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sunspray-peak · 1 year ago

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Ch. 30: A Gaping Hole in the Brain

SATURDAY - FALL 6

During the preceding evening’s festivities, Achilles had persuaded Alex to join him for his daily, early morning jogs.

“I’m still recovering from pneumonia, mind you,” he said, one leg outstretched against the bus stop bench where they had agreed to meet. “So if you kick my ass, just know that’s why.”

“That’s why, ok, got it.” A crusty pine needle speared Achilles straight in the forehead, and he jerked up from his stretch just in time to dodge another before Alex surrendered the rest of his pointy ammunition to the ground, crushing the abandoned pine needles under the sole of some old, well-worn sneakers. He leaned against the frame of the bus stop, arms now crossed below a smirk. “Not because you, I don’t know, are a shrimpy little man compared to me. I could beat you up.”

“Stop bullying me, I’m telling my dad.”

Achilles typically focused on endurance over speed, and had mapped out a 7 mile route that he had more or less followed since he’d originally plotted it way back in the Spring. That being said, he wasn’t slow—the whole thing typically took him a little over an hour.

But was he pushing himself a wee bit faster today, though? Maybe.

Even so, at this new pace, Alex had seemingly failed to break a sweat (to Achilles’ vague annoyance), even as they trudged uphill.

At least, until they reached the mountains. Achilles noticed his friend’s lips had pressed themselves together in a tight little frown here, and Alex had dropped rather significantly in pace as sudden beads of sweat began to run down from his temples. Even so, the former swim star didn’t complain. Had simply tightened the red bandana around his forehead and continued to hike on up the gravelly mountain path.

It was (to his more-than-vague annoyance) ultimately Achilles who had to call it, the faster-than-usual pace becoming too much for him, even as Alex began to lag a little behind after stumbling over a rock-strewn pothole. They paused for a water break beside a funky little raccoon statue carved into the rockside.

“Argh, I think I scraped my ankle.” Alex was kneeling down to re-tie his shoe (or perhaps he, like Achilles, liked wiping away his sweat in privacy). “Freaking Lewis is supposed to make sure the paths are all, like, clear…”

Unlike Alex, it took Achilles a few moments to fully catch his breath (which may have explained his overly-aggressive retort, dug up from his childhood). “Aw, poor baby.” Taking a page from Alex’s book, he bent down to pick up a crunchy Fall leaf and hurled it at Alex. It missed. “Want me to kiss it, will that make you feel better?”

“Yeah, yeah, shrimp man—look, I’m bleeding—” Achilles did indeed kneel down to look, with Alex taking advantage of his closer examination to aim a kick at his face. And perhaps a lighthearted scuffle would’ve erupted (that Achilles undoubtedly would’ve lost), if not for Abigail, who had emerged from over the hill with with a stunning, sky blue sword in her hands.

The two joggers waved. And for a second, Abigail seemed to panic, moving to dive behind a tree that only just barely hid her from view. But when Alex said, “What’s up, Abby?” she tiptoed out from behind the trunk and, with a cagey glance at her surroundings, sprinted past Robin and Demetrius’ home and up the path to meet them.

Straightening from her usual slouch, she began to declare with a flourish of both hands, “Greetings, adventurers—”

“What on earth have you got that for?”

Abigail glanced at the sword in her hand as if just noticing it was there, her lips parting in faux surprise just before she attempted to hide it behind her back. “Oh. Oh! Whhaaat, this old thing…”

“I’ve seen old swords, Abby—thanks to you, actually—don’t try to pass that off as one.” Achilles nodded at the lustrous hilt. Definitely no specks of rust here.

“I…”

Smelling a secret, Alex grinned for the first time since they had reached the mountains and held out a hand so he could take a closer look at the sword. “We’re all friends here. Come on, we won’t tell.”

Abigail gave the surrounding trees another furtive glance. She stomped her feet, a little tantrum, almost, and smacked her skull with a fist. “Oooooo, and I was literally just thinking to myself, ‘you better not run into anyone, Abigail.’ Had a bit of a late morning… ooooh, but I guess it’s ok if it’s just you two…”

She took a step closer and said in a low tone, “I’ve got a lesson with Marlon today. At the Adventurer’s Guild. Been training with him ever since you had that accident in the mines back in the Spring…” With a twist of her lips, she shot Achilles a guilty look. “Freaking out was a bad look. If I want to be an adventurer, I’ve got to be more prepared, haven’t I?”

“So you’ve been learning how to sword fight? That’s so cool! Achilles you used to do this sorta stuff, right?” Alex gave the blue sword an experimental swing before handing it back. “Hey, why’s it got to be secret, though?”

“We-ell…” Abigail chewed on her lip—Achilles had suspected from the beginning there was more to the story. Now it was only a matter of whether she’d reveal it. If it had just been the lessons, Abigail surely would’ve told the whole town.

“I’ve been going into the mines.”

At these words, Achilles’ stomach plummeted. Alex similarly had a dismayed reaction, grabbing Abigail’s arm and declaring,“Abby, no.”

“Well that’s, like, the whole point of the training, isn’t it? Like I’m not just going to sit around and cut down weeds. I’m going to be the first person in living history to get to the bottom!”

“The mines are dangerous, there’s… spirits and… shit.” At these words, Achilles suddenly remembered his conversation with Corvus the shadow brute from the Summer at Sunspray Peak—the memory had hit him like a truck, how could he have forgotten something like that?

And then, just as suddenly, he lost it—or, at least, lost most of it. The memory was gone, but it had left a perceptible, gaping hole in his brain. He knew there was something he was trying to remember, that couldn’t feel more obvious, but what it was… it was just on the tip of his tongue… had slipped away like a dream…

“Obviously they’re dangerous. Again, that’s the whole point of why I’m training. Duh? Now promise you won’t tell anyone, okay?” With a wicked waggle of her eyebrows (which led Achilles to believe there was even more going on than she was letting on), Abigail shook off Alex’s hand and sauntered away, whistling a tune as she traipsed past them, arms spread wide like wings. “When the wind picks up like this… you can just taste adventure in the air!”

“We’ve got to tell Pierre,” Alex said, as soon as Abigail had disappeared from earshot.

Achilles, however, was still in a slight funk, struggling to remember what it was that had jolted his brain just seconds before. “Mmm… she made us promise…”

“No, she told us to promise, and then she walked away all fancy without waiting for an answer. We didn’t promise a dang thing.”

“It explains all the cuts I guess… and the bruises and burns…” Achilles murmured. Hadn’t someone last season said Abigail had been looking stronger, too?

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

Achilles slowly turned to meet Alex’s gaze, though his eyes remained somewhat unfocused. “What do you know about the mines?”

“Man, are you okay? What is happening right now—”

“What do you know about the mines?”

“I- uh… I don’t know, not much? This right here is about the closest I ever go.” He tapped the raccoon statue with his knuckles. “I told you right? The mines and stuff make me nauseous. I don’t like them. There’s just something… repellent about it all.”

For some reason, Alex’s use of a three syllable word brought Achilles back to earth. “Repellent?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It smells like bad luck. Or something. Makes me feel sick. I stay away.”

“Intriguing, I think your grandma used those same words when I was asking her about spirits last season…”

Alex shrugged. The two began to make their way down the trail, the bounce in Alex’s step returning with each step away from the mountainside. “Might be a family thing. I don’t know, whenever I get close, I just always feel like something… bad is going to happen.

“Or might just have something to do with my mom. I don’t think it bothered me as much when I was a kid, I used to hang around here a bit more. But I was with Sam and Seb, goofing off around here when she died. Felt kinda sick around here ever since… Eh, actually I dunno, I guess I kinda felt that way about the mines even before she passed… you really don’t feel anything?”

Achilles shook his head. “Nothing like that. Although sometimes when I run by, I feel like I can almost hear… something…” But hear what, exactly?

They had reached the carpenter’s shop.

“We can change the route if you want,” Achilles said, glancing back at the mountain path they had just walked down. “We don’t have to get near the mines.”

