#redacted department

[tommytomatoe]

if anyone askes me what milo and sweetheart look like i just show them this picture of an overworked department employee posed up with their short italian-adjacent boyfriend

you're gonna look me in my eyes and tell me this isn't them?

[stupd000]

what if sweetheart was lying about how they’re starting the investigation, what if they are going into the belly of the beast? What if they just didn’t want Milo to worry?

[messenger-of-stupidity]

Labour by Paris Paloma but it's Warden going off on the Department for overworking them.

Also The Tradition by Halsey but it's the stages of Warden rehabilitating Vega, Vega manipulating them, Warden realizing he's right, and Warden snapping.

[sumu-samu]

Behind The Glass

This was how I imagined Tank reacting to the things Quinn was saying. Please have in mind I wrote this before Quinn’s Aftermath was uploaded I was just busy posting the Broken series and don’t have the energy to rewrite it. So if things don’t match up exactly I apologize

“He’s gonna try and get into your head Sam, say… say things that aren’t true to try and get you to tick. You have to take everything he says with a grain of salt. And no small talk. You have to go in knowing what you want. You give into his stalling he’s just going to get more and more under your skin.” Tank’s heart was beating at a rapid pace. What did Quinn want with Sam. It didn’t make any sense to them. 

“Darlin.” Sam grabbed their face so they could look him in the eyes. “I know.” He said staring deep into their eyes. They could tell he was trying to calm them down. It only half worked. 

“Sam there’s been things I haven’t told you….. he… I want to be the one to tell you personally but… knowing Quinn he’s going to bring them up. Please…. If you hate me after what he says then… give me at least a chance to explain myself.” They held on to him tight, they couldn’t let him go. He was their mate, their world. 

“Darlin, Quinn is a sick fuck. I’m not going to let what ever bullshit he spews change my opinion of you. I love you, with my absolute everything.” Hearing him say that made their heart metaphorically skip a beat.  He kissed their forehead and walked out to go confront Quinn. 

When he got in there he did everything they told him to do. Skip the small talk, go straight to questions. But Quinn had other plans, as per usual. 

“Why the hell am I here?” Sam asked.

“Because I want to get to know you Samuel. We’ve barley even met.” Hearing Quinn’s voice again was like needle’s piercing their skin from every direction.

“Oh I remember the night we met, perfectly. That image is never gonna leave my mind.” Sam shook his head No Sam don’t tell him that. 

“I do look rather dashing in blood. Don’t I?” Quinn laughed, the needles pushed in harder. 

“That supposed to be funnny?” Sam cocked his head.

“Two and a half years.” Quinn ignored the question “You think they would all blend together over the decades. But I never forget a face. How if Freddie doing? Does he still wake up screaming at night, thinking of me?” Quinn smirked. They could see the smoke coming off of Sam.

“Keep his name, out of your fucking mouth.” Sam seethed.

“Fredrick Collins.” At that point Tank themselves wanted to jump through the glass and strangle the fucker. “He did take your name didn’t he? Must have left a pretty good impression as a maker then. Was that your way of compensating for than your own less than stellar undead upbringing?” That got Tanks blood boiling. How fucking dare he bring up Sam’s turning. Especially knowing how hard it was for them. 

“Tank, calm.” David shot them a look. 

“Sorry.” They cleared their throat.

“Where is she?” Sam pushed

“I’m not done playing with you Sammy.” The nickname made them growl.

“Calm.” David repeated.

This was going on way too long, Quinn kept stalling, trying to get under Sam’s skin. They didn’t expect much less from him but they weren’t the most patient of people.

“I’ve never had a progeny. Tell me, what’s it feel like when he has the nightmares? Do you feel them too? Do you feel his fear like it’s your own or something separate? When he remembers my teeth tearing through his skin, ripping muscle off the bone. His blood splattering his face. Do you feel it whgen hes sobbing in bed, trapped in a dream begging for his life. What doe that feel like.” Tank was thankful Bright wasn’t here at the moment, the pain and anger they would be feeling having to listen to that.

