#this is all just assuming they would've gone that route

[electricea]

Anonymous sent - do you think the whole thing with kamoshida would've ended up darker if joker was a girl instead of a guy? [both IC and ooc, i saw a reddit post asking what would be different if joker was female

Oh, absolutely - especially if a female Joker was one of the girls Kamoshida decided to take a 'special interest' in - because then you wouldn't just be seeing glimpses of it or hearing about it, you as the player would be experiencing it firsthand yourself - which would probably be much more unsettling and uncomfortable. Also I imagine they'd probably change up the consequences - like rather than Joker being expelled if they don't finish the first Palace in a certain number of days, the punishment for failing the deadline could be something far worse and with even darker implications.

[mistresscitrusslice]

The Season 2 Opening. We Must Discuss.

First of all, small beans. Instead of static, lifeless statues, this time we get moving humans. Mel features significantly more than I expected, so she'll probably be a much more major character than I expected for a non-champion character and I'm so happy for her. I believe the use of moving people instead of statues signifies that immense change will be happening. What we thought was literally set in stone in Season 1 will be turned on its head in Season 2.

Okay, on to the really concerning matters.

Yuhuh. Jinx moves too fast for me to get a good screenshot, but she gestures like this around her face a lot. I think we all already know about the Caitlyn-Jinx parallels, but my sister suggests it could be a red herring for the actual resemblances she has to Silco.

Sis gets credit for the following observation, but Caitlyn's daydream sequences about shooting Jinx are controlled and clearly separated from reality unlike Jinx's.

However, sis has not seen ep 2 yet, where Caitlyn does have that moment in the arcade where she shoots her vision of Jinx among the wooden dummies. Not only does this more closely resemble Jinx's hallucinations, it also parallels Jinx shooting the harmless crow in s1 e5. By the time the strike squad are about to leave, she can clearly tell that what she thought might be Jinx was really just a harmless wooden standee. Startling, but harmless. She shoots it anyway.

Caitlyn is totally gonna spiral more, and maybe she'll start losing her grip on reality too, but for now, she has more in common with Silco than she does with Jinx. Did anyone else get reminded of Silco's coat when Ambessa put the supervillain cape on Caitlyn? The collars don't look similar but they still eerily resemble each other, you get me?

Ok back to intro stuff

Vi wipes off her name from her face. That's two tattoos that are rendered impermanent in this opening theme. In the Fenty x Arcane video, they mention that Mel's golden freckles are tattoos. Later in the intro song, we also see her golden freckles gone. Change, impermanence. That seems to be a theme here.

Vi is literally erasing her name from her face. In any normal circumstance, I'd say that means she wants a change of identity, a desire to start over. However, I know that Vi's League lore involves amnesia. Does she really drink herself into that bad of a stupor? Jkjk. I assumed that her amnesia was replaced by the Stillwater imprisonment to explain how she got topside and with the enforcers, but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe they do still intend to go the amnesia or partial amnesia route with her.

The teasers implied that Vi shares the genetic trait that has Jinx predisposed to hallucinations. It's possible that this eventually contributes to her loss of memory, but I wouldn't call it quite yet. However, if this happens during her emo era when I'm assuming she has no support system, she'll be very vulnerable, unlike if it were to happen while she was still partnered with Caitlyn, in which case they could easily fill in most blanks in her memory.

I have no idea what to make of this. It's clear as day what they're paralleling, but why? Why the flashlight scene? My best guess is that they're trying to draw on déjà vu, implying a repetition of history, but why this particular moment? They could've easily chosen anything else in Jayce's s1 arc. He has many more memorable moments than this. Let's see, I'm literally making this up as I go.

This meeting was a pivotal moment for Jayce. Both his meeting with Viktor and his meeting with Mel changed his fate. The Viktor one is pretty self-explanatory, but without meeting Mel, they would've both just gotten exiled or locked up again. With Mel, they had someone in power who could vouch for them.

That begs the question, is Jayce meeting someone new? Or is this a reintroduction to someone he's already known before, a new meeting after a long time apart or after a significant change, maybe a change in them both. I believe it must be someone who was involved in the original hallway scene.

Jayce is either looking at Mel again or at Viktor. Given the amount of Viktor/Mel parallels in Season 1, I believe Jayce is looking at Viktor after he's undergone his likely final evolution. That'll obviously be another pivotal moment for him... but will it be a good one like it was with Mel? Viktor has power now. He's performing miracles. He's, like, two steps away from parting the Pilt River like it's the Red Sea. He seems to hold a grudge against Jayce, though, for *checks notes* saving his life? Jk I know he feels like he's losing autonomy and like Jayce didn't respect his wishes with the Hexcore and Jayce obviously couldn't let Viktor die when he'd fought so hard to stay alive before.

Anyway, I feel like this could easily be both a good omen and a bad omen for Jayce. More than anything, I feel like it'll be an epiphany. He is quite literally seeing the light. The light at the end of the dark tunnel? The light of the heavens at the end of his life? The light of a revelation sent by a god he once knew as a man?

Seeing Mel screaming bloody murder during the opening, this was the first place my mind went to. The pose doesn't match up exactly, and Jinx/Powder's screams are definitely wilder, but I feel like there's definitely something here. Is there anyone else who screams like this, thrusting their head forward and keeping their arms back?

We also see the shadow hands from this earlier shot:

I'm thinking of the Black Rose (is that their name?) kidnapping her in thin air, incorporeal hands reaching at her and snatching my joy the love of my life Mel away. It could also represent people grasping at the power Mel wields, both as the wealthiest Council member and as a Noxian princess, one of the closest people to Ambessa, the one wielding the most power right now.

Mel is really out of her depth right now. Her power and influence is up for grabs if she dares to blink and let her guard down. I'm also surprised that we don't see her fight back at all when there's danger around. I thought she might have more battle experience as she was raised by Ambessa. For those people wondering about her magical powers, I think she would've used them by now if she had them. Council attack aside, which could've been Viktor's magic, she wasn't able to do anything about the memorial attack or her own kidnapping. I think they're trying to show us that Mel is not as untouchable as she presents herself. Under the right circumstances, she's just as vulnerable as any civilian.

The sliver of light? My sister pointed out that it looks just like the crack of light between two double doors. Almost closed... or barely open? It appears in pretty much everyone's shot in the opening, but it's right down the center of Mel's face here. Is she torn between two sides? Is this about an impossible choice she has to make?

The spotlight is also on her. That's two sources of light. It looks like a red sun. All eyes on her as the surviving voice of the Council?

And her expression... shock, fear, horror. The heavy breathing, the look on her face... I feel eerily like I've seen it on someone else before. I can't place who, but I'm getting déjà vu from this. Does anyone else recognize this expression and these mannerisms?

[kitorin]

OUR SPRING

016. a sight just for us

"ARE WE THERE YET?"

YOUR LEGS ARE BEGINNING TO TIRE OUT, fatigue's arrival has sweat accumulating on your forehead as your breathing becomes unstable as you stare at the way Hyoma's carmine ponytail sways.

Without turning around, Hyoma calls out, still far ahead of you. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Self care day my ass." Though you mutter it under your breath, he chuckles as a response, halting his movements for you.

When he'd texted you to meet up at a park nearby the city, you expected a casual stroll in the park, not a borderline hike. You would've brought a much smaller bag—and a larger water bottle.

"I promise you it's not too long. Hang in there, we'll take a break if you need it." A hand offers his help, and you accept thankfully. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah—." You huff out, slightly embarrassed at how unfazed Hyoma remained, a contradiction to how the summer air relentlessly harassed you with its heat. "Just hot."

But he knows better. "There's no shame in resting. We'll take a break."

A tired nod, and you're fishing through your shoulder bag for your water bottle, hurried enough to almost spill it everywhere. You're not bothered by it though, as you're admiring the scenery; how the trees stretch their coffee coloured arms above you, emerald leaves holding hands whilst permitting some sunlight to shine through.

It's worth it, you think, even if you're sweating uncomfortably.

"Come to think of it, I didn't know this path existed." You're not constantly seeking outdoor activities nor are you particularly into them, but the park was well known enough for a multitude of reasons; one being their nature walks.

But those were outlined with stone steps, while the one the two of you were walking down remained untouched, earth and all. There were supposed to be wooden handrails accompanying the path too, as well as the occasional map adorned with a sign.

You begin moving again, a silent way of telling Hyoma you're ready to continue. "Is this a secret one? I don't think they included it on the website either."

"You're not exactly wrong."

"Meaning?" The sun's gleam was becoming more prominent, as you approached what you'd assume to be the end of the path.

"This isn't one of their nature walks, I just happened to find it one day." Before you're able to question his words, he grasps your wrist, pulls you towards the light.

You'd tried to protest, but it was difficult as you (barely) matched Hyoma's pace.

"Oi—"

To no avail you're ignored, as the two of you rush, probably disrupting a few creatures of the local ecosystem, some dirt being kicked up as he pulls you along. "Just wait."

Not like I have a choice, dumbass.

In no time, the trees standing over you were gone and you're met with the sun blinding you, breeze immediately playing with your hair.

"We're here!"

He releases your wrist, as you ignore the stifling heat discomposing your skin to admire the view.

Your true surroundings were revealed, a small field of grass adorned with a couple of trees, peering down at the park. Cautious, you inch closer to the edge, now noticing people—walking, cycling, jogging, appearing like small beetles hassling amidst the earth. Though the height of the cliff evokes nausea, it was beautiful, how small everything looked; how you could see so much.

