#the beginning is different from the others i have here because i forgot to record before the event ended

[idekka]

2nd ending for the Trickstar/Fine Fusion Live

[Switch/Eden] [Ra*bits/Double Face] [Alkaloid/Valkyrie] [Undead/Akatsuki]

A link to my sideblog where I posted the rest of the Fusion Live story

[communicationthroughlyrics]

I Work Too Hard, Can You Fuckin' Pay Me?

Part 6 - Y/N moved to escape some of thier looming troubles from Westview, to the place that their best friend said would make a difference. New job, new digs, will Y/N make a change for the better, or leave another city with their tail between their legs?

A/N: Sorry it's been taking so long between updates, y'all. My life got craaaaaazy messy of late, and now I'm struggling to even cover basic bills. I try to write when I can. Much love, y'all.

TW: Angst, Intersex reader, reader has some... not so great coping habits, sexual tension

Word Count: 2.7K

Read Pt. 1 HERE Read Pt. 2 HERE Read Pt. 3 HERE Read Pt. 4 HERE Read Pt. 5 HERE

I Need to Heal What I Inflict

Your eyes widened in surprise, but you didn't pull away. The kiss was soft and gentle, like the brush of a butterfly's wing, and it sent a jolt of electricity through your body. You hadn't felt anything like this in so long, and for a moment, you forgot about the pain and the fear. Her lips tasted faintly of the wine she had been sipping, and you felt yourself leaning into her, into the warmth and comfort she offered.

Wanda broke the kiss, looking at you with a mix of uncertainty and hope. "Did I...?" she began, but you didn't let her finish. You reached out and pulled her back to you, your own hands trembling slightly. This time, the kiss was more urgent, more needy, as if you were trying to decipher how wrong or right this was.

As your mouths moved together, you felt the tightness in your chest begin to ease. You had missed the feeling of someone caring about you, someone who didn't just see the tough exterior you had constructed. Wanda's hand slid around your neck, pulling you closer, her fingers tangling in your hair. You responded in kind, your hands moving to her waist, feeling the warmth of her body through her shirt.

When the need for air became more apparent, you separated, a newfound tension lingering in the air. You felt your heart pounding in your chest, unsure of what to make of the sudden shift in your friendship. Wanda's hand remained on your neck, her eyes searching yours as if looking for an answer to the unasked question.

"We..." you began, shutting your eyes and turning your head slightly away from hers. "We probably shouldn't do this."

Wanda's hand remained on your neck, her thumb stroking gently. There was a slight crack in her voice. "Why?"

You took a deep breath, trying to find the words. "Because we're friends," you managed, feeling the heat of your cheeks. "And I don't want to mess that up. I don't have a great track record with these things, Wanda. One of us, or both of us will end up hurt."

Wanda studied you for a moment, the silence stretching out between you like a tightrope. Then, she leaned in and whispered, "But what if we're more than friends, Y/N?" Her eyes searched yours, looking for a spark of hope. "What if we could be good together?"

A deep sigh escaped your lips as you slid your hands down from her neck to her thighs. "Wanda," you said, trying to keep your voice steady, "I'm not saying we couldn't be. I just don't know if I can be good for anyone right now. I'm still...fucked up."

Her grip tightened slightly, and she leaned in closer. "You're not the only one with issues," she whispered, her breath warm against your ear. "But maybe we can help each other out."

You pulled away, trying to ignore the hurt in her eyes. "Wanda, it's inevitable. I will hurt you. And when that happens, it won't just be you I lose."

Her expression was a mix of confusion and sadness, but she didn't move her hand away. "But what if it's worth it?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "What if we're worth the risk?"

"If we're worth the risk, then we will be worth the wait, Wanda." You took a deep breath and placed your hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "But right now, I'm still trying to fix the mess I made. I don't want to drag you into it."

Wanda looked at you, her eyes searching for the truth in your words. "You can't do it alone, Y/N." Her voice was steady, but you could feel the tremble beneath the surface.

You nodded, understanding the gravity of what she was saying. "I know. But I need to sort myself out before I can be what you deserve." You leaned back, the swing rocking slightly with the movement. "I've hurt too many people. I don't want to add you to that list." She leaned back, her back somewhat slamming into the back of the swing. You could tell she was frustrated, but you meant every word. You would hurt her. And if you hurt her, you would lose not just her, but Piet and yourself. The guilt would eat you alive.

Wanda's eyes searched yours, a silent argument playing out between you. The night was quiet around you, the only sound was the distant murmur of the party and the occasional laugh. "Okay," she finally said, her voice a little shaky. "But I'm not going anywhere." You gave her a soft smile, trying to reassure her as best as you could. Internally, you were proud of yourself. You had just friend-zoned someone you would have jumped into bed with in a heartbeat, to better yourself and the relationships around you.

The silence grew thick again, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was the kind of silence that comes after a deep revelation, one that is filled with unspoken words and understood feelings. You sat on the far end of the swing, a safe distance between the both of you. Wanda slid towards you, resting her head on your shoulder. The swing swayed gently, the chains creaking in a rhythm that soothed your racing thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Y/N." Wanda's voice was muffled against your shoulder, but you heard the pain in her words.

You wrapped your arm around her, holding her close. "You do not need to be sorry," you whispered. "This isn't about blame. It's about what's right for us. Right now, we aren't going to be right."

Wanda nodded, her head still resting on your shoulder. "I know," she murmured. "But I just want you to be happy."

You kissed the top of her head, the action feeling surprisingly natural despite the tension between you. "I know you do," you said. "And I am okay for right now, Wanda. I'm just...complicated."

Wanda sighed, her body relaxing slightly against yours. "Okay," she murmured, her voice sounding defeated. "But I'm still here. Don't push me away."

You nodded, tightening your arm around her. "I know," you said, feeling a pang of regret. "And I'm not pushing you away. I just need some space to figure things out."

Wanda suddenly stood, walking away from you without a second glance. "Ok, Y/N. You can have your space." She sighed, walked away, went inside her home, and shut the door behind her.

You felt the swing swaying gently in the quiet night air, alone once again. You watched her retreating figure, feeling the weight of your words settling heavily upon you. You knew she was hurt, but you also knew that you had to be true to yourself. You needed to work through your mess before you could let anyone else into your life. With that, you rose from the swing, walked to the gate on the side of her house, and made your way home.

The walk seemed longer than you remembered, your mind racing with thoughts of Wanda, your feelings, and the future of your friendship. The cool night breeze brushed against your skin, carrying whispers of distant laughter and music from a party down the street. It felt like the world was moving on without you, spinning in a dance of happiness and connection that you were afraid to join.

When you arrived at your front door, you pushed it open, the quiet was a stark contrast to the buzz of the outside world. You leaned against the door, feeling the cold wood under your palms. For a moment, you just stood there, listening to the silence and contemplating the conversation that had just taken place. You had never felt so torn between your desires and your fears.

You released a deep sigh, sliding down the front door and allowing your emotions to swallow you whole.

You woke up on the floor by your front door, your face dry and caked in the tears you had shed after you shut the barrier to the outside world. The house was dark, except for the faint light spilling from the crack under your bedroom door. You knew you should go to bed, and try to get some sleep, but your mind was racing. The kiss replayed over and over in your head, and you couldn't shake the feeling of Wanda's body pressed against yours. You didn't know how to feel about it—whether it was a mistake or something beautiful. You felt a tug of regret for pushing her away, but also a sense of relief that you had maintained the boundary.

It was also taking everything within you to resist going over to her house and knocking on her front door and just kissing her again, reassuring her that this wasn't the ending before anything had started. But you knew you had to stick to your decision. For both of your sakes. She deserved that. She deserved someone more stable than you. She deserves better.

Your thoughts raced as you stalked through the hallways to your bedroom. You could feel the weight of the conversation in your chest, a heavy burden that seemed to follow you with every step. You closed the door behind you and sat on the edge of your bed, the room spinning slightly around you. You felt like you were in a whirlwind of emotions and you had to hold on tight to keep from getting swept away.

You took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down. You knew that you had made the right decision, but it didn't make it any easier. Wanda was becoming your best friend, someone who was proving to be there for you, and the thought of losing her was unbearable. But you also knew that you couldn't give her half of yourself, not when she deserved so much more. You needed to figure out who you were and what you wanted before you could even think about letting someone else into your heart.

-3 WEEKS LATER-

It had been weeks since you had talked to Wanda. Every time you saw her, she would make a beeline inside, or to her car, but always away from you. The awkwardness between you was palpable, and it hurt more than you could admit. The night at hers had been the last time you had any real interaction, and it felt like a lifetime ago. You missed her laugh, the burning that her touch left behind, and the comfort she brought you. But you knew you had to stick to your guns.

"Hey, Y/N." Pietro came walking up your driveway as you were working in your garage, knocking out some of the regular maintenance on your car. You hadn't seen Wanda's brother in a while, and his sudden appearance was a bit jolting.

"Hey, Piet." You tried to keep your voice casual, but the tension was undeniable. You hadn't seen him much either, not since you had put the brakes on any chance of a relationship with Wanda. You couldn't help but wonder if he knew about the kiss.

"How's it going?" he asked, leaning against the open garage door. His eyes searched yours, and you knew he wasn't just asking about the car. "You disappeared again."

You took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from your brow with the back of your hand. "Just trying to keep busy," you said, hoping he wouldn't push for more. You didn't know if you were ready to talk about Wanda with him. If he knew.

"I wanted to ask you something, Y/N." He stepped into the garage, his eyes focused on you as you tried to ignore the way your heart was racing. "Is everything okay with Wanda?"

You tensed, gripping the wrench tighter. "What do you mean?" you asked, playing dumb.

Pietro sighed. "Look, I know she's been distant since the night you both hung out. And she won't tell me what happened, but I know something did." His gaze was earnest. "You guys are my best friends. She's my sister. If something is going on, I just want to make sure you're both okay."

You set the wrench down, wiping your hands with a rag. You exhaled, trying to debate within yourself on how to approach this conversation. "I don't know, Piet," you began, turning around so you wouldn't have to face him.

"Don't lie to me," he said firmly. "Wanda's my sister, and she's been moping around here for weeks. If you hurt her, I'm not going to be happy."

"She kissed me, Piet."

The words hung in the air, heavy and filled with emotion. You could feel his eyes on you, waiting for an explanation. You took a deep breath and turned to face him, the garage lights glinting off his concerned gaze.

"And?" he asked, his voice low and measured. "What happened after that?"

"We kissed some more," you began, running your hands through your hair. "But I stopped it. Told her I couldn't be with her, not right now." You felt a lump form in your throat as you talked about it, the memory of her sadness still fresh. Your eyes began to water at the memory of that night. "I'm not ready, Piet. Not after my last relationship, and not after Westview."

His annoyed gaze faltered, taking in your distress over the situation you found yourself in.

"I care about her, Piet. A lot. I can't hurt her. And I know me, I will hurt her. So it's best I stay away. If... if I hurt her..." You stopped to take a deep breath, allowing yourself to try and collect your thoughts. "If I hurt her, I will lose everything. Her, you, and myself."

Pietro studied you, his eyes searching for any signs of deceit. "Why do you think you'll hurt her?" His question was direct, cutting through the silence.

You released a disgruntled breath, some of the tears that had built in your eyes daring to fall to the car below. "Piet, come on," you started. "It's me. I ruin everything."

Pietro stepped closer, his hand reaching out to grab your shoulder. "That's not true," he said firmly. "You've been through a lot, sure. But you're not a monster. You're not going to ruin everything."

You looked up at him, the weight of your fears threatening to crush you. "But what if I do?" you whispered. "What if I hurt her without meaning to? I'll lose my best friend and someone who I can see myself with for a long time. As well as myself."

Pietro's grip on your shoulder tightened slightly. "Y/N, you can't live your life in fear of what might happen. You're not a fortune teller, you don't know the future." He paused, his eyes never leaving yours. "But if you do care about her, and if you think you guys could be something, you owe it to her to at least try. And if it doesn't work out, then you deal with that when you get there. As far as I'm concerned, I'll be mad, but we are best friends, Y/N. As long as you don't do things to intentionally hurt my sister, I won't have to kill you." He finally let a wry smile creep across his features.

You couldn't help but chuckle, the tension in the room dissipating slightly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," you said, taking another deep breath. "But I don't want to hurt her."

Pietro nodded, his expression understanding. "I get it. But sometimes, you need to take a risk for the people you care about. Love, if that's what it evolves into, will hurt." He leaned back against the car, his arms folded over his chest. "Wanda's a tough cookie. She can handle it if you guys talk about it."

You took a step back, wiping the tears away from your eyes with the back of your hand. "Maybe," you murmured, the hope in his voice resonating with you. "But what if I'm just not ready?"

"Then tell her that," Pietro suggested- his hand still on your shoulder. "Wanda's a big girl. She'll understand. But don't push her away because you're afraid of what might happen. That's not fair to her, or to you."

[eueuphoriaz]

So, I discovered this in my phone while I was doing my annual archiving. It was a clip from the After Party last year and this one is between Levi and Hange.

I didnt think much when I first listened to it, or even when I recorded it down. But today, after listening to it again, I realised, there is a very very subtle hint about their relationship.

1) Hange is talking to Levi about his situation, not talking about Levi and his Zeke squad. The 2 of them really have this bubble between them where they just exist with the other.

