#this is basically what happens every time i go to work. in spirit at least

[mia-fey-needs-a-drink]

It's so annoying that to so much of the fandom Mia is just "boobs" or "girlboss", she's got so much more going on:

-She really struggles to remember people's names which often causes people to doubt her engagement despite genuinely caring and engaging with their situation and the case (she's just like me fr I really struggle with names (for probably autism reasons) and people really don't like that).

-She has a tendency to just not talk to people about things, especially about herself or her life. depending on when you think Mia actually started mentoring Phoenix he was a significant part of her life for at least a year and probably since 3-1, yet he only meets Maya and learns about spirit channeling after Mia dies, she never mentioned Lana either, or Diego, or DL-6, and this isn't just to Phoenix, she never told Maya about Diego either and it's vague how much Lana actually knows about her, hell it's vague how much Diego actually knew about her, maybe Grossberg only told him about DL6 and the Fey clan after he wakes up from his coma. Ultimately she isolated herself from everyone in her life to some extent and it's kinda part of how she died, no-one knew the danger she was in and she didn't want people to know.

-Her ineptitude with technology. Phoenix and Maya also have this, but I feel like Mia's and Maya's are so linked to their background in the fey clan, they were raised in a society and culture where they didn't have access to these things and integrating into broader society comes with difficulties.

-Her entire life and career is just things repeatedly going wrong and her being fucked over: DL-6, her disaster of a first trial, Diego being poisoned and just as she's about to try and finally put Redd White behind bars he finds out and kills her. She had shit hand after shit hand and was basically doomed from the start, but yet she persisted and she fought for what she believed and for the people she cared about and to make the world a better place, and everything good that Phoenix manages to do throughout PWT is thanks to Mia and everything she worked for, she laid the foundations for a better world for the ones she loved that she wouldn't get to live in and yet I think if she knew that it would all end this way from the start she'd do it all over again. I think a little part of me thinks that some part of her hoped White would kill her so there was something definitive to pin him with (which comes with some darker implications for how well she was dealing with life).

-Mia has such an interesting relationship to the legal system and her own sense of justice. So much of her experience with the law is with it failing her, repeatedly. DL-6 is a disaster that stripped her mother from her, her first trial ends in the clearly guilty party that murdered her client getting away with it, her boyfriend's murder goes unsolved from the same murderer who she dedicates the next 8 months to taking down, and then there's 1-2, her own murder trial. Mia has again worked for years to try and get this man convicted, the deeply corrupt legal system making it a near insurmountable task, then in the last stretch he murders her. The police immediately just try to brush it under the rug, blame her sister and get the trial over with. Grossberg is too afraid of White to defend Maya and Edgeworth is a slimy piece of shit the entire trial. When Phoenix finally finds the clearly guilty White, he simply makes a few calls and her understudy is the prime suspect. White goes up on the stand and just repeatedly comes up with any old blatant nonsense and excuses and no matter how many times and how much work goes into Wright picking apart every mistruth and detail and how many pieces of evidence he shows nothing will convict White, the court is completely corrupt, you'll never be able to defeat him within the system. So, what happens? Mia and Phoenix have to work outside the established rules, even working outside the rules of death itself. White is only defeated after Mia straight up blackmails him into confessing, and yet this is more justice than working within the law ever would allow them. Mia also only gets Dahlia through pushing the law to it's breaking point, she was a step away from being disbarred. I feel like it's easy to see her as a strong believer in the law but if you really look at it, to her, the law is not sacred or worthy of much reverence, if something is unjust, to hell if it's legal, she will try and reach justice no matter what.

-Look I may be projecting my woke onto the game a little bit but I can't help but feel the routine misogyny Mia faces in both the cases we play as her in T&T is more than just "a product of it's time" and more showing misogyny as an extension of the system being rigged against her.

Loooong post but there's so much going on with Mia.

[whatifitis]

♡ The Story of Tonight - LH 44 ♡

Summary: Your whole life, you lived in complete darkness. No sign of hope or light or love. Everything was just black and white. But after meeting your soulmate, what happens?

Author's note: this is based off this request! i hope i did it justice and im so sorry for the long wait. this is not proofread and feedback is always appreciated <3

WC: 2418

CW: fluff, essentially my ramblings after having no sleep

The paddock was abuzz with thrill and anticipation for the events that may occur today. The Monaco Grand Prix is today and there are three drivers who are in the lead to be this year's World Champion: Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and none other than Sir Lewis Hamilton. 

It is your first time attending a Grand Prix after having followed the sport for basically your whole life. After saving money for years and fighting tooth and nail for a decent ticket, you were officially set to attend one of the most anticipated races out of the calendar year. 

You were practically born a Ferrari fan, it was in your blood to support your team through thick and thin. You grew up watching your favorites become drivers for Ferrari, I mean, everyone is a Ferrari fan at the end of the day. Although, it was often difficult at times to appreciate certain aspects. Everyone always raved about Ferrari and its color scheme, mainly being red. Talk about how the color matched the spirit of Ferrari with passion and fiery. But you never understood it. 

To this day, you still see black and white. There was no color, no life, just you drowning in a world of nothing. Growing up, most of your friends and family were lucky enough to meet their soulmate young, allowing them to finally see everything the world really had to offer. They were lucky enough to appreciate colors with their person. But here you were, almost halfway through your life and you still lived in black and white. 

For so long of your life, you were angry. You just wanted to be like everyone else. You wanted to see what everyone saw. You wanted to meet your person. You wanted to know how it felt. How it felt being in love and knowing that the person in front of you was it for you. You wanted to know how it felt to be secure, happy. But now you’ve learned that maybe it’s just not for you. Not everyone is meant to fall in love and be loved. So, it’s okay. You’ve learned how to live without it and how to be content with the life you have now. 

Now, you know better. You spend your days working and appreciating the moments you get with your friends and family. And today, you were ecstatic because you were able to pay for a trip to Monaco to watch the Grand Prix, not just for you, but for your best friend as well. It was the least you could do considering she’s been there for you for every waking moment that you may have needed her. 

The two of you were getting ready in the hotel, probably overthinking every little aspect but atleast neither of you were alone. 

“Okay, I still don’t know if I wanna wear a dress or if I wanna go with pants. Like, how hot is it going to be? I know the weather app can tell me but Monaco heat could be different from London heat. Also, which one won’t make me seem out of place? I don’t wanna look like I don’t know what I’m doing even though that is the case.” you started rambling, panicking because you were about to be surrounded by people who are famous and, not to be rude, but probably snobby. 

“Hmm, maybe those jeans with a white t-shirt? And you can layer that red jacket on top so if it gets too hot, you can just take it off.” your friend, Faith, says. 

Walking over to the mirror, you place the shirt and pants in front of you to see how it would come together, “I could use the black purse, right? And maybe some jewelry?”

“Yes, babe. You’re gonna look fit. You know, I bet you that you will pull today. Someone is gonna ask for your number and I’m willing to bet so much money that it’ll be one of the drivers. Who knows, maybe it’ll be Lance Stroll? Or or… a retired driver… like someone who’s name starts with a ‘J’ and is also British.” your friend jokingly states, pursing her lips are you. 

“First of all, I think Jenson Button is married… with children. Second of all, I’m not pulling anyone or anything. The only thing I’ll probably pull is a muscle or a door that says it needs to be pushed.” 

“Right… Well, put your clothes on so we can get going. I wanna get there before the race actually starts. Come on, chop chop.” Faith claps her hands at you, trying to get you to actually hurry up. 

-=+=-

The paddock seemed to be a lot calmer than what you thought it would actually be like. For so long, you assumed that people were constantly running around and that things were always being moved. In reality, it’s quite calm. Everyone just walks and talks throughout the day, no sense of urgency at all. 

You and Faith were sitting on a bench and talking while you waited for the race to start. 

“No, what I’m saying is that I would’ve been sick as a character on Glee.” 

Raising an eyebrow at your friend, you entertain her “Yeah? How so?”

“Well, first of all, I wouldn’t be the worst or the best singer. I’d be about average. I’m also a mid dancer. But, I have some pretty good jokes. I also think I could’ve had some sick lore with Jessie. Like I could’ve been his baby mama.”

With a hand running down your face, “Faith… what the fuck?” you laugh. 

“What? Did I lie? No, and here’s why. Honestly, my castmates, especially Lea Michele, would absolu-” Faith was explaining until she was interrupted by shouts and hollers from fans and cameramen. 

The both of you turned to look at what all the commotion was when all of a sudden THE Lewis Hamilton was sprinting past. As per usual, the man was wearing his headphones and just trying to get from one place to another without much interruption or distraction. However, he looked up from the ground and locked eyes with you. 

Colors. 

You saw colors? How could that be possible? One second everything was normal and black and white. Now everything is golden. Okay, not exactly golden but pretty damn close. It’s so beautiful. You almost cried from the overwhelming emotion of finally understanding what people were talking about. But, how can this be? People are only able to see color when they meet their soulmate. So was… Lewis Hamilton was your soulmate?

“Fuck.” you said. 

“Huh?” Faith turned to you. 

Lewis had already disappeared into a garage by the time you came to your realization. He was gone. 

“He’s my- Lewis- He’s- No, it’s not possible.”

“Babe, spit it out. Yes, that was Lewis Hamilton and you missed the opportunity to take a pic of him for you dad because you were too busy drooling over him.” 

“No. Faith. He’s- I can see colors.”

“Holy shit! No way. That’s amazing, babes. Congra- WAIT. NO.”

“Yes!” 

“Oh my fucking god. But… Lewis?”

“Everything was normal until we locked eyes. When we locked eyes, everything just… changed. I can see every color. Green. Blue. Purple. Red. He was wearing red. A really nice red…” 

“Yeah, no shit. We have to get a hold of him. He’s your soulmate.” 

“No. I’m probably wrong. It’s probably someone else that was in that crowd.”

“Did you make eye contact with any of them?”

“No”

“Right, so, you’re a dumb bitch and Lewis Hamilton is your soulmate. Let’s go find him.” Faith states, jumping from her seat on the bench. 

“Faith, no. Sit back down. We are no-”

You were reaching for Faith’s hand, pulling her back to sit down next to you when a blonde woman in red came out racing towards you. 

“Hi. I’m so sorry to bother you. But I’m gonna need you to come with me, please. At the request of Lewis Hamilton. He wishes to speak with you as soon as possible. Preferably before he has to get in the car.”

You and Faith stood there in shock. Complete silence swallowed you whole and the only way you were brought out of your empty mind was for Faith to physically pull you off the bench and towards a hallway which only allowed drivers and crew members. 

The two of you followed the blonde woman down a few corridors before she turned to face you again and began introducing herself, “Hello. I’m so sorry but I probably should have introduced myself. Can’t imagine how strange it was for me to come up and demand you come with me. I’m Angela and I’m Lewis’ personal trainer. Lewis said that as he was walking to the garage, he saw you and that’s when it happened.”

“Yeah. She saw color and oh my god. I’m so excited for this. I’m sorry for speaking for her but she needs a moment before she’s able to talk again. It’s quite overwhelming for her, I think.” Faith rambles. You appreciate her doing so. 

You simply nod and watch as Angela turns her back to you and continues leading you. After passing a few more corners, you found yourself in the Ferrari garage. You watched as all the engineers raced around and made a few final inspections on the car. Some of the guys were already strategizing and discussing possibilities of certain things happening in the race. 

From the corner of the room, everything moved in slow motion in front of you. You could feel your breathing as it quickened in pace. A strange feeling, you must admit. Every single person in this room had a job to do. Lewis counted on all these people to help him win races. It’s hard to imagine the weight on his shoulders. 

Before you could fold into yourself and escape into a space in your head, Faith poked your rib and pointed to a wall in the room. Well, to be specific, it was Angela walking towards Lewis and letting him know of your arrival. Lewis looked up at you again and it was like a second wave of liveliness. The first time he looked at you, the world came to life and surrounded you with color and warmth. Now, when he looks at you, it’s like you’ve just come to life. After years of just surviving, now you get to live… and possibly even feel things you haven’t before. 

In the blink of an eye, Lewis was standing right in front of you. 

“Hey, I’m Lewis.” he states, holding his hand out for you to shake. 

You softly place your hand in his, trying to hide the nervousness coursing through your body, “Hi, I’m Y/n.”

“Y/n. That’s a beautiful name.” he smiles and you completely melt. His eyes crinkle in the corners as sparkles lace his brown eyes. What a beautiful sight. You could definitely get used to this. 

“Thank you.”

“I’m so sorry about all the chaos, by the way. It’s been a hectic day and the race is about to start. But when I saw you, and I saw everything. Like my world came to life. When it happened, I guess I was in quite a bit of shock. It also didn’t help being separated by so many people. Once I got the chance, I immediately called Angela and asked her to find you for me. I really want to talk to you and get to know you. Possibly after the race? We could go somewhere quiet. Preferably somewhere where there won’t be many people.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, no, that’d be great. I’d love to talk. I’d really like to get to know you.”

