#problem sleuth au posting*

[aquared]

a redraw of that one panel but with

[firecrackrz]

writing a remjnder to myself to write out my problem sleuth story later. Or at least parts of it i want on paper bc wow. there is so much in my head

[queerjaneweek]

Queer Jane Week 2024 is happening soon!

From Sunday, July 28th, to Saturday, August 3rd, celebrate the Maid of Life with all your 2SLGBTQA+ headcanons and visions of Jane Crocker, Jane Egbert/Nanna and Nannasprite!

Join us in creating works of art, fanfiction, edits, headcanon lists, cosplay, etc. Tag you works with #QueerJaneWeek or #QueerJaneWeek2024 !

Day 1: July 28th: Pride: Display Jane’s pride through the flags, symbols and colours of your headcanons.

Day 2: July 29th: Hobbies and Interests: Showcase Jane’s likes, interests and hobbies through a queer lens. Baking a rainbow cake? Dressing as an inscrutable French detective? Something to do with pranks, comedy, Problem Sleuth or even Pony Pals!

Day 3: July 30th: Family: Jane or Nanna with Dad, Jade, John/June and/or Jake. Maybe also the Peixes. Sharing in their pride or supporting one another. No incest/ectocest.

Day 4: July 31st: Ship or No Ship: Romantic, queerplatonic, platonic or Jane proudly declaring being aro and/or ace.

Day 5: August 1st: Wildcard Day: Anything involving Jane Crocker being queer.

Day 6: August 2nd: Alternate Universe: Any AU you desire, whilst still showcasing Jane’s queerness. Kidswap, speciesswap, crossover, whatever.

Day 7: August 3rd: That’s So Gender (or not): Any delightful gender headcanons, from agender to xenogender, unlabelled to gender non conforming, showcase your headcanon, or perhaps one you hadn’t thought of before or see rarely.

Tag your posts with #queerjaneweek or #queerjaneweek2024

[robo-sleuths-robot-detectives]

ROBO SLEUTHS: FAQ

Will update with the things people ask a LOT about the Robo Sleuths, plus a few extra questions I can easily answer.

1. What is Robo Sleuths: Robot Detectives?

According to the RSRD community: "Enid is an optimistic and spunky go-getter who has been in a very deep rut recently. She hasn't been able to get a job as an entertainer, she's been very close to getting kicked out of her property (twice), her alcohol problem hasn't been getting any better, and, oh yeah, she still secretly thinks the robot thing sucks. But recently, she's been presented with a new opportunity: a chance to work as a paid detective for an anonymous source, if she can solve a case. Given she took a crime course in college she sees this as a great opportunity to gather her life together. In her newfound career, she encounters a plethora of sleuths, including a human-like yet pessimistic computer, a quiet robot with a secret past life, a threatening interviewer with a wide-eyed stare, and a guy there just for the benefits. But the deeper she goes into this crime rabbit hole, the more she uncovers about the shady town- and perhaps the robot business itself."

2. Who are the characters?

I'll be honest... I need to make a document for that; there are quite a few of them. But you can check out the "robo sleuths: robot detectives" tag for a start! (To find all the posts you may need to scour the "robosleuths" and "robotdetectives" series tags as well.)

3. Are Enid and Rodney married?

No, Enid and Rodney are not married in canon. The drawing I made is for an AU, which was stated just below the cut but which I really should've put above it. They do have an on-and-off situationship for the most part, though.

4. Is Rodney cool/Does he pull?

...no.

5. What's with the robots?

(I have started calling them robos to distinguish them from pure robots but) The robos are humans that have been turned into machines for various reasons, including appearance or medical reasons! The robots, on the other hand, are wholly machine/AI.

6. What is the series' age rating?

Currently, the series is rated TV-14 (though I'm uncertain whether to keep the language part as I don't tend to swear with these projects). As I develop the series, though, it may shift from TV-14 to TV-MA... time'll tell.

[grahamfolgersdeliciousnotebooks]

20 questions for fic writers

[EDIT: sorry if you got a notification that you were tagged in this post even though I didn't tag you. Tumblr's being weird about this one.]

Tagged by @cirrus-grey - thank you! (Also, sorry this took me like three months to do, executive dysfunction is a hell of a thing)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

33

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

197,768

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The only fandom I've written for as an adult has been the Magnus Archives (and I actually have a lot of thoughts on why tma was sort of a perfect storm for getting me back into creating and consuming fanfic, but I'll spare you for now). There are a couple other fandoms I wrote for when I was in middle school back in the fanfic(.)net days, but some things are better left in the past.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Say You Love Me (Learn to Lie)

I'll take "A Flagrant Misuse of Beholding Powers" for 200

stay with me, hold my hand

Come, my dear, and be a part of my home

please, hurry, leave me, I can't breathe (please don't say you love me)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Sometimes. I really want to get more consistent about it, but my executive dysfunction makes it hard. My big problem now is that it feels weird to go back and respond to comments I got months ago, but it also feels rude to respond to more recent comments without ever responding to those older ones, so I'm feeling kind of stuck. One day, though, my ADHD will be properly medicated and I will get back to responding to every comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Angst is one of those things that I love to read but don't always think to write, so pretty much all of my fics have happy endings atm. The only ones that can really be said to have angsty endings are the pre-Unknowing and safehouse fics where the knowledge of what will happen next in canon makes any ending automatically bittersweet. With that in mind, let's go with Hold My Hand When My Courage Fails, because I DO think a pre-Unknowing kiss makes season 4 angstier.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Like I said, I write almost entirely happy endings, so it's hard to narrow this one down. I'm gonna go with Say You Love Me (Learn to Lie) because I threw in the completely unnecessary (but still necessary to me) detail that Sasha survives the Prentiss incident at the end of that one.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No! I've been very lucky on that front.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I haven't, though I might someday. As an ace person (somewhere in the sex-nuetral/sex-averse realm) I don't feel super confident in my ability to write good smut. It's really intimidating, but I'd love to try some day.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really? The only thing I've written that could be crossover is my fic where Jonathan Sims competes on Jeopardy!, but I'm not really sure that counts.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

My AO3 history should make it clear I'm pretty fond of Jonmartin, but I'm also a big Griddlehark (tlt) fan.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I've started a tma fic that's essentially a Marple AU (with Gertrude as the Miss Marple surrogate) that plays with the idea of sleuth-as-Beholding-avatar, but it's very tricky to blend all the plot threads I want to include together into one cohesive mystery, so I don't know if it will ever get finished.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'll be honest, I don't think I'm a very good judge of my own writing, especially my strengths. It's not that I think I'm a bad writer necessarily, but I really struggle to pinpoint any one thing that I do well - especially because for every aspect of my writing I like, I can point to five writers in the same fandom who do that much better. Right now I'm just glad I'm getting stuff written at all.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I worry that my characterizations tend to be pretty thin. I also struggle in juggling more than a few characters at a time, and sometimes I will omit characters who logically should be in a fic just because I can't think of anything for them to do.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't have anything against it. I could see people running into problems if they write dialogue in a language they themselves don't speak (relying on Google translate, for instance) but in general I don't see anything wrong with it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield, back when I was in middle school.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Don't make me choose!

