#this started out as something specific and went a different direction than i expected but i like it

[drawnbinary]

gay plant man

[kiemiu]

marshmallow world | ( fem!reader ) angst + comfort. established relationship drabble wc 1.2k warnings -> mentions of alcohol + daddy issues ( kiemiu's fluffmas masterlist )

You and Chris had decided to visit your parents for a small Christmas dinner before you went and spent it in Boston with his family, and in the beginning you were excited for your family to meet the love of your life. You had raved on and on about him to your parents, specifically your Mom, and had pure adrenaline coursing through your veins throughout the entire evening seeing them interact and laughing with each other.

Truth be told, that's all you wanted. Was for your family to welcome your partner with open arms, but as soon as your Dad had a few drinks and decided to chime into conversations, things quickly started to spiral downhill.

First it started with joking about Chris's profession, then it led on to how he would take care of you physically and financially, and then off to making snide comments about how he wasn't a "real man". Both you and your mom tried to mediate the conversation as it got more heated, you begging your Dad and Chris to stop once they both stood up at the table as if they were ready to put hands on each other at any minute.

The evening turned sour so fast, curses and shouts echoing throughout the entire house as they had to be taken to different sides of the house to calm down. You didn't waste any time for your Dad to cool down before you grabbed your belongings with Chris and walked out.

You were conflicted in your emotions. A part of you embarrassed, ashamed in a way, that you had introduced your lover to a man that you knew could turn any situation into a bad one. While another part of you was enraged, and annoyed because of the way Chris spoke back to your Dad.

The car ride back to your hotel was filled with arguing. You yelling at him, telling him he should've had better control, and not talk to your Father the way that he did, while he yelled back exclaiming that your Father was completely in the wrong and shouldn't have even been there in the first place.

After driving for a while your car broke down sooner than later, a harsh snowstorm left you stranded on a deserted highway coated in snow that only grew higher and higher by the minute.

The tension was thick between you two, the radio remained untouched even as you sat on the side of the road and waited for help. Only the occasional sniffle and ruffle of your coats, paired with the low hum of the heater was heard through the deafening silence. A mix of emotions concurred in both of you, it was all just so overwhelming and not where you wanted the evening to go at all.

"I'm sorry." you whispered. You were turned the opposite direction from him and couldn't even look him in the eye as you said it, not that it would make any difference considering he was turned away from you as well looking out of his own side window.

He didn't respond, not that you really expected him to anyway. "I knew I shouldn't have let him drink. But for some reason, something in me fully believed that-that he would have some type of control over himself, and...that was stupid of me. So, I'm sorry. I really am." you softly mumbled, even as your throat burned with a ball of nerves and your eyes started to water, you pushed out your apology with full sincerity and faced him when saying so.

He still remained silent, his hands mindlessly picking at the nail polish on his nails as he blankly stared out the window, most of his body shifted away from you with only a small fraction of his face in your view.

You didn't want to pry an answer out of him, or even the smallest reaction, even if it would help to calm your nerves. Instead you turned back to your original postion of staring out of the window, your fingers now anxiously playing with the cuffs of your jacket as you waited and hoped for the tow truck you called to arrive soon.

"You'd tell me if you felt— unsatisfied being with me, right?"

His question threw you off guard, you slightly threw your head back with furrowed eyebrows before turning toward him. "Why would I-" "Just answer, please." he muttered, his knee now anxiously bouncing as he turned towards you for the first time since you started the car ride back home.

With that, you were able to take in his appearance and see the prominent frown on his face, adorned with glossy eyes and knitted brows.

"Yes, I would." You confessed, your eyes still trailing over his face to gauge his next reaction.

He sniffled, turning away and wiping his nose that slowly started to leak with his sleeve before he brought his hands to shield his face away from you. A harsh gasp of air paired with a muffled sob escaped him, his body slowly starting to tremble from his repressed frustration and tears.

Your eyes slightly widened in shock before you reached over, gently grabbing his arm and slightly tugging him closer to you. Chris didn't fight it, he let you reach over the console and leaned into your touch, resting his head on your chest as you pulled his beanie off and tenderly carded your fingers through his hair.

He wrapped his arms around you, his hands clinging onto you for dear life as he tried to catch his breath and regulate his emotions. You did nothing but hold him close and wait, softly swaying as you continued to run your fingers through his hair.

"Fuck- I just..something about what he said just really got to me, man." he murmured, a few sniffles leaving him as he finally started to calm down and sink further into your touch. "He's an asshole, he knows how to get under any and everyone's skin. Chris–Baby, you did nothing wrong. You do all of the right things, and he could only wish to be half of the man you are. Honestly, I don't even know what my Mom sees in him but, he could never amount to what you do for me, and I mean it." You assured him delicately.

You stopped rocking and leaned into the back of your seat, releasing your hold on him when you felt him start to move. He rested his hands on your thighs, before resting his forehead on yours. "I love you so much, and I'm-I'm sorry for causing a scene at dinner. You and your Mom deserve to have a good evening, and I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me, even when confronted like that." he whispered, before leaning in and pressing a soft peck on your lips.

"I'm sorry for sticking up for my Dad when he was obviously being the shitty one. You were just defending yourself." you replied back before pressing a soft kiss on his lips, a small smile growing on his now pouty lips as his shoulders relaxed and he fell into you.

"Next time, let's just skip the Christmas dinner and bring your Mom with us to Boston." he jokingly avowed, his comment muffled from being smushed into your chest. You could only laugh in response before holding him closer. "Sounds like a plan."

' 𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 ' 🎁: @emely9274 @ginswife @chrisstvrns @conspiracy-ash @sturnina @lovetaylorrussellgrr @nervoussagittarius @sacaydia @chrissturnsss @hearts4werka @chrisprincesss @koilaniazul @starsforu @sturn777 @sturniolosiphone @chrisfavoritewhore @sturnsmia @leaningoutthewindow

[gaylordscooter]

Cut Off

[warning for binge drinking and references to self harm]

He didn't know what to think when he saw the scars on his arms. He knew they were there but he never brought it up. He wasn't good at handling situations like that. He wasn't good at comforting others, he never has been. Not even when he was Sans.

And then Blue pointed out some of them seemed to be recent given that they weren't as healed as the others.

Instantly, he knew what caused those scars.

That argument they had. After he stabbed through his soul.

He avoided Killer as much as he could for about a whole week afterwards until they made up.

IT’S YOUR FAULT. YOU MIGHT AS WELL HAVE CARVED THOSE YOURSELF.

Horror seemed to come to the same conclusion. He stared at Dusk knowingly. He sighed and carefully put a shirt on Killer along with his usual jacket.

They weren't going to bother with changing his pants, comfort be damned. They've already intruded enough on his personal space.

Afterwards, Blue asked Horror to have a private talk with him in his room and that he’ll have one with Dusk after.

It was puzzling, but Horror went with him anyway, leaving Dusk alone with Killer.

It left him some time to ruminate, specifically about his relationship with him.

He stayed crouched down by the couch Killer was sleeping on.

They never labeled what it was—Killer seemingly didn't think of their relationship as anything special, which is what spurred that argument in the first place. Considering Killer's apology and the new scars on his arms, that couldn't be further from the truth.

It's true that initially it was casual. The kissing, the drugs, all of it was just to get away from everything.

Their horrible living circumstances, Nightmare, their guilt—those nightly meetings warded them off even if it was for just a little bit.

At first it didn't matter who the other person in the room was. It didn't matter who they were smoking with. They weren't��Killer wasn't thinking of him when they kissed. Initially.

And then it stemmed into something more, after the night they agreed to quit it with the drugs. Now they did matter to each other. The whole reason they hung out at night had changed. They liked each other's company. They liked each other.

Yet being trapped under Nightmare's grip evaporated any hope for a proper relationship. Killer always avoided talking about their relationship too—but Dusk didn't see that as the main problem.

But now they're somewhere new. Somewhere safe, hopefully.

SOMEWHERE YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE.

They could have a proper relationship now, he supposed, but diving into one immediately—living with each other—was starting to seem like a bad idea.

He cares about Killer a lot more than he ever expected to, so he wanted to do this right.

But what would that even entail? Was that even possible for them?

He studied Killer’s sleeping face. He didn't exactly look peaceful. He cupped his face with a hand. He felt him lean into the touch.

At least in their current states, he doubted it.

IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN. DO YOU THINK EITHER OF YOU CAN GET BETTER? AFTER EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE?