“Oh. Sure. I mean, if that’s okay with you, that’d be great—”

“I know it’s really just because you can’t stand being slower than me when we run uphill—”

“—oh fat chance, you shrimpy weather boy, I’ll race you to Lewis’ right now—hey, that’s cheating, I didn’t say go—”

#llnks #stardew valley fanfiction #sdv fanfic #sdv alex #stardew alex #sdv abigail #sdv farmer #sdv oc #stardew fanfic

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eliza1911o1 · 2 years ago

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Rant about Heroes of Olympus because as a sequel series to Percy Jackson it pains me pt. 1

So I just reread the PJO (one of my all time favorite series) and HoO series and I’m just struck by how unfulfilled I feel after finally finishing BoO for the first time…

I didn’t read it when I was younger because it came out just as I got really busy in school and was growing out of my “reading phase” and before I knew I had ADHD/attention struggles

I know I’m older and they’re aimed at young audiences and a bit outdated in general now but the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is still amazing. No contest. It may have plot holes, it may be lacking in some areas like representation, but everything has flaws and all of those are just so easy to get over with such heartwarming characters and carefully crafted quests. Not to mention the high stakes and actually pretty realistic struggles??? I’m probably biased, but I just really love them and am not above fighting others if they put it down

But even after realizing both series are kids books, the plot valleys (not just pothole level inconsistencies), OOC moments, anticlimactic ending, general lack of dynamic characters and lasting themes, and lacking world building all prove HoO to be underwhelming compared to PJO. Like it’s not bad, but it’s not close to perfect either. It’s even hard to argue how most of the events and characters in HoO add and further the stories of PJO, let alone why to consider all of it as sacred canon. Especially by the end of BoO, the lackluster vibe overall was really disheartening

They aren’t bad books. I just don’t think they lived up to the heart of PJO. I didn’t feel like I was reading more about characters I love or learning about great new characters and settings or invested in why this battle against Gaia will be the greatest of all time. Instead, I my brain was caught trying to convince myself why all of that was true and I was blatantly put off by some of the story directions, which made me feel incredibly sad

Again, it’s a fun read. Not considering any sort of literary analysis or strong personal opinion and taking into account the intended audience, it meets expectations. I just feel like the original series did so much more than be average and I’m just grasping at straws here because HoO had potential to do the same

Anyway, here are some of my strongest complaints with brief explanation and in no particular order:

- where were the old characters??? Grover?? WHERE WAS GROVER??????

- Percy was very underplayed in BoO for no reason; even if you consider his time in Tartarus, he was very weak compared to SoN and it wasn’t really explained, which felt lazy. They should’ve let him rest if he wasn’t up to fighting

- mental health issues were brought up but skirted by (Nico’s coming out was awful, Percy’s suicidal thoughts weren’t really addressed seriously (that’s a whole nother post), Hazel’s literally having died once)

- Too. Much. Romance. Why did everyone need to be a couple?????

- same structure as PJO, but without any reinvention (TLT and TLH had almost the same beginning)

- povs past SoN had weird distribution; I don’t think it made sense HoH had all seven povs but the final book, BoO, didn’t

- what made Jason, Piper, and Leo more special than any of the other seven? The explanation that they began everything felt lazy and discredited Frank and Hazel….

- Reyna and Nico and even Coach Hedge held a lot of importance in the plot and it felt weird since they weren’t even part of the seven. Distribution of responsibility and the idea of seven great heroes saving stuff (even if it was ironic) was downplayed

- the seven never really felt like a team or had a moment where it seemed like all of them were vital to make things work. The splitting up into smaller groups all the time definitely worsened this

- why was New Rome a whole mini country when CHB is a literal camp… the world building was quite slapdash and felt unreastic

- no developed Roman side characters really; wish Dakota, Lou Ellen, and others had more importance and interest

- Percy came back to NYC (to CHB) and no one said anything? No Sally-Percy reunion? No Grover-Percy reunion? No campers cheering for Percy to be back?

- last minute Solangelo; they should’ve had some sort of interest to sudden love/slow burn/opposites attract relationship with proper time to develop

- issue of Greeks vs. Roman felt sort of weak and their sudden cohesion at the end felt too forced (how is one statue gonna fix eeeeeeverything)

- final battle was awful. No words. Giants easily killed, Greeks and Romans united in a minute, Gaia contained in a little storm immediately after waking and killed like no biggie

- minimal lasting damage or deaths (Leo’s death…. Don’t even get me started)

- BoO and later books ruined Leo’s character and made him seem selfish, unaware, and rude

- Annabeth and Percy being captured immediately by the giant princess in BoO; you think they escaped Tartarus for the ending to be THAT

- Frank’s whole situation; firewood and the whole idea of life being fragile felt pretty useless by the end when nothing could touch him

- weak usage of prophecy — I feel like the oracle being dead at the end was a sign for everyone to live without forced guidance, which was a big deal in PJO, but the point wasn’t really made and it felt like he just didn’t want to come up with more. Also, it felt like lines were added randomly to the prophecy of seven but we never hear everything together??? The prophecy felt cheap and forced with how everything played out

- no issues with Percy and Annabeth going to New Rome for college, but they’d be that quick to abandon their home in NYC? I get the trauma associated with it, but there was nothing that made it seem right for them to think the trauma was enough to leave everything… lowkey wanted Annabeth to go to Columbia or Barnard or NYU and be fixing up CHB to house adults or have a veteran demigod network

- cutting off character development and interactions. A lot of the characters were used to further others (Jason furthering Nico’s in BoO) or never even talked to each other (Percy and Piper). There wasn’t much growth in the last couple books even though it was very clear in the beginning ones (Frank is an obvious example) and more importantly, there was a supreme lack of resolution in their stories. Especially Percy and Annabeth, who went to hell and back, we never feel like they suffered for a reason or needed to be the ones to suffer or the suffering changed them for better or worse or any other real indication I should accept the ending

- no backlash on the gods. At all. Percy, like many others throughout PJO and HoO, is struggling to respect the gods, let alone continue being used by them. And in HoO, the gods are USELESS. They do literally n.o.t.h.i.n.g. They have one fight scene and when we have Jason’s equivalent to the asking for childcare scene of TLO, Zeus responds and his backbone breaks. The only consequence was Apollo being demoted but that honestly felt like a marketing scheme knowing ToA

- lots more but I’ll stop myself here

(Btw I did not read it because of the show lol though I am glad I did so I’m ready for it)

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nefoe-dd · 3 years ago

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SO SMT AU AM I RIGHT GAMERS

I mentioned this in the tags of another post and joked about it in Discord but my brain went brrrr during my last class of the day and now I lowkey have a full plot starting to form lol.

Keep in mind the only Shin Megami Tensei game I’ve played myself is the Nocturne remake, plus I only really remember bits of the plot of 4 and whatever we’ve been given so far of 5 so I’m not super well versed in the series.

Also I’ll add this to the tags too but DSMP Spoilers specifically for the contents of Techno’s Will exist in this post, because that is where the idea for this came from. A lot of other JRPGs have similar plotlines but I specifically thought of SMT because its kind of a meme specifically for that at this point how the plot always seems to have the same type ending bosses.

Also some spoilers for Shin Megami Tensei IV

ANYWAYS

Now Presenting: An AU where Techno’s Limbo is an SMT Game lol

(Under a ‘Read More’ because it got way ahead of me)

An Introduction to Relevant SMT terminology:

Demons: Makes up a large majority of the characters in the game. They are the enemies that you face in combat, and its possible to recruit them to your team through various means. Some demons exist in the overworld though, and can be talked to normally, they’re chill most of the time, unless you do something to tick them off. ‘Demon’ is not taken literally by the Christian definition, they are based off of various figures in folklore and religion around the world, some are even based on Gods and Angels.

Law vs Chaos: Many SMT games have multiple endings based on these two alignments, along with the neutral alignment. It is usually decided by some important decisions the player makes throughout the game. I’m most aware of the SMT 4 ending, in which the route you are on decides the final dungeon, the character you team with for the ending, and the final boss (its either Satan or the in-game version of God). It’s based off of the traditional interpretation of these two, where Law represents the importance of authority, and Chaos represents the importance of freedom.

Another note is that a lot of SMT games take place in a post-apocalyptic world of some kind, which, spoiler, is the case here.

General Plot Details and Worldbuilding:

- Techno dies in the prison. The stasis chamber fails and Quackity succeeds in killing him. Permanently.

- Despite dying, he wakes up again in the main prison cell, but things are different. The lava isn’t blocking the entrance anymore, (in fact there isn’t any lava at all), and he’s alone. Upon peering outside the main cell, he notices a bit of sky peeking through the prison ceiling, like it had been broken into.

- The drop down to the bottom floor is long, but he’s dead, so he just shrugs and jumps down so he can see what’s going on. Turns out there are several holes in this part of the prison, in fact there are multiple on the ground, likely where the lava had escaped from. (Obviously Minecraft lava specifically doesn’t work like that, I’m pretty sure in the DreamSMP the bottom is all source blocks, but just ignore that bit).

- He exits from the back wall of the prison, and everything there so far looks normal, except for the fact that there appears to be less trees than normal. Of the trees that are still there, many of them were cut down and never collected, and some appear to have fallen over due to some damage.

- Techno goes around the prison to the front, and that’s when he notices some things that are very wrong. Various parts of the prison, not just the main cell, are also sitting destroyed. Many cracks, scuff marks and full-on chunks are missing on the walls. The usual entrance which houses the nether portal is hardly still standing, and he can see straight into the main lobby where the portal would lead into once you were let through.

- The surrounding areas are not much better. Tommy’s outpost is toppled over in the distance, only the base and bottom floor are left standing. The tents near the beach are collapsed and destroyed, the only remnants of one of them is a small piece of fabric ripped from the main bit and laying on the ground. Skeppy and Badboyhalo’s mansion is crumbling where it stands, half of the back wall and ceiling are gone. And that’s only what’s visible from here.

- The rest of the server is also in various states of destruction, the spawn walls are hardly left standing, the main nether portal area is covered in potholes, none of the portals are active. The prime path is rotted and broken in most areas, the buildings along it are not faring much better than the ones he’d seen before. And the further he gets away from the prison, the more the plants themselves appear to be dead or dying.