"Are you really that unfit?" His teasing tone makes you realise how out of breath you were, as Hyoma holds out a bottle of Pocari Sweat, one from his backpack.

You pant a bit. "I just hate the heat—summer's not my thing." You accept the bottle, taking a particularly large sip from it after squatting down. "I'm surprised they didn't make this place and the route one of their nature walks. It's so pretty. How'd you find it?" It's a hidden gem, you look around and the area's spotless, not a single sight of rubbish, nor any damage inflicted.

"I didn't, Nee-chan did." He joins you, settling down in the grass. "She showed me when I was a kid, and after becoming an idol I've come to love this place more." Hyoma leans backwards, plopping into the soft grass.

You mimic the action, though a lot more hesitant and careful. "So you have an older sister." Your gaze fixates onto the sky, wispy clouds slowly drifting along. "Is she your only sibling?" You turn to see his response; a nod with a grin.

"I love her so much. She's always been there to help me, and taught me things like how to cook or tie my hair. She's so cool, too. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Joy was evident, from the way he spoke, to the beam he donned.

It's not like he was constantly stoic, but right now he was smiling as though without restrictions—a countenance completely different from the subtle and polite one he wore in photoshoots and interviews.

"What about you?"

"Huh—?"

His question snaps you out of it, a silent reminder that you've been staring. "What about you? Do you have siblings?"

"Oh. Nope." You pray that he didn't notice your staring, and if he did you hope he didn't misinterpret it nor feel uncomfortable. "That's why I'm so close to Yoichi and Meguru, since we grew up in the same neighbourhood. My parents were busy so I played with them all the time instead." You sit up, admiring the view once more.

"I see." He imitates your action, leaning back into his arms, palms pressed into the earth behind him.

"It feels sort of wrong to be here." The comment comes out wrong, bordering on the line of discourtesy.

But Hyoma didn't seem to take any offense. "What do you mean?"

"It's you and your sister's place. It doesn't feel right coming here for content."

"Content?"

"You know, taking photos for your social media."

"Oh." You regret speaking immediately when you notice his frown, and your worry still persists even after he smiles again. "Recently we've only talked about our 'deal', I wanted to spend time as friends rather than just business partners. Right now, I'm showing this to my friend y/n, not my partner l/n."

"I thought it'd be nice, it's been a great escape. There's pretty much no one here, I don't have to worry about being watched. I wanted it to be equally comforting for you too, after all, rumours are expected as an idol, you're just trying to live normally."

Lips slightly parted, and heart warm, you study his expression, painted with genuine solicitude, rose coloured irises soft. The definition of your relationship was perplexing; you know you're only there because of a mutually beneficial deal, yet at times it feels like authentic friendship wove the two of you together.

"Thank you, I love it." Say more, idiot. Desperate, you piece the words together hurriedly in your head, not wanting to leave things unaddressed but worried about uttering the wrong words. "But things like rumours shouldn't be expected for anyone. I'm studying and you're simply making and performing music. Just because it's common and expected doesn't mean it should happen, nor you deserve it."

For moment the two of you sit in silence, listening to the wind sing alongside the rustling of leaves.

Hyoma eradicates the silence first. "You're right, I never really thought about it that way since a lot of people tell me success like that comes with a price."

"Then fuck them. I mean there's nothing you can do about speculation, I won't blame people for their curiosity but not harassing someone is basic human decency." You've never actively updated on a celebrities' image to the public, and you have good reason to. Anonymity served as encouragement for some people to behave in such an intrusive manner. "You're just as human as anyone else, just a lot more skilled. And attractive."

"Aaaand that's where I stop you. You were sounding ever so wise til that part. Shut up." He turns, hand reaching to your face for what you'd assume to be a flick to the forehead. You push his hand away (being friends with Yoichi had made you immune to that attack).

"Am I wrong though—?"

Hyoma speaks with a straight face. "Yeah. How about we start off with how good you are at school?"

You roll your eyes. "Anyone can study."

"Not as well as you though."

"It's not like I'm number one in the entire grade." You almost wince at the memories of that one classmate that manages to surpass your score by just a tiny bit.

"Not to mention you have a life—"

"—of watching kdramas and reading books." You chuckle, it certainly wasn't as thrilling as how Meguru or Yoichi lived their lives, but it was your way; one that made you happy.

Hyoma's finger goes to your lip, hovering just above as to not touch you without permission. "At least it's not drugs, reading's good for you anyways, now shush for a moment." He lists off the other hobbies you indulge in on each finger, outlining what makes them hard. "Your personality is great, you're emotionally intelligent, you're really pretty too—"

The final clause earns a burst of laughter from you.

"What? Are you doubting me?"

"It feels weird coming from you. You're surrounded by attractive idols all day, and spend so much time with other ones in other groups. Calling me 'really pretty' after meeting all those stars is crazy. Not like anyone else would agree with you either."

Hyoma becomes silent at the comment. "This place is hideous."

A sudden readjustment in topic has your eyebrows furrowing with confusion. "Pardon?"

"Kawachi Fujien is stunning, a shame really since that just makes this place ugly."

"You can't say that, one being pretty doesn't make the other ugly—"

The moment those words left your mouth, victory pervades his features, a toothy grin, which was quite frankly quite adorable.

"I made you say it! The same applies to you, yeah the people on tv are pretty, but it doesn't mean you aren't. And—" His hand holds yours. "—if no one else has said the same things as me, then that doesn't mean I'm wrong. It simply means you're an undiscovered flower, one that the world has yet to discover and appreciate the beauty of."

Though the unexpected grandeur accompanying his words leaves you speechless, it's not unwelcome—you can't deny the ebullience creeping onto your lips.

"That's why, you shouldn't let anyone nor any self deprecating thoughts get to you, okay?"

His words erased any memory of any negativity you held against yourself. Sure, you can recall how you doubted why'd he choose you for this role, but the insecurities regarding your appearance and the misery they carried were gone.

"Got it. I promise you."

"One more thing."

"Hit me."

"At the end of March, come here with me. Let's watch the cherry blossoms together, away from everyone else. A spring just for us."

That would be nice, gazing upon the sea of pink, out of anyone else's reach.

That's if, if he even has reason to speak to you after this deal of yours, or if it lasts for that long.

You hold up your pinkie. "I promise you that too."

Hyoma's pinkie intertwines with yours. "It's a deal then."

In spite of whether this deal will last until then, and the heat permeating your cheeks, there's nothing but merriment blooming within your heart.

LEGS SORE AND EXHAUSTED, you plop into your chair, absentmindedly drying your hair while texting. Your feet spin yourself around, as you send a final message to Ness before tossing your phone onto your bed.

You're concerned regarding the project, you ditched the gathering and are quite certain Ness wants you dead and has convinced the rest of the group the same. You've the faintest clue on the overall quality of the assignment, but at least you know you did everything you needed.

You're really pretty too—

It's been hours since you guys bid farewell, Hyoma had a family dinner he had to attend to, while you caught the bus home. You ponder a bit, who exactly was he having dinner with? Just his household? His sister would've definitely been there too, right? What about the food? Are there any foods he doesn't like eating? Or does he eat whatever?

You're an undiscovered flower, one that the world has yet to discover and appreciate the beauty of.

Chigiri Hyoma truly is talented, from his graceful execution of his words to the way your memories with him linger within your mind. It was as if he was a character that was birthed from the pages of a romance novel, particularly with how seriously he spoke those grand words. No wonder he's grown in popularity so much since the beginning of his career. To persist in one's mind must be a gift not many possess.

You shrug it off, flipping through your textbook and opening your exercise one, focusing on your priorities for the time being.

FIFTEEN | MASTERLIST | seventeen

PAIRING. chigiri hyoma x reader

SYNOPSIS. school gets overwhelming with constant rumours and accusations, thankfully someone is willing to help. but what happens when this mutually beneficial agreement escalates into something more?

GENRE. social media au, fake dating, idol / actor au

TAGLIST. @saesins, @punkhazardlaw, @silly-ez, @y-sabell-a, @mellozhi, @luvlunazx, @oldest-dream-pdf, @misfits1a, @hoshithinker, @livelaughloveisagiyoichi, @mave-in, @rinsie, @luvcryo, @fabitheraven, @h3xi2g0n3, @yuzurins, @ch3nyan, @jammiycge, @jocynotcute

© kitorin : do not repost, plagiarize, change, or translate

[hikariyuushiart]

Elevator Girl and Mr. Gap

Admittedly, of all the residents in the Ghost Apartments, Mr. Gap wasn't particularly the Elevator Girl's favorite. She never found Mr. Gap's requests for body parts to be particularly funny or amusing, though Mr. Gap always seemed to think otherwise. She still couldn't understand what he did with them.

At least with things like fingers or hearts, she could assume he might eat those, seeing as most residents seemed to live off a meat and blood diet. But what of his request for hair? What did he do with that? Or were those sort of requests only for when he actually wanted to do something nice for free, but couldn't bring himself to do it without being weird about it?

Either way, he was a tough resident to pin down. As such, he was usually close to last on her route. Sometimes she wouldn't see him at all. Or, more inconveniently, he'd find her while she was still in the living world, and she'd end up panicking trying not to get him caught talking to her. It was more for her own safety than his, as he could easily slip away while she had to deal with any consequences.

Today, he'd caught her just as she was about to enter the hallways that led to the elevator. She'd just left Mr. Hood behind, as he knew as well as she did by now that there would be no more hostiles from this point forward. Whether or not he thought Mr. Gap was a 'hostile' was still unclear. The Elevator Girl wasn't even sure if the two had formally met yet.