 Sam saw the two as if they were his own kids, as with Sam being their mate they met the two of them many times. They were good kids gone too soon. Sam was often really hard of Bright but Tank was able to get him to lossen up on them. Bright reminded Tank as themself, only younger and having more to live for. That night at wonderworld they never would have known Quinn would attack. They probably didn’t even know he was there. They were unempowered, and that world was hidden from them, for all they knew vampires were pale white teen heartthrobs who sparkle in the sun light. 

“I don’t have to sit through this.” Sam started to get up.

“Is her life worth less than your comfort?” Quinn asked when Sam had his hand on the door. “Sit.” He demanded, a tone Tank heard a lot during their time with him. “Do you hold him when hes crying or is that too much? Consoling isn’t everyone’s strong suit.” 

“Clearly.” They could practically hear Sam roll his eyes. “I have a question of my own,” 

“Oh yes, ‘where is she?’ I heard you the first ten times” Quinn mocked

“No, something different.” Sam sounded proud, like he was able to get the jump on Quinn.

“And what might that be?” Curiosity, something rarely used by Quinn.

“Why am I the one in this chair? You know who you should actually be facing.” Tank’s eyes went wide, what was he doing.

“Be cause this is more fun.”

“Because youre a coward. Because youre scared to face them-”

“Because theres no greater pain I can give them than denying them closure. Because I know that having me this close just out of reach, refusing to talk to anyone but their beloved mate-” Tanks eyes could have popped out of their head hearing him say that.

“David….” they whispered.

“What?”

“He’s been watching me…” Their breathing got faster.

“What? How do you know?” He took a step closer to them.

“He called Sam my mate” The fear could practically be heard on their voice.

“Ok? So? He is.” David was very confused.

“But how would he know that? I’ve never called anyone that. Not even him…”

“Why are you doing this to them?” Sam questioned.

“I take betrayal very seriously.” Betrayal? Betrayal? He was the one who betrayed them, hes the sicko who attacked innocent people. 

“You have to have trust before you can have betrayal.” Sam countered.

“Oh, they trusted me. They trusted me with every part of them.” Tank’s stomach dropped. “I was their safe place for all those ugly thoughts in their head, because they knew what was in my head was much worse. That I wouldn’t judge them for it, that they could ask me to do anything to them and I’d do it with a smile. Anything for my precious” The name made them want to puke, to scream, to cry. “Are you enjoying my sloppy seconds?” They felt something in their heart hurt, like Quinn took a wooden stake and gud it into them, their chest got tight. 

“I’m enjoying being with my mate” Sam seethed, “Someone who is stronger than the shit you’ve tried to put them through.” Sam defended them.

“This is why your more fun Sammy! You don’t crack under pressure like they do. Not yet anyway. I wonder how many buttons I have to press to push you over the edge.” Quinn was trearting this like a game. To him it was. 

“Save us both some time end this. tell me where the girl is.” Sam tried to get back on track.

“Game’s not over yet. Tell me something, vampire to vampire, their blood tastes like heaven, doesn’t it.” Their face got hot with shame. They could feel David looking at them. “And the sounds they make when the fang sinks in.” They shut their eyes, tight. “The way they’d wind their fingers into my hair, dragged me in tighter like they wanted me to bite hard enough to hit bone. It’s like nothing else.” They knew he was doing this to get under Sam’s skin, but they couldn’t help but feel absolutely disgusted by who they used to be, what they used to do. 

“Where is the girl?” Sam didn’t let him in. 

“Do they still prefer their bites on the thigh? I was never picky. Ephemeral artery would suit me just fine. Especially with how hard they always wanted me to bite. But with a mate, maybe they prefer the neck nowadays.” Tank tried to hide themself, the look they felt coming off of David was enough to send them back into their old self. 

“He… bit… you?” David’s voice growled. 

“It…. It was all consensual at the time David….” The tried to hide even harder. 

“What is the point of any of this.” That obviously got on Sam’s nerves. 

“I guess I’m asking the wrong person… because… you’ve never bitten them… have you?” Quinn chuckled. “I’ve been close to them Sammy, so close. With out them even noticing. I would have detected your mark on them. But I haven’t. You refuse to taste them. How interesting.” The smile on Quinn’s face sent a chill through them, the metaphorical needles in their skin were practically hitting bone at this point. “Surley they’ve asked for it by now. Knowing them.” 

“You don’t know anything about them.” Sam was trying so hard to keep it together.