- L’manburg’s crater looks much the same as it once did right after its destruction, albeit with more debris at the bottom which had fallen from the sides as they slowly eroded. The flag at the bottom is torn up and discoloured, honestly its hardly recognizable. The nature that had finally begun to reclaim the land has slowly been dying instead over time, and the bridge overtop has completely collapsed. The only thing still standing, is the ever present obsidian grid that looms over it in the sky. He supposes that whatever disaster had caused this wasn’t able to reach that high up, or that it was at least in part done by someone that liked the way it looked. Not that there seems to be a need for the reminder anymore.

- Something something, he finds out DreamXD is here, and that he might have had something to do with how this world looks. And as much as it shouldn’t matter in the afterlife, he did promise Phil he would be killing God sooooo he goes on a mission to do just that. He can do pretty much anything now that he really doesn’t have to worry about dying, so why not. He has no reason to care about some God, especially when they’re the only ones left.

- Some DSMP people hang around the world and are represented by certain demons, the mostly chill ones that kinda just hang around in the apocalyptic scenery. They don’t recognize him, it isn’t really the people he knows after all, but they are willing to talk to him since they can tell he isn’t human either. He learns little bits of what happened through them, and learns where DreamXD resides, that being one of the strongholds that’s a bit further out.

- Unfortunately, due to the portals being inactive, and his inability to break anything efficiently, or even at all, he has to travel using the overworld. Along the way he manages to speak to some others, this allows him to better locate where the God is, although it doesn’t seem to be hiding out. He even sees it sometimes flying around, which he uses to follow where its hiding.

- Some of the random demons he runs into recognize that he’s not supposed to be here (according to them at least), so he has to fight his way through them. Luckily, many of the friendly demons that he talks to end up tagging along in order to help, thus making up a team he can use to get through them instead.

- There’s probably a demon that seems to resemble Phil somewhere, living alone (alone for so so long) away from everyone in an arctic house perhaps. If I wanted to really up the angst, the demon takes a liking to Techno right away, which is partly how Techno is able to tell its him so quickly. The more they talk, the more Techno realizes how lonely the Phil he knows must be without him there, how upset he’d be once he reads the will and finds out what happened to him. Thus he’s more motivated to, you know, fight God, in an attempt to figure out what the hell happened. (DXD is the only entity existing here that also exists where he’s from, he can guess pretty easily that maybe, just maybe, they are one and the same). Thus, he is given a choice that he knows he will have to make in the future.

- Eventually he manages to find the stronghold and comes face to face with DreamXD himself. DreamXD is just kinda chillin there, they fight, through DreamXD doesn’t seem to be putting in too much effort, almost like it does not want to win.

- Techno wins (duh), and he is left with a choice, a choice to finish the job, or spare the god and allow it to go free. And, well, he feels that he doesn’t really have the right to decide whether it lives or dies, and while its possible that DreamXD caused whatever disaster created the current state of the world, but he doesn’t know that for sure. DreamXD has done nothing this whole time he’s been here, and its done nothing to him or his companions.

- He chooses to leave it alone, and DreamXD seems to know that it was always going to end that way.

- DreamXD disappears, and Techno wakes up in the cell again post-revival, the prison and the world around it is the same as he remembers

(I don’t remember the exact real-world to limbo time difference but I imagine that it felt like, a day, maybe half that, while irl it was only a few minutes to an hour.)

Some other notes/details:

- The other possible ending would have resulted in Techno killing DreamXD and being given ANOTHER choice to take its power over the world, or just leave and stay there forever. Basically DreamXD’s existence is vital to the power of the revival book, and it’s death would have resulted in Dream not being successful in his revival attempts. Obviously we have no idea how the powers actually work yet, but I just came up with an explanation because I thought it would be interesting. You can decide on your own which of these endings fall into Law, Chaos or Neutral because uh, its complicated given the scenario. You can also decide if letting DreamXD live even fits into his character! Idk! But its not like DreamXD’s being oppressive by any means, not that there’s anyone to oppress here anyways. That’s my logic anyways.

- I don’t know what demons would represent specific people, I’d like to use one of the Angels for Phil but the Demons based on Angels usually have an important role in the plot that is in line with the Law alignment and like, protecting god or whatever, so no. There are a couple bird ones but idk if they fit the vibe, idk it could work, I’d have to look at a list if I want to go into this further.

- I kinda want Eret to be an Inugami because it’s body does that thing that ferret’s do when they’re all stretched out :) The only reason I’m hesitant is because Inugami is a dog, and Goose deserves representation.

- The reason I imagined for why Techno can’t break anything is because the mining fatigue lasted throughout this because he died with it, it’d get in the way of fighting too but at least it isn’t weakness, and he’s not alone either.

Uhhhhh that’s it for now I think!

(will potentially add to this if I figure something else out in the future)

#Dreamsmp #Dreamsmp spoilers #DSMP #Technoblade #none of the schoolwork I've done so far is this long what the fuck did I do #this is almost 2k words btw

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sweetygirl90 · 4 years ago

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How did frisk realize they're enby?

It’s long to explain and I don’t have time right now for a comic :( So...

I made a One-Shot! I usually explain myself better by writing than drawing. I just want to clarify that this is Frisk’s personal experience, it doesn’t have to be the same as other people.

I’m a spanish speaker so... I did my best translating this! I hope it’s good. This is from Frisk POV (something like that) so I made use of “he/him” pronouns at beginning.

“Don’t belong”

It was still late afternoon, Frisk knew it because the big clock that hung on the living room wall. He was lucky to have it, because guessing the time just by looking through the hole he had fallen into was not very efficient. Many trees covered the sky from there and not having a wide view of the horizon hindered him more. In other words; looking at the sky wasn’t an option.

He had fallen underground a few days ago after what he hoped was his last reset. He knew perfectly what awaited him behind the enormous door of the ruins, he knew that sooner or later he would have to venture beyond that great portal to finish what he had started by falling into that world. He had promised that this would be the last time he would restart things if he got a good result and was not forced to go back to the beginning due to a failure, but until then he wanted to prolong this as long as possible. So sure everything would work out? Maybe, but if he ended up failing he would have a chance to repeat this again.

Yes, it wasn't very responsible to keep procrastinating like that, but could they blame him for it? From his first meeting with Toriel, something told him that next to him he would find his home, a place where he belonged, and it was difficult to detach himself from that new reality.

He didn't want to leave all of it just yet. Each moment with Toriel only became more enjoyable than the last. He was beginning to placidly get used to waking up feeling the soft fur of her muzzle brushing against him when she was going to wake him up with a warm hug and a kiss, he had memorized her characteristic aroma of caramel and cinnamon, unconsciously filing himself in those smells that comforted him. He wanted to continue that home routine a little more, he wanted to enjoy it as much as he could before he got into his work.

He wanted to be just an ordinary kid before he was the hero everyone expected him to be.

"And then the prince of water and the prince of fire got married and lived happily ever after... The end!"

Frisk smiled, raising another piece of cinnamon and butterscotch pie to his mouth as he watched comfortably curled up on Toriel's lap at the illustration of both characters from the storybook. If he was honest, he was at an age where he had lost interest in children's stories a bit, but he could never turn down the woman when she offered to read him one of them and she did it with such dedication and emotion. She even sometimes interpreted the voices of the characters changing the tone, although sometimes he lent her his help with that.

Most of the repertoire of stories didn’t stray from the typical fantasy trope with princesses, princes, knights, witches and wizards but... It was curious how monsters could interpret things in so many different ways. He swore that if he had taught this book to the adults in his orphanage they would have been shocked demanding to know who the degenerate was that would write such bestiality for the children to read.

The adults saw something frightening, he for the part of him only saw two princes in love in a nice simplistic illustration. He hadn't stopped to observe until now that monsters saw these things so naturally, as if it were something from day to day. Perhaps for them the plot twists of princesses escaping from their kingdoms to marry witches was already something of a cliché.

"Ah, what a beautiful story." The monster sighed, closing the book and setting it aside. "Did you like it, my child?"

Frisk nodded smiling, letting her gently stroke his hair. He almost always heard a derogatory comment from his ghostly companion in such cases, but they had been strangely quiet, listening intently to the narration all this time.

“I loved it.”

He lifted some of the pie back to his mouth, allowing himself to be comfortably pampered by Toriel's matted hands. Frisk still could not find a way to begin to describe how much he enjoyed her continuous displays of affection, how much he loved that woman who, even with a broken heart after so many losses, had love to give to the helpless children who fell into that underworld due to misfortune. There was no space for joy in his heart after having longed for since he was aware of the unconditional love of a relative, and that even after having lost all hope she had crossed his path.

He didn't care that she was a monster, he didn't care about anything anymore. He loved Toriel, she was his mother, and he wanted to stay with her.

Yes... He would, if he managed to free them all and no one would separate him from her side.

"Glad to hear it, my dear."

Frisk sensed her genuine happiness in her blue eyes and wished she could know just by looking at him how infinitely happy she made him just sitting there, looking at him as if his mere existence meant something to be grateful for. Toriel was like that with him, she made him feel valuable just by staring at him.

How was he able to coldly grip the knife against her? How did he have that stupid primal urge to harm her? Who did he think he was to see her as if she were nothing more than a dusty pothole that he stepped on as he left the ruins?

