#so far chapter 3s have something to do

[the3rddenialist]

(( What time is it? Yeahhhhh, more @slay-the-heroine by @tai-janai, traditional edition))

Another Sly Spectre

Chapter 3 Buddies (something something narrator things fucked them up)

[nabnab-official]

catnaps devotion to the prototype, and his death

most, if not all of this information was revealed during the arg, which happened before chapter 3s release. all the information is archived over here on the wiki.

-

over the course of the arg leading up to chapter 3s release, we learned about the smiling critters, theodore and catnap, the catnap toy recall, and most interestingly, the prototype.

at some point during theodore's stay at the playcare, the prototype chose theo to help him. its not known why he chose theodore in particular. this letter is from joel sinclair, the head counselor, to stella greyber, regarding the prototype. the prototype told theodore to get a specific file from the counselors office, but theodore got caught by joel. its noted here that theo is a troubled boy. perhaps that why the prototype chose him. regardless theodore seems to think of the prototype as a friend, indicating the prototype was not cruel to him, whether he was manipulating him or not.

the next two pages are a conversation between thomas clarke [who actually later goes on to become a bron toy as seen here] and joel sinclair about an incident that took place involving theodore.

this is referring to the incident ollie also references in the game, where theo almost died and the prototype saved his life. this incident is why catnap worships him. even more alarming, thomas saw the prototype. the prototype dropped injured theodore off at his office, because he must have known thomas was a pediatrician. if not for him, he would have died.

this is the full report of the incident, detailing everything that happened.

the prototype managed to steal two grabpacks, knowing that the maintenance door in playcare required two people to open it. this door led to a service tunnel which the prototype could use to escape the facility. he got theodore to help him, using the green hands to activate and open the door so he could escape. but something went wrong, and the electricity in the green hand shocked and burnt theodore. the prototype had the chance to escape because the door was open. but instead he abandoned the grabpacks and brought theodore to thomas' office, knowing he was a pediatrician and could save theodore's life. As stated above, the prototype could have left theodore and took his chance to escape. but he didn't. instead he blew his cover and saved theodore.

this is the incident that influenced theodore, and as a result, catnap. ollie says that he views the prototype like a superhero. it makes sense, he saved his life. theodore is also stated to be odd and antisocial, not getting along well with other children. maybe the prototype was his only friend down in the playcare.

this report is taken after theo has been turned into catnap. the bottom report, by leith pierre, is what is relevant here. catnap follows the prototype around, quote "like a lost puppy". its likely he idolizes the prototype, idolization that slowly turns into worship. leith believes that catnap is highly impressionable, and will do whatever the prototype tells him to do. obviously we know that to be true. catnap believed the prototype would save them all from their suffering. he is and always was the prototype's number one supporter, going so far to even kill his companions, the smiling critters, for disobeying the prototype.

catnap worships the prototype in a religious sense. with the candles, the shrine, the religious wording of his scratches along the walls, its no secret. he even calls the prototype his angel of salvation. catnap is obsessed with the prototype. he lives to serve him, he is completely dedicated. and it all stems from that incident. in a way, the prototype was his guardian angel.

its not really clear how the prototype feels about all this, or what his relationship is to catnap. we only ever see them interacting at the end of the game.

catnaps death parallels the incident that drove him to worship the prototype in the first place. the player uses the green hand to electrocute and burn him, which is exactly what happened to theodore all those years ago. then the prototype shows up. at first catnap looks scared, but then the prototype opens his hand up to him, invitingly. catnap gets up and opens his arms, fully accepting death. the prototype kills him, and hauls his body away.

im unsure what to make of this scene. was the prototype punishing his failure? was this a mercy kill? did he decide he outlived his usefulness? or it was time for him to die? why did prototype kill his most loyal follower? i don't know. but catnap clearly didn't think of this in a bad way. he welcomed death with opens arms, more than happy to serve his angel of salvation. he likely thinks that becoming part of prototype's body is the highest honor possible. the imagery in this scene also mirrors the constant religious themes. the light coming from above, where the prototype's hand reaches down, reminds me of deceptions of heaven. sticking with the theme that catnap thinks of the prototype as a higher being, descending from above, and allowing him to ascend with him.

regardless, catnap's death directly mirrors the incident that caused him to worship the prototype in the first place.

[samkerrworshipper]

Begging for you to write something involving Sammy concealing a strap plsss 😘🫶

based off of her most recent pics from the esquire cover….

i know we all want another chapter of 2s a company, 3s a crowd and i promise it’s on the way just taking longer than planned !

warnings: insinuations of smut

———————————————————————

Sam looked utterly delectable.

It wasn’t often that you were able to sit in on her photoshoots, or interviews, scheduling conflicts always seemed to arise.

It was a sacred opportunity, a little special sweet moment that you were more than happy to experience from the sidelines. It was rare that you got to sit on the sidelines, got to appreciate Sam in this kind of way, so you were more than happy to be someone in the background as they got her dolled up.

You could hardly contain yourself when she walked out of the dressing rooms in the first suit, a classic black suit with a crisp white shirt. You almost choked on the air, blinking rapidly as you took it all in.

“You likey chick?”

You weren’t even sure what to say to that, did dogs bark? Was the sky blue?

“Feeling cocky are we Ms Kerr?”

Sam smirked at your, a big fat grin covering her flawlessly makeup covered face, it was rare to see Sam so made up, you loved her in all of her forms, sweaty after games, bed hair in the mornings, but this made you feel things, things you weren’t exactly proud of.

She walked towards you, extending the sleeves of her shirt and two cufflinks. You took the two pieces of cold metal in your palms, before gently taking her hand in yours and beginning to secure the cufflinks.

“Cocky, baby? You wound me, good looking, beautiful and stunning yes, but definitely not cocky.”

You rolled your eyes at Sam, smiling lightly as you continued to work on the starched sleeve.

“Add humble to the list.”

Sam snickered a little bit, your banter was her favourite part of your relationship, you both knew how to have fun, but you also knew where the line was between jokes and going too far.

“Soo, do you like the outfit?”

Sam sounded almost bashful, the previous confidence had faded from her voice, she sounded more raw and hopeful.

You looked up from Sam’s sleeve, again taken aback at just how breathtakingly good she looked.

“Sammy, baby, you look absolutely perfect, the picture of beauty.”

She preened a little bit with your praise, whether she wanted to admit it or not, nobody's opinion mattered to hers beside yours, you were the only person in the world that’s thoughts of her she truly valued.

“Good, now sit here like my good little wag and I’ll give you a reward once we’re done, I’ve got a surprise for you waiting.”

Your whole body shivered as Sam leant down to your ear to whisper the words directly into your ear. You could hardly think with her in that suit, but her in that suit plus the insinuation that she had something planned for once you were done was enough to send off fireworks from your core to your spine.

She pressed a little peck to your jaw before standing herself up, righting her clothes and then walking towards the photographers, leaving you ultimately high and dry.

Sam had done enough photoshoots to know exactly what she was doing, how to pose, how to act, how to smile. It was magical watching her at work, a different kind of work that you were used to.

Dating Sam Kerr ultimately included a lot of pitch-side watching, it was extremely rare that you were ever able to see her engage in this kind of work, you valued all kinds of her work, but this was especially perfect.

It didn’t take her long to get it done, she was well versed in the media and the photographers were extremely happy to let her take the lead and do whatever she was comfortable with.

You just sat on the side, she looked ethereal in your eyes, a figure of perfection.

When she was all wrapped up you were more than happy to follow her into her changeroom to enjoy some peace before you were dragged off to whatever else she had planned for the day.

Sam sat down on the couch in the corner of the room, already beginning to unbutton her shirt loosen the bun that her hair was in.

“Come over here honey.”

Sam pointed to her lap, you were more than happy to oblige her request and walk towards her, setting yourself down across her lap.

“M’ so proud of you, that was incredible.”

Sam smiled at you, pressing a little nudge of a kiss to your cheek.

“Thank you baby, I think it’s time I give you your surprise hmm? You’ve waited long enough.”

Sam’s hands came down to your hips, tugging you further down her lap.

It took you a few seconds to adjust to the new feeling, and once you did your jaw dropped slightly.

You nudged yourself around just a little bit, making sure that your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you, but from further investigation your jaw only dropped further, your mind going dangerous places as the cogs ticked in your brain.

“D-Did-were you wearing that the whole time?”

Sam’s sardonic smile was enough of an answer for you.

“Mm, your favourite one.”

You struggled to contain a moan, as your ass relaxed against the feeling of the hard silicone pressing directly against your muscles.

“Samantha May.”

Sam nudged her hips up against yours, half thrusting the appendage further into your clothed ass cheeks.

“What?”

You bit down on your lip.

“You seriously wore a fucking strap during a serious shoot, what if you’d gotten caught?”

Sam just chuckled, her hands snaking their way around your waist and gently resting on your hip bones.

“Twitter probably would have gone crazy.”

You rolled your eyes at Sam’s effortless excuse, the humour coming to her tongue concerningly easily.

“You're teasing me Samantha.”

Your voice is matter of fact, calm, cool, collected, it’s nothing like what your body is feeling with a dildo pressed directly into you.

Sam leant up to your ear, her breath tickling against your neck.

“Well then, how about I get changed then and we head home, hmm? Or you could just save the horse now and ride your favourite cowgirl.”

It took every part of your self control to not hike your skirt up in that moment and reach down for Sam’s fly, but you had some self preservation, and enough common sense to know that it was not a smart decision to start something here that you couldn’t finish.

“Hurry up and get changed then, before I change my mind.”

Sam practically shoved you beside her on the couch, springing out of her seat and beginning to quickly remove all of her clothes.

You averted eye contact on purpose, you knew that if your eyes came into contact with the strap then you were a complete goner, self preservation or not.

Once Sam was changed and stripped of all the makeup you were more than happy to have her lead you out to the car, with a promise of a good time when you finally made it back to your apartment.

[schemmentisjacket]

Chapter 2 - Prep Day pt 2

Authors Note: Little something something about non binary queer new teacher coming in, leading to Melissa finding the one.

After moving the couple of boxes from her car, Melissa spent the first hour of her morning unpacking and organising before Ava’s scheduled meet up in the gym.

She found herself distracted somewhat as her door was open and the new teacher had been passing with boxes for Barbara’s classroom down the hall, before taking home in the room directly opposite Melissa’s. They’d also left the door open, so she’d been able to sneak glances over every time she’d needed to go past the doorway.

Glancing over at the clock she could see that it was ten minutes till the meeting so she grabbed her travel mug and wandered across the hall. She lent against the doorway and surveyed the scene for a minute or two.

Charlie was unpacking boxes over by the window, back towards her. They were lifting stacks of books from the boxes, hands that were still gloved carefully lining them up on top of the dresser. Glancing around the room Melissa could see the care and attention of which every new item has been added to the room, ready for the new class.

Melissa rapped her knuckles against the door frame, Charlie jumped slightly as they turned, before grinning, in the same easy crooked way they had this morning.

‘Do we need to get you a bell Miss Schemmenti? Sneaking up on people like that. Though those leather pants seem more cat woman than cat burglar.’

Melissa chuckled throatily, ‘Melissa is just fine, Just wondered if you wanted to grab a drink before the meeting? Ava’s known to go off on a bit of a tangent, might be worth staying caffeinated,’ she waved her cup.

Charlie wandered over, lifting a large travel cup off the desk nearest to Melissa, ‘I’ve had my coffee intake for the day, but I could do with filling this with some fresh water, so I’ll head with you if thats okay. I’ve not been to the teachers lounge since the interview in summer so if you wouldn’t mind giving me the tour.’

‘Sure thing. You might want to re think the coffee though, I’m serious about Ava.’ Melissa commented as they headed down corridor towards the staff room.

‘If I have any more coffee my leg will probably bounce off or annoy you before the meetings over.’

Melissa snorted, ‘I’m sure you won’t be as bad as Janine.’

‘Who’s Janine?’ Charlie asked as they opened the door for Melissa to step into the room.

A blur of colour moved quickly towards them both, ‘Oh my goodness you must be the new fourth grade teacher, I’m Janine Teagues second grade!’

‘You look pretty tall for a second grader,’ Charlie said seriously.

Then cracked ‘Ah, I’m just messing with you. Charlie Flinn, pleased to meet you.’

Janine laughed loudly turning towards a table in front of the window, ‘Jacob come meet Charlie she’s the new teacher this year!’

‘They, Janine,’ Melissa interrupted. ‘Charlies pronouns are they/them,’ she turned towards Charlie to confirm and they nodded, though she clocked their eyebrows were raised in surprise.

They seemed to open their mouth to comment, but were interrupted by the immediate flow of apologies from Janine and the arrival of Jacob.

‘Don’t sweat it,’ Charlie shrugged, ‘Jacob?’ They turned towards the curly haired man before them hand outstretched.

Melissa clocked that the leather gloves they’d had on this morning were still on. She’d assumed they were driving gloves but now she wasn’t so sure.

‘Yes that’s me. That is I. Jacob Hill, he him pronouns. Proud member of the LGBTQI plus community and history buff. Excellent sneakers by the way, Jordan 4s?’

‘3s actually. Lovely to have a fellow out and prouder around here too.’

‘Ah I was close, my ex boyfriend was actually the real sneaker guy, I’m not quite as good. Ah! Finally I might get some traction with doing a pride history month focus,’

Melissa stepped in, ‘Jacob, Janine we just came in for coffee before the meeting, don’t be scaring the new one off. So far their my favourite,’

Barbara glanced up from her crossword at table, she smiled catching what was said and the way Melissa lead Charlie over to the coffee station, Charlie had removed their leather jacket and Melissas hand was resting on their bicep through the forest green hoodie as she guided them away from Janine and Jacob.