Horror walked into the room a few minutes later. “you're up,” he said.

Dusk looked at Killer, but he was still asleep.

“no, i meant it's your turn to talk to him.”

Dusk rolled his eyelights and stood up. He walked into the hall even as Horror was trying to tell him where Blue’s room was located. He didn't need directions, it was pretty obvious with the light to his room being the only one that was on in the hallway.

Besides, he also had a concerningly easy time locating monsters in general, but that wasn't relevant in this specific instance.

He opened the door, which startled the skeleton inside.

His sockets widened. The room looked so similar to Papyrus’s, but it was off. While the layout was the exact same, the color of the carpet was different, the figures on his table weren't the same, and his bed looked like a rocket-ship instead of a car.

SEEMS FAMILIAR.

“Oh my god, I didn't realize my room would throw you off. Sorry,” Blue fretted. He was currently sitting on his bed with a clipboard and pen in hand. Seeing him in the room instead of Papyrus grounded him a bit.

Dusk waved his hand dismissively. It was fine.

“Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the stool in front of his bed. It was kinda funny how professional he was trying to be despite the setting.

He sat down.

“So…I want to preface this by assuring that you and the others are not getting kicked out of the hub. I just wanted to talk to each of you one on one to properly sort things out. The hotel room you and Killer are staying at is actually a temporary place to stay before we build a permanent home. My question to you is: do you want to continue to live with Killer?”

Blue managed to ask the one question Dusk wasn't sure how to answer. He ended up staring at him blankly.

“This choice isn't permanent of course, you could always change your mind.”

It was mostly Killer’s choice to live in the same hotel room. He went along with it without complaint. They were used to living in the same building after all. It was comfortable, but it might've been too comfortable.

If they continued to live with each other, would they even find any motivation to go outside? He doubted Killer would.

YOU WOULDN’T EITHER.

Finally, Dusk shook his head.

Blue quickly jotted something down. “Alright. Um, another thing I wanted to mention. I don't know anything about what you guys went through when you were under Nightmare’s captivity, but I know it must've been rough—and I’m not exactly licensed—but if you need someone to talk to I’m available.”

Dusk looked at him blankly. It clicked for him that the torn-up coat Blue was wearing was a lab coat. This guy was a wannabe doctor.

His silence only made the other skeleton nervous. His eyelights darted from side to side as he waited for a response. When he didn't get one he cleared his metaphorical throat and went on, “What I mean to say is, I’m a therapist—again not officially, but it's not like I can get licensed anymore—but that's besides the point! I got a PhD in psychology, so I have the knowledge…Okay maybe I forgot some of it…Most of it. Sorry, I’m rambling.”

Dusk perked up. If this guy had knowledge in that field he could probably help Killer better than he could ever. That was a pretty big “if” considering his questionable qualification, but Dusk knew with how things were now, he wouldn't be able to provide the support Killer needs. He was hardly keeping it together himself, he couldn't provide comfort for him for much longer without being dragged down too. For lack of a better way of wording it.

Hell, the only reason he's been keeping it together was out of pure stubbornness to make sure Killer was okay. He couldn't keep that up for long, that was for sure.

If they were going to live on their own, Killer would need someone else to support him.

OR ELSE HE’LL KILL HIMSELF.

can you not.

He glared into Blue’s eyelights. Did he really want this guy to be the one to do it?

Who else would it be? Horror?

Hell no. He's also got enough to deal with on his own.

“you can help?” he asked.

Blue’s sockets widened. “I…like to think so?”

That wasn't the most confident answer.

CAN YOU BLAME HIM? IT’S HARD TO HELP SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T DESERVE IT.

shut up.

“watch over killer.”

He watched Blue’s grip on his pen tighten.

“Okay,” he said.

No, he wasn't satisfied with that. He needed to be sure. 

“promise me.”

Blue blinked in surprise, before a look of conviction crossed his face. “I promise. I promise I’ll keep him safe.”

LIAR.

He wrote something down again. “Um, is there anything I could do to help you?”

Dusk was about to shake his head, but then he thought of something.

HEY.

“medication.”

“Oh um, I don't have access to any medication…what specifically did you want them for?”

He pointed at the side of his skull.

Blue cocked his head as he tried to understand. “Headaches?”

…Well that was a problem too but not the one he was thinking about. He shook his head.

“Uhh, hearing? Do you have a hard time hearing or—no wait, that wouldn't make sense, are you having auditory hallucinations?”

Honestly he wasn't sure if the voice in his head was a hallucination or something else. He knew it wasn't actually Papyrus. Though that did take him an embarrassingly long time to figure out.

I AM PAPYRUS. YOU JUST CONVINCED YOURSELF OTHERWISE BECAUSE YOU CAN’T FACE IT THAT I HATE YOU.

Yeah, that wasn't Papyrus, but he still had no clue what this was. He shrugged.

“If they're hallucinations, antipsychotics could probably help. It doesn't always work though…but I probably wouldn't be able to get you any in the first place and I’d have to make sure they're hallucinations first,” he rambled. “What are you hearing, exactly? If you don't mind me asking.”

DON’T TELL HIM. YOU ALREADY SEEM INSANE ENOUGH AS IS.

Dusk’s hands gripped his arms as he curled into himself as much as he could on the stool. He didn't want to speak anymore, but he had to get this out.

DO YOU? IT’LL ONLY PUT YOU IN DANGER.

He pointed at Blue’s clipboard.

“Oh! Do you want to write it down?” Blue put a clean sheet of paper on top before handing it along with his pen over to Dusk.

He hesitated before writing down the first word, but once he started the rest was written quickly. He handed it back for Blue to read before the dumb voice in his head could protest.

The look on Blue’s face shifted as he read. His eyelights flicked up to Dusk as he continued and then he put the clipboard down off to the side. He covered his mouth with a hand as he processed what he read. Blue was looking everywhere but at him. It seemed he couldn't bring himself to face Dusk anymore.

I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A MISTAKE.

“That's…that's horrible, having to deal with that, I’m sorry,” he said.

Dusk didn't expect sympathy. He just told him that he killed his own brother and he was plagued by his voice ever since. If anything—

YOU DESERVE THAT.

Blue’s voice got quieter, “i—i have something i need to confess.” He clasped his hands together tightly. “I already knew that you killed your brother.”

Dusk’s sockets narrowed. He curled his hands into fists but he remained seated.

Blue had the gall to shut his sockets, “I know more than I should about you and the other two. You saw the book with my notes. I wasn't sure if any of you actually read through it, but there's an entry on other versions of you guys. They're not exactly the same as you, so I don't know exact details but I know you and Killer have…murdered a lot of monsters.” Once he finished talking, he finally opened his sockets. He hesitantly looked at Dusk.

HE KNOWS ABOUT ALL OF YOUR SINS.

That only made his actions more confusing.

“why are you trying to help us, then?”

It seemed Blue wasn't expecting to be asked this question because all of his anxiety washed away and was replaced with exasperation. “I told you guys already that I want to. I get that it's hard to trust me when you hardly know me but can't you suspend your doubts at least a little bit? Sure, you've hurt a lot of monsters, but that's no excuse for you to give up on ever being good again. Everyone can—”

“don't finish that sentence,” Dusk said.

Blue’s breath hitched as he was interrupted. “right, sorry.”

Everyone can be a great person if they try. That's what he was going to say.

Of course the person trying to help them is so similar to Papyrus. It was a cruel joke, really.

Well, this wasn't exactly a joke. It wasn't funny in the slightest.

Blue cleared his throat, “After I finish talking to Killer, I’ll take you all to your new homes in the Hub. If you don't have any questions that will be all. I'd appreciate it if you told Killer to come over here.”

Even if he did have questions he was frankly too preoccupied with the upcoming conversation he was going to have with Killer. So he simply gave him a nod and got up to walk out.

Once he got to the living room he saw that Killer was awake. He’ll never get over how Killer lights up whenever he sees him. It was—he wasn't used to it.

His brief exchange with him was awkward. He sighed once Killer went over to Blue's room. He didn't mention anything about living apart yet. He probably should've done so before sending him over, but he wanted to put it off for as long as he could.

Which isn't for long at all.

He sat on the couch next to Horror, dreadfully awaiting when he’d return and he'd have to explain everything.

At first he thought Horror was going to be mercifully silent, but after a minute of silence he spoke up.

“so, are you and killer still gonna share a room?”

Dusk threw his head back against the couch with a groan.

“i’m taking that as a no. good for you.”

Dusk glared at him.

