#such unpleasant people how are they allowed to be the first interaction for people feeling scared and in pain

[annaraksta]

the two nurses working in my GP's office are like a spiteful witch and an unkind troll (both evil) that I have to battle to get through to my nice and professional doctor

[harmonysanreads]

When something (or someone) is stealing your attention.

characters: al haitham, kamisato ayato, raiden shogun (ei), scaramouche (wanderer)

cw(s): general yandere themes, dark themes, mentions of captivity, mention of gaslighting (once)

──⚝ al haitham

Probably doesn't even notice and if he does, sees no reason to get worked up over it.

Al Haitham practices control over his emotions — more so, the less rational ones, through assessment of the given situation. Sometimes, you can almost see apparitions of the cogs turning and twisting in his irises. So, when he sees your insistence on ignoring his existence, he merely sits down somewhere close and resumes where he left off on his own book. It's you who is concerned from his lack of acknowledgement, stealing glances to see him having his merry time. After all, those light novels can only occupy your attention for so long and after re-reading the same text for who-knows-how-many times, you'll be forced to come to him (yet again another disadvantage of being held captive). He'll have his revenge then.

──⚝ kamisato ayato

His time is precious, more so the time he gets to spend with you, so, not a chance.

Somewhere in his corpse of a heart, there is guilt for the position he has put you in. His pride wouldn't let him admit that though, it claws its way out and blends in some of his actions. Ayato loves you too much to ignore the obvious forlorn look etched on your visage for any longer, your eyes are loud in the demand for freedom and it's been proven that not even an estate full of servants and people are enough to satiate your loneliness. So, when he gifted you the caged canary, he thought he'd finally see you smile again. Instead, it bites back at him and steals the last scraps of your attention. Ayato is displeased, to say the least and he makes it quite clear. If you still insist on being ignorant although, he'd have to resort to crueller methods. Fear not, he wouldn't allow a scratch to appear on you but, he cannot quite say that for your bird friend. After all, he's not ignorant of your attachment towards it or, of the resemblance in situation it has to you. Let this be a warning.

──⚝ raiden shogun (ei)

She's not jealous. Pssh, only a child could get jealous over something like this. You're merely interacting with her pet. A teasing pet who whispers suggestive comments in your ears every three seconds and — is she touching you now?

Gaslights herself for as long as possible because Celestia forbid should she succumb to this feeling of jealousy, in front of this menace of a kitsune moreover, she'll not hear the end of it. In her pursuit of an unchanging eternity, she has triumphed over the trifling mortal emotions. So then, why is it that all of her carefully constructed euthymia crumbles when it comes to you? Without doubt, you're an impediment to that perfect eternity, a weakness and yet, she fails to let you go, refuses to let you go. The mischievous kitsune utilizes it to her fullest entertainment, revelling in both your flustered reactions and Ei's crumbling ataraxia. If Yae Miko does manage to snap the last straw (which she does), Ei will quickly rush her out of her realm to cackle over the victory somewhere else. Then, it's up to you to smother the blow.

(You'll be surprised at how soon she melts.)

──⚝ scaramouche (wanderer)

Depending on which time of his life you manage to win over his non-existent heart, the reaction varies.

Kabukimono does not even feel it at first. Though, as his admiration and observation of the humans deepens, he eventually manages to make out some semblance of the unpleasant feeling. He'll never blame you though. It's... uncomfortable for him as he's new to it but compared to his future selves, Kabukimono is far more forgiving.

Kunikuzushi, newly familiarized with the cruelty and ugliness of the world is not so soft. He's constantly on the edge, questioning your loyalty and anticipating a betrayal. You'll have to put in a lot of sweet talking and loving caresses for him to strengthen his trust in you. Once you've gained it whole, you'll have to be even more careful. I'd advise not adding to his number of betrayals.

The Balladeer's perception of the world is twisted, he simultaneously doesn't want to trust you and is ready to give you the highest position of his heart (whether you like it or not). He's much, much more expressive and violent than Kabukimono but narrows it down to you lesser than Kunikuzushi (that does not mean you're off the hook entirely though). If it's an item that has you ignore him then poof! It's gone, now pay attention to him. If it's a person...then, they're also gone :).

Wanderer (after regaining his memories) is levels above the pettiness of his previous selves, so much so, that he ascends to a whole new degree of it. Rest assured, you won't be on the receiving end of the creative ways in which he deals with the sources, just be prepared to deal with one clingy menace.

[heroes-among-us-all]

Maybe shigaraki having a crush on a league member and he gets her to sit in his lap while he plays video games?

Cute. You were way too goddamn cute. As much as Shigaraki hated to admit it, he'd turned into a lovestruck fool from the moment he laid eyes on you.

When Dabi had first suggested inviting another member into the League, he'd had his doubts. Shigaraki had since grown comfortable with the allies he'd accrued. He didn't want to expand his circle too much. He had a hard enough time trusting people as it was.

Needless to say, when you turned up to the hideout with that adorable smile of yours, he found it difficult to refuse. Obviously, he didn't trust you right from the start - you had to earn his trust, the way everyone else had. But slowly and surely, you made it clear that you were faithful to the League and proved time and time again that your ambitions and desires aligned with his.

Now that it had gotten to this point, Shigaraki could safely say that he had a massive crush on you.

And quite frankly, he hated it. It was an unfamiliar feeling, the likes of which made his stomach clench up uncomfortably. He was used to being in a perpetually shitty mood, but this was different somehow. Even though his chest got all tight when he stared at you for too long, the sensation wasn't wholly unpleasant.

As a result of being in constant turmoil and struggling to make sense of his own warped feelings, he ended up lashing out at you unintentionally.

"Get out of my way," he would snap on one occasion.

"Why do you keep staring at me? If you've got something to say, just say it," he might also sneer.

Put simply, he found it difficult to interact with you, because you brought out weakness in him. You made him feel shaky and uncertain. Timid and withdrawn.

But in spite of all that, you weren't deterred. You were always constantly smiling during every one of your interactions. If his words hurt you, then you certainly didn't let it show. You kept on treating him with kindness and consideration, which was quite frankly more than he deserved.

Shigaraki wanted to act on his feelings, but given that he had no experience in this department, he didn't know how.

So, he decided to stick with what he was comfortable with and use it to break the ice.

"Come in here," Shigaraki demanded. He was your boss, so technically speaking, you had to listen to most of what he said.

You were completely unfazed to have been summoned to his room. As always, you were smiling. Fucking hell, how was it possible for someone to be that cute?

"I'm here," you beamed. "What's up?"

Shigaraki pointed to the spot beside him. "Sit down. Stay here while I play my game."

"Oh. Is that all?"

"Yes," he frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all!" you chirped, happily bounding over to his side. Just as he'd insisted, you plopped down right beside him, getting awfully close. Shigaraki couldn't deny the fact that his heart was going crazy right now.

He gripped his controller a bit tighter. "Okay. Just stay there. Watch me beat this level."

His red eyes flickered towards the screen of his TV instead of staring at you. It was better this way. It was better for him to have something to focus on while the two of you interacted, otherwise he would risk making a fool out of himself.

Unfortunately, even his endless video game prowess couldn't quite compensate for how distracting you were. You were sitting so close that your shoulders kept brushing up against his, and apart from the low volume of the TV, the room was almost deathly quiet, allowing him to hear every soft exhale you let out.

Even worse, he started feeling stupidly self-conscious for some reason. He suddenly worried that you might not think he was good enough at the game and judge him for it. These self-deprecating thoughts ate away at him, and he could feel himself playing worse and worse as the minutes dragged on.

Shigaraki swallowed, fingers trembling against the controller. "I can't focus," he admitted. "I don't usually play this bad."

"What are you talking about?" you laughed. "You're a million times better than I could ever hope to be. It would have taken me more than a week to clear that last boss fight."

There it was again. You were comforting him, the way you always did. Normally, he hated feeling like he was being offered superficial pity. After all, people pretending to give a shit was the whole reason this hero society was a sham. But from you, strangely enough, it always felt genuine. He never had to doubt your intentions or read into things too much.

You actually cared about him. That thought alone was enough to overwhelm him with emotion.

Feeling emboldened by your encouraging words, Shigaraki mustered up the nerve to utter his next sentence.

"I think I'd play better if you were sitting on my lap," he mumbled.

Shit. Why'd I go and say that? She'll definitely think I'm creeping on her now.

But it seemed that you just kept on surprising him. That smile of yours that he'd since come to love didn't falter in the slightest. If anything, it just grew even wider.

"Sure thing," you grinned, and without wasting a beat, seated yourself right in his lap.

Now Shigaraki was panicking for a different reason altogether. He hadn't really thought things through this far. You were actually sitting on his lap. He could feel the curve of your ass pressing flush against his lower half, and already, his face was a mess of crimson hues.

You turned towards him. He noticed that your grin had become a bit more coy. "What's wrong?" you teased. "Isn't this what you asked for? Come on. I want to see you play some more."

"Shut up," Shigaraki grimaced, having to bite back the strangled gasp that threatened to leave his lips. He decided to rise to your challenge and keep on playing, not that it even mattered anymore. He'd already won big-time by getting to be this close to you.

Unsurprisingly, his gaming performance deteriorated even further from that point onwards. You knew exactly what you were doing to him, letting out giggles and wiggling your butt under the pretense of 'trying to get more comfortable'. Shigaraki was trying his damn best to keep his excitement from showing, but he imagined he was probably failing terribly.

"Hey, Tomura," you said suddenly. You placed a hand on top of his and slowly moved the controller out of the way. Your eyes sparkled with mischief. "Is playing video games really all you wanted to do? Before you answer, you should know that I can feel how hard you are."

Shigaraki's blush deepened. Right. You were many things, but an idiot wasn't one of them. Not that he'd really been subtle in the first place.

"I guess not," he admitted, awkwardly avoiding your gaze. "So, then... what else would we do?"

"We could make out," you grinned. Your face moved closer to his, and he had to remind himself not to get too excited and accidentally grab hold of you with all five of his fingers.

"I've never done anything like that before," he said, feeling a touch ashamed by the admission.

But he should have known better. He should have known you wouldn't care, not when you'd treated him more warmly than anyone else in his life.

"It's okay," you hummed, shifting your position on his lip so that you were now fully facing him. You let your arms dangle over his shoulders. "I'll teach you," was the last thing you said, pressing your lips against his.

[luvscr]

price, ghost and alejandro reacting to m!reader's sh scars (hcs)

cw/tags: depression, sh, scars, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff fluff fluff, probably ooc characters but idc🫶

apologies for any grammatical erros!

long ass note:

so i got this request which i won't be showing in case it might trigger someone nor will i tag the person who requested this bc im not sure if he would be comfortable with it. i've never written about sh hurt comfort before, simply because i didn't feel like i could do justice for the comfort part but i tried my best and tried to make it not so triggering. your media consumption is your own responsibility, please proceed carefully and do not read if you're not in the right mindset. if you're struggling, i know it's hard but please reach out to a loved one or even me. you're not alone, you matter.

