit weird but he just lost both of his brothers and he probably needs support right now so you extend an invitation for him to visit. He gets there and he somehow got to be the head of the major religion in your area and the kid's not even 19 yet and looks like he hasn't slept in days so you rush the tour and send him to your home, maybe your wife can get him to eat something, or your son might cheer him up for at least a little while. You think nothing of it and keep doing your job until you hear screaming and see so many dead. Your wife is dead, your son is dead everyone is dead and the only one alive is your nephew and when he looks at you he fucking smiles and says it "it was necessary but don't worry I'm sure you'll join them soon enough" before walking off leaving you to bury bodies for years. Making Aaron be related to the Ro'meaves in my opinion changes his story from just a fridging backstory to a classic tragedy because it becomes a betrayal bathed and forged from blood.

I think it would give him a better motivation to risk his life to get Garroth back and it would make him interact with the other characters because he wants to know what kind of man his non-evil nephew turned into. That causes him to be more and more social with everyone. Maybe he spars and trains with Katelyn, He teaches Dante and his kids how to fish because Aaron never got to teach Jacob how, but still wants to pass on that skill. Maybe he knows things about shadow knights that most people don't, and he promises to teach Laurance in case he might help him. Maybe he takes Travis hunting because Travis never got to go on hunting trips with a parent. And then he sacrifices himself. Katelyn ignores the painful feeling she gets when she looks at the spare chalk and wrappings she has for spars. The fishing poles in Dante's house get covered with dust and cobwebs, the strings rotting away and snapping. Laurance and maybe Vylad struggling with being shadow knights as the call gets stronger and wondering if Aaron would have known how to deal with it. Travis out of anger snaps his bow in half before realizing what he did and breaking down. I want Garroth to be horrified when he finally is home and realizes just who they lost to get him back. I want them to care about him and I want his sacrifice to be more than love triangle fodder

[monstrifex-art]

During your art challenge stuff like Vivid Shadows, how do you typically keep up motivation to continue doing it every single day? Because it’s been a struggle to keep writing stuff every single day. Granted this is my first time doing this, but I was wondering if you had any way you prevent creative burnout from doing these.

I have thoughts on this lol. There's a few ways. First a disclaimer, I started working on these Vivid Shadows pieces about a month ago. I have up through day 19 done right now (cough see them early on patreon cough). So I've been spacing these out a bit more than one every other day. I have done the challenge day by day before, and it's doable. But I'm a busy adult that needs to pay bills, and I like to give myself some cushion. But with that established, here are some thoughts I have. 1. Collaborators and Witnesses I doubt I could find the motivation to do these kinds of big projects if I didn't have friends and collaborators doing them with me. This is different for everyone, but I find I'm much more productive when I have someone else to bounce ideas off of, send WIPs to, and honestly to judge me when I don't meet my goals. This can be a friend you're working with, or a discord server where you share updates, or any other online community that you're a part of. 2. Effort Budgeting For big series like Vivid Shadows or longer comics with a lot of panels, I do not put all my effort into every piece. There's just no way. I consciously choose to half ass some things, and tell myself "eh, good enough" even if I know I can spend more time polishing. It is infinitely better to finish a piece at 60% of your full power than to pour all your heart into a project that never sees the light of day. If you feel up to it, you can spend more effort on some select parts that really make you happy. But those should be the exception, not the rule. And the more projects you finish, the better your half-assed work will become. 3. Creative Limitations You have to define some bounding rules for your project, or you'll get stuck with decision paralysis and scope creep. For Vivid Shadows, the rules I use are pretty simple. Each day has a prompt, one color to use, set dimensions and a hard deadline. I mostly use a limited palette (3 colors + black or white) because I know I can spend hours and hours shading and coloring otherwise. Limitations foster creativity. If you have a tight frame around what you can do, your brain comes up with way more ideas. 4. Keep an eye on the clock Part of what I like about projects like Vivid Shadows is that they have built in deadlines. I know I have to wrap things up by a certain day and time, and if it isn't perfect then so be it. I've done enough creative work to know roughly how much I can get done in a certain amount of time, which is very helpful for planning. The program I use for drawing has a built-in clock that tracks time spent on each document, which is a godsend. 5. Find your own methods This is all just stuff that helps me, but everyone's brain works in different ways. It absolutely takes practice to enter creative mode at will, rather than when the stars align and you feel inspired. Start with small projects, and as you train yourself you can eventually finish larger ones. Remember, something small and finished is always better than something grand that never gets done. Also worth mentioning, find the things that light up your brain. Personally, I've found that making my art horny is a powerful motivator for my creativity. In addition to the obvious neuron activation, I find it very satisfying to explore the boundaries of what I find attractive, like a mad scientist or detective. 6. Keep it fun! None of this will work if you don't enjoy the project. There may be parts you don't enjoy, but overall the project should bring you joy. If the project isn't fun, change it or drop it and start one that is. You don't owe your past self anything. Even if you abandon a project, the work you put into it is good practice for your next thing. Make work you like, and move on. Hope this helps! Good luck on your project 🙌

[todayisafridaynight]

I have no clue how to turn email alerts off and at this point I'm too afraid to ask and Also At This Point they're a godsend because

Search Works

It is important that Search Works because I write in often enough that your inbox feels more like "my blog" than my actual blog [THAT'S WHY IT FEELS WRONG NOT TO WRITE IN EVERY DAY BTW not because it IS wrong but because it is a Habit... feels like I forgot part of my Routine if I don't... And For Better Or Worse, I Am Autistic.] WEIRD AS HELL TO ADMIT but back during the initial series of essays I sent you [which I still want to revisit but You Know], I often struggled to find the motivation set my workspace up every day, but I'd go on your blog on mobile and the posts would be so long Tumblr'd throw up the Sign Up Or Log In Wall. So that got me thinking Might As Well Get On My Laptop

Still very exciting to get these notifs :]

I will regret saying all this come morning but let's call this a Bond Level Up moment 😎 for the sake of my ego 😎 catch you later [probably at the stream] 😎

pretty sure it's an option in notifications ngl or you just tell tumblr to stop sending you notifications like you would any subscription letter I Unno BUT YEAH if it ain't broke and is actually making the site usable aint no need to get rid of it ♪(´▽｀)

and FAIR NUFF: sometimes i joke to myself that you do co-run my blog with me, so i'm glad that's how you interpret sending in asks (❁´◡`❁)

[aozui]

BRAZIL BOUND . . ! ( a.k.a. the bbverse ) a collection of semi-connected standalones, a universe where hinata has to choose between you, or his dreams.

REPLY TO THIS POST TO BE TAGGED (12/50), HAVE AN IDEA? SEND A REQUEST, OR TAKE A LOOK AT MY MASTERLIST

s/o @gothamtwinks for being an absolute godsend and letting me use their art in the banner, post layout ib the talented @ chuluoyi

FLUFF entries ⎯⎯ ✩ last updated: tba

OO1: toothpaste kisses

format: drabble 🌞 his favorite mornings are the ones spent with you. (wc: 350)

OO2: aloe you

format: drabble 🌞 “going to brazil means you need to learn to put sunscreen on properly.” “why would I learn when you can do it for me?” (wc: tba)

OO3: sharp teeth

format: short form fic 🌞 he’s having trouble packing, will you come over and help him? he cut his hand too, will you please, maybe, kiss it better? (wc: tba)

ANGST ( + hurt/comfort ) entries ⎯⎯ ✩ last updated: tba

OO1: homecoming

format: long form fic 🌞 he’s back, but not for good. *hurt/mostly comfort (wc: tba)

OO2: what’s it gonna be?

format: drabble 🌞 it’s time to make the choice. *hurt no comfort (wc: tba)

TEXT SMAU entries ⎯⎯ ✩ last updated: tba

OO1: can I drink expired milk?

no written part 🌞 hinata texts you his grocery lists, treats you like his personal search engine, and you start to think he has some hidden motives. alternatively: he misses you, so he finds ways to talk.

SPINOFF entries ⎯⎯ ✩ (in the making)

“oh, you’re a tourist too?” you didn’t expect to find a fellow foreigner so soon, but zero complaints. brazil isn’t easy to navigate on your own. “let’s help each other.”

OO1: baby steps | oneshot

format: short form fic ☁️ surfing hasn’t always been your forte, but shoyo thinks you’re a fast learner. “I can teach you.” (wc: tba)

OO2: walk the plank | oneshot

format: semi long fic (?) ☁️ hinata is a messy drunk, and you’re the only person he calls. (wc: tba)

OO3: bail | oneshot

format: long form fic ☁️ sho finds himself tangled in a series of misunderstandings. you make a trip to the police station to help him out. (wc: tba)

MOODBOARD + PLAYLIST

a/n: I don’t know when I’ll update this, but please don’t expect anything consistent till the next semester break <3

[smokescreenimusprime]

JFXBVHXFBVHX Y E S S S S S S

Like. Imagine it

The Autobots arrive on Earth. Optimus, Ratchet and Bee first, then Arcee and Cliff, and finally Bulkhead. And they're basically on the verge of surviving, scrounging up whatever scraps of energon they can find and building their base from the ground up with whatever spare parts and ship pieces they happened to arrive with. It's hard, it's terrifying, and they're constantly on edge because the Cons could show up at any point and dodging the native population is difficult

but of course, eventually they get caught. After all, since Smokey's arrival, the US government knows what to look out for, and when they end up seeing a lot of rumours about "ghost cars" they started to look into it. When they end up realizing said ghost cars also have the Autobot emblem, it's basically confirmed. And of course, when word gets out to Smokescreen, he's absolutely EXTATIC. It's only thnks to carefully worded negotionations from Fowler that he didn't go tearing out of the base the second he heard, and even then it was close.

Smokescreen is naturally the one they send in for "first contact." Any humans will just scare them off and make them think they're cornered, so it was essentially their only option

now admittedly Smokescreen does come off a bit...... strongly. He couldn't help it, he was finally able to meet other Autobots for the first time in ages!!!! So not the greatest first impression, but they just think he's really childish and excitable instead of anything actually dangerous so..... at least there's that?

you're absolutely correct though, when Smokescreen shows them everything he's collected it's...... a lot to take in. They almost don't believe it. In fact, the more skeptical members think this might be a trap of some kind at first. After all, there's no way Smokescreen would just give this to them......

but then a few hours pass. Then a few days. Then a few weeks. Then a few months. No hidden motive comes out, no strange behavior, nothing

what they do learn is that Smokescreen is...... really lonely

don't get me wrong, the silo is by no means big for the Cybertronians. But as they look around it and see all the little signs of life left behind by Smokescreen, they have to admit it's...... kinda sad. All this space, all these rooms, all this energon, and yet only a single spark to fill it

while it wasn't a war, they do come to realize Smokescreen has gone through his own trials and difficulties, and while he may never be able to fully understand theirs, they in turn will never be able to full understand his

but of course, it's not all doom and gloom. Smokescreen's knowledge makes their fight a little less hopeless and a little less desperate, and he knows a...... terrifying amount about how to use the relics, both in a fight and for other useful means. He's a bit out of practice combat wise, but when it comes to navigating and using earth terrain he's second to none

Also, shifting gears slightly to the whole Unicron thing..... what if for shits and giggles, Smokescreen has his suspicions. Like, he found a couple deposits of Dark Energon when he was digging a bit too deep, remembered the old Doom Prophecy, thought it was a little weird there was all this Cybertronian Stuff on this bum fuck nowhere planet, but never had any actual proof until a few years after the war started up on Earth

also also, during the Orion Pax arc I'd imagine Smokescreen is a godsend. He knows SO much about the lore surrounding the Primes and all their stuff thanks to Trion, so at the very least a lot of the confusion and skeptisicm will be cleared up

I got two ideas for Early Crash AU. One is fluff and the other is angsty.

