#this devolved by my original point still stands

[lucienvanitasabysslll]

the concept of shit being 18+ gets so ridiculous at a certain point. like what do i suddenly get the ability to comprehend gore and sex at midnight exactly the moment i turn 18? what about an hour before? am i still a little baby then? what is supposed to change the day i turn 18

[sparkle-fiend]

Inspired by this post by @kedreeva (I’m not sure I quite did the original prompt justice, but hopefully some of the emotion comes across.)

***

It’s been a while since Steve attended a high school party. It feels weird to go to one now, a year out from his own graduation, but Robin was insistent.

“Please Steve? Vickie invited me to come, but I don’t want to show up on my own – what if she’s busy and I end up standing in the corner by myself like some kind of loser?”

She knows that she doesn’t actually have to work so hard to convince him, but that’s part of the routine. Robin begs and pleads, and Steve agrees after making a big show of complaining about it (as if he wouldn’t walk through fire for her).

“Fine, fine! But you owe me one.”

“Yesssss, thank you!”

Now, as he surveys the crowded interior of Robbie Ferguson’s house, he thinks she owes him more than one. This isn’t just a high school party – it’s a band party. He doesn’t see a single familiar face in the crowd of high school students and recent graduates, although odds are most of the people here will recognize him. And the memories probably aren’t fond ones.

“Robin!” he hisses through his teeth. 

She rolls her eyes at him. “They’re band geeks Steve, they don’t bite.”

He gives her one of his most annoyed looks, and she backpedals.

“I know, I know,” she says sheepishly, “but look! Eddie is here!” She points toward the corner of the room. Sure enough, Eddie is standing near the punch bowl with Gareth, Jeff, and Dave. He’s abandoned his usual layers in the summer heat, wearing just a red flannel shirt over a black tank top. 

Steve is surprised to see him. Even though Eddie was cleared of all charges, there have still been some rough moments; a few holdouts causing trouble (mostly friends of Jason Carver). It’s made him understandably hesitant to go out much.

So to see him here, enjoying a party with his friends – it’s good. Really good.

“I take it that dopey grin means I’m forgiven?” Robin asks slyly. She knows all about his crush, teasing him whenever she gets the chance.

“Nice try,” he grumbles. “You’re covering all my shifts with Keith for the next two weeks.”

Before she can protest this outrageous demand, Vickie finds them.

 “Robin, you made it!”

It’s Robin’s turn to be distracted, melting like chocolate under a summer sun as Vickie links an arm through hers – which is Steve’s cue to step aside.

“I’ll be over there with Eddie.”

Robin nods without looking, still gazing lovingly at Vickie. Steve snorts and heads for the punch bowl. 

He grabs a solo cup and ladles in some of the vibrant red punch, wincing when he takes a sip – that shit is strong. Someone laced it a little too generously with vodka.

“Steve!” Eddie chirps when he joins the group, raising a cup in salute. “Look who it is gentlemen – our illustrious majesty, the former King of Hawkins High himself!”

Steve tries to hide his wince. He hates being called that, even if Eddie’s bright grin does take some of the sting out of the teasing. He taps the rim of his cup against the one in Eddie’s hand and says, “How many of those have you had already?”

“Too many and not enough milord,” Eddie says, slinging a friendly arm around his shoulders. Steve leans into the touch, just a little, and nods in greeting to the rest of the Hellfire club members. Jeff and Dave smile back politely, but Gareth just scowls - nose wrinkling like he’s smelling something foul. Even after all the time Steve’s spent hanging around lately, Gareth still hasn’t warmed up to him.

As usual, Eddie ignores the tension between them, launching into a discussion about how the newly released Aliens movie compares to the original. Since they recently watched both movies together, this is a conversation Steve can actually participate in.

It’s devolved into a heated debate on the merits of sequels in general by the time Robin and Vickie join them.

“Are we interrupting?” Robin asks drily. 

“Not at all,” Eddie replies smoothly. “I know you’ve got some strong opinions on the art of cinema Buckley, what do you think of…”

“Annnnd that’s enough of that,” Steve interrupts. If the two of them start arguing about movies, they’ll be at it for the rest of the night (as Steve knows from unfortunate experience). “Who’s your friend?”

A vaguely familiar blond followed the girls over, watching the boys with wide eyes.

“Oh, this is Claire! She’s a flute player – she’ll be taking over as first chair next year.”

That means absolutely nothing to Steve, although he nods like it makes total sense (ignoring Robin’s knowing snort of laughter). 

Claire seems happy to meet Steve, but she clams up when the rest of the gang is introduced – which leads to everyone standing around in a moment of awkward silence.

Surprisingly, Dave is the one to come to the rescue. “We should play a game. Truth or Dare maybe?”

The girls glance at each other and nod, and Steve shrugs. It’s certainly not the worst party game they could choose.

With a stop to refresh everyone’s punch, they migrate to the screened porch at the back of the house and settle into a circle on the floor.

It ends up being a lot of fun. The last time Steve played was with Tommy and Carol, and they were brutal about it – daring people to streak through the house or take hot sauce shooters until they puked. This game is much more lighthearted.

Although that’s not to say Steve doesn’t still have a bit of mean streak. 

“Eddie, I dare you to sing Careless Whisper by Wham.”

“Ugh, critical hit!” Eddie yelps and falls to the floor, writhing like he’s been fatally wounded. Steve laughs and nudges his hip with one foot.

“Come on, you have to sing – or else you forfeit.”

“Have you no mercy? I thought we were friends.”

Steve just grins and starts humming the melody. Robin, Vickie, and Claire all join in until Eddie concedes; standing up to belt out the hated song with gusto. He makes it to the first rendition of the chorus before he collapses into helpless giggles.

“I don’t know, does it count if he didn’t sing the whole song?”

“It counts, it counts!” Eddie gasps.

The game continues in that vein - until Claire chooses ‘truth’. “Hmmm,” Vickie says thoughtfully. “Have you ever had a crush on anyone at this party?”

It’s the sort of question that could easily be answered with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ – no need for any revealing details. But Claire stares straight at Steve, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously as she says, “I think every girl at Hawkins had a crush on King Steve. I heard girls talk all the time about what an amazing kisser he is.”

Robin rolls her eyes and turns her head, pretending to gag. A year ago, Steve would have jumped at the chance to flirt right back. Now, it just makes him uncomfortable. Claire is like most of the girls he’s been with before - curious about his reputation, attracted by his looks or his popularity or his parents’ money. Completely uninterested in him as a person.

He wants to glance at Eddie, get a read on what the other boy might be thinking; but he’s afraid of what he’ll see. Or maybe afraid of what he won’t see – that Eddie will be totally unaffected by the fact that some girl is blatantly flirting with Steve right in front of him. 

He doesn’t have long to worry about it, because Gareth is up next. He clears his throat loudly and points at Steve. “Truth or Dare Harrington.”

There’s no right answer here – Gareth is clearly eager to fuck with him, whatever he picks. 

“Dare.”

The look of unholy glee in Gareth’s eyes should have been Steve’s warning.

“Well now that we’ve heard all about King Steve’s magic mouth, I think we need a demonstration. I dare you to kiss…” he draws it out, moving his finger around the circle like he’s taking his time deciding.

Claire looks eager, Vickie looks slightly uncomfortable, and Robin looks like she’s staring down the gullet of a slobbering demogorgon.

Don’t pick Vickie or Robin, he thinks fiercely. Don’t you do it. If Gareth picks either Vickie or Robin, his ass is toast. He doesn’t particularly want Claire all over him, but it would be the better option by far. 

He never even considered the possibility that Gareth would choose… “Eddie!”

Steve must have had more to drink than he thought, because his head is suddenly spinning. He hasn’t felt his stomach drop like this since he was locked in a Russian elevator, plummeting to an uncertain fate.

The group erupts with shouts and laughter. Eddie jumps to his feet, waving his arms around grandly. “I see I’m collateral damage here! Guess I’ll have to take one for the team!” He bows and laughs, the same way he did when dared to sing Careless Whisper.

He’s so… casual about it. Totally unphased. 

This is all a joke to Eddie. It doesn’t mean anything – not like it does for Steve. Everyone in the group just laughs and laughs, as if they wouldn’t look at him in disgust if they knew he wanted to kiss Eddie for real.

He meets Robin’s eyes briefly across the circle - the only one here that knows what’s going on in his head. She looks like she’s in pain.

Steve swallows hard and reaches for the cool, casual mask he used to wear so well. This is a game – just a party game. Exactly like the time he kissed Tommy on a dare at Jimmy Allen’s birthday party. He can do this.

He smirks and stands up, keeping his shoulders loose, subtly wiping his clammy palms against the rough denim of his jeans. He and Eddie face each other in the center of the circle. 

The older boy has a faint smattering of freckles over the bridge of his nose, and a tiny shaving nick by the corner of his mouth, near the scar that traces his jaw. His lips are so full, the prettiest mouth Steve’s ever seen. He doesn’t dare even look into those dark eyes.

Just a quick kiss and done, easy – no big deal. Steve licks his lips reflexively, wishing he’d put on some Chapstick or something, before he starts to lean forward. But then Eddie pretends to swoon, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead like some southern belle in a movie.

Would he be this dramatic if they were kissing for real? Steve’s imagined it so often, a different way each time – sometimes soft and tender, sometimes silly and fun; just like Eddie.

He certainly never imagined the laughter in the background, or Dave shouting, “Come on man, do it already!”

Steve freezes. At the urging of his friends, Eddie takes the initiative and steps closer – until he’s stopped by a hand pressed flat against his chest. 

“Stop. Please stop.” Is that Steve’s voice? He didn’t mean to say anything - but with that crack in composure the whole mask starts to fall apart, like a dam splitting open.

“I can’t do this. Not… not like this.”

Eddie frowns in confusion. 

Of course he’s confused – it’s just a game. Everyone was having fun until Steve had to go and ruin it. He choked on the dare, and now he’s even tearing up - like an idiot, right in front of everyone.

There’s no salvaging this. He ducks away with a mumbled excuse about needing some air, practically running from the house. Hopefully everyone is tipsy enough that they’ll all just forget about it in the morning. 

He doesn’t make it very far before he hears Robin behind him. 

“Steve! Hey… wait up!”

He stops at the edge of the yard, where the house lights fall away into shadow, and waits for her to catch up.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure.” Even he can hear the choked waver in his voice. 

“Steve…”

“It’s okay Rob, really.” It’s far from okay, and they both know it. “I think the punch just went to my head.”

They stare at each other, sharing one of those silent moments of communication that Dustin always points to as proof that they share a telepathic bond.

“You should go home then,” she says softly. “I’ll catch a ride with Vickie.” 

He’s sure she’ll want to talk about it later, but for now… she’s giving him an out. “Thanks Rob.”

He watches until she’s back inside, just breathing in the smells of fresh-cut grass and a nearby cigarette – deep breaths in and out. Then he finds his car (thankfully not blocked in) and hightails it home.