—

price:

it was purely on accident that he saw your scars. he wouldn't mention it to you but he would ask around, people you interact with if they've heard or seen anything. when they asked questions he would simply shut them down or use his rank and pull the "classified information" card. he wouldn't really know what to do, given he's your superior so it was kind of his responsibility, so he got in touch with kate to help him find a therapist. his first instinct is to get professional help if needed. he would invite you to his office so it's just the two of you and make you comfortable, even make you a cup of tea. he would approach the topic carefully and wouldn't force you to tell anything you didn't want to, reassure you that he's not upset, he just wants to help. if you refuse to get a therapist it's okay, he completely understands and will offer you to talk to him instead. he may come off as stern sometimes but it's just because he genuinely cares so much about you and is worried constantly, no matter how old the scars are. he would try to think of alternatives for you to put that energy into if you still struggle and would be there anytime to comfort you. he kinda acts like a dad (like w everyone bruh)

—

ghost:

oh sweet lord this man. he kind of had a feeling when he noticed that even in the hottest weather you only wore long sleeved clothes. he would notice them when your sleeve and the somewhat shorts you had on accidentally rolled up. you just ignored his eyes burning holes through you, given it was normal for him to just stare menacingly at anyone. (not on purpose tho he just looks mean by default) i wouldn't say it would trigger him, but it would definitely stir up some unpleasant feelings inside of him because of his past. he knows exactly how you feel and wants to help you, no matter if you're a friend or just some rando at the base. just like price he would approach the subject carefully, knowing well how hard it is to reach out for help and how it's even harder to open up and actually talk about it. he isn't the best at comforting but he's is a damn good listener and he'll let you know that if you need him don't hesitate to talk to him even if it feels useless. will crack those stupid jokes of his to make you feel better lol tbh i feel like he would be the best kind of person to open up to because he relates so much, he completely understands the feeling of being ashamed of self-destructive activities and would be the sweetest during a relapse. would caress gently the older scars on your body if you allow him to :(<3

he strikes me as a very straightforward person bc of the graves scene. my dude just straight up told the cabrón to stfu (as he should!!) so based on this i think as soon as he sees he's all up in your business. of course not with the intention to make you uncomfortable but he just wants to make sure you're okay and is absolutely willing to help whether it's finding a therapist or just giving a shoulder to lean on. he values every single person in his life and would literally do anything for them and obviously you're no exception. ngl it would be kind of uncomfortable and awkward as you're not used to so much attention especially surrounding your mental health, but he just wants to do good and he's willing to do anything to help and i mean anything. you need a break from work? done. a hug? you don't even have to ask. he will do everything for you if you feel too drained to do even basic things such as cooking meals, helping you shower if you're comfortable with that and etc. basically becomes a househusband for you!

—

alejandro:

[archiveikemen]

"Luxury Cruise Invitation*" Story Event: 95K Bonus Story

*EN Title: "A First-Class Ticket to Dangerous Seas"

Ellis Twilight

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection; expect mistakes, grammatical errors, and some creative liberties. All original content and media used belongs to Cybird. Please support the game by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

Read this before interacting

Thank you to @candied-boys for providing me with the story !

Maid: Miss. Look, what a magnificent luxury cruise ship!

Docked in front of me was a luxury cruise about to embark on a wonderful journey. And yet, my heart remained clouded.

During the journey, I was to be introduced to a suitor my parents had chosen for me, and be forced to marry him.

(Making me meet him onboard a ship so that I can't escape… what bad taste.)

Poorly Dressed Young Man 1: Whee! Ellis, you got so lucky at poker that you won tickets to board the cruise.

(...?)

When I turned my head in the direction of the lively voices, I saw a group of young men gathered together and chatting away.

Poorly Dressed Young Man 2: But you were seriously out of your mind for betting your entire life’s fortune back there.

Young Man Called ‘Ellis’: … Is that so?

Young Man Called ‘Ellis’: I did that because I had nothing to lose.

Kate: …

Maid: How unpleasant… people who can’t even afford third-class tickets are allowed onboard the ship.

Maid: You must never go near them, Miss. You’re an important lady.

Crew: The luxury cruise ship Orellus will be departing soon!

A whistle sounded as soon as we boarded the ship, and it started its smooth journey over the sea.

…

And as the ship sailed, the surroundings gradually turned dark—.

(... I should go to dinner as soon as possible. My fiancé must be waiting for me.)

But however hard I tried, my heart wouldn't listen. Thus, I found myself standing at the bow of the cruise, looking out at the sea below.

(I’ve always wanted to experience being truly in love with someone.)

(I want to be loved that way too.)

And yet, that simple dream of mine was about to be crushed that night.

(I shouldn't be selfish. Everything will be alright, I just have to put up with this.)

(If I give up and accept my fate, all will be well…)

Just as I was about to toss my feelings into the depths of the pitch-dark sea,

???: … Hey.

(...?)

Someone grabbed me by the wrist and I turned around—.

???: If you stick your body out too much, you might fall into the sea and get swept away.

(Oh, it’s him.)

– Flashback Start –

Young Man Called ‘Ellis’: I did that because I had nothing to lose.

– Flashback End –

Standing there was the man I saw before boarding the cruise, I heard that his name was “Ellis”.

Kate: I’m sorry, I was too occupied by my thoughts… erm.

Ellis: Someone was looking for you.

Ellis: I think… she was a maid.

(Oh no. I must go, I kept everyone waiting.)

Kate: I have to leave. Well then—

Ellis: Are you alright?

Kate: …?

Ellis: Are you alright with this?

Kate: … Huh?

Ellis: I mean, you’re wearing an expensive dress on a luxurious ship. And yet, you don’t look very happy.

Kate: I don’t look happy?

Ellis: Yeah. Um, let me rephrase that.

Ellis: You look very sad.

Kate: … T-That’s…

I wanted to throw away those feelings into the depths of the ocean, but he found them and held them in his two hands.

(... I thought of just putting up with my situation.)

(But that doesn't mean I should…)

Ellis: …

Ellis: Hey. Want to run away with me?

Kate: Run away…?

Ellis: Yeah. If that's what you want, I’ll take you anywhere you want.

Ellis: Anywhere in the world.

Kate: … Really?

The young man named “Ellis” gave me a firm nod.

I must've been crazy to place my fate in the hands of someone I had just met. And yet, for some reason, my heart was racing.

(Even just once, if I allow myself to wish for something…)

(I…)

Kate: … Please, help me. Take me away from here.

Ellis: Leave that to me.

He held my hand, and we ran through the cruise ship.

Kate: Wait… um…

Ellis: Ellis. My name.

Kate: … Ellis.

Ellis: And your name is?

Kate: I’m Kate.

Ellis: This way, Kate.

…

We kept running and running, and hid in the ship’s cargo room.

We huddled together, sitting next to stacks of wooden boxes.

Ellis: Late at night when there are fewer people around, come to my room.

Ellis: I’m sorry that my room is only a third-class cabin, so it might not suit you.

Kate: That’s fine… but…

Kate: Why are you helping me?

Ellis: Why?

Kate: We’ve only just met, haven't we?

Ellis tilted his head in puzzlement for a moment, and then he smiled like he had found a precious treasure.

Ellis: Because of your smiling face.

Ellis: I thought that you must look so lovely when you smile… I guess?

Ellis: Is that reason… not good?

Kate: N-No…

Ellis: Fufu, that’s great.

(That’s the kind of reason why he helped me?)

However, he meant everything he said.

To prove that, my heart had been throbbing for a while.

(Is it because he helped me? Or because I’m worried about what will happen to me from this point on?)

No matter how much thought I put into it, I couldn't arrive at an answer.

(It’s the first time I’m experiencing this feeling.)

When I rested my hand on the floor, our hands touched.

Ellis: I boarded this ship with a ticket I got by chance.

Ellis: But now, I think that perhaps it was a lucky ticket.

Kate: Why do you say so?

Ellis: Because it led to me meeting you.

Our gazes met, and without another word, our lips drew closer.

— At that point in time, we still didn't know that our meeting on the ship would lead to a passionate love.

[generalhumancloudalmond]

Part 1: Tea

Part 2: Friendship

Ending 1: White lilies

...

Red lycoris

Platonic!Yandere!Mori x Child!Fem!Reader x Platonic!Yandere!Dazai

Dazai didn't like your interaction with Mori since the days of the underground hospital. It made him feel an unpleasant mixture of jealousy, fear and anger. The reason for this was, mostly, that Dazai perfectly understood the calculating nature of former doctor, the teenager knew how convincing Mori could be if he wanted to get something. And this is why he should have found you before him, that's what he thought, until he found out that the boss has been processing the documents about your adoption for the second week.

"You didn't tell me you'd already found her, boss."

"Dazai, I can understand your offense, but you didn't tell me you were looking for her either."

"I thought it was obvious that I would be looking for my sister."

Morey shuddered. Today, for the first time, Dazai christened you his sister, as if hinting that he also has the right to be near you. The boss thought for a second, then looked up at the teenager and smiled.

"What is it that turns out? Will I have to call you son when I adopt her?"

"Don't you dare!"

Glancing at the wall clock, Mori quickly signed another document and carefully folded all the documents into a file, headed for the exit. Without thinking twice, Dazai went after the elder. However, he was still not allowed to attend your adoption, after giving instructions to the boy, Mori slammed the car door and drove off after you. Dazai could only wait.

The next day, when Dazai stormed into the boss's office after a mission with a report, he saw you. You looked even worse than the day you left the underground hospital. Throwing the report on the boss's desk, he ran up to you.

"Y/n!"

You nervously clutching the skirt of a new dress that turned out to be big for you, you were worried about Atsushi. Tears began to form in your eyes, the words of the director, when you threw a tantrum that you were not going anywhere, thundered in your head.

'Because of you, there are so many problems with the tiger, it is you who provoke him to attack other children, so the fact that someone want to take you away is nothing but a gift of fate for the whole orphanage...'

Dazai stopped right in front of the sofa where you were sitting, he began to act more slowly, as if afraid to do something wrong and scare you off. It was a rare demeanor for Dazai and it also hit your nerves. Why does everyone behave differently? Why is Elice throwing herself at you like you're the closest person to her? Why is Mori acting like he wants to please you? Is it because he became the boss? Why is Dazai so neat? Why doesn't he tell you everything head-on, as usual? Of course, people change, you understand that, but not everyone and not for the better, especially people from the mafia.

God, you want to go back to the same simple and naive Atsushi as you yourself so much.

"Y/n, I..."

He really wants to comfort you, not because he wants to get your love and affection earlier than Mori, but also because he's really sorry for the condescending attitude he gave you in the hospital.

"I'm sorry, as a brother, I..."

"Dazai, for me you are the same brother as Mori's father, namely no. And I really don't understand why you wanted to play family so much, especially with me."

Previously, you would have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that they consider you their family, but now, after all the mockery in the orphanage and Atsushi's consolations, there was a huge amount of hatred in you, both for the whole orphanage and for these two as well.

"Y/n, why did you get up? You need more rest now. Look how pale you are, and I suppose your head is still spinning..."

Mori came up to you with a glass of water and a pill.

"Take a pill first, and then go to bed. Dazai, wait for me here."

After waiting patiently for you to drink the medicine, Mori took you by the elbow and led you to your room. Yesterday, he realized that you would be stubborn and refuse any help, so today he did a lot without asking your opinion, only informing you that now he would take your temperature, bring food, give medicine and everything like that. Like it or not, he was going to take care of you.

Dazai, looking at this, felt like the confidence that he would be able to take you away from Mori was rapidly leaving him. He was late.

[torakan]

PART FOUR!!

another part in one day?? crazy me. it’s as short as the precious one, but since we’re done with putting our comic into words, i hope next parts are gonna be longer ^^

previous

That was one of the weirdest weeks in my whole life. Not only I’ve seen a little person… a little person, can you imagine?! In my apartment! I was so shocked holly molly… not only I’ve seen something strange like that, but I also scared them away so easily and after that I’ve been feeling like poop this whole time. Seriously, why does every little thing start to cry or runs away in fear when I approach? It’s been haunting me ever since I became an adult and now, when life has finally given me a chance to make up for this, showing a creature I couldn’t even imagine to exist, I had to screw up. I did my best not to disturb it, to be even more quiet than usual and to seem friendly if it wanted to approach me, but it all seemed useless, the things I left for them remained untouched. I checked that place almost every day, hoping to see at least something that could serve as a hint that they would want to make contact, but it was in vain. I’m ashamed to admit, but I even cried over it once, and I really hope they didn’t see me in that state. It’s just that that day a whole bunch of unfortunate things came together, and I somewhat couldn’t stand it anymore and... yeah, let’s not think about it, shell we? Haha.

So, after a week of looking for any signs, I decided to stop to not scare that creature again if they were still there and not to destroy myself with how desperately I wanted it to reach out. However, right when I promised that to myself my eyes, this time accidentally, landed on that little corner and imagine how surprised I was to find out that something has finally changed! I quickly took the bottle cap out of there and, taking a closer look, saw that there was another little note among other things. On it there was written a text: “I m fine dont wory. Please dont tell other beans about me. And dont bother. Rules.”

Well, at least now I knew for sure that this was an intelligent creature that spoke the same language as me and it satisfied my curiosity a little bit. It was so nice to finally receive an answer, I felt so relieved after reading this, you can’t even imagine. I was quite worried about them not to get in trouble because of me or to be safe… Though those few mistakes that they made in the writing I thought were so cute, it even made me chuckle.

But the last word “Rules”… Was it their name? Or were there any rules that didn’t allow them to interact with humans? I mean, why would it be forbidden in the first place? Probably, the experience of those creatures’ previous generations interacting with humans wasn’t that great. I bet it was even unpleasant to say the least, knowing how cruel most people are, that’s no wonder. But just in case it IS their name, which I should consider being a possibility, I’ll include it in reply. With that I simply wrote: “Okay, Rules” and left it with the piece of chocolate in the same place. If they didn’t want me to trouble them, I must try my best not to. That would be the least I could do, but at the same time… I’ll never be able to forget the fact that they are my neighbour, so I guess it’s only natural from now on for me to be extra careful around the house.

At with that another week has passed…

as always, comments and suggestions are appreciated ^^

tags: @gtzel @smallsday

next

[baticeer-sims]

I'd like to hear your soap box about romantic standards! I use ACR at the moment but reading that "unpopular opinions" post got me curious about other options 👀

Hiya! Thanks for asking. I absolutely love Romantic Standards, I could NOT play without it these days. I used to use ACR in the past though, so I tried to make a balanced list of the pros and cons for me. But then it got REALLY LOOOONG because I'm a wordy person sorry, so it's under a cut.

The quick TLDR of it is - I feel like ACR creates romantic chaos that's often unpleasant/nonsensical to me, while I feel like RS creates romantic drama that makes sense and also allows for a lot of variety in how different sims will feel about their relationships.

By the way, I use Midgethetree's edited version of RS because it's modular (you can pick which parts you want) and the documentation is way easier to understand lol. If you have any trouble with mod conflicts or with getting RS set up the way you like, feel free to ask me about it and I can help you out with what exact files you need.

The full soapbox under the cut!!

One thing I want to say is I think a lot of people have been playing with ACR for so long that they don't know what their game will be like without it? And they underestimate how much autonomous romantic interaction will still happen between sims. A key here is that sims can't autonomously interact romantically unless they have compatible gender preferences, and townies or CAS sims always start with 0 preference, so a vanilla hood without ACR will feel low on the random flirtations unless you use something like the Sim Blender (or similar) to randomize everyone's gender preferences! (And ACR gives out random gender preferences automatically, so you might install ACR, see a lot of people interacting romantically for the first time, and assume you can't get that without ACR when all you needed was the gender preference setting, yknow?) But I can assure you that with ACR removed, my sims are definitely still getting into plenty of unexpected romantic entanglements and exciting drama.

To my mind, these are the biggest features of Romantic Standards that I just can't get with ACR:

Random chance of crush/love status: I could never play without this now. As you probably already know, normally two sims automatically get a crush or love when they interact romantically with 70+ shortterm or longterm relationship respectively. It's kinda predictable and boring to me. RS, specifically the "slower feelings" file, makes it so that crush/love flags are added randomly with the chance being based on the sims' chemistry with each other. This also allows for some amazing Drama Potential where you could have 2 sims interacting and one is completely in love with the other but the other has no feelings for them at all! It's otherwise impossible to do that. This makes crush/love flags actually feel meaningful to me, like they represent real human feelings, instead of just being able to know that if I decide one day to smooch my best friend they're guaranteed to fall in love with me.

Simple jealousy system that makes sense: I could never get my head around ACR's jealousy system to make it work the way I wanted. I felt like sims would have their token values changed even when I set them to be static, and stuff like that, and it just was so complicated to figure out what values I wanted... OTOH, this is how jealousy works in Romantic Standards: If a sim is in love or in a committed relationship (steady/engaged/married), and they see their love/partner interact with someone else romantically, they get mad about it! Unless you put a "no jealousy" trait in their inventory (then they won't get jealous over anyone) OR if they also have crush/love flags for that 3rd sim (this, allows for you to have polyamorous relationships). I find that easy to understand and to work well for a majority of situations. There's also an option where they won't get jealous over love, only committed relationships -- but I prefer the also-in-love version because it combines really well with the previous point about crush/love being randomized! You can frequently get situations where A is in love with B but B only has a crush, so B will be willingly flirting with other people and A might get their heart broken over it because they thought this was serious... It really generates a lot of interesting storylines.

Sims don't cheat on their partners if I don't want them to: I know ACR is supposed to have settings that will make sims stay faithful, but I was unable to get it to work consistently, and I feel like I've often heard other people say things too like "I didn't want this sim to cheat but 🤷 ACR just did that". With RS, if a sim is in a committed relationship they can never do autonomous romantic interactions with someone else unless 1) they're Romance aspiration or 2) they already have crush/love for that other sim. You can of course still direct sims to cheat if you think it makes sense, but I don't have to worry about anyone's marriage falling apart if I want them to stay together. (Also, you can override this for specific sims by giving romance sims a "hopeless romantic" trait, or non-romance sims a "commitment issues" trait.)

Midge's version of RS is modular so almost all of the stuff I listed above is separate if you only want part of it.

On the other hand! Here are the things that ACR does that I've missed or that you might miss:

Autonomous woohoo and try for baby: Your sims won't woohoo on their own anymore. I found that I didn't really mind this? The woohoo timer in ACR feels kind of mechanical to me, and a lot of times they'd be starting to do it in situations that were really inappropriate (like other people are in the room and they're stripping naked on the sofa at 9am). And I don't mind the lack of try for baby either because I prefer to decide when my sims have a baby based on if they roll a want for it, or if it just happens from risky woohoo. I've noticed that simler90's original version of RS has an optional plugin that allows for autonomous woohoo but I don't know if it works with Midge's edited RS. I haven't tried it yet bc I don't mind not having auto woohoo. If anyone has, let me know.

Can't woohoo on the sofa and can't woohoo in one menu-click: My god it's so much easier to be able to click "casual...woohoo" than relax on bed, ask other sim to join, wait for them to get there, cuddle, then woohoo. Something to note is that there is a "stripped down" version of ACR which only retains the Casual Woohoo interactions and was made to be compatible with Romantic Standards. However in my experience (and that of a few other people I've talked to) the jealousy aspect of this so-called compatibility... still doesn't quite work correctly? So the "casual woohoo" option, if you have stripped-ACR, I think it will still go off of ACR-jealousy (which is impossible for me to understand lol), instead of RS-jealousy like everything else in the game? It can definitely cause situations with jealousy reactions that aren't working how they're supposed to. So um... the crazy thing that I do, personally, is keep that stripped down ACR in my game but with all the autonomy completely disabled in global overrides, at which point it is doing literally nothing other than letting me tell them to casual woohoo if I want them to woohoo on the sofa. And I just make sure to never use that option in a situation where jealousy is a possible concern, in order to avoid the issue where it doesn't work correctly. It's kind of overly complicated a thing to do just to get sofa woohoo but I'm just saying it's an option 😂

No autonomous First Kiss: This is it! The one thing I truly do miss from ACR and would really love if someone made a mod for it one day! I love when my sims do stuff autonomously and surprise me. But First Kiss is a non-autonomous action, and what's more, sims can't roll the want to "Kiss so-and-so" if they haven't already had a first kiss, so I find it kind of hard to decide when my sims will have their first kiss. I'm always like, why can't you do it for me!

The other major difference is that the "Casual" romantic interactions from ACR have lower thresholds for acceptance than the default Maxis interactions. I personally don't see this as a positive because... well... I've been playing this game for so long, I kind of know how to get sims together at this point, I really don't need to make it even easier 😅 I'd rather have RS making it a little harder for sims to fall in love. I use a lot of other mods for other aspects of the game that make it harder overall because it's more fun for me.

Also! So, I was going to give you a list of other romance-related mods that I use in my game along with RS, but then I realized I could be lazy and just give you a link to my friend @alice-in-strangetown's mods list, because she & I have pretty similar taste in how we like romance to work in this game and I use basically all the same romance mods as her :P because I started using RS after finding out about it from watching her TS2 livestreams.

If you want to try RS on a neighborhood that has ACR but you're not sure if you'd like the playstyle, I recommend temporarily replacing it with the "stripped down" ACR version (and disabling autonomy), because that way your sims will keep their ACR tokens if you decide you don't like RS and want to switch back to using ACR. Of course, it's technically possible to have both of them at the same time, but the key thing about ACR is that all of the "Casual" interactions in it are completely separate from the vanilla maxis interactions so mods that affect default maxis interactions or maxis jealousy (like RS does) won't interface with ACR interactions and vice versa.

I hope all of this was helpful, and that maybe it convinced you to give Romantic Standards a try! Like I said, if you need any help getting it set up I can give you advice or a more detailed guide on how to install it (I think the documentation's pretty straightforward tho).

[psalacanthea]

Hi I'm Lauren I'm new to this app, I'm just trying to make some friends. Can i be your friend?

Gonna suspend disbelief for a minute and assume this is true. :) If it is!

How to Make Friends on Tumblr Dot Com! from a fandom perspective

1) Look for people with common interests and follow them.

The first step in finding friends on tumblr dot com is finding people who like the stuff you do. Fandom tags are great for this! Use the search function to look for fandoms you like. Find people who are talking about the things you like! Follow them.

IE: You have 'Owl House' in your bio. Use the tumblr search to look for Owl House, or if you want to specifically look for a ship, look up CHARACTER x CHARACTER. IE: Luz x Amity.

Once you've found the fan stuff you like to see, you can use the more common fandom tags fans like to use, like 'TOH' for 'the owl house' and 'lumity' for 'luz x amity'

2) Interact with the people who make and interact with the stuff you like.

There are many ways to interact on tunglr dot com.

LIKES- Hitting that heart button on a post. A like is just a thumbs up, an acknowledgement, an 'this is cool'. This is the equivalent of a passing smile. It shows someone 'I'm friendly!'

You can also use likes to bookmark things you want to reblog later, but you don't have time for right now!

REBLOGS- This is you showing things you think are cool to other people, and just saving them to look at later. Your blog is for you. It's your neat rock collection. It's your pictures in your locker. It's your scrapbook.

Leaving TAGS on your reblogs (the bar at the bottom of a post that says 'add tags') allows them

a) to be searchable on your blog. If someone sees your blog and also likes Amity, they can search for it and see all the cool Amity stuff you found if you've tagged it properly.

b) to leave notes for the creator of the post. Things like 'woah this is cool'. It's the equivalent of leaving someone a nice note. Something they can look at, save, and smile about later. Tags hold no social expectation for the creator.

It is ALWAYS better to reblog things without tags than to not reblog them at all. Why? Because we're all here to share stuff, and not reblogging because you can't do it 'right' kills the ecosystem. Sometimes I don't have the spoons for tagging. So I reblog without them.

If you feel like you have something to ADD to the post, and to the fandom discussion, you can always reblog with a post of your own added! Don't be shy about this. It's a basic function of the site. It isn't rude to do!

Being a dick in the reblog, however, is rude. If you don't like something and want to make a post about it, or you disagree, make YOUR OWN POST. You can do that. :) Just tag it appropriately so you find your target audience.

IE: You hate the Lumity ship. Do not tag your negative post LUMITY, as it will show up to all the people who like the ship. That's rude. Find the tag specifically for Lumity haters, your true brethren. Usually they're something like ANTI-LUMITY.

COMMENTS-

Comments are for when you want to say something about a post, but not add to it directly. More immediate and personal than talking in tags, commenting also invites a response from the poster instead of everyone who looks at your tags/reblog post.

Comments are NOT for telling a poster how much you dislike their opinion, their fandom, ships, or anything else like that. DO NOT DO THAT. It will not make you friends. Unless your goal is to befriend other unpleasant people. In which case um…try twitter?

ASKS-

It is OKAY to send people asks, like you sent me this. It's a good thing! It opens conversations and helps you show someone that you're interested in them as a friend! My profile specifically says I'm open to asks, and many other peoples' do too.

Just keep in mind that this is social media, and tumblr has a culture of anonymity. That means don't get too personal with it. Don't ask people things like their age, real name, relationship status, etc.

If you have trouble with social cues, it can be fraught and stressful to send asks. That's understandable. It isn't necessary to use asks to make friends.

If you do send asks, be aware: asks also do not always get answered. That's the nature of the site, and it's okay. Sometimes people forget they reblogged an ask game (me). Sometimes it's not a question they want to answer. Sometimes they don't have time/energy/context right then and there.

There are MANY reasons an ask won't be answered. No one owes you a reason or an answer. If that upsets you, sending asks may not be for you.

Please keep in mind this is an overview, and everyone is different. Check pinned posts and bios for specific preferences! <3 This is how you start being part of a fandom, which is the first step to making friends!

3) Being a Positive Part of Your Ecosystem

Now that you are interacting with the people who post the things you like, and interacting with the fandom either big or small and being a part of it, you should be adding TO the fandom in some fashion. And yes, supporting fanwork creators by reblogging, tagging, and giving likes IS adding to fandom. One big thing to remember, though.

FANS DO NOT MAKE CONTENT, FANS MAKE FAN WORKS.

If you want to keep your ecosystem friendly, casual, and fun, please treat fandom artists, writers, curators, meta-posters, etc like people. That means not having expectations of public-facing behavior, social purity, speed of creation, fandom loyalty, or manditory interaction with other fans.

a) finding followers

If you look for other fans who are reaching out for interaction, you will find people who will follow you and interact with you. Look for people posting questions, ask games, artists and writers posting their works. Look for people who are sharing what they love, and love it with them.

Interact with the people who interact with you!

If a stranger follows you, check them out! Maybe you guys have common interests. Maybe you vibrate on the same frequency.

If someone follows you back, that makes them your mutual. It doesn't really mean anything no matter what people say. All it really says is 'your stuff is cool, I want to look at it, too.' It means they vibe with you.

This isn't twitter. You don't have to be 'mutuals' to interact with each other. There are many people I like a lot that I do not follow. Why?

Because I don't want to see their Tumblr interests on my dash. Maybe they're in a fandom I Do Not Want to see. Maybe they're really into a ship I dislike. Maybe they post something that grosses me out. So I don't want to see it.

That's literally it.

Being a positive part of your ecosystem does not mean being a perfect uwu bean. It doesn't mean always being upbeat. It just means that you support the things you care about because you want to keep seeing them. It means befriending people because they seem cool. It means being genuine. It means not pushing your expectations on other people.

It also means accepting something kind of sucky.

NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND.

It's a fact of life that sucks, but it's true. Put your effort in where it's rewarded. Give back what you're given from others. Don't try to fill a bucket with a hole in it.

b) using messages

DMs (direct messages) are another thing that varies from person to person. But, if you want to get to know someone on a one-to-one level, DMs are the way to go. Oftentimes people put their DM preferences in a bio or pinned post. Not everyone does.

DMs are a way of saying something in private, like sharing a link to a funny post you know they'll like(you can always use @(theirname) in the text box of a reblog if it's a tumblr post), talking in-depth about something you'd both mentioned in posts, or asking about something personal they'd posted on their blog, like a favorite recipe, or movie, or something like that.

DMs are more personal and not everyone is comfortable with them.

You should meet people at the level of friendship THEY want to give, not the one you want to have. If someone wants to chat with you in comments but not in DMs, then that's what you should do. Giving people a chance to opt-out when you message them is polite, and if they express on their blog having social anxiety, it might help them.

But DMs are not scary, or forbidden. You just have to respect people's boundaries and be clear while you're getting to know each other. If it's hard to tell if someone is okay with something, ASK. You're not a mind reader :)

c) blocking

What? How is blocking people good for fandom? Well...it's a little thing I like to call:

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Some people are assholes. Some people have Bad Takes. Some people live to pour poison into a fandom. Some people like to attack others and make up crusades so they can feel socially superior and morally pure. Some people just have a bad vibe. Some people just happen to have lots of fandom friends so you can't stop seeing their posts even though you disagree.

Block saves lives.

It's not an insult to be blocked. It's not mean to block people. It's curation. It's getting rid of things that introduce things you don't want into your happy little fandom tide pool.

Your ecosystem might be poisoned by That Ship, or a fandom headcanon, or a show you just don't want to see. Block it, baby! Block people, block tags, block me. Block it all. If you love someone you follow but hate the show, don't block them, block the show tag!

It's like magic!

See only what you want to see. Give only what you want to give. Find people who want to see and give the same things you do. Support them, and if they're worth your friendship, they'll support you too. Do not chase people who don't have the time, energy, or desire to interact with you on the level you want.

Keep it chill.

That is how you make friends on tumblo dot comms.

Being said, I'm not into The Owl House or your other listed interests! I hope you find people who will be a happy part of your personal tide pool of cool weird stuff. Good luck out there.

[thedo0zyslider]

Long Forgotten But I'm Still Here - 4k words

Oli has some feelings about being thrown into Empires and forgotten by all his friends. And none of them are the good kind.

A03 Link

This new world--Empires as Oli had begun to call it--was quite a rollercoaster, to say the least. Being thrown into a new world randomly, separated from all your friends, was not pleasant. Zero out of five stars, bad yelp review, unpleasant experience, would not recommend. 

He’d declared himself the king of Afterlife, which is what he’d called the one before this one, because everyone else had died. They’d used up all their lives or disappeared, leaving him in an empty realm. Until he’d been shoved into heaven that was, to this day he still didn’t know what that was all about, only that once he’d gotten there he hadn’t been allowed to see Sausage; who he knew was up there, for the record. Miss Pearlescentmoon also made a great first impression, by promptly throwing him into some random wilderness, in a world that was decisively not his old one. 

If Oli was being honest he’d fucked around for a little while, doing whatever stupid idea came to his little head. He’d settled on a beach, in a poorly built wooden house that he deemed a megabase, with a little wolf companion to keep himself company. It soon became him and this strange little dog he’d tamed, named Sausage in memory of his long gone friend, against the world. It had been them against the mobs, the elements, everything. Even the Warden, a fateful encounter that had killed his beloved pup and left Oli friendless and alone. Again. For a third time, but that was okay, that was fine, because he could do other stuff. He could do stuff that didn’t involve other people, like burying his late dog on some random patch of snow. Like killing the ender dragon, a creature he had once respected and revered, and stealing its unhatched egg. 

He could do things like floating in an endless void for god knows how many years, a stolen baby dragon clutched close to his chest and listening to some vague murmurings of a poem about love and players and the end of some kind of game . He could do things like being spit back onto his beach, his house now missing and in a world clearly full of people. A world clearly full of his friends, if the ever familiar building styles said anything. 

It was kinda jarring really, to see almost everyone you care about and have them not remember you. It was fine though, nothing Oli couldn't deal with. It was just a little weird, how all his friends were both different and the same at the same time. Well. the ones that were actually with him anyways. 

Some people, he found out slowly and over time, weren't here. Callum was the most notable absentee, to Oli at least, though he doubted anyone else even knew there were people missing. The fox had always had such a presence in his lifetimes, even if could only remember a few. It felt like a big chunk of the blonde was missing, and he silently mourned the absence of his furry friend. Lauren, his fellow Enderian, wasn't here either. (They hadn’t been Enderian's for long, or at the same time, but Oli didn't care for those technicalities. They were still fellow Enderians.) Though he wasn't sure if Lauren would have fared too well in this world, she did have a tendency to fold like a wet paper towel. Meghan and Mika were missing as well, and it was frankly strange to see Shelby running around without them. At least she still had Joey, and Katherine, he guessed. 

Oli had figured all that out from observation mostly, because he was not ready to interact with people after spending god knows how long in the void. So he’d wandered around as stealthy as he could, investigating the nearest tavern he saw. Said tavern seemed to belong to Gem, but before he could even process that Fwhip had showed up and was shoving him in jail. Apparently that ancient city his dog had died in was the one Gobland was built above, and stealing from it thousands of years ago, before anyone lived there, was a crime . 

He’d ended up being stuck in that miserable cage for a month, a month ! It was honestly torture, admittedly a little (more like very) inhumane of Fwhip, and had probably given him a fear of enclosed spaces, so that was great. He’d been stuck in that stupid fucking cage, left with nothing but his horrible, horrible thoughts and rotten fucking cave pork. He hated pork after that, didn’t think he’d ever be able to stomach the damn meat again. Oli and Fwhip had been friends, friends , and the bard had just been shoved in a cage like that didn’t matter, just because the little goblin couldn’t remember. 

While in the cage he’d wondered why no one remembered, and why they simply just couldn't. He wondered why Pearl couldn’t just snap her godly little fingers and make everyone remember who they’d been before, however many centuries ago that was. Then he wouldn’t be in a cage, then he wouldn’t be forgotten and he’d get his beloved friends back. It really didn’t feel like all that much to ask for, in Oli’s opinion anyways.

The blonde hadn’t paid much attention to whatever community service he had to do after being freed. All he cared about was the freedom from the cage and Fwhip’s horrible goddamn cave empire. All he’d paid attention to was that he could actually walk more than five paces again, and the fresh surface air blowing through his unkempt hair and making it windswept. He’d pay whatever fine he’d been taxed with later, when fwhip eventually came knocking at his door. For now he set out, back to the one place he knew best in this weird little world. 

The blonde had returned back to his beach, which was apparently a little ways away from Gem. He had a feeling that Dawn’s princess was faking, and that she did remember him, but he wouldn’t press for details. He wasn’t even sure he could handle that knowledge emotionally, so Oli was very content with not knowing. It did bug him though, that she wouldn't at least drop the act when they were alone, if only to make the world feel a little less alien and isolating than it was turning out to be. Instead Gem just acted like she was an innocent little sun princess, and also dubbed him a bard. 

He only focused on Gem’s little act for a day, before setting off to sea. Oli was a little sick of this world. He wanted to go back home to Afterlife, where his original friends had lived. He wanted to go back to the orb and his other builds, maybe even see if some people had returned from their disappearances. This world, the one he’d dubbed Empires, was weird, strange and hostile, and it wasn’t home . 

He’d sailed and sailed for a few days, going decently far out. There was land he could see sure, but it was strange and uncharted, which was reassuring. It was away from people, and maybe that meant he was getting closer to home. Maybe he hadn’t been shoved into a different world at all, maybe this was just another corner of Afterlife’s vast, mostly unexplored world that he could leave and ignore for the rest of time. 

As soon as Oli had gotten his hopes up he had to sail back, because there was something, some kind of force above the water stopping him from going further. Because of course there was, because of course he was stuck here and couldn’t go home. As he traveled back Oli bitterly wondered if this strange border was just a him thing, and if Joey and his other friends had ever found it during their times with sea bearing origins. 

Oh, yeah actually, speaking of Joey , the man had bloody attacked him! The pirate man (because Joey was a pirate now for some reason, and with an empire that matched the whole theme as well) had been rambling about skeletons or something as he sank Oli's small boat. He'd been free in this world for five minutes and people were already trying to drown him! 

From there he'd washed up on the shore of Sausage's empire, who had kindly nursed him back to health after his attempted murder. Sausage still looked the same since Oli had last seen him, helping the man ascend to the heavens. He could tell this was the same Sausage though. There wasn't really a reason, more of feeling than anything. Joey had possessed a different, oh what's the word? Vibe. That's it. He'd had a different general vibe to him. This pirate man was still Joey of course, just more....devious than the previous version Oli had encountered. More pirate-like, if you really must. Sausage however was the same, there was no doubt about it. Sausage still worshiped the same god, which made him a little more suspicious, and now he looked at the mural of Santa Pearl with more disdain than wonder than he had before.  

Oli suspicions of reincarnation were confirmed when Sausage mentioned visions, but he couldn’t pry on that one because the man had thrown him at Katherine as soon as he was fully healed. Apparently he needed a new change of clothes, or something. Oli hadn’t been paying much attention to what he wore, so he didn't notice until it was pointed out. Being almost drowned by a friend will disorientate you like that. 

And for some unfathomable reason Katherine had dressed him as a bard! A bard ! He wasn't a bloody bard ! Being musically inclined didn't make him a bard , but it was fine. Everything was fine and not weird. It was just like changing origins in Afterlife, wasn't it? Instead of regular old Oli, he was bard, just like how he'd been an Enderian and then had to adapt to being an axolotl. Oli could adapt, that was easy. Sure, he'd adapt to being a bard, just like he'd been adapting to new things his whole life. 

(If part of him was tired of adapting; of losing friends, then he didn't think about)  

Yet despite that he'd left Katherine's place feeling sour, yelling about how he wasn’t a bard. If there was one thing that didn't change, it was Oli's commitment to the bit. 

The newly made bard wandered the land for a little while after that, which gave him plenty of time to get used to the versions of his friends he was now stuck with. Everyone was still the same deep down, even if they'd formed into slightly different people. Sausage was the exception though, because he was literally the same person. He was worried about running his mouth just a lil, as mentioning past lives didn’t tend to go very well. But Oli also had a need to be annoying in an endearing way, and that need always won over his anxiety. So he set off, newly obtained lute in tow, and walked around until he found signs of civilization. 

The first person he encountered, Scott, was still full of sass and his hair stayed dyed a teal blue. Oli started to wonder if it was even dyed at some points and if he was just born with weird hair, but it had to be, because he'd been blonde before as an angel. He wouldn't be surprised if this Scott had dyed his hair either, he was a very colorful and creative man. It made for quite the pretty empire, Oli did have to admit. That man still knows how to make a good block palette. 

Joel’s empire was very close to Scott, close enough that you could see it from the latter’s house. He’d heard Joel was a god and Oli had hoped he would be like Pearl and that someone would remember him. But no, the sky god was like everyone else, he had no memories of before. Which was just dandy , didn’t hurt that one of his closest friends forgot him. Nope 

Instead of remembering Joel had just called him weird and then introduced him to his child. Because Joel having a kid was normal and not a shocking development. The kid, very creatively named Hermes, was apparently Joel’s and Sausage’s, and had been an armor stand before being brought to life by the two. Joel had a living armor stand for a son but sure, Oli was the weird one. That was totally normal. 

There was also a new person, one Oli had never met before, their name wasn’t ringing any kind of bells. Her name was False, and she was setting up a little steampunk themed area near this world's Scott and Joel. He hadn’t paid this newcomer to much attention though, he could always meet her later. There was plenty of time, for now anyway. Never know when God's going to throw you into a strange new world after all. Plus, from what he’d heard, False tended to be skittish, suspicious of everyone, and was very good with a sword. The bard would meet her later if it meant avoiding another murder attempt. 

Katherine still kept her usual love for pastels, but her kingdom was apparently corrupted and being taken over by a mysterious black substance. All of the builds were split, one side being the princess normal style of building, and the other decayed and ruined. Oli’s second visit hadn’t lasted long after learning that. He did not want to get involved with any sort of curse, nope, no thank you. 

He’d avoided going to Fwhip again, because he’d seen enough of that damn cave, and headed up the mountain instead. There he met Lizzie, who was once again living life as a small, furry, mischievous little animal. This time she was a cat instead of a kangaroo or raccoon, and still acted the same as Oli remembered. It was a little reliving, to know that his friend was still her unique little self, even if she didn’t remember him. Though Lizzie did seem more inclined to go along with his seemingly nonsense ramblings of the past, so that was a plus. 

The Mayor of Animalia had warned him of a witch though, and Oli immediately made it his goal to find this supposed dangerous and scary witch. The witch wasn’t scary in the end, because it was Shelby. She, like everyone else, didn’t remember him, and was just a little spookier than he last remembered; almost like her shadow origin at the very start of Afterlife. 

From there he’d wandered to a mesa, where he found the second to last person he had yet to know. The hot and dusty biome was inhabited by Jimmy Solidarity himself, the very man who’d given him community service and freed him from his stupid little cage. Oli already did not have a high opinion of the man, because he was working closely with Fwhip; other than that he seemed fine. Except for a slightly different vibe, one more troubled than before, he was basically the same Jimmy the bard had used to know. 

The last person he met was his favorite, one that hadn’t actually been in Afterlife. This guy, Pixlriffs, was his favorite instantly. The archaeologist was a stranger to him, someone he could look at without a thousand memories flying through his head. Pix listened to whatever he’d ramble about, be it his past of whatever random topic came to head. The man seemed to be genuinely listening as well, and Oli wouldn’t be surprised if he took mental notes every time. There was a connection there of some kind. He didn’t really know why, the bard could just tell this man was different, that he wasn’t what he seemed. It was nothing sinister, not in the slightest, just a feeling that Pix also knew more than he was maybe letting on. 

It was these little encounters, his time on this server that the bard replayed over and over again in his head as he returned to his beach. He set up shop permanently this time, deciding to build tents as an empire, because they were easy and only really required him to collect wool. He went through the motions, gathering materials, building, sometimes socializing, thinking and letting all his emotions bubble up inside him. Oli didn’t want to deal with them, because he was adapting again, that all he had to do was adapt again and everything would work itself out like it always did. 

Sure, it hurt that none of his friends remembered him. But he was fine, he was over it. He just masked whatever he felt with his normal comedic relief attitude. That always worked before, so why wouldn’t it work now? It definitely wasn’t unhealthy or anything, definitely wasn’t coming back to bite him. Nope , not at all.  

He broke down when he next saw Sausage. 

Oli sat there in Sausage’s arms, feeling pathetic as he sobbed his eyes out to a man he barely knew. But he did know this man, he knew him well, they’d been best friends and that was why he was crying. He was crying because no one remembered him, and it hurt and he couldn’t ignore it anymore. 

He barely heard Sausage’s comforting murmurs over the sound of his own sobs. Such a kind person Sausage was, to comfort Oli in such a moment. He was the one person who could maybe understand, with his visions and what not, but Oli wasn’t sure if he even would. How could he? The man didn’t even remember what his visions were about, which was arguably worse, but that wasn’t the point. The point was Oli remembered, and Sancuatry’s ruler didn’t, it wasn’t the same, it would never be the same. 

Sausage shifted them both until Oli’s head was buried against his chest, dampening the nice fabric of his shirt. The bard felt bad about that, despite the fact Sausage had been the one to put his head there. It was a really nice shirt. “Shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Sausage muttered quietly, hugging the bard to his chest more. Hands began to stroke his hair tenderly, Oli leaning into it. He didn’t want any of that to calm him but it did , because Sausage was apparently great at providing comfort. 

Oli always hated crying. It made him feel stupid, his face all puffy, nose runny and his eyes red. So now on top of having a mental breakdown he felt stupid, and in response just tried to hide himself more in Sausage’s kind arms. The brunette just couldn’t sit there and let him suffer though, no matter how much he knew Oli wanted to do just that. 

“Now, what has you so upset, querido ?” Sausage asked softly, tilting Oli’s head so the latter would make eye contact with him. The bard met his gaze hesitantly, hating how he kept leaning into Sausage’s soft touch. He didn’t want comfort, he had never wanted to cry in the first place. He wanted to go home, back to his beach and his multicolored tent to mope by himself. He wanted to go home and watch the rain that was currently falling from the back of said tent and let it lull him into a fitful sleep, as he’d done far too many times for his short residence in this world. But no, he was here, in Sanctuary, losing all his dignity in an empty town hall, to a man who didn’t remember what they were once before. At least no random citizen was here to see his sob fest. 

Oli didn’t respond at first, just stared back at Sausage with still watering eyes. He cracked eventually though, only because he could tell Sausage wasn't going to let him go until he did. 

"It's, it's like your visions or whatever…" Oli began, looking away. "Like how you remember things and you don't know where they're from? I do that, but I know what they are." He explained it slowly, taking a few pauses in between his words. He was lying, he was lying through his teeth to Sausage . Oli didn’t get visions, not even anything close to that, he just had to know everything ever. He hadn’t been blessed with reincarnation, he had to remember everything . But he wasn’t going to cry again no, he wasn’t, not if he just gave himself a chance to breathe. "Like your sunflowers? I knew who they were from as soon as I got here." He ignored how Sausage stiffened under him slightly, before forcing himself to relax again. 

Sausage made a quiet humming sound, seemingly a little lost for words. "Do you…remember anything else? Like my sunflowers, I mean?" 

"I remember bloody everything , Sausage!" Ah, there goes the dam he'd been trying so hard to build. Oli clutched the fabric of one of their shirts; he couldn’t tell who's due to hot tears running down his cheeks again. "No one else does!" He snapped. "They just think I spout nonsense!" 

No one had told the bard that exactly, but just because he was comedic relief didn't mean he was stupid . He knew the certain look Scott had given behind his back when he talked about the latter's time as a vampire. He knew the face Joel made when he thought people were mad. Oli knew these people too well, he knew all their little cues and everything. They hadn’t needed to say he was crazy for him to understand. 

Oli waved his hand in dismissal. "But it's fine," He continued. "I'm fine, I'm just a silly little bard getting worked up over silly little-" 

Sausage's grip tightened on him, and it was the closest he came to being anything but gentle all night. "Stop deflecting, Oli!" He hissed. "It's not fine because you're not fine, because you're crying over this." Oli wanted to break again, but he wouldn’t. He'd listen to Sausage scold him and he wouldn’t cry, because he was better at hiding his emotions than this and wasn’t supposed to break in the first place. "It's not fine that you lost all your friends and it's not fine to pretend ignoring it is healthy!" Sanctuary's ruler squeezed him into a tighter hug as he finished speaking, clearly dead set on not letting the bard go. 

"I know," He whispered, burying himself closer to Sausage's warmth again. It was really all he could think to say

"Then why ?" Sausage asked, sounding so worried and desperate it hurt. 

"Because what else was I supposed to do? Act all sad and depressed and weird everyone out more?" Oli snorted, sarcasm and slight irritation dripping into his voice. There was nothing he could do but his usual unhealthy habits, nothing his brain would let him even attempt to try.

"You could’ve talked to someone!" The brunette hissed, grip tightening around the smaller in his arms just a little, but not enough to hurt; just enough to convey his concerned frustration. 

"They wouldn't understand, Sausage. No one else but you could-" 

Sausage cut him off quickly. "They’d at least listen. People here care about you, Oli, even if they don't remember who you were to them. I don't remember but I still care!" He said, and yeah maybe that was what got through Oli’s stupid, stubborn head. Maybe that was what made his damn break again and made him stop trying to fight with his friend’s perfectly reasonable solutions and kind words about his unique problem. 

"You were my best friend," The bard muttered, almost too quiet to hear. Yet it seemed to echo throughout the otherwise empty town hall. 

Sausage responded just as quietly, and the response echoed just as loudly. "And I'd like to be that again." 

They sat in silence after that, only for a little while though. Oli shifted into a more comfortable position, silent tears dripping down his cheeks. Sausage kept his tight yet caring grip on the bard, not going to let go until Oli started to feel better, or told him to leave. Kind words and comforts were muttered into dyed blonde hair, and it reminded the bard of his time in the void. He was again surrounded by silence, feeling numb as words of kindness and care were mutated into empty air. 

"Do you…wanna talk about it? That is, if there were people who didn't come here, could you talk about them? If that helps?" Sausage asked it slowly, carefully, almost hesitantly. Oli was just as slow in his response, only nodding after a minute of careful consideration. Hiding from the brunette seemed a little useless, especially with the chance he would remember their old home too one day.

"Well….there was Mika." Oli muttered, beginning to tell of people he shouldn’t know in this world. He told the tales of the missing, some of the dead, to a man who’d lived alongside these strangers once upon a time. Sausage just hummed every so often, an indication he was listening, and stayed as a steady comfort when more tears spilled down cheeks that were flushed red from crying. 

Maybe this world wouldn’t suck so bad, with moments like these. Maybe this could be home, one day, and maybe it'd be a bit more permanent this time. 

[watatsumiis]

Some rambling about Sucrose. Not really sure what else to say.

CW for some depersonalisation/derealisation type shenanigans, existential thoughts and the like. I use they/them pronouns for Sucrose due to my own headcanons and would appreciate others doing the same on this post please <3

Sucrose often finds themselves feeling left out.

Not in the sense that they're being excluded, no, no, their fellow Knights of Favonius would never do that, they're too friendly, too... social.

There.

That's it.

That right there is the reason Sucrose finds it difficult to connect with their peers. There's something about the way they talk amongst themselves, how at ease and familiar they are with their motions and speech patterns, the way they can look each other in the eyes without shying away.

Something about it makes Sucrose feel like... an intruder, of sorts. Like a strange, unwelcome creature imposing on every interaction, which doesn't help with how difficult it is for them to speak up in the first place.

Sometimes they find that they can go days without speaking a word aloud to another soul, especially now that they have a research lab of their own to run. The only sounds that fill the lab are those that the experiments generate, or the occasional squeaks and other such tics that Sucrose lets out.

It makes them feel strangely detached, but not in a wholly unpleasant way - it's always a jarring experience when someone knocks at the door, seeking out a 'Mx. Sucrose' for some reason or another.

Of course, Sucrose is always passably polite, but even as someone who struggles with social queues it's easy enough for them to catch the pitying looks thrown their way, the infantilising tone that gets used on them by those who seem to think of them as some kind of lesser.

Sucrose has never particularly considered themselves to be lesser, just ... different, is all. Always lingering somewhere out of the close circles their peers would form. When they were younger, it bothered their parents more than it bothered them. Even now, they tell themselves that perhaps it's not so bad watching from outside, feeling like something separate, something different altogether.

It's easy enough to fill in their days with experiments, research and walks that make it feel like they're drifting through Mondstadt's gentle hillsides as some kind of formless spirit, but there's nothing that they can do on slow, lonely nights like this.

Sucrose lays in bed, looking up at the ceiling as they ponder absently, their thoughts slipping into the well-worn grooves that they always do when there's a lull between their experiments, or they had a particularly offputting human interaction.

People are so strange. They'll think to themselves, fingers tangled in one of their six blankets as they rub the soft, well-worn edge between their thumb and forefinger.

Wait. Something gives them pause.

I'm a person too.

It's such an odd, existential thought to them that they often simply sit and spiral with it for a little while, allowing the strange, alien things that they feel swirling in their mind to take the reins.

I don't feel like a person. It's easy enough to imagine they're not, especially when they spend so much time alone, but sometimes the fact becomes simply undeniable.

As usual, their thoughts circle back to base biology. They wonder if their hybrid blood contributes towards them feeling the way they do.

No, no, otherwise Diona would be struggling too. And Draff seems to be doing just fine.

And, for the millionth time, Sucrose feels alone in this world. The Vision on their bedside table twinkles dully in the glow of the plant they use as a nightlight. Even that feels so far away - they can hardly recall the day they got it now, it's all just a blur of experimentation and sitting in their lab. Alone. As always.

They themselves drift for a while longer before rolling onto their side, catching a glimpse of their vision that unwittingly makes them think of the stars above. Cold, unreachable and oh so alone amongst the empty space that stretches above the world.

Sucrose takes grim solace in the fact that the stars experience the same separation and loneliness they do, and wonders if perhaps they share in their grief as well.

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagarise my writing! This includes posting translations to other sites.

[annoyinglandmagazine]

A Song Only You Can Hear Chapter 3

Beleg sat down next to him at lunch later that week, dragging with him half the rugby team. ‘So you’re rooming with Feanorian right?’ Fingon blinked ‘Yes? Why is that a problem?’ Beleg shook his head frantically, ‘No, of course not! I’ve got no quarrel with Maedhros-’ ‘speak for yourself,’ Mablung was very quickly told to shut up.

‘Ignore him he’s being childish, I just wanted to see how you were settling in. Switching schools in third year isn’t easy and, well, living with Feanor’s kid is probably a bit of an adjustment.’ Well what was that supposed to mean? Sure, Maedhros was a little tense sometimes but he’d never shown any indication of being anything but civil to his classmates and Fingon had been under the impression that he was well liked enough. Beleg seemed to be a pleasant sort so Fingon decided to give him the benefit of the doubt but readied himself to defend his roommate if needs be. Maedhros had clearly been trying his best to make him feel welcome here and the idea of anyone being rude about him made Fingon fill with an unusual amount of righteous anger, even for him.

‘Why would there be a problem?’ He asked, keeping his tone light, he always had a strength for putting people at ease which allowed him to see who’s company he’d enjoy and who he’d enjoy getting into an ill advised fight with at the edge of a sports field. Beleg looked uncomfortable which was either an indicator of a lack of enjoyment of gossip or of having something deeply unpleasant to say. ‘Well there’s no problem as such, but, you know, his father, well.’ Definitely the former then.

Mablung had no such qualms. ‘Feanor’s a massive prick.’ ‘Keep your voice down!’ Beleg looked back and forth as if expecting either Maedhros or the aforementioned Feanor to materialise behind them. ‘He’s- eccentric. Let’s go with that. He’s- well he’s a genius, don’t get me wrong, and from a very respectable family, but he’s always been a little- less than respectable himself.’ He didn’t seem to know how to continue so Glorfindel chimed in.

‘He’s a scientist and about a hundred things besides but he has the tendency to piss people off. A lot of people. Important people, very publicly and very thoroughly. These people including but definitely not limited to, the King, the Church, Mablung’s parents, my parents, the Prime Minister and just about everyone else he’s ever talked to.’ This clearly being a topic everyone had something to say on one of Glorfindel’s friends from down the table added his two cents.

‘Aside from all the public arguments and aggressive letters his personal decisions have always been a little unusual for someone of his standing. Eloped at 19, Irish wife, a daughter of a blacksmith no less, bare minimum of servants even though he could certainly afford them, never hosts in his house and,’ the boy leaned forward at this as if importing a great secret ‘apparently he’s an aethist.’ He then left without any further comment. ‘That’s Pengolodh for you. Collects gossip like an old maid, but we love him anyway,’ Ecthelion said as he watched him go with a disbelieving shake of the head.

Fingon came to the conclusion that all of this seemed oddly good natured by the standards of most boys his age he’d interacted with before. He also decided in a split second judgement that he liked them. He saw the way they talked to each other and wanted to be involved, and hey they’d tried to talk with him right? The first step had already been taken. ‘You said something about rugby tryouts?’ He’d have thought it was impossible a few moments ago but somehow Beleg grinned even wider, and Fingon almost had to look away from the brightness. Ecthelion on the other hand groaned into his hand, ‘Oh god, they got another one.’

[redxluna]

A03 First Lines Tag Game

I got tagged by @thetragicallynerdy so I get to have fun, thank you, love!

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

1) just ask (it’s already yours) - Arcane, Jayce/Viktor

It would have been impossible, by now, to claim Jayce to be unfamiliar with opinions that challenged those popularly held. The part often overlooked, however, was how difficult it had been to achieve an (uneasy) acceptance of even one of those ideas. And even that had only been attained through proving it lucrative enough to back.

2) and if my wishes came through (it would’ve been you) - DAI, Cullen/Dorian

Cullen had never been the sort to put much stock in superstitions—regardless of what any ribbing about his faith might suggest (or, perhaps, after all that had happened, because of it). Most of the ones he had encountered tended to fall apart under the slightest bit of logic, after all. He had walked under a ladder with the only bad thing to follow being the cursing from the workman on it and the only unpleasant thing about breaking a mirror was the mess that came in trying to clean it.

3) pulling pigtails - Inception, Arthur/Eames

There was, truth be told, no real way to go through life without establishing some sort of reputation along the way. Of course, that was something which became considerably more certain when a person decided to dabble in all the fun, rather illicit things that that life had to offer along the way, but that was neither here nor there.

4) an applied education, DAI, Cullen/Dorian

It started with a boy. A handsome one, who was exactly where he shouldn’t be. Important things to note, at least in Dorian’s consideration, and, for once, not even for the expected reasons. Just that there were certainly more ideal circumstances for barging into a friend’s dorm room. The kind that would have allowed, at the very least, for him to remember all those lessons about the importance of a sense of filter.

5) Once More With Feeling, DAI, Cullen/Dorian

The fact of the matter was that Dorian was no fool. Or, no, perhaps that wasn’t such a safe assertion to make at present. It seemed difficult to believe now, after all, that there should have ever have come a moment where he had doubted that their fearless leader could get the job done. Not with how everyone was all but hoisting the poor girl up onto their shoulders right there in the main hall, only moderately deterred by her protestations of lingering injuries.

(Facing down a darkspawn magister would do that to a person.)

6) a picture perfect guy - DAI, Cullen/Dorian

Given the dedication with which he had curated it throughout his life, Dorian considered himself quite aware of the sort of presence he had. It wasn’t as if, were he ever inclined to forget, there weren’t people all too prepared to remind him. Not that such efforts would always be welcome, but, well, that was something else that Dorian had long since grown accustomed to.

7) heart of the land - DAI, Iron Bull/Cullen/Dorian

It had been close to proper ages since the right to tribute had been respected. The knowledge of what lurked within the woods was apparently an easy weight to carry. At least until the earth began to rebel against them, holding back steadily more of its yield each season.

8) sleeping over (and other adventures) - DAI, Cullen/Dorian

It probably would have been an overstatement to say that Dorian hated his home. He might have even managed to develop an actual fondness for it once the sensation of newness around wore off. Might have, that is, if he hadn’t managed to befriend Cullen.

9) Creative Betting - Inception, Arthur/Eames

To his credit, Arthur really should have known better.

It was normal for any group of people that had known each other for long enough to have some sort of rules around their interactions, after all. Theirs might deviate from the norm sometimes—he certainly didn’t want to explain the one about Dom no longer being allowed near train tracks without supervision—but it was still normal in theory if nothing else.

What all of this really boiled down to in the end, of course, was that Arthur really, really shouldn’t have chanced a bet from Mal.

10) Lessons - DAI, Cullen/Dorian

Dorian had never been allowed to the illusion that what he was—or, at the very least, what he represented —didn’t come with its own set of rules. How often he chafed beneath the severity of them didn’t matter, even if he did spend a considerable amount of time trying to rebel against them.

Tagging @cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness , @tristinai , @some-radical-notion , @momomomma2 , @singersargentboi , @tinydemondragon @itbelynx , @ramonadecember (and anyone else who might want to? my apologies, loves, I’m horrible at this part >//< )

[foxtricksterwriting]

Writing Dump; Jesse 1

Pairing: Jesse x Dante x Nathan

Media: The Deal(Interactive Fiction)

Tags: @thedeal-if

Author's Notes; Been sitting on this for a minute, I think I'm finally ready to publish it

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The man sighs as he leans back in his chair. He'd been trying to sketch out a sculpture he planned to do for months. But it wasn't turning out the way he wanted it to. It always goes back to one of two people.

He scowls down at the page, at the face he hadn't meant to draw. "Gah, why is this happening?" He mutters, running a hand over his face. He stares down at the cocky smile he's drawn. "Damn it, Nathan...." Even when he's not physically here to cause issues, he still stirs up trouble. Jesse drops the charcoal pencil on the page and furrows his brows.

It makes him think, really think, about how he feels for the angel. Nathan, with his seemingly endless confidence; always up to something, yet keeping his plans close to his chest until the very last second; his playful, teasing ways; even his haughtiness, his arrogance, is intoxicating. Yet, they talk so easily. Jesse talks to Nathan the same way he talks to Josh; like they've known each other their entire lives.

Then there's Dante, his resident demon. Truthfully, both men have been occupying his every waking moment. Actually, scratch that, after last night he can't say every waking moment anymore. Following his impulses to a frankly stupid degree; somehow knowing when to provide a distraction or when to admit he doesn't know, at least when it comes to the people he cares for. His care for others goes deeper than Jesse had expected, but it's not a unpleasant revelation. He likes to think he's seeing another side to Dante, but the truth of that is dubious at best.

Jesse gasps suddenly, his eyes widening and he jolts into a upright position. Everything hits him all at once; he can finally recognize what he's feeling for them. But that brings some other issues. He flops back into the chair with a heavy groan. "Why? Why now, why me?" He growls. When he sits up, he looms over his sketchbook. Scooping up the pencil, he flips the page to a blank one. He starts sketching, planning a new little 'project.'

"I've heard love works in funny ways, but I never expected that to be true...." he mutters.

Minutes tick by as Jesse furiously sketches and scribbles away. He's been hunched over his desk, over his sketchbook, drawing out whatever his heart will allow. No, not allow, what his heart wants. His mind feels full, full of thoughts of the two men that've captured his attention so thoroughly while simultaneously feeling all too empty.

"Jesse?"

The man jumps, throwing his pencil up. His head snaps to the doorway, finding his best friend with a concerned expression. "Josh," Jesse almost groans. He tries to offer a smile, "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah.... When did you get here?"

"A couple minutes ago. I called, but you didn't answer. You didn't answer the door when I knocked, either. So I used the key you gave me," Josh holds up the spare key.

Jesse sighs with relief, "Okay. I thought I left the door unlocked or some shit. Sorry, I was..... busy."

"With that new project?" Josh offers, nodding towards the desk. "...Kinda. Plans changed," Jesse shuffles in his seat uncomfortably. He looks to the floor, finding his charcoal pencil in three pieces on the ground. He scoops them up and sets them next to his paper. "Sorry, man," Josh says but Jesse waves him off. "Don't worry about it. Not the first time I've broken a charcoal pencil," he stands up and walks towards the door.

"We had plans, right?" He asks while stretching. "Yeah, you ready to go?" Josh backs away from the doorway. "Yep!" Jesse nods while giving one last look at his desk.

The sketch on the paper is of a relief with Nathan and Dante on the left and right, looking out at their peers. Behind them is a mock up of heaven transitioning to hell. I'll have to ask them about the scenery. On all sides of it are little notes or things to take into account, including the sentences Main Subjects = High relief, background = low relief and Where do I get the room for this shit?

Jesse smiles and leaves, already looking forward to his next piece.

[sirjuggles]

Worm Reading - Arc 9 Sentinel

This arc is so dense with setting and character revelations, it was so much fun to read. I will admit that I have read ahead as far as 11.a, and I’m trying to catch up to all the craziness that’s going on but it’s also hard to stop reading long enough to write up my thoughts.

