#that got very long and rambly whoops

[the-nation-of-today]

BVB-Versary

🚨WARNING: Big old sappy post ahead🚨

Exactly one year ago today, I listened to Black Veil Brides for the very first time. So now, a year on, call this a narrative about/reflection on the past year.

I’m not usually one to remember the exact date I started listening to an artist so clearly. The only reason I remember this one so vividly is because of where I physically was at that time. Every summer, my family rents out a beach house for a week and we just go and chill. While on the beach one day, I was listening to music and decided I needed something new, I was bored of what I was listening to and needed to switch it up.

Now in May of that year, I had discovered Andy Black and fell in love with the music. I knew Andy was the lead singer of BVB and that I liked his voice so it just seemed right to try out BVB. I knew they were a bit heavier than Andy's solo music, but it was worth a shot since I had been slowly dipping my feet into some heavier music (for me). If I didn't like it, oh well, it was worth a try.

They had a lot of music and I had no idea where to start, so I did what I always do when trying a new artist: I put every song into one massive playlist and just hit shuffle to start getting a taste. The first song that came on was the Re-Stitch version of Perfect Weapon, I'll always remember being taken aback by that first scream. And as I listened more, I started noting down the names of the songs I was particularly endeared to so I could put them on another playlist to focus on them. Eventually, it came to the point where I was writing down every single song that came on. I always joke that something broke in my brain that day, but really it was like something clicked. Whatever it was about this music, it resonated with me on a level that I did not expect.

After my shuffle experiment, I made it a point every day on that beach vacation to listen to one album in order each day, which worked out for the week. I started with Wretched And Divine, mostly because I noticed a lot of those songs were my favorites. Then came Vale, and TPT, and all the other albums. Needless to say, I was hooked. I spent that week consuming as much BVB content as I could find. I listened to the albums, read interviews, watched both American Satan and Paradise City, anything and everything I could find regarding this band or its members. Torch was the first song I really learned, one distinct memory I have is climbing up the beach house stairs and just repeating the chorus in my head to try and get it down and memorized.

We returned home from that vacation, and I had a new determination to learn all of the songs. I copied the lyrics of every song into a google doc, took a screenshot of my BVB playlist to mark off which songs I learned, and began studying. I started with Vale, don't remember the reason why I chose that, and I would just listen on repeat reading those lyrics over and over to drill them into my brain. Every day was BVB for me. I'd pace around my room learning lyrics, finding old videos, just consuming whatever I could. Then, as a treat for surviving a family wedding at the end of the month, I ordered what would be my first batch of BVB merch.

But this wasn't enough for me, I needed more. I turned to Tumblr (it being my main platform) and just began scrounging for content. A lot of it was older, nothing super active, so I resigned myself to just following the tags and finding content that way.

One day in November, however, I reblogged a gifset of the Wake Up MV with some insane tags that you all are probably used to from me. The next day, I got a DM from someone, the person who I reblogged the set from. They saw my tags, and decided that we were the same level of insane and wanted to talk more. We did the social niceties dance for about two hours that day, and once it clicked that we were both insane about this band, that all went out the window and we went unhinged.

This person, who if you hadn’t figured it out already is Sam aka @bornasaint. That day, I had made my first real BVB friend, someone who I could talk to about this band and it was cathartic to just be able to talk to someone who understood me. We were both newer fans, which I think helped in how quickly we bonded. That same month, I started my own BVB tumblr blog (the blog you’re reading this on now, obviously) because I knew this obsession wasn't going anywhere. Also in that month, we started the Black Veil Beloveds server, which was a test run of trying to find more active BVB fans. Obviously it worked, because the BVBeloveds are still going strong.

December of that year, Spotify Wrapped came out as always. Even though I had only started listening in August, BVB was my most played artist of the year at 25,000 minutes played. I was officially deemed as down bad by Spotify. And I was content with that, proud even.

But, soon enough, Tumblr became not enough for me. A lot of it was just old pictures, nothing super current or active. So around February/March of this year, I revamped my twitter that I had barely been using and started making headway into BVBtwt. I'll admit, I was nervous. I hadn't really been active in a fandom twitter space in a long time. But, one day a tweet came up on my timeline asking for people wanting to start a new BVB group chat. I took the plunge, and stated my interest. That group would quickly become yet another set of dearly insane friends. Even though I was a newer fan compared to many and a little bit older than the space I found myself in, I was welcomed in and felt excited to have this again. Something had sparked in me upon finding this band and I felt creatively and socially recharged.

I used to say I wish I had gotten into BVB earlier in my life to experience some of the eras of the band that I hadn't been able to due to not knowing the band existed. But now, I realize that I found them when I needed to, when it was right for me. Call it fate if you will, but I couldn't ask for better timing. This band had defined my senior year of college, so much so that I decorated my grad cap with a lyric from Torch and took them with me to graduation.

And now, one year on, I am at that same house. We rented out the same house from last year, the same one where I spent hours on the deck looking out at the ocean and listening to BVB. That one choice that I made, just to try out this band to see if I liked them, took my life in a completely new directory. A year ago, I never would’ve pictured myself going to a BVB concert and buying VIP for it, but here I am now, 48 days away from meeting them.

And now that I’ve narrated my entire journey of falling in love with this band, some thanks are in order.

First, to Sam, my dear bestie. Thank you for finding my tags amusing enough that you wanted to reach out and thank you for dealing with my insanity, from Bestie Those Are Your Tits to Biersussy and every insane inside joke in between.

To the BVBeloveds, another thank you for putting up with me and my obsession with Andy’s black button down shirts.

To that twitter GC, thank you for being welcoming, our inside jokes have changed me, I don’t know if I’d call it for the better, but they certainly have changed me.

And finally, thank you to Black Veil Brides, for making music that could resonate so deeply with your fans and for solidifying that connection throughout the years.

I promise I'm almost done rambling, but I’ll leave you all with this. My favorite song (if you couldn’t tell by the Everything about me) is Wake Up. That song struck a chord with me, particularly the line “we’ll be here when their heart stops beating”. And I think it resonated with me because that’s the power of music. Even when you are gone, that music remains, those memories remain. Music is eternal, and it changed my fucking life.

So, here’s to my one year BVB-versary, as I like to say, and here’s to many more years of insanity.

[skibasyndrome]

I wanted to ask your thoughts about a topic that I think might resonate with you since a lot of your writing surrounds it and since you talked about it the other I thought it'd be nice to hear what you have to say.

I grew up feeling very ashamed of having sexual feelings, and other things taken in account made me really repressed. For a very long time I didn't even admitted to myself I was queer until I was actively in a fandom with queer people.

But sex in general was always taboo regardless of gender but for some reason young royals has destroyed a bit of the misconception I had around it. The show in itself depicts a beautiful and safe environment for queer sex which I'll always be so grateful for.

And then fanfic came along and that was another block taken down because fanfic allows us to be even more free in our writing etc but sometimes I feel conflicted about how it can feel good to feel this free reading about these characters but irl still have this block.

Your writing is so amazing in that regards because your character are exploring it all and I don't know how it would be if writers would stop themselves from writing what they'd want to bc they're afraid of what others might think... I wouldn't have read all these stories and felt myself freed from societal rules of what's okay and isn't.

But sex is also drench in shame regardless bc if you like kinky stuff your weird, if you like too much sex then it becomes dangerous. But writing about those very things feels like a rebellious acts, do you agree? It's like art can do so much and sex in that regard is something we have to push through as well in order to make our point across like there's nothing wrong with it but why do we hold on to the shame more ? Of course we can keep it strick to fanfic I don't expect you to reveal yourself etc I was just thinking about the way yr is different in that concept because it challenges us to see sex differently because Wille and Simon see it differently, does that make sense ?

Hi, dear anon! Thank you so much for sending this in and for trusting me with it 🫂💜 I definitely have loooots of thoughts on this, and I hope that I can express them coherently. Sorry if this gets rambly!

First of all: I'm very, very sorry that you grew up with all that shame around sex and sexuality around you. I'm really happy to hear that things are better now (at least the part about admitting to yourself that you're queer 💜) You deserved better, everybody deserves better. But I relate to that a lot. I grew up in a politically and religiously conservative environment, so of course sex was something people got shamed for and homophobia and queerphobia was rampant.

Interestingly enough (or maybe it's not that interesting at all, who knows) being in a fandom did the same thing for me, except I got lucky because I was able to find a place in a fandom and with fellow queer people at a pretty young age. I think without that, I would've had a way harder time coming to terms with my queerness, even though I remember already thinking about it when I was like eight or something. It's absolutely invaluable to be able to get a sense of community like that and to know that there's more out there in the world, be if for you and your own identity or just what's possible for humans in general. I'm endlessly grateful for fandom and especially for fanfic for being able to provide that!!!!

And the funny thing is, even though this is far from my first fandom and far from my first time engaging with queer content there was still something incredibly special about Young Royals and the way (queer) sex is treated on the show (and I know it's not just queer sex, but that's kind of the lense I use to look at it, so I'm going to be focusing on that). Like... even though, technically, I had it all more of less figured out already, the show did change something for me, and even 1,5 years later I'm still struggling to put it into words. But there's something about the way the sex is depicted that makes it so... uncomplicated? Like, even though the sex is very central to the story, to the way Wilmon connect, and to one of the main conflicts (with the video tape), it's never an issue in itself. They're both so quick to admit it, they did nothing wrong (maybe... maybe the most important line of the whole show to me tbh). And even though shit hits the fan because of the video and they both go through hell and back in all kinds of ways because of it, there's never any inherent shame around it. It's so different and refreshing in that sense - these two guys like each other, so they do what feels right for them, and there's no issue with that. It's almost... celebrated? Is that the right word? throughout the show, it's what they do for comfort and connection and to feel closer to each other. I don't watch nearly enough tv or movies to really know if that is overall as revolutionary as it felt to me in particular, but... yeah. For me, personally, that was one of the first times queer sex on screen looked like that. It really is exactly how you call it, beautiful and safe!

As for the freedom that come from reading fic: yep. hell yes. That is definitely a big part of why I love writing and reading fanfic. It's freeing, in so many ways. Of course that's not something that's exclusively limited to fanfic, and you will always find me talking about the inherent emancipatory potential of art of all kinds, but I do think that, especially compared to what you'd call traditionally published (romance) books, fanfic has a lot more freedoms. Fanfic writers have the possibility to publish the most self-indulgent stories ever, we don't have to tie everything into a neat bigger plot, we don't (unless we struggle with perfectionism, but... you know) have to try to make the story perfect or fit into any of the molds traditional publishing or literary history provides for us. We can create straight from the heart, on a whim, to work through shit or to ask questions or just because we thought of something interesting and couldn't let it go. And, when it comes to smut, we can just (again, theoretically, I won't pretend there aren't always all kinds of pressures that do influence what people feel comfortable writing and publishing)... write whatever.

It makes it easier to explore things that other types of media don't always give people the space to explore, like smut, kink, queerness, all sorts of different forms of relationships. And I think it gives a lot of writers the time and space to just explore. And I think that's something more people should be allowed to, both in fiction, but also just in their minds or even in life, explore. This can mean all sorts of things, but I also very much mean those things, sex, kink, queerness, relationships, etc. But especially for people who don't have the means to get into these things themselves, for all kinds of reasons, but also for people who don't really want to explore things as themselves fic can provide a safe space. Because you do get a close insight into things you've maybe never seen before or even thought about before, you get to experience them alongside the characters, and it can go all sorts of ways. It's safe, because you're not putting yourself on the line, but you're also right there, emotionally.

And that is not to say that reading smut is something that has to do with personal sexuality for people (although I think it absolutely can), but it's like a playground to just. Exist in. See what happens. Enjoy the variety of ways human beings can express their feelings for each other, enjoy the variety of ways human being can experience joy and connection and pleasure, or even the more difficult emotions. It's cathartic to be able to see all that.

I think that is also where the difference between reading about characters experiencing these things vs trying to face them in real life comes in, because fic is such a safe means of engaging with (sexual) things. It makes sense that it's easier to enjoy these things theoretically. Because even after we go through all these efforts of trying ourselves out and deconstructing the harmful notions and the internalized shame and then things society or our parents of whoever got into our heads instilled in us, they're so difficult to fully get rid off, and there's always more puritanism of all flavors coming our way. Don't beat yourself up about not being at a level of comfort that you want to be at (yet), but I hope as time goes on this will get easier for you 💜 I know thus far this has been a very allo kind of conversation, but you know, even if sex isn't something you're interested in for yourself at all, there's still a lot to be taken from engaging with it through fiction I think. That's also part of the beauty, even if there's something you could never envision for yourself - you can experience if through art!

I'm so incredibly happy that my writing could contribute to you feeling freer yourself, that is an incredible compliment and I appreciate you so much for saying it 💜 I really feel the same way about all the fic I've gotten to read, honestly. And I do love that we have fandom spaces to, for the most part, be able to read and write freely. I do think that's an act of rebellion in itself! Creating art is always rebellious in some ways, and art that you will not get paid for and thus don't have any restrictions on even more so (again, nuance, out there in real life art should get funding, but it should still always be able to exist independently of market pressures). I think especially in a society that's still so horribly sex-negative (because even though sex is omnipresent in a lot of ways there are so so soooo many restricting ideas tied to it, like for whom is it okay to have sex, how much sex, what kinds of sex etc) and queerphobic it's absolutely an act of rebellion to lean into these things and depict them as the beautiful and messy and amazing and complicated parts of human existence they are for many people.

And this is where I tie it back to Young Royals specifically: Again, not an expert on all things media depiction of queer sex, but to me personally, YR and Wilmon are revolutionary, just for the fact that their sex is so normal. Not in a normative sense (because, fuck that. there's no normatively normal way of having sex, it's all beautifully weird), but in the sense that it's just what they do. Because they want to, because it feels good, because they want to try things out, because it brings them comfort, all kinds of reasons! And it's never something they think they shouldn't be doing, it's never something they are made to regret. It's the people out there who try to shame them that are the problem, never these two queer guys having sex. That's fucking beautiful and comforting and will forever be one of my favorite aspects of the show.