Fluff idea: Smokescreen uses a virtual avatar AKA his holoform. He doesn't show it often cause he's trying to lay low here, but since there's the very good possibility that he might be the first VTuber, he gains even more of a following. Maybe this is how Raf starts noticing Smokescreen, wondering how he managed to create a hologram that advanced

Angst idea: Since you brought up the possibility of Fowler not being his first minder, what if it was MECH that first found him when he was wandering around. That's gotta leave some trust issues for your boy

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Y E S

it takes a few years for Smokescreen to figure out a passable holoform. He was never an inventor, all he had were his memories from datapads in the Archives and some human tech, but eventually he figured it out. Of course, it takes even longer for him to get it approved, but after many, many, M A N Y trials and tests and jumping through hoops it's official and he's allowed to use it on camera and in public

and it's...... honestly really nice. To finally be "face to face" with his audience so to speak. Even though he doesn't use it much with his podcasts, it's so freeing to finally be able to go into human towns and cities and be able to actually talk with the people. He's been practically starved for interaction so finally being able to go out there and meet the people...... he loves it

maybe this is how he meets Jack and June. Jasper is naturally his "home base" so to speak, and maybe after spending some time around town he ends up meeting and befriending a young Jack

maybe after meeting June, he finally has something of a family again

and BIG OL FUCKING YES FOR THE ANGST AND I THOUGHT OF A WAY TO MAKE IT WORSE

what if Silas was one of his first minders, possibly one of two. I don't have many ideas, but I'm saying they're definitely on the older side of since and completely uninvolved with the MECH stuff

and just. Smokescreen never really liked Leland. Sure he was fine, but there was something about him that just felt..... off. Like the man was taking him apart with his very eyes. Sure human eyes were already weird, they took in light instead of giving off any, but Leland's eyes always felt a bit more calculating and dead and empty then his other minder's

but he brushes off his discomfort. After all, the man hasn't actually done anything and is polite enough when they talk. Besides, what's he even going to say? "Oh your eyes freak me out, can you stop looking at me?" Yeah, no Smokescreen really doesn't want to make himself seen as more of a threat or make things awkward with one of two sentient beings he regularly talks with

and for years, things are fine. The government relaxes, Leland and the other guy do their jobs, when the war's over Smokey even manages to get the higher ups to approve him going on more recreational drives so long as one of his minders was with him. Leland even starts trying to engage with him more and takes him for drives almost every other day!

Smokescreen tries to ignore the way Leland touches the inside of his alt mode, how his eyes light up whenever he changes in front of him, how the words he speak always have some strange undertone he can never pinpoint the meaning of

things are fine. Not good, certainly not great, but fine and Smokescreen is slowly starting to get comfortable

but then things........ change :)

It had started as a normal day. He, Leland and the other minder had just left the base and started their drive. Apparently there was an old mountain pass pretty far out of the way

.........but then Leland puts something on his dashboard

and the next thing Smokescreen knows, he's hit with a shock of electricity and the last thing Smokescreen hears before everything goes dark is a single gunshot

who knows how long it takes them to find Leland and Smokescreen. Days, maybe even weeks, and at the end of it when rescue finally Smokescreen is not left without scars, both physical and psychological. Smokescreen only knows so much about medicine, and most of that is limited to field patches. The humans are limited in their help and the most they can do is provide him with welders. He doesn't even have any painkillers

and psychologically....... ho boy he's going to be a mess. This incident is going to saddle him with some really bad trust issues for a good while, and he's absolutely not going to let anyone into his alt mode for a while, especially with any cargo. In a few years he might let someone in again, but they are going to be in the back seat and far away from the dashboard

also....... Smokescreen's going to be VERY particular about keeping his insides clean from here on out. After all...... he just spent several days at minimum with the blood of someone he trusted inside of him with no way to clean it while being experimented on by another guy he trusted

(maybe Fowler was one of the people on the rescue and can be the one to help Smokescreen clean up. Maybe this even indirectly leads to him being assigned as Smokescreen's new minder)

[ghoste-catte]

I was curious what advice would you give to someone new to writing fics? I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't seriously written something since high school. I hope this isn't an annoying question or anything!

Not an annoying question at all! I'm just a little worried that I won't have terribly good or useful advice. To be honest, I also sort of stopped writing in earnest right as I finished high school, and didn't pick it back up until my late 20s. It's certainly an adjustment! But I think the few things that really helped me get back into writing fic as a hobby and something I spend quite a bit of time on would be:

Write for yourself first, then find your other motivations. My original inspiration in getting back into fic writing was that there just were not that many fics I liked for my favorite pairing, and I wanted more of them, and I especially wanted more with the tropes and characterizations I wanted to see. I think at the very core of anything you need that internal spark that drives you. At the same time, for me at least, if I just relied on my own drive, I would not get much done; I need some external guardrails. So having people send prompts, or writing for particular events, or writing stuff for friends really helps me to get my ass in gear and finish stuff. That may not be the perfect motivator for you, and that's fine! You just gotta figure out what is.

Be open to inspiration. Anything and everything can be spun out into a story with the right tweaking. Obviously stuff like music is a classic inspiration source, but I've also pulled ideas from poetry, from memes, from Reddit threads, from YouTube videos, from rambling conversations on Discord and from real life to make fics out of. So many times, someone will post a silly Twitter screencap, and I'll think, There's a fic in this. And a lot of the time, there is! Research is a wonderful thing, but so is serendipity. If you're out there actively looking for ideas, eventually one that you like will stumble past you.

Find your community. I can genuinely say I never would have finished more than one fic if I didn't have fandom friends to talk to about even stupid headcanons, to bounce ideas off of, and to encourage me (and to encourage them in turn!). Discord has been a godsend, and some of my closest online friends are people I met in the GaaLee discord server. As I've gotten more comfortable as a writer, I've also joined general writing servers and Reddit communities and have found them immensely helpful on both a motivational level (bingos, sprints, owe-me challenges) and on a craft level (plot workshopping and writing ethics and live grammar help). It's a lot easier to think about fic ideas and hash through problem moments when I have a constant stream of fandom-related chatter coming from the little people who live in my phone! Ao3 is an amazing website, and it's great as, well, an archive, but it isn't social media by design. If you want conversation and human connection and cheerleading, you've gotta forge out and find it.

Make it a habit ... If you want to produce anything longer than a couple hundred words, you really have to set aside time for it. And writing is just like knitting or dirt biking or painting little model figurines: the more you do it, the more easily it comes. When I was first getting back into the proper swing of things, I committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per week. Just 30 minutes. I didn't even hit that goal every week, but there were tons of weeks I got on a roll and went over that amount, and by the end of the year I'd written over 200,000 words. I used to spend an hour laboriously tip-tapping out 200 words, but now I can easily blow through 1k in a 50 minute sprint. It's all about training that muscle.

... But don't make it a chore. With fanfic, you aren't doing this as a job, and you aren't ultimately doing it for anyone other than you. That means you can take breaks when you need them, you can set deadlines and then fail to meet them, you can write stuff and then decide to never post it. When you start getting burnt out, when the practice loses the joy and energy, stop. There's no 'hustle' here. In our capitalist society we're so trained to push past our limits and keep going even when it hurts us, but the hobby you do for connection and relaxation and whatever else shouldn't be like that.

Ignore metrics. Sometimes stuff isn't gonna get hits, or kudos, or comments. There are some basic 'rules' as to the stuff that does and doesn't get traction, but every time you post something it's a roll of the dice. If you're focused on watching that kudos counter tick up, you will get bummed out fast. And any writer will tell you that the stuff you think is your best work will never be the stuff that gets the most accolades. So you have to find something else to give you a sense of success. For me, it's watching my wordcount go up in my stats and those occasional comments where someone has a lot to say and that one person who always leaves me a <3 emoji (and, shout out to @egregiousderp, having someone to have long one-on-one conversations with about the stuff that never made it to page).

Don't strive for perfection. It's really easy to want your first ever fic to be a complete showstopper, the best fic fandom has ever seen, hitting all the tropes and the ideas and the characterization that you just know fandom is missing and would be everyone's top favorite if only it was written. This is a trap. No one fic can be all things. Most people who want to write an epic as their very first venture will not see the end of that epic, because they haven't put in the practice hours to make something on that scale work. That's not to say you can't start out with a big, sprawling multichap, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you're just starting out, and be okay with abandoning it for greener pastures if you get to that point. Think of the first time someone makes a vase out of clay or bakes a loaf of bread. That's never their best vase or their best bread. If they keep up with it, they'll make more and better vases and loaves. Likewise, your first fic is probably not gonna be your best fic. See it for what it is: your launchpad.

You can't edit an empty page, but you can over-edit a full one. This kind of spins off of #7, but if the words aren't there, you can't fix them. Daydreams and headcanons are fantastic (and god, how many times have I wished for a speech-to-text engine that projected my falling asleep thoughts onto a Google doc for later perusal), but they aren't fic. If you want to write fic, you've gotta get comfortable with the idea of sloppy outlines and rough first drafts. You can't build a house without a frame and you can't build a man without a skeleton (I mean, you can, I guess, but he'd be one floppy man). The nice thing about fic is that it doesn't matter if that frame is structurally unsound or the skeleton has 18 too many bones, you can clean that up in the editing process. But you can't start hanging curtains and arranging furniture in something that doesn't even have walls. That's the process. But! Also know when to set down the editor's pen and say, "Okay, this is good enough for government work", and call it done. ("Done" doesn't have to mean "posted", but it does mean, "I'm done picking at this for now, and I'm gonna go write some more stuff".) Over-editing can make stuff seem laborious and forced, and it prevents you from actually improving. To continue belaboring the house metaphor, you can spend your whole life rearranging furniture in just one room, but the end result of that is a pretty narrow existence and a room with a lot of footprints and tracks in the carpet.

Write shit down. When you have ideas, jot them down--in a notebook, in a Google Doc, in the Notes app of your phone, in pen on the back of your hand. You think you will remember that brilliant line of dialogue or sparkling snippet of narration or genius plot that came to you in a dream, but you Will Not. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down! There have been so many times when a fic was completely saved by past!me having written down my shower thoughts about what happens next in the fic, that present!me had completely forgotten about and was floundering over.

Have fun with it! Try different stuff. Try stupid stuff. Try experimental stuff. Do stuff you've never done before that you aren't sure will work. It's important to get comfortable with your niche (for example, I know I'm never going to be the sort of person who writes intricate plots of intrigue or super long 100k epics or detailed battles), but you can't find that niche unless you explore lots of different niches! Figure out what you love and what you absolutely hate, and then keep doing the stuff you love.

Okay, so that was actually TEN things, but ... I hope you still found this helpful. Feel free to send another ask if any of this was confusing or unclear. Good luck with your fic writing and, if you want, send me a link to what you've written once you've written it! I'd love to read it.

[my-reality-my-rules]

Hello!

I was wondering how to stay motivated when you haven’t shifted yet but are starting to lose hope.

Thanks for answering my question!

Have a good day.

[thanks for this ask!]

