#our covers lie

[secret-time-is-here]

Needed a break from projects and cleaned up this old WIP :}

This is set in Our Cover's Lie (OCL, formerly The Lonely and the 0ne TLATO), which is basically a multiverse rewrite at this point. Characters are based on originals, these guys are not canon at all.

Important details! In this multiverse Killer is partially blind and uses a cane (this helps with stairs among other things), and Nightmare is barely intact with a large wound from his skull down to his lower ribs.

This is set pre story and early in their companionship. I'd love to info dump on their background if anyone's interested :}

[arsenicflame]

steddyhands au where Stede & Izzy start fake dating to scam a load of money (either to secure Stede's inheritance, or just like a classic wedding gift scam or something) but they also still both kinda hate each other and are constantly bickering, and keep slipping up and raising suspicion & have to dig themselves a deeper and deeper lie to keep the ruse up

(meanwhile, Stede AND Izzy have independently started fucking Ed behind each others back. Ed thinks hes seeing a wonderful polyamorous couple who just arent interested in threesomes, meanwhile Izzy and Stede are desperately trying to keep the other from finding out theyre sleeping with someone else)

(yes they hate each other and arent even dating for real. yes they are sneaking Ed behind the others back like its a real affair. its stizzy)

[yourqueenb]

I didn’t address this while I was live blogging, but I’m gonna be so pissed when MC inevitably ends up taking all the heat for hiding Nia’s problem… because they’ve been going out of their way to force us to keep it under wraps, so I just know that’s gonna happen. And then Nia will be all “don’t be mad guys, I asked MC not to tell”. So everyone will let up on us, but no one will hold Nia accountable or apologize for ripping us a new one about a secret that wasn’t ours to tell in the first place 😒

[xxplastic-cubexx]

friend notoriously bad at videogames said shed play marvel rivals with me tomorrow chat if i never post after tomorrow night its because a blood vessel bursted

[newtness532]

there's a certain comfort that you only get by being fully under a blanket

[good-beans]

(Milgram self-insert oc masterpost hehe)

Name: For the sake of posting online I’ll call her Rose!

Color: #E7355B [the pink in the art]

Age: I guess she’d be 20 given when Milgram started huh.

Status: Milgram Staff, Machine Technician

Symbols/imagery: ballet/musical theater, science experiments

Song genre: very similar to Mahiru's, something upbeat and extra pop-y

Tentatively she's number 011? She's not really prisoner but she's also not free to come and go, so I'm not actually sure if she'd get a number (Edit: I've decided she'll actually be 012. Staff is given the 01X range, and even though Es doesn't actively have a number they'd be staff member 011, making her 012.)

Story: Since the project is supposed to be realistic/present day, the mv machine would be brand new and unpredictable tech, so they’d want someone keeping up on maintenance and making sure the brain-invasive process won’t cause any harm to the prisoners. Rose was studying abroad in Japan working on some cool neuroscience tech (irl I know nothing about technology or brains but shh) and she stumbled upon some secret tech/plans from Milgram. Long story short, she was dragged into the experiment to make sure things ran smoothly.

Writer's Reasoning: She’s really fun for me to play around with, as she allows me to work with a character who has a tiny bit of pull over Es’ mindset in conversation but not the final decision (aka mirroring the voting system), and someone who is simultaneously trapped in the prison but has a reason to see all the canon content.* I really enjoy the character interactions and dynamics Milgram has set up so far, so it’s been super fun seeing how things change for better and worse when someone not quite aligned with either Milgram/the prisoners is thrown into the mix!

*As much as I love dramatic irony in fiction, it would drive me crazy if I knew every detail of of the vds/mvs but Rose didn't – and every single Milgram character is The Worst Communicator Ever so I couldn’t justify that she’d hear it secondhand from them...

Story roles:

She’s a bit conflicted -- she’s officially Milgram staff and knows she should remain neutral on the prisoners, since she won’t be allowed to interfere with the process/executions. At the same time, her job description is literally “make sure the machine doesn't hurt them and everyone's safe :)” and she's way too emotional to avoid getting hopelessly attached to everyone 😅

I really enjoy the theory that the machine extracts videos based off of priming, so one of Rose’s duties involves listening in on the interrogation and making sure there’s been enough material discussed/not too much time has passed overall (hence the ringing of the bell happening at different lengths for each vd -- That's her ringing it :3). She then watches the mvs along with Es to make sure there are no machine glitches, and know how to calibrate it better for next time.