Just some random moments which reminds us that Levi is always Hange's most attentive listener (Remember when Oluo told Eren to shut up in Season 1?)

2) So Levi then snap Hange out of her rambling because she is empathising the feelings that Levi had to go through...to have no options but to kill his own squad....

"....it's beyond cruel...." 😢

Or maybe Levi woke up because Hange is mumbling and he has to be the listener and be there for her? 🤔

3) Anyway, I loved how Levi tried to get Hange to think logically and not get to stuck with Sannes' words aka her sense of responsibilities. Although he feels the same, he said he try not to think about it. So this tells me that whatever I am going to conclude about Hange later, also applies to him.

Now, does Levi mean that he forgot about the torture bonding time? No, because he said if he could. But I think that he is trying to tell Hange not to think about what is not helpful to her, especially for the present situation.

Just try not to think about it, like I do.

I think that Levi is trying to help Hange to differentiate between duty and responsibility because these 2 are very different to begin with.

When Sannes, or Hange, or even Nick, felt that it is their responsibility to protect the king, save humanity or keep the Wall's secret, they then faced with that role/ turn that Sannes talked about. But Levi has a duty to kill the Beast, to give meaning to the deaths of the Scouts who had been conned to die, stop the Rumbling, fulfil his promise. A task that he just has to complete, and not feel that he is responsible for it in anyway. Which is why I think he tried to tell Hange to lessen the burden of responsibility, and focus on her duty instead.

And we do hear her tell Jean in 127, that she is still the Commander and she has her duty. But of course, she still struggles with the responsibility part, even up until 132.

4) Now, the last part is where I had a new realisation about their whole interaction here. (Of course Levihan lens in on👓)

I think this is where the very conflicting moment shows for both Levi and Hange.

"We chose to be soldiers, and we chose to push on"

Now, suppose they make the other choice, there wont be any need to fill the role that Sannes talk about. And that alternative choice was really, giving up their duty, or not and live out their lives together in the forest.

And like Hange said, both of them had chosen the path to take.

5) Levi then kept quiet while Hange continued about the roles and turns. I feel so sad here as Hange conclude that when their turn comes, they would need to sacrifice things that they hold dear.

Now, just rewind the clip back and you will notice that Hange had always talked about "the 2 of them".

And I feel that this moment, kind of explains why the 2 of them cannot look at the other in the eye after that.

They understood who they had held dear to them, and the other party also knew.

6) So, what else could be "dear" besides Levi? Definitely not her life because Moblit has always scolded her for risking her life.

For Hange to feel the conflict of sacrificing what she held dear, because of her choice, I think Levi must have understood too. Because their parting words...

"You would understand, Levi..."

And Levi's duty to kill the Beast means he had to sacrifice what he held dear to as well.

7) So in a way, Sannes' words was really for both Hange and Levi, although he said it to Hange directly. But the choice they both made, meant that when the time or turn come, there had to be a sacrifice made.

And thats why Hange did not let Levi speak first. She kind of have forced him to make that "sacrifice". And she took responsibility for that choice he made, likely, to lessen his regret.

** ok, I added that last sentence myself because I cant get my Levihan lens out. 😭😭😭😭

[redux-iterum]

With your track record with your ‘favourite chapters’, I am deeply afraid of what trauma is going to occur in chapter 45. Also, here’s that opportunity to rant about the Erins’ crippling allergy to characterisation that you asked for!

Chapter 45's a great time. I promise. For me.

Now! Characters and the Erins.

So the characters in Warriors are extremely inconsistent. I think we can all agree on that. Firestar, for example, goes from murder-happy to altruistic and loving to completely apathetic, sometimes in the span of one book. He's constantly said to be a paragon of goodness and a soft-hearted nice guy, but if you actually read the damn story, you can see he flipflops around as the plot progresses. There's a lot of characters being said to be one thing while they behave entirely differently in the story itself.

The main thing that I believe when it comes to canon is that almost none of the cats having a consistent, present personality is more-or-less on purpose, or at least extremely convenient for the Erins. They focus on the plot first and foremost and shove characters into the slots that need to be filled so that the plot they have in mind can progress or be halted whenever it's most useful for them. Would Leopardstar be stupid enough to let Tigerclaw walk all over her in the first arc? No, but we needed the Clans to be split in two for the future battle at the end of the books. Is ThunderClan truly that eager to listen to a clearly battered, befuddled and bizarre-acting Bramblestar, especially when he starts kicking cats out of the Clan? Not logically in any respect, but how else are we going to facilitate drama and get multiple cats out there to help bolster the numbers of the secret rebellion? So on and so forth.

Is planning a plot first a bad thing? Not necessarily. Anyone with enough skill can create a plot and then create characters to service that plot and its themes.

But the complete lack of personality about 95% of the cast displays is much more harmful to this series than a bad plot (of which there are many). The entire premise is about a community of cats and their interpersonal drama. You can't do that well if your readers can't tell you what kind of personality Snaptooth has, or how Mousefur and Runningwind interact with each other. I've talked before about how even families don't feel like families, to the point of not grieving when their child dies at some times (never forget that Yellowfang's own mother is one of the first to demand her be cast out as if she could believe her own daughter would murder her siblings - likely because the writers forgot they were even related). The most we get for personal relationships is romantic subplots, and because there's no character between the partners, there's no chemistry, and therefore romances are more annoying than interesting. Not having real characters is poisonous to the story.

If I were to alter one thing - a singular aspect - in the books, it would be to give characters actual traits, and have them act consistently with those traits. I genuinely believe that if everyone had a personality they stuck with, we could have much more interesting drama, plots that are much easier to come up with and navigate through the different Clans and their members, and an overall higher-quality series with a fandom that could actually ship characters instead of slapping two designs together and pretending they had any chemistry or even interacted in canon.

As it is, though, I can't even say we're stuck with a bland flavor of cats. We have no flavor at all. No sprinkles, no vanilla, not even really any flour to begin with. We have nothing to work with. And it annoys me greatly.

[spookyghouly]

goodevening ghesties

i luckily tested negative for covid this morning meaning i was FINALLY free from quarantine isolation just in time to go to the ghost concert!! this is my 5th ritual in as many years and it may have been the best (though, you never forget your first 😉). here’s my ghost kia forum night 1 concert breakdown of best moments, in no particular order!

cumulus and aurora ghoulettes twirling each other, blowing kisses to each other, stroking each other’s cheeks. this one was for the dykes <3

popia, drawing out the ending to mary on a cross: “are you guys still saying cross?? I want you to say MARIJUANA!!!!!”

ABSOLUTION F U C K E D LIVE!!!!

Respite ALSO fucked like the BASS IN THE BEGINNING?? I FELT IT IN MY CHEST IN MY LUNGS, I THINK IT MADE MY HEART BEAT DIFFERENTLY. SOUL RESET. I almost cried when copia left the stage thinking about how this is probably my last time seeing him (I completely forgot the encore existed I was too swept up in It All ™ you know?)

Dancing Skeletons. They better release the film because I want to study it to learn their dance.

they had two stages set up, the normal one up front and a mini set up in the back with a grand piano and several chairs. more on that in a sec.

Seestor gave papa a boxing robe and gloves for “fighting” his way back from the small stage to the main stage. the crowd started barking at him to hype him up like he was actually about to enter a boxing ring lmaoo

when he got to the back stage papa said it was so nice to see the people in the back “in the stevie wonder seats” lmaoooo

then he said he wanted to bite us???? and had us all snarl at him like we were biting dogs. deranged behavior. love him.

okay no my true fav moment was the orchestral arrangement of if you have ghosts. it put me in such a throwback to the first ghost ritual I attended in london when he took time to introduce each band member just as ghoul. 5 years later and on another continent, it is an even more beautiful arrangement of the song. The band members were 2 cellists and a grand piano player—I couldn’t tell if the woman to the far right was playing a theremin or vocalizing—if anyone knows can you tell me?

the skeletons picked papa up at the stage right mini stage and had him like crowd surf on top of them all the way back to center stage it was AWESOME?? I hope they got a cool overhead shot of it for the recording.

they definitely knew we were all anxious he was dying tonight and there were many moments where papa faked us out that he was dying. after the first or second song he made a comment like “ah we are quickly approaching the end of this era” and later when he told us to “not be sad it’s almost over, you’ve had a good fucking time and then it must end” I couldn’t help but think he was talking about more than just the concert

on a related note, when the skeletons first came out in twenties they circled papa and I think it was a deliberate fake out/homage to when he ascended in mexico city last year when the nuns circled him.

met many delightful ppl giving away handmade bracelets, stickers, and trinkets, as well as someone who had scooped up a bunch of mummy dust bucks from the confetti gun and was passing them out by the exit 🥰💜 u people made my day

anyway here’s that haul:

this has been the update from new plushia at the forum, goodnight folks!

[wizardpink]

Do you guys want to read my Dr. Bhansali clone research / Tale of the Body Thief / Devil's Minion adaptation-in-a-future-season headcanon?

Armand takes Daniel's DNA to Dr. Bhansali in the mid to late 80s and after much trial and error, he is able to successfully create a viable cloned fetus in the early to mid 90s. Kept comatose in a Mewtwo style bacta tank for thirty years, the clone waits while Bhansali and other scientists Armand bankrolls study brain transplants and the transfer of human consciousness.

None of their experiments produce fruitful results, but they're proven unnecessary in the end when Raglan James, who through the Talamasca's eyes on Daniel learned of his Parkinson's diagnosis, approaches Armand prior to the interview with an offer to use his psychic body swapping powers to put Daniel's consciousness into a new body. His price is extremely high, and Armand declines, though it's less about money and more about not wanting Daniel in a different body. He likes Daniel's body. And he still has the option of making Daniel a vampire and curing his sickness.

The thing is, that doesn't go so well. At first most of Daniel's symptoms disappear and he feels great. But then new problems arise. He can't drink blood without vomiting most of it shortly after. He doesn't need to breathe, but his lungs occassionally gasp and spasm for air like he is drowning. Sometimes it seems he has heartattacks but just can't die afterward.

Before Armand can even reach back out, Raglan is back again. The price has doubled now and once Daniel is told about the clone option ("normally I'd be inclined to tell you how fucking creepy and demented that is, but seeing as this is saving my ass right now, I'll restrain myself..."), Raglan has another stipulation: he wants to keep Daniel's old vampire body when they're done.

Armand believes it's because he wants to turn someone else and steal their body after, but Daniel sees through him. "If you just wanted to make a vampire to inhabit, you wouldn't use my shitty body to do it. You'd blackmail Armand into doing it. You don't need to be me to turn someone for you, you need to be me to get close to someone I have access to."

Raglan is impressed but not surprised Daniel has sussed him out. "You're right, as usual. I'm not looking to be just any vampire. I want to be THE vampire." He holds up his phone to display a paparazzi style video of Lestat leaving one of his concerts, his body guards fighting through a sea of screaming fans. "You're going to help me become The Vampire Lestat."

At this point Daniel has spent a decent chunk of time with Lestat working on the documentary, absorbing his condescention plus his verbal and sometimes physical abuse, and he and Armand exchange a look before they, with no deliberation, tell Raglan, "Deal."

Raglan bodyswaps with the Daniel clone first, leaving his own body unconscious, soulless. He then swaps with actual Daniel, putting Daniel back into nearly the same body he had 40 years ago. Raglan, in Daniel's old vampiric body, flashes them both a grin and a characteristically Daniel double middle-finger salute and leaves immediately.

Armand cautiously approaches Daniel. The urgency of his health situation means a lot of difficult and necessary conversations between them were put on the backburner. Daniel must have a myriad of questions and things to confront him with. Where to begin?

"Well?" Armand asks. "Is it to your liking?"

"You didn't circumcise me."

"...What?"

"You didn't circumcise me. I was circumcised. This dick-- my dick--"

"Is that your only complaint?"

"What, like you forgot, or do you prefer it uncut and asked Dr. Frankenstein over here to leave it intact?"

"I did no such thing!"

Dr. Bhansali clears his throat. "I can confirm, the matter was never discussed."

Daniel's eyes have yet to come up from the white hospital sheet over his lap. "For the record, next time? Discuss it."

[emberunderscore]

ranting about chapter titles of my prison duo fic for 1000+ words

so all of the titles of my prison duo fic (the sun and the night sky) are names of flowers. i had the fun idea and then i couldn't stop because i started a pattern and i refused to break the pattern unless it was important story wise (i'll get to that)

so here's a master list of all the first 10 chapters, their titles, what the flowers mean and why i chose them!

spoiler warning - go read my fic if you haven't already! (and if you don't want to but still wanna read this tw: talking about eating disorders)

Daffodils > Daffodils - new beginnings and rebirth In this chapter Icarus is handing over the title of Quixis to hc!Sherbert, they get to go home but they've changed so much they're practically a different person. not only did their eye change back, making them whole again, they've seen so much happen across the multiverse, watched other versions make mistakes and just watched them all live. they've learned from their lives. going home after about 200-250 years will be like being reborn for them, its a new beginning. especially because no one remembers them, not even the world itself, not even the records.