He regretted so much... He really regretted it. Even if she was ignorant of his sins, now Frisk wanted to show that he could be worthy of her, that he could make Toriel very happy. If she wanted a perfect and loving child that is what he would give her, although it was not very difficult to get it when he willingly wanted to follow her everywhere.

When his adventure came to an end he would strive to fulfill the fantasy of a happy family. He would be obedient, well behaved, loving... He would be the perfect child, he could not miss this opportunity.

Frisk had already been rejected by so many families... His heart would not bear another rejection, much less after he had tasted the true joy and warmth of home.

No matter the cost, even if it meant suppressing that part of him that he screamed for out in the open... He would do it to preserve this illusion.

He would be a good boy… Boy… Why did it still not sound good to say it like that?

"Oh dear… Look what time it is. It will be late for us to go grocery shopping and recalibrate the puzzles in the ruins.” Toriel watched the clock strike 4:30, patted his head once more, and got up after he got off her lap with help. "I'll find the bags to go out, while you can go change, my child."

Frisk nodded and went to his room. Something that had motivated him to stay with Toriel for a few days before inevitably moving on to Snowdin was his curiosity about what was outside the house. If he remembered something well from the books, it was that the ruins were much bigger than it appeared to the naked eye, after all the monsters used to all live there before moving further into the cave and finding the other cities that today they know as Snowdin, Waterfalls, Hotland and New Home.

He had watched from the balcony that the city of Old Home stretched beyond what he had ever thought or stopped to look at. There were few monsters that from time to time walked the streets doing their daily lives, but they were enough to keep the city inhabited and sustained. Too bad he didn't have a chance to visit it and see it up close... Until today.

He searched the closet for something to wear. He hadn't changed his pajamas since he had awakened, and although he was very comfortable he admitted that it was a bad habit as a result of not leaving the house every day.

His sweater had gotten dirty the day before after getting too close to an old fountain in the ruins and falling inside. How was he to know there was mud at the bottom of the pond? The water was crystal clear, but the darkness in the corner prevented him from seeing all the details. But he wasn't that clumsy, he was sure Flowey had pushed him! Damn impatient flower. He knew how boring it was to wait for the flower to finally deign to move things forward, but he'd already warned Flowey that he didn't want to be pressured. Frisk would decide when to do it, he would not stay in the ruins forever.

He was lucky that there was some clothing of his size that Toriel could lend him. Could it be that it belonged to Prince Asriel? That made him feel a bit guilty wearing the clothes of Toriel's dead son, but since there was nothing else… There wasn't much left to choose from.

Frisk took out some things and put them on his bed so he could choose better. He knew it was just a grocery shopping outlet, but he didn't want the monsters to think that Toriel was raising a lazy person either. Never! There were many things, generally striped shirts that almost always shared the same color range. Was it customary for children in the basement to wear stripes? Monster Kid mentioned it high above, but he wasn't sure. Perhaps this was a signal for him to begin to investigate a little more in depth about monster culture.

Going back to his clothes… Nothing convinced him at all. And that he was not demanding, he alone believed that yellow and green did not suit him very well.

He looked among the things that were hanging on the hangers, there were very warm coats, hats, scarves and... An elegant tuxedo with a tie and everything. That made him smile a bit. Even in this underground life did the royal family have events where they wore elegant clothes?

His gaze then hit something he hadn't noticed so far, an immaculately white sleeveless gown hung between two coats, hidden between the two. Frisk took it off the hook curiously and leaned it against his chest to check that it was for someone small like him and yes, it was.

Why would Prince Asriel have one of these? Maybe it was a mistake. The adults were very explicit with their instructions "boys don’t wear skirts."

He himself had learned the hard way, with punishment and humiliation that it was not appropriate, no matter how much it hurt.

"Those aren’t Asriel's clothes… But mine.”

Frisk left his thoughts for a moment to turn to his ghostly companion, who crossed their arms and with a skeptical look just floated beside him.

"Asriel's clothes stayed in New Home, I think... Mom took my things with her when she fled to the ruins."

"Oh… Then it's yours."

“Yes.” They confirmed it again, now floating on their back and with their arms crossed behind their neck, giving him a look of displeasure but at the same time disinterest. “I wasn't in my plans to donate my clothes to a brat like you, but since it's not very useful to me… You can have it.”

“Cool! Thanks, Chara.” He thanked them with a smile. Chara might be a bit surprised that he had these courtesy details, but despite the fact that the human repeated that their reason for being there was to make life a mess... He couldn't help but think that being close to them was pleasant. Chara wasn't such bad company, at least not when they was trying to make him feel bad.

Frisk was about to put the dress in the closet, but then he realized something else. If it was Chara's clothes… Why would they have a dress and a tuxedo?

He unhooked this one, too, and spread both sets on the bed, set apart from the rest of the folded clothing he'd pulled out to choose from.

Maybe… The monsters didn't find these things strange either. Could that be it? His hand went to the white dress, he took it, took it with him to the mirror in the room and placed it in front of his chest to have a visualization of how he would fit it. The last time he had used something like this was when he and his best friend Emma exchanged the school uniform secretly from others, it was when after her departure she gave him said uniform to remember her, when the director of the orphanage found him wearing it, when he lost the last gift from the first girl he had ever loved, when...

When he started wondering what was wrong with him. He never hurt anyone when he wore those clothes, did he? Was Emma thinking the same thing too?

"Are you ready, dear?"

Frisk turned, surprised to find Toriel inside the room, already dressed to leave it and staring him with a calm smile. He couldn't help but start to shake and gasp when the goat's eyes focused on the dress, reflexively hiding it behind his back. She was confused.

Frisk couldn't even look into her eyes, he was terrified to do it and find himself with a disappointed or disgusted expression. It was something he had gotten used to enough by now, it was always a reason for the foster homes to decide that he was not the type of child they wanted to adopt.

"E-Eh… I just… I was just looking at what to wear and…"

He stopped abruptly when Toriel crouched down next to him and bringing one of her hands to his chin made him lift his head. She didn't look upset, she had the same peaceful glow in her gaze and that warm smile that she had seen the first day.

"Do you want to wear that dress, honey?" Frisk didn't come out of his bewilderment, but he nodded softly as Toriel got up and went to the door. "Okay, I'll be back, I'll look at for something."

Without further ado, she left the room, Frisk managed to look at Chara, who for the first time seemed to see him with some compassion, perhaps because they understood what he was feeling in those moments.

"You heard mom, don't keep her waiting."

Silently and with some anxiety, Frisk made the change of clothes. His dress was of a very soft fabric and the skirt reached below the knees. Apparently Toriel glued washes to his clothes so it wouldn't get smelling of dust and damp, because now he could smell the fragrance of laundry soap on it.

The only problem he had with this was the zipper in the back, it was difficult to make it go up without it locking in the middle of his back.

"Oh, let me help you with that, dear."

Frisk hadn't noticed that Toriel had returned, but he said nothing and allowed her to help him by zipping up.

“Don't worry, the truth is that it has always caused problems, so most of the time I had to do it.”

He assumed that she was referring to Chara indirectly, and confirmed it just by seeing the half smile that the aforementioned was trying to hide. With the dress already on, Frisk stopped to observe himself at ease in front of the mirror. He didn't look bad at all, he liked it.

Toriel touched his shoulder and offered him something. It was a country hat with a white ribbon around it and some fake flowers of the same color adorning it. Did she go looking for that for him? He didn't ask questions, he just accepted it and settled it on his head. It seemed that both things were made to go together.

"There is no sun to watch out for, but I thought you'd like it.”

Frisk looked back at his reflection and felt fear leave him suddenly. A smile crossed his face and he moved to the side for a twist that made the skirt of the dress move in the air. Toriel gave a light laugh when she saw him wearing that garment so happily.

“I look good?” He asked, doing a couple of poses that would make his mother laugh because of how exaggerated they were, but that made him feel looser from the tension of a while ago. He didn't perceive that this was a forced reaction from Toriel, she looked genuinely pleased about it. It was as if the laws of the surface didn't matter to her… Because they were underground now.

"You look gorgeous, my dear. You're a very handsome boy!"

Frisk broadened his smile for Toriel and didn't fight the urge to hug her skirt with all his might, hoping that maybe she could feel his gratitude in that little gesture. She accepted him instantly, wrapping her warm arms around him lovingly. Frisk wish she didn't notice the pair of tears of relief that stained a tiny space of her garment and then wet her snout when she gave him a pair of kisses near his eyes.

“Thanks… Mom.”

Toriel tightened the hug a little more but without hurting Frisk. He melted her heart whenever he called her that way. "You’re welcome, my little boy. If you are ready we can go now.”

When they parted, they both left the room on their way to the city of Home.

"Or dear... There are many things missing at home and I had barely noticed today. I think we will also buy you school supplies so that you can start classes at home. Better hurry up or it will get very dark by the time we're done.”

“Okay, mom.”

"I have to get you notebooks… One for each subject. I don't want you to be disorganized!"

Frisk nodded as she continued speaking. For Toriel it was already a reflection of her holding his hand every time they went out together and it didn't bother him at all.