“I’m sure you wish that was true. Sorry to burst your bubble there cowboy. They always were my favorite thrall.” Quinn chuckled at Sam’s obvious anger. “How are the scales looking? Your comfort weighed against the life of a stranger. Still worth it?”

“If listening to your sick shit is what it takes to ensure that girl’s safety. Then yes, it’s worth it.” Sam looked into Quinn’s eyes.

“You mean that… how interesting. You know, I considered adding the stipulation that no one be listening behind the mirror while we spoke, I do love my privacy after all.” Quinn poked.

“Why didn’t you?” And Sam bit.

“Because then I wouldnt have the satisfaction of knowing my favorite thrall was in the audience.” He laughed and it made everything in Tanks body run cold. “I know you’re back there Precious. Have you missed me?”

 He smiled looking at the mirror almost like he was looking directly at them. And that’s when they broke, the fear and anger and sadness that was running through their body had started to overflow. Their breathing got rapid, their eyes began to well with tears, their body began to tremble. 

“Tank? What… hey.” David grabbed their shoulder but it only just made them jump and slip deeper into the panic. “Woah, hey, look at me. Tank, it’s okay.” 

Almost as if he could sense their panic Sam shot up out of his seat “you asked for me. Talk. To. Me. Leave them out of this.” His words like knives

They felt their knees start to give out. And luckily David never let go of them, he lowered them down as they continued to let the panic attack run its course. 

“It might be best to get them out of here. They don’t need to relive stories of their trauma from the one who gave it to them.” The detective interjected.

“No… Sam…” they managed between gasps. 

“Sam’s going to be fine Tank. Come on, let’s get you some water.” David lifted them up and carried them out to the car to calm down.

[starcurtain]

Sometimes I think about the fact that we have absolutely no information on how long Aventurine actually spent in slavery.

He fled from the Avgin massacre as a young child, and we didn't see him again until he was a grown adult. I doubt he could have survived entirely on his own at that age and Sigonia's conditions seem too harsh for people to randomly adopt orphans, especially from a rival/outcast clan...

We do know that the master we see on screen was not his only master, because he was purchased from someone else, but we have no idea how many masters he had total before his final one, how many times he could have fled and been recaptured, how many times he was bought and sold...

We do know that Aventurine appears to have been kept on Sigonia or somewhere similarly tribal for those missing years, since his first request to the IPC is for Jade to take him to her "chief," but we don't even know how long Aventurine has been out of slavery. He doesn't look massively different in age from his "trial" with Jade to how he looks in-game now, and he did not rise through the IPC ranks over time like Topaz but won his role directly through his gamble with Jade and then later proving himself on Iymanika.

Basically, all this is leading to a big question: Is it possible that the Aventurine we know is only barely out of slavery? That there may be something like five years or fewer separating him from the wastelands of Sigonia? That he learned all these new behaviors, all this new information about how to operate as a free person in the universe, in what likely amounts to 2-3 years of Jade's guidance and his own hard work?

Man, what an incredible character. Really a standout among my very favorites.

[6-atlas-6]

Redacted tweets (again x1872882)

Last one was a request/idea by @darlin-collins

🎀Tags: @capitalisticveins @vilf-lover @deviantaj @plutobutartsy @crescentgrim @morgansplace @epsi-l0n @kitheking @randomhoneybee @messenger-of-stupidity @shawslut @samlizdavis @betta-phish @verbal-static

[pearl-kite]

So new Vega audio, right. Heads up this got WAY longer than I meant so uh. Prepare to scroll, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In advance, I don't even really know when things get posted to youtube time-of-day-wise, so this is probably technically spoiler material, etc etc, and a bit heavily flavored by particular headcanon for the Warden, especially the details of their job.

You work at the Department, your favorite part is psychology-related casework. Sure, the serenity demons have got that corner covered, but you enjoy helping when they're short-handed in between the times you have to do demon-specific tasks like ward maintenance, etc.

You get this fucking file, red flags ALL over it, but you're good at your job, you know how to keep your personal shit separate and not fall for manipulation tactics, but the guy is good. You're also good enough to see through it all, but oh man is he pat.