Forget-me-nots and Yellow Roses > Forget me nots - rememberance, and a symbol of memory loss/dementia Icarus meets with people they've known, Rae, Violet (also Isla, but they dont remember her, they didn't get their memories of the resets fully back). No one remembers them, Rae thought they died as a child. Near the end of the chapter Caspian gets home, he knows Icarus, and he reveals he never forgot them. He restores the memories of Rae and Violet, hence rememberance. They're getting remembered. > Yellow Roses - happiness, friendship, a way of saying "you make me happy" Icarus and Violet are friends in this universe, both of them have wanted it to be more for so long but they've both been too scared to lose the other to say anything. So they are really close friends, and Icarus is just so happy Centross remembers them that they don't mind that they're just friends, they can't bring themself to want them to be more when there was even a moment where they thought they'd never get what they had before back because even if they were to start again, they'd never be as close as they were. They both went through so much and they went through a lot of it together. They were both so shitty to each other but they stayed close despite it, they forgave each other despite it. So Icarus is happy with friendship, and Centross does make them happy.

Bluebells and Lavender > Bluebells - constancy, gratitude, everlasting love Centross is their constant, he's been there all three resets that they remember. He's always been there, and as Sherb (the actual real one) has mentioned before that Icarus' whole emotional state is tied to him. When they're fighting, they're spiraling, when they're happy they're happy, when (they think) he's dead they're deteriotation, and doing everything to bring him back. They're so grateful that they have him, and he's their rock. And of course they have always loved him, and him them. Everlasting love is so self explanatory they're GAY and LOVE EACH OTHER forever and ever > Lavender - silence, devotion, calmness and serenity Icarus says to much about Quixis stuff and shuts down, they go silent. Centross is devoted to helping them calm down and get somewhere safe, "One thing he knew was he was not leaving their side until they were sober" look how devoted he is look at him, he cares so much!!!! Centross helps them calm down, and get calm enough to fall asleep, they feel safe and calm around him.

Yellow Roses and Lily of the Valley > Yellow Roses - cowardice, sickness and mental illness These have appeared already, but they also have negative meanings, the repeated use of them now in their negative symbolism shows a shift in the tone of the story. This is the chapter they have breakfast with Ghaae+ household, they are unable to eat the food and dissociate during the meal, they end up leaving early, blaming it on a hangover - this part shows the cowardice, running away from their problem and hiding/running away. And the sickness and mental illness serve as a way to show that this is the beginnings of an eating disorder showing. > Lily of the Valley - sadness, pain, loss and death (+ poisonous) This shows the negatives of the breakfast, paired with the yellow roses the title of the chapter shows how Icarus' developing mental illness is already poisoning parts of their life. (thanking Vex for finding these flowers they're so good and they work so well and i struggled so hard with finding flowers with bad meanings <3)

Cornflowers and White Anemone > Cornflowers - symbol of hope, c!Ocie's favourite Yeah i just picked cornflowers cause i think they're c!Ocies fav and if im wrong its because i associate them with her or smth. Also symbol of hope!! its important because- > White Anemone - expectations, anticipation and undying love Violet wants to ask Ocie if he can date Ic but he wants to give her time to process the memories first (bc she hated them for a while there), he'll still love her and he'll always love them. While he's not with them he's anxious to get back to them, to make sure they're ok. Back with Icarus there are some unspoken expectations for them to eat, something they aren't able to do, specifically there's the scene Violet sits on the floor and tried to get them eat some bread, they end up dropping it on the floor so its inedible. Anticipation also works as this chapter is left on a cliffhanger, Centross asks Icarus if they're doing okay.

Orange Lillies > Orange Lillies - hatred, pride, disdain and contempt (+ they only live for a few weeks) Hatred, disdain and contempt are all emotions Icarus directs towards themself and their own body. They look at themself for the first time and see how underweight they are, they hate how they look and they hate themself. The pride symbolizm is irony, they should be feeling proud after managing to eat but they don't, it's a taunting meaning.

A Single Daffodil... > Singular Daffodil - misfortune A daffodil on its own represents differently than multiple, you might notice that all of the chapter titles are pluralises, including the use of Daffodils in the first one. In this chapter Icarus throws up for the the first time in the fic and they also faint in the second section. Which leads to Centross finding about their difficulties eating (neither of them know that it's an eating disorder, so they never use those words for it). It has the elipses at the end to show its split into two chapters.

...and Purple Hyacinth > Purple Hyacinth - Sorrow and a desire for forgivness All of the two days this chapter follows are not super happy for the both of them, near the end Icarus claims they've finished their house and that they plan to stay there. This leads Centross to go on a small tangent about how they didn't make a farm and they don't have any food, he tells them that they could die (pretty sorrowful if you ask me). Icarus feels the need to apologise for making him look after them.

Dandelions? > Dandelions - Hope, healing and resilience Icarus is doing a lot better in this chapter, they've made a lot of improvement really quickly and Centross is really proud of them for it, he has hope that they'll continue to improve. > ? This chapter is from Violet's point of view. The question mark is put there to tell the reader that something is wrong, that things are not as they seem. The reader not being able to see Icarus' thought or view of anything is intentional as they are in fact not doing okay. They are not getting better, they're trying to pretend to be better. For Centross. To make him trust them and make him happy.

Colorblind Not a flower. Remember when I said I didn't want to break the pattern of flower chapter titles unless it was important story wise? Yeah. This is where its important Icarus succesfully fooled Centross into thinking they were okay, and he lets them be alone that night. They know they're not okay but they don't want to get better at this point. This is their rock bottom. They punch the mirror in their bathroom out of disgust of their body and face, they faint from the motion, falling into the mirror and onto a pile of broken glass. They are left bleeding out on the floor of their bathroom, behind a locked door.

The title of this chapter comes from a song i listened to on loop to write most of the Icarus chapters, though it is available on spotify one of the creators is not a good guy and i don't want him to get money from it. The song is Empty by Jaiden Animations (wonderful and perfect) and Boyinaband <- hes the icky one, there are re-uploads of the song on youtube. it is a really good song (and the music video is cool)

Empty is a song about Jaiden's personal experience with an eating disorder, so it's very fitting. The title comes from the line "I know it's wrong but just because you know you're colorblind doesn't mean you can see the colors" The whole bit with them looking in the mirror is inspired by the line "I'm looking but I can't see myself" They look into their mirror but they don't see their own face, only Fables, and every other version of themself.

Colorblind also works really well against the flower chapters, because flowers are colourful, so colorblind means they can't see the colours of the flowers, and the colours are very important when it comes to symbolizm, they can't see them. It means that they look back on the week since they've got back and they can't see it for what it is. They actually can't remember most of it, i don't think this would ever come up in the fic outright but Icarus doesn't remember most of their days, all of them sort of blur together and they can't rememeber what thing happened on what day. This is a result of both their disocation and lack of eating leaving them disorented.

[ornii]

Bitterly Beautiful, Part 2

Chapter 2: There is no “Eye” in Team.

"How could you miss a dead body?"

Wednesday, the Sherrif and Principal Weems walk though the school to her office.

"'Cause it wasn't there. No footprints, no blood, no sign of a struggle. Nothing, nada. My search party looked all night." The Sheriff kept his composure, as annoyed and upset he is.

"Well, your search party must have left their seeing-eye dogs at home. I saw that monster kill Rowan right in front of me." Wednesday claims.

"Get a good look at this monster thing?"

"It didn't stick around for a chat."

"Maybe it was one of your classmates." The Sherrif said accusingly, which Principal Weems interfered in.

"Sheriff, I find that question offensive."

"I don't care, 'cause I got three other dead bodies in the morgue. Hikers just ripped apart in the woods."

"The mayor said those were bear attacks." Weems furrows her brow at the Sheriff who is unfazed by her upset nature.

"Well, the mayor and I disagree on that."

"So you automatically assume a Nevermore student is the murderer, even though there's no evidence a crime was even committed."

"I'm sorry. I forgot, you only teach the good outcasts here, right?" The Sheriff scowls at Weems, they enter her office finally and The Sherrif sits across from Weems and her desk, which she promptly sits at as well.

"My guess is Rowan ran away. State troopers have put out an alert, and I've contacted his family, but they haven't heard from him either." Weems explains.

"Dead people are notoriously bad at returning calls." Wednesday's prompt but cold demeanor stood firm in her belief.

"What were you doing out in the woods with him, Ms. Addams?" The Sheriff asked, "I heard a noise in the forest and went to go investigate. That's when I stumbled upon the attack."

"Then what happened?"

"Then I ran into Bianca Barclay, and I told her to go for help. Next thing I remember, I was awaking in my dorm."

"And just to be clear, this monster wasn't a bear or some other wild animal?"

"I've hibernated with grizzlies. I know the difference." Wednesda replies, and Weems gets noticeably, uncouth as she tries to lee up appearances.

"Thank you, Sheriff. I think Miss Addams is done now—"

"Actually, I would like to speak to Sheriff Galpin. Alone." Wednesday said, and there was an unnerving aura around it.

"I'm not sure I can allow that." Weems begins but the Sheriff, catching onto what Wednesday is doing, adds in.

"I'm sure I could take her to the station and get a formal statement. Yeah, let's go." He begins but weems quickly stops.

"Fine. You have five minutes, and everything is off the record. Play nice... or I will call the mayor" Weems leaves them to their lonesome to discuss.

"Someone is trying to cover up Rowan's murder. That's the only reason to scrub the crime scene."

"Is that your professional opinion as the daughter of a murderer?"

"My father's twice the man you are, and the only thing he murders is the occasional opera in the shower."

"It's been a long night. I'm tired of your games. I'm not playing games."

"I'm telling the truth. You want to reject my claims but you can't. Why is that? Because you and I both know there's a monster out there. And Rowan is his latest victim." Wednesday said, her cold dark eyes staring into the eyes of the Sheriff. Suddenly, the deputy of the Sherrif steps into the office, a heavyset woman with a chocolate dark skin tone.

"Sheriff?"

"What?"

"You're gonna want to see this." she says; and seemingly from the land of the Dead, Rowan appeared. Leaving even Wednesday herself puzzled and confused.

"Edgar Allan Poe said, "Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Clearly Nevermore's most famous alumni picked that up here. No wonder he became a drսg madman."

"Help me understand why you claim you witnessed a murder. Was it to gain attention?"

Kinbott, Wednesdays scheduled therapist sits across from the child of the Addams, a bit perplexed by her oddity.

"Why should I bother telling you anything? You've already decided I'm lying. I know what I saw."

"Your life's had a lot of upheaval recently. It's okay to be confused about things."

"Don't try and lure me into one of your psychological traps."

"No one is trying to trap you. I'm here to help you process your emotions. Emotions are a gateway trait. They lead to feelings, which trigger tears." Kimbott attempts to try to slightly pry open the iron vice of Wednesday's feelings, but they were rusted; snapped shut and cold.

"I don't do tears."

"Tell me how you're adjusting to school."

"Sartre said, "Hell is other people." He was my first crush."

"Wednesday, Part of the reason your parents sent you to Nevermore is so you could find your people. Become part of a larger community."

"I like being an island. A well-fortified one surrounded by sharks."

"Have you considered your antisocial tendencies might be motivated by fear of rejection?" She asks.

"If you were to reject me, I would not be upset." Wednesday said. And Kinbott thought for a moment.

"Ah, so there's no one at the school you'd hate to be rejected by?" She asks, and just for a moment there was a hint of hesitation by Wednesday.

"None at all." She replies, deadpanned.

"Well...You can't get rid of me that easily. And look, you made it through an entire session without trying to escape. I'll take that as a win." Kinbott replies, and Wednesday notices that she has been here her entire session, she leaves after her realization and heads back to Nevermore, She returns back to to see her "Friend." Enid and classmates working on board.

"Ladies, come on! Let's work on those teeth. More scowl. This kitty is taking no prisoners. If Bianca Barclay wins again this year, I will literally scratch my own eyes out!"

"I would pay money to see that." Wednesday said, Enid turns around all cheerful and ready to hug.

"Howdy, roomie! I'm so glad you decided to stay."

"I thought you wanted your single room back.”

“Full disclose, I hate going solo, and thing gives a killer neck massage, so I say it’s a win win, why did you stay?” Enid said, and Wednesday calmly looks off to the distance.

"I refuse to play the role of a pawn in someone else's corrupt game."

"You mean Rowan?"

"I witnessed his murder, Enid." Wednesday claims.

"It's just, we all saw him this morning. Very much, like, not dead."

"I know. Which leads me to believe I've been losing my mind. It's not nearly as fun as I had anticipated. You're Nevermore's gossip queen. What's Rowan's story?" Wednesday asks, and Enid thinks.

"Other than being a weird loner... Uh... No offense. None taken. Xavier Thorpe's his roommate, but due to "Safety Concerns", (Y/n) had to move in, If you had a cell phone, you could just text him and ask him. Yoko. Come on! Flare those whiskers! The Poe Cup droops for no one."

"What is the Poe Cup anyway?"

"My entire reason for living right now. Part canoe race, part foot chase, no rules. Each dorm has to pick an Edgar Allan Poe short story for inspiration. You could grab a brush. Ms. Thornhill's just ordered pizza. Want to take a stab at being social?" Enid asks, trying to invite Wednesday over.

"..I do like stabbing. The social part, not so much. Besides, it'll cut into my writing time."

“No worries. Just as long as you're lakeside cheering us to victory on race day…Or you can just glare uncomfortably. Whatever works for you.” Enid said trying to as supportive as usual, Wednesday takes this free time to head to Principal Weems, ready for another interrogation.

"I need to speak with Rowan. I can't find him."

"It won't be possible, I'm afraid. He's been expelled."

"For what?"