But before she knew it, she caught sight of him through a broken -- filter? vent? -- and approached him with a slight roll to her eyes.

"Hello again, Mr. Gap. What you want?" she asked in a lightly exasperated tone, right hand holding the handle of the nearly empty wagon while her left hand rested on her hip.

The mischievous gremlin grinned as he pulled out a magazine from the darkness. "Fun lots of paper~."

She sighed, "Of course. Another article from the supernatural gossip. Who would've guessed? And what do you want for it this time?" She crossed her arms, giving him an un-amused look. "Again. What you want?"

He held out his open left hand expectantly. "Two finger."

"Really? You're going to ask me for that sort of thing NOW?" she groaned, rubbing the back of her head underneath her cap. Luckily, thanks to Silvair's research, she'd long since learned that while she was in this 'other world', it was possible for her to regenerate fairly quickly. She'd attempted to do some light testing back in the realm of the living, but it seemed like her healing factor returned as soon as she was back in the real world, even if she was still in the Ghost Apartments.

"One finger," she haggled, watching as Mr. Gap's face turned from giddiness to slight annoyance.

"One finger...?" he repeated, mulling over her counter-offer. But eventually his mood seemed to lighten a bit. The Elevator Girl could only assume he was happy that anyone was willing to humor his offer at all.

"One finger. Give," he insisted, to which she sighed and looked away while offering up her left hand to the hole in the wall.

"Just because I agreed to this doesn't mean I'm happy about it..." she huffed. But she also knew that, more often than not, the articles and information that Mr. Gap ended up finding was usually helpful information. Other times, it was just him bragging about his infamy as a spooky ghost.

With a flinch, a yelp, and a bloody snap, her left index finger was gone. Although she didn't need to, she quickly grabbed a small roll of gauze to cover the gaping wound. Even if it would regenerate quickly enough, she still didn't want to risk getting blood on her clothes right now. Her tear-filled eyes narrowed slightly at Mr. Gap in annoyance.

"Alright, you've got your payment. What is it you want to show me?" she asked. And as soon as she did, Mr. Gap flipped the page open, revealing an article about 'the man with the red umbrella'. She stepped a little closer, attempting to read it in the dim light.

At first, she thought it nothing new. The rumors and the ghost stories that were spreading about Mr. Scarletella were old hat by now. But what WAS new was a theory about how his story originated.

Apparently there was speculation that he was a man who used to live in the area, known for his red umbrella. A friendly foreigner who people didn't mind seeing, but would never really approach or try to befriend. Some people claim to still see him to this day.

Others claim he was a ruthless landlord who drained tenants dry, killing those who couldn't pay rent to sate his own twisted bloodlust.

It did have the gears turning in the Elevator Girl's head. Silvair did speculate that a good chunk of the residents in the Ghost Apartments were all human once. Their lives had been long forgotten, including his own, but that didn't mean the living world completely forgot them. Perhaps Scarletella was also one of those.

"You like? Happy?" he asked as she finally leaned back with a small sigh and reluctant smile.

"...I like. Oh, and here..." She pulled out a handmade pamphlet of notes she'd taken on the Ghost Apartments' language, handing it to Mr. Gap. "You want learn my language, correct?"

Mr. Gap was more than pleased to receive the handwritten pamphlet, grinning ear to ear as he nodded to her in response.

"Thank you! Thank you! I leave! See you again!"

And that was the last she saw of him for the day. She'd sigh, silently rolling back forward through the corridors. She'd stick around long enough for her finger to grow back before finally heading into the elevator to exit back to her own world.

[brave-symphonia]

After being reminded of why I don't really go beyond my circle in regards to specifically FSN I've been thinking about Archer in UBW a bit.

Because I happen to have a very strong belief that Archer attacking Shirou had nothing to do with actually changing his fate.

Like, Shirou is given the choice to go back and fix the worst event in his life in the Fate route and he chooses not to because that's taking away the choices everyone has made, what they've all gone through. And I love the idea that maybe that part of Shirou is still in Archer.

That he wouldn't actually want to change his fate because he made his choices and he's willing to live with them. Like, yeah, it sucks, but he's not going to just click the undo button on what he did.

Also, I have to assume the Holy Grail would've been a much better way of accomplishing that than killing a Shirou of a different timeline and hoping that it might fix his timeline.

But in UBW, by doing his play against Caster, he ensures he has no Master and can't recontract with Rin. And that means there isn't really a way he is going to get the Holy Grail.

And that's in the route where he says he wants to kill Shirou to change his timeline, so if that's really what he wanted, I think that was a terrible way to go about it.

Edit: Somehow I had forgotten that Archer would know completely well that this Holy Grail was corrupted by Angra, so I take back that point.

I still stand by my other point, though. I don't think he actually thought killing Shirou would fix anything.

[dark-frosted-heart]

Things from Harrison Gray’s Both Route Clear Ending

*This is not a full summary or translation*

Sometimes in Harrison's dreams, he wakes up all alone in a blank, empty world

However, this time, someone else shows up. His dad. He's never appeared before

Marco: Harry, you've grown Harrison: Do you know how long you've been dead for?

It might just be a dream but still, he wants to tell his dad something.

He apologizes for never being able to fulfill his dream of becoming a policeman like him. Marco laughs and asks what he's apologizing for. He's protecting people by working in the dark.

Marco asks if he's alone. In the past, Harrison would've said he was. But now, he has comrades that are like him. Plus a good-natured person who's remained by his side despite him being a liar. Marco can see in his eyes that he cares a lot for that person.

Harrison tells his dad about Kate and how he wants to lend an ear to her feelings. And to those in the country who can't speak up.

Marco comments on how Harrison should be more honest with himself sometimes. With that, he takes after his mom. Harrison will do his best

And he should see his mother every once in a while. She worries

Harrison doesn't want to wake up yet. He doesn't want his dad to leave. He's got this feeling that he won't see him ever again. He wants to stop his dad but then remembers something Kate told him about how the dead continue to live on through memories.

Harrison tells himself things will be fine. Even if he never sees his dad again, he'll just think of him over and over

His dad fades away like a mirage and Harrison hears a voice coming from somewhere else. It's Kate calling his name

Kate apologizes for waking him up but Victor had asked her to. There's freshly-baked apple pie.

Internally, Harrison grumbles about Victor trying to lure him with sweets and Kate

Kate asks him what he dreamt about since he looked so peaceful. He lies because he's embarrassed to tell her what he actually dreamt about. Tells her that she won an eating contest. Kate acknowledges that she likes to eat, but gluttony's not attractive. He tells her he thought it was cute and that seems to satisfy her.

Kate was helping Victor make the pie and they were chatting about stuff like how Kate fell in love with Harrison. Harrison comments on how Victor's too old to be gossiping like a lady at a tea party.

Kate's wondering when Harrison fell in love with her

He was aware of how strong his feelings were when he had rescued her at the auction but he must've just liked her this whole time they've been together.

Kate looks like a lost puppy when waiting for his answer so he wants to tease her. He lies and says she's assuming he loves her. What if her love's unrequited?

Kate blinks a few times in shock before looking away and muttering that it's possible. Now it's Harrison's turn to be confused.

Kate says she's the only one that says "I love you"

Well, yeah, he's never said it but.....

Harrison pulls her close and whispers for her to steal away his heart more, with all that she has. For starters, she can kiss him. She's still a lousy kisser. Next they strip each other and he kisses her all over.

Kate tells Harrison that she'll do her best to make him like her more. He's thinking, more than he already does? But a part of him wants more of her and he calls himself childish. He'll never stop craving her.

Harrison tells her to do her best.

Afterward, he watches a sleeping Kate. The pie's probably gone cold by now. He'll eat it with her later.

Kate unconsciously squeezes his hand and he squeezes back while thinking back on his interaction with his dad. Being honest is hard. He has to continue lying while living in the dark. But he'll protect Kate

He tells Kate that he thinks he loves her more than she loves him. Warmth and affection wells up inside him.

Embarrassed, he lies down next to Kate to hide. And then he shuts his eyes as the setting sun shines in his face.

Next to Kate, it was so bright and warm that he anted to cry.

[knickynoo]

(*knocks on your tumblr door and sidles in*) What do you think Doc would've done had Marty actually faded out of existence at the dance and never showed up to meet him at the DeLorean?

The way you start your asks always amuses me.

So, I thought about this a little bit, and here are my thoughts...

• After checking his watch and realizing how late Marty is, Doc probably would have stood at the curb, staring down the road and waiting. Eventually, though, he would come to the conclusion that something had gone horribly wrong. After waiting until the absolute last possible second (just in case Marty did show up in the nick of time to catch the lightning) he'd race his way over to the dance.

• Doc would enter the gymnasium to see crowds of panicking people on account of many of them had just witnessed an entire person blinking out of existence right there on the stage. It could very likely be a state of mass pandemonium.

• For real, though, what would happen to all those students and The Starlighters if Marty had just vanished? Part of me wonders if maybe there'd be an instantaneous Men in Black "neuralyzer" effect where they'd all have any memory of Marty wiped from their brains. Like, maybe he'd fade and everybody would just keep on dancing and the band would continue playing as if he'd never been there in the first place. Of course, this would also mean Doc's memory would be wiped, which would be a real tricky situation. (I'm ignoring paradoxes for the time being because I think the protective "bubble" would mean things Marty had changed would still stay in place for at least a little while longer.)