[notenoughdragons]

so i caved yesterday after *gestures* all of that on the other side of the pond, and bought veilguard (meant to wait till the first bugfix patch is out), and i have thoughts

(spoilers for the first few quests)

fucking adore the character creator. overwhelming as heck but God a+

addendum: why tf aren't there different lip/mouth shapes. we have like 30 eyelash options. i'm p sure da:i had diff mouth shapes

THERE'S NO QUICK SAVE/LOAD OPTION???? why on god's green earth

the photo mode is NEAT (tip, get yourself reshade plus the "mod" that allows hiding the UI, so you can do screenshot nonsense in cutscenes too)

it took me like 15 min to get rid of the quest marker bc that shit is hidden in Two diff menus but oh my god so worth it

on that note, i'm Really enjoying the area/level/dungeon design, and traversing it Without an annoying big blue star thing blinking at you is really good

the environments are just. unhinged in the best way. THE CROSSROADS? D'META VILLAGE?? THE OSSUARY???? perfect no notes

have i mentioned the hair? the hair is really good. i'm a lttle obsessed with the style i gave my rook, i didn't think i'd like it this much

okay let's talk plot bc. uh.

see, on the one hand? so far (recruited bellara and got the dagger and fucked around in the crossroads and am currently getting murdered by murdering calivan so lucanis will murder for Me) it… works for me? like it really feels like getting thrown into the DEEP deep end, but it's a kind of. idk. sensible progression?

and oh my god ghilan'nain. i kinda hate how normal she comes across in the memory dungeon lab? (which. AMAZING QUEST) but also i love that SHE'S UNHINGED, that solas clearly held sympathies for her, the way i YELLED when you hear her voice when that dragon shows up in the blighted village??? amazing

(NO fucking idea how this would play for someone who's not familiar with the series, good lord the amount of exposition crammed randomly into codex cards???)

that being said. how the fuck does this connect from trespasser/tevinter nights. solas what Happened to you. like this is (part of) why i'm Not using saar as the inq in this run, bc even pretending they Weren't madly in love, it doesn't work. i don't think it works for Any inquisitor who befriended/romanced him (unless maybe one who decided to go full scorched earth and hunt him down at all costs)

in meta terms i know why this is happening but How is varric our insight point into solas and the connection to him. even if you're not playing them, this Should be the inq. solas doesn't lose a single fucking word about anyone But the inquisitor in trespasser. it's just this really tragic dissonance y'know

also the way this game is frontloaded is so fucking funny (i am also choosing to find it funny). IMMEDIATELY unleash the evanuris. IMMEDIATELY get solas trapped somewhere so he can't use his not-god powers to help you. FIRST "normal" quest is a horror movie walkthrough of The Most Blighted Village You Can Imagine, like okay! solas spends all of da:i being fucking coy about the blight and now it's like 'the evanuris are blighted. yeah they used the blight for power that's why i trapped them. they got out and immediately start spitting blight everywhere For Power. the REST of the blight is trapped in the evanuris prison. yeah the black city IS the evanuris prison. also blight is alive too. uh what else'

sidenote. did. did no one think it was A Little Weird to frame it like 'solas is trapped in the fade' - 'but not like us! we're also trapped in the fade but in a completely different way!'

i do love the fade conversations, it's got dishonored vibes

(and cut-away scenes to the Villains Having Ominous Convos! i liked that in da:o)

also i have hints turned on and the. the little pop-ups. "solas remembers your verbal jab" THANKS GAME

ACTUALLY SPEAKING OF THOSE VILLAIN CONVERSATIONS. we're just gonna drop into a fucking codex that the lyrium dagger IS the red lyrium idol??? SOLAS CAN CLEANSE THE BLIGHT AND WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT IT????

basically. the connective tissue to da:i etc is uhhhh. insane. bonkers, even. but also when i ignore that, it's legit fun??

also good lord i'm glad i didn't try to come up with a super specific character/backstory for this, the faction backstories are Real specific, and rook is written with a v definitive Slant (not a bad one! but there IS a slant)

[sincerealev]

OHMG HI I love your deh fanart please feed me with some headcanons for my five bbs 😔🙏🙏

Hello!! Thank you so much, that means a lot <3 /gen

I've made some posts already with hcs of the sillies, you can find them here:

Evan hcs

Connor and Zoe hcs

Jared and Alana hcs

So, HERE'S MORE HEADCANONS THEN 😼😼

(ty to my awesome gf for helping me think of hcs cuz my mind was almost blank at the moment of writing this 😭🫶)

Connor helps Evan study for math tests, and Ev helps him with literature assignments in return <3

Evan constantly "steals" his boyf's clothes, and jokingly claims that there’s “an imaginary contract between them” that states that, the moment they started dating, Connor's clothes also became his

They enjoy watching horror movies together <33 (Connor got him more into horror movies). They'll have sleepovers a lot, and have horror movie marathons past midnight

"Hey, Ev... What if we watched [horror movie] and kissed during the scary parts? 🖤"

Their favorite horror movie to watch together is Scream (1996)

Alana and Evan are besties 🫶 Like, very close friends

Sometimes they'll have sleepovers, and Alana will tell him gossip about the school (which she's got a ton of). Even of people Evan doesn't know of, but he eats it all up 😭. But they'll also gossip about their crushes/partners,,

(before Evan and Connor started dating) Alana would sometimes give Connor advice to ask Evan out and stuff

And Zoe would give Evan advice on how to talk to and ask out Connor

Alana and Evan are library buddies, and during college they both got jobs at a Barnes And Noble

Zoe and Jared are one chaotic duo. They'll text and facetime a lot, sending each other memes, and also will plot different pranks to pull on their friends lol

All five have pets:

Evan has his golden retriever, Aspen, which I've talked about before 🫶, Connor has a white ragdoll cat, Winter, which I've also talked about... Alana has a bunny named Cocoa, Zoe has a ball python named after a Greek god (I always forget which one), and Jared has a tortoise named Sheldon (of course (also Sheldon turned out to be a girl lol) )

(more under the cut cuz this post is getting long)

Zoe and Jared will put their pets up against each other and have them race

Jared for some reason can do a near perfect Mickey Mouse impression 😭 And he likes using it all the time around his friends. For example...

Con: (after Jared said something that annoyed Connor) Kys.

Jar: [Mickey Mouse impression] Ohoh!! That wasn't very nice, pal! ☝️🐭

Zoe is also guilty of stealing clothes... She's stolen some of Jared's graphic tees, and is yet to return them 💔

The whole gang loves going to Alana's house, because the energy there is just perfect: All cozy, and feels like home. Alana's grandma is very fond of them all too <33 And will give them all delicious food and deserts when they go visit

Murphy twins headcanons!!! Zoe will sometimes read through Connor's diary, which he doesn't know...

The twins will pull pranks on each other a lot (their parents are already used to this)

One time, Connor put fake spiders in Zoe's bed while she was sleeping. That next morning wasn't very pleasant

Connor and Zoe will ALSO constantly steal from each other's closets; Lucky for them, they're very close in size

They love going to the mall together and being goofballs

On family road trips, the twins will always argue over who gets to control the music

Though they won't admit it to anyone or each other, everyone around them can tell they get along very well and love each other <3

Oh yeah... I don't remember if I've said this one before, but they also argue a lot over who was born first (they're both convinced it was themselves), but their parents have never told them because that'd just be fueling the fire more lol

Now for Evan and Zoe... They give each other music recommendations

Zoe will recommend music from Feeltwood Mac or TV Girl, and Evan will recommend Radiohead songs

Zoe treats Evan as if he was her own brother (where Zoe is the older sibling, obviously 🙄 (Evan is literally older))

Zoe will never grasp the concept of Evan and Connor being together. How can such a nice and polite guy like Evan be with such a mean old ogre like.. her BROTHER?? 😞

Since Evan is close with Alana, Zoe’s gayass will ask certain questions,, such as, “What’s Alana’s favorite candy?”

Jared and Evan hcs: Jared honestly considers himself to be part of Evan's family. They have a cousin type of relationship, and Jared honestly looks up to him (He’d never admit that)

They play video games at Jared’s house, and one of their favorite games to play is Cuphead (you know who is who. Evan's also VERY bad at that game, but he still enjoys playing)

There will be moments where they both geek out over something they both enjoy, like a new comic book series releasing or something

Evan will always be the first person Jared goes to for advice

From when they were younger, Jared had stolen multiple of Evan’s toys and to this day is YET to return them (they both forgot, obviously)

And finally, some more Treebros hcs to finish off:

Evan is often Connor’s “muse”, when he draws or paints (he's got MULTIPLE drawings of Evan, and when Connor shows them to him he gets very shy <3 But Evan is always VERY impressed)

Sometimes they go on late night drives and will park in empty parking lots,, and then kiss <3

Connor has convinced Evan to try shotgunning with him, and it was definitely an experience 🦋

Evan is obsessed with doing his boyfriend’s hair and styling it, he'll do ponytails or even braids

[aria0fgold]

Feeling very Cain from Wolves Den coded right now. Gonna be designing an outfit for him to use for the drawing and so off to firefox I go to search up: "are leather jackets good for hunting" answer is No, so I went to search something else again: "what jacket is good for hunting with a license" (i added the with a license as an afterthought cuz i feel like google wont understand me if i just put hunting on that). Which finally led me to: "shooting jacket mens"

[waywardxrhea]

Casual - Spencer Reid

for the CM friends with benefits challenge by @imagining-in-the-margins <3

pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader (no use of y/n)

You thought that your sexcapades with Spencer Reid had meant more to him like they did to you, but after a couple of run ins with his BAU teammates you learn that he really meant 'no attachments.'

word count: just over 5k

content: smut (this is sinful whoops) MINORS DNI - 18+ ONLY: oral (fem receiving), public (ish) sexual acts, unprotected PIV, established FWB situation, drinking (just to the point of being tipsy, consent is still given), language, anxiety, angst.

dividers by @firefly-graphics

now playing: casual by chappell roan

“You finally made it!” your friend Maddie exclaimed gleefully as you walked into the latest bar that she had decided your small group of friends should try out that evening. 

Maddie’s girlfriend Celeste elbowed you gently in the ribs before teasingly asking, “Were you hooking up with Mr. FBI agent again?”

“That’d be, what? The fourth time this month?” Adrianna asked, a slight slur already in her words. She threw an arm around your shoulders and winked exaggeratedly before adding, “And it’s only the fifteenth! Get it girl!” 

“Ha ha, very funny, let’s all gang up on the girl with the best sex life here,” you joked, forcing a smile onto your lips despite the pang of hurt that shot through your gut at the comments. You grabbed a drink menu off the bar’s counter before heading back to your group’s claimed table for the evening, telling your friends, “I actually picked up an extra shift which is why I’m late and Doctor FBI agent is out of state on a case.”

“Awe, she knows when he’s out on a case, how sweet!” Celeste teased before winking and taking a sip of her brightly colored drink. 

“You three are impossible!” you said with a roll of your eyes as you stood up from your spot once more to escape the conversation and order your drink at the bar - a raspberry frozen margarita with sugar rim. Luckily when you got back to the table with your drink, the conversation had turned to Maddie discussing the latest drama at her job, so you sat back and relaxed as you sipped on your first drink of the night. 

“I can’t believe we finished all that paperwork in time to actually go out tonight,” Derek Morgan said as he stretched his arms, stepping out of his car and into the crisp evening air as he once more met up with the other BAU members at a bar the group gravitated toward when they had time to celebrate wins on cases. 

“Realistically it would have been nearly impossible for us to not get our work done in a timely manner. We got back from the case at ten AM and were all well rested after the flight, so our brains were all in ideal condition to finish the paperwork on time, even accounting for some delays in productivity due to jet lag,” Spencer Reid rambled off as they all walked into the bar, offering a small smile as some of his teammates rolled their eyes playfully in response. 

“Well all I know is that I’m getting a bottle of wine to celebrate wrapping that case,” Emily Prentiss commented as she dug through her purse. 

“What about you, pretty boy? Planning on drinking tonight?” Derek asked as he gently shoulder checked the younger man. 

“Just water,” Spencer replied. “Did you know that during long plane rides you can easily get dehydrated? The humidity within the cabin is usually around ten to twenty percent which is lower than the usual thirty to sixty percent that our bodies are used to. The lower level of humidity causes water to be drawn out of the body and the thirst reflex is diminished so you drink less water while at the same time losing more. I’m surprised that as a team we aren’t more dehydrated overall.”

The conversation was dropped as the team got their drinks ordered and then settled into a round booth at the back of the bar. As Spencer took a sip from his water, his eyes scanned the bar’s patrons to see if there were any people they may have to watch out for as the night goes on and more drinks are consumed. The water he was sipping on suddenly went down the wrong pipe though as he spotted a familiar face at the table adjacent to the team’s. It was you hanging out with a few friends, seeming to have not noticed his arrival. He wasn’t too surprised about that though because judging by the glasses on the table you were at least one and a half margaritas in and you already weren’t the most observant person when you were distracted anyway. 

“Everything okay, Spence?” JJ asked while she patted Spencer’s back. 

Derek’s eyes tracked where Spencer’s had landed and he smirked as he announced to the table, “Pretty boy just saw the girl he bangs on his couch.” 

There was a quiet cacophony of responses to Derek’s comment the moment it fell from his lips. “Remind me to not sit on your couch ever again,” Emily Prentiss commented with a quiet laugh. “Ooh Spence, how serious is this thing?” JJ asked in a sly tone. “I’m glad you found someone, kid,” David Rossi said with a nod and a toast of his glass. “As long as it isn’t going to affect you at work,” their unit chief Aaron Hotchner commented sternly. “Spencer’s dating someone? Why did Derek know this and I didn’t?” Penelope Garcia asked with wide eyes. 

Spencer didn’t respond immediately, suddenly overwhelmed by the barrage of comments, so Derek took a moment to dig the hole even deeper by adding, “He made me swear not to tell baby girl.” He got a mischievous look on his face as he continued, “But one time when I was at his place getting his go bag while he was busy in the shooting range, I found a bra in his dresser. It took some time but I finally got an answer out of him and it turns out this has been going on for a few months now.”

“Spencer Reid!” Penelope scolded while leaning over and playfully swatting at his hand. “How could you not tell me? You know I would have run a background check on her to make sure everything checked out!”

“Everyone slow down!” Spencer said, putting his hands up which caused the noise at the table to die down. “She quite literally ran into me at a coffee shop a few months back but I didn’t tell anyone because, well…we aren’t together. It’s just a casual thing.”

“Just casual? Is she okay with that?” JJ asked, quirking an eyebrow up in question. 

“She hasn’t said anything against it,” Spencer replied. He glanced over at you laughing with your friends one more time before shaking his head and asking, “Can we change the subject?”