Melissa and the new teacher, hmm I gotta keep an eye on this.

‘Melissa never likes the new teachers,’ said Jacob quietly turning to Janine.

Janine turned to Jacob, ‘Did you see the way she stepped in to correct me about their pronouns,’

‘You should really not assume things Janine, you know a few years ago I attended a lgbtqi plus meeting, and..’

Janine tuned out, used to Jacobs long convoluted storytelling.

Charlie filled their large travel bottle with cold water from the tap. ‘Even if I did want a coffee, I didn’t bring a coffee cup in yet,’ they explained to Melissa who was filling their cup from the pot. It had the philly eagles logo on the side.

‘Here I gotta spare, lemme just get it you,’ she opened the cupboard, pulling out a black mug the phrase I’m the Boss Capiche? And a woman with big italian flag coloured sunglasses and hair wrap.

‘I will want it back,’ Melissa threatened lightly hand going to a slightly cocked hip.

‘Yes Ma’am.’

‘Teachers to the gym! I’ma bout to get my introduction on!’ Ava summoned over the PA.

‘Thats our call handsome. Hope you’re ready. Ava is gonna have a field day with you.’ Melissa grinned clinking her mug against the borrowed one.

[dangthatscrayz]

heyhey! im loving your slay the monster au so far, and i was wondering what the names for the monster would be in the chapter 3s? like what is the burned grey’s version of The Smitten called? same for all the other monster vessels

Tysm I love the support!

Like a sane person I’m up at almost 3 am typing this.

Also I’m probably going to add more chapters and endings for the other routes for funsies

But here’s the whole list of names and chapters just because

(Btw unless you kill the monster expect it to just slay itself like how in the actual game if you slay the princess yoru stuck in the voice until you do something and since all of them want to leave they just hit that slay button)

Chapter 1’s:

The hero (if you don’t bring the blade)

The captor (if you bring the blade)

The contrarian (step off the path)

Chapter 2’s:

Literally all the same as in the game minus ‘the voice of’ part

Chapter 3’s:

The Betrothed (I got plans for the smitten’s burned grey route it’s gonna be kinda crazy based on the name)((the voice of the damsel is just going to be hauling everything and since she’s controlling everything now, no sane decision will happen))

The Hunter (the hunted third chapter where if you die to his claws now the roles reversed from him being the scared animal to now being the one hunting the player)

The Empty ( if you kill the cold again or just go out and kill the cold after he asks to escape you come here similar to the spectre and wraith routes but less ghosting but still kind of not really tangible activity is happening)

The Bewildered (if for some reason you decide to hand the knife to the opportunist will stab you and like the witch did in the thorn chapter get so confused that he doesn’t even want to hurt you anymore he just doesn’t know why you did that or why he wants to hurt you anymore)

The Truth (basically the wild chapter)

The Rebuilt (the broken’s apotheosis, the voice of the tower is hyping up her new priest/pet/whatever he is to her)((do expect to be King Kong style yoinked by this kaiju and carried out this forest))

The Resistant (no matter how many holes you make in the stubborn body he somehow keeps getting up, he does not look very healthy after some point)((eye of the needle version of the stubborn btw))

The Savage (if you somehow screw up on the broken or stubborn chapters you end up here and like the fury in there game your options are ‘dying or dying’ goodluck, when the pristine cut comes out I’ll definitely update this)

The Cacophony (like in the moment of clarity for the paranoid all the voices are here.)

The Cheater (the cheated starts playing dirty therefore now a cheater idk what to say, it’s in the name)

Chapter 4’s:

The Winner (the cheated is the only one with a chapter 4 unless I add more later or the pristine cut comes out)

Also I wanted to add here that chapter 1 will always be grey (not the contrarian he doesn’t play by any rules anyways), every chapter 2 has added 1 color to the monster, chapter 3 has 2 colors in its monster, and every chapter 4 will add another color. I wanted to add some other elements of other monsters in it paralleling how in the og game the more voices you get each chapter. Like the betrothed will have some elements from the cold since that’s who you get if you kill the princess in the og game. Also some other additional stuff like extra eyes to look extra biblically accurate and because it’s hard to make a monster look more monster with each chapter so I’m doubling down on stuff like limbs and eyes so it looks kind of like there’s more than one in there

The voices for the third chapters like you saw with the witch in the current route the princess voices are also going to be swapped around to fit the personalities more.

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

Candy Coated [Chapter Two] Hard to Swallow [Buddha]

A/n: I apologize that this took a while to get out. Thank you for your patience.

Warning(s): references to death, struggles with morality, comfort, soulmate au, female reader.

Tag list: @useless-potatho , @tojibreedingme , @quinloki , @yingxian , @2lottie2 , @lunas-nova , @anduinandwrathionlover , @tiredfairy , @the-queen-of-sorrows

No Minors Allowed!!

The following week is spent in the company of the Valkyries, mostly Göll, and Randgriz, a beautiful and kind-hearted woman with long light brown hair. They visit as often as they can, between ventures to Earth, trying to make your stay in the afterlife more comfortable. 

So far it is. 

The room constructed for you is warm and welcoming, but the fact you are dead still hits hard, much harder than you had expected. You appreciate the Valkyries for attempting to comfort you but this is something you must do on your own; accept your mortality. 

But no matter how familiar you are with the concept of death, it's not something that comes easily. 

With Randgriz and Göll in your company, it's easy to forget that your physical body is rotting in the aftermath of the hurricane, a sudden phenomenon that even the Valkyries won't bring up. It's strange, but you don't question it. 

It's neither here nor now. All that matters is–

A soft voice calls your name, averting your attention. Your eyes snap back into focus, noticing the concerned look on Randgriz's face.

"Are you OK?" She asks.

You hum.

"I was miles away again."

"It's fine," Randgriz utters in understanding. "I believe it's your turn, however. We're on 2."

Your face turns red in embarrassment as you glance down at the cards in your hands. It's a silly notion, two Valkyries playing a card game with a human, but it comforts you. 

Taking two cards from your hand, you set them face down on the growing pile.

"Two 3s," you claim. 

It's a complete lie, but no one calls you out. 

You glance over at Göll, waiting for her to take her turn. Her face turns red as she takes two cards and sets them face down on the pile.

"One 3."

"Bullshit!" You exclaim quickly.

Randgriz laughs.

"That is indeed bullshit, sister."

"N-no way! How did you both know?!" Göll asks with a squeak. 

You don't know as much about her as Randgriz, but it's pretty obvious when she lies or gets nervous; her face shows her emotions.

Reaching down you flip over her cards, seeing that instead, she sat down one ace. 

"You've got to learn to mask your expression when playing this game, or else you're going to take the pile again," you mention with a snort. 

Göll whines and reaches down to gather the cards for the 2nd time. As she takes a moment to adjust them in whatever order suits her, your eyes wander to the cord around your ankles, sagging off the side of the couch as you rest with your legs beside you.

How long is it going to take before Brunhilde finds Yue-Lao? You have all the time in the world, but it would be nice to get the strings removed. They aren't hurting you, but since you've been in the afterlife you've had a craving for sweets. Perhaps this has something to do with whoever the God of Love and Marriage had paired you with. 

They must be riddled with cavities… If that's possible for a soul.

"I'm ready to go!" Göll exclaims. Her eyes narrow in seriousness, inciting a snort from you. 

"We shall see," Randgriz utters.

As she sets her first card down on the table, the door across the room bursts open unexpectedly and an enormous woman akin to a bodybuilder walks in; the sudden intrusion makes you lurch in fear. 

Peering over your shoulder, you watch her scan the room until her curious green eyes rest on you.

"There you are. Brunhilde sent me to retrieve you," she mentions.

Your eyes widen. Did the older Valkyrie find something out?

"Good afternoon, sister Thrud," Göll announced with a smile.

Thrud smiles; her pink lipstick compliments her long braided hair. 

"I almost didn't see you there Göll. Afternoon." 

"Did you say Hilde is back?" The lilac-haired teen asks.

You raise a curious brow. Did Brunhilde go somewhere? You had no idea. 

"She's waiting in the Observation Room," Thrud answers. Her eyes turn to you. "And she has urgent news."

"I understand," you utter.

Setting your cards down on the table, you stand with a groan. It's been a while since you've stretched your legs but at least they aren't numb. 

"Thank you both for spending time with me," you mention to the two seated near the table. "Perhaps we can finish our game another time."

"I'll work on my poker face in the meantime," Goll mentions, inciting a snort from you. 

Randgriz softly laughs, then wishes you luck. You leave the room with Thrud, following her quietly down the corridor in the direction Brunhilde had taken you to overlook the Valhalla Arena. 

The suspense is eating you alive.

"I'm surprised by your expression earlier. Humans usually fear monsters like me," Thrud mentions, breaking the silence. 

You raise a brow. What does she mean? You have a feeling she doesn't mean the fact she is a Valkyrie. Does she mean her size? You hope not; she is a stunning woman. 

"Not everyone from my period understands, most fear what they don't comprehend... But I feel safe with you, so to call you a monster is cowardly. Thrud was it? It's a pleasure to meet you."

You give her your name, despite the fact she might already know it. 

She peers over her shoulder at you for a moment, turning her attention forward shortly after; the tears in her eyes and the blush on her face might be the reason why. 

You hope that you have lessened her insecurity about herself even just a little.

Passing the balcony, Thrud leads you to a door with a keypad. You avert your eyes as she types in the code, turning them forward once you hear the low beep signifying the correct combination. She opens the door, spilling shadows into the corridor, then motions you forward. 

You take an uneasy breath, sauntering in. 

The room is mostly dark and bare, except for a large flatscreen mounted on the wall akin to a theater screen. What appears to be a 3d map of the Earth is displayed on it, littered with thousands of red dots that you have no clue about. 

Apart from the screen, a set of plush couches sit adjacent to one another with a long coffee table resting between them. Brunhilde is sitting on one of them holding a teacup in her hand. 

"Impressive, isn't it?" She asks. 

You hum, assuming she means the map of the Earth. 

"What are the red dots?"

"Human souls," Brunhilde answers. She sets her cup on the table and stands, sauntering over to you. The screen illuminates her eyes as she stares at the map. "Thousands die every day. It's up to us Valkyries to guide them."

You frown, feeling like an inconvenience.

"And then you get stuck babysitting me."

"On the contrary. I've quite enjoyed this momentary break," Brunhilde clarifies with a grin. She turns her eyes to you and sighs. "And with that in mind, I regret that I've not been able to locate Yui-Lao."

She raises her hand and presses her thumb against her bottom lip, biting down on the nail. 

"I searched all across the God Realms for him and found nothing. The old man is elusive, annoyingly so."

"That's unfortunate," you utter. 

An air of disappointment consumes you, but you understand her plate is full. She doesn't have to waste her time helping you. 

"I have however located your tether," Brunhilde mentions with a sigh. "He wasn't hard to find, considering your cords are the only ones stretching across the realm."

Your face heats up. How are you meant to take this news? Because you're both scared and curious. 

"W-what now?"

"It depends on you," Brunhilde answers. "Regardless I will continue to search for Yue-Lao, however, the Valhalla Arena is not a place for a human soul to reside."

She isn't sure how long the search will take, you take from this. But where will you go? 

"I trust your guidance, Brunhilde."

The said woman grins. She offers her gloved hand to you, and once you take it, a familiar white light consumes you. Once it fades, you drop to your knees as a wave of dizziness causes your head to spin. 

Not again. 

You take a deep and uneasy breath, staring down at the grass beneath you until your head clears. 

"I'll never get used to that," you complain. 

Lifting your head, you narrow your sore eyes as the bright rays of the sun beat down on you. The area Brunhilde had taken you to was a gorgeous farming village at the base of a large mountain range covered in snow. It was the most stunning place you had ever seen.

"Where are we?"

"It's known here as the God Realm, a good realm in the cycle of existence known as Saṃsāra," Brunhilde explains. "Though your soulmate doesn't have to be here, he often frequents it."

You stand beside her, raising a curious brow. You've heard the word Saṃsāra before. But from where? 

"This way," Brunhilde orders. 

She leads you through the empty streets to a temple built into the side of the mountain; its rustic stone structure has you in awe. The architect almost appears Asian, but you aren't certain of the exact origin. 

What sort of man is your soulmate?

Walking into the temple, you follow Brunhilde into the main hall where a large plush seat in the shape of a lotus flower sits against the far wall. On it, resting on his side is a muscular man in a tank top with his light green hair - black on the sides - tied backward in an old-fashioned way.

"Bu-chan! You came back to see me," the man declares. His blue eyes shine in glee behind his glasses, but the curious look he gives you doesn't go unnoticed.

"I didn't come back to see you," Brunhilde mentions calmly. "I came back to introduce you to someone."

He hums and sits up with his legs crossed in front of him; the red cord around his ankles is noticeable now, connecting to yours. 

"You're the one Bu-chan mentioned."

She had told him about you? Giving her a brief curious look, you avert your attention back to the friendly man, uttering your name. 

Brunhilde grins in response and raises her hand toward him. 

"This adolescent man is known as Gautama, but you know him as the Enlightened One, Buddha."

Is she serious? Your eyes widen in disbelief. 

"H-he's a God?!"

This can't be right. 

Buddha grins. 

"The old man has a sense of humor, no?" 

No kidding. What reason did Yue-Lao have for tethering you to a God? This has to be a cruel joke.

"Since I'm here, though. There is a serious matter I wish to speak to you about," Brunhilde mentions suddenly. She turns her eyes from Buddha to you. "Please wait outside in the meantime."

You can't escape quickly enough, stopping just outside the main hall and out of ear reach from whatever serious matter Brunhilde had to speak to Buddha about. 