He tightened his grip on her hand to keep her in step. She was so big that on occasion he was forced to be faster or take longer steps, this was one of those times. His heart had stopped weighing him down, replacing that suffocating sensation with freedom, feeling light with the air moving his skirt and the end of the hat's bow brushing against his shoulder every time he took a step.

He was happy.

Although something was still bothering him.

. . .

The departure proceeded normally. Frisk and Toriel toured the city buying the groceries that were needed at home. It was not very different from the surface, there were supermarkets with electrical appliances, small shops, stalls to sell fast food, etc. They spent two hours shopping for everything on the list until they filled the bags, which Toriel could carry perfectly on her own and without any effort. Frisk wanted to help her by carrying one of hers, but this was already heavy enough that he could afford to carry one more.

They also went to buy supplies and notebooks as she said. In the old human school he could not afford to use many things because according to the director of the orphanage "it were unnecessary and a silly waste of money", which he understood perfectly, although he came to disappoint him a bit. He did not want to make Toriel spend a lot, however, he didn’t need to ask for anything, since she decided that she needed to buy him colors of all the materials available and to have (paint, watercolors, crayons, chalks, pencils, markers...) because she was afraid he would get bored at home and not have something to draw with.

They both had a good time. They talked about some things, Toriel bought him an ice cream, they decided what they would have for dinner at night, even some monsters greeted Toriel with respect —long ago he would not have understood why but now he knew it was because they remembered her as the former queen of the underground— and monster commented to her more than once that he was adorable. Toriel almost always replied "I know, isn't he a very cute boy?"

He didn't want to sound ungrateful at all, but… Something didn't feel right when he heard her say that. It was not for the compliment, throughout his life he was lucky if some adult remarked something positive about him, especially his appearance. Why now that someone did it, did he continue to feel dissatisfied? It wasn't for the compliment itself, of course not. There were times when Toriel said things like that, but... Something was left over, or maybe something was missing.

When they returned, he helped her organize the shopping and they continued with the routine. It was a bit late to leave so the rest of the duties were left to Toriel for the next day. She insisted that she go alone to recalibrate the puzzles in the ruins, but he wanted to accompany her.

It was no use being persistent because she was able to convince him to stay. She told him that she needed him to stay, as if he bathed in what she did her work then the two of them would have enough time to get ready to go out to dinner at night. It was too tempting an offer not to accept. When had he dined at a restaurant in Home? Never. Maybe at the Mettaton hotel, but he didn't count it as dinner. Sans hadn't even invited him anything!

Frisk accepted instantly, Toriel hadn't been long anyway because she was back in time to help him dry his hair. Apparently she wanted to help him get ready to go out.

For his part, it didn't bother him at all. Toriel had sat with him on the bed to brush his hair, and he was sure that she knew that it was not necessary for him to do it because he rarely ruffled, however Frisk didn’t complain, there was nothing to reproach her. Maybe she just wanted to cuddle him for a while and that's it. Would Frisk make a fuss just for that? Nah!

His mother hummed very softly as she continued her attentions. Her hands were gentle and soft, as if she were afraid to pull his hair by accident. That treatment in conjunction with her voice was the perfect recipe to relax him. If it weren't that dinner was still on the agenda, he would have already fallen asleep.

Frisk remembered again now how lucky he was to have Toriel close, but... Since yesterday he kept thinking about the same thing that had been bothering him forever, but that after yesterday became more evident. He reproached himself for letting such stupidity prevent him from enjoying his mother's affection to the fullest, but… Maybe it wasn't stupid after all.

It made him angry that he didn't understand what was tormenting him. For a boy it should be easy to rate feelings, only he was already pre-adolescent, he wasn't sure if he could continue to call himself a “boy” any longer.

What was this? Why did he feel as if something was missing? Why did he feel wrong? Every time someone made it clear that he was a boy, every time he think about himself with “he” something felt wrong. At first he thought it was due to those prohibitions that humans instilled in him just because of that, because he was a child, but even now that with Toriel he felt free of those restrictions... It was still the same.

"What’s the matter, my dear?"

His mother's voice snapped him out of his musings suddenly, but he struggled to sound like nothing was wrong. "Nothing, just... I was thinking."

“I see.” She said, always parsimonious about everything. “About what? It must be something important for you to be this overwhelmed.”

Frisk was surprised at how quickly Toriel came to that conclusion. It was his mistake to underestimate a mother's suspicion and now he was paying for it, feeling nervous that he didn't know how to explain himself.

"Nothing, it's... It's silly."

"Nothing that worries you is foolish, my dear boy. Your feelings will always be important, and sometimes to deal with it you have to know what causes that feeling.” She explained, putting the brush aside so she could better focus on it. "Talking about how you feel is sometimes helpful."

Frisk lowered his gaze not knowing what to answer her. If anything had remained in him from the adults who had cared for him, it was that those his age used to worry about nonsense, things that don’t deserve to be heard, something that would disappear under the rug. “You have no reason to feel like this. It's not important. People around the world are suffering more than you and you cry for a nonsense!” or “Boys don't cry. Stop being so girly! ” was a common sight around him. Why he would talk about what was bothering him then? Why he would bother trying to express himself? The world had taken it upon himself to let him know that it didn't matter at all, that by drowning in grief he would learn a thing or two that would serve him well in the future.

And now… It was shocking that Toriel told him that after all, if something distressed him, it wasn’t a foolish at all.

"I won't force you to tell me anything if you're not comfortable with it, Frisk. But I want you to know that if something bothers you… You can tell me, I will not judge you and I will listen to you.”

Frisk looked in front of him. In the midst of his hesitation to choose what to wear for dinner he had left the dress on the bed next to Chara's tuxedo he had found the day before. He knew that he had to choose one of the two, and not that he bothered to use one of them, but... Thinking about it too much gave him a different meaning to things.

He wanted to tell Toriel everything he was thinking, but his mind was a mess. He didn't know where to start, he didn't even understand what was happening to him! How was he going to put into words something he didn't know? It was so frustrating! Now that he was given the freedom to speak he didn't know what to say.

"I just… I don't know why sometimes… I don't know, I feel like there's something wrong with me."

Hearing his words, Toriel decided to move beside him to speak comfortably. She didn't say anything, she was still silent to give him permission to speak.

"It's like I don't belong anywhere, like I don't... Like I don't fit in. You know what I mean?"

"Uhm… I think so."

Frisk decided to continue, he knew that Toriel still did not understand where he wanted to go, even he did not know!

"It's just that... People always say you were born to be something, but... What if I don't like that something? Where I should go? Because they say that there are only two paths and nothing else, but... I don't want to choose any. I don't want the path I'm supposed to go and I don't want the second one either. They say "you are this or that" but... I think then I am nothing.”

They were both silent and he was beginning to regret having spoken. His mother surely didn’t understand what he was talking about. Frisk sighed in the midst of his frustration with a lump in his throat, he didn’t want to cry, however he could not continue with that tightness in his chest.

Frisk didn't know how far Toriel's tolerance went. What would happen if this completely exceeded it? He had to fix it but in that moment.

“I’m so sorry. I know you have treated me very well and I like it when you flatter me, but I...”

"You don't like it when I refer to you as a boy, do you?"

Frisk looked up at Toriel, still impressed at how easy it was for her to sink into his dilemma as if it were an everyday thing for her. It was just like when she found him admiring that beautiful dress, the way she looked at him hadn't changed at all.

He couldn't understand it. Why was this all right for Toriel? Why wasn't she like other human adults? Why wasn't anyone there that way? Is it that perhaps he had missed something? Why did he end up getting a caress every time he expected a slap? He couldn't find a way out of his own overwhelm and Toriel kept talking calmly, as if she had all the time in the world.

"Frisk, it's okay if you feel that way. Look, I notice how you react to everything and… I don't know how humans deal with these things, but if you think it seems strange or something bad… It doesn't.”

She paused, stroking his hair and then she got off the bed taking the dress and tuxedo. She looked at both garments for a moment and held them up in each hand.

“If you want to choose one that's fine, if you go for a different option that's fine too, if you choose both it's fine, and if you're not ready to choose something that's fine too. It's like when I want to choose cinnamon or butterscotch, I can't! So I create my own options.”

"B-But…" Frisk swallowed, hoping that would take away the lump in his throat and his confusion. "That's the problem. It's not that I'm choosing! It's not what I want, it's what I am What am I? I don't feel like I'm a girl either. So what am I? I don't have a third option.”

Toriel raised an eyebrow, perhaps as if surprised that he said that. "Uhm… Do you know what non-binary gender is, Frisk?"

He cocked his head not knowing what she was talking about, and knew that Toriel noticed because she smiled like when he was going to her with childish doubts.

“There are people who, like you, don’t see themselves as women or men, but as something different. They are not both and it is not that they are nothing, they are only on a third path among the others.” She explained patiently and put the clothes she had taken back on the bed. Frisk was watching her intently, still unable to process that there was an answer to his question. “There's nothing wrong with not being what others expect of you just because of how you look or how you are… Even for the way you were born.”

"But what about you?" He blurted out. That question had come to his mind a second ago and he felt that he would die if he didn't get an answer now. He felt very stupid saying it so suddenly, almost interrupting Toriel, but he couldn't help himself. “What do you think about it?”