I might have to go with Say You Love Me (Learn to Lie) because that was the most fun I've ever had writing and publishing a fic - the response to that one was really great, and since that was one of the only times I actually managed a consistent release schedule, it felt really nice having that to look forward to every Tuesday.

But SYLM(LTL) was my answer for like half of these questions, so I'll also throw out Cut My Hair and Changed My Face (I'm Learning How to Forget That Place). I did a pretty terrible job of tagging that one and it didn't get a lot of hits, but it's one of my favorites. I love s4 Jmart angst, I love Jon & Daisy's s4 friendship, and I frankly can't believe it took me so long to write a fic combining the two.

[sunsafewriting]

AU - Chapter 2. Ava starts a dumb YouTube channel where she makes complicated recipes badly. Maybe people show up for that, but they kind of stay for her conversations with her roommate - who stays off-screen. Mostly.

-

chapter 2 excerpt:

It’s not, like, massively surprising that her subscribers manage to track down her Instagram account. Her account is public, and while Ava has never linked or promoted any of her other socials on YouTube, she’s no stranger to the idea of a bit of internet sleuthing. 

Every now and then, she’ll even do a little digging herself. Most recently, her research powers have been directed to finding out exactly how tall Gwendolyn Christie is (for an argument with Lilith) and trying to get a read on that pretty girl from the gym who always asks Beatrice to spot her — just a teeny weeny background check, to make sure she’s not a serial killer. Or single.

(Lucia, as it turned out, is single. And she follows Hayley Kiyoko, Emma D’Arcy, and Janelle Monae on Instagram. That was not at all comforting for Ava to learn.)

Anyway, while Ava doesn’t have a problem with her new online buddies trawling through pictures of cool pebbles from the sidewalk and dogs she’s met at the beach, she’s never really considered the amount of identifying information in her posts. Until recently, virtually everyone who followed her was someone Ava knew in real life. 

She raises it with Beatrice while they’re doing dishes. Considering the amount of mess Ava manages to create while cooking, it’s very fortunate that she lives with someone who finds washing up to be relaxing. 

“Maybe you should make another profile,” Beatrice suggests. “Separate professional and personal.”

“I think the last thing anyone would call my channel is professional .” 

“I disagree. Don’t underestimate the skills that go into it, just because you find it fun,” she replies, handing Ava another plate for her to dry. “You’ve managed to produce something engaging. That’s not easy. If I could do that, my students would’ve done better on their midterms.”

“Almost all of them passed! And you’re a great teacher. It’s not your fault they’re lazy little shits.”

“ Ava. ”

“I can say that! I was a lazy little shit. Slash am currently. I nearly gave you an aneurysm freshman year, remember?” 

“You asked me when the exam was on the morning of the exam.” 

“Lucky, right? Imagine if I’d missed it.” 

Beatrice lets out a controlled breath. “Yes. Lucky.” 

Except not that lucky, because Ava had actually been asking in the hopes of roping Beatrice into a study session or two or three. That was back when she was still trying to figure out how to gently nudge Beatrice into being friends with her outside of class, and Ava was not above drastic measures like actually doing revision to make it happen. 

“Just — promise me that you’ll be careful?” Beatrice says, with that serious look she gets whenever Ava expresses even the mildest discomfort, boredom, or unease. “I know that you’re enjoying yourself, but I want you to be safe.”

Ava leans across and kisses Beatrice on the cheek, taking great satisfaction in the way the mug in Beatrice’s hands suddenly slips back into the soapy water. 

“I’ll be super careful,” Ava promises. 

[nobodysdaydreams]

The Mysterious Benedict Society Christmas Carol AU

(I was gonna wait until December to post this, but Gogh said they were interested, and I have zero impulse control so here we go!)

I wanted to make something for my TMBS mutuals this wonderful holiday season, and I never get tired of Christmas Carol adaptations. Dickins knew what he was doing when he wrote that one. There's just nothing that gives me that warm, wholesome, special holiday feeling more than the idea of finding a cruel selfish person and putting the fear of God and compassion for mankind into their heart by haunting them with their own sins and terrifying the living daylights out of them.

So I figured, why shouldn't Curtain get his turn too?

For @sophieswundergarten and @myfairkatiecat based on your wonderful vision (I’m sorry I know I promised you this in like…August. But better late than never). And for @itsgoghtime so that we can scream about it together!

Trigger warning for multiple character deaths (don't worry it's all good at the end part though).

Obviously Scrooge is none other than Curtain/Nathaniel Benedict himself. The other roles are generally shared between characters.

This takes place in between season 1 and 2. The extended Benedict family is celebrating Christmas together, but Nicholas has trouble getting into the spirit of the season, because the holidays have never felt the same without Nathaniel. But then it occurs to Nicholas that now that he knows where his brother is, he can invite him to Christmas this year (though there still is the small problem of them being enemies and the fact that his friends might not approve of it).

So, Nicholas, after sleuthing out his brother’s address in Italy, decides to secretly write him a letter inviting him to their Christmas party, explaining that he forgives Nathaniel, is sorry he didn’t come back when they were children, and that he sincerely misses his brother and wants him to be part of his family again (so I guess for the purpose of matching characters, Nicholas has the role of Fred in this instance).

Meanwhile, back at the compound, Garrison (who has the role of Bob Cratchit, at least for now), has a huge fight with Curtain over the happiness technique, and in typical Curtain fashion, he rudely insists on doing it his way and verbally abuses Garrison. SQ overhears his father yelling at her but doesn’t say anything.

Later, Jackson and Jillson come to Curtain with some concerns about the way Marlon had been doing things at the compound. They ask Curtain what they’ll be doing for Christmas this year, and suggest doing something for charity in order to promote the work they’re doing. Curtain replies that the work they are doing is inherently charitable, and that they don’t have the time to waste celebrating Christmas. He then orders a disappointed Jackson and Jillson to get back to work.

As Jackson and Jillson leave, they drop a letter on Curtain’s desk, which was delivered to the compound that morning. It’s Nicholas’ invitation. Curtain, believing it to be a pathetic attempt to get him to surrender by appealing to his nostalgia and sentimentality, scoffs at the letter as SQ enters the office and asks his dad who sent them a Christmas card. Curtain replies that it’s junk mail and throws the letter in the trash.

SQ then nervously asks his father why they aren’t celebrating Christmas this year. Curtain replies that he understands this is a disappointment, but explains that he can’t afford to relax when his brother (Nicholas) is spreading lies about them. However, he tells SQ that he got him some lovely art supplies to make up for it, and promises that they’ll have a lovely celebration next year. SQ is visibly disappointed, but tries his best to sound grateful and wishes his dad a Merry Christmas before going back to his room.

Meanwhile, Curtain, who is still upset about the holiday (which he views as a waste of time) and Nicholas’ letter, angrily settles in for a night of hard work.