“Whatever you want, player,” Derek said with a chuckle before the conversation moved on to whatever the latest sports news was, prompted by Derek’s reaction to something happening on one of the many TVs hanging around the room. 

Later that night after you had your fair share of appetizers and drinks, your friends were all starting to head home for the evening. “Thank you for coming, we need to do this again soon!” Celeste told you with a fake stern look before she giggled and leaned over into Maddie’s side. 

“We do!” you agreed as you grabbed your glass to finish off the last bit of your drink. “Get home safe!”

“You too!” Maddie said as she attempted to steady Celeste. “You’re calling a cab right?”

“Of course,” you told her with a nod, raising your glass in a toast as the pair headed off toward the door, following Adrianna outside. 

After finishing off your drink, you stood up, trying to balance as well as you could as you grabbed your clutch off of the table and went to the bar to pay off your tab. You weren’t completely drunk, but you were definitely tipsy and you were naturally clumsy, so nights like this were always an interesting time, especially when you were in heels. When you got to the bar to pay though, you were surprised to be informed that your tab was already paid for. “Who did that?” you asked the bartender, your eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. Adrianna was just about finished with but still in law school and Celeste was a teacher so you could never ask them to pay for your drinks. Maddie was a paralegal and made a good salary but still, you made enough on your own to pay for your drinks, so who…? 

Your question was answered though when you felt a familiar pair of hands glide along your waist and land on your hips. You turned your head the slightest bit and an immediate heat flooded your body as you whispered, “Spencer… Hi. I thought I heard your voice earlier. When did you get back?” Your emotions were conflicted at his sudden appearance because you had overheard him talking with his group of friends earlier and it had honestly upset you, but now that he was practically wrapped around you, your mind flooded with memories of his hands on your body in the most intimate way…

“Just got back this morning. The team met up here to celebrate and I was surprised to see you here,” he replied. His voice lowered and his lips grazed the shell of your ear as he mumbled, “You look irresistible in that dress by the way.”

“I…Thank you,” you breathed, feeling your heart rate increase as his hands massaged your hips. “And thanks for paying for my drinks, you didn’t have to…”

“But I wanted to,” he told you, gently nipping at your ear lobe which made your cunt clench around nothing in desperation for more of his touch. Truth be told, it had been a week since you and Spencer last hooked up and you hated to admit that you had gotten dependent on his touch lately. 

Your impure thoughts were interrupted by a low whistle piercing the air, and your head snapped in the direction it came from, to see two people you recognized from pictures in Spencer’s apartment. They must be from the BAU as well. You made eye contact with the perky looking blonde woman and offered a smile as the man beside her asked, “Pretty boy, why don’t you introduce us to your friend here?” 

“Oh, I-I thought everyone had left,” Spencer said, instantly making space between the two of you. You looked at Spencer’s panicked expression that quickly changed into something more neutral as he introduced you by name and then said to you, “These are two other members of the BAU. Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia.”

“It’s nice to meet you two,” you told them, a smile on your face as you raised your hand in greeting. “Penelope, you’re the tech girl right?” you asked after a few moments of going through your memories of what little Spencer had told you about his job. 

“That’s me! Resident tech genius because boy genius here refuses to get to know technology!” she replied chipperly. 

“Oh trust me, I know,” you said with a giggle, leaning into Spencer’s side as you remembered the last time you two had gotten lonely at the odd hours of night and wanted to video chat each other to get off. Spencer struggled to get the video call to work and it had ended up being muted for a few minutes before you finally got him to unmute himself so you could hear everything his surprisingly filthy mouth had to say to you. 

“Well it’s nice to finally meet the girl who is getting pretty boy out of his shell,” Derek said, flashing you an award winning smile. 

“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m glad you all are keeping him safe out there in the field,” you replied. 

“All in a day’s work,” Derek said with a chuckle. He checked his watch before exaggeratedly yawning and telling Penelope, “Well baby girl, I think we should get going. Don’t want to hold these two up any longer than we already have. You two have a good one.”

“Thanks Derek,” Spencer mumbled as he watched the pair walk off and out the door. You watched as Spencer’s eyes did another sweep of the bar before his attention was back on you, turning you toward him and pulling you into his front, his hands snaking their way around to your ass and giving a light squeeze as he returned to kissing your ear and neck. 

Your hopeful thoughts from the conversation with Derek and Penelope were instantly abandoned and replaced instead by flashes of your intimate moments with Spencer over the last few months. Your hands drifted upward with one resting on his shoulder and the other lacing into his cropped hair as you let out a quiet moan in Spencer’s ear before asking, “Take me home?”

“God yes,” Spencer whispered, pulling away and turning you around so you were in front of him. To anyone watching it would look like he was simply helping you keep your balance as the alcohol in your system continued to impair your coordination, but only you knew the real reason for the closeness. So as you walked the block to the parking lot, you occasionally let your ass rub against the growing problem in Spencer’s slacks which earned low groans and a squeeze of your hips as you two made your way to Spencer’s car which was tucked away at the back of the lot away from other cars. 

When you got there, Spencer pinned you against the side of his car and his lips were on yours in an instant. After a few seconds, he pulled away for a moment and between panting breaths he asked, “Is this okay? You’ve been drinking, I didn’t want to-”

“You aren’t taking advantage of me,” you promised before he could complete his sentence. “I only had two margaritas and a shot and a ton of food. If you want to breathalyze me, agent, go ahead, but I promise you I’m all here and I’ve missed your hands on me.” As you said this, you carefully hooked one leg around Spencer’s waist and pulled your hips closer together with a smirk gracing your lips. 

“I trust you,” he whispered before your lips crashed together again. You once more laced one hand into his curls and used the other to pull him closer as your tongues began lapping into each other’s mouth, desperation and pure need guiding your actions. Shocks of pleasure began flowing down to your core and you felt light headed as Spencer rutted his hips into yours, seemingly desperate for any sort of friction. The moment that his hard cock brushed against your cunt you let out another moan that was swallowed by Spencer’s mouth before he was moving one of his hands from the grip he had on your ass.

Within seconds you heard the tell-tale sign of the car doors unlocking and Spencer was opening the door for you to get in. Rather than going over to his side to quickly drive to one of your apartments though, he instead pulled at the levers at the base of the passenger seat and began scooting the seat backward and flat, sending you into a near laying position and dizzying your senses. “Spencer, what-?” you asked as you regained your composure after a few moments. 

“I can’t wait,” was his reply before he began tucking himself into the now more open floorboard and pulling your panties down your legs. 

“What about- What if we’re caught-? Your job-!” you managed to get out in clipped sentences. 

“No cameras, no cars near us, it’s fine,” he replied quickly. “I just need to taste you,” he added, his voice almost dark with desire which had your cunt clenching around nothing again as your own desire overtook your anxiety about getting caught.

He hooked your legs over his shoulders and pulled your hips close to his face before you felt the flat of his tongue on you, going from your entrance to your clit before he stopped there and began focusing on your most sensitive bundle of nerves. You let out a sinful noise as one hand gravitated toward his hair to hold him close as he began sucking on your clit, not wanting to let go of the feeling. 

After a few breathtaking moments, Spencer pulled away slightly and mumbled, “You’re so wet, fuck…” The vibrations of his voice on your core made a high pitched cry escape your lips and he chuckled before asking, “You like that?”

“God yes,” you replied breathlessly as your chest heaved as the pleasure began to build already in the pit of your stomach. “I missed you,” you found yourself confessing as your hips bucked up to meet his tongue as he returned to his assault of your dripping cunt. Spencer’s only response was to shift and add two fingers to the mix which caused you to cry out his name as he hooked them skillfully, hitting the spot he knew could make you fall apart within seconds if he got it just right. “Oh fuck, right there- Spencer, I- shit…” 

“Come on baby,” he mumbled against you as his long fingers began stroking his target within you, causing the tight coiling feeling in your abdomen to increase more and more. 

It all became too much when Spencer began kitten licking at your clit at the same time and the coil snapped, sending waves of pleasure crashing over your body as your orgasm ripped through you. A loud moan slipped past your lips as your grip on his hair tightened and Spencer pulled his fingers out quickly before beginning to lap at your cunt like a man starved, holding down your erratically bucking hips as you slowly began coming down from your high. Overstimulation took over after a few moments and you gently pushed Spencer’s head away as you panted, trying to catch your breath. Spencer obliged, pulling away and wiping his face with the back of his hand before sucking the remnants of you from his fingers as he chuckled. 

You joined in on his laughter after a few seconds and the question that had been on your mind all night slipped past your lips, “Is it casual now?” Knowing it was a loaded question though, you panicked and quickly pulled Spencer up and into a kiss before he could answer. For good measure, you made sure to keep him preoccupied by teasing him as he drove you back to your apartment where he made sure to thoroughly make up for his week away on the case. 

A few weeks had passed and you were out with your girls again to celebrate Adrianna finally graduating law school. It had been a long and arduous journey for her, but she made it! So before she had to buckle down once more to study for the bar exam, the four of you went out to a nice, new Italian restaurant that had opened only a couple of weeks prior. The restaurant had great reviews, and most importantly to Adiranna, an excellent wine list. So the four of you celebrated with delicious pasta, only one glass of wine for you, and began on dessert - a tiramisu that smelled heavenly. 

As the dessert was being brought out by what seemed like half the kitchen staff who were all warmly congratulating Adrianna, your eyes drifted past them when you heard a distinct nickname being called out teasingly from across the restaurant. Pretty boy. You made eye contact with the man in question and like an instinct your heart rate began to increase and heat began to pool down into your core. It was a Pavlovian response at this point, as Spencer had explained to you the first time you brought up the fact that you would get turned on at the mere sight of him, even if it was in no way sexual. You averted your eyes a moment later and bit your lip as you shifted in your seat, thighs rubbing together to try and alleviate some of the tension building in your core. 

“You okay?” Maddie’s voice asked, breaking through the flashes of when Spencer dragged five orgasms out of you that night after the bar. 

“Just a headache, red wine doesn’t really agree with me,” you told in a half-truth. Red wine really wasn’t your forte, but it was what Adrianna wanted so that’s what you had been sipping on slowly throughout the meal. “I think I’m gonna head to the restroom to take a Motrin, I’ll be back. Maybe the lights will be a bit less harsh in there.”

“Maybe so. I’ll make sure to save you some tiramisu,” Maddie said as you stood up and began making your way across the restaurant to where you noticed the restrooms were earlier. You weren’t really going to the restroom to take some medicine or get away from what really wasn’t even that harsh of lighting in the dining area. There was some part of you that hoped that even from across the restaurant Spencer could tell that you needed him and would get the message to meet you in there. 

Of course as you passed the table Spencer was at, it was filled with the rest of the BAU members, most of whose attention was on the man animatedly talking about the wine and pasta selections. You thought you had gone unnoticed until you heard a low wolf whistle before the comment, “Go and get some loving, pretty boy.”

“Shut it!” you heard the distinct voice of Penelope snap as you kept your head down and made your way to your destination. 

Right as your hand reached up to push the restroom door open, you looked back to see if Spencer had followed you like you hoped, and to your body’s joy he did. Glancing at his lips as he wet them with his tongue, you felt the dampness in your underwear growing as your breathing began to pick up its pace along with your heart. “Hey,” you said simply. 

“Did you want to-?” was all Spencer asked before you nodded vigorously which earned you his lips as he gently pushed you into the single person restroom before locking the door. Spencer’s hands were on you in an instant, one diving into the low v-cut of your dress and beginning to massage your breast, thumb flicking over your already hard nipple as you moaned into his mouth. “If I knew you would have been here I may have dressed a bit nicer,” Spencer commented as he moved from kissing your lips to your neck, your hands desperately roaming his frame as he explored yours. 

“You always look amazing,” you told him earnestly as he hiked you up onto the sink’s counter space and pulled the strap of your dress down your shoulder so he would have better access to your chest. “Oh, God, Spencer…” you whispered as he took your sensitive bud into his mouth and began sucking. It wasn’t long before he moved on from the nipple to the surrounding skin and started to bite and suck which you desperately hoped would leave a mark. You loved it when he marked you because it made things feel more permanent, even if just for a few days.

Before you knew it, your legs were being nudged apart and Spencer’s fingers were teasing your entrance as he asked, “Are you ready?”

“Please,” you begged. The sound was breathy and high-pitched, but you didn’t care much about how desperate you sounded because you knew the sounds you made drove Spencer crazy. 

“Turn around,” he said in a low voice as he helped you jump off of the counter. You didn’t even get the opportunity to tease Spencer or spread his own arousal over his head before you were being bent over the counter with your panties pushed aside as he quickly shoved into your throbbing core. Your moan was muffled as Spencer’s large hand came around and covered your mouth and he gritted out, “We don’t have long.”

You whimpered into Spencer’s hand as he pounded into you from behind, your exposed breast occasionally grazing against the cold countertop causing the most delicious mix of pleasure to course through your body. He always felt so big from behind and tonight was no exception, but the rate and rhythm that he was going at had the coil in your core building quickly. “Spencer, oh, fuck! I-”

“I’m close too,” was Spencer’s grunted out response as the grip he had on your hip tightened as his thrusts began to get sloppy. You don’t know if it was because of the prospect of getting caught, or what, but after a few more thrusts, Spencer was already losing it, whispering, “Baby, I- Shit, shit, shit! I’m coming, fuck-” 

You felt his hot release filling you up and you let out a moan in response, so close to your own peak, but instead of continuing his ministrations like he normally would, Spencer pulled out and began cleaning himself up. You stood there speechless for a moment, still bent over the counter with your heart racing and chest heaving as you recovered from your almost orgasm. Spencer had never left you hanging like that. Maybe to edge you to try and get your body to do what it still hadn’t managed to, but never to deny you an orgasm. 

Spencer approached you from behind once more and recovered your core with your underwear before beginning to straighten up your dress to help you look presentable. He turned you around and placed a gentle kiss on your lips before chuckling and telling you, “I think you may want to fix your makeup a bit.”

“I-I will,” you quietly agreed with a nod, watching as he ducked his head and left you in the bathroom alone, hot, bothered, and honestly a bit pissed off. You quickly relocked the door and went to the restroom, trying to rid your underwear and body of the traces he left behind with his abrupt finish. After cleaning up, you went to work fixing your makeup as best you could and hoped that with all of the wine in their system your friends wouldn’t notice that it was slightly less perfect than when the night began. 