It honestly isn't your concern at the moment. 

What should I do?

You rest your back against the stone wall, taking a deep uneasy breath. Things were different before when you had thought your tether was a human. But now that you know he is a God, the situation feels almost taboo. 

Staring out at the gorgeous farming village, you realize that you know next to nothing about Buddha other than what the textbooks during your period say about him. He's meant to be a peaceful man, isn't he? Brunhilde had referred to him as an adolescent. Why? 

One thing you know is that the man you had just met is not the Buddha you know. He's hot. 

Your face heats up in response. 

Why is this happening to me?

"Have I offended a God?"

"I doubt it," states a familiar voice. 

You lurch in fear, turning your scared eyes to the God in question. He stands just inside the temple with his arm resting on the frame; the stick of a lollipop rests between his grinning lips. Your heart pounds in your chest as you stare at him, noticing his sharp canines. He smells divine. 

"Because I've offended a lot of Gods and I've never been in a situation like this before," Buddha adds. He taps his foot on the stone floor to emphasize his point. 

You raise a curious brow, but you don't question it. 

"Where is Brunhilde?" 

"She went back to the arena. Asked me to give you a place to stay while she searches for the old man," he answers. 

His teeth click against the lollipop as he rolls it in his mouth. 

"I guess we're roommates then," you utter. 

Buddha raises a brow, as if he doesn't understand the term, but snorts regardless. 

You crack a grin. 

There's no telling what the future holds for you with this God as your soulmate but until you know for certain what plans Yue-Lao has for you both, there's no other option but to go along with what fate has in store. 

"So um… What do I call you? No offense but Buddha is a bit hard to swallow."

"Whatever you like," Buddha answers. "So long as it gives you comfort."

What a lovely notion.

You can't help but wonder, however, if following Brunhilde's guidance on this matter is the right thing to do. Souls aren't meant to have tethers and they sure as hell aren't meant to be fated to a God. 

Let's hope it doesn't come to bite me in the ass later. 

[not-your-damsel]

Not an ask but just to say that I stumbled across your page today & I honestly couldn’t be any more happier that I did! I’m waiting for you to post those part 3s to those scrumptious five that you’re writing. Honestly you had me giggling like a little high school girl who just fell in love for the first time. I hope you’re having a wonderful day/night depending on where you are aha. It’s pm where I’m at but yeah you’re fucking awesome!

My night is far better now, honey, thank you so much!! It’s almost 10:30pm for me, cold as hell, too. I hope you’re also enjoying your evening, having a good time reading everything you can while still giggling like a schoolgirl 🤭

I can’t wait to share the next chapters with you guys, I’m SO excited about it!! I had to make some revisions and I’m doing everything via mobile since my laptop decided to crap out on me. It’s a complicated process because I post here and save as a draft before hopping over to the desktop version to edit the format and make a “Keep Reading” chop off link so it’s more consumable for my sweet readers like you! But honestly, it’s all worth it for comments like this. It lets me know I’m doing something right and I should keep going.

I apologize in advance as well, my schedule is sporadic and I’m invisibly disabled so I have hard days where nothing gets put out but I’m still working behind the scenes, prometo 🙇🏽‍♀️ But, I will put you and @awkwardchick87 in the tag list should you both want me to. Thank you again, dearest, stay warm of it’s cold for you where you are, or stay cool if it’s warm where you are. I’m always happy to create for you guys 💗

[deluxinn]

fic writer self-recs

Thank you @mrslittletall for tagging me!

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers.

I'll be honest, I don't think I have 5 written things anymore but I will put some and then put links to games I released!

I also am not sure who would like to share, but as far as I'm concerned all writers that see this are tagged, so comment/reblog your own fics you want to share with others!

Ever Since Then Chapters 1-9 An ongoing short series planned to be concluded with a game. It focuses on Adelyn’s memories of her best friend Martin and how he helps her get with the girl of her dreams, Winter.

For All And More This is the first chapter of my Dark Souls 3 oc named Nina. While her mother forbade her from traveling into the streets of Irithyll, she secretly wandered around the surrounding woods and lakes with the help of her father. There she befriends a mysterious figure made of wood, and the two discover the joy of learning together. Though, something more sinister may be at play here.

Research Of The Scholar And Apothecary [18+] An Octopath Traveler 2 smut between Osvald and Castti. It contains spoilers for both their Chapter 3s, and reflects upon the events that happened within them. The two realize that perhaps they are not so different, and there are many ways that they can start to learn to heal and bond with those closest to them.

Life's Forfeit Shirley has been invited by her friends to play a fun and challenging escape room! But it is not as simple as that. Her friends have unknowingly agreed to a death game! Yeah this is a game and not a fic LOL

Whitebark Ash -Excerpt- Not my writing, but an adaptation of Whitebark Ash by Knighthoneybee , it was my first time doing a visual novel-ish style and it was a hot minute since I had voice acting in anything so I thought highlighting this would be nice

[triakis-octahedron]

Well this was much more popular than we were expecting, and so we are probably going to do it. If you have ideas for what to call the blog and au, please let us know. For now, our best idea is "the pristine table" but there are probably better options, so we would really appreciate your suggestions. Also, it's not just going to be chapter 1, we already have some ideas for possible voices and princesses for chapter 2 (we don't have any ideas for any chapter 3s yet, there isn't much point thinking that far ahead, but if we get near a chapter 3 we'll come up with something).

Edit: Current list of name options (to be updated when we think of any, we also might make a poll): The Pristine Table Table the Princess Slay the Princess: Table Edition (might not work well for the blog name) Path in the Table (The woods section in chapter 1 will be skipped over, so this might not work) Table in the Woods (The woods section in chapter 1 will be skipped over, so this might not work) At the end of that path, there's a table (probably too long)

I have a really stupid idea for an interactive poll based Slay the Princess AU on tumblr where you take the table to the princess instead of the blade. Probably someone else has done that before, but hopefully we will end up with our own interpretation of that idea. I can't guarantee we will actually do it even if people really want it, but I'd like to see how much interest there would be.

[maybege]

maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up

Summary: You and Boba try to navigate the troubles of your relationship. (Part 10 of Midnight Special)

Pairing: hot dad!Boba Fett x fem!Reader

Wordcount: 5.8k

Rating: E (18+ only!)

Warnings: first a lot of fluff, then a lot of angst, also this is an unhappy ending

I don’t usually do this but I really could not wait to share this version with you. Beware that about 2/3s of this chapter overlap with the original part you will get in Feburary (so, spoilers, I guess?) but that this is an idea of an alternate ending that did not leave me. I know that this is not something I usually do so I completely understand if you opt out of reading this part. Also, while writing this, I listened to the 10 minute version of All Too Well on repeat so … be warned. As always, please let me know what you think in a comment or reblog!

masterlist | crossposted on AO3

You were pretty sure you were dreaming at this point. But also, you knew you weren’t because Boba was standing very much in front of you, dressed in a black leather jacket (where had he gotten that one from?!) and a brown paper bag in his hands.

“Boba,” you echoed, “uh, what are you – I didn’t know you’d be here and, uh –“

But Boba did not answer you. “Brought you your takeout,” he said, holding up the bag, “The delivery guy was trying to figure out the ring system when I arrived.”

“Oh,” you swallowed, reaching out to take it from him, “Thank you.”

Boba did not move, “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” you squeaked out. You were uncomfortable aware of how you were just dressed in your saggy leggings and a shirt that had by far expired your three-day-wear rule and was wet from where your hair still had not dried properly. “What, uh, what do you want to talk about?”

The older man sighed, pushing past you into your little living room area and coming to stand in the middle of your kitchen. The last time he had stood there had been after he had spent the night at your place, just before you had found out that –

Your heart gave a painful lurch. There was only one reason why he had come here and you knew that you could no longer keep your feelings hidden. You knew that you owed him the truth and you knew that it would most likely not end well.

“I did not want to push it,” Boba said, looking around as if that would help him somehow, “I know that I … I know that I am not the best when it comes to ��� interpreting emotions. But I know that something is very wrong and I am worried.”

You tried to ignore the feeling of how your throat closed up and how your eyes stung from unshed tears.

He said your name, then, and your heart broke into a million pieces. “What is going on?” he repeated his question, “I know you and this – this is not you. This isn’t the woman I met in a bar all those months ago,” you involuntarily smiled at the memory, “And I won’t back down until I have an answer.”

You took a deep breath, trying to somehow keep it together. “First of all,” you took a deep breath, forcing yourself to meet his eyes, “I would like to apologize.”

Boba’s eyebrows shot up, “Apologize?”

You nodded quickly, pushing yourself to say more words. “It was not fair of me to, uh, push you away like that. I was the one who insisted on honest communication and I – I obviously wasn’t honest with you this last week.”

He did not say anything, a deep frown sitting on his face and you felt your courage falter. The urge to just get done with it grew in you and you took a deep breath, hearing yourself start to ramble.

“Look, I know that you don’t feel the same way and you don’t have to feel guilty about this because we didn’t �� we never made things official, now did we? This is strictly a problem of me developing feelings where there shouldn’t be any and, uh, and it is not on you to cushion me or anything but I just need to say it because if I don’t I’ll never forgive myself and … I really like you, Boba, I –“ you huffed out a laugh and shrugged, grimacing as you tried to keep the tears at bay, “I really fucking like you.”

You hastily wiped your sleeve over your cheek, feeling them soak through the fabric. “There is nothing I can offer you,” you mumbled, “I just – I’m just me and I know I am not really exciting but I … I think what I feel for you is more than casual and I owe it to myself and to you to say that out loud.”

Boba stayed silent, simply looking at you like he always did. You didn’t know whether you wanted to laugh or go cry or to shout at him. He’d been a part of your life for months now and whereas you had opened up to him about everything and he could read you like an open book; his face often posed a mystery to you still.

“It’s okay that you don’t feel the same way, it really is,” you assured him, sniffling a little, “Please don’t feel bad, I –“

Your words came to a halt when he made a big step towards you. His hands were clammy as he pulled you tightly against him. All your breath rushed out of you at once, your eyes fluttering close at the comfort of having him close. His cologne was such a familiar scent, fresh tears collected in the corners of your eyes at the thought of never smelling it again.

Boba’s forehead came to rest against yours and his warm eyes met yours. His hands were on your hips, holding you steady while you tried to even out your breathing. He chuckled, low and warm and so familiar it made your heart ache.

“And who said I didn’t feel the same little one?” he whispered, his nose nudging against yours, “I’ve been in love with you from day one, it just took me a while to realize it.”

You sniffled, your heart pounding in your chest. “Really?” you asked, not knowing how to deal with this information.

He pressed a kiss to your left cheek, “Really.”

His big hand came up to cup the side of your face and you smoothed your cheek against his palm. Boba loved you.

He really loved you.

“I’m sorry,” you sniffled, “If I had just gotten this out earlier, then we wouldn’t have to –“

“Are you kidding?” he pulled you in for a hug, his lips brushing against your ear as he laughed, “I was terrified you didn’t feel the same way. I am just glad we got to talk about it now.“

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, holding yourself tightly against him. After all this, you never wanted to let him go again.

But Boba pulled away from you, his lips gliding over your cheek in the process before he could plant the softest of kisses to your mouth. “So,” he started, looking smug with himself, “Do you have any plans next weekend?”

You shook your head, “No, why?”

“I have another business trip coming up,” he revealed, “And I thought maybe you could come to visit me for a few days? Get that vacation I was talking about?”

You smiled, “You were serious about that?”

“I was,” he confirmed, “What do you say, princess?” he grinned, pulling you closer, “Wanna go to the seaside with me?”

*

“I can’t believe you want to spend the weekend in some spa hotel rather than at goat yoga with me,” Nat whined, her locks bobbing up and down, “It’s goat yoga – do you have any idea how hard it is to get a free spot?”

She had abandoned her usual position of leaning her chin on the top of your cubicle to now stand in the small entrance, leaning against the grey soundproofing wall. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest in protest.

“I’m sorry,” you laughed, “Give me a head’s up next time and I won’t schedule a spontaneous trip when I could much rather break my back with a baby goat on top.”

Nat huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re just saying that.”

“Maybe,” you grinned, “Couldn’t you ask Will to join you?”

You pointedly looked to where her shirt had shifted, revealing a darkening hickey on her cleavage, “It seems to me like he wouldn’t say no to you – even if it involves goat yoga.”

Nat wriggled her eyebrows. “Is it with the Bar Guy again?”

“Maybe,” you smiled, biting your lip to seem from being too excited.

“You know I think you should give John a chance.”

“John?” you echoed, confused, “I’m sorry, didn’t we just talk about how I am going on a trip with another man?”

“Another man I haven’t even met,” Nat reminded you stoically, “And if you were with John we could go on double dates. All this secrecy with your man is just screaming red flags if you ask me.”

You frowned, “Well, I didn’t ask you.”

“I’m just saying,” she shrugged, “You have hidden him from everyone from the very beginning – and if he is not the kind of partner you can spend time with openly, maybe he is not the kind of partner you should have?”

Her words hit something deep in you and you swallowed harshly. There was a pang in your heart as you wondered if maybe she was right? If just a single ounce of truth could make the relationship you had fall like a house of cards.

But then you remembered how genuine Boba had sounded, how elated you had felt when you realized that he reciprocated your feelings. There was no way you would allow yourself to spiral into the anxiety as you had before. Even if Nat meant well.

“Nat,” you started slowly, “I really appreciate you looking out for me. But I am an adult and I know when something feels real – and with this man … everything feels real with him, okay?”

Your friend huffed, clearly not quite convinced by your words. But she nodded.