Horror shrugged. “what? i’m being honest. it is good for you, and probably killer. you two are…” he trailed off trying to find the right word, “hazardous, together.”

“you think so?” Dusk signed frantically.

Horror raised a brow bone. “is that sarcasm?”

Dusk fell back against the couch again, deflated. Hazardous? That was one way to describe their relationship. How many injuries have they caused each other?

It was to let off steam, was the excuse they had, but considering the scars was it just another way Killer would hurt himself?

The thought made him sick.

HE’S USING YOU.

What did that even mean at this point?

He couldn't answer.

“so me and papyrus are gonna move into our own house, separate from the rest of the guys. it's gonna be weird getting used to living with him again.”

Showoff.

THAT’S NOT SHOWING OFF. YOU KILLED ME! THAT WAS EASILY PREVENTABLE!

It wasn't that simple but he has a point. He gave Horror a thumbs up. Good for him.

“i’m mostly saying that just in case you come over to visit me. i know it's hard for you to be near him, so.”

Dusk let out a half-laugh half-hum. How weirdly considerate of him, and about Papyrus nonetheless.

Back when Horror learned he and Killer murdered their brothers, he was furious towards them. The only reason he interacted with them was out of self preservation, and even then it was rare.

Maybe being tormented by the same being was the easiest way to bring anyone together.

Or maybe he just realized he wasn't really qualified to judge them after all he's done.

If they wore each other’s shoes they’d find they’d do the exact same thing. It’s funny how being the same person works.

Either way, it's surreal that they're friends now. Though, he kinda thought he’d stop being so friendly once they got away from Nightmare.

“anyway, how are you gonna tell him?” he asked.

He didn't have the answer to that, so he shrugged.

Horror snerked, “dude, seriously?”

“what would you say?” he signed, moving his hands in a stilted manner.

“you really gotta brush up on sign language, i can barely understand you.”

Dusk clenched his hands shut in silent annoyance. He wasn't wrong. His sign language was horrible. He was only going off of what he remembered from past resets, and even then he only took the time to learn it in timelines where they reached the surface. Which were very very distant memories.

“just be upfront. it's not like you two have to live with each other. ‘sides, he’ll be fine on his own.”

Dusk leaned his head forward and gave him a skeptical look.

“probably…” he added without much certainty.

He dreaded the conversation to come. That dread didn't dwindle at all when Killer entered the room and swore at him.

Horror fled the room immediately. Which was fair, but he would've appreciated some support.

He didn't even say anything yet and Killer was already on the verge of crying. His voice cracked as he yelled, usually Dusk found his voice cracks amusing, but now it made his soul twist.

He brought up a point Horror told him. Only for him to panic even more.

LOOK AT HOW MUCH YOU’RE HURTING HIM. IS THIS YOUR REVENGE ON HIM AFTER HE CALLED YOUR RELATIONSHIP A JOKE? WAS HIM CUTTING HIMSELF OVER YOU NOT GOOD ENOUGH?

He didn't want to hurt him. This wasn't revenge. He didn't want to hurt him!

HE KNOWS YOU HATE HIM.

He cared about him!

He loved him!

The words came out of his mouth before he realized it wasn't the best time to say them. It was a horrible time to confess, Killer was already overwhelmed.

That was the first time he said “i love you” to him.

He needed him to know how he felt. He needed him to be sure that they were splitting out of necessity and that he didn't hate him.

“we need to spend some time apart,” he said.

Killer started hyperventilating. God, he was shaking. It looked like he was going to fall over at any moment.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO HIM. YOU’VE MANIPULATED HIM. NOW HE CAN’T STAND BEING WITHOUT YOU.

YOU’RE AWFUL.

YOU GAVE HIM THOSE SCARS.

Dusk hugged him, hoping it would calm him down.

Killer immediately clung onto him in return. His hand tightly gripped his jacket, desperate to keep him here.

He tried explaining why they had to be apart.

“dust, please, i’ve already been alone for too long!”

Dusk moved his hands to his shoulders and pushed him away so that he could look at his soul.

It looked the same as it did that night when they decided to quit doing drugs; it was jagged and changing frantically.

He didn't know what it meant exactly, but it didn't mean anything good.

Just like his soul, his face was a mess. He was crying. He thought he was mad at him for calling him “Dust”. He didn't even notice he did.

It hurt to see him like this, but that probably didn't compare to what Killer was going through.

It’d be worse if they stayed together. They wouldn't be able to leave their room. Why would they, when they had each other? No, he didn't want to live like that. It was going to be hard adjusting to a new life and meeting new people but they needed to.

YOU DON’T DESERVE TO.

Things will be better for both of them.

They just had to rip off the bandage first.

That whole conversation was worse than anything Nightmare’s put them through.

No, being overtaken by that parasite was worse, actually.

Either way, it ended up being motivation to go outside once they got back to the Hub. Only for him to b-line towards Grillby’s once he found it.

Once he walked into the place deja vu rushed through him. It looked the exact same as his Grillby’s, the only thing that reminded him that he wasn't in his universe were the patrons.

It was a lot more packed and it wasn't just the usual Snowdin residents that were here. Luckily, because it was so packed, no one paid him any mind when he walked in.

If this was his universe, everyone would greet him.

As he walked towards the bar he noticed that the establishment wasn't the exact same—because it seemed to be double the normal size.

That was the only noticeable difference so far, though.

Grillby himself looked the same, he was also cleaning a glass like he usually did whenever he had some downtime.

Feeling bold, he took a seat at the bar, not many people were sitting around here anyway.

Grillby looked at him, waiting for an order.

And then he realized he didn't have any gold on him. Maybe this Grillby would also put up with a stupidly long tab.

It was weird seeing him again. Fortunately, he's gotten used to seeing different versions of monsters he's killed. Even though they looked the same there was something off. It was like he could tell they were from different universes.

However, this Grillby didn't feel off to him at all.

He didn't need anything fancy to drink so he just ordered a glass of beer.

Grillby gave it to him without a word, which was typical of him.

He tried drinking it slowly at first, trying to seem casual and then he threw that out the window once he realized he didn't really care right now. He wanted to get wasted.

When Blue took them back here, both he and Horror accompanied Killer to his room. Horror practically dragged the skeleton over to his room with how unresponsive he got after their conversation ended.

Then when they said their goodbyes, Killer wordlessly clung onto his sleeve until Dusk pulled away.

Grillby refilled his beer, thank god.

He downed it immediately.

This is only temporary.

Another glass, actually, Grillby brought him two more. He knew he could always rely on him.

They’re not even that far apart from each other. He knows where he lives. He can visit at any time.

Another glass down. The fake Papyrus in his head has gone quiet already.

As his hand grasped the other glass of beer, someone sat down next to him.

“S-SANS?”

Dusk nearly spat out his drink, instead he choked it down, causing him to go into a coughing fit.

“SORRY FOR STARTLING YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOMEONE ELSE!”

He looked over at the person next to him. Oh god yeah, that was a Papyrus.

Why did this one seem so familiar?

He wasn't even wearing his battle body. He was wearing casual everyday clothes.

He looked a lot more rugged than usual with heavy dark circles under his sockets.

This one had LV.

“it's fine.” Is what he wanted to say. Instead his tipsy mind only managed to say “you real?”

He looked so nervous. “I DON’T SEE WHY I WOULDN’T BE?” He squinted at the glasses on the counter. “HOW MUCH HAVE YOU DRANK ALREADY?”

Dusk looked over to count, but he was distracted by the fact he was currently holding a whole bottle of beer in his hand, apparently. He turned his attention to Grillby, confused.

“...” Grillby looked as blank as ever.

“THAT ISN’T AN EXCUSE TO GIVE HIM SO MUCH ALCOHOL!” Papyrus responded. He pinched the bridge of his nose bone and shook his head in disapproval.

What the hell was happening?

Maybe drinking like crazy wasn't a good idea in a completely new world. Ehhh he didn't really care. Oof, his eye sockets were getting heavy.

A nap sounded real good right now, actually. Consequences be damned, he propped his head against the counter and dozed off.

“HE DIDN’T EVEN ORDER FOOD, DID HE?” Papyrus remarked. He knew this Sans wasn't literally the one from his universe, but the second he saw him he knew he was from a similar one.

Obviously he was from a universe where he didn't die by his hand.

It was shameful, knowing that Papyrus never stooped low enough to harm let alone kill his own brother. He was a horrible brother.