• Following that route, there would be evidence of Marty's existence and his influence all over town, but nobody would be able to remember who had done all those things. It'd be like, "Oh, yeah, Biff's car got wrecked the other day when...hmm. You know, I can't remember how it happened, actually. Weird." Maybe George would recall feeling a very strange "push" toward Lorraine all throughout that week, but it'd be nothing more than a vague feeling. This would be a fun thing to explore with Doc, though, seeing as he'd have the most evidence surrounding him but wouldn't be able to actually remember Marty or picture his face. It'd be really cool if he slowly pieced things together, though. The DeLorean, the extra clothes at home that definitely aren't his, etc. He could conceivably get to a place of, "Someone important was here from the future, and I was supposed to get him home, but the plan obviously failed."

• Going the other route, where there isn't any memory alteration, I definitely think Doc would walk into chaos. But he'd get a pretty solid idea of what happened at overhearing everybody shouting about the boy who disappeared in the middle of Earth Angel.

• Doc would then be tasked with scrambling to get George and Lorraine together in the coming days and before any catastrophes occurred time-continuum wise. I mean, even if potential paradoxes aren't an issue, what would he do? Just move on with the knowledge that this kid he just spent a whole week with will never exist?

• This mission could also go one of two ways. One: Doc meddling "behind the scenes" for days on end and manipulating George and Lorraine from afar to get them to reconcile and seal things with a kiss. (I assume Marty faded in this scenario because George didn't go back for Lorraine after Mark Dixon stole her away on the dance floor)

Two: Doc taking the very direct approach of just telling George and Lorraine what happened. Explaining to them that Marty had disappeared because he was from the future and surprise! He's their son. They have to get together to ensure his and his siblings' existence. George would absolutely believe this immediately. Lorraine might take some convincing, but I think she'd come around. Then, she'd be super weirded out, embarrassed, horrified, etc. But I think once things sunk in, she and George would be able to get their relationship back on track.

• Obviously, this whole scenario makes things complicated when factoring in what would then happen when 1985 rolled back around. He'd have to either ensure that Marty never travels back in time (because he had missed the lightning strike and been erased)—the less likely option—or he'd have to do something to leave instructions for his past self, detailing how vital it is that George and Lorraine kiss on that dance floor and that Marty makes it to the clocktower. Perhaps this could be in the form of a letter left in the car that his '55 self could then find upon Marty's arrival. Idk what '55 Doc would be able to do to make sure George mustered up the last boost of confidence needed to go back for Lorraine, but he would have to figure something out.

• I am once again ignoring paradoxes since the trilogy ignores them as well. Doc and Marty change and undo so many things and the universe never explodes, so I'm going to assume all this meddling in the above scenario would work out somehow.

This ended up being far longer than I anticipated—ya girl cannot control her rambling. To be honest, I don't even know if it all makes any sense. Was fun to write, though. Thanks for the ask!

[missr3n3]

Ctda is so fun I love it.. is there any details/ hcs you have about the characters you wanna share?

sorry for taking so long to respond, but you've activated my trap card and i needed to be at my computer so i could write this essay of a response lol

im gonna do one for each character:

jonah: though he used be be more into psychedelics as a teenager, ever since the events of vol. 2 and cdta he's entirely stopped using them. there's just to much fuel for a potential bad trip. he's also stopped drinking (though he was never did it that often in the first place) and doesn't smoke weed as often bc sarah and evelin don't want him stinking up their apartment.

adam: his black hoodie (not the BPS one) has become a comfort item for him. because he didn't have it on while he was in the Nightmare Sand Pit and was at his most vulnerable, he associates not wearing it with being in danger. since he's wearing it basically all the time though, it's gotten really worse for wear and has quite a few holes in it, which jonah helpfully fixed with various patches (you'll see them when i drop the 2011 cdta designs lol)

thatcher: since he's now a certified Old Ass Man (in his early 50s), he's fully stopped trying to look profession or trendy and has gone back to his old grunge fashion sense from the 90s. luckily, most people think this is cool af, and in particular it entertains some of the kids that ride his bus route bc they think he's an old Kurt Cobain lol

evelin: i kind of alluded to this in clear the stone chapter 3, but she and jonah didn't get along at first because she's very straight edge and he's very not. since their re-introduction in clear the stone and the events of cdta, she's a bit more understanding of his drug use (though still not entirely comfortable with it). nowadays she considers jonah to be just as close a friend to her as sarah <3

sarah: mandela getting blown tf up has actually significantly helped her with regards to moving on from her brother's death. though she can't quite put her finger on why, she as a general sense that his soul is at peace now. as a result, she intends to rebrand BPS from a paranormal investigation group to more of a horror webseries thing. she even renames the youtube channel to the bythorne paranormal show!

alt!gabriel: as far as the cdta timeline goes, he created the alternates for the sole purpose of furthering his takeover plan. alternates in this story are straight-up demons as a result, and this might come into play in an interesting way in the sequel... 👀

six: so i've mentioned before that he's an entirely separate alien in the cdta timeline that started working with alt!gabriel as a means to an end since they have similar goals (also dropped in dms that this happened in the 1920s). the reason for this is that his species feeds on pain, and alternates are really good at causing a lot of mental and sometimes physical pain. though with the alternates gone and type 6s doing a shit job at killing humans, his kind are now looking into other avenues for a food supply :)

sam: if he were voiced, i imagine he'd sound like steven as he sounds in steven universe future. pretty nerdy but with a little bit of rasp to it and a hint of theater kid lol. also! he's 6'4 and is the tallest human in cdta!

delilah: before her reversion (official temporal phenomena term for the changes type 6s went through), her alternate instincts would mainly come out in her being an obnoxious know-it-all. the type to "well AKSHUALLY 🤓" everyone around her over the slightest inaccuracies. also never admitting when she was wrong and assuming the people calling her out were just too stupid to understand her genius. basically what i'm saying is she would've love rick and morty before the reversion lol

and as a special bonus:

joel: he actually started mystifying oracle to try and prove that the paranormal didn't exist, but when he realized how many views he was getting from believers, he pivoted to over-the-top shows of the effects of the ouija board. of course it also helps that he has an actual demon in his house lol.

chloe: she met joel in college! they're both studying film, and thus shared a lot of the same classes together. joel ended up dropping out once youtube started making money for him, but they'll still meet up from time to time, especially if there's a new horror movie they want to see!

[hopeymchope]

What would junko have been like without her talent? would she still be sadistic and eerily intelligent? even if in a different way? what would cause her to enjoy the predictability and freedom without her talent?

NOTE: This is a follow-up to this previous ask.

If she didn't have her Ultimate Analyst talent, I figure Junko wouldn't have seen the world as being dull and predictable in the first place. That longing for true freedom unpredictability would be gone because she would've been capable of being surprised like any other person.

Which makes it sound like she wouldn't be still be sadistic, but — sadly, I don't think that's right. We probably shouldn't assume that being bored by the predictability of the world was enough all by itself to make her completely uninterested in the well-being of others to a level where she takes pleasure in causing such widespread misery. I figure she must also have a case of psychopathy or something similar. Which would mean that her talent wouldn't really be the cause of why she's so destructive... it was just a gigantic help in making the most of her desire to destroy. It's her talent that most makes her "eerily intelligent," as you put it, so removing the talent should remove that level of intelligence.... but not her sadism.

After a very brief bit of reading (so please don't take this as gospel), it looks to me like psychopathy is primarily attributed to genetics these days? It's still not totally clear, I guess. But even if the genetics thing is correct, that doesn't mean her and Mukuro's parents were definitely ALSO psychopaths, because it's generally assumed that psychopathy is a recessive trait. What the genetics thing DOES mean is that there may not be any easy route to making her a more peaceful and nicer person. Much like I already theorized about her talent, it seems she was just born like this.

I guess she'd need to lose her talent AND probably also be on anti-psychotic meds in order to find some normalized kind of happiness?

[hatergirl-69]

'The Ethel incident' (Ao3)

Summary

Fury has seen some very unbelievable things in his time at S.H.I.E.L.D; aliens and superheros and Greek gods.

But he hadn't even considered ghosts could be real.

Or

Fury adopts another young woman, I guess his adoptions extend to another physical plain.

----☆----

As Ethel glides through the never ending maze that is the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier she scolds herself for not thinking of this sooner. All of the governments secrets on aliens and superheroes in one place? It was the perfect location for her to spend the rest of her year. Next stop area 51.

She halts, feeling her entire being buzzing and her vision beginning to shake. Not this again. Honestly she wasn't sure if she expected there to be a bunch of weird relics here, but what did she think was going to happen.

Either way, she had to stay away from them. She wasn't sure if you could die twice, but was she even technically dead if she was still conscious? Well half-dying again did sound plausible, so she tried to stay away from certain places and objects.

Unfortunately for her, this might be one of those places. Ethel turns back the way she came, listening in on the snippets of conversation the agents were having. Each word seemed to hold a double meaning and also be more important than anything she'd ever done in her whole life.

She decides to take a different route this time, soaking in as much of the foreign place as she can before leaving.

Ethel stops again when she almost whizzes past a dark oak door, with a sign reading ‘director's office’. This sounded way too important to not even peep into. Plus, the weird buzzing was mostly gone by now so…

She slowly steps through the door, the old habit of feeling the need to sneak around back from being in such a secretive place.

There’s a man standing there, his bald head facing her while he looks at a large screen with things that looked like a map or blueprint covering it. He sighs, sounding slightly frustrated.

Ethel wonders how many years of high security prison she would get for even being in this room.

Then he turns around and for a split second she thinks he's looking right at her. Then the split second turns into a few more, and she is now 100% sure that Nick Fury is looking directly at her.