“I’m glad the feeling is mutual then. And I guess it’s a good thing you look good in red. You’ll be surrounded by a lot of Ferrari in the future. That is, if you’re okay with that.”

Barely one conversation in and he already had you blushing and melting, “I’d love that. Now that I can finally see it, I think I can safely say that red is indeed my color.” you let out a soft laugh. And to your surprise, he laughs too. 

“Agreed. I gotta get back to work now. But feel free to watch the race down here. We can get you and your friend some headphones so you can hear everything and you’ll be able to watch the race through those monitors.” Lewis explains, pointing to where the monitors can be found, “Oh and I’m so sorry. It’s quite rude of me to not introduce myself to your friend. Hi, I’m Lewis.”

Faith and Lewis exchange greetings and chat for a moment before Lewis ends up going back to work again. 

“I’ll find you after the race, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll be here. Although I might pass out once all the adrenaline wears off. I did not expect to be in the Ferrari garage today, let alone meeting you and finding out you’re…”

“A pleasant surprise. It’s made my day, honestly. This may be better than a podium or race win. Okay, talk later, darling.” With a kiss on the cheek, Lewis walks off to his car and begins his pre-race routine. 

Everything today was so unexpected. You had saved for this trip for months and now that you’re finally here, you meet your soulmate? It’s all so terrifying and new. You don’t know how this will go. For all you now, you could completely fumble everything and end up back where you started, alone and void of so many things. But for now, you’ll appreciate this special moment. You’ll appreciate the feeling today has brought you and take everything one step at a time. If everything works out, this will be the person you’ll be running home to, and that is something you honestly can’t wait for. 

-=+=-

“And the story of tonight? Sir Lewis Hamilton seems to have found his soulmate. He’s been going around the paddock and just looking at and observing just about anything. Just admiring random objects and the colors they are. Just a few minutes ago, he was observing a potted plant very closely, inspecting the colors it had to offer him. Now, who do we think the lucky girl is? The one who gets to take Sir Lewis Hamilton home. The one who will get to comb through the complicated braids of life with the legend himself.”

[danieyells]

care to spoil any interesting dialogue Haku has when you reach higher affinity levels? Would love to know!

Haku's so. . .normal, it's kinda cute? Lol. But yeah I'm pretty down for that! I wanted to share one of these things but held my tongue lolol but since you're asking here're some of the ones that were more interesting or otherwise appealing to me!

I've amended this post to be all of Haku's home screen lines. Enjoy!

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"Oh, finally here, huh? I'm not really ready for you yet though... Ha ha. Wait over there for me, would you?"

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Oh, looks like you've got a letter. If you don't open it soon, I might sneak a peek."

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"How's the search for clues about your curse going? Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you ever want to talk, I'm happy to listen."

"Most people in Hotarubi have something they put their heart and soul into. That doesn't really work for me though. I lose interest in things way too easily."

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've gotten yourself mixed up in something again."

this is a very funny one to have him say when i use the sinostra casino as my home screen bg

"Haha. Don't expect too much from me. Ghouls are just glorified street magicians, really. Let's keep it light, huh?"

'glorified street magicians' is a hell of a way to describe. . .a lot of the stigmas we've got going here lmao

"Boo! Ha ha, didn't think you'd get that scared. I was just getting rid of the shadow imp that was sticking to your back... I'm kidding! There was nothing there, I promise."

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"...So, how about we take a walk? This dorm's seen better days, so it's tough work checking all the places that need repairs."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"You've adjusted to life at Darkwick pretty well, haven't you? Not that anomalies and missions are something you'd want to get used to..."

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Today doesn't really work for me... I'm going to be getting back to the dorm pretty late, so can we do tomorrow instead?"

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"...Hate to be the one to tell you this, but there's something untoward lingering behind you. Don't look! Hah, I was just kidding. It was just a little dust, see?"

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Twilight has been a lot quieter than usual today... I hope that's not a bad sign."

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Subaru's just too nice. Keeping all the eccentrics in Hotarubi in check's gotta be rough."

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Everyone here comes from different backgrounds and has different gifts. There's no reason you should feel out of place."

'we're all unique, including the most ordinary among us.' good lesson!

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Looks we're going to make it through today without any disasters. At least I hope so."

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"What are you doing out here? You shouldn't walk around at night with your guard down. Don't come crying to me if you get possessed by a fox spirit, you hear?"

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Your parents ever tell you ghosts would get you if you don't go to bed? For some reason Zenji's the only one who gets spooked when I say that..."

after the reveal that zenji is a ghost this is so funny actually I LOVE THAT ZENJI IS A GHOST WHO'S AFRAID OF GHOSTS AND THE DARK.

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"All these geniuses and their lectures are giving me heartburn. Wouldn't mind hearing the woes of someone long-suffering instead every once in a while."

(this sounds cruel but from what i can tell in Japanese he says he'd rather hear stories about hard workers/people who struggled from the bottom than prodigies. Basically he's more interested in, y'know, ordinary folks than people who're really special.)

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"That video I took of Zenji today? I'm just going to do some quick editing and post it. I don't know why he doesn't just focus on content that's more his style..."

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I saw Tohma a little while ago. Been a while since we last had a real chat. Sounds like he's got his hands full, as always."

so i initially left this one out of this post because i didn't think much of it but. . .the way Haku regards Tohma is so much more casual than Tohma regards Haku in retrospect, it seems. To Haku, Tohma's just the usual hard worker. Someone he'd actually enjoy having a conversation with. But Tohma speaks to Haku almost as if with suspicion or disdain. . .then again he speaks kind of coldly to Jin too. Maybe that's just how he is with people he kind of knows or views as more on his level. Or it's something more sinister. Who knows.

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"Mornin'. You've got a sleep mark on your face. Yeah, right there. Good to know you got a good night's rest."

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"You haven't collected all the papers that were supposed to be submitted by today's deadline yet? Who are you waiting on? Got it. I'll go get them for you."

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I don't mean to scare you, but... be careful with your right leg. Especially when you're in the main building."

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Getting cold feet when you try to jump into the deep end is just proof you're a normal human being. We're the crazy ones."

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Can't sleep? In that case, let's go for a little walk. There's actually something I want to talk to you about."

pretty high affinity to be having chats on night walks. . .i wonder what he wanted to talk about.

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Just having someone you care about at your side is all you really need... Ha ha. That was a little out of character, huh? My bad."

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"Oh, you're awake. I was just about to make some tea to wake myself up. Want some?"

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"It's not very often I get to kick back like this in the middle of the day. Maybe I'll take a nap."

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"None of us wanted to become like this. Living an ordinary life, and dying an ordinary death— why go after more than that?"

He just wants to be normal. And he can't. It's kinda tragic lol

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"(Yawn) Oh, didn't see you there. Haha... Guess I've been letting my sleep debt build up. I'm going to bed."

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Being cursed really sucks, huh? You can't help but ask yourself, "Why me?" all the time, even when you know it's a question with no answer."

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I know I'm being selfish— but sometimes, I wish you'd just forget about me..."

WHY. . .ARE YOU THE SUS ONE AND YOU FEEL BAD THAT YOU'LL BETRAY THEM? DO YOU JUST FEEL LIKE YOU'RE TOO LUCKY HAVING HAD FALLEN FOR SOMEONE NORMAL WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT NORMAL ANYMORE? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE PC DESERVES SOMEONE NORMAL AND TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO A NORMAL LIFE BUT BEING WITH YOU GUARANTEES THEY WON'T? WHY DO YOU WANT THEM TO FORGET YOU. . .he's so interesting to me simply because of how much he tries to keep himself apart from his being a ghoul(and, y'know, seeing spirits and shit--) so he can try and just be any other guy. . .and he can't lol his surroundings, who and what he is, he can't go back to being normal! It's a charming way to have a boy next door sort of personality i think lol

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"I've been noticing more birds in the garden lately. Is that a bush warbler? A white-eye, maybe? A lot going on during spring in Hotarubi."

Boy knows his birbs.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Heading into another nice, warm afternoon. Maybe I should take a nap...? Oops, nearly forgot I promised Zenji I'd film him."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Must be nice being a ghost—no hayfever, and no hangovers. Spring really is the embodiment of human weakness."

How drunk did you get last night buddy. . . .

(between 8pm and 5am)

"My family home is pretty famous in our area for its cherry blossoms... When I was a kid, my friends and I used to go exploring through them at night."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"It's so humid... Days like this make me miss Frostheim..."

He's former Frostheim! Maybe that's why he and Tohma seem to have some history. There's also Jin's friend who left that Tohma helped to switch houses. . .but Haku was a second year then so would he have needed it?

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Today, I've got to go round and check the stalls for the festival Hotarubi is holding— wouldn't want any dangerous charlatans sneaking their way in."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Zenji's off roaming around somewhere again... People are more sensitive this time year, so I wish he'd just stay put..."

AGAIN, BEFORE WE LEARNED HE WAS A GHOST I READ THIS AND THOUGHT PEOPLE HE MEANT LIKE. . .SENSITIVE EMOTIONALLY TO NOISE AND ZENJI'S BIWA PLAYING. I DID NOT REALIZE THAT HE WAS WORRIED PEOPLE WOULD REALIZE ZENJI WAS THERE.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"You're not going to wear a yukata? Eh, I just thought it'd be cute to see. That's the kind of thing guys think about, don't know what else to tell you."

It reads like he's a little disappointed the girl he's into friends with isn't gonna wear something he thinks is cute lol

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"They say fall is the season of the arts, but I'm a really mediocre flute player. I'm about as uncultured as you can get."

funny thing for an ex-frostheimer to say.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"You can hear the biwa, right? He's been going for three hours now. People are going to start getting pissed off, so I'll go tell him to stop soon."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Nightfall can catch you unaware this time of year. It'll be dark soon, so let me know when you're planning to head home. I'll walk you back to the cathedral."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"It's a stunner of a night. Maybe I'll grab a drink and do a little moon gazing."

don't drink too much you're trying to quit smoking, the solution isn't to replace it with another addiction--

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"You'll catch a cold dressed like that. It's already pretty chilly out there, you know... Here, take my coat."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Winter rain really chills you to the bone. Sorry, walking through the garden must be rough for you this time of year. Come a little closer."

I'm a bit of a sucker for huddling together in the cold lol

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"It's cold again today. Now that I think of it, Subaru said he wanted to make hotpot with everyone. Guess I'll go grab some things and make it happen."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Your hands hurt because of the cold? Let me see. Oh yeah, your fingertips are all red. Here, stick them in my pockets."

Is that your flute in your pocket or are you completely unaffected by the cold

His birthday: (July 26th)

"Wait, you got me a birthday present? You're so conscientious. Oh, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Thanks, I appreciate it."

Your birthday:

"Hey, come over here a sec. Here. It's nothing special, but I got you a something. Today's your birthday, right?"

why is this worded like he's asking you to come into a shady alley in secret to give you a birthday gift lmao

New Years: (January 1st)

"Happy New Year. I know it's a cliché, but I hope this year's a good one for you."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"Whoa, chocolate? I didn't think you'd give them to me too. Guess I better think of something good to get you in return."

White Day: (March 14th)

"Here, for the chocolate you got me last month. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got the ones I remember you said were good."

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"A bunch of spirits have been following you around all day, are you okay? Psych, just kidding. Seriously, I was joking, I swear."

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Looks like you've had your fair share of tricks today. I'll narrow down your options and just make it a treat, then."

Christmas: (December 25th)

"You look like you're having fun. Do you have a present for me, Little Miss Santa? Haha, I'm just kidding. Here you go. Merry Christmas."

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...Hey, you alive? Not much point me just standing here waiting around. Guess I'll take off."

(13 affinity and above)

"I know I look like a slacker, but I do have stuff to do. Guess I'll nap till she gets back."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"Hey there, stranger. Everyone's missed you, you know. ...Even I was starting to get a little worried."

Those're the ones that're most interesting to me I think! 'u' there are some that aren't up there though, like some of the ones that show him being responsible and worrying about his teammates haha. Hope you don't mind my little commentary here and there!

A while later and I've amended this post to include all of the home screen voicelines, not just the ones that appealed to me most in that moment! Haku's interesting in how. . .normal he is. Aside from the seeing spirits and things anyway lmao. He's just a casual flirt who wants to escape the abnormality that his becoming a ghoul got him. I feel like his lines don't really reveal anything about him. . .but also 19 in particular feels. . .a little lonely? Maybe because of how he had to leave Frostheim, he doesn't really feel as connected to the Hotarubi ghouls yet, compared to how he was with Jin before? Or, if he is the spy, he feels like all of his relationships are fake. . .and man that 'I wish you'd just forget about me' line is sad but also SO SUSPICIOUS. WHO SAYS THAT IF THEY DON'T PLAN ON LEAVING YOU OR STABBING YOU IN THE BACK.

[alpaca-clouds]

If I had a penny for every time a Belmont got startled by a fox...