As much as Grillby would insist he did what he had to in order to protect the other residents of Snowdin, he still regretted it deeply.

Seeing a version of his brother that probably succeeded in his task didn't change his mind on that at all.

Speaking of Grillby, “I KNOW YOU RECOGNIZED HIM BUT YOU CAN’T JUST GIVE HIM ALL THIS,” he gestured wildly at the group of empty glasses by the sleeping skeleton, “LIKE YOU’RE TRYING TO SEDATE HIM! YOU KNOW HE ISN’T THE SAME ONE.”

Grillby adjusted his glasses even though they were already straight and grabbed one of the cups to start cleaning it.

“I KNOW IT’S WEIRD, THAT DOESN’T CHANGE MY POINT.”

“...”

“I CAN’T JUST WAKE HIM UP THAT’S RUDE.”

“....”

“I’M GOING TO STAY HERE UNTIL HE WAKES UP SO I KNOW HE’S FINE, OBVIOUSLY.”

Grillby paused his glass-cleaning to procure a shot of warm milk for Papyrus.

“I AM NOT PAYING FOR THAT,” he said, before snatching it up and downing it as if it were whiskey.

Grillby gave him a quizzical look.

Papyrus lowered the volume of his voice, which wasn't by much, “Of Course I’m Not Perturbed By Seeing Such A Close Replica Of My Brother That I Brutally Put An End To.”

Grillby got back to cleaning the pile of glasses.

“IT IS JUST A YOU PROBLEM ACTUALLY…SORRY, THAT WAS RUDE. STILL YOUR PROBLEM, THOUGH. THIS SKELETON NEXT TO ME IS A COMPLETE STRANGER, WE’VE NEVER MET HIM,” he said with total confidence that he didn't have.

At the Hub, it was expected to run into other versions of people you knew, but it was basic etiquette to treat them as strangers. You do not assume anything of them because you've never met this version before. Unfortunately, that was harder to uphold when they were from such alike universes.

It wasn't unusual for loved ones from different universes to settle for you if you were similar enough.

Fortunately for Grillby and Papyrus, they didn't really have to deal with that, being the only people from a “Dust” universe to live in the Hub.

But now this Sans is here.

When Dusk finally woke up, the bar was near closing time.

And the Papyrus was still here—oh never mind he bolted out the door the moment he moved.

He sluggishly moved his head towards Grillby, who was probably waiting for him to leave too so he could close.

“sorry,” he slurred. He put a hand on the counter to support himself as got off the stool. He reached into his pockets for gold that wasn't there. Oh yeah.

“my bad, i forgot i didn’t have any g.”

Grillby waved his hand dismissively, or he was shooing him. “...........It's fine.”

Dusk blinked in surprise. “thanks, i’ll uh, bye.” He gave a quick wave before walking quickly out of there, or at least he tried to. He ended up bumping into multiple tables and chairs until he tripped and fell down before he could even make it to the door. He doesn't know how long he napped but clearly he was still drunk.

He stayed on the ground for a moment, internally hyping himself up to stand.

He heard Grillby walk over. Ah, great.

At the very least he managed to flip himself on his back to look up at the fire monster.

For a moment, it felt like he was back in his universe and this Grillby was the one he knew, but he knew he couldn't be. He killed him along with the others.

Although Grillby had an unreadable face—because he didn't have one—Dusk was able to get a good idea about what he was feeling by looking at the pattern of his flames.

Either being drunk skewed his perception or he was reading it wrong, because from what he was seeing, Grillby was concerned for him.

He knew this look well, especially after he started remembering past timelines all of a sudden. Whenever he drank to stop thinking, Grillby would look at him exactly like this and then he'd offer to help him get home. Sometimes he'd try asking what was up. Which was completely in vain.

Usually this was the part he'd kill him.

The two of them stared at each other in silence. They were off script. They didn't know who was going to make the next move.

Until Grillby decided to take the lead. He knelt down by Dusk. His hands reached out to him slowly, ready to draw back if Dusk said anything.

Dusk’s mind unhelpfully insisted Grillby was about to strangle him or something. He stayed still regardless.

Grillby paused and his hands retreated. “...Why are you here?” He stood up.

“had a bad breakup,” he said. It wasn't really a breakup since they were never formally together, but they did separate so that word probably applied to the situation.

Grillby’s head briefly flared up. That could mean a multitude of things so he didn't want to bother assuming what it meant.

“GOOD LORD, HE HASN’T LEFT YET?” Papyrus's voice startled the two as he opened the door. Apparently he hadn't left the vicinity yet. “HONESTLY, OF ALL MONSTERS TO WALTZ IN HERE AND GET BLACKOUT DRUNK…DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANYONE THAT COULD WALK YOU HOME?” He remained outside, only peeking his head in through the door to be heard.

Well Horror probably could, but he had no way of contacting him. He did get that phone. He wasn't sure if he still had it on him and even then he didn't have the number or a phone.

That's a no.

Dusk shook his head even though it was hardly visible to the Papyrus.

Papyrus sighed dramatically. “FINE. AS A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN I SHALL ACCOMPANY YOU TO YOUR ABODE TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY.”

“i’ll take my chances sleeping on the sidewalk.”

“YOU CAN’T EVEN GET TO THE SIDEWALK ON YOUR OWN.”

“i guess my chances aren't looking too good. my doom is cemented. maybe even set in stone. just leave me here.”

Papyrus groaned at the puns. “I AM GOING TO GO OVER THERE AND PICK YOU UP AND THEN YOU ARE GOING TO DIRECT ME TO YOUR HOUSE, UNDERSTAND?”

“mmmm no.”

Then he was picked up by warm hands. Oh, Grillby picked him up. He walked him over to the door and was handed over to Papyrus.

The second the two were outside, Grillby hastily closed the door.

“the fuck happened to snowdin?” he asked.

Papyrus huffed, “WE AREN’T IN SNOWDIN.”

He took note of the sky. It was sundown. “we made it to the surface?”

“NO.”

“oh.”

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE YOUR HOUSE IS?”

“shouldn't you know?”

“I’M NOT YOUR BROTHER. YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD. YOU KILLED HIM,” Papyrus said coldly.

Man, his mind was scrambled. For a second he thought there’s been a reset. What timeline was this? No he was kidnapped by Nightmare—and then they were kicked out…Oh yeah. This is the “Hub” or whatever.

He drank way too much.

“i didn't want to…”

“I DIDN’T EITHER! BUT THAT DOESN’T CHANGE IT, NOW DOES IT?!”

He hasn't heard Papyrus get this mad in a while. Wait. “what do you mean you ‘didn't either’?”

Papyrus came to a halt. “IN MY UNIVERSE, I KILLED YOU.”

He may have been drunk out of his mind, but even he knew that didn't sound right. “you wouldn't.”

“WELL, I DID.”

“you can't.”

“CLEARLY I CAN.”

He couldn't even kill the human. How's he supposed to believe he would ever kill him?

“you can't kill the human but you killed me, is that what i’m hearing?”

Papyrus grit his teeth. Despite the conversation, he was still carrying him. “KILLING THEM WASN’T GOING TO STOP THEM. KILLING YOU DID. AND IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.”

“you never have accidents with your magic.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME. YOU AREN’T MY BROTHER! YOU CAN’T JUDGE ME ANYWAY.”

“...you can put me down now.”

“YOU’LL FALL ON YOUR FACE. NO.”

Alas, poor Papyrus. It wouldn't matter how much he reminded himself that he wasn't the same Sans. They were so similar to each other's brother.

And he didn't even remember where his new house was. If this turned out to be a torture method that Nightmare came up with, he wouldn't be surprised.

“so what, you're gonna aimlessly carry me around until you happen to find my house?”

“I GUESS SO!”

Of course.

He resumed walking, Dusk decided to accept it. It was an excuse to be lazy. Even though he hasn’t been “lazy” in years.

Then again, he hasn’t been carried by Papyrus like this in years.

[unadulteratedkr]

~Let's talk about credit~

(not financial credit trust me you don't want to take financial advice from me lol)

No, today I am inviting y'all to the table to talk about the importance of crediting other creators in fandom!

Because, listen. We don't have a peer-review system. We don't have to submit our stuff to a plagiarism checker or go through stringent editing when shitposting on tumblr; we operate in an honor system of crafting folklore using our favorite blorbos, and that means that inspiration and using the specific words and images from canon creates a grey area on what ought to be credited, and how to do it in a way that creates a solid, strong community.