“Who are you?”

Ethel can't speak. This was all she'd wanted for… however long she'd been wandering around. She'd visited any mediums she could find, but those who didn't have the strange objects that made it impossible to step foot into their homes without buzzing were usually just liars.

“Kid you better start talking because once security arrives this will get a lot worse for you.”

“I, uh, I'm Ethel.”

“Alright, Ethel. How did you get into the helicarrier?” Nick knows this place is way to secure for anyone to just sneak onto, it's in the sky for goodness sake. Maybe one of her parents work here.

“I don't- well, it's sort of a long story.”

Ethel's pathetic excuse of an excuse is cut off by someone knocking on the door. When Fury calls for them to open it a dark-haired woman in S.H.I.E.L.D uniform, but with a lot more badges, appears.

“Fury? We've got a situation in Cuba.” She frowns when she sees Fury's expression, “Are you alright, sir?”

“You can't-” He stops himself. “I'm busy right now, Commander. Now's not a good time.”

The Commander's eyes sweep the room before she bows her head and shuts the door behind her.

Fury's eyes are trained back on Ethel. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“You can see me?” She blurts out, she knew it was a very obvious question but couldn't stop herself. Of all the people…

“Well you aren't invisible.” He ponders this for a few seconds. Maybe this kid could be useful, or at least worth keeping tabs on. “Is that how you snuck on here?”

“Uh. Sure. Yeah yeah, that's how I did it.”

He raises an eyebrow at the teen, under any other circumstance he would've assumed she was lying, but Maria hadn't even seen her when she opened the door, and she's one of the sharpest people he knows.

“Right.” Fury switches off the screen and gestures for her to sit at his desk.

Ethel isn't completely used to ‘sitting’ directly on objects. Her perception of time has changed quite a lot when she considers it, perhaps that's what happens when you have the rest of eternity.

When she maneuvers herself onto the seat, trying not to make it look too awkward, Fury begins again “Where are your parents?”

“Im not totally sure.”

Fury sighs again, his migraine worsening every second the girl sits across from him. “And who are your parents?

“Aha, funny story actually-”

“Skip to the answer.”

Ethel clears her throat, perturbed but unsurprised at Fury's attitude towards her. The only problem: She doesn't actually remember who her parents are. Dying has many side effects, amnesia included.

“They’re dead. Died.”

He stares at her again, but it seems to him the most believable thing to come out of her mouth in the fifteen minutes he's known her.

Well now what? There's an invisible orphan on the helicarrier, clearly with inadequate supervision since she's made it all the way here.

“Where do you live, Ethel?”

“Wherever, I guess.”

“Are you saying you're homeless?”

“Kind of.” Or it could be said she owned any house she wanted to.

“What's your last name?”

“I'm… not sure.”

“And how old are you?”

Ethel is almost certainly sure she would be older than she is now if she was still alive, but she still feels the exact same, and assumes she looks the same with the way Fury looks at her.

“Fifteen.”

This whole situation just keeps getting worse and worse. Maybe Ethel could just phase out of here and forget this ever happened.

“You aren't leaving this aircraft until further notice.”

“What?! Is that even legal?”

“You're an enhanced minor living on the street and sneaking into highly secure areas, I think the law will let this one slide.”

The girl groans and weighs up her options. She could disappear and stop messing with the government, or she could stay here and find out more secrets. But if she does want to stay here it's going to be very difficult to keep being dead a secret.

“I'm not enhanced.”

“Really? that's the only one you want to deny?”

“I can't turn invisible. I'm just… a ghost.”

The man blinks at the girl in disbelief. “You're what?”

“Dead. Undead. I'm not sure how you'd put it.”

“If this is true, how am I even seeing you?”

“You tell me, man.”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Sir.”

The man mutturs something about Hill being right, “How did… all this even happen?”

“I must've drowned or something, I respawned in a lake.”

Fury decides to sweep that one under the rug for now, “How much have you seen?”

“A lot. This place is really cool though, now that I think about it being stuck here wouldn't have been that bad.”

“But you aren't stuck here. You could leave just as you came.”

“Yeah, I could. I don't really have anywhere to be though.”

That was all that was stopping her from leaving. There's no way to control a ghost, what was Fury supposed to do with this kid?

“Well, Ethel, if you'd be content to stay I would very much appreciate it. This is a very… unique situation.”

“Sure.”

There's a silence between them, both contemplating their next move.

“It's pretty ironic, y’know”

“What?”

“Out of the thousands of people I drifted past, only the guy with one eye saw me."

“That's the only eye joke you get”

“Worth it.”

----☆----

Comments are welcome on my tumblr or Ao3, I'll still get them either way :))

EDIT: Found out Maria is ACTUALLY DEAD moments after posting this (Idc how long ago it happened, I wasnt allowed to watch secret invasion ☹️). Will not recover.

[konzokomo]

Not to throw more FFXIV and dragon age comparisons into the ring but...

(Veilguard ending spoilers big big)

With everything I now know about Solas he suddenly makes me think so much of Elidibus. We see how he is just so intensely driven towards this one goal, but to a point where you wonder if it even makes sense to him anymore.

When I thought of him as closer to Emet Selch, it was because in Trespasser Solas made it sound like it really all came down to 1. The ancient world was just fundamentally Better and 2. He struggles to see modern mortals as people. But as we unlock his memories and learn of his origins and Mythal it does make it seem more like the inner conflict was more tangible than we thought- like an ai given contradictory orders. Be kind and give wisdom but specifically save the world Mythal wanted. But from the outside it's easy to look at him and be like what the HELL is wrong with you?? Why are you always acting like you have no choice, like you're being pushed by something bigger?

He reminded me so much of Elidibus that while I was still going through the crossroads and reading Felassan's letters I was theorizing if the original Solas straight up died when creating the veil and the person we've known was some kind of manifestation driven by regret (like a heart of zodiark). That didn't end up being the case...but damn that'd be wild.

I'm still struggling with how quick the best Solas ending is resolved, and what it REALLY means for Mythal to relieve him of his service and for that to make him willing to sacrifice himself. I gotta assume a lot of his motivations were still his own? But it took one last push from the person he felt like he let down? I guess. But I kinda feel like he was so messed up from the first time he was brought into a physical body, and it's been a fight of purpose vs duty ever since.

Solas has been a rollercoaster of a character to like and analyze for years and it's interesting to see the direction they took. Did we really do enough to convince him to change? Or was it only Mythal's words that freed him? Are we cool now? Sometimes he makes no damn sense.......... compels me though

I have some big problems with Dawntrail too, but damn if I didn't also think about Sphene and her flawed directive. To save people that are already gone at an insane cost that doesn't make any sense, and then you realize WHY it makes no sense. If veilguard went more the route that Solas was explicitly trying to ERASE his memories of regret, it would feel a lot closer to her. And her reveal was one of the cooler parts of that story.

ANYWAY THOUGH... I guess I just miss Shadowbringers and the banger lines everyone got, especially in the climaxes of 5.0 and 5.3. I enjoyed Veilguard but if we got even a fraction of that quality quotable writing for the final confrontation 10 years in the making it would've ruled so hard. Might as well make the one "best" ending you worked hard for a little longer? We got time (I guess thedas doesn't though). The evanuris have a lot to answer for and I still have questions... I'll gladly do a long dialogue tree with Solas at the end like the master from fallout 1. Or give me a wall of text like Vivec in morrowind I'll read it.

What game was this post about?

[anonymous-dentist]

Well if we assume ElQ is anything like Karmaland's Quackity (who did start sorta going by "El Quackity" or "Don Q" and is very similar personality wise), despite not being much of a fighter his threat level came from the power of being the Don of a cartel, which he accomplished through the fuel of pure vengeance and hatred for his ex boyfriend but that's another story (also thanks to his two cousins, who acted as his guards). So... maybe in q!ElQ's mind, while he may not remember Karmaland, he has the same thought process of "I have power, therefore I'll try to get rid of people I ""don't"" like"? But this time it's different and he doesn't know it when he first makes his plan, not only because Roier is practically untouchable, but also because ElQ is not "Quackity, who grows bitter with resentment and slowly changes the way he acts" like in Karmaland, he just shows up like that one day, and it's so sudden that his friends all notice it immediately, so he loses them

What's important to remember about k!Quackity is that, yeah, he wasn't that good at fighting on his own, but he and k!Luzu weren't in that kind of a war for the most part. It wasn't until the day of the alien invasion that they actually started really like fighting each other physically. Before that, they were both doing psychological warfare, and you'll notice that that's what ElQuackity defaulted to when he started his one-episode revenge arc. He kidnapped Dapper and used Dapper's potential torture/death to get back at q!Bad, ElQ's number one enemy.

I think that ElQuackity, if given more time to try and get even, would've gone the psychological torture route with all his enemies. Kidnap Dapper again, keep downing and reviving him to torment q!Bad. Play with q!Max's emotions by bringing up his dead kids.

I'm not sure if that kind of torment would have worked on q!Roier at the time, though, because that man was already psychologically torturing himself, and he had been doing that since fucking March. Literally since week two of the server when q!Spreen and q!Quackity, and he didn't stop the worst of it until he got married, but he's still torturing himself to this day if you like. Look at him past his words and his smile, which only a handful of people have managed to do so far.

What you have to do to break a broken man is give him something back and then take it away, and that's actually exactly what ElQuackity did. He treated Roier well up to his last moments on the server, and he probably knew that Roier at least partially thought that he was the real Quackity. So ElQuackity gave Roier something he had desperately been wanting: a friend. And then he took it away by leaving, and he left at just the right moment because Roier's real friend came back and he doesn't even know Roier's name.