(1) ASK FOR ANGEL NUMBERS

well, one of the main things that kept me going were angel numbers. truthfully, if it weren't for them, I'd have thought shifting and manifestation were all just one big fat lie. it had been around two months after I'd discovered about shifting itself, and i was getting impatient on getting results. i haven't received any at all, save for the first night i actually tried it. I'll admit it was more on the toxic influence of social media then (ahem tiktok), and i had been a baby shifter who was severely misinformed on a lot of things. a lot of people said that asking for angel numbers helped! i called bullshit, initially. even though i was curious on trying out shifting, some part of me simply didn't want to engage in what i had then thought to be of the supernatural.

out of a desperate moment, i asked for the angel numbers. it doesn't have to be anything grand. just a small request. before sleeping, i laid awake for a while, just thinking about what it'd be like to finally shift. i thought of the things i could never have, not here, and made a last attempt for the night. that's it. it had only been a simple, 'Whoever or whatever's listening to me, from out there, just send me a sign, please. Angel numbers. Something small that reminds me why I started this in the first place.'. and i went to sleep.

it wouldn't be until after three or four days that i started receiving them. i do remember feeling discouraged about it, when i didn't immediately get the results i wanted. but slowly, they started appearing. on the time, on the number of likes a comment has, in books, in the length of a video, on things I'd type half-asleep (I'm not kidding on that last one lmao). it went strong for a few months, now that i think about it. and it felt nice, you know? to me, even if it felt like the angel numbers were more a reminder that i was procrastinating on shifting, at least i had something to keep me going.

(2) LISTEN TO MANIFESTATION SUBLIMINALS

another thing that's really been lifting my spirits up are subliminals! not necessarily shifting subliminals, if you will. manifestation ones, boosters, what have you. there's a lot of them on youtube, and there's usually a specific one for the intent you want to manifest. for this one, i highly recommend listening to moza morph, kapelsu, and Enchanted Workshop's subliminals! they're the ones i frequently use, and so far, they've been doing wonders for me. here's a link to my personal playlist, if you're interested. i add onto it every other day or so, when i find another sub that i like. I'm actually listening to it right now lol.

I've been in somewhat of a...well nothing's going wrong at the moment, but nothing right is, either. i didn't realise how demotivated i had actually been when i went on a subliminal binge last week. there's been a lot to do lately, and for some reason, listening to my favourite songs made me panic (??) instead of making me feel slightly relieved of the situation. so, i turned to subliminals. good lord, i actually finished most of my school tasks. christ that one luck/success really worked. i can't even put it in the right words—subliminals and subliminal makers are an absolute fucking godsend.

if you feel as if there's some kind of blockage when you're shifting, then try the smaller day-to-day-type subliminals first (ex., improved writing, clearer senses, better sleep, heightened attention span, get work done, etc.). build it up, and when you're comfortable enough, you can try moving on to shifting subs and/or guided meditations. the biggest tip that i can give when listening to them is to wholeheartedly assume you're already where you want to be. you need to believe in it, to see your results. it's all in the mind—which brings me to my next point.

(3) RECOGNISE YOUR POWER AND WORTH

i can't stress this one enough. if you truly think you can't, you won't. i don't remember the exact quote, or who even said this, but: your actions make your reality. you need to learn how to grow into yourself, to learn how to trust and love yourself.

a lot of people already say that, and it does get tiring to hear time and time again...but they're not wrong. listen, i absolutely abhor toxic positivity—and I'm not saying you should simply up and pretend your struggles are non-existent, because at the end of the day, they do tend to catch up to you. but they also help you heal, and build you to become a better person. maybe it's not what you want to hear, especially if you're at a low point in your life, but nonetheless, it rings true. you survive first, and then you live. it's a process.

shifting can take a lot out of a person, whether you're pursuing it or if you're simply gaining entertainment or inspiration from another's experience. mentally and emotionally, for the most part. it's important you look out for yourself, because again, who'd live out your dreams for you? people find themselves demotivated, but that shouldn't hinder their potential to do so much more. be so much more. I'm not saying this just as a reality shifter, but also as someone who wishes you all the best in general.

i hope this helps! have a good day as well, and happy shifting ❤️❤️

[shoichee]

omg cngrts on 100!!!! <3 u deserve it!!!! hii how are you??? ahaha hows genshin going for you?? also for ur milstone event, can i request kise ryota with prompt 19 or 20, i cant decide between the two, so ill leaave it to you!! <3 i hope youre doing well 💖💖💖💖

dhfiuseyghieaugh tysm ily reeeeee <33 been playing genshin nonstop to keep my sanity from my uni papers SEND HELP

Kise x Reader

19. “I think I’m in love with you, and that scares the crap out of me”

Word Count: 2851

prompt list here

Note: we need more manga Kise, i repeat, we need more asshole Kise

»»—————　☼　—————««

How could this happen? How could he, the veteran of receiving female attention, be so careless?

He only saw you as an intrigue. A challenge. Perhaps a friend at the very most.

How did this happen?

Kise slightly grits his teeth before he quickly exhales, bringing his hand to rub out the tension in his neck. His mood had not gone unnoticed by his fans around him.

Ah, shit.

“Ryōta!” one called out, her tone dripped in saccharine. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you been pushing yourself lately?” another one chimes in.

“I can come with you to the infirmary… surely you’d have trouble!—”

“Move—I asked first!”

“H-hey! Quit being so snappy—!”

“Stop.”

He instinctively sends a glare at the mob out of irritation but then stops himself to quickly etch a sweet smile of his own for them. No matter how much he hears these words of concern, he hears nothing but empty wind. Hanging around girls was supposed to be a fun pastime. A challenge. Nowadays, his mind doesn’t bother to register any of their names, their faces. All their voices that come out of their mouth have become constantly replayed recaps; their chatters have become equivalent to those of flocking pigeons. “Don’t worry, everyone! Basketball practice has just been tough, is all. You’re all so kind to worry for my health, though! Thank you!”

Squeals rang throughout the courtyard as they hung onto his every word. Predictable.

As he firmly separates himself away from the group and leaves off with a cheerful facade, he quickly turns around to make a break with a brisk walk. Where to, exactly? He doesn’t know, but anywhere that didn’t have people around would be godsend.

His mind always returns back to you. You, who he thought would be the cure to his social life, just as Aomine and Kuroko were to his life of sports. You, who respected his personal space. You, whom he had meaningful conversations with during breaks sometimes. You, who he felt like he can drop his facades around recently and just entirely be himself.

As cruel as it was, he once challenged himself to make you fall for him. A sick, twisted game that would cure his boredom and give him something to look forward to other than practice. Something to keep him on his toes throughout the beginning of high school. You, who wasn’t honestly that special, other than the fact you treated him differently, unlike other people. Hell, even the adults are wrapped around his finger. What’s not making you fall head over heels for him? His curiosity continues to grow exponentially the more he spends time with you; never once did it get satiated.

Was it his ego that you bruised up? Was it his competitiveness kicking in at the thought of experiencing a type of “defeat?” Was it the unsaid uncertainty in his heart that is currently panicking of the thought of entering a whole new territory with new emotions and thoughts?

There is nothing special about you. You were only a challenge. There is nothing special about you. Once he figures you out, your game, you would just be like everyone els—

“Ow!”

“Ah, sorry! My bad, my bad! Are you alright? I’ve been a tad dizzy lately, here let me help you, oh…” As he rambles in a slight fluster, he immediately jumps back into his chivalrous side, immediately clasping a hand to help them up. Expecting to see another faceless individual, his eyes widened when his mind registered a pair of eyes staring inquisitively at him. Your eyes.

“Are you the same Ryōta I know?” you stifle a laugh. “Since when were you so quick to ever help me out without complaining my ear off?” When they say his first name, it has always sounded off, sickening even. He still could not comprehend why he, despite hating the sound of his first name rolling off of people’s tongues, insisted on you using his first name. Strangely, whenever you call him out so sincerely, he couldn’t help but always jerk back in genuine surprise at how��� nice it felt.

He only let you use his first name to force a sense of closeness. This was only to accelerate the forming of a bond between the two of you. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing more than a challenge. Nothing more than an asset to accomplish it.

But every time he has had these thoughts lately, his heart spiked with painful palpitations.

How did this happen?

His swirling thoughts halt when he feels your hand against his forehead. “You said you were dizzy earlier, right?” you said worriedly. “You don’t seem sick… have you been eating properly?”

You were tippy-toeing to try to reach his height, one hand grasping his shoulder for support while the other was feeling his temperature. And oh, you were so close.

This was a game you were playing, too, right? You must’ve known this entanglement was all just a challenge and you wanted to play along for the fun of it, right? But these thoughts quickly cease as you separate yourself from him to give him the usual physical distance.

What sort of game were you playing? Tug-of-war? Cat-and-mouse chase? Two can play at that game.

“Hey…” he looms over your figure, leaning closer to your face. “Maybe you’re the one making me dizzy, after all?” His sharp eyes search for any subtle signs you give off: your facial expressions, body language, your reactions.

“What?” Your eyes widen at his abrupt advance, worried eyes quickly turning into one of confusion as you scan Kise’s face for any other subtle signs of his own.

There was no way you could have good intentions. There was no way you could have genuine concern for him. There was no way you would be hanging around with him, unless you had some ulterior motives of your own.

After all, he chose to get to know you for the most selfish reason. How could he ever bring himself to tell you that this precarious friendship you two shared was built on the premise of deceit on his end?

“Sorry,” he chuckles. “Just wanted to see your reaction.” And with that, he ruffles your hair playfully before he continues to walk to his intended destination of the school infirmary.

“You’re definitely sick!” you call out, rushing to catch up to him. “You’re acting really strange!...” Your voice—he wishes he could tune it out just as easily as the rest, but you were right… he was acting strange. He couldn’t believe he can distinguish your features from amidst a sea of people. Your voice amidst a clutter of noises. Your warmth amidst all the sunlight, clothing, and body heat he’s ever felt. The same warmth encapsulating his own hand.

What sort of game were you playing?

“Here! Follow me,” you said, tugging his hand forward as you take the initiative to lead him. “If you’re sick, you shouldn’t be walking around alone. What if you collapse?”

What sort of game were you playing?... Was having the most scrunched-up brows and worried eyes part of the rules? He tightens his lips into a thin line at the sensation of his heartbeats again.

As you tug along his hand and lead him down the hallway, his mind drifts to the moments you two have shared for the past few weeks. When you bumped into him and succinctly apologized before excusing yourself… when he approached you constantly every chance he got during breaks to figure you out… when he saw you efficiently defending yourself against his dedicated fans… when you first approached him after he exited the lockers to congratulate him on a home game win before you turned to Kasamatsu to talk of club affairs with the council… when he first heard you actively cheering his name on the stands… when you inopportunely saw him weeping about Kaijo’s loss at the Winter Cup and successfully comforted him…

With each progression in his thoughts, his hand suddenly feels warmer against yours, his heart rate thumping faster, his eyes growing more out of focus as he gazes at your back, and then your intertwined hands. Maybe he really is sick.

“Are you alright?” you asked, turning to face him as you both keep walking. “We’re just about here.”

He says nothing as he keeps his face straight ahead. He doesn't trust himself to keep it together after that slipup with his fans; messing up in front of you would be certainly disastrous.

“Is there anyone here?” you softly called out, tentatively sliding the doors open. There was no one, but they were probably on a lunch break before coming back soon. He hears you sigh before you tug him in completely into the room. “Sit here, and I’ll look for some ice packs, at least… I don���t know if that would work, though…”

As you let go of his hand to try to rummage through the drawers, his hand instinctively holds you tighter.

Shit.

“Ryōta?...” you said. “Do you wanna lay down instead, I’ll look for something for you to—”

“... (y/n)-cchi, stay here.”

