#this is waay longer than i expected sorry

[bobbile-blog]

Arknights Lore Recap - August 2024

Sorry I'm late on this one - it ended up being way longer than I expected, and rounded out at over six thousand words. PLEASE do skip around and just read what's important to you, I know I certainly couldn't stomach reading all this in one sitting. Also, this isn't gonna include a lot of IS4 stuff, not even because it isn't important but because I haven't actually gotten most of the endings yet :(

Anyway, regardless of all that, here's your biannual Arknights lore recap! The usual disclaimers apply - while this will technically be spoilers for everything up to the current state of the Global server (Post-Here a People Sows, Pre-Lucent Arrowhead and Babel), I've done my best to avoid individual spoilers whenever possible. The idea is to summarize the game's current plotlines in a way that can get new players up to speed and refresh the memory for folks who've just lost track of all the nonsense going on at the moment. All this and more, under the cut!

Side Plots:

Okay first of all, I'm changing the way I organize things. I've realized it's somewhat silly to have the big spoilers right at the top, so the main story is now at the bottom.

In addition, to just quickly define what I consider an "active plotline", I'm including plots that have had more than one continuous event and haven't had a major resolution to its story.

Sui Siblings

Ancient Forge(?) / Who is Real / Invitation to Wine / Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow / A Death in Chunfen(?) / Here a People Sows

Nian / Dusk / Ling / Chongyue / Shu / Ji / Wang / Lava / Zou Le / Lee / Lin Yusha / Waai Fu / Basically every major Yanese government figure

Long ago, in the pre-history of Yan, the land was ruled by ancient gods called Feranmuts. In the founding myth of of the country, a leader named Yan united the disparate tribes of humans and then waged war on them. Despite the god-like powers of these Feranmuts, Yan was able to subdue them with the aid of a traitor - a young and haughty Feranmut named Sui who sought to be the only one with the powers of a god. In the "Great Hunt", all of the old Yanese Feranmuts were killed or subjugated, and then Yan turned on Sui, binding and sealing It forever. With the Feranmuts gone, the nation of Yan lived in peace and prosperity, free from their shadow forevermore.

At least, that's what was supposed to happen, but Feranmuts aren't quite so easy to contain. Over time, Sui's consciousness began to slip out of its bonds piece by piece. These fragments each wandered the world without real form until they were able to answer the question "Who am I", at which point they gained personality and ego distinct from Sui. The Yanese government isn't exactly happy about these fragments wandering around, but there isn't really a whole lot they can do about it - the Sui fragments have godlike powers, after all. They've established a secret branch of the government called the "Sui Regulator" to keep an eye on them, and have mostly left them alone.

The events featuring the Sui Siblings actually take place a few years after where we are in the main story - Zwillingstürme im Herbst takes place around the fall of 1100, while Who is Real takes place in the fall of 1101 and Here a People Sows is in the early Summer of 1102. These events follow a series of plots surrounding the revival of Sui - that is, if all of the Sui siblings gather together in one place, they will re-combine into Sui again and It will be freed from its prison. This is promoted by some factions of the government, who presumably want to take advantage of the Feranmut's power once more, as well as some of the Sui siblings - to our current knowledge, these are Wang and Ji. Most of the Yanese government opposes this for obvious reasons, and has instead taken a stance hostile to the Sui siblings. We've even run into other Feranmuts who have gotten involved with the conflict - Ya, an ancient peer of Sui, is roaming Yan seeking retribution from Sui, and wants to reform It so It may finally answer for its betrayal. Finally, a growing portion of the Sui siblings are gathering to try to figure out a way to escape their fate. The exact details of this plan aren't totally clear yet, but it seems to involve using some sort of magical proxy of Sui to grant them independence.

A last note should be given to the subject of Jie, the Sui Sibling with the domain of writing. She's been alluded to in previous events, but we only really got details in Here a People Sows, and it's implied she'll be important going forwards. Jie was a kind and benevolent figure who wanted to spread literacy and writing among the people of Yan. She was successful - she appears to have birthed the modern Yanese education system - but in doing so, she gave up herself. Around 60 years ago, she either disappeared or was murdered. Whatever the case, she appears to have disappeared from the memories of everyone but her siblings (without spoiling Here a People Sows, that's an important clue). Her disappearance seems to have affected all the siblings, but Wang most of all, and he cites her as a major reason behind his actions to reform Sui.

Seaborn Struggles

Grani and the Knight's Treasure / Under Tides / Stultifera Navis / Mizuki and Caerula Arbor

Skadi / Specter / Gladiia / Kal'tsit / Irene / Lumen / Ulpanius / Mizuki / The Last Knight / I guess we can count Ishar'mla as a character here too.

Of the many dangers facing modern Terra, none are quite as terrifying as the Seaborn. Armies can be reasoned with, superweapons can be commanded, Originium can be cleaned, but the Seaborn alone present a constantly growing and evolving threat to all life on Terra. The Seaborn are probably best described as an organized group of convergently evolved sea creatures working together under a single will, with an animalistic drive to absorb and assimilate all life into itself. It spreads and consumes across the ocean floor, becoming more powerful with each new creature it eats.

The nations of Terra are no strangers to the seaborn. Iberia used to be one of the most prosperous nations on Terra. During the nation's golden age, they quite literally spanned the continent and established colonies across Terra. Their navies spread their power across the world and made them almost unarguably the most powerful nation on Terra - but all that fell apart when the seaborn finally set their sights on Iberia in a period known as the First Great Silence. Iberia's international empire collapsed, their grand ships fell into ruin, and the people became insular and distrustful of outsiders, guided by an inquisition tasked with burning out the alien with the little fire they had left.

Besides Iberia, the Seaborn are also an enemy of the isolated underwater nation of Aegir. Aegir is much more technologically advanced than the rest of Terra, but they've also been alone against the Seaborn for decades if not centuries. While we haven't been there yet, they're apparently not doing very well. They've struggled to match the Seaborn's strength, adaptability, or unending numbers - which led them to some desperate places. In a last bid for survival, they created a small group of super-soldiers by putting Seaborn blood into a select group of Aegir people who would be able to resist its call. This elite force of soldiers struck back against the Seaborn and, in a desperate final battle, slew the "god" of the Seaborn, Ishar'mla, a single entity that commanded the collective Seaborn will.

However, as is often the case in Arknights, gods don't die all in one go. The will of Ishar'mla was preserved in the mind of one of the Abyssal hunters that killed it, a young woman named Skadi. She and the scattered remnants of the Hunters were cast ashore and eventually gathered in Rhodes Island. Now, the Abyssal hunters fight a twofold battle against the Seaborn and themselves. They must use the strength in their blood to push back the Seaborn and protect the land, but they must also keep an understanding of who they are, or else Ishar'mla will awaken and all will be lost once more.

A special addendum should be added here to explain Integrated Strategies 3, which is (kind of) canon. Ending 1, in which Mizuki meets Highmore and brings her to Rhodes Island, did actually happen. On that mission, though, they find the Stele featured in the "Wander into Wonderland" node and the furniture rewards. Through a mixture of ancient technology and Seaborn-ness, this object allows Mizuki to read the memories of the Seaborn in alternate timelines, and play those potential futures out for the Doctor. We as the Doctor have seen pieces of these futures, but they do not exist as of yet.

Angels and Apostates

Guide Ahead / Hortus de Escapismo / Zwillingstürme im Herbst

Mostima / Fiametta / Executor / Enforcer / Cecelia / Andoain / Pope Yvangelista XI / Oren / Arturia / lots more people but I think those are the important ones

The city of Laterano is something that should not exist on the face of Terra - a paradise. The city of the angelic Sankta people is peaceful, calm, and harmonious - a rare oasis set apart from the suffering of the rest of Terra. The Sankta share an innate ability called "empathy" which allows them to share their emotions with each other, allowing for a uniquely peaceful society almost alien to Terra. Laterano is a city without conflict and without pain, and yet it is still wrong.

As much as I would love to get deep into the philosophy of the Laterano plotline, the first draft of this section ended up being like a thousand words on its own and I'm not going to put you through that. To be extremely brief, the plotline centers around the exceptions that are made to the supposedly absolute Law of Laterano. The first event follows a mixed-race Sankta and Sarkaz child, who shouldn't be able to exist according to the scriptures. Sankta and Sarkaz are ancient enemies and considered to be anathema to each other, and Sarkaz are not allowed into Laterano. Her very existence raises questions about the nature of the Sankta and the faith's rules, and not everyone is eager to have these questions answered.

This is followed up by Hortus de Escapismo, which is one of the most dense and critically complex events in the game. In short, Federico Giallo, known to Rhodes Island as Operator Executor, is canonized as a Saint of Laterano and given all the authority that comes along with it. He is then sent out on a mission to a lost monastery that was stranded for the last ten years, in order to return it to Laterano. Over this time the Sankta in the monastery have built a settlement with other people of Terra in order to survive, and that includes Sarkaz - who cannot be allowed in the city of Laterano. Bringing the monastery back and helping the people there will require breaking the community and leaving the Sarkaz behind. As a Saint, it is now thrust on Federico to navigate this conflict between the doctrines of the Lateran faith and the real, practical world before him.

Moving forward, though, it looks like this storyline will become part of the next big act of the main story, particularly in its role in fighting the coming calamity. Pulling back the curtain a bit, Laterano is secretly ruled by a god-like supercomputer called The Law. This computer gives the Sankta their abilities and writes the laws that they must follow. In observing all of the disasters occurring across Terra, notably the Collapsals and the Seaborn, It predicts an even greater calamity on the horizon that It is now acting to stop. Because of this, It is canonizing a group of new Saints of Laterano, something that hasn't happened since the founding of the holy city itself. Supposedly, it's calculated that this is best chance Terra has at success - but judging by the people it's choosing, things look desperate indeed.

Colonial Kjerag

Break the Ice / The Ride to Lake Silberneherze

Silverash / Pramanix / Kjera / Cliffheart / Gnosis / Degenbrecher / Ratatos / Sicurius / Monch / Arctosz / Harold

Nestled in a valley surrounding Mount Karlan is a rare sanctuary. Kjerag, though harsh and cold, is a land that has never known Catastrophes. For all of Kjerag's history it has been protected by the hand of the goddess Kjeragandr and has thus developed in relative safety compared to the rest of Terra. However, in part because of this, Kjerag is an insular nation which comes across as more of a pre-industrial nation than the rest of Terra. They're still very much an agrarian society, and despite recent modernization projects like railroads and mining operations the country remains small and isolated.

These modernization projects are the brainchild of Enciodes Silverash, CEO of Kjerag's largest international corporation and patriarch of the Silverash clan. Enciodes grew up in Kjerag but left to pursue higher education in Victoria, and had a front-row seat to not only their modern industrial world but also to their aggressive colonial ambitions. He came to the understanding that for Kjerag to survive, it would need to become a modern nation like its neighbors, and he resolved to see this happen by any means necessary.