And that’s when the haunting begins.

For this AU, Jacob Marley is the ghost of SQ's dad, since he's dead, and he and Curtain worked together. But in this version, he isn't a chained up ghost (because he wasn't a bad person in life), but he is still a sad ghost. He asks Curtain why he's trying to control the world and begs him to change his ways. Curtain is startled, but believing the ghost to be a hallucination, insists that what he's doing is best for their son and best for the world. When SQ's bio dad's ghost challenges him on this, Curtain slowly begins to accept that he might be real, but grows tired of being criticized and says that this is what he had to do to survive and move on after SQ’s bio parent’s deaths. SQ's bio dad sadly replies Curtain has one last chance to change, but that he will be haunted by three spirits. He then disappears, and Curtain believes it to be a dream.

He dozes off and awakens later to see what he believes to be his brother Nicholas surrounded by a glowing light. But not Nicholas as he knows him, but the child version of his brother, who introduces himself as the ghost of Christmas past. Curtain reluctantly follows the ghost, who leads him through memories of Nathaniel celebrating Christmas with Nicholas. Even though they didn't have much at the orphanage (and heck, they don’t even know if their birth family even celebrated Christmas or any holiday at all), they always did their best to give each other nice gifts and make the holiday their own. The ghost reminds Curtain that this was something he looked forward to every year, and suggests that Curtain misses spending the holidays with his brother. Curtain scoffs and dismisses the warm feelings, stating coldly that Nicholas never really loved or appreciated him (though he doesn't quite look like he believes what he's saying and a part of him wishes it wasn't true).

The little ghost seems very sad to hear Curtain's words, but reluctantly takes him to his next memory, which is of Curtain celebrating Christmas with Garrison, Milligan, and SQ's birth parents back when they were his employees and Curtain wasn't as evil or uptight as he is now. Milligan (who I guess is a stand in for Fezziwig in this AU), is the one who insists that they have a celebration and break from their work, and they all have fun together. Curtain, for a moment, gets swept up in the good feelings. The ghost notes that Curtain never does anything like this for his current employees, which Curtain dismisses by saying that things are different now, and they'll have time for celebrations later, after they've won.

The ghost then points out SQ's birth parents and reminds Curtain that this was the last Christmas they spent together before they died. Curtain tries to talk to them, and ask SQ's birth father why he appeared in his bedroom earlier, but the ghost tells him that these are only memories, shadows of what was. No one here can hear them, and Curtain can't interact with any of them.

They continue to watch SQ's birth parents, and Curtain, in a moment of sentimentality, does admit that they were good friends and good people. The ghost says it's a pity they died without having children, and Curtain corrects him by saying that they did have a child. The ghost remarks that Curtain is right: they had his son SQ (so I guess SQ's birth parents and SQ are also stand ins for Fred and Fran).

Curtain then sees a memory of him spending one of his first Christmases with baby SQ, right after his birth parents die. He promises his son that even though his parents are gone, he’ll make sure that he always feels loved and knows that he has a father who loves him. The ghost then asks if SQ enjoys Christmas parties as much as his birth parents. Curtain is too ashamed to talk about it, and mutters that it's unimportant.

Now, if you want to make this an exact Christmas Carol AU, I could also insert a scene here of Garrison friend zoning Curtain and asking him to keep their relationship professional after SQ's birth parents die and she watches Curtain slowly turn into a worse and worse person. This would parallel Scrooge getting rejected by Belle and feed into the Garrison and Curtain divorce drama agenda™️, but it's take it or leave it.

Either way, at this point, the emotions of the memories lead Curtain to the verge of a narcoleptic attack, which he dismisses by declaring that the past doesn't matter and he doesn't care about it. He tries to snuff out the ghost's light, but that only makes it glow even more, as it's face transforms into the faces of Curtain's old friends and family and the scene changes between the different memories shown to Curtain. In frustration, Curtain throws an blanket over the ghost when they are back in his bedroom and the ghost disappears.

And of course, now that Curtain finds himself back in his bedroom in the present, who does he find but the ghost of Christmas present. The ghost again looks like Nicholas, but different somehow, in a way Curtain can't quite explain. The ghost does look joyful and at peace, which is very much a Nicholas way of being, but also very professional, and he's dressed more the way Curtain usually dresses, just in Christmas colors instead of the usual blue.

The ghost takes him to Nicholas' house, where Curtain sees Nicholas and his family celebrating Christmas. The children are playing a guessing game (like Fred's friends in the original story), and Constance asks them to guess something that's exactly like Mr. Benedict, but awful in every way, immature, sad, and dumb. Everyone is confused as to how something that resembles Mr. Benedict could possibly be so awful, but then Reynie realizes the answer is Curtain, and everyone laughs (though Nicholas looks a bit sad).

Curtain is insulted and tells the children off for being rude, only for the ghost to remind him that they can't hear him. Curtain watches the party for a bit, at first insisting that it's stupid and he wouldn't have wanted to come anyway, but he slowly beings to participate in the games (getting especially frustrated when people have trouble guessing obvious answers), and actually enjoys himself. When the ghost points it out to him, Curtain has a moment where he realizes, to his shame, that this is always what he's wanted: Christmas with a family. But he rejects the thought as soon as it comes.

Then he notices Kate struggling with the injuries she received from his men at the Institute, and notices the worry on Milligan and Nicholas' faces (She's Tiny Tim in this AU). He asks the ghost if Kate will be okay, and the ghost replies that Kate is more injured then she's letting on, and warns Curtain that she'll put on a brave face if it means stopping him and protecting her family, even if it means injuring herself more permanently. Curtain accuses the ghost of blaming him for Kate's condition, and the ghost replies that he's merely answering Curtain's question. Curtain scoffs and says that this is stupid anyway. He has his own family and doesn't need or care about Nicholas'.

The ghost nods and takes him back to the compound, where he sees Jackson and Jillson celebrating Christmas by frantically trying to get everything together for Curtain as Marlon yells at them to work faster. The ghost comments that Marlon seems to have a very different attitude towards his underlings on Christmas than Milligan did, and asks Curtain whether he thinks this is an improvement to the work environment. Curtain replies that unlike Milligan, Marlon is loyal, and that's something to be valued. The ghost observes that Jackson and Jillson certainly seem loyal too. Curtain overhears how miserable Jackson and Jillson are, and that they don't really care about Marlon, but they follow his orders because they don't want to disappoint Dr. Curtain. Jackson and Jillson both reveal that they look up to Curtain and genuinely want to do a good job for him. They also wonder whether Dr. Curtain is proud of them or appreciates their work. Curtain realizes that he's never once thanked either of them.

He then sees SQ on Christmas, surrounded by all the fancy art supplies that Curtain gets him every year. SQ talks to an old photo of his birth parents and comments that this is nice, and he doesn't want to see ungrateful, but he wishes that he had friends and family to celebrate Christmas with, and that his dad wasn't always so busy. Although he knows his son can't hear him, Curtain says aloud that he didn't realize that this was making his son so miserable, and promises that once his plans come to fruition, they are going to have many wonderful Christmases together. SQ doesn't hear him or respond, he just sighs, puts the photo away, and goes to bed.