"It doesn't matter what I want or think, Frisk. It is your happiness and your way of perceiving yourself. Nothing else matters than your own happiness. How you identify yourself or who you love you should know that everyone should respect it, and never apologize for being like that.”

She declared, and then moved to the basket of clean clothes she had brought with her when she came into the room. Frisk stifled a sigh when she returned to his hands the striped sweater that he had soiled days ago, and that he had missed even though he liked to change his style of dress.

"It doesn’t matter if you are a boy, a girl, or something else… You are still Frisk. That won’t change.”

An involuntary reflex made Frisk hug his sweater, and so he stayed, silent and lost in his own mind as he processed everything Toriel had said to him in his rhythm. So much information had left him somewhat perplexed, more than anything because he did not imagine that there was an option that would leave him satisfied.

"You don't have to know it now, you can keep thinking about it and take your time. I just want you to know that if it bothers you that I refer to you as a boy then I won't. And if you want me to call you by "they/them" instead of calling you by "he/him" like I did when we just met, I'll do it.”

Frisk muttered with his… No, their face still half buried in the sweater. They had a hard time letting the words come out.

“I… I think I like this third way and… “they” would be fine.”

Without having to say more, Toriel sat back on the bed with a satisfied smile. Frisk was still dizzy and dazed, not sure what to say or how to react, they could only respond to their own impulses when the woman touched their shoulder and immediately threw themself into her arms like a small child and began to cry. Toriel sighed, holding her child in a strong, protective hug, letting their crying stop on its own.

Frisk didn't know. Was they crying out of sadness because no one told them this before? Was the rage at this anguish that they carried with for years? Yes, it was all that, but it was also a cry of relief. Now they knew that they were not weird, that there was nothing wrong with them, that there were people just like them who knew how they was feeling including Chara themself.

Frisk knew then that they did have a place to belong.

They let all their tears release them from that stormy regret and let the goat's maternal affection slowly bring them back to reality, ending up warmly cradled in her embrace. They finally found the missing piece.

"I... Uh... Jeez.” They laughed through tears, still not letting go. “You must believe that so much drama just because of this gender stuff is silly.”

"I don't think gender identity discovery is silly. Maybe you don’t understand why it is so important to know it, but... I think it is difficult to judge when you don’t feel the pain in the hearts of others, much more when I know that you don’t come from this world.”

Frisk nodded with a sigh and finally pulled away from Toriel as she wiped their tears away.

"So… You know what you want to wear to dinner, my child?"

"I want to wear my sweater."

#ask #answer #together at last au #undertale #frisk #toriel #enby frisk #chara #enby chara #oneshot #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing #sweetgirl90

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prinxietys · 6 years ago

Text

Liar Liar

I told y’all I’d do it!!!! And I did! The first chapter to my new fic is out on ao3! This is more a slice of life set in a soulmate au

Here’s a link to the story!

Liar Liar

Chapter 1

Warnings: Alcohol, piercings, uhh, I don’t think much else atm (both very brief and not huge plot points)

Summary: It's easy to lie to people. Virgil knows this. He's lied his whole life.It's hard to lie, But Patton might as well be the master of it by this point.It's an art to lie, an easy facade that Roman knows all too well.There's no point in lying, it is the biggest waste of Logan's time.What a lie.

Pairings: Eventual Lamp

Virgil stared out the bus window, watching the neighborhoods pass him by in a blur.

"House," He whispered.

"Tree."

"Mailbox."

"Truck."

He liked this game, it helped the time pass. Especially since his phone had died this morning (A misplaced charger was the culprit).

The bus came to a slow stop, one person got off, three got on.

The bus started back into motion.

"Telephone pole."

"Tree."

"Tricycle!"

Virgil's mouth snapped shut and he turned to the man standing behind him, smiling widely.

"I love this game! Christopher Robin was a great movie!"

"... Yeah."

He glanced down at his phone in a desperate prayer that suddenly the battery would fill and he could bury his nose in it to avoid this oncoming conversation.

"My names, Patton!" The man held out his hand, but Virgil sheepishly held up his hand.

"Sorry, I don't... um," He glanced down at the others hand,and Patton immediately understood.

"Oh, no problem! Everyone wants their whole soulmate thing to be an adventure after all!" He took the empty seat beside Virgil as the bus went over a particularly bad pothole,and his body collided with Virgil's side.

"Shoot, sorry," He quickly apologized while pulling away, " I totally didn't do that on purpose I swear, i wouldn't have purposefully bumped you, I know you just said you don't like contact-"

"It's okay," Virgil cut in, trying to keep his voice calm, " like you said, it was an accident."

Patton looked sheepish then smiled wide at the other.

And just like that, the conversation was over. The two spent the rest of the ride in silence, and when Virgil's stop came, he said a quick "Bye" and left without looking back.

He checked his wrist.

10:55.

He hiked his bag up on his shoulder and sprinted as fast as he could down the block to work before his boss began to sacrifice his soul for a new employee.

"11:01."

"Not technically late," Virgil grinned.

"Cheek. You better go get your station ready, you got a pretty decent schedule today," His manager ruffled his hair, and he huffed with indignation, he was taller then them, come on!

He went to his station, bobbing his head along to the P!aTD playing over the speakers. He flicked on the lights in his office, and grinned as he blasted his own speakers, the next pirate metal on his playlist.

He looked over his next client, coming in for an industrial in his right ear.

A knock at his door drew his attention from where he was sketching his next tattoo design while he was waiting.

“You’re client is here.”

“Thanks.” He snapped it shut and pulled on gloves before going out to meet his client.

“Hey there,” He said in greeting, holding out his hand, “Names Virgil.”

The man took his hand and shook it once. Formally.

“Logan, pleased to meet you.”

“Formal for a punk,” Virgil said as he looked over the mans information.

“Mellow for a metalhead,” He threw back.

“Eh, just like the music. Wouldn’t say I’m hardcore.”

“Well, neither would I, then I suppose. I like the aesthetic. The freedom and transformation. Plus, my students will find another ear piercing amusing to no end.”

“Come this way and we can get started Mr. Teacher.” Virgil motioned to his work room, where he turned the music off so whatever latest alternative song played quietly in the background.

“Okay, go ahead and take a seat and lean back,” He motioned to the chair in the center of the room, which the other made himself comfortable on.

Virgil washed his hands before turning back to the other and pulled on a brand new pair of rubber gloves.

“So, first I’m going to clean the area surrounding where the piercing is gonna go,a dn then I’m gonna use a marker to mark where the piercing will be, and you can take a look and tell me what you think.”

“Sounds well enough.”

Virgil did as he said and handed a hand mirror to the other.

“How does that look? Won’t get in the way of your other piercings, though during the healing process I do recommend you stick with this rook you have in now and do not change it out until this new one heals. You will run the chance of irritating and infecting this industrial because of the close placement.”

Logan nodded agreement, and Virgil continued.

“Alright, in that case, let’s get this ball rolling.”

It was silent for a minute, before cold metal was set to Logan’s ear and Virgil was speaking.

“Alright you might feel a bit of a pinch, but that’s just the clasp since we’re using a needle instead of a piercing gun. Okay we’re almost read-” before he finsihed talking he did the first hole and smirked as the others fingers tensed ever so slightly.

“‘Startle ya?”

“Did I startle you?” The other corrected, seemingly out of instinct.

“Punk.”

He saw a smirk quirk the others lips.

“Alright, I’m gonna get the bar ready to go through as I pierce the second. Should I count this time?”

“If you insist upon it.”

“Alright, on the count of five. One-” And with that, he got the needle through the other side and was twisting the ball on the end of the earring.

“There we go, all done.”

Virgil laid his toolson his sterile tray and removed his gloves before picking up the mirror again, passing it off to Logan, who took it, accidentally bumping his hand against the others.

“Apologies,” He said quickly, “I too prefer to refrain from physical contact with others.”

“Eh, it’s no problem. Happens all the time.”

Logan was admiring his ear, it was red and very slightly swelling, but nothing bad.

“Alright-” Virgil went through the process of cleaning it with the other, showing a demonstration with his own barbell.

“And did you want a check up text or call in 30 days?”

“Yes, a text would do just well.”

“Alright, then we are all set. Here’s my business card if you have any questions or wish to make any appointments in the future.”

“Thank you very much for your time, Virgil.”

“Here we are, one raspberry cosmopolitan for Mr. Bigshot over here.”

Virgil blushed under the stare of the bartender, reaching out for the drink set in front of him.

“Ah, yeah…”

“So, what’re you doing here tonight? Tryna drink the week away?” The bartender winked.

Virgil felt an awkward cloud fall over his mind. Which always seemed to happen around the hot bartender.

“Uh, drink, yeah. Right.” As if to prove his point, he began draining his glass.

“Wow, you sure have a tolerance,” The bartender through his head back and laughed.

“Heeeeey, Roman!”

A man at the other end of the bar waved his hand and Roman winked at Virgil before turning and throwing his arms out in open greeting to the other patron. Virgil watched as the two began to throw playful flirting back and forth.

Though, part of Virgil wondered if maybe it wasn’t playful. Maybe that was serious flirting.