"Never you mind. He'll be on the first train out this afternoon. What were you doing out in the woods with him?"

"I told you already. I heard a noise, and I went to investigate." Wednesday said feigning innocence.

"That excuse might have placated the sheriff, but you can't fool me. You had a psychic vision, didn't you? I realized you might be having them when we passed by the accident and you knew that poor farmer had broken his neck. Your mother started having visions around your age. They were notoriously unreliable and dangerous. I remember at first, she thought she might be losing her mind. Have you spoken to her about them? Clearly the person withholding information here is you." Weems said, putting Miss Addams in a verbal checkmate.

"May I go now?"

"Not until you've picked your extracurricular activity. We want our students to be well-rounded."

"I'd prefer to remain sharp-edged." Wednesday stabs back.

"I took the liberty of putting together a list of clubs that have openings." Weems shows a list of classes, one specifically "Archery - (Y/n) Healy"

"How thoughtful." Wednesday replies.

"You need to have picked one by the end of the day. I'll be keeping my eye on you. No doubt you'll find something that tickles your fancy."

"The last person who tickled me lost a finger." Wednesday kept her scowl and left. Her first destination was Chior lead by the Queen Bee, and she hears them harmonizing. They stop at the arrival of Wednesday.

"Weems said you'd be stopping by. But to be honest, after your performance at the Harvest Festival, drama club might be more your speed." Bianca said, smirking so coyly,

"After I passed out, who did you tell? The sheriff?"

"You think I'd trust normie cops? I went straight to Weems and let her handle it. Anyway, let's get this audition over with. What are you? Alto, soprano or just loco?" she asks obviously as a dig, a few laugh and Wednesday opens her mouth. There was oddly no sound. Well no sound a human could hear, but ones glasses cracked.

"What was that?" Bianca asked,

"A note only dogs can hear." she replies, and Walks off, leaving them a bit perplexed.

Wednesday's next and most important Task was Archery, she approached the Range as (Y/n) stood there, with a basket of apples which were signed and picked by Enid, he drew the Bow and notched an arrow from his Quiver and aimed. As if he was waiting for something. Let's the arrow loose and it hits nearly dead on. He turns to face Wednesday, hearing her approach.

"If it isn't Wednesday Addams, so you're joining the League of Handsome and or Beautiful rouges? I shall be your teacher." He says, and she looks around.

"You're the only one?" She asks.

"Unfortunately Yes, The Team disbanded before you arrived, Me, Xavier, Jenna, Emma, and Hunter." He said, he aims another arrow.

"I'm curious, What made your Band of Merry Outcasts fall apart? Xavier?" She asks and he lets another arrow loose, abruptly and misses. For a moment she sees a scowl and he quickly masks his emotions with a fake smile.

"Ever shot a bow and arrow before?" Hd asks, "Only on live targets." She replies and he scoffs. He begins his instruction.

"From you? I can believe it, alright first things first, wide stance for your legs, good balance stance." He says, he notches the arrow to the string. "notch the Arrow, take aim, don't shoot immediately, calm yourself." He says, "But in my case..." he whistled loudly, and he lets loose another arrow hitting inches away from the bullseye. Fairly proud of himself, he turns to her direction.

"Any questions?" He asks, "I know the blind part is confusing—"

"When's the last time you saw your Rowan?"

(Y/n) frowns a bit hearing that.

"Well I wouldn’t say “Saw”, You mean the one that was "killed" by a monster?" He said sarcastically.

"You were there."

"Yeah, and I talked to Rowan this morning... either i sensed a body that was similar, or he's a Zombie, and since he isn't smelling like rotting flesh, I'm gonna say we just got it wrong." (Y/n) says, he thinks for a moment.

"But..He did seem.. off."

"Off How?" Wednesday asked.

"Rowan was a bit of a loner but he and I got along as, Well as well as most students. We said hello to each other at least but this time he was just, much more nervous that before to even speak to me." He said, he shakes his head... “So, my turn..So what's the deal with you and Tyler?" He asks, Wednesdays attitude shifts from the question as (Y/n) now pesters her.

"I answered your questions, only fair you answer mine." He says.

"He was doing me a favor driving me out of town." Wednesday replied a bit defensive.

"I have advice for you, Steer clear of Tyler." He said.

"Why? Because he's a normie?"

"That, and his Dad seemingly has the biggest hate boner for your family,." (Y/n) says, he reaches to a small basket to eat an apple. Wednesday takes it and the bow and arrow, she tosses the apple, aims and fires, hitting the apple and a bullseye. (Y/n) was a bit flabbergasted, he could feel it land dead on.

"That is... impressive."

"I'm not here to impress." She says and begins to walk off, (Y/n) walks after her, as he quickly grabs his cane.

"Wednesday.. Wednesday!" He says and she stops for a moment.

"I'm busy, I have to go to deal with the trials of Hell Weems is putting me though." She begins to walk again and he stops.

"Well. That's unfortunate since I have a good way to keep you under the radar." He says and she stops walking, "A Way to keep Weems off your hide and gives you time to, do whatever you plan to do." He says, she turns around and walks over to him so calmly, she steps a foot away, while (Y/n) couldn't see, his senses were heightened so well, almost like a sonar the sound waves bounce and dance around him like waves crashing, forming almost perfect shapes and forms; He has never been this close to Wednesday to allow him to get such a detailed idea of her, and for a moment he was taken aback by just how beautiful she is. Her face was in a permanent form of unamused glare. And she couldn’t be any more drop dead beautiful.

".. Stunning." He said, just Gazing at her face. "What Plan do you have?" She asks snapping him out of it, he catches himself before acting more suave.

"Of course, well you see most Clubs are in the schools grounds, but there's one that's into the greenery. A perfect place to hide out." He said, which slowly begins to build the interest of Wednesday.

"...Show Me."

(Y/n) and Wednesday walk though a small forest to a beautiful clearing, and noticing a flat there. It was a small white building with not much accommodation. (Y/n) leans over to slightly whisper to Wednesday.

"Word of Advice Miss Addams, Eugene is a bit.. unique, even for Nevermore standards." He said, Wednesday turns her head to him. "Just try not to Gut him or anything." He says asking.

"I will make no such promises."

"I guess that's the best I'll get." He said and taps on the door. He steps back and it opens to a short, slightly pudgy boy with a pair of glasses.

"(Y/n)!” He says with whimsical cheer.

“It’s good to see you too, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. Wednesday. Wednesday Addams.” He says introducing the two. “Am I late or is it only you?” She asks and Eugene sadly nods.

"The hive life isn't for everyone." Eugene said and a sly (Y/n) smiles.

"Told you, it's perfect for you." (Y/n) said to Wednesday.

"Most kids are afraid of venomous insects. Are you willing to feel the sting?" Eugene asked, and a very small smile creeps along the face of Wednesday, even (Y/n) was a tiny bit worried for the Health of Nevermore if Wednesday could get an army of bees.

"You'll have to change into a Beekeeper uniform, there's plenty to choose from!" He says, Wednesday, now a bit annoyed since she can't allow them to touch her skin, heads inside to change.

"Well I suppose my work here is done. Eugene, make sure you keep an eye out for her." He says, and Eugene salutes.

"Hey, anything for a fellow friend!" He says and (Y/n) kindly bows and leaves, Planning what's next in his mind, Wednesdays exits the Room now in her own, off putting Bee Keeper costume.

"Bees have been producing honey in the same way for 150 million years. They're nature's perfect community. All working together to achieve a common goal. Fun fact, it's also one of the few ecosystems in which females dominate. From the queen bee to her workers. There's no patriarchy in the hive!" he says explaining to her, but Wednesday is, less than enthusiastic about the honey and more about the Stinging. (Y/n) walks off and a crow lands on his shoulder.

"Any word about the Sheriff?" He asks and it makes a few caws and pecks its side to scratch an itch.

"Hmm... I See. Thank you, you may go now." He says and the bird flies off, he trudged off into the woods as well, walking so cautiously, until footsteps catch him. He jerks his head left to sense the pattering of paws, hound paws, he kneels down quickly and puts his hand on the tree he's hiding behind. Small, tiny vibrations in the earth from their footsteps, they give small indications of their location and possibly who they are.

"There you are, Sheriff." He says and slowly begins to follow, he keeps a fair distance to avoid any scent being picked up by the hound. His solemn footsteps crunch twigs and leaves, but are much lighter in sound. Creeping closer; he stops and feels another tree, using its roots to enhance his hearing. He picks up the same footsteps, but another one, lighter on their feet. Not as Heavy. And he suspects his new "friend." Sneaking around he picks up on movement, and heads that way, it was Wednesday. Seems she was also following the Sheriff but was creeping too close, before the hound could pick up, Wednesday is snatched behind a tree, she tenses up, a hand covering her mouth and slightly around her stomach. As the Sheriff passes, they let her go, she quickly gets away and turns around to (Y/n).

"I didn't want the Dog to pick up on your scent. If he finds us here, well it won't be good." He says.

"Thanks." Wednesday said, as much as she detests being grabbed and held, she detested (Y/n) doing it, a bit less. "How'd you throw them off?"

"Crow feathers, rubbing them on me... don't look at me like that. It works okay?" He says a bit annoyed.

"I assume he didn't bring the bloodhound to play fetch." Wednesday said.

"No, I assume he's checking the leads as well... But I want to ask you. And be honest, what happened At the festival?" (Y/n) asked, looking obviously concerned.

"I thought Rowan was in danger. Turns out I was wrong. Then he proceeded to use his telekinesis to try and choke me to death. That's when this monster came out of the shadows and gutted him." Wednesday explains, much to (Y/n)'a shock.

"Rowan? Tried to Kill you? It wasn't the monster that tried to kill you?"

"It actually saved me from Rowan. That's the part I'm trying to figure out. I came here to find something that can prove he was murdered and that I haven't lost my mind. Yet." Wednesday said, (Y/n) looks more serious now.

"Rowans never used this powers on others as far as I know, what would drive him to go after you of all people?" He asks, thinking. Wednesday peers past him and into the ground and looks at something. (Y/n) walks over and kneels down to see Wednesday picking something up.

"Those are Rowan's glasses." (Y/n) says, Suddenly, Wednesday's head jerks up, stiffening like a corpse. She was stunned, not moving. He looks over, growing much more concerned.

"Wednesday? Wednesday?!" He yells, he grabs her, checking her for some wounds or cuts. She snaps out of it, and looks at him, she sees the concern in his face.

"You okay?" He said, shaking her. Wednesday snaps out of it, she looks a bit out of it before realizing that, she's being held, she sees (Y/n), worried about her and her off spasm. She quickly puts her walls back up and glares at him.

"Let. Go. Of. Me." She said with the most scathing whisper, and he does.

"I was just making sure you were okay." He said, and Wednesday and (Y/n) stand up.

"There's some place I want to go to." She said, and Wednesday and (Y/n) continue their investigation inside the library. Thing is searching the bookshelf for Wednesday as (Y/n)

"The cover was darker. More like a day-old contusion. Keep looking." Wednesday said, (Y/n) walked up next to her.

"So, what is it that you're looking for specifically?" He said.

"A book Rowan had, it has some importance and I just need to figure out what." She explains, (Y/n) folds his arms.

"Rowan, and books? A match made In heaven, he was a book worm. It might have still been in his room with Xander we can—" he begins but they hear footsteps, the two quickly get Thing out of the way and (Y/n) and Wednesday were just standing there. Thornhill looks at the Blooming Dark flowers and smiles.

"I don't usually find students in here looking for actual books. Most sneak in to make out." She says, (Y/n) and Wednesday take a step further apart.

"That is not what's going on." He said.

"I'd rather take a nap in a swamp of famished alligators." She says, he looks at her.

"Okay that was Just mean." He said.

"I accidentally walked in on two vampires fanging. I can't unsee that." Wednesday claimed.

"That just sounds like Jealousy." (Y/n) replies, Wednesday turns her head menacingly towards him, a tiny smirk creeps along his face.

"Is there something I can help you two find?" Thornhill asks the Teenagers. Wednesday approaches with a ripped out page, "Have you seen this before?" She says showing her. "It's a watermark from a book I'm looking for."

"I think it's the symbol to an old student society. Um... The Nightshades."

"Like the deadly flower." Wednesday says, "Color me intrigued." (Y/n) approaches, and thinks.

"I was told they disbanded years ago." Thornhill said, which (Y/n) pesters her for information.

"Any idea why?" (Y/n) asks piping up.

"Sorry. I was very impressed with your answers in class today."

"My mother is a carnivorous plant aficionado. I assume I get my red thumb from her."

"Are you and your mother close?" Thornhill asks. There's a hint of hesitation within her voice.

"Like two inmates sentenced to life on the same cell block."

"I know it can't be easy... showing up mid-semester. I've been here a year and a half, and I still feel like an outsider."

"Because you're the only normie on the staff? (Y/n) told me." She says. "Not all normies are bad, You're pretty Great Mrs Thornhill." He Said trying to cheer her up, she just gives a smile in return.

"To tell you the truth, I've never really fit in anywhere. Too odd for the normies, not odd enough for the outcasts. I thought Nevermore would be different, but there's still a handful of teachers who will barely acknowledge me." She says,

"I act as if I don't care if people dislike me. Deep down... I secretly enjoy it." Wednesday said, and Thornhill laughed, she, actually laughed at that.

"Never lose that, Wednesday."