So, @aquilaofarkham pointed this out on BlueSky, and is totally right about it (they made the screenshots to, thanks for allowing me to use them!). Why I clocked this scene in Nocturne as well - I actually did not draw the comparison to the Trevor season 3 scene. But yes, that is indeed...

If I got a penny for every time a Belmont got startled by a fox, I would have two pennies, which is not a lot, but it is weird it happened twice.

And you know what that means, right?

THEORY TIME!!!

As some people might know: Since season 1 of Nocturne was out, I am very very certain of one thing. And that thing is, that the Belmont bloodline also goes back to a god.

In S1 of Nocturne when Annette talks about her own divine bloodline, she says a lot of people do have a divine ancestor, but the knowledge got lost. And to me this instantly read as: "Actually, by the way, the Belmonts totally have a divine ancestor as well!"

And I have been riddling since then, who it could be.

So, what if the fox is a representation of that ancestor?

Yes. This does mean I get to talk mythology again.

So, foxes. In early European folklore the fox is basically equivalent to coyote in North American folklore. Especially in Germany and France Reynard or Reinecken shows up a lot as a trickster spirit in the form of a fox. While there are some theories on Reynard somewhat going back to an actual deity, we kinda don't know about that for sure, because we have absolutely no textual evidence for it, and it mostly goes back to the fact that throughout the area in early medieval times the depiction of Reynard as a trickster is very very consistent - and also lines up with more eastern depictions of fox adjacant deities. Since we know that those are connected through Indo-European culture group it is not so weird to assume that there might have been a fox trickster deity, though if there was, we do not know their name.

But the good news is: The Belmonts are French in origin, and we do know from Trevor that they had contact to indigenous European people (aka the Celts). So, the highest likelihood for a divine ancestor is definitely a Celtic god or goddess.

Now, if we talk about Celtic deities we obviously run into the problem: Outside the Gaelic culture we know Jack Shit. Because fuck the fucking Romans and fuck the Christians even more, who very thoroughly erased most stuff about those religions. My anthropology heart does not spend three hours a day crying about this fact at all!!!!

Of course, we know the Celtic cultures were related, so there is a high likelihood that at least some of the deities from the Gaelic culture will also show up in the Gaulic culture, but we do not know for certain.

Which on the bright side also means, that my guess is about as good as whatever the writers might come up with. Hooray!

So, my first guess is Adsagsona. A goddess about whom we know exactly nothing. We know she was a goddess of magic, who was invoked in spells. And we have the suspicion she was maybe linked to foxes. Maybe. Because the thing is, we do have one written evidence of her being invoked, and some artifacts from the same area she was invoked in that might be related to her and the practice of magic. Which is not a lot. Cool bit about that, of course: It would totally give a writer freedom to make up whatever about this.

Next guess would be Arduinna. She was a forest goddess who got merged with Diana when the Romans colonized what is France today. She definitely got depicted a lot with forest animals, and definitely also was connected to the hunt (which works well with the Belmonts), though the preferred animal for her to be paired with was either the deer or the boar. Which, I would guess, makes sense, because people hunted those more for food than they would hunt foxes.

A bit more vague would be the god Cunomaglus. Because he is British, not Gallic, though definitely he is a hunting god, and while his main animal was the dog, he definitely got also depicted with foxes. No doubt about that bit. xD

Next up would be a probably related god to Cunomaglus: Nodens. Again, British. Again, hunting. Again, the main animal are gods. I would not know about him being depicted with foxes, but given he has a lot of overlap with Cunomaglus I would also not be surprised. Bonus points, because I know there is fandom-overlap between GDT's Hellboy movies and Castlevania: Nuada is based on the Irish equivalent to Nodens, and draws a lot of influence from the Brittanic god.

If we go a bit more wild, we could also make a guess for Ceres, though that one would be a bit weird. Ceres is of course a Roman Goddess, but Romans were also in France forever, so it is not impossible. Ceres is heavily associated with foxes, though mainly in the sense that foxes are sacrificed for her. But there is a fox association.

There is also with the Roman gods a very loose association with both Dionysus and Diana. But Diana usually gets depicted with dogs and stags, and for Dionysus there is exactly one myth linking him to foxes. So... Eh.

Lastly... I will just leave here that Diana's Slavic equivalent, Devana, actually gets depicted as a fox more than once. But Slavic culture is kinda on the other end of Europe. So it is possible, but also... Eh. It is a far bit away. But then again, the Belmonts lived in today's Romania for a long while, so it is not impossible, I guess.

And that's it. For today at least.

But I wanted to get this off my chest.

[gentrychild]

An anon who was rereading Anyone asked me what would have happened if Izuku didn't like eggs and how you tell a supervillain you don't like what he made and that you want something. I have bravely tried to answer said ask but Tumblr laughed at my pain, so here is it, on a new post.

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

When confronted with the super villain Izuku had accidentally broken out of the most secured prison in the country, a man who had basically walked out of said prison as soon as he hadn’t been restrained anymore, Izuku did the only thing any rational person would do.

He ran like hell. No shoes, no plan, nothing except Full Cowl roaring in his veins and he fled.

At least, he tried to.

Strong tendrils stopped him dead, then hands picked him up by his shoulders and suddenly, his feet weren't touching the ground and he was forcibly brought to the kitchen table.

''No, no, no,'' All for One said with the tone one would employ with a disobedient pet or a very young child. ''Your breakfast is going to get cold and we have so much to talk about. Sit. Enjoy the eggs. If you don't like them, I can make something else.''

And he dropped him on his chair, before putting the plate in front of him. Then, he sat at the other end of the table, facing Izuku, his own plate in front of him and he started to eat. Slowly, his manners perfect, while Izuku was dying of sheer stress over there.

Then, he looked at Izuku. Then at Izuku's plate.

''You're not eating?''

Izuku looked at the man who had literally reduced people to paste last night and then at his plate of eggs and bacon, then back at the lunatic who was probably going to skin him alive soon enough. He needed to do something, to get the time to find a way out of this mess.

Now, any reasonable human being would have eaten a bit of eggs and bacon – well, eaten the bacon in Izuku’s case – but he had just woken up, was in a pre-caffeinated state and truly, Izuku had never claimed to have the slightest working relationship with sanity.

“I don’t like eggs,” he blurted out.

The supervillain, the very same man who had literally gone through a prison riot of fellow villains like he was running through wet paper, was startled so badly by those four words that he dropped his fork.

“What do you mean, you don’t like eggs???” he asked like this was a ludicrous notion, like everyone’s favorite breakfast should be eggs and bacon.

“Never liked them,” Izuku lied, by pure spirit of contradiction, far more developed than for most people, for it had been left with quite the amount of room after the disappearance of all his survival instinct.

And it was indeed a lie because, once upon a time, it had been his favorite comfort food, but when he had been a kid, during one of those weeks where his mom was gone and the neighbor supposed to watch over him was busy forgetting his existence, he had gorged himself on it at every meal until he had gotten so sick of it that he had been unable to eat them ever again.

All for One watched him with something that went beyond annoyance, it was the patented look of someone who knew one was messing with him and the words “You’re a goddamn liar” were probably fighting to be left out but he had no proof that Izuku was bullshitting him and if even if he somehow had a lie-detecting-quirk, Izuku would keep denying it because he probably wasn’t making it out alive anyway so why deprive himself of the chance of annoying his would-be-killer?

And actually, why wait?

“I prefer waffles,” Izuku informed him because, after all, All for One had offered him to make him something else.

All for One stared at him without saying anything, probably thinking about all the ways he could have killed Izuku back when they were in Tartarus. Meanwhile, Izuku gave the illusion to be staring back at him when he was actually thinking about the fact the window made a faster exit but All for One would have the time to catch him before he landed seven floors lower while the door offered him more options.

All for One eventually abandoned his plate and started to rummage through the cupboards, going straight to the place where Izuku and his mom usually put the baking ingredients. Either everyone organized their kitchen the same way, or All for One had broken in so many homes that he was just a pro at using any kitchen he found himself into.

“Do you have flour?” the lunatic called out. “I can’t find it.”

Izuku had already flowed out of his chair and was making his way to the door by walking backwards, trying to radiate nonchalance and not the need to RUN AWAY WITHOUT LOOKING BACK.

“Try the highest shelves,” Izuku helpfully suggested, his hand on the doorknob.

It was where his mom put the heaviest pots and pans they usually didn’t use, since everyone in this household needed to climb a chair to access it. With a little luck, they would all fall on All for One.

Izuku left the apartment, not even bothering to fully close the door behind him, and he ran. He was in his pajamas, had found his sneakers by the door and they were still in his hands as he booked it out of his neighborhood as fast as Full Cowl could carry him and he didn’t stop until his building wasn’t in sight anymore. Then, he stopped on a bench, the couple flirting on it deciding they could do that somewhere else when they saw him approaching, and he put his sneakers on, took a deep breath, and decided to run some more, still in the opposite direction of where Todoroki was living, and then, he would figure out a plan.

Unfortunately, liquid shadows chose this moment to appear right in front of him, revealing All for One, who was holding a bag from Waffle Palace in one of his hands.

“I didn’t find any flour or sugar so I just ordered in.”

Some people would have screamed or been startled but Izuku had already ripped the bench from the ground and thrown it at All for One. The villain batted it away with his empty hand but it didn’t matter because Izuku was already half way through the park, or at least until black tendrils grabbed him and yanked him back.

 “Your waffles are going to get cold,” All for One sternly informed him before grabbing him by the back of his shirt and he warped again, this time with Izuku under his arm.

[teecupangel]

OK, I know we got a few Star Wars crossover AUs here already, but like

What if Desmond gets reborn into Star Wars as a Zabrak? Specifically a female Dathomirian Zabrak. I say female cause the female Dathomirian's learn force stuff while the males are little more then slaves and do not learn force stuff- they're more warriors though.

Let's have Desmond be younger the Obi-wan but Older then Anakin here.

Desmond was old enough to have remembered his time in Dathomir, learning the very basics of Nightsister's magic and culture before, for some reason or another, he was taken off planet, and not long later, gets taken in by the Jedi due to his force Sensitivity. So about older then 3 but younger then 6 cause, if I remember, 6 years old is the oldest they may take a child in or af least the species' equivalent to 6.

I mention Desmond learning basic Nightsister magic cause, among the things Nightsister's are able to do, they can conjure up spirits of ancestors and other night sister's and such. And with Desmond being Desmond, despite only being taught basics, let's say he's oddly adept in spirit conjuring without even needing the Ichor Dathomir has. Meaning, Desmond summons his ancestors from his previous life, and their presence in general would cause confusion and chaos among the Nightsister even, maybe warrant Desmond being sent away? Unsure how or why he's away from Dathomir.

Least to say, the Jedi having to deal with a child born with Dark Side influences with their clearly Force Ghost they can summon- which, none of them can even understand them but can see the fact they are a good influence and, very reluctantly, do not do anything about Desmond's ancestors as he calls them.

Just- The Force pushing Desmond to interfere with the future events of the galaxy, first being him befriending Obi-Wan around the time Obi-wan is still new to being a Padawan and Desmond's on his way to obtaining his first lightsaber. Maybe they meet at the Archives cause Altair insisted Desmond to read as much stuff as he can.

We might have to mess up the timeline a bit but the reason Desmond was pushed out of the clan could be because the current Mother, Talzin, realized that Desmond is too rigid in certain ways.

They have no qualms with a sister who prefers to be called ‘he’. He was more gifted than most and, whatever he lacked, he makes up through sheer willpower and guile.

His moral compass isn’t black and white but there are certain aspects to it that do appear… impregnable.

It’s because of Desmond’s moral compass that the mother knew he would never agree to siding with Darth Sidius.

In fact, Desmond would absolutely lead them to a civil war if he learns of what Darth Sidius had done just to stop the clan from assisting the Sith Lord and then he’d definitely try to kill Darth Sidius himself.

Talzin knew the child enough to know that he would destroy the stability she was preserving if he remained with them.

But…

Desmond was also one of her most precious students. An orphan she had taken in and nurtured, answered every questions and trained personally.

She cannot kill him even if she knew that it was better than he died here, before he could reach greater magic than she herself could.

So she banishes him, made up some pathetic excuse.

And he didn’t call her out to it.

He didn’t try to plead his innocence.

It was unnerving.

The child knew that he was being banished by the one person that raised him as her own.

And it was like he was expecting it.

No.

That wasn’t right.

It was like…

He didn’t know it was going to happen but, now that it did, he wasn’t surprised by it.

As if it was a given that his mother would leave him.

They sent him in a merchant ship that would tell him about each planet they’d visit and he can leave at any time.

If he wanted to, he can work for the merchant ship and learn the trades.

Talzin believed that he would do well, whatever he turned out to be.

So when she heard of a nightsister wearing the robes of a Jedi…

When she saw a hologram of Desmond, older and composed…

Melding the Force and their magic fluently to destroy all who stand before him with the calmness of a Jedi and the merciless of a Nightsister.

She knew…

It was only a matter of time before he returned to them…

To pass judgment upon the people who abandoned him.