The ghost then tells Curtain they have one last person to see: Garrison (who is also a version of Bob Cratchit in this, I guess she and Milligan sort of share the role).

Curtain watches Garrison get out of bed and sneak out of the compound. He's surprised she found a way to do that, but follows her down the street. She walks past a church with a bulletin board outside and stares at it for a few minutes, as if debating what to do. When people begin showing up for the Christmas mass, she sighs and quickly continues down the street before anyone gets the chance to talk to her. Confused, Curtain looks at the bulletin board and realizes the church is also a space used for alcoholics anonymous meetings. Garrison continues down the street until she comes to an crossroads, one of which leads to the train station, the other leads to a local bar. Garrison stares at the train station for a long time, trembling and shivering, before she decides to go the bar instead. Curtain watches her down several drinks before stumbling into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror and muttering that she's a pathetic coward for not being strong enough to leave or ask for help. Curtain tries to tell her this isn't true, but the ghost reminds him that she can't hear him. Curtain comments that this doesn't make sense, since he thought Garrison had succeeded in staying sober. He and the ghost listen to Garrison declare that she deserves all the terrible things the alcohol is doing to her and that Curtain deserves this too, because he drove her to this. The ghost sadly explains that Garrison took up drinking again after Curtain started using her happiness on people.

Curtain, frustrated at being "blamed for all of this" angrily insists that if he'd know this was a problem, he'd have done something to help. He follows Garrison outside, trying to get her attention as she stumbles outside into the snow, shivering and shaking all the way back to the compound. The ghost follows too, telling Curtain that his time is almost up. The ghost looks noticeably older by now, and in fact has been slowly aging this entire time, but Curtain ignores this and tries to run after Garrison, but the snow starts falling faster, swirling all around him, and Garrison disappears in the dark and snow. Church bells start chiming. The ghost informs Curtain that his time is up. The ghost of Christmas present disappears and Curtain finds himself alone on a dark street, and the swirling snow around him has now vanished.

He turns and sees a figure covered in a black robe hobbling out of the darkness. Curtain asks if he is the ghost of Christmas future. The ghost doesn't answer, he merely nods and beckons Curtain to follow him.

The first place he goes is an insane asylum. In it he finds Garrison, and overhears her caretakers talking about how she really got a bad deal working for that "horrible man". It's implied that Nicholas defeated Curtain, and in the aftermath, Garrison's history of substance abuse and mental illness got her declared insane, so instead of sending her to prison, she was placed here. She looks completely miserable and has a dead and far off look in her eyes, and doesn't really speak at all. She only whispers "it's my fault" over and over again. Disturbed, Curtain whisperers to her that he'll make sure this doesn't happen, but she doesn't seem able to hear him, and Curtain is really creeped out by her staring and wonders what could have happened to make her like this.

Curtain then finds himself in an old and dirty factory, where he finds Jackson working alone. It's revealed that since Jackson and Jillson were legally over 18, they went to trial as adults. Nicholas did his best to keep them from prison, but the courts forcibly separated them, and since neither have very good job skills and both have criminal records, they each work in factories in different parts of the country, where they are exploited and forced to work in horrible conditions for very low wages. They both dream of saving enough money to be able to find each other again, but Curtain can tell that neither of them could possibly save enough for that. He calls what happened to them cruel and blames Nicholas for it, since this is apparently the result of Nicholas defeating him. He demands to be taken to the Benedict residence.

The ghost still doesn't speak, but complies. Curtain finds the Benedicts (and friends) celebrating Christmas, but they are not as happy as before. Milligan and Kate are notably absent. The mood is extremely somber. Curtain is confused, saying that they won, so they should be happy. He then overhears Nicholas privately tell Number Two and Rhonda that he wishes he could have been allowed custody of SQ after Curtain went to prison and done more to help him, to which Curtain yells that Nicholas ought to stay far away from his family. Nicholas doesn't hear him, and the subject of Nicholas visiting Curtain in prison comes up. Apparently, Nicholas has not gone to see Curtain once. Nicholas feels guilty about this, but also says it's going to be hard to face his brother after everything he took from them. Nicholas then sighs and admits that his friends were right: the brother he knew really is gone for good.

Nicholas gets emotional and leaves to have a moment alone. Curtain goes after him, yelling after him that Nicholas is one to talk considering the brother he remembers was one he was so eager to leave behind. Although he can't hear him, Nicholas breaks down into tears the second he's alone, admitting to himself that he knows he's the reason Nathaniel is gone forever, he's the reason there's only Curtain now. Curtain then realizes that this is the first time he’s heard Nicholas call him "Curtain" instead of "Nathaniel" and is disturbed by it, wondering what prompting Nicholas to starting calling him by that name.

Curtain then addresses the ghost, asking him what the meaning of this is. Why is Nicholas acting like this when he's the one who won? What could he possibly be so upset about now, he already knows Curtain is his brother? The ghost takes him to a graveyard where he sees Milligan sitting by a grave stone that's surrounded by flowers, cards, and candles.

Milligan apologizes to the grave stone, saying that he should have been more vigilant, that he should have prevented "her" from facing off against such a dangerous enemy all alone while recovering from an injury. But he then adds that he knows she did it because she cared about her friends and wanted to save them, without ever thinking of herself. Milligan then tearfully apologizes for losing her again so soon and declares that even though they only had a short time together, he was proud to have her as his daughter. He then says "Merry Christmas Katie-Cat" before sadly leaving the graveyard.

Curtain is shocked to find that Kate is dead and from hearing the comments of some passersby as they watch Milligan (looking like a shell of his former self) leave the graveyard, learns to his horror that in this future, Kate fought through her injuries and tried to fight some of Curtain's men alone, an action that resulted in her accidental death when she slipped off a ledge. The people at the graveyard shake their heads and comment how sad they feel for poor Milligan. They also express their disgust at how awful and terrible Curtain is, saying that prison time is still too merciful of a sentence for such a terrible crime against such a brave and selfless child.

Curtain is suddenly back in the Benedict residence and hears Number Two comment that it's a shame Mr. Benedict still blames himself when his brother is the one who is a murderer. The others agree.

The ghost raises his hand again, as if about to show Curtain another scene from his future, when Curtain grabs his arm to stop him, insisting that he's not a murderer, and that he never intended for this. In a moment of panic and desperation, he insists that the only reason the future is like this is because Nicholas and his friends won. In a world where he won, none of this would have happened! Curtain demands that the ghost show him that future, the better future, the one where he won instead. The ghost complies.

Curtain declares that in this future, everyone will be happy and better off, and at first, this does seem to be true. Instead of insulting, mocking, and belittling him, everyone on the streets cheerfully discusses how wonderful Curtain is. He's considered a hero and visionary. Curtain is pleased by this. He then sees Jackson and Jillson, smiling and agreeing with the other passersby. However, the second they are alone, Jackson and Jillson drop there fake smiles and start sobbing with guilt about what's going to happen to these people being all their fault, and they express regret at having ever followed Curtain and their role in helping destroy the world. Curtain is confused, and askes the ghost what they could possibly be talking about when everyone else seems so happy.