”Very well then,” she muttered, “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

*

With having a half-day on Friday off, you were bouncing with excitement as you made your way to the train station, travel bag in hand. Boba had sent you the address to a hotel by the coast he had been staying in since Monday. It had been pure torture to be away from him when all you wanted was to enjoy this phase of being freshly in love.

The train ride was the perfect opportunity to conjure up daydreams about what the weekend had in store for you. The plan was to spend the weekend together and even have the extra Monday before you would drive home together – Boba had taken his car – and you were so happy about finally having the chance to really live your relationship out in the open.

As soon as you spotted the coast through the window, then as you exited the train station and on your way to the hotel, you felt the calm set in. You were on vacation now. For three days you had no obligations, no plans, no phone calls. Nothing but you and Boba and time.

So much time.

When you entered the hotel, you immediately felt in awe of the high ceilings and the pretty wallpaper. Although the lobby was large and packed with people, everything sounded hushed as if it had been wrapped in soft cotton. The quiet murmur of people talking made it seem much homier than if it had been completely abandoned.

Boba was sitting in a waiting area, dressed in a dark suit and looking so in charge it made your knees weak. As if he noticed your staring, he looked up from his phone, immediately spotting you and standing up, making his way towards you. The people parted for him like the sea and you smiled when you spotted his tell-tale grin.

“Hi,” he greeted you, leaning down to kiss you softly, “It’s good to see you.”

“I got the extra day on Monday approved,” you revealed with a smile, leaning into his kiss, “Which means we get to have three full days just for us.”

“Got mine approved too,” he grinned, his hands brushing over your wrist before taking your bag from you, “C’mon let me show you our room.”

Your heart skipped a beat.

Our room.

Walking through the lobby of the hotel, you could not help but think how far you had come together. From your first meeting in a bar to casual hook-ups in a dingy motel, you now spent a whole weekend together in some boutique hotel by the sea. Like a real couple.

Because you were a real couple.

Boba looked back at you, a soft look in his eyes and you smiled. This was your boyfriend, carrying your bag for you while leading you to the hotel room you would spend your romantic getaway in. You had not felt this giddy in a long time.

He stopped in front of a door with a grin, the keypad beeping as he unlocked the door for you. “Welcome home, princess.”

“Wow,” you mumbled as you took in the room, “Boba, this is – This is amazing.”

The room was not necessarily big, but spacious enough for a king-sized bed. There was a TV on the dresser and you spotted a vanity with one of those fancy lighted mirrors. On the far wall was a window nook that looked out onto the promenade and the beach, a few seagulls flying through the sky.

Your bag landed on the bed and you did not stop looking while you toed off your shoes, burying your toes in the soft carpet. You shrugged off your jacket, letting it fall onto an armchair in the corner as you continued to explore the room.

Everything was kept in muted and soft colours, making it both seem luxurious and extremely comfortable. You could see the signs of Boba’s having lived here for the last few days – his empty bag next to the dresser, the crumpled sheets on his side of the bed (your heart skipped a beat when you noticed how he had kept your side of the bed empty), his phone charger on the nightstand … It all screamed of him. The bathroom was big enough for a –

“Clawfoot tub,” Boba announced with a proud smirk, “After that poor excuse of a tub in the motel, I thought this might be a nice change.”

You could not hide your surprise. “You remember that? That was … That was so long ago.”

Boba crossed his arms in front of his chest, tilting his head with an inquisitive look in his eyes. “You think I forget any of the times we were together?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “I guess – I mean, I never really thought about it. But this,” you smiled, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, “This is perfect.”

He hummed, his hands trailing down your sides and landing on your butt. His stubble tickled you when you kissed him and you grinned, pulling yourself closer to him. The smell of his cologne was so familiar by now, it made being with him feel like coming home.

“’m so happy we have this,” you whispered into the crook of his neck, “All I want is to … is to …”

You trailed off, kissing him again when you could not find the words to tell him just how much this meant to you. How you relished in the feeling of his hands on your body, how they caressed you and made you feel desired and loved and – and wanted.

“I want to go outside and hold your hand,” he murmured as his lips wandered to your neck, his hands squeezing the flesh of your ass, “I want to kiss you and hug you and not care what anyone thinks of if anyone sees.”

“I want to take a walk on the beach,” you whispered against his lips, pressing a kiss against the corner of his mouth, “And go to dinner tonight maybe? All nice and cosy?”

“Sounds like an idea, princess,” he grinned, “Let me just get changed and then we can go explore.”

“Why?” you pulled away from him a little, eyes roaming over his appearance and taking in his suit-clad appearance once more. How come you had never seen him like that?

Boba chuckled, clearly noticing the effect he had on you. “I will note that down for later,” he rumbled, landing a playful swat on your butt, “But for now, let’s get ready for some fresh air, hm?”

*

The fresh sea air was phenomenal and a nice change from the staggering temperatures of your last beach holiday. It was a bit cooler now but still warm enough to comfortably wear a dress, a light breeze keeping you from getting too warm. Boba was dressed in a dark shirt and cut-off jeans, looking so casual and relaxed like he had been on vacation all his life.

You had one of his flannels tied around your hips, enjoying the warm sun rays on your bare shoulders for the moment even if the wind made it seem cooler than it was. Even if the lobby had been packed, the beach was empty enough that you had a whole strip of sand just for yourselves, slowly making your way across the sand and listening to the sounds of the waves.

Boba was holding your hand, his thumb brushing over your knuckles now and then as you both took in the surrounding landscapes. The grass was moving in the wind on dunes to the side and there were buildings sprinkled throughout, little boutiques, cafés, pubs and restaurants with people sitting outside, the smell of delicious seafood wafting through the air. This was a town that lived from its food industry and you could not wait to try it all.

You spotted a few names that the hotel had recommended and you could already see yourself having a romantic dinner with Boba in the evening. No need to hide from anyone.

But even with the weight of someone recognising you off your shoulders, you noticed the stares. To be fair, the people that pass you mostly ignored you but you would have been blind not to see the way some of them looked at you, clearly taking note of the apparent age difference.

You wondered what they thought. Did they expect it to be some kind of affair? Did they think you were a gold digger? Did they think it was not as serious as it was?

Boba tugged on your hand, pulling you closer and wrapping his arm around your shoulder. “What is going on in that pretty head of yours?” he asked quietly, turning so his lips brushed against your ear. You wished all you could ever hear was the waves and Boba’s voice in your ears.

“Just … stupid people are staring,” you muttered, “I know it shouldn’t bother me. I just –“

“Fear what they think of you?” he interjected and you nodded, your jaw clenching in frustration. You wanted to enjoy this time and not use it to suddenly develop new worries when you had finally gotten rid of the problems.

His hand squeezed your shoulder, his side pressing into yours and you could feel how he was thinking about what to say. “People suck,” he finally said, “And I wish we could just not care what they think of us but I know that is easier said than done.”

You waited for him to say something else but he did not and you wondered why that bothered you.

“How about an early dinner?” he suggested instead, leading you both off the beach and onto the wooden promenade. He was so decisive in where he went, you grew a little suspicious.

“That sounds like someone already has a plan.”

“I might have taken the … liberty to reserve a table for the two of us at the best restaurant in town,” he grinned, pressing a kiss to your temple.

You laughed, leaning into him. “You spoil me, Boba.”

“Like I said,” he murmured, happy that you were happy, “Nothing but the best for you, princess.”

*

When you woke up the next morning, the first thing you could hear were the seagulls outside the window, screeching over the promenade. The sheets were warm from how you had been cuddling with Boba all night. It was heavenly.

Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you spotted a blurry Boba already sitting up next to you. His chest was bare and he was lit up by the golden morning light through the window. And still, he seemed to look only at you.

“What’re you staring at?” you asked him, the sleep not quite gone from your voice and the corner of his mouth quirked up.

“You,” he replied calmly, “You look so beautiful like this.”

You felt the blood rush into your cheeks and avoided his eyes. “It’s too early for you to be this sweet,” you mumbled bashfully, giggling when he ducked forward and pressed a kiss to your cheek, his stubble scratching your skin.

“Let a man look at his girlfriend,” he grinned, his eyes soft as he gazed at you and he splayed his warm hand over your lower back, “I love looking at you.”

His words made you feel all kinds of warm and you let yourself fall back into bed, Boba following until his weight rested on your body. “So, I really have you all to myself this weekend?” you asked him, wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him closer, “No one else, just us two?”

“I have breakfast with some business colleagues on Monday but other than that, I am yours,” he smiled, leaning down to kiss you again. His tongue ran over your bottom lip and you opened your mouth for him.

You could hear the rumble in his chest, “We can do whatever you want, little one. We have all the time in the world.”

Those were the best words you had ever heard.

*

As soon as you had finished breakfast, the clouds that had been slowly gathering in the sky opened up to an absolute deluge that came raining down. The sound of the rainfall so loud, you could even hear it over the chatter of the other hotel guests.

“Guess we’ll stay inside for today,” Boba shrugged over his scrambled eggs and you smiled, an idea already forming in your head.

And so, you spent the entire day in the hotel: getting massages, ordering room service and – your favourite part by far – filling the clawfoot tub to the brim and taking a bath while Boba had to take an unexpected work call.

“I want one of those,” you announced later, freshly bathed and wrapped in a fluffy white robe, “That was a dream come true.”

Boba sat on the side of the bed, spreading his legs so you could stand between them. He smiled up at you, rubbing the belt of your robe between his fingers. “You look happy,” he noted, pressing a quick kiss to your hand.

“That’s because I am,” you replied, pressing your knees onto the bed so you could straddle him, “I hope work didn’t distract you too much.”

“It never could,” he rumbled, his hands finding their place on your hip, holding you to him. Your eyes fell to the TV where the starting credits of an old Western were playing.

“It’s my favourite one,” Boba revealed, “Thought we could watch it together.”

You nodded, climbing over his legs to your side of the bed, “I like that.”

Snuggled up against Boba’s chest while watching one of his favourite movies, you were convinced that there would be nothing that could take this feeling of absolute peace away from you. You were sheltered from the rest of the world, it was only you two. Nothing could ruin this.

But maybe someone could.

Your phone rang and you frowned. You weren’t expecting any calls.

Boba reached over to the night table, handing you your phone while you paused the movie. “Thanks,” you mumbled, the frown deepening when you looked at the screen, “I don’t know that number.”

“Hello?” you said, tilting your head to press it against your ear, highly aware of Boba next to you.

“Hi, uh, it’s John.”

“John?” your eyebrows rose in surprise, “How, uh, how do you have my number?”

“Nat gave it to me,” he replied quickly as if he already knew what you were going to say and his time was running out, “Listen, I know you said you’re seeing someone but I … I think we could really hit it off.”

Your eyes snapped to Boba. You knew it was quiet enough in the room that he could hear what the man on the other end of the line was saying and you noticed how his hands clenched.

“John, I’m –“ you took a deep breath, feeling your voice falter from nervousness, “I was serious when I said I am seeing somebody, John,” you simply said, blindly reaching out to grab Boba’s hand.

He turned his palm up, allowing you to lace your finger through his. Your shoulders relaxed when you felt his thumb start to draw patterns on the skin between your thumb and forefinger, patiently waiting for your call to end.

“Then why did Nat insist that I call you? Don’t you think we owe it to her to at least try?” John asked, annoyingly persistent and you felt your patience grow thinner.

“Well, quite frankly, John, I told you I am not interested,” you reminded him, “At this point, you should simply take my word for it. I’m not sure why she told you that but it is not true. I am not interested.”

And then you hung up and the mood was destroyed.

You could feel that something was bothering him and to his credit, he did not hide it. “Didn’t you tell him you were seeing someone?” he asked quietly, his hands playing with yours.

“Exactly, that was my point,” you reminded him, “I just don’t know why Nat would give him my number without asking or why she would encourage him to –“

You stopped talking, remembering the conversation you had with her just before you had left. Could it really be that she had … that she had just not believed you and decided to take matters into her own hands? Would she really do that?

“Encourage him to what?” Boba asked, looking a little bit more alert, “What did she tell you?”

“I think Nat is not really convinced how … healthy this relationship is for me,” you admitted sheepishly, adding quickly, “but she also doesn’t know who you are, so there’s that. I mean, all she knows is that I’m with a guy and I barely talk about him and don’t want her to meet him. That just screams of all kinds of red flags!”

You only realized what you had said when you saw the hurt in his eyes. It was a surreal moment, now that you thought about it, to see the man whose demeanour had been unwavering from the first moment you met openly hurt. And it broke your heart. “I didn’t mean to say …” you swallowed, “I hope you know that it doesn’t bother me. That I know these are not red flags.”

“Maybe they should be,” he replied shortly, starting the movie again.

“You can’t say something like that,” you sat up, reaching for the remote and switching the TV off. You frowned, “Boba, I did not wantJohn to call. And I was very clear with him that I am not interested. Are you really jealous?”

“I am not jealous,” he sighed, “It’s just … Why did you not tell me about Nat’s doubts?”

“Because it’s Nat,” you shrugged, “And because … Boba, this weekend was supposed to be about us enjoying each other’s company far away from everything, I didn’t want to bring it up yet.”

“Be honest with me,” he folded his hands in his lap, “Would you have brought it up later?”

You remained silent.

“I am twice your age, princess,” he started.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” you protested, interjecting before he could say anything at all, “It hasn’t been a problem until now, has it?”

“Maybe it should be,” he said. And this time it wasn’t the grumpy undertone that broke your heart but how resigned he sounded.

“Why do you keep saying things should be problems when they’re not?” you asked, frustration and fear bubbling up in you, “Don’t you think we have struggled enough to make it to this point? Don’t you think that –“

“I have thought a lot about all of this,” Boba said instead, frowning.

