#so we'll just. go through some stuff and eventually i'll get to the point that even if *all* of my clothes are dirty and on the floor

[dredshirtroberts]

finally tackled the absolute mountain of laundry in various states of cleanliness around my room. now all of it is sorted and put into its respective zones of "away".

[sourbinnie]

☆ hit me where it hurts.mp3 ☆

♡ genre ¿? ♡ -> angst ¡! ♡ pair ¿? ♡ -> hyung line!skz x gn!reader ♡ plot ¿? ♡ -> sometimes things shouldn't be said (or thought) but the words slip right out of his mouth at the worst time. ♡ warnings ¿? ♡ -> arguments ; the boys being a little mean but instantly regretting it ; cursing ♡ request ¿? ♡ -> yes!

maknae line

a/n: first reaction ¡! i decided i would go with the "compares you" part. hope i did it well for yall and to the person who requested it, thank u!!! i'll publish maknae line whenever i'm free:]

chan ✉

arguments could get pretty heated with chan sometimes (he's a libra at the end of the day). it could get stressful since you've been going back & forth for so long now, as you tried to make him understand that he wasn't taking care of himself but it only brought back hurtful words that you were letting it pass under the excuse that he was "too tired". maybe you were too naive at that moment thinking that he would calm down and you guys would solve it like you always do.

then you heard it, he didn't say their name but you could only imagine who he was talking about at that point and time. 

"they would just leave me alone and let me be, why can't you do the same? ah right you're not them and you will never be." he said and horror washed him instantly as they realized what they did. fights were inevitable but you can always keep comments to yourself right? it was just the heat of the moment that made him slip out such cruel words. as soon as you were turning away to leave, he was trying to find his way to you but it was too late anyways. "baby nono, don't leave not right now, it's late and i was fucking stupid. i'm so fucking sorry-."

"i just need some space right now, yeah? i need to be away from you." you said and that only made him worry even more as that's the last thing he wanted right now. "just let me christopher, we'll talk when i get back." 

"don't call me that, i'm still your channie, your boyfriend and i still fucking love you. listen i'm sorry but please don't go." he said close to the tears falling from his eyes and you just shook your head as you grabbed your things and he followed you around the house like a lost puppy. "(y/n) let's work this out yeah? i'll go to the dorms tonight and you'll stay here."

eventually knowing he wouldn't give up, you just nodded as you went to your shared bedroom and sighed. letting the tears finally from your eyes and hearing the door close was enough to let your sobs out from how much those words stung in your heart.

minho ✉ 

fighting with minho wasn't easy. his witty responses and his hurtful comments always stood out like daggers in your heart. he usually didn't fight at all but when he did, most of the time he took it too far and it wasn't easy to forget what he said. as the new comeback approached, you tried your best to be supportive but when you couldn't see them on their first win, it hurt minho. he wanted you to be there, backstage or in the crowd cheering for them but he did not see you anywhere. turns out you were too late, had a "work" emergency, he called bullshit on that.

"i'm sorry min, i'll promise i'll be on the next one. my boss really needed me and-." he cut you off immediately, not wanting to hear it.

"it's fine. it's not like they would miss out on this like you did. maybe i should just get back with them." he muttered and it was enough for you to walk away from him. all the boys were there to talk to him about what just happened and why were you crying but he was completely petrified from your reaction and how you just went away without a word. "god i'm such a fucking idiot." he said as he chased after you through the hallways.

"don't even try talking to me. i get that you're fucking mad but that doesn't give you an excuse to say stuff like that." you said as you still walked away and didn't even look in his direction. minho tried to process what was happening all at once but couldn't bare to see the look in your eyes as the tears were still going down your face.

"please listen to me for a second. it was stupid that i got mad, i should've understood you from the beginning but please stay and i'll make it up to you. i promise." he said and even if it did sound sincere, you just couldn't do it.

"i'm sorry, i think i wanna be alone tonight." you said as you looked at him one last time and kissed his cheek before muttering "goodbye minho" and walking through the door. leaving a distraught and regretful minho behind.

changbin ✉ 

it wasn't rare for you to fight with changbin, what was rare was when he got mad. this time when you were at the studio, making sure 3racha were feeling well and not overworking themselves, you were met with a furious bin. it surprised you, you've never seen him mad and maybe something else was happening that you didn't know or you chose the worst time to visit the studio. whatever it was, it made you feel so small and like you were in a place you did not belong. jisung and chan weren't even there to witness it but you guessed that as soon as they heard, they left you guys alone.

"look i'm sorry. i don't know what i did wrong but that doesn't excuse your attitude and how you're treating me right now!" you said but it wasn't enough to his ears as he gave you the next words.

"god i can never say anything, at least with them they would let me express myself. i should've never broken up with them if i knew i was gonna end up with you." ouch was all that could be said about that as you nodded and felt the water in your eyes grow slowly. "shit- i'm so fucking sorry, i don't know what came over me baby."

he tried to get close to you but you just took a step back and that broke changbin's heart completely. it made him feel like a monster in front of you but he couldn't blame you for that, it was all his fault in the end. when he saw you walk away, as much as he wanted to, he decided not to follow you and let you go. he couldn't describe what he was feeling when he saw you practically run away from the building and not answer for jisung's calls since he was just walking in with chan. 

"what the fuck happened hyung?" jisung asked as he crossed his arms and that's when changbin lost the control of his tears. he wasn't one to usually cry but he was now gonna be haunted with muttering those words to you and what he made you feel in that moment.

"i fucked it up like i always do." he said brokenly.

hyunjin ✉

as much as you loved hyunjin, he got so petty in fights it was irritating. he was the definition of drama queen and he could fight on & on about the tiniest of details. like right now when you just got home and you forgot to do some things in your shared apartment. tiny things like the dishes or the laundry usually didn't piss him off but today when he got home practice and saw, in his words, that the whole house was upside down, he got stressed. 

"look i'm sorry, i forgot to do it and i know you've been busy with practice. i'll do it tomorrow since i get to go home earlier." you tried to explain but he just shook his head and crossed his arms.

"tomorrow? are you serious? they would've done it right here and now and wouldn't be putting up excuses like you're doing." he didn't even have to mention them for you to know who he was talking about. it felt like twisting the knife on the wound as you just looked at him with the most hurtful stare.

"of course they would. they didn't have a job in the first place and relied on you for everything!" you said and laughed bitterly but in a sad way. "if it's my job then it's a problem but with your job there's literally no excuse right? 'cause it's more important. grow up hyunjin." 

"look babe i'm sorry. i don't know what the fuck i was thinking when i said that." he tried to make up an excuse at the moment but he knew nothing would justify what he said and implied with his words. it was met with a sigh from you and it was your turn to shake your head. "i don't think your job is less important and i shouldn't have said what i said-."

"but you said it." you whispered and decided to head to your shared bedroom to lock the door. you needed some time alone not only because of the harsh words but because it made you process your whole relationship in a flashback. 

[gotham-daydreams]

How would it have gone differently if Reader didn't try to be an "overachiever" and instead just stayed quiet and didn't interact with anyone besides Alfred until they left? Their room they left being mostly blank, with only the music journals? Giving up on trying to get their attention.

I think what's so funny about this ask, to me, is that I already have a concept like this written down (along with 3 others since the current reader I'm writing for the "Not [ ]" series is one of them but with a few missing details), so this'll be fun!

I guess it generally goes how you'd expect? Which is different for the most part, but the reader's perspective on what's happening is also different.

Granted, I would like to point out that, at least for this particular concept and the idea I have for it of how this would go, does have more stuff going on pre-Batfam that do affect how they perceive what's happening, and that's what makes things interesting in my opinion. Because someone can be naturally shy or just overall more reserved either out of nature or because they feel a certain way, but still feel bad about being neglected and, despite their lack of effort, feel that pain just as much as someone who's tried. Which is valid! Besides, someone's definition of 'trying' can vary as well.

Everyone should have a chance to have a family, and form some kind of connection with people. Just because you aren't going above and beyond for one person, doesn't mean you're undeserving of certain things. Especially not a chance to have a family, or feel like you have one. That's what I think anyway.

Nevertheless, back to the reader!

From the original concept, I will be tweaking a few things to fit the ask, but the same general outcome remains! Though again, the reader's perspective on things is a tad different. But how about this- I'll show two versions of the reader.

One that's quiet and more reserved because they gave up much earlier, or just generally hopeless really early on because maybe they felt as if anything they'd do just wouldn't be enough, who'll be accurately named Quiet!Reader. With the other being more closely related to the concept I wrote for such an idea, that we'll refer to as Waiting!Reader.

Quiet!Reader would change up things quite a bit! I won't lie!

They might already have bad self-esteem that's quick to develop at the start of things, which is something to note as that doesn't get better with time. They grow more cold and distant from the family at a quicker pace both from personal and external reasons.

Put simply, they don't feel good enough, and even if they did- anything they could do to get the Batfam's attention would never be enough in their eyes. To which, they see very early on when they try to engage and do some things with the family, only to be turned down. What doesn't help is when Quiet!Reader sees Damian get adopted and almost immediately showered with love, (compared to them) and that really cements some ideas that were already developing in their head about the family.

When Damian comes into the picture, they feel replaced. Seeing him as someone to fill in the 'youngest Wayne' role instead of them, so that Bruce and the others actually have someone to acknowledge for such a title. Just someone else to further take away the little they had.

So, they further step out of the way, glaring at the Batfam with tired eyes before that eventually stops too. Envy clawing at their heart, hatred being sent through waves of pain all throughout their body. Hurt unmatched. Yet they still remain invisible. Quiet as ever. Unnoticed. Everything they ever felt dies down, and forms a cold numbness that they begin to associate with the family.

Maybe through that, they feel closer to the family in some twisted way. Now just as cold as them. Just as talkative, and just as engaging. Almost mirroring them, but they're honest about how they feel. Honest about what they think, and therefore better. At least when compared to the Batfam- and to them, even if it wasn't a high bar to reach anyway, at least it counts for something.

It was never Damian's fault, or really about Damian at all. It could've been anyone else and Quiet!Reader would've still reacted the same way, they know that. Though just seeing the Batfam show love and care to him and not them just makes them feel... worse.

Clearly they're capable of love, and can notice new additions to the family (to which they may have mostly believed that the Batfam's neglect was just something the family did for whatever reason, and thought that them being the youngest had something to do with it for a while) and that breaks the reader. It doesn't hurt, not as much as it would've, maybe, but whatever hurt is there dies down quickly as Quiet!Reader, well, quietly accepts their fate.

The Batfam clearly wants nothing to do with them, so why should they try to do all of these things for them? It's simple, they shouldn't. So they don't. Quiet!Reader gives up, and continues to live their life without them.

The Manor just becomes a place they sleep in, and nothing else. It isn't anything close to a home, and not even Alfred can help with that.

It's because of that little fact, however, that Quiet!Reader leaves much sooner than the reader in the "Not [ ]" series. Maybe once they get a friend they can trust, they essentially end up living with said friend, hence why their room remains so empty. The notebooks they even keep in the room they have in the Manor is from when they were way younger, instead of just being from a few months ago or so. We're talking years since Quiet!Reader has touched those things now.