****

(Continued in Part 2)

[chilewithcarnage]

oh finally making that post on lore olympus and rachel smythe's supposed 'decline in art style' before I forget about it .

so in the original post, the blogger jokingly edited this tweet in reference to the original tweet on the right made by infamous ex-tumblr fan artist rcdarts. my problems with this post stems from in my opinion an unwarranted comparison and kind of 'grasping at straws' type of complaint to the way lore olympus' art looks. op of the post makes it seem like Smythe's art devolved; but if this is the type of critique you're trying to make it's got pretty weak legs to stand on. the above pictures are not good examples if you're trying to have a valid argument that lore olympus' proto art is better than how the comic ended up looking. you can argue that the character designs of the series are boring and safe considering they're based off of Greek gods as opposed to say the art in the supergiant Hades series. That's all well and good but to say that legitimately that first picture with gray Hades and orange Persephone is 'better' than the second feels disingenuous. From a technical standpoint, the art of the second image is better. The art in the first picture while decently drawn is much flatter and dull than the second. Second pic is definitely more visually interesting and has better usage of its colors/painting style. Though the palette is limited there's still visual depth and volume to it. Design wise I get a much better read of who these characters are and what they're like. Also second pic Hades and Persephone are much better proportioned than the first. Albeit it first pic looks like a wip, Hades' head looks huge in comparison to Persephone's (her torso also looks like it's kind of just floating over his, the limited composition and coloring doesn't make it feel like these two are actually touching/interacting with each other). I think a lot of the smoke lore olympus got (and still gets) is due to the main characters looking like a stereotypical 'booktok' romance couple; Hades being a tall sharp featured fit man in a suit and Persephone being a big bright eyed button nosed Disney princess esque young woman. But the first pic doesn't even divert from those tropes. It's pretty much the same visual dynamic except Hades gives less sugar daddy/mafia boss and more academic(?) shut in. And Persephone's is face is less rounded and her hairs shorter but that's about it in terms of design differences. I've never read lore olympus and don't plan to so I can't give any actual criticism to the series, but in this specific case where we're just judging art and visuals the claim of the older art being 'better' seems unfounded. I think what a lot of people that rag on how the series looks hate it because Smythe's style is very much a product of when she started getting popular. It's very much that early to mid 2010s tumblr fantasy style that a lot of women artists were doing (hence why I feel low-key why this and also Steven universe had/has so many haters is mainly due to misogyny, this is a very feminine art style). y'all need to understand that a person developing a more simplistic style is not equal to their skill devolving. The comparison to rcdarts to me is unjustified cause rcdarts actually did change for the worst. like how I just said simpler style =/= worst art, but rcd's work not only got simple but less visually interesting, less dynamic, utilized more static and dull posing/coloring, and over exaggeration to the point where characters were unrecognizable.

[asfateentertwines]

idk if you like this ship, but Nocorro headcanons?

Hi sorry for the delay, I went on a Nocorro tail spin for this

Neteyam hides his feelings for Spider when they're young because he is worried about his moms feelings but has always been gentle with him and secretly enjoyed his company

They got along but just weren't overly close

Spider always was jealous of Neteyam for being everything he couldn't be - Na'vi, loved, strong, respected, etc. But always admired him just as much

Their relationship would start secret - on the downlow for the sake of their own anxieties - and would start due to their common denominator - Lo'ak

As his big brother and his best friend respectively, they always seemed to be the ones at the end of his messes. For Neteyam, it was cleaning them up or talking him out of it and for Spider, it was tagging along before inevitably just trying to keep them both alive

It's my thought that Lo'ak is the one that considers Spider's humanity the least and sees him the most as just Spider, even moreso than Kiri, and so he accidentally gets him hurt a fair amount - hence, Neteyam has to patch him up

This time is where they bond a lot - venting, mocking one another, but also eventually devolving into the fear, insecurity, etc they each feel

They would be the couple that goes through all of the 'new' stuff (i.e the awkward and honeymoon phases) by themselves while no one knows yet about their relationship so that by the time they get together publicly, everyone thinks of them as the old married couple of sorts

They equal one another out in a lot of ways and meet one another's insecurities - each is everything the other wants with the added consequences they didn't see coming

While it takes vulnerability that neither is prepared for, they come to be the same space for one another they each need and become a big part in one another's healing

They're both emotional protectors to the other as no one ever filled the roles for them and for once, they both get to be someone's priority

Its the story of the oldest son and forgotten child

They're two sides of the same beat up coin

Neteyam is protective and takes after his mom in being a guardian but is more reserved and takes social cues into account - he is aware of his mates vulnerability and protects in a lot like how his parents do - meanwhile, Spider is just fucking feral

It takes a long time to teach Spider that he can't just go in like he has nothing to lose - there's a lot of self-worth arguments

However, this comes to head with neither being sure where they stand to announce the relationship. I imagine it wouldn't come out until it had to

in canon, this is the RDA capturing Spider

The RDA taking Spider is what ends with their relationship becoming public

Neteyam has to see his parents as mortal and imperfect while Spider is faced with the doubts on his self-worth and position in the family

Neither knows how to proceed but they fight like hell with something more to fight for than the original canon offers

Neteyam loses it when Spider is taken, he goes feral, fighting with all of Neytiri's spirit, and relies heavily on his parents and the childish belief that they can somehow fix it

I don't think he would realize there's no fixing it until they're with the Metkayina and Ao'nung is courting him

He would lose it, acting more and more like Lo'ak while being lost in his own internal whirlpool of self-doubts and questioning

If war didn't make him grow up then this does

He doesn't think he'll get Spider back until he sees him on the deck but at this point, he's just blindly following Jake - he's unanchored and confused and it is still Lo'ak who ultimately is the reason Spider comes home

As for his fate, I think Spider would have been closer to him. Neteyam would have grabbed him on instinct and been ducking lower to guard the more vulnerable of the two and missed the shot

Them getting home is like recovering from a breakup though

Spider spent the months more convinced than ever that he is unwanted and left astray

But he is also more aware of the emotional manipulation and more at peace with his dynamic with the Sullys so Quaritch doesn't have as much success with him

Despite his doubts festering, it's a sort of resignation that the things they felt for him isn't enough - not that they don't exist

Neteyam would have given him hope that he is a part of the family and made him feel something worth cherishing

Then the RDA comes and it's the resignation that everything is over and he's not going home

He's a lot more grim here

But the upside is that Nocorro is a lot of healing

They're with the Metkayina and helping one another remember their value - Spider in the family and Neteyam as his own person

They both need to be reminded that they're worthy of loving and that's what the months following ATWOW is filled with

Consequently, it's also how the duo become legitimate threats to the RDA

The protective rage they both feel with what was taken from them means they're ruthless - they become a lot more empowered to protect their homes and focus on building some place safe for their family

Ultimately they are a very love and family driven couple with the other slowly becoming their other half, they operate like an extension of themselves with a level of understanding no one else would have

Post-war would take a long time for them to settle but I think they both have similar desires again in just having a loving, safe place for their family to grow and to heal together

Honestly this couple is just very soft and very old married couple, like think the gays from The Last of Us that die together bro

[cescalr]

wait hello?? please elaborate on the green haired lalna, i never watched soi

oh sure!

In... hmmmmm one episode, The Hand? maybe? where Honeydew and Xephos head into an ancient technological ruin (implied to be a giant death robot of some ilk), they find a whole bunch of "evil" honeydew clones that have degraded to mindless violence (implied they're non-sapient, lacking the mental capacity to go beyond base instinct because of how long they've been down there multiplying ad nauseam, each clone generation worsening with nobody to maintain the mechanisms), and tonnes of broken vats. However, one single cloning vat is still working - and there's a guy inside! That guy is fully buttoned up labcoat LividCoffee, with, for some reason, green hair. It's neat :D and fascinating. Lore wise. Extremely fascinating.

I went looking for proof - it's not The Hand (that's the "finale" lol); it's Doppelgängers - for some reason those episodes merged together in my head.

I also appear to be remembering him being alive completely wrong - for a uh, given value of 'alive'. given he's a zombie! and there's two of him. Whoops? I can't actually see good TM (hi, blind here) but people kept saying their hair was green back in the day and i absorbed that information. if it's wrong, I refuse to agree with reality! green haired lalna my beloved.

Also, again, my brain clearly likes to lie flagrantly to me, because while the honeydew clones are made by broken old machinery, that's because honeydew and xephos were fucking around again <3 idiots. I wonder what happens when you stand in the goddamn cloning vat and flick the lever.... buddies..... c'mon.

Anyway - there's two zombie (green haired! I'm not delusional!) Lalna's, which is even more fascinating than my shoddy memory allowed the situation to be, because that implies YogLabs devolved to making clones of clones at some point - along with giant death robots, but they were already doing that - after the Honeydew clone had to replace his original body because Testificate Betrayal Incident, even though Xephos knows with certainty that that's been worsening the quality of the cloning process due to.... well, all the failed Honeydew clones. and the Honeydew graveyard. That he makes Honeydew clones dig up. No he's not gone mental with grief what are you talking about.

Ahem. Judging by the state of SOI!Honeydew's clones, i think it's a mix of SOI!Honeydew being a pretty late-on clone-of-a-clone himself (remember, in Yogs canon all respawns are because of YogLabs, so in SOI for them to respawn - since they can respawn, I should say - they have to be clones.... though the time loop makes me question the metaphysics of it all; do they need vats in the present if the future is the past? Existential. Too existential for me. I like to think they do have vats in the present, in the bowels of what remains of YogLabs, deep in the heart of the desert (imo, it's the source of the desert, given that one YogLabs episode where, surprise surprise, Xephos had his team invent a thing that did the sand-ening process you see in SOI; in SOI, sand is like this organism that eats everything it touches, turning it into more sand, which works with YL lore because, hey, that's what the thing they made did! Tangent. Sorry).) and the machines being super borked. Amnesiac 1st gen clone Xephos* (original Xephos is currently running around as Israphel, imo - protag Xephos is a clone of an earlier, more stable version of the man who did a lil' rebellion <3 because orig!Xeph went. Um. Megalomaniacal) obviously wouldn't know any better than to flick the lever, lol. Just noting all that as I think it corroborates the ideas about YogLabs and cloning the canon gave me. (though i clearly need to rewatch the canon, given all my minor inaccuracies add up pretty heavily towards bad meta, and I hate making bad meta :( I love meta! I have an creative writing degree!!! I don't wanna make bad meta!!!!!!!)

Anyway: Green Haired Lalna! The reason it's so fascinating to see our zombie boy duo is that this is his first and only appearance(s) in SOI; we never meet an alive Lalnable Hector or Lalna LividCoffee. This implies a lot; there's no Lal alive because all his anchor clones are dead, perhaps. Or his clones are the characters Duncan Jones portrayed, made unrecognisable by time, the time-loop amnesia, and mechanical mishaps with the cloning process so they look a lil' different - it could explain why everyone in SOI is.... Like That. (Everyone in SOI acts like a faulty clone(-of-a-clone-of-a-clone-etc); a little not all there, in some respects, and extreme caricatures of themselves besides). There's a bunch of options! All of them pretty valid, 'cause of how fast and loose YogsMC plays with its own continuity, as an improv semi-scripted series with.... plenty of unfinished storylines. More for me to mess with! As a writer i appreciate the sandbox. As an audience member I shake my fist at the sky in great torment! /joke. Am a bit miffed still, though. Over a decade later (jeez. youch. augh. I was 11, holy shit....).

I think I'll have to change what I said in the tags of the Lalnable post, though, because i was working off of bad memory for that opinion.