As you quietly made your way out of the restroom, you froze when you heard Derek’s voice coming from around the corner as he asked, “That love toy of yours treating you well?” 

Your blood ran cold as Spencer responded, “Oh, I- uh- Yeah. She is.”

“My man!” Derek said with a bright laugh before the conversation was prompted to return to non-sexual topics by someone else at the table. 

You felt your shoulders slump as your eyes casted themselves down to the floor and you just wanted a sinkhole to open up beneath you and swallow you whole. A sense of dread began to fill your body and your head began to feel heavy as your anxiety started to climb. Trying to breathe through the dizzying feeling, you kept your eyes down as you made your way past the table Spencer was sat at. When you reached your friends, you offered a small smile before telling them, “The headache is just getting worse, I think I need to get going. I’m sorry to be a downer…”

“Hey it’s okay! Get to feeling better!” Maddie told you, offering a smile to try and comfort you. 

“Thanks,” you said as you reached into your small purse and pulled out a few bills that should more than cover your fair share of the meal. “Congrats again, Adri. You earned it!” you told her with a fake chipperness in your voice that you hoped was convincing. 

Once that exchange was over, you quickly made your way out of the restaurant and into the cool night air, trying to convince your lungs to take deep breaths before a full blown panic attack set in. You should have known that all of this with Spencer was too good to be true. You should have known that he just wanted you for sex and nothing more. 

Even though you know you shouldn’t have, after that night meeting Derek and Penelope, you had let your mind wander just a bit and had imagined a little life with Spencer. An apartment smack between both of your jobs, going to the movies together, reading in silence on the couch, maybe even him showing you off at some team party after they closed a particularly hard case. But clearly none of that was in the cards for him… It was just a fantasy you had built in your head.

How did you let this drag on for so long? You pride yourself on being a strong and independent person and for the longest time had sworn off dating after the last disaster that had ruined your life. Yet here you were letting Spencer come crashing into your life, upturning everything you had built for yourself. A searing hatred started to rise in your chest, but it wasn’t directed toward Spencer. It was for yourself.

Your thoughts were interrupted though when a gentle hand was placed on your upper arm to get your attention. Just turning to look at Spencer made you dizzy once again and you braced yourself against the building to keep from falling. “Are you okay?” Spencer asked. “You’re still on the pill right? I didn’t even think about asking, I-”

“Yes I’m still on the stupid pill,” you choked out through your tight throat that felt like it was threatening to close up any moment. 

“Then what’s-?” he tried but you interrupted him. 

“I just thought you thought of me better than a ‘love toy…’” you whispered, the sound barely audible. 

Spencer reached for your hand and squeezed it gently which made your heart soar, but it came crashing down once again when he softly reminded you, “No attachments, remember?”

Panic reared its ugly head again as that dreadful feeling threatened to overwhelm you. So before you could break down in front of Spencer in front of the restaurant, you jerked your hand away and sharply told him, “You can go to Hell, Spencer Reid…” 

a/n: phew, that was... something! i think i need to go touch some grass... anyways, when i was plotting this, i couldn't help but think of another song that ended up causing their backstory, so i'm going to start writing a part two to this called 'butterfly effect' because i don't like unhappy endings. i hope to see you there! likes and comments are always appreciated!

xo, brooke :)

part two - butterfly effect

[as-the-crows-feather-falls]

Balancing Each Other Out

Summary: Jayce Talis high on caffeine leads to shenanigans lmao

Warnings: SFW, tickling, some language

This is a tickle fic, if you don’t like don’t read :)

—————————————————————————

In the now three years Viktor had been partnered with Jayce Talis in the research of hextech and its uses, he has long since come to the conclusion that caffeine was both a blessing and a curse.

Of course, the blessing being able to keep one going long after their brain has begged them for sleep, allowing them to work far into the night.

The curse was just how much it made his partner bounce off of the walls.

Viktor didn’t truly mind it, of course, but Jayce had gotten to the point where his words were started to merge together with how fast his caffeine buzz had him speaking.

“Janna above—Jayce! Slow down! Start over,” Viktor chuckled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How much coffee have you had to drink tonight?”

“Ten. So-“

“Ten what?”

“Not important. As I was saying-“

Viktor huffed a quiet laugh to himself as he listened to his partner ramble on, keeping up as best he could. As he spoke, Jayce’s hands were flying everywhere: motioning to projects, acting out turning a gear or wrench, anything they could do to not stand still.

At the end of his tangent, a tangent that Viktor had in all honesty not been following very well, he pumped his fists and whooped with such volume it made Viktor jump.

“WOO I’m on a roll!” He had the silliest grin plastered to his face and was bouncing his leg in his excitement.

Viktor just looked at him, chuckling and shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous and high on caffeine, is what you are,” he smiled.

“Oh come onnnnn, V,” Jayce groaned humorously. “That was good! You’re just being a grump again.”

Viktor’s jaw dropped and his brows furrowed in faux-offense. “I am no-what do you mean again?” Jayce only threw his head back and cackled in response.

Viktor was no stranger to these energetic spurts of Jayce’s that so often happened during late nights like this, an occurrence that only grew in frequency the more comfortable the two scientists got to each other’s presence. He would keep up his “grump” façade because it seemed to amuse Jayce to no end, but the both of them knew Viktor didn’t mean a word of it. In all honesty, it helped keep him awake and entertained as he worked. Such was the case now, for Viktor had turned back to sketching his blueprints with a fond smile on his lips.

For several minutes, he was all too engrossed with his work to notice that Jayce had gotten out of his chair. That is, until two fingers buzzed into his sides.

“Bzzzzt!”

It shocked Viktor so much he shrieked and threw the pencil in his hands. Jayce cackled behind him, clapping once in his amusement.

“Jayce Talis, you absolute child!” Viktor roared, slamming his hands on the desk and flying out of his chair.

“Hahahaha-ohoh shit!”

Jayce must not have been expecting Viktor to retaliate in such fury, for all he could do was backpedal with a giddy squawk before tripping over his own feet and falling backwards. With a playful lust for vengeance, one that was albeit a bit new to him, he abandoned his cane to the side and followed his partner to the ground.

The two young men grappled for the upper hand, both of them laughing as they fought. Viktor would have expected Jayce to take it easy on him, even if Viktor had started it, and could tell Jayce was deliberately avoiding all movements that could possibly jostle Viktor’s bad leg, but that was just about the extent of it. The rest was fair game.

“A Zaunite assassin has befallen mehehe! Hehelp!” Jayce cried dramatically, giggles lacing his voice. Viktor quirked a brow before deciding to play along.

“Maybe it serves you right, Topsider!” He growled with bravado. “A brute such as yourself ought to know better than mess with us fissurefolk!”

“Ohohoh, so I’m a brute now, huh?”

Under normal circumstances, it would have peeved Viktor that Jayce was evidently holding back a little, but here it just made it more fun. He never got to play with anyone like this, even as a child. Too many potential friends worried he would shatter like glass should they do so much as tap his shoulder.

“GAhah!!” Jayce barked a laugh from beneath Viktor’s hold, still squirming. Viktor’s hand had slipped down his side in their scuffle. “Nonono c’mohon Vik I’m ticklish!” He yelped through boyish giggles.

Viktor immediately broke into a grin and his brows shot up. “Oh, are you, now?”

How Viktor relished the way Jayce’s face filled with dread.

“H-hey waitwaitwaitwaitwait Viktor don’t you do it-!” Jayce pleaded, trying to push himself away.

“No, no, where do you think you’re going? You started this,” Viktor smirked, immediately attacking Jayce’s sides with a vengeance.

The reaction was instantaneous, and Viktor’s smile only grew at being the one to elicit it. Bold, bright laughter immediately flowed from Jayce’s mouth and a wide smile splitting his face. He wriggled and writhed under Viktor’s hold, his heels scuffing against the floor.

“N-nahahahahaha Vihihiktohohohor!! VIKTOHOR-!!! STAHAHAHAHA-THIS ISN’T FAHAHAHAHAIR HAHAHAHA!!!”

“Do you forget I grew up in the Undercity,” Viktor purred. “Fighting fair is rarely on the table.”

Jayce was shoving weakly at Viktor’s wrists but couldn’t stop them, Viktor’s movements being too dexterous and quick, darting his hands all over Jayce’s torso and sending him into hysterics.

“NoooononononoNONONO HAHAHAH!!! VIHIHIKTOR!!!” Jayce cackled, his laugh rising in pitch as Viktor continued his playful assault.

In a scramble to try and shove Viktor off of him, his fingers must have brushed just right against Viktor’s side. The smaller man gave a strangled yelp through gritted teeth and a wobbly smile. His arm buckled and his attack faltered. He had underestimated his partner’s fighting ability, for he found himself immediately flipped on his back.

Jayce was now staring down at him; disheveled, fighting for breath, and grinning with wild excitement.

“Gotcha!”

Viktor didn’t have a moment to prepare himself before Jayce’s strong hands were scribbling at his stomach and sides. He wasn’t as ruthless in his attack as Viktor was in his, but the sensation still got him squirming. Alas, he was stubborn. He scrunched his nose and grit his teeth as he choked his laugher down, but he couldn’t hide the smile splitting his face.

Jayce knew a challenge when he saw one, and it excited him. He would make his partner laugh himself silly if it was the last thing he did tonight.

“Come onnnnn,” he growled, smirking, digging in a little harder and going up a little higher, teasing Viktor’s ribs right before his skin ended and his brace started.

That got him. Viktor’s back arched and his eyes widened before he began to laugh. It was breathy and unsteady, almost as if he was out of practice, but it was enough to plaster the biggest grin on Jayce’s face.

“Thehere we go!” He cheered, and scribbled along any skin he could find on Viktor’s torso.

“No, nonononono Jayce! JaHAhahayce hahahaha.” Viktor had a hand over his mouth as he tried to fight Jayce off with the other. This only encouraged his playful partner.

“Oh no you don’t,” he teased, “I know you can do better than that!”

“Yohohohohour hohohorihihihble! Gehehehet off of mehehehehe you- AGHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! NONONONONO JAYCE DOHOHON’T!!!”

All mercy was thrown to the wind as Jayce dug all ten fingers into Viktor’s ribs, scribbling against every bone could find. His face lit up like the sun itself as he watched Viktor’s hand fall from his face in favor of fully fighting back. His smile was the biggest he’d ever seen, and his laugh had only grown brighter.

“Haha! Now we’re getting somewhere!”

“EhehehEHEHEVIL! YOHOHOUR’E EHEHEHEHEVIHIHIL!”

“You know,” Jayce pondered, slowing his attack and letting Viktor catch his breath, “In the few years we’ve known each other, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh this much.”

“Maybe,” Viktor cleared his throat of any giggles threatening to bubble over, but a smile still pulled at his lips. “Maybe learn to be funnier. I’d laugh more.”

“Really?” Jayce smirks. “That’s how you wanna play this?”

Viktor grinned, a bit wildly at that. “Oh, I’m not playing, Jayce, I’m winning!”

Immediately clocking what he was alluding to, Jayce tried to intercept the attack with his own, but a few frantically clumsy scribbles were no match against Viktor squeezing his side with one hand and scribbling under his arm with the other. Safe to say, he folded.

“NonoNONONO SHIHIHIHIT HAHAHAHA!”

Unable to hold himself up in his mirth, he flopped right into Viktor’s chest, almost shrieking.

Viktor blamed his previously exploited sensitivity making his nervous system hyper aware, but the vibrations on his chest tickled a little as well. Not to mention Jayce was still clawing desperately at his rib cage.

“JAHAHAHAYCE!!! Jayce s-STOHOP IHIHIHIT!!!”

“YOU-GAhah-YohohohoHOHOHOU FIHIHIHIRST!!!”

They never heard the door to the lab open over their hysterics, but somehow they both managed to hear the amused chuckle coming from it. Stomachs simultaneously dropping, they both perked up to see none other than their own professor standing in the doorway.

Jayce immediately scrambled off of Viktor. “Oh god-shit-Professor-!”

“P-Professor, my apologies, we-“

“Oh no no no no no, it’s no problem, dear boys!” Professor Heimerdinger chirped. His old pet poro clicked into the room, purring and chirruping as it approached the two young scientists. The Professor gave a chuckle before continuing. “I was simply burning the midnight oil, and decided to stop by to check in on progress. But alas, what is the point of working the mind—,”

“ACK!” Viktor yelped, hunching his shoulder, and Professor Heimerdinger giggled cheerfully as his pupil’s ear was suddenly covered in poro slobber, the affectionate lick making his already disheveled hair stick up.

“—without a little play to balance out the soul!” With that signature twinkle in his eye, he whistled to his pet, who immediately trotted back to his side, and turned to leave the room. “Carry on gentleman!”

The door shut with a clunk. All was quiet, the complete opposite of the shrieking laughter bouncing off the walls near moments before.

Jayce cleared his throat and offered Viktor his hand. Still lying on the floor, Viktor took it and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. The two men simply stood and stared at where their professor had departed. Moments ticked by. Then they looked at each other.

Jayce broke first.

Viktor broke immediately after.

The caffeine, the sleep deprivation, and the pure absurdity of the entire night had taken its toll. Viktor flopped down onto the nearest chair as he cackled, and Jayce was sprawled across the desk, his head in his arms, howling in side-splitting laughter. It was like that for a few minutes until their hysterics finally fizzled out into breathy titters.

Then they met each other’s gaze again, and it was right back to laughing until their stomachs were sore. Viktor had leaned forward and rested his head on Jayce’s shoulder, and Jayce had placed his hand on Viktor’s. Even after they managed to collect themselves, which took many minutes more, they would still find the other stifling giggles into a coffee mug or their shoulders shaking while trying to draw a straight line, which only set them off once more.

Heimerdinger was several paces down the hall when he heard the two start cackling again, and he smiled to himself. Never had he seen either one of those boys shine so bright outside of their work. He was so incredibly happy for both of them that they had met each other, not just as partners in their studies, but as good friends. Two sides of the same gear, as one would say. A perfect balance indeed.

[fr04k1e]

GIGIS WORLD AU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AUGH

AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH its not even fully done yet i still have like 4 other characters to make but honestly i might scrap or put this project on hiatus i have no motivation to work on it anymore sobs

i will give you guys the ideas i had for the characters i didnt end up making though, and the idea i had for the toon handlers.