Shit. Kasamatsu was right: he needs to learn how to shut his godamn mouth.

“Ryōta,” you shyly mumble. “That was the first time you addressed me with -cchi at the end. Don’t you only use it with your old teammates?”

Shit… shit, shit, shit.

He can’t slip up, and he’s fucking up three times in a row? He’s losing his edge. There’s no way he’ll lose now… not when he’s come so far.

“... Do you know what you’re doing?” he exhales, dropping your hand to run his hands through his locks. “You’re driving me insane…”

“Me?”

“What games are you playing here, I swear to god—there’s no reason for you to care this much for me like this—”

“I do have a reason,” you replied, averting your eyes to feign looking for those ice packs. There you go again, acting coy… that’s what he chants to himself anyways.

“Wha?~ You’re keeping secrets from your friend, already?” he coos, trying to gain back the momentum. Yes, that’s right…you are only considered a friend. “It’s kind of cruel to bring it up but then decide to not divulge them, y’know?”

“It doesn’t take much human decency to worry and care for another,” you smile. “Even more so for a friend.”

You finally turn away to continue hunting for anything useful in the cabinets, while Kise silently watches you from his chair. Silence settles between the two of you.

“Y’know… I’ve been thinking,” you start, handing him a glass of water, a wet towel, and ice packs. “I don’t want for us… to be friends anymore.”

It took his entire self control to not jump from his chair to grab you and interrogate you into oblivion. But why? Did you realize his true intentions? Did you hate his guts after all? Did you accomplish your own objectives and deem this friendship no longer useful?

Why does he even care about any of this?

“You’re… joking, right?”

He really expected for you to burst into laughter and call it a prank or tease him about his unfiltered reaction at your words, but your eyes have now become determined and very serious.

You weren’t joking.

“Ryōta, I’ll just get this out of the way first things first, but I know that you only see me as some type of trophy to go after… for a while now.”

How did this happen?

“It’s just the way you look at me sometimes seems off,” you said. “It’s not obvious to others, but we’ve spent almost every day with each other for a while, so I’ve kinda noticed… Honestly, that only solidified my initial impressions of you being a complete asshole.”

Why does his heart feel like it’s going to shatter?

“But…” you continued. “Recently, you were just… different. You were still stupid, sure. But you’ve laughed so much more and supported me when I needed it most. I’ve never laughed this hard until I met you—you make me wheeze out the ugliest laughs, as I’m ashamed to admit. But I want to be able to support you too… like, it feels that this whole thing you’re trying to put up when you meet with other people… it must be exhausting, right? I know you first acted that way with me. I can understand and kind of relate to that, so you can always talk to me alone if you need an ear.”

“Why are you telling me that you don’t want to be friends anymore?” Kise flatly asks. “You’re clearly correct about everything about me. You could’ve just left a long while ago. Did you have to pretend to care, too? Go ahead, aren’t you going to gossip about this to everyone?”

“What? No! I’m not done talking yet, idiot! I wasn’t pretending anything! Can you just stop projecting yourself onto me and listen up? Even though you’re such an asshole sometimes, er—all the time, the time we spent together has grown to be genuine, and I know you felt it too!... so well, I know you’ve heard these words so many times from other people, but…

I like you. That’s why I don’t want to be just your friend anymore. But I know you don’t reciprocate these back, so I just wanna tell you to get it off my chest… that’s all.”

He is absolutely stunned.

You’ve confessed to him, didn’t you? He got what he wanted. He won his little challenge. But why doesn’t he feel the adrenaline, the excitement, of it all like he normally would? His heart beated painfully erratically like how his team suffered a bittersweet loss at the games. Especially when you turned away to leave after you gauged his silence as rejection.

“(y/n)-cchi! W-wait!” He fumbles to grab for the warmth of your hand again. “You just confessed, right? Don’t you have to hear what I say?”

You simply shrug in response, but nonetheless, you turned back around to face him and await his response.

What you didn’t expect though was for him to pull you into a tight embrace and put his head on your shoulder. He pours his innermost thoughts and his emotions out, your shoulder slightly muffling his words, but you still understand everything he had spilled. He finally apologizes for everything he’s done, reassuring you that you don’t have to forgive him, though you kept telling him that it wasn’t that big of a deal. He finally breaks away from you and hangs his head low and exhales. He finally lifts his head to make eye contact with you. His eyes burn with intensity and the usual confidence he bears, although you note the tinge of nervousness behind his pupils.

How did this happen? How did he ever grow so attached to you? And since when did he grow mature enough to concede his defeat?

“I think I’m in love with you…” His words trail off, and his confidence disintegrates away when he realizes that he is no longer the receiving end of a confession.

… and that scares… the crap out of me.”

“You think you’re in love with me?” You stare at him incredulously. Kise squirms uncomfortably under your scrutiny. He’ll admit it, it was the lamest reply anyone could’ve given. You honestly deserved better.

His thoughts were interrupted when you suddenly guffawed and slapped your hands to your mouth to try to stifle your hysteria.

“Hey! I spilled my entire heart to you, don’t just laugh… damnit, hey! It’s not that funny!...” he protests, but after unsuccessfully trying to get you to stop snickering, he sulks back into his chair and huffs with the reddest face.

“Ah… A+ for honesty, at least,” you breathed out. “I thought you were gonna be eloquent about this, since you’re used to this sorta stuff and all…”

“Shut it.”

Kise buries his head into his hands, but you gently pry them off in an attempt to see his embarrassed state.

“Were you really actually sick, though?~”

“Shut uuuup, alreadyyy.”

“I inherited this personality from you, y’know.”

Huh, it seems that you really do know how to be coy, after all.

“Can you two please see yourselves out? The infirmary is not a place to hold your secret rendezvous, especially with this inappropriate behavior.”

“(y/n)-cchi, run!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!”

In a hurry, Kise grabs hold of your hand and makes a break out the door, dragging you behind with the school nurse trailing far behind. Even if he suffered a loss once again, he still won the complete monopoly of you and your genuine care and warmth for him.

Was it really a loss, though? He doesn’t think much of it now that his head feels clear when he shares these moments with you.

He supposes he misjudged you when you were truly special after all. Déjà vu just hits him like a truck when he fondly thinks about his ex-mentor Kuroko, and how similar you are to him.

[pokemonswshbutionlyplayedsword]

What are all of the gym leaders' fears? (Including Leon) anyway I love your writing!!!

Thank you so much!

Biggest fears, hm? That’s a good one. I can’t believe I haven’t covered this one yet.

Milo:

-Losing his farm. A fire, foreclosure, or something else that takes his farm away from him. The idea of not having it to leave to the next generation is enough to make him nauseous.

-Bug type pokemon. They’re creepy and gross looking. They devastate so many of his crops every year. He just... doesn’t like them. Doesn’t like thinking of them.

Nessa:

-Drowning. For a water type who loves the ocean, this is a bit silly. She’s a great swimmer, but she sees articles and stuff all the time about people who got pulled under by undercurrents. The water can be dangerous, no matter how good of a swimmer you are.

-Dark alleys and what might happen in them. She’s a pretty young lady, and she knows that puts her at risk. She’s strong and can defend herself, but if something really happened, she isn’t sure if she could save herself. Spikemuth makes her anxious, and when she has to go, she insists Piers stay close.

Kabu:

-Failing. He couldn’t handle it if he got back into the minor leagues again. Losing is one thing, but letting down his town and other gym leaders is unbearable. If he stops working for even a moment, he’s afraid he’s going to fall into a pit he can’t get out of.

-Going back to his situation in Hoenn. It wasn’t a good place that he was in. Training was his only relief, and it was a godsend to be given a pass to leave. Galar is the greatest place he’s ever been. There’s a reason he came to Galar and didn’t leave even when he fell into the minor leagues. He’s scared he will be forced to go back some day and not be able to bring his success in Galar with him.

Bea:

-Losing her ability to train. She fears that one day she will push herself too far and give herself a major injury that prevents her from doing martial arts and pokemon battles. It would ruin her career and stop her from doing what she loves the most.

-Not training pokemon. This sounds a lot like her other fear, but it’s different. She’s scared of the idea of training pokemon becoming impossible. Not because of something that happened to her, but because pokemon training stops forever for everyone. It’s scary because the world loses a big part of itself.

Allister:

-He’s a little kid, so he doesn’t really have a lot of deep fears. He does, however, fear the idea of losing what he has. He has a bunch of stuff that he treasures and loves, and he’s afraid that someone will come and steal it. It’s pretty unreasonable, and he knows that, but he worries sometimes.

-Losing Bea. She’s practically his older sister. He is afraid that something will happen to her and she won’t come back. He worries and sends her texts when she’s out in the Wild Area, especially if she went out there while frustrated.

Opal:

-Going senile. She knows she’s old, and she worries about getting Alzheimer’s or some other disease like that and forgetting who she is. She feels like there’s no point in her living life in that condition if she doesn’t even know who she is or who the people around her are.

-As a very old lady, she knows it’s almost time for her to leave the gym to someone else. She fears that she’s not going to leave the gym to a capable trainer. She worries that when she’s gone, she’s going to give the gym to someone who will let it fall apart. Ballonlea has had a powerful gym for a very long time, and she wants to make sure it stays that way.

Melony:

-Losing one of her kids. Whether they leave her, die, or go missing, she’s brought to tears at the thought of anything happening to her kids. She’s incredibly protective of them. She’s worried that the fight she’s been having with Gordie is driving him away and her fear will become a reality.

-Something happening to Piers and Marnie. She considers them something like foster children. She’s been helping Piers raise Marnie for most of her life. She’s seen Piers struggle, and to a lesser extent, Marnie struggle. She worries sometimes that she hasn’t done enough to help them and that something’s going to snap. She knows something very bad would happen if one of them left the other on their own.

Piers:

-Something happening to Marnie. Marnie is the most precious thing to Piers. He only kept going through the roughest times in his life for Marnie. If something happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He would be eaten alive by the guilt and his failures. He lays awake at night sometimes thinking about all the ways she could get hurt.

-Being like his parents. For 15 years, he was abused by his parents. He knows very well that they were addicts, had hot tempers, and were very violent. He worries that he inherited those awful qualities, so he tries to suppress his anger and negative emotions. He’s a punk. A wild child who does what he wants and follows no rules. But he will never, and I mean NEVER make anyone feel the way his parents made him feel.

Raihan:

-Being alone. He’s sweet and fun-loving, and he loves the attention he gets online and as a gym leader. He was raised by a single father who spent a lot of time working so he could feed Raihan. He was left alone in his childhood quite a lot. He never wants to be alone like that with his thoughts again. He lives on social media to keep himself close to others.

-Losing Leon. Like, not being able to hang out with Leon and use him as inspiration and motivation to better himself. He needs a goal to reach, or he loses motivation to keep going. Leon is that goal. Beating Leon, becoming like Leon. He’s picked up personality traits from Leon that have only made him better. Not having Leon around scares him because he fears he’d fall out of love for pokemon training and lose all of his progress as well as let all of his fans down.

Leon:

-Something happening to Hop. Hop is his little brother that he loves dearly, even if he’s not around to show it all the time. He knows he spends way too much time away from Hop. He’s worried that something bad will happen to Hop when he’s away and it will be his fault for not being there. No matter what happened, he would always blame himself for it.

-Failing Galar. There’s a lot that’s expected of him as the champion. It’s stressful but he enjoys being the big inspiration for all of Galar. It’s his job as the strongest trainer in the region to protect Galar. If something happened that brought Galar to ruin, it would be all his fault. Even the slightest mistake can stress Leon out.

