#the point of the theory/au was to see them together again not to kill them !!!! 😭

[good-beanswrites]

So... What happens to Haruka, Shidou, and Mahiru in Myosotis based on canon?

Why are you making me post angstttttt, haven’t we been through enough !!! Asdfsd but thank you for the ask, I hadn’t considered this as an option so it was really interesting to consider this new turn of events in the au 👀

Character death discussion under the cut :(

My original plan for Myosotis involved all of Milgram taking place within a single moment in normal-world-time on a Wednesday night. It definitely was real, (like, it wasn’t ambiguous whether it was a dream), so the prison executions would be the true experience for the prisoners. The last and only thing they remember is that death, at the hands of Es and the voices. They have no idea that the real world shifts around them to create a believable reason they never woke up the next morning. 

When I first came up with the theory at the very beginning of the project, I wasn’t considering anyone dying this early in the trials, so I’m shifting things around a bit to distinguish the two. That previous method now applies to the current three deaths, and the executions actually happen after the guilty character has woken up. This means the Milgram execution was more for our/Es’ experience, since the prisoners forget about it as soon as they wake. (And then die within the day in the real world.)

I wanted to stay true to the method of death, so I avoided suicide/murder for the real-world execution counterparts. It was meant to be Milgram’s inevitable punishment, existing above emotions or natural consequences, so I pictured all freak accidents that have no other effect except to kill the intended prisoner and not create any new murder investigations. However, these three prisoners did have very human and emotional deaths, so I’m debating on how much I want events to spill into the real world… I guess there could be homicides that are just so odd that it’s impossible to get any leads, and the investigation sputters out quickly.

Some ideas for canon deaths/final guilty possibilities:

Haruka: Time of death in the middle of the night, never woke up the following day. Though his family couldn’t remember him collecting any materials, it’s clearly suicide.

Yuno: Misstep causes a fall from too high a height.

Fuuta: Room caught fire – officials believe a spark from faulty computer wires caused it.

Muu: Bee sting allergy is obviously the most fitting but it also felt a little cheesy comparatively? I was also thinking drowning since the hourglass had a feel of suffocation.

Shidou: Is found in the morning, stabbed, though there was no evidence of anyone breaking into his bedroom or home.

Mahiru: Similarly, she’s found dead in her own bed without any signs of struggle, somehow beaten to death. 

Kazui: Choking on a bite of apple – somewhere public but he was unable to speak out to get help.

Amane: Faulty wiring in the house causes an electrocution accident.

Mikoto: Fell off the platform as the train was coming into the station.

Kotoko: Animal attack seems the most expected, but I also considered a heart attack or something from overwork after she pushes too hard during a workout.

[wasyago]

Please more Trail's gone cold au I'm begging you I need it just pour out every thought in your brain I want to hear it

hgdhhfbd i mean, sure why not

everything plot related is in the main post, there's nothing else really to tell. but i could share random details that didn't really fit into the lore drop. again tho, it's a small au and mostly an exploration of the concept, so there's not a lot.

❄️ gem and etho are siblings, i don't think it was mentioned anywhere? blood related and all that, they both have black hair, gem just dyes hers.

❄️ behind the scenes reasons for the order of deaths. generally i picked these three to be the main cast because i suddenly realized pet crew were just dungeon master and his two winners, and that was too crazy of a concept to not do anything with? so, tango as the main guy and actual master of the dungeon had to die first, seeing how he's the cave's favorite. pearl as the main explorer and as the one to unlock all the secrets had to die second, because she had to return to the dungeon / the cave to find out the truth, and she conquered it but never actually got out. and etho had to survive, because he's the "proper" winner and the one who actually escaped the dungeon with treasures.

❄️ lore reasons for the order of infection. tango you already know, but pearl and etho went in at the same time so in theory they had to start experiencing the effects together. but because etho was wearing a mask it did lessen the amount of sculk he inhaled, slowing down the process. wear masks kids!

and, well, you did say you wanted to hear every thought so. i really like the plot point of them leaving tango to die, so im gonna ramble a little about it. even just, the difference in their views on the situation is so satisfying to me. because tango had no idea something scary was happening to him! and for pearl and etho it was a life or death situation. and just-- they were talking about leaving tango and tango obviously, obviously, protested, because what the actual hell??? yes okay he's ill and a burden, but don't leave an ill guy to freeze to death in a cave, what is wrong with them????? or, okay, what is wrong with etho, pearl was against the idea. but, straight up tango did not plan for it to end this way, he had his whole life ahead of him and so many things ha still wanted to do! of course he cried when they left, what else was he supposed to do? thank etho for his awesome decision? be all cool and stoic and sacrifice himself? hell no, he didn't want to die, he never asked for this.

he did die tho, so. whomp whomp 🎺... i imagine he passed before pearl and etho even reached the stairs, so at least he didn't suffer for long. if he had a breakdown about being left alone he probably hyperventilated and inhaled like a ton more sculk, so that killed him even faster. must've sucked tho...

and then pearl, god, pearl.... she didn't encounter any dangers on the way back, since she wasn't trying to escape and the cave had no reason to be hostile towards her. but seeing how she was at the last stage before turning... she probably didn't get to tango before collapsing... not dying just yet, but too feverish and too weak to walk. but if tango was already back, he could very much go and find her. can you imagine the pure horror of drowning in your regrets as you slowly die and then having your supposedly already dead friend appear in front of you all cheery and oh so wrong. i dont know how much of tango is left in that thing, but the image of him sitting by pearl and holding her until she dies is so-- its haunting but it's sweet. and then there's still enough time to catch up with etho.

actually, gahhhh, all three pet povs are their own unique horror story and it's so good.

the horror of having to go through this terrifying experience, and then being the only survivor, knowing full well that the only reason you lived is because you left your friends to die, and there's no way of fixing it now.

the horror of everything falling apart around you because of miscommunication, and then the one time you decide to do it right you end up regretting every single decision and witnessing the direct result of your mistakes come for you.

the horror of being stupid... the horror of losing all control over your life and being betrayed in the moment of your most vulnerability, dying fully and utterly helpless.

this au is so sad but i love it so much...

okay wow that's enough for one post, ask more if you want tho!

[ckret2]

Would Mabel being the reincarnation of Bill cause a rift between her and her family? I imagine that even though they know that Mabel and Bill are two different people it'd be kinda hard to get over the fact they ARE fundamentally the same being,especially for Ford.

Now, that's the problem. They AREN'T two different people. That's the whole point of this specific AU's take on reincarnation. It's not "Mabel happens to now possess the soul that was formerly used by some other guy" but rather "this is that guy after working on himself for thirteen years, she just didn't remember it until now."

"We know you're two different people" is the kind of thing her family might say to be reassuring. But in her ears it'd be like if she's on trial for murder and her family says "We love you because we know you're innocent," when actually she did totally commit that murder, and it was premeditated, and she didn't even have a sympathetic motive. Like it's nice of you guys to say that and I know you mean well, but if you only love me because you think I didn't do anything wrong, would you still love me if you understood the truth?

The biggest rift is on Mabel's end. She's holding back from letting them find out for as long as possible. It's not coming out until they put together the evidence themselves or she has a breakdown and confesses while in tears. And, naturally, when she's trying to keep that big a secret from them, she's gonna be withdrawn.

Like, there's a very high probability that Gideon finds out before any of the Pines do, that's how hard she's trying to keep it from her family.

When they DO start finding out?

Dipper's known Mabel almost fourteen years; he knew Bill two months. He's gonna get over it the fastest.

He's cracking annoying brother jokes before you know it. "I mean—you didn't manage to kill me in the womb, I don't think you're gonna do it now." "I forgive you for the sock puppet thing but now I REALLY wish I'd done more dumb stuff in your body while we were body swapped. As pre-revenge."

If anything, ultimately this turns out to be GREAT news for Dipper. He spent all last summer being pissed off that Bill had all the secrets of the universe and just wouldn't share them, to be a dick. WELL GUESS WHAT. NOW THEY'RE SHARING A BEDROOM. He's keeping her up until 3 a.m. asking about every conspiracy theory in history until Mabel lies "sorry, my memory of that one hasn't come back yet. Maybe my memories would return faster if I could GET SOME SLEEP..."

Stan's known Mabel off and on for fourteen years, and has gotten to know her really well over the past year; he knew Bill for—lemme check how long his death scene is—under two minutes.

Try to tell Stan that Mabel's Bill and his first reaction is "WELL THAT'S STUPID AND I DON'T BELIEVE IT." "But she can set fires with her brain." "Sometimes teenage girls do that! I saw it in a horror movie!" He's gonna process the news about the same way he'd process it if Mabel told him that she's some gender he's never heard of before: he's confused and too damn old to understand this complicated identity stuff, but he loves her even if he only understands half of what's going on, and he'll punch anybody who looks at her funny because of it.

Ford's only known Mabel since last summer; he's known Bill over 32 years.

This AU ain't a fic, so there's not a single set plotline, just a whole bunch of ideas that may or may not actually happen if I were ever to turn it into a story; and because of that there's a lot of ways things could go down with Ford, on a wild scale from hilarious to heartwarming to tragic, depending on what I think is interesting on any given day. But in many potential timelines, the first and most pressing question Ford's facing isn't "can I still love Mabel even if she was—is—Bill?"

It's "How do I kill Bill again?"

Because he knows Mabel the least and knows Bill the best, he has the best odds of looking past what everyone else sees as "haha that's just Mabel being Mabel!" and going "that's Bill fucking Cipher"; and because he hates Bill the most, he's the absolute last person Mabel would voluntarily tell about her exciting new personal discovery—meaning that he just has to draw his own conclusions. If he sees Bill looking at him through this little girl's eyes and clearly trying to convince Ford that he's not Bill he's gonna assume Bill's back from the dead and possessing his niece.

If Ford finds out, Mabel's not just afraid he won't love her anymore; she's also afraid he'll want her dead. If anything, him thinking she's possessed would be a good thing, because it'll buy her a little time while he's looking for a way to "extract" Bill to "save" Mabel, whereas if he knows the truth he'll know there's no Mabel to save.

Worst case scenario, she fears that, if he finds out, she's dead as soon as he can get his hands on her—unless she can find a way to defend herself.

Of course, this is Gravity Falls, where the power of love & family always wins, so in reality if he found out no that IS Mabel it'd stay his hand while he tries to figure out what's going on. His hatred for Bill is weaker than his love for his family. But she doesn't know that.

After all, Mabel's known Ford for 32 years, and for 30 of them he was on a suicidal vengeance quest to kill her; he's only been her grunkle since last summer.

[shaunamilfman]

Look What You Made Me Do (part 1)

Summary: "The small town of Wiskayok had been rocked by the brutal murders of the so-called Ghostface killings, leaving you and your girlfriend Shauna Shipman unsure of who you can trust. Just remember: it's always someone you know. "

A/N: loosely based scream (1996) au. warnings for graphic depictions of violence. part 2

There were two prevailing theories on when the Ghostface killings first started: Either with the murder of Shauna's deadbeat father a year ago, or with the recent double murder of Mari's ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend-cousin. You personally believed in the latter, as your girlfriend Shauna insisted that Ben Scott was the true killer of her father. 