So, in a way, maybe ElQuackity did get his revenge. Little did he know that Roier's general sense of apathy especially applied to one of his best worsties, Quackity, lol

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

I have one (1) question about the fic though...

Whats the deal with the travelers? Are they real? Did one of them really end up leading the abyss order after the fall of khaenri'ah and did the other wake up 500 years later and search the entirety of teyvat for them? Is paimon real? This is technically more than one question but you get the idea,,, i have one (1) line of questioning,,,

If you don't want to or can't answer thats fine :))

no worries! i assume you're asking abt ajax' timeline of teyvat, bc the one he was sent back to (guizhong and morax') doesn't have the twins in it yet (twins are post-archon war stuff as far as we know? on paimon i've no clue), if it'll even have them at all. because-

the general answer is: i'm pretending the twins and paimon don't exist. not because i have anything in particular against them, but because i feel like we know so little about their lore that trying to fit them in to an au of this kind would only overcomplicate everything. as things in the fic stand, the twins were basically ocs by the game's creators that served as drivers for the story.

i have more thoughts about this? but it ended up being kinda long so i'll put them under the cut hahah;;

the tl;dr is you can believe whatever sounds more interesting. the arc and everything in the og timeline was always just context for everything that came after, so it's not all that important.

if i had to fit them somewhere, though, i'd probably say that the abyss twin dies in the chaos of the split, which makes the traveler decide to take drastic action and fully put their all into helping the archons gtfo of teyvat. basically the abyss twin dies and the remaining one sacrifices themselves to get the arc out of teyvat.

an alternaitve idea is that, upon finding out that the abyss order has been pupeteered by asmoday the entire time, the abyss twin decides that fuck it, they ball, and they join forces with the traveler to help the arc gtfo.

my main issue with all this is that, since we don't know squat about how powerful the twins are, i don't know if the split would've even been necesary given they could've gone and ended celestia if they teamed up. or alternaitvely, if they had helped in getting the arc out and stayed behind with the archons, if the world would be in a state as dire as rex lapis described it. so the only way this makes sense in my mind is if a) one of them dies in the chaos or b) they are somehow not strong enough combined to take down celestia and thus jump into the archons' plan. or the angsty route of c) celestia takes control of the abyss twin and either they make them kill the traveler or force the traveler to kill them? either way they both end up dying or functionally incapacitated (physically or emotionally).

so you can see how things get complicated hahah

that's why this au sort of chooses to interpret the twins as not having been real in the original timeline, but just ocs that the game added to tell the story more easily and without having to pick one of the historic figures to be the protagonist. that's kind of what childe has assumed all along, also.

so really, i'd say you can take your pick for whichever sounds the most interesting! since i was working under the assumption that the twins wouldn't affect the outcome of the story, really, you can believe what you want. i guess that means you could also choose to believe that the twins teamed up and helped the archons get the arc out, and it was just that rex lapis and ei never mentioned them? anything goes tbh

all that i said also applies to paimon btw. i know it's kinda mean but, again, since we know so little about her, i'm just working with the idea that she's just- an accessory, to the traveler. functionally speaking she's an extention of them. kinda mean but that's the only way that comes to mind to describe her. so like- if the twins were ocs, then so was paimon. if the twins joined forces with the archons, then so did paimon. if it ends in tragedy, then paimon was simply there for the traveler, and if the traveler dies, then- well idk. i'm not sure paimon can die. uh-

so yeah?

sorry if that's a bit of a disappointing answer! i'm pretty sure i mentioned it somewhere before but honestly i might be missremembering. anyway-

ahhh long word dump, my bad. thank you!

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 134 1/2 Hours In: She's trying to secure her future with Gale here, will people please stop hitting on her?

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

Once again I must start my entry with a shout-out, as this week I managed to reach the point where what you say to Gale can determine whether or not he goes for godhood at the end. His doing so would devastate Sara so much I wanted to take no chances, and so relied on airydandelion's Gale endings guide on reddit to dictate my dialog choices. I went on what the guide calls the mild "Forgiveness" route, although Sara would be more likely to call it the "Making sure he doesn't become like her and noone can think he owes her a damn thing" route.

I had, after last week, become convinced the vault was hidden in Lorroakan's tower, and thus I felt the need to get rid of him before we went in for the Annals of Karsus. I decided right before that I wanted Astarion and his sussar dagger for that battle. I have also now reached the point that I want all the buffs I can get, so I had Sara invite him into the party and then invited him to feed on her that night. (I now think the time it didn't work happened because he wasn't in it). I also decided to rotate Halsin in overnight, so he could remove the debuff in the morning.

Which seems to be what triggered, only one night after the Emperor's pass at Sara, the moment I'd started to seriously hope I wouldn't get, post-Patch 7. The patch does seem to have tweaked his words a bit; now, instead of assuming you return his feelings just because you were nice, he speaks more generally of feeling a connection. But while I'd seen his confession of love already, I was struck afresh by the tenderness in his voice, the vulnerability in his expression. It hurt so much to see and hear him bare his heart, knowing I had to break it.

Especially since I am dead certain that if it wasn't for Gale, Sara would've gone for it. She even pretty much told him so. But not only did I know that Gale would have a bad reaction to the suggestion that they share, but Sara was still worried about him blowing himself up, and was absolutely not going to do anything that might make him feel expendable. So she still had to refuse Halsin's offer there.

Since then, I've seen his gentle words as he restored her the next morning, and now I've also had the conversation where he talks about the city and making things better. There was one moment during it where I actually found myself thinking, "This would be the moment she would've fallen in love had her heart been free."

Hells, I don't think it's impossible that the two of them might find their way to each other in a century or so. If all goes well, she'll stay with Gale for the rest of his life, and mourn him for years after, but she'll have way too long left to live to not fall in love again. And while I certainly wouldn't want him to sit around and pine that long, even if he did have someone when she came to him, I think she actually would be open to sharing.

And then, after all that fuss and bother, I told Dame Aylin about Larroakan and brought her to him for the fight. Which resulted in more disapproval from Astarion than I really want right now, and the fight going badly enough, that when I reloaded back to camp before exiting, and resumed a couple days later, I decided to bring Shadowheart instead of him.

That went a little better, but it still took me two more hours of struggle. Rolan on my first attempt had presented a good idea to me when he thunderwaved one of the wizards' constructs off the mezzanine, but my attempts to do the same didn't go as well. In fact, my next two reloads happened when someone accidentally hit their allies with one instead. Even on my fourth successful attempt, Jaheira ended up nearly killing Shadowheart with one wave, because I'd forgotten where I'd put her, but on that one we were far enough along I decided to see if we could survive that blunder. Which we did, if barely.

Dame Aylin herself went down very near the end of it. After the first attempt I confirmed she'd come back, got a little worried when she didn't on her next turn, but then she did after we won, to break Lorroakan's spine and then not be sure how she felt about it afterwards. Sara wasn't much help to her initially, just thinking they should merely get to kill him again, especially since Rolan had just revealed he'd been abusing him. Though by the time she ended up talking with Astarion a little bit about it, she was wondering if maybe that could be a problem with revenge. He insisted to her killing Cazador is going to be the best moment of his life, and so long as he doesn't ascend Sara very much wants that for him, but, well...

The battle had in fact, left my casters so drained the only reason I didn't long rest immediately was because I stubbornly wanted to make use of that buff on Astarion. So I got Gale to recover two of his entirely expended slots above level one, swapped both the others out and Wyll in along with the vampire. Having tried in vain to get to the tower's lower floors and then confirmed the vault was actually under Tolna's office, and killing the shop owner didn't help get me to it. I'd been left right back where I started.

I also decided to deal with the exclamation point over Mizora's head while I was doing the swaps. So far she hasn't really allowed Sara to follow her plan of not speaking to her. But when she too, made a pass at her, complete with offers of the kind of beyond-mortal ecstasy she didn't even really want from Gale, I was very sorry her options did not include demanding of some romance-related god why in the Hells everyone's suddenly making them at her when she's in a relationship. Or that the options for refusing the devil didn't include some more insulting ones or threats of violence. Or that Mizora's scornful "ta ta" at the end of the dialog was not followed by her actually leaving. Sara is now really sick of her.

It turned out that contrary to what I've read, casting a fog cloud turns the whole store hostile, too. I'd seen greater invisibility also suggested, but had no immediate way to cast it. But I'd also seen a suggestion of just trying to stealth it, so I decided what the hell and had Astarion stealth up to the door to lockpick it. He did actually manage to do so undisturbed. Then he got accosted by the animated armor when he tried to walk into the office, but he managed to make the high deception check to make them leave us alone.

I'm not sure if the buff actually made any difference, in the end, but we certainly needed him for the vault. We wandered around it, found our first ever Supreme Healing potion (we're gonna need those!), nearly got killed when the gargoyle heads started shooting fireballs before Astarion could disarm them all, I ended up losing my patience and looking up which doors to choose, and then, at long last, we got to the Karsus room, and in it, the book.

The first set of responses the guide gave to me, when I gave Gale the book and we started talking, were the ones I probably would've chosen anyway. The moment Gale talked about the possibility to ascend, I could practically feel Sara freaking the fuck out, all her old insecurities about being too mundane for him rising to the surface. Her general thoughts about any entity which gets too much power also made her want something like the crown of Karsus to just not exist, so of course she was going to speak against Gale making any use of it.