“Don’t say it as if I’m too immature to deal with this,” you hissed, climbing off the bed, “I am an adult just like you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said quickly, “I mean … I am old, love. By the time you might think about having children I am a senior citizen. What – Do your parents even know about who you are seeing? I’m not the youngest anymore, I can’t – I can’t justify keeping you back in life.”

“I always thought that I was the insecure one in this relationship,” you murmured, “I did not think it was the both of us. Why did you never tell me?”

“I felt bad that you had to deal with Nat,” he admitted, “I didn’t want to add onto your plate.”

There it was again. Nat.

“Then let’s tell her,” you said, throwing your hands in the air, “Stars, please, let’s tell her, I want nothing more than to stop lying to my best friend while her dad is too fucking scared to actually talk to her and –“

The silence spoke more than a thousand words could and you felt dread settle in your stomach while realization set in. And not the good kind. Not the kind you wanted to have but the kind you wanted to forget – immediately – and instead live on your life sheltered from the doubts and harsh truths.

“Oh stars,” you whispered, “It – I didn’t mean that, the words just slipped out and – and …”

“It’s okay,” he smiled sadly, “You’re right, you know? I should have told her long ago but … I didn’t and maybe I was scared but maybe I knew that this is something that was harder than you deserve and –”

“Please don’t,” you whimpered, blinking the tears away, “Please don’t continue, Boba, I don’t – I love you, I don’t want this to end.”

“I love you,” he whispered, his voice breaking off towards the end, “I love you so much and you deserve the absolute best, princess, you deserve someone that can love you openly and without shame and who isn’t afraid to have the hard conversations. I’m … It’s not your job to change me, love. We have … what we had is the best thing that ever happened to me but I think – princess, maybe it’s better if we let this be.”

On Saturday, you drove home alone.

*

‘Cause there we are again when I loved you so

*

“I’m so glad you could make it!” Nat squealed, coming up the car as soon as you had pulled up, “You look awesome!”

“Thank you,” you smiled, looking back at the man who sat at the wheel, “John told me it’s very BBQ appropriate.”

“It is,” he laughed, coming around the car to throw his arm around your shoulder, “My girlfriend should trust my fashion sense more.”

You felt like your smile was a grimace at this point but he did not seem to notice.

Somewhere in the bulk of people around the grill, Will called for his girlfriend. “Oh well, seems like I’m needed already,” the redhead joked, “But you know the drill, so have fun and I’ll catch you later.”

“Sure thing,” you smiled, still feeling uneasy.

It had been almost a year.

Being back here, seeing his house, his family, the place where so much had begun … it brought out all the emotions you had tried to get rid of since that summer. But it seemed that it had not worked. Because here you were again, feeling like the only man you had ever loved was the man who did not want to be with you.

You were lost in thought, eating a serving of potato salad next to John when you spotted a pair of shoes that were not supposed to be there and your heart stopped.

“Hi, man,” John greeted him with a laugh and a slap on the shoulder, “It’s good to see you.”

You did not want to look at him. You wanted to look at him. You wanted to scream at him for all the memories he had tainted for you, you wanted to beg him to take you back. You wanted himback.

Boba looked only at you. “You too, John.”

“John, could you help me get that kiddie pool set up over there?“ Poppy asked. You had not even noticed she was here, too. “Roger is busy guarding the BBQ against Will and Nat’s shenanigans.”

“Sure thing,” your boyfriend replied, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek, “I’ll be back in a sec, babe.”

You did not say anything – could not say anything. Because Boba was standing right in front of you, looking at you so softly it brought everything back. All the love and all the heartbreak.

“I see you, uh, you moved on,” he said, clearing his throat.

“I’m not the only one,” you said numbly, nodding to the younger woman you had seen him kiss earlier when you had pretended that it did not affect you in the slightest. In truth, you could still feel the ice-cold shiver run down your spine when you had seen how he had touched her so lovingly in front of everyone. Never had you wanted to take someone else’s place so badly.

“Yeah,” he nodded, his lips a straight line, “Natalie introduced us a few months ago.”

You scoffed, feeling the hurt start all over again. “Must be nice to have to hide it,” you muttered, feeling shame rise up in you as soon as the words left you. You did not want to sound bitter. Even if you were.

Stars, you felt so bitter. So betrayed. So lost.

Something shifted in his look, his eyes becoming impossibly soft and you watched his fingers twitch as if he wanted to reach out to you. And you wanted him to. You wanted him to touch you again and tell you he loved you. Because he had. He had loved you.

“Princess …”

You flinched. “Please,” you brought out, feeling tears prick your eyes, “Please don’t call me that, Boba, I – I can’t bear it.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and you could hear how genuine he was. His eyes looked dangerously wet and your bottom lip began to tremble when you realized that you were both about to cry in the middle of the garden, surrounded by people who had no idea how much you meant to each other.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, “For everything.”

“Yeah,” you nodded quickly, pressing your lips together as if that would keep you together, “Me too.”

*

Back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hello Charity, I hope I found you doing well. I wanted to catch you before you go on your break because I've been going in circles for the past couple weeks now and it's tiring. Ideally I'd just take a step back and focus on something else but alas, for all my short attention span I also sure know how to hyperfocus on any issue I have to work out. I got your book last May and was hit in the face by a train: I previously thought of myself as some TP type, but your Fi dom chapter was like having my internal narrator captured on paper. A half satisfying ("YES, finally someone gets me!!!"), half spooky experience, really. I also saw a lot of myself on the Te chapter, so I had to admit I had been very off trail with my typing so far. The book also confirmed I am a high Se user, so I was glad I had at least gotten that right. The only issue is that I still can't tel if I'm an ISFP or ESFP.

Initially I thought for sure ISFP since the Fi dom chapter resonated so much. But then I realized that was a catch: the Te inferior part felt mostly off. I then thought that the reason was probably due to enneagram (I'm a 3). Maybe that's why I don't resent or resist external systems, I embrace then as helpful and necessary because they lead to efficacy and competency. [...] The low certainty about a Ni doom scenario generation during stress though, that hit home perfectly. I can vividly recall instances of that happening years ago. So I thought: what if I'm an ESFP instead? They are more often 3s than IFPs, right? Trouble is I'm seldom impulsive at all, I don't have the "Just do it, everything's gonna work out somehow" mindset. I'm the type who really researches and wants to know what I'm getting into, I really think before taking most decisions. The exception of course are crisis and emergencies, which I do excel at. I have a very rapid response time, but I don't know if it's because most ESFPs both in fiction and online seem to be 7s, but I feel like Se doms are just so trusting and I'm not. I also had such a strong and long lasting issue with insecurity, so much so I self sabotaged many times and didn't take opportunities because I was sure I was gonna fail at them, and be seen as a fraud. That idea terrified me so much I kept myself from living life to the fullest since I never knew how to just try things with no expectations. 

Sorry for the length, but Id like your advice on how to tell which is my actual type.

The fact that you resonated so hard with Fi-dom, with Se (but not with leaping in before you look), and with low Ni probably means you are an ISFP with Te development due to your Enneagram type. But the main indicator is that ESPs find themselves through experiences, whereas ISPs judge experiences before having them. It sounds like you do the latter and are careful not to leap into anything, whereas an ESP 3 would be adapting to the environment on-the-go.

I'm an ENFP and a 6, and that neuters the ENFP-ness somewhat in terms of I never jump into anything without seriously thinking about it first. I could mistake myself for an introvert because of that -- but I do not relate to Fi-dom chapters. I figure out who I am and what I think by exposing myself to things / ideas / experiences in order to land on my location, which is what an EFP does. IFPs just "know." So you might want to think about whether you "just know" what you think and feel about something, or if it's a gradual discovery that comes from outside stimulus.

Certain Enneagram types (fear-based types, or competency-based types) are going to cause a feeler to lean more on their thinking functions to be more efficient and/or logical and/or safe, but this can also cause them to assume their thinking functions are "better" than they are -- until they are dealing with an actual thinker, and then they see that their organizational skills are "less." If the only thing keeping you from ISFP is that you seem to use Te more, you're an ISFP. If Fi-dom fits, Se aux fits, and tert-Ni fits, the answer is ISFP. :)

[theavatarspirit]

Do you have a recommendation list of wlw books? Could be your favorites or the ones you thought were the best or just anything really. I'm always looking for more of them

of course my dude

lets get the big boys out of the way

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone. you've probably heard about. you've probably seen quotes from it. i myself was late to it (i read it the other month) but lord is the hype worth it (in my opinion). made me crazy.

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon. yes its big. im sorry but it is worth it. samantha the audacity to create sabran berethnet and let me read the book in a 24 period. the yearning of it all.

gideon the ninth/harrow the ninth by tamsyn muir. its aight. im not the person you should go to about gtn tbh but everyone else out there will tell you about it.

my personal favs

a memory called empire/a desolation called peace by arkady martine. yes i am talking about them again. these two books are the best thing ever written. how many hugos can one woman win. it is so intricate and layered and nobody says what they mean and the politics and the brain surgery and the sluttiness of former ambassadors. thinking about mahit dzmare's character makes me feral. three seagrass can be a teixcalaan so personal.

foundryside/shorefall by robert jackson bennett. me once again banging my one man drum about foundryside. please it is so good i dont care if the fantasy magic system isn't for you. there is a shit talking key. there is brain surgery. there are complex morals. there is a wlw romance just for the hell of it. where the plot goes in shorefall to this day makes me batshit insane. i have read shorefall at least half a dozen times in four months. can the third book come out now please mr bennett i am dying.

the long way to the small angry planet by becky chambers. becky chambers my beloved. i would die for you. i am so sorry i haven't read to be taught yet but i will buy everything you write. but about this actual book it is perfect. everything in this book was so good and soft and whenever i thought something would happen that would make me mad. nope. every single book in this series (there are four of them and all are beautiful to look at if you dont live in america) is outstanding. becky chambers and arkady martine duking it out for the hugo next year.

other books i wholeheartedly recommend

the rise of kyoshi/the shadow of kyoshi by fc lee. yes they are fantastic. if you like atla read them.

when the tiger came down the mountain by nghi vo. stunning novella but i recommend reading the first one the empress of salt and fortune first. also stunning but not as gay.

the jasmine throne by tasha suri. the start of a promising trilogy. the slow burn reeled me in lads. but in my honest opinion not as morally grey as what the people on goodreads said.

sweet and bitter magic by adrienne tooley. do you not mind ya? do you like every single trope imaginable shoved into a book? this is the book for you. the angst got to me ill admit it.

the atlas six by olivie blake. some kind of weird dark academia shit going on here. a plot relevant threesome. not wlw but theres lgbt rep throughout.

the library of the unwritten/the archive of the forgotten by aj hackwith. again not wlw but lgbt rep but i adore these books. third in the trilogy comes out the end of the year and i am stoked. cool library concepts is the best book plot and this are by far the coolest.

steel crow saga by paul krueger. a fun read overall. atla and pokemon vibes with some of that sweet sweet complex moral questions with a fun wlw couple.

jane unlimited by kristin cashore. i dont care it gets really weird in the end i adore this book. get weird kirstin you do you. fun chose your own adventure type thing. main character has romantic moments with two of the characters and its not romance heavy.

finna by nino cipri. novella about two exes trying to get through inter dimensional ikea. yes that is the plot. yes it is good

books that i haven't finished/read yet but have heard they are good

she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan. ive read the first couple chapters and was meh but everyone else ive seen that has read it loved it. is said to be mulan meets the song of achilles, which are two things i have not seen/read so.

one last stop by casey mcquiston. i have read 2/3s of this but ill be honest the sex kinda threw me out of the book. if you dont have this problem and liked rwrb you will also like this.

the liars dictionary by eley williams. if you like pretentious english kid speak. really neat idea for a book is you can get past that.

the councillor by ej beaton. ugh i wanted to read this one so bad but i found it at not a good reading time for me. sounds like it is fantastic though. politics heavy book.

unconquerable sun by kate elliot. if you like greek retellings and can stand tense changes (i cannot).

black sun by rebecca roanhorse. have heard nothing but good things and is hugo nominated and yet i have not finished. shame on me.

these feathered flames by alexandra overy. russian folklore inspired fantasy. dont know whether it is classified as ya but has ya vibes.

fireheart tiger by aliette de bodard. i haven't even started this one but its short and has politics, yearning, and yearning while doing politics.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are weird, “Water”

I was thinking about this he other day after my swimming class, and thought it would probably be an important observation for aliens in close proximity with humans. 

It turned out to be a nice, short little thing for you all :) 

The rec room aboard the U.N.S.S Harbinger was only partially full scattered here and there with an assortment of humans, a couple playing ping-pong against a single Drev opponent, having two more arms than you average human, while another group played pool or lounged around on the over-sized bean bags reading, drawing or listening to music.

Dr. Krill had only recently begun investigating the human activity known as “relaxation.” and so far he hadn’t made much progress. The Commander said he was too ‘neurotic’ for relaxation, whatever that meant, and Sunny pointed out that he ended to think to much to relax. Either way he was trying. Apparently it was acceptable to think during relaxation time, but not about one’s work. He wasn’t exactly sure who had made the rules about relaxation, but that seemed to be how it worked.

He leaned back a little further in the beanbag aware that he would not be able to get out on his own as sunken down as he was. He rubbed two of his upper limbs together as he stared at the ceiling.

From somewhere to his left  human purred contentedly, not really purring but more like a short hum, “Doing better than usual, Krill. Watcha thinkin ‘bout.” he chose to ignore the horrific grammar.

“I am thinking about writing a book.”

“Like another boring medical journal?” The human groaned

Krill sighed deeply, “Honestly, the way you talk always makes me forget that you’re supposed to be educated for a human.” 