You still remember the day it happened well. Shauna was truly devastated by the news, but not nearly as devastated as she would be if it happened to her mother instead. You remember all too well the day her father had walked out on her, and you think she cried harder then than at the sight of her fathers body. She’d unfortunately been the one to find him after dropping by at his house to presumably yell at him; He’d forgotten that he was supposed to come see her once again, and she was getting tired of getting his excuses the next day. She’d arrived just in time to see the flash of Ben’s iconic jacket as he rushed away from the scene. Privately you thought her father deserved what he got, but you comforted Shauna all the same.

…

The original murders had been the closest one to your friend group until last night, with the murder of Travis Martinez. You didn’t know him all that well, by reputation more than anything, but it still hit you hard. This was a kid that you knew, that all of you saw on at least a weekly basis. Coach Martinez would be out of school indefinitely, and as much as you felt for him it left the rest of you scrambling to find a soccer coach with one grieving and the other doing 20 to life. Jackie was particularly upset about it being the captain.

“I just don’t see how we’re supposed to find someone to replace him at such a short notice.” Jackie complains, slipping into the seat across from Shauna. Nat scoffs as she looks over to glare at Jackie.

“Yeah, Jackie. I’m sure Coach is real concerned about soccer right now.” She says derisively. “It’s not like his son was just brutally murdered or anything.” Nat’s eyes are hard and piercing, and even you have to look away. Jackie shrinks in on herself in shame, crossing her arms defensively across her chest as she stares down at the table.

“I wasn’t trying to,” She starts, but is interrupted by Shauna.

“I just think it’s funny.” Shauna says, in that voice of hers you knew meant trouble. You lace your and Shauna’s fingers together in case she was planning on jumping the table and brace for impact. “That Travis seems to have died so horribly just after asking you out a few weeks ago.” She finishes. You wince. Nat had shot him down brutally in front of half the school, actually laughing in his face. It was a pretty sore spot between them, but mostly because Nat had seriously considered him to be one of her friends.

Nat’s face goes cold as she slams her hands down on the table and stands up so hard the chair goes clattering to the floor behind her. “Asshole.” She spits out, turning away and storming away from the table. The cafeteria goes quiet as everyone turns to watch her walk out. As soon as the door to the cafeteria slams shut the whispering starts as everyone points over at her chair and makes their own assumptions of what happened. Nat and Travis’s fight had gone down in front of the entire school, and you knew just as well as Shauna did what conclusions everyone had been drawing from that. It’s why you had invited Nat to sit with you in the first place, as she usually skipped lunch to smoke behind the bleachers. You wanted her to know that you supported her.

The rest of you sit in wide eyed silence until you exhale loudly and whisper, “Jesus, Shauna.” Shauna tenses next to you and gives you a stiff glare. You return her look for a long moment until she softens against you, giving your hand a quick squeeze in apology.

“Sorry.” She murmurs quietly into your ear. “I’ll talk to her later, promise.” You don’t think she’ll be able to find Nat until Nat wants to be found, but you appreciate the promise nonetheless. 

“I just don’t get what her deal is.” Jackie says, much more relaxed now that Nat had left.

You give her a look of disbelief. “Jackie, her friend just died.” You say.

“It’s not like we killed him.” She defends guiltily. You sigh. You knew that Jackie meant well, but she really had a tendency to focus on whatever affected her the most. She didn’t mean to sound so insensitive in front of Nat, but just didn’t think it through before she said it. 

“What did the principal say about getting a new coach, anyways?” You ask, deciding to let her off the hook for now. Jackie and Shauna both seem grateful for the change in conversation topic as Jackie begins to animatedly describe her meeting.

…

You and Shauna share an amused look as Jeff drones on. “-it's obvious where the connection is.”

“Is it?” Shauna asks dryly. Jeff beams at the slightest amount of attention from Shauna as he turns to talk to her directly. 

“Well obviously it has to be someone connected to Natalie Scatorccio or Mari…” He pauses and turns back to Jackie,” What’s Mari's last name?”

Jackie's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she thinks about it. She looks over at you and Shauna but the two of you sure as hell don't know. “That's not important, Jeff.” She says finally, trying to save face. “Just because they know someone who died doesn't mean they know the killer. I don't think any of us are killers.”

“Yeah, but don't they always say serial killers hide as normal people?” Shauna asks. Jackie and Jeff both give her considering looks as they mull over the statement. Your girlfriend’s edgy attitude was going to get her thrown in jail. You elbow her in the side and she grunts in pain, plastering a smile on her face at your significant look. 

“Definitely not one of us, though.” She says, looking over at you for approval. Oh my god. Somehow that was even worse than before. Jackie looks slightly nervous now as she looks at Shauna, knowing what she was capable of better than almost anyone. 

“Of course it's not one of us. We were watching a movie at Jackie's house last night, remember? We both fell asleep like ten minutes.” You remind Jackie, relaxing at the look of realization on her face. You and Jackie share a concerned look as she comes to the same conclusion about Shauna's consistently morbid attitude as you. 

“Unless it was all three of you.” Jeff jokes, breaking the tension between the two of you immediately. You roll your eyes and Shauna scoffs. The two of you walk off to the comfortingly familiar sound of Jackie berating Jeff for being an idiot. 

“What the hell was that for?” Shauna asks the second you are out of earshot, rubbing at the side of her stomach soothingly. You shoot her s slightly concerned look as you had truly just meant to get her attention, but you can tell by the slight quirk of her lips that she's mostly teasing. 

“Seriously, Shauna?” You ask. She looks honestly confused so you continue. “Serial Killers could be anyone, really?”

She holds her hands out placatingly. “It's true.” She defends. 

“True or not, you can't just say that Shauna. Especially when.” You cut yourself off as you bite at your lip. You sigh. “You need to be careful.”

“Especially when, what?” Shauna asks slowly. You shoot her a slightly guilty look as you shake your head and keep walking. She follows you step for step to her car, not letting up on her questioning as you close the door behind you. 

“Shauna, people think it's you.” You confess finally, just wanting the conversation to end. 

“What?” She asks in utter disbelief. You don't deny the slight relief her disbelief gives you. You didn't truly believe your girlfriend to be capable of such a thing; Well, that wasn't quite true. You believed her to be capable of murder, but you had hoped she wasn't involved in these specifically. 

“They don't have any proof. It's just.” You pause as you try to think of a good way to explain it, but find none. “You're violent, Shauna. You broke Justin's nose at a party last week.” She scoffs. 

“He called you a-” She starts, but stops as you place a calming hand on her arm. 

“I know, Shauna. I know. It just doesn't look good with everything happening right now. I know you didn't mean the serial killer thing either, but you need to watch what you say right now.” You say. She softens at the obvious look of concern on your face, raising her hands to bury her face in them. 

She groans in frustration and you make quiet shushing noises as you move her hands away from her face. You lean forward and press a gentle kiss against her lips. “Hey.” You soothe. “It'll be fine. No one who knows you thinks you did it, okay? Who cares what they think.”

“The police.” She says wryly, but seems to accept the comfort. She smiles over at you and squeezes your hand gently. “Love you.” She says. 

You smile back. “Love you too.”

…

“-and you're sure?” Shauna asks again. You roll your eyes as you wrap your arms around the back of Shauna's neck and rest your head against her shoulder. She wraps her arms around your waist and pulls you tightly against her. You can't help but squeal as she lifts you slightly off your feet, arms clinging tightly to her. 

“Shauna!” You chide, and she laughs as she sets you back down. You smack her lightly on the shoulder as you push yourself away from her. “Brute.” You murmur playfully. 

“Brute?” She asks in disbelief. You shrug. If the shoe fits. Her easy grin falls off her face as she gets more serious. You cut her off before she can ask one more time. 

“Yes, Shauna. I'm sure that I'll manage to not get brutally murdered in the 20 minutes it'll take you to go get Jackie and drive back to your house.” You say. You'd run a little late getting over to Shauna's house and still had to finish getting ready. You weren't sure why Lottie Matthews was still throwing a party three days after your classmate was murdered, but Jackie had insisted that you all go. 

Unfortunately, when it came to your girlfriend it seemed that Jackie got most things she insisted upon. That wasn't entirely fair, you'd readily acknowledge, but you couldn't help but resent her for the hold that Jackie didn't even know she had over Shauna. This was made even more difficult by your own friendship with Jackie. You'd been friends with the two of them for a long time, but you didn't know anyone who knew someone quite as long as Jackie and Shauna did. 

Shauna nods unsurely as she grabs her car keys off the table. She presses a quick kiss against your lips before heading out the door. You breathe out slowly as you try to collect your thoughts. You turn to get the clothes in your bag but pause as the thought strikes you. You grin as you head off to Shauna’s clothes rack instead now that she wasn’t here to stop you; Not that she usually would, but it was much more fun this way.

You’re adjusting the length of the sleeves on Shauna’s favorite flannel when you hear a knock on the door. You roll your eyes as you head down the stairs to answer it, not putting too much thought into why Shauna would knock on the door at her own house. She knocks again as you finally set foot on the ground floor. “She acts like she doesn’t live in the fucking attic.” You mutter as you throw open the door without looking. You peer at the empty doorway curiously, slowly leaning out the door to look around the front of the house. 

You sigh as you lean against the doorway. “I know that was you, Jackie!” You call out. “You’re the only one I know that would think ding-dong ditching is funny.” You wait another minute or so as you look around before trying to slam the door shut; Trying, being the key word, as the door catches on someone's foot. You wince slightly, realizing how hard you’d shut the door, until you catch a glimpse of who the foot’s attached to. Your eyes widen in horror as wide soulless eyes stare back at you from a hauntingly familiar white mask. You scream in utter terror, louder than you’d ever previously thought yourself capable of.

You desperately try to force them back out the door, but whoever’s there is much stronger than you are. Your socked feet slide back against the hardwood floor as you fruitlessly try to get some kind of friction. You jump back entirely as they slip a large hunting knife through the crack of the door and start blindly swiping it. They stumble forward to their knees as the door swings open, obviously not prepared for the resistance to completely disappear and you take the chance to sprint back up the stairs.

You hesitate at the top of the stairs as you hear the loud sound of footsteps coming from the bottom of them. You quickly reach towards the hallway table to grab the lamp sitting there. You whirl around and absolutely chuck the thing at them, pausing to watch in satisfaction as it hits them dead on in the center of their face and sends them falling back down the stairs. You run the rest of the way to Shauna’s room, slamming the door shut as you propped a chair underneath the handle. Her room never had a lock so she tended to just throw the chair in front of it when she wanted people out.