"Lose what?" The ability to not let others define you. It's a gift. The most interesting plants grow in the shade. And if you ever need anyone to talk to, the door to the conservatory is always open. That goes to you too Mister Healy." She says before leaving.

".. you know, she kinda reminds me of you." He says, watching Thornhill leave.

Night creeps along the horizon of the Earth and Nevermore is put into another darkness, (Y/n) was sitting in his new dorm room, cleaning his cane using black wood polish at his desk, the door opens to Xavier.

"Yo." He says, and (Y/n) looks up, hearing his voice.

"Sup Xavier."

"Taking a shower, Uh..let me know if you need anything." He says.

"Thanks." (Y/n) replies sharply before Xavier enters the shower, (Y/n) waits to hear it running before he walks over to the closet and knocks on it in a sophisticated series of taps. He steps back and Wednesday exits it with thing in tow.

"Well, that's not weird, anyway he should be busy I might have fiddled with the handles, let's get looking." He said.

"That purple book has got to be around here somewhere. Start investigating." She says to thing and the two begin to search, (Y/n) checking the walls and drawers for anything, Wednesday for the things that require a, "Cautious eye." She turns the lights off, which doesn't hinder (Y/n)'s search, using a Blacklight, she checks the floorboards and opens one up, (Y/n) turns to the sound and lifts the bed for her, she looks up at him and he smiles. She pries open the floor board and picks something up. It wasn't a book but, a mask.

"Huh... isn't that odd." He says; they hear the water stop and Xavier exits the shower, he looks over to (Y/n) standing there with his arms crossed. Wednesday is behind him, trying to stand as still as possible.

"You okay?" Xavier asks, and (Y/n) nods.

"Yeah, just... hanging out." He said, before Xavier can ask, there is a knock at the door.

"You want to get that?" (Y/n) asks, Xavier shrugs and heads to the door, (Y/n) turns and motions Wednesday who quickly hides under his Bed, the door opens to Bianca. (Y/n) smirks, sending the body figure and the siren like humming from her.

"Oh, I didnt know we could have "Friends" over." He said smirking, much to the annoyance of the two.

"Don't worry Queen Bee, I'll let you two go at it." He says and leaves, he exits to give them some space.

"You're not supposed to be up here." Xavier said.

"Good to see you too." Bianca said obviously a bit offended.

"How'd you get past the Housemaster? Use your siren powers?"

"Not while wearing this." Bianca shows the charm necklace. "Would it kill you to not think the worst of me for once?"

"What do you want, Bianca?"

"To see how you're doing. I'm sorry about Rowan. I know you guys used to be close."

"Since when did you give a damn about Rowan?"

"You were the one afraid he'd do something to Wednesday. Isn't that why you've been following her like an eager-eyed puppy? Or is there something more? Seriously, what do you see in her? You have a thing for a tragic goth girls with funeral-parlor fashion sense?"

"Maybe it's because she hasn't tried to manipulate me."

"I make one mistake, and you can't forgive me. She treats you like crap, you can't get enough. Why are you fixated on Wednesday? Because she thinks she's better than everyone else. I can't wait to crush Ophelia Hall tomorrow and watch her werewolf roommate crumble. It's gonna be a Poe Cup finale to remember."

"I hate to think what you've got planned."

"My game's already started. I like to win. Is that so wrong?"

"And you wonder why I broke up with you."

"You used to love my killer instinct. We were good together, Xavier." She said, reminiscing.

"Were we? Is that just how you wanted me to feel?" Xavier's tone was full of distrust, and anger.

"Trust me, Wednesday Addams is not the girl of your dreams. She's the stuff of your nightmares." Bianca says, and Leaves.

(Y/n) waits outside, Bianca leaves and minutes pass and Wednesday exits as well.

"Found what you need?" He asks, and Wednesday looks over him up and down.

"Yes. Follow me." She said, and like a loyal dog, he follows. They creep into her dorm room to Enid, crying on the bed. (Y/n)'s attitude immediately softens.

"Enid, Enid what's wrong?" He asks, she turns to notice the two entering through the window together.

"I'm literally having a heart attack right now. Yoko's in the infirmary!" She said Panicked though tears and (Y/n) comforts her with a hug.

“Shhh Shhh, What happened?”

"Garlic bread incident at dinner. She had a major allergic reaction. She's out of the Poe Cup. I don't have a co-pilot." She said sadly; and (Y/n) gives her a pat on the head to comfort her.

"It's gonna be okay." He said, she tightened her grip around him and her claws began to come out, stabbing him in the side.

"Ow. ow, Enid, ENID!" He says and she quickly lets go, wiping her tears.

"Sorry! Sorry.." She Said sadly. He waves it off.

"It's okay."

"It wasn't an accident. Bianca's behind it." Wednesday said, which catches the interest of (Y/n) and Enid.

"How do you know?" Enid asks.

"Doesn't matter. We are going to take her down tomorrow."

"Wait. You're joining the Black Cats? You're willing to do that? For me?" Enid said, and Wednesday looks at (Y/n), he motions her to be nice and Wednesday replies coldly.

"I want to humiliate Bianca so badly that the bitter taste of defeat burns in her throat."

"Yeah, but mostly you're doing it because we're friends, right?" Enid asks, and (Y/n) puts his hand on Enid shoulder.

"Yes, because we're friends, and I'm going to make sure Bianca will never mess with Enid Sinclair or anyone like this again." He says, his dark aura radiating.

"Tell me how she keeps winning." Wednesday said.

"It's a real brain cramp. The past two years, no other boat has made it across and back without sinking."

"Sounds like sabotage." Wednesday said, "There are no rules in the Poe Cup, and she is a siren, which makes her master of the water." Enid admits, and (Y/n) snaps his fingers, a crow comes flying from the open window and lands on his arm.

“I’ve learned a few Hexes and curses from my family, and I know just the one.” He says, “The answer is simple, we just need to beat her at her own game." (Y/n) said. His smile grows more and more like a Cheshire Cat. The Next day, Wednesday walks past Bianca to (Y/n) and Enid awaiting.

"We're all set." Enid says.

"Good. Thing's in position." Wednesday Leers at Bianca.

"Wanna tell me what you two were up to?" Enid says to (Y/n) and Wednesday.

"And spoil the surprise?" (Y/n) smirks, he turned towards them.

"Trust me, a few modifications to the boat and a few crows watching, we have everything.

"Speaking of surprises, your costume's in the tent." Enid said to Wednesday, which confuses her.

"Costume?"

Wednesday exits the tent in the cat costume, black and, tight fitting with even the ears to compliment. Enid comes up behind her as Wednesday is absolutely fuming at this.

"OMG, you look purr-fect! Only thing, where are your whiskers?" Enid asks in her own costume

"Ask again, and you'll be down to eight lives." Wednesdays scowled back, (Y/n) approached.

"Alright, I've got everything ready, where's Wednesday?" He asks.

"She's right here." Enid said, (Y/n) turned his focus to the figure next to her, looked a bit perplexed, he's never seen her wearing anything besides dressed and he's never got a full sense of her ..figure. He tries to play it off and laugh, he felt like she was naked and embarrassment washed over him.

"Of course it's you, alright! ready?" He asked, Enid and Wednesday head to the canoe. Sitting inside, there are three other sets, all with different teams. One specifically was Bianca's team. Principal Weems gives the introduction to students. Wednesday looks down to Thing and a Walkie-Talkie in the Boat.

"I want to welcome you all to the Edgar Allan Poe Cup. This is one of Nevermore's proudest annual traditions, dating back 125 years. Each team must row across to Raven Island, pull a flag from Crackstone's Crypt, and hustle back without sinking or being sunk. First team to cross the finish line with their flag wins the cup and bragging rights for a year, as well as some special privileges. Let the Poe Cup begin!" weems fires a gun into the air and the teams row off. (Y/n) quickly disappears into the crowd and runs along the river. Standing on a small dock, he kneels down to focus on the rowing boats.

He feels the four slowly begins their journey to the island, he senses something else moving in the water. It can't be a fish it's too big, it seems, human.

"Of course!" He grabs his other Walkie-Talkie and comms in.

"Black Cat, this is Blind Hawk, I know how Bianca is cheating! There's another Siren in the water! He's going to topple you over!"

"Roger." Wednesday replies and they continue to row, Wednesday and Company unfortunate reach last before Bianca and Ajax's team, the last flag was taken by them, but a plan was formulated to sink Ajax,

"The final two teams are the Gold Bugs...and the Black Cats!" Weems says from the Megaphone. (Y/n) senses the rowers closing in.

"Whatever you have planned. Do it now." Wednesday says, and (Y/n) smiles.

"Obliged, just stray from the center of the river, I can't control where it goes." He says, Bianca's crew stays in the middle as Wednesday's slowly maneuvers to the side. (Y/n) calms himself and begins to concentrate.

(Y/n) raises his Cain, and storms begin to brew.

"Go ndalladh an diabhal thú, Agus Bealtaine go deo leat dul ar strae!"

He slams his cane into the ground, a dark shadow falls over Bianca's team as flocks of crows come flying, surrounding and blinding them. They scream and bat them away, but to no avail. It halts their journey and Wednesday and company pass them. And even Wednesday could only smirk slyly at it.

"A Murder of Crows, How poetic." She says and spots (Y/n) who gives a bow. They reach the school and confidently jam the flag into the position and secure victory, cheers erupt from the crowds and Enid grabs Wednesday absolutely elated.

"Yeah, we did it! OMG, Wednesday, we did it! This is the greatest moment of my entire life. Admit it, you kinda got into the whole school spirit thing." She says, Wednesday Looks to the side to Bianca and her team sadly making their way there.

"You didn't tell me it was a dark, vengeful spirit." Wednesday watches with dark glee, the end of the festival. The cup is awarded. Principal Weems now gives the speech to the students of Nevermore..

"The first Poe Cup took place in 1897 as a way to not only honor Nevermore's most famous alumni, but to celebrate those values that all outcasts share. Community, perseverance, and determination. And we certainly saw those values on display today! Congratulations to Ophelia Hall! As a former resident, I will be happy to see the cup back on the mantle after all these years." She gives Enid the trophy and they celebrate, but Wednesday is not one less for celebration and sits alone in the corridor, she stands before the statue of Poe with a Raven on his arm, she sits at the base of the statue and lets out a weary sigh. She closes her eyes for a moment.

"Now, What are you doing down here?" A voice calls out, she opens her eyes to (Y/n) standing there, one hand in his pocket and the other on the cane.

"Hiding. People keep randomly smiling at me, it's unsettling." She says, (Y/n) chuckled at that.

"They're looking at you because you did something amazing, You took down The Bianca Barclay. Try to enjoy it, anyway... I wanted to ask if you, wanted to celebrate. Privately of course, as a way of saying thank you for helping Enid, I'm even if it was selfish." He said, giving a warm smile.

"Oh, come on, it won't kill you." He said, she continues her stare, but she gives in.

"I'll think about it." Wednesday said caving into his Cavity inducing sweetness.

"Yes!" He says, but he quickly composes himself. "I mean, of course. I'll be seeing you." He says and walks off, Wednesday watches him leaving, thinking to herself.

"Nevermore continues to be an enigma. A place where the questions far outweigh the answers. But sometimes... the answer is staring you right in the face."

(Y/n) and Wednesday stand side by side, at the statue.

"The Statue of my Favorite Author that i have seen countless times, how thoughtful." Wednesday says deadpanned, (Y/n) Kept smiling.

"I suppose it is, but while the celebration was going on, I did some research of my own. And specifically of the statue, sometimes I listen to music on my walks and I was particularly enjoying the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. I came across the statue and touched it, cold metal, I tapped on it and noticed that some parts of it were, hallow, I continued and noticed small latches on the wings. there are hinges and mechanical gears within. I saw the wing could move, so, after doing a few experiments, I figured it out." He explains, and Wednesday looks intrigued.

"Figured out what exactly?" She asks, he motions her to the statue.

"Please, Snap twice." He says, Wednesday obliges and snaps twice, the wings fold and the arm pulls in, and the statue begins to retract and show a flight of stairs. Wednesday heads down and (Y/n) follows. They enter what seems to be an old library. The knowledge hidden within these walls.

"Secret societies. Hidden libraries. My mother staring at me in a judgmental way. These are all things I've come to expect." Wednesday said, she takes notice of something though.

"(Y/n)." She said, "There." Wednesday approaches a wall of books.

"This, these are the books Rowan Had." She said and he stands next to her.

"I see... so, we know where Rowan got the book from, question is, what was he doing down here?" He asks, the two look in, "But the minute I inch towards the truth..."

As she says this, (Y/n) quickly picks up on the danger looming, he tries to turn to face it, but to no avail. the two are bagged and bound, being dragged into the darkness.

"Luckily, I'm not afraid of the dark."