Not everyone agrees with him, though. Kjerag's government has traditionally been formed of the leaders of the three largest clans - the Silverashes, the Browntails, and the Paleroches. Unfortunately for Enciodes, the leaders of both the Browntails and the Paleroches are just short of hostile. Ratatos Browntail is interested in the economic benefits but trusts Enciodes about as far as she could throw him, and Arctosz Paleroche is a staunch traditionalist and trusts Enciodes significantly less than he could throw him - both totally fair opinions considering his sizeable private army and the attempted coup he did a few years back. However, after said coup, all three of these figures ceded most of their authority to the Saintess Enya Silverash, Enciodes' estranged sister and the voice of the goddess Kjeragandr. While she acknowledges that Enciodes has a point, she seeks to modernize Kjerag in unity with its people rather than in opposition to them - rather than making a modern nation, she wants to make a modern Kjerag. It's a small distinction, but an important one, and her popular support and religious authority is one of the few things that can actually keep Enciodes in check.

At the moment, Kjerag is in the process of exiting their centuries of international isolation. It's a slow process but they've made significant steps forward - the country has entered scientific collaborations with Rhine Lab and signed important trade agreements with their neighbors that will ensure the country can keep developing. They've even fought off some intimidation from the Victorian army, stating firmly that they are an equal nation and not a subordinate. Despite this, though, there's a great deal of work still to be done if Kjerag wants to step onto the world stage with its identity intact.

Contemporary Columbia

Mansfield Break / Dorothy's Vision / Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures

Mountain / Robin / Domma / Astigenne / Dorothy / Jessica / Coldshot / Woodrow / Clip Cliff / Liskarm / Franka / Tila

This one isn't really a cohesive plotline per se, but we can be reasonably sure that the game is going to keep going down this road, so it's worth a mention. In the background of the Rhine Lab plotline, we've gotten lots of backstory on what life is like in Columbia. Now that that story is finished, Arknights seems interested in exploring more lower-class Columbian experiences and stories, and putting the people we've seen in the B-plots of the Rhine Lab events in the spotlight.

Life in Columbia might seem glamorous and high-tech from the top, but for most people in the country it isn't nearly as pleasant. Arknights is heavily inspired by the world of the early 20th century, and if you know anything about American history in that period, you'll know that it was kind of a terrible time. Columbia takes a lot of the worst of it, everything from loan sharks to company stores to price gouging on vital goods like medicine. Life in Columbia tends to mean being trapped in a cycle of debts, keeping you just afloat enough to keep working while maximizing the boss' bottom line. But despite all that, Columbia doggedly looks forward instead of inward, spurred onward by a myth of the frontier that promises a brighter future ahead, no matter how you get there.

This plotline has been in the shadow of the Rhine Lab storyline for a while, but has since developed into its own storyline. The roots of this story were laid in Mansfield Break, our first event in Columbia proper. The background world-building told us a fair bit about life in Columbia and especially the outsize impact corporations have on Columbian society. We wouldn't see the full picture, though, until Dorothy's Vision. The DV B-plot showed us the vicious downward spiral of infection in Columbia - Oripathy medication is both prohibitively expensive and practically ineffective, and the debt they take on usually puts them out of house and home. Without the money to keep themselves from going under or the means to change the system beating them down, most infected are forced into brutal frontier work as pioneers, treated little better than beasts of burden. Finally, Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures showed a similar process happening to the people of Davistown even without any infection - the exploitative cycle works no matter who it's working on. Anything is permissible as long as it serves a larger bottom line, no matter how many people it crushes underfoot. In the future, we're likely to follow the mercenary organization Blacksteel as Columbia contracts them to support its growth, but it's hard to say more than that. We really don't know much about where this story is going, just inferences from the rest of the game's stories.

In addition to these plots, we have a few honorable mentions which don't really have enough plot to be included in the main list but I want to throw in anyway:

Slumbering Sami

The Black Forest Wills a Dream / Expeditioner's Joklumarkar / I would argue Fire within the Sand and Zwillingstürme im Herbst belong here too.

Typhon / Magellan / Santalla / Muelsyse?

Life on Terra doesn't suck enough, so you know what we need? Eldritch horrors! The Collapsals are extraterrestrial entities that we're barely able to understand, let alone fight. They appear to exert some sort of corrupting power on reality around them, and are heavily implied to come from outside our reality somehow. We don't know what they are, what they want, or what to do about them. We barely even know where they come from or how to fight them.

The good news is that for the moment the Collapsals are mostly contained. They've only shown up in very remote regions of Terra - namely in the Sami Icefields in the far north and the Foehn Hotlands in the far south - I think? I know the portal was supposedly closed during the Khaganquest but I remember seeing somewhere that they've started to show up again and I can't put a source to it. Someone back me up in the notes if you remember where that's from. Anyway, a lot of very hard work is put in by the Sami people and the Empire of Ursus to make sure that the average person on Terra doesn't even know what a Collapsal is. If you've gotten far enough to know what the Emperor's Blades are, know that we've only seen two or three throughout the main story because all the rest are up North fighting off the Collapsals. Let's kindly thank them for their service, and the fact that we're not going to have to worry about them at all. Definitely. Don't watch PV-4 just trust me.

Fangs of the Feraerus

Main Story excerpts / Il Siracusano

Texas / Lapland / Don Bernardo / Vigil / Crownslayer / Projekt Red / Lunacub I guess

The Feraerus, also known as the Beast Lords, have been hinted at with a couple of characters for a while now. They are powerful creatures similar to but distinct from the Feranmuts who look like animals from our world, instead of the new creatures Terra has in their stead. Some examples are Emperor, the High Priest from Acahualla, or Siege's lions. They are powerful creatures with inherent magic and some apparent responsibility to protect their associated creatures, though the relationship between the beast lords and the races of Terra, human or otherwise, is still unclear.

Regardless, a particular group of Beast Lords is notable for their threat - the Signori Dei Lupi. These are a pack of wolves that live in what is now Siracusa. Because they're wolves in a fictional work, they go by debunked wolf science rules, and are in a power struggle to determine the pack's alpha. Unfortunately, fighting amongst themselves isn't very effective when every member of the pack is an immortal being, so they've instead chosen to settle things by a competition. Every wolf in the pack has picked a human to serve as their champion, teaching them to hunt the others and letting them loose in a sort of battle-royale-style death game. As far as we're aware, Don Bernardo was a fang but has been replaced by Lappland, Projekt Red and Lunacub are both fangs of different wolves, and Crownslayer's mentor, killed by Red in between Chapter 6 and Il Siracusano, was not just a fang but "the first true wolf". We don't know much else about this competition, but we're definitely going back to Siracusa in the future, so this competition is only just getting started.

I don't have an alliteration for Team Rainbow :(

Originium Dust

Ash / Blitz / Frost / Tachanka

Team Rainbow isn't remotely plot-relevant, but with a sequel event coming up I thought I'd quickly recap the original event for those who couldn't read it. Team Rainbow is a special forces from our Earth, or if not something very close to it. A segment of Team Rainbow is sent on an operation to capture the rogue Russian scientist Levi Klitschko. Klitschko has, unbeknownst to everyone, been experimenting with Originium, and right before he's captured he activates a device that sends the entire bunker to Terra.

The team arrives in Sargon and is quickly drawn into a local power struggle. The local lord made a deal with Klitschko, giving him protection and resources in exchange for the scientist creating him an army of Originium-infused mutants. Team Rainbow, on the other hand, ends up helping the local infected when the lord's men come to push them around. Things go south pretty quickly, but Team Rainbow runs into a Rhodes Island squad and they're able to mount a unified assault on the Lord. They break through his mercenaries and reach Klitschko just in time to watch him sacrifice himself to unleash a massive mutant creature, which they eventually bury in the rubble of the bunker.

In the aftermath, Team Rainbow is rescued by Rhodes Island reinforcements and brought to the landship. They don't have a way to return home, but Terra can always find room for another squad of mercenaries, so they decide to make the most of things and set off to explore this new world.

Finished Plotlines:

These are mostly copy/pasted from my last post, because they haven't really changed much. Same deal as before - these plots have basically wrapped up, so I'll give as spoiler-free a review as possible. They're good plots, go back and read them, but until you can this is just a quick summary of where the world stands now that they're completed.

Fear Neither Hardship Nor Darkness

Maria Nearl / Pinus Sylvesteis / Near Light / An Obscure Wanderer

Maria Nearl / Zofia Nearl / Margret Nearl / Młynar Nearl / Dikaiopolis / All of Pinus Sylvestris / Platinum / Roy and Monica / The Doctor / Gravel / basically all the major political figures of Kazimierz

Kazimierz, and the infected living within it, lived without hope. They lived in a dark world, where an oppressive hyper-capitalist system suffocated them, leaving them not just without the means to survive but without any chance of changing the system or fighting the world around them. Pinus Sylvestris knew how to fight the Chamber of Commerce, Dikaiopolis knew how to open up paths for the infected, and Rhodes Island knew how to get medicine to people in need - but none of that could save Kazimierz, because Kazimierz lived in a world without the hope that the system could be changed. Kazimierz needed a Knight - a Knight of honor and virtue, a Knight taken directly from the pages of the storybooks, a Knight that could be the noble light that illuminates the land. They needed brilliant, blinding hope, hope that could not be hidden and could not be denied, to descend from the heavens in their hour of need. The only person who could have saved Kazimierz was Margaret Nearl.

Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Finally, Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

A New Age is Upon Us

Rhine Lab Manhua / Mansfield Break / Dorothy's Vision / Lonetrail

Silence / Saria / Ifrit / Muelsyse / Ptilopsis / Ahrens Parvis / Kristen Wright / Dorothy / Ferdinand Clooney / Ho'olheyak / Tin Man / Trevor Friston / Mark Max

6,152 meters above sea level, there exists a mysterious barrier called the Starpod. It disrupts arts, tears apart solid matter, and even warps the light that travels through it, rendering space travel or even any sort of medium-altitude flight impossible. It has not always existed, but has covered Terra for almost all recorded memory, and was a simple fact of the world - until Kristen Wright tore it open and flung a spacecraft through.

On November 21, 1099, the world of Terra fundamentally changed. It didn't change in a particularly perceptible way - everyone still got up and went about their day the same day afterwards, and you'll be hard-pressed to actually link anything that will follow to the actions of Kristen Wright. But despite that seeming insignificance, Kristen Wright has left her mark on every living being in Terra, from the magistrates of Yan to the farmers of Sargon to the seaborn crawling amidst the oceans. There is a little something that never existed before - a little fragment of possibility that comes from seeing the world behind the curtain, even if for just a moment. It's impossible to tell where that spark will go. But one thing is for sure - "if, in a century or a millennium, our descendants walk among the stars, the masses will sing her praises."

In more concrete effects, Saria is now the Control of Rhine Lab. She heads the company, and Silence now serves as a senior ethical consultant and head of a burgeoning movement for scientific ethics in Columbia - using the sudden momentum generated by the Trimounts project to push for greater oversight and consideration in the scientific world. Both her and Saria now split their time between Trimounts and Rhodes Island, and Ifrit once again has two moms to spend her time with :)

Finally, Ho'olheyak has joined Rhodes Island with the piece(?) of Trevor Friston that she captured with her arts. The Tin Man and the Maylander Society now have their eyes on Rhodes Island, but more importantly, The Doctor is coming to understand more and more about their past. They're starting to understand their identity, and like Kal'tsit has said, they may not be able to stop.