You knew more than anyone how sturdy that chair could be but you knew it wouldn’t keep them out forever. You desperately went diving for the phone sitting on her nightstand. You buried your head in your knees and sobbed when you lifted the phone off the receiver to realize that the phone line had been cut. The loud sounds of the door being hit fill the room and you frantically search for something to defend yourself with. From your position on the floor you can see the end of Shauna’s old hockey stick peeking out from underneath the bed. You quickly crawl across the floor and grab it, rising back to your feet. You stand in the middle of the room holding it over your shoulder knowing that your only hope was to get to them before they got to you.

As they finally manage to break the door down you ready the stick and take a quick swing with all your might. You manage to get a good hit, but aren’t able to see where as you jump back with a painful cry as they manage to get a good swipe at your arm in return. You don’t bother to look as you painfully raise the hockey stick again, but before either of you has a chance to make another attack the loud sound of sirens rushes down the street. You watch carefully as their mask flickers back and forth from red to blue as the lights from the street fill the room. They slowly raise the knife to point it at you, before turning around and sprinting out of the house. 

All of the adrenaline escapes your body as you fall to your knees, still clutching desperately onto the hockey stick and just cry hysterically until the police officer carefully steps through the destroyed door and finally finds you. You stare up at him, unable to stop your sobs as the reality of the situation has finally struck you.  He slowly lowers the gun he has pointed at you and slips it into his holster. “We have an ambulance outside.” He says.

You give him a wild look, not quite cognizant enough at the moment to understand why that would matter to you. “Your arm.” He says slowly, as if talking to a wounded animal. You're reminded of your wound by the sudden throb of pain it emits. You stare at it blankly for a long moment before looking up at the officer and nodding. 

“Yes.” You mutter distractedly. You finally manage to unclench your fingers from the wooden stick, leaving it to clatter against the ground. You rest your hands on your thighs as you try to catch your breath. You manage to force yourself to your feet and stumble towards him and out of the house. As you step out the door you're nearly blinded by the sheer amount of red and blue lights flickering at you. The officer places a hand on your shoulder to lead you to the ambulance. You nearly swing on him reflexively but manage to catch yourself at the last moment. You quietly let him lead you over to the ambulance even as you clearly resent the hand he’s placed on your shoulder.

You stare off into the distance as the emt bandages up your arm, and even manage to smile wryly when he says that you were pretty lucky with the placement: it did no major damage after all, mostly superficial. Lucky. You think, rolling your eyes at the thought. You didn’t feel particularly lucky right now. 

“Hey.” You hear a familiar voice say. You look up quickly, eyes widening at the sight. 

“Van!” You cry out, rushing forward to wrap your arms tightly around her. She reciprocates the motion, pulling you even closer as you start sobbing again. She makes quiet comforting noises as she rubs her hand in circles across your back. 

You hadn’t seen Van all that much since you were a kid, but she was always your favorite babysitter. It was never that formal of an arrangement, your parents had just paid her to watch you for a couple hours every once in a while, but watching horror movies with her on Friday nights had been a highlight of your childhood. You’d been devastated as a kid when Van had joined the police and stopped coming by, but as you pull back to look at her you’ve never been more grateful for it.

You give her a weak smile as you let your arms fall at your sides.  She shifts awkwardly on the balls of her feet as she slides her thumbs into her belt loops.  “Should I call you officer Palmer?” You ask.

“If you don’t mind.” She says with a small grin. She gets a more somber look as she takes in the bandages covering your arm. “I actually need to know what happened in there.” She says. “It was him, wasn’t it?” You nod, not able to fully lift your eyes from the ground.

“He was wearing the mask, at least.” You say quietly.

Van nods again as she pulls out a notepad from her pocket. “You’re the only one who’s lived to tell the tale so far. I’m sorry to make you relive it, but we need to know.” She says apologetically.

“I understand.” You say, almost in a whisper. You’re about to start talking when you hear loud yelling coming from further away. You glance up finally to see Shauna frantically running towards you as an officer chases behind her. You spring up from the ambulance to meet her head on as she goes crashing into you at full speed. The two of you just barely manage to stay on your feet as she sends you careening back a few steps. 

She wraps her arms hard enough around you that she nearly crushes you. You grasp desperately at the fabric of her shirt as you bury your head into her neck. Her hands start patting at your sides trying to find injuries as she finally pulls away to get a good look at you. She grabs at your arm to inspect it, being careful not to further injure it. “Shauna.” You murmur at the devastated look on her face.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N.” She whispers. “I never should have left you alone.” You lace your fingers together and squeeze her hands as you make gentle shushing noises. 

“Hey,” You say. “I told you I wouldn’t get brutally murdered while you were gone.” She laughs wetly, pulling a hand away to wipe pointlessly at the tears still steadily streaming down her face.

“Got me there.” She says quietly.

“Can’t help but notice you got here just after that fucker left.” Van says. Shauna pulls away from you with a stricken look as she turns to face her. 

“Are you accusing me of attacking Y/N?” She spits out, but can’t quite manage any actual anger to go with it. She glances back and forth between the two of you before deciding not to bother with Van as she sits herself next to you and wraps her arms around you. Van watches the two of you with a knowing look before sighing. Van turns to wave off the officer that was chasing after Shauna. 

You watch him walk back to where he was patrolling and see Jackie standing by Shauna’s car outside of the police tape watching the whole scene with an expression of shock and horror. She waves so hard her body shakes with it and you lazily wave back as Van asks another question.

“Do you have a cell phone?” Van asks Shauna. You can’t help but snicker at the question, hiding your face in your uninjured hand. Shauna shares an amused look with you as she shakes her head no.

“What’s so funny?” Van asks. 

“Have you seen Shauna’s car? You think she can afford a cell phone?” You say wryly. Van turns to look over at Jackie who’s still leaning against the car. She shrugs, conceding the point. 

“Why’s that matter anyways?” You ask.

“The phone calls.” Van mutters as she writes something down on her notepad. “What did he say to you on the phone?” She prompts.

“I’m sorry, the phone?” You ask bewilderedly. She stops in her tracks to look up at you.

“You didn’t get a call?” She asks. You shake your head. “That’s weird.” She says, “All the other murders show records of a phone call right before. Just start from the beginning then.”

You start telling the story from the beginning, Shauna leaning heavily against you as she keeps flinching whenever you mention something frightening. Van pauses as she gives you a slightly incredulous look. “You ran up the stairs?” She asks. 

“The back doors busted.” Shauna defends with the promise of violence clear on her face. “Handle doesn’t work. Door doesn’t open.” Van holds her hands out placatingly as she writes it down in her notepad. 

You tell the rest of the story without interruption before you’re allowed to go home. Van insists on getting an officer to follow you around until someones able to contact your parents who are both out of town. You decide to go stay at Jackie’s house as her parents are the only ones actually home.

You climb wearily into the passenger seat of Shauna’s car, Jackie having extremely reluctantly relinquished the front seat given the circumstances. Shauna uncharacteristically takes one hand off the wheel to hold your hand the entire drive to Jackie’s house. You stare blankly out the window as you replay the entire confrontation over and over again in your mind.

… 

You, Shauna, and Jackie share mutually annoyed looks in the backseat of Van’s cruiser. She’d insisted on driving you to school in order to keep you safe. You appreciated the thought, truly you did, but there were few things worse in your mind than being driven to school in a cop car. You can’t hide your smile, however, as Shauna and Jackie bicker quietly next to you over which one of them is taking up the other's space in the backseat. Shauna really was not made to sit in the middle seat but she insisted on being able to sit next to you. 

Van pulls to a stop in front of the school and turns to face the three of you in the back. “Ready?” She asks. You nod unenthusiastically as you wait for her to get out and open the door. You try to slide your backpack onto your uninjured arm but Shauna pulls it out of your hands to carry it for you. You roll your eyes at her but find yourself to be endlessly fond of the action anyway. You’ve barely taken a step off the pavement before you hear a voice call out.

“Shauna! Shauna Shipman!” You hear. You start to turn around but Shauna just drags you forward by the hand as she refuses to even humor the voice. You follow unquestionably behind her towards the entrance, more than happy to get away from the prying eyes of the other students. “Nothing to say about the innocent man you got locked up?” The voice calls out.

Shauna whirls around angrily to face her, sending you a quick apology after she accidentally drags you with her. “I have nothing to say to you Taissa Turner!” Shauna says furiously as she points an accusing finger at her. Tai holds her hands out placatingly but you can tell she’s not all that sincere about it. 

Ah, You thought. You knew all about Taissa Turner, the hotshot reporter that was writing a book in favor of Ben Scott’s supposed innocence. Shauna was furious for days when she found out, and judging by the look on her face you think she might finally get to release some of that tension. You wearily look for Van, who's watching the entire interaction with a curious expression. 

“You’re seriously saying that you still believe Ben Scott is guilty?” Tai asks, baffled. “Not only are there new murders taking place in this town but the next person attacked is your friend? In your house?” Shauna scoffs, incredibly dismissive of anything that Taissa Turner could ever say. Even if you thought privately that she might have a point. Still, you and Jackie stand protectively behind Shauna as you give Tai a dirty look over her shoulder.

“She’s just hoping to write a sequel.” You say dismissively. Shauna sends you a thankful look as Tai scoffs.

“Is this about the book? You know someone was going to write it. Why shouldn’t it be me?” Tai says defensively.

“Hope it made you feel good to mock my father like that.” Shauna spits. “If he hadn’t been murdered your little hatchet job in the press would have done a pretty good job of it, bitch!” 

Tai puffs her chest out with what you're sure would be a truly epic rebuttal had she ever got the chance to make it. Shauna’s fist goes flying into her face, landing with a loud thud as it sends her head bouncing off the van behind her. She looks a little dazed with blood running down from her nose, but you can tell she’s getting ready to swing back when Van swoops in.

“Hey! Hey! Enough!” Van yells as she separates all of you. “Go inside. Now!” You gently tug at Shauna’s arm and she lets you lead her inside, but you can tell she’s not happy about it. You bring her hand up to your face to look at her knuckles to inspect them for damage. You lace your fingers together as Jackie leads you over to her locker.

“I can’t believe you just hit her like that.” Jackie says, but she doesn’t seem upset about it. In fact, when the two of you turn to face her she has a darkly amused grin on her face. 

“She deserved it.” You defend Shauna. Shauna hums in acknowledgement, finally managing to calm down after seeing that both of you took her side. Shauna sighs as she looks down at her feet. You squeeze her hand gently but allow her solitude. She’s always been emotionally distant when she had half a mind to, and the murder of her father was no different. You talk quietly with Jackie and she collects her thoughts.

“Hey,” Nat calls out, running over to catch you. Shauna gives her a scary look as she shifts defensively in front of you. 

“What do you want?” Shauna says, crossing her arms in front of her. You roll your eyes; you had a sneaking suspicion this had more to do with just protecting you. You'd heard how Nat had blown up at Shauna the other day when she'd tried to apologize for what she said at lunch, and had a feeling that Shauna was still hanging on to some lingering resentment. 