Maybe they do 'officially' leave a month or so before they usually would as an overachiever in the "Not [ ]" series, having only bothered to return so often before because of Alfred. Though even then, they'd forget to return most nights- only being reminded to even try and go back once Alfred would personally call them, and ask them where they were.

However now, after a while of just the time between them basically living with their friend and sleeping at the manor, they stop returning altogether. Though this time around they instead personally go to Alfred to say they're goodbyes. Not explaining much, but just saying that while they might still try to come and visit him sometimes, they don't live in the Manor anymore. Alfred already knows this, and the embrace they share fully hammers in that fact.

Yet when Quiet!Reader turns away, and leaves the Manor for good- even through the front door at that. Alfred can't help but just... miss them already.

You see, while Quiet!Reader is indeed quieter and more reserved, especially towards the Batfam, with Alfred really being the only exception, they still made music.

Maybe they didn't have as many concerts or physical, grand, live performances compared to the reader in the "Not [ ]" series, they not only started earlier, but may have actually started out on a social platform such a youtube. They really started out small, but were able to find and start their passion much earlier!

Most of what they played was when they were in the Manor, but slowly they started to get involved with things music related outside of the Manor and in Gotham- and from there were able to build themselves up even more. Hell, I'd even say that Quiet!Reader is a little more well-known and popular than the reader in the "Not [ ]" series because of the amount of extra time they dedicated to their passion.

So basically, Alfred this time around has more recordings and such of Quiet!Reader actually doing something they love than with the one in the series. However! Funnily enough, they're gone for a shorter amount of time despite having left earlier than normal.

Alfred is just, extra fed up with this nonsense, and so pulls his tricks more early on, but also make them hit harder.

He doesn't clean Quiet!Reader's room to show how long they've been gone, adding onto the emptiness and almost abandoned feeling the room itself gives off because of how bare and empty it is. They're music haunts the halls, subtle, sure, but still noticeable- especially to those who are hyper aware all the time. Pictures of Quiet!Reader and Alfred begin to be hung up, and if he can manage- some with Quiet!Reader and their friends during important parts of their life.

No one is safe from the guilt and anguish Alfred seeks to cause to not only have the Batfam look for you, but most importantly, to finally notice you.

Let's just say, things work out a little too well.

---

As for Waiting!Reader? Oh man, I've been wanting to rant about them for a while!

Unlike the reader in the "Not [ ]" series and Quiet!Reader, Waiting!Reader had some semblance of a life before getting adopted into the Batfam. Though the idea and character themself isn't musically inclined/involved in music, or even all that interested in music for that matter- for the sake of this ask, lets say they are!

I won't dabble too much into the life Waiting!Reader had before the Batfam, as if I do end up writing them I'd also like to keep some details vague (for the sake of leaving it up to interpretation and everything), but just know that during the time they were still with their original family, they were essentially taught that they should 'wait their turn', and eventually their parents would spend time with them and care for them. Hence the little name I've given them.

So! When they get to the Manor and are officially adopted, only to be neglected and ignored during their first few attempts- because of their young age, they immediately think "oh! they're just like mom and dad!" So they 'wait' for 'their turn', believing that eventually, should they wait long enough, they'll be rewarded with bonding and such from the Batfam just as they were with their previous parents.

This mindset changes what they do as well, as Waiting!Reader even goes out of their way to not bother anyone, or "get in the way" of whatever they could be doing. Waiting!Reader treats the situation so much like their previous home life, that sometimes they might even forget that the Batfam are completely different people from their parents. The only real difference that they can think of is that they're not acknowledged at all and it seems like their 'turn' never comes. Though for a while that doesn't get them down. The Batfam is busy like they're parents were! Waiting!Reader is sure that when things die down then they'll have their time.

... Hopefully.

I can imagine that part of the reason why Waiting!Reader holds on to hope for so long is because, again, their own parents constantly reassured them that they would have their time eventually. That if they behaved, and stayed out of the way, then they would go somewhere fun with their parents and essentially be rewarded for their efforts. They were conditioned to wait, to be patient, and just comply until those around them decided to actually take care of them, and spend time with them.

Of course, as they grow up the reality of the situation does hit them eventually, but during that time they do try.

Waiting!Reader helps Alfred around the house, and so they mostly bond over doing chores, among other things. They are also more mindful, and try to keep the amount of noise they back down— so they actually don't play at the Manor all that often, and instead play literally anywhere else. If and when they do play outside, around the area of the Manor like in the gardens or something, they make sure no one is around before even thinking of playing.

Alfred does help them break a few of their habits that they got while living with their parents, but the one thing he can't seem to 'fix' is how absolutely quiet Waiting!Reader is when they walk around. Which, as on can imagine, doesn't exactly help in a situation where the whole family, except for the butler, is neglecting you.

The amount of times Waiting!Reader has caught Alfred off guard is more then you'd think for someone that works with the Dark Knight, and his various sidekicks and such, over the years. Which does say something, sure, but it's also funny!

Regardless, similar to Quiet!Reader, Waiting!Reader is able to start their musical career earlier than normal, and thuse becomes a little more popular than they would originally. However, they're more known for their live performances and giving back to the community. Seemingly just like Bruce as they attend charity event after charity event, and try to do good by the people.

Waiting!Reader also does genuinely try to become a vigilante as well, but they do so in a way where they only take care of the smaller/medium guys, and leave the bigger ones to the rest of the Batfam. This is because they want to remove possible distractions for their family, and while they would try to take on "bigger guys", they don't think they're skilled enough or experienced enough to even think about it. So they don't even try. (They also don't have the same theme as the Batfam- since they don't want to 'ruin' their reputation with what they're doing or something. Which does hell them further detach themself from the family later on.)

I'd say that with Waiting!Reader, the difference between them and the Batfam is more clear to them? Like, to them, the Batfam are just so good at what they do that they have no hope of reaching them. So instead of trying to reach for them, they just do their own thing and try to help in their own way.

Because Waiting!Reader takes care of smaller guys, they are kind of closer to Waiting!Reader as a vigilante.

The best way I can put it is that while the community trusts Batman and the members of the Batfam to save their city, they trust Waiting!Reader to save their homes.

So basically- Batfam is the bigger picture while Waiting!Reader focuses on the smaller picture.

Nevertheless! Also like Quiet!Reader, Waiting!Reader actually leaves earlier. Except when they leave, they leave.

Waiting!Reader straight up leaves Gotham City to attend the college that they want to go to, in an area that has more opportunity for them, that isn't close to where the Batfam lives or patrols.

So they not only leave earlier, but it also takes the Batfam longer to find them. Especially because Waiting!Reader does still do some things in Gotham, they just don't live there anymore.

I feel like out of all three readers, Waiting!Reader definitely feels like the kind of person that someone would assume is some kind of "Phantom of the Wayne Manor," y'know?

So Alfred definitely tries to make the Batfam feel bad like he does with Quiet!Reader. Except how anyone in the Batfam is reminded that Waiting!Reader even exists, and that they've been gone for a while now is through a letter that is accidentally sent to the Wayne Manor from one of Waiting!Reader's fans. From there, some research does start and the more the Batfam learns, the more they want to go and find the reader- you know the deal.

I hope this answered your question even if I really did ramble on this time- if you'd like me to clarify anything or go into more detail on a specific part, feel free to send in an ask!

[bangchansgirlsblog]

Baby bump?

-Hyunjin

Warnings: fluff, pregnancy?😂

Pairing: Hyunjin x reader

Summary: he travels to Greece and comes home to a surprise

!not proofread!

This is a quick little story because I’m working on requests lol🩷

**

I quickly run up to my bathroom and throw up the lunch I just had ate. Felix quickly follows behind me and hold up my hair.

"Your gonna have to tell him eventually." He says. I let out a whining sound before I was interrupted with vomit.

"I don't want too" I cry while flushing the toilet and getting up to brush my teeth.

"He's coming back home today, his gonna be suspicious." Felix reasons with me.

"I know but I haven't even taken a pregnancy test yet." I sigh as we walk back into the living room where the other boys were playing the ps.

"Should we go grab one right now? I'll come with you." I smile and give him a hug.

"I would love too" Felix was my bestfriend, all the boys were but me and him were just different. We understood eachother we told eachother everything.

"Guys we're quickly going to the store to get something." He tells the guys.

"Grab us some sodas!" Chan calls and we make a mental note before getting it or he car and driving to the stores.

Hyunjin had left a few days ago to Greece for a Versace fashion show and I had been throwing up. Only Felix knew this because he caught me one time and asked me what was wrong. After doing some research we found out that i could be pregnant. My worst fear. I was so terrified that I decided I would rather not know but what if I actually was and one day a baby just pops out of my virgina. Crazy right?

I finally gave in when Felix convinced me to take a test but I had been so busy with my classes and training that I didn't have time but now that we had a day off and Hyunjin was coming back I had to do it now or never.

"What about these ones?" Felix points at the digital pregnancy test and I just nod.

"Hey it'll be okay. If you really are pregnant we'll or raise him or her and turn her into a stay warrior,"

I let out a laugh and poke him on the side.

"As if" I scoff "I would never let them listen to y'all"

"That's offensive!" He gasps.

"Whatever major loser" I tease him and he pokes his tongue out.

"Come on let's pay." He grabs my hand and we walk to the counter where the lady stares at us weirdly. Great.

My phone buzzes and I quickly look at it:

Babe❤️

Hey baby, just got home but the boys said you went to the store with Felix. You okay?

I sigh. I couldn't say 'oh welcome home btw I may be pregnant surprise!' That would be crazy. Instead I just sent a simple text saying we would be home in five and indeed we were home in 5.

I walk through the door and up to Hyunjin room where I walk in. He was drying his hair meaning he had just come out the shower.

"Baby!" He squeals and hugs me tight.

"I missed you Jin!" I squeal and he chuckles. "How are you? How was your trip? Come on you have to tell me everything!" I pull him over to the bed and we sit down.

"Wait before that look what I got you!" He pulled out a bag from his suitcase and hands it to me.

"I told you not to get me anything" I roll y eyes but open it anyway.

"I had to get my girl something! I was in Greece don't blame me." He pulls me onto his lap and I open the the little box where I see a locket made of gold.

I gasp and look at him.

"Hyunjin..."

"Look it even has out names engraved and when you open it, it has pictures of us together." My heart starts to beat faster and I feel tears prick my eyes.

"I love it so much babe, I love you so much" I put it down and hug him giving him so many kisses causing him to laugh but thats when it hit me. I hadn't told him about the pregnancy stuff. I didn't know how he would react. I didn't want to ruin this moment. What if he freaks out?

"Babe are you okay?" He asks looking at me a bit worried.

"Yes yes, I'm just so lucky to have you in my life Hyunjin."

"And I'm so lucky to have you Y/n" he kisses my cheek and helps me put the necklace on.