What would I know? He thought sourly. I can’t flirt to save my life.

Though, I don’t know if I’d want to. That would most likely bring more problems then not.

“Hey, earth to Mr. Brightside!”

He snapped out of his thoughts.

“I thought you were off helping someone else?” Virgil remarked.

“And I did, but I wanted to help you out a little more,” The other remarked, a glint of mischief in his dark eyes.

“Uh, I’m good, thanks…”

Flirting. He’s flirting.

Fuck, how do I tell him he’s handsome but I’m not interested? Will that offend him?

“I don’t know how to tell you honey, but you’re sucking down air there,” The other pointed to his glass, and Virgil looked down and felt his face begin to burn in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry suga’ I got you,” The bartender winked as he took the others glass.

“Oh, um, I don’t really drink that much…. One’s enough for me.”

“Oh,” The other pouted, “Does that mean I’m dismissed for now?”

“Uh.”

Okay, this was too much flirting, playful or otherwise, for Virgil to process.

“Um, I-”

Roman smiled. Not smirked, but smiled and reached his hand out to take Virgil’s, slipping a piece of paper into his own grasp, and not seeming to mind Virgil’s sudden reflexive jerk backwards. A Lot of people probably came and went like him all the time.

“Well, if you ever wanna bask in my radiance again, just gimme a call.”

With that, roman turned and headed back to help his coworkers, and the other patrons.

Virgil sat at his desk, water colors staining both his paper and hands, eyes bloodshot and drooping, when he felt a soft, trickle, like water, running down the back of his hand.

Assuming it to be paint, he rubbed his hand off on a towel, and paid it no mind.

Two hours later though, as he washed the paint off in the shower, he felt the trickle again. Cold compared to the steam of the shower, and not running off his hand but across it.

He looked down,blinking the dripping water from his lashes so his vision stopped blurring, and his heart stopped.

Is someone there?

It was written in red pen. In small, neat print.

Then below it, another line.

Sorry, if I scared you

He quickly sat on the floor of the tub, not wanting to slip and fall in his sudden dazed state.

It was them.

It was Virgil’s soulmate.

#polyam sanders #lamp sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #anxiety sanders #morality sanders #logic sanders #creativity sanders #fanfic

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kob131 · 6 years ago

Text

https://sokumotanaka.tumblr.com/post/182328786102/last-train-home-an-ode-to-rwby

It’s over…it’s finally over.

It WAS over Soku. I had actually forgotten about you for a couple of weeks. It was nice and peaceful.

But you just had to cross the line didn’t you? Just had to hurt people because or your own damn ego.

Well...let me give you one last gifton this last train ride home, eh?

Prepare for a long and tired final post.

Prepare for a long and tried final beating.

Look, let me say this;

RWBY volume 6 is a mess and I think that’s the most charitable thing I can say after spending several years of being invested in it’s crumbling world.

Yes because the man who’ll hold up Ada Adel as someone to trust because they confirmed your biases is such a trustworthy person.

Maybe it was laziness, rushed or sheer incompetence that made this season crumble, so in my final review on rwby as a whole I may have to do some guess work at points; and after several wasted years, I’m not in a position to be charitable.

You know, Su crits like to call Rebecca Sugar lazy, rushed or just incompetent. Does that make it true then?

After all the shit you’ve caused and the pain you’ve made all in your blind egotism, I’m not in a positon to be charitable either.

Nor kind.

I gotta tell you, volume 6 tricked me, hell from what I seen it tricked alot of us, it started off good, we learned thing we should of learned volumes ago. But then I soon realized that this volume was; damage control. We learn of ozpin origins with salem only to not get to absorb it cause we soon learn through obvious reasons that maria was a silver eyed warrior and when ruby finally starts training, we meet one of jaune’s sisters, also pyrrha’s statue is there but also neo is back, but so is adam and cinder, also mercury has no semblance, tyrian has a new tail.

Nah Soku-

Pretending to apologize while trying to justify stabbing a friend in the back is trickery and damage control.

You just listed listening to criticism. Something that Miles and Kerry apparently don’t do.

see what I mean? before you could absorb one thing, two more pop up in its place and there’s such a lack in structure in the world, characters their growth development and their dimensions, the magic and power system that ruby is just a mess that gets increasingly worse as it progresses, they take one forward only to stumble several feet back and fall on their ass. And maybe one of the problem is I listen to writers commentary, to someone who doesn’t they won’t see as many problems as I do but when you actually listen to it you see the many problems it has with how this series is handled.

‘Such a lack of structure, development and systems that I won’t even try to explain myself and just feed everyone’s confirmation biases because every single time I tried explaining myself the only people who agreed where the same damn people as always with no attempts at criticism so I have long since figured out that no one around me gives a single flying shit about actual critical thought and just wants to hear their own opinions repeated and confirmed so they can feel smart instead of actually improving. Because shit, I think I’m so great that surely no one like me needs to improve.’

A reboot is at this point completely necessary and needed for this series to make even a semblance of sense. Semblance, Aura and Dust are so poorly handled and explained that they changed at several points.

Semblance was originally something you could use when your aura was completely depleted before requiring aura to use. Except when it’s not but also when it can be, it changes at the drop of a hat, we see yang use her semblance with no aura in her vol 5 trailerdespite miles changing it almost instantly afterwards…

You know, because Monty just wanted random superpowers without limitations and they had to fix that with a logical explanation because Semblances were said to0 be manifestations of Aura and yet they didn't affect each other. But yeah, that one instance that isn’t actually what you said it was because her aura didn’t break is total proof to reboot the series and scrub the original creator out of his one and only original work he wanted to make his whole life because your lying ass said so.

When I started rwby I was optimistic it could be a great show probably not spectacular or amazing but great, and while it had it’s flaws and potholes at the time they were relatively small at first, but they just kept growing and more issues popped up and…christ if you like rwby and notice it’s flaws that’s fine, but I can’t say the same for people who outright ignore the flaws people critiquing the series bring up to get mad and preach about how only positive criticism can save the show. Look as a person who started off with positive criticism I’m not saying it has no place, but you also can’t say critics be it negative from your perspective is objectively bad or unneeded, sometimes a firm but fair hand is needed.

No Soku-

You’ve been pissy that people don’t cowtow to your opinion and look at it as objective fact even though your reasoning is subjective as fuck, even as your standards shatter when faced with people who act EXACTLY like you against shows you like and you throw fits. One look through your blog, or looking at what you did to SSSN, showcases that.

Ruby’s issues are like a small flame building up, you can close your eyes and ignore the problem but sooner or later if something’s not done your house is gonna be completely on fire, and you don’t know how that may affect your surroundings, for all you know ignoring the issue caused the trees behind your house to catch fire, maybe one toppled over and landed on a neighboring house and now it’s spreading. The bottom line is weather you can get past the issue to find the things you like isn’t the problem, it’s ignoring them in the first place, if you aren’t willing to help something grow and change for the better with non rose tinted criticism then you’re not offering any help at all, you’re hindering it because you yourself refuse to change and that can be just as harmful if not worse to coddle something.

Yeah, says the guy with the tag ‘Su crits are wild’

Rwby increasingly became more unhinged as a series, the flaws turned into overlapping problems, this went from a world that felt had love and care crafted into it to a plot and world with more holes than swiss cheese, which is why so many people felt disappointed and rightfully annoyed, could you sit there and tell me if I made a series and told you one thing yet showed you another only to tell you “yeah that’s not what I meant.” in post that you wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of cheated, lied to or had your time wasted? If not do I have a camel to sell you among other things!

Hold on...

I increasingly became more unhinged as a person, the flaws turned into overlapping problems, this went from a person with maybe some good points but still understand to a person with more psychosis than a looney bin, which is why so many people felt disappointed and rightfully annoyed, could you sit there and tell me if you said one thing and then did another, saying “yeah that’s not what I meant.” in post that you wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of cheated, lied to or had your time wasted? If not do I have a camel to sell you among other things!

Funny how everything that falls out of your mouth applies more to you than anything else.

As a person who sat through so many lovely crafted media; I sat through paper mario and it’s whimsical tale, I watched avatar and fell in love with it’s amazing characters, world building and music, same goes for things like steven universe, final fantasy 6 (a game ironically about togetherness) ff9, the persona series, hunter x hunter, soul eater, gravity falls, Disney flicks, the dragon age series every super giant game, all these and more were handled with so much love and care and hold their structure throughout.

I. LOVE. MEDIA.

I bet those SU Crits would say the same thing, give a similar sob story of ‘I. LOVE. MEDIA.’ and say many of the same things while stabbing at SU rabidly like you do RWBY.

I spend most of my time absorbed in their stories worlds and characters to the point I studied it, twice to get two separate degrees in it because I wanted to write at a time. So when I critique rwby, call out it’s flaws and so on, it’s not a personal attack on you if you like it, but I also can’t be satisfied with where the series has gone, not because it’s not ‘my’ take but because I enjoy narrative flow, I find interest in the characters if the plot isn’t too good and vise versa, media can touch on so many amazing things and I felt at a time…that miles and kerry could do well if they tried, if they applied themselves, before becoming such mean spirited, greedy and unwilling people, and this was long before I came into the picture, long before rwde no matter how much you disagree or what to place blame.