“Look.” Nat says, awkwardly scuffing her boot against the ground and wincing at the particularly loud sound it made. “I just… I just wanted to say that we're good, y'know? About lunch, I mean.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Shauna asks, relaxing back against you. 

Nat shrugs. “Hard to hold a grudge when another one of your friends almost gets turned into a pin cushion”. Shauna tenses up again at what she perceives as fighting words, but lets it go as it makes you laugh. You wrap your uninjured arm around Shauna to pull her closer against you as you rest your head on your shoulder to peer at Nat. 

“I could have taken him.” You say with a grin. Nat rolls her eyes, but the affectionate grin on her face is unmistakable. 

“Yeah, real killer you are.” She says jokingly, before turning strangely serious. “Do they know why he came for you?” She asks.  Shauna reaches up to lace her fingers with yours, trying to calm the both of you back down. 

“Nat.” Jackie interjects sternly, giving her a dirty look at the question. The unavoidable tension creeps back in you as you mull over her question. 

“No.” You answer honestly. You pause for a second then say quietly, “Between us?” Both Jackie and Nat nod quickly, Jackie on her part looks pretty shocked that you're willing to talk about it so soon. 

“They said it was pretty different from what they've seen at other crime scenes. Said maybe it was possible that they were trying to get Shauna and I just shocked them or something.” Nat and Jackie exchange a strangely worried look as Shauna tightens her grip on your hand. 

“But, hey.” You say, holding up your injured arm. “Got me out of practice for a while so jokes on him, right?” You relax back against your locker as Jackie goes on a predictable spiel about how difficult she's found it to get a new coach. 

… 

You rub a comforting hand against Shauna’s back as she lets out an aggravated sigh. “I just don’t get why she’s still here.” She mutters angrily. You and Shauna are leaning up against her car watching Taissa Turner doing yet another update about the Ghostface case in front of the school, carefully applied makeup hiding the bruise on her face. Shauna had hit her a lot harder than she’d thought, to the point that even she had winced when she saw the bruise. Your girlfriend was feeling oddly guilty about the whole situation, given that most of her anger had come from how helpless she’d felt the night before.

“Don’t focus on that, Shauna.” You say. She gives you a slightly amused look.

“Should we talk about how Officer stalker is talking her up?” She asks. You sigh. Shauna, while appreciating Van on some level, was getting more and more fed up with how much she was driving by to check up on you. You found it pretty touching, and it did help you sleep better on some level. Van usually left you alone at school for a few hours given that they had another officer here to watch out for Ghostface, but she seemed to stop by more and more to see Tai.

“I think ‘Officer stalker’ has got some pretty good game, honestly.” You say, nudging Shauna. Tai’s finished her recording and seems to be laughing loudly at something that Van’s said, given by the smug look on her face. Shauna rolls her eyes but ultimately concedes the point. Shauna watches Tai for another long moment before pushing off of the car and walking towards her.

“Shauna!” You call out a little frantically, hurrying to fall into step with her.

“No, I know.” She says. “I just want to talk, promise.”

Judging by the look on Tai’s face as Shauna approaches she seems to have the same idea that you did. Tai tenses up like she's waiting for a fight, the easy going smile previously lighting up her face is gone in an instant. Shauna looks as broody as ever as she steps up to her.

“Do you really think Ben Scott is innocent?” She asks seriously. Tai looks surprised, glancing over at you and Van before slowly nodding. 

“You know I do, Shauna. I wouldn’t have defended him if I didn’t seriously believe in his innocence.” Tai says honestly, still tense and unsure. You can tell this interaction is really unsettling her.

“Tell me why?” Shauna asks quietly. Tai opens her mouth and then pauses to consider. You take this as your chance to leave, deciding that Shauna and Tai probably needed to have this conversation by themselves. You place a quick kiss against Shauna’s cheek before heading off into school. Van walks you to the door, but you can tell her heart isn’t in it as she keeps turning to glance back at Tai.

“You’ll get back to her in a second, Casanova.” You tease Van, shifting your bag on your shoulder. 

She gives you a slightly surprised look, but shakes her head. “Shauna already hit her once.” Van defends weakly. You shrug. She probably wouldn’t hit Tai again. Probably.

[spritehouse]

⚠️CW: acting industry shit, mentioned child abuse, sa/csa, drug addiction & drinking, body image issues, disordered eating + eating disorders (with a mention of calories)

actors!moralvez au where spencer has been in the industry since he was a child because he could memorize his lines and thus play more complex child roles, but his "problem" was his awkward shyness, though his father quickly shaped his awkwardness to be charming and basically beat all the traits he couldn't "fix" out of him

but then when spencer starts falls away from his spotlight while cuter, more charming, and conventionally attractive kids take his spot, his father abandons him, leaving him to take care of his mother while trying to navigate the industry alone

so he becomes the tragic, young star. he starts taking jobs wherever he can get them, works himself to the bone, and starts gambling when he gets old enough in order to make ends meet. he eventually starts doing drugs; they help him loosen up and give him that charming personality he's lacked, giving him that one final push to fame, and he doesn't let anyone close enough to see how his lifestyle is destroying him.

and then there's derek, scouted by his mentor after his dad died, making him "the man of the house" and thinking it's his responsibility to take care of his family; acting pays well if you put the work in, buford tells him, and derek has always been dedicated.

it's slow at first, but once he hits his growth spurt and starts building muscle, derek rises to fame fast, and with his fame comes his sex appeal, something the industry and his mentor have no problem taking advantage of.

and at some point, spencer and derek end up working together, and despite both of their mile-high walls and knack for keeping people at arms length, they get close.

derek is always around when spencer is too high, or drunk, or both to get home, making sure he gets to set on time, holding his life together, while spencer is there after those late nights or mornings after his "clients," helping him put himself back together again, or sometimes even getting him drunk enough to forget. and they grow to depend on each other.

until one day, spencer overdoses. he doesn't tell anyone if it was on purpose or not, but everyone has a theory; the public is all over him, and now he's a liability—people's jobs are on the line—if his self-destructiveness kills him, too many people are out of a job, and the industry deems he isn't worth the risk.

so derek has to make the decision to stay with spencer and sacrifice his career or leave him behind, and it's a no-brainer for him, of course he'd stay. if it ends his career, so be it, he knows his looks can get him plenty of other work, but when he tells spencer that, spencer refuses to let him do that; he refuses to let his friend turn to the work that's been destroying him since he was a teenager and he shuts derek out to stop him from sacrificing his life.

and while these two rising stars seem to be having their careers be tragically cut short, another one is rising to take their place: luke alvez.

after getting injured in active combat, luke turned to acting; the adrenaline, the fast pace, and the pressure are a great replacement, but he's still so far behind everyone else. derek and spencer started when they were kids, they were groomed for the public's eye, and he's a 21 year old veteran using acting as an escape the hole of self-pity, shame, and neglecting himself he fell into after getting discharged.

he's not as fit as he was in combat, between the army's rigorous training and recovering from his injury, of course he isn't, but he views it as part of the reason he's so behind. he can't help comparing himself to the people who were in his spot weeks ago—the body derek's been carefully building since childhood and spencer's skinny charm—so he pushes himself. i needs to be more attractive, stronger, better to be half as good as everyone else.

at some point, luke runs into derek who's still desperately trying to get through to spencer, but his career is still largely in tact, and they're both drunk, probably too drunk and end up in luke's apartment.

luke wakes up first the next morning and freaks out because he's afraid he took advantage of derek, who was much drunker than him (it's too easy to drink too many calories, luke has to be careful), which leads to him having a full blown, spiraling panic attack/flashbacks that wakes up derek.

once derek finally manages to talk luke down, luke feels like he owes derek an explanation and tells him everything about the army, his injury, how he hasn't been coping, his fixation on his body, and asks how derek has survived the industry for so long.

and derek answers honestly: he doesn't know, he never imagined to make it this far or live this long. he talks about how he was recruited, how his body was groomed for sexual appeal since puberty, the "sex work" buford had him doing on the side, meeting spencer; once the damn breaks, he can't stop.

their relationship is slow. derek never officially came out, but he's been flirting with people of all genders for years. luke, on the other hand, is more conservative with his sexuality and private life; he still has things to hide, but they're still something.

and then spencer shows up at derek's door one day while luke is over, sober, saying he's trying to make amends, and derek hears him out. he was never mad at spencer, not truly, but it still stings, and what hurts the most is losing what they were and what they could've been because derek has luke now and spencer isn't stable enough for a relationship right now.

so time passes, and spencer gets better. he renters derek's life, and luke's by extension, he gets his career back, and everything's good.

except derek still loves spencer, it's obvious, and spencer is out and he doesn't keep derek up all night with night terrors and flashbacks, he doesn't exercise excessively or count calories, he's good for derek, at least in luke's eyes, and he tells derek as much.

and derek hears all of that and he's like "yeah, i love spencer, but i love you too, and i would really love to not choose"

um and then they're gay and poly and stuff yeah

[drawbauchery]

I heard we were allowed out little conspiracies theories to be set into the wild, so I came running.

*Pulls out the little stool and conspiracy board again* Okay so

I’m thinking we have a SDR2 mind wipe on our hands. No one ever mentions the killing game. Like- ever. They stay away from Kiyo still, but that can just be chalked up to creepy-boiyo. And I’m pretty sure If any of them remembered Nagito they wouldn’t let him be near Kokichi, ever. (Two suicidal evil geniuses being together would create the most catastrophic thing known to man.) and well no one would be around Kokichi. Also, Kokichi doesn’t Lie. Like, ever. In-game he says that he hates lying, and we can guess if there wasn’t a killing game he wouldn’t lie, so…

But then we have the question of why they remember the tragedy… and to that I say they most likely believed they were in the tragedy itself, but they don’t remember any of the killing games. Now the real plot hole in this idea is Tsumugi. She specifically references Cos-pox as being a fake memory, and Kaede agrees. We also have Kiyo talking about the fake memories. Now, this is a problem for my little idea. Cospox and the fake memories are something only from the killing game of V3, and as someone previously mentioned Shuichi and presumably the others know Monokuma by name. My guess is they remember something like Team salmon mode or talent development plan, but not the killing game. It’s shown in those modes the V3 cast has the fake memories, and Tsumugi presumably has cospox.

Now, this explains why Mikan and Junko being around each other isn’t weird here. Neither one remembers the killing games. Or, the AI’s remember but aren’t telling anyone. I’m not sure which (I totally won’t make another ask about it haha)

now, this begs the question of why. And who? I think the former is easier to answer, but this is going to be shaky ground.

it might be that the recovery process toook a turn for the worse in the hospital. We never see anyone talk about what happened in the hospital flashbacks in the main AU, so I’m assuming those memories were wiped as well. Maybe someone found the old footage of the killing games and everyone relapsed, who knows. Point is, that took a turn for the very, very much worse here and someone decided that they needed to take further action to help everyone, so they placed everyone in an updated version of the neo world program, and messed with their memories.

as for who, I think I’ll need to see more of this AU before I can safely answer that. I have my suspiciousions, *cough cough future foundation cough cough* but I’ll leave them aside for now.