The ghost then takes him to the compound to show Curtain what has become of his followers, Nicholas, and the society. Curtain is relieved to see them all alive and well, but slowly realizes they they aren't moving. As he explores the compound, he discovers that this is the fate of everyone here, Nicholas and the children included, and a consequence of the happiness technique that's spreading out of control across the world. He starts to panic, thinking of what he can do to stop this, and then realizes that Garrison would know what to do. He demands the ghost take him to Garrison immediately.

The ghost takes Curtain back to the same graveyard from earlier. Curtain is upset, saying that he saw that Kate was alive (but frozen with the others) in this future, and insists that she and the others will be fine as soon as he finds Garrison and asks her how to reverse whatever is happening. The ghost merely points to a gravestone, which has Garrison's name on it now instead of Kate’s, and is barren and empty compared to how Kate's grave looked before with all the cards and flowers. A newspaper flutters past Curtain's feet, revealing that after seeing what her happiness was doing to the world, Garrison blamed herself and drank herself to death out of guilt. Frustrated, Curtain yells at the ghost to stop showing him all these horrible things, but the ghost does not reply.

Curtain, growing increasingly frustrated, says this isn't what he wants either, and the ghost finally speaks, and asks Curtain what sort of future he does want if he is so unsatisfied with futures where he wins and loses. Curtain breaks down and finally fully admits the truth (both to the ghost and to himself) and confesses that he wants what he's always wanted since the orphanage: a future where he can be happy with his family on Christmas.

The ghost tells Curtain that his family is the one thing that remains the same in both futures.

Curtain finds himself standing in front of an unfamiliar, but nice looking house. After peering through the windows, he sees a family that seems to be celebrating Christmas, or some sort of holiday together. A first, Curtain is confused. This isn’t his family, so why would the ghost bring him here? But still, he knocks on the door, and finds to his surprise that this time his hands are solid, and he can actually knock on it. A young teenager that looks like SQ answers the door, and to Curtain's surprise, the boy can actually see him. Curtain tentatively asks if the boy is SQ, and the boy shakes his head and calls for his father. Curtain then realizes he is at the home of future SQ and the people inside the house are his son's friends and children (Curtain's grandchildren).

When grown up SQ comes to the door, he is upset by the sight of his dad and protectively tells his children and family to go back inside and let him handle this. Curtain asks SQ to let him come in, so that he can meet his grandchildren and have a chance to be in his son's life again, but SQ angrily refuses and declares that he won’t let his father hurt his family anymore. Curtain begs him for a second chance, but SQ tells him that he threw that opportunity away a long time ago. SQ also tells Curtain that he'll do anything to protect his family, and threatens to contact the authorities if he ever comes to their house again.

After the door is closed in Curtain's face, the ghost of Christmas future restates that this is the one thing that remains the same in both futures.

In the future where Curtain won, he was unable to bring himself to use the happiness technique on SQ after seeing what it did to Nicholas, and SQ, horrified by what his father had done to control the world, spends the rest of his life running away and establishing a new identity and life so he could be free of his father. When Curtain eventually tracks down his son, he is turned away and SQ threatens to hurt his own father if he ever dares approach his family again, for fear his will use the happiness on him or his children.

In the future where Curtain lost, he eventually gets paroled out of prison decades later as a very old man and goes to find his son, only to be turned away in a similar manner because of what he did to Kate after being informed that SQ has a restraining order against him.

Curtain, in tears, yells at the ghost and demands to know who he is and why he is doing this to him. The ghost lowers his hood to reveal the face of future Curtain as an old man, and Curtain finally realizes that the ghosts he was seeing weren't alternate versions of Nicholas at all, but distorted reflections of himself. The ghost of who he was, the ghost of who he could be, and the ghost of who he will become. Curtain gasps and stumbles back. As he does so, he catches a glimpse of his face in the window and realizes that he now looks old too. He turns back to the ghost, only to find that the ghost has disappeared, and this is his life now.

He starts to panicking and running the streets, looking for someone who can help him, but his visions of the two futures begin merging together and everywhere he turns he either sees unsettling groups of people under his happiness technique staring at him with creepy frozen smiles, unable to move, or people jeering, spitting at him, and shoving him as they call him a criminal and a murderer.

Finally, Curtain starts breaking down in tears, begging God, the universe, or anyone who is listening for a chance to go back and change things. Then his narcolepsy takes control and he falls asleep.

When he wakes up, he runs through the compound and grabs Jackson by the shoulders asking him what day it is. Jackson replies that it's Christmas (and Jillson, who of course is next to him adds "December 25th to be precise"). Nathaniel is so relieved and overjoyed, and hugs them both, which confuses Jackson and Jillson. Nathaniel immediately orders them to prepare to attend a Christmas party and gives them a list of presents to buy. Jackson and Jillson are confused, but happy with their new assignments.

Nathaniel then finds Garrison trying to escape the compound. Because Nathaniel is still the insane dramatic theater kid that he is, he does the fake out thing Scrooge does to Bob where he yells at her and backs her into a corner. Garrison cowers in fear, only for Nathaniel to hug her and promise her that he's going to raise her pay, publicly declare her innocent, get her help for her alcoholism, and put her in charge of their entire operation just before he confesses to his crimes and goes to prison after celebrating Christmas with his family.

Garrison, believing him to have gone insane, asks if he tried to use the technique on himself or if he's having a mental breakdown, but after a thorough examination, realizes to her surprise that he is being sincere. Nathaniel begs her to join him for Christmas, and with no where else to go, and too shocked to come up with any excuse, she agrees.

Nathaniel then grabs all of the employment records, addresses, and information he has on the Wetheralls before Milligan's brain sweeping (with generous financial compensation) and sends it to their house (similar to how Scrooge sent the turkey to Bob Crathcit's house).

He then finds SQ and declares that he was wrong about Christmas, family, and everything, and begs him for a second chance. SQ is surprised to see his father actually apologizing to him that he agrees, even as Nathaniel starts telling him the truth about his narcolepsy, his evil plans, Nicholas, everything. It's a lot for SQ to take in, but he's happy his dad is coming clean and being honest with him, as shocking as it might be. He's also pleasantly surprised to see his dad seems genuinely happy.

Nathaniel then takes SQ, Garrison, and Jackson and Jillson with him to Nicholas’ Christmas Party ("But Bods, aren't the Benedicts in America and the compound is in Italy, do they teleport now?" "Nathaniel has private jets now." "Uh... okay, but it would still take hours-" "Don't question the magic of Christmas").

Nicholas' friends start threatening Nathaniel immediately, assuming he's there to ruin Christmas and do something horrible, but are surprised to see that Nathaniel brought gifts for all of them (surprisingly well thought out gifts too). Nathaniel introduces the others and asks Nicholas if it’s not too late to reconsider his offer and celebrate Christmas with them. Nicholas replies that it’s never too late.