I still think FB!Lalnable Hector is a direct clone of anchor lalna, but i'm no longer certain either of the lalnas we see in SOI are original lalna - rather, also direct clones of anchor lalna used to created manpower for the operation of the giant death robot; why hire a 12 man crew when you can clone one from the same man at 2x speed? And as we can see in YL 2nd gen (clone-of-clone) clones aren't unstable enough for this to be a bad idea; Honeydew post-replacement may have less.... wherewithal... but he's not entirely incapacitated by clone degeneration - current YL!Honeydew may be a poor imitation friend for Xephos, but he could still pilot a death robot! So I think I'm going with: whatever war YogLabs was fighting in to warrant the death robots (we know Xephos is spending a lot of YL prepping for war with various foreign nations, so this isn't an unlikely event - in some ways he appears to be actively seeking that outcome, because he's speedrunning self-fulfilling time-loop shenanigans i guess.) got desperate enough they used cloning to bulk up manpower numbers, and in typical YL fashion they borked it by cutting corners on the mechanisms of this fact, by using sub-par machinery and clones-of-clones-of-clones, who can definitely pilot death robots but may not have the sheer brilliance of their original (lalnable hector, in this instance, being a certifiable genius, and his clones are smart, but less-and-less so due to the way YL cloning works) so they fuck up more often and thus the systems in place start failing, and lo and behold you have two zombie Lalnas in cloning vats, how did they zombify?????? How??????? What was in the genetic material sludge they were floating in for [time loop confusing the timeline; no actual idea how long it takes for All That to go down] to do that.

Anyway; now i have thoughts!!! So many of them. Thank you for the ask or I'd have gone on with my goldfish sieve memory assumptions about SOI/YL/Lalna and been worse off for it. Also, I just like canon accuracy. Being able to fuck with canon and take it to its logical extremes is what i find fun, personally. Canon complicit, i heard it called - I like that one. Not compliant. That implies bowing under pressure. No no. I'm in on the evil scheme entirely willingly. Enthusiastically, even!

Anyway: Yeah. Green Haired Lalnable Hectors / LividCoffee(s) my beloveds. I do wish one of them had been alive, because I love SOI's silly little grandfather paradox (Xephos = Israphel, and all it's horrible no good brain melting implications) interpretation, and if one of them had been alive then you could infer a second grandfather paradox - lalnable hector's clone is his original existance; wait, what? - because fucking with whatever 'original' timeline absolutely screwed and destabilized this one. And it didn't even work! Xephos, you never cease to amaze me in the many ways you can fail spectacularly at things. Pathetic main character that never wins long-term <3 Doomed by the very narrative he created! Glorious.

... this was a Lalna ask. Lol. Sorry! I never get to talk about yogsmc. I have so many thoughts.

Anyway: that's basically it, I think? Lalnas in vats; do with this what you will! Fascinating stuff, truly.

(That was not particularly well constructed, lol, but i hope it was interesting anyway!)

[henlp]

Octopath Traveler II

I think its biggest problem comes down to bloat. OT2 really feels like a needless exercise in padding a working formula, yet it didn't seem to have done much for improving the quality-of-life features.

The most blatant example really is the new Day/Night cycle. Sure, you can control it with a single push of a button, and there are demonstrable changes to combat when you do so... but with Path Actions? What prior to release I thought would've been a great way to make each individual traveler able to stand more on their own, eventually devolved into redundancy. The first game already had, in essence, only four kinds of actions that you could perform in two different ways; OT2 pumps that to FOUR different ways. And I don't know if I managed to last longer than most, but I quickly stopped caring about using Mug or Coerce to find enemy weaknesses around the halfway point.

Which really begs the question: how many people, realistically, are gonna be playing this game without picking up every traveler? ESPECIALLY as their first (and likely, ONLY) playthrough? Look, Team Asano TRIED, I can concede that much, since the four different ways each action can be done (Level, percentage chance, exchange, battle) are distinct, and do technically allow you to perform certain Path Actions earlier/more easily, if you have that particular traveler with you sooner. But with almost all Path Actions being located in fast-travel spots on your map, and no real impedements to your backtracking, I don't see the point.

That's the big one, to be sure, but the bloat is everywhere: splintering Story Chapters into several different sections, spread across the map (which again, is not gonna be much of an issue UNLESS you're not picking up every traveler nor following the recommended level thresholds); a bunch of sidequests that are almost exclusively about jumping from one place to another, then back again; how at some points, the stories fucking drags ON and ON, after the point is made and no further character development is being achieved.

And of course, one of the biggest (optional) sins in turn-based RPGs: utterly anemic grinding. I can't believe I'm saying this (but it's true), FINAL FANTASY XIII had a better idea for 'hidden' grind spots during its very linear story progression. Sure, it all goes to shit in the postgame, but the clever implementation of particular enemy groups and spawn locations to assist players in exchanging time for power, is something that more TBRPGs should implement to alleviate optional grinding. Thank you, Lightning, now get back in your cage.

Octopath Traveler 2 isn't a very hard game, mind you, and neither is it super easy (except the final boss, whom I trounced with no strategy; conversely, the superboss whooped my ass, until I found the perfect cheese strat to serve him). The difficulty balance is VERY GOOD; it's just that optional gap for max level, that is so infuriating to achieve, when it's blatantly obvious how it could've been implemented, and WELL, to minimize these frustrations.

And with all that said... I'd still recommend the game. It's a really, REALLY good turn-based RPG, one I think fans of the genre should absolutely get into. Yeah, it still has the same problems with the stories of each traveler not really intertwining, but the writing is simple yet coherent, while not being up its own ass. And I'm only as harsh as I am, because it is a sequel, so it should've been either the same, or better; not this odd sidestep with more money pumped into the visual effects and spritework. Just be mindful that, while you ABSOLUTELY should play the original first, you might get frustrated if you notice the game wasting your time (and I checked: 120+ hours in OT1, nearly 160 hours in OT2).

So with that all out of the way, I'm just gonna go through my previous 'feature wishlist', and see what's been implemented in OT2. Please look that up for context on each bullet point.

Keeping traveler locations hidden on the select screen and world-map: NOT ADDED;

Avoiding map area redundancy: Not really;

Leaving enemy HP visible with Analyze: NOT ADDED;

Organize inventories: NOT ADDED (automatic);

In-game encyclopedias: NOT ADDED;

Unique weapon sprites: Kinda? Not every weapon, but a lot;

Changing Job sprites: NOT ADDED;

Better ways to farm stat-increasing items: NOT ADDED;

Formation changes outside of taverns: ONLY added during the final stretch of the game, and for pre-epilogue;

Escape Rope-equivalent item/skill: NOT ADDED;

More varied sidequests: DEFINITELY NOT ADDED;

Better map/radar: NOT ADDED;

Cait Den questline & secret grind zone: DEFINITELY NOT ADDED;

Artifacts seller/collector: NOT ADDED;

Monster wrangler shop: NOT ADDED;

Character-unique subjob incentives: Not added, bit of a pipedream;

'Tavern Stories'-type sidequests: relegated to Travel Banters, without any actual cutscenes or visuals to accompany them.

[amyrafiercebladeartz]

3 5 7 and 8 for the httyd ask game 👀

>:}

3: Did you play School of Dragon? If so, what dragon(s) did you have?

Sadly, I did not get to play SoD. I wanted to but every time I tried making an account, I could never load the game. Probably a mixture of bad internet connection and a PoS mobile device, but still.

5: What type of dragon do you think best matches your personality?

Terrible Terror or Night Terror, maybe a Smothering Smokebreath. I'm a goblin menace that will snatch food and trinkets but if you feed me and treat me nice I'll curl up beside you and purr. I've also a tendency to get a little more than confused and I will naturally find myself in trouble with the bigger ones around me.

I also work best with a pack of my own kind >:]

8: Who are your favourite characters? Why?

Viggo Grimborn is top httyd favorite. He's savvy, malicious, and charming to the point where I want to simultaneously give him all of my possessions and devotion and punch him repeatedly in the face.

Second favorite, Snotlout, actually. He's got self esteem issues and the man can sew. He's a dumbass but his heart's usually in the right place. He also wrote a book, sang songs to a baby Deathsong, and has a crack sense of humor, even if it's not fitting for the moment. He also has a very poor relationship with his father (myself to my mother) that, if taken in a serious direction instead of the lighthearted one in the shows, would've been a serious issue psa about mental issues and the problems of a bad parent.

Third, Tuffnut. He's just goober and I live for that.

7: Do you have any OCs? If so, talk about their appearance, backstories, and personalities.

You made a serious mistake. I have quite a few OCs for HTTYD alone.

First and Foremost, I'll introduce my namesake, Amyra Fierceblade.

Amyra Fierceblade has been my httyd sona for a long time, my second oldest httyd oc in fact. She and Shadowstrike (who I'll talk about in a minute) were my first two httyd ocs. She is 6'1" (myself standing at a lofty 5'3") and has dark raven hair with deep green eyes. She's snarky, quick witted and rather obsessive with anyone she considers her friend... in a not so good way. She has always had connections with Viggo Grimborn (ofc, my favorite character), and in fact was written as a (very poorly thought out) chief daughter who had a mutual crush on Viggo. Over time, I changed her and her story around so that she went from concerned housewife to rebellious heir and eventually I settled on making her an orphan rascal who stays in the woods, her relation with Viggo going from wife to close friend. They met as teens, Amyra a year older than Viggo, when she threw Ryker into a snowbank because she didn't like his attitude. There's a lot more to this that I'm writing out in my Fanfic Lifeline, but for now I'll just go into further detail lol. Over time Viggo and her grew close, close enough that Viggo ran away to try living in the woods with her, though that didn't last long as Amyra got yoinked by a Razorwhip. She survived, but lived for many years away from most other people, only interacting with them as a sort of "highway" bandit. She does have a dragon, a Deadly Nadder named Shadowstrike, who saved her life from the razorwhip and stayed with her since.

Amyra is ab 37 years old during the events of RttE.

Amyra started as a kind of self insert, though she's changed a lot and now she's just a fun character with a lot of bad traits. Such as possessiveness. In a bad way. That might get explained later though, far far far in LifeLine.

Shadowstrike is a Deadly Nadder and my first httyd OC. She is black and red, a few scars on her but not many. Originally, she could talk, but I've kinda devolved that to be more annoying parroting than conversationalist. She likes hair, dragon root arrows, and stealing various objects from anyone and anything. The softer or the shinier, the better.

Kindorobo is a Speed Stinger oc of mine, orange and green with black stripes. I don't have much about him but he likes to terrorize a local village for gold trinkets and stuff, adorning himself with them. He's a weird fella lol.

Arcane is a Titanwing Bewilderbeast oc, black with red and orange markings. He's chill for the most part, and really doesn't mind other Bewilderbeasts in his presence as long as they don't harass him or his group of dragons. However if he is harassed and there's no stopping this dragon, he will kick some ass. He's had no human encounters so far, since he lives further north than the archipelago, almost to the arctic circle.

Dead Chance is a Light Fury Deathsong hybrid that absolutely hates anything and will kill on sight. There's a lot more to it than just murder happy, she actually has a lot of anxiety and paranoia and found the best way of keeping herself "safe" (it's really not-) is by attacking first, asking questions never. I also wanna work on her a bit but I don't really get the time to.