Flutter - Gardener, works in the garden and grows/collects seasonings for the kitchen and decoration for the casino customers/staff

R&D - Casino Hosts, working directly with customers to make sure they want to return to the casino and ensuring they have a good experience.

Looey - A comedian/magician on the stage in the disco, a solo preformer. Magician by day and comedian during after hours

Pebble - A security dog working within every part of the casino, with his loud bark he can alert other security of unwanted guests, and using his sharp teeth he can hold them down long enough to deal with them.

Cosmo - A chef in the kitchen, working along with shrimpo. He specializes in pastries, but can also cook other, more healthy foods if needed.

ok thats about it for the toons i didnt end up getting to design. ill ramble more about the actual lore here if anyone cares about that LOL. keep in mind i got like almost nowhere with this so its very VERY vauge and unfinished also im not a good writer whoops

' the basic idea is that the casino had been running fine up untill they had faced a lawsuit, causing them to shut down everything and abandon the casino. Since the toons had been made specifically for the casino they had just been left in there to handle themselves. Eventually, one of the toons had grown curious and decided to tear down one of the machines. After ripping open the back of the machine, black ooze leaked out and covered the bottom of their feet. Not thinking much of it and assuming it was just oil of some kind, they continued, getting the liquid all over their hands and face, along with their legs. After tearing open the machine, they had found little to nothing of interest and left to get themselves cleaned up. However, when they tried to wipe the goo off, it wouldnt budge and instead had covered more of their body. After a short while, they began to feel hollow on the inside and an ache in their bones, what happened afterwards had become contagious and slowly began to infect the whole casino. '

TOON HANDLERS!! they have a whole new purpose here. They work mostly as managers for the toons, each handler has their own line of work and toons to keep track of and train, only 4 have designs tho lol. IGNORE the reindeer names i couldnt think of anything else ok

ok so IN ORDER

Harvey - the bartender, he works with Rodger, Dandy and Sprout. often exhausted, but not rude by any means. mostly quiet and closed off

Prancer - the director, works with Glisten, Poppy, Boxten, Shelly and Looey. a jumpy cheery fella, mostly looking to have fun and trying to be as positive as she can be. bigender monarch

Doner - the (old) director/beauty worker, used to work with Glisten, Poppy, Boxten, Shelly and Teagan, but had been fired after a long time working there due to extreme mistreatment of his toons. although he was closed off, he never seemed to be too angry or aggressive towards other handlers, but when a toon would mess up or act out he would become ruthless without the other handlers knowledge.

Rudolf - the chef, works with Shrimpo, Cosmo and Flutter. a happy and cocky chef who tries his best to make his job entertaining and teaches his toons in more extreme fun ways.

there SHOULDVE been way more but as i said before i dont have motivation to work on this anymore lmao. also glisten canonically has BPD in this my #bpdwarrior

TAG ME IN FANART OR IF YOU DECIDE TO EXTEND THIS AU A LITTLE BIT!! ID LOVE TO SEE IT my twitter is @d1spatches and my tiktok is @0tt3rpaw

[buttercatrho]

MAP part for the Umi no Koe MAP with crosscode horrayy You can go here for the yt video it shows the process But also I made up an AU specifically for this MAP part and will now proceed to yap. Crosscode Spoilers.

The basic summary of this AU is that Satoshi did not agree to Sidwell funding his Evotar project, instead separating from Instatainment and researching and developing it independently along with Shizuka, Sergey and Gautham. Basically removes the direct/stronger character horrors which is the prompt for the map, PTSD-less Shizuka horrayyyy.

More detailed AU ramblings/plot stuff.

The Evotar project is less a completely independent project and more an independent modding project, as Evotars still rely completely on the crosscode and exist purely through instant matter avatars, and is against TOS/ not legal (IDK how illegal modding online multiplayer games is irl but seeing as the Crossgear has the ability to do such wonderful things as torture someone if you turn off a limiter (assumedly i don't see how that would be limited to just Evotars) I can see the law around it being more strict). Funding is met through Satoshi's position being very high pay, giving him some savings, though it isn't enough to fully fund it so some of Shizuka, Sergey and Gautham's money is also used (this is probably very optimistic but so is this whole au really). They also got some equipment for the project (such as things needed to make instant matter and continuous access to up to date code) from connections/friends at/connected to Instatainment (Jet, Carla and Sergey as main ones probably). While Satoshi, Shizuka and Gautham all completely left their jobs at Instatainment to work on the Evotar project, Sergey kept his job and only works on the project part time.

Shizuka in this au isn't really all that jazzed to be the base of the first Evotar, but goes through with it as she; was the first choice being the youngest as well as the most physically fit and healthy (which considering some Shizuka headcanons I have, is kinda sad), wanted to support her brother on something he was very passionate about, and knew if she didn't Satoshi probably would and she didn't want him risking it with his heart problem.

When Lea is 'born' she's not actually called Lea in this au, due to Sidwell not being present. She's called Serika with the spelling 星璃花 to fit with the names 'Satoshi' and 'Shizuka' (I do not know Japanese I do not know if that name/spelling makes sense, but 星 means star). (This name also kinda ended up as my IRL Lea's real name so whoops, though Lea is a nickname she has and is the thing she's called the most. IDK how she gets it yet dw that's a different au anyway).

Sergey would probably take the role Sidwell did of trying to teach her things/seeing exactly what's up with her not being able to talk/internalise some things, though overall she would interact with Satoshi, Sergey, Gautham and later Shizuka a lot, as opposed to my general headcanon with the main game where while she interacted with Gautham and Satoshi some, she spent most of her time either alone or with Sidwell.

Relatively early on in development they figure out that the 'breaking' that happens when an Evotar is made aware of what they are is less of a literal computer break and more a physiological crisis (general headcanon I have mainly cause of the Luke stuff, also what's shown of Lea, with the only time we see an Evotar breaking being due to a fake malfunction). They decide to ease Serika into making her aware of it instead of trying to avoid it completely since her being unaware would probably cause more problems in the long run (both for Serika and Shizuka, it'd end up with both of them a lot more isolated, and its bound to fail eventually). Serika would still have some sort of crisis about it because hell of a thing to learn, but it'd be manageable (funny way to describe a crisis). Serika and Shizuka would have been introduced after Serika had worked mostly through that crisis.

While Shizuka isn't actively aggressive and hateful towards Serika at first like in game, she is still rude, dismissive and prickly towards her, not really internalising that Serika is not just an ai copy immediately and also her being a result of something she was hesitant of. She is at least somewhat ('''somewhat''') polite towards her, though Serika is very wary of her at the start because of this. As time goes on Shizuka gets warmer towards her and starts seeing Serika as her own person, with Serika also growing more fond of Shizuka, though she is still under the impression she's basically tolerating her. The second part of the MAP part shows basically the 'conclusion' of this, with Shizuka fully accepting that Serika is her own person. Serika would start to fully internalise that Shizuka does not hate her actually after this, and becomes very clingy towards her.

At some point Satoshi goes against probably common sense/survival instinct something like that and shows Instatainment the stuff he's been working on. They're impressed enough with it that Satoshi and the gang aren't charged for anything and Serika is allowed to log into Crossworlds (albeit a limited part), with the condition that Satoshi comes back to working at Instatainment and start working on implementing parts of it into the game (This is helped by Satoshi previously being a key member of staff who never stops fuckin working, but is also probably optimistic)(the horrors of game integration stay at least earlier on). While Satoshi, Shizuka and Gautham would all go back to Instaintment to work again, Gautham would probably end up splitting off due to feeling creatively stifled still, maybe to make indie games. This would turn out much better for him in the long run I'd hope.

While Serika is allowed into Crossworlds she is only limited to the currently unintegrated part of the playground, the old hideout. With this and mostly a smallish office being mainly the only places she can go, she starts to feel depressed due to yk only being in a couple very limited places, depraved of stimuli. Due to this all of them but mostly Shizuka push to give her access to the whole playground like an average player, which they manage to get (as shown in the map part).

In the game Serika meets Emilie and joins the first scholars as she usually does. She also probably meets Apollo and Joern in a similar way (possibly with Lea being taken by Shizuka to autumns rise as a surprise to show her she's allowed out into the playground, and when there she ends up gaining a level. She's then teleported to where she was in base game as she knows the basics, stuff plays out and CHEATER YOURE A CHEA-).

This AU's premise does make Tronny existing kind of not possible but I am a stubborn god that wants the fucked up little fella to exist. The basic thing I've thought of is Sidwell managed to keep informed about Evotars through some connections, and manages to make an Evotar of himself both as a test and possibly as an earlier concept version of his data gathering torture in main game, where its basically just an Evotar of him stalking people under the impression they themselves told them to do so. This fucks up somehow and Tronny ends up wandering around Crossworlds very confused and not knowing what the fuck is happening. He ends up meeting Emilie and Serika, though later than in main game (probably around when vermillion waste would happen). Somehow its figured out he's an Evotar of Sidwell and Sidwell's newly hatching bullshit gets shut down real quick. There's a lot of somehows and how did that happen in this idk its a base concept, the point is the boy exists.

This au does make it so Luke also doesn't exist tho so L. Possibly Lukas could get an evotar of himself later on tho idk why he'd do that and that evotar would probably turn out a somewhat different person than Luke, with none of the events in vermillion to shape him (Maybe some more Luke brained mfers can make this up my noggin is lacking in that department).

Shizuka in this AU, which still snippy, isn't as aggressive and bitey as in main. I'd probably describe her more as aloof? Not fully sure, but she's still jaded compared to Serika and still has medical insomnia (random headcanon) (It might make more sense for Shizuka and Serika to start out pretty much the same, but I like Lea and Shizu always being noteably different). She's generally a lot more lenient, both of peoples behaviours and requests. E.G for behaviours, in the DLC Shizuka runs away from Emilie after she starts taking to her in the dungeon, in this AU if Emilie approached her and started yapping like that she'd probably look unimpressed but put up with it. With behaviours, I imagine Shizuka being pretty stubborn about not doing things she doesn't want to in main (unless somehow guilted into it by herself) due to her previous experiences, while Shizuka in this au would be more easy to convince.

Serika would be mostly the same, though she'd be fully aware of herself and who she is at the point where the game starts. I don't know exactly how she comes to love hugs so much without the whole Vermillion trauma and seemingly growing to like them a lot, but she has to ok its important /lh (Maybe sometime earlier on she was upset by something, whether being stuck in one room or not remembering herself or her memories well or frustration at her troubles communicating and learning certain things, and she was hugged to calm her down, ending up really liking hugs). She also still cannot talk until around the same place in main game where Sergey starts giving her words, him coming up with the idea and implementing it to give her means to talk to players.

Satoshi would still die due to his heart condition in this au, though later on than in main game due to the stress of Sidwell as well as overworking due to that pushing him along. He'd still probably die quicker than he should have due to overworking though my man will not stop.

Some random other bullshit, Shizuka would meet Emilie after her and Serika do the desert temple, coming to check on her. She's how Emilie learns Lea can't say much as opposed to Tronny.

But yea a pretty lose AU with a bunch of random strewn about concepts, just like the majority of my aus which i barely ever share. It was fun thinking of it for/while making this animation.

thank you for scrolling through my bullshit aka how I have fun, have this as extra.

[thewirewitch]

My Over-Analysis of The Daycare Attendant (FNaF)

ALRIGHT so this is going to just be a big ramble about all the things I've noticed (or have learned from others' posts/videos) about the DCA as well as some headcanons (hopefully I remember to add those lol) about them. These guys are currently rotting my brain and I need an outlet to express the absolute mess that is my current train of thought.

So uh, if you wish to proceed, good luck! I have NO IDEA how long this is going to end up, and I may also add-on to it (probably in reblogs) either because I realized something new or new material comes out (looking at you, Escape From the Pizzaplex). I also cannot guarantee any form of organization so...whoops ^^;

ALRIGHT so the first thing I wanna start off with is something I just kind of thought of/noticed pretty recently. Carousel.

This minigame in HW2 HAS GOT TO BE a confirmation that Sun and Moon are older animatronics. I thought that since I started to brainrot over them (a bit after SB first came out). They look old. They sound old (talking about their joints/movement noises). Even their designs seem a bit old. And Carousel gives me even more evidence towards this.

The carousel is called the "Fazbear antique carousel" which means it is definitely a bit on the older side. And who's voice is used as the pre-recorded message for technicians when it breaks down? Sun's. Also, Moon seems VERY comfortable maneuvering around on a (somewhat) functional carousel. Seems like he's got a familiarity with it.

The carousel also seems to be linked with Fallfest in some way (the background and the fall-time theme), and we know Fallfest happened a WHILE ago.

Also, just something I've thought about, the carrages/carts/booths/whatever that the Fazerblast minigame takes place at? There's a sun and a moon carved into the wood on them. Fazerblast also seems to take place during Fallfest.

Also Jack-O-Moon's just Moon wearing make-up/painted over. There's some chips in the paint that shows his normal colors underneath. Maybe that's why he's a little spooky gremlin man lol

Adding onto this: I've pondered if the reason Sun burnt out being a daycare worker/being the one in control most often, while Moon is so desperate to stay in control could be because Moon used to be the one who was primarily out. There's like, 0 evidence for this, it's just a thought I had. If it's true though, I can see why they'd be ill-suited for their current rolls lol

-

Something else I've thought about related to this is how Glamrock Freddy addresses the Daycare Attendant. He called them "it." Makes me wonder if the fact they're old either lead to either 1. Him not realizing they're also sentient (older model = less advanced) or 2. There's some programming/system that all the Glamrocks have that lets them recognize eachother as other people, but the Daycare Attendant isn't part of it.

Could also just be that they don't interact enough for Freddy to really know them as a person and not just something that exists. Or they also use it/its pronouns ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-

Something else HW2 implies is that...the DCA got damaged when Sun was the one in control, not Moon. Makes me wonder what exactly happened to them to cause that...

I also do wonder what happened first: The daycare was destroyed, or all the lights (except the emergency ones) went out. If the lights in the daycare were on when the place was wrecked, maybe, just maybe Sun had a hand in disassembling those endos that wondered in. (I think about those endos in Ruin a LOT. They got messed up, man. Claw marks and severed robot hands in the play structures.)

Edit while still in drafts: Idk what my brain was thinking in this moment lol. Still kinda curious which one messed up the endos though.