*as he says this final sentence, Shuichi comes onstage and drags him away*

Shuichi: I’m so sorry you had to sit through that, he gets carried away.

gonna throw a wrench in your theory by confirming that everyone remembers the killing games :3c the thing is, they're on a therapy trip. i thought they'd mentioned the games on the bus but if they haven't, it's because they're trying not to think about them. but check out the way certain people interact with each other. i think some of the relationships are more than enough to confirm they all remember something happened.

there's also the post about the relationships between the killers and their victims to cement this

there is. a nugget of truth in this theory though. not gonna say what it is though nslfksdnfs

[melanodis]

What's the garden au tell me about it I'm intrigued

@valkyrkinnie feel free to add onto this because I'm braindead atm

just pasting the entire document here to be real

Garden of Afton au or just, "the garden", is just an excuse for every diverging continuity we make up.

The reasoning behind every continuity is that Michael is in a time loop, beginning from the moment Ennard decides to leave its flesh suit and he wakes up on that warm sidewalk.

To get out of this time loop, he's got to fix all the mess his father made by destroying every animatronic related to the incident.

If he dies, he starts over, left with only an incredible sense of unease and deja vu if he goes towards the wrong path once again.

But no matter the continuity, there's always one thing that's always there; the garden.

Before everything, the Aftons had a prize winning garden that Mrs. Afton kept up with mostly.

It's also where she and Elizabeth are buried, with Ballora burying her own corpse and the latter by William.

The garden has always existed, and will always exist no matter its dilapidation.

Commonly, Ballora will be drawn to it and will realize her identity as the late Mrs. Afton.

This all acts as an alternative to Pizzeria Sim; it never happens.

Here's where we get nightmare gas leaky. The time loop? it's fabricated.

At the end of the final, completed loop, Michael wakes up from a medically induced coma he was placed under by Henry. By Michael destroying everyone in this hyperrealistic dream, he frees them from the real world also. They agreed that this would be the end of it.

All Michael remembers is the very last loop that in his mind lasted years, when in reality it lasted about 2 months. Needless to say, he regrets ever signing those papers.

However, there were some loops where Henry seriously considered killing Michael so that he never would've known that this was just a dream.

Loops where he was finally happy. where he brought them together and made them whole. Because at least then, the end goal was still achieved; they could never hurt anyone in the real world again.

And Michael himself would finally have peace.

Michael waking up can ALSO segway into him brutally attacking Henry for this sort of torturous 2 and a half month long nightmare, with Henry agreeing to put him back under for good and they both pass on.

Which THEN segways to Michael accidentally possessing Glamrock Freddy years later while he's in the parts and services protective dome. And Gregory is playing Simon Says on his FACE.

The universe hates Michael so he exists only as a foil to his father. To clean up his mess and ultimately live in his shadow.

So if Michael is here now after dying 6 years ago... so is he.

But Henry could've never even anticipated William returning in the form of Glitchtrap.

The whole time traveling part requires Henry to die here, because then his soul is freed to literally fuck around and find out. Retaining information he's gained from different timelines and continuities, bringing them to others, trying to find *some way* to patch things up. Something typically always goes wrong, yknow butterfly effect and chaos theory bullshit. But he can dream, at least.

It all boils down to "what if he could save them all?" He can't, and he realizes this. but DAMN he will try.

The first thing he does is stop Michael from ever signing those documents. He doesn't need him anymore. There's no point in putting Michael through all that torture again.

He doesn't DESERVE any of that.

Whatever time to quantum suicide to the gay reality.

-

My favorite is when Henry shows up to Fazbear's closing in 1993 to stop William from having a workplace accident (eviscerating himself inside Springbonnie).

William being completely shell shocked because HIS Henry completely denounced ever wanting to see his face again and here he is just, nonchalantly walking up to him. Takes a drag of a cigarette and goes "yeah don't do that".

1st - The actual fear gas experimenting time loop shit. The "canon" timeline.

2nd - Michael getting trapped in The Good Timeline after Henry kills him (Michael refurbishes all the animatronics of his family himself, runs fazbears, etc)

3rd - Henry dies and his soul is freed to fuck around and find out.

Hell, all of this is more just a prologue to everything considering I mostly fuck around with 3rd continuity Henry anyway.

[fallen-knight]

Would love to hear about Vengeance (love hearing anything about Maul), Casualties, and The Dragon’s Ascent!

— @corellianhounds

aww hell yeah! Okay, here we go...

maul fic, as the story currently titled Vengeance was simply named for years before I dusted it off to try rewriting it in 2024, is the beginning of a "what if" Clone Wars AU wherein, through the power of brotherly love, Maul kills Sidious on Mandalore and both Savage and Satine survive. Basically an excuse to give Maul some honest-to-god revenge, force the Mandalorians to resolve their family issues, and make sure Order 66 never happens. My comfort AU, my rules <3

...It also inevitably led to a bit of theory spiraling about the nature of the Chosen One, the concept of Sith'ari, and the bringing of balance, which has given me ideas for a sequel exploring the impact of Sidious' death on the Force and the wider galaxy through both Anakin and Maul's points of view. I'll get to it someday. Probably.

The first sight that greeted him when he awoke was the familiar shape of a Mandalorian helmet, hovering above his bleary eyes. “Lord Maul?” the Mandalorian said. Their tinny vocoder-modulated voice sounded concerned, and it would normally have irritated him, but for some reason he didn’t even mind when they waved their hand in front of his face. “How many fingers am I holding up?” they asked. “Two,” Maul huffed, pushing them away and sitting up carefully. He drew a deep breath and looked around. The first light of dawn had washed over Sundari, illuminating the area; there was the mural, and Sidious’ shriveled remains nearby, reeking of the Dark Side and surrounded by a tense and watchful cordon of red-armored Mandalorian commandos. The Death Watch had moved into the area after the fight, then. “How long was I out?” he asked, getting stiffly to his feet. “No more than half an hour, Lord. According to the security footage, we arrived only a few minutes after your victory. Your brother is in stable condition now, and our best medics are working on-” “My-” Maul staggered on unsteady legs, his mouth going dry as his eyes reflexively widened, glancing first to the area where Savage had fallen to see that it was empty before staring back at the Mandalorian in suspicious disbelief. “He’s- Savage is alive?” “Affirmative, m’Lord.” The Mandalorian reached out and boldly grabbed his arm as he reeled away, and he discovered that, just this once, he was fine with leaning on someone else while he got his wits together. “Lord Opress is in the palace medbay. It was touch and go at first,” they said calmly, “both lungs were punctured and one heart had stopped by the time we got to him - we had to resuscitate him several times - but he’s stable now and pulling through.” “My brother,” Maul said again. He didn’t know what was happening anymore; his head felt so unreasonably light, he could have laughed. He did laugh. A raspy chuckle caught the Mandalorians by surprise, and helmets swiveled to stare as their leader threw out his arms and spun on trembling steel legs, giddy as a child. “My brother is alive,” he cried to the city, “we’ve won.” The Mandalorians understood his triumph, and responded. “Parjai,” they shouted in unison, raising their weapons to the clear sky. Victory. As he crouched down by Sidious' remains, a Mandalorian - by their armor, Rook Kast, he remembered - broke away from a small group of chattering commandos and walked over to stand next to him. "If I may… who was that, Lord Maul?" Kast asked, her helmet tilting to indicate the Sith Lord's remains. "They appear to have been a formidable enemy, yet we had no warning of their arrival." "Darth Sidious." The name hung heavy in the air, though he doubted the Mandalorians would recognize its significance. "Count Dooku's Sith master, and… formerly, mine. The self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith. He came here to challenge my right to Mandalore." Though not the whole truth, it was all they needed to know for now. "A master of manipulation and deceit, but in the end, merely another of our foes who fell to my blade." Maul called Sidious' twin sabers into his hands and let his eyes trace their fine details for a moment, remembering how he'd coveted them as a child. The authority of a god was now in his hands, the old god dead at his feet. He stood up with some effort, hands on his knees, and rolled his shoulders with a grin, sharp teeth glinting in the pale sunlight. “Only the strongest shall rule. That is the way of Sith and Mandalorian alike.” "Aye, m'Lord." Kast nodded in approval as he echoed Vizsla's dying words. "Claiming the title of Mand'alor, and now Dark Lord of the Sith; I dare say none could earn greater respect." The crowd murmured assent. "Bring fuel and oil," he called to them. "Let us send this wretched corpse to hell."

Casualties is a Clone Wars saga that I've been working on since 2019, about sibling bonds, trauma recovery, and giant service lizards.

After Padawan Avir Konshi's life is saved by a trooper who loses most of his mobility in the process, she's informed that he and many other clones who could otherwise recover are slated to be terminated due to expenses. Unfazed, she wages a one-teen war against Republic medical bureaucracy and mortality itself, with the eventual help of her older Master, a jaded former Jedi investigator. The troopers, including her new friend Haze, manage to prove their strategic value as a misfit company of cyborgs and tactical specialists behind desks, and once their legion is assigned to Pijal, quickly bond with the local varactyls as both a means of transport and companions on the battlefield. In their efforts to combat Separatist and Republic plots alike, they come ever closer to the truth behind the scenes of the war...

Battered, bruised, aching all over, he was approaching the last hill. Avir was keeping up easily, spurring him on now and then with a poke in the Force. Haze bit his tongue, looking at the steep slope ahead, but he gathered his strength as they reached it and began to climb. Avir bounced behind, looking around at the blue sky as if she didn't have a care in the galaxy. Haze knew otherwise, and it was part of the reason he let her boss him around so readily. If he could prove to her that he was all right, she'd worry less, and - He tripped, fell on both knees, felt himself slipping back. Avir let him slide. She wouldn't help him unless he asked, and they both knew he would never do that. Haze grunted, grabbed a root, clawed his way a meter or so up, began to slip again. He turned and looked down at the ground. It would be a nasty fall. He twisted around, looking up. Still farther to the top. "Are we going to be here all day?" the Padawan said aloud. Haze furrowed his brow, lunged for a steep stair-set of boulders, and pulled himself up with a clatter. "No," he gasped triumphantly, clambering up. When the rocks ended and he found himself facing dirt and matted grass again, he winced. "Can't we take a breather though?" "Once you've reached the top," Avir said merrily. Haze blinked - she was above him now. He said nothing, just moved on, kicking his toes into the dirt for a better grip, grabbing plants now and then. And then suddenly he was at the summit, looking all around at the sprawling fields and towns, the hills and half-mined mountains of Pijal. Avir was sitting in the grass, staring at it all with a distant look in her eyes. "It's beautiful," she said. Haze couldn't bring himself to think of anything but tactical advantages and disadvantages when looking at the terrain, which areas were of strategic value and which presented a weakness, but he nodded, and then sat down, content to be there in the sun. The enemy could turn up at any moment, so while they had this opportunity to rest, he was going to take it. "Lazy Haze," she smirked as he flopped back in the grass with a sigh, arms behind his head. He grinned and shut his eyes. "Casualties need their rest," he said. Avir sighed, somewhat impatiently, and went silent. Haze opened an eye to see her wearing his helmet that she'd been carrying. He chuckled. "Like the view?" "No. It's confusing," Avir said, muffled. "Every time I blink, it does something weird. Like -" Her voice cut off as the helmet apparently went into silenced mode. Haze grinned wider, sat up, then lay down on his front, studying the insect life in the grass around them. He was so absorbed in tracking the progress of a beetle that he barely noticed when Avir yelled his name. Getting no response, she threw the helmet. It bounced across the ground towards him, and he jumped, scrambling up and looking around wildly, half expecting to see vulture droids screaming in on top of them. "Don't do that," he said, scowling at her once the panic had subsided. She ducked her head, looking genuinely remorseful. "Sorry, I won't. But a transmission just came through - we've got to head back."