I run downstairs to show it off to the boys and he just stood by the kitchen door watching and laughing at how excited I was about it. Showing it off.

"I'm gonna grab some food, do y'all want anything."

We all said a quick no and continued admiring the necklace.

He walks into the kitchen and a few moments later I hear a something fall and crash.

"Hyunjin?" I call but no response. I walk over to the kitchen to check on him and that's when I find the most scary sight (well at the moment) he was holding the bag with pregnancy tests.

"Uh..."

"Y/n..." he slowly looks up at me "why are there pregnancy test in a bag, by your keys and wallet?" He asks slowly.

"Well you see.."

"Don't lie to me y/n,"

"Fine.. I was gonna tell you I really was but then you were so happy and I didnt want to ruin our moment and you've been gone and it's just so scary," I rant and feel tears in my eyes.

"Hey babe, it's okay. Don't cry. I've got you" he pulls me towards his chest and let out a sob.

"What if I am Hyunjin, my career is over."

"Well we'll figure it out, I promise. Do you wanna go test right now?"

"Hyunjin.." I sob again and he tightens his grip around me.

"Hey it's okay, I'm right here with you." He assures me and kisses my forehead.

"Okay I'll do it." I wipe my tears and he holds my hand as we walk to his room.

"I'll be right outside I promise." He gives me a kiss and I quickly go into the bathroom and take the test.

I come back outside and sit on the bed with Hyunjin as we wait for the 5 minutes. Longest 5 minutes of my life.  He kept assuring me that everything was going to be okay but I could sense that even he was nervous. My stomach was churning and the alarm clock did not make it any better.

"You ready?" He asks as he holds the test in his hand.

"Just do it." I sigh and he turns the test. His reaction was blank.

"W-hat is it?" I asked scared.

"Negative babe." He says.

I swear to God I wanted to jump up and down. It felt like all the weight in the work was lifted off my shoulders.

"Oh thank God." I let out a relieved sigh and he chuckles.

"In my opinion you would look good carrying my baby." He says and kisses me.

"One day babe, one day." I smile.

**

[poppystheories]

An Eye Theory

There's been a lot of debate, over the years, about whether Mana ever loved "Allen".

In the flashback, we clearly see Mana is a compassionate man who wanted to help a kid in a bad situation; in his final moments as himself, he wanted to take Red away from the circus with him. He wanted them to leave together. But that was compassion, not love.

And then Apocryphos used Red's Innocence to shatter his mind. After that, it's very much a question of if Mana was even capable of loving "Allen", as mentally unstable as he was. From what we've seen, he was very affectionate, and though he got Allen the dog and Red the kid mixed up, he eventually went on to introduce "Allen" to the symbols. You don't try to teach a dog to read your secret code. He understood "Allen" was a person, but more than that, we don't really know.

But the soul the Earl excised out of himself and had Allen put into an Akuma did some stuff that doesn't line up with it being the soul of a completely clueless man.

If we go on the assumption that the Earl was trying to rid Mana of any inconvenient memories through this process, we can assume Akuma!Mana is a conglomerate of just more than "Mana Walker". My best guess is that when the Earl excised Akuma!Mana, the memories he was trying to get rid of included stuff that re-stabilized Mana Walker, including knowledge of what actually happened when he met Red. If we consider that as a possibility, a lot of other things become more explicable.

First: If he remembered their first meeting, Akuma!Mana could know that "Allen" was an accomodator with an already activated Innocence capable of combat, perfectly able to destroy a level 0. He also would know “Allen” was fated to be an exorcist, and the threat that Akuma therefore pose.

Second: Akuma!Mana could have gained access to some of the original Mana's knowledge, including stuff about the Earl, Akuma, and souls.

Akuma!Mana said the usual Akuma stuff, and did the usual Akuma stuff, which Akuma cannot seem to help. But Akuma!Mana also did more than that: the "I'll curse you!" wasn't just bluster. He actually did manage to "curse" Allen, which the Earl clearly didn't know about. The Earl must not have thought the Akuma even capable of it, so he certainly wasn't making the Akuma do that specifically.

Mana couldn't control all the instincts of the Akuma, but he could use them to his own advantage.

As evidence, we gotta go on a bit of a tangent:

In the second volume, Hoshino mentions a play that inspired Lala and Gozul. The play goes like this: Old servant falls in love with high-class young lady. She plays with his feelings and he dies. As a vengeful spirit, he decides to curse her. But in the end, he changes his mind, and decides that as a spirit, he'd rather protect her instead, so long as she promises to remember him.

I've seen people dismiss this play in the analysis of DGM before, because let's be real, the premise here is kinda creepy. And it doesn't seem to actually have much to do with Lala and Gozul besides the aesthetic of "old man" and "beautiful maiden".

But the concept of a vengeful spirit saying they'll curse someone they once loved, only to overcome their negative feelings and decide to protect that person instead is present in the story, in a pair of characters the deliberately parallel Lala and Gozul.

Or maybe even more than one pair of characters that parallel Lala and Gozul.

We'll be focusing on Mana and Allen for now though.

I pointed out before that Akuma!Mana didn't need prompting by the Earl to attack, unlike Claire. I think Mana was using the programming of the Akuma to his advantage; if he attacked, he could place the anchor (the star) he'll need on Allen's face without the Earl finding his actions suspicious, and Allen's Innocence would activate to protect Allen, destroying the Akuma shell and freeing his soul to latch on to that anchor.

This gave Allen the ability to see souls, probably because it was Mana's power originally, ensuring Allen would be protected in the future. Thanks to this ability, most of the risk of being ambushed as an exorcist is minimized, so Allen’s career as an exorcist would be relatively safer.

Mana was the "vengeful spirit" (aka Akuma) that decided to become a guardian spirit of someone he loved instead, just like in the play. Allen is "younger loved one" that, in exchange for that protection, must carry Mana's memory.

But it's not just Mana's memory Allen carries, but Nea's too. Nea's also a spirit haunting a loved one, but he hasn't decided whether he wants to destroy or protect yet.

Of course, there’s no guarantee any of this is true. I might be completely off base here. But it’s my current theory, and I’m gonna roll with it, because it does explain a lot of things.

And, most importantly, means Akuma!Mana did mean it when he said he loved “Allen”.

[waitingongravity]

Alright, so. So there's PLENTY of unfinished business in the Abyssal Hunter storylines.

Let's look at what we know of already and what that could mean:

First off, the stuff that has already been established in previous events: There were three big leaders in the Church of the Deep: Quintus, Amaia, and some other dude who has only been referred to as Him. This Him is acquainted with Specter during her time as an experiment subject. We can pretty safely assume that much like Quintus and Amaia, He will be the one orchestrating the events of next uhhh... event. Besides that, we have Ulpianus and the Last Knight. Those two swam off into the sunset at the end of Stultifera Navis, and we can only assume that they are still hunting seaborn to this point. The curious thing with the Last Knight is that we got to see him plenty in IS3. We know he's a powerful piece of work, and that in true Don Quixote fashion he is unreasonable with. The real question for me is what the hell he's going to do in a world where Ishra-Mla hasn't taken over yet. Will he be more helpful? Proooobably not. Speaking of: ISHRA-MLA. I've seen a lot of speculation over whether Skalter is fully non-canon to the main timeline, or if she is merely an eventuality. Skadi's condition is not looking good, and we haven't really been presented with any possible solutions. Specter is fighting off infection and insanity through her seaborn blood, but Skadi's issue is seaborn in nature. That being said, I'd like to stay optimistic. Skadi's arc has been an upwards one, even if it's only slightly. I'd like to believe that the difference between IS3's timelines and the Canon is that Skadi had more time to grow stronger mentally and emotionally to resist the pull of Ishra-Mla. Or at least stall long enough to find a solution. Of course, this transformation is also affecting Specter and Gladiia. Much like oripathy, they may be doomed, but maybe there's hope for a comfortable life.

AEgir is a nation we know next to nothing about since they're all the way in the Water. An unknown settlement of AEgir was spotted right under the Stultifera, and we know Ulpianus preventing the Hunters' return to AEgir is one of the reasons why the fish apocalypse didn't happen. Whether that is just proximity to the ocean or something in AEgir itself, I think we'll be diving out of Iberia and into that AEgir colony. I doubt we'll go into AEgir proper, but that doesn't mean AEgir won't send its own people out. Okay, now for the operators relevant to all this: The obvious one is Andreana, our lonely cuttlefish. She is essentially a cheap walmart knock-off Abyssal Hunter, so many think that she'd be getting an Alter or some story focus as she goes full fledged (full scaled? Whatever.) While I see that as a possibility, a lot of Andreana's character is just NOT CARING about any of that. She outright rejects the opportunity from Kal'tsit to learn more, and wants to leave her mysterious past behind her. Honestly, I can respect it. My guess is that Andreana might get involved but stay out of it, unless someone (like her employer Incandescence who we've yet to see in-game) gives her a reason to care.

So who else do we have involved in this? Well, Deepcolor is pretty sus, and the only other AEgir operator besides Skalter. I'll be honest, I always thought she was up to no good. Do NOT trust her >:I. There's also the chance she's some loose AEgir agent or something that lost contact after the Great Silence. But I still don't trust. Here's the sleeper pick: Blue Poison! The curious thing about Anura, besides how cute they are, is that they were enslaved by AEgir and brought to Iberia in hopes that their toxins could be a new weapon against the seaborn. This puts Bloopy in an interesting position as both someone with a vested interest. Hell, she could truly be the secret weapon in the event.

With all this in mind, here's my idea for what the event could/should be. Ulpianus can be the new 6 star, whatever he's a loser I don't care about him. More importantly, BLOOPY ALTER as a limited unit. That's right, Andreana can keep her gun, we all know she loves that thing more than anything. Let Bloopy be the first 6 star Arts Defender or something! Or a new Fighter since we know she boxes. I dunno, just make her busted so I can feel vindicated in my love for her. and finally, 5 star... I dunno, some AEgir girl from the settlement under the Stultifera. Give me a manta ray girl! Flat friend. Or angler fish? Hmmmm. As far as the plot, I think it'll be a two-pronged threat. On one end, He and the rest of the Church of the Deep implement a final plan, either relying on the super advanced tech AEgir have, or simply being the culmination of the evolution which has been a running theme for these events. Under Tides saw the seaborn evolve to talk, Stultifera Navis saw them evolve to be incredibly powerful and adaptive. Who knows what we'll see next? As for the AEgir settlement's conflict, I think we could see a next step in the other relevant issue in Iberia: the persecution of the AEgir peoples and the role of the Inquisition in the fight against the sea. I doubt the settlement will be safe for long, so perhaps over the course of the story we will see them integrated into Iberia, and offer their own tech/abilities in exchange for a stronger frontline. Of course, all this is assuming that the settlement isn't just an long-abandoned ruin. I'd also like it if the Doctor actually got involved in this event. Kal'tsit is a given of course, but I think the Doctor's presence might be appropriate for the conclusion of this trilogy. Much how like Lone Trail concluded the story started by Mansfield and Dorothy's Vision, there might be big story turning points at the end of this. And given the forces involved? This wouldn't be surprising. Anyways this was a super disorganized ramble I typed mid-ttrpg session so I'm sure I missed a lot or messed stuff up. I'd love to hear any more speculations, this stuff is very fun to think about.