[urimaginarygirlfriend]

hey marie!! how are you my love??

i miss you xx 🫂💗

hiii manny!!

i miss you too, i’m sure you’ve seen me subtly stalking your page every few days. i’ve got my first uni class starting on wednesday and i’m very nervous but also very excited. it’s an intro latin class and while i’m typically terrible with languages, i feel this will be different. no one here is studying classics but i am and i feel like i’ve already isolated myself.

also, i find it hard to eat 3 meals a day. just being on campus for the weekend has proven to me that i’d rather be productive or entertained than get up and eat a meal. it is very scary as someone whose always had body issues but never an ed. i don’t want uni to be the place where it starts (as much as i pretend to). i’ve bought some snacks to keep in my dorm but i also have tea and i’m worried it’s too effective at curbing hunger.

and finally, i’ve been thinking a lot about my art and my existence as an artist in general. i want to commit to being an artist. since i decided not to go to film school or study literature, i have to be serious if i ever want to be noticed. write and create obsessively as if i’d die without it. and i think following other artists on social media has been hurting me. because i just consume their content without creating any of my own. in joana rakoff’s memoir “my salinger year,” she works as literary agent. she spends so much time reading other people’s work that she forgot she was a writer herself. that’s slowly happening to me, in some weird way.

and i feel discouraged because no one is noticing me. not even my ‘so-called’ friends! they don’t watch my videos, they don’t read my short stories, and they sure as hell don’t watch the play that i took a lot of time recording and uploading so it’d be accessible. i feel like i’m doing all i can and just nothing is working. i’m a tree falling in a forest when no one is around…

i hope to submit to some literary magazines and screenplay/playwriting contests before the end of the year. maybe make another short film too that no one will watch. idk i just don’t know how to not stagnate. i know success isn’t overnight but i look at big creators and it feels like theirs is. or at least, they had some fans at the beginning. i’m literally starting from nothing.

i got accepted into a film program at the uni of edinburgh that only accepts 20-ish students per year. they wanted to take a chance on a weird american girl making weird art. i had to say no, but they chose me. before i clicked that reject button, i was someone. i was smart and cool and creative and worth something. they looked at me and thought i could go far with only a bit of guidance. now, i’ve got nothing. i’m an idiot with a camera in one of the worst cities in the whole US and i’m rotting away my life. do i still have the chance to be someone if there’s no one looking?

sorry if this got too deep and you didn’t read to the end. i’ve been writing about this in my diary for months with no one to tell because i wasn’t sure anyone cared. but i’m sure you care… right?

[yesthisismycurrenthyperfixation]

🕷Spider becoming a Harley Queen guy.

The torture with the machine, the way of upbringing, the only person who cares about him is the villain, his fault. He begins to hear voices. And instead of helping him, they send him to the humans where they don't help him either, he ends up with the RDA again, but they don't notify Quaritch. He escapes and grabs weapons and goes on a rampage.

He locks himself in a room to send a message to the scientists. Living so many years with expert scientists in different areas has given him skills. He knows how to make a bomb.While the bomb is creating her, she makes a video, her hair is shaved, without blue markings, thinner and whiter. Maybe smoking.

And he begins to tell his truths to Jake, Neytiri, the scientists, and his adoptive parents. He was a baby when it all happened, and a child when he realized that no one really cared. Children know, children listen."You just wanted a reason to treat me badly, because you couldn't direct your hatred towards my father. yes, I called him father, because he did more in 4 months than any of you in 16 years" no 17, I have 17 years. .... I forgot my birthday.

Cries and laughs at times.

As he finishes connecting cables for the pump, he speaks directly to his brothers. He loves them, he misses them. But he is the oldest, he has to take care of them. He gives some advice to Kiri, Tuk, Lo ak and Neteyam.He repeats that he loves them. But it has to stop the RDA.

Send whatever you can get on the computers to help make plans.

And even a message to Quarith ago, he wished their time together had been longer.And he knows in his heart that he would have saved him. Trust him. see him.

He says goodbye as Grace and Jake finish their journals.

Miles Spider Socorro Quarith says goodbye.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

BONUS

The message is seen by the entire Sully family, and some other Navi and scientists who had gathered at the Metkayina home to study the things that were left on the ship. Kiri was on her knees, at the end of the recording, she began to scream while being hugged by Tuk who is the same...Lo ak had to be put up with because he wanted to attack Jake, the scientists anyone. Neteyam ran out, his brother must have been dead right now but he must see. He flew off in his Ikran.

Quaritch He also saw the message, feels that a part died, hits trees, cries and screams in pain. His Ikran screams with his rider.

Anon, thank you for this prompt. I hope this is kind of what you are looking for. Also I’m assuming you meant Harley Quinn Spider so that is what this AU will be called.

I hope you enjoy these thoughts and the oneshot. Your bonus with everyone's reactions will be coming soon.

Harley Quinn Spider!

One thing to know about me is I am a huge fan of True Crime. Podcasts, documentaries, shows, movies, etc… I love everything True Crime. While reading this prompt my love of True Crime was going crazy and here is why.

People can only handle so much before they break! With everything Spider has gone through in his life; being orphaned at such a young age, the neglect, the abuse, knowing he was never loved or wanted, then add on the torture, the head trauma/injury from the machine, gaining a villain father figure, etc… it’s a miracle Spider hadn’t snapped earlier. In this prompt Spider has started having mental health issues, hearing voices probably caused my the machine and brain damage, and never received the help he so desperately needs. No instead he is shoved aside and neglected once again.

Anyone that enjoys True Crime knows that all of these things put together is a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying everyone that has suffered will become bad, infact most will not, but for the sake of this AU things will be different. Spider would have run, would have isolated himself and it was this isolation that would have given the RDA the chance to stumble upon him and capture him for the second time. And the RDA wouldn’t have given Spider the help he needed either. Quaritch would have if he had known which is why Ardmore never told him she had his kid.

It was only a matter of time before Spider escaped, taking out as many people as he possibly could before finding the perfect lab to lock himself up in. Spider grew up around RDA technology so locking and disabling the door would have been child’s play for him. Plus no one ever watched what Spider researched as a kid so the fact he could make a bomb isn’t surprising, why do you think he locked himself in a lab?

Spider knows he isn’t going to survive regardless of what happens next. This knowledge is very freeing. Nothing is stopping him from saying everything he wants to, everything he has always wanted to but has never been brave enough to say.

Opening a wideband signal, one that is being broadcast across all of Pandora, Spider turns on a webcam. The sight of himself is so shocking at first that Spider merely stares. When he was caught, for the second time, Ardmore had his hair buzzed off. She also had his stripes scrubbed off and had forced him into human clothes. White tank and grey sweatpants, both now stained in sprays of red from his escape.

He was pale, lack of sun will do that, and thinner than he had ever been before. Dark circles stood out like bruises under his eyes. A start contrast to his chapped and cracked lips.

Unable to look at himself any longer Spider looked down at the material in his lap. “For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Miles “Spider” Socorro Quaritch. I was born and raised here on Pandora. Not loved, not cared for, merely tolerated by everyone. And most of the time not even tolerated. I can’t even tell you how many times I was attacked by the mother of my best friends and siblings.” Spider looked into the camera again. “That’s right Neytiri, I’m talking to you. What gave you the right to hate me? What gave you the right to verbally and physically abuse me time and time again. I never did anything to you or the Na'vi. I was an innocent child. By your own beliefs I should have been treated differently. All children are blessings in the eyes of Eywa, I only wished you followed what you claimed to believe.”

Tears streamed down sallow cheeks, even as Spider laughed. “Not that Jake was much better. He watched me get abused time and time again and did nothing. Never made Neytiri stop, never made the scientists stop, never made the Na'vi stop. Hell, the McKoskers didn’t treat me right either. The number of injuries that were passed off as me being clumsy… how did no one question that? How did no one notice the constant injuries vanished after the McKoskers left? Seriously looking back at my life, it’s surprising I didn’t end it all sooner.”

“But I've realized, you just wanted a reason to treat me badly, all of you, all because you couldn't take your hatred out on my dad.” A smile spread across Spider face as tears continued to fall. “Yes, I called Quaritch my dad. That's what he is. Dad did more for me in 4 months than any of you did in the 16 years I was in your care. I’m only 16… no 17, I’m 17 years old now, I forgot my birthday.” A wild unhinged laugh escaped before Spider abruptly sobered.

“Dad, I just want you to know that I love you. We didn’t get a lot of time together but what we did have was the best few months of my life. Thank you for showing me what having a parent really felt like. Thank you for loving me, for putting me first, for choosing me, for seeing me. Dad, I miss you so much.”

Silence reigned for a few minutes as Spider finished building the detonation device he had been working on this whole time. With a beep it came online. Spider set it down on the table between him and the camera.

“This last bit is for my siblings. Neteyam, Kiri, Lo'ak and Tuk. The 4 of you are the best sibling I could ever ask for. I love you all and miss you. I wish I could see you again but someone has to stop the RDA, someone has to protect you. I can do that. It’s my job as the oldest sibling to protect you, my younger siblings. That’s my duty. I love you. Please, find my dad and take care of him. He'll have no one once I’m gone and he deserves a chance, a real chance. My dad was starting to see and I know he will see one day if given the chance. Please, for me give my dad a chance. Dad take this chance.”

“Well, this is my first and last video log. So, this is Miles “Spider” Socorro Quaritch signing off. Goodbye.”

The screen froze on a picture of Spider looking into the camera, face red and blotchy from crying. Eyes sad and empty with a small, lopsided smile spread across his face. It would be the last picture anyone ever saw of Spider alive. A picture of the boy so many failed and so few loved.

Bonus: coming soon

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

a brief timeline of fucking events regarding myself and the studio album "kill the whale" by daniel emond because I'm losing my mind

>get recommended this album by an anon on tumblr

>listen to said album and have an Extremely goodbad time (fedallah and gay people i LOVE YOU, quishmael and the erasure of indigeneity and the Lots of other racist things happening in there i hate you i hate you i hate you

>begin a project to transcribe the album because dear god what are they saying

>find that daniel emond himself has posted the lyrics to reddit

>make a 30k google doc comparing the lyrics of the studio album, the reddit lyrics, and the recorded live performance lyrics (because they are all very different!) with commentary (WHICH I FORGOT TO POST AND WILL BE SHARING IMMEDIATELY)

>get mad, decide to leave a comment on emond's reddit lyrics noting some of my critiques, most notably, why queequeg has been raceswapped and also had much of his story/relationships/plot entirely removed

>get a FIVE PAGE RESPONSE from emond arguing that he did not in fact erase anyone's indigenous/pasifika identity and that he was 'casting for talent, not accuracy bc the characters are "more" than their cultural backgrounds and ethnicities' which is a load of horseshit in my opinion

>notably also in that comment he reveals that the studio album is in progress to be adapted into a full broadway musical performance

>respond again, admittedly meaner this time

>get ANOTHER response from emond, that starts like this

[ID: A screenshot of a reddit notifications email of a comment from u/Danielhenriemond that reads: "Very busy these days, so much to respond to here. Thanks again for critical insight and questions which have continued to live with me as I develop the project, in particular your inquiry into my vers..." End ID.]

>open the comment to find that it has been completely deleted 🧍so I guess I'll never fucking know

>weeks later emond SHOWS UP ON MY INSTAGRAM (which has no ties to my reddit, he def doesn't know I'm the same person) and comments on my art of his musical

>go to his instagram page to see that the musical is currently in a week-long workshop

>scream

>something has tied me to this musical and i have no knife to cut the line (threat)

[thedinanshiral]

Time is an illusion

After trying to calculate an estimate for Emmrich's age, i thought "hey, why not calculate what Dragon Age year would be my birth year?" and next thing i knew i was falling down a black hole.

Unfortunately i don't have the exact source as this was said earily on during the glorious week of reveals and news and we were all so very excited i forgot to take notes then but i remember it was first said the time skip to The Veilguard was of 9 years since Trespasser. Then it was said to be 10 years since Trespasser. And yesterday someone asked Weekes on his socials and he replied he thought they'd said the year was 9:52 but we'll have to wait until someone releases an "official answer".

Well, here is my non-official answer: the year is Harvestmere 9:53 Dragon. But most of the game should occur during 9:54. How did i reach that conclusion? A mix of in-game and IRL time estimates.

First a disclaimer: I believe Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be released in November 2024. I only have my gut feeling and DAI's 10th anniversary, and DAO's 15th anniversary to go by to claim that; this whole thing hangs on a November release.

Ok so I went back to my first point of reference which is The Flame Eternal short story from 2021 which states said story happened "thirty years ago" in 9:22 Dragon. This sets the present of Thedas at that time as 9:52 Dragon.

In Inquisition if you ally with mages, during In Hushed Whispers when asking what year is it in that demon infested future the Inquisitor is told it's "Harvestmere 9:42" and Dorian comments you've missed a whole year. This would mean Inquisition -the game- starts in Harvestmere 9:41 Dragon. Let's say the events of the game take a whole year so it ends in 9:42 Dragon. Then Trespasser makes a jump two years ahead of that, to 9:44 Dragon. This is the year we should center these calculations on. Everything up to that point, DAO, DA2, and even DAI occur asynchronously, meaning they don't happen at the same time we're playing them. That's how a 10 year difference between the Fifth Blight in DAO and Inquisition only took 5 years of ours, and how in the span of a few months of ours 2 whole years passed between DAI the Exalted Council in Trespasser. While we as players experience these events in our present time, they do not correspond to our present time, this is specially clear in DA2 when not even the events of the game happen in the present of Thedas as it's Varric telling Cassandra the story of Hawke. The game begins already letting us know this already happened, more or less as Varric narrates it.