Clairvoyance is another Bewilderbeast OC, she's much smaller though and has a human companion. She's actually been with several human ocs but I finally decided to add her with Lyra, who I'll talk ab in a minute. Clair doesn't quite have the alpha ability, though she is protective of her human and the night terrors (I'll explain in a minute) she lives with.

Lyra is a teen kid who got adopted by a flock of Night Terrors when she was about five. She also found and helped take care of Clairvoyance. I do not have much more information than that, sadly, but maybe I'll fix that.

Biter is a White Night Terror that's missing a hind leg and is also partially blind. He was mistreated by Dragon Hunters and so he a horrible attitude to anything around him. In a couple of my post-rtte Viggo AUs, he's a companion animal of sorts, sticking with Viggo after he saved him. Of course, that doesn't save Viggo from getting bit by him, hence the name.

Truth is a White (and I say white instead of albino because he's not albino but he is white colored) Night Fury with black markings that stays to himself for the most part. He's also anxious, and tends to flee rather than face conflict. I also need to work on him as well-

Marcus Seinneadair is a prince from a smaller kingdom, mostly agricultural in trade. He's the middle child of three, his father being a decent ruler in most aspects. He's got blue eyes, dark brown hair and he also wears a couple earrings in his left ear. He likes to help people, often going out of his way to help the villages after storms and such, finding survivors, repairing houses and ships and more. He isn't really interested in being an heir to a throne so much as he wants to bring a betterness to the world around him. He also has a severe crush on Viggo Grimborn, who is actually a close friend of his and ally to his father's kingdom. Marcus is also one of the few people that Viggo will let his guard down around. He's also the only Christian oc I have or ever will have and I can tell you that he's (THANKFULLY) not oppressive about it. He learned of the religion from a trader and decided that it wasn't actually that bad of an idea, promoting kindness and treating others with how he'd want to be treated. He isn't sure about the whole "do good and you'll go to heaven!" idea, but he doesn't mind doing good for others just because. There's SOOO much more to this guy but yeah, that's some of it.

Mikael is an OC who I don't like. He's a dragon hunter, but not affiliated with the Grimborns or the Northern Alliance. He has an unrequited crush on Marcus (turned bitter after he rejected him) and spends most his time pouting while hunting. I don't have much more for him.

Alsor, Whose Grim Wrath was Born by Flames is the very very very very distant ancestor of the Grimborns, and also the first human to start the Dragon Hunters. He was given the title by his fighting skills against the dragons (explained in a hot minute below).

And finally, a couple of ocs that I like throwing into the HTTYD world but are perfectly capable of being in their own story. These guys do have magic (lore related, would LOVE to explain) and there are mentions of injuries for Phantom's part.

Teeth Whom Gnash Sharply Upon Her Foes, or Gnash, is a Windripper oc of mine, and the first one. Windrippers are my fanspecies of dragon, which I'd GLADLY go into detail (I have a whole Google document including everything from society and religion[orginal!] to dragon growth and such on-). Gnash is a medium to dark grey dragon with a slightly off-white mane, golden horns and dark green eyes. She is stoic but kind, a warrior of honor. She prefers to be logical, though she is very capable of brute strength if she decides. She was Phantom's partner and her general against fighting humans, that is, until Gnash realised the reason for the fighting was wrong and unethical, and wanted to try to stop it (That is a whole ass explanation). She eventually helped the people fighting Phantom to entrap her, keeping her and the world safe from her actions. Gnash mourns her partner, but she does not want to free a conqueror.

And Finally.

Phantom of the Moonlit Mists, or Phantom, is another WindRipper, with dark, semi transparent scales, green horns and claws, and multicolored eyes (Pink and blue irises, black scleras and white pupils). She is cunning and quick witted, in tune with both her emotions and her logic. She hatched prematurely after her egg was damaged by a human trying to kill her and her siblings, born with a permanent jaw deformation/scarring. She was raised alone by her mother, before being sent with others in her Hive (a pack of WindRippers is called a Hive). She was small, and had a temper to rival a Changewing, which lead to her getting in a lot of fights with other members, except for one. A young Gnash, who was her first and only friend. After several years, Phantom was exiled from her Hive, and eventually she was chased down off a cliff, left to die from her injuries. She was saved by a deity the Windrippers have, the All-Mother respectively, and given the ability to create and weave threads (their form of magic). Phantom and Gnash met up again, and talked about the experience. Eventually, Phantom returned to her old Hive and defeated the previous Queen, taking her place. She still had a fierce grudge against humanity, enough to where she decided to wage an all out war on them for many years, until she was lured into a trap and imprisoned in a statue by Alsor(up above) and Gnash until she can either be redeemed for her actions, or until the blood of the last descendant of Alsor's line is spilled on the stone of her prison itself.

And yes, Phantom has a serious grudge on the Grimborns, to the point where, if she was freed, she would be sadistic towards Viggo in any and all ways possible.

Phantom also has a voice claim! That being GLaDOS, especially from Portal 2 lines (not PotatOS, but just the regular)

[starswallowingsea]

Book Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

I ended up giving this book a 3/5 star rating based on just a craft perspective but as soon as I finished reading I ended up looking at reviews by Hindus online and well. Let's discuss below the cut.

So Kaikeyi is a retelling of the Ramayana from the perspective of Queen Kaikeyi. The Ramayana is a very important text in Hinduism and thus, assuming that Patel grew up in a Hindu household, one would expect her to be familiar with it in the same way I, as someone who grew up in a Catholic household, am familiar with the Bible.

Before I get into all of that, I would like to actually talk about the content of the book, since I am the target audience as an outsider to Hinduism looking to learn more about the stories that make up its foundations. I don't know anything about the Ramayana and I found this retelling to be very off, at least from a historical perspective.

One of the biggest issues I have with historical books is that authors really love to put their modern, 21st century views and ideals onto the narrative. It happens on all sides of the political spectrum and as a historian it makes me want to tear my hair out. I know it's unavoidable that our own perspectives shape how we write, but I wish that more people would take a step back and see how their ideas of feminism, in this case anyway, would actually have looked in the time period their book is set in.

Kaikeyi is the third wife of Dasharath and gives birth to his second son, Bharata, whom has been promised upon their wedding to ascend the throne. Kaushalya, Dasharath's first wife, also gave birth to his first son, Rama, of whom the Ramayana is actually focused on. However, while their children are growing up, we get a lot lot lot of the pushing of 21st century ideals in a historical setting. Kaikeyi is very invested in the ideas of women's rights which is fine? I guess? But it is very very hard for me to believe a woman of her standing, quite literally as the Queen of her nation, would be so class conscious and care this much about the average woman in her country without much reason.

Every single time Kaikeyi devolves into a rant about the Patriarchy and Feminism, it feels like this book would have been better suited to a modern retelling of the Ramayana rather than a historical one, though I can imagine it would still come with a lot of the same baggage re: an apparent lack of understanding of anything in the original Epic. The whole thing feels forced and like if Kaikeyi doesn't care about all women then she can't be a feminist character or reclamation or a "girl's girl" as the kids on tiktok are saying these days I think. Honestly I'd rather have a meaningful examination of her biases that are certain to actually be there if she were written to be like a person rather than a perfect ideal of Patel's feminism.

The first 2/3 of the book also felt like everything was just handed to Kaikeyi on a silver platter with very minimal pushback which just made her such an unbearable character to be in the headspace of for that period. I feel a lot of that space could have just been used better to show her stubbornness in the face of adversity that shines towards the end of the novel rather than just. Letting her passively have all of her goals handed to her with very minimal work on her part.

As a reading experience, the last 150 or so pages were probably the best to read as Kaikeyi's actions finally have real, tangible consequences for her but this is also the point where I saw a lot of Hindu readers had such an issue with this retelling of the Ramayana. Rama being portrayed as a misogynistic, war hungry prince and the erasure of Ravana's history of raping and kidnapping women were the two biggest points of contention for Hindu reviewers. I don't see why either of these changes were necessary to adapt this story for a modern, Western audience. By doing this, I believe Patel, intentionally or not, is playing into colonialist narratives about Hinduism rather than fighting them. It's also a disservice to present the Ramayana this way to both Hindu and non-Hindu readers, given that Hindus will be able to spot all the changes and disregard them, and non-Hindus are none the wiser to all the liberties Patel took with her retelling and are bound to spout them as fact if they don't look into the original.

I'd probably skip this book unless you're really into hashtag girlboss feminism retellings of fairy tales and myths, since so many of them miss the point of the original story. I can see the potential here for Patel as an author and am on the fence about trying her book coming out next month as the writing itself wasn't awful, but I'm not sure if I trust her with another myth retelling. At the very least, I suppose I can thank Patel for making me interested in reading the Ramayana at some point in the near future, so this review might have an update eventually.

[thebigfudanshi]

So this is a really stupid idea for an origin. Bite me if you make fun but all the rest a yas (like one person) can keep on if you'd like to. You can skip to the part in brackets for all RAE but there's an explanation for Dook's behavior in my idea below this.

So I have a poodle, this comes into play. So my dog, Phoebe, she acts completely normal around me, and for the most part the rest of the family. She gets a little excited to see her human "grandparents" but nothing too bad.

But... Here's the thing. Everybody in my house is under 5'6 and we're all AFAB. So we all have quite feminine voices still. Whenever cis men come in the house, I've seen this with three people, Phoebe goes insane. The first issue with that is peeing everywhere but that's not gonna pertain to my idea. But whenever someone, say my best friend comes over, she gets super excited, and she runs over and she pees, yes, but what catches my eye is how her floppy ears slick back, and her tail goes crazy, and she gets all haunched and stuff and she'll even sit down despite, the mess, just to get smaller. My best friend is literally like, 5'9, he is goddamn massive to me (5'3) If the guy makes even a little movement that isn't slow and calm as much as he tries, she freaks out and she runs off and continues the mess.

I know exactly what the behavior is. It's submission. Normal dog stuff for her, it's something I'm working on with positive training.

(Okay here's the RAE part)

I feel kinda terrible I wanna do that to Dook. Like not me doing it specifically, but I wanna like. Write it. Beach Bear is tall as shit, yeah? So is my best friend. You see where I'm going?

My idea is that it's around whenever Dook would've joined. I imagine he's the last to join because he was drawn as dingo in certain showbiz pictures and a mug or two with his beta design. Anyway, if he was the last to join, I could honestly imagine he found the gig in a damn newspaper, or one of the group walked up to him like "you look like you play drums. You play drums?" And he's like "aww yeah I play some slamming drums." And Fatz I guess is just like "cool, come play and we'll see."

So Dook like, walks into the place where they record, and he's getting introduced like "that's Mitzi. Touch her and you die." And little Mitzi's already making herself comfy with Dook by like, petting him or something like kids (11 yr olds?) Would do. And Rolfe's all snarky with his meeting cause that's just his default demeanor, and I feel like that's where Dook and Rolfe would start a friendly canine rivalry. He remeets fatz under his own description as the leader, all puffing out his suit coat. And Billy bobs all nice and sweet and takes his hand to greet him like he did all the others like "great to meet our new drummer." And he picks up Choo Choo's little hand cause he's holding him, and Dook takes his tiny hand to shake because mans adores kids, And Dook's all caught up with the rest of them and meeting people, and he's seen Billy Bob so, here's all the band.