“Ouch, and besides my degree was in aviation, I’m not a doctor. If it isn’t a medical journal, than what is it?” Krill tapped his hands together, or what would be considered hands by human standards, “I am thinking about writing a sort of…. Care manual for the proper upkeep of humans.”

That earned him a snort and a laugh, “Like a ‘how to train your dog manual’.” The human laughed, “Krill, we are people, not pets.” Krill glanced over at the human aware of an irony the human didn’t seem to have picked up on. Lounging on a couch head resting on one of Sunny’s armored legs as she absently stroked his hair attention fixed on the pages of a weapons catalog. The human closed his single eye contentedly as she continued to ‘pet’ him.

“Uh-huh.” Krill acknowledged smugly.

“Alright, oh great expert of humankind, tell me what the first chapter is going to be about.”

Krill tapped his chin, a habit that he had picked up from the humans, “I don’t know, I was actually thinking something more towards my area of expertise. Proper ways of soothing a sick human.”

The human opened his one green eye eyebrow raised, “Well I have to hear this.”

Krill waved his hand, another human gesture he had picked up, “Well I was thinking about the importance of water for humans. I mean think about it what do humans do when they are upset, tired, sick, or in pain.”

The human thought for a long moment, “Um ... sleep.”

“Before that?” 

“Uh, well, personally, a hot shower.”

“That’s it!” the human looked over at him curiously, “No other species I know of does that. Give a human the ability to soak themselves in warm water, and they will spend hours doing it. They do it for pain, sickness, stress, relaxation, social bonding. Literally everything. It doesn’t even have to be a LOT of hot water, just a shower or a shallow pool. Not to mention that you just love the use of water as a soothing agent in all generalities You consume hot water flavored with powder. You like to LOOK at water, tell me that humans don’t go to specific places to look at lakes or waterfalls or streams. You even put them in your buildings with fountains and things. Humans love water.”

THe human shrugged, “I mean yeah, probably because we are like 70% water ourselves plus warm water increases blood flow, AND if you get in the water than you can ignore gravity for a bit and relax. It isn’t a mystery.”

“Accept for the fact that humans also love the SOUND of water.” 

The human tapped his foot absently, “Ok, that’s fair…. I love space but….. Do I miss the sound of rain.”

“Exactly!” Krill exclaimed, “You like the sound of destructive storms, some of you even fall asleep to them. Doesn't that seem strange  how humans like falling asleep to the sound of the most powerful destructive forces on the planet. Waterfalls, the ocean, a storm, and all of them water themed. I'm thinking about advising other medical professionals o use these sounds in clinics to soothe humans .” 

Sunny had stopped stroking the human’s hair to turn the page of her catalogue, and in annoyance he prodded at one of her extra arms. With a roll of her eyes she began stroking his hair again returning back to her reading, “Not that I disagree with you, but based on that logic, humans also love fire. Think about it, we have to use fire to heat our water, we love lighting things on fire, we use it as a decoration, we keep it in our homes, and I would argue that there is nothing more soothing than the sound of a fire.”

“Yes but not to the degree of water.” Krill argued, “you wouldn’t much like the sound of a forest fire would you because that’s TOO much fire, but yet you insist on playing in the ocean which is the definition of TOO much water. Plus, despite your love of lighting your drinks on fire, you generally aren't supposed to ingest it.” 

The human gesticulated his hand’s wildly now invested in the conversation, “Ok fine, but how about air. We need air more than we need air. We breath it in, heat it up, move it around. I like the sound of wind against the outside of a house. We sit in rooms specifically built to heat up the air because it makes us feel good.”

“ok , but you don’t like it when a hurricane blows down your house.”

“I don’t like tsunamis either, or flooding. Everything on earth can be dangerous.” Th human pointed out.

Krill sunk a bit further into the beanbag. He was definitely going to need help getting up now. This would probably be a good source of restraints for some species seeing as you needed a fair amount of muscle and coordination to escape one of these death traps, “Your house burns down, blows over, or is hit by a rockslide and you are upset, but you can’t tell me that if the town floods you won't find some human canoeing down the street.”

The human shifted his head to the other side, allowing Sunny to pet him at a different angle, “I won’t deny it.”

Krill tried to sit up, and failed, “All I am saying is that humans love water. You even like it frozen, you play in it frozen, slide down mountains of the stuff, throw it at each other, put it in your drinks, strap knives to your feet and dance on it. Humans love water, and that needs to be acknowledged as something useful for non-human dealing with humans. Even that tiny piece of knowledge will help you understand how humans relax and pass their time.” 

The commander frowned thoughtfully, “I mean that’s one way to talk about ice skating, but back to your point, our earth is like two thirds water, it would be really inconvenient if we DIDN'T like it.”

“Do you dispute my logic?”

“No, I think you may be exaggerating though.”

Above him, Sunny snorted, not entirely an accurate approximation of the human vocalization, but it was close,” This coming from the man who routinely takes 40 minute showers.”

The human glowered up at her, “You were listening this whole time?”

She turned the page of her catalog, “bits and pieces, and I agree with the doctor.”

The human waved a hand at her, “Oh shut up and look at your guns.”  Sunny smiled and flipped another page.

To summarize my point, humans, having come from a world that is covered in nearly 2/3s water, it is the single most important elemental compound in all its forms and can be utilized in one way or another to sooth, please, or socialize with a human. As a doctor I highly recommend its use in the context of extra-medical therapies. 

[writingpaperghost]

There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9: Beat Up the Dragon!

The CR prepares for the arrival of the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Kyotaro Hinata, but as he arrives at Seito, Graphite infects him. As it turns out, there's one person here who is rather familiar with Hinata, Emu, who takes Hinata's infection close to heart.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/82742431

The CR was not in a state of panic. Director Kagami was in a state of panic, intensely cleaning and rearranging everything in the CR. Saki and Poppy are already there when Emu arrives, Poppy watching a bit concerned, while Saki just looks resigned. Emu thinks this is probably something to be at least a bit concerned about. Why was the director obsessively cleaning everything?

After a moment, Emu finally asks, “Is… is the director okay?”

“He’s fine,” Saki responds, “Just nervous. He gets like this sometimes.”

Watching the scene for a moment again, he asks another question, “Why is he so worked up?”

This time, it’s Poppy who responds, “The Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Hinata, is arriving today,” At her words, Emu can’t help but get excited. He knew who Hinata was very well. “He’s here to discuss recent events with the rise in Game Disease cases, this black Rider, Gemn, and what we should do about Nico and Kiriya, since they aren’t apart of the CR.”

While Emu certainly heard her words past the mention of Hinata, that was the part that he was fixating on, “Doctor Kyotaro?”

At such a casual and familiar use of the Deputy Director-General’s name, Director Kagami froze mid-wipe of the table. He looks up at Emu with shock, “What?”

This was when Emu realized that none of the CR probably knew of his past with Doctor Kyotaro. They’d have no way of knowing and he’d certainly never mentioned it. He should probably explain, because even Saki and Poppy were looking at him with surprise and confusion.

“When I was eight,” He began to explain, “He saved my life. He was the one who inspired me to become a doctor myself.” The little child in the hospital bed, treated by an adult with genuine kindness that wasn’t required, changing that child’s life forever. Words that would echo in his thoughts constantly, “a smile is proof of your health”. It was the actions of Doctor Kyotaro that made Emu want to become a doctor, to be to other children what Doctor Kyotaro had been to Emu.

That’s what he was fulfilling right now. That dream that had been planted sixteen years ago. It was now growing and growing and about to bear fruit. Even more so, perhaps, with him working as a Rider.

Poppy is the first to speak, wondering, “What are the odds…?”

---

Graphite’s waiting patiently, knowing that his target will arrive soon. He knows that Mu is watching from somewhere further away, ready to help if necessary, having gotten the Gashats and Driver back from Kuroto, but far enough away he wasn’t in any unnecessary danger.

He sees the one he’s waiting for entering the hospital and grins. Teleporting to appear in front of the Deputy Director-General, he puts his plan into motion, a fog of black flowing from him to the director, infecting him. His action and the sudden collapse of Hinata draws the attention of several people in the hospital, but Graphite teleports away before anyone else can get near him.

Reappearing where Mu was hiding, Graphite is immediately greeted with Mu grabbing his shoulders, “Graphite what the hell?!”

Graphite wasn’t sure why Mu was starting to freak out like this, “What’s wrong?” He asked, looking around to see if he’d somehow been followed or someone had found Mu. There was no one to be saw, though.

“Why did you infect him?!”

Still unsure what exactly was wrong, Graphite answered, “Because he’s the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health,” He watched as Mu’s expression failed to get any less frantic. “What better target would there be?”

Mu’s hands fall off Graphite’s shoulders, “But- but why him?! He’s – He’s – But!” He’s seemed to have lost his ability to speak as clearly as he’d probably like. But Graphite still didn’t understand.

There were brief areas on the ground that began to glitch, with Mu’s own hands beginning to glitch. His red eye began to glow more. If they didn’t want the possibility of getting caught Graphite would have to make sure that Mu calmed down.

Placing his own hands on Mu’s shoulders, Graphite said, “Calm down,” Though his words were doing little on their own, he continued, “Calm down. Tell me why you’re upset.”

---

Worriedly, Emu scanned the CR’s newest patient, Doctor Kyotaro Hinata, the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health. He didn’t like seeing Doctor Kyotaro in the patient bed, knowing that he’d been infected. No matter how capable the Riders were of defeating Bugsters, it still made him worried. More so than usual.

Saki looks over his shoulder at what the scan brought up. She frowned, “Drago Knight Hunter Z,” She said, her tone bitter and grave, “Graphite’s strain.”

“So you think that Graphite infected him?” Emu asked, putting his Game Scope down.

“Almost certainly,” Saki glances at the infection percentage, “Be ready, the Bugster will certainly appear soon.”

As she speaks, a mass begins to form from Hinata. She places her Gamer Driver on his waist and holds up the Taddle Quest Gashat. As the mass grows and Saki clearly prepares to transform, Emu can’t help but curse his inability to help against the Level 1 Bugsters again. He really doesn’t know how he did it with Salty and wasn’t going to risk the lecture from anyone if he tried to do it again.

Taddle Quest!

Let’s game! Metcha game! Mucha game! What’s your name? I’m a Kamen Rider!

As Saki transforms, the Bugster finally forms and she moves the three of them to a different stage, this a forest waterfall.

Taking a good look at the Bugster, Emu realizes that he’s seen it before, “Saki!” He called, “That’s an enemy from Drago Knight Hunter Z!” Before he can say anything more on the matter, he’s cut off by the arrival of Graphite. He wasn’t even in his Bugster form, instead standing as a human. Out of the corner of his eye, Emu can see Saki’s grip on the Gashacon Sword tighten.

Graphite is holding something in his hand, he’s a bit far away, but it looks like a Gashat. It was grey colored, though, like the one that Gemn used. He looks between the two Riders, one transformed, one not, and says, “I will use the Prototype Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat,” He begins firmly, “To create more Bugsters.” With his declaration, he holds the Gashat up and stabs it into his chest. He takes his Bugster form, but now he’s no longer green colored, instead being black.

---

Kuroto watches as Mu enters the room and falls onto the couch. “You look tired,” He says bluntly, “More than usual.”

“Did you know who Graphite was going to infect?”

Considering the question for a moment, Kuroto answers, “I knew he would take the Prototype Gashat, I let him, really. I need data from it to finish the complete Gashat.” Though even he knew that didn’t answer Mu’s question, “But no, Mu, I did not know who he was going to infect.”

That seems to reassure Mu, at least a little, thought Kuroto is still unsure why Mu was so upset at all. Why was he upset with who Graphite infected? Mu had never talked about really knowing anyone before, so it couldn’t have been because he knew whoever it was Graphite had infected.

Mu falls a bit, ending up in a lying position on the couch, throwing an arm over his eyes. Kuroto regards the sight for a moment, before getting up and wrangling one of the blankets free from the nest. “Get some rest,” he says, “I’ll keep an eye on Graphite and makes sure nothing happens.”

“’M not tired,”

“Sleep,” Kuroto insists, laying the blanket down over Mu. Mu doesn’t continue to protest, at least.

---

“Emu, transform and help me!” Saki calls, quickly dodging out of the way of an attack from Graphite’s weapon.

Nodding, Emu pulls out Mighty Action X. Now would be a good time to have access to another Gashat, but there wasn’t much they could do about that.

Mighty Action X!

Let’s game! Metcha game! Mucha game! What’s your name? I’m a Kamen Rider!

Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty-Mighty Action X!

Emu slashes at Graphite hoping to be able to knock his weapon off a little, but given how much bigger his weapon was, all the attack managed to do was get blocked. Beside Emu, Saki switches her sword to fire mode and slashes, causing Emu to need to move away from Graphite.

“I’ll handle Graphite,” Saki declared, “Worry about the other Bugster.”

“What?” Emu asked, looking between Saki and the other Bugster, “Saki, I can’t fight that Bugster. I don’t have a Level 1!” It was literally the worst idea. At least Emu had to fight at Level 2, meaning that he’d probably stand a better chance against Graphite.

Still, his protests fall on deaf ears, Saki’s attention drawn almost, if not entirely, on Graphite. Left with no other choice, Emu turns his attention towards the other Bugster, clearly a dragon. It was obviously based off one of the dragons in Drago Knight Hunter Z, but it was hard to tell which type. Not that Emu was entirely convinced that knowledge would help.

He was already at a disadvantage since this was usually the stage of the fight that he’d have to let the others handle, since it was supposed to be done with Level 1. That level that he distinctly lacked and hadn’t had ever. He’d managed, somehow, against Salty, but he isn’t really sure what he did that day.