A Tune, Lingering in my Head

Lingering Echoes / Zwillingstürme im Herbst

Ebonholz / Kreide / The Witch-King / Czerny / Hibiscus / Lessing / Fremont / Hildegarde and Grimmacht

The Witch-King of Leithanien was one of the most powerful casters in Terran History, and even after his death, ripples of his presence still echo through Leithanien and beyond. The events of the Stimmverlust had two main consequences - the Güldensgesatz being weakened, and the Sarkaz Liches departing from Leithanien, as well as the longer-term effect of making Leithanien aware of the presence of the oncoming collapsal crisis.

All of these are significant in their own way - these events were extraordinary important for world-building and writing magic lore and setting up later plots, but none of that really lends itself particularly well to a brief summary, about the closest I can get is "powerful magic leaves ripples, and fundamentally changes the world around it in a way that can be difficult or impossible to undo". It's the sort of plot which can either be explained in bare bones or in extreme detail, but it's too tightly wound around other plots and world-building that there's nothing in between the two. This storyline is likely going to get wound into the Laterano plotlines in the future, so where necessary I'll include explanations with them.

The Main Story:

Main story chapters / Vigilo / What the Firelight Casts

Not a whole lot has changed since our last plot recap, which feels a little weird because of how big chapter 13 was. It's hard to list everything that happened, so I think I'll keep to a shorthand list of all the factions at play in Victoria and what each of them wants, as of the end of Chapter 13.

Rhodes Island

Amiya / Kal'tsit / Doctor / Logos / Ascalon / Closure / Dazmati / etc.

Rhodes Island's goals aren't really set in stone, but they are generally interested in pushing the Sarkaz out of Victoria and ending the suffering caused by the occupation. Amiya has embraced her role as the lord of fiends - she understands that to bring peace to the Sarkaz, she must first shoulder all of the pain they feel, and she pushes on regardless. Towards that goal, Kal'tsit has started to reveal more of the history of the Sarkaz, and Logos and Ascalon are becoming more important. As Amiya becomes more powerful and more sure of herself, the Sarkaz courts are finding her harder and harder to deny.

Darknights+

W / Innes / Hoderer / Paprika / Ulšulah / Ermengarde? I guess?

The Darknights trio has finally made friends! I'm so proud of them. You could make the argument that these folks belong in the Rhodes Island section, but their aims are different enough that I think they ought to get their own brief. This group, but mostly Hoderer and W, are exploring the idea of a new Kazdel - that is, what does Kazdel without the constant cycle of hatred even look like? This has mostly taken the form of rebellion from inside Kazdel's military forces, and actually communicating with people on the other side to ask questions like "Hey do we have a plan beyond constant occupation" and "This kinda sucks, are we sure this is how we want to live". They're the other half of Rhodes Island's philosophical strategy - Amiya can free the Sarkaz of the cycle of hatred, and W and Hoderer can find a way for them to live afterwards.

The Exemplars

Siege / Glasgow Gang / Delphine / Self-Salvation Corps / Horn / Misery

The Exemplars were, originally, an elite unit within the Victorian Military. They were considered heroes, renowned for legendary deeds in service of Victoria. But, in one of their many wars with Gaul, the Exemplars were sacrificed in a political move by the Dukes - the unit was wiped out, the name wasn't revived, and what was left of the unit eventually became the Tempest Platoon we met in chapter 9.

It wasn't Siege's intention to fight a war. Her intent was always to protect its people - the real people, like her gang and the people of Norport. As they've travelled through a war-torn Victoria, though, she's realized that she will not be able to bring peace to her people without the power to end the war. And so, she brings together the people she has saved under the banner of the Exemplars, revived once more - an army free from the Dukes and the Sarkaz, who can bring peace to the people, if Siege can live up to the symbol she represents.

Reunion

Nine / Talulah / Guard / Redblade / Percival / Norwell

I nearly forgot Reunion was here too. Reunion has been going through an identity crisis ever since capturing Talulah. Not only have they lost faith in their strong figurehead, but that figurehead has lost a lot of her own spark, leaving the identity and direction of the movement in question.

That's not quite a bad thing, though - Nine is a much more thoughtful leader than Kashchey/Talulah ever was, Red has always been more of a good guy than a villain, and Guard brought a lot of the philosophy of Rhodes Island with him when he joined up. They now have a chance to not just rebuild Reunion, but to remake it into something better. The trick will be getting it right, because in war-torn Victoria, they'll find plenty of lost infected with nothing to lose.

The Dukes

Caster / Windmere / Wellington / Gododdin / Probably more that I'm forgetting / Eblana and Dublinn

The Dukes of Victoria have been the ruling power in the country for the last few decades or so, and they aren't interested in leaving the country to the Sarkaz. While they've been too busy with their power plays and politicking to oust the Sarkaz before now, they've finally come together enough to begin a united offensive against the Sarkaz, putting the whole of Victoria's might on the field against the invaders.

However, it hasn't been going great for them. The Sarkaz fight differently from the formal armies that Victoria is used to fighting. They field massive revenant constructs, use strange witchcraft, and wield oripathy as a weapon like any other against the Victorian army, and the Dukes have been slow to adapt. The exact state of the war is unknown, but it doesn't seem likely the Dukes will be able to win the war on their own, especially while the Sarkaz control Londinum's catastrophe-causing superweapon.

Even if the Dukes don't win the war, though, they'll still be a threat to everyone else in Victoria. No matter how the Sarkaz are removed, the moment they're gone the Dukes will hold a near-monopoly on military force in the country and will probably try to seize power again, to say nothing of potential retaliation against Kazdel or the Sarkaz diaspora. The Dukes aren't an immediate problem, but they also aren't going away any time soon.

The Confessarius

Shining / Nightingale / Amiya arguably / Qui'sartuštaj / Salus

To be totally honest, I barely understand the Confessarius plotline. As far as I understand it, they want the power of the Lord of Fiends. This is possible because the first Confessarius, thousands of years ago, was a Lord of Fiends and they've kept his soul alive through magic eugenics? I think? Qui'sartuštaj currently holds that soul, but when he dies, it'll go to Shining and she'll be taken over by it. Nightingale was also artificially designed as a vessel for that soul, and because of that, Qui'sartuštaj wants to recover her and use her to reincarnate(?) the original Confessarius Lord of Fiends. I think. If someone else knows this plot better than I do, please correct me and I'll update this because I haven't been paying enough attention and I'm kinda lost.

The Sarkaz Court/ Kazdel Military Commission

Theresis / Theresa / Sanguinarch / Qui'sartuštaj / Dazmati / Manfred / Lettou

The Kazdel Military Comission, acting under the supervision of King Theresis, is the current ruling power of the Sarkaz and the acting government in control of Londinum. A few years ago, a group of nobles called for the help of the KMC in restoring order in Londinum, and once they occupied it they chose not to leave and instead took over both the city and the catastrophe-causing superweapon, The Shard, located within it. Ever since, they've been carefully trying to preserve their control over both Kazdel and Victoria.

With the introduction of Rhodes Island and the Dukes closing in, this has gotten a lot harder. Theresis now needs to pacify and manage every individual subgroup of Sarkaz, keeping them satisfied enough to stay under the banner. While doing this, he needs to fight both a war outside the walls, against the Dukes, and inside, against Rhodes Island and various rebellious Sarkaz elements like the Darknights trio and whatever is going on with the Dazmati.

The one reason he's been able to hold on this long is the authority of his sister, Theresa. I'm not gonna go over the entire Theresis/Theresa plotline, because it's difficult to summarize and tied into nearly every other plot in the game, but the really short version is that Theresis represents the traditional Sarkaz rule by fear and Theresa represents a new future, a hope for a future without conflict. When taking Londinum, Theresis ceded to the strong suggestions of the Confessarius and used some unknown ritual to return the late Theresa to life, and presumably render her somehow compliant to him. She now serves as a figurehead of the KMC, and the hope she sparks in the Sarkaz is a big reason why Theresis' ambitions haven't collapsed around him.

And, I think that's most everything! Sweet sassy molassey, that took a while. I may skip the next anniversary's recap, since it'll only be main story stuff anyway. Anyway, as usual, if there's something relevant I've missed, let me know, and if not, I hope this helped! Enjoy your life and practice your art, Doctors!

[hocesthelas]

The Slytherin to my Hufflepuff | Sehun

Pairing: Hufflepuff!Sehun × Slytherin! Reader Word count: 1.3K Summary: Sehun, which had been expected to be Slytherin for all intents and purposes, was sorted into Hufflepuff, while you, a Hufflepuff in blood and bones found yourself in Slytherin. Authors note: This is my first fic on here. I do feel that I have gone waay off from my original idea, but hey, if anyone ends up reading this, I hope you enjoy! :)

It all began with a bam. You were walking down the corridors with Hannah. You were looking at the sky and quickly got distracted by a cloud in the shape of a mouse. You were looking so intently, and you were so distracted by your own thoughts, that you no longer registered to what the Hufflepuff beside you was saying.

You most definitely couldn’t tell that someone was walking directly towards you, someone, who had also been distracted.

In the blink of an eye, you found yourself struck and on the ground with a sore bum before you even registered what happened. As you looked up, your eyes met his. You quickly concluded that this face was the most pleasant one you had seen in Hogwarts. A face which the glow of the sun had made look heavenly. You looked down at his dishevelled black and yellow tie. A Hufflepuff!

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was…”

“sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was…”

“going”

“going” you both said simultaneously.

You broke down laughing, and he gave you an amused grin.

Later that day you pestered Hannah on who the Hufflepuff was and demanded she share everything she knew about him. She looked at you in confusion “you don’t know Oh Sehun?” you shook your head no.

“Well,” she began “If you are a Hufflepuff in Slytherin robes, he’s a Slytherin in Hufflepuff clothes; I reckoned you would know him.”

Following this incident, you've gotten closer to Sehun. You also learned more about him; like how he used a bird-conjuring charm on a Ravenclaw who was bothering his friend, or how he came from a family of Slytherins, and how his family had been greatly disappointed that he ended up in Hufflepuff.

You also had a lot in common; you were both sorted into the ‘wrong house’, you both spent more time with students from other houses than those of your own and even though you were both fairly well known in Hogwarts, you somehow never heard of one another before you literally bumped into each other in the corridors. What was truly frightening was how nearly all of your friends were his friends too.

Moreover, you had constantly spent time in the Hufflepuff common room, even though it was technically not allowed. Despite this, somehow, miraculously, you had never — not once — come across him.

This didn’t mean that you never, unknowingly, crossed paths. Soon after you started frequenting the Hufflepuff common room, some of the occupants were not happy to have you there, and they were not shy to share their thoughts with you.

Seeing as you thought it inappropriate to complain to your Hufflepuff friends, you recounted all that happened to your Gryffindor friend. It didn’t take long for these incidents to cease. Flooded with schoolwork and exams, you never had time to think much of it.

You now learned that Chanyeol had gone to Sehun to speak of the matter. Sehun then took measures to keep his own housemates in check. All this while he too had never seen a hair on your head.