And then Fatz points literally a foot to his side and hes like. "Oh yeah, and that's Beach Bear." And Dook turns to him, like to his leg essentially and he's like. "Yo I thought you had weird decoration skills. You name em too?" And Beach Bear like, whacks an ear like "I am very alive."

And Dook looks up at him and he's met with the single tallest mf he's ever seen in his life, and he just, goes completely submissive because 'Jesus Christ that's not weird decoration?' And then 'oh my god I've been standing next to someone and ignored them for like ten minutes' and also 'HOLY FUCK THATS A BIG BITCH!'

So Dook's like mentally devolving and at the same time he's unconsciously like, trying to look smaller, and his ears are like, swaying all wonky cause they can't figure out whether to cower back or bounce around like mad, and they slick back, and he's all wagging and confused and hunching into himself but he's literally smiling like crazy and Beach Bear's like 'Dude, you look like youre gonna throw up, are you getting vertigo just lookin' at me?' And he's all joking and flirty because he deals with this with every new person he meets, and Dook's like "nah I'm getting butterflies just lookin' at cha what the fuck? How??? You are massive! Oh my god you're amazing. Amazing tall!" Just waving at his fucking everything cause hes GIGANTIC. And I feel like Dook's gotta have a thing for tall people, because he dated a pitbull and those are definitely bigger then cavaliers/beagles and I hc he loves poodles too because 80s and jgjhebdigns

Basically Dook falls head over heels instantly and he's doing the whole run and dance of the submission thing (minus the gross parts), and I feel like ROLFE would be the one to point it out. Because he's a bit of an ass sometimes, but I also feel like Rolfe knows everything about wolf/dog mannerisms specifically to not get caught doing them. So he'd point it out like "Did you seriously not see him? That's the first thing I saw when I came in. Are you gonna start freaking out when I stand next to you too?" Cause Rolfe's like 6'0 and Dook goes all indignant, crossing his arms. "I saw him! And I thought he was a lamp. Big deal. I'm not freaking out. Youre the one whos- staring." And he like, grabs his tail cause it's swinging like crazy but he keeps fuckin missing it and Rolfe's smirk just progressively smears wider and Dook's going red cause he can't grab his goddamn tail and now Beach Bear's looking at him funny and he just gives up, stamps a foot and crosses his arms and he's like "I don't appreciate how I'm being treated."

And Billy Bob starts laughing and he puts an arm on Fatz shoulder. "He's gonna fit right in, don't you think?" Fatz says and Billy bobs nodding like, "yeah, he's gonna get right under Rolfe's shirt like the other two." And he's pointing between Dook, beach and Mitzi who have kinda crowded on one side, and they're devolving into fucking with Rolfe and Rolfes fucking with them back, and Mitzi's like, switching between hurling words at Rolfe to visciously question Dook and he doesn't have time to answer any of them because she's swapping like a multitask queen, And Looney Bird pops out his can blazing drunk like "WHOOOO ROCKAFIRE EXPLOSION!"

and that's how the origin goes ppbt.

[unlockthestars]

I started to write out some of my thoughts about Adam, but it turned into more of an analysis of…..basically all of his appearances in the show, and while I could do that, if there's interest, this was supposed to be more my thoughts on the character, as well as how I write him.

It's long, so I'm putting it under a cut.

I definitely focus more on the aspects of his character that were originally introduced: how he's a foil for Blake, how his ideology in the White Fang opposes her own; how as an abused member of a mistreated minority, he's standing up and taking on their oppressors, in the best way he knows how.

I downplay any relationship he had with Blake, because I don't think it was any sort of real relationship. When she first starts to talk about him, she refers to him as a mentor, and it's only several volumes later, in Volume 3, where he is seemingly cast in the light of obsessive ex-boyfriend.

When Blake first left, he could initially have had someone go after her, and he chose not to. A lot of the "he was totally obsessed with Blake" came in a lot later and diverges from what we were initially presented.

I do still kind of include that and play with the idea that it wasn't so much Blake, but what she stood for, what she had and represented. Because even though she's a faunus, she hasn't had to face much hardship outside of that fact. And part of him resents that, part of him is jealous of it and wants what she had, and part of him just wants so badly for her to understand just how he and other faunus (but especially him) have suffered that that's part of why he targets her.

Because she represents a lot of things that he could never obtain. She was raised in a home with two loving parents, who provided for her while he was a child slave who was branded as property. And not somewhere he could easily hide; his face was branded, which ruined even the possibility of any sort of normal life for Adam.

Am I discounting the fact that he was emotionally manipulative? Absolutely not. Do I think that he learned that was one of the few ways he could have any sort of control over his own life? Yes, I do.

I will never downplay Blake getting away from him or discount the trauma that she suffered at his hands. Having been in an emotionally abusive relationship, I understand just how hard it can be to get away from your abuser.

And I'm not going to glorify that at all, but I think it's a disservice to completely ignore the massive amount of trauma that Adam also faced. It does not excuse his actions, but it helps to explain where he was coming from, at the very least.

I think that he started out genuinely wanting to help the faunus. He had suffered, and he wanted a better world for his people. When Cinder comes by the first time to try to ally with the White Fang, he tells her no, that he's not going to risk his men for a human cause. It's only after Cinder comes back, after she takes out a bunch of the White Fang members that Adam agrees to work with her, and I do think that came from a place of "At this point, there's not much other choice right now if I want to save my people."

Plus, if Salem is going to create a new world order, like it was pitched to him, then that means that the faunus can become the majority, that they no longer have to be oppressed, so he just has to go along with this plan for now.

Then things go off the rails, there's a lot of things that happens, and eventually, Adam fights Blake and Yang in Volume 6, which results in his demise.

I do have a survival verse for him, where he survives being stabbed and has to pick up and figure out where to go from there. I haven't used it yet, but when I do….., I want to explore what it's like to have to come back from that ledge. To have devolved from his ideals so much that he was willing to kill himself and many other faunus just to get back at one person.

IS there a way back from that? CAN he find his way back to the ideals he once had? Or will rage and darkness consume him?

I know there's a lot that I'm kind of glossing over, but I thought about a lot of different things when I decided to write Adam. Like I said earlier, I don't want to diminish or cheapen what Blake went through, but exploring Adam as more of a flawed person, who does have some good in them, who has absolutely lost his way into darkness, but might one day (with a WHOLE lot of work and probably more trauma along the way, and having to do something to help heal any of the hurt he caused) find his way, whatever that might end up being….is a lot more interesting to me than a character who simply can't be redeemed at all, ever.

[hetrosjistin]

Look man, I don't know how to tell you this, but when you spend almost every day of one side of the political spectrum going "You and/or most of your loved ones are monsters and should die" it's REALLY hard to not at least, like, JOKE about reciprocating.

Like I'm a white-cis dude whose one toehold in LGBTQ+ is I'm Biromantic, and I'm blue eyed and blond haired. The Neo-Nazis are NOT coming for me except for my rhetoric anytime soon.

And I'm not gonna begrudge anybody a bit of venting. There are days I too wake up and am disappointed at the lack of a deathnote when there's folks out there literally doing everything in their power to create a genocidal ethnostate theocracy and supporting other ones.

That all said: for real folks, violent revolution does not go the way some of you guys think it will. The reason that most revolutions devolve into fascist regimes is that using violence to enact power change is TOXIC to building a functioning long term society. (also the people willing to stab first and hardest are the last folks you want actually building a functioning society after you finish a violent revolution)

While I'm forever and always going to be the first one to point out that it takes two willing participants to compromise and the right in the USA took the Clinton administration as a sign that the gloves were off and they had to do everything in their power to retain power no matter what and all compromise was heresy, the point is that a society that is -capable- of interaction and compromise and discussion on stuff and not just reaching for violence is important to all of us.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT, and back to my original point, going "oh how horrible wishing death on the people who are wishing death or enslavement on you" is maybe NOT the moral flex you think it is.

And to elaborate a bit more, it's not much better to go "but not all republicans are that way" because what you're actually saying is "people who would stand aside to let the people wishing death or enslavement on you enact it shouldn't be threatened for their inaction."

I don't know, it's fucking complicated and while on the one hand I absolutely agree "more murder is not going to solve this" on the other hand I can think of how the world would be MATERIALLY BETTER if a lot of specific politicians and political actors just dropped dead tomorrow too!

Welcome to being human! I can think shit and not intend to act on it because I'm capable of thinking through the full consequences of my actions and going 'yeah this is net loss all the same' while still kinda wishing it wasn't.

i keep thinking about that tribe of baboons where all the alpha males died from eating poison garbage and then the baby boy monkeys were taken care of by the lady monkeys and never got socialized to be aggressive so they all just live peacefully and groom eachother instead of fighting and killing eachother and its been generations of that, it only took 1 wipeout of the aggressive males to change the whole social order of the species i am crying they must be so much happier

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

NIGHTFALL

Welcome. To 2012. Homestuck has now officially arrived at MSPFA, as we will see from the glut of Homestuck AUs and continuations. There are no original webcomics that did not spawn from MSPA, and there is only one that is not related to Homestuck (it’s related to Problem Sleuth instead). Now, I hear you cry through the internet directly into my earhole, “Continuations? But by 2012, Homestuck hadn’t even finished yet!” Well, buster, that didn’t stop NIGHTFALL from getting created!

It's a unique, interesting premise, simply through its existence as being a continuation to a story that was still actively ongoing at the time of it’s release. I guess by this point people had already figured out sort of what was going to happen in the story to be confident enough to create an “epilogue” of sorts to the proceedings. Unlike our previous AU/continuation, however, NIGHTFALL is trying to DO something, as indicated by the fact that it—gasp!—DOES NOT HAVE ANY COMMANDS IN IT’S OPENING SEQUENCE! Is that even LEGAL? Also it shows Vriska getting brutally hanged by death and reveals it all to be a dream sequence of THINGS TO COME! So, yeah. It’s a pretty good indicator that the author has something in mind for this comic, even though it then devolves into a weird AU about school that doesn’t really fit the tone of the opening sequence…and then further devolves into anime? I’ll give it this: this is the author’s passion project, for sure.

In terms of pacing, there are a lot of beat panels where there’s just…nothing happening. Characters staring at things, and no prose where you would expect prose to be. It’s not something I would ordinarily mention but it kept reoccurring so I kind of had to note it down. It kind of brings me out of the action, all things considered? You can also tell that the person writing it doesn’t quite have the character’s voices down, at least in the early parts of the comic? One thing I will say is that, unlike a lot of comics around this time, it does understand that Vriska Serket had kind of a messed up childhood, and therefore treats her childhood with respect! Which is impressive. Kind of wish that wasn’t like, impressive, but what can you do. Unfortunately, Vriska kind of resolves around John in this story, which does not feel all that great from a character-writing perspective? Practically every thought Vriska has is about John.

The pacing is making me realize an important point: Commands kind of, like, can be a tool where you can compress certain actions? Like, if one were to say “Vriska: Take Computer,” you don’t have to show Vriska standing over the desk. You can show Vriska at the computer, and I’ll understand where Vriska got that computer from.