After meeting with Elminster outside the store, I'm not sure I would've necessarily have told Gale to take the meeting with Mystra. I think all things being equal, Sara would have rather he didn't. But she had to recognize they ought to at least try for her aid, or, if nothing else, avoid her ire. So I had her say they'd go meet with her soon, then headed back to camp to finally enjoy the boat scene I'd heard so much about.

The scene was, indeed, very romantic. And you can't deny Gale's point about the gods, and how they use their power. Seems a lot of D&D-adjacent media is addressing that matter these days. (At least Gale isn't wrecking havoc on the lands in his quest to destroy them, at least not in his good ending.) But Sara has no use for the debates about doing something about it. Her response to recognizing wrongs done by gods such as Mystra is to want all the more for people she cares about to not become like them. It outright dismayed her to hear Gale still talking like he should being something more impressive for her. She'll tell him as many times as she needs to that she wants what he is already.

Though she was very far from sorry to finally go with him into Astral Plane, to be able to show and tell him the next morning she did have some appreciation for that. But even better were his words of love to her in that boat. (Having finally heard him say "With you, I forget my goddess," I could listen to him saying that on loop.) When at the end, he assured her she was everything to him, she no doubt thought about spending the rest of his life doing everything she could to convince him that he, too, is everything to her.

All this, of course, had the added effect of leaving her, at long last, feeling completely secure of his preference of her to his powerful ex. So I felt much better about her taking him to the temple the next day and telling him to ask her forgiveness, if only as a thing that had to be done to get rid of his orb problem. I was more sorry the instructions were against her asking to go to meet her with him, but at least she feared nothing from not doing so.

I did have her kiss him in front of the statue before we left the temple, though. She's still not above marking her territory in the simpler ways. I actually assumed when she did Jaheira, who was with us, was rolling her eyes offscreen, but she was actually shown smiling behind Sara as they parted. Karlach, who'd I'd brought largely because she'd offered the previous night to come to protect Gale, probably didn't mind too much either.

With all that done, I resumed the quest for Minsc, and I've since taken the quartet in question through much of the sewers, taking them in through the manhole by the temple and wandering away. It was good decompression after the rest of this week's gameplay. At least until I wandered into an ancient lair and discovered the problem with fighting a huge amount of undead in a chamber filled with the spell rot effect. Gale probably came the closest to dying that he has yet; I had to go into turn-based mode the instant the battle ended to make sure I could throw one of our remaining healing potions on him in time. On the other hand, while Karlach might not have been needed for protecting Gale against Mystra, it was a really good thing I had her for that battle!

That bout, combing with an earlier shorter encounter against some Bhaal cultists, actually got Sara and Gale both to level 11, and left Jaheira and Karlach 19 XP away from it. And everyone probably needing to long rest before actually dealing with Minsc, but I decided to have them wander a little further, in the hope of hitting some new-location based XP. Instead, we hit an extremely dangerous encounter with a guy who could cast a delayed Power Word Kill! I exited without saving on that one, and when next I resume at the autosave right before it, I shall almost certainly have the party turn and go the other way.

[paint-tastes-ok]

just watched a playthrough of 999, twas entertaining! twist was well done on DS, i liked the characters, but the story... somewhat unsatisfying. obviously the whole game was written for That One Scene so the significance of everything else we learned throughout the story felt diminished by the end...? (terrible rambling and spoilers under the cut)

so... i follow the idea of akane getting revenge on the first nonary game's masterminds, that's standard for this type of story, but that the whole reason for her staging it in the first place is implied to be avoidance of a grandfather paradox...??? like, again, i'm a fan of That One Scene (incinerator in true ending); i think there was good emotion there and the reveal was satisfying as long as u don't think about it beyond that point whatsoever. it's just... assuring that everything stays as it does and the timeline goes according to plan feels like such... weak motivation?

It seems like no one besides Ace and his cronies were at risk of being blown up, so there was no danger from the nonary game itself to the Good Guys. however, it COULD have gone horribly wrong, as illustrated by the other endings, so would akane's decision to save herself really be worth it?* i guess we can assume Ace's pharmaceutical company would continue its shady practices, so it makes sense they'd need to be stopped... i would have liked that to be emphasized then—for the threat of not averting this paradox/killing Ace&friends to outweigh the alternative reality (in which akane stays dead and doesn't put other innocent people in danger). was that discussed and i missed it? also, in the end, Junpei didn't have much agency at all, did he? no risk to him, we're really playing as akane attempting to save herself, she knows junpei is essentially going through the motions, the revenge she gets on Ace&friends is out of junpei's control... Junpei DOES manage to reveal Ace's crime to the rest of the group and Ace is at their mercy... hrm

hrm. *hold on, i just realized that it's canon that this whole game is akane jumping back n forth between timelines to achieve the best ending LMAO. my criticisms don't stand up to that.** adult akane is perfectly fine bc kid akane was fighting for it. everything turned out alright and underwhelming bc the player was fighting for it. plot twist: this was a good game if i keep the 4th wall break in mind and would've been an even better game for me if i 1) played it myself 2) on the nintendo DS. bye have a good afternoon take care and fare well

**jk actually, Snake being abducted THEN LOCKED IN A COFFIN to avoid the threat Ace posed to him was a strange decision. i was gonna complain about the other Cradle Pharmaceuticals guy coincidentally taking the fall for Snake too but ig i can buy Akane seeing that happen in another route and deciding to save him..... SIGH. I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW. this whole game depends heavily on the 4th wall break and i don't like that part about it i guess!!!! i don't know

[ulyxie]

Alpha, Lambda and Tau

Hello, this is my first every try at writing. It's meant to be a horror story but sadly I don't do horrors. Any and all criticisms are welcome as I try to improve my writing and also English is not my first language so sorry if it looks or sounds wrong. And yes this was inspired by Soma. That game rocks. The only thing I actually regret is using so much from the game and never really going with it.

-----

Who would've thought that the sound of sirens can be so bloody annoying? Especially after waking up.

Those are your thoughts as you are forcefully woken up from your restful slumber. You think back on last night and all the drinks consumed, wondering if it was too much alcohol or just bad luck that made you black out. Either way, it's safe to assume you're going to pay for it later today.

You would think that the fire sirens are meaningless when you're two thousand and a half meters under the oceans surface. You proceed to stagger out of your room to find any one who could tell you what the hell is going on. You of course find bloody no one. Standing in the middle of a living room, your eyes settle on a monitor displaying "HULL BREACH DETECTED: EVACUATE IMMEDIATELLY".

"What the fuck?"

That's unexcepted. You are standing within a massive habitat with many safety protocols. This shouldn't be happening. "Aurora? What's wrong?". "There has been a hull breach detected and everyone but you has been evacuated back to the surface" the AI replies. Evacuated back to the surface? Well something had to go seriously wrong. "Last evacuation pod has left 3 hours and 27 minutes ago" she continues.

With the last pod leaving, you know you've been left for dead. "Any other evacuation routes?", you ask Aurora. She proceeds to display the evac pods available at the deep ocean site lambda. Site Lambda. "LAMBDA?!", you shout. That site has been abandoned due to several things going wrong.

As your mind races through possibilities, the alarms begin to scream again. The hull breach detection system in a much nearer section of the habitat has gone off. You know that's just wishful thinking. But even then you would rather take a chance at survival than certain death. You ask the AI for directions before following them.

THUNK

You freeze.

THUNK THUNK

"Anyone there?", a panicked voice says. Relieved that you aren't alone, you respond to the voice "Yes I'm here!".

THUNKTHUNKTHUNK

"Please help me! I-I can't see", the even more panicked voice says. Something isn't right. "Aurora? I thought you said that I'm the only one not evacuated?". Asking the AI made sense at the time. Right before a massive hunk of metal and synthetic muscles bursts through a locked door. "That is indeed correct. You are the only human not evacuated."

The, for the lack of a better term, monster starts running at you. "Please help me", that voice says again. You realized too late that the voice is coming from the monster. You take off in the opposite direction. Remembering the map, you navigate to the nearest janitor closet in hopes that the monster will loose sight of you.

It doesn't work.

It's almost like the monster knows where you are. It follows you into the janitor closet and slams its hand down onto the wall. There is a loud crackle followed by a series of thunks. After a bit something makes a sound and causes the monster to wander off. Sprinting out of the closet as quietly as one can, you beeline for the airlock leading out of Site Alpha. Getting into the pre-airlock section, you stuff yourself into a suit and get into the airlock. While you're getting into the suit, Aurora has started to drain water from the airlock so you can immediately get in.

***

Once both you and the airlock are ready, you step in and it began filling itself again. You decide asking the AI now will be the best.

"What was that monster?"

"That appears to be biomechanical repair robot."

"Then why was it asking for a help like a human would."

"Please wait while I connect to the robot."

The airlock finally finishes and opens into the water.

Aurora finally continues, "It appears that WAU has copied human consciousness into some robots."

"WAU?"

"An artificial intelligence developed to preserve mankind. The creator of this AIs is unknown. However, we do have access to data logs from the time period where WAU was created. They show that WAU was originally meant to protect human life in case of extinction level events."

"And it decided that putting human brains into robots is the best course of action?"

"We don't really understand how these actions were taken, but we believe they were done to try and preserve human life."

"How does that make any sense? Why would an artificial intelligence that was designed to preserve life choose to destroy it instead?"

Look around the HUD of the suit and find a radar that's showing 3 markers. You in the center, the next mid-stop and your destination. You look at the radar again. Four pings. That... is not right. That last ping is moving towards you at faster speeds.