[ajastu]

this is a blog made specifically so i can ramble, so time for another one. Been thinking on n off about the concept of a new game in a beloved franchise letting you down in some way, and when expressing that disappointment crosses a certain line.

Like, from personal experience: i was disappointed by dishonored 2. i swear this has something to do with dragon age, bear with me for a moment. The plot fell flat for me, the trailer basically tells you everything that happens in the game, and it really pales in comparison to the way the narrative was crafted in the first game.

HOWEVER, no matter how much of an essay i could write about the shortcomings i, personally, see with dh2, i can still acknowledge that it was a solid fucking game, with care taken in the production of it, and that a lot of people loved it for the exact things that disappointed me, and they are not in the wrong for it.

this got long, unsurprisingly, so the rest ill put behind a read-more 👍

Whenever i talk about what i think could have been done better in the sequel, it is more of a....thought exercise. Because the fact is, we're never getting the dh2 i really wanted, and so there is no need to get upset or frustrated about it. Might as well have fun analyzing it n getting to the core of what it is exactly that felt off, but not in an angry way? more like....having a fun discussion with a friend. pulling a puzzle apart kinda deal. make it Productive, and not just a feedback loop of negative feelings. Find good things in it, even.

So, when i still see people foaming-at-the-mouth mad about veilguard, im not gonna lie, i feel kind of concerned about the mental well-being of some of them.

The fact is. Veilguard is a solid fucking game. Just, objectively speaking. The level design is (to me, at least) intuitive and fun to explore, it does not feel like a slog (looking at you, dai. that one's open world design gave me the most mind-numbingly boring fever dream once), the battle mechanic doesn't make me want to download a 'skip combat' mod, the faction mechanic is fun and closer to the spirit of dao that dai was*, the plot is coherent and has a Theme, and, despite what people like to say, the lore reveals make sense and are consistent with the previous lore in the series 🤷‍♂️. I genuinely do believe that the whole blight origin thing was already thought out before dao came out. thats just how worldbuilding works, usually.

I have a ranking of the DA games in my head, based on how much i liked them. Before datv, it was as follows:

dao (a game of its time, but one i love immensely)

da2

dai (its decent enough, but it never really grabbed me like the other two)

I expected datv to take 4th place. As it currently stands, it might just share the first place with dao, for me personally.

I remember exactly the moment when it clicked for me that playing datv felt like playing dao (it was the first blackthorne mission). And that moment was very special to me. It is also, perhaps, the only game in the series which really actually made me lose my entire mind during certain story missions, but that one might just be because i saw no spoilers before going in.

It is also so so so important to me because of the way they handled the trans and specifically nonbinary representation.

It might not have been exactly what people wanted, but no game will please every single person. like, i am sure that some people dislike the game for exactly the reasons i like it. And the thing is, neither of us is in the wrong. It all comes down to expectations, and how people handle it when something does not meet theirs.

When i went into dh2, it was after a several years long wait for a sequel. I was so excited! I built up this idea of what the game would be like, and i looked forward to seeing it become real. I had Expectations! And the game did not meet most of them. It does not mean it was a bad game. It was just not what i was expecting. I could sit here and pick at it until i start despising it, but that would be a disservice both to me and to the people who put their time and passion into making it.

Before datv's release, my expectations were as low as they could possibly be (because dai is my least fav game in the series, so i was wary about the next one, and because ive heard of the development hell and the fact they were planning to add micro-transactions to the game at some point etc etc). And i do acknowledge that this played a part in how much i ended up enjoying the game. I gave it a chance while not expecting anything, and it let me see it for what it is: a solid fucking game. a good one, even.

I can absolutely see how someone with certain expectation for da4 could be disappointed by the game not addressing the things they wanted to see addressed, or addressing them in a way they don't agree with. I've been there, even! And the fact that i personally liked datv doesn't mean other people can't or shouldn't criticize it.

The difference here lies in where exactly that criticism comes from, and what it hopes to accomplish, and whether or not at some point it becomes more harmful than useful.

When caught up in the spiral of disappointment, it is important to stop and think about whether this is productive. whether this is contributing something to your life. I am no stranger to chewing a bone**. in fact, i am very predisposed to it. Which is exactly why i make an effort to reflect on whether or not it is worth it.

Because, at the end of the day, no matter how much criticism is being put out into the world about datv, or dh2, or what have you, the simple fact remains: it won't change anything about the game that got released. The effort and emotional turmoil is, ultimately, wasted. It is always better to turn that passion into something productive: fanworks, or an essay (in good faith!) that analyzes your own feelings on the topic and what you would want to see differently, or a whole another game/piece of media entirely. It is important to stop coming from a place of vitriol and hatred, because that will burn you out and leave you feeling worse. You have to make a choice to choose joy in your life.

When you see someone enjoying a game you didn't like, and your first reaction is seething hatred and/or a desire to send death threats, you have to ask yourself: is this really worth it?

You're not going to convince people to stop liking a game. Frankly, why would you Want to do that? What will it accomplish in your life? What will it contribute? In the grand scheme of things, a crusade like that is a very foolish thing to burn yourself out over. Put the bone down, and go get a proper meal 🤷‍♂️

________________________________________________

*i dont think that, with the state the current game industry is in, we will ever get another game with a similar bg mechanic like origins had. too many resources needed for that. but the factions are as close as it gets, in my personal opinion

**meaning, fixating on a topic, especially one that causes some kind of negative emotion

[alex51324]

Mohela Saga Resolution

So, the whole experience with my Mohela student loans, from a couple of weeks ago has resolved (kinda) and I know I'm not the only one having a terrible time with this company, so I wanted to share.

The saga, as briefly as I can summarize it, is that my loans keep popping back into full-price repayment status because of the IBR freezes, and a couple of weeks ago, I spent and entire work day on hold with them, their phone system did some weird shit, and I was D-O-N-E done with trying to reach them by phone.

See here if you want to read the whole thing, but if you've dealt with these chucklefucks before, it probably won't be anything earth-shattering.

What's important is that I did eventually get my problem fixed, and I'm going to tell you how.

First, I wrote a letter. Here's what I included in it:

A brief summary of the history of my problem.

A description of my efforts to contact them by phone. I did, at one point, manage to speak to a first-level customer service rep, who said that they had to escalate me to the next level, so I summarized that conversation.

The resolution I sought. I said what I actually wanted (for my account to be in an income-based repayment plan) and that if that was not possible, I would accept a processing forbearance. I stated directly that I consented to either of these solutions.

My contact information. I provided a mailing address, email, and phone number, and stated that if they called and left a message, they would need to provide me with a way to get back to them, because I was not able to spend another entire work day on hold for them.

A list of all of the ways that I was transmitting this letter to them (mail, fax, email, uploaded document).

Note that, if your problem is anything to do with a payment you can't afford, and there is relief that is available to you in theory but not in practice--e.g., because the forms have been frozen due to ongoing litigation, or because you have a special situation that needs to be addressed by a human being, or even because you turned everything in and they haven't gotten to it--then the magic words are processing forbearance. This puts your payments at zero until they get around to putting you into IBR or whatever else you're supposed to be in. Interest does continue to accrue, unfortunately, but you don't have to make payments and your account won't go into collections.

Once I had my letter written, I sent it to them through every means I could find:

Postal mail to their "request for assistance" address, as shown here.

MOHELA 633 Spirit Drive Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243

2. Fax, to the number 1-866-222-7060 , as shown here.

3. The "contact us" form, here.

4. Uploaded as a document in the "inbox" section of my account.

Additionally, I put the full text of the letter, into the complaint form at Studentaid.gov, along with a brief note about why I was sending it to them. (Basically, because I didn't trust Mohela to actually do anything with any of their copies.)

After doing all that, every few days I checked on my account on the Mohela website, and about 10 days later, my account was back in a processing forbearance, with my payment set to Zero and nothing showing as overdue.

Nobody has contacted me, so I don't know which of these methods actually worked. But one of them apparently did!

For the postal letter, I thought about doing a registered letter--so I'd have proof of delivery if questions arose later--but I wasn't going to be able to get to the Post Office for at least a few days, so I just dropped it in a mailbox with a regular first-class stamp. I thought I'd do it all again, with a registered letter that time, if about two weeks went by and nothing happened. I ended up not having to, but that's an option.)

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Hello, here is a dragon as peace offerings.

Now that I’ve offered a sacrifice and I won’t be shot for getting into the spirit a day too early, I want to ask:

Do you think Killer and Color would celebrate Giftmas, or would they avoid the holiday because it reminds them of what they’ve lost too much? Do you think there would be any holiday they would be enthusiastic about?

I personally think Killer would love April fools.

Aw thank you! It’s adorable. Here ya go!

I think they wouldn’t rush themselves into celebrating just because others are, especially if they don’t have the means.

I do think they’d at least get eachother gifts on Giftmas. I like to think that during Killer’s captivity under with Nightmare, Color would send him pictures and videos of certain things—like a Giftmas tree, the sound of something going on but all Killer can focus on is the sound of Color’s laughter, the sound of rain because it helps Color sleep and maybe it’ll help Killer too, but really it only helps Killer sleep because it reminds him of Color.

It’s easier for Killer to dream a good dream when the rain is going, and sometimes he even dreams of Color and for now they’re together even though theyre likely universes apart at that moment. He can’t afford to keep all the pictures and videos in case Nightmare finds it, so he tries to commit the sounds of rain and colors sweet laughter and soothing words and the colors of Giftmas lights—a poor mockery of colors burning flame—into memory.

doesn’t often work but he tries his best.

despite all their planning, when the day finally came they could safely celebrate Giftmas together, they didn’t really know what to do. bittersweet memories and feelings. remember when it took me 15 hours to reply to your message because nightmare called me and you went to sleep praying i wouldn’t be dead in the morning or that I wouldn’t be bleeding out again this time, checking your phone and scrounging the news to see if maybe something happened immediately when you woke up.

they told eachother the things they’d like to get for eachother, not really possible at the moment when money is tight and has to go to ensuring their basic needs are met first. they spend their first giftmas alone together with the cats, watching a movie curled up on their bed and cuddling and just trying to not invite the painful memories into the room. the cats gets extra attention and treats.

they’ll get there eventually.

I do think they like Halloween though. Killer tries to rope color into April Fool’s but somehow always winds up teaming up with Epic and Mecha to cause ultra chaos. he makes it a goal to mostly make every prank for color harmless and funny because he loves seeing and hearing that man laugh. he loves knowing he’s the reason why color is happy and feeling.

[carefreecoffee]

Fluffmas Day 5: Mistletoe w/Shigiraki Tomura

Word count: 1.6k, Gender-neutral reader

The Christmas season had returned to the league once more as everyone settled in. Twice making duplicates to speed the process up, Kurogiri makes sure the hideout stays warm- or at least as warm as it can be with the cracks and broken eating units.

Toga was going over to everyone with decorations in hand, urging everyone to do their part. Shigaraki groaned as he’s dragged around in his usual hoodie and skinny jeans, his expression already making clear he’s not exactly in the Christmas spirit.

“Why are we doing this?” He grumpily inquires.

Toga giggles as she grasps him by the shoulders, forcing him to stand in front of the totally not impromptu tree. “Oh c’mon! Just a little holiday decorating isn’t gonna kill you” He shoves her hands off of him, crossing his arms.

“Decorating is stupid, we’re all adults here, what kind of loser wastes time on that?”

Toga rolls her eyes, “Oh no need to be a Grinch, it's just fun to do every now and then!”

He rolls his eyes as he takes another look at the tree, “Yeah, for dorks….” he mutters under his breath.

Toga hands him a box of ornaments to hang up, “There ya go, just a little bit of decorating” she grins with a giggle.

As you walk into the room, Toga gasps, handing you a box. “Y/N! Here here! We’ve gotta set up hehe” You take the box from her- or rather from her shoving it toward you. You thank her before peeking inside. Shigaraki lets out a small eye roll as his only reaction before continuing to untangle his set of lights. 

You open the box pulling out different assortments of lights and tinsel, finally pulling out a small mistletoe with a hook attached to the top of it. You glance at it curiously.

Shigaraki stops fiddling with his lights as he notices the mistletoe in your hand, instantly a confused look appears on his face as he raises a brow. “The hell is that?”

You look between him and the leaves, “A mistletoe i think” You glance around, trying to find the perfect spot to place it.

“The hell is a mistletoe?” His raspy voice perks up. You whip your head to meet him as you chuckle, “You don't know what a…a mistletoe is?” 

The silence that follows is enough to be an answer. You clear your throat, “Oh..oh um well- basically you hang it up and whoever the two people that walk under it have to…kiss.” 

His eyes widen slightly as a grimace meets his face. “Ew, kiss?!”

You nod, now glancing at the ceiling thoughtfully. Shigaraki watches you look around to hang the mistletoe up as the realization starts to hit him, his face feeling a bit warm. “Y-you’re actually gonna hang it up?”