After getting thrown around by the dragon, Emu was knocked out of his transformation, having never really stood a chance. Moments later, Saki’s knocked down not too far from him, her own transformation disappearing. Neither of them were a match for even one of these Bugster, certainly not without their Level 3s.

Graphite looks at the two for a moment, before turning his back to them, “How pathetic of a fight,” He said, “I expected more from the both of you.” With that, the game world around them disappeared and Graphite and the dragon Bugster were gone.

---

“Saki, why the hell did you decide I should be the one to fight the dragon Bugster?” Emu growled, glaring at Saki. The two of them stood in the CR, with Asuna watching them from the side. “I don’t have a Level 1! There’s nothing I can do against it!”

Saki crosses her arms, a serious look on her face, the sort of look she always had when Graphite was involved, “I can handle Graphite,” She said, clearly trying to end this argument before it even really started, “You seem to want to save Director Hinata so badly, why shouldn’t you deal with the Bugster that’s certainly afflicting him?”

There was a lot there that didn’t even make sense. Like she hadn’t heard a word he’d said earlier. And she was also throwing in at least one assumption on the Bugsters they were fighting. “I don’t care who fights Graphite,” he said, “I just know that I can’t beat that Bugster. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I don’t have a Level 1! So please, how the hell am I suppose to beat a Bugster I literally cannot beat?” He’s not expecting an answer, Saki clearly isn’t thinking straight.

Finally, Asuna growls and jumps between them, “Enough!” She yells, “Enough fighting you two!”

Emu takes a step back, startled by Asuna’s sudden outburst. Saki, though, seems rather unphased. She doesn’t say anything, but continues to watch Asuna anyway. The three stand in silence for more than a few moments.

Then they hear the door to the CR open. Emu initially assumes it’s just the director and sighs, going to go sit down, only to see he was wrong. Entering the room, briefcase in hand, was Masamune.

“I’ve heard about Director Hinata,” He began, “I have something that might help you, but it’s still incomplete.”

Asuna’s the one to ask first, “Incomplete?”

Masamune nods, “It will require the data of that dragon Bugster that currently infects Director Hinata to be complete.” Opening the briefcase, they’re presented with a discolored Gashat. It bore the cover from Drago Knight Hunter Z.

Though Saki reaches to take it, Emu walks over and grabs it first. He takes the briefest moment to examine it before declaring, “I’ll be the one to cure Doctor Kyotaro,” He can’t afford to be the nice, kind, pushoverEmu. He had to be Genius Gamer M today, so he could make sure that Doctor Kyotaro was cured. Doctor Kyotaro had saved Emu’s life sixteen years ago, so he’d save Doctor Kyotaro’s life now.

“Drago Knight Hunter Z,” Masamune quickly began to say, “Is a four player game, designed to be played in co-operation-“

Emu ignored him.

---

Kiriya waltzes into the room in Taiga’s clinic that Nico’s commandeered. Nico sits on the bed, clicking away at the keyboard of her laptop. “Yo, N,” He greeted, “Were you able to find it?”

Looking up, Nico grins, “Surprisingly easy, actually,” She clicks and types for a moment, before turning her laptop towards him. “Emu Hojo, born August 16th, 1992,” She began to summarize, “Had a surgery when he was eight, performed by one Doctor Kyotaro Hinata, now Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health-“

“Oh really?” Kiriya quirked his eyebrow in interest, “Director Hinata performed a surgery on him?”

“Yes,” Nico rolled her eyes and continued, “Prone to accidents growing up, just enough to land him in the hospital for a bit, had regular check-ups until six years ago when they just stopped. Same with the minor injuries. Now he hasn’t been to a doctor for six years.”

“Six years?” Kiriya read as questioned the statement, “Hm, his last appointment was in June… Before Zero Day, even.”

Watching Kiriya, Nico comments, “I don’t really see how his medical records will help, other than he obviously hasn’t had the compatibility surgery, but then he shouldn’t even be able to use a Gashat.” Kiriya finishes reading and Nico swings her laptop back around to face her, “Do you think that Emu’s lack of compatibility surgery and lack of trips to the doctor so suddenly has something to do with each other?”

Sighing, Kiriya answers, “I’m not sure,” He shoves his hands in his pant’s pockets, “It’s hard to say yet, there’s still some answers we need. He probably has them himself but…”

“He probably wouldn’t give them if we asked,” Nico finished, shaking her head, “Maybe I can dig into what M was like prior to six years ago, see if there’s anything else that might have changed.”

Kiriya nods, “You do that,” He turns to leave, “Keep an eye out, Graphite’s infected Director Hinata and Ace and Saki are outmatched without their Level 3s.”

Of course that would happen. In a way, Nico knew that there was always a chance that something like this would happen. “Director Hinata?” Nico wondered. It couldn’t have been a coincidence, could it? “Yeah, I’ll see about helping them out soon.”

After Kiriya left, Nico sets her laptop aside, looking at the white board she had on the wall. Grabbing a marker, a pen, some sticky notes, string, and magnets, she gets to work. Twenty minutes later she’s made good progress and she hears footsteps coming down the hallway. Probably Taiga.

“Hey Nico-“ Taiga stops mid-sentence, standing in the doorway and staring at the whiteboard. At the moment, it had the heading, written in colorful marker, “The Mystery of Emu Hojo”. There were notes pointing out the lack of Driver but ability to use Gashats, his newly found out medical history, and occasional odd behavior.

Taiga stares as Nico turns to look at him. He blinks. Finally, he breaths in, “Nico,” There’s a pause before he asks, “What the fuck are you and Kujo doing?”

Nico stared at him for a moment, put the cap on her marker without looking away from him, blinked, set the marker down, again without breaking eye contact, and finally answers, “Investigating,” She grabs her bag off the ground, throwing it over her shoulder, “Anyway, I’ve got some dragon slaying to do, so if you’ll excuse me.”

Taiga blinks but otherwise doesn’t say anything else. It seems, he’s still rather shocked.

---

As Emu was about to enter the patient room, hoping to figure out what might stress Director Hinata, he’s stopped by Asuna. She stares him down, serious, “Emu,” She said, “You haven’t been acting like yourself since Hinata got infected, but especially since you and Saki got back from fighting.”

Tilting his head, Emu shrugged, “I want to cure Doctor Kyotaro, that’s all.” That was true. What was also true was that he was worried and knew there wasn’t room for worrying about nice, kind, caring Emu, when the more aggressive and confident Genius Gamer M was what was required. He couldn’t let Doctor Kyotaro die because Saki was being stubborn and Nico had taken their Level 3 Gashats.

Continuing into the patient room, Emu put on a smile, walking over to the bed Hinata was in. “Doctor Kyotaro,” He greets.

Doctor Kyotaro gives him a smile, “Emu, it’s good to actually see you again. It’s been a while since we met in person, though I do wish it were under different circumstances.”.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get cured,” Emu assured.

“Which reminds me,” Doctor Kyotaro began, “If you’re trying to figure out what would stress me, I can tell you. People finding out about Game Disease and the panic it would cause.”

“So that’s what Graphite’s probably planning to do right now,” Emu realized, “Thank you Doctor Kyotaro – I have to go.” Rushing out of the room and past Asuna, Emu made his way out of the hospital. The best way to spread a disease openly and largely would be someplace that was exactly that – large and open. So Graphite was probably somewhere large and open where there would be lots of people.

Quickly he finds people being infected with the Drago Knight Hunter Z strain of Game Disease and he knows he’s on the right course. He can see that it’s coming from the top of a roof, so he rushes up.

On the rooftop, standing and looking out over the city, was Graphite. He turns to look at Emu.

“About time one of you arrived,” He said, “I assume you are ready?”

Emu answers by pulling out his Gashat. The two are brought into the game world, though Emu isn’t sure who did it. He didn’t have a Gamer Driver to do so and neither did Graphite. Emu transforms and is about to attack Graphite, only for the dragon Bugster to fly by, catching him off guard. It was bigger now, maybe because of all the new people who have been infected.

Wasting little time, Saki arrives, already transformed and focusing her attention once more on Graphite. That was alright though, because Emu had an idea on how to beat the dragon Bugster. Hopefully Saki wouldn’t even see, so he wouldn’t get a lecture.

Jet Combat!

Jet! Jet! In the sky! Jet! Jet! Jet Combat!

Just as quickly as Saki, Nico arrives – at least Emu assumes it’s still Nico, shooting at the dragon Bugster. At least she was also focusing on the more important target. She probably didn’t even know much, if anything, about the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat.

---

Mu watched as the Riders fought Graphite and the dragon Bugster from afar. When Para-DX had arrived to confront Graphite, Mu had used the Gamer Driver to relocate them to the forest. A rooftop was no place for a good fight.

He notes that a colorfully dressed and haired woman, who looked like she was cosplaying Poppy Pipopapo had arrived. He wasn’t sure who she was or where she came from, but could only assume she was connected to one of the Riders. He paid her little mind.

As upset as he was about who Graphite had chosen to infect, he also didn’t want anything bad to happen to Graphite. So he was making sure nothing bad happened. He’d leave this to Graphite, but was ready to step in if necessary.

---

Entering the CR’s patient room, still marveling at how easy it was to get into the CR, Kiriya is ready to ask the question that’s been burning in his mind since he and Nico spoke earlier. “Director Hinata,” He begins, seeing how Hinata watched him, “I have a question for you, about Emu Hojo.”

“And what’s that?”

“Did that operation you perform on him really save his life?”

“Yes,” Hinata insisted, “He’d been hit by a car, if I hadn’t operated on him he would have died.”

Kiriya frowned, “Is that all you did? Save his life?”

“What are you implying?”

---

Emu decided that he and Nico had done enough that he could put his plan into action. He was hoping not to have Poppy and Nico here to witness it, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He grabbed his Gashat, letting his transformation disappear. He needed to replicate this.

He puts his Gashat in his axe, still in his hand. By Graphite, who just so happened to be near where the dragon Bugster was heading, Saki was preparing her own attack, her sword in ice mode. Emu runs over toward her.

“M, what are you doing!?” He can hear Nico yell, but ignores her. He grabs Saki’s sword, using it to pave an iceway up to the dragon.

“Intern what are you doing!?”

“I’ll change Doctor Kyotaro’s fate with my own hands!” Holding both his axe and Saki’s sword, he slashes at the dragon Bugster.

Mighty-Taddle Critical Finish!

The attacks comes in contact with the dragon Bugster and Emu can feel something rush through his entire body. He feels the glitching before he sees it. It’s small and brief, hopefully only noticeable to him, but it’s there. For a moment, his entire appearance changed, only to revert back to what it had been.

As the dragon disappeared, four pieces of armor emerged from it. The pieces flew into the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat, completing it as it changed to be gold colored. Landing on the ground and dropping the two weapons, Emu holds the Gashat, alongside Mighty Action X.

Mighty Action X!

Drago Knight Hunter Z!

Do-Do-Drago Kni-Kni-Kni-Knight! Dra! Dra! Drago Knight Hunter! Z! Para-DX!

Four pieces of armor, like the ones that had come from the dragon Bugster, appeared, landing on Emu. Then everyone was moved to a different stage, this one an open field. There was now extra armor on his head and both his arms, each seeming like its own weapon.

Despite this new power, there was something off about it. It flowed through him, yes, but for some reason, it also brought powerful urges that he just couldn’t resist. He’s reminded of six years ago with the pain and the lack of control. Crying out, he realizes his attacks are heading towards both Graphite and Saki and Nico.

Graphite looks at him and rushes, hitting him with what would definitely have been a strong attack. Despite that, Emu was still, somehow, standing. He counters with his own attack, which knocks Graphite back a considerable amount. As the transformation disappears, Emu falls to the ground, feeling oddly exhausted. He could feel a tingling in his hands and feet, which surely was tiny glitches trying to reveal what laid underneath.

The game area disappears and Emu’s on the roof, Graphite nowhere to be seen.

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

I brought up hanyang type 88 here and i said i’d explain, so here I am!!

okay so first off here’s a bunch of likely useful context about girls frontline. There is this feature in the game called digimind upgrade, or mod 3, where certain t-dolls can be upgraded past the normal maximum levels and stats, and at the same time gaining whole new abilities and also a new design. Basically a reinvention. There are like hundreds of playable characters in the game, and only a fraction will get mod 3s, typically the ‘main characters’ who are relevant to the major ongoing plot.

two things about getting a doll who has the ability to do digimind upgrade, to actually do that. One, is that it can be very costly in terms of in-game materials. like, maybe i just played the game wrong but I would have to grind for weeks in order to amass the materials to upgrade just one doll to mod 3. So even though by now there are dozens upon dozens of dolls who are capable of this feature, i’ve only actually done so with like, less than one dozen. A normal player probably has to be picky.

secondly, and this is the big one, every t-doll’s mod 3 comes with story cutscenes that become available for you to view upon upgrading them. Personally, i think most of the only worthwhile mod 3 stories are the ones that are associated with the actual major characters of the main story, especially since their upgrades actually happen in-canon and their mod 3 stories fill in blanks or otherwise expand upon the regular story chapters.

for the t-dolls who aren’t major characters that get digimind upgrades, their associated stories tend to follow a very basic pattern. They’re feeling like they are falling behind other T-Dolls in abilities or are otherwise experiencing a drop in confidence in their abilities, but then find the resolve in them to either change themselves or stand by an aspect of themselves, and this leads them to heading to the lab to get upgraded. obviously theres some nuances here and there depending on the character, but a lot of them, from what i saw, follow this basic pattern.

hanyang type 88 has a mod 3 but i certainly never wanted to see it. Firstly, using the feature at all takes up resources are kinda precious so i wasn’t just gonna use it on anyone. Secondly, she is just one of many one-off t-dolls that basically dont ever show up in any actual main story cutscenes or even funny events. Thirdly... you saw what she looked like in the linked post, i was in no rush to make use of her.