It only took a short time before you felt as if you'd known Sehun your entire life. You'd spend as much of your day stuck to each other as possible, and you would never run out of things to talk about.

Presently you were both sprawled beside each other on the grounds just outside of Hogwarts. As per usual, curiosity made its way through your system, and you could only keep it in for a few brief moments before you spoke up “Sehun, you have brewed Amortentia before, haven't you?”

“I would like to think that by now I have, yes” you rolled your eyes at him, even though he couldn’t see it.

“So, how was it? what did you smell?” he turned his head towards you “I smelled the fear from my enemies” this sent you into a laughing fit, and he too couldn’t help but laugh.

You slapped him on his chest “oh come on dummy, I’m being serious, what did you smell?” “not telling” he said in a teasing tone.

You moved closer and you turned to whisper in his ear “come on, tell me, what did you smell”.

He tried his best to shield his ear “Jeez, are you always this touchy with your friends? why don’t you find someone else to annoy” “No” you answered.

“No what? you are not touchy with your friends, or, you can't find some to annoy?”

“both” you turned to look at him again “don’t think I’m dropping this, now tell me what did you smell?”. He continued lying there, still. You weren’t sure if his reaction was because of your question, or because of your answer.

You impatiently got up on your elbow, and fisted your left hand, as if preparing to punch him “are going to tell me, or do you plan on getting beat?” he put his hands up in surrender “alright, alright! why do you Slytherins always revert to violence”.

As you laid back on the grass, he hummed in thought, stole a glance at you then focused his eyes back on the sky before finally saying “it was lavender… freshly cleaned laundry, and…” he looked at you again ”and Pelargonium”.

You propped yourself back up on your elbow and looked at him intently “no way, are you serious?” he seemed waver at the question, but answered with a hum and a nod of the head.

Your smile just grew bigger and bigger “guess what I smelled?” you didn’t even give him a chance to answer before continuing. “lavender” you saw his eyes instantly grow in shock “freshly cleaned sheets” he looked at you in disbelief before retorting “well, I do hope you aren’t the biggest narcissist in the world, and have Pelargonium as your third scent”.

He had accidentally given himself away, and this was all the reassurance you needed. You gave him a quick peck on the cheek, earning you a pair of reddening cheeks. “Of course I didn’t smell Pelargonium. My third scent was apple”.

He stared at you, eyes glued to yours. You couldn’t decipher the look he gave you, so you attempted to further elaborate “you also smell of apple if you didn’t realis-”.

Before you could finish the sentence he grabbed your face, pulling you down for a kiss. You could feel each other smile through the kiss and felt yourself engulphed by the smell of apples, drowning you under a blanket of comfort.

As you pulled away, your eyes found each other, and you were lost in his. He was the first to break the silence “if there is any doubt in your mind, you smell like Pelargonium” you couldn't wipe the smile off your face “I know”.

You then threw yourself on top of him, hearing him whimper in surprise. His arms snaked around you, making you feel giddy. As he caressed your back you heard him speak “I guess the fact that we smelled nearly the exact same thing proves that we were meant to be together” “oh, so we’re together now?” “haven't we always been?”.

You sighed in relief “good, now I don't have to be the only one without a boyfriend”

As you cuddled each other, you couldn’t help but think about the sorting hat, and how ironic it was that you were both sorted into what you thought was each others house. “Sehun” he hummed for you to continue. “do you think the sorting hat was playing matchmaker with us?”.

You could feel him grin from under you “I’m telling you, we were meant to be, it’s just that the sorting hat realised it earlier than we ever did”

[protectingtulpas]

Okay so im an (now ex) anti-endo (i still feel uncomfortable around endos but i guess now that not valid) who discover that im an tulpa.

For more context im the host of a complex polyfrag DID system who always belive endos jist fake for attention and hurt the real system comunity (traumagenic systems) and im just "exist" since this year 2020 i got a blackout of 2 years until 2023 and what the rest of the system tell me when i ask was "you got a colapse and lock yourself in your room for two years and fall in dormancy, when you finally get out you was so confused that you split in the fragment youre now and Gaby and so you cannot remember what happen because of that and Miyamoto (an alter friend of mine) was the host for that time" i got not reason to doubt about it an they have no reason to lie, they say the same thing to all our friends and even to my girlfriend.

I was looking arround of some old papers and pdfs and i find out that they have a diary and it was pretty old and one page have my sigh but the date its supposed to be in the time i was locked and some other papers was the same or some alters mention me like if i was there like really there.

Then i finally discover a paper with the tittle "[My name] (oc lore)

And pretty detailed pages about the process of creation of a tulpa and a character itself and descriptions very accurated about my body and personality plus a background history that its exactly like my memorys and thing about my gender and sexuality also accurate (i get offended for that because i really struggle with that) and and alter called Axel/Alex who i know he exist because and romantic history of the system while i was out but i supposed he was just a fragment of another alter and i discover that he was one of the "original alters" (i mean the result of the first split) and he created me like A TULPA, he say in his notes that the rest of the system is traumagenic and he discover them in therapy but whatever it means we have traumagenic origins but as long as i know im THE ONLY TULPA/ENDOGENIC/WILLOWGENIC ALTER (HEADMATE???) And one of the few that are anti-endo (the big problem there is that were least than 5 and those alters are my friends (probably not anymore)

I really need help of a tulpa to understand this because i have so many cuestions about this and i dont have so many tulpa friends exactly and i guess i have to change my mindset and i was wonder i can have your help...

Oh wow, yeah this is a ton, thank you for reaching out for real! Sorry it took a hot sec to respond, I've been blocked from front a lot myself so I wanted to be in tune enough to give this the response it deserves.

Alrightie, so we have P-DID (we're mixed origin too), so we don't have as much dissociation as y'all, but we do have a bit of experience with host changes and people blacking out/going dormant for waay longer than expected, so that's where we're coming from here. Especially with memory barriers so high, host switches can be really disorienting and some pretty big things can be forgotten depending on the system. It sounds like during the time there was a big host switch, you got created by Axel/Alex, but due to u being affected by the inherent dissociative barriers of your system, you forgot your early memories of being created - as evidenced by things being signed by you and mentions of you that you don't remember, if I'm reading this correctly. That's a lot to take in, but it's good to have all this evidence you can bring up to your alters in a discussion about it if you're able. I know it's probably freaking you out, but just asking the alters that mention you/worked on you in the papers instead of accusing them will do a lot to help with resistance and all. I'm sure they had a good reason for not saying anything to you.

That brings me to my second point; if a good chunk of you are intensely anti-endo, there's a good chance your memories of your creation/origin are blocked behind dissociative barriers because that knowledge woulda been too much for your system to process and bare at the time. Make sure to consider that in what ya do- try not to dump all the pressure on yourself, if you put yourself into a spiral about all this or try to force your other alters to do a 180 it might end up counterproductive. You're their equal, don't ever forget that; take it slow and steady. Things'll end up alright. On the flipside of this, there's a reason you exist, and you were created because somebody (Axel/Alex?) WANTED you here, and that's important. You have just as much a right to be here, and it's not a bad thing that you exist or to challenge the collective opinion of how things work. That's what growing and changing is all about!!

You don't hafta jump full force into the endogenic community of course, take your time and don't overwhelm yourself. I think you'll enjoy a term we're extremely attached to: traumaendo systems are systems that experience both traumagenic and endogenic origins in one way or another, and the label is focused on the specific unique experiences we go through while straddling both worlds. Tulpamancy is particular is controversial because it started out as a separate community developing their own skills before coming into contact with the greater plural community, so you'll find that a lot of terms within it are different and stuff. Additionally, you'll probably run into a lotta controversies, specifically the infamous one about tulpamancy's etymological origin, so make sure to keep your head on your shoulders and put research and objectivity first. Don't forget that we've asked people actually of the culture about this, and that the etymological origin is of an open religion that encourages their meditations be shared and adapted. People will make up anything to try and keep us hated, but don't let it stop you. You're not hurting anyone by existing as u are.

And lastly? Take care of urself. There're a lot of little intricacies I can't predict because everything is different from system to system, but if you pay attention and work as a team with your alters, you'll start to see patterns and understand yourself more. You might find that you operate a bit differently than them, you might not, but regardless, there's no shame in your existence. If you have any more questions, go ahead and shoot me a DM privately- I'll see what I can do. Good luck out there, stay true to yourself

[alicentflorent]

People really be accusing Alicent of elder abuse because in the few scenes we saw of them she got frustrated with him, yelled at him and stormed off a couple of times. Now I can see how out of context watching a frail, dying man get lashed out at can perhaps seem abusive but the thing is, we do have context here and we know that Alicent was 14 (four and ten!!) when her father had her befriend the king, 15 when the king publicly declared her as his soon to be wife (something she had no say in and seemingly wasn’t even asked before hand), This was after the king asked her not to tell Rhaenyra about their friendship because “she wouldn’t understand” translation: he knew secretly meeting Alicent was wrong but he liked the attention off the pretty young girl (he later said he knew Otto sent Alicent there as a distraction, proving he knew Alicent had no romantic interest in him. After they marry, Alicent endures years of marital rape had three pregnancies back to back from the ages of 15 to 18/19, was mocked by viserys whilst he was drunk for trying to be a good host to daemon and do her duty as queen, felt like a prisoner her role as wife and queen - a role she never wanted, we saw her be woken up in the middle of the night, not long after having a baby, and told that the king had summoned her for sex, then we see an uncomfortable marital rape scene where young Alicent is clearly uncomfortable and dissociating, and yet she still plays the good and dutiful wife role which only seems to start to change when her father is fired and she is scared for her children. What we mostly see is that she is cold towards him as her anger and unhappiness has spiralled over the years.

Now let’s talk about viserys, he’s grown on fans over the past six episodes and I understand why, he brings some good, needed humour to the show and he does love and support Rhaenyra and her illegitimate children unconditionally but people seem to have amnesia and have gone as far to call him feminist for continuing to support Rhaenyras claim. But let’s take a look back at the bad things viserys has done shall we: the first episode we meet an exhausted pregnant aemma who has had multiple miscarriages and stillbirths but is pregnant again because viserys insists they keep trying for a boy because he’s desperate for a male heir. Then when Aemma is going to die in childbirth he is given the choice to do a c section which will kill Aemma who is still conscious and lucid, but may save the babe, now Aemma repeatedly objections and begs them to stop but the brutal scene of Aemmas painful death continues and this is the wife he loved. He clearly didn’t consider the impact of teenage Alicent having to suffer the same complications, and complications are more likely in a girl not fully developed, Alicent still had three babies back to back, early in the marriage, because he enjoyed fucking his young wife I guess. The birth/death scene also had a lot of complaints from women because of how graphic it was and as a woman, I understand why but we were being shown how terrible it was and were supposed to realise how traumatic it was for Aemma and how Viserys was willing to put her through it for the small possibility of gaining a son. He eventually makes Rhaenyra (who didn’t feel like her father was ever happy with just her as his child) his heir but only after daemon publicly insults his dead son. Rhaenyra was chosen because he never planned to remarry and he would choose the daughter born out of love than the son he had to keep the lords of his back. Let’s not forget feminist dad over here is only king at the expense of a more qualified woman, and it’s not his fault he was chosen but he never expressed that Rhaenys deserved the throne being that she was a more qualified woman.