(IEdit: I've since decided to add in official trial mvs, but before when I wasn't ready to tackle that:) She has to run some tests on the machine to make sure things are calibrated correctly, so she'd extract little things here and there. It gives me the opportunity to think up lyric snippets and recurring symbols for her without worrying about full encompassing music videos.

I'm not afraid to admit she can fall into Mary Sue territory every so often by being everyone's friend, because it's less about "aw everyone likes her" and more about "canon is too painful rn and I need a fix-it tool to take care of these guys and give them hugs and tell them someone forgives them and cares about them and unfortunately these characters wouldn't let anyone less than a friend do that." Rest assured she's definitely not perfect and will fuck everything up on occasion :3

Miscellaneous: Whenever I play around with normal au ideas she's still working on the machine (but in a public, more ethical setting), and she's Mahiru's roommate :) Her character isn't super focused on love, but if I had to pick a cover song it'd be Stickybug II. It's very much my vibe, the lyrics fit well enough (better than most songs, at least lol) and it's one of my favorites out of my limited knowledge of unchosen Deco songs! (Edit, I've actually given her non-deco cover songs hehe)

So yeah, I hope she's not too boring without a cool crime to decipher, but I wanted to share since I was really proud of her! It took a bit of tinkering to find a way to fit her into a perfect secret-third-thing role that runs very smoothly with all of canon, so I was very excited!

[flying-cat]

ily bakugou katsuki u are the only thing that hasn't pissed me off today

[roseband]

...whelp my husbands company has already started moving 100s of thousands of production orders from vietnam to china in preparation for tariffs being added onto vietnamese shipments, cause chinese labor is cheaper.......

and my company is starting to hoarde more blank garments that get printed in the usa in preparation as a stockpile.....which means my imports blank sourcing guy at work seems to be having a minor breakdown

this is gonna be a fucking shitshow.

[livvyofthelake]

and what’s crazy to me about the situation where the actresses in pride and prejudice 2005 didn’t wear makeup, is that everyone is like. oh they’re lying. oh no one looks that pretty without a full face of makeup. oh it’s a lie they had a makeup artist credited and i don’t believe it was only for “continuity” they’re all lying!! like. are you for real so influencer pilled that you can’t believe that women can be beautiful and appealing to you without covering their faces in makeup. “but no makeup doesn’t translate as well on camera so they’re lying” actually if you know how to fucking film it right and light it right anything can look good just because YOU don’t think YOU look as good without makeup on your front facing phone camera doesn’t mean joe wright doesn’t know what he’s doing… like girl we all already knew kiera knightly was beautiful and had flawless skin is it truly so hard to believe she wasn’t caked in foundation

[acourtofquestions]

Dont be angry, Finnula said. Be smart.

[secret-time-is-here]

Our Covers Lie lore drop (kinda)

(Formerly The Lonely And The One)

(Forgot to post this one... oops)

So Cross and Error are beefy bois but in very different ways and for the longest time I couldn't quite get the right words to explain /how/ and I now have the most ridiculous but accurate way to describe them.

Cross is a pinch pot, Error is a coil pot. (ceramics methods of making pots)

Cross while beefy is sharper and thinner than Error. Pinch pots can absolutely be made skillfully but if you have the wrong amount of clay you'll have fragile thin walls and a very hollow piece. To say the least, X Gaster (Xaster) was not skillful in making Cross.

Error on the other hand is also beefy with some sharp features, but he's a coil pot. He's smoothed out with thick walls and strong features.

When it comes down to shape theory with their character design, I've given Error circles and triangles, and Cross squares and triangles.

In short, the difference between Cross and Error is like a body builder vs a blue collar worker. Cross has the looks, not as much function? More theoretical and specific training. While Error has been building beef as a side effect of being destroyer of worlds.

Bonus for reading this far: I'm sticking to my promise of OCL Chapter 1 out by the end of the year...