[cease-your-release]

They're Lucky to Have You

While on your lunch break, you see a familiar face. Mark Hoffman is the detective responsible for solving the murders that, unbeknownst to him, you're the one doing. (810)

Hello! This is the first chapter in a series, but since I'm horrible at slow burn, we'll have a bit of buildup and then pretty much blast right into a relationship, then have more buildup to the next steps. I may go back and add more stuff in between chapters when it's done, but hopefully y'all are okay with a fast burn instead! Also, for future chapter reference, the reader is mostly gender neutral, but is described as having wider hips, wears a dress at one point, and there are a handful of mentions of dysphoria. I'll be honest and say this series is rather self-indulgent, so may not be for everyone.

Part 1 of "Conundrum of Carnage" Part 2

Also on A03!

You find yourself sitting on a short cement ledge outside of your usual coffee shop on break, halfway between full consciousness and spacing out while looking off into the distance. In your partially-aware state, you swear you notice an oddly familiar face standing just a few feet away, though you can’t place why. After a few seconds, you still haven’t realized that you’re staring at him.

The man looks at you through the corner of his eye a few times, and eventually turns to you with a raised eyebrow. His long black coat sways a little in the subtle breeze of New Jersey’s Autumnal streets. “... Did you need something?” 

You blink a few times in response to the sudden call out, then quickly avert your gaze back to whatever’s in front of you. “Nothing.” You say with a slight shrug, furrowing your brows. “I thought I might’ve seen you somewhere before, is all.”

He stares at you with some suspicion on his face for a few seconds, his eyes analyzing you before he speaks again.  “I don’t think we’ve met." He says as he steps closer, his gaze narrowed. You also seem familiar to him, some part of his mind far back getting a sense of déjà vu from the sight of your face, the sound of your voice.

“Obviously not..” You mutter, glancing at how he’s getting closer through the corner of your eye. There’s something about his walk, the sound of leather shoes on pavement…. Then, you turn to him.  “You’re with the police, aren’t you? You must’ve been at my work when all those cops showed up to ask about those… um, murders.”

“Oh, was that you? I think I remember now.” he says, stopping his approach just about a foot away from you. “You work at that vet clinic, right?” he says, his tone lowering slightly as he speaks the last few words.

You nod, the day flooding back at the confirmation. His name is Hoffman, if your memory serves you correctly. Mark Hoffman, right?  “I’m a tech there, yeah.” you answer, eyes then falling to look him up and down. “Still sorry we couldn’t be of any help. It’s a shame, all those poor animals left without an owner.." You say, which to any regular person would be a bit odd, to mention the pets but not the people.

Mark raises an eyebrow at the comment about the pets, his expression remaining stoic as he processes what you have just said. “Yeah, really is,” he says, with his usual blank expression and tone, “Say, how long have you worked there?”

“Oh, god, it must’ve been.. five years now?” You say thoughtfully, lifting your hand to rest on your cheek as you consider it. “And then those incidents started happening only earlier this year.. I damn near quit out of fear, I’ll tell you what.” You remark with a slight laugh at the end.

He listens intently to your reply, thinking over the information you’ve just given him.  “Why didn’t you?” His voice lowers as he speaks his next line, his stance shifting slightly, tilting his head while he eyes you.

“Well, you know how the job market is right now.” You relent with a sigh, shaking your head. “Besides, they gave everyone a pay raise when the news broke. I guess it was to try and stop people from leaving, and it worked for the most part.”

“So you stuck around for a raise? Sounds like you think the risk is worth the reward.” Hoffman lets out a dry laugh as he leans back on his heels, his eyes continuing to study you, like they’re searching for something. “Then again, why are you guys even still open at all?” he says, “I mean I would’ve never stepped foot in there again after something like that happened.”

You turn your gaze back up to him, your expression as genuine as your voice when you speak. “We’re the only veterinary office for miles, we can’t just close.” You respond, furrowing your brows a bit. “People, and their animals, need us. You of all people should know what that’s like. Right, detective?”

“Yes, I do.”  He nods, and the tense atmosphere that was filling the air dissipates slightly.  “You’re right. People need their vets, and if you are one who has devoted themselves to saving their pets then they’re lucky to have you.”  He replies, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well.. thank you.” You say in response, almost hesitant or unsure as you speak.  Just then, you get a text from your phone. He watches your expression change. “Ah, I have to get going. It was, um… nice talking to you?”

He shifts his weight, putting his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, you too,” Mark says, nodding once and giving a small, slightly forced smile, “Drive safe.”

[probablybadrpgideas]

Didn't know y'all did anything with DCC so I kinda wanna see what your opinion is on this campaign I'm in.

There's a guy we'll call him L, he and I were the only two players for the first two times we met up, and this week we finally got a third player. L has been very aggressively bullrushing every confrontation, completely ignoring everything in his path... And it got our entire party WIPED OUT (I was running 7 characters at once, him 4) session 1 and ushered in an age of chaos. Session 2 was building first levels, and he was constantly trying to dictate what I was going to build and play. The party wipe was devastating to me bc I had started to grow an attachment to one of my lawfuls, and unnecessary and L made no move to stop anything at any point. I assumed initially he was just frozen up on the spot.

Then session 3 happened (first one with the 1st levels we built) and I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. We were sent by the Chaos Gods to the realm of Law to steal the Yokeless egg and he was very much avoidant of any of the plot, including avoiding our DM in the storefront when they were supposed to be having their one on one for The Plot.

We get to the Ox defending the Yokeless Egg and he was running the ONLY lawful character, and he'd had some good meta this session for how he would react to things. This time he literally did nothing while me and the third player (both chaotic alignments) were attempting to figure shit out against the Ox to avoid combat. I went as far as to have my second character (neutral aligned) was elbowing his in the ribs and eventually even pushed L's character to the front to force him to interact with the Ox.

For nearly two whole minutes he sat in complete and utter silence as the Ox began to sniff out the chaos weapons we'd been issued, and didn't act again until combat began. It was PAINFUL bc our DM literally told us ahead of time that most monsters we'd face in the Law realm would kill us easily, so I'd tried to impart that we'd avoid conflict as much as possible.

My question for y'all is like, is this normal etiquette with players in a party? I had played 5e before this and have never experienced someone that acted like that, and if they acted similarly it was usually due to social dynamics or autistic stuff. I had given benefit of the doubt first session, but after this session I'm no longer believing he didn't act this way on purpose. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) has any takes on this situation, is this normal, how the FUCK do you play when someone in your party seems hellbent on combat and ONLY combat.

Also wondering if you have any advice for like, how to actually get this guy to stop Leroy Jenkinsing his way through each and every single dungeon. He has not stopped to examine anything even once and it was the reason our first party got wiped (we needed 500gp worth of items to toss to the Leviathan or a still-beating heart and he chose to start chopping at it instead).

I apologize for the length and density of this ask and appreciate any advice anyone has to give me. I'm at the point where if this party wipes out again I will be quitting.

(sidenote: I've been in this campaign and it's one of my favourites)

This players sounds like a dick. DCC is high-stakes and you need to be able to work as a party to survive, but it sounds like he basically got you killed due to main character syndrome and learned no lessons.

Advice-wise I'd have a talk and make sure he actually understands how TTRPGs and specifically DCC work, which will presumably either lead to "sorry, didn't realise this wasn't fun for everyone else, I'll do better", or deciding he shouldn't be in the group. I'd also have a chat with your GM before that, because there's every chance they enjoy it even if you don't (and it's very much not the recommended approach).

But yeah this is not the kind of gameplay DCC is designed for at all, and your characters are clearly suffering for it - Paper

[wasyago]

some rambles about gillion trans headcanons and other stuff

im realizing that i write these posts because i have no one to talk about riptide with, so this is like a monolog that is meant to be a dialog? sort of? the point is, the thought process is unpredictable and this is just everything that goes through my head and not like a structural point or anything and some things are random and not uhhh pretty(?). i dont even know why im writing these disclaimers, no one cares probably?

anyway. so, if gillion was a trans man, how would that work?

did he know from the young age, before the elders even, that he was a boy? was it just an obvious thing for him and his family? was he loved and accepted? and when the elders took him away, did they accept him as well? did they even see him for a kid/a person he was, or did they only think about the prophecy and didn't care what gender The One was? when gillion got older, did he get his top surgery inside the walls of the palace without anyone questioning him or looking down upon? or did he have to sneak out? probably definitely not sneak out, im not sure gillion ever left the palace or seen the world outside much. did he even get top surgery?

that's an interesting question to me actually, because if tritons (in this campaign at least) hatch from eggs, do females even have bigger boobs? technically no, right? do they even have boobs? i mean, they do have chest muscles and stuff, but do they have nipples? the one time i drew gill without a shirt i didn't draw him any, so im gonna say "no" for now. sorry im huge bore when it comes to these types of questions, i don't even know why actually... is it weird?

uhh what was i talking about... so i guess yeah, if female and male tritons don't have that different of a body structure, gillion probably didn't even need a top surgery to begin with. and maybe he didn't experience much in terms of dysphoria, which honestly? good for him, he had enough going on already...

but if gillion wasn't trans before the elders? if he was fine with his gender, he was only five after all, he had better fiveyearold things to worry about. what happened after he was taken away? was it his own realization, just at an older age?

or was it forced on him by the elders? (its definitely a darker concept and would be out of character for the elders, but as an alternative universe I think its interesting as well). because "the chosen one", the hero of the prophecy, the one who will decide the fate of the world and who will protect the undersea, in the eyes of the elders could've only be a man (if they were misogynistic). and when they come to this family and they see a 5 y.o. girl, what can they feel except disappointment? they will try anyway though, because what are they supposed to do? and if they need a man for a prophecy they will get him one way or another...

again, a darker concept, and i think i like it like an au better than a headcanon for the main campaign. because it's ooc and brings up slightly different topics from the original.

at the end i think i wont headcanon gill as trans? (although who knows, maybe I'll come around eventually, we'll see) maybe as nonbinary or a secret third thing though. gillion to me doesn't feel like a "man" man, his gender is "a guy" i don't know how to explain it hdgsbbs (maybe im just projecting idk o_o)

I love it when people hc him as trans tho, its very sweet!!!!!!! and i believe he does have the top surgery scars in the official art? so like, pop off king lets go???? (actually i just checked and no he doesn't, but im gonna think he does anyway)

im a little scared to re read this post and i think i'll delete it later probably, but uhhh yeah... again, just rambling and thinking out loud (not out loud but you get what i mean. writing all this down or drawing something really helps me to think and figure things out, so that's why)

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #1 v3

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

This post was last updated 08/03/2024.

Take it all in.

Treasure it for all that it is.

Because you will never see this hairstyle this clearly on Crowley ever again, not even from different angles...unless there's a treat waiting for us in season 3. But otherwise, no, that's all we get of this gorgeous, gorgeous shot.