In conclusion, I don’t think Alicent is abusing viserys, I think she feels strong enough to fight back and show her feelings around because of his weakened state and I’m not saying it isn’t possible for the victim to become the abuser especially when their abuser becomes vulnerable and unable to fight back. But based on what we have seen I don’t think that is what is happening here. She’s angry and she’s been venting a lot, saying horrible things about Rhaenyra and her children, arguing with her husband but she has not been abusing the man she was sold to at 14. The closest abusive tendencies she’s shown was towards aegon when she grabbed his face and spoke to him in the intimidating way her father spoke to her at that age. It seems generational trauma runs deep, but that is a topic for another day.

[eidolich]

my second ever digital drawing, not sure how i feel about it but !!!!

its everyone’s favorite thorn mage d|--|b

[totiredtowrite]

Pirate!Karasano (platoniclly or just Daichi) x Mermaid!Reader(this might be a long one so bare with me)

Maybe when Daichi was little he and reader met and became best friends, Daichi would visit him everyday but one day reader stopped showing up. Fast forward years and Daichi is now a pirate (never forgetting about his best mer-mate) captain with his own crew, either when raiding another ship he finds reader locked up, or his crew went to a village/shopping district (or whatever they’re called) and saw reader locked up (either way reader was captured). Daichi makes a plan to steal reader back (the team probably just thinks he wants the mermaid man, half of them or like “who would do that to a living creature???”). When he successfully gets back reader reader just think that these humans captured him for their own entertainment but then realized it’s Daichi and he’s (Daichi) just crying ‘cause he finally got his best mer-friend back

This is probably too long/confusing so I won’t blame you for not doing it/changing it!

🎆-anon

Pirate Daichi - Merfolk Reader

『4』『4』『4』

"Daikkun!"

Daichi turned his head down towards the water. You had your arms resting on a rock, (f/c) tail slightly visible in the water behind you. "You look distracted," you laughed and swam closer to him. He bit his lip and kicked the water.

"Dad says I should start focusing on my studies." He sighed. "But I wanna keep coming out here."

You just shrugged. "Study out here then," you smiled, hauling yourself up on the rock to comfortably sit across from him. The wind ruffled the fins on your back, your scales shining.

He picked at a piece of wood on the dock, smiling softly. "You really want me out here?"

You nodded vigorously. "The other kids don't like me much. You're waay better than them! My favourite even!"

Daichi's smile widened. "You're my favourite too, (y/n)."

Sawamura jolted straight up. These random memories in the form of a dream were starting to feel more like nightmares. The day after that encounter, you didn't show up. Then the day after, then the day after, and eventually Daichi just stopped waiting.

He sighed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead and sitting up. The gentle rocking of his ship was making him feel more uneasy than safe in the moment.

He turned to look out of the small, circular window to his right. The sun was just starting to peek out of the horizon, so at least he didn't loose too much sleep. Or oversleep. He sat up straight and rubbed his face. Even now, at twenty three years of age, he was plagued with memories of the merboy he met when he was thirteen.

He decided to not let it faze him though, and went about his morning as usual. By the time the sky was blue, the whole crew was up and working.

"Hey captain!" He turned his head to see Nishinoya waving at him. "Why're we pulling into port?"

Hinata looked down from the crows nest, expecting an answer the same as Yuu.

"We need more supplies," Daichi called back, "We'll only be docking for a short while."

The bustling noise of the city wasn't something Karasuno was used to. The marketplace especially. Vendors everywhere, people pitching that their products were better than the other stalls selling the same. Daichi huffed. It's been about an hour, most of the supplies they needed were in sacks over their shoulders, though they were still missing some things. Daichi was going to turn in a different direction, until-

"Come one come all! Ever seen a half human, half fish freak? Now you have! Hell, he's even for sale!"

Daichi paused, slowly turning. His breath caught in his throat.

You. Older now, mature in a way that made Daichi forget almost everything. Everything, from the small scar on your tail to the colour of your skin, was the same.

He staggered forward. The man, stout, real crafty looking, spotted Daichi moving towards his booth. "You there! Are you interested in taking this one off my hands?"

"How much," Daichi said without hesitation. The crew had gathered with him.

"He isn't seriously going to buy a merman, right?" Yaichi's eyes were wide. Kiyoko just patted her on the shoulder.

"I'm sure he has a reason."

The man was pondering the price. You were in the corner of the tank, a glare on your face. Daichi looked familiar, but you still weren't sure of who he was. You knew they were pirates though, and that was never a good sign.

"For a pretty one like this, I'd have to charge you twenty gold!" The man winked.

Daichi wordlessly dropped a small pouch into his hand. "Hand him over," he still looked kind of dazed. The man shrugged, pushing the wheeled tank towards him.

"It's all yours. Pleasure doing business with you!"

The crew was sitting around the tank now, the ship long since gone away from land. "He actually did it," Yaichi squeaked.

"So?" You snapped at him, seated in a shallow hole in the center of the ship that was filled with water. "What the hell did you want from me? Huh?"

Daichi walked towards you, causing the team to shuffle back. He sat cross legged in front of the pool. "Is it you?" He asked softly. You tilted your head, confusion overtaking the anger. "...(Y/n)?"

You narrowed your eyes, taking in his appearance. Then it struck you. "Daikkun?"

Tears started to fall from him, staining the deck. You moved closer to him. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" You smiled.

He lurched forward and wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug. He didn't seem to care that his shirt was getting wet. "I missed you," he said, small hics leaving him in between words. You moved your semi-scaled arms up around him, clutching his back.

"I missed you too."

『4』『4』『4』

Note - So this was longer than I thought it was gonna be uh oops? I wasn't sure about the plot progression so sorry if it's a dumpster fire 😭

[zaikaglow]

Umbrageous

Pairing: Erwin x Reader (eventually Reader x Eren, Reader x Levi, Reader x Hange maybe more)

Summary: Your mom has married the ever handsome Erwin Smith but the two of you have started an illicit affair under her nose. As you become more jealous of being the other women you start to engage in office affairs to try and force Erwin's hand.

Content Warnings: Step dad! Erwin, alcoholism, size kink, cheating, pseudoincest

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

You barely have time to roll down the window before your friend, the tall boy with the long dirty blond mullet makes it to the shiny black SUV you're sitting in the passenger seat of in the dorm parking lot. “Hey y/n are you coming to the party tonight” he says nervously pushing his long fingers through his hair “oh hi you must be y/n’s dad, its nice to meet you, ya’know I can really see the resemblance there” he flashes a smile. Erwin winces at the comparison but it goes unnoticed by Jean who’s had his eyes on you the whole time. “Actually, Er-winny is my step dad, no relation” you say “I’ll be there tonight don’t wait up for me”. Jean drums his hands on the open windows “okay cool cool cool uh see you there”. As he starts to walk away you roll back up the window and you go back to looking at your phone with a bored expression, Erwin clenches the steering wheel and without looking at you says “who’s that boy”. Not looking up from your phone you reply “that's my friend Jean”. “Are you fucking that friend” Erwin grunts, “what do you care its not like youre not fucking someone else” you say never looking up from your phone keeping that bored expression that you know ticks Erwin off. Erwin moves his hands from the steering wheel and places his forehead into his palms “how many times do we need to go over this y/n, if I divorce her and the court finds out about this'' he removes one of his hands from his forehead and moves his two fingers in a circle “I’d be ruined they wouldn't care you were over 18 when we met. They’d label me a pervert I’d lose everything, I could go to jail” he places his hands back on the steering wheel and turns his blue eyes towards you “please at least give me till after you graduate. Things would look less bad after that, just play along a little longer y/n please”. You finally glance up at him from your phone, the desperation in his voice softening your resolve to ignore him “fine but only because I hate that bitch, and I guess it's fun sneaking around, trying not to get caught” your eyes go back to you phone in your lap.

You had always had a rocky relationship with your mother, always choosing flings with random men and booze over you. You swear you had been raised more by a television than you ever had her, you had been off to our first year at university when you had only gotten a text from her announcing that she was getting married. Honestly you couldn’t have cared less expecting it to be another fling with some guy and they’d be divorced in under 2 years just like the last 3 guys. But when you met this new guy things were different. Erwin Smith was tall, muscular, and a beautiful example of a man. At first when you and your mom had moved in things were awkward to say the least, you kept your distance from the man feeling guilty with how much you coveted your mothers new husband avoiding him through the obnoxiously large house. Until one day in the kitchen when two large hands placed themselves besides you at the counter. He had lowered his head to your ear, the stubble of his jaw brushing against your neck whispering in a hushed tone “you know it's rather rude to go and ignore the man whose house you're living in”. You had turned around to face him and something wicked had come over you, maybe it was the heat growing between your thighs that had made you as so bold as to tilt your chin down and look up behind your lashes and say “I’m sorry daddy I guess I’ve been a rather bad girl”. That was the day he had taken you into his study, sat you on his desk and stripped you bare, it would also be the first time you would choke attempting to fit his large cock down your throat. Thus began your affair with your mothers husband, of sneaking around the house when she wasn't home, once even having sex in their bed while your mother was passed out on the couch after one too many glasses of wine, now you sat in his car after he drove you back to campus after renting a hotel last night for the two of you to share. “You're so busy with work darling and I know y/n is having such a hard time at school right now and you're so worried about her, it's such a far drive I'll spend the night taking her for breakfast. I’m sure then she'll be fine until winter break. Yes I’ll let her know you miss her”. Such a simple lie that made him look like the doating step father when in reality you had spent last night with your hand fisted in his hair trying your best to fit his massive cock into your tight little cunt.

Erwin takes his wallet out of his jacket pocket pulling out a black card and holding it out to you between his pointer and middle fingers. “How‘s about instead of that party you just go ahead and treat yourself to some new clothes”? Your elbow is against the window propping your head up with your right hand “Well department stores close waay before the times that parties start so I guess it's a no brainer”. Erwin signs “just take it” you reach out and take the card sliding it next to your student ID card in the pocket on the back of your phone. “You're coming to get me for winter break in a few weeks right” Erwins hand moves to the back of your neck “Of course princess, your mom won't be leaving on any work trips during break so you can come to the office with me, how does that sound”? His hand now rubbing small circles on the back of your neck “it would probably be a bad idea for me to kiss you here, don't exactly need another one of your little friends walking by to see”. Your hand pulls the door handle as you say “Okay bye daddy, Ill see you in a few weeks” Erwin chuckles and shakes his head as he places both hands back on the steering wheel “you know I really hate when you call me that princess”

@alert-arlert��

[thedarkrose17]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum Characters: Prompto Argentum, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia Additional Tags: Mutual Pining, Eventual Relationships, Accidental Baby Acquisition Summary:

The first thing Prompto wakes up to is concerned voices and someone fussing or whining.

It takes a few moments to sit up, adjust in the tent and glance around. It’s just Ignis, Gladio and a fussing baby. He blinks and looks again. The baby wasn’t here last night. ☆ ☆ ☆ A.k.a The astrals get tired of Prompto and Noctis' pining and decide to try and get them together

Update yay!