Of course when all is said and done, Nathaniel serves a nice looonnnngggg community service sentence, but he's back with his family, he's good now, and all is well with the world.

*Cut to a scene of the ghosts of SQ's bio parents smiling at Nathaniel before they disappear*

I hope you guys like this!

[wachtelspinat]

@negativepotato wieso auch immer hatte ich eine email bekommen zu deiner ask, aber... die ask is nich in meinem posteingang........ deswegen mal händisch alles hier hin kopiert (trotzdem sehr seltsam)

negativepotato hat gefragt:

"Hey hey!! Ich habe gerade deinen Post gelesen. Der hat mich berührt, weil ich das fühle. Kaum ist man in einem Job, schon gleitet einem die Zeit durch die Finger und man hat kaum noch Energie, kreativ zu sein. Und dann immer wieder so den fallback und safe-space an fanart zu haben, wo ich auch immer die Angst habe mich nicht "weiter zu entwickeln", wie man das immer liest, dass man das machen soll. Was mir ein bisschen Frieden gegeben hat, ist zu wissen, das ich nie ganz loslassen kann von meinen Zeichnungen und Malerei und einfach versuche, mich zu freuen, wenn ich mich mal hinsetze und dazu komme, you know. Egal wie simple und klein und wenns der 10.000 Headshot von slightly-rechts ist von fav character. Es ist schwer zu akzeptieren, weil man früher einen krassen Output hatte und der jetzt nicht mehr so da ist. Aber ich glaube, so wie du es geschrieben hast, wird dir das nie wirklich abhanden gehen. Es wird sich einfach nur ein bisschen ändern - und das muss nichts schlimmes sein. Dauert nur sich einzugrooven, ihmo. Außerdem wollte ich dir gefühlt seit Jahrzehnten schreiben, seit so dem...Problem Sleuth/Midnight Crew-high. Ich schau immer noch gerne auf deine Zeichnungen von damals, weil du eine Energie hast, die mich einfach abholt und inspiriert. Damals wie heute. :^) Anyway!! es ist sehr langer text geworden; ich hoffe, dass ich etwas trost spenden konnte...weil yeah. Mich berührt sowas zu lesen und ich kenns. Anyway! have a good night <3"

______

hey ey, danke für die nachricht ;o; dass mit in fandoms zurück fallen und sich iwie heimisch fühlen, aber gleichzeitig immer diesen hintergedanken zu haben, dass man sich nicht weiterentwickelt, irkt mich ehrlich gesagt schon seit jahren... ich dachte immer ich habe meinen frieden damit geschlossen, dass ich eigtl nur fanart zeichne (ich bin einfach zu doof für OCs... wirklich, ich kanns nicht anders beschreiben, bin in der hinsicht massivst unkreativ. ich hatt' halt aber aber auch nie das bedürfnis unbedingt OCs zu erschaffen? ich war immer sehr happy einfach mit charakteren die schon da waren, zu denen geschichten zu spinnen etc (und wenn das fandom auch noch so hart reinhaut, dann hat man zu denen auch ein schier bodenloses fass an absolut genialen ffs und art T_T)

anyway... der grundtonus, den ich über die jahre auf social media aufgefangen habe, ist allerdings oft "fanart sollte nicht das goal für artists sein". enge freunde, die selber zeichnen / illustratoren sind, meinte auch in gesprächen schon, sie hören jetzt auf fanart zu machen, weil "iwann muss man sich davon lösen", oder "sie sind aus dem alter raus, jetzt gibt es nur noch original content" oder mein fave: "ich habe mich endlich davon befreit fanart zu machen" als obs eine bürde war und ey... da fällt mir immer dezent die kinnlade runter. als ob fanart kein kreativer output ist, als ob man mit fanart nicht auch art skills lernt, als ob fanart vorallem auch keine freude bringt? ich kann dann immer nur erwidern "du weißt schon dass du das MIR gerade ggü geäußert hast, die person die literally NUR fanart malt". und ich versteh es ehrlich gesagt nich. OCs zu haben ist geil, ich glaube es ist unglaublich krass eine eigene geschichte / welt zu erschaffen und im besten fall zu sehen, dass leute den eigenen originalen content feiern. aber wieso wird im gleichen atemzug so oft auf fanart geschissen. das ist iwie so eine weirde performance die ich nich begreife.

ANYWAY tut mir leid fürs rambling, aber dein einer satz da hat ins schwarze getroffen. bin eh ein relativ unsicherer mensch, und zu wissen dass man für den schnulli den man neben seiner arbeit stemmt um spaß zu haben online wahrscheinlich komisch beäugt wird, nur weils in der artists community als "auf der stelle treten" kategorisiert wird, nervt mich schon seit jahren 8(

danke für deine nachricht, es hat mich sehr gefreut sie zu lesen, da alles, was du in worte gepackt hast, so wahr ist. ich weiß, dass ich nie aufhören werde zu zeichnen, dafür ist es mir einfach zu wichtig (und den satz fühl ich besonders: "Egal wie simple und klein und wenns der 10.000 Headshot von slightly-rechts ist von fav character." mehr will ich nicht, das macht mich happy 🧡). ich brauch denk ich nur ewig und 10 jahre mich an den neuen status quo mit arbeit und allem drum und dran zu gewöhnen. aber aufhören steht nich auf dem plan. (danke auch für deine lieben worte zum schluss zwecks der midnight crew und so ;; erwärmt mein herz gerade maximal <333)

hoffe du hast einen schönen sonntag (und sorry fürs lahme anworten, tumblr hat die nachricht iwie geschluckt but thank god für email notifs)

[demonicnarwhale]

Guh introduction? Yeah

Ghello I'm Eel and this is my tumblr. *Kaboom SFX* I'm 21. Japanese and Filipino. (asian-american)

I DRAW GORE/BLOOD AND IT WILL BE TAGGED AS JUST #guts galore

Little animations or something is just tagged as: #animation

Ideas I spout will go under: #eel ideas

Doodles will just be: #doodles oodles

Trinkets/mini clay stuff/keychains will be: #eel trinkets

Art for my college classes: #eels college art

If you wanna send some stuff to the ask or something, go right ahead (i don't wanna come off as like some cold "do not interact with" sorta person) working on it

I like drawing HS Intermission funkies you can find them in the tags like

#Midnight Crew

#The Felt

#The Exiles

#Problem Sleuth

I also will list like the individual characters in the tags

Some AUs: (totally me not being a lil ill in the membrane. Also. Will perhaps add other silly ideas AUs what? oh Eel)

#Intermission Yeehaw

#Intermission Small Town

#Intermission Hooked

#Intermission But Trolls

I have a Carapace + Leprechaun "group" they are: #Commons Midnight Swing

And another Carapace focused news editorial thing yeah: #Night Times

I also have an oc that is thrown into The Felt #hk She's in a polycule with Trace and Fin and I will tag any art focused on them in #sharkbait (just so if you don't dig it, just go ahead and block it lol)