Oh boy, this one actually took a while. I’m adding a tw for Piers’ part, but just in case something else rubbed you the wrong way so to speak, since this is a fears post after all, let me know and I’ll start adding a tag for you.

[xb-squaredx]

Pokémon Sword and Shield: A Franchise Turning Point

The Pokémon franchise has been around for over 20 years, and in that time it has proven to be more than a passing fad and has carved out a massive multi-media empire. Outside of some rare spinoffs like the Pokémon Stadium games or the likes of Colosseum or Pokken Tournament, the series has stayed primarily on handheld consoles. For years fans dreamed of what a true, mainline Pokémon game could be like on a home console. During E3 2017 when Game Freak announced that such a title was in development for Switch, people got excited. The resulted games, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee were not quite the main leap people expected, instead being a strange hybrid of Pokémon GO and remakes of Pokémon Yellow. However, the announcement that a true new generation of Pokémon would hit the Switch in 2019 reignited that hype. While at first excitement was high, over time a dark cloud hung over the titles, Pokémon Sword and Shield. Controversies erupted over the announcement that not every little critter would be featured or transferable to the game, and as time went on any new announcement was met with pushback. Everything from visuals to new features was criticized all the way up to launch day. Now that Sword and Shield are in players’ hands, at the end of the day…how did it all turn out?

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

This time around, trainers embark across the Galar region, basically the Pokémon equivalent to the UK. I do like Galar as a setting; it has a ton of character, with probably the most interesting aspect to it that Pokémon battles are treated as a major spectator sport. If you want to join in the Gym Challenge, you need a sponsor, and your Gym battles take place in massive stadiums filled to the brim with roaring fans. It’s an interesting deviation from past games, even if the basic formula is about the same. The characters within Galar also have a fair amount of charm from your main rivals to the Gym Leaders, to the undefeated Champion. A lot of people give Hop, your main rival, a lot of flak, but I found he had a lot of hidden depth to him and he has a satisfying arc as the story goes on. As he loses to you again and again, he doubts himself and subsequent battles have him throwing in random Pokémon and strangely his signature partner, the adorable Wooloo, is absent. Once he gets his act together, however, he forms a pretty balanced team, and Wooloo’s back front-and-center. It was a neat moment of character growth shown off through gameplay. As far as Champions go, Leon has a lot more presence throughout the game than a lot of past Champions. His flair, his awful fashion sense, his inability to follow directions…it all made him a bit more endearing. Most of the Gym Leaders are pretty much just there as stepping stones, but they all are fairly memorable either for designs or flashes of personality. It helps that everyone gives you neato trading cards too!

Galar’s main claim-to-fame is the Wild Area, a huge collection of different biomes located smack in the middle of the map. It has far and away the largest collection of Pokémon within, with different monsters appearing depending on the weather or time of day. It’s a place you’ll be returning to time and time again, and it made a big impact. It’s the only area in the game with a controllable camera, for one, and rather than follow a linear balance curve, the Pokémon you encounter in the Wild Area are often far too strong to handle. You’re even forbidden from catching Pokémon if you lack a certain number of Gym Badges, so the place is full of Pokémon you can only really admire from afar until you’re “worthy” of getting them.

Take the Wild Area away though, and Galar feels pretty small. With only ten Routes in the game, Galar is among the smaller regions. Most Routes are very straightforward, not many branching paths or hidden goodies, and there isn’t any neat new areas opened up after beating the game either. The Wild Area, from a franchise standpoint at least, is pretty impressive, but looking at the game on the whole it feels a little lacking. That’s not to say Sword and Shield don’t bring in new mechanics to mess around with, but whether they make up for what’s been taken away is going to vary with people.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

Since the games went 3D, each region tends to have its own core “gimmick” to differentiate it with older titles. X and Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon had Z-Moves and for Sword and Shield we have Dynamax. Something in the air in Galar can allow Pokémon to grow to colossal size for a short time, granting them extremely powerful Max Moves for its duration. While Dynamaxing seems cool at first, the spectacle kinda wears off after your first few uses of it (not to mention the animation lasts forever), and upon further inspection it’s not as great of an upgrade as you’d think. For one, a Dynamaxed Pokémon only gets a health increase, and all other stats stay the same. Abilities and their elemental types stay the same too, so it’s not a game-changer like Mega Evolution was and it really has more in common with Z-Moves. The Max Moves can be nice, as they’re usually a good deal more powerful when it comes to raw damage, and can come with nice side-effects, but it’s kinda inconsistent. The stronger Fighting-type moves actually become weaker as Max Moves, for one. On top of the base Dynamax ability, some Pokémon can use “Gigantamaxing” instead. This changes their look overall and grants them a unique G-Max Move, though considering how hard they can be to acquire I’m not sure it’s all that satisfying. It doesn’t help that rather than having a certain species of Pokémon capable of Gigantamaxing, it comes down to unique Pokémon themselves that have the trait and it can’t be passed down through breeding either. Overall, Dynamaxing has its uses but I highly doubt it’ll become a staple of the series and will likely be replaced with something else for the Generation 9 games, and I can’t say I’ll miss the mechanic much.

One big addition to the series is Max Raid Battles, found in dens littered all over the Wild Area. Teaming up with up to three other players, locally or online (or team up with awful CPUs if alone), your goal is to take out a permanently Dynamaxed Pokémon. You get a limited amount of turns and if you suffer more than four knockouts, the Raid will end in failure. Victory, however, enables you to get rare and powerful Pokémon, some even coming with really great stats and difficult-to-obtain Abilities, and it’s practically the only way to get Gigantamax Pokémon. The difficulty of the Raids increases as you progress through the game, however, and the Five Star Raids can be brutal. The rewards are great though, getting a lot of extra loot. Bonus moves to teach Pokémon, EXP candies that eliminate a lot of grinding, and more, even if the capture attempt fails. The one real issue with Raids is that some Pokémon can be pretty stingy with appearing in Raids, and you’ll have to use somewhat rare items, Wishing Pieces, to kick some Raids off. There are also the occasional connection issues, but I have more to say on that later.

Outside of these new features, there are the standard quality-of-life changes that each game has, though some can be harder to notice and appreciate than others. You can send Pokémon in storage out on Jobs, to get some neat rewards and some EXP for them, though I find them to be a bit underwhelming. Being able to swap Pokémon on the fly now is a godsend, and together with the EXP Share built into the game, it allowed me the freedom to switch up the monsters in my party and get newcomers up to speed quickly. Most games I barely bother with more than the maximum six, but the sheer variety of Pokémon in Galar let me feel more comfortable with constantly swapping around. On that same note, no National Dex aside, there’s a LOT of choices in Galar. Route 1 alone has over ten Pokémon you can catch right at the start, as opposed to the common mammal, common bug and common bird. It was nice to see some under-represented Pokémon make the cut, but I won’t argue with anyone bummed that their favorites aren’t allowed in. It is a regrettable decision overall, even if it might have been unavoidable here.

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t mention the story much at all because…there isn’t much of one. Pokémon as a franchise isn’t known for its storytelling, despite the Black and White and Sun and Moon games existing and having very well-done stories. Overall, Sword and Shield seems to focus more on characters than an overarching plot and that isn’t too bad overall, but it makes the eventual climax more than a little disappointing. Team Yell, our villainous organization this time around, are just a bunch of hardcore fans for another rival of yours, a girl named Marnie. The conclusion to their story felt very flat, and the eventual main problem involving the Legendary Pokémon is tacked onto the end of the game with little build-up. It doesn’t help that the main villain’s motivation doesn’t make sense. He wants to avert an energy crisis that’s 1000 years from actually happening, and for some reason he refuses to let you get your shot at fighting the Champion because apparently putting things off for one day is unacceptable. It’s just very sloppy. And honestly, “sloppy” can describe a lot of this game, sadly.

WHY Y-COMM WHY

No game is without flaws, and Sword and Shield are far from the first Pokémon games to have their fair share of issues, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that these games in particular are a victim of compromise. Game Freak doesn’t have the luxury of delaying games and polishing them up to a fine sheen, not when the multimedia empire has merch and anime to launch at the same time. I’m also certain that working on this game alongside the Let’s Go games AND Little Town Hero did them no favors. So there are areas in the game that lack polish. The story’s abrupt conclusion, the visuals in general, and Galar itself feeling a tad empty; these are all compromises that had to be made to get this game to ship on the date decided well in advance. I can sympathize with the developers here, and really they’re in an un-enviable position. But at the same time, I’ve been playing Pokémon games for over twenty years, and I kind of expect better, you know? Far too many times I have to shake my head and question why something is designed the way it is, or why it feels at times like the games are going backwards in quality. Problems that were solved several games ago rear their ugly heads again, and for this being a brand new generation and the “proper” debut on a powerful home console, I can’t help but feel that this is just a 3DS game that’s been blown up onto my TV.

NPC character models and the Pokémon themselves look fine, as does the sleek UI, but environments look kinda rough. The Wild Area itself, I say with no exaggeration, looks like it was ripped out of a GameCube game. Those trees are a meme, but at the same time, they also look that bad. Some of the main towns are pretty grandiose, be it the giant castle theme of Hammerlocke, or the steampunk designs of Motostoke, while others feel incredibly barren. It’s kind of intentional with Spikemuth, but I was more than a little disappointed with how small towns feel. While it’s great that HMs have been officially retired (starting from Sun and Moon), Galar itself feels like it has little to offer those that want to explore. You don’t get access to a way to cross water until near the endgame, but there are only a small handful of areas you’d need to backtrack to with that ability. There’s not even a Victory Road in this game, or a rough equivalent.

Sword and Shield, from a competitive standpoint, seems to be trying to make strides in breaking down barriers and allowing more casual fans to dip their toes into competitive play, which I really appreciate, but I think there’s still room for improvement. While on the one hand, it’s never been easier to tweak and customize your Pokémon to your heart’s desire, the game is still not as transparent on certain subjects. You can view a Pokémon’s Effort Values, extra points you can place towards stats, on their stat screen, but only if you hit the X button on that screen, and there’s no indication that’s a thing you can even do. I was more than fifty hours into the game before a friend even told me that! There have been some pretty major strides to reduce the time commitment however, so I have to give the game credit there. As far as game balance goes, having less Pokémon to choose from does inspire creativity, though from what I hear, a fair few Pokémon are a bit of a problem, but that’s no different than any other game. Honestly, even attempting to balance a game with so many moving parts and possible strategies is pretty admirable. I’m not deep into the meta of competitive Pokémon though, so I feel there’s not much I can add to the conversation. If there’s one thing I can’t defend however, it’s this game’s connectivity features.

Starting from the DS era, Pokémon has had online features, but Sword and Shield marks the first time that the Global Trade Station, or GTS, has not been available. This means it’s impossible to put up a posting for a desired Pokémon, or fulfill other’s requests. This wouldn’t be so bad if the way to trade with friends wasn’t such a chore. Rather than being able to freely select a friend and initiate a trade or battle with them, players must enter four-digit codes and HOPE the game pairs them up. This is in every way a downgrade from the past several games. X and Y released over SIX years ago and solved this very issue with the Player Search System. Y-Comm, as it stands, is an awful replacement and there’s not one thing about it that other systems didn’t do better.