Here's a little of my philosophy and how I give proper credit where it's due, so I figured I'd share them to hopefully encourage others in making sure no one out there ends up becoming fandom's James Somerton

1. Links are your friends, use them enthusiastically

Drooled over a gifset that made you write a poem? Read a fic that made you pull out your embroidery hoop? Saw some art that made you write a song? Link to the original! Tag the original artist, hyperlink to the giffer, share the fic via the amazing shortcut button on Ao3, it's what those creators deserve! Even if it's a shitpost, that creator is where your idea started, and it's the right thing to do to share directly where your audience can connect with the person who inspired you.

This holds INFINITELY true if you are directly quoting someone. If you've used someone else's words to create your own work, link back to the original. No one wants to be sent a fic or a funny post on tumblr and then feel the sinking pit in their stomach when they realize that post is their own words with someone else's name on them.

2. Ask for permission when you can

Now, the reason I threw the addendum on this with "when you can" is because knowing when to ask for permission is more of an art versus a science. I myself have written more than one fic inspired by art where I didn't reach out to the artist before I shared the fic because I had no contact with them (the joys of me refusing to touch the garbage that is the bird site). BUT this is why point number one is to always link back to the original inspiration, because I believe that should always be the bare minimum.

THAT BEING SAID.

If you have a way of contacting the original fellow fandom person who inspired you? Reach out and ask them if they'd feel comfortable with you creating something! 999 times out of 1000, they're gonna be over the MOON you want to create something inspired by what they made, and they'll be really fucking pleased you reached out to check.

3. Ask yourself: is this a "two cakes" situation or am I putting my name on someone else's cake?

This is another one that can absolutely fall into a bit of a grey area. I have written many a fic that started out with me reading a take or a fic that went in a WILDLY different direction from what I was expecting or wanted, and I went "okay, fuck it. I'll write my own." And that's absolutely been a great motivator for me to start a project!

HOWEVER.

That is me creating a different flavor of cake, putting my own frosting on it, and probably adding something weird like lemon zest and instant coffee for a lemonade cappucino chiffon that shouldn't work (but definitely does, trust me)

If I were to have read a fic or a take and then gone, "Oh, yeah, definintely, here's the same idea but now I've rephrased it juuust a little and now it's under MY username on my blog".... that's slapping a different color of frosting on the same cake and claiming it's mine. If you find yourself doing that, I really invite you to pause and consider why you felt the need to do so instead of sharing the original post.

Like, not to bring Shakespeare into it (they say, poorly concealing their icon), but fandom can be exactly like how Juliet views love. Sharing joy in what others have created absolutely can be as "boundless as the sea [...] the more I give [...], the more I have, for both are infinite". It does not take away from the joy your fellow fandom friends will have in your own original work to share the work of others.

4. Hyping up your inspiration is FUN

Finally, this is more of me going "no really, proper credit isn't going to mean people love YOU less" because I truly believe in the power of how much FUN it really is to give credit where it's due. I was buzzing for WEEKS in anticipation of publishing Objection! and The 'I Duoy' Newlywed Special because the marvelous @jackuntiljune had brainstromed with me on the name for the boat my boys eloped on. And I get so fucking giddy when I see someone comment on those fics about the name of the boat because I get to take a giant breath and go "MY FRIEND JACK CAME UP WITH IT, AREN'T THEY AMAZING?!"

If you practice giving credit where it's due, I promise promise PROMISE it will become a joy. It's FUN getting to bring more people into the sandbox to play, and I know I love it when there's more than one person out there I can yell at (affectionate) when I've been emotionally destroyed (again, affectionate) by a gifset or art or fic <3

Thanks so much for reading this far! I can't wait to keep sharing inspiration with all of you out there

[lunarpeonie]

midnight in the ocean

In which Geto is a sweet pea and tries to help you, but you’re just not a morning person. 

2.2k words, fluff

Mornings were easily your least favorite part of the day. You were a night owl and as such, spent the dark hours of the night searching random questions on Google like Why are clouds white? and scrolling through Tiktok. However, recently your late night plans had been foiled by a certain long haired, gauge wearing sorcerer whose name might rhyme with meadow. Geto had been on a crusade to get you to bed earlier ever since you had slept through three alarms and six phone calls from him the morning of a semi-important (read: very important) mission a week earlier. So what if you had been a little late? A few hours late when a curse had been there for weeks really didn’t make a difference. (Only… it did. You had been assigned the mission with specific directions to attack the curse at sunrise because that had been its weakest point during the day, before it could take cover in a dark crevasse of the abandoned building it was inhabiting. Something about it being manifested by people’s fear of the dark and it being afraid of the rising sun. Instead of an easy fight like you had expected, you had been thrown through a few more walls than you would’ve liked.) 

Ever since, Geto had been trying his hardest to get you to bed early to avoid any other possible incidents. He was being ‘responsible.’ Whatever.

Attempt 1

First, he had taken your phone and hid it deep within the confines of his baggy pants after returning to the dorms from an outing with your classmates.

“Are you serious right now? Give me my phone back, Geto.” He shot you back his tight lipped smile, eyes shaped like crescent moons. 

“Ah, no can do. You need to start a habit of getting to bed earlier. What better way to do that than to rid yourself of your main distraction?” Your jaw dropped. The audacity of this man to act like you were an unruly child in need of parenting. Sure, was it a little irresponsible to keep up your night owl activities when you had to be up early in the morning some days? Yes, you could admit that. But that didn’t mean you needed someone else, someone your own age, to parent you.

“If you think that putting my phone in your pants is going to stop me from getting it, you really must not know me well enough.” You challenged, eyes narrowing so that he knew you meant business. He just continued to smile back at you in a way that was starting to feel a little condescending. 

“Try it.” 

This had ended with you crouching on top of Geto, foot to his neck, and hand fishing down his pants. (Awkward in retrospect, but you were desperate and on a mission to get your phone before your favorite Tiktoker went on live for the night. You only wished that Gojo hadn’t been walking by at the same time. He now had a plethora of pictures from what he deemed “the indecent incident” and was determined to remind you of it every chance he got.) 

Attempt 2

The next thing Geto tried was another tactic that made you feel like an unruly 5 year old. A knock on your dorm door had you pausing the DIY rug making video you had been watching and rolling your desk chair over to answer it. Standing on the other side of it was Geto wearing his signature smile once again. He was clad in his silky black pajamas and had his eye mask sitting on top of his head. 

“Can I help you with something?” You rolled your eyes, knowing that him showing up at your door at 11PM meant he was trying to prove a point. 

“Yes, you can.” He said cheerily. Much too cheerily for past 10. This was ‘me’ time that he was interrupting. “You can try these.” He held up a purple jar with Z’s plastered on the label. “Maybe then you can get to bed at a reasonable hour. You do know that we are supposed to be on the road to exorcize that cursed spirit at the elementary school by 8AM tomorrow?” You stuck out your hand to grab the jar and leaned your head closer to the label to see exactly what he meant by these. 

For a healthy sleep cycle. SLEEP! No next day grogginess! 

“Are these…” You started, “Melatonin gummies?” He happily nodded his head, his inky bangs swaying back and forth as he did so. You could feel your blood pressure rising with irritation that he had interrupted your ‘me’ time for something so stupid. You still had 20 minutes left on your rug making video and there could be dire consequences if you didn’t finish it. Didn’t he understand that? So, out of frustration, you aimed for the biggest target (his head) and threw. 

You were late again the next morning. 

Attempt 3

It was a few days later when sitting at a bench along the many walkways around the school, ready to chow down on your lunch of leftover pepperoni pizza, Geto plopped down on the bench beside and laid a white, half moon shaped contraption between you. 

“Uh, what is that thing?” You asked with a mouthful of pizza, closing the latest edition of a teen gossip magazine that you had been lazily flipping through. 

“A sound machine, it makes a variety of sounds and the reviews say that it helps put babies to sleep.” You could already feel a vein throbbing on your forehead at the thought of Geto treating you like a kid once again. He began pressing buttons on the machine to show you just how many it made. After shuffling through fan noises, whale noises, and copious static noises, you placed your hand on top of his as a signal to stop. 

Closing your eyes, the words began to roll out before you could stop them, “Look, it’s not that I’m against going to bed early and going on a normal sleep routine. I go to bed late because I have a hard time sleeping by myself. At home, I always had someone around. I shared a room with my sister, so I never had to sleep alone. I just… don’t feel safe when I sleep alone.” You sighed, feeling embarrassed to admit the real reason behind your wacky sleep schedule. 