Read it on the link or under the cut :)

Prompto wakes up later than usual, he must have been exhausted he figures. He yawns and opens an eye to find Solis fast asleep against him and Noctis practically snoring against him due to his sleeping position.

He blushes and gently brushes some of Noctis’ fringe from his face with a soft sigh. He smiles, tempted to kiss his forehead. He almost does before he gets too nervous and quickly retreats from the bed, baby son in tow.

“Afternoon.” Ignis speaks up as Prompto steps outside still in his pjs. He practically squeaks at Ignis and Solis smiles before jamming a fist into his mouth.

“W-What time is it? I should have ran today.” Prompto asks, securing Solis in his arms.

“Two in the afternoon.” Gladio replies, glancing up from his book. “You sick? You’re usually up earlier than that.”

Prompto pales and groans.

“Noct woke me up super early with the baby. Just tired I guess. Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“We tried several times.” Ignis replies as Prompto sits in on of the plastic chairs outside the caravan.

“You was cuddling up to Princess.” Gladio adds making Prompto choke on his own breath.

“Perhaps you should change.” Ignis states, quickly changing the subject matter to save Prompto from choking.

Prompto glances down noticing his vest and boxers and turns crimson. How he’d forgot he wasn’t ready was a mystery.

“Um...Yeah can someone take Sol?”

“Bring him over here.” Gladio says with a smile. He’s always been a natural with kids, he’s had experience with his little sister after all.

Prompto carefully gets up, handing the baby blonde over to Gladio before heading back into the caravan.

“You’ll be lucky if they confess before you turn five.” Gladio mutters to Solis who grabs his hair and tugs.

* * * Prompto changes quickly and heads back out to the others and after a few minutes a groggy but dressed Noctis comes out and joins them.

Ignis gives them their late breakfast which is as expected cold but the boys don't mind. Solis watches them from Gladio’s lap, beaming when one of his parents looks over at him. Yep this baby was going to be the death of them.

Gladio adds to that by smirking and attempting to make Solis wave at them, the duo soften and play the game right back as they wave to their baby boy. Said baby smiles brightly and wriggles excitedly making the boys laugh a little.

* * * All of them need a bath.

Noctis showers first then after he's done he waits until everyone else is done to offer to bathe Solis. Mostly because he has no idea how to go about it.

“He's far too small for the shower. Use the bowl.” Ignis says, gesturing to the empty washing up bowl in the sink.

“With dish soap?” Noctis asks, holding Solis.

Ignis sighs and Gladio rolls his eyes.

“Plain water for now.” Gladio replies. “Warm. Not too hot.”

Noctis carefully heads over to the sink, running the water.

“We'll get the proper supplies later but this will have to suffice for now.” Ignis says glancing over at Solis.

Noctis checks the water and turns it off. He glances over at Ignis and looks lost. Ignis heads over and helps prepare Solis for the bath before Noctis carefully places him into the bowl.

Solis whines looking unsure of his first bath at first but Noctis calmly talks to him trying to reassure him.

“Ok what do I do?”

Ignis hands over a washcloth and carefully dips it into the water before gently helping wash the squirming baby. Said baby wails, still unsure of his first bath so Noctis decides to do something he knows Prompto would do, sing.

He sings a Lucian lullaby to Solis who slowly begins to stop crying and starts to stare at him in awe almost. Noctis is oblivious that the others are too and that a freshly showered Prompto is staring too, jaw dropped.

Noctis continues before booping Solis on the nose with a smile when he finishes before he realises the others are staring. He blushes and looks awkward.

“W-What?”

“Nothing. Just surprised is all.” Ignis mutters, finishing up helping bathe Solis.

* * * They drive up to Lestallum fairly soon after, Prompto curled up fast asleep in the front, Noctis and Gladio are on baby duty.

Solis clings to Noctis, sometimes wiggling a little in Noctis’ arms making little noises to himself as he wiggles.

Today Solis is wearing a onesie with a hood and his feet covered, it’s a rather adorable black Chocobo one Prompto bought and dressed him in, Noctis can’t complain.

His tiny foot kicks gently Noctis’ arm making Noctis glance down at him, asking if he’s ok. Solis yawns in response and bleps moments later making Noctis smile.

Gladio glances over and smiles before looking up at Noctis moments later. “So far he’s more behaved than Iris was. She kicked me and wailed whenever I held her for a month.”

Noctis snorts and gently rocks Solis. “I’d cry if some giant loud eight year old was holding me.” he jokes, Gladio flicking his forehead moments later with a smirk.

“Like you would have held her. You were five and thought girls had germs.” Gladio replies. “Still not out of that phase yet.”

Noctis rolls his eyes and looks at Solis. “Just never really liked girls or got why people liked sex. I used to think something was wrong with me in high school.”he mutters.

“Oh yeah Iggy found you in tears in your apartment.”

Noctis pouts a little and sighs. “Not my proudest moment. I never thanked him fully for dealing with that. We just figured out I was ace and gay then I just passed out against him. I think the whole thing drained me.”

“You did thank me.” Ignis pipes up.

“I did?”

“You was half asleep when you said it.”

Noctis blinks. Honestly that would explain why he doesn’t remember.

“Still thanks for that.”

“No need to thank me.” Ignis smiles softly.

* * * They fall into a comfortable silence the rest of the drive, just listening to the music and Prompto quietly humming along to it.

Prompto gets up and turns around to speak to Gladio and Noctis and also coo at his baby. They’re talking about Kings Knight when Gladio sneezes loudly making Prompto and Solis jump.

Solis’ makes a startled expression which honestly makes Noctis laugh by how funny it looks. Said baby ends up crying seconds after making Noctis quickly stop.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” he says quietly to Solis, stroking his cheek and looking guilty. Seconds later he hears a rather loud noise, glancing up at Prompto before speaking up.

“Prompto!” he cries, pulling a disgusted face.

“It's not me!” the blonde cries, looking over at Solis. “It's him.”

“Oh yeah blame the baby.” Gladio adds.

“I swear it's not me! It’s coming from the back!” Prompto huffs, looking over at Solis again when it stops, the baby looks startled, blue eyes turned a shade of pink and filled with tears. That makes Prompto pale and stare but he doesn't want to draw attention to it, maybe he's hallucinating. “Yikes how can someone so tiny make a noise that loud?”

It takes Noctis and Gladio a little longer to believe it. Calling bullshit before said baby starts to wail immediately after.

“Ew....Could you wait until I'm not holding you next time? ” Noctis mutters making Prompto snort.

You’ve changed his diapers and this is gross?” Gladio asks in disbelief.

“Aw don’t make him feel bad dude, he’s probably gassy...Blame Gladio’s monster sneeze for jumpscaring it out of him. Plus could be waay grosser just saying.” Prompto gently tickles Solis and coos at him. “Aww It’s ok my little bean…It's just you….Um...Random question but do babies normally get scared over their own gas?”

“Never call our son a bean again.” Noctis says, sounding offended making Prompto snort.

“Not like you've done it loads in the car...Can't decide if it's worse with the roof up or down.” Gladio pauses before nodding at Prompto's question. “Some do.”

The royal turns crimson and huffs. “One time! Plus he’s like right on my arm! I've never done it on anyone!”

“He’s wearing a diaper.” Gladio replies. “Babies do this.”

Noctis grimaces.

“You've been his age once Princess.” Gladio mutters. “You've been this “gross” once.”

“Plus I mean you've made the air unbreathable in the car more than once. Just no one knows it's you unless it's a SBD or they look at your face. You're not subtle. Sol seems to be the complete opposite.” Prompto says.

Noctis looks mortified, trying to sink into the leather of his seat, his face pure red.

“Guess Sol takes after you then.” Noctis replies still a little embarrassed, making Prompto turn red. He feels a tad smug for making the blonde blush honestly.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You woke yourself up once with yo-”

“Can we please change the subject matter to something less juvenile?” Ignis pipes up with a sigh, reaching for his can of Ebony and taking a drink.

Prompto quickly turns back around and sits down before speaking up again.

“Ok soo what’s our plans when we get to Lestallum?” Prompto asks quickly changing the subject.

“We’re meeting up with Iris.” Gladio replies. “Stocking up and staying in a hotel.”

“We’ll have to do hunts and stuff for money at some point...Right?” Prompto asks.

“Certainly but for now we should be ok. If we have to, we’ll see if Iris can babysit Solis.” Ignis replies.

“...You sure that’s ok?” Noctis asks. “We don’t know what he’s like without us.”

“Fortunately we won’t find out immediately.”

“Yeah.” Noctis replies, relief easy to hear in his voice. He glances down at Solis, finding him yawning. Long car rides make him sleepy too.

The duo decide to take a nap for the rest of the journey moments later.

* * * By the time they reach the hotel, Solis is in a makeshift baby sling around Noctis’ chest. Noctis and Solis are just about awake maybe more so when someone rushes at Gladio.

“Gladdy!” a familiar voice yells lunging at his waist and cuddling the shield. Said shield grins and ruffles her hair.

He practically lifts her off her feet when he hugs her making the teenage girl laugh a little as she hooks her arms around his neck.

“Missed you kiddo.” he says with a smile.

“Missed you too.” she mutters.

Gladio carefully puts her down after a few moments and she dusts off her skirt despite the fact that it's clean and doesn't need it.

She then fixes her hair the best she can before welcoming the others with a hug. She goes to hug Noctis before pausing the moment she spots the baby.

“Aww~” she coos with a smile on her face, glancing at baby Solis. “...You didn't steal a baby from someone...Right?” her face drops, looking worried.

“Long story but no.” Prompto replies. “He's Solis...Solis...We didn't talk about last names.”

“Argentum-Lucis Caelum.” Noctis mutters to him, Prompto blushes a little and nods. It feels special hearing their last names together, it makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He didn't expect a double barrel name and boy is it a mouthful but he feels like it fits Solis.

“Hi Solis~” Iris coos, gently offering a finger for Solis to grab which honestly he grabs the moment it's in reach. “I'm Iris, Gladdy's sister.”

Solis coos and kicks out a foot against the sling he's in before releasing Iris’ finger and yawning. Noctis smiles when he hears Iris gasp out how that was so cute and goes to stroking Solis’ cheek.

“I'll go secure us a room.” Ignis speaks up, heading into the hotel lobby.

“Ask if they have any cribs.” Noctis adds as Ignis walks in.

“Oh em gee, it's gonna be his first hotel stay.” Prompto mutters, glancing over at the little blonde baby.

“Where have you had him?” Iris asks.

“Camping and a caravan. He's not been around for long.” Noctis replies and Iris looks horrified.

“We didn’t steal him.” Noctis huffs.

* * * Iris stays with Noctis, Prompto and Solis in the hotel room while Ignis and Gladio head out for supplies.

Prompto’s had to change Solis into something cooler which seems to be sleepwear. A little black babygrow with gold text on the front saying nap king, along with a tiny crown. Iris coos at the sight and Noctis smiles softly muttering about how he is actually the nap king.

Noctis has the windows open but unfortunately it doesn’t help much. If anything everyone except Solis is suffering.