That being said, even if you don’t ever upgrade a t-doll, simply having them in your possession allows you to at least view the first of four parts of their mod 3 story, which nets you a small amount of those materials needed to see the rest (its a pretty fiendish system, huh o_O). I was lacking in some materials to upgrade a doll i cared about, so i just mucked around, eventually happened upon type88 again and decided that instead of just immediately feeding her to the furnace, I’d watch the first chapter of her mod 3 story. I watched it, it made me just curious enough to look further, and well. ...I got into it. Exactly what I got into, i shall now just elaborate and summarise the whole thing in my own way! Warning, it’s long!

(disclosure: my summary will bias towards my own preferred interpretation whenever any aspect is somewhat vague.)

The story starts with type 88, or as she is called by others in griffin base, Ai, working her shift in the base’s cafe, because what else would she be doing.

i hate looking at her! Anyway, its just a pleasant peaceful day and Ai is taking the logistic person, kalina’s order when suddenly in the middle of a conversation, Ai freezes in place and starts making worrying sounds.

kalina here and the t-dolls present in the cafe are concerned, and talk about how Type88 has actually been crashing like this more and more frequently lately, yet has not reported any of this to the maintenance crew despite the advice of her friends. They try rebooting her on the spot, but it has an even more concerning effect, because she starts erratically acting like she doesn’t recognise the others, and talks about how she is a maid in “Jiangcheng Cafe”. Afraid that her neural cloud (her mind) has been scrambled, they put her to sleep and bring her to the repair bay.

Its in the repair bay where they explain exactly what is wrong with type88. She is a fairly old doll, and her processing capacity has been severally clogged up for a long time. Her internal memory is overflowing because many large sections of her mind is filled with very large encrypted files (memories that she stored away). she is likely to keep crashing and possibly even cease functioning entirely one day if those encrypted files are not deleted, but nobody is really keen on just deleting parts of her mind without her consent. For now, kalina just opts to try and decrypt the files and see what they are.

And from here, we watch type88 memories from her perspective. Sort of. Kind of. It gets complicated later but for now, we view the first memory of her life, not as a combat t-doll type88, but...

...as 59898, a doll designed to be what is basically a ‘crash test dummy’ for testing artillery technology in a research station. With a purpose like this, 59898 has an (ostensibly) rudimentary AI. Her learning ability is intended to be used to better aid the results of their testing, but she also knows how to understand and even imitate specific human gestures in order to better respond to instructions or conversation, even though she herself has no voice module to speak with. She is assigned to assist one specific person.

first off, i was pretty shocked right off the bat that this story above so many others actually has unique assets to it. The above two sprites don’t show up anywhere else in the game, i don’t think. Secondly, this woman’s name is only ever spelled with those white squares, so I’m stuck with having to just calling her ‘the pilot’, as dry as that sounds... I just don’t want to type out weird characters every time, or call her ‘triple cube’...

Anyway, so 59898 is assigned to help this woman in testing artillery tech (stuff like mechs and tanks). I should mention really quick that in the game’s story, during this point of time is when world war iii is happening, but that’s just a backdrop for robots to eventually gain more prominence. Anyway, we move on to the second memory, where some time has already passed. At the beginning of this memory, the pilot is visibly depressed, which 59898 takes note of.

Her ‘comfort mode’ consists of patting the pilot on the head, who while surprised, actually is grateful. She feels comfortable enough to talk about her worries aloud to the doll, mentioning how she is a war refugee and has to make a living in the research base because she can’t go back to her home in china, at least not before making enough money for a very expensive and exclusive train ticket. She continues to talk at length to the doll...

...not that the test doll is capable of responding to anything she says. The pilot insists that she’s happy just to have someone listen to her though, since she feels like she can’t really express her feelings to any other person on the base. Despite that-

That aside, the pilot says that referring to 59898 by her serial number all the time feels a bit weird, so she decides to give the doll a name. (I sure wish the story would give this woman a name too, other than ‘three white squares’ but oh well...)

She talks more with Jiangcheng Ai, or just Ai, after that, asking her if she’d like a change of clothes sometime, like some casual clothes, or an old maid outfit from an old cafe job she used to have (I guess they had to throw in any explanation for that outfit somehow) Point is, more and more time passes.

As time passes though, and we go into the third memory, the pilot brings up complaints to her superiors about how the more recent testings, becoming more increasingly intense and frequent, are putting a great strain on Ai, and even repairs can only help maintain her chassis so much. She insists on wanting to take Ai’s place in the testing, but they refuse because, well, Ai’s entire purpose is to take the strain of these tests so that the human pilot doesn’t have to, and the doll is just a tool there to pave the way for the pilot to eventually take over the mech in action

The next time Ai wakes up from her most recent repairs, the pilot is there to greet her, and Ai can tell straight away that she’s unhappy and tries to comfort her again. The pilot is not surprised at this and talks about how this is how Ai has been since they first met. She goes on to say how all the other people on the base don’t know her half as well as Ai does. Ai tries to understand and determine what the pilot’s intentions with saying all this is, but she cannot do so and can only listen while offering ‘executing - affirmative nod’.

The pilot talks about how once the war is over, she’d like to take Ai back home with her, where they could go to all sorts of gatherings, and the pilot would introduce Ai to her friends.

Ai reviews her personal data, confirming that she has no owners or obligations other than the pilot, so she executes another affirmative nod, and the pilot says this:

As Ai tries and fails to further determine this, something bad happens! if you’ve read this far, i’m sure you’ve already guess what happens next...

At that exact moment, a warning goes out and the research base is being attacked by nebulous enemy forces. With no time to talk anymore, both the pilot and Ai head out into their first real fight.

They spend a good long while repelling enemy forces, working well together and apparently using all sorts of wacky anime weaponry like beam blades and whatever ‘retrograde evasion’ is!

obviously though, you already know this isn’t going to end well for them... When the pilot takes a breather, Ai moves to protect her, but at a critical moment, a sudden high-speed projectile comes her way. In the next instance there’s a crash, and we move onto another memory. Where its all fire and debris, and Ai can’t move.

^ this text box actually repeats several times, indicating that she is repeating her scan for life signs over and over. She gets an internal warning from her systems (differentiated with red text) that she has insufficient power and it warns her to immediately cease ineffective operations. [Unable to detect owner life signs] repeats again.

At this point, uuuuh, its a little stupid actually? because two humans show up, reusing generic ‘bad guy’ sprites from other events that don’t match the current environment and situation at all (one is in a suit and the other is in casual clothes). but the reason they’re here is to provide exposition out loud about what happened. It looked like the human’s mech took a hit for the doll and was blown to bits, though they talk about how that doesn’t make any sense.

Ai at this point tries to execute a bunch of different actions like hugging [target not found] and screaming [no relevant module] but they all fail, and her internal systems tell her that her power is running out and she will cease to function in 30 seconds.

So in those last 30 seconds, Ai decides to quickly review her internal files. the damage she took has corrupted her memories and she doesn’t have the time to properly go through them, so she executes a ‘simulated processed records’, which basically mean she’s just filling the blanks of those memories herself with simulations.

And I have to say. I was decently into and enjoying this little story so far, but its this part that’s the reason i became forced to make this stupid giant post. the first ‘memory’ loads up, and we see the pilot.

Different ‘memories’ of the days spent with the pilot are loaded back to back, each are very short and only last a few lines. Across these files, the two of them talk comfortably with each other, Ai is invited to go get coffee with her, the pilot talks about how going alone is boring and would rather spend time with Ai, Ai saying back with her own words that she always likes spending time with her, etc etc etc.

And then finally, she loads one last ‘memory’, from earlier that same day, before the explosion and the fighting.

and she shuts down.

i passed by this scene the first time all calm, but an hour or so later when I was in the bathroom replacing shampoo bottles, i started thinking about it and I literally started sobbing. And then again later that night when i was in bed. I hate this game!!

so that’s the ‘end’ of that, and the next scene opens, once again in griffin base’s cafe, except...

Ai is sporting a brand new (ugly) look. She says she’d like to take kalina’s order but she was just leaving on other business, as she likes keeping herself busy with all sorts of work around the base ever since she got upgraded into a gundam gajinka. and after she leaves, kalina talks with the other dolls about how Ai used to have some cache issues because her neutral cloud was too full, but upgrading into this new chassis easily fixed that and even allowed her to make use of her old locked away abilities.

Because of the way this scene in the cafe opens up exactly like the very first one at the beginning, it makes me believe that this final scene is also a simulated ‘memory’, that is, Ai filling in the blanks of her corrupted memories with what she wishes to be reality. And i feel confident in believing that because after the scene fades to black, we see more of her internal system monologue.

She (the system) says that the priority execution is to preserve those encrypted memory logs. She does so, and the neural cloud upgrade is complete with confirmation of no loss files. With no risk of deletion in this new form, she executes the command to unlock the encrypted memories. And finally...

[spiderbread dies]

i still wouldn’t use her in gameplay because i can’t stand looking at her design but  i told you all i eat up robot with feelings stuff and this is like prime example of exactly that... and if i didn’t make this post, i think my own neutral cloud’s cache would be at risk of overflowing x_X!

[moontheoretist]

The Rough Drawft of SWTOR Timeline by Charles Boyd

“Hey folks!

Apologies for not getting in here sooner. Before we delve into the topic, I think it's important to reiterate what some of y'all have already pointed out - Star Wars is rarely if ever specific about the passage of time. In many cases, stories don't even mention it, and even if they do, it's generally very vague. As a result, it's pretty common for timelines to be assigned retroactively in later reference material, rather than the stories themselves.

All that being said, the passion that roleplayers, fan artists, and writers bring to SWTOR is one of the coolest things about this project, and timelines are super helpful in weaving your own works through the greater narrative. So, while we'll never get super specific on time, we can certainly work out the current in-game year, and at least put things in a relative order and proximity to each other time-wise.

But before we do that! Two up-front caveats:

Remembering dates never went well for me in history class. Plus, working on the game so long, I have every different version of everything we ever considered somewhere in my head, so I'm very much capable of error

Everywhere I look online, I see "the Battle of Ilum/end of class story chapter 3s from launch" listed as being 12 ATC/3641 BBY. This appears to me to conflict with the official SWTOR Encyclopedia, which places the resumption of war (and thus, the beginning of class chapter 3s) in 13 ATC/ 3640 BBY. I'm going to go with the Encyclopedia date below, but feel free to let me know if there is another source somewhere in-game or elsewhere that specifies the 12 ATC date for Ilum and causes this apparent conflict.

With the above in mind, I would say

Onslaught takes place near the end of 26 ATC/3627 BBY

. Here's how I get to that number:

Class stories begin in 10 ATC. Given the Ilum date from the encyclopedia combined with the generally acknowledged "class stories collectively occur over the course of about 3 years", I'm going to say that SWTOR begins near the end of 10 ATC, and that the battle of Ilum occurs near the end of 13 ATC.

I like to have the in-game years roughly match IRL years, as it makes keeping track much simpler, and is generally (though not always) in keeping with the intent of the content flow as written. So if Ilum is near the end of 13 ATC, that lines up nicely with the launch of SWTOR being near the end of 2011 IRL.

Following these premises, we get the general flow of events and years I've outlined below. Note that I consider this a rough draft for a more official release for the future, so stuff might change or get a bit more detail later. But for now, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts so far and in giving everyone something tentative to work from until that more “official” piece can be hashed out and the correct venue for it identified (In-game somehow? On our website? Picture of me looking crazy in front of a crazy dry-erase board drawing of it all?) In any event, I think a visual representation will certainly be preferable down the road

Here we go!

Battle of Ilum/Conclusion of Class Storylines occurs by the end of 13 ATC/3640 BBY.

Black Hole, Terror from Beyond, Section X, and everything else released in 2012 IRL occurs in 14 ATC/3639 BBY

Rise of the Hutt Cartel occurs in early/mid 15 ATC/3638 BBY, and Oricon in the latter half of that year. (2013 IRL)

Tython/Korriban invasion in early/mid 16 ATC/3637 BBY, and Shadow of Revan near the the end of that year. (2014 IRL)

Ziost is early/middle 17 ATC/3636 BBY, followed within a few months by the events of Sacrifice and the first chapter of KotFE. (2015 IRL, part one)

Carbonite nap from middle/end of 17 ATC/3636 BBY until late 22 ATC/3631 BBY. (2015 IRL, part 2)

The events of KotFE chapter 9 and first wave of Alliance Alerts take us into the beginning of 23 ATC/3630 BBY, followed by the rest of KotFE and KOTET by the middle/end of that year. (2015 IRL part 3, 2016 IRL)

The battle for Iokath is in the first half of 24 ATC/3629 BBY, while Umbara and Copero occur in the latter half of that year. (2017 IRL)

The Nathema Conspiracy is wrapped up in early 25 ATC/3628 BBY, with the attack on Ossus occurring near the end of that year and kicking off the renewed war between Republic and Sith Empire.

Hearts and Minds follows a few months later, in early/mid 26 ATC/3627 BBY, with Onslaught in the latter half of the same year.

Task at Hand is at the very beginning of 27 ATC/3626 BBY. Although our next story release will be following it by several months IRL, it will be intended to occur within a couple of weeks of Task at Hand; more of a shift than I would normally like, but real life has intervened as we all know

Hope this is helpful! And again, let me know if y'all find any specific callouts for years that I'm missing, particularly around that end of class stories/Battle of Ilum timeframe”. ~ Source

Oh boy, Torcommunity Timeline Page aligns in a few places, but overall all dates are different! Now I have to check all my posts, which include timeline!