If you connect online, the game will have “stamps” appear that show you what friends are doing, alongside broadcasting trade or battle requests from random people, but often those requests are out of date, and trying to join in will result in error messages, the requests fulfilled long ago. Trying to join friends in Raid Battles is an exercise in trial and error, and if online in the Wild Area, other players constantly appear within it and as a result the game begins to chug along. What could have been a neat way to interact with other players across the world results in the game becoming worse to play, so I mostly left it off. Connecting with others has always been a franchise selling point, way back to the days of the Game Boy Link Cables. To see this game drop the ball so severely is worrying. I care about this far more than the graphical issues, far more than the National Dex, and it makes me hesitant to try out the next titles if they can’t solve these issues and KEEP them solved.

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Pokémon Sword and Shield are not bad games; they’re in fact filled with charm and fun. I’ve logged over 80 hours into the game over the past few weeks and the hours flew by. There’s a lot of work that’s clearly been put into the game. The Pokémon designs and concepts this time around are really creative, for one. There’s the Applin line, dragons that hide in apples, and the abominations that are this game’s fossils; carelessly stitched together pieces of incompatible fossils resulting in a freak of nature. I love them. My heart goes out to Game Freak, because it’s clear people worked hard here, but this simply can’t be the game they wanted to make. I think Sword and Shield are turning points for the series, but it’s unclear if that’s a good thing or not.

For all the backlash and negativity surrounding these games, they’re still the fastest-selling Switch games ever. Many fans are pretty satisfied with the game as-is, and the real bitter pill disgruntled fans need to swallow is that…these games have no real reason to improve in quality. Think about it; sales aren’t down, and there’s not a true rival to these games anymore, so why would the hire-ups at Nintendo and The Pokémon Company give these games more time and resources? On top of this, remember that these games are only one part of the massive whole that is the Pokémon brand. Pokémon GO makes a frankly disgusting amount of money, the anime has been going strong for two decades, merch is in no short supply, and now we can likely add major Hollywood films to the list as well. If Game Freak was any other developer, behind any other franchise, they’d likely be able to delay the games to polish them up and add in content that would otherwise be cut, but they can’t do that when they MUST launch simultaneously with the anime, the card games, the merchandise, etc.

The series has been around for so long now as well, while many fans have likely moved on from the franchise, new ones are lining up to take their place. On top of that, there are Pokémon diehards that will likely always support the series. Pokémon is a constant for them; it’s almost like comfort food in game form. They’re not WRONG for feeling that way, and I’m kinda in that same boat. I knew going in that these games were going to be somewhat disappointing, but I still bought the thing! For all the rage directed at these games, many people still gave them their money, and I think the message has been read loud and clear: Pokémon can get away with cutting Pokémon, so it’s unlikely Game Freak will change course any time soon.

Now, of course, that’s one way to look at things. A negative way to be sure. It’s also possible that Game Freak can learn from issues they had with developing these games and push past them. As they get used to console development, to HD development, and get a better idea of what fans want, the next games might actually surpass all expectations. Pokémon as a franchise has always had feature creep to deal with, and Sword and Shield is clearly where it all boiled over. So maybe if they don’t have to worry about accommodating nearly 1000 critters in every single game, they can make larger strives towards higher quality. I don’t want to count them out, but at the same time, I won’t hold my breath either. I’ll always be open to what path this franchise takes, even if they stumble a bit to get there.

In the end, Sword and Shield feel more than a little rough, but there’s some real bright spots glimmering in what might be the franchise’s Darkest Day. The Pokémon themselves are still fun to use and capture, the characters and world of the games are still wholesome fun, and I’ll reiterate that pumping over 80 hours into this game didn’t feel like a chore and I was largely engaged for the entirety of that time. Here’s to hoping that brighter days lie ahead, and a few years from now we can look back at the Dexit controversy and laugh.

-B

[melviships]

R & R (EkuMel)

“Hey there, sweet stuff.”

Mel glanced up at the floating spirit and smiled weakly. “Hey there, doll face.”

“You alright?” Dimple floated closer, face scrunched in concern.

They grunted,“Tired. Work’s rough.”

“Mind if I come in?”

They shook their head. “Not at all. C’mere.” 

Electricity zipped down their spine as they felt the familiar sensation of the evil spirit entering their body. Wordlessly, Dimple chipped away at the tension held in the hitman’s shoulders and back. Pain ebbed into pleasure, body relaxing against the back of the couch. They hummed and gave a great sigh. “Fuck, you are a godsend.”

“Can’t send myself, babe. But I appreciate your appreciation.” 

Mel flushed at a surge of fondness. “Oh, shut it.”

“You should ask that boyfriend of yours to give you one of his patented massages. You could use it.” Dimple clenched along Mel’s lower back as he internally spoke.

“I could, but he’d make me pay for it.”

“He would not.”

“...he wouldn’t, yeah.”

“Where is Reigen, by the way? I miss the bastard.”

“He’s been absolutely slammed with work lately. His falling out with Mob has been a real motivator; he’s been drumming up clients left and right.” A small smirk tugged at their lips. “Heh. He even took me out to a nice restaurant the other day. Had enough cash to get the good sake and everything.”

Dimple mused,“How charming. Bout time he treated you like the deity you are.”

“Mm. How is Shigeo doing?”

“Fine. Finally has some time to be a kid and hang out with his buddies.”

“That’s good. I was worried for a second.”

“Shigeo’s a bit dense at times, but he can take care of himself.”

“You’re right.”

“What you should be worried about is taking care of you. Felt like I was pushing boulders out of your shoulder blades.”

“They’re gone now though, yeah? I’m fine.”

“Hn. Hey, I know what we should do! How about I take you down to the boardwalk? This lady set up a fruit stall there and the prices are pretty good. You should treat yourself with some fresh local produce. Maybe make a fruit tart?”

“Oh, does a certain ghost want a taste of some humanity in the form of good food?” Mel teased with a waggle of their brows.

“A certain ghost wants a taste of your divine desserts.”

“Alright, alright, I hear you. That sounds really nice. Yeah, sure. Let’s get some fruit then.”

“Excellent. It’s a date.”

“A date, huh?”

“Don’t want it to be?”

“Wasn’t implying that at all. I’d love to go on a date with you, sweet cheeks.”

“It’s your turn to shut it.” Dimple squeezed Mel’s shoulders as he took control. “Let’s get you some damn rest and relaxation.”

[strangely-constructed-soul]

Not My Enemy Chapter IV

Fic Masterlist/ Main Masterlist

Elain

“Checkmate!” Elain squealed as she finally finally beat Az in chess. He chuckled before wincing at the sound of the guards outside the door coming to attention at Elain’s excited cheers. Both of them were quick to quiet and fearful glances were exchanged between the two. One of the soldiers burst in, and with a disapproving glare, he slammed the door shut on his way out.

Elain was so overcome with relief that she wound her arms around Azriel’s neck, and despite everything, she giggled. Azriel tensed before sliding his arms around her waist and placing her on his lap. It was so good to have a friend here, after Tamlin’s insane notion that her sister would find out about his interest in Elain and become jealous. Elain believed that Feyre would be revolted at the notion of her ex-lover and sister together, especially if the way that Tamlin had treated Feyre was anything like the way he was treating Elain.

The past three days of being dragged into the debauchery and malice of Hybern’s affairs in the main hall had finally caught up to Elain. She found her eyelids were beginning to droop and her head becoming too heavy to lift. She fell asleep on a warm, muscular chest and she found that, for the first time in weeks, she felt safe. Even though she knew she was running out of time.

Azriel

Azriel was in deep trouble. He had become far too tempted by the allure that was Elain Archeron in the past days. He was scared of how quickly she’d gotten past his walls and how quickly he’d allowed himself to trust her with every piece of his broken heart. His heart, that she’d somehow managed to both warm and heal and hold in both of her delicate hands.

Azriel resolved that he wouldn’t tell her how he felt, for she was too precious to him to risk losing her. However, it was incredibly difficult to deny the staggering beat of his heart and the longing that he felt when she was asleep like this in his arms. Smoothing her hair with a scarred palm, he allowed sleep to finally grasp his consciousness as well.

Feyre

Feyre hadn’t truly slept in a long time. When she succumbed to the temptress that was slumber, she was bombarded by nightmares, the likes of such she hadn’t had since she was with Tamlin. Tamlin had never once woken up, or at least he’d pretended to be asleep when she hurled her guts up or cried at the memory of her parents dying. He would complain, though, that she had been too loud in sleep the night before. Feyre sighed and got out of bed to make herself some herbal tea.

The second she opened her door, she heard noises coming from down the hall. Rhys’s room. She hesitated, wondering if, perhaps, he had brought someone home. They hadn’t spoken of their kiss in the days since it occured. The tension between them was starting to become unbearable for Feyre, and she longed for the sensation of Rhysand’s full lips on hers.They hadn’t made any promises to each other, nor had they discussed what existed between them. Even still, Feyre didn’t think she could stomach seeing-or hearing-him with someone else.

The noises began again, but they were not the sounds of her- of Rhys in the throes of passion. No, they were the screams of someone in agony.

Rhysand

“Kneel.” Red hair red hair red hair. Blood blood my blood. Get me out save me stop this. Rhys’s mind and heart were racing. A sinister smile flashed across the forefront of his mind. That same smile as she strangled someone else. Golden-brown hair and bloodshot blue-gray eyes. Rhys began screaming and sobbing and tearing at the sheets of his bed. His chest and forehead felt damp. Suddenly, there was a weight on his chest, and he tensed, preparing for the worst. Except nothing happened; the weight on his chest wasn’t hurting him, wasn’t making him uncomfortable. “Rhys? Rhys!” The voice was pleading with him now.

Hands grasped his shoulders and pulled him back into reality.

Hybern

Hybern had Rhysand and the Night gang right where he wanted them. Once Feyre was with Tamlin again, the leader of the Spring gang would help him seize control of the manor that the royal family had once inhabited. Everything was falling into place. Except for Hybern’s greatest fear. No, the prince was dead. There was no possible way he could have survived the destruction that had been wrought upon the city when Tamlin and his father had killed the High Lord and the High Lady of Velaris. Even if tamlin himself had told Hybern that the young prince had not been executed that night.

He called for Azriel to bring his latest reports. Hiring the boy had been a godsend, not that Hybern believed in any god. No, to him, the true god was power, and since he had the most of it, he believed himself to be the most holy.

Azriel dutifully told him news of the movements of the Day gang and the Winter gangs’ spies. None of them, it seemed, were too keen on attempting to penetrate Hybern’s security.

Hybern thanked Azriel and asked him to send a maid to deliver Amarantha’s nighttime ‘tonic’.

“Oh, one last thing,” Hybern beckoned his guard back to his throne in the top floor suite of his hotel.

“Yes, sir?” The young man raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“In two days time, you will be required to either escort Elain Archeron to the lobby or… you will be required to shoot her in the head. Understood?” He searched the man’s face for signs of hesitancy or betrayal. He found neither on his solemn face, but in his eyes… fear.

“Understood, sir. Will that be all?” Azriel’s voice was stiff, almost too stiff but not quite. The silent man didn’t have the demeanour of someone how was disloyal, but Hybern sensed that he was missing something important.

“That’s all.” Hybern pursed his lips at the man’s retreating figure. Once the door was shut, he allowed himself to smirk.

Hybern found that poisoning Amarantha to motivate her was invigorating. And no one suspected anything.

Feyre

Grasping her warm mug in her hands, Feyre listened as Rhys explained what he had told Az to do and what the spy had reported about Elain’s state.

“She’s okay, Feyre.” Feyre nearly collapsed against the counter she was leaning on in relief. A few moments passed in comfortable silence as Rhys poured himself a cup of tea and sat beside her on the counter.