Prompto’s taken to wearing sleepwear consisting of a vest and pj shorts littered with comic book sound effects wrote on them and Noctis quickly follows his lead.

Iris meanwhile unfolds a pink hand fan and quickly fans herself with it, Prompto sits on the bed with Solis trying to steal a breeze as Solis is trying to steal the fan.

“I’m dying.” Prompto whines stopping Solis from grabbing the fan. Noctis leans closer and gently boops Solis’ nose as a distraction. Solis looks at him with his tiny mouth open.

“Same” Iris and Noctis reply.

“Jynx.” Prompto tiredly mutters, looking down at Solis. “How are you ok?” he asks his son who’s currently trying to grab Noctis’ hair.

“Hopefully he’s feeling a breeze.” Noctis says, offering Solis a finger to grab, he smiles when Solis grips onto said finger.

“So what’s the full story here?” Iris asks. “It feels like you two are a couple and somehow got a baby.”

“Not dating.” Noctis replies, blushing a little. Prompto covers his own red face and Noctis for a second thinks he looks disappointed by that fact.

“Really?” Iris asks, she was certain they finally confessed to each other but she was wrong.

Prompto and Noctis look at each other, taking a breath before trying to explain it all to Iris and by the end of it she understands, thinks it's a blessing even.

“Are you happy with all this?” she asks them both. The duo nod and smile, they gained something wonderful from this, how could they not be.

A single tear leaks down Prompto’s cheek causing Noctis and Iris to look at him.

“Prompto? You ok?” Noctis asks, brows knitting together, he leans over and wipes the tear away and Prompto's breath hitches.

Iris feels sorry for him, glancing at Noctis as the blonde breaks down.

“Maybe give us a moment.” She mutters to Noctis and the Prince nods, taking the baby and heading out on the balcony with Solis. He looks worried honestly.

Iris waits until the balcony door closes and speaks up, hugging Prompto close.

“Are you not happy?” she asks quietly, gripping onto his shirt.

“N-No. I'm super happy. Happiest I've ever been.” Prompto sniffles, resting his chin against her shoulder.

“Are you sure? This doesn't look like happy tears.” she mutters.

“I-I love Solis. I'd die for him Iris, I’d kill for him and honestly that scares me but that's not what's up.” Prompto replies.

“Then what is?” Iris asks, rubbing his back.

“I really love him.”

“Noctis?”

Prompto nods and sniffles.

“I really fucking love him...A-And it hurts.”

“Why?” Iris asks, pulling away slightly to look up at him. “Why does it hurt?”

“Cause...I-I know I'm not good enough for him. I'm just a pleb, I don't care about the fact he's a Prince...H-He could have nothing and I'd still love him. Just I keep falling for him more and more each day, even seeing him with the baby makes me fall...It hurts cause someone like me doesn't belong with him.”

Iris bites her lip and breathes out softly before speaking up again, hoping she doesn't get emotional.

“I think you're good enough for him.” she says, resting a hand on his arm, offering him a soft smile.

Prompto chuckles and sniffles, pulling away and wiping his eyes.

“Funny...He pretty much said the same thing too...Just different situations.” he glances outside at Noctis and Solis and sighs softly. “I should go calm him down. He's probably stressed out there, maybe worrying to the baby.”

Iris looks up at him as he carefully gets up.

“Are you sure you're ok?” she asks and he nods with a soft smile.

“Yeah...Sorry I got like….That.” he winces a little thinking back and she shakes her head, getting up herself.

“Nah, you're good.” She replies, pulling him into one last hug before leaving the room and deciding to give the boys their privacy.

* * * Prompto heads out to Noctis, speaking up before wrapping his arms around his waist, resting his chin against his shoulder.

“Hey.” Prompto speaks up.

“You and Iris done?” Noctis asks.

“Yeah...I missed my boys.” Prompto says.

Noctis snorts and startles Solis accidentally, before speaking up. "We missed you too."

“Ah you just broke so many girls hearts with that and scared the baby, you heathen.” Prompto jokes.

Noctis smiles and rolls his eyes. “Shut up.” he mutters with a smile making Prompto laugh.

“So...How was Solis?” Prompto asks.

“Ok this might sound weird but...I think he can summon...Or will be able to when he's a little older.” Noctis says making Prompto raise a brow.

“Why do you think that? Can you like sense it?”

“Nah I've seen his eyes glow pink one night and tonight.”

“What happened?” Prompto asks palling a little.

“ He got stressed out and he tried to summon someone to help comfort you but yeah nothing happened other than eye colour change. He got a little fussy and annoyed after that didn't work. I've never seen a baby look so grumpy.”

“That explains the eye change in the car.” Prompto mutters and gently stands on his tip toes, reaches over Noctis’ shoulder to soothe Solis via gently rubbing his cheek with a finger. “It's ok buddy, you don't need to make grabby hands at the astrals for me.”

Noctis smiles and agrees.

“Plus I think they're only interested in gossip on us. Can't see Ramuh coming down to hug any of us.”

They fall into a comfortable silence moments later before Prompto speaks up.

“Sorry.” Prompto mutters.

“What for?” Noctis replies.

“Worrying you both I guess, just emotions got the best of me. But I'm ok now. Don't worry.” he smiles softly and gives Noctis a gentle squeeze.

“You sure?”

Prompto makes a sound of agreement and glances down at Solis.

Their baby is clinging to Noctis, he looks up at Prompto and stares, drooling a little. Prompto is glad that Solis has nothing to stress about in his young life so far.

Prompto finds himself glancing at Noctis or as much as he can see of him as he cuddles him from behind and makes a decision, he slowly lets go causing Noctis to turn around and Prompto bites his lip as he does, seeing his boys fully and feeling happiness wash over him. He catches Noctis’ eyes and smiles softly, Noctis copying said smile.

The duo move closer, eyes glancing at each other's lips, then back up at each other. They continue it for a few more seconds before attempting to lean in, they're meer inches apart before the balcony door opens and startles them apart.

“Did I interrupt something?” Ignis asks and the duo shake their heads nervously.

“N-No.” Prompto replies, Noctis seems too awkward at this point to even speak up.

“...Just came to tell you we got supplies, lunch should be ready soon and we acquired some baby supplies. We found a product that is basically a three in one: shampoo, conditioner and body wash specifically for infants.”

Noctis nods and glances at Solis in his arms. The blonde baby sneezes and whines causing Prompto to gently wipe his nose with his shirt. Noctis’ heart thumps against his chest at the sight. It's weird such a gross thing can make him fall more for Prompto but it does. Both Solis and Prompto will be the death of him. His two rays of sunshine.

“So round 2 of actually bathing him this time?” Prompto asks, looking up at Noctis.

“...Huh?..O-Oh Yeah. Totally.” the Prince replies.

“Use the bathroom sink. I don't feel confident with him being in the bathtub with one of you just yet. Far too small for that.” Ignis says, handing Prompto a bag.

“I thought you only got that magic three in one stuff?” he asks the chef.

“I took the liberty of getting him a washcloth or two along with a couple of towels.”

“Oh em gee! You are a lifesaver!” Prompto almost yells, rushing over and hugging Ignis.

Ignis smiles and gently hugs him back.

“I wouldn't go that far, he did need the supplies.” Ignis replies before glancing over at Solis. “He appears to be distracted.”

Solis is staring up at who knows what and Prompto is reminded of himself looking at Solis, wide eyes and mouth slightly open. Noctis has photographic evidence of Prompto making that exact face when he's seen something of interest.

“He's either super focused or zoning out.” Prompto says.

Noctis glances down at Solis and smirks before looking up to where the baby is looking.

“Holy shi-....He's staring at a huge bird on the roof.” Noctis says, eyes wide. They've been near a bird that Prompto once said was three halves of different things and this one is tiny compared to that but it doesn't stop Noctis staring and holding Solis closer.

Prompto follows Solis’ line of sight and startles a little. Astrals. It looks like a bird of prey and honestly makes him feel terrified, it's not the one from Gladio's tattoo but it’s got talons that Prompto doesn't want to mess with.

“Magnificent creature.” Ignis mutters.

Prompto currently looks like an angry Chocobo as he stares at the bird of prey. “I don't trust it.” he huffs. He's terrified it'll try to get their baby and looking at Noctis, he feels the same.

He almost screams as another flies over with food but softens when he hears noises. Tiny calls.

“They seem to have offspring.” Ignis mutters, smiling a little when he spots a couple of smaller grey chicks.

Noctis agrees and points the chicks out to Solis, Prompto is sure he hears said Prince say “They're babies, like you.” to their son and honestly Prompto melts.

Prompto gasps when he catches sight of one and rushes inside to get his camera, almost running into the balcony door.

* * * Prompto and Noctis do baby bath time that night. Prompto on holding duty while Noctis lathers up Solis’ fluffy baby hair.

They switch come wash time and attempt to make Solis distracted enough as to not wail. The baby so far isn't found of his sink bath, teary eyed and whiny.

Distraction comes in the form of playing/singing themes from animes and video games they like. Solis just stares at them in awe before blessing them with his first ever giggle. It's an adorably bubbly giggle, honestly it makes Noctis think of Prompto in a weird way.

His laugh makes him feel warmth and like laughing himself, this tiny giggle from their sunbeam has a very similar effect too.

The duo may gasp and yell for Gladio and Ignis after said adorable moment but also make the duo swear not to tell another soul how they got Solis to giggle for the first time.

“My little sunbeam~” Prompto coos at Solis when they dry him off and honestly Noctis agrees with the nickname. It fits perfectly, so much it kind of sticks.

* * * Come night time, Prompto carefully lies Solis down in a cot the hotel provided. He looks anxious to put their baby in it.

“What if he gets scared?” he asks, looking over at Noctis.

“We'll be right here ready. Prom his crib is right near our bed. Easy access if he needs us.” Noctis says, honestly he's unsure too but he's just quiet about it.

Prompto swallows and carefully leans into the cot, kissing Solis’ head before climbing into bed, he smiles when Noctis does the same, he notices Noctis put something in the cot and raises a brow. He should ask about that.

Everyone wishes each other goodnight or everyone who can talk that is. Prompto practically beams when they all wish Solis goodnight.

Prompto leaves a light on for Solis before whispering to Noctis.

“What did you put in his crib?”

“Carbuncle.” Noctis yawns.

“Carbuncle?” Prompto sounds lost.

“He's kinda like something that goes into dreams, protects you from nightmares. He's a little fox thing. Sol will love him.” he mutters to Prompto and doesn't miss the blonde smile.

“I hope he gives our baby safe dreams.” Prompto sleepily mutters before drifting off surprisingly before Noctis.

“Yeah, me too.” Noctis yawns, joining him moments later.

* * * Prompto wakes in the night to check on Solis. Solis starts coughing and Prompto panics, scooping him up and patting his back gently.

Solis sniffles and Prompto realises his baby has a cold. Poor Solis' nose is all stuffy and his eyes are wet probably because said cold is bothering him.

Prompto rubs his back and sighs, he shouldn't worry over a cold but he is. His little sunbeam seems irritated by the cold. He wishes he could take it away from him.