Shit happens and suddenly you're kidnapped, sort of? And you can see every time he tries to be subtle and nudge you to think one way or another, but he is actually helping you, which yeah, sure that's a manipulation in and of itself, but he's almost nice? You don't agree with a lot of what he says, but there are some points he has that you've had before, but you'll be damned if you're going to let him know that. You can see what he's doing and you're not going to fall for it (maybe that's the problem though, you think you can see it but does that make you overconfident?)

And then when you're finally better he just. Lets you leave. But he gives you an option, and it sounds not only logical, but nice (ah shit did you start to like him? You know he's manipulating you, remember?). So you stick with him. You can leave anytime.

But you don't leave, because maybe you started to forget that he's manipulating you, you saw through it all at the beginning, after all, and there's plenty of evidence that he's not lying about shit going on with that cult.

One day he says he values you, and you immediately think it's a trick, and you can't read his emotions the way he can read yours, but something feels honest about it, and suddenly you believe it when he says you matter, and you like that, you like it a lot, and you think maybe you're a little fucked because you might do anything he asks you to at this point.

And then not even a half hour later something fucking disintegrates him in front of you, which shouldn't have been possible, and it terrifies you and you run. You forget that you can fucking rift away in an instant and you use your fucking feet and sprint, you're so terrified.

Where the fuck are you supposed to go? You ditched your job, even if you were abducted in the first place, do you even have any friends outside of work?

To make things more confusing, some fucking piece of paper materializes out of nowhere for you, and you read it. It feels like a confession, but it's from that bastard so how are you supposed to believe it, and it tells you to just forget him and move on and what the fuck, man, how?

So you read it again, and another couple times, and maybe you end up back at the safe house you had been abducted to at first and you reread it enough that maybe you start to memorize it. And when you finally put it back down to reconsider what you're supposed to do, the thing that killed him suddenly pops in with him alive next to it like he didn't just disintegrate in front of you hours ago.

And he doesn't remember it. He doesn't remember you. He doesn't address you properly, doesn't remember your name and doesn't call you darling. But he does remember? He remembers you but nothing about you? And he begs you to explain what's going on because his memory is about 2000 years old at this point and he doesn't know if there's anyone else that can catch him up.

He's begging, and you don't think this is a trick anymore. For the first time, you're positive he isn't manipulating you, he's pleading.

He asks what your relationship was (good question). You try to hedge and he calls you out. You tell him it's complicated.

What do you mean complicated.

You don't really know how to say "Well, I was your department-appointed therapist of sorts, you abducted me, but then you offered to have me tag along on your mission to save the world and you've manipulated me so much through the whole thing that I can't really tell what was real and what wasn't and then you died in front of me and left me this note that honestly just made it more unclear what we were," so you stick with "You died and left me this note" and hand him the piece of paper you already memorized to read.

And he doesn't just read it to himself, he reads it out loud, so you get to hear the fucking thing in his voice now, and why does he sound so shaken by the request to forget him, does he hate reading that part as much as you did?

He finishes the letter and doesn't understand why you said it was complicated, that made it sound pretty straightforward, why would he have called you darling and dearest and praised you like that if it hadn't been straightforward?

You don't know what else to say, and thank god he drops it, but even though he knows now what he called you he keeps addressing you wrong and you hate it, you're not just an inchoate you're his warden, but he asks if you'll keep helping him and you almost want to say of course you idiot but you just say you will.

Anyway I was very insane about this last night, I don't know if this accurately gets that across, but then again it's about 5 times longer than I meant so maybe that's the insanity.

I've never really been good at putting my reactions into words, it never quite gets across the vibrating flailing aaaaaa feel that my brain goes through, but be assured my brain is vibrating flailing aaaaaa

[capitalisticveins]

So are the Solitaires ever gonna be useful again or were they just there for Vega

[tommytomatoe]

careful what you wish for geordi…

@milogreer made the cutie icon !!