And The Dragons' Ascent is my rewrite/expansion of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, exploring the implications and themes that I was disappointed to find the game kinda did nothing with, and altering a few major plot points in an attempt to do the characters more justice. Also the Zonai are literal ancient aliens with their own motives and ambitions now. (You're welcome, Nintendo.)

“Good people, pray attend,” the King called brightly. “Magister Mineru and myself will now grace you with a ballad of the Zonai, a dance heaven-sent, that this evening be brightened even further.” As whispers ran around the hall, Rauru muttered something to one of his attendants, who nodded and slipped away to speak to the musicians. He cleared his throat, and took a few deep breaths as the lights dimmed and a slow, rhythmic drumming began. Sonia reached up and patted his back reassuringly. Mineru stepped out onto the floor below the dais, poised and sharp-eared, and lowered her jade owl mask over her face, then nodded to her brother. Slowly, gaining confidence with each note, he began to sing. Zelda and the court watched with bated breath as the masked Zonai took one step forward, then another, then spun, the ribbon that floated above her shoulders and down her arms like long sleeves rippling hypnotically. As Rauru’s voice picked up, the instruments rose again to join in, and Mineru took another two steps, swaying to the beat. She spun again, sharply, flaring her arms out and extending the ribbon’s ends with them, the gold markings glowing softly in the flickering light of the dimmed braziers. As she twirled across the floor, the spinning sleeves formed the rippling shape of a flower bud around her; then she slowed and dipped her arms downward, the flower unfurling. Rauru reached the end of the stanza and began again, and it took Zelda a moment to realize that he was singing backwards - effortlessly reversing the syllables and melody, in an otherworldly chant - a sound she recognized, she realized, as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She looked over to Sonia, but the queen was smiling serenely, silently enjoying the performance. Even the stern young chamberlain was drawn into the beauty of Mineru’s dance, wide-eyed and grinning. Zelda exhaled and tried to push memories of the cave from her mind. Mineru furled the ribbons around herself again, reversing her movements with an uncanny smoothness until she stood at the foot of the dais once more. The pattern of forward-and-back repeated a few more times, Rauru’s tune subtly changing and picking up speed, the court musicians doing their best to follow along as the Zonai sang in words none of them knew. Mineru’s movements shifted from stanza to stanza as she swayed theatrically, snapping her arms wide and shaking her mask at the audience, who rippled with half-fearful applause. At last she spun to a stop and froze, rapt, in the center of the floor, arms held to the sky. Rauru held a long note that wavered and faded away, and she exhaled and bowed deeply, throwing her arms wide and trailing the ribbons with them. The braziers were undimmed a moment later and Mineru stood and removed her mask, the court’s tense silence giving way to enthusiastic clapping and delighted murmurs. “A wonderful performance, love,” Sonia said to Rauru as the king sat back down. He mopped his forehead with a napkin and smiled. Zelda took the chance to lean over to him. “That song was… beautiful, what was it about?” she whispered, unable to drive the sounds of the reversed chanting in the cave from her mind. “And how do you sing like that?” “Practice,” Rauru said, a touch smugly. Sonia rolled her eyes. “It’s an old ballad of the Zonai,” he amended, “telling of the early days of our civilization. It’s sung forward and back as a way to instill balance, and the reversed sections have… well, a hidden meaning of their own.” “Fascinating.” Zelda filed the information away to look into later, and found herself wishing once again that Purah and Robbie - and Link, most of all - were here to lose their minds over the unveiling of history with her.

Thanks so much for the tag and ask! I really appreciate the interest and the invitation to ramble about my silly guys. <3

[stardoc676]

If your still doing asks for the Ogata AU, how do you think he would feel if the viewer started to feel genuine affection for him? Like Stockholm syndrome finally kicked and they started reciprocating hugs and started kissing him back. Would he get bored of the viewer because there's no more thrill or would he be relieved and accept it?

Ogata Yandere Au! And my takes on Stockholm syndrome

I really like when people ask about syndromes or disorders. As some may know; I'm currently studying psychology and these kind of subjects inspire me a lot.

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

If we want to talk about Stockholm syndrome we need go further into what causes that kind of reaction. Frist of all; the Stockholm syndrome is not part of the ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) nor the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) which are the basic books of mental disorders and health problems.

But...Does that mean it doesn't exist?

Absolutely not! it does exist. Its just that the title it has is kinda vague for some institutions to actually consider them as a disorder or syndrome. (and some lack of clinic evidence). BUT we do have some similar things on the ICD-10 that look alike. In the subcategory: Severe stress reaction and adjustment disorders. (point F43.0 if u want to search it) there's this thing named Reaction to acute stress which is basically how someone react to situations of stress or trauma, where ppl usually find a way to cope the unsettling feeling with non desire to fight back or bewilderment.

Why am i bringing this? Because it leads to this next point:

When someone is in a situation like the viewer (victim of a captor) there are three factor that must occur for the Stockholm syndrome to appear: 1) the victim must be captive for a long period of time 2) the victim and the kidnapper must spend personal time together 3) the kidnapper must treat the victim with respect or at least not physically abuse them or verbally threaten them.

As you may see, and if you like the content i make about this AU, the third rule is broken. Ogata treats the viewer with violence and verbal abuse. the thing that may happen, rather than the Stockholm syndrome, is a Learned helplessness (which is basically just submission to the upper force, in this case; Ogata) and he loves this reaction!!!

Now. in the case that magically the Stockholm syndrome kicks in; Ogata may just kill the viewer. Just like in the manga where he kills everyone that claims to like or love him. I really don't think he copes well with affection. For now i may say is a defense mechanism (Reaction formation specifically; from Freud theory).

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

Thats all! sorry if its a lot of text, i read a lot about this subjects and others for my classes. i don't know if its too much(?) sorry if it is. And again thanks for the questions. Feel free to ask about other stuff like this!

[bungoubongoboys]

Thoughts after BSD Season 5

(spoilers ahead)

1. Fyodor is alive

Fyodor has been one of the driving villains and I don’t believe that even his defeat at Meursault is the end of him, especially since all we see is his arm. Further, Sigma was able to touch him and live.

While Sigma is currently unconscious, due to having taken all of the knowledge in Fyodor’s mind into his own, there are several possible ways for him to return. This includes him being able to process through all of the information due to having so little life experience (only three years of memories), and possibly receiving help from Ango and/or Chief Taneda with their own information based abilities.

Back to Fyodor. We still, after all this time, do not know his ability. But now Sigma does—assuming he can wake up. Which means the moment is perfect for a big reveal of Fyodor’s true ability. Would it truly make sense to set up such a big reveal for an already-dead character?

Lastly, Asagiri very rarely kills off significant characters (at least not permanently). So I really doubt we’ve seen the last of Fyodor.

2. New Agency Members and Allies

Ok, so this is exciting! I think there are gonna be a looootttt of new Agency members very very soon (in the aftermath of…the aftermath?). Namely Lucy (officially) and Sigma, but tangentially Aya and Bram (they may or may not be “official” ADA members, but will be closely related). Fitzgerald probably won’t ever officially join the ADA, but he will have established himself more closely as an ally for them. Similarly, the remaining Hunting Dogs will remain distinct from the agency, but I doubt they’ll just disappear after their significance in this last arc.

3. Unresolved aspects

Most things were (seemingly) wrapped up really well with season five/vol 24. And yet…

- Fyodor’s body wasn’t seen (I won’t accept he’s dead until it’s cut into pieces and ritually slated and burned)

- The immediate aftermath of Fukuchi’s death and Bram’s restoration is fully unknown (before the ‘2 hours later’ bit); what happens to the vampires? To the page? To the One Order?

- Fukuzawa’s grief and the aftermath of it, both for him personally and for the agency

- The page—was it fully used? If so, is it powerless now? What happened to it?

- Full “resolution” of the arc, bringing everyone back together

- Did Chuuya get the vampire teeth off?

…

- What the fUCK was that “2 hours later” scene?????????

4. The “two hours later” and other personal theories

**Disclaimer that everything after this point is my own personal theories

- The two hours later scene was absolutely wild, and I don’t have too many theories yet, but it seems most likely that the page (or a page of the book) was used to alter reality yet again, potentially creating an AU? Idk but those outfits are insane and I love them

- The time between Dazai’s “death” and his appearance to Fyodor—Chuuya absolutely was concerned about Dazai and helped (at least partially) carry him to the landing for Fyodor; the idiot insisted on walking by himself to not appear weak in front of Fyodor, but before that? He absolutely was leaning hard on Chuuya (and after too)

- Sigma and Atsushi—so, it’s easy to lose track of in the many twists of Bungou, but the overall story is still moving towards finding the book, in its entirety, rather than just a singular page.

Back in Season 2, Fitzgerald was told by Fyodor that Atsushi was key in finding the book. This still hasn’t been fully explained. Now, many have noticed the similarities between Sigma and Atsushi. In particular—their unique, two-toned eyes. Additionally, Atsushi lacks much background in the same way as Sigma—we know very little about him before the orphanage, or even how he came to the orphanage.

The only pre-orphanage event we know of is from Dead Apple, where Atsushi is shown to have been experimented on by Fyodor and Shibusawa (before killing Shibusawa). But where was he before that? How did they get him? Well…if Fyodor had one page…

I think Atsushi himself, like Sigma, was written out of the Book. Created to play a role he had no idea about from the start. And why is he key to finding the book? Because Atsushi himself is a product of it. He is fundamentally connected to it in a way no one else is (until Sigma).

This also contributes to my theory that Fyodor is not truly dead. He has his own motives, apart from the Decay of Angels, and would use the book for his own purposes (to effectively become unstoppable, though he’d enjoy any attempts to fight against him). He’s nowhere near finished yet.