Geto’s signature smile lit up his face. “Why didn’t you just tell me that? We could’ve had this solved so much sooner!”

“Yeah, how?” You asked, confused and eyebrow raised. 

“I’ll just sleep in your room from now on.” Time screeched to a halt. Birds stopped chirping. Wind stopped flowing. Did… you hear him correctly? 

“Do you know how seriously indecent it is for you to propose something like that?!? What kind of girl do you take me for??” You rolled up the magazine you had been flicking through and began hitting that tall pervert with it like he deserved.

“Ah no! You misunderstand. I only mean to help, nothing indecent! I’ll sleep on the floor. Just so that I’m in the room and it’ll be enough for you to comfortably fall asleep.” 

You paused in your magazine assault and contemplated this offer. You did love having the extra time to browse the internet, but you were always sluggish in the morning and didn’t recover until late afternoon. As much as you tried to hide it, it was really starting to drag you down.

Hesitantly you replied, “Okay… we’ll try it. But no funny business, I’m serious! One weird look and you’re getting kicked out.” You waved the curled magazine around in the air to emphasize your point. 

•

That night, right as the clock struck 9:30, you heard a steady knock, knock, knock on your door. Opening the door, a pajama-clad Geto Suguru leaned into your doorway, pillow and blanket in hand. “Are you ready for our sleepover?” 

You blinked twice and tried to remind (read: convince) yourself that this was a good idea. As long as no one (Gojo) found out. 

“Come in,” you said with an arm extended to the small space. “You can set your stuff up right here. I moved my rug to the corner so that you had some space.” You pointed to the cherry print rug wadded up in a haphazard ball. Rug making had not exactly worked out well for you, so that may as well be its home forever. You sat on the edge of your bed, nails digging into the soft down bedding, as Geto arranged his things on the floor. You were nervous. You’d never had a guy sleep over before, even if this wasn’t like that. 

Geto had placed his striped blanket directly on the floor and his pillow in the opposite direction of where yours laid on your bed. “Are you sure you’re going to be comfortable sleeping on the floor? I feel kind of bad… since you’re the one doing me a favor.” 

“I’ll be fine. As long as this helps you, I’m happy.” There was that smile again. You would never admit it out loud, but his smile felt like warm rays of sunshine and you were thawing from the cold. He truly was a kind soul. What kind of person sacrifices their own comfort just to make sure that their classmate can get a good night’s rest? A generous one. 

Biting down on your bottom lip, maybe it was your nerves talking, but you couldn’t help but offer, “Do you want to sleep on the bed? I feel really bad about you sleeping on the floor. I could make an indestructible pillow wall to separate us.” You fidgeted with a string on your plaid pajama bottoms, unable to look him in the eye while you offered and awaited his answer. 

“Sure, I’ll even help you build the wall. I need to make sure you don’t cut corners and damage the structural integrity of it.” He winked. You felt a quick flutter in your stomach, gone almost as fast as it had come. Together, you worked quickly to arrange the pillows into double layered stacks neatly down the middle of the bed, with the occasional break to hit each other with them. Designating the wall side to Geto, you watched as he climbed over the pillow wall to lay down. You gulped, feeling your pulse quicken. Are we really about to do this? 

Geto extended a long arm and patted your side of the bed. “No sense in wasting more time. If we don’t get to bed now, we’ll continue your bad habit.” 

Wrapping your blanket tightly around your shoulders, you nodded your head and flicked off the corner lamp. Moonlight continued to flood in through the windows on the other side of the room. Your feet made a light pitter patter as you took a few small steps to get to the bed, now with considerably less space due to the large man laying in it. Geto slid his finger through the black elastic holding his hair in a bun and flicked it to the floor. His hair fell down past his shoulders in dark waves like the ocean at midnight. He was beautiful. This wasn’t calming your nerves one bit. Still, gaining your courage, you gently laid next to your artfully built wall of fluff and turned your head up to the man occupying your bed. 

“Thank you for doing this. It was really kind of you.” A pink blush began to fill the apples of your cheeks and you could only hope that it was hidden by the darkness in the room. Geto didn’t say anything, instead opting to pat your head with his large hand, fingers dipping into your hair. Closing your eyes, you felt more comfort than you had ever felt, even at home. You knew, with one half of the strongest duo laying next to you, there wasn’t a safer place in the world than where you were at this moment. 

As sleep began to take its hold, you almost caught a whispered voice replying, “For you? Anything.”

Sometime during the night, the pillow wall had scattered across the bed and a strong, muscled arm made its way around your stomach. The both of you chose not to mention it in the morning. 

•

It had been a month since you started this charade and you had never felt better. Who knew a full night’s sleep (conveniently with your own personal very attractive furnace) could make you feel so great? With a sigh, you turned over to face the formidable pillow wall between you and Geto, only to find him peering over it already awake. You giggled, butterflies fluttering through your stomach. That had been happening more often around Geto recently. His gentle manner and the way he took care of you had caused feelings to blossom deep down in your chest. 

“You know,” you said quietly, your voice barely above a whisper, “I’ve never been a morning person, but then I started waking up to your face and… Maybe mornings aren’t that bad, after all.” 

You never had a problem getting to sleep early again. Geto made sure of that. 

fin.

Inspired by a prompt from @dumplingsjinson on Tumblr! Cross posted to ao3.

I demand more Geto fluff!!!! I can fix him, I swear! I had a blast writing this (even though it was at 1AM…). The writing bug caught me and I couldn’t stop until I was done. 

[smallishzine]

very important official zine stuff for real this time guys please spread this around

we realized we haven’t asked you what you want this zine to be, so here is poll with some different options for things we could do, but this still won’t set things in stone cause we’re aware that we’re working with a relatively small albeit amazing awesome and extremely appreciated audience, but it’ll give us a good idea for what direction you want the zine to go in.

some examples of what we mean for added coherence, please read before voting unless you wanna be like that guy in the Simpsons movie:

an eras tour zine (yes this is a Taylor swift joke shut up if you’re judging us you’re wrong) would be like different pieces dedicated to each, for lack of a better word, “thing” that Joel has done. @/inthelittlezine is a great example of this concept, except the mod has far better organizational skills than we ever could hope to

tourism brochure would be like we pick a specific thing Joel, such as esmp 1 or 2, or x life, or one of his hardcore/survival worlds (I haven’t listed Hermitcraft season 10 cause that’s still in progress but if you guys really really wanna, that too), and make an in universe guide to it expanding upon the lore and characters and builds and stuff. @/scarland-artbook is an amazing example of this, though of course we would be a much smaller scale of a project.

do you wanna tell a story? Or ride our bikes around the halls? We can’t help with the second one, we’re not very sporty people, but this option is both the most difficult and dangerous to the success of the zine, and the one that intrigues me specifically the most. Like, guys, I know I’m polling this, but I’m secretly hoping that this one wins. Like all the hoping. Ever. But I’m not gonna just say yeah let’s do this because if like only three people also wanna this zine will never get made and I will be really, really sad. This option is basically do we wanna take something Joel has done and work together to create an original universe/story based off of it, each contributing a small part of the story in comic or writing form. Unless you’ve been living under a rock and/or this post broke containment sorry if it did I assure I’m usually mostly sane, you probably know where I’m shamelessly stealing taking inspiration from. We heart you @/hotguycomiczine. If we went with this we would obviously create our own universe and storyline, and we’d try to base it off of one of Joel’s characters if possible. Also, if we went with this, we’d start the mod and application process and stuff and once we knew everyone who was going to be in the zine then we’d all get together and start working on the story, and this is the part I’m worried about because if we’re all stumped then I guess the zine is out of luck and I’d be sad. Also even if we did do this, like preemptively temper your expectations I am no where near as good as the legends at hotguycomiczine at organization and promotion and story writing and all that good stuff. However, if you have an idea for a story and want to share, send us an ask cause we might just end up using it.

I think the last two are mostly self explanatory.

please reblog for reach.

[genji-centric]

Hi I saw your request were open and I was wondering if you can do headcanons of hanzo,genji,cass,d.va and tracer meeting a nullsector trooper robot thinking it was evil but the twist it that the nullsector trooper somehow became sentient like normal omnics and is rebelling against nullsector themselves

Ofc!! This is such a cool idea. I'm excited to write it. The sull sector, in general is cool, and I'm looking forward to the direction Overwatch takes with it. Hope you enjoy!! ^^

Hanzo:

Hanzo has travled around, his road to redemption long and tiring. Having a past such as his, he grew to expect threats at every corner, assassin's of the former Shimada empire after him was no small feat. Yet he carried on, accepting it as punishment for his actions. But he learned more about the world, omnics, the awakening. All historic facts he didn't learn much, instead training to be the next Shimada leader.

It's ironic how fate comes out. When he went under the radar away from the prying eyes of the assassin's nowhere near his skill, he stepped foot onto Null Sector land. Enemies from the Null Sector were no threat to him. His bow and arrow could pierce through the metal platings with enough accuracy.

This is why he wasn't afraid to see another null sector robot, more specifically a Nulltrooper. He had acquainted himself with the different models during each run-in with a troop. This is why he was intrigued to see one alone, and it didn't seem to be of any threat to him. But still, Hanzo held his bow firm and his body ready if a fight were to break out.

Once he ensured the being was of no threat, he asked it yes or no questions. Figuring out its true motives, it was aware and wanting to be free of the jobs it was forced to do. Hanzo, out if all people understood the feeling. Either out of pity or just simple respect for the Nulltrooper, he would offer it the chance to travel alongside him for a bit.

It was up to the Nulltrooper what it wanted, but he was respectful and surprisingly understanding. Perhaps he was a good ally to have, especially when going against something like the null sector.

Genji:

He was one of Overwatch's fighters. He knew firsthand the null sector and its uprising. He took down countless drones, troopers, and slicers, you name it. Genji was well aware of how they operated, at least how attacks did.

Which is why he was shocked to see a Nulltrooper, alone and.. aware. It acted similar to the omnic Bastion did, and Genji could see intelligence behind its actions. This is why he only held onto his blade, not fully drawing it.

He knew the Nulltrooper before him was more than it seemed. Genji, in fact, prided himself on his understanding of omnics having Zenyattta as a teacher and his body being mostly machine. This is why he started talking, learning its awareness and need to uprise. A goal he could agree with, sure getting the information was a lot of yes and no questions. Some charades and whatnot, but he saw the value in a robot like this before him.

Genji offers the Nulltrooper the opportunity to join Overwatch, both sharing the goal of shutting down Ramattra and his revolution against humanity. But it relies on them to work together.

Cole:

Now, Cole Cassidy often seemed to not particularly care about the major fights. He was more of a solo man who just so happened to be associated with Overwatch. At least, that's what he thought. Cassidy, under the guide of Overwatch he has seen the Null Sector, the threat it caused, and what they are. He knew what robots did what, how to counter them, and so on.

As he walked down the alleyway behind old buildings, humming some country song and smoking his cigar, he was taken off guard by the sight of a Nulltrooper. It was alone, but that didn't make him any less on edge.

He gripped his hand around the big iron on his hip, ready for a fight. But was shocked to see the robot lift its hands, as if it didn't want to fight. Odd, Cole decided to hear it out. He was surprised to learn it was aware, like the other Omnics he interacted with on occasion. Cassidy knew this was a sight to behold, especially from a trooper he just accepted as being one of the least intelligent robots.

Now Cole knew he wasn't the one to make any major decisions. But he did know people who could. He had his connections. Having a Nulltrooper on Overwatch's side certainly didn't sound bad, and if it was up to him to get this trooper to the place it needed to be, that's something he was willing to do.

D.V.A:

Hana Song was intelligent. She fought for the safety of Korea and the world. Her mech was a piece of powerful art that made fighting possible. It gave her the ability to do something, to make a change, and to fight for what she believed in. Her and the other mech drivers shared this belief.

She took down her fair share of null sector robots when harm was a possibility. She had gotten a good look at their machinery, and she had a good idea of their coding. Alarm bells struck her when seeing the lone Nulltrooper. It was different.. too different from any robot from the null sector she'd seen.

Readying her bot for a fight D.V.A. was amazed to see it beg for mercy. Through a jarble of frantic beeps, she took pity on it, wanting to know the reason for its distress.

After a while of figuring it out, she learned of its wishes to rise against the null sector itself. Hana saw herself somehow, fighting for what was right even in the eyes of danger. D.V.A. wanted to help, shoe she would offer to get the robot some connections to people who were fighting the same war.

Who knows, maybe she might find it some upgrades for proper speak if she liked the trooper enough.

Tracer:

Along with Genji, Tracer was more invested with all the happenings with the null sector. But Tracer had a different approach. She grew to deeply care about the omnics under King's Row and having one of her close friends being an omnic. Lena knew the different perspectives, and she truly wanted the best for all those involved.

Which is why she didn't immediately reach for her duel guns. The robot in front of her seemed to be.. alone. And she couldn't help but feel sorry for it. Perhaps a soft approach would be best. And besides, if something were to happen, she could rewind time and make use of her machinery.

But Tracer was right on that hunch. The Nulltrooper was, in fact, passive. Lena knew the ways of understanding Bastion, well at least kind of. So after some yes no questions, some charades and maybe a drawing or two she figured it out.

The Nulltrooper was in the same fight she was. It was aware and wanted change. And Lena couldn't help but admire that. In fact, it reminded her of King's Row and her role in that. And Tracer just loves to tell stories, so of course she just had to ramble on about the uprising and what Overwatch's plan was.

Regardless of what the Nulltrooper wanted, all it could do is beep and boop as a response. After a while, she pauses. Thinking over her words.

"Sorry bout that love, I get carried away. Say, how would you want to join me? Overwatch is full of great people, and I just know Winston would be happy having a new addition to Overwatch?"

She's so sincere, and after all the ramblings about Overwatch, the offer seems tempting to the Nulltrooper. But it's up to the robot to decide if it joins Overwatch, regardless of what it decides. Lena will always be a friend.

[msevildoom]

Monsterhearts 2 is good.

After playing a oneshot with a slow start (and a great end thanks to @che-bur-ashka) and while starting a new campaign, I dug into Monsterhearts 2's procedure for starting a new game and what I found is a very deliberately crafted machine. This is my thoughts after I went through the chapter and tried to figure out what the game is doing step by step and what decisions are made in terms of ordering steps.

Physical setup (gathering supplies)

Only the facilitator needs to do this, so it gets this out of the way as quickly as possible. This is one of a number of steps made to ease everyone else into the game.

Explain premise and Roles (and the agenda)

Introduce Safety Tools

Once actual players are involved, basically the first thing it does is set the premise of the game, then it lets players decide what space they want to play in. This is literally the soonest you could meaningfully bring in safety tools.

Option: Small Town

see below

Pick Skins

Choose Identities (name, look, and origin)

The game is slow-rolling mechanical complexity here. First it directs players to pick skins entirely on flavour, then it gets really mean with an entire four picklists.

Establish Setting (if not using a small town)

Here's where players are meant to get invested; I think this is the secret start of actual gameplay. It slow-rolls getting into character by asking the players to start thinking about their skin's place in the world, then it basically sets up the conversational dynamic for the whole game? It starts a loop of the MC asking questions for the players to answer and has specific advice for establishing the social dynamics of the table to make sure players all have equal input. This is also clearly where the game is supposed to start generating investment. "Get enough details so that everyone is excited and on a similar page, and then move on." It feels deeply weird that this is the one step the book lets you skip. In that case, I guess it's relying on the Small Town being interesting enough to create enthusiasm?

Explain role playing

If step 7 was to get players secretly role playing and playing the game, this gets them into the actual structure of scenes. It's context for why the game is about to throw mechanics at you.

Discuss Moves and Strings (the teach)

Now that players are theoretically invested, you do need to at some point teach them the game.

Choose Stats and Moves

And now that players have the knowledge to build their characters, they get to. This is where players are meant to get a good idea of who their characters are and start filling in some details, because by the next step they're expected to be sharing details about personality and their family life.

Establish Backstories

I initially labelled this as Establish Backstories (PC-PC relationships), but I think this is supposed to be both Backstories (mechanical, a way to distribute strings among the PCs) and Backstories (what happened to the PC before play). I like that this prioritises PC relationships.

Set Up Seating Chart (create NPCs and PC-NPC-PC relationships)

This step is a formalised method to create NPCs and their relationships to the players. Something we missed on 9/4 is that all NPC are in PC-NPC-PC triangles. Every time an NPC gets creating during the seating chart, the MC asks two different players leading questions about them. Also, it suggests creating 15 or 16 NPCs (all with two details about them), which is way more than I expected. This is explicitly meant to set up drama and conflict for the game.

Start playing.