I must say, this was compelling in its own way, mainly because it’s so interesting seeing what a “homestuck continuation” would’ve been like from a 2012 fandom perspective. It’s worth taking a look into what exactly the “vibe” of the fandom would’ve been in 2012, if nothing else. But also, the Homestuck characters kind of become apart of the background in exchange for the new alien characters? So, uh, I guess. That’s Nightfall.

[tehuti88-art]

11/17/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Music Week: Free Draw." In the absence of a specific song I just did my regular Free Draw Friday.

This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Private First Class Amaranth Rat. He's a young intern and medic who ends up taking Indigo's place later in the story. Still learning the ropes but has a level head even under pressure. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

TUMBLR EDIT: Firstly, I believe Amaranth spends much of the story as a PFC yet gets promoted later, so if you see him referred to as Lance Corporal (like in Nikolas's entry), that's why.

Amaranth's character and personality aren't too developed just yet; he's a relatively minor character as things currently stand, though I could easily see him earning a bigger role. This in fact happens near Reunion's end, when Indigo is killed in action and someone is needed to take his place in the medical ward; Amaranth, who spends most of the series in a role secondary to Indigo's, accordingly steps forward, albeit reluctantly, to do the job. He should probably get a bigger role elsewhere in the story so his new role at this late point is more poignant. So, there is certainly room for him to do some more.

What little I know of him so far: He's one of the few characters I originally created as a different race, in this case African-American; it isn't dwelled on much, but the Trench Rats are an integrated battalion, though of course the vast majority of them are Caucasian. I tend not to create many characters of non-Caucasian races (or draw many non-Caucasian people in my art) as it makes me feel very ill at ease trying to depict them without them becoming a caricature or, at best, a character based solely on race representation; I grew up and live in a pretty non-diverse area, and have known literally two Black people in my entire life--both of them adopted into white families. I believe "Write what you know" has loads of exceptions (I mean…look at what I write), but race isn't one of them. Case in point, two more characters I haven't drawn yet, who played important roles in the older versions of the story but have since faded into the background, Red Rat and Purple Rat. These two are also intended to be Black. And their original depictions in the story were…just awfully, horribly racist. ;_; Not with any ill intent, but the racism was still there. I was just unable to figure out how to indicate in the text that they're another race without it devolving into caricature. And it's just horrible and I'm truly sorry. In an effort not to make such a mistake again, I simply avoid mentioning race, so as far as anyone can tell, Amaranth is Caucasian as well. It's unfortunate, it's a kind of whitewashing in itself, but I haven't figured out a way around it yet. There it is, though, I've made it known.

One plot detail I can imagine taking advantage of this is Amaranth interacting with Copper Rat at some time. Copper's ethnicity is very much made a plot point: He's mixed race, being Louisiana Creole, and this plays a big role in his personality and interactions--he knows he perplexes people, and takes advantage of it, especially when it comes to the Nazis, who find his very existence abhorrent. I can easily imagine these two confronting each other in an uncomfortable fashion; while Copper makes a big point of his race, I suspect Amaranth downplays his, so that might be a way to illustrate the issue.

In regards to personality, Amaranth is quiet, polite, studious, hardworking; does not seem like the sort you'd find in the middle of a noisy bloody battlefield; yet despite his unassuming appearance, he can hold his own, and he doesn't lose his cool easily. He dislikes having to take a leadership role, and does experience some doubt regarding his own talents; this becomes especially obvious when he assumes Indigo's job and is the one in charge of trying to save the infected legs of Nikolas (see Nikolas's entry); while he does manage to save one leg, he can't save the other, and chief surgeon Burgundy steps in to amputate the limb. Amaranth is left rather depressed by what he considers only a partial success, even though Nikolas thanks him for what he was able to do. So he does seem like a bit of a perfectionist and high achiever, yet definitely not an attention seeker (he expresses regret over the loss of Indigo more than once--he prefers playing second fiddle).

(Another possibility for character development is depicting his interactions with Indigo. Perhaps he mentions him after he's gone as the two had a close professional relationship…? Meaning he deeply misses Indigo as a mentor and possibly as a friend.)

Aside from this, I don't really know much about Amaranth yet. I do believe he'll remain at best a side character, though as I suggested, I'm open to him developing a greater role; I simply have yet to figure out how.

[Amaranth Rat 2023 [‎Friday, ‎November ‎17, ‎2023, ‏‎1:00:07 AM]]

[filmtv2022]

By Your Side: Chapter Four

Image Credit - IMDB The Void

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Masterlist

Pairing: Rhett Abbott x Reader & platonic!Perry x Reader 

Chapter Summary: Sheriff Joy brings devastating news to the Abbott family regarding Rebecca, and Y/N is there to watch the ramifications of it all unfold, leaving her to help Amy pick up the pieces. With the night devolving quickly, Y/N lets the anger that remains from her own past traumas boil over as she confronts Perry about his actions. Meanwhile, Rhett is forced yet again to face the guilt he still harbors regarding one of the many great ‘failures’ of his life.

Summary: Returning to Wabang was never something that Y/N had planned on, but with the loss of her father leaving her the sole owner of her family’s farm she must go back. Time spent at home forces Y/N to face the people she left behind. Will Y/N be able to navigate the murky waters of her past and present as the lines between them blur? 

Warnings: swearing + allusions to past traumas

A/N: Some of the plot points from the show that have been incorporated have been moved around or altered to help fit the plot of this story better. I do not take those original plot lines to be my own, they are simply being used to help tie everything together. 

___________________________________________________________

The sun was getting low in the sky by the time you, Perry, and Rhett made it back to the Abbott ranch. Royal had hung back to take another look at a few particular spots on the fence, or at least that is what he told all of you. He’d been on edge and acting off since the conversation with the Tillerson boys. The clop of hooves on compacted dirt accented the last part of the ride back to the house. Looking ahead you spotted an unfamiliar car sitting in the driveway, the Sheriff logo barely visible from a distance. The sight of the police car pressed a feeling of worry through the three of you. Wasting no time, you took care of the post-ride chores, and hurried into the house where you found Ceci standing in the kitchen talking to a woman while she poured them a cup of coffee. It took a second, but eventually, it clicked who the other person was. You hadn’t seen Joy since your senior year of high school, but based on the look on her face, she knew you without question. 

“Sheriff. What brings you out here?” Perry was the one to ask the question everyone was thinking. 

“We need to talk Perry.” Her tone was deadly serious, as she stared directly at Perry. 

“About what?” The mix of fear and anticipation left his voice unsteady. 

“About the case. I hate to have to tell you this, but I thought it would be better coming from me. The FBI, they’re gonna stop looking for Rebecca.”

“What? Why? Why would they close the case?” 

“They didn’t close the case, they are just dropping its priority level.”

“What the hell does that even mean? My daughter is going to bed every night without her mom, and they’re just giving up?  What I am supposed to say when she asks? Hmm? How the fuck am I supposed to tell Amy that the cops have stopped looking for her ma?” Perry’s whole body was trembling as he let out his frustration. 

Wanting to keep him from tipping over the edge, Ceci reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him into a chair. Feeling more assured that he wasn’t going to lash out at anyone, you moved back to lean on the counter a few feet away from Rhett while Ceci found a place to lean on the frame of the archway into the hallway. The room grew silent as Joy decided on her next step, this certainly was not an unexpected reaction, but it didn’t make things any easier. The click of the front door opening and shutting brought everyone’s attention to the entryway. Cecilia could see who was coming first because of her position, but she remained mute, her face unreadable. 

A few more seconds passed before Royal came into view. The lines on his face accentuated with exhaustion as if he had raced a marathon between the time you’d last seen him and now. 

“Hi, Royal.” Royal didn’t respond, but rather stared at the floor until his wife prompted him to speak.

“Say hello.”

“Hello, Joy.” 

Ceci continued to speak, informing Royal of what had been going on just before he came into the room.

“Joy’s been tellin’ us how the FBI’s gonna stop looking for Rebecca.” 

“Look, I…I already tried to talk to ‘em, get as many answers as I could, but -”

“Why now? Why are they giving up now?” It was Perry again, bitterness sculped his words into sharp points aimed at the world. 

“It’s the nine-month mark. Lowers the priority, particularly if they think she could’ve left on her own.”

“How many times do I got to tell ‘em, there’s no way she would’ve left Amy.”

“I know that.”

Uncrossing his arms, Rhett interjected, “What’s the last thing you remember Rebecca saying to you? I mean-” 

“I already answered that question 100 times, Rhett. Do you think I’m withholding information?” 

“We’re not hiding anything.” Royal’s voice was tense as he addressed the Sheriff. 

“Hey, boys, if we are gonna keep going down this road, I’m going to have to ask Y/N here to leave. She’s not family and having her here while we discuss the case isn’t exactly protocol.” 

“She is family and I say she stays.” Perry’s words bit at Joy, but she barely flinched at his venom. 

“Okay. I apologize. I’m just trying to help.” 

“Well, it’s not helping.” 

“Boys come on.” You knew it was time to speak up because the last thing you wanted was for your presence to cause Perry more issues. 

Perry shook his head, rubbing his palms over his face. 

“Hey, Perry, look at me,” his eyes flicked to her, “I know this is hell, but I’m not giving up. I’m talking to you as a friend now. You take care of your family.”

The brush of a bag falling to the floor was accompanied by the thud of shoes being flung off. Amy soon joined everyone in the kitchen, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room, she yanked open the fridge door and grabbed an apple. The items inside the fridge door rattled as it slammed back into place, the tinkling of glass containers emphasized how quiet the room was now that Amy was here. 

“What’s wrong?” She looked from her dad to her uncle and then finally to you when she didn’t get a response from the others. 

“Nothins’ wrong bug. Sheriff Joy here was just stopping by to talk. Why don’t we go hang out upstairs while these guys finish up?” 

“Okay.”

 Shifting your weight off of the counter’s edge, you followed Amy as she left the room and made her way upstairs. Perry gave you a look of thanks as you went by. 

…………..

The wooden stairs creaked as you made your way upstairs, a  wave of nostalgia followed as you ascended. It had been so while since you’d been in this part of the Abbott home, but there had been a time that the room at the end of the hall on the right had been your sanctuary. Many nights had been spent inside that space with Rhett, cuddled in each other’s arms. The rule had always been that you were supposed to stay in the guest room across the hall, but inevitably the two of you would find your way to each other during the night. In a small town like Wabang, some silently judged the Abbotts for the way they allowed you and Rhett to interact, but they had no concept of the hell you were living through. Those nights spent with Rhett in his room had nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with seeking comfort from being near the person you loved.

Art covering the walls of Amy’s room clashed jarringly with the dated wallpaper. Just ahead of you, Amy pulled a book off of the shelf in the corner of her room before plopping down on the bed, the core of her apple discarded on the nightstand. You made a mental note to have her throw it out later and joined her on the bed.

“What do ya got there?” The brown faux leather of the book was peeling at the edges from age. 

“It’s an old scrapbook grandma gave me, from when I was a baby.” 

“My god! Mind if I take a look with you?” 

“That was the whole plan, silly.” 