...

Sideburn Check

Before we see Crowley pull that newspaper down, we are given a profile view of his right side of his face and can see his right sideburn. This sideburn looks short but is a little longer than the shortness we'll eventually see is the intended shortness after driving the car for a long enough time.

Let's take a look:

Wow, that is really hard to tell, but I'm still going to go with thinking it is little longer.

So, why is it a little longer in this human space that is the park?

Theoretically, it's a combination of factors that add up to Crowley making that newspaper his own personal door to manage his own personal space. I'll cover that more in the Earthly Objects section. It might also help that this human space is a more familiar one to him.

Two characters are going to show up, at different times, and there will be no interaction from him to them until he has deliberately pulled the newspaper down from his face. That is to say, he passes through his designated threshold to talk to them.

Once the newspaper goes down, we'll see the sideburns some more. They will look similar in length. It's hard to be sure due to the angles and expressions on his face.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

In our initial view of Crowley, we can't see the streak. Once the newspaper goes down, it will become evident. That means we have to be suspicious of the fact that we didn't get to see it at the start of the scene because this story lies. Repeatedly. Something is amiss with its chronology. There is possibly a book somewhere in here and a lot of games messing with our heads.

There is a weird blocking and blurring thing happening all the time in GO2, and it's really overt in this scene. Basically, Crowley's right profile view from the side of the bench is going to just keep being blurry, so that we still can't really see the streak in those particular shots.

Otherwise, on the more clear front or other angled shots, it's more clear the brighter red streak is there.

Hairstyle Changes

Crowley's hairstyle changes frequently during GO2. It will even change in really subtle ways during scenes, such that I simply cannot catch every style. The style when Crowley pulls down the newspaper for the first time is actually something like in between the first shot we see with the profile view and then another shot after it when Shax arrives. You probably won't catch that if you aren't trying. I missed it when I was first studying this stuff some months ago.

Far more subtle, and admittedly iffy—I could just be seeing what I want to see—but to me, it looks like the initial right profile shot has a more obvious gradient. The hair towards the bottom matches his season 1 color better and gets brighter up until the top. The after-pushing-newspaper-down style has a gradient, but there is even less of the season 1 color on the bottom area, as if the hair itself is transforming into its new season 2 state. Here's a comparison view if you wish to decide for yourself:

Here's the original collection I made from this scene before realizing the first style at least is different:

Now with streaks indicators too:

So with all of the above in mind, I reached the following conclusions back when first trying to figure out the hair generally...

(1) Crowley's hair is now a brighter red than season 1, including season 1 present day and season 1 flashbacks.

(2) There is yet an even brighter, more saturated, streak of red hair above his left eye.

(3) His sideburns are longer than they were in season 1. At this point, we have no comparison to season 2 present day, but they are going to get both longer and shorter than what is seen here in this same episode.

(4) In this scene, the hair is lighter and more saturated on his left side; it is darker on his right side. For episode 1 at least, in my past notes, that was standard for most of it.

(5) I can't tell you what the top style is telling us about Crowley's mood, but it does seem to do that, at least sometimes. I'll point out if I think I notice it at times later.

(6) The left sideburn does not have as much hair as the right sideburn. Just as the color of the hair is lighter on the left, it seems the left sideburn is supposed to be "lighter" than the right through that way. That seems to be the more frequent way these things work, but it does sometimes switch.

...

Earthly Objects

For Earthly Objects, one of the reasons "earthly" is specified in the name of the game is touches can depend on how an object is used on Earth, instead of just limiting things to tangible objects and physical touches. For example, looking through a window is an earthly object touch because people look through windows to see things on Earth.

Next, I am going to talk about pockets, so this part is going to get ridiculous. You might want to skip down to the next "..." if my saying the newspaper is like a personal little door for Crowley was enough. My understanding of pockets is limited, but I'll share that limited understanding nonetheless.

Before we get to a lovely right profile view of Crowley, there's lens flare rainbow stuff!

Pockets love rainbows combined with Crowley. We can blame Elvis Presley and his song, "A Pocketful of Rainbows". The most noticeable and seemingly official rainbow, in my opinion, is the one right before Crowley himself appears in the cut. I have indeed, checked frame by frame, to see that technically it has not fully disappeared once Crowley himself is visible. It's really close though!

Okay, back to when we get a closer view of Crowley on his initial profile view.

Crowley has his back to the bench. He has his elbow on the arm rest. He has his line of sight directed at the newspaper as if reading it. Those are 3 possible earthly object touches right there. Crowley is holding the back of the newspaper with only two visible fingers. They are the index finger and the middle finger. Only the index finger is showing its tip. That's not enough to receive credit for touching the newspaper physically as an earthly object yet. He'll get that later, when he wants it done. The other two partly visible fingers on the front are probably significant as well.

For the record, I do not like talking about the pockets as frequently or to the extent that I do. I talk about them because I've noticed they are important. They irk me because they are the hardest part of these games for me, at the present moment. I am downright incapable of solving The Pocket Trick to my own satisfaction. A key mechanic in that Trick is the use of word play. Another is to use one's imagination.

One of the first things to know here about Crowley's super advanced play in Earthly Objects and pockets is that his tie strands are connected to his hands because they are his Tied Hands. It's actually really funny when it sinks in, but it does make the game so, so hard. These silly cute Tied Hands have thumbs. The thumbs are the tassels, so the tips of those tassels are the thumb tips.

Thumb tips matter for Door Mode.

Due to Crowley's posture, there is a pocket between his right arm and the bench itself. His right jacket sleeve is open enough that there is yet another evident pocket existing between his shirt sleeve and his jacket sleeve. This pocket is the key one of interest to me because the newspaper touches it. Even so, there is still another pocket formed between the newspaper, Crowley's right hand, and his clothing that the newspaper touches so long as a breeze isn't messing with it.

Those tassel tips I mentioned earlier...are on his pants. That's why I'm spending so much time on this part by the way. There's some metal thing sticking out that only ever sticks out here touching the vest. The belt is his Belt Head, which the vest does like to touch at other times. So, if this metal is somehow the buckle from the belt—since I can't see it being the tie or anything else, that's probably supposed to be its "tongue" while the other visible part of the snake on the belt is pocketed between the vest tips.

Update 08/03/2024: After going over this scene thoroughly months later, I can now see this metal thing is probably the lower metal part of the clasp for this strand. It's so hard to tell with the lighting and the tassel sticking out from it. The tassel could be bunched together then hidden behind the vest, then peeking out again. Here is a color-coded image of this possibility:

The red would be the metal parts of the clasp. The green would be the tassel. The black is the vest near this area. The part between the red that is not color-coded is some small extra part that connects these metal parts. I've also lowered the opacity on the overall screenshot. The color-coded parts are layered over it. I'm honestly still not sure this setup is exactly as I speculate; it just seems the more likely scenario at this point, after months of studying these scenes. For reference, here is another image of what the clasps and tassels look like from the front as I tried to figure out the possibility with lighting and angles.

End update.

Based on how the game plays itself, the Belt Head is helping the Tied Hands in ways beyond my comprehension, so Crowley can take advantage of pockets. What? Do they need belt assistance to be tied because he's sitting down and the watch is not on screen? Somewhere in here is Door Mode on the clothing, channeling its way through pocket imagination powers, so that all of the apparel can work together and give Crowley his newspaper door.

Apparently, this method requires the watch to not be visibly on screen for now. I really want to know what the watch's job is for silly pocket mechanics.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Check out the self-made pocket of hair since we have an active Belt Head messing with things:

Yeah, sure, could be nothing, but The Pocket Trick is really, really intentional about these types of things, and even though this scene is not one of the touches in The Pocket Trick, pockets are still relevant. I mainly suspect such things because of those tassel tips.

Even some of his hair is pocketing the collar of his jacket. The profile shot is so precise, none of the left part of his sunglasses can be seen.

While we're at it, Crowley's sitting really still. He'll be standing really still later in episode 6 with a more obvious pocket touch for The Door Trick. Said Trick is another big part of why I'm noting so much about the pockets by the way. It also has a self-made pocket of hair visible in the first cut.

Update 08/03/2024: I have gone over this scene cut by cut with a long list of what to look for in my attempt to figure out how retying works. Because of how I progress in the puzzles over time and for simplicity's sake, I am not going to give every painstaking detail here. I will say that if my notes are correct, the tying sequence goes something like the following. The Tied Hands are tied 8 times during this entire scene. They also switch which hand they are connected to 3 of those times. He uses reflection connections and Shax's lapels to make these switches. More can be found in visual form here: Park Reflections. I have long suspected retying is required for crossing every threshold but been unable to recognize them because one of its key clues is a "joint" or a "hinge". The obvious such key is the one I've looked for of a metal part of a clasp striking a lapel edge. Well, it doesn't have to be just that. An actual thumb joint, especially Crowley's left thumb CMC joint, can accomplish this same task. For instance, here at the park, the left thumb CMC joint presumably qualifies as at the edge of the newspaper in the opening back shot of Crowley. Even though it's not clear at first glance due to the distance, I can take in numerous other clues of the scene, such as the large reflections in the lake and the rainbow that tying is already done. If I zoom, I can then find the face of the watch and a very good guess at where the left thumb CMC joint is. I still can't confirm retying happens for crossing every threshold, but current studies suggest it is likely or will have some further puzzles where I'm supposed to figure out the method in use or why it might be exempt. The below notes will remark on things I noticed about the tying, the connections, and the reflections, without quite getting the full process in motion because I did not break down the scene cut by cut with extensive notes to myself to figure out such things back when this post was first published. End update.

Okay, that's enough about pockets. Finally! They'll be mentioned later but not to this extent.

...

During the scene after Shax shows up, Crowley's going to touch some mail. We'll see his shoes on the ground at one point. A notable earthly object touch is the first one he gets when Shax shows up after he pulls the newspaper down. He's going to see himself in the mirror. Crowley does not see the way humans see most of the time. He senses with his eyes. But a mirror's actual literal function on Earth is generally to look at yourself, or something of interest.

One of the ways Crowley can and does see is if someone—or something, is deliberately showing him an earthly object. So, by Shax holding the mirror and Crowley intentionally looking at it, with its general actual function, he theoretically sees himself.

That's helpful to him because based on his actions during the story, he doesn't sense that the sideburns themselves have changed length when they do, even if he's using them to manage his space. He checks by looking in the mirror if possible and necessary, notably in his car. Catching when he might be looking at all is harder than this one part of this one scene. He is quite subtle about it. This game wants people to look closely to catch these types of things as they play and interpret the story.

The cut between Crowley holding the newspaper in profile view and pushing it down has him holding the newspaper differently with his fingers. That could be a suspicious chronology edit or it could be Crowley testing/managing the bounds of his created space or both.

...

You can see some of the sky and dark parts of trees reflected in Crowley's sunglasses. I consider that significant because it's a clue among several others that great care is taken to what is and is not reflected in his sunglasses during this story. You can find out more about why I think that's important here: The Window Trick Visual Representation.