“Are you okay, Rhys?” No answer. “When I heard you earlier, I thought- I thought that maybe there was someone with you,” Rhys’s head whipped around to look at her, eyebrows raising up to his hairline. Feyre continued, “Then I heard you scream. Rhys, I’ve never been that scared in my entire life.” She released a breath.

Rhys shook his head. “I’m not completely okay, Darling. I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but I feel better every day. You have no idea how much you make me want to feel okay. You make me feel alive, more alive than I’ve felt since her. Thank you.”

“You make me feel alive too.” Feyre whispered, warmth spreading through her at the tender look in his eyes. He smiled at her, a real, full smile that made her feel like she was floating.

Feyre reached up to trace his smile and Rhys’s eyes fluttered closed. When they opened, they were half lidded with desire. “Feyre.” He purred, and she surged forward to press her lips against his like she’d longed to since their last kiss, even sooner if she were being honest with herself.

When she slid her tongue along his lower lip, he pulled away, leaving Feyre confused and cold without the warmth of him. “We can’t, Feyre. Not until this is all over. All of this Hybern business. I would like to properly court you, and I can’t do that while Hybern is still ruining this city.” He looked just as disappointed as she did, but Feyre understood. She nodded. He ghosted a lingering kiss over her forehead, causing her to shiver and him to smirk.

Feyre watched Rhys’s retreating figure walk all the way down the hallway until he turned around at his room to murmur, just loud enough for Feyre to hear, “Don’t let the hard days win.”

Despite the horror surrounding her, Feyre fell asleep smiling.

———————————————————————

A/N: I did it! Thank you so much for your paitience, I’ve been struggling with mental health lately, and I finally felt good enough to write. Hopefully everyone liked this chapter, it’s a little less angsty than the last one(whew). 💜

P.S. If anyone gets my bizarre reference to ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ they can be my best friend. :)

Tag list:

@alwaysfullybooked @floatingfaith @tangledraysofsunshine @booklover242 @light-in-the-shadows72 @thefandomhighqueen @mis-lil-red @rowaelinforeverworld @iamaelinashryvergalathnius @l0sts0uls1128 @lightattheend @jasisteih @they-call-me-cuatro @amusedowl @emmejo26 @highladyofthesith @ghostlyrose2 @schmlip-scribble @fourshizzle149

[tiredbiostudent]

hey! I'm also a bio student in my first year. any tips on surviving uni as a science student? 😊💕

disclaimer I am absolutely the worst person to ask for university advice but I will try my best! might be unconventional but if ur a chronic procrastinator slash don’t have motivation or know how to study slash have mental Chillness™ this could be for u! kinda general, kinda science related. enjoyyy

-Mendeley is a GODSEND. it’s a program you can download for free to your laptop and makes organizing/reading through and annotating scientific papers so much easier. plus it recommends articles relevant to ones you’re using! this could be helpful in a lot of ways but it provided me a ton of cool papers I want to read related to my interests (bc I wrote a paper on what I’m into yk)-kinda related: if you’ve found an awesome article that supports your data/argument, check the references to find more useful papers!

-you don’t always need to buy the textbook. if the professor says they won’t be testing you directly on textbook material, don’t buy it! even if it’s recommended. I mean if you gain a lot from reading then go for it, but usually it’s friggen expensive and you never end up using it (plus they usually have a couple books on hold at the library for students to use)

-do not pull all nighters. one hour of sleep is better than zero, pleaseee trust me. (source: I have pulled too many all nighters, once even two back to back! yikes! and the aftermath is always shitty)

-kinda obvious but... keep everything organized! find what works for you. personally I like to have everything scheduled on google calendar + my bujo, but also keep a sheet posted in my room with only things I have to hand in or tests in chronological order, so I know exactly what I have to do/hand in each week

-for labs- do as much prep + as much of the in lab assignment as you can beforehand! labs can get stressful and time flies quickly

-you’re not gonna remember anything you think you will so write that shit down bruv

-did you procrastinate too much and now you have to watch a 45 minute video before your class that starts in half an hour?? don’t fear, just put your playback speed to 1.5x or up B)

-go to lecture bro. even if you aren’t able to focus or take notes, at the very least you’ll have some sort of idea of what was talked about and things to focus on or not

-when picking courses- try to find the most recent syllabi. sometimes the department website will post them, other times you can try googling the course name and it’ll come up. this is super helpful bc it gives you an actual insight into the content and marking scheme

-chronic procrastination gang: GO SOMEWHERE TO STUDY. I cannot study or get anything done in my room literally at all, so find 3-5 solid spots on campus (or wherever) you’re able to be productive, and cycle thru them during the week.

-if you’re scared to ask ur prof questions (like me!) ask your TA during lab/tutorial- usually they’re way less intimidating and usually are a student who took the course fairly recently, so they can give u legit advice

-if you’re having a shitty day, blast music while walking thru campus and pretend you’re in a movie (recommendations: the less I know the better by tame impala, remember when by wallows, myth by beach house)

-listening in on questions ppl ask in lab and exams is actually so helpful dsfshdfjfksd

-you don’t have to start the assignment right away, but it’s always a good idea to at least look over the guidelines so you know what you have to do.

-research experience can be pretty important but also intimidating and stressful. I always wanted to get involved but never knew how! I wish someone told me straight up what to do when I was in first year so: a. go to the bio (or whichever) department website for your university and search through the professor listings. usually it’ll include a blurb about what their research focuses on, if they have a lab with the university.b. find a lab you’re interested in, read a bit about it, and send a professional-ish, friendly email telling them you’re interested in getting involved in the lab! include things that stood out to you too. and you don’t need experience either, just let them know you’re enthusiastic and eager to learn, or any other relevant stuff.

I hope this was kinda helpful? feel free to message me or send more asks if you want anymore /bad/ advice :)

[m-602]

The Demon Gang

((I finally found some motivation to write!))

((For context, three of the characters over in the Chaos Gang have super-demon forms that could lead to mass destruction if unleashed... I got the idea for a Demon Alternate Timeline where everyone, including those three, turn into demons and... Well, here we are!))

((Warning! There’s some swearing in here. Slight body horror and violence, too. Nothing too major, surprisingly...))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quiet day. That’s the most one could ask when literally every other day involves them fighting for their lives, escaping some death trap, or dealing with some sort of emotional turmoil. Just a single day where nothing goes wrong would be a godsend to these people…

And for the most part, that’s exactly what the Gang was having… The morning was “normal” enough. Mikearu had another nightmare - with his arm subsequently combusting and staying that way - and Panda tried destroying the couch for some reason, but other than those exceptions, everything was going smoothly. Those who required food had their fill and everyone was enjoying the momentary peace and quiet…

…

As Astel always says, “never expect a normal day with us.” Or something amongst those lines…

Shadow visiting the house wasn’t exactly strange. It was how they did it that was unusual…

It was… entirely normal… They walked out from the… well, shadows with no unique flair. Nothing stupid. Nothing over-the-top. They just… entered. And it immediately caught Kitty’s attention.

Kitty: “Shadow? What’s up with you?”

Shadow: “Oh nothing much. Managing the demons, paid a visit to Beldam, all Hell’s breaking loose outside-”

K: “Wait. Hold up. What was that last part?”

Sh: “...All Hell’s breaking loose outside…”

Panda: “...So? That’s not exactly our problem.”

Sh: “No. I mean that in the most literal sense.”

Everyone else: “What?!”

The voidling directed their attention outside… Upon closer inspection, Shadow’s statement was not entirely inaccurate. Judging by the hellish creatures and the portals they’re walking through, rampant flames, red tinted sky, and overall chaos, Hell was, indeed, breaking loose into their world.

Astel and Eclipse: “...Well fuck…”

You know a situation’s bad when both the light and shadow are saying that…

Mikearu: “...How in the world did this happen?!”

Sh: “Not important.~ Right now, I’m in the middle of containing it… Help out if you want. Just don’t get in my way or get yourselves killed…

The voidling disappeared into the shadows once more, leaving the gang with that shocking bit of news… Hell, quite literally, was breaking loose outside and the world is being ravaged by it…

…

Mikearu and Astel were already out the door.

Reaper: “Wha-? No way in hell are those two going alone!”

Reaper was next up, dashing out the door and rushing over to the action…

P: “Ugh… Fucking morons.”

The feral child grabbed her favorite rifle and went to join her “friends”... For some reason, Silver had popped in from the ceiling… 

Silver: “Oooh! What’s happening outside? Is it a new game? I wanna play!”

And the clueless child was already running out the door…

K: “...Fuck it.”

The shapeshifter begrudgingly joined her friends outside…

...Well… Things definitely look worse than they did from the brief glance they got from the house… They got halfway to the city before they saw where all these demons were coming from - large holes in the ground, completely with sets of sharp, jagged teeth…

Astel: “...Hellmouths…”

M: “Portals to Hell, correct? We just gotta close them up, right?”

A strange feeling was overcoming the Gang… No one really seemed to pay it much mind though.

The Gang finally reach the meat of the action… Grim, Venatrix, and Shadow were already there, trying to keep demons away from the path to the city…

Grim: “Where the fuck have you been?! We could use some help here!”

Venatrix: “I can go check on the city proper. Mind actually dealing with these things?!

P: “Why not just let the city burn?”

V: “Not now, brat!”

A spike of ice killing a demon behind her immediately brings them out of the mini-argument. Astel has shifted into The Twilight Queen to better combat the literal hell-raisers.

A + E: “Shut up. We have more pressing concerns.”

V: “...R-Right. I’ll be off!”

Firing a few ethereal shots into the demonic horde, the huntress runs off before warping away, likely to help protect any innocent people. Panda shoots a flying demon to the ground.

P: “She should really just let them die…”

M: “Not now, Panda…”

Mikearu shifts into his “Assassin” form, utilizing his smaller stature and increased speed to weave around some of the beasts. He drives his knife through a demon’s head before leaping off of it, sending a massive lightning bolt at its partner. Shadow watches from a distance… 

Sh: “Well you certainly know how to hold your own… I don’t care what you do - just make sure to close up those holes…”

Void tendrils grab onto about three beasts at once, bashing them together until they stop moving before they retreat into the ground…

R: “And how do we do that? Just destroy them or something?”

Sh: “Basically.”

G: “Works for me.~”

Using her strings, she wraps up an incoming demon, sucking some strength from it as it was sliced up by her ringblade… Reaper, deciding not to just sit around, melted into the shadows, re-manifesting right behind an unfortunate demon. With a single slice of her scythe, the demon was ripped in two… Panda managed to shoot down a demon that was sneaking up on her while she was distracted.

P: “Pay attention!”

Now… You might think that Silver and Kitty aren’t participating…

...Well, for Kitty, yes that’s the case. She decided to shift into a bird amidst all the chaos and get a bird’s-eye view of the carnage. It never hurts to have a front row seat.~

Silver, meanwhile, was trying to have a conversation with a particularly violent demon.

S: “So whatcha here for?”

It tries to attack, only for Silver to literally bounce away from the hit.

S: “Hey! Rude!”

Shadow cuts the demon down, utterly confused as to how Silver’s even alive right now… And then they remember that it’s Silver. She gets away with more things than she really should.

...Other than that, the Gang continues trying to fend off the hellish beasts… After probably three minutes of fighting, they finally get close to a hellmouth…

A: “Come on!”

She drives her sword into the back of the mouth… It causes it to shudder, eventually closing and receding into the ground…

Sh: “Yep! Just keep doing that!”

Another mouth is blown to bits by Mikearu. Another is ripped apart by Grim. Another is burnt away by Reaper… Silver just closes one and it goes away, much to everyone's confusion…

…?!