Aurora decides to speak, "Run, that is not a friendly robot."

Your body reacts before your mind can even process her words. You take off, the suits exoskeleton helping you move faster in the water than you every could. Beelining straight to the next habitat, you see that its doors has already opened and are slowly closing. You manage to get in right before the doors of the airlock fully close.

***

The airlock finishes its draining cycle and opens. A distant echo of the alarm is heard. The same alarms that woke you up. "Aurora? How many habitats are still fully operational?"

"Only 4, Lambda, Alpha, Delta and Gamma are currently operational".

"Why haven't you sent us to them yet?"

"I am trying to send you to the closest habitat, but the hull breach detector system is going off everywhere".

Suddenly the lights shut off and the computer systems start beeping at high pitch. The emergency lights turn on and you feel the vibrations from the alarms and mechanical repairs.

Finding a literal closet, you hide in it. Site Beta should be a research lab which doesn't explain why there is another robot. Perhaps it was an accident? Or a test run?

The robot just walks past your hiding place. It most likely doesn't know that you are here. Once you are unable to hear it, you ask Aurora for another set of directions to the next airlock. Thankfully you encountered only few more machines of death and get into the airlock to head out back into the water.

***

As you proceed deeper into the ocean, you realize that something's wrong with the environment. Water temperature seems to be increasing. The pressure is also changing, as if something's sucking the oxygen out of the surrounding waters. You are well aware that you are in the part of the route in between sites Beta and Gamma that is used to get oxygen from the water into its gas form and delivered to the sites.

But the fact that you can feel the pressure change means that some of the machines had to be in overdrive. Which could mean one thing.

WAU is making more biomechanical robots.

As your brain starts processing what's going on, your mind races through possibilities. You could die. You could survive. You could even die a second time. But no matter what choice you make, one thing is certain. You need to evacuate ASAP.

You tell the AI to take you to the closest evac pod. As the AI is recalculating your path, the lights go off and all sounds stop. You think it's a malfunction with your suit or something similar. Standing in the silence, you start hearing a quiet deep rumbling. Like several servos and synthetic muscles working together to move something heavy.

"Aurora? What's happening?", you ask unsure if she can even hear you. "That is the sound of the methane seepage. We are at the edge of the continental shelf and the ocean floor is very unstable" she replies. That's right. You read something about this seepage few days ago. And here you were thinking that it was another monster going for you.

Your suit restarts after a moment and you resume your walk to Site Gamma.

***

The walk to Gamma was uneventful after that. Airlock cycled as normal. Standing inside the habitat you find that the lights are still on. "Aurora, are you sure the habitat isn't damaged?".

"Yes, the habitat has been reinforced to withstand much more than what happened at Site Alpha due to the sensitive and explosive machinery kept here."

"What is this place for then? Is it some sort of testing ground?".

"This habitat was meant to be used as a launch point for submersible vehicles to carry humans and other cargo across the abyssal plain. I'm detecting several still operational vehicles that could be used to get to the deep sea elevator."

"Is there any that could get me directly to the surface?"

"Sadly no. They are either missing or broken."

"What's the nearest habitat that would get me to the surface?".

"The closest one is still site Lambda."

"Lead me to the nearest operational vehicle."

"Displaying directions now."

***

You grabbed anything of use along the path. You also found a lot of information regarding what happened and with Auroras logs, you two managed to figure out that after WAU went rogue and tried to get everyone into computers or robots, everyone evacuated as soon as possible. Once entering the garage with the vehicles, you had a lot of useful tools, including screwdrivers, battery cells, a flashlight and a cutter torch. You took the opportunity of calm and looked over the machines.

There were many submersibles. Machines ranging from big underwater trucks and small quads with propellers to small autonomous drones that appear to be disabled. You remember using those to explore the surrounding area and the marine life.

You even spotted what looked like seamoth looking machine that you would find in Subnautica but it wasn't in a good condition. You grabbed the small quad as it looks fast enough.

Inserting a fresh battery cell, which you found along the way, the machine whirred to life and with a series of happy beeps it announced that it's fully operational. You managed to push it into the vehicle airlock and after putting on your suit, you activated the airlock.

***

As the airlock starts filling itself, you look through the door window outside. A big robotic eye stares right back. That's bad. A monster was waiting for you just outside. You try everything, even asking Aurora to stop the airlock but the airlock happily continues its filling. Your only option is to get on top of your submersible vehicle and try to evade the monster. The airlock is massive so it should be possible.

As the door start opening, you step on the gas and speed out of the airlock not giving the monster a chance to engage you.

You manage to get far away before the robot starts to move. Instead of looking back, you keep looking at the radar on your HUD. 4 pings, you, your goal, a midpoint and the monster. For a brief second the ping of the monster stops appearing. Well before it appears again and is rapidly moving towards you. Maxing out the speed you realize it's not enough. You can't outrun it. You can't even slow down because it is too fast for you to avoid hitting. So what do you have left?

Aurora decides to be help full yet again. "Site Delta even in its dilapidated state can provide a hiding place from that monst-"

Cutting of the AI, you shout "Give me the directions now!"

Aurora does and instructed and now you're speeding towards Delta, your only hope at survival.

The monster has finally stopped hunting you. The ping on the radar just kept slowing down until it disappeared.

Breathing a sigh of relief, you head at a slower speed towards site Delta.

***

Getting calmer the closer you get to site Delta, you fail to register a set of robotic eyes peering at you from the darkness. The beast that hunts you has returned, only this time it is silent.

Now that you can actually see it, it looks like a giant spider. Using its mechanical legs to propel itself forward in such an unpredictable way that it is impossible to predict where it'll appear next. You were cut off from your only way of survival. There is no way to get past it and get into site Delta.

Your heart is racing as you try to remember if you had anything you could use as an improvised weapon. You didn't bring anything, but that cutter. Switching on your hold it in front of you like a sword. You know it's futile. The monster is way too fast for you to react in time. The robot just looking at you, staring.

Then the robot runs at you, its massive mechanical legs allowing it to move at speeds faster than you expected. Caught completely of guard, it slams its leg into you and throws you off the submersible vehicle. You are thrown against the wall and your body hits hard. You're stunned and dazed for a moment, unable to process what's happening around you. A quick check reveals nothing broken or damaged. You are able to move. Before you even manage to get on your feet, it stands above you, its leg on your chest forcing to stay down.

The voice in your mind tells you that you are dead, but the other part of you screams and begs for mercy. The monster's arm moves to grab at you.

"No!" you yell out, but you know the outcome of this. Your luck has run out. You know how horror stories go. It always depends on the author. Will he be nice to you or will he want you dead by the end.

The monster grabs you. Carefully you might add. Then moves to the airlock of the Delta and puts you inside before leaving.

The author must've been quiet happy when writing this to let you survive.

You decide to keep going through the site Delta. You don't know why you are alive, but you will find out the answer to that question.

You continue your search for answers, but it seems that Delta is deserted. No sign of life anywhere. Reaching the airlock on the other side of Delta, you this time get inside a high pressure suit and exit.

***

After a short walk to the deep sea elevator, you get in it and activate its descend.

The elevator speeding down, you recount what happened. Neither you nor aurora have said anything since the encounter with that spider-like creature. The descend was rather uneventful, most likely the author has given up on writing anything entertaining. At least he isn't trying to kill you.

The elevator finally lets you out and you move to site Lambda.

***

Reaching site Lambda, you try to open its airlock only to find that it wont open.

"Aurora? Any way to get in?"

"There is a hull breach few meters to the right that will allow entry. After that you will have to find your way to the airlock in the middle of the site and enter the other half that holds the last evacuation pod."

Extremely helpful as always.

Doing exactly as you're told, you find the hull breach she was talking about. Entering it you find this half of the site flooded. There are helpful labels on the walls that you decide to follow. Thankfully nothing has attacked you. The author probably given you plot armor though you decided to not test it. Entering the mid-site airlock, you set it to cycle. Stepping out of the now cycled airlock you step into a dark but still not flooded part of the site.

"From here use the arrows and signs on the wall to find your evacuation pods. Please note that pods 1, 2 and 4 are damaged and should not be used. Pod 2 and 5 are fully operational but pod 5 is showing some errors.", Aurora says unprompted.

Following the arrows was a breeze using the flashlight you found at Gamma

Now standing in the evac room, you find your pod and step in. Against all odds you have survived. Pressing the evacuate button in the pod causes the pod to seal and launch itself out and rise to the surface.

After a half hour of just rising, the pod surfaces and activates a distress beacon. Thankfully you surfaced near a coast so a ship is dispatched to your location very quickly.

The ship arrives as you sit in the pod, still shocked at being alive. "We have received your distress call and have rescued you as requested. You may now disembark from the vessel." The speaker announces to you.

Getting into the ship, you start thinking about what has happened to you. Why did the author write a story where you managed to survive?

Why did you survive?

You can't help but feel that there is something wrong. It was supposed to be a horror story after all, and a good one at that.

Once reaching the dock, you exit and call a taxi. The taxi does indeed bring you home. Nothing has gone wrong yet.

***

The taxi drops you off outside your apartment building and you head towards the lift. As you step into the elevator, the doors close behind you and the elevator starts moving upward.

You stand there in silence for a brief moment as the elevator ascends to the top floor. Hoping out you open the door to your apartment using a code. It's as if you've left it just a few moments ago.

"Thank you Aurora." you whisper as the doors close.

You head into your bedroom to take your well deserved rest.

You fail to realize that your bedroom looks different than usual.