...

Story Commentary

I don't know what the stillness does, but I suspect it is relevant because of how still Crowley is near the end of episode 6 when standing by the door to the car. My overall guess has been that it helps Crowley be sensed or seen since humans often don't actually approach him with the exception of Nina later. However, one human approaches him here before Shax will later arrive.

Due to how I play these games, Crowley's seeming listlessness here actually strikes me as more of a strategic move than what it looks like on the surface. He has his saturated streak. He has his sideburns. He had his newspaper door. He's messing with pockets without even putting actual hands in pants pockets yet. There was a rainbow. This sneaky snake is up to a lot, and he's hiding the extent of what that is from Shax and whoever else is reading him in the story.

When Crowley leaves, he will pass by Shax with him in the background. He is blurred, and there's something gold around where he's holding the newspaper, that is presumably his bills. After he passes Shax, you can't see the presumed bills anymore. Due to the angle? In this story, I'm skeptical, but yeah, could be. Crowley's going to be conveniently obscured many times throughout the season.

Based on this timeline rundown post, this scene could easily be out of order from the presented story. The sunlight and rainbow stuff is too confusing for me to understand in trying to figure out the time, but I think the idea this scene takes place out of order is a good, valid one. The basis from that post is the chimes I didn't notice on my own and wouldn't even know what they mean if I had noticed.

Not only that, in my watching the scene repeatedly to try and figure out what pocket mischief Crowley's up to next, I noticed the tie strands keep just swapping what side of the vest they are on in different cuts with no indication he moved to make them do that. It's not every cut, but it happens. He's a demon, so he could just do that because he wants to, of course.

The scene has ducks and some other birds. While some birds do appear when Crowley makes it rain in episode 3, animals are otherwise rather lacking in appearance once closer to Whickber Street and wherever Crowley parks his car when it's isolated.

The scene is nicely lit, thanks to the sunlight. We actually aren't going to see Crowley's hair this well lit for quite a bit of the story due to the other settings, especially the dimly lit bookshop.

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Past versions of this post:

Post #1 (meeting with Shax in St. James' Park)

Post #1 with mistake

...

Project inspired by these posts:

Crowley’s Sideburns & what do they mean?

Ok, I love this theory that it could be some sort ...

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

DF Posting: KingChannels - Year 2

Here we are again.

The Bedroom Floor, which as of the end of year 2 was housing every single one of our dwarves. There's three more wings like this, along with some larger bedrooms up top for our more distinguished (read: cranky) fortress members. I'd say we're using... maybe a third of them?

Looking forward I think I took too many pictures of dwarf stats and likes and such, but here we are again regardless. We left KingChannels last year with planning out our barracks/trade depot combo, and the future trap tunnel I will be using to bolster our defenses. We began year two with adding two new members to our Militia, Sigun Libadkivish and Kogan Rithas. Both mostly unskilled, but you need bodies sooner rather then later so they can get trained up when that barracks gets built.

the two new happy members of our militia

Shortly after this addition I had a realization that creatures can Climb, now. As a result I reexamined the wall around our fort and had the realization that enemies can probably just climb over it, so we're going to have to add a plan to build an overhang on the top of it, to prevent goblins from just scrambling up the walls and rushing into our main fortress. The trade depot/barracks/kill tunnel doesn't really Work if they... you know, don't go through it. Other then that realization not much happened early in the year as we were honestly just waiting for more dwarves. We finished putting some statues up in the temple, along with starting smoothing it out, but we need more haulers, more masons, more everything. The first year being as dry as it was on migrants was quite bad for our momentum, especially given the number of large scale constructions I'll be doing in this fort, but thankfully with Aban on ring making duty we should be sending out quite the impressive signal to the mountainhome soon enough.

Despite our cool new temple some dwarves are still unhappy; namely Sigun himself. He did get caught out in a snowstorm to be fair; dwarves Hate being outside in bad weather, to the point that it can lead to traumatic memories. He later learned something from it (the importance of self sacrifice, foreshadowing as a military dwarf?), but it's still dragging his mood down I believe despite it being "good" for him.

Unfortunately migrants are determined by how much stuff you ship out on the dwarven trade caravan and the first two migrant waves this year were completely dry. Expected, but unfortunate. While waiting for the trade caravan to arrive we carved out the living room floor (pictured at the top of this post), and doubly used this as an excuse to explore a new layer, as it was made partially of chert. A new layer of stone means new potential for ores, which means maybe we can get the militia armed sooner rather then later.

Regardless the liason Eventually arrived while we plunked away at the trade depot. It didn't get to experience the luxary of trading in an Actual Room, with an Actual Roof, but there's always next year. The outpost liason told us next year they want Sheets (whcih is to say, paper or parchment sheets), and Anvils. Not a great thing for us given we're building a library. We'll probably just go double time on the stonecrafts this coming year, but maybe I will sell some paper; the library is a ways off yet after all.

Meanwhile we requested, Steel, Iron, Bronze and Silver bars. Steel, Bronze, and Iron are obvious, we need to get our militia armored sooner rather then later, and I have no guarantee of there being a significant amount of military grade metal on site, but the silver is something special. As I've said we're building a library, but it Is the focus of our fort, so I wanted it to be a little bit more then stacking rocks. We are making the library mostly out of sterling silver, an alloy of copper and silver, with other ornamental metals to accentuate things a bit. Gem windows also.

Anyway we bought some random gear they brought, a few iron and bronze bars, as well as a single silver bar, and a bunch of cheese wheels for the dwarves. I always like buying random food when the caravan comes, dwarves like the variety and it's often quite cheap. Higher value food makes dwarves happier too, and cheese is rather high value for an uncooked food. We also bought our first book.

A scroll concerning the moon and how it moves around in the sky. It'll go in the library eventually, obviously. Note the value too, very expensive. We're going to need a more robust economy if we're gonna get more non fortress written books.

Literally two days after the caravan left we got a migrant wave and it was a Big one. News travels fast. The migrant wave was, even better, mostly military dwarves, two melee and two ranged. I went ahead and augmented our belowground trade depot pillboxes with a link up to another barracks for the ranged dwarves. They need a bit more space to do their training, so underground suits them fine as well as being easier to expand outwards.

Our four new militiadwarves. The melee squad is now up to 6 strong, and these two are skilled! Good tidings indeed. For those curious, Udin and Eral are marksdwarves, Doren and Ber are meleedwarves, Sword and Axe specialists respectively. They'll be a big help.

On top of these four, we got another 7 dwarves, totaling up to 11 dwarves. Basically everything I could've asked for. The construction effort on the trade depot speeds up near instantly and we get it structurally complete before the end of the season. Just need the floors and roofs now.

In the process of waiting for the depot to finish, I realized we had no water within the walls of the fort. I set about planning a cistern for the nearest murky pool so we can get some renewable water going, hopefully, if we get enough rain to refill the pool. If not we'll still have Some water, we hopefully wont' need much before we hit the caverns and hopefully find a much larger source of water.

At any rate after the sorting out of the migrant wave was over I set to making a weapon out of the iron we bought. The next long term goal for the miners, now that all of our basic needs are being met, is to find the metal on site so we can get our militia into metal armor. Exploratory mining will begin soon, but I also dug out some extra room on our workshop floor for our fledgling metal industry.

Small beginnings. We might eventually upgrade to a magma furnace, but honestly I find setting up a little forge hovel near the core of the earth a pain in the butt, as much as I like it aesthetically. Maybe we'll pump magma up, though that presents its own risks. Maybe if the cavern water pumping goes well.

The new forge was put to work immediately making an axe for one of the recruits. The other recruits claimed the purchased gear, and we are that much better armed for any aggression.

Shortly after our military got armed, we had our first strange mood! A posession, unfortunately, but we'll take what we can get. Ingish grabbed some Chert and Rough Bloodstones, and made a scepter.

I'll probably give it to a noble as a ceremonial piece or somethin. Or maybe just put it in a display case in the library somewhere. It does refer to a historical event from our civilization, The Rag of Palms so that's pretty nice.

Around this time winter hit and the murky pools froze so I set out to make that cistern. It's a small one, mostly to get the water out of the pool and under a roof, so the pool can refill. Honestly also did it just because I like messing with fluids in dwarf fortress. Honestly no idea how I haven't made a pumpstack yet.

The intermediate form of the cistern. I want to add some stone block walls and floors eventually. The blue on the right is obviously the frozen murky pool, the lever controls the floodgate, and the stairs go down into the cistern for when we need to hook it up to another cistern to bring it to the fort proper. This is mostly just to allow this particular murky pool to refill, giving us more water in total, over time. This Does present a potential hole in our security, but as long as we don't leave the floodgate open it should be fine. Should

This occured pretty much simultaneously with the smoothing of the temple being finished, creating a nice meeting place for the dwarves, which should hopefully help lighten the mood. We've gotten a number of mildly unhappy dwarves, and sure enough, after this all got smoothed out that number slowly dropped. And then immediately rose because everyone ran out in the snow and got pissed off about it, as dwarves do.

Luxary. We'll probably add some tables and chairs and such in here at some point too. Floor's a little barren. Also yes that is a llama statue. The cube statue is of a bogeyman, I dunno why it's shaped like a cube. Tileset restrictions on largely procedural creatures I'd imagine.

Once that got done I set the smoothers on the dining room, for similar reasons as to the temple. Areas dwarves frequent are important to make look nice, for happiness reasons. They never got around to even a single tile before the end of the year because they were too busy making stone blocks. A mostly good thing. The temple is probably enough for now.

As the year plodded on towards its conclusion the barracks part of the trade depot was finished, and our dwarves began to train. Shortly after the recruits graduated to novices of their given weapon types, and earned a Sword and Speardwarf title. The beginning of a hopefully long road.

They're not training in here as of this screenshot, but they're headed there!

We hit another bit of a lull as winter ran on, started making a floor for the main room of the depot and got that much closer to actually moving the depot inside it for once. The roof is still needed but we have an honestly absurd amount of blocks so it'll be done soon I imagine. The extra labor really helped. At some point while closing up the year a militiadwarf got trapped outside the walls at some point. I did have the drawbridge down at one point so haulers could bring some wood from outside the walls in, but I don't know why he would have left. Will have to keep my eyes open for further excursions. If there's some gap in the defenses that the dwarves are wandering through, we can expect any enemies to wander through it too. And dwarves won't climb to my knowledge, even if they know how, so that couldn't have been what happened either.

At the end of the year, the fort had its first child birth, Lolor Rimtarilir. Child of Kogan Rithas and Sigun Libadkivish who may sound familiar. The two dwarves we put in the military at the start of the year. We've come full circle. Unfortunately last time I played mother dwarves carrying their children had a nasty tendency to use them as shields, so Lolor may not be long for this world. Then again, he only needs a year to start walking, so maybe he'll be fine.

We can only hope. Also yes, dwarves are born with a full set of values, preferences, and life goals. Minute One this baby knows Exactly what it is doing with its life. Must be nice.

And from that point the year drove to a close uneventfully. The trade depot will be finished next year, and we can begin on another project, expand the cistern network, hopefully get some equipment forged, and maybe start to look at building that library. If not, I'll look into a non library secure storage place for books somewhere, to keep them out of the hands of thieves, as they don't go into any stockpile inparticular, so that scroll's just kinda... hangin out in the trade depot undefended. Costing 1000+ dollars and all. Need to get that taken care of. Probably should've done it this year. Oh well!

Until next year. Our fortunes rise and fall together.

[koroart]

Fucking love your art, especially your Dad Lambert/Lives stuff. Thank you for feeding us with your art. I mostly follow you on Twitter but wanted to ask here if you could spare Lambert Lives thoughts/brainworms? 👉👈 no pressure ofc!

*walks in with a Starbucks and hands you one too*

Wow, I got to answering this SO LATE and I'm SO SORRY DX

But I appreciate the love everyone gives my Dadbert stuff, it makes me so so happy qwq ✨️💖💕

Now for some brain worms! Some of this au I worked on with a friend and those talks definitely became a lot of my hcs too , so !! I'll try my best to articulate!

First and foremost, Lambert survives Duscur and I know in some of my art he has an eyepatch and some don't-- and I'm up in the air about that bit. But what he does have is a gnarly scar around his neck from where they had tried to cut his head off but they missed.

When it comes to Dedue and the like, I'm still trying to work on that -- because I know his people were attacked some time after the Tragedy and seeing how Lambert survived -- I think it would still happen and Dedue would be taken under Lambert's care ( because Dimitri still wound up hurt from protecting Dedue ) but it'll still get too complicated if I try to explain it here so we'll leave it at that for now.

The AU more-or-less follows the Hopes timeline instead of 3H ( the politics in Hopes were better explained and a little easier to follow than 3Houses )

Lambert, here is the one to execute Rufus instead, especially after he finds out his brother's involvement. Their relationship to me was always cold , especially as they got older ( at one point, they did get along, but once Rufus learned he was not to be named heir , he started treating Lambert coldly and Lambert kept reaching out but eventually let the bridge burn once he realized Rufus had no intention on reaching back ). Like Dimitri did , Lambert did show hesitancy in executing Rufus but it didn't last long -- because at this point , Lambert began to harden his heart-- not for himself but for his kingdom and for the safety of his son.

It hit him hard when he learned of Anselma's involvement as well, and after that, he swore off love and never took on another spouse. He puts raising his son first as well as maintaining his Kingdom.

He and Dimitri definitely are, of course, traumatized from the ordeal -- and Lambert more so, becoming quite a bit paranoid and protective of his son , not wanting Dimitri out of his sights for a time. Dimitri himself becomes a little more clingy , which can't be faulted , as he nearly lost his father. Eventually, they come out of it, and Lambert allows Dimitri more freedoms again ( especially after dealing with Rufus ) and Dimitri, likewise, eases away from being dependent on his father and focuses on his training again.

In the first few months after the Tragedy and dealing with Keilman, Dimitri used to sleep in Lambert's room because of the frequent nightmares that plagued him ( Lambert too was plagued with them and it eased his conscious better when he knew his son was with him ) after some time passed , Dimitri stopped sleeping in Lambert's room as he got older ( closer to Academy age ) but when he did have nightmares still , he'd go but instead of asking to sleep there -- the two of them would have tea and talk about the nightmares and work through it together, sometimes Dimitri ends up falling asleep there but most of the time, when he feels better and confident enough -- he would go back to his room.

Just aaaahh there's a lot more and i don't want to make this too long but !! That's what I got!

[tqxky]

Pretty cool || Enid rhee x fem!reader

Warnings: None <3

Summary: first meeting with Enid (s5)

_______________________

"Jeez, Y/n, you're so slow!!" Carl yelled at me, running through the streets of Alexandria.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes, walking after him, not bothering to walk a bit faster.

Carl stopped walking and looked back at me, "What, you don't care that you're going to get some new friends?"

I sighed, "Yeah, yeah." Finally catching up with him, "They'll probably not live long, the people here are pussies."

We walked up to one of the houses, "You're an asshole." Carl said before knocking on the door.

"I know, i like it." The door opened, a boy around our age stood in the doorway, giving us a small smile.

"Hey! Carl and.. Y/n, right?" He asked.

Carl smiled back at him, "Yeah, that's us." I rolled my eyes, 'well, this is awkward.'

"Cool, im Ron, come in." He stood aside, letting me and Carl walk in.

Ron showed us around the house a bit, eventually getting to his bedroom.

He opened the door, letting me and Carl walk in, i took a quick look around the room, spotting two other kids, Ron spoke again,

"Alright guys, this is Mikey," Ron pointed at the boy sitting at the desk, who gave us a smile, "Hello!"

Ron pointed at the girl, who was sitting on the bed, "And this is Enid." She didn't look up from the comic she was reading, replying alot less interested than Mikey, "Hey."

"Alright, so," Ron spoke again, looking at Mikey, "Maybe you, me, and Carl can hang out, we'll leave the ladies here to get to know each other."

Carl looked at me, trying to see if it was fine with me before answering, "Uh, yeah, sure." Ron smiled,

"Alright, awesome, let's go, we'll play some video games. Come on, Mikey." Ron walked out of the room, dragging Carl with him, Mikey following.

I sighed, now being alone in the room with Enid.

"So.." I spoke, trying to get a conversation going, "I guess we're alone now, huh?"

"Mhm." Enid replied, not bothering to look up at me, 'Well, this is awkward.'

"Mind if i sit?" I motioned to the bed,

"Sure." She replied, still not looking up at me,

I sat down on the bed and sighed again, now looking around the room, thinking about what to do.

"So, what're you reading?" It was pretty clear that she didn't want to talk, but she did anyway, "just some comics."

"Ah, cool, cool..", I laid back on the bed a bit, staring at the ceiling.

'Should i just leave? I should just leave, she doesn't want to hang out with me.'

"Hey Enid?", This time, she actually turned to me, i immediately noticed how pretty she actually is, "Uh, if you want me to leave.. you can just say it, OK? I don't want you to be forced to be around me if you don't want to."

Enid sighed and placed her comic book on the bed, "Look.. im sorry, im not really good at being social, and stuff like that.. but, i don't want you to leave, you don't seem bad." That made me smile.

"Come here." Enid motioned for me to sit beside her, which i did, she handed me a comic to read,

"Im sorry for being rude to you earlier." She said, i chuckled a bit,

"I wouldn't say you were rude, im honestly just like that, i don't enjoy being social either."

Enid smiled, "You're pretty cool, y'know?"

"Im cool?" I asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Enid looked away, but looked back at me again, "I thought you were going to be boring, but i don't think you are, you're cool."

I smiled, "Thanks, Enid." She smiled back, "You're welcome."

-----------------------------

Yeah this took way to long to write, and honestly im not that happy with how it turned out and i do really feel guilty for not really writing anymore, but I'll try to do it more, this is really short and very badly written but yeah, its something, thank you guys so much for all the support. <3

(Also quick note that this story and everything else i write isn't proof-read just to save myself from embarrassment, so if theres any mistakes, thats why)

[dizzyjelly]

A Night In

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: you're at a dinner party with Abby(gf) and her friends when you get your period so you have to leave. You're worried you ruined the night, but Abby reassures and comforts you.

Cw: periods, brief mention of blood, usage of pads, medication(ibuprofen)

You sat at the table with a grimace on your face as you felt an all too familiar sharp, intense cramping in your lower stomach. Letting out a small sigh through your nose, you gripped Abbys forearm from where she sat next to you. She was laughing and chatting with her friends, who had been so kind to invite the two of you to a dinner party tonight.

You tugged at her shirt a bit, and immediately she could tell something was up.

"What's going on, babygirl?" She leaned to your ear to whisper.

"I think I got my period, can you come to the bathroom with me?" You whispered back, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, of course." She smiled at you before kissing your forehead, then she stood and held your hand.

"Excuse us for a moment." She announced to her friends, thankfully leaving out your embarrassing details.

She walked you to the bathroom with her hand now finding its place on the small of your back. You got in there and she stood near the door as you sat at the toilet, pulling your tights and underpants down. You groaned as there was a red spot soaking your underwear, throwing your head back in frustration.

"Ugggh. I swear I'm going to die." You complained, clutching your stomach as you felt another wave of intense cramping.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok babygirl. Did you bring anything in your purse, pads or tampons?" She asked as she dug into your black purse on the countertop.

"No... I wasn't supposed to get it for two more days." You admitted, knowing it was probably stupid and you should always have that stuff on you, "God I'm so stupid." You voiced your thoughts.

"What! Don't say such things about my sweet girl. You're not stupid." She immediately contradicted you.

You just smiled, but not for long because you just realized you'd bled through to your tights. They were new as well, you'd gotten them just for tonight. You sighed, putting your elbows onto your knees and dropping your head into your hands with a frown.

"Baaabe my tights. They're ruined." You complained, still not bringing your head back up.

Abby tsked,

"Hey, hey, it's all gonna be fine. I've got some pads in my bag just for emergencies and we'll deal with the tights when we get home. Everything's ok." She reassured you, handing you a pad from her bag.

It was your favorite, go-to brand. She had those in there just for you, you knew this because she used tampons. You muttered a small thank you and put it on before finishing up your business then washing your hands.

"Wait, we're leaving?" You asked, feeling guilty.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna make you stay and sit in your own blood." She stated as if it was obvious.

"Well, you should stay" You suggested, but Abby shook her head, "come on, I don't wanna make you leave." You held her hands in yours, leaing forward to rest your forehead against hers.

"I don't wanna be here if you're not. The whole point was for you to meet my friends, it'd be silly if I just stayed." She explained, rubbing your hands with her thumbs.

It took you a minute, but you would eventually agree. You felt terrible, her friends were so kind to invite you and the food was delicious. Why did your body have to conspire against you?

"Ok, finee." You spoke reluctantly, still not wanting to make Abby go home with you.

But she would insist, and in the end she'd always win. She just had a way about these things, and you knew she probably wanted to take care of you. The both of you returned to the dining room, everyone was just chatting.

"Hey guys, were gonna head out." Abby told her friends.

"Oh, is everything ok?" Manny asked.

"Yes, everything's fine. We're just not feeling well. I'll see you guys later, yeah?" She gave a small explanation, keeping it vague.

"Uh, thank you guys for inviting us, it was lovely meeting all of you. And your food was amazing." You spoke with a smile, even though you wanted nothing more than to cry.

You said goodbye to everyone, Abby gave a few hugs, but you weren't all that into physical touch with people you didn't really know. Once she was done, you walked out to the car together. Just before you were going to get in, Abby brought her arms around you from behind. She placed light, tender kisses to your neck and collar bone as she hugged you. Then, without a word, you guys got into the car and she began the drive home.

It wasn't too bad, only about fifteen to twenty minutes. During the first few minutes of the ride, you were able to stay calm and collected. Abbys hand rested on your thigh, as it always did whenever you rode passenger seat with her. But after a few minutes passed, you turned away from her to look out the window as you chewed at your thumbnail. You'd only chew your nails if you were feeling anxious or upset, and right now you felt both those things.