“Why didn't you wail?” Prompto asks quietly carefully climbing back in bed with Solis in his arms. Solis whines and Prompto tries to soothe him. “I know buddy. Colds suck.” he mutters, kissing his head.

Solis is fussy the rest of the night and Prompto stays awake trying to soothe him, unfortunately that means he’s still awake by the time the others wake up, as is Solis who sniffles and cries which honestly breaks Prompto’s heart.

It makes sense the baby would get a cold at some point but Prompto had no idea it would be so sucky for Solis. Honestly he feels like crying for him honestly, he can handle lacking a few hours or more if it means he can be there for his son but he can't seem to handle his baby having a common cold.

“...-Ompto,is everything alright?”

“...Huh?” he glances over to the source of the voice to see Ignis looking concerned. He must have zoned out.

Prompto sighs and gently rocks Solis, glancing over at Ignis.

“Sol’s got his first cold.” Prompto replies. ‘He’s been awake for hours and really fussy...I think it's really bugging him and I don’t know what to do. I want to fix it for him.”

Noctis heads over, feeling Solis’ head. The look of relief on his face is instant when he realises Solis doesn’t have a fever.

“He’s too young for pills so I think we just have to wait it out.” Noctis says with a sigh, Prompto whines tiredly and Solis copies which would be cute if he wasn’t grumpy from his cold.

“Just keep him hydrated.” Ignis replies. “And away from crowds.”

“But that means we’ll have to stay put until he feels better.” Prompto yawns. “How do we get breakfast?”

“Room service.” Noctis adds, reaching for the phone causing Gladio to sigh.

“We have a stove y’know. Iggy can cook for free.” the shield mutters.

“Plus it would save funds.” Ignis adds causing Noctis to sigh and lower the phone back down.

Noctis sits next to Prompto and puts an arm around him, Solis sniffles as Noctis pulls the duo closer.

“He’ll be ok, I promise.” Noctis mutters.

“But what if-”

“If it gets worse we’ll go see someone. But he doesn’t have a fever, he’s not throwing up or anything. We’ll monitor him, I swear.” Noctis mutters.

Prompto rests his head against Noctis’ chest. “He’s so grumpy right now, I feel bad for him.”

Noctis gently strokes Solis’ cheek trying to soothe him.

“Sleep it off...Sunbeam.” he mutters continuing to stroke Solis’ cheek until the baby falls asleep.

Prompto yawns and Noctis changes positions so he’s lying down with them both, he carefully takes Solis from Prompto and holds him close.

“Prom. Go to sleep, your eyes are bloodshot.” Noctis mutters trying not to disturb their son.

Prompto nuzzles his side and yawns, he falls asleep fairly quickly after, hoping Solis doesn’t feel as bad later on.

[mythicamagic]

Send you a fandom, naruto

Character I first fell in love with: Kakashi

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Gaara

Character everyone loves but I don’t: Ooh controversial. Ok well...I've never really been that big of a fan of anime Sakura. No, it's not because she was 'weaker' than Naruto and Sasuke during their Team Seven days, I just never really connected to her character. The creator basically admitted that he never had a plan concerning her character and I just think it shows. Her character development is all over the place. I liked her during her fight with Sasori, but ultimately I wanted her to let go of her fixation with Sasuke. I don't hate the girl, I hate how she was written. She is portrayed waay better in the manga however. I have also read fanfiction for her and I do like some portrayls of her there, probably because she's given more time and attention there. 

Character I love but everyone else hates: Sasuke. I mean I don't love love his character but I never hated the guy. 

Character I used to love but don’t any longer: I've liked all the characters on pretty much on the same level since the start of the series. I haven't watched or read Naruto in ages though.

Character I would kiss: Shippuden Gaara.

Character I want to slap: Orochimaru, he's just super slimy.

A pairing I love: Sasuhina...Yes I know it's strange, total crack ship. But the fanfiction for them is awesome. I can see it as a thing. I also like NaruSaku, Gaahina and SasoSaku. Yes I like mutiships and crackships in Naruto. I think this series is the one I just gave up on following eventually and just read fanfiction for it. My ships are pretty strange and nonsensical for it.

A pairing I hate: I'm sorry, I don't like SasuSaku. I really disliked the ending for Naruto. Yeah I know Boruto is a thing. No I don't watch or read it. The ending just felt so rushed and awkward. Even though people do ship Sasusaku, I feel bad that they received such an awkward, stilted ending even if their ship became canon.

[crownedcryptid]

State of Tia and Friends address 2017:

Why haven’t I updated the comic in 5 months?

tl;dr I think drawing pages takes too much time and isnt fun for me, not too many people seem to be interested in the series anyways, and i myself am kinda hardly interested and really don’t enjoy the process of making pages because of my poor digital art skills and art skills in general.

There are a few reasons why I haven’’t updated the comic.

For one thing like I said in the anniversary post I’ve been busy with school. My senior year of high school presented me with waay more work than I expected and college is doing the same (heck, getting into a college was a ton of work too). Everything in regards to school has settled down at this point so, what else is the problem?

Well two things, one is personal, and one is kinda rude and selfish:

Personal reason, I don’t like how the comic pages are turning out, I don’t really like how the current issue in particular is written, and I just don’t like drawing digitally...at all. I think my drawings on paper always look better than what I do in SAI. Sure I just need to “practice and get used to it” but I can’t really bring myself to do that since it’s just like...so unmotivating to me idk. I can’t really explain it other than “I really don’t have fun when I draw digitally and it feels like such a tedious hot-key-pressing-ctrlz-crtlz-ctrlz process”.

The “selfish” layer to that is that well...nobody really cares, right? I mean I know I’ve gotten fan art and some complements but just like, for how much time I dedicate to drawing each page I don’t feel like there are enough people who care to make me care. Plus i spend so much time drawing pages and i rarely ever think they even turn out good. I KNOW THATS RUde i’m sorry but its more like, if this comic is not actively making people happy then i should just move on a make something else that people might enjoy more. There’s also the element of how “you should create for yourself not for others” that everyone inspirational always says and, I don’t think i care about my webcomic any more to an extent? I have spent so much time thinking about the plot and characters and potential things that could happen that i’ve just gotten bored of my own concept.

So if it’s frustrating and time-consuming to draw out, if not too many people are really invested in it, and if i am low-key not invested in it, why should i keep working on it?

Now I say all that but there is still a part of me that wants to see more of it completed, and i don’t have any other ideas for things to turn to and create instead so, I’m sure the series won’t be canned.

It’s just going to take me a while to want to work on it, and it’s going to take me even longer to be able to look at it and be proud of it because of how poor some of the writing and drawing is.

So sorry! I’m working on it, internally!

:D

[gostaks]

Hey Alan! I just saw a post about different types of allistics on my dash... one of them was "The 'Ally'™". I'm allistic and I want to know how I can be a good ally, so I thought I'd ask about certain things mentioned in the post so i can avoid doing them! What are person first language and functioning labels and what can I do as an allistic to be an actual ally (not an “Ally"™)? Thanks so much!

okay, first of all, I’m going to assume that you meant [this post]. If not, sorry. Second, I’m not going to get this perfect. I’m viewing this as a bit of a first draft, which (note to self) I will edit at some point.

definitions: person-first language is “person with autism” as opposed to “autistic person”. Please use “autistic person”. I dealt with functioning labels later in this disorganized hell-post. 

So here’s my stab at allistic ally 101

1) You follow the same rules as if you were an ally for any other group: [Here’s a pretty good ally 101 article], but it’s not the end-all-be-all. Keep listening to autistic voices, and if we contradict the rules hold our voices higher. 

Also, above all, rule #1 of allyship is don’t be a shithead–come to conversations with the intention to listen and learn first and treat us like human beings (this is particularly critical with disability rights)

2) Our voices are the important ones: this is important with being an ally to any group, but autistic people often struggle to communicate or express ourselves. Be patient. Ask people how they’d like to communicate and be prepared to be a bit flexible.

Some autistic people use AAC (Alternative or Assistive Communication), and their voices matter just as much as verbal people’s. You don’t have to learn ASL or anything, but don’t assume that because someone’s not communicating verbally they’re less intelligent or competent. And, even if someone can’t communicate using language (or communicate at all) don’t assume that they don’t have thoughts, feelings, and needs.

3) Nothing about us without us: knowing an autistic person doesn’t make you an expert on autism. BEING an autistic person makes you an expert on autism. If you see anything claiming to help autistic people that doesn’t prominently feature Actual Autistic People, don’t support it (unless Actual Autistic People are telling you to support it, see #2)

This goes double for any charitable organization focused on autism which leads me into point number 4 (also from here on out things are a bit smaller-scope, that doesn’t make them less important):

4) Autism Speaks is trash: [and] [here] [are] [some] [sources] 

If you want to support charities try ASAN and The Autism Women’s Network

5) Please don’t try to “cure” us: I’m dealing with some internalized ableism with this one, so let me turn you over to Anya Ustaszewski who in [this article] writes:

My autism is part of who I am. It is not something “extra” that can be taken away from me to suit the agenda of an intolerant society. My abilities, challenges and perception of the world all go hand in hand. If I were to be “cured” of my autism, the person that I am would cease to exist.

so yeah cure = bad, acceptance and accommodation = good

6) Celebrate the things that make autistics unique: lately, tumblr has gotten a lot more stim-positive, but stimming isn’t solely a pretty, paint-mixing or slime video (in fact, stimboards are rarely tagged and can overstimulate the SHIT out of me). 

A lot of time, stimming is viewed as ugly, distracting, loud, disgusting, or socially unacceptable. Support your local autistics, don’t expect people to stop stimming and try not to stare or comment (many autistic people have to work very hard to reclaim stimming after childhoods of expecting to suppress it entirely).

Also, try your best to support different cognitive styles and processing issues. Try to keep your websites accessible, provide image transcripts, try not to make posts that are entirely text in images (like screenshots of twitter posts), and help to subtitle videos if you can.

7) steer clear of stereotypes: I’m not rain man or that dude on the big bang theory or your cousin’s dentist’s sister’s younger brother’s son. The ‘idiot savant’ stereotype is almost never true and puts unreasonable expectations on autistic people. Also, not all of us are good at math or science, have incredible memories, etc. Fitting or not fitting stereotypes don’t change the fact that every autistic person is human and deserves rights and respect.

8) functioning labels are fake: never listen to anyone who describes autism as “high” or “low functioning”. Every autistic person has struggles, and putting labels on functioning basically sorts people into “can be ignored” and “subhuman”. [here’s about a million posts about why they suck because if I put it all here this post would be five times as long]

9) ABA is trash: this is trigger territory for a huge number of autistic people, so [here] and I’m not going to say anything else just take my word on this one

10) If it has puzzle pieces on it, run: if you’re looking to see if a group is okay, look for the rainbow infinity sign. The puzzle piece is a huge red flag. Please don’t support anything with puzzle pieces on it. Please. I’m begging you.

Okay that was WAAY longer than I meant it to get, sorry. Also, I’ve missed a bunch of things, but I’ve been working on this for an hour and I don’t have the energy to add more. I’ll throw this in #actuallyautistic and hopefully someone else can add anything important I missed.