But why should the calendar of a fictional fantasy game match with ours? Well it shouldn't necessarily, but they've set the game roughly 10 years after the previous one, and 10 years have passed IRL as well, and thats enough for me. The short story saying 9:22 was thirty years ago published in late 2021 also matches this. So after establishing that our present and Thedas' seems to be marching at the same rate now, sort of, i took a look at their calendar. Without going into much detail they have 12 months as well and the calendar in use originated in the early Tevinter Imperium, so the months have an original Tevene name used for official records and academia, and a common name used by the people; i'll be using the latter. DAI begins in Harvestmere 9:41, Harvestmere is the 10th month of the thedosian calendar but just because our times kinda match now that doesn't mean Harvestmere is equivalent to our October. It seems it's equivalent to November. The following month, Firstfall, is when thedosians celebrate Satinalia, which obviously sounds awfully much like Saturnalia, a roman festivity that took place during December. Tevinter Empirium is based on Rome, so i think taking this into consideration is enough to say Firstfall is equivalent to December but since we're here the other detail that adds to this is Harvestmere seems to be November also because DAI begins in Harvestmere, and it was released in November 2014.

Following this train of thought i looked at Trespasser's release date, September 2015. If Firstfall is our December, that'd make our September their Matrinalis, so we could estimate then that the Exalted Council takes place around Matrinalis 9:44 Dragon. The All Soul's day is celebrated at the beginning of Matrinalis, so the lack of mention of it during the Exalted Council tells me the day had already passed.

But 10 years after Trespasser IRL would be September 2025, so how do i make it make sense?

If September 2015 coincides with Matrinalis 9:44 Dragon, then September 2025 would do so with Matrinalis 9:54 Dragon, there's a 10 month difference between Sept. '25 and Nov.'24, so that'd make Nov'24 match with Harvestmere 9:53, merely 2 months away from 9:54 Dragon. Nobody's saying the time skip is exactly 10 years down to a precise date so i think just the year being 9:54 should suffice.

This little difference made me look back at the trailers and realize hey, that's not where the game begins, right? Can't be. What do you mean we immediatelt get hired by Varric and go after Solas at Level 1??? Where's the tutorials??? Is Rook always Tevinter or that's just in the case of choosing Shadow Dragons as a faction? What if Rook's faction is the Mourn Watch, what's a Watcher of Nevarra doing in a Minrathous bar fighting Venatori? What's a Veil Jumper from Arlathan Forest doing in a Minrathous bar fighting Venatori? What's a Grey Warden doing in a Minrathous bar fighting Venatori?? Who says "yeah sure let's go" when a couple of dwarves approach them at a Minrathous bar after fighting Venatori like "hey we gotta stop an elven god from taking down the Veil and destroying the world, wanna come?"?????? The cinematic trailer was just that, ilustrative, but the gameplay trailer was more intentional in everything it showed, and what it didn't show at all. We are introduced to a Rook who happens to be of the Shadow Dragons so them being in Minrathous needs no explanation, and they start at lv.1 and immediately thrown into combat with nothing resembling a tutorial ( except for some commentary edited in to present different aspects of the new system, as it's a gameplay reveal trailer).

So my guess is, yeah the game starts in Harvestmere 9:53 Dragon, and in the two months left until 9:54 Dragon maybe we're shown Rook at their home, or where their faction is, maybe establishing some relationships within said faction ( friends, family, rivals, etc) and thats' when we get a quick tutorial and some context because remember, technically one doesn't need play the previous games first to play The Veilguard. New players must have some introduction to the world of Thedas, what's what, who's who, where's where and what's at stake. So i think the two months difference is when all that -plus a trip to Minrathous if they're not already there- can be crammed into so the action truly starts in 9:54, more or less 10 years after the events of Trespasser.

Not saying i'm correct in my estimations here, and as i mentioned at the beginning all this hangs on a November release, and the time skip being of more o less 10 years. If in the end any of that turns out to be different everything i presented in this post falls like a house of cards. But hey, it was fun putting it up.

If you've read this far, thank you and congratulations, you're a very patient person.

[probablybigfoot]

Trolls Movie Timeline Breakdown

Ok, so I've been seeing a lot of people try to piece together the history of the Trolls franchise based across the three theatrically released movie. I know there's a T.V series, but I dont care about that. I only care about setting the record straight because I've seen all three movies at least 10 times each and I keep seeing people get shit wrong. I understand I have a problem. So here's how it is.

The Bergen held the trolls captive long enough that "Trollstice" became a central part of the culture to the point of the head chef being considered a position of significant political standing. Chef literally has a direct line to the royal family as well as underlings which means that enough time had to pass for there to require not only a higher authority second to the king, but an organized group of people who held some form of authority over the other Bergens to maintain order. Trollstice was also around long enought the the Bergen's literally forgot how to maintain their mental health without the trolls. Poppy's narration at the beginning said the Bergens didn't know how to hug, sing, or dance, but Bridgett was capable of all those things before she ever met Poppy and the Snack Pack which means the only thing really stopping the Bergens from being happy was their belief that they simply couldn't be happy. That's going to take a hot minute to accomplish. It could be speculated that the Pop Troll's initial enslavement could have even happened shortly after the troll leaders originally disbanded with the strings. Unsure of how to survive with a significantly smaller colony and recovery from the disaster, the Pop Trolls would have been incredibly vulnerable to outside threats. This would also explain why none of the current Pop Trolls alive didn't know about the other tribes. The royal family, recognizing that the Pop Trolls' capture was caused by their mistakes of destroying the harmony with the other tribes, decided to let their memory fade, passing the secret of their existence down the familial line along with the Pop string. King Peppy didn't plan on telling Poppy because, after 20 years of living in the forest and never seeing the other tribes, he probably thought they weren't around anymore and that their memory should die with him.

I believe this is the first chapter of the Pop Trolls' history.

The next major event was the escape from the troll tree and the loss of the elder troll princess.

Despite being enslaved by the Bergens, the trolls all maintained their color. We see in the first movie that Trolls lose their color when they lose hope, so the Trolls must have had something keeping them going. It is also worth mentioning that King Peppy is the only visibly elderly Troll shown. I believe that the oldest Trolls of the tribe would willingly sacrifice themselves to the Bergen to give their children a little longer to live and Brozone was formed because the presence of young trolls living without the fear of being eaten and having a greater chance of escaping through the tunnel that the tribe had been secretly building for years, gave the older generations peace.

This would explain why Branch and his brothers were never shown to have parent(s) they were part of a sacrifice. This is complicated by Branch's grandmother being alive, but it's possible that she either held a ranking that excluded her from sacrifice, or his parent(s) died in an accident leaving only his grandmother to raise him and his brothers. When Brozone broke up, they all talked about going different places. It is likely that they were going to go underground to different mining colonies that had been established as the trolls had blindly dug under Bergen Town before intercepting a natural tunnel network outside the borders (This is the Neverglade Trail. Trolls that hiked it were essentially survey scouts figuring out which tunnels were best for the whole tribe's escape route and which were dangerous.). This is also why Branch and Floyd dreamed about building an underground hideout. They probably grew up watching the secret tunneling operation and idolized the trolls who were digging their way to freedom.

This happened a few years before the beginning of the first Trolls movie. A few months after losing his brothers, Branch formed Kismet with his childhood friends because he wanted to keep performing and bringing people joy. Unfortunately, they formed around the same time Chef became head of the Trollstice committee and they never got a chance to perform. When Chef went to collect the sacrificed trolls, she saw Branch rehearsing for a show, and she saw an opportunity to assert her dominance over the Trolls and show that she will no longer abide by the agreement by taking once of their beloved children. As we all know, Branches grandmother (who had been exempt from the earlier sacrifice) got in the way and Chef, angry that a troll defied her, chose to take Grandma away and come back for Poppy later to punish the tribe. This shock caused the Pop Trolls to rush their tunneling process, leading to unsafe conditions and Kismet never finishing the song they'd been working on.

This is when Viva and the other Putt-Putt Trolls got separated and were presumed to have died. Viva had gone to some of the outlying colonies to lead them to the main tunnel, but the Bergens intercepted. Clay was in one of those colonies, which is why he was there to help establish the Putt-Putt village and also why he never knew about Grandma's death. Viva never said anything to him because she doesn't like talking about bad things and/or assumed he already knew.

This would have been extremely distressing to King Peppy because his desperation to save one daughter lead to the loss of the other. It's possible that King Peppy lost or came close to losing his color and that is why nobody ever told Poppy about Viva or talked about the lost trolls, they feared one or both of the only living members of the royal family would lose their will to lead and leave them vulnerable. The story of how they were captured was likely passed (albeit heavily altered) down from generation to generation so the extant trolls knew the danger of losing key members of their tribe.

Following their escape and the establishment of their new village, Kismet disbanded due to Branch losing his color and pushing his friends away. The other members of Kismet are not seen in the previous movies because, after Branch gets his color back, they felt guilty for abandoning him to his depression (they were like, 5 when all this happened, so you can't really blame them) and didn't think he'd want them around. The came back at the end of Band Together because Branch had finally reached out to them (Branch thought they were angry at him for causing their band to break up, so he'd avoided contact.)

Poppy remembers none of this because she is several years younger than Branch. She knew and loved Brozone songs because the older trolls continued to play their music for several years before Branch became to much of an outcast and it just got too weird).

John Dory had already established a homestead (and tamed a wild Rhonda) so he was never present in Pop Village. Floyd and Bruce were part of the initial escape, and knew about their Grandmother's death, but they were still too upset about their group breaking up to want to stay in the same village and chose to strike out on their own before ending up in Mount Rageous and Vacay Island respectively. Neither checked on Branch because they didn't know the details of what happened having been in the mining colonies and thought other trolls in the village were taking care of him.

Floyd ended up in Mount Rageous where he worked as a private music and choreography coach. Velvet eventually heard about him and concocted the plan to steal his talent by arranging to take classes with him and then kidnapping him.

The Trolls say all of this happened 20 years ago because it happened over the course of 1 year.

I have no in universe reason as to why Viva speaks Spanish. Maybe King Peppy had an affaire with a Spanish Reggae troll in his wild and youth.

Thank you for your time.

[el-cabroncito]

Finally got around to continuing my Marc race binge

Catalunya 2010 125cc Race  (Notes and Commentary under the cut)

Them talking to Aki Ayo about if Marc is feeling the pressure and his saying “no, I think he was hungry to win, still now but he is a very calm boy, I think Marc understands that the championship is important, I hope he remembers that during the race” *stares at 2015 season* Marc how where you more level headed as a 17 yr old like come on you could have had a 9th title if you weren’t so committed to throwing the bike down the road if you weren’t winning (glad you learnt from that king, sorry it took a painful divorce to do it but glad all the same)

the 9th title also could have happened 2011 or 2020 but nope injury

At this point in the season Marc is 3rd in the championship on a run of 3 wins going into this race, Pol is 2nd and Terol is 1st.

(Not the point but the closer I get to Aragon the more I feel a massive rant about Krummenacher coming on once I get there)

Why do I keep forgetting that Zarco is older than Marc, like Marc is one of the youngest on this grid

(Also not about this race but I just remembered seeing something about a race weekend during 2011 or 12 were Marc got fined because he flipped Scott Redding off at the end of practice because he said something rude)

Front Row does Marc, Pol, Bradley Smith, and Terol 

There’s a guy with the last name Rossi on this grid but I don’t think he’s Italian

WARM UP LAP (its always so fun to see how different riders do their warm up laps)

There talking a lot about the temperature (worried about tires maybe)

Also I forgot that Catalunya wasn’t near beginning of the season back then

Marc is 11 points of 1st place 

The commentators saying its gonna be tough to beat Marc 

Marc on and leading from pole (I am shocked 🤥)

NO Tito crashed ( I don’t know much about Tito but I know he’s really friends with Marc and Alex)

Marc lying during the press conference saying oh I don’t think its a race someone with get away at the front, Marc you liar you know you could have done it (he truly is the most humble person ever but he also has confidence the rest of the grid wished they had

Not them pitting Pol and Marc against each other because there Catalan and its their home race

Marc having fastest lap likely place for him to be

Marcs dad really has had thing finger crossing habit since the beginning (also Alex hey he looks so young but at least he looks his age at 14 unlike Marc who looked 8)

Gap over a second Marc again you liar what do you mean you think no one will be able to break away

(Also forgot to add this at the beginning but they said Marc reminded them of a young Dani)

New circuit record from Marc and guess who he took it from yep Krummenacher (was Aragon his revenge like dude I’ll never be over that like why, was it worth the disqualification)

Well at least there’s a battle between Pol, Bradley and Nico to keep it interesting because Marcs checked out

Another crash a French rider, I think he hurt his ankle he got taken off on a stretcher

Also I need Marc in darker leathers again like truly 2010, 11 and 12 the leathers were immaculate 

Zarco down in 13th at least it prepared him for his Honda years

Another crash by a Norwegian rider 

Not really much of Marc he really has checked out with his 2 second lead and their more focused on the battle for 2nd

Pol just took fastest lap 

Them interviewing Aleix give me a Alex interview 

Talking about tough times in Spain as a reason for empty grandstands (was there a financial crisis at the time?)