I have some homestuck troll ocs as well that I haven't really posted much here (yet)

My "main gang" will be #main10gang

#HPIA is for a group of fantrolls that are like some private investigation agency

And the rest just #fantrolls

I have a Toyhouse as well:

Alright, Eel out

[kinformative]

🚀 mod dave's intro

heya, i'm 🚀 mod dave. i use he/she pronouns, bisexual boygirl. alterhuman/fictkin who takes it pretty seriously. also autistic w/ a side of adhd. i'm an adult. IRL of dave algebra class from devius ex machina/dnb amongst many others, doubles are welcome to still send in requests y'all are cool as shit. (previously mod prime) below are my tags, and what fandoms i take reqs for as well as what type of requests i personally fulfill.

tagging system:

#🚀 | ⤷ mod dave - requests/asks answered by me/posts made by me #🚀 | ⤷ in wine there is truth. - completed requests/asks #🚀 | ⤷ i can't let them find out. - denied requests/asks

fandoms i do requests for: rick & morty, fnf (+ most mods, mostly dave and bambi), hermitcraft/trafficsmp, homestuck, problem sleuth, garten of banban, other mascot horrors, minecraft/mcsm, roblox (any games are ok), baldi's basics (+ any mods/spinoffs), fnaf, dsaf, fortnite, pizza tower, nintendo games (primarily super mario, splatoon, pokemon, and the mother series), sega games, undertale, creepypasta, sonic.exe, backrooms, hfjone, animatic battle, lethal company, d:bh, everhood, sly cooper, club penguin, neopets, everhood, steven universe, rayman, cookie run, hylics, atla, toontown/ttcc, tf2, bugbo, sanders sides, madness combat, smg4, SML, my little pony, scp, petscop, kinitopet, pico's school, danganronpa, henry stickmin, gravity falls, spongebob, ockin, songkin, otherkin, and any other type of alterhuman/othertypes that don't fit into a fandom or any sort of media.

request types i accept: xenogender/kingender flags, name/pronoun suggestions, pokemon teams, icons, coin flips, shufflemancies, positivity messages, advice, userboxes, canon calls, art/doodles, sprite edits, stamps, blinkies, kin mem help, kinfessions, moodboards

specifics that i don't accept. these aren't on the main blacklist: - undertale AUs (no issue with them, i simply do not know enough about them to do reqs for em. sorry.) - skyverse characters of any type - henry miller from dsaf (i personally will not fulfill these if they are sent in, mod dirk can handle those, it is a personal reason sorry yall) - dandy's world

[thepolysworldau]

Where did ur server go? Did it get deleted?

( The server is still up, I gave it to one of the mods and it doesn't have association with the blog anymore. I have one up now but it is on an invite only basis, bc atm I do not trust certain people won't try to join despite me blocking them/telling them I am uncomfy)

( In short, I got uncomfortable with a few people on there. Some were just younger ppl, and others just acted fairly immature. It made me feel 1) like I had to be responsible for taking care of them/making the space cater to them and 2) it made me stress a lot about censoring myself/the blog when that isn't what I want to have to do. It was a lot of stress so I slowly stopped posting/interacting )

( I knew it was either redoing the entire server and removing a lot of ppl or just making a new one. Generally, as I have said before, this blog is not nor will ever go into nsfw territory (gore or sexual wise), however with the jokes I make and the tone of some things I do just feel uncomfy interacting directly with younger ppl who like it (idm yall reading it but I am seriously icked out when a 13 y/o asks me who is top and bottom like I can't) so uh yeaaahhh )

( again, I wanna make it clear I am not upset with anyone nor do I want yall to sleuth out who it is, it is purely MY problem and they didn't do anything wrong! I am not mad at anyone!! It is just my own personal comfort )

( all in all this blog is just fun, this is an au I have daydreamed about for a while and I wanted to share it with folks. I will put tws when applicable but yeah, I am not gonna try to fit the content to be suitable for people I know should probs not be reading it. )

[firecrackrz]

time to listen to puppet loosely strung on loop and think of deadeye and inny (i am correct in assigning this song to the two of them)

[queerjaneweek]

I am here to announce the inaugural Queer Jane Week!

It is an entire week to showcase your 2SLGBTQA+ headcanons about the one and only Jane Crocker. There are seven days with themes for you to create art, fanfics, edits, etc.

It takes place between July 30th - August 5th.

The specifics are listed under the read more:

July 30th: Pride: Display Jane’s pride through the flags, symbols and colours of your headcanons.

July 31st: Hobbies and Interests: Showcase Jane’s likes, interests and hobbies through a queer lens. Baking a rainbow cake? Dressing as an inscrutable French detective? Something to do with pranks, comedy, Problem Sleuth or even Pony Pals!

August 1st: Family: Jane with Dad, Jade, John/June and/or Jake. Sharing in their pride or supporting one another. No incest/ectocest.

August 2nd: Ship or No Ship: Romantic, queerplatonic, platonic or Jane proudly declaring being aro and/or ace.

August 3rd: Wildcard Day: Anything involving Jane Crocker being queer.

August 4th: Alternate Universe: Any AU you desire, whilst still showcasing Jane’s queerness. Kidswap, speciesswap, crossover, whatever.

August 5th: That’s So Gender (or not): Any delightful gender headcanons, from agender, to transfem, to transmasc, to xenogender, unlabelled to gender non conforming, showcase your headcanon, or perhaps one you hadn’t thought of before or see rarely.

-

Tag your posts with #queerjaneweek or #queerjaneweek2023

-

EDIT: You can also include Nanna Egbert and Nannasprite!

-

Here's the link to the mobile about.

Here's the link to the desktop about.

[hippoinspector]

intermission week... sort of?

as some of you may know, tomorrow, january 16th, is the 13th anniversary of the intermission! my original intent was to restart intermission week after a few years of being on hiatus, but time slipped by and i wasnt able to post the prompt list at a reasonable time! in lieu of this, ive decided to put together a sort of... prompt list in the form of a set of questions

feel free to answer a few of these, or even all of them. make art, writing, or whatever else your heart desires to show your love for the intermission!

(team sleuth is also invited to the party, but know that i have something else planned for march when problem sleuth turns 15 ;-) )

1. do you prefer the midnight crew or the felt?

2. who is your favorite member of the midnight crew?

3. who is your favorite member of the felt?

4. do you have a favorite scene from the intermission, or even one that includes the crew/felt in some way?

5. do you have a relationship youre particularly fond of? they dont even have to be romantic, it could be a rivalry, a friendship, a hatred, so on and so forth.

6. do you have an au that you like? it could be a common one like stabdads or mobswitch, or it could be one that you came up with that youd like to share with others.

7. what made you fall in love with the intermission and its cast? how long have you been a fan of it? how has it affected you?

if you create something for the anniversary, im proposing the usage of #intermissionanni or #intermissionweek to keep everything in one place, but this is just for fun!