Maybe even by giftmas :}

[chicago-geniza]

RIP Stefania Zahorska you would have loved end-to-end encrypted group chats

[youareunbearable]

hummm I am in the mood for some Maedhros Angst

[loetise]

important dynamics.  ˎˊ˗             aka, my own version of the ‘affiliation’ trend. these are muses and dynamics that are important to allie and help to shape who she is as a person. kind of also an appreciation post for my friends for putting up with me, some of these have been in the making for more than a year and all of them feature extensive plotting. please do not feel left out if our dynamic is more recent and not here, all of my dynamics are extremely important to me, these are the ones that i’ve had for a long time and/or plotted a bunch with. you do not need to follow these blogs to get a better grasp of allie’s story, but i might mention them in threads if it is appropriate. these dynamics are pretty much ‘canon’ for allie, with the exception of romantic relationships that exist in their own verse and would conflict with others. these dynamics are specifically for her main verse and the city based variant, i have more planned in a separate post for her other verses, which has a lot of muses not featured in this one.

main verse.

audrey rose, @celestiel.    audrey is allie’s best friend since high school, they grew up together, cheered together on the cheerleading team, and continued being close even after high school and after allie had left for six months. audrey was the person she was closest with in high school, and one of the only people that truly cared about her. audrey pushes allie to be more confident and value her self worth, as well as give her constant support. 

kieran night, @heroanti.    kier is pretty much allie’s soulmate. they are very much an ‘endgame’ kind of ship, they love each other endlessly. they live together in her cottage and just the company helps allie immensely, but more than that, kier helps her grow. there is hardly a moment when they are apart, and space is given when needed, but allie knows that she’s never truly alone and the thought is comforting to her. she is less anxious, though she still has her moments, and is much more healthy, she takes care of herself better and engages in less risky behavior.

akllasqa mamáni, @khronoes.    toxic codependent girlfriends, though allie’s largely aware of the toxicity. she loves aklla, though aklla has a tendency to treat her like an unwanted pet, or a lab rat on occasion because she knows allie will agree to pretty much anything she says. allie eventually gets pushed away by aklla enough and leaves without saying goodbye, pretty much disappearing.

udyati rao, @dvarapala.    allie’s baff (best alien friend forever!), udyati and allie are fairly similar in a lot of ways, though udyati is a little bit tougher and has been through things that made her that way. allie and udyati also go on a lot of adventures together due to udyati’s access to doors to other universes, and the ability to create them. most of their adventures are simple things, just spending time together or doing ‘normal girl’ stuff, but they support each other through everything and make each other feel loved.

olivia jensen, @celestiel.    another one of allie’s best friends, though a distinctly different vibe from udyati or audrey. liv was more distrust when they first met, definitely more of an ‘opposites attract’ scenario, but liv eventually warmed up to allie and now she is a lot more open with herself and her feelings. liv and allie are adventure buddies, but in a different way. they tend to get into mischief together. sometimes the illegal kind.

willow w., @unpossession.    close and cherished friend! willow and allie have similar hearts, but willow is more introverted and shy, and they have a close bond because of their similarities. however, during their friendship, allie began to fall for her, and willow didn’t fall for her as intensely as allie did. after willow goes through a traumatic event, she disappears for a long period of time which worries allie so much she feels like she’s falling apart. when willow returns, allie gets incredibly clingy and hardly leaves her alone, which doesn’t help with allie’s feelings.

jason brenner stilinski-hammond, @rotturn.    allie considers jason like a little brother, and makes herself a safe person for him to be around because his powers can’t harm her like they can a human. he has made many attempt to push her away and she refused to let him, and now they are both doing much better, though jason feels guilt for how he treated her in the past.

corinne delacroix, @rosewiltd.    corinne and allie both have a strong love for flowers, though allie a little more intense, which is originally what brought them together as friends, but now they share a bond that is close enough to be sisterly due to how they understand each other. allie frequently shows corinne how to care for flowers, and corinne reads her stories.

serena carlisle, @wihlted.    soft girlfriends! allie and serena are close because of that softness and their hearts, though their backgrounds are as different as can be. allie frequently visits serena’s ballet lessons, as well, because she loves to watch her in her element. allie has also whisked serena away to the woods for long amounts of time on multiple occasions, rendering her missing from the rest of the world.