“Yep” is the only thing you give him as you stick a thumbtack into the wall, hang the mistletoe up and look back on your work. It was in a fairly good area, just near the corridor to your designated rooms. 

Shigaraki gulped a bit, now that the mistletoe was up, and he was suddenly aware of its meaning, a small shiver went down his spine at the idea of what could happen if he got you under there… no no! He didn't care about that and he certainly didn't care about you.

Time flies by between decorating and cleaning. Shigaraki glances up at the mistletoe once in a while, the nervous feeling starting to grow a bit more as he continues to place up the Christmas decorations with you and Twice, his arms starting to ache slightly. 

He finishes placing up the last little Christmas tree ornament before taking a step back and looking around at the decorations, a faint bit of satisfaction to be seen on his face before he turns back to you. “We’re done, at least now I don’t have to be reminded of Christmas for another 11 months”

You chuckle softly and nod. “Very true, but I guess this isn't too bad.” You pick up the empty boxes, pointing to a couple more. “Could you help me move those to the closet?”

Shiagaraki takes the cue and nods, “Sure whatever..”

The two of you walked down the corridor, bringing the boxes to the closet a couple at a time, stacking them and shutting the door. It didn't take long before the two of you were walking down the corridor in silence, entering the main lounge once more.

As you walk in, the sound of togas squeals can be heard. The small bit of anxiety growing within Shigaraki as Toga’s exclamation makes him look in her direction “What…?”

Toga giggles with a knowing smirk on her face, “You’re under the mistletoe ya dummy!”

You raise your brows, looking up at the taunting bundle of leaves. “Huh, i think i fell into my own trap..”

Shigaraki lets out a small ‘Tch’ as he glares at the ornament. “Well… y’didnt exactly fall for a trap, just kinda fell into a holiday cliche”

You look at Toga curiously, “But uh… I just put it up, yeah? So- so we don't gotta haha…right?”

Toga shakes her head, her smirk widening as she crosses her arms “No no, the mistletoe is a very strict ruler, if two people are under it… someone’s gotta kiss”

Shigaraki’s face starts turning a brighter shade of pink as he realizes what Toga was impling, he stutters out a small protest. “I-I mean that’s just a stupid holiday rule, we don’t gotta follow it!”

You nod along, agreeing with Shigaraki for once, “Yeah, it's just a picky tradition, eh?”

Toga nods, but her smirk doesn’t go away for a second, ”Not exactly picky, if two people are trapped below the mistletoe, someone’s gotta get their smooch on!”

The thought crosses your mind faintly…kissing Tomura?! Under the mistletoe?! In front of the league no less and surrounded by pretty lights and the smell of cheap gingerbread candles…

‘What's one peck?’

Toga’s smirk widens a bit more as she looks at you and shigaraki, her eyes switching back and forth between you both like she was watching some kind of tennis match. “C’mon, just a quick lil kiss, it’s no big deal!”

You sigh, finally giving in, leaning up and pecking Tomura on the cheek, the roughness of his skin meeting your plush lips. “There”

Dhigaraki’s face immediately turns a dark red as you quickly steal a kiss from his cheek, surprise was an understatement to the expression on his face. He lets out a small stutter as he reaches up to unconsciously touch the spot where you pecked him, a look of shock and disbelief in his eyes.

Toga lets out a small exaggerated gasp as she dramatically feigns falling back onto a couch. “O-oh my! The two love birds finally did it! I knew I should’ve placed that mistletoe up months ago!!”

You shake your head at her antics, feeling your own face fume up. You quickly evade the situation by walking off and seeing what everyone else needed help with, hands clenched to your side.

Shigaraki watches as you walk away from the mistletoe, a bit of relief to be seen, he then turns in Toga’s direction and gives her a small glare while his cheeks remain flushed “You did that on purpose didn’t you…?”

Toga grins widely as she nods, “Oh absolutely, I’ve been hoping that mistletoe would get to do its job for weeks now!”

He groans in annoyance as he crosses his arms, letting out a small mutter under his breath. “You’re so damn annoying…”

Toga chuckles and bounces off, leaving Tomura with his thoughts. Those thoughts that swirled throughout him as the night went on, finding him lost in a circle as he sat on the couch, hands fidgeting.

He decided to start scrolling through his phone as he waited for everyone to head off to their respective rooms for the night, a small yawn escaping him as he glanced up and saw the last person beside him in the room.

“Man… finally, everyone can go to bed and just shut up for the night…”

You hum in agreement, slowly making your way toward the corridor with a yawn, unknowingly passing through the mistletoe once more. Shigaraki watches you walk under the mistletoe as the realization hits him like a punch in the gut, he quickly gets up off the couch and looks in your direction. “Hey… wait a second!”

Shigaraki catches up to you, looking up at the mistletoe, an embarrassed look on his face as he motions to it. “W-we’re both under the mistletoe now… that whole silly rule…”

You quirk a brow, “Did you run over here just to get another kiss?”

Shigaraki’s face immediately warmed, looking away and quickly shaking his head in denial. “W-what? Of course not, that’s stupid! I just don’t like things being unfinished…”

You look at him, unimpressed, “Uh huh…”

He crosses his arms and looks away slightly. “Oh you’re just as bad as Toga! Everyone’s making such a big deal out of this holiday kiss crap…”

You take advantage of this moment, reaching forward and capturing his lips for a split second in a peck before pulling away, both of your hearts racing within one another's chest. 

He freezes in place the second you place your hands on his wrists, but a small shiver goes down his spine as you lean up to gently kiss his lips, a small gasp escaping him as you pull back, his face an entire deep red as his heart races.

“There you go, Shigi” You mumble, smiling softly before retreating to your room.

He remains frozen for a second, his knees starting to feel slightly weak as his heart raced in his chest. He watches as you retreat into your room, letting out a shaky exhale as he tries to slow down his heart, “F-Fuck me… I’m screwed…”

Please request! <3

{Taglist: @staygoldsquatchling02}

[tremendouskoalachild]

Plausibility of Different Toxic Workplace Yuri in the Inquisitorius: a Very Serious Report

there are seven known female members of the Inquisitorius across star wars canon, not counting the unnamed inquisitor mentioned in Ghosts of Dathomir, and the unidentified inquisitors of unknown gender mentioned in Savage Spirits and Crimson Climb. they are summed up in a previous post, and include:

the Second Sister (Trilla Suduri)

the Third Sister (Reva Sevander)

the Fourth Sister (Lyn Rakish)

the Seventh Sister

the Ninth Sister (Masana Tide)

the Thirteenth Sister (Iskat Akaris)

and Barriss Offee, for a limited time frame.

that gives us 21 potential pairings. i have examined them all based on their time in the organization, the likelihood of having met before joining, their appearances together and their personalities. let's take a look.

2 x 3

Second and Third Sisters have a somewhat similar personality and role in their main media. they have never interacted to our knowledge. Trilla dies just five years into her tenure, while Reva joins at an unknown date after the organization's founding. she would be 17 at the time of Trilla's death, and may not have even been a member at that point. they may well have met before Order 66, as Trilla's master was a Seeker and they both worked with younglings (and were captured while trying to protect a group from clone troopers), but obviously no relationship happened there.

PROBABILITY: LOW for timeline reasons

TOXICITY: EXTREMELY HIGH. what if you were a teenager full of rage and i was reminded both of myself just a few years ago and of the children i failed to rescue every time i looked at you 😳

2 x 4

Second and Fourth Sisters were concurrent members for around five years, and may have known each other or been peers before (i don't quite believe they were, as Lyn's dynamic with Barriss Offee seems to go against that). we have never seen them interact but there is no reason to believe they haven't, as they were present in the headquarters at the same time for at least a while; inquisitors are often sent on missions in pairs or teams, and there aren't that many of them.

PROBABILITY AND TOXICITY: MODERATE. Lyn was very much not over Barriss leaving her for basically the whole time these two knew each other. Trilla the inquisitor is not one for socializing but who's to say she never needed to blow off some steam.

2 x 7

Second and Seventh Sister were both inquisitors for the first five years of the organization's existence, and both were likely broken by torture. we've seen them together once, standing around in disinterest while their colleagues toast with shitty local alcohol, shortly before Trilla's death. they may well have met before becoming inquisitors but both are keen to forget their pasts.

PROBABILITY AND TOXICITY: MODERATE. neither is particularly sociable, and Seventh especially is difficult to get along with. they have a lot in common but not the good parts, is what i'm saying.

2 x 9

Second and Ninth Sister were concurrently members for five years, and were sent together on a mission to Bracca in Jedi: Fallen Order. while they get separated (forever) seeing it through, it isn't the only time we've seen them cooperating. they were both broken by torture and have quite a bit in common, though they picked different coping strategies. they almost certainly didn't know each other before Order 66 (Cere, Trilla's master, didn't know Masana).

PROBABILITY: MODERATE to HIGH. by which i mean that we've seen them comfortably work together in canon, which automatically puts them to the top of amicable inquisitor relationships. Trilla is very closed off, but Masana might have more success getting her to open up than most.

TOXICITY: MODERATE. neither is dealing with their extreme trauma in a particularly healthy way so putting them together is. hmmm.

2 x 13

we know Trilla and Iskat have interacted at Inquisitorius HQ, and they die in quick succession five years after joining. we have Iskat's POV attesting they hadn't met before Order 66, and that she was never in anything resembling a relationship. new recruit Iskat is desperate for friends but is put off by Trilla's hostility during training, and gets a boyfriend relatively soon after, whom she keeps until they die.

PROBABILITY: LOW. Iskat is not successful trying to get close to Trilla in canon and gets a long-term inquisitor boyfriend instead.

TOXICITY: HIGH. Iskat was famously a voluntary recruit, while Trilla had to be dragged in kicking and screaming, broken by torture and betrayal. she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with Iskat, or anyone for that matter. timeline-wise any relationship Iskat could have with her would involve a lot of jealousy and borderline cheating on Tualon.

2 x Barriss

Barriss spends a short time with the Inquisitorius, seemingly in a different facility entirely from their HQ. it is possible Trilla is currently there getting tortured but that isn't exactly conductive to a relationship. Barriss doesn't appear to meet any inquisitors apart from those shown in Tales of the Empire (the Grand Inquisitor, Lyn, guy killed later by Ahsoka, other guy killed later by Ahsoka) before deserting. they might have met back as Jedi but nothing suggests that.

PROBABILITY AND TOXICITY: LOW. there is no real space for them to interact in canon.

3 x 4

we don't know how much Third and Fourth Sister's time with the Inquisitorius overlaps, but we have seen them working together. Reva has a lot of friction with Fifth Brother and the Grand Inquisitor in those scenes, but is chill with Fourth Sister. it has been almost ten years since Barriss left by that point, shortly before Reva leaves, and a couple years before Lyn follows them both.

PROBABILITY: MODERATE. Reva is extremely focused on her mission but then again, there is downtime during transportation and such. Lyn is there, much more approachable than others present, and pining for Barris.

TOXICITY: MODERATE to HIGH. Reva goes from the lowest-status coworker to Lyn's boss to presumed dead traitor over a couple days, which is also the only period we can be sure they spent together.

3 x 7

we have no idea whether these two ever interacted. they don't have that much in common compared to some other pairings but i don't see anything making it impossible for them to hatefuck at some point 🤷‍♀️

PROBABILITY AND TOXICITY: MODERATE.

3 x 9

we don't know when Reva joined up exactly, but they both left the Inquisitorius around the same time (well, Reva left. Masana got decapitated). their missions had some small overlap so it isn't out of the question that they would have cooperated off-screen. i think Reva would have reminded Masana of Trilla, who she used to work with quite well. they both have complex relationships to Darth Vader (Reva wants to murder him to death for killing her family, while Masana was mutilated by him several times over and copes via humor).

PROBABILITY: MODERATE. you can't tell me Masana wouldn't be up for it, while Reva seems much more likely to fool around with someone who also lost so much to Vader.

TOXICITY: MODERATE because inquisitor Reva absolutely cannot have a healthy relationship but also there isn't much about Masana making it worse.

3 x 13

similar to Trilla, it's doubtful Reva ever set foot in the Inquisitorius before Iskat's death. if she did, she would have been 17 at most when Iskat dies, and Iskat would have spent the entire time having her evil romance with Tualon. Iskat also joined the organization willingly and always felt Order 66 was completely justified, so i can't imagine Reva would be chill with her.

PROBABILITY: LOW for both timeline and general compatibility reasons.

TOXICITY: EXTREMELY HIGH. Iskat juggling her possessive broken jedi boyfriend who halfheartedly tried to kill her and this teen who very much wants to end her life. someone would die and it wouldn't take long.

3 x Barriss

one of only two pairings on the list i'm practically completely positive couldn't have met while inquisitors. they both deserted though, so maybe they'll meet up eventually...?

4 x 7

they served the Inquisitorius concurrently for around 16 years but we never saw them interacting, or heard of them working together. they don't have much in common personality-wise, other than being capable and dedicated enough to keep their jobs (and lives) that long in this rather intense work environment. however, while Seventh is quick to piss off her colleagues, Lyn is generally level-headed and willing to work with others. maybe opposites attract?