[itswilliamleonard]

AMELIA WATSON, VIRTUAL DETECTIVE, in: "Smol Ame's History Field Trip"

[messenger-of-stupidity]

New Vega Audio Thoughts Ah ha ha

IM GOING TO FUCKING DUMP MY BODY IN A GARBAGE CAN IM SCREAMING AND CRYING AND SHITTING MYSELF

MY BABY MY LOVE MY MANIPULATIVE GASLIGHTING WIFE

ERIK WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY

I LOVE HIM WHY

HUSH U FUCKING BUG

U FUCKING SHIT

U SHIT FACE FISH DICK

WHYD YOU DO IT

WHY

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 why can't we have keep him? HE JUST TOLD WARDEN HE WANTS TO PROTECT THEM BECAUSE HE CARES ABOUT THEM

Not because they're fascinating or interesting or intriguing. But because he CARES ABOUT THEM

Sobbing rn

Okay, but grief aside, the lore.

Sunshine gets released, and Blake kills himself to reach the Sovereigns. Then DUMP does a raid. This means the likelihood that Elliot has found Sunshine is hella low. I assume Scorpius told Sunshine what he did for Elliot, so Sunshine is probably looking for him. Hopefully, they'll find Aaron. And the raid means that Scorpius is likely out of there.

And Hush got there at some point? Wad he just sitting in the shadows like the creep he is watching the raid? Or did he kill the raiders because they were stopping Close-knit and Close-knit skedaddled out of there? Is Blake's body just chilling in a room or did he get revived already? Does Bestie think he's dead? What happened to the shade? Did the shade kill the raiding stealths?

Hush said Vega was important, and he had to live. Vega said he wanted to return to independence from humans, so you'd think the sovereigns would tell Hush to back off from Vega in an attempt to use all options of freedom. Like backup plans. So why kill him? Close-knit is already gone, so it's not like Vega could have done anything to stop them in that moment. Unless something was going on downstairs where the stronger signature was that Vega mentioned.

Hush go into the motherfucking dog house you dick swab.

Ahem, excuse me. I had something in my fingers. Anyways

Vega is dead. Hush is upsetti about that, it seems. What does this mean for Warden? Are they going to just go back to being overworked by the department? What are they going to say about their disappearance? Is this how the department learns about Hush's existence? Do we lose having a demon listener?

ARGH

[anghraine]

My best friend and I moved in together with his closest friend from his MA program, and while I had met her before (the friend; my bff is a man), we hadn't spent much time together because I've never lived away from the West Coast (and only two years out of the PNW) and she's never lived outside of North Carolina and only briefly visited the PNW once, when she went to Portland last year.

It's been a delight to show her around the PNW and realize we need to explain things that are just sort of omnipresent in our lives. The bff and I were casually griping with each other about having to run an errand to Trader Joe's at an inconvenient hour, and were telling her, "it's okay, you can stay in the car and avoid the people if you want" and she was like "NO I MUST SEE IT, I'VE ONLY HEARD OF THEM" and nearly ascended to another plane when we showed her around the store.

The bff and I grew up in the same town in NW Washington (him for his first 18 years, me from 9 to 19) and he lived in Bellingham and Seattle for years before he went to NC for grad school (I went to the SF Bay Area for mine, a very different experience). Both of them are hardcore coffee aficionados, but he struggled with the different Coffee Ways of the South, so for the true PNW experience they want to tour various indie coffeeshops next.

Also, she adores Kaidan in Mass Effect and we were like, oh, is your passport up to date? We could take a trip sometime and show you your boyfriend's beloved English Bay. It's very beautiful :)

her: O_O

me: Actually, it's worth going to Vancouver BC for its own sake as well, it's truly spectacular. We used to go all the time as kids.

bff: And Victoria!

her: O_O

[pandoraroid]

sweetheart & coworker should be besties

[grilledcheezy92]

Treasure if Porter ever dips on them

[soup-scope]

ok with aaron being brought into the mess of the balance

does that mean we’re finally maybe gonna get elliot and aaron grouping up with the wolf boys (asher and milo) to take on closeknit 🙏🙏

[jessieloveasmr]

I'm hyperfocusing today! How the hell does the Department have any funding, like at all? Magical items aren't a thing in the redacted world so they can't be taxing the magical population for things like potions and talismans and such. And Lasko told up all magical education is funded by the Department so it's not they get a cut from student loans. What do they have a deal with the non-impowered government to get a portion of their funding? How many people in the unimpowered government would need to know the secret for that to work? The more I think about the Department, the less sense it makes. WHY DON'T THEY CARE MORE ABOUT HUMANBORNS WHEN HUMANBORNS ARE ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST THREAT TO CORVERT?!