nicholas cohen, @celestiel.   nick and allie had been friends when one of her close friends, jade, had dated him, though jade and her had always had a bit of a rocky friendship. after jade and nick broke up, nick and allie had gotten closer. closer to the point of betraying jade and falling for nick. her promised her songs about her, to take her with him and his band and allie fell for it. anytime they were together, she felt amazing. but when they’re apart, allie feels immense guilt for what she has done with nick without jade knowing.

cosmo stilinski, @khozmoh.    another opposites attract scenario, cosmo and allie met after he moved out of beacon hills, and were originally just sort of party buddies, going clubbing together and such. and while it took a while for him to warm up to her and trust her, he eventually did and they began dating. allie and cosmo both struggle with nightmares and are able to help each other with them by being a safe space. allie helps cosmo with his supernatural sight as well, making the horrors he sees go away for a little while when she’s around.

lucas north, @spynorth.    allie originally approaches lucas to help her find his mother, but he takes her under his wing, sort of, after he sees her naivety and approach on life in comparison to him being very much the opposite. eventually, they stop looking for her mother primarily and allie considers him a dear friend, though she doesn’t know much about him beyond him being a spy and nice to her, sort of like an older brother. lucas thinks he’s her secret service.

ruby of crims, @redheart​​.    another one of allie’s toxic codependent girlfriends, except this time there’s a little bit more of a mutual dependency, at least for spending time together. allie and ruby spent a lot of time at ruby’s mothers clubs, and allie began to follow ruby around like a lost puppy. ruby entertained allie and played with her feelings for a while because she liked the attention. however, after she met her boyfriend mat hatter, she left allie behind.

city.

josiah bryant, @celestiel.    josiah and allie have worked at the same flower shop since they were tweens, and when allie’s mother left, he stayed by her side and supported her that day as well as everyday after that. they had been close friends even before they started dating because of all of the things they have in common, and their connection only deepened when they revealed their feelings for each other. their relationship is very soft and sweet and they are very affectionate with each other, as well as a little bit silly.

lois lane, @loisjoanne.    lois adopts allie around the age of 14 after allie ventures into the city of metropolis and they meet and get close immediately. while allie has boarding school back at home, her and lois called regularly, and allie visited as much as she could when she didn’t have school. once allie graduated, she was able to spend much more time with her, and moves to the city near where lois lives.

[yogurt-boat-69]

So it seems like there are two possibilities:

One possibility is that the person who did the shooting changed his jacket right before the shooting- but into a different jacket that was remarkably similar (a puzzling choice! He brought two almost identical jackets with him? He changed his jacket to avoid detection into a jacket that looks very similar but has subtle differences? Puzzling!), shaved his unibrow (the better to shoot with, I guess?), then executed a plan so well thought out that the police had pretty much no leads, but was then caught (with both the murder weapon and a manifesto conveniently on his person! And the unibrow now regrown with long hairs) at a small town McDonalds five days later thanks to a random person recognizing him (and is a random McDonald's employee thinking you appear similar to a partial photo of a criminal enough to get you detained?)

OR

A police force with a budget bigger than many country's entire military, in a country notorious for having corrupt policemen who routinely lie and believe themselves to be above the law, realizing that it would be supremely embarrassing to have no leads, and likely facing immense political pressure to make sure the public doesn't think people can get away with this kind of crime, feeling motivated to peruse the many many records available to their giant counter-terrorism unit and using it to find someone who was in the vicinity, with an established online record of extremism, who has a jacket that is reasonably similar, and straight up planting some evidence on him so they can wrap this up with a neat bow and all of the ceo's who run the politicians who run our country can breathe easier?

As a random person on the Internet I will never find out the truth but some of this is not really passing the sniff test, and if there is one thing you can count on in this country it's that cops lie and cover their own asses. If he mysteriously dies in prison from "suicide" then we will know it's definitely not him

Edited to add: for those confused I do think it's possible Luigi is the guy from the hostel. It's just that based on the jacket and the eyebrows I'm not convinced he is the shooter. There was never anything solid linking the hostel to the shooting other than a similar (but actually different jacket)

[the-kneesbees]

band directors new thing is pretending that he thinks we're special