Anyways this was way too long but AHHHHH waiting till February for the next Manga chapter is going to kill me

[room217prayer]

Hofas spoilers and thoughts

Sooooo, yesterday I finished reading Hofas, and I have a lot of thoughts.

A lot.

Some bad, some good, some neutral, but nonetheless, here we go:

The first half of the book was better than the second half. Too many plots going on and it felt rushed. At some points and moments, the characters and story didn't even feel like themselves, lost in the writing that pushed the narrative.

I'm incredibly bitter about the Autumn King (I hoped for him to be a more Machiavellian villain instead of a linear one - and a pretty unclever one, which was a bummer) and even the Avallen King.

Cormac deserved more and Sjm fumbled him so hard. Instead of "killing" him in the last pages of Hosab she should have brought him in the third book, because all the time they were on the Island he would've been such a good asset. AND! HE SHOULD'VE HAD BEEN THE ONE TO KILL MORVEN IF ANYTHING!

Still bitter about him and his fate (spoiler: until I see his body I won't believe he's dead, if you want my Delulu theory: he is alive, he winnowed himself before the big explosion, but he's in a comatose state so that's why he's not present in the final battle uu) and overall he deserved better and if you're wondering: Am I really close to writing an AU where he's present? OF COURSE, I AM THAT CLOSE TO DO SO.

I love Lidia. I love Ruhn. I... don't really love them together. The way Sjm made them happen didn't make me enjoy them as a couple. In Hosab I was ready (even though my otp with Ruhn is with someone else haha) to fall in love with them, but Hofas failed to do so. Yes, I've read the bonus chapter and I still don't love love them as a couple. Yet I'm happy Sjm didn't go with the killing of the adoptive parents, which is what I was fearing she was going to do - especially since Pollux kidnapped her children and killed some people in doing so - buuut... I have mixed feelings. I wished it was an open-ended deal: Lidia began to focus on herself - finally being free from everything - and her children + their family before jumping with both feet in a marriage with Ruhn - since they too had their... difficulties, so to speak. This is only a personal preference, nothing more.

With that said: I preferred how Lidia character was handled in Hosab than in Hofas. Again, it's only a personal preference of mine. The same with Ruhn and other characters.

Ithan, baby, your plot was rushed too, and at the same time I did enjoy it, but I was still going gggggnnnn in certain moments, because, again, the last part of the book felt so rushed.

Bryce, oh Bryce. It was a Love/Hate relationship. Full of high and Low. More low than anything, but still. AND (rant about Hosab) SHE HAD NO RIGHTS in doing what she did with Emile. And Hofas didn't sell me one moment for her caring about him (now Cooper her "adoptive brother"). NOPE. NOT AT ALL. And again: Cormac should've been alive and be included in the whole plot. He had every right to at least have a chance to speak to him. To let them find a connection and growth together and be the ones to keep Sophie's will/memory alive.

Hunt, the "son" of Hel. That was something that I liked and at the same time: eh. Too rushed, but I'm hopeful for the fourth book. Even if it seems they closed that door. (Yes, I have mixed feelings for him too, in some moments I loved him in others... mmmmmmm)

Tharion, Flynn, Declan and Ithan best pack ever. I actually like Tharion with Sathia. I'm hopeful about that, but if he ends up (or Tristan) with Ariadne I won't be mad. Sigrid deserved better than what she got. (Her character at least).

Nesta, baby, I love you so much, you don't know how happy I was to be reading your chapters and your bonus ones (especially when she loves listening to the music) were my favorite to read. BUT. Be free from the NC, please. Azriel, you're on thin ice. Rhysand, you've fallen deeper and deeper. Cassian... eh. (Still, the moment Nesta said Bryce was worse than the Asteri/Daglan I was: yeah, and MMMMMMMMMMMM side-eyeing the IC) and do I want to dig deeper in this series? Yes. Is it that deep, who knows, I'll make it that deep.

What happened to Viktoria? Will we ever know? And what about the slaves and the "secondary" race/people. I guess the fourth book will touch that? Because... at the moment it seems like the big door is closed, but who knows.

I have more to say? Yes, but for now I will end this rant and rambling here, hahaha.

Overall: I liked it. It was a good read. Not great nor bad, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

omg!! plz tell us about ur fnaf au!!

I have been let off my leash again!!! Okay so I want to preface this with what the state of FNAF lore was like when I started working on this:

Started working on this between the release of FNAF4 and Sister Location, ended shortly after the reveal of Michael's "I'm coming to find you"/Robot spaghetti endings.

Back when the Puppet was still using He/him pronouns and we had limited knowledge about Charlie/Henry, etc. past the stuff from FNAF: World and I think the Silver Eyes novel.

This was still firmly at the tail end of people switching from calling Purple Guy Vincent in their AUs to using William Afton because of the books.

Very little of this will match anything even remotely canon including names.

So the AU was what I called the 'Afton Siblings AU':

Basic premise: None of the Afton children died. They still went through deeply traumatic shit and grew up under their father's thumb until he got arrested for the Missing Children's Incident, released, and then fucked off into the ether.

Michael: 26, he works as the nighttime security officer at their Fazbear's location. When he was 13 he stuck his brother's head into Freddy's mouth on his birthday as a prank after treating his brother like shit in the wake of their mom leaving them, and Caleb nearly died. Their father ended up sticking his own arm into the mouth of the animatronic and breaking his hand very badly, but kept Freddy from crunching all the way through Caleb's skull and killing him. Once William healed up, he brought Michael back to the restaurant and killed all of Michael's friends to make a point. Michael has been in charge of taking care of his siblings ever since.

Bailey (Baby): 23, the tallest of the kids, which is something she delights in literally holding over her brothers. She works as their Fazbear's location's mechanic. She keeps the animatronics running and it the only one who is aware that the suits aren't just haunted, but that the bodies are inside of the suits as well.

Caleb (Crying Child): 18, he works as a server at the Fazbear's location he once almost died at when he was a little kid. He forgave Michael years ago for the incident and he has the best relationship with the animatronics because the echo of his childhood trauma is still lingering in the pizzeria as Golden Freddy. (Think Stone Tape theory)

The Afton kids are all pseudo-adopted by Henry when shit goes down, and he makes sure that they have jobs and bought them their childhood home when everything goes tits up and their father is in the wind. They all call him 'Uncle Henry' and he doesn't hold what William has done against them, but none of them have ever directly talked about that with Henry. They all live together and are just trying to keep things at the pizzeria calm and under control as their father keeps, somehow, going around and continuing to rack up his body count.

However, I got distracted before I ever fully fleshed out this AU by some side characters and their extremely unhinged sex life. So hey, y'all remember Jeremy?

Jeremy Fitzgerald: 25 forever, died in 1987 when the Mangle bit through his skull, taking one of his eyes and causing catastrophic brain damage. As with all things in a Fazbear's location, he could not simply stay dead, and Fazbear Entertainment dug up his corpse (or perhaps never let his body be buried in the first place, he's not sure) and sat him back in the security office to continue doing his job after death, and uh, to his great displeasure, yes that absolutely worked. He is stuck in a haunting loop like the animatronics and continues to do his job for many years.

Nightmarionne/the Puppet/Net/Marion: Looks like the normal puppet during the day/to other people, but to Jeremy, he looks like Nightmarrionne because Jeremy can now see how he's been twisted and warped by his need for vengeance. However, he normally puts that aside to care for the 'children'. Somehow, pre-FNAF6 I had decided that he would grow and be more fully sapient than the rest of the animal-suit-bound animatronics and I was accidentally right about that.

Jeremy and Net start off very contentiously, because Net thinks that Jeremy stole the 'gift' of life after death somehow, which would tie him back to 'The Man' who the animatronics know as their murderer.

Jeremy, of course, has no fucking idea what he's talking about. He still gets tortured about it though.

Years pass and eventually Jeremy's brain kind of rewires to the pain of being tortured, especially because no matter what Net does to him (or the other animatronics cause he does end up in a suit more than once), it's all temporary. Net eventually explains to him about the children, the gift, the murders, and they (as essentially the only adults in the building) try to look after it and the other suits.

Jeremy pops a boner while Net's playing with his offal one night and the rest is pretty gory history with them genuinely falling in love and having a very healthy and trusting relationship-- where half of their sex is body horror but, shhh 🤫

All is fine and dandy until their location gets marked for re-opening and Henry sends Michael to go to that location and check it out, where he meets Jeremy, finds out their location is also haunted, and Jeremy learns that because he's haunting his own corpse, he's not actually bound to the same rules as the animatronics. He can leave the building, stay up after 6am, and etc. he just hadn't because he was so conditioned by the others he never tried.

Jeremy befriends the Afton kids not knowing about their father, and that creates further conflict down the line when William comes back into town for some reason.

(he also has a very weird threesome with Michael and Net at one point, but you know, that's not important)

(Baily also makes Net a strap but that's also not important)

I spent... more time writing Jeremy/Net porn than I want to admit to, frankly, and this fic eventually started to be adapted into my Everrealm Amusement Park story that I also never finished.

[rangercorpstherapy]

Here was my theory about Arazan’s Wolves. Yes, John Flanagan said Alyss is dead and would stay dead. Royal Ranger is my favorite book, her death made the great ending possible. I was sad Alyss died, but it worked well for the plot. Now Will has not had any character development at all since (and let’s be honest, Maddie hasn’t either) so to bring Alyss back would be a great way to change and grow him as a character. Here were my reasons as to why it was possible:

1. No body.

This one is not the best, given the givens, but an inn fire could not have burned hot enough to completely incinerate a body.

2. The inn was likely partially made of stone, which was common in the area (South Araluen, this will be important later) so as the fire flared up in front of her, she could have fallen through the floor and a combination of roof beams and the stone walls could have protected her.

3. If she was alive, why didn’t she go back home to Will? Head injury causing amnesia and massive change in personality (will be important later)

4. She was in Southern Araluen, very near Celtica where the sorceress was. Not too far to walk.

5. The sorceress controls Wargals. We know from Siege of Macindaw that Alyss was susceptible to hypnosis, and her head injury could have changed her enough to make her even more receptive to the mind control magic system in the books to control Wargals.

6. Head wounds can cause severe changes in personality making Alyss want to rule the world.

7. To rule the world, what one has to do is this: control the Wargals to make the locals mine silver for you, buy a bunch of land in Gallica, take over Gallica, and from there take over the world.

8. The Sorceresse’s name. Arazan. In Nihon-Ja, because the locals couldn’t pronounce her name, Alyss went by “Ariss-san” pronounced identically to Arazan.

Personally I think my theory was far better than the book itself. Comments or questions?

I've never been a fan of 'return from the dead' scenarios in general. but honestly, I think it perhaps could work for in this scenario. Perhaps also because arazan's wolves is set a few books after the royal ranger so the twist doesn't feel as cheap. imagine if will and maddie came back home after the entire jory rhul thing just for halt to be on his doorstep and be like 'uhm your dead wife is alive and evil now, sorry.'