Bradley Smith back up into 2nd 

Marcs whole career he’s either had really shitty starts or really good starts like terms no in-between (he had a good one here)

Also a 4 second lead Marc don’t humiliate them like that (like 125cc is marketed as close racing Marc your ruining their promotion)

Although there’s still battles further back just not for the win

From 5th to 6th there is 21 second gap that’s kinda crazy

I forgot how much i missed Gavin Emmett and Nick Harris has commentators (I’ve only watched Marcs 2013 season fully, I’m gonna rewatch it when I get to his premier class career so I can take notes)

I’m also thinking of going back to the start of the video pass (2003) and watching vales career and taking notes like a am for Marc and I might alternate between which one I’m watching 

7 laps left still a 4 second gap 

I’m waiting for the commentators curse to kick in with my hands covering my eyes cause they keep saying everyone thought Marc would win and know I’m nervous 

Terol and Pol keeping it interesting with their battle for 3rd

If Marc wins this with the results remaining the same (Smith 2nd, Pol 3rd, Nico 4th) Marc is gonna leave here leading the championship (3rd to 1st)

Its the way no one had him as a contender at the start and now there like wow he may win this like that a crazy 4 weeks for him (Mugello to this race)

They are really running when this Marc reminds us of Dani (so my question is when did the comparisons switch from Dani to Vale

Marc 4 1/2 seconds in the lead (Marc your incredible)

Love that they call him the pocket rocket 

Gap from 4th to 5th 34 seconds again that crazy in 125 race

They really love Bradley (I also like Bradley, he was on the podium when Marc was booed and chanted Marcs name (it was pre sepang as well I think which makes the booing more insane))

Marc already has a big fan club, I love that

1 lap to go 

No Bradley (he gone from 2nd to 4th)

Pol and Nico could have just crashed each other out 

Terol crashed out which means he loses the lead and Marc is now leading the championship (hope he’s okay it looked nasty especially for his shoulder)

Marc the youngest to win 4 in a row (I think he takes that record from Vale)

Podium is Marc 1st, Smith 2nd, Pol 3rd

Emilio calling Marc and incredible boy I’m moved (what happened between them, why did they part ways?)

They just said we look for the new Rossi (they said they was a bit unfair to say) but they said they’ve found the new top youngster 

Burnout for Marc love it

Love that he won his home race 

Bradleys best result of the season

Them saying the only thing that can stop Marc is Marc and ain’t that the truth 

They called him a rare talent 

Also hello again Alex

Marc and his emotional attachment to his red bull 

He’s a lot calmer in parc ferme here 

Poor Marc not being allowed champagne on the podium (he was in mugello but that’s cause the age is lower) he’s shaking his little red bull can instead 

Onto Sacshenring 

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Café Enchanté

Official Summary:

When Kotone inherits her grandfather’s Tokyo café, she discovers the shop holds more secrets than anyone could imagine.

The café is a meeting spot for beings from multiple, mystical worlds. You’ll meet the king of demons, a humanoid beast, a fallen angel, and more.

And when government agents monitoring non-human activities show up at your door, your new café is about to become a lot more colorful.

.

(Spoiler Free) Luna's Thoughts:

(Just as a reminder, I'm writing this for myself to keep track of my thoughts and leave a record of the games I've played. Others are welcome to read and feel free to provide your own thoughts, but please, no hate! They're just my opinions, nothing more.)

I was excited for this game. The premise sounded amazing: a cute cafe full of magical beings from other worlds? Sign me up! I love the colorful cast of characters, and the art is undoubtedly gorgeous.

But, while I enjoyed elements of this game, the setting falls apart almost immediately, and has very little to do with any of the routes, with the exception of the true end. The whole game is actually incredibly dark, complete with bloodshed and death in every route, which is normally not a bad thing, but it feels a bit misleading here.

You're told almost at once that the cafe is somehow sustained on payments from only a handful of romanceable characters, none of which use human currency or seem to have jobs that would involve payment, with the exception of the one human bachelor Rindo. This is nitpicky, I know, but I found it frustrating because it would have been so easy to write a way around this.

Let me be clear that I don't necessarily mind a game with a ridiculous premise. I love Mystic Messenger, and the entire game hinges on the fact that you have moved into a stranger's apartment and have somehow remotely taken on party planning for a charity group of people you haven't met. But the thing about Mystic Messenger is that the ridiculousness is upfront, right at the beginning, and once you get past it and accept the game for what it is, you can enjoy it.

This is not so with Cafe Enchante. There are many times in this game where just a little more thought could have made things make more sense. To me, the whole game was plagued with sloppy writing and baffling plot details that could have easily been avoided or explained in a different way — not to mention the litany of literal editing errors. It's also not translated very well in places — or maybe it is, and just written poorly in its original Japanese. Either way, it reads awkwardly a lot of the time

Overall, I was not impressed with this game. It just goes to show that pretty artwork and a fun initial premise do not necessarily make a good product.

Below are my thoughts on each route in the order I played them.

.

(SPOILERS BEGIN HERE)

Ignis Carbunculus Route

This is the route I got first, without trying. I actually did not want to get Ignis first, because I figured he was the tsundere character in this game, and I like to do those a bit later. He's actually not particularly tsundere at all, just hypermasculine and therefore not great at expressing emotions other than rage.

This is one of the darkest and, in my opinion, one of the laziest-written routes in the game. You're expected to believe that Ignis went on a rage, literally killed and ate many of his own people, including his family, forgot about it and then just continues on with his life, only to be conveniently reminded of his dark past at the right moment to advance the game. And the rest of his clan has been tolerating him because they're afraid of him, and for whatever reason, Ignis has never noticed everyone hates or fears him??

Ignis is also the only member of his species who can eat. The rest don't need to because they're born with all the calories they need for the rest of their lives apparently, meaning the beasts of the literal beast world don't kill each other for food, just sport. And oh, yeah, that's somehow also Ignis' fault.

I felt like this route could have been simplified in a way that made more sense. Instead, the writers had a vision and manipulated many small details to make the rest of the game work within that vision, resulting in a lot of strange decisions.

I'm aware this game isn't meant to be realistic, but Ignis' whole plotline seemed very contrived. It's like they had something written already but realized certain elements weren't congruent with other aspects of the game, so they just...manipulated elements of Ignis' route until it kind of fit.

Overall, I think Ignis' route was my least favorite. It felt the most rushed, the least polished, and assumed a lot of things conveniently went unnoticed for years in Ignis' life. There was just too much coincidence in this route for me.

.

(SPOILERS)

Il Fado de Rie Route

This was the second route I played, and overall my favorite route. It felt the most cohesive out of all the characters, and it was the longest aside from the true end.

That doesn't mean I don't have my gripes with it. My biggest one is that Il, who has apparently based his entire personality, including his name, on an otome game character, makes the baffling decision to tell Kotone about the game and literally recommend she try that character's route first, only to immediately regret it when he realizes she's going to notice something is off.

Like, I could understand it if the personalities were just similar, but he took the name, too. I cannot believe he would be so stupid as to forget the game that he stole his persona and name from and then just freely give away that information. What pisses me off so much is that Kotone could have so easily encountered this information on her own. Have her buy the game independently to surprise Il, and then discover the overlap herself. Why on earth would he just give her that information? It's lazy writing.

I did really enjoy how angels are basically human androids and god is a supercomputer. That was rad as hell and is a brilliant explanation for why angel magic is math based. I'd say this route has the best worldbuilding, including the gorgeous pretty-boy side characters.

I don't feel completely satisfied with how Il's route was resolved, as there's still some question to how much of his personality is his own, but ultimately it was the most solid route in the game. I didn't think I would like Il as I don't particularly enjoy his character archetype, but in the end I was pretty attached to him. His characterization in the true end route was adorable as well, and I adore his friendship with Misyr.

.

(SPOILERS)

Kaoru Rindo Route

Rindo was my second favorite route in the game. I think it's super funny that Kotone keeps talking about their age gap even though he's the second youngest character in the game at 42 years old.

His route is also (to my knowledge) the only route that lets you just straight up kill the person you're trying to romance, although it does dead end the game if you make the choice not to save him when you can.

The worst part of this route for me what the treatment of Rindo's sister, Shizuku. She doesn't get a proper sprite in her human form, so you have no idea what she looked like, and it makes it kind of hard to feel anything for her. I did like the utter horror of watching Mikado feed her with his blood with no explanation.

This is one of the darkest routes and the only one where a side character with a sprite actually dies. And when he does, you feel bad for him because he was just trying to protect the woman he loves.

It did feel a little predictable to have Rindo become non-human after oodles of conversations about whether or not humans and non-humans can have relationships. Honestly the game writers are cowards for not making Rindo look more extreme as a non-human. Make him a freak!!

I do appreciate that he remains non-human at the end, though. I feel like forcing him to become human again would have eliminated any of the growth he made during the route.

Personality-wise, Rindo is one of the cuter characters IMO. He's flirty but as soon as things get serious he backs off. Super adorable!

.

(SPOILERS)

Canus Espada Route

This route was...ok. Just ok.

Honestly, I was bored through most of it. I can't really say why. It just didn't appeal to me that much.

Right at the beginning it annoyed me by assigning a gender to Vennia. Like, he could have just been left nonbinary. It's canon in this game that fairies don't have genders anyway, so it would have been fine to continue using they/them pronouns. I guess otome games haven't gone that way yet but it would have been nice.

I did like Vennia's relationship with Titania, and in the end, when he betrays Kotone, it felt natural. You can't hate him because you know he just wants to protect his sister.

I thought maybe his headlessness would be plot relevant but on the contrary, we get literally no explanation for why he's headless and nobody else is. I get that they wanted to make him an interesting character, but we know his ancestor was not headless, so why is he? Aren't there other dullahans in Medio?

I do think it's hilarious that we don't ever get to see his face. The implication is that he does in fact have one, so I had predicted it would be revealed as part of his route, but they stuck to their guns and kept him headless throughout the entire route.

Idk why I wasn't impressed with this route. Worldbuilding-wise it was one of the more solid storylines. It just wasn't particularly shocking or interesting to me, so I didn't love it, but I suppose I didn't hate it either.

.

(SPOILERS)

Misyr Rex Route

This route was, quite frankly, absolutely ridiculous. This was the most obvious case of having an overall idea and not having the skills to execute it well.

So many things happened just because Misyr willed it to. For example, he gains magic powers and a semi-human form simply because he wanted to visit a four-year-old on earth? How does that even happen? This is already ignoring the fact that he transformed into an ash monster through forced evolution or whatever, which is already a stretch, mind you.

And if that's not ridiculous enough, we then get introduced to Noah, who is somehow an entire world. I actually found him to be more interesting of a character than Misyr, now that we know that Misyr's entire life consists of going to one cafe and doing nothing all day.

The most disappointing part of this route was Asmodeus, who was largely not relevant at all other than the initial shock of realizing Misyr wasn't the demon king. Why bother making such an annoying character for a brief gag? He could have been so much more but instead he's reduced to an unlikable flirt who kidnaps Kotone in order to provide an excuse for a cute CG, and then we barely see him ever again.

This whole route stinks of worldbuilding with no consideration for how certain elements would affect the rest of the world. You know how sometimes worlds in fictional programs (ie: Black Mirror) build their entire concepts around one aspect of society and don't bother fleshing out everything else? That's basically this whole route in a nutshell. It falls apart under the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

To top it off, the good ending of this route, and therefore the whole game, involves Kotone becoming the world herself, largely losing her human form, now cursed to live for eternity as a realm that turns people to ash????? Who decided this would be a satisfying ending for an otome game?

The one element I did like was the explanation for why non-humans look so much like humans. I think it's super cool that humans used to have superior technology and lost it and everything else grew from that. I like the biblical references as well.

Ultimately, though, this was a disappointing way to end the game for me.

[professor-amaryllis]

:{ A video file is embedded. It begins as Amy sets the camera up, obscuring most of the frame with a shirt that simply says 'Bread.' in large letters over a photo of a baguette. As they step back the inside of the barn in revealed, once again back in some sort of order, though one of the folding tables is covered in samples of that yellow flowered plant, as well as a few sad looking examples of the white flowered Paldean Burr. Beetroot the Meganium dozes happily in a beam of sunlight just behind the professor.

"Ok, alright. I'm recording this because i think I may have figured something out and I think this might be the best format for this. So, as you can see with these plants side by side they really are nearly identical. Or well, they would be if the samples from Paldea had fared the postal system a little better but-"

Amy is stopped short by the head of Beetroot swinging over towards the table, and they seem alarmed for just a moment until she simply exhales onto the wilted plants which spring back to life almost instantaneously. She then simply settles back into her comfortable position and closes her eyes.

"... I sort of forgot you could do that. It really has been awhile, huh old girl?" he pats her neck and she responds with a sort of deep thrumming noise deep in her chest, which Amy repeats as a gentle hum. After a moment he brings his attention back to the table with a start.

"Right! So, as you can see a little more clearly now, these plants are near identical. The only difference that one can discern visually is the obvious one, the yellow flowers on the Sinnohan samples. now there is one major difference that can't be seen here." Amy leans forward, a bit of excitement in his tone.

"The Sinnohan samples of this plant had a concentration of cadmium that was more than two thousand times the level in the nearest soil samples. In fact, the level of cadmium around clusters if this plant were lower than the average of other places in the area. My friends I think we have ourselves the discovery of a hyperaccumulator property in these common Paldean plants."

He leans back a moment now, before bending over are retrieving a small pot containing another of the same plant, but this one's flowers are a pale yellow, somewhere between the other samples. "This sample was to test a thought I had, and while of course the sample size is low I think it is enough to solidify a theory. This plant is a Paldean sample, planted in soil from just outside. Look how in just a few hours the flowers are already acquiring a color!"

"A plant that only becomes Poisonous once invasive, isn't that fascinating?" the professor laughs a little before leaning forward, obscuring the screen once again before the video ends. }: