#this is what happened after round 6. they're fine

[chill--cat]

ivantill but i drew them in an excel spreadsheet

Tried to make smaller versions after realising i was working with way more pixels than usual.

i love spreadsheet yippee

[danieyells]

@2flowerz also asked for Lyca so

NOW WITH 100% MORE DOGGO LYCA. HE IS DEFINITELY A HUMAN AND NOT A WEREWOLF. He is trying very hard to be a human. I love him very much. . . .

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

"...You again. Where're we going today?"

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

"Hey, you got letters. Don't you have to read them? Oh, don't you know how?"

he understands if you can't read, man. neither can he.

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

"You smell sweeter than usual today... Stop. Go away."

after learning that the pc is going to turn into the anomaly that cursed them any sort of 'you smell nicer than normal' feels like such a threat lmao

"You want to touch me? Fine. Ten seconds and that's it."

that is more than enough my good sir

"When I find Neros, I wanna prove I've been getting along with humans. Then he'll definitely let me live with him."

considering he related the term 'neglect play' to what Neros did to him. . .I'm not so sure. . .and if Neros was as old as he sounds like he was, I wonder if he's even still alive. . . .

"Hey! Moth-eaten Casanova! Where'd you go? I'm gonna show you my special move today."

"special move" in Japanese is 「必殺技」 or 'lethal move'/'killer technique', usually unique to a person or fighting style. Not sure if he wants to show Ed how cool he is or try and kill him lmao--

"This phone thingy they gave me keeps making noises and making me jump... Why do I gotta carry it everywhere? It's scary!"

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"Mnn... Let me sleep... Don't touch me... Zzz..."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Laws, school regulations, anomalous law... Manners, morals, rules... How're you s'posed to remember all that?"

man i wish i could tell you. . .i've mostly got the morals in order, that's basically just 'don't do harm to others' when you get down to it. laws are about 50% 'don't do things that may endanger you or others' and 50% bullshit. the rest you're kinda on your own with.

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Urgh... My skin's crawling... Moon must be gettin' round soon..."

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"At first I was sad 'cause I got put in a different house to Suba, but all kinds of stuff happens here every day so it was fine."

awww he was sad because he doesn't get to see Subaru as often but he's not bored so it's alright! glad he's comfortable ;u;

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"H-Hey, don't come so close! Somethin' about your scent makes my stomach feel weird!"

WE'RE ONLY ON AFFINITY 5 DUDE YOU CAN'T BE CATCHING FEELINGS THIS EARLY it's probably because he's scared of girls or something lol

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I didn't do anything wrong! Those guys were saying mean stuff about me 'cause they thought I couldn't hear. All I did was yell at them."

I hate how they won't even let Lyca defend himself verbally. . . .

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I don't mind classes. The teachers say cool stuff. Once I learn to read the textbooks and the notes and the blackboard it'll be perfect."

HE'S GONNA BE SUCH A GOOD STUDENT WHEN HE CAN READ???

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"There was this big noise in our practical class and my ears popped out. Everyone ran away screaming. Damn it..."

wow they're cowards if the ears alone scared them. . .how're they supposed to deal with anomalies if that scared them!?

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"This? It's a picture book, duh. How come you don't know that when you're a human? I study with it before bed, everyone does it."

I wonder who made him a picture book of all the things he'd be learning as a first year to study with. . . . . .or maybe it's just a generic picture book lol

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"This blanket's not trash, it's just dirty. I can't sleep without it, so hands off."

he really loves that blanket huh. it must be one of the only things he had from his childhood or from being looked after by neros. . . .

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"What's a "so-shul skill"?  That blond gigolo was talking about them. He said I don't have any. Is that a good thing?"

he's got social skills!! Just. . .not very human social skills!!!

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I'm starving... I wanna eat Sho's food, but I can't order it without Suba... Wait, you can read, right?"

Lyca slowly realizing how many people he knows can actually read and thus can help him with placing orders for delicious foods--

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"That moth-eaten Casanova's in his room all day so I tried to take him for a walk, but he locked his door and ignored me. The hell?!"

LYCA CONTINUES TO SCRATCH AT ED'S DOOR COME FOR WALKIES ED!!!!

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"That stupid blond gigolo ran off with my blanket. I'm not done sleeping yet..."

tbf your blanket is filthy. . .and I get it, it's what you've got and it smells familiar but. . . .

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"I can't get back to sleep... I'm gonna wake up that moth-eaten Casanova for a walk."

lyca is a dog scratching at your bedroom door with his leash in his mouth like 'yes it is time for walkies now rise human'

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"The teacher asked us to name an anomalous plant you can eat but when I did he said humans can't eat it. So what? I can, so I'm not wrong."

I AGREE WITH HIM HE SHOULD NOT GET THAT MARKED WRONG. if you only want a human applicable question say 'humans' not 'you.

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"In the last place I never knew what time it was and I pretty much just slept all day. Now I gotta get used to having a "roo-teen.""

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I'm drawing. If I draw all the good stuff and bad stuff that happened every day I won't forget about it."

if he could write he'd keep a diary but since he can't write he's keeping a picture diary. . .and he's a really good artist according to his character story, so it's probably a pretty faithful recreation of whatever happened that day. i'd love to see his picture diary. . . .

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Huh? The blood on my bed? ...It's nothing. Don't touch my stuff, you're gonna get your smell all over it!"

WHY IS THERE BLOOD IN YOUR BED, BUDDY. ARE YOU OKAY??? IF YOU ATE SOMETHING IN BED THAT'S FINE I JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO BE INJURED. . . .

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"...Did you cry? Your scent is all squeezy. How come?"

smelling you sad makes him sad too so tell him why you're feeling sad and he can make the sad go away?

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I wanna go to the cafeteria, but the teachers won't give me my pocket money. They said I'll get "spoiled." The hell does that mean?!"

GIVE HIM SOME MONEY SO HE CAN BUY FOOD???? HE NEEDS TO EAT????? HE'S BUSY WITH CLASS SO HE CAN'T GO ON MISSIONS YOU CAN'T JUST STARVE THE BOY????

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"That moth-eaten Casanova told me humans like it if you ignore them sometimes. Something about playing hard to get? I'm gonna try it tomorrow."

I wonder if that has anything to do with Subaru's home screen chat where he wonders why Lyca hasn't messaged him back. . .he's trying to play hard to get because he thinks it'll make Subaru like him more. . . .

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I'll stay here and be quiet at night, even when the moon's not round. 'Cause you're tired, aren't you? Go sleep."

even if he doesn't have to stay or even if he wants to make lots of noise, he'll stay and be quiet so it's easier for you to fall asleep. He won't be loud and you don't have to worry about him! so sleep tight!

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Sleep here. Huh? Is there a law that says we can't sleep together? There's not, is there? Hurry up and lie down."

it's pretty much innocent. . .he just wants you close by. . .being able to smell you while he sleeps would probably make it easier to fall asleep. . .feel safe and familiar and everything. . . .

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I'm gonna work hard... I'll gonna work so hard, they're gonna say I can live with humans forever..."

Lyca, despite being a werewolf, is a lot like Kaito in that he just wants to be a normal human. Except he never started as a normal human, so he has a bit further of a distance to go to become one. . .he's not a dog, he doesn't wanna be a pet or an animal or anything like that. He wants to be a person like everyone else. But it's hard when others reject him, and when everyone says they think he's too dangerous even when he hasn't done anything wrong. Other ghouls--other humans--do way worse stuff than he does, and yet he's still held to a higher standard. It's not fair. But he's working as hard as he can to catch up. . . .

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

"That blond gigolo tried to wash my blanket! He's never coming in my room again!"

he does not like spring cleaning--

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Lately there's flower smells everywhere, but sometimes there's one that kinda smells like you."

IT'S GONNA BE HILARIOUS IF THE ANOMALY THAT CURSED YOU HAPPENS TO LIVE IN OBSCUARY'S FOREST. . .LIKE YEAH IT'S JUST OUT THERE IT WAS ALWAYS ON CAMPUS IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU WE COULD'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS CURE BEFORE YOU GOT IT.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Harurin kept nagging, so I went to the safari park. Not gonna lie...it was super fun."

I love that Lyca uses the nicknames Rui uses for some people lol and I bet he loved running around Jabberwock!!! All that fresh open air and the wildlife. . .he's a wolf at heart really and truly.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Cherry blossom petals are super fun. They're like, whoosh, then they fall everywhere. I wish our house had some."

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

"Urgh... My head...it hurts... This? It's shaved ice. The blond gigolo told me to eat it so I don't get "heat eggs-aw-schun.""

oh buddy you're eating it too fast. . . . . .

(between 11am and 4pm)

"I was just in that moth-eaten Casanova's room and it was so cold I thought it was gonna snow! Is he secretly a yeti?"

okay it was only 63 degrees in there it wasn't THAT cold Lyca.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm gonna go practice swimming at Harurin's place. Can you do other stuff besides doggy paddle?"

I can't swim at all so. you are miles ahead of me my friend.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I know I said I always wanted to do sparklers, but... you sure this's okay? I thought we're not s'posed to play with fire!"

canid instincts are kicking in--fire BAD and SCARY and DANGEROUS. ABORT MISSION.

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

"I just tried to join in with some guys playing with a ball, but they said I don't know the rules and told me to go away."

THEN TEACH HIM THE RULES god they're such jerks around here.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Blond Gigolo was makin' this massive fire near the garden just now. It smelled all burnt and sweet... Is that some kinda ritual?"

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Finished my picture. That Romi guy who comes to the bar all the time said he wanted one, so it's for him."

Romeo does like fine things. This just goes to show how good of an artist Lyca is! I bet Romeo's gonna frame it and put it somewhere people can see lol or maybe just keep it in his room. . .that or he wants to see if he can get him to make a forgery and profit off poor Lyca--

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Moth-eaten Casanova said humans like looking at the moon... D'you get sad if you can't see it?"

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

"I'm gonna go play at that big ice castle after class! Huh? 'Cause playing in the snow's fun."

THE FROSTHEIMERS BETTER NOT GIVE HIM TROUBLE LET MY BOY RUN AND ROMP IN THE SNOW!!!!!!!

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Mm, I don't really feel the cold. Humans get warm when they run around too, don't they? Race you over there! "

he is having so much fun in the winter ;;;;; just running around and playing. . . .

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"My fingers have been gettin' all tingly and stiff and my hair's all crunchy! What's up with that? "

maybe playing in the snow a little too much lol--

(between 8pm and 5am)

"How d'you drink hot drinks so quick? They always burn my tongue... Huh? Dogs have sensitive tongues? I'm a wolf, not a dog..."

His birthday: (April 19th)

"Oh right, it's my birthday. Neros told me my mom wrote down the date."

Your birthday:

"It's your birthday, right? No, I only know 'cause that blond gigolo was yelling about it. ...Here's your present."

I bet he drew something really nice or found you something really cool ;3;

New Years: (January 1st)

"Hope you have a happy and prop...props... prosp...prospinous? new year... Damn it, I practiced that for ages..."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"Oh, thanks. Professor Nicolas said I can't eat chocolate, so I'll give it to Casanova and Gigolo!"

why would you even risk giving him chocolate in the first place lmao. . .also in Japanese he says "I'll share with those two idiots" instead of "casanova and gigolo" lmao

White Day: (March 14th)

"This is for you. I dunno what kinda stuff human girls like, but Suba helped me pick it, so it's prob'ly fine."

Subaru knows girls' tastes is Lyca's logic I guess lmao Subaru is a lil on the femme side comparatively--

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"Why's everyone being so mean today?! Telling lies and laughing at me... They're all jerks...!"

please explain the day to him. . .people are mean enough to him as it is. . . .

Halloween: (October 31st)

"My ears and tail are out? I know, I'm doing it on purpose. The moth-eaten Casanova said it's okay today."

THE ONE DAY HE CAN BE HIMSELF IS HALLOWEEN BECAUSE NO ONE WILL THINK ANYTHING OF IT. . .they'll just think it's a cool costume or maybe a fox robe! And he'll get candy for it!!!

Christmas: (December 25th)

"Hey, look! When I got up this present was next to my pillow! Santa really came..."

WHO TAUGHT HIM ABOUT SANTA. . .AND WHY. . .then again Romeo said Santa's reindeer is real so. . .it probably isn't actually harmful to teach him about Santa since Santa's probably somewhat real here. . . .

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

"...I'm going for a walk."

(13 affinity and above)

"Hey, you alive? Huh, you're breathing so I guess so."

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

"How come you stopped coming? Do you hate me? It made my heart all squeezy, so don't do it again."

oh no sweetie. . .sometimes we just have to take care of things and disappear without wanting to. . .sometimes life gets in the way instead of finding away. . . . . . . .

JUST. . .SWEETEST OF SWEETHEARTS. HE'S SO CHILDISH AND ADORABLE AND SWEET AND GOOD. . .I WILL USE MY TEN SECONDS OF PETTING TIME WISELY. He really does try harder than anyone, he's so determined and I believe in him so much. I want my boy to be happy.

[whinlatter]

sorry if you've discussed this before, but do you think ginny's quidditch talent came out of nowhere? it's a common criticism I see about her but I feel like that kind of overstates how much of a quidditch "star" she was at the beginning, like she was consistently described as good but not great until partway into hbp and I also think it makes sense she'd keep it a secret from her teasing brothers. but maybe they're right and I'm just biased towards defending ginny

thank you for the question, anon!

the short answer is - no, i think it's (just about) plausibly rendered in the books. i think the series gets away with it because:

the story is told from the perspective of a teenage boy aka peak obliviousness in corporeal form, so we see what harry sees (and harry notices big fat nothing)

there is an entirely adequate narrative explanation for ginny's sporting skills that most readers not operating in bad faith* can put together, as you suggest: ginny comes from a sporty family who are all good at quidditch; she is of middling-to-good seeking ability when she first joins the team in ootp; she then has a good few months flying several times a week where she would necessarily grow in confidence and experience, leaving her perfectly able to blossom in hbp in a high school sport where she is competing against other children. fine and dandy in my book.

also quidditch is a broadly dumb and pointless plot so ginny being good at it is just a fun extra that we don't need to deep too much because - let's be real - quidditch is a waste of page space.

*i say this because, most of the time, these takes come from those who don't like hinny as a pairing. which is entirely their right and prerogative! it personally doesn't float my boat to spend my days doing worst faith readings of the text in order to make the case against canon ships i don't like, but as this is a race to the bottom - we are all adults dissecting children's books written by a nasty spiteful woman rotting in her mouldy castle spouting slurs, after all - who am i to judge.

(i also suspect the 'ginny is good at quidditch out of nowhere' takes have enjoyed such a long shelf-life on eg. reddit because the films are still most people's primary reference for HP takes so complaints about them then get cast back on the books - and, in the films, ginny does in fact rock up in film 6 like she's mbappé, if mbappé had the charisma of an extraordinarily soggy bath mat.)

with that said... could it have done with a bit more foreshadowing? yes, probably. people who don't like hinny as a pairing and prefer another are never going to be convinced - that's fine! but here i am, a paid-up hinny supporter, and even i think ginny's character development is sometimes wanting, to a frustrating and problematic extent. good writing (usually) means showing not telling, and it's weird and lazy of jkr to be so slapdash about revealing this and other character details about ginny and other (often female) characters. i think it's particularly striking that jkr underserves characters (again, usually women) who exist to serve the emotional development of characters (usually men), rather than the mystery plot(s) that drive hp as a series. (wanted! tonks' personality! last seen making fake pig noses and being the only auror mad eye moody mentored as his successor, for no plot reason!)

while i'm not a die-hard adherent to the chekhov's gun principle, i think one of the strengths of many novels du jour - especially the nothing really happens postmodern novel that crowds the bookshop shelves these days - is that their conventions allow authors to add colour to characters without each tiny detail being pregnant with meaning and in service of a driving plot that must be marched forward at all times. that can be really nice! as readers, we like to get a sense of characters as well-rounded living breathing people who go for a wee and take the bins out and stick on an album because it slaps every now and then; in these novels, we're also happier with the idea that things can happen to characters beyond the protagonist that don't directly impact the plot or demand the protagonist knows more than their own very limited vantage point. you have more room to play with character as a result.

jkr, ofc, isn't that kind of author. jkr is in fact an author for whom everything about her characters serves the plot. this, after all, is the brain that brought you 'remus lupin' the werewolf, and named the bad-guy-turned-good-guy in a book using a big black dog as a red herring omen of death 'sirius black'. jkr wants her audience to notice clues and remember little details about characters because they might be significant later on. this is entirely her wont and - lupin and sirius aside - she's often very good at it. the hp books are all standalone mysteries, and, when they land, those mysteries slap. ginny being the culprit in CoS is a genuinely satisfying resolution to the whodunit plot: this was reflected in critical reception at the time and was part of the reason why hp was able to be marketed as a children's book adults would also enjoy thereafter. there are also very satisfying foreshadowing and mystery plots that straddle the entire series and that reward the reader with reasonably good pay-off at the series end. (my favourite is the foreshadow within the foreshadow - e.g. regulus black barrelling back from ootp in DH, but then regulus' plot turning out to ultimately exist to foreshadow snape's own double agent status... delicious).

for my part, it's also what i want out of the fiction i read and the stories i try to write. i want everything to mean something. i want the weather, clothing, setting, body language etc to all do heavy lifting. i want character work to do work. it makes it fun for me to write and (i hope) it can it a bit more fun for the reader.

the problem is that while jkr is good setting up some mysteries, she is bad at others, and the romantic plot is one she falls down (a bit) on. she sets herself up for this: she wants to be a plot-centred mystery writer, so she does have an obligation to do better in how she deploys character details. jkr does to try to write the harry/ginny romance like a mystery, with little hints throughout the series up to the reveal of harry's feelings for ginny in HBP. (even ginny's full name is nominative determinism, finally revealed in DH once the reader has been told her place in the plot - ginevra, so guinnevre, the hero's queen). and while i will never not tire of pointing out to all of reddit that harry/ginny didn't come out of nowhere, and there is some satisfying foreshadowing knocking about here and there, i think it's fair to say that the harry/ginny build-up is not as satisfying as it could have been because jkr is basically lazier about the clues that ginny is the character harry will ultimately fall for, while she is much better at dropping clues for the series' central plot. that ginny ends the series with no real resolution of the primary tensions that motivate her other than her love of harry is probably the most acute example of this. but there's lots about her character where jkr phones it in a bit in fleshing her out or taking it to any logical conclusions or interesting plot directions. a smattering of examples:

ginny is the character who spends the entire series demanding to be included and not underestimated ends the series... with no real major role in the battle other than causing harry panic, while all other central characters receive a satisfying narrative arc that speaks to their central motivators across the series as a whole. (for an interesting discussion of what should have happened with ginny and the horcruxes, see here. i didn't even pay @saintsenara to write this!)

there are lots of shades of colour to ginny's character that are introduced pointlessly. i have previously talked about my beef with arnold the pygmy puff. we know ginny is popular but we know nothing of her friends who are all faceless plotless nobodies. we know ginny supports the all-womens quidditch team in a way that implies a nascent feminist politics after a childhood being excluded from playing a sport she loves by her brothers - yet we know nothing of it. we know ginny loves the one wizarding band that seems to exist because she has a poster of them on her wall and it just.... is something we just get told about her. now, all of these suggest ginny is a good time gal and a right laugh at the pub. and that's nice! i too am fun at the pub! but why does it matter? it wouldn't, in another series. but in a series where Everything Matters, it really stands out.

now..... i don't think all of this is an unsolveable problem for those of us writing fanfiction about ginny or harry and ginny as a couple. i don't think this makes ginny an inherently bad character. i hope the amount of life i have wasted thinking about this character is testament to this (...) and i personally find trying to cook up some fleshed-out characterisation and a satisfying arc for ginny, and for female characters more generally, from the crumbs of the original source material to be a very rewarding way to pass the time and a fuck you to a woman who thinks she can gatekeep womanhood while writing some astonishingly antifeminist fiction. i think harry and ginny are a deeply compelling and eminently plausible couple, and i think i return to writing about them as much as i do because i think they have a ton of potential as narrative mirrors and as characters with a rich well of tension but also devotion between them. as i say a lot, i think one of the things the harry/ginny pairing does refreshingly well compared to other romantic lead couples in YA fiction is show a couple that, at heart, genuinely get on very well, have a laugh together and enjoy each other's company in completely mundane lovely day-to-day ways (laundry and taxes u know). i think that's a striking and refreshing dynamic that i like to spend time fleshing out and playing with and writing about. but i can also see that there is an inconsistency in jkr's character work here, particularly her character work writing female characters, of which ginny is among the most acute examples.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Just how scary are Voldemort and the Death Eaters exactly? Because when you look outside of it [the story] and sort of disconnect with it, they [V & the DE’s] seem sort of cartoony and unserious.

But if you really dig deep into it, and connect yourself with it, just how chilling and sinister are they?

Well, I tried to get a grasp on how much damage the Death Eaters actually caused in the books for my analysis of Voldemort. After all, he was giving them the orders (at least in the first war). So, I detailed the evidence for how many and who was killed in the two wars and the difference between them here.

As for how scary that makes them, honestly, the Death Eaters are probably scarier to me when they don't have Voldemort at the helm. As I explained in the post I linked, when Voldemort’s around and controls their movements, less people die. When Voldemort actually cares to be involved we don't get muggleborns randomly being rounded up. Voldemort is more strategic about waging war. He aims to harm only whoever he needs to harm. He isn't sadistic or cruel for no reason. If Voldemort orders something done (especially in the first war before he kinda gave up), there is a reason for it that runs deeper than: "I felt like it".

I mean, the majority of Death Eaters aren't incredibly competent, intelligent, or magically powerful. That's not the risk with them. The risk with them is their number combined with cruelty and lack of any form of control.

In book 7, we have Snatchers who get paid for bringing in witches and wizards who say Voldemort’s name, we got muggleborns being rounded up, Amycus and Alecto Carrow are at Hogwarts torturing children. In book 6, it's mentioned they destroyed a muggle bridge — all things that just didn't happen in the first war. They clearly act as terrorists and don't put too much effort into making the government now in their control actually competent for its people (even pure-bloods) but only good for those they like.

Basically, in terms of government, they just exasperated the shitty nepotism already there. In terms of actual acts of terrorism and battles, we don't see much, but we are led to believe more are happening than what we actually see on page. With characters mentioning repeatedly throughout the final two books how people are disappearing.

So, I don't know how I'd rate Death Eaters terror from 1 to 10, mostly because they really aren't that competent on an individual basis. But with Voldemort being off after the Elder Wand in books 6 and 7, you see how they lack control. They aren't competent because they don't care to be, they are just collectively lashing out and that makes them dangerous. It makes them as a group hard to predict and practically impossible to negotiate with.

With Voldemort, you can convince him not to kill you in certain circumstances, he can be convinced to show mercy (unless your name is Harry Potter), then he'd give the order and you'll be fine. Even if he kills you, you know it'll most likely be quick and painless (killing curse). The way we see it in book 7, you need to convince each new individual Death Eater to leave you alone, and even then there are no guarantees. The majority of them could promise you one thing and turn back on the promise in a heartbeat if they can gain even scraps from it. And they are more likely to torture and make it a humiliating experience.

They also don't share information with each other, like, barely at all. Each one of them is trying to climb up over the other Death Eaters, so without Voldemort coordinating between them, they're not working effectively as an organization. Voldemort practically made sure they wouldn't be effective as an organization. He encouraged exactly this kind of environment among them; not trusting each other, not knowing who everyone is, only sharing important information with him. And this works well for him for micromanaging them, not so much when he just leaves them for their own devices for months on end.

What we see them do in book 7 is a mess and if the Wizarding World's government wasn't a joke the Death Eaters would've failed to take over on their own and Voldemort wouldn't actually want to take over as he shows again and again he doesn't actually care for ruling.

Basically, the Death Eaters are dangerous because you have a group of bloodthirsty violent people with a superiority complex and nuclear weapons (wands). That's terrifying. Not because they are competent or effective in battle or government or anything, but because someone who isn't the brightest and has no self-control is not a person you want threatening your life.

(Obviously, some Death Eaters as individuals aren't like that. Snape is incredibly competent, the Malfoys aren't particularly bloodthirsty, etc, I'm talking about the average nameless/name-dropped Death Eater)

[sumicchin]

CHIMES OF THE HEART

❃ a wind breaker (satoru nii) reader insert

Chapter 6

Umemiya regrets telling everyone that conversation = fist fight. (1.9k words)

cw: female reader, umemiya spoiler, tsubakino referred to as they/them, i made up stuff about makochi

"You're just going to let her go, Sakura?" Suo says next to him, eyes not tearing away from the direction you went.

Sakura clenches his fist, forehead scrunching from the sudden stress, "I..."

"(F/n) probably won't go out of town, r-right? She did say she had to find something! I'm sure we can help her out!" Nirei optimistically says as he catches up to the two after giving Kakiuchi to his other classmates. He takes a good look at Sakura's face and sees his eyes wide.

Sakura is reminded of your conversation last night—of how he saw himself in you, and how much pain your eyes held.

It wasn't his concern, but he knew you needed help. He wasn't letting anyone go through what he did before.

"Sa...kura?" Nirei attempts to calm him down, until he sees Sakura take out his phone.

He gestures his hand towards the phone and Nirei becomes even more confused, "I need to call him... he'll know what to do."

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Umemiya, despite his childhood, grew up to be a fine man. No one would imagine that a well-rounded guy like him, oh so cheery and charming, experienced hell on earth as a child. Anyone would feel bitter about losing their parents, and Umemiya was not free of that. He struggled, thinking he wasn't deserving of being saved.

Survivor's guilt.

But he grew to see what was important in front of him—to honor his parent's sacrifice by giving back love to those around him. To make everyone feel like family, and never let anyone feel like they're alone in this world.

"You're...amazing, Umemiya," you both stare into each other's eyes, holding massive respect for what he's been through and how he achieved his goals.

Umemiya chuckles, ruffling your hair, "I didn't tell you my story to pity me, you know? Was hoping you'd reconsider and stay here in Makochi, with us."

With...them?

It's too strange. Everyone in this town is strange. Were city folks always this welcoming towards outsiders?

"I don't want to keep bothering anyone...I can't go back to the shrine so I'm practically homeless." Supposedly, you were to be taken away by your husband after the vows, but now you aren't so sure if he's hot on your trail. But one thing was agreed upon—the shrine people and all its inhabitants except you were to remain unharmed. So long as you didn't go back to your previous residence, everyone was safe. Hayami, the friendly Mikos and the priest who you were thankful for secured the shrine. If anything else happens, Sojiro can take care of it. He was strong, unlike you. Everyone can trust in him.

Unlike you, already causing havoc in a new place.

"Sakura must be uncomfortable with me staying at his house," you mutter. "It doesn't sit right with me to live like everything's handed to me."

You're thankful, really, for the help you've received thus far. But how were you going to repay the kindness they've showered you with if your tracks only lingered with danger?

"You're all too kind... I'll carry the guilt of bringing danger to this town if I stay too long."

An overthinker that you are, Umemiya observes. "Makochi wasn't always like this, you know?"

He proceeds to tell you how Makochi used to be terrorized by delinquents day and night, the local businesses having trouble with their operations and families often fearing for their safety. Umemiya mentions a couple who led and funded the restoration of Makochi's properties, him in particular being a recipient of their kindness.

"The orphanage I grew up in was funded by a couple," he starts, pointing at the statue nearby the fountain. "I discussed the situation with the staff earlier and had my hunch confirmed. Everything checks out, you'd be the same age as their child if she were alive today. You're a split image of them too."

Then, that means...

He shows you a picture from his phone. Just like he says, you had their features.

Umemiya notices your trembling figure, immediately reaching out to pat the small of your back.

"I could've met my parents."

You grab Umemiya's blazer tight, tears threatening to fall from your eyes, "They're not gone yet, r-right? They're waiting for me?"

For once, you held onto hope—but Umemiya's look said otherwise.

"I'm...sorry," he says, almost whispering.

You couldn't help but let the tears flow uncontrollably, hanging onto Umemiya while he continued to calm you down in his own way. He knows the feeling all too well, and this time he'll be sure to help you out.

"Even if you were an outsider, we'd still help you to the best of our capabilities." He says, wrapping his arms around you, shielding you from any negative thoughts. "I...and the rest of Bofurin will protect you, (F/n)."

You look at Umemiya, giving you a bittersweet smile. "Welcome back, (F/n)."

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Sakura, Nirei, and Suo found themselves walking to the park where Umemiya had instructed them to go. They eventually find Bofurin's leader and (F/n) in an embrace.

"Oh, if it isn't my favorite first years!" The boys look at the new group approaching them, led by Tsubaki and the Sakaki twins.

Sakura immediately signals to keep quiet, earning him a chuckle from the newcomers. "It's all fine! Ume told us to gather here, didn't you receive a message?"

Nirei checked his phone and lo and behold was a message from their leader, "Ah! We were too occupied searching for (F/n)."

Suo lets out a grin next to him, "It all worked out in the end, thanks to Sakura's plan!"

Said boy became heated from the mention, saying it was all Umemiya who did the work. He knew it was the right call to let Bofurin's leader handle the situation seeing how at ease you were next to him. Almost like they were intruding a special moment between two lovers at the park. He blushes at the sight, feeling a pang in his chest.

Now aware of more people's presence, you immediately get out of Umemiya's embrace and bow your head down, not letting him see your puffy red eyes and runny nose that may or may not have gotten into his uniform. He places his hand on your shoulder and gently asks, "Think you can face them?"

Standing up to acknowledge his peers, you turn your head towards the large group of students now approaching their leader. "Yo! Looks like everyone's here," Umemiya scans the group, "Even Kaji came, that's surprising!"

Kaji tenses at the special mention and feels all of his peers stare at him. His vice-captains laugh and Enomoto talks for his defense, albeit in a teasing manner, "Kaji said he wanted to fetch his jacket back and definitely not because he was worried about 'er or anything." Now this puts a nail in the coffin and everyone swore Kaji would've pounced on his friends if it weren't for Hiragi pulling him back.

"You're all too lively," Tamon's captain says as he drags Kaji by the hoodie, "Give (F/n) a break, don't wanna overwhelm her."

You watch the boys bickering and Umemiya notices the faint smile from your lips.

"Fun bunch, aren't they?" You nod.

"You can trust them, just open your heart."

Trusting them, a couple of teenagers who seemed rough around the edges, with your heart?

Maybe you should let loose this time. Umemiya, Kotoha, and Sakura are just the few people you've met today, yet they all radiate the same warmth and comfort you've been yearning for all these years. If everyone shares the same kindness, you'd probably think you're living in some kind of fantasy.

Recalling Hayami's last request for you—to live an earnest and free life. Maybe you can trust them to achieve it.

In a daze, you didn't notice someone approaching you giddily, almost a hope to their step.

"I'm so glad you're doing better now!" A tall figure immediately stood in front of you, but it didn't phase you one bit. Their presence wasn't trying to intimidate you. "I'm Tsubakino Tasuku, but Tsubaki-chan or anything will do, love!"

Tsubaki lets out a wide smile, enthusiastic to see you well and standing despite your puffy eyes and cheeks. You stand still though, and this immediately raised a concern with everyone.

"A-ah, did I scare you—"

Your eyes suddenly twinkle with excitement, and you yell what was running on your mind without a filter. "You're really beautiful! Very much!"

"It's a great honor meeting you!" Shaking hands with Tsubaki, everyone was startled with the sudden change in personality. This was most likely the enthusiasm you've been hiding all these years, suppressed by loneliness. Umemiya beside the two of you finds your exchange with Tsubaki very endearing, already making notes on how he'll elicit this kind of reaction from you soon. Hopefully you like plants!

Tsubaki on the other hand was already enamored with you, listening to every word you say. "Your hair and the way you dress, and the makeup really accentuates your features! The ones I see in the magazine don't compare to Tsubaki-chan!" You stop your rambling and see Tsubaki endearingly smiling at you with a blush.

"S-sorry! I just, get too excited seeing new things." You chuckle and Tsubaki does too.

It's hard to resist not taking you out this weekend, Tsubaki thinks. The trip will probably take a huge hit on their savings, but money can always be earned. Seeing your smile is a reward in itself for Tsubaki.

Everyone watches as Tsubaki continues to coddle you, happy to see you engaging enthusiastically. Suo lightly pushes a blushing Sakura, whose romance sensor has been going rampant since earlier, towards you and Tsubaki.

"H-hey! What gives?!" Sakura exclaims towards his eye-patched friend who only signalled a gesture for friend, linking his hands together.

Oh right, you probably hate him right now for what he did earlier at Pothos. Tsubaki seemed to understand the situation with how tense the two of you were, patting your head before leaving to stand next to Umemiya.

Just you and Sakura again, this time not so comfortable. "U-uh...about what happened earlier," his mouth becomes pouty, struggling to look you in the eye but he does so anyway, "I shouldn't have forced the idea...s-so...sorry."

His irises were trembling, searching desperately for a reaction from you. Sakura, despite his tough and standoffish attitude, always meant well and tried his best to help his peers. Last night's conversation was purely between two aloof individuals, both yearning to be in the presence of others, yet their struggles distinct. Hearts that were afraid of being vulnerable, not knowing if they were worth of affection.

"You were just looking out for me," you trail, "It's me who should be apologizing...for being stubborn."

Similar to how Anzai tried to reject everyone's help during the fight with KEEL, there was no escape from Sakura's headstrong personality. He'll find a way to worm in and help you out. He was just that selfless.

"He probably filled you in already on how this town operates and stuff," Sakura points at Umemiya, referencing his request earlier during their phone call. "Violence isn't something this town's had enough of."

"So you don't have to worry about us. Don't be afraid of asking for help, that's just how it is here."

You were indeed afraid. The concept of friendship and trust blurry to you not until yesterday, with Sakura declaring he was there to help you out, as a friend. It was a foreign feeling, and the boy reciprocated the confusion you must've felt before his bold intrusion. Even he was surprised by his actions last night. Everyone in Makochi must've been rubbing off of him—in the best possible way.

So, he tries to apply what he's learned so far.

"If you're still not convinced, let's settle this with a fight."

Or not.

"H-hey now, there's a time and place for fighting Sakura." Nirei visibly sweatdrops, "You can discuss things with (F/n) like a normal person, you know???" The boy looks to his other side and sees Suo with an approving smile. This is hopeless, Nirei concludes.

"If you win, I'll let you do what you want. If I win, you stay here in this town and let us protect you."

Hiragi, Tsubaki, and Umemiya all look confused.

Kaji and his vice-captains are all in awe with Sakura's naivety.

The Sakaki twins think this is a regular Friday. They've heard about you and how you can fend for yourself, so front row seats to see the real deal were nice.

The two first years, Suo and Nirei, were concerned, but Suo was just a tad bit curious to intervene. Nirei on the other hand thought otherwise.

Surely you're not that crazy enough to actually go with it?

"Fine with me," you reply.

Nirei just wants to curl up and do the pillbug stance right now.

tag list: @wutap, @the2ndl

[thalialunacy]

[for the @calaisreno May Prompts for Crown & Country. I am back?]

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) 18: blanket (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31)

The baby monitor startles to life and kicks John awake -- awake, but only just enough to reflexively and somewhat violently shove off the heavy weight on top of him. The weight makes a grumpy sound and attempts to sling arm and leg back round, and John's brain catches up with itself. 

His head thunks back onto the pillow. 'Sherlock.' 

'Hmmmph.' 

'Rosie.' 

'Yes, fine, go.' But he doesn't actually move.

John wonders for a moment if he's gone round the twist officially, to be sharing a bed with a sea urchin.

But then the creature snuffles into his neck, and John extricates himself with a sleepy grin.

Two mornings later, after falling asleep alone while Sherlock did fuck-knows-what in the lounge for hours, John wakes up with a thump and finds himself on the floor next to the bed. 'What the--'

He's fairly certain he hasn't lost his proprioceptive capabilities during the night, so he glares when Sherlock's head appears over the side of the bed.

'Oh, dear,' Sherlock says distantly. 'I was wondering if that would happen.'

'If what would happen?' John grumbles as he stands and pushes his way back under the duvet.

Sherlock remains on the other side of the mattress, though, brow furrowed. 'If two people with our… histories could share a bed with any sort of regularity.'

John chews on this for a moment, thinking of his own behaviour a few mornings prior. 'D'you mean, should two people with nasty PTSD from recent near-death events share a bed?' he finally replies, settling on his back with a loose arm in obvious, but unforceful, invitation.

Sherlock sniffs, hesitates for one more moment, then accepts. 'Yes, obviously,' he says into John's shoulder once he's settled himself.

'Well,' John says, hand running slowly over Sherlock's arm, 'let's do worst case scenario.' 

It's something they do when Sherlock is caught in what John calls a "wonk spiral," facts and deductions swirling so fast and down such sparkling pathways that he's in danger of losing the plot, in more than one sense.

'Obvious,' Sherlock says.

'Doesn't matter,' John replies, same as he always does. 'What is it?'

'That we end up, quite literally, hurting each other.'

'And how can we prevent that?'

'We can't,' Sherlock says, exasperation plain in his voice.

'Sure we can,' John replies easily. 'We still have some of those corner-protectors for the furniture, yeah?'

Sherlock pulls back. 'You're suggesting we toddler-proof this room, but not for the toddler.'

'Easy.'

'Hmm.'

John pulls him back down. 'It's fine, Sherlock. It'll get better.' He knows this from past experience. 'We just… try not to trigger anything while we're awake, and we'll deal with it if it happens otherwise.'

'You sound very confident,' Sherlock murmurs, voice growing heavy with sleep.

'I've had more therapy than you,' he replies wryly.

He feels Sherlock start to tangle their legs together, then pause, then slowly move so they're connected but not holding each other down.

'See?' he murmurs into Sherlock's hairline. 'We're fairly clever. We'll be fine.'

Sherlock makes a noise somewhere between a harrumph and a sniff. 'More than fairly, I'd say.'

'Obviously,' John says lightly, grip on Sherlock's upper arm tightening momentarily. 'Now, sleep.'

And Sherlock, miraculously, does.

[ <3 ]

[abrushwithdeath]

((So, long awaited life update on why I haven't really been around in the last couple months:

I've been working full time all year when I was only supposed to be doing part time- this is fine, though, because the extra money is good and my sister and I finally booked a trip for next summer that we've been trying to save money for for 8 or 9 years, so that's great! But that does mean that I have a little less time than anticipated, and as a night owl who now has to be used to being up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning to get ready for work, that adjustment hasn't been easy ^^; But it's been made even LESS easy by the fact that about a month ago we took in a tiny kitten who was crying underneath our house. We named him Remy (after the one and only Remy LeBeau <3) and I love him dearly... but kittens are also a lot of work because they get into EVERYTHING. And they're so small that they can fit in small spaces that you didn't expect. On top of that, he's had to be quarantined since we got him because he still hasn't been tested for FIV (he had an appointment for his shots and a check up at the beginning of the month and my sister was supposed to ask them to test for FIV while she was there but she didn't... so now he has to wait until I take him next Tuesday for his second round of shots and see if they can do it while he's there THIS time). Being quarantined has meant we've had to keep him in one room at all times (which is what we would have done, anyway, while he's this little- it also allows for slower meetings of the older cats which will help them possibly get along better when they're finally around one another more). We will also be getting another kitten if he tests negative for FIV because it's not good to have just one kitten under 6 months, even with older cats around (there's something called "Only Kitten Syndrome" and it can lead to a lot of behavioral issues). Anyway- because of watching him, I've been only getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night every night for a month and it's running me a bit ragged ^^; Then there's the worse stuff (tw: death, cancer, for those who want to avoid those and stop here): Early last month my grandmother passed away pretty unexpectedly after a week or two in the hospital recovering from a fall. Come to find out she'd had a stroke (and had been having a lot of mini ones that she didn't know were strokes and kept playing off as just "old age") and every time they stabilized her, she got bad again soon after. There was no funeral or anything, which somehow feels worse and has consistently given me this weird feeling of "did this really happen or not?" because I didn't even get a chance to see her in the hospital before she passed. My father also had a bunch of polyps removed from his intestines over the summer and the largest one came back testing positive for cancer. They just this week ran more tests and, thankfully, they cancer hasn't spread to his heart or lungs, but they DO need to do a pretty big surgery to remove a piece of his intestine very near to his colon which is a risky procedure because patients are more likely to bleed out when the surgery is done in that area. After the surgery, he'll be in the hospital for a few days to recover and for them to keep an eye on him, and then he'll have 6 weeks in which he can't really do anything except rest because he'll risk injuring himself and/or internal bleeding. Last week, my aunt's partner (they weren't married, but they had been together for 7 or so years) passed away and, while that didn't have a big impact on me (because I didn't know him well), it was still rough on her and some other family members, so that was also... not great.

But, yeah. It's been a rough couple of months and I'm very, very, tired. I do want to come back because I miss writing Rogue, but it's gonna be a little bit longer, especially with all the things going on with my dad. Thank you all for your patience and understanding in the mean time <3))

[reccyls]

The King's game Halloween bonus story is so funny and also extremely interesting.

So King's Game = participants draw lots that have numbers marked on them, except for one that has a dot on it. The person with the dot is the king, and calls out numbers, then the people who have the stick that corresponds to the number has to obey whatever order the king gives.

Crown is doing a king's game for halloween, and it, well.

Practice round: Harrison is the king. He orders #6 to give him their pudding. It turns out to be Elbert. But, Elbert already ate all of his pudding, because it was decorated very prettily and he wanted to have it. So Harrison goes, that's fine, give me Al's pudding instead. Since Alfons is Elbert's servant, that's basically the same thing. And Harrison hasn't forgotten or forgiven the incident where Alfons ate his chocolate pudding

Round 1: Jude as the king orders #3 to work for him for the entire next day. Everyone else is dreading being chosen. Only... #3 is Ellis. Absolutely nothing changes. Ellis is all smiles as he says "looking forward to tomorrow too, Jude"

Round 2: Kate is the next king. She says #1 and #5 have to put their arms around each others' shoulders and say 3 nice things about each other to help build camaraderie. It's Roger and Alfons. Immediately Harrison says, "Oh that's the worst possible combination you could have picked".

Alfons wants to get this over with quickly so he rattles off his list of 3 things: Nice glasses, nice shirt, nice vest. Done.

Roger just laughs and actually decides to give 3 genuine compliments about Alfons. He says that Alfons used to be all cute and innocent way back in the past which is very ���. I'm not sure if we've ever found out beforehand that they knew each other for that long. Liam also says this is the first he's hearing of it.

Anyway, Roger's next 2 compliments are also apparently genuine. Throughout all of this, Alfons is holding onto his glass so hard that it cracks.

Round 3: Liam is the next king, and he orders #7 to say the tongue twister "Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards" really quickly without biting their tongue. It is Elbert. And he tries. He really really does, poor boy. Alfons calls it off "before El dies of blood loss from biting off his tongue"

Round 4: Roger as king. He orders #7 to put #8 on their back and do 30 pushups. Then the next day, one of them has to be his test subject. #8 is Ellis... and #7 is Jude. Oh dear.

But Jude does it, and as he gets down to start counting his pushups, Elbert is standing off to the side still trying the tongue twister.

It takes Jude a little bit, but he does get to 30. And immediately after he finishes, he storms outside to smoke. Elbert also finally manages the tongue twister and just says that he's tired.

So next round will be the last one.

Round 5: William is king. He orders #3 to give him a loving kiss.

Oh would you look at that? #3 is Kate. William says that she can kiss him any place that she likes. So she ends up kissing the back of his hand like she's swearing an oath.

And that's the king's game!

...Or is it?

Alfons and Roger are both whining about how tamely it ended and they both start chanting "One more round, one more round" in unison. Everyone gets their turn to appeal to Kate to extend the game even more. Some (like Ellis) say that they're really excited to obey Kate's orders, and others (like, say, Roger) say how they're looking forward to giving her orders.

In the end, the game continues. But as for what happens next, I quote, "What happened between me and then 9 villains that night... Unfortunately, I don't think I shall be able to talk about it. It is just our forbidden secret."

[sinner-sunflower]

P.2 HH Lucifer-centric AU 20/?

STORY 1, PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 14.5, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 21, PART 22, PART 23, PART 24, PART 25, PART 26

Surprise! Early update teehee

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

Lucifer was roused from unconsciousness by murmurs—some panicked, others with anger, and a few laced with authority.

A sudden wet sensation against his face jolted him awake, causing him to flinch and startle the person beside him.

Lucifer: C-Charlie?

Charlie: Oh dad, thank goodness you're awake!

He lets out an 'oof' when he suddenly got an armful of his little girl. Not that he's complaining.

Lucifer: Uhm, did I pass out?

Charlie: Yeah. I don't blame you, though! I can't even begin to understand what you were feeling after witnessing that. Vaggie still hasn't woken up. She's up in our room; Cherri's watching her. Sorry we couldn't take you to yours. You put up wards there too.

Lucifer: That... what?

Charlie: What do you remember, Dad?

Lucifer: I remember being in the palace with Adam organizing my files and then Nifty came and said- Shit! Heaven!

His abrupt attempt to rise left him lightheaded, causing him to sway unsteadily before collapsing back onto the couch where he had been lying.

Charlie: Careful!

Lucifer: I can't believe I passed out. Again!

Angel: Yous should really stop doing that, shorty. Makin' all o' us worry for ya.

Angel appears out of thin air and handed him a bottle of water, expression filled with concern. He gives the actor a 'Thank you', accepting the offering.

Lucifer: But what's going on now? What happened to the ang- body? Did anyone else see it?

He doesn't like the look Charlie and Angel gave each other. Not at all.

Charlie: Dad... it wasn't just one body.

Angel: The fallin' shit we was seeing before? Those were angels too. As far as we can tell, they are littered all over the Ring.

Charlie: Rosie and the cannibals are more than willing to help with collecting them but there's too many bodies to round up even with their numbers.

Lucifer: They're still falling?

Charlie: Alastor and some of the magic-using sinners have put up a temporary barrier since you were out for the count. There's still a few bodies coming down but not as much.

Angel: The city looks fucked as hell. No pun intended.

Lucifer: Alright. Tell Rosie to take the bodies to the Embassy. I'll set it on hellfire to dispose of the corpses. Wait-

Lucifer's eyes scanned the surroundings, searching intently for a bunch of someones. Frustration etched lines on his forehead as he realized that they were nowhere to be found amidst the chaos.

Lucifer: Are the Sins here? What about Adam? Oh Father, I left him back there with Nifty!

Charlie: That's another problem-

She gestures quickly and wildly hearing what she just said.

Charlie: - But it's not Adam! He's still back at the palace, don't worry, I checked. In one piece-

Angel: Tch. Unfortunately.

Charlie: I think he's pretty shaken up by the whole thing too. He's refusing to leave the palace.

Lucifer: O-okay. That's fine. I can work with that. What about the Sins?

Charlie purses her lips.

Charlie: ...The impact of some of the fallen bodies damaged our communication systems.

Angel: Yous fancy elevators are also not working.

Charlie: Yes. I've opened the hotel for Hellborns that got stuck here that wanted to. But with the elevator down and having most of the demons here that aren't sinners being imps who do not have access to strong magic....

His daughter's words trailed off, conveying a sense of concern that Lucifer could keenly empathize with. Most of Hell's forces resided in the lower Rings, but with their current inability to even contact them by their usual means only makes their position more dangerous.

Determined to find a solution, Lucifer attempts to conjure a portal, his brows furrowing in concentration. However, to his mounting frustration, it proved futile. So he tries again. Nothing. And again and again and again.

Lucifer: What the hell?

With a flick of his hand, an apple materialized out of nothing. He briefly transforms into various forms—a snake, a bird, before returning to his normal form. A sense of unease is gnawing at him.

Everything seems to be fine so he tries to make a portal again. Fucking nothing.

Lucifer: W-why isn't it working?!

Angel: Hey hey. Maybe you're just having performance issues. Calm down.

Lucifer: I can't calm down! Why can't I make a portal?! I-I need to see them. I need the Sins!

Charlie: Dad!

But he can't. He's panicking and he feels himself beginning to spiral again until something struck him hard across the face, causing his head to swivel to the side.

He slowly looks back and realizes that Angel Dust just slapped him. A sinner dare to slap him. Him! The fucking King of Hell!

Anger begins to boil inside him until he really looks Angel in the eye. The porn star is looking back at him with eyes full of worry and concern.

It seems the other realizes what he's just done too because his eyes widened and he scrambled forward, multiple hands cupping Lucifer's face gently as he softly patted the spot he had just struck.

Angel: I'm sososososososo sorry, baby-uhm uh Your Majesty! Oh my god- I mean- gosh-sorry, am I allowed to say God? Ack! I did it again. But I'm so sorry, I don't know why I did that. I mean- I know why. You were about to have a panic attack and I really shouldn't have slapped you though. I totally could've just kissed you and you'll snap out of it all da same but we can kiss oh wait the strawberry pimp might actually murder me. I'm really really so-

He was cut off by Lucifer giving him a hug to which Angel all but melts into.

Lucifer: Thanks, Angel. I needed that. Don't make it a habit though.

However, their brief moment was shattered by a flash of light outside, followed by a shockwave that reverberated through the ground, sending tremors rippling through the hotel. A chorus of screams followed.

Lucifer: What was that?

Lucifer sounds like a broken record. He really needs to stop fainting and missing stuff or Katie Killjoy will call him a weak ass bitch in her next news segment.

Angel: It's the same light show we witnessed a few weeks back.

Lucifer: Michael?

Charlie: It's not aimed at us, Dad.

Angel: Pfft. Yeah, for now.

Charlie: But it's been going off so much. Whatever's going on up there... it's bad.

Angel: It's probably that, ain't it?

They don't have to say it out loud to know that the 3rd Heavenly War is happening. It had only been short of a month since he met with Michael and now things have escalated to the point that Michael is wrecking havoc upon his own people.

A weak part of him feels bad for his brother for being put in that position.

Lucifer shudders. When Roo told him of his death, he was in disbelief. When Michael showed him his Fate, he was not afraid. But now that the war is actually here, he only feels dread at the thought of what is bound to happen next. He can almost hear Roo's laugh.

With no way to get the Sins, all they have are sinners and some imps to defend themselves. It's only a matter of time before the mess in Heaven reaches them and cuts his thread.

Lucifer: Okay. For now, our strongest players are me, you, and the overlords. So, call them here. I need to speak with them.

Charlie: What are we going to do, Dad?

Angel: What's the plan, boss man?

For someone who kept wishing for death for over ten thousand years, he never wanted to live to see tomorrow more than now.

Lucifer: We're going to defend our home.

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

Appledust is like a guilty pleasure ship. There's something about 2 broken souls finding togehter that gets me.

They are platonic in this fic tho. Radioapple is my life

I also promise that Lucifer is only gonna pass out one more time. for the last time

oops

[ocdeeznut]

Commander and his second. (Red and Blue.)

(-A first draft stream of consciousness melancholy fever dream. I have not slept it is 7am.-)

Lance shoulder-checks the door on his late night stumble into the hallway, gasping a yawn into an unfurled hand before elegantly smearing it down his face. Dry skin, tacky eyes, a weakness in his legs. He recalls scraping his alarm clock with his knee, the time reading something completely incomprehensible in Altean. 'Maths is universal' my ass, he muses, puling out his phone and blinking at it headily as he walks. 3:30. Ouch. They're up at 6 for group training, now that Keith is parking his ass in the castle for longer than 60 seconds at a time. He snorts to himself, and briefly wonders if tired-piloting is the same as tired-driving, and if it could land him a fine. He debates slipping down to the hangar, just to sit with bl- red. Red. Right. He's the red paladin now. The right hand. Keith's right hand. He looks down at his phone again, nearly buffing the wall as he rounds a corner, hankering after a good cup of coffee.

What a load of bullshit-

THUNK.

His phone hits the ground before he does, sprawled out atop his own limbs like a baby giraffe in space. And there, towering above him - like he always is - Keith Kogane. Still in his Blade's issued uniform, he reeks of stale blood and B.O. Those dark eyes have the nerve to look pitifully down on his second as he extends a hand. Lance, in what he thinks is appropriate cool-and-smooth fashion, slaps it away, awkwardly cobbling himself back to his feet.

"Keith. Wasn't expecting to see you up this late." Red comments, curtly. "Ditto." The black paladin crows. His voice is creaky, thick with exhaustion. Now that Lance gets a good look at him, he's... lacking fight. Haggard and pale, new cuts and bruises glanced across the scarce amount of skin Lance can see. The red paladin wonders briefly just how many scars Keith is hiding from him, under that sleek black leather. "What time is it?" "Like 3:30-something, last I checked." ".. Fuck." "Don't say 'fuck' Keith, it's crass."

"Fuck, sorry." He is not, arms over his chest, fingers curled against his biceps.

Touché.

"We're up in a few hours, so uh. Get some rest." Keith samples leadership.

"If that was gonna happen, dude, I would not be stood here with you in this dark, dark hallway." Lance spits it back out.

"Right, no. Of course. Do what you have to, and don't be late tomorrow." "Today." Red helpfully supplies. "You're uh, dismissed..?" The subject of said dismissal gawks. "You can't dismiss me from a -hallway- in the ship I sleep in, this isn't a board meeting." Lance grimaces, and steers himself back onto course - the main kitchen. He was getting coffee, Keith or no Keith. Quiet footsteps fall behind him, and then louder ones as the black paladin remembers he doesn't have to hide his presence in the castle. What a strange person he'd become. Their fearless leader, living a life of concealment and solitude. How lonely that must be. He shakes away the sympathy before it makes a home inside him.

-

The bright lights of the kitchen hurt his eyes, and Lance bemoans such to himself, making every effort to keep his griping from Keith's prying ears. They'd made the tactical discovery recently that the man's hearing was almost twice as effective in range and clarity as the average human's.

Which would be sick, if it wasn't Keith.

But he hears him, like he always does, and stalks off to fix the problem in that begrudging, duty-bound manner that's supposed to make him seem long suffering and martyred. He scans something against the indent below the light fixture, and smacks away at an airborne keypad for a few seconds. The atmosphere around them shifts to an admittedly much more tolerable dim yellow. Lance grumbles his thanks, and Keith just nods his head sluggishly, dead on his feet. "Why don't you take your own advice, hm? Go to bed. We need the black lion operational tomorrow. That can't happen if you're passed out until noon."

"Don't tell me what to do." "I wouldn't have to if you weren't so pig-headed. You're still in uniform, man. You reek." Keith actually has the decency to sniff himself, and Lance bites down on a laugh as he recoils from his own underarm. "Message received. But I'm not tired." "Bullcrap. You look exhausted."

"I am."

And Lance understands what he means. Hell, he's feeling it too. There's this odd collision of interest now, and he goes about making his coffee in silence, with dark eyes watching him from the corner.

He pulls open a stiff drawer at hip-height, crouching down to reach inside for his stash of dark roast coffee - sourced from a space-mall excursion a few months ago. He keeps it sealed in an airtight container, in a paper bag, in the back of the most neutral temp cupboard on deck. It's not great stuff, some cheap American bastardisation of actual dark roast, but it'll do.

"If you're going to stay, please stop staring at me." He pokes his head up and hauls himself back to his feet. Where was that sugar again..-

"Alright."

It's in Keith's hands, apparently.

"How did you-" "Café cubano. You think you're good at hiding the coffee, but it smells strong. I sometimes follow the smell into the kitchen. From there, the awful mess you leave behind makes it pretty easy to guess what you were making. Who takes an espresso pot into space?" "Not me. I had Hunk and Pidge make it for me. It's a lot more advanced than I need it to be. It actually lowers the boiling point of the water, without blanching the coffee's flavour. Might be why the smell is so strong, though."

Lance chooses to rise above the slight on his cleanliness.

"Huh. Go Hunk and Pidge."

"Seriously. Genius freaks, the both of them."

Red smiles.

-

Lance sets his whisk down, and pours off the dark coffee from the jug in his left hand, sending azuquita frothing and bubbling to the top of the pot. It floats, sweet and bitter, as he transfers it to an oddly shaped Altean mug, and takes a sip. It's boiling, and it burns, but it's good.

Just like Keith had described, there are spoons and whisks and bowls and dustings of sugar and coffee grounds strewn across the tabletop, and the Red paladin flusters as Black swoops in to clean. Something about this felt entirely too personal, domestic. Like they weren't fighting a war. Like they weren't fighting eachother. He scoops up his mug, and turns heel. "I'm going to the bridge."

Keith is silent except for a hum of acknowledgement.

-

Loud footsteps approach him again, hunched over himself, hair fluttering from his eyes with each heavy breath. His coffee still half-drank, to be savoured. He preferred to finish his drinks in company, but it wasn't like he'd been expecting Keith to follow him.

So why he isn't at all surprised when Keith slumps down beside him is anyone's guess.

The stars are, well, about as starry as usual. The air is a comfortable degree and the floor hums quietly as the belly of the metal beast around them croaks and groans, driving them through empty space.

Keith is looking at him, and the mess of his hair, those dark, impossibly bright eyes... it all feels so Keith. He smells a little better, and he's back in his usual t-shirt and jeans, jacket forgone for informality's sake. For just a moment, Lance can pretend it'll be Shiro waking them both up tomorrow. As equals, tired and late to dash into the hangar. Keeping score, neck and neck.

"Your coffee's gonna go cold." Keith snips at the silence.

"Oh, so what I'm hearing is that you wanna make the trek back to the kitchen to reheat it for me?" "Shut up.. You wouldn't drink it even if I did." "You're probably right, Mullet."

Lance pauses for a moment.

"Why'd you come down here?" "Why haven't you told me to fuck off yet?" "Not sure." "Ditto." Touché. Again. Conversation starts to feel a little easier now.

"Fuck man. This is so bad. We're in for it tomorrow. We quite literally will not have our head screwed on straight." Lance laughs at his own joke, swiping a hand through his hair and leaning back on an open palm.

Keith laughs too, rolling his eyes up into those remarkable bangs.

"Not to mention we'll be keeping the rest of the team at -arm's length-'."

Keith's turn to laugh at his own joke, while lance digs his fist into the other man's shoulder. "Boo! That was lame. You're lame, Kogane. Lame Kogane is what I'm calling you now." "How will I ever recover." "Try and sound a little hurt."

-

They're both laughing now. "No- no, really, I'm slighted." "You sound like you're reading the fucking weather forecast!" "You said fuck!" "Fuck off!" "Hah! Said it again."

And there it is. The film that keeps them bound by duty is broken, and they come undone into something far deeper than 1st and 2nd.

Blue bites and red bites back harder, but they never break the skin.

They're on their feet now, dancing around the deck under the intimate gaze of a hundred-thousand burning stars. Surrounded by life, yet completely and totally alone.

"I'm not drinking that-! Lance, I'm serious- Lance!" Red warns, hands extended to keep Blue at arm's length. (He'd appreciate the call-back.) But Lance, brandishing cold coffee and an impish grin, is quicker, and likes to watch the impenetrable fortress that is Keith Kogane crumble. He vaults the central control panel, to Keith's shrieking horror, and manages to dump half the remaining cup down the back of the other's shirt. It elicits another delightful shrill from Red, as he wrestles with his own skin in an attempt to flee the sensation. Lance swears that for a moment, there's something glinting yellow in Keith's eyes. He bares his teeth and grunts in a way that is decidedly inhuman.

It should scare him, but it only excites him, fills his blood with ice-hot curiosity, intrigue that borders on an inescapable infatuation. SO much about Keith that he didn't know. So much that he wanted to find out.

"Sorry!"

He wanes, half-heartedly, still in fits of laughter as Kogane manages to wrest his shirt off, wearing a flimsy navy tank underneath. He'd have preferred red, but space makes fashion a slim-pickings ordeal. Lance finds it brings out his eyes.

-

Somewhere along the way, they ended up like this. Lance shifts his arm from where it's pinned under Keith's head to check the hour. 5:30. They're running out of time. Red and Blue will be packaged up neatly again, and in thirty minutes Black and Red will take the helm and shoulder of a beast they have no business knowing how to fly.

Lance aches, body and mind. They're sprawled out in Allura's holodeck, heads side by side as they stare up at a night sky so very different to the ones they see from the castle. It's earth, just a few miles south of the Garrison. A cliffside overlooks the desert, and Blue can almost feel the dust under his fingers, sweeping through Keith's hair as it ruffles against his cheekbones.

Blue pulls red just a little bit closer.

Just twenty minutes more.

Neither of them are ready to lead.

Chiselled soldiers made of hollow glass. Lacking experience, robbed of simple youth.

They are driven by duty. It pumps their lungs like great bellows, keeps their legs moving when their hearts have stopped.

Ten more minutes.

Lance feels his eyes slip shut, damp and tired. He curls into red and lets himself dream for a few minutes more.

[filmorgue]

L: This building is as big as the HQ

R: Yeah, but i don't know about it being co-ed

L: Hmm, I don't mind it, at least the boys have their own floor plus the 4 out of 6 of us in the same building

R: I guess so. Since we on the subject, would you like to room together. I rather not be in a room by myself with strangers

L: *smirk* I thought you never ask. I was gone to suggest the same

X: I wish their were single rooms but I guess it rooming with you won't be so bad

M: Pfft, I sure I can stomach being around you for a semester. Just know I'm not your maid and make sure your things stay on your side of the room

Xen rolls his eyes clicking his teeth mumbling under his breath. That's when the front door open up next to them

M: Welp, there goes the neighborhood

L: Eww I take every thing back. Being under the same roof as those two brought down the mood

X: Funny cause I feel the same

R: Right as long as they stay out of our way; they're irrelevant

L: *rolls eyes* I guess

R: For now, I need to unpack

They all head upstairs to the designated rooms to unpack before settling down for some much needed TLC.

The group find themselves in the living room conversing amongst themselves until Xen started to feel a little agitated.

X: Uhh, I'm bored. I need to lose some adrenaline

R: Go work out

X: I already did that

M: Maybe play some video games

X: That won't help either

L: Well what do you want to do?

X: I don't know....oh I have an idea. Let's race

All: What?

X: Let's have a race, Its a nice day and some sunlight can do y'all some good

R: No thank you

M: Yeah, I don't like running unless I have to

X: Boo you guys suck. How about you Leona?

L: *smirk* Sure why not

M: Umm Leona I don't think...

X: Aww, what you worried about me beating your sister

M: Pfft, I'm more concern about your ego

X: How little faith you have in me bro

L: Yeah Mack, have some faith in him *smile*

R: I'm definitely not missing this

Mack looks at his sister with a frown. He can tell she is enjoying this too much. And all honesty, he could careless but this what happens when he tries to be the nice guy. The both of them made their way towards the outside with Rhiannon walking behind them. Mack only few steps behind. They line up in the middle of the road. Xen began stretching.

X: Shouldn't you stretch? Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself

L: *laugh* Oh I'll be just fine, trust me

X: Suit yourself

R: *mumbles under her breath* So you're not gone to tell him?

M: Nope. Where's the fun in that?

Xen got into position, ready to take off once Rhiannon gives the word. As for Leona, she just stood there with her hands on her hips

R: Alright. On your mark. Get set. Go!

X: Don't chicken out now

M: *rolls eye* Can you get this over with, I don't want to be out here longer than necessary

L: *yawn* I was trying to give him a head start but fine

She was off at full speed that caught up in no time. Everything seemed like it slowed down. Xen notice someone was on the right of him. He stared at her and she winked back. Thrown off course, he almost lost his footing. All he could do was stare as she made it to the half way point.

After moping, he made his way back to his backstabbing school mates. Rhiannon laughed at the sour look on his face while Mack just shook his head.

M: I tried to warn you

X: That was unfair advantage and you know it. And you didn't think to tell me

R: *shrugs* you didn't ask

L: Woah that was great. Aye I'm always down for a round 2

Xen marched inside the dorms as the peanut gallery laugh behind him

Chapter 7.5 "Unfair Advantage" Filler #1

Lot by amitaliri

Rhiannon @sadraccoon061 Leona and Mack Starnes @invisiblequeen Xen @xstardustbatsx

previous/next

[theloveoffootball10]

sᴛɪᴄᴋᴡɪᴛᴜ : s ᴇ ᴠ ᴇ ɴ

m a s t e r l i s t

s ᴇ ᴠ ᴇ ɴ

Arriving back home on the Tuesday night I slump back on the sofa with a huff. The whole weekend has been incredible and now I have to prepare myself to go back into the office tomorrow. After I left Lando at the hotel on Monday morning I spent the rest of my time with my dad.

We went for breakfast before I met him back at home in Oxfordshire for the night. Being at my dad's home has always been one of my biggest security blankets and getting to spend the time there with him always reminds me of being a kid. Although I grew up with my parents not being together my mum would always drive the near 6 hour round trip from Cheshire to Oxfordshire and back again if I wanted to see my dad and he was home. We'd never tell him, we'd just jump in the car and be welcomed with open arms at the end of the journey.

"Hello to you as well, talk about moody Margaret walking through the door" my mum says from her spot in the corner of the sofa.

"I don't want to go back to work tomorrow" I feel like I'm on the biggest comedown of my life after spending so much time with Lando.

"Right who is he?" My mum asks as she pauses whatever she has playing in the background "come on tell me. You're never this depressed when you come home from your dads and you've been in the house less than 10 minutes"

"Mum do we have to" I say with a groan. I don't mind telling my mum what happened, I tell her literally everything I just don't know if I'm ready to have this conversation out loud.

"Yes we have to, you're not having a pity party for one over this. Which driver is it?" Turning my head to my mum I nearly give myself whiplash as I frown "don't give me that look. I've been there. Only a formula one driver can turn a girl to this"

"Lando Norris. Fucking hell I can't believe I'm saying it out loud to you"

"Ooh he's a good looking lad Lucía! He had a good weekend and now I think I know why" I can't believe my mum has just said that! "Look, I've been there Lucía and you've grown up in that world so I'm not surprised you've met someone working in formula one, if Lando Norris makes you happy then I'm made up for you"

"Muuuum nothing has happened other than sex" I say with a groan knowing in her head my mum has my wedding planned and is thinking of names for her future grandchildren "he wants to take me out in Miami for an actual date though"

"And I'm guessing you said yes? I'm sure he's got something insane up his sleeve if it's in Miami but after that date you had with that Jake lad even going to Starbucks for a brew is an improvement"

"Don't ever mention that date again! It was traumatic, I think I'm mentally scarred from that experience! Who tells a girl they're taking her out, tells her to dress to impress then takes her fishing! I won't ever be over that mum" I cringe at the thought of the worst date I've ever been taken on, sitting in the rain at the side of a lake surrounded by fishing gear absolutely freezing was never my idea of a good time.

"To be completely serious for a minute though Lucía, if you think you could have feelings for Lando give him a chance. If you don't that's fine, you're an adult and I trust that you're sensible enough to make the best decision for you. As always this stays between us until you're ready for your dad to know anything"

"Thanks mum. I appreciate it. We both have completely different lives but I'll see how it goes in Miami and then go from there" I can always count on my mum to make me feel better about a situation "did the stuff I need for Tomorrowland come?"

"You've got a load of parcels that came over the last few days so I'm guessing so. When is it you go?"

"Just under two weeks time, so this weekend I don't have plans then I have Tomorrowland, I'm home for like a week then fly to Miami" when it comes to summer I'm always back to back with plans. Since I was old enough to do my own thing I've always made the most of my anual leave throughout the summer. It would be easy for me to not work and live off my dad forever but I actually really like my job.

"I won't see you until you're back from Miami. I fly to Ibiza with the girls on Sunday when you're in Belgium. I'll make sure I leave your birthday present for you to open before you go or for when you're in Miami" my mum may be in her forties but I love that she still has girls party holidays to places like Ibiza. Me and some of my friends have been on holiday with my mum and her friends one of the most memorable being a long weekend in Magaluf.

"Mum don't worry about it. I can get it when we're both home. I'm going to shower and get sorted for work tomorrow" making my way to my bedroom I throw myself on the bed. I need to shower but I can't get Lando out of my head. Checking instagram I notice I don't have any messages from him which makes me wonder if this was just a Silverstone thing. I suppose I'll have to see what happens between now and Miami. I'm not saying I want scheduled phone calls from him but a few messages would be nice especially if he is serious about taking me out in Miami.

Nine days later I arrive in Belgium with some of my closest friends for Tomorrowland, the sun is shining and we're staying in a mansion rather than camping this year so the ten of us can stay together. As a group we do this trip every year, kind of like a ritual but we've grown up together and since we were all old enough it became our thing. Posting a photo of the girls to my instagram story I pour the first of many drinks I'll be consuming this weekend.

As we're all getting settled in our home from home for the weekend I sit on my bed when I see a notification pop up on my phone. Lando Norris replied to your story. I've spoken to Lando a few times since we left Silverstone and still it's always a dm. Neither of us has asked for the other's number but I always feel like I have a heard of elephants in my stomach when I see his name on my phone screen.

landonorris

I guess I'll see you Sunday and won't have to wait until Miami x

emselucia

You're coming to Tomorrowland?

Aren't you in Hungary?

landonorris

I'm flying straight over after the race and when I'm done with media x

I might just sack off the media now I know you're at Tomorrowland x

emselucia

That wouldn't be a good idea would it Mr Norris. I can only imagine how much the media and your PR manager would disapprove. However I would appreciate seeing your face x

landonorris

Mr Norris is my dad plz don't ever say that again 🤢 you can see my face as much as you like. Enjoy the weekend as much as you can, I'm jealous I can only be there Sunday x

emselucia

we both know your weekend will be even better when you see me though so it doesn't matter if you're not here for the full weekend 😜

See you Sunday Lando x

I'm fucked. Lando Norris has well and truly got me under his spell and I'm hanging on his every word. I might love Tomorrowland but I'm wishing the next three days away until it's Sunday and I get to see him again. The fact I get to see him before Miami has made my weekend.

[annafall]

rpg horror story time lets go

played Pathfinder early this year with three friends (one of them the GM) and one person who was friends with one of the other three. extinction curse, were part of a traveling circus i fucking loved the premise, fucking adored the characters

we do our session zero, we discuss lines and veils, make bonds between the characters, decide that we don't want characters to die for no reason and that it has to be negotiated, you know the drill

first session hits and everything is fun and exciting, were doing our first circus act already, we tangle with a group of ruffians trying to heckle our show, my character accidentally cuts someone a little but it's fine, we can deal with the problems that result from this as they come up

or so i thought. cue: friend of a friend, i'll call them XYZ problem is, they had a bad experience with pathfinder in the past that apparently scarred them the only other person who knew this was their friend, who also didn't tell us

XYZ gets upset because they didnt get to prevent a bad roll. we end up spending 40(!!) minutes on calming them down and the gm basically lets them roll over and over until they succeed at whatever the thing was

the next week we dont play. XYZ has an appointment and tells us like an hour-ish prior to the session happening that we can't play. alright then, shit ettiquette but it's whatevs GM tells me they're glad the session isn't happening because they're anxious about the game

next game we only play an hour and a half, and nothing happens on account on 90 minutes being very little time for an rpg session

game #3, player tells me theyre trying to give XYZ the spotlight so they don't get frustrated i get a total of 6 sentences during that 3 hour session and completely dissociate out of the game say nothing about it, but im legitimately thinking about quitting at that point

next game is short again, 60 minutes, and nothing happens

final session, session 5. we continue to investigate the death of our circus director, search his wagon for stuff, other player looks elsewhere and gets attacked by these snake enemies combat starts in an awkward spot because the single player gets punted pretty bad before they manage to run towards us we engage in combat and the snakes roll really well (this was in Foundry, so it wasnt fudged in the monsters' favour) and it's looking like they might whoop our asses we start to talk about how we'll just have the snakes leave again, because we agreed that deaths should have meaning in the story XYZ is starting to lose it already and starts to rant about pathfinder we talk about how we can just level up a bit earlier to try and prevent a situation like this from happening again shit happens right? it's low-level pathfinder, the game is deadlier at early levels

doesn't help XYZ is now in full-on meltdown about the wipe a thing that shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow is. the game is a trainwreck at this point

i try to save it for some reason and in an attempt to lighten the mood, i make a funny remark directed at the GM what is XYZ's reaction?

"fuck you anna fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you go fuck yourself fuck you anna fuck you"

this should have been me leaving right then and there, blocking this person and never talking to them again instead, i stupidly suggest we play a round of quiplash, so not everybody goes out of the session pissed and frustrated, and we play a round or maybe two im losing badly. my sense of humor is one of the things im proud of and im losing badly. last place at the end of it, i think i won one round total throughout the quiplash thing, XYZ is winning. and theyre fucking gloating theyre meanspirited, the entire thing just feels like youre watching someone else rant about foreigners or something like that we finish playing and i leave the vc and go to bed i feel horrible, this was easily the worst session in my life

the next week i cancel the session

the week after i ask another player to please make up an excuse to cancel, afterwards im in croatia for the weekend and we skip that week too

in that time, its become obvious, this group doesnt work out. the gm doesnt wanna run anymore, citing their anxiety and the general poor mood about the game the other player is venting and ranting about XYZ regularly now. not just about the game, but basically anytime when XYZ starts to act up again and can't communicate like a fucking adult (and for the record, other player, i never minded that. youre awesome and i felt just as much frustration at this bullshit as you did and still do)

we need to address it somehow, so i take the initiative (the way i usually do)

XYZ is uncommunicative in general and everything you say just upsets them, so theres no good way to go about it. try to be nice, they hit you with the "nobody wants me 😥", try to be as objective as possible they yell at you

me and the rest of the players decide that we don't want to play with this person anymore and we go to tell them

guess who the asshole is in this situation?

correct, it's meeee me of course! forever and ever

theres a lot of hubbub about it, how it's unfair, how the decision for this person to no longer be part of the group was made FOR them, a lot of resentment, another person who had only surface info chimes in about two weeks later to talk about how we should have tried once more

i understand why XYZ was frustrated, dont get me wrong. they thought we were friends (however one might think that when all our interactions were just them sending me "…" or "flops" or an emoji at 3am because they cant sleep) and then we just kicked them out

but frankly, i was putting up with so much bullshit from someone im not even friends with being told to fuck myself because i DARED to not prioritise their freakout in the moment

and because i was the one who ultimately brought it up, im the evil asshole until the end of time

storytime over

[deepdeanvsweston]

Here they are! Lavinia/Daisy get together headcannons!

- we all know they're dormmates ofc

- so they know each other through that

- Lavinia is lesbian, and Daisy is a lesbian

- Lavinia realises she likes girls very quickly after Kitty (who is straight as a pole mind you) in first form suggested they practised kissing so they're ready for boys

- Lavinia immediately goes and starts hyperventilating in the bathroom because 'oh god she liked it. She liked it.'

- anyway this happens and she goes on to repress this for the next 4-6 years

- repression queen <3

- despite this, she continues to have weird romantic tension with this girl in their year who's the head of the fifth form hockey team, Jean Munroe

- but Lavinia's like 'it doesn't count. Just because I pushed her up against the changing room and snogged her face off doesn't MEAN anything'

- anyway

- Daisy meanwhile also had Kitty in first form practising kissing

- (Daisy develops a brief one year crush on Kitty)

- but for Daisy it just did not click that she liked girls

- in her head she was like "oh I like this. This is wonderful and I want to do this all my life. Obviously only because Kitty is pretending to be a boy though :)"

- Jolly Foul Play was when everything fell into place for Daisy and she realised she liked girls (Astrid and Margaret fr fr)

- anyway again

- Top Marks For Murder is when Daisy begins to take ✨notice✨ of Lavinia

- she's brash and blunt but Daisy thinks all the stuff Lavinia knows about nature and animals is pretty cool (nature conservationist Lavinia fr fr) and finds her privately quite funny

- (Daisy also thinks she cuts a fine form in her tennis uniform)

- Nothing happens though

- they start skirting round each other after TMFM

- Jean Munroe starts showing up to exeat weekends with a boyfriend and Lavinia on the inside is hurt and embarrassed and scared because she feels like she's been abandoned by everyone she's ever loved and Jean didn't even say she wanted to end it, even if there wasn't anything TO end!

- on the outside Lavinia become Spiky. She's angry, but like I said earlier, she's a repression queen

- she stays furious and sullen and for lack of a better word, bitchy, but she tells herself it's NOT because of Jean, it's not it's not it's not (it is)

- anyway again

- Death Sets Sail happens, Lavinia and George run away to the Spanish War

- Lavinia does ofc go away because of her political beliefs but also because it provides an opportunity to get away from Deepdean, and her parents, and stupid Jean

- her and George split up, she comes back a little more mature but more Lavinia than ever, trains to be an ambulance driver, all the canon stuff

- meanwhile, the war has put a strain on Daisy and Amina's relationship

- WW2 brings up a lot of painful/weird feelings for Daisy, as it sees her mother die and Fallingford get requisitioned, and Stephen is in the news as he's been let out of prison to fight on the front

- so she's going through a lot of shit

- Daisy is... happy? About her mother dying. Or at the very least feels finally free

- Amina does NOT get this, and is in fact a little bit weirded out? She ofc understands Margaret Wells was a terrible mother, but thought Daisy would hold at least a little bit of love for a dead/dying woman

- this causes a big divide when Daisy refuses to go to her funeral and Amina wants her to. They split up

- Daisy goes for a walk to clear her head, and Lavinia is just walking back from the ambulance depot

- "Heard about your mother" Lavinia says

"Who hasn't? It's on the front page of the bloody telegraph" Daisy replies bitterly

"Could've chosen a better family photo. You look terrible"

"She was an utter beastly, bitch"

"Mothers usually are" (Lavinia's mother was... not great either)

"I'll drink to that"

- and they do. They go back to Lavinia and Beanie's shared flat (Beanie is working late at the hospital) and get horrendously drunk and start telling each other how they'd kill their mothers

- 'this is what I needed' Daisy thinks, 'someone who doesn't think I'm a terrible person for hating a dead woman'

- and they end up talking about Deepdean (it's actually one of Daisy's favourite subjects, and bound to come up if she's had a few)

- they start bitching about Clementine, and Lavinia lets slip about her and Jean

- Daisy and Lavinia do a toast "to spiteful cows and our hopes for their downfall!"

- they end up on crushes after Lavinia says about her and Jean, and Daisy now lets slip about Kitty and that essentially she thought Lavinia looked hot in her tennis uniform

- long story short they end up in bed together

- and then. This keeps happening. They keep sleeping together, as well just having huge bitch fests about nearly everyone in their lives

- but they do begin to notice that they no longer have to get drunk to end up sleeping together

- there is Something There

- unfortunately Daisy brings this up and Lavinia's like Nope! Fuck off! Jean Munroe was enough woman for me! Just because I like having sex with women means absolutely fuck all, actually!

- (she's just scared and still hurting about Jean)

- anyway near the end of the war, Lavinia is caught outside in an air raid and gets badly injured

- but she doesn't go to the hospital like a stubborn fool because she thinks other people need and deserve it more

- LAVINIA YOU HAVE A BROKEN ANKLE, A BLEEDING HEAD AND THIRD DEGREE BURNS ACROSS YOUR ABDOMEN GET HELP

- she does, in fact, get help, she may be stubborn but she's not stupid enough to think she doesn't need medical attention

- obviously she ends up at Daisy's flat, I do love myself a bit of hurt/comfort

- Daisy is working late at the ministry though, and so she finds Lavinia collapsed against her door

- gently, she shakes Lavinia and cups her face 'Lavinia? Hey. Vin. Can you hear me?"

- Lavinia sort of groans back so Daisy knows she's semi ok, and helps her into the flat

- she sits Vin on the bathroom counter and gently strips her down so she can treat her abdominal burns and tilts her head up so Daisy can dab at her head wound and carefully binds her ankle

- (Lavinia makes a joke like "Daisy you perv" and Daisy's like "Lavinia. I have had sex with you at least 7 times and at least 5 of those we didn't have clothes on. Please raise your arms so I can put cream on your burns")

- it's very intimate, and they're both acutely aware of this, but Lavinia is in too much pain and Daisy is too worried about her for them to do anything about it

- Daisy puts Vin in her room and goes to leave her but Lavinia starts sobbing because she's in pain and worried about her brothers and she sees dead people everyday in her job and she misses when they were 12 and the most stressful thing was making sure they didn't wake up matron when having a midnight feast

- Daisy is like 'uhhh' and starts stroking her hair like a cat

- Lavinia starts choking out "f-fuck *sob* o-off" but Daisy stays and they both eventually fall asleep

- the next morning Daisy wakes up to Lavinia attempting to sneak it out

- it obviously goes badly because she's got a broken ankle that's swelled to the size of a balloon and badly concussed

- she's about 3 minutes away from vomiting on the floor but she's determined to get out the front door

- Daisy grabs her

- "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out. Away. Anywhere but here"

"Well. Don't."

"You're not in charge of me, Wells"

"Are you even in charge of you right now? You look as if you're about to pass out"

- Lavinia does privately agree with Daisy, as she can currently see two of her but she's stubborn as fuck so she continues to move towards the front door

- Too fast. She passes out into Daisy's arms

- she ends up back in Daisy's bed and lives with Daisy and Hazel for about a week and they get used to each other

- Lavinia realises that it was nice and when she's around Daisy, she feels safe. Her constant knot of anxiety in her chest undoes itself completely when Daisy looks at her

- and when Lavinia slaps a hand on her shoulder, or presses a kiss to her knuckles Daisy feels every bone in her body buzz excitedly

- Lavinia goes back to her flat, and life sort of resumes a bit

- but Daisy is sick of it. The fear, the uncertainty, the shame, and so bursts into Lavinia's flat

- "Detective Temple, I've, well, I've got something to say to you. Having analysed all the facts, I've come to the conclusion that I'm in love with you, and you're... in love with me. Or that I'm having some sort of ghastly allergic reaction to you. Possibly"

- Daisy is standing her ground but is wide eyed and shaking

- Lavinia stands up from her kitchen table

- "Do shut up, Wells" and Lavinia gives her a big open mouthed kiss

- Beanie and George who had been having breakfast with Vin and watching all of this unfold are all 👀👀👀

- and that's sort of that really

- also just because I feel the need to clarify everything Lavinia also feels her knot of anxiety unravel when with George, and Daisy, while Hazel doesn't ignite feelings of excitement in her bones, she does cause Daisy to feel completely at peace and content in her mind

[deedah]

Protocol Chapter 7

⚠️!WARNING!⚠️— This Fanfic is very lengthy and lazy at times! Do not read if you dislike lengthy Fanfics! (Also a lot of fluff so BE WARNED!) 

Please read Chapters 1-6 before this one to understand what is happening

Have a great ride!

Chapter 7

[V]= True]

    “I.. can’t..” V said as tears started to dwell in her eyes. “I literally can’t,” she went on, “we have such a messed up past because of stupid Cyn! If I tell him how I feel he’ll leave everything behind for me! His hopes! His dreams! I won’t let that happen!” V crushed her can of what used to have oil in it and threw it across the room.

    It hit the door with a cluck then fell onto the carpet. It accidentally activated the mechanical door causing it to open, or.. that’s at least what V thought before she saw Uzi’s dad standing behind the door. V quickly looked away as she wiped her tears. (Authors note- idk how, pls go w/ it)

    “Heya Uzi-” He said as he looked around with a confused look. He looked at V and L who were the only conscious ones. “Do I want to know..?” He asked the murder drones.

    “I wouldn’t,” L said blatantly, “but they're all fine though, Uzi is the one in control so don’t worry.” She put their hand behind them and leaned on their arms.

     “Gotchu..” he said as he stepped back, gave a finger gun, and the automatic door closed. 

     V looked down at N as she stopped more tears from coming up. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She twisted her neck as she looked at the hand, then at L. She even rested her own hand on L’s. 

    “Here” L said as she got up and picked up the unconscious N. He lay like a rag doll in their arms. 

    “I’ll lay him on Uzi’s bed and me and you can sit on the edge.” L said as she motioned for V to scoot down a bit. 

    V grabbed N’s waist as L pushed him up from his back onto the bed. L fixed the pillow under his head. V looked at his visor. He had an X on it like he was on a killing spree. Now that V thought about it, the last time N went into what was called ‘HUNTING MODE’, was when they were helping Uzi to fly and Cyn took her over, again. The green bug crawled up N’s body then crawled onto V’s lap where it curled around and started to sleep as V petted it with one finger.

    L hopped back onto the bed as they kicked their legs back and forth, simultaneously. L and V looked into each other's eyes as L gave a sympathetic smile before hugging V’s chest.