I love the idea of alyss becoming an antagonist with no way to ever get her back to her 'normal' state, which would mean that she would have to die or they will never be together again. and I love traumatizing will further than he already is and also indeed bring some much needed character development.

what i would change about your au is maybe the world domination plot point.

Alyss survived a fire, we can safly assume she will have some pretty bad scarring all over her body and/or face. from the the sorcerer of the north we know the people of araluen aren't the most accepting of people with physical differences. so this alyss who is very badly scarred, has no idea where or who she is and is also being ostracized by the communities she asks for help leaves the country.

maybe she saves a direwolf or a direwolf saves her which leads to her forming connections with them or mind control she's unaware of. this would be the first time after the fire incident she would feel loved and safe. she can create a stronghold in the mountains somewhere in celctica were she can live in peace because at this point she way to traumatized by people, and just let her dire wolves kill everyone who comes to close which would in the end lead to the same thing that happens in arazans wolves; will gets called to fix their issues, and angst ensues.

the similarities between arazan and the ariss-san is SUCH a cool observation. it would mean that alyss, somewhere deep down, can n remember her past, but it's distorted and layered in contexts she can't understand. ouch.

But how do you see this ending on the evil alyss route, who kills her? does will try and can't bring himself to do so which means madelyn has to step in? what happens after?

[katyspersonal]

For Fausefka!

9. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

For Henriett!

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

12. If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

For Fauxsefka

9) Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

She used to, specifically the idea in my mind of her being the initiator behind obliterating Rom's authority in the Choir after having learned that she "allowed Micolash to get away" and even has been hiding his secrets! It was about the way she was very radical on "choir bad mensis good" and never allowed Rom to defend her point. It reminded me of a certain kind of people that is impossible to debate! Later though, not only her taking the lead clashed with Yurie and Ebrietas being literally right there, but I've found a better way to utilise her strong religious (???) position in a story! Though, perhaps, how these conflicts tend to go will find another way to manifest in the story later?

10) Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

No :> And never again. In fact, the big contributor in my admiration for her IS how I could never be her! I always write nearly poems about a type of Soulsborne character that has the 'courage' to transcend even the very basic norms of morality and humanity for greater good, and the moment I've learned Miyazaki called her 'heroic' I could tell why. I am more of a "coward" in this regard. To the better or worse? It is hard to tell. I just always envied the kind of courage that allows to not only overcome the peer pressure entirely, but even your own conscience. I am more like real Iosefka, quietly hoping and researching for the "compromise", unable to do something drastic.

For Henriett

11) How did you “fall in love” with this character?

When I've learned about the implication of her having once been the part of the Healing Church, and then abandoning it to be a hunter, not unlike Gascoigne! This character tells a story without a single line of dialogue, just with her items, set and summon locations! Say all you want about the fan-wiki that inserts their """unasked for""" theories within the objective facts, but in my earlier days THAT was what made me pay attention to it! xD I love the character that can see through the cracks of what they've previously knew and take action! Perceptive type that is not afraid to strongly change to the better, and heck, even 'betray' the friends that choose to live in lies.

12) If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

There are a few stories I'd love to put in a proper fanfic form! Her life as Healing Church hunter alongside Alfred, and how they've started to research more on people of the past and ended by opposing sides of the "conflict", that would also include prologue/childhood memory of her first having a hunch as a young teen together with Amelia. The story about her and Iosefka trying to contact 'the first hunter stuck in the dream, or so the legend goes' through the weird mirror ritual but it backfiring terribly and them having to get out from Nightmare of Mensis (actually has a thing I even consider 'spoilery' hahahaha). AU-ish story where not only Bloody Crow never kills her, but even gains some sort of 'influence' in his covenant to recover Cainhurst from the shambles, and she is caught between his ideas and Eileen's (more about what the heck am I talking about here ( x )). Her trying and failing to fit within the League!

She is just such an interesting character to work with.. Very cool backstory potential, very vivid image of her personality in my mind! Thank you for asking about the girls!

[bungobble-my-balls]

What if Fyodor possessed Sigma wouldn't that be crazy hahah

So with the Jesus allegory from the last episode he doesn't get completely reincarnated, but a copy of himself is made within Sigma from the information transfer, and it's almost like he's reincarnated.

OK hear me out

I don't think this is actually what's going to happen with the anime, but I DO think this plot is plausible enough that it could happen in one of bsd's many canon alternate timelines.

So you know how Fyodor did the whole 'help me I'm innocent and the real Fyodor has taken over my body 🥺' stchick to trick Sigma? OK so in this scenario let's say that's actually foreshadowing.

Fyodor's ability, although I'm not exactly sure what it is, based on theories seems to involve him being able to make another version of himself. Some people even believe he can put a version of himself inside of someone to kill them from the inside (I don't have the exact reasoning but there are theories just go with it).

After Sigma uses his ability on Fyodor to gain EVERY one of Fyodor's secrets and everything about him, he passes out from information overload as we know. What if in this coma state, Sigma and Fyodor's abilities are combining (Sigma gaining all of Fyodor's knowledge, Fyodor putting a version of himself inside of Sigma), and this creates a version of Fyodor created just from the knowledge Sigma gained of him. This version takes over the body, and when 'Sigma' wakes up its actually a new version of Fyodor (especially because Fyodor would be made of more knowledge than Sigma considering their lifespans, so Fyodor's consciousness could be more powerful).

So it's not like a ghost possession situation, it's an ability possession similar to what happened with Shibusawa.

So 'Sigma' walks out of Mersault, maybe during whatever chaos happens in the 2 hours, and sees Nikolai still holding the original Fyodor's arm.

Nikolai is shocked to see Sigma alive and awake, but then soon finds out that it's actually Fyodor (or a copy of him) in Sigma's body. Fyodor doesn't know about any events that happened before the information transfer, so he doesn't know about Dazai getting shot, Chuuya and Dazai's plan, or his original self dying. So Nikolai fills him in on that.

At that point, Fyodor realises he'll need to stay underground again for some time before he can get back at Dazai and continue his mission. It's helpful though that everyone believes he's dead and that he looks different, since people won't be looking for him.

So Fyodor and Nikolai go underground together this time, because with the DOA now in shambles Nikolai is Fyodor's only ally. And Sigma is currently trapped in his body, but in a limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness. His own conscious is in his body being relayed information over and over to keep him in an overloaded state.

Also for this AU Fyolai are still repressed homosexuals (Nikolai a little less after his post Fyodor death speech but still repressed enough), because even if I'm putting Sigma through a body possession plot I'm not gonna have his body be in the middle of Fyolai kissing I wouldn't do that to him.

Fyodor intends to find a way to get a body for himself, and they bring along Fyodor's arm and find a way to attach it to him again as a start (I thought about a Mary Shelley character having an ability to do this, but I forgot she already exists so I'm still thinking about how they'd do this).

I can also imagine Fyodor using Sigma's appearance to fuck with Dazai as a part of his plan later on. Maybe he takes more of his acting classes and even pretends to be Sigma at some point in the future.

[littlecactiguy]

@yellowmagicalgirl

Rather than add onto our post again, I decided to write out what's been simmering in my thoughts in a Harrow the Ninth-inspired study, with Penny in Gideon's position in Ruby's head.

Ruby, like Harrow, locked her Cavalier away in her head with help (I sort of imply the brain surgery, but don't actually describe it here).

ngl I'm not entirely sure how the end of HtN would go in this au. I do like Penny ending up in a position similar to Kiriona at some point, though that's also largely due to me really liking the idea of inserting Copper in as a Nona (which I can concede is partial bias toward my own oc for Reasons) and them perhaps interacting.

Except that begs the question of, if Ruby's not in her body, then where'd she go? (talk to Maria in the Tomb maybe...)

(I also really like your idea about Ruby being speedy, especially bc it also kind of reflects her semblance. Though I'm not as well-versed in tlt theories - I have never been more frustrated that I left my copies of the books back with my family some states away.)

Anyways, here's a short(ish) study in the 2nd Person from Penny's POV (also the first time I think I've tried 2nd person pov, so that was fun)

Ruby.

I love you. I have always loved you. I always will.

I will do anything for you. I did everything for you.

I would do it all again.

So, why did you lock me away?

I know I’m not…I was never as good as you, as good as the others. I tried my best, but I…

I thought…

Do you not love me back?

I don’t understand. It was enough. My soul. We did it. You became a Lyctor, and it was enough. You lived.

Cinder didn’t.

It was worth it.

Then you sought her out. The one who helped Cinder, who lied to our faces, pretended to be our friend, and—

I don’t understand, Ruby. I’ve been trying to. It’s all I can do, inside this tomb you’ve made for me. Emerald tried to—

She and Cinder almost succeeded in—

And yet you—

She could have killed you. I watched. I fought her. I fought you.

You looked in the mirror when it was done. After they found you where you lay unconscious in that cold, dark prison. After they interrogated Emerald on what she had done and she replied, only what she asked me to do. After they healed you. After they tried, and failed, to free me.

You looked in the mirror. My eyes looked back at you.

You didn’t remember me. You still don’t.

We were together almost our whole lives and you threw it all away.

I loved you.

I still do.

But I…

Everyday since they brought you here, you struggle. You may have been faster, but you never had my strength, and now you’ve rejected it. You lift the blade they gave you, but it’s not enough. Not to deflect the General’s attacks. Not to parry his sword away. Your speed has kept his blade from your heart so far, but it can’t forever.

I know you fear he will kill you. I can feel it. I could have protected you. I swore I’d always protect you. Even before the vow left my lips.

You were the first thing I ever saw on the Ninth. I was alone. My father put in me in that pod and sent it away. He didn’t even put in coordinates. He didn’t know of anywhere I’d be safe. He hoped.

And I arrived on the Ninth. Months and months later. I mapped the stars that passed outside the only window I had on the journey. I wondered if they’d be the last thing I ever saw before my body finally deteriorated enough that I would be lost.

Except I arrived on the Ninth. I remember seeing its form grow bigger and bigger in that little window. I remember being relieved I would crash, because the journey would finally be over then, and I wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

And I wasn’t, just not how I thought.

It was terrifying, seeing the entry panel of the pod be jostled, my father’s last work, his sealing of it, being broken. Then, you got it open, and our eyes met.

You commented on mine being so bright so quickly I didn’t have the chance to say the same about yours.

No one had ever said anything like that to me before then. No one besides my father had ever talked to me before then either. No one on the Ninth would talk to me, not like you did. Not even your Uncle Qrow, though he was a little better than most.

You meant the world to me, Ruby. You still do. You always will.

I was meant to protect you.

Why won’t you let me?

My strength could be yours. My resilience. Every sword I wielded, I did for you.

Your arms tremble as you try to hold one now. You look at the General across the training arena. We both see the cold calculation in his eyes. They’re green, like mine. They aren’t his. We’ve both wondered who they once belonged to.

I wonder if that soul is like me. I hope they aren’t.

You told me, once, my world would never be a the littlest of windows ever again.

You lied.