9.1 Weld

Right out the gate we meet Weld. Overall he seems like a hero with a bright future, but I can’t help but think that his power is just so-so, and has almost more drawbacks than it has benefits. Just touching metal can be debilitating for him, and that seems like something that’s very easy for an opponent to exploit. Also, he’s spoken of by Paragon leadership as this stellar leader, but every time we see him interact with the local wards he seems to be hit or miss. Some of that isn’t his fault with all the issues they’re working through, but it doesn’t feel like he’s really fully prepared or capable of taking leadership here.

We also get a little more time with Director Piggot. Interesting to hear her speak openly about her agenda for parahuman acceptance within society. I am interested to see that people in political leadership positions such as her are taking a long-term view of this, and seem to have been doing so for some time, though I’m not convinced that everyone buys into it as much as she does.

I almost missed it on my first read of this section, but I think this is the first time we’ve seen a full list of the Superpower Categories. Most of these we’ve seen in action or have some understanding of, but I don’t think we have yet seen anyone with Trump- or Stranger-type powers.

The situation in the city is definitely bad. It’s gotta be tough for city leadership to have Purity and her crew reaching out with offers to help, because of course they can’t afford the optics of legitimizing that group by teaming up. This brings to mind the idea of the Endbringer Truce— at what point are you desperate enough to accept help from groups you find morally repugnant? Hopefully the city doesn’t get to a point where such alliances are on the table, but even now it’s gotta be tough to turn down the extra assistance.

Interesting to see how the Paragons rate the powerscales of the various groups in the city. I confess I had previously brushed off Vista as not very impressive or interesting, but throughout Arc 9 I’ve been forced to revise that. More on that later.

Not sure if I’m reading too far into it, but feels like there might be something deeper alluded here with Weld wanting to pocket some of his food allowance with “it was only fair that he enjoy himself in some other way.” Maybe I’m just spooked by the recent Coil interlude and the idea of people having dark secret vices.

Weld’s first interaction with the team does NOT go well, and this ties into what I said about him not being prepared to take over a situation this bad. Vista’s advice to him at the end of this is so cutting and insightful, and was the first time I realized that Vista is in fact awesome.

9.2 Flechette

We saw her work during the Leviathan fight, but this is the first time we’ve met Flechette. Immediately I like her, she seems to have her head on straight.

Part of that is reinforced by how she interacts with Shadow Stalker in this chapter, which one again just totally reinforces how much of a psycho Sophia is. Say it with me class! Sophia. Ugh.

At least it’s nice to see that some other people recognize how screwed up and unpleasant Sophia is. Would love for Flechette and Taylor to have a cup of tea and share their experiences there. Though I’m guessing Flechette’s still got a little too much shiny hero-brain to be comfortable with where Skitter stands on the hero/villain spectrum.

We also meet Parian here. She seems nice, but very much NOT cut out for the situation the whole city is in right now. Poor girl.

9.3 Clockblocker

Poor dude. Honestly it’s very disappointing and surprising that the Ward program doesn’t have some sort of mandatory therapy program for ALL of their members, considering both the general violence and conflict they see as well as the huge trauma of the Leviathan fight.

Right at the beginning of this chapter we get a mini info-dump about the sorts of topics academics focus on surrounding parahumans. The topics they discuss make sense, but it feels like what we learned about the eldritch beings from Ms. Militia is a huge puzzle piece in the middle of this and without that they’re just clutching at straws.

We hear that New Wave might be disbanding. Wonder how much that’s related to the losses of family members they took during the Leviathan fight. It does make it obvious the downsides of being on a superhero team with family and loved ones; when things go wrong those losses cut even deeper.

Once again we see Weld doing a poor job of managing the hearts and minds of his team. I understand that Clockblocker has some anger and trauma issues going on that are causing these problems, but it feels like Weld is not seeing and accommodating those as an effective leader should. It’s Vista who softens the situation, who helps CB even though he’s hurting. A lot is made about how she’s the youngest team member and basically a kid, but I feel like she’s got huge potential to grow into both a powerful hero and leader.

We come across our murder scene. This is super gristly, and I am very concerned about what it portends.

This fight hugely underlines how capable the Travelers are. I understand they have some underlying issue they’re trying to deal with, but in a team battle they are so difficult to handle. Trickester’s ability to confuse, misdirect, and control combatants; Sundancer’s ability is a massive threat that must be respected; Ballistic can easily harass, and Genesis is incredibly versatile.

I do have some respect for Weld just straight punching Sundancer’s orb. Even with his physiology that seems like it hurt him.

9.4 Kid Win

We have a continuation of the Traveler fight here, a very clean segue to read back-to-back.

Kid is clearly suffering in his own ways from the recent traumas, just like they all are.

I think this is our first mention of the Slaughterhouse 9. Wish it were the last.

I feel like this recruiting run is good for Kid Win, it forces him to think about why he does what he does.

The message Kid intercepts at the end here has to be from Coil, right? This sort of man-on-the-inside tactic is right up his alley, and I can’t think of any other players who are playing these sorts of games.

9.5 Vista

Awww yeah a Vista chapter. This cements it, I think Vista is my current favorite member of the Wards. This scene of her taking a shower and considering herself is so so so well-written and shows her depth.

I feel like asking this team of kids to take on a known double-agent as a team member is a much bigger deal than they are making it. They have to trust their team members have their back in the worst situations, I can’t see how that works when they know the new kid is a mole.

Yeah, Vista is all screwed up by the recent traumas too, in her own way. It does feel to me as though she has the most capacity to bounce back though.

This is also the first time I see Weld really rise to the occasion as a leader. The advice and orders he gives Vista are good, she needed that.

YEAH WELD, YOU’RE RIGHT, WHY ISN’T THIS WHOLE TEAM IN THERAPY??

Ugh. Sophia. You’re the worst.

9.6 Shadow Stalker

Ugghhhhh do I really have to read a whole section from Sophia? I mean I’m not really complaining because it’s a chance to see how her internal perception matches the way she comes across to everyone else. But the end result is that is DOES! She’s just horrible inside and out, and she knows it and she’s ok with it! I suppose for a story where all of the “villains” are interesting and in some ways relatable, I guess you need a character to just hate, and Sophia is it.

[roleplayingspinosaurus]

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This blog is no longer active, but it will remain online as an archive of sorts. If you are interested in interacting with me, please follow: @forestofforever​

Rules

No godmodding

No smut

No interactions with child characters 

No pregnancy plots. 

I only interact with those that are 18+

I don’t mind seeing these themes on my dash but I don’t personally enjoy writing them.

All of my characters are OC’s so it only makes sense that I am OC friendly. I can usually alter my muses somewhat to fit with your universe, though some plotting may be required to make it all go a bit more smoothly.

Any threads that include Benjamin are bound to be at least a bit triggering. Specifically dealing with themes of abuse, gaslighting and straight up torture. If you do decide to interact with him, please be aware that things could get very unpleasant. We can always discuss the situation beforehand though, since I do believe in respecting those that I write with as well as their muses.

If I don’t receive a reply on our thread for over 2 weeks I’ll consider the thread “inactive.” That doesn’t automatically mean it’s dropped, but I won’t be expecting a reply from you.

The Mun

Memes have no expiration date and I love receiving them, the same goes for my open starters. You're welcome to reblog memes from me, I don't mind it at all.

I’m always open to plot and my inbox and dm’s are always open, so feel free to reach out if you’d like to start a thread sometime or even if you just want to chat!

I’m Lisa, 23 years old with about 10 years of RP experience (though at least 7 of those years are going to go unmentioned because teenage me was no Shakespeare by any means).

I generally reply to threads in about a day, but I don’t mind if you take a bit longer, I understand that people have busy lives. I am a mess at formatting things so I don’t bother trying to make my stuff look fancy. If that’s your thing, totally cool! I just prefer the writing itself and I don’t understand tumblr well enough to make it look any better than it currently does. I do cut my posts though, or at the very least try to. I don’t use Icons but I think it’s cool when others do it. 

The Muses

All muses are played as 30+ unless otherwise specified. Age can be flexible if the thread asks for it, however their age will never go below 20.

Etienne- The Black Cat

Etienne’s family owned a theatre when he was younger, and so he has grown up surrounded by fantasy and drama. Sadly the theatre burned down when he was 15, killing his family in the process.

The experience has left Etienne afraid of fire. Candles won’t cause him to panic, but firepits or fireplaces may cause some visible discomfort. He remains in love with the theatrics that he grew up with, and dramatic is probably a good word to describe him. He’s quick to flirt but slow to let his walls down.

Sylvester- The Crow

Sylvester was a brilliant surgeon until his brother died on his operating table. The guilt and anxiety that followed his brother’s death left Sylvester a shadow of his former self, a shadow which was then mangled even further by a man named Benjamin Forest. Benjamin put Sylvester through hell in an attempt to see how many times you could break someone until they stopped being able to put themselves back together. Sylvester is still going, though one may wonder if he’s still himself after all he’s been through. Sylvester barely considers himself to be a person anymore at all. 

Sylvester is a nervous individual with many odd tics and habits. At first he may seem distant and cold, but as soon as his walls come down (and really, showing him a bit of kindness is often enough for them to go tumbling), he’s the most loyal person around. He’s been starved of affection and struggles to have healthy attachments, which allows your muse the choice; will they show him kindness and try to remove him from an unpleasant situation? Or will they use his already broken psyche to manipulate and control him even further?

Wester- The Big Bad Wolf

Wester is a ray of sunshine, a Golden Retriever in werewolf form. Energetic and social, Wester is easy to get along with, if perhaps a bit difficult to get rid of. Wester is friendly but also a bit naive and an airhead. He enjoys sports and long hikes, and chasing tennis balls (though he tries to only do so while transformed). 

Wester is a werewolf, and he’s not great at keeping it a secret. He is still friendly when transformed, and he can usually control his transformation fairly well unless it’s a full moon. His eyes remain amber even as a human, and his hearing and sense of smell remain more sensitive than that of most. He’s also colorblind. 

Benjamin- The Deer

Benjamin is a pompous prick with more money than dignity and a severe lack of empathy. Getting along with him is a chore, and people really only ever get close to him for his money. Not that they’re going to benefit from it, because Benjamin absolutely will not spend money on anyone unless it benefits him somehow.He’s arrogant, manipulative and just generally unpleasant. That being said, he’s got a pretty face and dimples that might charm some unfortunate individuals right into his bed.

Now if you can overlook all of these significant flaws, you will find a man that might still have a soul after all. He can be very protective of those he loves, but this does come with a great jealousy and possessiveness that should not be taken lightly.