You released a breathy laugh at her comment as her delicate fingers slid along the edge of the cover, opening the book with reverence. The seriousness of it all seemed out of place to you at first, but a quick glance at the first picture inside put the pieces in place. Rebecca’s youthful face was stuck there front and center. Baby Amy was in her arms as Perry stood behind them, his face plastered with a huge smile. The twinkling lights of the Christmas tree behind them flared into white blurs in the background. It was an icon of domestic bliss, and the sight of it left you nearly in tears. How could so many things have changed for the worse? 

Amy continued to flip the pages, her fingers tracing over the edges of each picture, pausing for longer on those of her and her parents. With the next turn came a picture of you, Rhett, Perry, and Rebecca all standing together at the rodeo. You and Rhett were still wearing your competition clothes as you each held up plaques. You couldn’t read them, but you knew what they said. This was the first time the pair of you had placed first in your divisions. Rhett wasn’t riding bulls yet, but he had won for steer roping, and you had come in first in your age category for barrel racing. The two of you were 14 at most, the light in your eyes so evident as the weight of the world had yet to drag you under. 

Your own fingers found their way to the edges of the picture, lightly caressing the tattered paper. 

“Y/N?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you tell me what she was like when she was younger? My mom?” 

“Of course.” You gently took the book from Amy’s hands as you pressed yourself up against the short headboard and the window behind. Patting the bed, you motioned for her to join, which she did immediately. Handing the book back to her, you began to speak even though you weren’t really sure where to start. 

“Okay…. Well, I’ll never forget the day your daddy saw your mom for the first time. We were all at the rodeo, and it had been an incredibly long day. Rhett and I were both finished with our events and were going to get some food before bull riding started. Perry decided to tag along with us and get something for himself. We had already stopped by the lemonade stand, and gotten ourselves the largest drinks you could imagine,” you gestured with your hands to show the size of the cup, “But our next stop was the pretzel booth because who doesn’t love a hot pretzel dipped in cheese? Anyway, the line was really long so the three of us chatted while we waited. When it was our turn, your dad looked up from the drink in his hand to tell the person his order, and his jaw nearly hit the floor. His eyes got all wide, he was stammering somethin’ fierce and all because your momma was standing at the window to take his order. And bless her, she was so kind, just waitin’ patiently for him to get his order out. Oh, he was so nervous, your uncle and I couldn’t help but laugh at him a little.-” You flashed a smirk toward Amy who was now laughing loudly at your story. 

“Mercifully, he managed to get his order out and wait for the food without dropping anything. Once we had our stuff we made our way back to the stands to watch, and that’s when he noticed it. Among the change, she’d given him was a little piece of paper with a phone number on it, and it was signed with her name, ‘Rebecca’ “. I think he almost fell out of his seat when he realized what it was.”  

Amy’s head was resting on your shoulder as she continued to laugh. 

“Can you tell me more Y/N?” 

“You got it.” Flipping to the next page you scanned the images to see what you could share next. And this is how the next couple of hours went. You and Amy sitting on the bed together, as you shared stories about her parents and about you and Rhett. 

Time had passed without your noticing, but the rumbling in your stomachs pulled both you and Amy back downstairs. Without prompting, Amy picked up the apple core and brought it with her to throw out. 

“Ah there you girls are, I was just comin’ to getcha. Dinner’s ready.” 

“Oh, thanks Ceci, but I better get home.”

“I can assure you Y/N, it hasn’t burned to the ground. Besides, Perry and Rhett were over there while you girls were upstairs, takin’ a closer look at the fence. So, I won’t hear of it, you’re stayin’ for dinner.”

“Okay. Thanks for letting me stay.” 

You knew you should feel guilty about emerging back into the Abbott family the way you had, and you did. Having you around like this was a struggle for Rhett, and it hurt you to think about causing him more pain… you’d done enough damage already. And beyond that, there was Amy. She had already lived through enough loss and grief for an entire lifetime with her mother, and now here you were. You could see how much Amy came alive when she was with you, and god, did it feel amazing to be loved so innocently and deeply, but in the back of your head, you knew your inevitable departure would cut deep. You couldn’t stay in Wabang, it wasn’t safe for you to stay, in fact, you’d already been here too long, but until your father’s final affairs were in order… here you’d be. 

Ceci was flowing through the kitchen setting the table for dinner, a stack of plates in one hand and silverware in the other. Not wanting to be completely useless, you reached for the plates. Lifting them from her grasp, you worked your way around the table, setting one in front of each chair.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that Y/N.” 

“Yes, Ceci I do.  You’ve been so gracious inviting me back into your home, and it’d be wrong of me to sit back and let you do all the work.” 

“You heard what Perry said earlier, you’re family. And family takes care of family.” Her warm smile was met with one from you, one that didn’t quite reach your eyes. 

“Amy, can you do me a favor?” Ceci had turned to her granddaughter who sitting in her spot at the table.

“Sure, grandma.” 

“Can you go out to the barn and let the boys know that it’s time to eat?”

“Yup.” Hopping up from the chair, Amy took off running towards the door, you could see her flash by the kitchen window as she flew in the direction of the barn. 

You and Ceci worked in silence for a few more minutes, getting the food and the utensils all ready to go. Placing the casserole dish down on a hot pad at the center of the table, Ceci removed the oven mitts on her hands and began to speak.

“Y/N I-” her words were interrupted by the rest of her family stomping into the room, and settling in for dinner. She gave you a look as if to say, ‘we’ll talk later", and joined the rest of the group. 

The meal was quiet, with just a few questions and stories coming from Amy that you and the others were left to answer as Perry seemed to be lost in another world, his plate sat untouched while he tipped back multiple beers. Finishing her last bite of food Amy looked over at her dad expectantly and asked if he would tuck her in tonight, but he didn’t respond. Her shoulders fell as she slumped back, her eyes cast on the floor. Your heart broke at the sight of it, you knew that feeling all too well, needing to be noticed…to have the comfort of a parent, and finding them incapable of giving it. The heartbreak snapped into more the longer you watched and waited. Anger flashed hot through your body, the scene unfolding before you was far too reminiscent of your own childhood. Your outrage extended beyond just Perry to the rest of the Abbotts. The question stuttering like a broken road for you was, ‘how the hell can they sit by and watch this happen? After everything they watched you go through?’. 

Standing up you, seized her plate, stacking it on top of yours, and brought them to the sink. Twisting on the tap, you let the water warm up as you rinsed the plates, only letting them sit in the bottom of the basin once they were mostly clean. 

Returning to the table you stood in the space behind Amy’s chair, your hands resting on top of its frame. Bending down you nearly whispered your offer, “How ‘bout this little bug, why don’t I get you all tucked into for bed tonight? An’ we can give your daddy a little break, okay?” 

She just nodded, her eyes filled with sadness. She may not have been in the room when Sheriff Joy shared the devastating news about her mom’s case, but Amy was perceptive enough to understand that whatever had her dad in this mood was something big, and likely had to do with her mom. But she also knew that when he was like this, there was no point in pushing, all she could do was wait for him to come around.

……………

Yet again, you and Amy made your way upstairs. This time you waited for her in her room, watching the little girl move silently through her nighttime routine. Having brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas, she came padding back into the room with a brush and some hair ties in her hands. Without needing to ask you held out your hands for the supplies and began the process of doing her hair. She sat in front of you on the bed, facing the foot of the mattress as you were behind her up by the pillows. With great care, you parted each section, laying each one carefully over the other, ending each braid with one of the ties. 

Finished with your work, you scooched off the bed and pulled back the covers. Amy slid into the spot you just vacated, adjusting the pillows and blankets. Sitting on the edge of the bed you waited for her to tell you what came next. 

“Will you say a prayer with me Y/N?” 

“Sure, bug.” 

Her small hand reached for yours as your eyes closed waiting for her to start.

“Dear God, we thank you for the land. We thank you for our health. We thank you for Grandma and Grandpa. We thank you for Uncle Rhett and Y/N. And please bring Mom home. Amen.” 

“Amen.” 

Leaning forward you tucked in the blankets around her sides and placed a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Goodnight baby bug. Sweet dreams.”

“Goodnight Y/N.” 

Exiting the room, your hand found the light switch and flicked it off. Closing the door behind you, the tight muscles of your back rested against the hardwood of the door giving the air in your lungs a chance to escape in a deep sigh. With one more deep breath, you made your way back downstairs. Rhett and Perry’s voices could be heard in the kitchen where the lights were off except for the one dim bulb above the table casting the room in shadows. 

“Hey, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…I, I know you told them everything. I did mean to make you take…”

“No, we’re all tryin’ to… figure it out.” 

The room grew quiet as the men drank their beers allowing you to turn the corner into the space, profound frustration radiating off of you. Rhett and Perry both looked up from their drinks as you came into the room. Swallowing before he spoke, Perry was the first to verbally acknowledge your presence, as Rhett’s eyes remained on you, noting the rigidity of your body. Shifting in his chair, Rhett leaned forward as if he was preparing for a fight. He knew without a doubt the reason for your fury.

“Umm Y/N, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier today… and for tonight at dinner. It… uhh… I really appreciate —”

“What the hell is wrong with you Perry?” Your hands quivered as you gripped the edge of the table, “You can’t fucking check out on her like that… it’s cruel. She’s already lost one parent don’t make her lose another. An’... fuck, I’m not saying that you can’t be upset, because you have every right to be, what happened to Rebecca is unimaginable. But you cannot leave her hanging like you did tonight.” The bitterness and frustration in your words stabbed like a knife at his heart, their aim flawless. 

Perry’s head hung between his shoulders as he listened to your words. He knew deep in his heart how right you were, he needed to be better, at least for Amy. 

“ I don’t know how.”

“Nobody knows how to deal with shit like this, but you gotta try! Don’t shut her out, Perry!” 

The volume of your voice was rising rapidly along with your rage, “She’s your daughter! It’s your job to take care of her!” As if moving of its own accord, your hand reached out and grabbed at Perry’s shirt, twisting the fabric tightly. Wrenching your fist towards you, Perry’s shoulder lurched forward.

Standing up, Rhett took two steps towards you, his strong hand circling around your biceps and pulling you back. He knew that if he didn’t get you to breathe things were going to devolve quickly, and they were already approaching rock bottom.

“Y/N, hey, come on now-”

“Let me go, Rhett.” You tried to shake off his grip, but his fingers just pushed deeper into your muscles. 

“No, Y/N. Look at me.” He spun you around, his hands rising to cup the side of your face as his calloused thumbs pressed into your cheeks. Your hands landed flat on his chest as if to push him away, “I know you’re angry and I get it. But beating the hell out of Perry isn’t gonna help. You’re just gonna hurt Amy more… and I know you don’t want that.”

“I just… he can’t…”

“Hey, hey, I know. God do I fuckin’ know. But this isn’t fixin’ anything, I promise you that.” His hold on your face loosened, his thumbs gently caressing your cheeks, “Come on, let’s get you home, okay? We can… we can talk about this later, all right?” 

Rhett’s hands fell from your face as you shook your head yes. Placing a hand on the middle of your back, he guided you out of the kitchen towards the front door. 

“Here, take my keys, and go start the truck. I’ll be outside in a minute.” 

Taking the keys, you hastily put on your boots and went outside. Once you were out of earshot, Rhett turned around and rejoined his brother in the other room.