PROBABILITY: MODERATE. their other coworkers drop like flies and their dating pool is pretty limited otherwise due to their careers. also they're both green-yellow?

TOXICITY: MODERATE. you can't have a non-toxic relationship involving Seventh tbh

4 x 9

ten years working together. we haven't seen any notable interactions between them but i don't see why they couldn't have become work buddies at some point, since they're the more pleasant to work with inquisitors around. similar to Reva and Masana, their missions around 10 years post-Order 66 overlap a bit, so they might have cooperated.

PROBABILITY: MODERATE. neither of them is seething with hatred 24/7 or completely isolating themselves, and their other colleagues keep leaving or dying. what's a girl to do but fuck that huge alien gal?

TOXICITY: LOW. i don't really see why they couldn't have a fling. being colleagues is like the most questionable thing they have going on.

4 x 13

Iskat tried to become friends with Lyn, got brushed off, and soon afterwards got reunited with Tualon, who became her hobby until they died 5 years later. they decidedly didn't know each other back before Order 66. i suppose they have a bit in common in being willing recruits, and that Lyn might become more receptive to Iskat wanting companionship once she gets over Barriss (or the wound becomes less fresh, i guess).

PROBABILITY: LOW. they missed their shot.

TOXICITY: MODERATE because of Tualon's existence, Lyn pining over Barriss, plus their first impressions not being great.

4 x Barriss

they knew each other before Order 66, and Barriss spent most of her inquisitor time under Lyn's wing in some way. Lyn clearly feels strongly about Barriss leaving her, for quite some time. there isn't much space for yuri shenanigans before Barriss leaves but plenty after their reunion.

PROBABILITY: PRETTY LOW if we're concerned only with true workplace yuri, since Barriss was still very much getting her bearings and then left right away. you can't prove it didn't happen though.

TOXICITY: HIGH. your heartbroken almost-ex gets you out of jail after a government coup, recruits you into a weird culty organization, becomes your boss, tries to get you to kill civilians, you throw her of a cliff. regardless where we imagine the kissing happened it's pretty weird.

7 x 9

they have 10 years of working for the Inquisitorius, and have been on missions together before. also one of those missions involved going undercover at a casino and gambling on company time. Seventh wore a dress. that's practically a date innit

PROBABILITY: HIGH. both are snarky gals coping with their extreme trauma through having irreverent fun on the job. what's more fun than putting your mouthy coworker in her place?

TOXICITY: MODERATE mostly because Seventh is involved.

7 x 13

they've been thoroughly introduced to each other shortly after Iskat's recruitment and it didn't go well for either one. Iskat keeps well clear of Seventh afterwards for both life preservation purposes and general ease of life. she also has a thrilling pseudo-romance with her somewhat murdery boyfriend Tualon, so i don't imagine she's likely to seek out Seventh for thrills.

PROBABILITY: LOW. they hate each other but not in a sexy way, and both have better outlets.

TOXICITY: EXTREMELY HIGH. murder murder murder.

7 x Barriss

even at her most morally questionable i don't think Barriss would ever be drawn to Seventh Sister. they well may have met as Jedi, since it is suggested Mirialans stick together at least somewhat during the prequel era. it is very doubtful they met while Barriss was with the Inquisitorius, however.

PROBABILITY: LOW for timeline and compatibility reasons.

TOXICITY: HIGH. what if you found the timid healer-turned-terrorst girl in a hallway, all alone and wide-eyed in her new evil uniform, and decided to show her the wonders of the dark side...

9 x 13

they know each other for five years, and Masana essentially becomes Iskat's closest companion showing her the ropes in the Inquisitorius, until she reunites with Tualon. they talk pretty freely and Iskat considers Masana a "lively sparring partner". they didn't know each other before being recruited. Iskat had done so voluntarily, Masana not so much but has accepted her role by the time they meet.

PROBABILITY AND TOXICITY: MODERATE. i'd envision it as part of Iskat's self-realization arc. there is a parallel between Masana and Tualon's recruitment, and maybe Masana could do as him and make the most of it. that doesn't mean she'd forget, though.

9 x Barriss

there is very little probability they ever met, as inquisitors or otherwise. i think Barriss would find Masana intimidating at best, and Masana "it would be fun to bring you in, watch you crack like the rest of us" Tide would probably have thoughts about Barriss' recruitment.

PROBABILITY: LOW for timeline and compatibility reasons.

TOXICITY: HIGH. let Masana show this pipsqueak just what she signed up for.

13 x Barriss

Barriss is long gone by the time Iskat properly joins the Inquisitorius, and Iskat's story rules out them having a fling either as jedi or afterwards.

[detective-piplup]

My Many Thoughts and Theories for the Fire Spirit Update, described at length

I don’t usually post or even create analysis/theory stuff like this but I’ve been speculating on how the plot of the Fire Spirit Update for Kingdoms is going to go for years and with not only us finally getting more material to work with in 2024 (see, the wind archer update) but ALSO us getting confirmation that Fire Spirit will be arriving in April, I feel like it’s time for me to finally articulate my thoughts on this as clearly* as I can in preparation. so here that is.

(*this may still end up kinda rambly. I’m not good at this kind of thing and this took over 2 hours to type)

the first thing I want to talk about is the leaked title screen for the update (it’s gonna be a bit blurry, these aren’t my photos but they’re the best we have)

there is a LOT in this image and I think they had to upscale it for the live event so not everything is super clear BUT . I want to bring focus to 2 specific parts of it

number 1). the middle . while it could be teasing something else, I’m personally of the belief that it’s the ultimate cookie in there. it would make sense, after all, because Wind Archer’s update revolved around him finding out about that project and @/everyone-ing the rest of the elemental guardians about it. this update will definitely at least MENTION the ending to the Wind, Piercer of Darkness update, if it doesn’t just pick up where that left off, but from fire spirit’s perspective like I believe it will, so. that being the ultimate cookie would check out and tie the updates together

number 2) the cookie opposing fire spirit. we have no clue who they are at the moment (they do look like a dessert paradise cookie, but I can’t think of a reason why they’d go to the dragon’s valley or that fire spirit would go to the dessert paradise), I’m actually more curious about what’s in their hands/wings

It’s blurry and not TOO clear, but I’m like. 85% sure that’s reflecting Fire Spirit. The colours are painfully similar and in the same place as they are on FS’ design. this feels like a pattern recognition test. while I thought it was a crystal at first and that’s definitely still an option, it looks too much like a mirror for me to dismiss that possibility. Regardless, it’s absolutely reflecting FS’ and so that leads me to wonder why?

Well. Fire Spirit REALLY needs a character arc in his update. Like desperately. Not because he’s lacking depth, I think he has plenty even in what little we’ve seen of him in kingdoms, but because of how he’s currently acting. See: the Sherbet Update

yes that is the entirety of the fire spirit cutscene in that update. I have it saved onto my phone . shush.

regardless, watching how he acts in this makes it PAINFULLY clear to me why he needs a character arc. It has been confirmed by the director that both Fire Spirit and Millennial Tree will be participating in the fight against Dark Enchantress Cookie, and so if FS is going to be there he needs to actually want to be. Which he… doesn’t give a clear answer on.

In his interaction with Sherbet, he’s dismissive of the problem and dodges the question about the Dragon’s Valley’s dwindling power (something that was later confirmed to for reals be happening in the Pitaya Dragon update, if I recall correctly) by turning to insults and just straight up fucking leaving. He’s also shown the be rather egoistical and neglectful of his duties (asking who cares about the Life Energy, something that’s LITERALLY HIS JOB TO WATCH OVER). Every other legendary who talks to Sherbet does agree there is something happening, but Fire Spirit doesn’t actually acknowledge it (despite definitely knowing about it and maybe even worrying about it, as seen by his actions). I’m summing it up basically here because I have a lot of specific thoughts on it but this post isn’t about this cutscene okay I have other things to talk about

While this behaviour DOES make him an interesting character, it won’t do for someone who’d apparently be fighting alongside the ancients and the like. He can’t just stay alone and wilfully ignorant (or too prideful to admit) of the obvious issues. Also he needs to stop bullying kids.

There’s definitely going to be a character arc for Fire Spirit where he, dare I say, gets his shit together and starts actually doing his job actively, but the real question is how it’s going to be done. It cant be too subtle either, because we only really have this update to swing Fire Spirit over to the Ancient’s side and we likely wont get a second part to it given the fact we have 5 other confirmed huge updates for 2025 (aka tje Hollyberry and the White Lily beast yeast chapters + Millennial Tree) and then the Dark Enchantress update for Jan2026. Put simply, it has to be something drastic. A wake up call.

There’s two ways I see this going.

a) This Mystery Cookie with a Red Gem is a more heroic character, and there’s a more peaceful resolution to this and Fire Spirit has to genuinely do some self reflection, much to his initial antagonistic dismay.

or

b) Our Mystery Cookie is not on our side, and they directly threaten either the Dragon’s Valley or Fire Spirit himself.

I, personally, believe option B to be the more interesting and compelling of the ideas we have. And more likely too, given what we’ve seen. The issue is finding out WHAT they’d do to threaten Fire Spirit.

While threatening the valley itself is definitely possible, and would lead into an easier way to make FS’ reevaluate his “just survive first and worry about how we’ll fix the bigger issue at hand first” attitude we see him have in Ovenbreak (something that his Kingdom iteration would likely share) and make him actually protect the Valley he’s supposed to be the Guardian of, it’s also harder to make worse because Fire Spirit doesn’t often show interest in the citizens of the Valley (I don’t keep up a lot with the Dragon updates, but iirc he’s barely mentioned in them as an option) and even remarks in the Flames of Longing event that he didn’t know how deep the Valley really was. It wouldn’t be impossible to create something for this, or even just threaten the valley and have this work, but I really think they’ll need to make it intense to work. Why? Because of the other big scene in the leak.

This fucking image. I need you to know that this fucking image has been burnt into my brain. It’s haunting me. It’s why I had to write all these thoughts down as coherently as I could.

It’s INTENSE. It’s very clearly Fire Spirit, the staff with his bead is obviously visible, if the raging flames weren’t a dead giveaway. But he looks PISSED, like he’s actually for reals taking this situation entirely seriously, and that terrifies me.

Even in the Flames of Longing Event, he’s still rather lighthearted. Still prideful, and maybe a bit scatterbrained to have somehow lost his staff against a tiger he can literally tame with one flick of his hand, but he’s still rather relaxed about the entire situation. He obviously WANTS his staff back, and is quite frantically looking for it, but it’s absolutely nothing intense like this.

It’s obvious he’s pissed, and to me it feels more likely that it’s due to a threat to himself. While narratively I feel as though it’d be better as a threat to something separate, after all I remind you that he needs to do that self reflection, but we’ve never seen Fire Spirit like this in regards to the Dragon’s Valley before. It’s been in shifty spots before, and we get no commentary from him about it aside from the remarks about its dwindling power. It would make sense from a character perspective to have it be a threat against Fire Spirit.

My initial idea was that the Mystery Cookie perhaps stole the Dragon’s Bead, aka the source of FS’ power. And while I could see that working, it would certainly be a decent threat, I am. Curious as to how it would work. Because it’s always sort of come off in the manner that Fire Spirit can retreat into the Orb?

This is how we see him for the majority of the Flame of Longing event. He’s the bead. The bead is STILL IN THE STAFF but like. Orb Spirit seems to take the form of the bead . So. I’m still not really sure how it works. Regardless, I do think it’s an option and really the only one we have a clue about that wouldn’t be all speculation on my end. We see this cookie (who looks weirdly like Pilot Cookie to me for some reason???) next to Fire Spirit in the load screen, after all.

Perhaps they could help him out, similar to Habanero, while he’s Orb. I think that, if Kingdoms wants to lean more into the Fire Spirit lore we already know from Ovenbreak, this will be how the update goes. How he does his self reflection I have no clue, it’s possible he sees the threat to his livelihood and decides that, yeah maybe he sjould go sort this. It would be significantly less interesting and wouldn’t make as much narrative sense to me at least, but it sure is An Option and a safer call compared to my other ideas.

This bit is just speculation, but I like the idea of it. More compelling to me is forcing Fire Spirit to reflect, perhaps through that weird kinda mirror. Perhaps we’ll even see a Lord of Ash cameo here, but I think it’s very possible that Fire Spirit’s ego will end up landing him in a losing position against this Cookie. While this usually doesn’t stop him, as he is tactical on top of his pride, it’s a road I could definitely see happening if the mystery cookie is smart enough (perhaps playing weak, making fire spirit purposefully underestimate them). This could even result in Fire Spirit losing his powers temporarily.