[miss-ingno]

Well, since you gave me permission to indulge myself with mor asks, how about 4, 5, 6, 13, 16, and 32? Feel free to pick and choose if that's too many! You just have a lot of really interesting WIPs, so sue me...

4 - Sweet Revenge

The plotty sequel to In The Middle Of The Night, my vampire canon AU! As the summary for that series gives away, it features the Stealth Lesbians:

Part 1: The Rescue of Li Qian Part 2: The Rampage of Wang Yike Part 3: ??? Part 4: Profit

shh, I'm hilarious, don't pop my bubble 😂

It involves plenty of ZYL sleuthing, and Shen Wei being an overprotective stalker! Also, more flock leader!Shen Wei and fledgling!Li Qian with accompanying worldbuilding :3

5 - In Light Of Stolen Memories

Ohhh, you're gonna like this one, it's deliciously angsty! :3

Kid!ZYL finds a dusty old lantern in the SID's storage and ends up lighting it by accident—and receiving Kunlun's memories of the YOHE era, from when he saved a young Heipaoshi to when he sacrificed himself to light the Guardian Lantern.

Fast forward to canon times, Zhao Yunlan runs into Shen Wei and promptly recognizes him as his Shen Wei. Except... It's not his Shen Wei, is it? It's Kunlun's. Not helped by the fact that Shen Wei recognizes him as Kunlun, when he's not, he's just an imposter. A wannabe Kunlun.

It's Weilan trying to figure out how to build a relationship with the shadow of Kunlun hovering over them. Lots of emotional h/c ;)

6- Soulbond [redacted]

Hmmm, trying to figure out how much to say without giving away the reason for the [redacted]. Let's say it's inspired by a prompt from a certain someone and I'm hoping to write this for them as a gift!

Weilan end up soulbonded and have to figure out how their new abilities and limitations ;) Post-canon fix-it.

13 - Arranged Marriage Weilan

The big longfic of doom OTL. Modern Canon AU in which Dixingren are widely known and there are rising tensions between Dixing and Haixing. Afraid war might break out between them, Heipaoshi offers to marry a Haixingren to reinforce the Treaty. Since he's Director Zhao's son, Zhao Yunlan is the ideal candidate (since HPS specified he wanted a male spouse).

Problem is, Zhao Yunlan is head over heels for Shen Wei, an unassuming paper pusher he met at a government networking party.

Shenanigans ensue in which Shen Wei tries and fails to find alone time with Zhao Yunlan while Heipaoshi is courting him to tell him his secret identity. Also there's some plot with assassins and the like.

It's gonna be a two-parter I probably won't ever finish but by GOD am I gonna write and post the first part (which ends on the wedding night) next year at the latest >:( I've been fiddling with the first 20k I have for over 2 years now, this cannot continue!!

16 - Warlord Kunlun

This is a historical AU in which Kunlun is a roaming alpha warlord, who just defeated Zei Qiu and is claiming everything that belong to the traitorous chief as his war spoils - including the omega twins. Shen Wei pledges himself to Kunlun's service to protect his people (not as a sex slave, but everyone is aware of the bride potential), and then Kunwei fall grossly in love.

32 - Weilan case fic

In which Shen Wei is wrongfully accused of A Crime and the SID has to work against the police to prove his innocence. Meanwhile Shen Wei pretends to be all Harmless (TM) stuck in his jail cell.

[variouscolors]

[AU info] √02 Interquel AU (Root 02)

This is my current favorite AU, and I'm so sorry in advance for the upcoming posts and art related to it. Anyway, this AU is based on a friend's AU for the Tangled movie & TV series, in which friend tried to insert Cassandra into the movie events. But in my case, I had some ideas going towards the Lion King 1½ (Or Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata) movie and the Cyber Sleuth interquel game, Hacker's Memory.

That is, Rui and Ukkomon are indirectly involved in the events of the 02 TV series. This all started with a silly "what if" fanart I had been doing since January, using a beta design for Rui as an outfit for an official in-movie 11-year-old Rui design. My original idea was just to have Rui and Ukkomon be around from day one, but as I was developing it, I got the idea of "maybe they could still be around, but not involved in the events of the main series?" which is, yeah, basically what Hacker's Memory is about -- a story that focuses on a group of "side characters" instead.

For more details, see this post on my Rui-Ukko blog. The rest of this post is specific to this blog only.

Tag: advverse • root 02 au

[CW: murder, self-harm, body horror] Also, it contains 02TB (the new movie) spoilers.

Since Rui has basically been doing his own thing and hasn't had any contact with other human children with a digimon, he's pretty clueless about digimon care and other things. All he knows is what Ukkomon told him before: That more kids like him are appearing, and that Ukkomon will make them be his friends. So Rui has a very wrong view of the digimon as "wish-granting servants", and he doesn't like it either.

Rui thinks that partnerships are bad because the digimon are forced to obey their human partners and lose their own freedom. This makes him even more upset by the actions of the digimon Kaiser, and he wants to stop all fights and free the digimon. But he also hates fighting, and he sucks at talking to people, so there's not much he can do here.

Although he tries to act tough, he is non-confrontational and will do his best to run away from trouble. He will also want people to stay out of his business. Because he lacks communication skills, he tends to inadvertently hurt people's feelings or to mess up his own arguments, even contradicting his own words.

The way Rui gets the Digi-eye is a little different from the movie -- he gets injured in a digimon attack, Ukkomon gets desperate and decides to give Rui his eye, which makes Rui snap because he didn't want it to happen and didn't ask for it. Deep down, Rui was also angry because Ukkomon was at the point of destroying himself in order to help the boy.

Ukkomon's side of the story is that he's also tired of Rui not understanding his feelings, and he thinks the whole terrible fight they had just proved that Rui is ungrateful. But he can't leave Rui alone, so he continues to protect the boy in the shadows… By using his own eye on Rui's face to warn him when things are going badly for his partner. He also has the same problems as Rui: running away from problems and being really bad at talking.

Don't take anything Rui/Ukkomon say for granted. Their own experiences and knowledge contradict what the rest of the characters (canon at least) know. And this is ok, this is what the movie wanted, that you question it and investigate the veracity of these statements. So it is here too, you just have to doubt their own words and look for the truth.

Yes, Ukkomon does the murder thing in this AU too, but Rui is not aware of it. Also, and as I suspect, Ukkomon didn't intend to kill Rui's parents, and he's still upset and regretful about it. Ukkomon has no idea that his mind control ability would have that effect.

As for him being Ken's prisoner and being "hunted" -- that's the original idea, and the latter can be read as Rui's social anxiety just driving him crazy enough to think he's being hunted. Also, the Ken Kaiser in question is my muse. I wouldn't mind if your Kaiser muse suddenly decided to chase him to study the digi-eye, but please let me know.

※ Variations on this whole verse can and will be made to accommodate RP partners, so if there is something that bothers you, just tell me as soon as possible and politely (I don't like passive-aggressiveness, I've had bad experiences with it in the past) so we can make the necessary changes to make it work for you.