While she probably wouldn't ever be angry at you for what happened, you worried Abby might get mad. And you were upset because you still felt bad for making her leave the party. It was a really nice dinner party, and she should've gotten to stay until it was over, even if you didn’t.

Of course, Aby noticed something was off. Just by the way you weren't saying anything, no complaints about your cramps or asking to get food even though you just ate. She got out of the car and walked over to open your door, grabbing your hands and pulling you up and out of the car. Then, she grabbed at the bottom of your thighs and pulled you up so she held you as you walked inside.

"C'mere." She muttered as she picked you up.

You wrapped your legs around her waist and your arms around her neck, nuzzling your face in the crook of her shoulder. It never failed to surprise you at how strong she was, not that you were too heavy, but still. The feeling of her strong biceps around you was always comforting. It didn't take long before you could feel tears streaming down your face and onto her as she opened the front door.

Soothingly, she ran a hand up and down your back as she walked over to the couch, sitting down so that you were on her lap straddling her. She sighed as her brows furrowed. Slowly, she pulled your head from where it lied on her shoulder. She held your face with her hands, rubbing away your tears with her thumbs.

"Babygirl, what's up? Come on, you're too pretty to cry." She gave a small smile, but it was hard since she hated to see you cry.

"I- I just f-feel bad. I r-ruined our whole night." You cried as you stuttered, then dropped your head to Abbys chest as your tears wet her shirt.

"What! Nonsense, our night isn't ruined! Come onn, you know I love a night in. We can watch a movie, cuddle, have snacks... and candy." She rubbed her hand up and down your back again, wanting nothing more than to comfort you.

A small smile crept onto your face, snacks, candy, and cuddling did sound pretty nice. You lifted your head to look at her, and she smiled ten times as big when she saw you were smiling.

"There's my girl!" She exclaimed, bringing her hands to hold your face again before pulling you in for a kiss.

You held her by the back of her neck, the kiss was sweet and lasted rather long. It was only after a minute you pulled away, resting your forehead on hers.

"You promise I didn't ruin it?" You asked, still feeling some guilt.

"Yes, here" She brought her pinky and wrapped it around your own, "pinky promise." She smiled before placing a kiss to the tip of your nose.

"Well, now I know you really mean it." You joked, letting out a small giggle.

Abby laughed as well, her mood shot up instantly when she knew you were ok. And your laugh always made her laugh.

"Why don't you go get changed and I'll go out and get us some snacks. Take some ibuprofen for your cramps." She suggested as she peppered kisses over your cheeks, nose, and chin.

"Mkay. You don't want me to go with you?" You asked.

"Do you wanna come with?" She asked in return.

You shook your head no and she just nodded, pulling you in for a warm embrace before giving you a light peck on the lips then setting you down on the couch next to her. She got up and left, off to get snacks. You went upstairs to your shared bedroom and pulled your dresser open.

You grabbed one of your pairs of granny panties and a t-shirt of Abbys before going into the bathroom. After getting changed, you brought your stained panties and tights to the laundry room and set them on top of the washer. You made a sour face at them, those were really fucking cute tights.

Sighing, you exited the laundry room and made your way to the bathroom. You pulled open the medicine cabinet, grabbing the ibuprofen and taking your usual dosage with some water from the faucet. Then you placed the bottle back, closed the cabinet, and went back to the living room.

You'd brought down your favorite blanket from you and Abbys bed, getting comfy on the couch as you turned the TV on. You browsed a few different streaming services for a movie before you ultimately decided on 10 Things I Hate About You, it was a classic and one of your favorites.

During the ten minutes you waited for Abby to return, you scrolled through pinterest on your phone and checked Instagram a few times. Once she got back, she held two bags full of your favorite candy and snacks as well as some of her own favorites.

She kicked her shoes off then rushed over to sit beside you on the couch, leaning over to place a kiss on your cheek as she set the bags down beside her. You smiled and leaned into her kiss, then lifted up the blanket so she could share it. It wasn't huge so you'd ended up sitting on her lap as she held your waist. She grabbed the bags and dumped them both out onto the couch and your eyes lit up.

Immediately, you reached for your favorite chips and opened the bag before you started munching on them. Abby started the movie before going to town on one of her favorite candies. You let yourself sink into her embrace, enjoying the movie and the snacks. It didn't take long for you to drift off into a peaceful sleep, Abby smiled to herself as your head fell back onto her shoulder, light snoring coming from you.

She'd only watch about five more minutes of the movie before carefully picking you up and carrying you to your bedroom bridal style. She wrapped you up in the blanket, lying you down on the bed before climbing in herself. You slowly stirred awake as she was getting comfortable, you turned to face her.

"Hold me." You whispered, so quiet she almost didn't hear you.

You snuggled into her side and she wrapped her strong arms around you, lightly playing with your hair with one of her hands as the other sat at the small of your back. You sighed contently, your head resting on her chest as you held her with your own arms. They weren't as strong, but they were just as loving. You both would fall asleep shortly after.

[eradicatetehnormal]

Posted this as a comment, but here's a repost to tumblr:

I think that unless something big centered around Kairi happens, I'll always have mixed feelings for her. When I'm playing the games, I don't pay her much mind, but when I go back and think about her, it's so frustrating. Sora was reckless when he stood up to Riku with no weapon but got rewarded for his courage and learning his lesson about the power of connection. Riku is reckless when he joins Maleficent but gets to redeem himself by going through castle oblivion and eventually becoming a keyblade master. Kairi though? As mentioned in the video, when she's reckless in KH2 by jumping into the pile of heartless, she needs to be given grace by Riku and his ability to apparently pull keyblades out of his bum-hole.

It's almost as if the narrative, the very universe of Kingdom Hearts is punishing her for daring to try to be more involved. It's sad. I get that that's the point, but when Sora gets to rebound and save the universe despite his mistakes, it can feel upsetting and unsatisfying to see Kairi be able to barely progress in terms of her position. I get, understand, and agree with some points about the people who say that Kairi sucks because she doesn't fight, having a bit of a sexist mindset. Here's the thing though, when it comes to action movies, cheezy shounen anime, or most relevantly, RPGs, fights aren't just two dudes slicining at each other with "d1ldo sticks," as TheGamer'sJoint calls, them.

Fights carry narrative weight behind them. They represent things. Roxas fighting Sora represented the former's last-ditch effort to get out of the latter's shadow and take control of his life, only to end in tragedy, confirming, for then, that nobodies are fated to be forgotten. Xion's fight with Axel represents the hardships of crumbling friendships and how some desperately cling to something that isn't working out.

Kairi though? She never gets that big narrative fight. Sure, there's the fight with Xehanort, but that's shared with Sora. I guess it's cool that she got to stick it to the guy who tried to "fRiDgE" her, but most of the truly emotional stuff comes from the scene before that fight. It showed how the relationship between her and Sora has changed over time, where she hasn't proven herself to some losers in the real world, Sora has come to recognize her strength and is willing to fight with her as an equal possibly giving her some confidence for the battle. Still, she never has that character that's a foil to her.

She doesn't have anybody forcing her to push past her limits. She's essentially her own cheerleader. I guess Axel's there too? They didn't do anything with that.

I used to feel irritated with how much of her character is centered around her relationship with and to Sora and Riku, but the more I think about it, it makes sense. Particularly with Sora, I always thought of them as parallels to each other. Sora is everything Kairi wants to be. Someone who defied fate and expectations by rising above almost any challenge that faced him in spite of his weakness. Kairi is everything Sora thinks he is. Someone who, despite their best efforts and endless potential, end up failing most of the time and having to rely on others, never quite being able to get out of those training wheels. Sora is what happens when you TRY to be the knight. Kairi is what happens when you are FORCED to be the princess.

I hope that KH4 can find time to make that undertone to their relationship, more of an overtone, even if they're just feeling the relationship change through their hearts or something. I feel like people (myself included) miss Kairi's character because, beyond our misogyny, we're so accustomed to arm candy bimbos in action media, that we'll immediately look at most leading female characters through that lens. I wonder if more people would appreciate her character, had KH been a character-driven TV show instead of an action JRPG. I would love to get some more side material of her, whether it be a short series, a 3-hour visual novel, or another rhythm game. Something that really picks her brain.

[azems-familiar]

Omg this isn't even related to the ask game but the ask you just answered 😭 sorry bout that, I suddenly thought of more questions now.

Also THANK YOU SO MUCH to you and Davi for churning out so many writings these past few weeks holy crap, I've loved reading every one of them. Yall are spoiling us /pos

Okie question time: surviving Ancients building a New Amaurot?? Yes pls??? But also how do they survive???? I'm so glad Hyth and Elidibus are there though, they're unabashedly my favourites aside from G'raha and Emet Selch. I was also wondering if you guys have any plans on writing smth about how, after the Final Days, Emet, G'raha and Corrain (and maybe Lelesu) work to find some way to return to the first? This curiosity probably stemmed from you guys giving Lyna interactions with Uncle Emet, I could not stop smiling at those.

Thanks so much again!! Keep up the great work XD

okay SO. as to how each of the ancients survives is different; Hyth is the easiest, because in canon on Ultima Thule he and Emet choose to leave instead of using Hydaelyn's magicks to become corporeal again. so he just chooses to stay instead. Elidibus we're saving in the last tier of pandaemonium; between the last lingering fragments of Hydaelyn's gift and Emet's own magic. it will still take him a long time to recover and piece himself back together, but he will. Lahabrea is harder, but we've decided to go with a fan theory that his soul is stuck in Estinien's lance alongside Nidhogg, so once Hyth (who has the best soulsight) gets a look at it they're going to borrow the lance and just yoink him free. his multiple years stuck in a spear alongside an extremely angry dragon watching All That go down have chilled him out and forced him to think on his actions some, though that doesn't mean it'll be smooth sailing all the way through once he's freed.

as for returning to the First, right now we have this on our outline:

i'm headcanoning that the Ascians are capable of traversing the rift physically (even if that's not necessarily quite lore accurate, it's a little bit wibbly) and so Emet is able to take G'raha with him. the others will have to wait until Y'shtola finds a way across on her own, but i expect Elidibus will be willing to help her with that... we will see.

there are several plot points that since it's obviously setting up for future expansions and things, we're kind of waiting to see what the game does with them (like some of the stuff dawntrail introduced). of course we'll probably invent our own stuff eventually if we get to that point in writing and the game still hasn't given us any answers, but since this particular verse is sort of our "canon" we are trying to keep it as game-adjacent as possible so that we don't have to. do tons of wild work for it and it ends up not being related to the current stories being told at all.

i'll tag @sunderedazem in case there's anything he wants to add here, but thank you!! really glad to hear how much you're enjoying things. and the Emet and Lyna interactions are something we both super enjoy too - i actually have a half-done promptfic sitting around that's more of it, i just have to settle down and work on it. though unless something really changes the next thing to be posted will probably be the next bit of Ascian Azem :)