If this route was taken, it would give a really good chance of fire spirit having to forcibly think about his behaviour and actions, and make him then gain the upper hand. His pride would also explain the enraged vibe he has in that leak. While I find this highly compelling, I don’t think there’s too much canon evidence for this except for the fact that Kingdoms seems to 1) get a kick out of torturing characters and having them rise from their suffering more ready to fight than before and 2) has a significantly more intense vibe. On top of that, it’s really good at giving even morally fucked up characters a lot of nuance and development, so it would be really interesting to see them do the same to Fire Spirit because im sure they could do him so much justice.

And this is JUST what I’ve come up with for a more villainous view of our mystery cookie. I personally find that more compelling but a heroic view of them (therefore having Fire Spirit fight against a force that only really wants him to understand) is an option I’d be down to see explored. We still have over a month until the update, possibly around a month and a half depending on how long the March Update is (although I do not see it being too long), and more may be revealed. But, this is what I’ve put together so far.

Some bonus notes that are less lore related so I put them down here.

I think that, while Pitaya has like a 50/50 chance to show up in this update (COUGH COUGH. ETERNAL SUGAR IN MAY), we’ll probably at LEAST get a Wind Archer cameo. Prior to the leaks, I actually thought it was going to be a fight between the two of them to make Fire Spirit join our side but now I’m obviously less sure. He’ll either appear at the end or just show up as a main character.

I have a slight feeling that the Mystery Cookie is somehow related to Eternal Sugar? Honestly it’s entirely speculation on my end but I think it could be a neat way to tie the updates together AND also have more fun beast stuff. but that’s just a little idea of mine

There’s a good chance that it’ll either be an event based story or, if devsis hates me, a special episode. I really don’t want it to be a special episode. Please.

I have seriously considered that maybe Fire Spirit would join Dark Enchantress’ side but I couldn’t make myself believe it. It’s not impossible but it’s highly implausible to me.

REGARDING GAMEPLAY. I, in 2021/2022, really genuinely thought he’d be a charge. Looking at his ovenbreak skill, it would make so much sense. But now, in 2025, I am begging for him to PLEASE GOD NOT BE A CHARGE COOKIE. WE HAVE 6 SUPER EPIC+ CHARGE COOKIES. I WISH I WAS KIDDING. *SIX*. I’m now leaning more towards Ambush for him . It would also make sense . Just not another charge :(

I’m generally just. So glad the update will finally be here soon. I’ve been waiting for years and while it’s been a bit of a painful wait at times, it’s been a thing to look forward to and I think with CRK’s current budget this will truly be the best it can be. I’ve had literal dreams about this update man. Just don’t ask how much money I’m saving to whale on fire spirit okay that’s between me and god

that is. about all I have to say. please remember that this is my evaluation of the characters and the lore and that you may disagree but that’s okay. I am. not the most experienced at character analysis but I like to think I know Fire Spirit well. There’s so much potential with his character and given how this is confirmed to be a big update, not like wind archer’s teeny one I’m so sorry windy bbg, I really wanna see how it plays out. devsis do not fuck this up for me. please .

if you read until the end of this??? 1) I’m surprised 2) tysm for listening to my thoughts! o7 o7

[turquoise91]

I've seen a few people say they didn't like tonight's episode and didn't agree with the hype, but hold on a minute. Yeah Eddie was absent and it's a bit messed up that Buck, Athena and Bobby were absent for the gender reveal of Maddie and Chimney's baby but the episode still delivers in other places. Dramatic disaster, potential for NDE, big rescue in the wings. It's your typical 9-1-1 formula even if it's lacking or bungling in some areas. And I know there were people thinking Tim was gonna toss Buck together with Ravi for some random and bizarre reason but that didn't happen.

Buck, in typical Buck fashion was a supportive friend and coworker to Ravi after he made a mistake and almost lost someone. Know who has made mistakes and lost people, or at least was told he'd get someone killed? Buck. Evan "Buck" Buckley who has been told since he was a toddler that he was a screw up and would never learn from his mistakes. Buck, who knows what it's like to be the youngest, least experienced one on the team, who has made mistakes and lost victims and took it hard every single time. Buck, who takes those losses as a challenge to do better, try harder and learn from those mistakes. And yeah we didn't get Buddie scenes this time but Eddie was there in spirit because Buck told Ravi "no one else is quitting this month". He might not have Eddie, but he did not want to lose another friend and partner. Buck has learned to see Ravi as a different kind of friend and partner than Eddie. Eddie already had life experience and work experience that did not require Buck's guidance but Ravi, being a little less experienced needed the advice Buck had to offer. This was a growing point for Ravi and stressed what we knew from interviews, that Ravi is coming into himself as a firefighter, learning to be confident and take initiative, something Buck had to learn to do as well. This is not Buck and Ravi eventually becoming romantically involved. It's Buck learning how to make a friend that does not evolve into the levels of codependency that Buck and Eddie have. Buck becoming a mentor for someone, he finally has the life experience that Bobby told him he lacked in season 6 when he didn't pick him as interim captain. It's Ravi bringing his own skills and personality to the team. Not as a replacement for Eddie, but as another person on the team.

Next, I just want to say Oliver and Angela were fantastic. I love Oliver because he pushes the limits of emotional vulnerability and you get sucked in when he is doing the dramatic bits. The promo for 8x15 is insane. Oliver has really brought Buck's character arc full circle. From season 1's reckless, impulsive hothead who charged in with no plan, basically yelling "I do what I want" to calmly having Athena's back and still giving the proverbial finger to any authority that tries to stop him from saving his family. Buck started off as pure chaos but now he's methodical and calculating, controlled chaos. To see him and Athena who started out as enemies, work together to save the 118 while basically saying screw protocol is absolute gold. Especially when Athena is usually the one catching and preventing Buck from going off half cocked, breaking rules and ignoring authority.

I found it hilarious when the biolab director and the colonel tried to stop and even threatened them with jail because this is Athena Grant and Evan Buckley. Absolutely no one can out stubborn these two. They've broken rules, regulations and laws to protect their family and Buck got a medal for one of those times. Military jail is not going to stop them.

Ravi and his "come at me bro" to the colonel was just absolutely amazing. So much sass, if Eddie had been there he would be so proud. When the next episode airs and everyone makes it out, I imagine Buck will be bragging about Ravi sassing the military. "Our probie has grown up so fast, I'm so proud". This was a big episode for Ravi in a way. Maybe it wasn't some huge Ravi Begins episode, but for someone to go from absolutely devastated and considering quitting after nearly losing someone and saying he doesn't belong in the field to telling a colonel "if you want me come and get me", that's a pretty big character transformation. Maybe going forward Ravi will have more confidence.

I hope we will see Eddie in the second half of the contagion arc. Not quite sure how he would fit into it. Maybe there's a news report and this is what brings him back. Maybe Buck calls him. Idk, but I am looking forward to Eddie's return and Buck and Athena working together to save the team. When the two of them team up, it's always badass.

[beevean]

A more fleshed out idea of how I would have ended the Lenector story in the most balanced way I can think of.

Lenore is Hector's prisoner, as per canon. He still treats her as nothing happened, like a good friend, but Lenore is sulking and angry and not even bothering to keep up the façade like Hector used to do in her position. It's unfair, after she treated him as her only confidant, and she couldn't care less, that's what the traitor gets. Hector thinks he should be happy, to have reversed the roles on her... but he isn't. Unlike Lenore, power over another person doesn't satisfy him. He can't help but see her as a depressed animal in a cage... much like he used to be.

He wanted to protect her, he really did, but only now he's seeing how much hurt he caused her. Much like she said she meant to do with the ring, although to this day he doesn't know if it was a lie or the truth. There is no joy in inflicting her the same fate she inflicted upon him, even if it comes from a place of well-meaning and not selfishness. He has seen what that kind of "eye for an eye" mentality brings to the world, and he wants none of it.

So, he finally takes a decision for himself, and repays the one debt he has with her. He helps her flee from the castle. He is, for the first time, showing empathy to a person and not an animal.

(I don't even think Isaac needs to be kept in the dark. Lenore on her own is harmless, nothing like Carmilla who became a danger to the world. Hector and Lenore are dangerous tools in the wrong hands, but they lack the ambition that makes them solid threats, as they are mostly concerned with feeling safe. If Isaac truly wants to do good to everyone, he has no reason to keep Lenore as a prisoner, not even to force her to work for him. Same for Hector, since the two might have "forgiven" each other, but they have no relationship whatsoever. Perhaps him heeding Hector's request could show more how compassionate he has truly grown.)

Lenore is confused as to why, and Hector more or less explains that he couldn't bear watching her drinking herself into a stupor. Lenore snaps, and yells at him that he has no right to feeling sorry for her after what he has done, after going behind her back, after ruining her life... and is promptly shot down by Hector flashing his mutilated hand. Every ounce of ire Lenore directs at Hector is actually directed at herself, and they both know it. She is deeply regretting everything she did for the sake of people that didn't even respect her, she is just too proud to apologize. And her pride, her insecurity, her need to be the one in control, was what prevented her from truly being the good person she wanted to be. The very reason Hector wasn't happy with her despite her best efforts, and destroyed her life.

She really thought something so paltry as a slave ring would tame the human spirit. She really thought humans, like vampires, would care more about safety than freedom. For a diplomat who set herself to bridge humankind and vampirekind, she let her basic instincts get the better of her.

"Why didn't you just kill me back then?" she yells, attacks, it feels so good to blame Hector rather than herself. "At least I wouldn't have known how little I matter to you!"

(He had considered it, as his stump was bleeding all over the floor, his freedom painfully regained. That now Hector was free to hurt those who had hurt him. But what would be the point? He is so tired of needless death.)

(More selfishly, he still needed Lenore as an anchor to not feel alone or lost. Isaac may have forgiven him, but that doesn't make them friends.)

"I'm no longer that child," Hector responds. "I'm no longer the boy who believes to have the right to punish others. Besides, shouldn't you know the desire to spare someone's life no matter what?"

They had never breached that subject again, not after Lenore dismissed it in a fit of denial. It still weighs on her. He can no longer care.

"All this time," Hector says at last, "I expected an apology, but I think I don't need it anymore. As much as I don't need you anymore. I'm grateful for your efforts to protect me from your sisters' ire, so now I'll use them to live for myself. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

He holds no grudges anymore, and he has genuinely come to appreciate the real Lenore behind her masks and the way she took care of him during the previous six weeks, when the world would have chewed him and spit him out; but at the same time, he can't bear staying with her. She makes him too sad. It reminds him of how low he allowed himself to be brought for the sake of some scraps of love. She reminds him too much of a version of him he doesn't want to be. There are too many conflicting feelings in him. He can't help but think that, in another life, the two could have been genuine friends, if not more... but not this one. Too much baggage, too much shared misery. He is done with it. No more will he seek safety and love in other people, as if he wasn't strong enough. He deserves better.

Lenore doesn't know what to think anymore. She wants to die so badly, she is almost tempted to not hide herself from the sun: she can't concieve her existence as nothing more than a black hole, unworthy of living. She is nothing more than a disgusting monster doomed to spread misery to the world, she thinks, and she should die like one. She has nothing left, no allies, no home, and the one person she fell in love with is pulling away from her, and she can't bear being abandoned, and she completely understands why he's doing so. At the same time, however... Hector too has nothing left, and yet he wants to live. After everything he went through, after himself desiring death at Isaac's hand, he wants to experience real life, not survival like he has done since he was born. Lenore pretended to praise his strength when she was manipulating him, but now she has come to genuinely admire that trait. Can she, a vampire used to nothing but comfort, be as strong as a human being?

She wants to ask Hector if he thinks she's a good person. A glance at his mutilated hand answers her more than any word could. Lenore, all this time, had no idea what being "good" meant, she was only good at putting up a façade of gentleness, and she thought it was enough. All this time, she behaved like a vampire pretending to be human... so now, she will learn from the best human she has ever met. The best person. The only one who saw her as a person as well, behind her masks, behind her usefulness.

Even if Hector is now walking towards the dawn, with nothing but his resolution. For the first time, he will live for him, for himself.

They will never meet again, but in a twisted way, they gave each other what they needed to grow.

[jadoue1999]

Kaleidoscope

Next parts: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23

Summary: The ghosts keep coming. Agatha has killed a lot of people after all...

Chapter 15: Ghosts

The labyrinth keeps going.

And with every twist and turns, more ghosts appear. Each angrier than the last, most of them are the covens she killed, but she can’t get herself to care. They were foolish for believing something that was obviously too good to be true. Plus, some of them had truly dreadful fashion sense too. Agatha soon realizes that her fire spell works well for getting rid of the nagging witches. It’s not as good as Rio’s reaping knife, but it at least gets some of her anger out. 

“I swear, I’m going to kill that child,” hisses Rio in between defences. 

She gives her a side glance, her purple magick highlighting her face. “You can’t kill.”

“I can make an exception for him,” she grits through her teeth. “No one should be able to summon ghosts. He’s just accelerating their transformation into vengeful spirits.”

“So they’re really here?” She frowns. “I thought maybe they were copies or illusions.”