I spend most of my time absorbed in their stories worlds and characters to the point I studied it, twice to get two separate degrees in it because I wanted to write at a time. So when I critique SU, call out it’s flaws and so on, it’s not a personal attack on you if you like it, but I also can’t be satisfied with where the series has gone, not because it’s not ‘my’ take but because I enjoy narrative flow, I find interest in the characters if the plot isn’t too good and vise versa, media can touch on so many amazing things and I felt at a time…that Rebbeca Sugar and the crewinverse could do well if they tried, if they applied themselves, before becoming such mean spirited, greedy and unwilling people, and this was long before I came into the picture, long before Su crit no matter how much you disagree or what to place blame.

I’ve heard this story more time than I can count, I don’t give a damn. You’re all the same.

Cause trust me I seen rwby stans (fans unwilling to hear criticism out and will display many hypocritical and messed up tendencies over a cartoon) not only ignore issues, tell people to kill themselves over a typed critique of a series they like, be irrational, sexist, racist or just plain stupid at times, you realize soon that the rwby tag is a cesspool of horrible people mixed in with some fans willing to discuss the issues offer fixes and healthy non annoying chats on what they like and dislike.

You mean like when you called for me and mage to be destroyed?

Or how about you attacking and betraying your own friend?

Or how about you saying all humans in RWBY are bad people because of what their ancestors did?

Or how about when you said Weiss could demand Neptune be beaten to shit because ‘she’ a woman therefore we shouldn’t tell her how to act’?

Or about literally 99% of your posts?

Or how about that fact that you just described the RWDE tag?

Which confuses me as an individual cause I feel personally you can and should review rwby without threat of an anonymous person telling you to die over your opinion or one of the writers telling people to…enact physical violence on fans who don’t watch the supplemental material they hide, don’t promote to a casual audience and contradict and retcon on a constant basis. And sometimes it’s through a panel or a tweet, a casual rwby fan wouldn’t even catch unless they constantly follow the writers around or have someone dedicated enough to do so.

Which confuses me as an individual cause I feel personally you can and should write media without threat of an anonymous person telling you to die over your opinion or one of the 'critics’ telling people to…enact physical violence on fans who don’t watch the supplemental material they hide, don’t promote to a casual audience and contradict and retcon on a constant basis. And sometimes it’s through a panel or a tweet, a casual rwby fan wouldn’t even catch unless they constantly follow the writers around or have someone dedicated enough to do so.

Yeah, see Soku-

Not only have you NOT proven that Miles or Kerry have promoted violence but YOU have. So uh, when’s the post calling yourself out?

And all the stuff I mention and want isn’t impossible or asking too much honestly, I’d like the writers to be honest and fair to their fanbase, like anyone would, I’d like the to listen to actual critique and hire someone who can guide them so it doesn’t turn into one big “damage control” arc, The characters need more substance and need more screen time to grow as characters and fighters, when your fans excuse character growth with “Well animation is hard, not everything could be onscreen it could happen offscreen.” you have a problem, can you imagine ed just showing up with alphonse and it never being explained and I go “well animation is hard.” yeah that goes without saying but at the same time there are writers, creators and so on who get paid less, have smaller teams and sometimes just teams of two people to work hard on their craft, so never EVER ever excuse jump cuts and lack of characterization, structure and development when better writers are out there busting their asses.

Do not be that guy.

Why should they be fair and honest when you refuse to be?

Why should they listen to critique when you refuse to and demand other creators ignore critics and mock them?

Why should they when you will just ignore any substance?

Why should they when you will NEVER give a damn or even show BASIC HUMAN DECENCY?

Mind giving me a reason Soku, before you start screaming racism?

*sigh* I been sitting here thinking how how I could end this, how after several years of a fast decline in quality, what’s something I could possibly leave this on? What can I say past this point? I been actually sitting in stunned silence trying to mull it over. I guess all I can say is, if you like rwby fair, fine, despite the major holes I discuss fixes with the series, I draw characters, try fixing the crumbling road of rwby trying hard to understand it, make no mistakes that when I critique it it’s not coming from a place of contempt for the series, but of disappointment in how far it’s fallen and how it could have been good if miles and kerry took the hand offered, it wouldn’t lead them down the most comfortable road, but they’d gain experience from it and could fix the series possibly for the better, and if you again like rwby, do not allow rose tinted goggles to blind you from the issues of the series, the ever growing problems with the series and the unwillingness for the writers to change and grow, do not allow more writers to turn into david cage, M Night Shyamalan, or stephenie meyer.

You know-

Despite the fact that you just gotten into shit for attacking people for liking RWBY and have accused the writers of bullshit you can’t prove while effectively calling them the writing equivalents of Adolf Hitler.

Sure, and I’m not filled with burning rage.

If you want the best for the rwby series and the rwby brand then you cannot accept it’s mediocrity, you need to be vocal otherwise the writers won’t be incentivized to do better. And it doesn’t have to be straight up criticism, you can word it your way as long as it helps the writing grow, but at the point we’re at and how nice or not miles and kerry take current criticism rwby will continue to plummet and honestly that’s a disappointment.

https://sokumotanaka.tumblr.com/post/182206020052/how-can-you-watch-this-show-and-not-have-the

How can you watch this show and not have the biggest smile on your face the entire time?

It’s so good!

It could end here and be the perfect ending!

This is an amazing show and you can definetly tell there’s so much love and care put into every bit of it.

https://sokumotanaka.tumblr.com/post/181468603497/i-saw-someone-whining-about-how-there-was-no-need

There’s so little information on this at the moment, there’s theory crafting and there’s what SU crits do and making very opinionated arguments with little information and treating it as factual.

https://owoniverse.tumblr.com/post/182379982566/su-fans-since-gem-civilization-probably-doesnt

su fans: since gem civilization probably doesnt know what a fascist is the diamond authority obviously cant be called fascists despite them fitting the definition perfectly!!! therefore you cant criticize them and i can continue making my ship art of the fandoms favorite abusive parents uwu im so smart 🥰

http://sushigal007.tumblr.com/post/182383811096/and-now-its-time-for-the-finale-i-may-have-to

But no, we’re gonna redeem White too now, just like we redeemed Yellow and Blue and Uncle An/dy, with a long, tearful speech about feelings. And now we know we’re getting another season, we’ll probably also get an episode where Sour Cr/eam decides he wants to give Mar/ty another chance and Mar/ty cries and becomes a good dad instantly.

http://jjsupremacy.tumblr.com/post/182369753512/if-id-known-the-su-fandom-was-this-stupid-id

If I’d known the su fandom was this stupid I’d have made a straight up critical blog years ago because watching them try to “drag” me is legit the most fun I’ve had in weeks 😂😂😂 I’m just so fucking amused right now. You criticize a show and they have an aneurysm like monkeys during feeding time at the zoo

http://mellowfilmmaker.tumblr.com/post/182363307164/steven-universe-change-your-mind-review

Maybe that’s a bit too harsh, but I’ve had the habit of going too easy on this show (like in hindsight, Familiar should’ve gotten a lower rating from me). Also just based on the impact the episode had on me personally, I cannot rate it any higher. There’s definitely worse stuff out there, but as far as SU is concerned, this is almost as bad as it gets.

And now, for the coup de grace-

https://lily-orchard.tumblr.com/post/182371331100/i-remember-once-i-was-talking-to-my-best-friend-on

Arguing this is “the only string to critics bow” is to try and pretend as if criticism becomes invalid if it’s repeated enough. But it’s the biggest string to critics’ bow precisely because it is the main, central, thematic problem with Steven Universe. When talking about Steven Universe, it is the biggest problem with the show and no other critical aspect is going to make it better until it’s solved.

No amount of fixing the animation is going to do shit until this gaping, festering, diseased wound is fixed.

https://lily-orchard.tumblr.com/post/182369752565/every-time-i-try-to-raise-awareness-of-how

But the kids deserve better. They don’t deserve this fucking garbage and they shouldn’t be forced to have this garbage just because a few fucking Tumblr Tots want to wrap themselves womb-like in their worship of a moronic, tone deaf shite-hawk like Rebecca Sugar.

Ah Soku-

If you want what’s best for Steven Universe, you need to stop accepting it’s mediocrity. After all, Rebecca Sugar won’t listen otherwise and the quality will plummet still.

After all, the Su crits say the same things as you so surely they’re correct...right?

To all fellow rwde and non rwde who have supported me thus far? Thank you, this has been a wild ride and while we possibly haven’t seen eye to eye I enjoyed and learn alot from watching you over the years, and now I think it’s finally time for the vet to retire and get the chair to new people, I received alot of kind messages from this and they touched my heart, take care rwby critics, it’s been real.

You know, except not an hour later you started your bitchfest again and two days later, stabbed your friend in the back and then tried to justify it.

But if this truly is your last train home, I can take peace knowing you ride home in shame, exposed for the hypocrite you are, forced to see your reflection and made into a complete and total joke.

Enjoy that ride Soku, no one will miss you once someone starts confirming their biases and you’re nothing more than a fart in the wind.

#sokumotanaka

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