-

If you're wondering why I think Sun could possibly have torn apart a few endos, it's because of the disassembled STAFF bots in the loft. I feel like if Sun was against tearing apart other robots, then he probably would have gotten rid of the pieces of STAFF bot left in their room. Maybe him and Moon both have a mutual dislike of those guys.

Another edit: Apparently there's some STAFF bot-like bots in Secret of the Mimic, and the Mimic seems to really not like the DCA in particular, so maybe they had some past beef with each other.

-

Also, on the topic of Ruin for this one: I have a few different reasons for why I think Moon decided not to chase Cassie.

1 - He's not under Vanny's control anymore and lost some of his aggression. He still has some aggression in the very first interaction he has with Cassie, but he's also...prooobably not in a good state of mind tbh. The sound of his laughing is a lot more bitter/forced sounding. (He might also be kind of desperate to do his job since he finally has control???)

And even when you do just stroll up to him without turning on any generators, the death animation is kind...weird. When viewing it from a 3rd-person perspective, he seems to pick Cassie up off the ground while using his wire. Cassie does try to fight back, but what kills her? Might have been a fall. It seems like Moon may have dropped her. Whether it be on purpose or by accident? No idea.

(Also, gonna touch-up on the 2nd jumpscare: Moon is in active pain during it and seems MUCH more aggravated. Makes sense as to why he goes for the jugular in that one.)

2 - This one's my silly reason as to why Moon doesn't chase you: Their missing foot.

Compared to Sun and Eclipse, who we see walking with their busted leg, the only time we see Moon put any weight on it, aside from just standing, is the initial encounter with him. He uses it for some balance, having it on the bar of a lower part of the play structure while his undamaged foot is pushing off the "wall," but it doesn't seem like it's the most optimal for balancing (he does fall backwards lol). Even when he spins around when the 2nd generator is turned on, he puts more weight on his undamaged leg.

Makes me think that, without his hee-hoo gremlin way of walking/dancing around, a chase isn't really worth it to him. Either that or he's a bit cautious about his damage.

3 - Which is most likely the reason why he doesn't: Steel Wool wanted to make the daycare segment easier than it was in SB. A LOT of people got stuck in the daycare for a while before the colored glow was added to the generator wires lol.

Either that or the daycare was a bit of an afterthought/rushed.

-

BONUS: I think Cassie was banned from the Daycare. Why? When she had the VANNI mask on, the word "BANNED" is written in distortion over the Moondrop ads on TVs in certain areas. This wouldn't make sense unless she had been banned before since the AR world seems to get a bit personal at times (and even if she knew Gregory got banned, it probably wouldn't do that).

I also find it really interesting that it's over a Moondrop ad. Makes me wonder what happened...

...

Cassie also doesn't talk to Moon like she does Chica, Roxy, Sun, Freddy, and even Monty...

I literally just connected these dots while writing this. Help.

-

Another Ruin thing I've been pondering is: Why don't Sun and Moon have a puzzle when they're being rebooted? They are THE only thing (if I remember correctly) that a Fazwrench is used on that doesn't have a puzzle. I know the Mimic says that Roxy is one of the last security nodes, but, is that even true??? It could have easily been lying to Cassie about that.

But anyway. My best guess is so that there'd be an unbroken cutscene with Eclipse, but I'm imagining how cool it would have been if they added one of those little Flow Free puzzle things where you had to connect a Moon icon to a Sun one and then boom Eclipse happens.

THEY HAD AN OPPORTUNITY AND SQUANDERED IT!

-

ANOTHER THING I find interesting is how any character with a speaking roll in SB and Ruin just call Sun and Moon "The Daycare Attendant" (aside from themselves). Glamrock Freddy and The Mimic both address them as such, even though in both instances the one they're talking about is Moon.

And what I also find interesting is that while Sun addresses Moon as either "him" or "the other me" as well as including him in "us," Moon actually calls Sun by his name in Ruin. This makes Moon the only one so far to call either of them by their name and not their title or just the use of a pronoun.

In Ruin, Moon also flip-flops between plural ("us" and "we") as well as singular ("my") after the 2nd generator is turned on in the daycare.

Honestly, I just really think these guys' speech mannerisms are interesting.

-

SPEAKING OF SPEECH MANNERISMS something someone else pointed out is that Sun and Moon both repeat words/phrases when they're distressed/agitated.

REMEMBER TO ADD-ON TO ABOVE FUTURE ME THERE'S GOOD STUFF HERE

^I'm leaving this here because I think it was funny to leave off my draft here lol.

ANYWAY as I was saying. Some instances of this that I can think of at the moment for Sun is when he says "Keep the lights on. On. On..." since even just the thought of the lights going out absolutely terrifies him. There's also when the lights do go out. "No! NO! Why would you do that??? Light's on! Light's on! I warned you! I warned you!!!" That is THREE repetitions going on. Once the lights come back on? "Rulebreaker! Rulebreaker!" Dude's ticked, and once again repeating words.

Gonna go to Ruin now. "New friend? New friend!" and "Reboot! Reboot!" are both said when Sun's desperate. We also get another "Light's on! Light's on..." from him. Then, if you go up to him with one generator on, he repeats "no" a lot before telling Cassie it isn't safe yet. Dude knows the danger Moon could be towards her in this state, and he's also really close to his current goal (getting rebooted), so he definitely would have a lot to worry about in that moment.

Help. Wanted. 2. Oh boy lol. I don't remember a lot of Sun's lines from this since he got SIX. WHOLE. MINUTES. of new voicelines. Anyway, the one I remember most is when he gets mad at you and yells "Bad kid! Bad kid! I'm putting you in time out!" I am genuinely blanking on if there's any other instances of him repeating something in HW2 but oh well I've got enough examples from him lol

Makes me wonder about him saying, "Hey, hey! Are you having fun yet? Are ya? Are ya???" Seems like he might be nervous that he's not doing his job right. Poor guy...

Anyway, as a transition between Sun and Moon, let's take a look at a line they both share!

"Clean up, clean up!"

Both of them have different emotions behind this line, Sun sounding anxious and Moon sounding mildly aggressively annoyed (lol).

On to Moon! I'm going to skip right to Ruin since this is the one he talks the most in. The one line this is most prevalent in is, "Naughty! Naughty! The light makes us hurt! Grind, grind, grinding gears inside my head! We can't move. Error! Error!!!" after the second generator is turned on. That is, once again, another three repetitions in a single line. Dude is Going Through It™.

But anyway, there was something else I found interesting about Moon's voicelines. He...has always had a lot of repetition in them. "Naughty boy. Naughty boy. It's past your bedtime. You must be punished, Nighty-night." "Naughty, naughty." "Knock, knock." "Hidey-hide. Hide away..." as well as "Bad children must be punished" + "Bad children must be found."

This brings up the question: Has Moon always been kinda agitated about something? (Honestly, could just be that he hates being locked away in his own body most of the time.)

-

Just gonna plot this here and say I feel like Eclipse is kinda a Steven Universe gem-fusion between Sun and Moon. Sun saying that they "need to be whole" and Kellen Goff saying that Eclipse is like the perfect balance between Sun and Moon (saying something along the lines of Sun's Yin to Moon's Yang) in Dawko's "The FNaF Show" interview (season three episode). Also, since Sun was able to say "thank you" to Cassie, I feel like he and Moon are both still fully aware and present, but just in a much more peaceful state where they can actually cooperate.

-

SPEAKING OF ECLIPSE- I. I just think I realized something HEAR ME OUT-

Okay, so, since Kellen described Eclipse as being "reborn" in his Tweet about them (if I remember correctly), and Eclipse's first line being "Happy Birthday!" AS WELL as the Balloon Boy arcade easter egg, is makes me think Eclipse used to be around, but ended up getting deactivated/"split" at some point.

"But 'Happy Birthday' is a reference to Frosty the Snowman when he was made." YES BUT! Frosty also says that when he gets resurrected!

Sun knowing that there is a possible way for him and Moon to "be whole" also seems to show that they may have been that way at some point in the past. My guess as to what happened? Well uuuuuuh

Alright, so, this has to do with the books. In Tales from the Pizzaplex, I believe it's Bobbiedots Part 1, the main character (Abe) tells the guy he's training that at one point, that Sun and Moon, after no longer being used as stage animatronics, had been reprogrammed (the light trigger was something they has also tried to remove). My guess is, if Eclipse used to be a normal thing for them, and if the books are accurate in this case, then THAT is when they were split.

-

I know I've mentioned her a lot, but I find the comments Cassie makes about the Sun and Moon AR merch very interesting.

"I used to have so much fun in the daycare." and "I never slept better than I did in the daycare." could be either taken as genuine, which would mean Sun and Moon used to be good at their jobs as daycare attendants (or Cassie was just weird lol), or could also be a little sarcastic. I doubt they're sarcastic, since they'd probably have some kind of drawn-out vowels in them if they were. Also, I find the description of the masks ("FUN FUN FUN!" for the Sun one and "Sleep." for the Moon one) to be pretty funny.

Also, the "Weird. it looks just like the other one." for the golden Moon plush is very interesting to me. For he golden Sun one it's "Funny. It looks just like the other one." which, yeah, Sun's usual colors could easily be replaced with gold and he'd look very similar. But Moon? Nah. Makes me wonder if Eclipse was around back then, or Cassie had seen them at one point, even if they weren't around anymore (maybe promo material or something idk).

-

Sooo that is all I have for now! I will inevitably remember something I forgot to put here like, right after I post this or something. I'll definitely add any additional stuff I think about in a reblog.

It is 1:07 am. I meant to go to bed like, and hour ago.

G'niiiiiight~!

[yarameijer]

Don't know if you ever thought of this but hear me out: Mute Tenma. Nothing much to ramble since this just popped out of nowhere recently, but I thought it'd be cute to see him interact with others using a pen/cil and a notepad, the cover being decorated by stickers (given by Aoi definitely) or simple gestures: like tugging on one's sleeve or the hem of their shirt to get their attention or tapping their shoulder.

Also it'd be funny if sometimes Raimon gets startled by Tenma's sudden appearance because he's too quiet xD one second he wasn't there and then the next you see a little adorable ball of sunshine looking at you with his blue eyes and a ":D!"

That is all thank yew

Oh, and I hope both sides of your pillow are in your preferred temperature!

I actually have thought of this! In fact, I've got a very basic draft for a story somewhere in the depths of my computer that, unfortunately, hasn't made it very far yet. The basic idea would bet that Tenma has been selectively mute for years due to childhood trauma, and how that would impact the story we all know. It'd especially focus on the interactions and friendships between the Raimon team.

Here's a little snippet for it!

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

Soundless

Shindou is startled from his book when the school bell rings, signifying the end of classes that day. He blinks, concentration suddenly broken, and glances at the clock.

‘’We’re finally free,’’ he hears Hamano cheer from behind him, and the captain holds back a sigh. ‘’That lasted an eternity, I swear!’’

Ignoring the familiar complaints, Shindou clears his desk and rises from his seat, glad to stretch his legs for a bit. A spark of excitement goes through him when he thinks of the soccer practice that will soon start. It’s become his favorite part of the day – and sometimes it’s still hard to believe, how much has changed in a few short weeks. He never expected his second year to start out this way.

‘’It wasn’t that bad,’’ Hayami says, also from behind him, and finally the captain turns around. His classmate is readjusting his glasses, giving Hamano a hesitant look – the midfielder is leaning his chair dangerously far back, balancing it on two chair legs. ‘’I don’t think that’s such a good idea, what if you fall…?’’

Hamano waves his concerns away. ‘’I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine!’’ he grins, leaning back a little further.

Predictably, that last bit is just a little too far.

Shindou winces when Hamano’s chair slides out from underneath the other midfielder, the following bang getting several looks from their classmates.

‘’Idiot.’’

Usually Shindou wouldn't approve of Ichino's amused comment, especially when someone could be injured, but Hamano is already starting to laugh sheepishly. He’s fine, probably.

‘’Whoops! My bad,’’ the midfielder chuckles.

Yeah, he’s fine.

With a long-suffering sigh, the captain shares a glance with a sympathetic-looking Kirino and interferes. ‘’Come on guys, or we’re gonna be late. Then the first-years will start complaining or Sangoku-san will put us on cleaning duty.’’ It wouldn’t be the first time. Their keeper doesn’t seem to care much for Shindou’s position as captain.

At least that gets them moving and the huddle of second-years make their way through the crowded corridors, towards the main entrance. Mere minutes later they’re reaching the soccer building, thankfully more or less on time. They’re the last ones to arrive at the clubroom, being greeted by all their teammates when the doors slide open.

‘’Hey guys!’’

A jumble of greetings are muttered in return and Shindou and Kirino move towards their lockers to get changed into their uniforms. The captain glances to the side, smiling when he notices a mop of brown hair a few locker rows down. ‘’Good afternoon, Tenma.’’

The first-year looks up, face breaking out into a beaming smile. He lifts a hand and waves shyly.

‘’How was your day?’’ Kirino asks as he starts unbuttoning his school jacket. Their younger teammate purses his lips and then shrugs half-heartedly, making his elders both grin. ‘’Not so interesting then?’’

Feeling like teasing, the captain hides a grin. ‘’I hope you paid attention in class though.’’ Immediately, the younger boy narrows his eyes at him.

Tenma’s face and posture are always very expressive, Shindou has noticed. He thinks it’s his way of making up for his lack of speech, and, well, it works. Every day they’re growing more familiar with the young brunet’s small ticks, automatically spotting and interpreting them. It’s like learning an entirely new language.

Right now, Shindou finds himself smiling at his teammate’s pout. The younger boy huffs and pointedly turns his back towards them, causing both of his senpai to laugh.

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

Who knows, maybe I'll continue it at some point? I really like your idea of Tenma sneaking up on them, lol.

[gingersnapwolves]

Hello friends I’m back from vacation with a lot to say! I’m going to do two posts, so I can put the pretty pictures which actually look good in a photo post and then contain my ramblings and selfies to this post LOL.

So last year while we were talking about vacations, my wife said we should go to Iceberg Alley so we could see icebergs. You know, sorry to the optimists in the audience but who knows how long we’ll still be able to do that? So I planned a trip to the Canadian Maritimes.

First thing you need to know about me and my wife is that neither of us like to fly. We do road trips. We’ve done tons and tons of road trips. When we lived in Arizona, we road-tripped to pretty much everywhere in the western United States. Fun fact about us - one of the things that first made us such good friends twenty-five (twenty-five?!?!?!) years ago is that we both like to drive around a lot and look at pretty scenery and just vibe. So I planned us a road trip. It pretty quickly became apparent that we couldn’t do both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in one road trip because there’s just so MUCH to see. So we focused on Newfoundland for this trip for iceberg reasons. We did stop to see some things along the way, obviously, because the key to a good road trip is to try to break it up with cool shit.

The first day was basically driving (though we did stop at a No Kings protest in Maine for a while because we couldn’t miss that). Then across the border we went. Lupine everywhere! Tim Horton’s! Metric system! (My wife: is the speed limit really 110 mph? lmao no it is not.) 

First stop! Joggins Fossil Cliffs! It was very cool, we will have to do this again and take the guided tour because I’ve learned I couldn’t find a fossil if you put a gun to my head. Let the selfies begin!

We stopped a few more places on the way but forgot to take selfies (whoops) and then got on the ferry to Newfoundland. We had a little cabin because it’s a 16 hour ride to the east side of Newfoundland.

Once in Newfoundland, we went to Salmonier Nature Center, which was very cool. A lovely, beautiful walk through the woods and fen. My biggest disappointment was on this outing because I really wanted to see the lynx, and we waited a while outside the enclosure, hoping if we were quiet it would eventually come out, but it never did. On the other hand, caribou are magical.

On to the east side and St. John’s! We went to the Petty Harbor Mini Aquarium, which is a seasonal catch and release aquarium with an awesome touch tank.

Cape Spear, the eastern most point in North America.

Basilica of St. John the Baptist (we are the opposite of religious but my wife loves the architecture of churches and stained glass windows).

Memorial University Botanical Gardens

Johnson Geo Centre

Then we took a boat tour to go to Gull Island and see puffins! I didn’t get any good pictures here unfortunately. The puffins on the island were too far away to photograph clearly, and although I could see them fly and sometimes land in the water by the boat it was impossible to get a good shot of them. They were soooooooo incredibly cute though. My wife also saw a minke whale (I did not lol).

Driving inland, we went to Terra Nova National Park but I forgot to take a selfie until we were back at the car.

Interior Newfoundland is profoundly empty. Anywhere in America, if I pass a gas station with a quarter tank of gas, I can think ‘no big deal, I will definitely hit another gas station before I’m close to being out of gas’. Not so much in Newfoundland. I didn’t run out of gas but boy was I sweating a few times.

Can’t go to Canada without having Tim Horton’s! Sorry for the thumb. Uh, it was very early. I prefer Dunkie’s but TH had VERY good chocolate chip muffins and my wife loved their donuts.

Icebergs! Icebergs! Icebergs! (Pics to follow in my photo post.)

Chilling on Twilingate Island

On our drive around Twillingate, a bald eagle flew out over our car and flew alongside/above us for about five seconds and it was SO cool. Sadly we didn’t get any pictures of that because we were too busy being in awe.

Stayed at a nice little bed and breakfast

West we go! The Insectarium!

And then on to Gros Morne!

Now this was a trip. On one day it was eighty-five and sunny, then the next it was fifty, occasionally rainy, and very, very windy. I have rarely experienced wind that is actually difficult to walk against, but I really feared for my safety occasionally. We had booked a boat tour on Western Brook Pond, which is a glacier carved valley. To get to the pond is a 3 km walk and my wife is disabled (and in this weather, I wouldn’t have wanted to walk 6 km either). There were shuttles but very limited seating so we got there about 90 minutes early. When we got there, they said they were waiting on the captain’s decision on whether or not we could go out in this weather. Eventually we did, but . . . possibly shouldn’t have LOL. The water was rough. There was a ton of spray. We both got soaked about three minutes into the trip so we were freezing the whole time. I asked my wife to please not divorce me since I took her to see icebergs. 

Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful and awesome in the original sense of the word, but holy shit. On the way back, the weather got even worse. Dense fog and even higher wind. We had to zig zag to get back to dock because of how strong the wind was, so it took quite some time. My teeth were actually chattering (we had dressed appropriately for the cold and wind but had not anticipated getting wet).

For obvious reasons, the tour after ours was canceled, which meant there was an entire boat full of people besides ours who wanted to use the shuttle, so it took a while to get one and I was basically frozen solid by the time I made it back to the car. Good times!

We got on the ferry on the western side of the island back to Nova Scotia, which is an eight hour ferry. We took the overnight, but there were no cabins when I booked, so we had reserved, reclining seats. No big deal, right? But the sea was still very rough. 

Now, I don’t get seasick. Carsick, yes, but I’ve never had a problem getting seasick (unless I try to read, so I don’t). Even on the cruise, when we were out on the open ocean, I was fine. Y’all. I got sick sick. Our seats were on the top deck, at the front of the ship. Worst place to be during rough weather. The staff kindly took me to a better seat but holy crap was I sick. The sea finally calmed down and I felt better but I probably didn’t sleep more than an hour. It sucked.

So the next day we just drove a little while on some back roads, looked at nice scenery, until I couldn’t stay awake anymore and we crashed at a motel and I passed out.

Me somewhere in Nova Scotia: I'm not sure I'm still safe to drive

Some fuckass deer: //runs out in front of my car//

Me: //screeches to a halt and avoids a collision//

Me: Okay guess I'm still good for a little while.

The next day, we went to Reversing Falls Rapids in St. John

And to Irving Nature Park

And then we were on our way back home!

On the whole it was a very enjoyable vacation, though a really tiring one haha. I think we need to take an easier one next. I'm also definitely forgetting at least one or two things but that's life, maybe I will update later if I think of them.

Quote of the trip: "Oh, yeah, X/99 ... got us obsessed with toxic gay relationships and the rest is history."

Honorable mention: "How is it?" "It's not ... bad ..." "Oh?" "Well, it's bad in a new and interesting way."

[itsoverfeeling]

I usually do a bit of a tumblr love letter on new years so allow me my soapbox... thank you to EVERYONE for supporting my work and silly ideas this year. I've been flitting through a few different fandoms so it's nice to know that hasn't purged all of my followers in the process lol.

this year, i did one or two things i suppose!! thank youuu to all my dear mutuals and followers and even the ppl I follow who won't see this post.. all of you are great.. this might be long, but allow me to mention some..

@possuminnit thank you for liking my art even when it's completely out of your ball field and for asking me to draw a character as an opossum bc opossum!geed is one of my fave drawings now. @churchydragon thank you for being one of my first ultraman mutuals as well as just a creature enthusiast in general!! @stickers-on-a-laptop I love the fics ive read so far from you and I'm very surprised that we became mutuals.. theres something about fic writers that makes me think they're too cool for me (I realize I am one). speaking of writers, thank you @lucksea for being very nice to me too!! I loved your art and thought you were an amazing taro understander and somehow it turns out you like my things too... I honestly still can't get over that.

@forbiddenpondrocks @shapeofallcosmos @miragethecat thank you for being powerful opponents during the boop wars.. I have not forgotten your ferocity... @akq96618 and @lovewhump thank you for liking my silly ultra drawings and comics.. my silly tregears and taros especially 😭 thank you @mrfartpowered for supporting my rc9gn stage, I still love seeing rc9gn on my dash, I had so much fun posting my art (honestly mostly for your reaction lol).

@lepidopteragirl my loyal mutual i will always honor you even if we are posting completely different things. @atthebell ive really enjoyed your posts, your writing and the way you articulate yourself is always so cool to read. and i love your fiber art works they're always so cute. @bandy-andy I KNOW WE HAVENT SPOKEN MUCH... whoops. but andy I'll never forget you man, you're number one!!

so many other people who i havent spoken with as much and haven't interacted with a ton but still so cool and such a joy to see on the dash. @belanova @unsat-and-strange @routeriver and @rachelsquill and others I wish I could name and scroll through my following list for but. it's so long 😭 I LOVE YALL THOUGH.. I love my mutuals and the regulars in my notes and my followers and the folks I follow.. i dont care if youre tagged or not, yall are the greatest.

I suppose I'll end this long ramble with a feliz año nuevo!! I'm glad we all got through this year :]

[snotty-zombie]

Rageous-tober part 4 (final)!!!

Day 27: Crossover (2 parts)

Day 31: Halloween

More under cut >xP

totally disregard all the writing if you dont care lmaooo this is just me word vomiting about my ocs and thought process when doing this haha i just thought id give some context cuz i always forget you guys know literally nothing about my characters

Day 27: Crossover! So this is a two parter, part 1 is Gumlee x Ritzneer obvvvvvviously because I’m basic I can’t help but compare them and a lot of others can’t help it either from what I’ve seen I had an insane stroke of genius calling Veneer ‘Prince Gumdrop’ and I don’t think I’ll ever reach those heights again

Part 2 of the crossover is MLP CROSSOVER!! Including unicorn ‘Colt Ritz’ which I am quite proud I must say considering I hadn’t drawn a pony in like- 10 years AS WELL AS Pegasus ‘Boogie Bomb’ which I am ALSO quite proud of, he has very big wings and is covered in little green spots (which mimic the spotty design he has on his shaved scalp as a Rageon) he looks a bit like a donkey but I think that’s just because of his little facial hair bits and massive pointy ears I gave him hmmmm Also, siren Velvet and Veneer!! I can’t remember the exact lore of the sirens since I haven’t seen the film in a real long time but I got some help from my friend who is a big MLP fan and she filled me in on the lore etc, as well as inspiration from another artist on here who also did a VV x MLP crossover, I reposted their amazing art on my other blog so def go check it out. Anyway, VV are sirens and disguise themselves as alicorns (but also hide their flanks as they have no cutie marks)

Day 31: Halloween!!! 🎃 👻 💀 🦇 🐈‍⬛ Last one!! This one took foreveerrrrr and again, I just had to try to outdo myself with the amount of bs happening on screen at once I tried to include all my main fav ocs, as well as the twins and KR all going door to door in a massive trick or treating horde

I called this the 'soft launch' of my Velvet and Veneer fan parents, Dr Velocity (mum) and Dr Voltage (dad), they're in matching Frankenstein and Frankenstein's wife costumes :3. They mean well of course as any parent does but their good intentions can get lost in translation (harsh punishments and struggling/refusing to understand their bizarre children). I will definitely give them their spotlight when I eventually get around to redesigning them (slightly) and writing out some information about them to share with you guys because I like them a lot :P

-Theres Glow Worm getting her costume repaired by Rhinestone after she ripped it doing multiple cartwheels in a row -Velvet and Veneer trading their sweets that they collected (you'd think they were discussing border placement or something, they take it so seriously) -Veneer and TV Girl finally getting along after telling their lame boyfriends to stop fighting with each other -And a zombie Boogie sketch I refused to finish whoops

SO YEAH THATS ALL I DID FOR RAGEOUS-TOBER, finally posting it to tumblr half way through November. be sure to check out the creators account, jobiesayscheese 😻😻😻 thanks for checking my art out, and if you read all of my stupid ramblings ily sm and thank you for hearing me out

I also did in fact win a raffle for Rageous-tober not to flex but yes to flex (totally wasn’t rigged cuz tf)

Part 1! Part 2! Part 3! Part 4!

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

w.count: 2.4k (whoops. it got away from me)

chengsheng picks favorties, and she's not secretive about it. she's also not secretive about the fact that when you're around, it isn't baizhu either.

living in liyue for as long as you have should've meant your body was used to traversing the constant air influxes of going up and down mountains and large rock formations by now. however, contrary to what you believe to be the case, your body simply did not listen. really, it didn't listen to anything you want it to do.

it was always something. lightheadedness, severe headaches, congestion that made your eyes ache, stiff and swollen joints and muscles, small scrapes and bruises from whatever tumble you may have taken. anything that could happen always seemed to be the case with you when you walked through the door to bubu pharmacy.

it took no time at all for herbalist gui to learn your face and name. even qiqi could remember your face with her poor memory. with your regular visits, gui first suspected you were faking your aliments. of course, you could easily see how he could come to such an accusation. even you thought once or twice that you were just overthinking things, that it wasn't bad... until it was, and your conditions worsen with no kind of treatment at all.

the first time you met baizhu, you were standing rather unamused- and slightly zoned out- from yet another lecture from gui on how you need to be more careful or else you'll make the pharmacy run out of stock. he should be glad that business is practically booming with you around. instead, he was laying it on thick today... not that you were paying much attention.

"ah, so this is who the mysterious person qiqi claims needs herbs so frequently is."

you don't think you'll ever be able to forget how amused he sounded from behind you. or the look on gui's face as his boss interrupts his rambling that definitely could look like berating to anyone who wasn't used to seeing him interact with your near-daily medicine runs. you should've had a kamera on hand for such an expression.

you'll never forget exactly how awed you were to see the owner of such a renowned pharmacy for the first time either. a part of you was almost skeptical of how young he was, but then again age never equated to intelligence anyway, so that thoughtless nonsense was easily tossed out of your mind.

"yes, i guess that would be me," you sheepishly told him. "my apologies for the... neediness? for lack of better words."

"not at all. what is medicine good for if not to treat someone? it's actually quite relieving to finally put a face with a name."

"qiqi sspeakss of them sso often i almosst asssumed they were another one of her missunderstandingss." the secondary voice that no doubt came from the white snake around the doctor's neck shocked you for a moment. blinking as if taking in the absurdity of it, you easily accepted that the snake could talk.

this was teyvat where people could be born hybrids, having psychical traits of of species of being. not to mention liyue, where you knew of at least two adeptus running around the harbor. this shouldn't come as much of a shock.

"sorry about that too," the silent- i think?- you refused to tack on to the end of your sentence was left unspoken but clearly seen in your eyes. was that something to apologize for? in truth, the whole situation felt quite awkward so all you could do was talk to fill the silence. the silence that wasn't very silent anyway.

you had since stepped off to the side so gui could talk to another patron coming to pick up their prescription with the babble of the city just outside. if you didn't feel it would be rude, you would've just left and called it a day- even if you hadn't actually gotten your needed medicine from the herbalist at the desk yet. he had been too busy nagging you to hand it over before baizhu's sudden appearance.

luckily for you, baizhu was also intelligent enough he could read a room.