After closing a few of the hellish gates, the ground started to rumble with thundering footsteps. An ominous feeling of dread washed over the “heroic” combatants as the footsteps seemed to come closer and closer… They look in the direction of the sound, only to find a massive hellmouth, slightly larger than the house they all live in, down the path.

A + E: “What… the fuck…?”

...The footsteps finally reached them, revealing the towering figure they belonged to… It was a massive, powerful demon donning coal black armor and a spiked scepter in its right claw. It’s head looked like a deer’s skull, completely engulfed in a raging fire.

Sh: “Oh look! A high class demon!”

M and Ikearu: “That explains a few things…”

It slams its scepter into the ground, sending a wave of earth towards the Gang, which they manage to avoid despite the shock.

M: “Wha’ do we do?! Drive i’ into the hellmouth behind i’?”

Sh: “That’s the plan!”

Panda is already trying to shoot it in the head, only for the bullets to bounce off the skull… despite it being a skull…

P: “Grr… Just die!”

It went to charge after her, only for a unsurprisingly angry Reaper to tackle it, forcing it backwards.

R: “Hands off my kitten.”

P: “...Right…”

The demon stumbles back, eventually regaining its footing. It holds the scepter high, magic gathering around the spiked tip. As that happens, a magic aura gathers around Reaper, slowly raising her in the air before a blue fireball slams into the demon’s chest, forcing it to drop Reaper to the ground…

M + I: “Hands off my child.”

R: “...”

After shaking off her blush, she stands up to confront the demon again. It sends spell after spell, projectile after projectile, trying to keep the Gang at bay. Icicles pelt it, lightning pesters it, bullets annoy it, and strings restrain it as a void tendril starts knocking it towards the hellmouth it came from.

G: “All yours!”

With a nod, the voidling, using a rather large tendril, knocks the demon in the hellmouth as another tendril goes to impale the hellish gate. Before it could, though, an aura of magic overtakes the scepter as the demon swings it forth. A wave of magic overtakes the gang as light blinds their sight, the hellmouth shriveling up before it sinks into the earth…

…

Sh: “...Shit...”

…

After what felt like forever, Mikearu manages to regain his sense of sight, shaking his head at the headache he has… What the hell was that? And why did his whole body ache?

…

He brings a fiery left hand to his hea- Wait?

FIERY?!

M: [“W-What the hell?!”]

Even his voice didn’t sound the same. It sounded more like he was projecting it instead of actually speaking it… What the…?

What the hell did that thing do?!

A: “Holy shit… M?!”

He snapped his head to Astel, immediately noticing her change in appearance… It… looked kinda like her nightmare form… But her armor had a different look to it. A shimmery, midnight blue with black accents. Now that he had a good look at her, he noticed the two pairs of wings on her back… Two angel wings - one pure white, one burgundy black - and two demon-like bat wings - one coal black, one black and red… Her eyes were a fiery orange, with red swirls in the left and gold swirls in the right… He recognized this form instantly… The Midnight Queen…

M: [“Astel?! What happened to you?!”]

A: “That’s what I was about to ask you!”

M: [“I was hoping you’d know! I don’t have a clue, either!”]

He picked himself off the ground, noticing that he was actually floating in midair… Wait a minute… It can’t be… 

A ghost-like tail… A form similar to his child state (only bigger)… Fiendish claws…

…?! Demon horns and fox ears…

...The True Fiend…

M: [“Wh-What the-? I’m a Fiend! The True Fiend! B-But… How am I…?”]

Sh: “Blame that high class demon…”

Both Astel and M look to the voidling…

A: “What exactly… did that thing do to us?”

Sh: “Hm… Well, from what I can tell, it turned you into demons with a forbidden spell… But it’s not like I’m a Demon Lord who’s some sort of expert on this kind of stuff…”

M: [“...Can you tone down the sarcasm for five minutes?”]

The voidling just shrugs, a smug smile on their face.

K: “Mer… What happened? Something just knocked me out of the sky…”

A: “Uh… Kitty…”

K: “...What happened to you guys? And why are you looking at me like I have three heads?”

M: [“Well, you don’t… But…”]

The demon wings coming out of her back were easy enough to see… Kitty opened her eyes…

...Her crimson red, hollow eyes…

K: “Well? What is it?”

A: “I think it’s better if you saw for yourself…”

Gathering magic, she creates a crystalline wall in front of Kitty. It acts as a mirror, allowing Kitty to see the changes she went through…

K: “...”

K: “Well fuck…”

M: [“It got all of us? Wait… Where’s the others?”]

R: “N-No… This… can’t be happening…”

The voice belonged to… a formless, massless shadow where Reaper used to be… It was heavily disfigured in more ways than you could imagine - multiple thin arms, multiple wings, eyes fucking everywhere… It looked… familiar…

...The Eldritch…

Sh: “Oh… A voidling rip off… Cool…”

R: “That’s… not funny, Shadow…”

M: [“...R-Reaper?”]

The massless shadow seems to look up at the Fiend…

R: “M… That’s you, right? ...H-How are we…?”

M: [“...That demon. That’s the only explanation our local Demon Lord has decided to give us…”]

He shoots a glare Shadow’s way as he says that. They just smirk.

G: “Well that explains something…”

That voice belonged to… a mass somehow more unstable than Reaper… It barely had a form, and whereas Reaper had a slight blue haze around her, this one seemed to glitch spastically and randomly… 

G: “Pretty sure me and Reaper would barely be sane if this was natural…”

R: “With some… exceptions… I feel fine…”

P: “Ngh… Speak for yourself… My head is fucking killing me…”

Panda was stumbling towards them, looking relatively unchanged… Except for the arrow tail, demon horns, and wings…

P: “And before you say anything… I’m well aware of what’s happened to me… It’s so easy, even a moron like me can figure it out…”

Sh: “Well… You’re still a moron…”

And thus, Panda flipped them the bird… They couldn’t care less…

A: “Well… That’s almost everyone, but… Where’s-?”

S: “Woah! You guys look awesome!”

...The chaotic little toon girl was not even scratched by whatever did this to them… Typical Silver…

M: [“...How did you…?”]

S: “...How did I what?”

M: [“...Nevermind…”]

S: “Okay… Oh! Right! I managed to get one of those mouth things and put it in my backpack! It’s really cool!”

Sh: “Wait. Run that by me again?”

A: “...You pocketed a fucking HELLMOUTH?!”

S: “Yeah! I even gave it a little radio dial…”

She then started rummaging through her bag…

S: “I wonder what would happen if I-”

And then ‘poof’! She was gone…

R: “Silver?!”

K: “Welp. There she goes.”

P: “...She’ll be back.”

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly at this stage), no one denies this…

…?!

Ah. Right. They can’t have a moment of calm without two ethereal bullets nearly hitting M, Astel, and Reaper.

A + E: ~ “What the fuck?!” ~

R: “Who the fuck?!”

M + I: [“Who else?!”]

They turn to find Venatrix… Aiming her gun at them… Utterly shaking in fear…

...Ah. Right. They’re kinda super-demons now…

V: “Wh-What the fuck… What the hell happened?! Answer me b-before I b-blow your heads off!”

She looks too scared to even get off a decent shot… Empty threats it seems…

Gotta love confused panic… 

Sh: “Calm down, moron… They’re still your friends… They’re just more demonic now.”

The Midnight Queen has flipped Venatrix the bird for nearly shooting her head off… Yep… Exactly what a regal lady would do… 

V: “W-Well… That just leads to a whole ‘nother issue…”

M + I: [“And that is?”]

V: “The fact that a group of demon hunters from all over everywhere is on their way over here.”

Everyone Else: “Wait, what?”

M, using his status as a fire Fiend, floats up a little to get a better view… 

...True to Venatrix’s word, a literal army was headed their way, with an assortment of weaponry that M barely even recognizes…

And one of those weapons nearly hit M dead on.

M: [“Holy shit!”]

A: “God damnit!”

P: “Damned ants…”

Being Panda, she decided to pick her rifle back up and start returning fire… With flaming bullets…

P: “Oooh.~ I like this.~”

Everyone else just facepalms…

G: “Can’t we just kill them?~”

Sh: “I like that plan!”

M: [“No! Because those weapons are made to fight demons…”]

K: “...I’m running if you are!”

The shapeshifter turned devil creature immediately bolted… Venatrix immediately followed suit.

P: “Wha-? Cowards!”

A wall of extremely hot electric flame separates them from the horde of probably malicious hunters.

P: “Holy-”

A: “Just go.”

P: “Wha-”

Aaand the Midnight Queen has picked up the homicidal imp with a rifle. Lovely.

Meanwhile, both Eldritch are warping the environment to try and help slow down the hunters as they retreat with their allies… After probably three whole minutes of doing this, they manage to make it to the house…

K: “...Well this sucks.”

P: “Grr… Let me down.”

The Queen does so… with a smirk.~

P: “Hng… Don’t do that again…”

Sh: “Wow… You guys have no idea how to demon, do you?”

The four super-demons proceed to glare at them menacingly…

Sh: “...I don’t know how to take that response.”

M: [“This body is the only thing I’m uncomfortable with… And the fact that I’m a Fiend…”]

Everyone, including M, is just going to keep silent about how he was part Fiend anyway…

A: “It’s not like I haven’t been a demon before… Just not a super demon…”

R: “And me and Grim were part Eldritch before, so…”

V: “Speaking of which… Can’t you guys… um…”

G: “...Tch… Rude…”

R: “...Well… It wouldn’t hurt…”

G: “...Whatever…”

Both Eldritch seem to shift and change, the shadows that make up their bodies moving to their will… They shrink a little, to the size they were at before. Some of the arms fade away, some of the wings return to the body, and some of the eyes seem to blink away… When the form change was finished, they both looked like they normally did… with some key differences. A shadowy appearance, with respective outlines (blue for Reaper, green for Grim) was immediately apparent… Upon closer inspection, both of them seem to have four eyes, arms, and wings, along with henna tattoos - Reaper’s on her main right hand, Grim’s on her back - to indicate their status as Eldritch…

G: “There. Better?”

Venatrix just nods…

K: “So… We’re demons now? What, do we have to live in Hell now?”

Sh: “Hm… With the state Hell is in right now, I can afford to leave you guys be. Especially since you’re either not supposed to be demons or were already part demon to begin with. Right now, just don’t get killed or something.”

S: “Besides! Hell ain’t got nothing on the places I just visited!”

Sh: “?!”

The origin of the voice, a spectral Silver floating in the middle of the living room, made itself known.

M: [“Silver?! What happened to you?!”]

S: “I went to an afterlife! You can’t really be alive for those places. So I’m a ghost now!”

She does a few flips in midair… rather flimsily…

S: “Isn’t it cool?”

A: “Erm… Kinda? You’re sort of dead now, though…”

Silver just crosses her arms, pouting.

S: “Does that matter? I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

R: “...I mean… Yeah…”

S: “Well… It was nice visiting, but there are other afterlives I want to visit!”

P: “...Can I go with you?”

She was already fading away by the time Panda asked… Aaaand ‘poof’. No more Silver.

P: “Fuck.”

…

M: [“...So this is our life now, huh?”]

A: “Hoo boy… These wings are going to be a real pain to sleep in.”

G: “You can’t just make them go away?”

A: “No. I can’t.”

K: “Wait. I can’t make mine go away, either. God damnit.”

P: “Sucks to be you, Sonic.exe.”

Astel just snickers… M shakes his head…

Sh: “...I’ve got my work cut out for me…”

Yes you do, Shadow. Yes you do.