    “WooAÆÆHG” V yelped out as she got dragged into a hug that seemed like it never ended. “Dude!” V called out through her laughter that she tried to keep down. She tried to push herself off of L. 

    L even took the drastic measure and switched her hands out for her claws. She dug, but not in a painful way, her claws into V’s jacket. V, for some reason, couldn’t stop laughing because of it. After a while of not letting go and pestering V, L let V go. V automatically curled up like a cat as she hugged herself, lifted her knees to her chest, and even pointed her tail stinger at L while the bug crawled onto her head.

    “Nehever, ever.. doho that agahain..” V said through her laughter. She tried to make a death stare, but it didn’t quite work with the giant smile on her face and the giggles pouring out of her.

    L rolled her eyes playfully. Multiple beep noises came from the other drones in the room as they all started to blink awake. C, like L, woke up violently and started to shake as she caught her breath and looked around.

    Wren and N on the other hand, they just looked like they were hungover on oil. And Uzi, being the little emo demon she was, just easily came back into reality. The emo spun round in her chair to face the others as they all calmed down or tried to wake up.

    Wren grabbed her head as she groaned and used her fleshy mouth tail to grab the hacking device and throw it across the room. The tail slithered inside Wren as it hissed one final goodbye.

    Wren slowly stood up in a strange way. As she stood still, her eyes were shut and she almost stood like Cyn with her head hung down.

    Maybe she’s waking up..? V pondered, I’ll watch her, V fought the urge to switch her hand for a gun as she watched N sit up.

    “Euhhuugh..” N groaned as V switched her hand for a claw and slowly picked the hacking device off his head. V turned around to see L picking C’s hacking device off of her head as well. Uzi must have felt a little strange around Wren as well because she pushed herself away from the host.

    “Wha- where am I..?” N asked, V turned around to look at him as he squinted at his hands. “Am I still a dog?” He asked whoever was listening.

    “Uh.. N?” V called out to him. N looked at her and noticed that he was out of the memories. “You good? Your um.. not a dog, you're a Disassembly Drone, ‘member?” V asked him as he threw his legs over the bed like V and L while V grabbed his pilot hat and put it on his fluffy, white hair. N looked at C as she stood up and leaned against the wall. 

    Uzi snapped her fingers, went behind Wren slowly, and opened a drawer of cables and picked two long ones out. She got off her chair and plugged a cord end into N’s head then had to fight V to get another cord into her head. Uzi went back to her desk and plugged both the cords into her computer.

    Excuse you, emo?” V said as she leaned over to see the screen of Uzi’s computer. “I don’t want my brains to be hacked, again.” V said as N leaned in front of V, blocking her view of the computer screen.

    “Dude!” V said as she used one hand to shove N into the wall. “You blocked my view!” V said as N looked at her with puppy dog eyes. V stared at N’s yellow eyes, until, they turned an orange-ish gold color.

    “Uhm..” N started as V stared at his new color. “Why did my visor change colors?” N asked as they both looked at Uzi. She was typing something into yellow code while she had an orange code tab opened beside it. V noticed that she had used the cords to get access to N and V’s code. V also noticed that the yellow code must be hers as N’s eye color matches the orange code.

    “Emo! Don’t you dare-!” V said before her visor glitched to a royal blue. She looked at her hand triangles, her leg spheres, her new blue caution tape, and even her tail acid that was now a beautiful royal blue like her visor.

    “Oh.. my.. ROBO-GOD V!” N said as he hugged her as tight as he could. “These colors look awesome on us!” N said as he switched his hand for a claw and grabbed Uzi right from her chair.

    “Wow! Ok N! Your.. uh.. welcome!” Uzi said as she got squished by N. “I got the idea from Wren saying that rescued Disassembly drones and Teardown drones can’t be yellow on their planet.

    N let go of Uzi as she yanked the cords out of their heads. Uzi was about to put her cords up as she got jumpscared by Wren standing in front of the drawer and was hunched over.

     “Uh C, L?” Uzi asked the two Teardown Drones as she glanced at the two Teardown drones. “Does Wren do this normally..?” Uzi pointed to Wren who slowly smiled mindlessly. Her hollow green eyes who glitched onto her visor as she looked up. 

    “Hello” a robotic voice came out of Wren as it summoned a claw-thing like Cyn’s out of her back, it grabbed her wrist and made her arm wave at the others. Wren looked at Uzi as the claw dropped her hand and went into her back. C slowly walked up to Wren who was standing like Cyn and acting like her as well.

    “I told you not to take her over unless needed, Protocol,” C said as she lifted a finger to Wren’s visor. 

    “Wait, C.” The ‘Protocol’ said. The voice sounded so much like Cyn to V, but it also just sounded like Wren, just more robotic. “Glancing upward” they stated , “it is coming..”

    C looked at the others with confused glances, “who?” She asked the Protocol as it adjusted its head to face C better.

    “The one who is in charge, they will come and destroy. Save them all” And that was the Protocol's last words to C as she turned to Uzi and walked funnily towards her. “You” it started as they pointed at Uzi and got into her personal space. “You are a host, we can tell that Wren used her Patch on you.” It used its four fingers to activate the digital cross before using its powers to teleport a gold lined mirror into Wren’s hand. It used its powers to levitate the mirror in front of Uzi as they went behind her and grabbed her shoulders. 

    “Look who is saying hello” they said as they pointed to the mirror. Uzi looked at the merrier for a few seconds as nothing happened. 

    “Nothings happe-“ she cut herself off as her eye changed to the Solver and broke the mirror. Just then, her right eye turned yellow and Wren smiled mindlessly. 

    The Protocol used its powers to make the mirror and glass disappear. As Uzi spun around still with a yellow eye. She covered it with her hand.

    V felt her body get up whether she wanted to or not. “Wren!” She creamed as she changed her hands for swords, “Give Uzi the Patch again! Before Cyn takes over!” She screamed.

    “Hm.. Nuh uh,” it said as it waved their finger. “It would overstimulate her code and shut her down forever. She’ll be fine, just be prepared. Letting go” it stated before it let go of Wren’s body.

    Wren collapsed into C’s arms as her green eyes closed as she became a rag doll, again. C sighed, “This is normal.” She told the others as Uzi’s eye finally went back to normal. “You ok, Uzi?” C asked, once Uzi nodded, she kept explaining, “The Protocol fights with Wren most of the time for control, me and L made a promise with it that it would only take over only if it was an emergency. Mostly in the future fight..” C said quietly as she sat down in a chair with Wren cuddled in her arms like a baby.

    “What future fight?” V said as she switched both her hands out for claws and narrowed her eyes so she would look threatening. 

    C sighed as she began to rock Wren a little. “We’ve detected Cyn on this planet, like, the real embodiment of Cyn. Her own flesh and blood.” C looked over to L who nodded in agreement. “And, unfortunately, it’s Wren's mission to temporarily give Cyn the Patch so the humans can come and give you the better version of the Patch, if that happens then the AbsoluteSolver will fail.. or so we hope.”

    V was actually terrified as she stared at Wren's face. Soon her body would be fighting Cyn in the flesh. She wanted to go survey the area to make sure that Cyn was nowhere to be seen, but stayed still. She didn’t need to be alone if Cyn was now on the planet.

    V’s thoughts were interrupted by Uzi’s door opening to show her father behind it.

    “Hey Uzi, do you think it be fine if I invited Doll to this-“ he asked before a red Solver wrapped around his waist and pulled him back. A red worker drone teleported into the doorway as she smiled at Uzi. But, V noticed that she had a button over her right eye.

    V quickly jumped up, as L followed her lead, and switched their hands for guns and claws. They both stood in front of Doll as they made some threats.

    “Don’t even think about doing a thing..” V said as she pointed a gun to the Russian girl's head.

    Doll glanced at V as she looked a little confused, probably from the new royal blue color. She then looked behind V to C and Wren who was now standing in front of Uzi’s bed with N and Uzi. “Я пришел только ради одного, идиот. Двигаться (I just came for one thing, idiot. Move)” She said as she activated her solver to teleport herself to C. V spun round to see the Russian freak snatch Wren with her Solver, then teleport away out of the house after saluting to C.

    “No!” C said as she tried to grab Wren from Doll, but she was too late.

[Next Chapter Comes Out When It’s Ready] = True]

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

fwends :3 - @roxy4life @biscuits-and-such @glorious-owl

also sorry y’all that I haven’t been active all fuckin day, I got locked out of my account lol :3

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 230 (spoilers)

This chapter was harder to understand than previous ones and that was probably because the translation I read was a little shoddy. I might have to make a follow up post on Sunday when the official translation comes out.

But from what I did understand is that Sukuna, that prick, is using Megumi's soul as a punching bag in this fight to let Mahoraga adapt to techniques without him taking damage. In this case it was the sure-hit of Unlimited Void. This probably only works on UV as well.

Theory: to be still able to finish the summon of Mahoraga after getting hit by UV, Sukuna disengaged his brain from Megumi's. Normally this would pose the risk of MegumI gaining back control of his body but not in this specific circumstance because the disengagement meant that Megumi's mind would be hit by UV, meaning even if he had been able to take back control in that moment, Gojo's own attack made him unable to do that.

Sukuna is really a royal bastard who leaves no room open for attack and Gojo was understandably distraught at realising that he hurt Megumi directly.

On Megumi: first, he has his shoes back. Second, he's still at the bottom of the abyss of evil in the same position as last month after Tsumiki's death. His eyes are also looking quite dead BUT despite all of that Gege still made sure to draw the reflection of light on him. Megumi is not in total darkness and at some point in the future we'll see what that means.

There is also Gojo's 6-Eyes look at Sukuna with Mahoraga in the background. We see two white circles in front of him, one higher than the other. These are CE centres most likely, drawn to represent the soul. They're two because there are two different CE signatures, Sukuna's and Megumi's. The higher circle, Sukuna's, has a piece of the lower circle attached to it.

We can interpret this in different ways. Literally, as in Megumi's CE and cursed technique being used by Sukuna right now with Mahoraga standing directly behind Suku. Or figuratively, with Megumi's soul being shattered.

Yuta had compared a burnt-out technique with an overheated engine. The engine was technically fine, there was nothing to repair because nothing was broken, it was just too hot to be used in the next few minutes. So what did Gojo do? He broke the hot engine and repaired it afterwards. Then et voila, a freshly made brain engine ready to use!

Sukuna's Domain breaking soothed my soul after the taunt he levelled at Gojo and did Megumi so dirty. But I did hope that Megumi had an active role breaking it. In the future, hopefully.

This is an awesome panel and even Sukuna's side eyes are bleeding. My problem here is again that I'm confused about the step by step happenings of the fight that led up to this. I might've avoided this problem if my Japanese wasn't as shitty as it is but instead of improving it during my limited free time, I rather write fanfic about Toji getting fucked in the ass by Benimaru Shinmon from Fire Force.

Teacher Gojo finally gets to shine after being dissed left and right the last few chapters. The Tokyo students are watching and we'll definitely see the things these behemoths are doing in this fight used by the good guys in the future. I won't be hearing about any asspulls when that happens!

Sukuna's grin is also extremely menacing.

We get the next round starting with another fist fight and Yorozu's words are back in Sukuna's head. Why? What do those words mean to Sukuna? Why is he thinking about them again? There are multiple interpretations and theories we can go with.

E.g. love for Sukuna could mean the love of fighting and the love to strive towards greatness. This is in contrast to Gojo who we only ever heard talk about romantic love (I'm not a stsg shipper but I am a stsg truther).

The loneliness is about being so strong that no one else can stand beside you. Why this phrase reappears here again might be because Sukuna is standing right now in front of someone who is on his level and Sukuna very much knows that without pulling every ability and trick up his sleeve he won't win.

Still, Sukuna didn't show much emotion in this fight even now, he straight up showed more personality in his fight against Yorozu than here

My theory is that Sukuna, unlike Gojo, started his life at the bottom of the food chain as a hungry child at the edge of starvation who resorted to cannibalism to survive. Sukuna showed a great disdain for lowlife who didn't stay in their lane and I think that's a projection of his own life and his achievements that no one else is ever going to accomplish.

Sukuna always seemed like he didn't see much in Gojo most likely because he saw him as nothing but an upstart who won the ability lottery and nothing more but that might be changing with these last few panels. Gojo fights with more intelligence and skill than just with his abilities alone.