“Listen to me, Perry. I’m gonna take Y/N home, and while I’m gone you’re gonna go upstairs and kiss your daughter goodnight. And when you’re done, you’re going to get in your truck and meet me at the Pit Bar. We need to talk, and I need a drink. But I’ll tell you this right now, you’ve been pulling this shit with Amy for far too long. We all understood in the beginning, but you’ve gotta get your goddamn head back on straight. And just so you know, I’m not holding her back next time, you do that shit in front of Y/N again, and I’m letting her beat your sorry ass. Got it?” 

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ll see you in 30.” 

……………………………

The ride back to your house started off much like the last with Rhett, and before long the truck was rumbling into your driveway. The engine shutting off should have been your sign to get out, but your body was frozen in your seat. So there you both sat, your teeth chewing the inside of your lip as you worked up the courage to speak, while Rhett stared out the windshield his eyes not really seeing anything. 

“How long has be doing that to her?” 

“It was really bad right after Rebecca went missing. We all thought it was getting better, but it’s been happening more in the past few weeks…I knew when the sheriff showed up today that we were in for it.” 

“Then why didn’t you say somethin’, Rhett? He’s your brother for christ’s sake.”

“Because Y/N, I have been saying it for months an’ nothing helps. I have tried for so goddamn long, an’ every time I try… I fail.” Rhett’s voice dropped low and somber as he let the quiet thought fall from his lips, the moonlight reflecting glassy in the whites of his eyes, “I’m failing her the same way I failed you.”

Rhett’s right hand fell from the ignition and came to rest on the top of his thigh, the other pinched at the bridge of his nose. Scooting across the bench seat, you brought yourself into his space, snaking your left arm under his right and threading your fingers with his.  Reaching up with your right hand, you rested your palm on his warm cheek, turning his face towards yours and bringing it close. Rhett let himself rest in your touch, his lashes shining in the dim light covered in tears. 

“You didn’t fail me, Rhett…” Tears burned hot in your nose as you continued, “I can promise you that. And you haven’t failed Amy.”

“I can’t lose her too.

[raynewolferune]

Okay, but like, the moment they first found out about the sisters & other clone siblings? That these earlier clones weren't just being killed but were allowed to 'form relationships' originally and then watched each other die? Agonizing and it probably happens so much earlier too because you know Jazz drilled Journaling as a form of self-therapy into Danny ages ago too so....

The meeting room devolved into chaos as everyone chimed in with their own opinions about whether the new children should stay with Wonder Woman, Superman, or at Mount Justice. Batman frankly didn't consider the matter to be up for discussion. Superman, with his reaction to his first clone son, was too much of a risk to gain custody of the two younger children while they were sick. Letting them reside at Mount Justice while half feral was a recipe for disaster. Wonder Woman was the obvious choice.

He opened the youngest's notebook notebook and began to idly flip through it as he waited for the room to calm. He was saddened, amused, and impressed by the maps, plans, daily entry log - it really couldn't be called a journal or diary due to the matter of fact progress reports - when he paused.

"I saw Ellie in the lab. She was screaming. I tried to free her but the I couldn't break the cuffs. They were too strong. They zapped me and it left burns. Ellie begged me to help her but I couldn't. My little sister melted away."

"Diana," Batman interrupted. Wonder Woman and Superman's attention immediately snapped to him and the rest fell silent. "Look at this."

Wonder Woman stood beside him and read the indicated passage rapidly. She paled. In a rush of air she was gone from the room altogether.

"What is it?" Superman asked, edging closer to where Batman was seated. Batman pointed out the same passage. For a long moment the room was still.

The door shattered.

A split second was all the time it had taken for Superman to read the passage, process it, and throw a full-force super strength punch at meeting room's reinforced lead door. More than a few heroes in the room went white at the sight of it.

"That," Batman said with a forced calm. "Is why you will not be getting custody of them right now."

The absolutely livid glare Superman leveled at Batman caused a corresponding tension in several of their fellow heroes. Batman would have sworn that the temperature ticked up a few degrees as the Kryptonian barely held back his heat vision.

"Avcording to CADMUS's documents, Danny, the sick toddler, is much weaker than either you or Connor." Batman continued levely. "There is a good chance that he did not inherit your invulnerability. The shrapnel from that door could have killed him."

It was almost surreal to see the rapid progression from near-feral rage to comprehension, fear, panic, dread, and finally sorrowful acceptance.

"Now," Batman continued, standing and heading towards where the door once was. "I think it would be best to take a break. We'll reconvene in an hour."

Of course, Batman didn't rest. He went directly to the medical suite the two clones currently called home. When he arrived at the door he knocked.

"Come in, Bruce." Wonder Woman - Diana - called. He took a slow centering breath, shed Batman, and Bruce entered. The older boy, Match according to the toddler's notes, was asleep but Danny was wide awake and cuddled against Diana's chest. She clung to him desperately and the child let her.

"Hello, little one," Bruce greeted in a gentler tone than he normally used for adults. "I'm Batman. I've heard you like to go by Danny. May I call you that?" He asked.

Danny regarded him with watchful eyes for several moments before giving a silent nod.

"Thank you, Danny." Bruce said with a kind smile. "I'd like to ask you a few questions. Is that alright?"

The child frowned at him.

"Is that why she's 'bout to cry?" Danny asked sounding rather disgruntled. Diana unconsciously squeezed the kid a little bit tighter in response. He pouted harder at Bruce.

"Probably yeah," Bruce admitted. "I heard you had a sister, Danny. Can you tell me about her? What happened to her?" He asked gently. It was very likely this question would go over badly but it was the fastest way to find out if there was another clone they needed to find and breakout or bury.

Danny stared at Bruce woodenly with dead blue eyes. Finally his mouth opened, slowly forcing itself to peel open and speak.

"I had two sisters. Both full blood; same donors, same amounts. Jazz was older. She had red hair. Ellie was younger. She had hair like me." The child reported dissociating more with every word. "Jazz went first. She was strong; near perfect. Fought back. They shot her." He said. Diana lifted her face from Danny's hair to look down at the top of his head as he spoke, grief-stricken. "Ellie failed after. Wrong gender. Had almost all the right power. Not stable enough. Rebellious too. Tried an experiment to stabilize her. She was screaming. Melted to goo."

The three year old's eyes were glazed. Limbs limp and cold. Completely checked out after relaying the fate of his sisters. Amazonian sisters, Bruce watched Diana carefully. Her hands and shoulders had a fine tremble, lips were bloodless, eyes tearing up. She took careful, even, shallow breaths.

The silence grew between them until it filled the room like a great beast, waiting. No one spoke or moved as the minutes passed. Until finally the little one fell asleep in his donor mother's arms. Diana gently held her clone child as Bruce waited, standing in front of her. For what reason, he didn't quite know.

Finally the vibration of the alarm her set to make sure he remembered to rejoin the meeting went off. He turned it off and then looked at Diana. She shook her head, pressing her lips to Danny's hair once more. Bruce nodded, turned, and left the small medical suite closing the door softly behind him and leaning back against it for a moment. One breath, two, a third slow and deep, then he straightened up again and Batman stalked back to the room to finish the meeting.

Howdy @hdgnj & @radiance1 would it be alright if hypothetically a new thread was started? I'm starting to feel bad for the people trying to get through the pages of text on our blogs lol. HDNJ Reblog | RADIANCE Reblog

[I also understand if you would prefer just continuing from the initial thread]

So no matter what happens, it's pretty much agreed upon that the two need help. Along with the fact that they really can't just be left to wander, no matter how well they were doing.

(Bruce is having flashbacks to walking into Tim's stalker-shrine room when they look through the toddler's notebook) Because like, Match was pretty much live. A lot of people saw him, and a lot more will continue, so it's not even close to being safe. For all they knew? Cadmus might've thought they had died since they were already deemed failures. But now everyone in the knows not only is at least one alive, but nearly fought Superman to a standstill.

Probably could've if not for the fact that they're a half-starved teen- though the half-feral part probably helped with the can't predict what the Duck attack is going to be next.

(I wanna add more but if idk which to do if we go to the thread lol) (Also hi if ur just finding this, idk if it'll go anywhere but welcome to Radiance's prompt of tiny SuperWonder clone Danny)

[obeythedemons]

Arguments He's Started To Watch The World Burn [Obey Me! Headcanons: Brothers]

Obey Me! Masterlist

Lucifer

Could applesauce be considered a soup?

He knows the question is stupid, but he's just wanting to start a fight with someone. Satan scoffs and that sauce is in the name. Lucifer shrugs, and asks what's the difference between a sauce and a soup, he's acting stupid and Satan knows it.

Mammon pauses and says that it could actually be a soup and his mind is blown. Satan knows that Mammon is not ACTING stupid, he's just being stupid. He's turning red.

Beel says that he doesn't care, it still tastes good.

Mammon

Is cryptocurrency the way of the future?

He doesn't care, money is money is money. He'll use it, but he doesn't care if it takes over or if dies off.

Levi doesn't like it, thinking it sounds like something some supervillain in an anime would do. He'd then buy something off of Akuzon.

Satan and Belphie would screech at what he just did.

The original question really doesn't stand ground and devolves into how everything's becoming digital.

Leviathan

Are we all just living in some sort of simulation?

Levi personally hopes that's the case, but at the same time, he's him. If he were in some video game, he'd hope he'd be cooler like the Lord of Shadows.

Most of the brothers dismiss him for saying something stupid. But Mammon actually questions it. This causes a huge fight.

Belphie goes back and forth between the sides to fuel the flames.

Eventually, they all agree that it'd be stupid if they were all in some video game - at least not when it's Levi's fault.

Satan

Are angels and demons the same thing? Technically?

"No," Lucifer states immediately.

"Why not?"

"It's just different."

"That's a stupid answer. What's the actual difference?"

The brothers start giving different reasons, but they are issues with their arguments on everything - especially since all of them, besides Satan, were angels at some point.

"What's the real difference?"

Asmodeus

Do crystals actually work?

He likes them, but he doesn't care if they work or not.

They're just something fun that gives him amusement. W

hen Satan scoffs at the idea, Lucifer brings up the fact that they're surrounded by magical items and it could work. They are literal demons.

Satan throws countless books at Lucifer's head that claim to disprove the magical nature of crystals.

Lucifer reminds him of what happened with all of the gems.

"THAT'S DIFFERENT!"

Asmo doesn't understand why they're different, but shrugs. Maybe Satan needs a calming crystal.

Beelzebub

Do you eat with the small spoon or the big spoon?

His brothers didn't realize that they eat with different spoons. They start screaming, trying to figure out how they all lived together for hundreds of years and didn't realize.

Asmo says that the big spoon is too much food and the only time he wants to fit something bigger in his mouth is when--.

Mammon cuts him off saying that he can't get enough food and it takes too much time to eat with the small spoon.

Belphie says that it depends on what he's eating.

Beelzebub pours whatever is in his bowl directly into his mouth as he listens.

Belphegor

Would the three realms still exist if no one was around to observe them? Or would they just disappear?

Lucifer goes back and forth on what's true. If their Father and Diavolo disappear, then it's possible the three worlds would collapse.

Satan questions just how much power the two have over the realms, but realizes that MC just existing almost destroyed them.

Asmo says he doesn't want to think about it.

It doesn't really start a fight, but makes everyone reflect more.

BONUS:

MC

Who is my favorite?

Someone will probably die.