She doesn’t, not really. She’s seen his powers in action and nothing surprises her anymore. But that doesn’t mean that Rio has to know that. If Billy managed to ensnare Death herself, summoning a few ghosts is nothing. Agatha knows what happens to powerful entities that don’t have the privilege of being mentioned in prophecies, they get killed. And she isn’t about to lose Billy. Whether her protectiveness stems from selfish reasons or not, she doesn’t care anymore.

“I can look past the body snatching,” grovels Lady Death. “But if he keeps messing with the Sacred Balance, I’ll have to act. I’m sure my siblings will agree.”

Ah. Her siblings.

Eternity. Infinity. Oblivion. Death.

The siblings who were supposed to observe and maintain the Sacred Balance together. Agatha’s never met them, she’s never wanted to either. Rio doesn’t like them, and her siblings aren’t very close. She would still require an audience with them so they could grant her permission to kill, which speaks to how much of a threat Billy is. 

Oh how she longs to have seen the extent of Wanda’s power like she has seen Billy’s.

It’s been a suspiciously long amount of time without any ghost appearances, and Agatha knows him enough to expect something big at any moment. The labyrinth suddenly opens up in a clearing. The clearing is full of trees and nature that reminds her of Salem when she was young. The weather drops suddenly, something that has been happening consistently every time a ghost has appeared. She calls her magick, wondering who might show up now. She doesn’t have to keep wondering long before she sees her old Salem coven. They are pissed and a lot more aggressive than the other ones. She blasts the one closest to her, but unlike all the other ghosts, she is simply blasted back and doesn’t disappear.

“Rio?” She says, requesting an explanation.

“I don’t know,” she answers. “Keep blasting them and don’t let them touch you.”

Her wife slices through a ghost and it thankfully works. She never would have forgiven Billy if he somehow made reaping-proof ghosts. While frustrated, Rio does look good slinging her knife around. Agatha suddenly gasps as a burning sensation spreads through her arm. She turns to see the ghost of Hester, basically her mother’s right hand back when she was a teen, scowling at her.

“You wretched girl,” she hisses. “Wait until thy mother hears about this.”

A fear she hasn’t felt in years seizes her body as she sees the cold eyes. She loses herself in the memory and she’s 18 again. Hester starts dragging her… somewhere and she tries to pries the fingers off of her but she passes right through them.

“My love!” She calls before she can think about what she’s doing.

The woman pulls her toward a deep pit in the group. “Thy mother has told thee time and time again, you are never to see this witch again! I am to keep thee out of trouble and unlike you I respect thy mother.”

Agatha feels like a child again, being dragged to her mother for breaking another rule she hadn’t been made aware of. She looks around frantically but all she sees are trees and a few people from the coven looking at her in disgust. Hester’s grip suddenly vanishes as a very familiar knife slices through her wrist and then through her chest. The illusion is suddenly broken and she finds herself back in the labyrinth. She is not 18, she is not about to be locked away until her mother wants to let her out, she is 351 years old and her coven is long gone.

Agatha falls back onto a solid chest and turns to see Rio. She wraps her arms from behind her like they haven’t done in years and squeezes tightly. “Are you alright?”

“Of course.” 

She’s not. Her wife has seen her at her lowest points many times and she definitely knows that she’s not alright. It doesn’t keep her from lying nor does it keep Rio from pretending to believe her.

“Agatha Harkness!”

No.

No it can’t be.

But it is.

Evanora Harkness stands at the end of the clearing, her face twisted with anger just like she remembers her to be. Rio pushes her behind as she moves into a protective stance. Her mother chuckles at the display of love.

“You still cannot fight your own battle, girl? Even with all that dark magick?”

“She doesn’t need to waste her energy on you,” retorts the green witch, voice full of venom.

Evanora glares at the brunette, eyes full of hatred. “You are everything that is wrong with this world. You have led my daughter down the darkest path possible.”

“Why? Because we love each other?”

The woman’s face twists in rage. “No women can love each other. It is unnatural.”

“I’ll decide what is natural.”

Agatha feels very small, but seeing Rio defend her gives her some confidence. She steps forward and stares down her mother and decides to ask the question that has been on her mind all her life. “Why do you hate me?”

“You were born evil,” answers her mother without an ounce of hesitation. “I should have killed you the moment you left my body.”

It’s not the first time her mother has told her something similar, but it is the first time that she’s been fully honest about her hatred. She expects her heart to break, or for anger to bubble under her skin, but she’s surprisingly calm. She finds that the initial fear of facing her mother is gone, replaced by a feeling of contempt. She has been dead for centuries, and Agatha is far from the teenage witch that would cower under her mother’s harsh gaze. She is better, more powerful than Evanora ever could have hoped to be.

“You do not scare me, mother,” she says, cold and unfeeling. “I have stopped caring about you the moment I absorbed your powers.”

Agatha grabs the knife from Rio’s hand and stabs her mother straight through the heart. Her mother lets out a silent gasp before her spirit fades away. The moment she steps back, she sees that the ghosts of her old coven are gone, leaving them alone and awaiting the next wave. She hands back the knife to her wife.

“Thank you for defending me.”

“Til Death do us part, right?” Rio says, recalling their wedding vows. “That means forever in our case.”

Agatha looks down and avoids her eyes. She feels more vulnerable than she has in years and she hates it. But it seems that this is exactly what her trial entails; she and Rio have to make up and forgive each other. 

“Come on,” she dismisses. “Let’s go fight more ghosts.”

Rio is disappointed, but she gives her a nod. She fixes up her cloak and pulls her hood up. They start walking and Agatha can’t help but worry about who they might encounter next. 

***

“Wait!”

Billy turns around, confused to hear how panicked Agatha is. The woman looks seconds away from lunging at him, ready to pull him back to safety, but nothing happens. He’s about to ask exactly what caused her freak out when the floor suddenly gives out under him and he’s falling. There is nothing to grab onto, all he can do is scream but his throat is too tight to do even that. He feels like Alice falling down the rabbit hole on her way to Wonderland and it’s not nearly as nice as the movie had made it out to be. Billy keeps falling until the darkness surrounding him progressively gets lesser and lesser as light returns. It’s not a lot, but at least he can see around him. He can see the way the walls are gradually getting closer to him. Is he about to be crushed to death?

Just as he starts to think that it might actually be the case, the dirt walls change to… something else. Billy has closed his eyes in anticipation of being crushed but opens them when he realizes that he’s not falling anymore. Something has caught him. He looks around to see… hands. Dozens of hands growing directly from the walls that have slowed and stopped his fall and are now holding his every limb to keep him from falling further. He tries to wrench his arm from one of them but immediately the hand holds his bicep more firmly and another one moves to hold his wrist, immobilizing him further. 

“Who are you?” He asks them, even though he has no idea how they’ll respond.

Four hands move together, forming a face. “We are helping hands.”

Another face forms to his right. “Now, would you like to go up, or down?”

“What?”

At his confusion, the hands let go and he’s falling again. He tries to grab onto anything but his hands are slipping. It takes a few seconds before the hands catch him again. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins at the prospect of falling again but he forces himself to stay calm, maybe he can reason with them. 

“Up or down?”

“Listen to me, I don’t know what you want but—”

Before he can properly explain himself, he’s dropped once again and it takes them much longer to stop him. He wonders what awaits him at the bottom, if there is one. He doesn’t know if he made the right choice, it certainly felt like the right path at the moment. He just hopes that Agatha and the dangerous but charismatic lady are okay. And that Eddie and his parents are too. He doesn’t have time to worry about them too much though as the hands finally immobilize him.

“Up… or down?” Asks a low voice and Billy knows better than to say anything but the answer to their question.

“Down.” He doesn’t know if that’s right, but he’s already headed that way and there’s a bigger chance that he’ll meet up with Agatha if he doesn’t have to start the labyrinth from the beginning. He’s certain of his choice, until the hands start laughing.

“He said down!” says one face in a sing-songy voice.

Horror blooms in his chest at the prospect of having chosen death. “Is that wrong?!”

“Too late now!” cackles the voice as he falls down into the darkness.

***

Agatha starts to think that maybe they missed the exit of the trial after what feels like an hour of walking through the twists and turns of the labyrinth. She’s about to complain to her wife about the unnecessarily drawn out trial when she beats her to the punch.

“I found the next ghost,” says Rio, her voice quiet and careful in a way that it hasn’t been for a long time.

She turns to her, confused at how she sounds but a silhouette clinging at her waist makes her stop right in her tracks. The ghost doesn’t look angry, or vengeful, it’s affectionate. It clings to Rio over her cloak and as soon as she looks at it, a smile spreads around its features.

“Mama!” Joyfully exclaims Nicky.

***

I hope you enjoy!!

Taglist: @trampledore @hannah-0730 @fyregrl @lanfear-is-my-darkmistress @lover12345abcde @astronglywordeddm @tiredwitchmachine @lesbiifem @agathaallalongg @instantnoooodles

Comment if you want to be added!

Next time: With Nicholas at her side, Agatha tries to figure out how to pass her trial. She has a sinking feeling that she will not like the solution.

[rae-raewrites]

Hi! I saw you did Riddler finding out he had a teenage daughter he never knew about and meeting her so can you do it with all the Scarecrow's too? I dunno the limit to how many charachters can be in a post so just take your time and thank you!

Hell ya Jon being a dad!

Scarecrows with a teenage daughter

Tw:death,fear toxin

Arkham

A man already dealing with quite the past Jonathan crane was of the opinion nothing could surprise him at this point

Oh boy how wrong he was

williamina was the result of a relationship long since dead that he never considered becoming a variable in the future

Mina only being 16 was told repeatedly to avoid any possible contact with her father after the Halloween incident.

Just like her dear old dad,she was quite the rebellious one

Jonathan can’t exactly ignore the resemblance especially the look from the eyes

Turns out with mom mostly being rather on the negligent side Mina needed someone to be there with her during the big years of her life

Jonathan starts finding out he has some rather ingrained parenting instincts

His old teaching habits really come back to him!

Teaching such a young mind his years of well earned knowledge really invigorates his spirit

He certainly doesn’t intend to turn the little prodigy into a lab rat. He’s the master of fear but he’s not a heartless monster

He’s definitely one of those dad’s who sits down and has heart to hearts with his kids over something like tea.

“Come have seat a young one,tell me what clings to your soul.”

He more than anyone knows the kind of someone so young around someone like him needs to be checked on here and there.

She’s definitely going to inherit her father’s more theatrical side let’s be honest with ourselves here.

She’s getting taught every little bit of chemistry he knows,both out of a way to expand his child’s intelligence but also to keep her safe.

Mina helps him when his leg acts up. According to her it’s the least she can do for him

He greatly appreciates it though he’s not always vocal about it

Btas

Very similar to Arkham Jon btas jon is a man who is surprised by such a thing

He was never a ladies man, his previous partners be dammed but that certainly won’t stop him from being apart of Jenna’s life

Especially when Jenna reaches out actually wanting to meet her old man

15 and yet very clingy of her old man,understandable seeing as she doesn’t exactly have a lot of people to turn to

Is definitely the kinda dad who enacts curfew because he’s so damm worried about where his daughter is

Overprotective as hell

“No jenna I don’t want you on the streets after 8! I may be the master of feet but I know Gotham.”

Helping this girl with her homework constantly.

Doesn’t exactly want her involved with his criminal work directly,last thing he wants her is going to Arkham

Kids don’t belong in a place like that

Edward and jervis easily become her “uncles” Incase something happens to her hold man

Jenna has giggle at one of his master of fear rants

He was grumpy for hours after it

BTAA

Let’s be completely honest here,this man is the most likely to end up accidentally getting bun in the oven,risk is his territory.

The fact he’s even surprised when Lilith shows up to the office of one dr Jonathan crane is a joke in itself.

He doesn’t initially think she’s telling the truth.

Gets corrected almost immediately when he recognizes her mothers name and really takes a good look at the kid

A little apprehensive about even having a kid around.

His general customers are indeed kids around her age range

Lilith however for good or bad inherited daddy’s charisma and charm

He doesn’t immediately tell her about his……….culinary behaviors

Would probably never forgive himself if something happened to her

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t slowly put together whats going on

“You scare people……with drugs?” “I’m providing a service kiddo! Why I’m basically paying for your college education!”

Girl is gonna get spoiled with the amount of drug money he’s pulling in.

Miss autumn ATTEMPTS to help Jonathan navigate the turmoil that comes with one so young

Extremely “your parent is your best friend” relationship

Movie nights are a weekly tradition

Year one

He certainly hasn’t had a lot if healthy relationships in his existence

It wasn’t long ago he went on that hunt to find his own father,Vera was just another who had too.

Genuinely a guilt ridden soul when he finds out.

He may not have known about her but that still doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel like a fool

It’s not out of obligation by blood he takes Vera in but more so because he understands what it’s like to be alone at such a young age .

Definitely a relationship based upon slowly warming up to one another

He’s definitely the over protective type always making sure she isn’t bullied

Lord forbid if they’re ever were they’d be dead within an hour of finding out

Absolutely fosters an adoration for reading