"please wait here. i'll go and fetch whatever medicine you need today." you make a small noise of acknowledgment before offering a small okay as he walks behind the counter and takes a paper from gui that probably had recommended herbs and salves scribbled on it for your treatment.

feeling like you just fumbled the first interaction with the pharmacy's owner, you sighed and pushed a finger to your temples before going outside. leaning yourself on the railing just outside the building, you bore yourself into counting the steps leading up to it. always getting a different answer each time since there were so many. you were so invested in your stair counting that when baizhu reappears in your peripherals with a small drawstring pouch of presumed herbs, you feel yourself flinch.

"i didn't mean to startle you," he chuckles as you gently take the pouch from him, using your other hand to dig around for the mora you know you now owe.

"it's fine. i was too engrossed in counting."

"counting?"

"the stairs."

"did you come to a final count?" he entertains.

"not even close," you say as you place the correct amount of shiny mora into his palm while watching chengsheng readjust herself by slithering once around his shoulders.

after that day, baizhu was around more often when you would stop by. your semi-normal medical pick-ups soon extend into medical treatment personally offered by baizhu in the pharmacy's back room, along with prolonged conversations to fill the free time he could offer. it was during these conversations that chengsheng decided that among the humans living in liyue, you were her favorite.

she preferred you over others so much that when you would come by the pharmacy, she would immediately demand to coil around you instead of her normal seat upon baizhu's shoulders. she would only keep to baizhu when you were around if his chi levels were running wild and she was confined to her job of maintaining them.

today was no exception to her favoritism.

you had once again shown up to bubu pharmacy, but this time not for whatever ails you, but for your annual checkup. you never used to bother with them, but shockingly enough gui had lectured you one year about it- so, to save yourself the ear strain it would be best to just get it over with.

walking up the outrageously long stairs to the pharmacy entrance, you sigh and rub your neck with a rather lackluster greeting to the open space of the front desk.

"okay gui, i'm here." you almost sigh, like keeping track with your health was such an inconvenience. dropping your arm and raising your view, you see all three of the bubu population together- which was almost rare considering they all have their own agendas to deal with near daily. "wow," you start with a smile at seeing them all, "it's like a party in here."

gui shakes his head at your lame attempt at what he assumes is a joke while qiqi abandons her post to waltz up to your side and grab the fabric that hung around your waist; a habit she's developed since you've been around more often. you're not sure why she does it, maybe it makes her feel secure or something, you weren't sure. you don't mind it regardless. you always accept her small act of presumed affection with your palm resting on her talisman tagged hat and small greeting.

baizhu blithely crosses his arms over his chest at seeing how attached qiqi has become of you. he has the hunch that even outside of the pharmacy you were pretty well-known because you were someone easily likeable, but to capture the attention of his little qiqi? color him impressed. still, he was pleased you had formed a connection with her and gui. even baizhu himself found himself enjoying your company more than he did before. each time was better than the last.

"it's lovely to see you again," the owner speaks as he uncrosses his arms into a more relaxed manner of stance. "gui informed me that you can be rather stubborn when it comes to these kinds of matters. I was worried i'd have to go and find you myself."

"i don't think you would have to go that far. even if i didn't show up today, i would've been back eventually. then you could've tied me up and thrown me into a forced state of compliance."

"that wouldn't be very hospitable of a doctor, i'm afraid."

a small tug on your hip directs your attention downwards as qiqi looks up at you.

"doctor baizhu will be taking care of you today," she says slowly, almost lethargically. you blink a few times in confusion for a moment before nodding to her.

"really now? what an a honor." it wasn't often baizhu did things like this, such common checkups were handled mostly by gui. you wonder if chengsheng kicked up some sort of fuss about it? 'nevermind,' you shake your head and internalize your thoughts, 'it doesn't matter.'

"best not to waste much more time," baizhu says, rounding the counter and coming up to your side before replacing your hand with his own on qiqi's head. "run along now, qiqi." she's quick to obey and gui returns to whatever it is he does all day long. you're ushered out and soon back to the room you've been in thousands of times before.

just like normal, you sat yourself down in one of the two stools baizhu keeps at his desk. just like normal, baizhu offers you tea for your time and just like normal you accept. just like normal, he walks back and forth along the many shelves of herbs and equipment for what he needs for the day's work. and just like normal, chengsheng is slithering down baizhu's outstretched arm, onto the desk and then quickly up yours as you offer it to her.

"aw, i've missed you too chengsheng," you coo. she always hisses when you treat her like a common snake, but it wasn't like she was going to do anything about it. another perk of being the favorite.

"it'ss just nicce to not be coiled around a man who smellss like grasss all the time," she plays off as she coils comfortably around your shoulders and even curling up your head to pass through your hair. most definitely forming knots in her wake.

as baizhu comes back to your side, you watch as he places his required items down.

"it never gets easier," you say.

"and what exactly are you talking about?"

"how... empty you look without chengsheng."

baizhu chuckles.

"yes, well, it feels as empty as it looks." he looks at the pearl white snake around you, clearly nuzzling into you more than him, and he smiles warmly at it. "she looks much better wrapped around you, than me."

"uh-huh," you scoff, bringing your palm up to cup her head and lightly nudging her away from your ear. she was making your skin tingle with her scales against the small sensitive limb. "i totally believe you."

"i've never spoken a word of a lie to you."

you always applaud yourself for not absolutely losing your cool for the things that could come out of baizhu's mouth. the way he can easily say things that were well past embarrassing without so much as blinking was almost awe-inspiring. if you didn't know any better, you'd think sometimes he was flirting with you- but it was baizhu and he was always kind and polite to anyone. that was just who he was.

your checkup runs smoothly and even though nothing can fix your accident-prone lifestyle, you were still healthy and ready to take on more scraps and falls.

now, the hardest part of every pharmacy visit was about to commence. convincing chengsheng to return to her contractor without much fuss.

"chengsheng," you nervously say her name with a slight shake in your voice. she was always a sassy snake, but when she didn't get to indulge in what she wanted, which was simply snuggly laying around your shoulders for just a while longer... she could be a handful. "you know you can't leave with me."

she meets you nowhere with silence- not even attempting to meet you halfway somewhere. nope, she's leaving you high and dry. baizhu watches with half amused eyes, a hand on his hip and the other reached out to brush against her scales.

"what if i walked our dear y/n home? would you willingly part with them then?"

"what?" baizhu had never walked you home before, you always insisted he not since he was a busy man, and it wasn't like you couldn't take care of yourself. this opportunity easily hooked the snake's attention as she lifted her previously curled head and looked at her contractor- you know, the man she was supposed to be unwaveringly loyal to.

"do we have a deal?" he chided, knowing that eventually she was going to let you go one way or the other. whether it be now by him prying her off you physically or walking you home and having her come back willingly. her forked tongue flicked out before coiling one full rotation around your neck and up your head, so her reptilian 'chin' sat on your crown.

"if i must," which was chengsheng for 'yes, we do'.

so, with you and chengsheng waiting at the top of the stone stairs, baizhu popped inside to inform gui and qiqi he would be stepping out for a bit. qiqi had peaked around the open front and waved goodbye to you, which you returned happily before baizhu came to your side. his hand came to hover at your back, so close you could almost feel his palm but never actually touching, and offered you start taking steps ahead of him.

back from inside the pharmcy at the desk, qiqi walked back to gui's side as they both watched their boss walk off with you.

"qiqi likes when y/n is around," she speaks monotonously- but she meant it.

"yeah," gui agrees, watching both your heads disappear further down the stairs with chengsheng still clinging to you. "you aren't the only one," he chuckles.

chengsheng picks favorties, and she's not secretive about it. her contractor, however- even if he thinks he's being slick about it- cannot hide that he does too.

and wouldn't you believe it? all evidence always leads back to you.

[bubblybloob]

Whoop I finished my reverse Damsel idea. I briefly discussed her in two other posts but I’m going to go further into her here with a better grasp on what she’s about

Pretty long ramble below, so watch out.

Basically, instead of warning her/resisting the Narrator in chapter 1, you, thinking you can’t overpower him, attempt to slay yourself. The Princesses stares at you in horror as you cut into your own neck (this is the route where you don’t initially bring the knife so she’s the more sympathetic version).

She attempts to wrench the blade from you because she has no idea why you’re doing this and doesn’t want you to die. Whether or not she gets the knife though doesn’t matter, because it’s too late and you die.

(Still am stuck on what sort of voice I want. Had a lot of suggestions on stuff like a Martyr sort of voice or one similar to the old Meek voice but the problem mostly stems from characterizing them in a different way to the other voices, which is something I can’t figure out given the situation).

Chapter 2 is titled “The Fae”.

The main room is primarily made of stone, with many unidentifiable chiseled metals and rock, but you don’t stay here for long, nor get given the option of taking the blade, as choosing to approach the blade or the basement will activate a trapdoor that will send you falling to your death. Just as you’re about to meet your demise, something grabs your palm. Looking up, you see the princess, swinging from the ceiling with you in hand.

The Fae is strange, originally she was going to be similarly shallow in nature like the Damsel, but I would compare her uncanniness more to the Razor, with a constant smile, eerie stare, and maybe an off putting voice.

She’s pretty blunt on what she wants, the satisfaction of saving you from this awful cabin and leaving together! Despite her more than ginger attitude towards you (she acts like you are made of glass), she’s actually quite egotistical, with her occasionally praising herself and puffing up whenever she receives applause from you.

She makes unintentional jabs at your incompetency and reminds you “it’s not your fault you’re not cut out for this, really! I’ll get us out of here my handsome corvid!” and sort of talks down to you and always acts like she’s the smartest in the room (and she probably is depending on what voice I make up for the route). She’s also weirdly fixated on your safety and goes above and beyond to protect you from even the smallest splinter, she’d act like you were dying if you got so much as a scratch.

(All of her traits are exacerbated to a worse degree in chapter 3).

Edit: I forgot to mention all of her behavior is inspired by the fae. I forgot that some people aren’t as well versed in fae lore. Fae are, from what I have heard, pretty selfish, manipulative, and possessive all while being downright ethereal, so I gave her a dose of all of those traits and toned it down a smidge.

Her appearance is also meant to be slightly unnerving. She has long elf like ears and eyes that are surrounded by shadow, with large black pits in the center of her eye that are impossible to tell if they are part of her pupil or not. She also gives off a very faint, white light, it’s almost imperceptible but it’s there.

Her dress is more of a skirt than anything with a sash that has long ribbon like ends that are every length all at once at any given time. They easily wrap themselves around objects even if it shouldn’t be physically possible, and she uses them to swing from the ceiling (spider princesses). Her “crown” is made up of a few translucent butterflies that seem attracted to her like magnets, occasionally they flutter about but usually they sit on her head.

I like to think that there are hints to the fact her butterflies aren’t real, just extensions of herself. They might flicker in and out of existence if she’s upset with you or stressed about something.

Another thing of note, like with some other princesses like Nightmare or Thorn or something, she has no chain. (Maybe there’s some creepy dialogue option where she reveals she broke it with her teeth or something more crazy).

Anyway, the princesses states that everything is fine and that this time around she’s going to be the one to rescue you. She fully intends for both of you to escape, and for you to just follow her lead, because she’s going to make sure you’re alright and that nothing will hurt you.

If you follow along she will save you from the dangers ahead, the basement of the cabin has been increased in size and there are rooms with rolling boulders, pits of spikes, etc. These sections aren’t too long, there’s probably like five explore options along with two or three choices you can make per room and there’s only like three of said rooms.

At the end she literally carries you out of the cabin and swings you around all like “We did it! I’m out and you’re safe! Not even a scratch on you, didn’t I do a good job?” Before mentioning how cold it is and getting taken to Ohio by the Shifting Mound.

There is another way this can end however. There are two potential ways to get to this I think.

If you keep questioning her when shes says something’s wrong at some point you get killed by some random trap while you’re distracted. You get killed and probably end up with the Skeptic.

If you don’t let her do the work and instead try to do too many things yourself you also eventually get killed by a trap and probably end up with Stubborn or Contrarian depending on your actions.

There might be a different third chapter that you can get to from another princess but idk what it would be so I’m sticking with the more direct continuation chapter.

You still don’t get the knife here and fall through another trapdoor. This time she doesn’t catch you and instead has already prepared something beneath where you fall to catch you. It’s probably just a plush room, somewhat reminiscent of the Stranger route’s soft stairs, but less existentially horrifying.

Here the princess thinks that maybe leaving the cabin with her is why you keep dying and so tries to convince you staying is the only option and that something bigger is trying to kill you off when you try to leave with her (she’s not wrong that there’s something bigger at play but she isn’t exactly right either). She’s too selfish to just let you leave without her even if her weird logic states that you’d be fine as long as she doesn’t leave with you, so all protests are shut down and she tries to force you if you complain.

If you got Skeptic there is the option of actually convincing her and that no matter what you’ll listen to her every word and you’ll escape together. She’ll listen and similar events to last time will play out, only this time the traps are deadlier but are made much more traversable due to the fact that she gives no fucks and will destroy every obstacle with ease. This time you actually leave and once again Ohio comes and gets her (I like to imagine The Narrator pulls the locked basement door trick and here she just punches through it and stares expectantly at you to turn handle from the other side with the newly created hole).

If you have Stubborn you can attempt to fight her. It probably won’t work at first because she’s the literal fae. But the Narrator, knowing you’re trying to fight now, will make the blade magically fall from the same trapdoor you fell from. And its iron touch can sizzle faerie skin. She doesn’t necessarily want to fight you, but if she has to rough you up some to get you to see things her way, she’ll do it. If you fuck up you’ll probably break something that you need to move or attack with and lose the fight, and she gets taken. If you don’t fuck up and win, same result except she’s got a knife in her chest when the mound comes and nabs her.

With Contrarian you choose to stay with her because funny boy wants to mess with the Narrator. I think maybe one of the traps somehow ends up infiltrating whatever “safe room” you’re in (probably because you’re thoughts spiraling on the thought of not actually being safe and dying again because that’s all you’ve done so far, so your perception kills you. Not sure what trap would kill you, maybe the rolling boulder crashes through the roof or something idk) and ends up fatally wounding you, making it the third time she couldn’t protect you, she stands over your body because “I had this planned, you should’ve been safe, how could this happen???” Before Ohio comes.

Whatever ending you get, she will make for a courageous heart.

I like to think you can kill her with Contrarian and get stuck with her with Stubborn, it’s just that they’d prefer and encourage you to do the opposite. The Skeptic is the only one where you can actually try to leave with her, again you can do the other options but having him is the only path where you can try to escape in the 3rd chapter.

I do have a 3rd chapter design in mind, but I’ll probably need to work on it some.