The actual advice for playing isn't in chapter 2 so I'm free.

[rinwritesfics]

The Speederbike - Part 1

Plot: Rex develops a massive crush on the new mechanic, but is extremely awkward about it.

Warnings: Minor swearing, awkward Rex

Word Count: 1209

Author’s Note: It’s my first time writing Rex, so I hope I got him right. No descriptions or names for the reader included.

Part 1

Rex entered the briefing room. The general said someone was joining the battalion, and they weren’t a clone. It was part of some new program getting civvies involved to fight in the war alongside the troopers. Rex wasn’t sure about this – he had seen too many civvies turn their noses up at them, and he didn’t need another one to do so, especially one he would have to see on the daily.

He was just about to express his concerns to the general when you walked into the room, full-kit. You were a mechanic, sure, but he wasn’t expecting a mechanic with a full kit on. You took off your helmet with a smile and Rex froze. He wondered if love at first sight was real, because this sure felt like it. He didn’t even notice the general leaving the room.

“Hi Captain. I’m the new mechanic. I do hope it’s okay that the general himself chose me. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

Rex was very glad his helmet hid his face as his cheeks warmed and his heartrate increased. He managed to choke out, “Oh, uh, hello. Welcome to the 501st. Always good to know another mechanic. I’m sure you’re very skilled at what you do, and uh, being here you’ll only get better!”

You chuckled. “General Skywalker was right. You do get awkward when you’re nervous. It’s nice to meet you, Captain Rex.”

Rex chuckled awkwardly. “Apologies, I wasn’t anticipating meeting such a… a skilled mechanic today.”

You smiled. “Anything specific on the docket today I should tend to first?”

It was that smile again. His entire face felt warm, silently making him praise his helmet again. “Oh, uh, nothing I can think of off the top of my head! I just came to greet you. Um, you’re from Alderaan, right?”

“Yeah, I grew up there.”

“What’s it like? Maybe when the war’s over, I might visit.” He shrugged, attempting to calm down and seem like he was more in control of himself than he was coming off as.

“It’s really pretty. The mountains are really nice. I like it much more than Coruscant.” You pause. “Maybe I could show you some of my favorite places when that time comes.”

Once again, he was glad the helmet was on as he blushed. He stood a bit straighter and nodded. “Y-yeah, that would be really nice.”

You smiled again and Rex was certain he was going to melt. “Sounds like a plan. Well, until then, I’ll likely be busy in the repair section of the hangar bay. May I head there, Captain?”

He tilted his head in confusion until he realized you were waiting for him to formally dismiss you. “Of course, yes! You are excused. It was nice to meet you.”

You nodded and turned around, heading to the hangar bay. Rex watched you go for a moment, then had to snap himself out of his trance. He started in a different direction.

Days turned into weeks and Rex slowly got more comfortable around you, despite the increase in his heartrate every time you smiled at him and the warmth that accompanied it. He chose to start making up an excuse to see you daily – just checking on the repair bay, he said if someone asked him.

One day, he went to visit you and you had a surprise for him.

“Captain! I need your opinion on something!” You grabbed his arm and pulled him with you. Your hand around his arm made him blush slightly, but you were too distracted to see it. The grin on your face was indicator enough of your distraction as you pulled him over to a sheet-covered item that was longer than it was tall and slightly oddly shaped.

He chuckled. “Okay, what do you need my opinion on?”

“Remember last week when you lamented not having a speederbike on some missions?”

You remembered? The warmth in his chest at such a small detail grew. “Yeah.”

You pulled the sheet off the item and his eyes widened. It was a speederbike, a little worse for the wear, but still in usable condition.

“How did you get ahold of this?”

You giggled. “That’s the one Jesse found in the scrapheap. I was thinking I could fix it up and it could be a 501st speeder. And maybe… we could get it painted up in white with some blue highlights?”

His heart fluttered a little. “You took this on because of me?”

“Of course, Captain. You guys mean the world to me. Now, once I get it running, I’ll have to find some blue for the detailing.”

Rex blurted out, “I could do that! I mean, I can find the paint since I know where it is. You’re amazing.”

You smiled and he shyly smiled back.

“Captain, I –”

He interrupted, “Rex. Please.”

You smiled softly. “Alright. Rex, I can have this fixed up in a day or two. I will, however, need some direction on how you want it painted.”

Rex rushed to say, “I could do that, too!”

“You sure you’re not too busy?”

Rex blushed a bit. “I’m never too busy for you.”

Your lips parted a little and he had the sudden urge to find out how they taste, but he held back.

“Thank you, Rex,” you said softly. The way you said his name made his skin prickle slightly, blossoming from his chest and tingling all the way down to the tips of his toes.

“I’ll, uh, bring you that paint tomorrow so it’s ready when you are.”

“Sounds great. Unlike the engine.” You scoffed a little and broke the slight awkwardness.

He frowned. “What does it sound like?”

You turned on the engine and it made a bad noise, one that grumbled and squawked slightly instead of a low growl, causing him to flinch and you turn it off.

“What’s the issue with it?” he asked.

“Whatever is causing it to make that noise,” you teased.

“Smartass,” Rex said with a soft chuckle, then he froze, silently cursing himself. You’re not one of his brothers, he couldn’t just talk to you like that!

But you didn’t seem to mind as you laughed and responded, “Smartass? Me? Well, it’s better than being a dumbass.”

He grinned. “I’ll go get that paint.”

“See you soon,” you said softly.

Your tone made his heart flutter again, then he headed down the hallway. Along the way, he ran into Fives and Jesse.

Fives looked at Rex with suspicion, then grinned slyly and Rex knew there was trouble afoot with that expression.

“Don’t even start,” Rex said.

Fives laughed. “I’m not!”

“Then what were you thinking about?”

“Alright, you caught me. You were hanging out with the mechanic, weren’t you?”

Rex couldn’t help the slight blush at the tips of his ears.

“I knew it!” Fives whooped. “Still got no rizz, do you?”

“Huh?”

“Flirting skills. You have no flirting skills.”

Rex narrowed his eyes and Jesse couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him.

“What are you planning?” asked Rex as he started for the paint in the supply closet near the armory.

“Well, here’s what I’m thinking…” said Fives as he and Jesse walked with Rex down the corridor.

Taglist open!

Part 2

[hed-romancer]

the owl house is about being in fandom

i watched all of the owl house recently with a friend who isn't/has never been really in fandom and hasn't read fanfiction. and their reactions really made me realize, the owl house as a show is about being in fandom. it's about a fangirl and made for people in fandom and can't be fully understood if you aren't involved in fan culture.

from the start, our main-pov character luz is so obviously a fangirl. she loves azura, gets extremely into making her book report on it accurate, and refers to the boiling isles as being "not a g-rated fantasy world". she keeps referring to things as though they were from a story, which would come across as breaking the fourth wall if it weren't how any fan would be speaking in her shoes.

but then, not only does luz refer to the boiling isles like how she'd refer to fictional story, but the owl house itself clearly references other fictional fantasy worlds. Hexside references Hogwarts and winning a grudgy match is done by catching a "rusty smidge" (clearly parodying a golden snitch). Hooty's Moving Hassle is a direct play off of Howl's Moving Castle.

The show also deconstructs tropes in these other fantastical fictional worlds. In season 1 episode 2, Luz falls for a chosen one scam, and learns that destiny isn't something that can just be given, it has to be chosen. In the finale, Luz ends up dead/in-between worlds and is asked by the Titan whether she chooses herself to be the one to defeat Philip. This is the moral of the show- that no one is destined to do anything, that you just have to choose to do the right thing when you have the option to.

TOH also gets into some of the more social aspects of being a teenage fangirl. In episode one, Katya is imprisoned because she writes fanfiction about food falling in love, and that's not accepted by the rigid emperor, so she's sent to the conformatorium (and isn't that how it is- you write something fun that you enjoy and doesn't hurt anyone, and people call you weird and expect you to conform to what they think you should be?). Luz herself is also expected to conform when she's sent away to Reality Check Summer Camp.

Contrasting to that, at one point in season 2's Yesterday's Lie, Luz becomes worried as Vee goes up to other teenagers, afraid that she's going to get mocked for being strange, only to find out that Vee is friends with these kids and these kids are strange themselves. On one hand, Luz ditching summer camp and going to the boiling isles is how she finds friends; on the other, vee going to camp and interacting with other people who were also sent to camp is how she finds friends. (it reminds me of how in high school, i befriended all the other weirdos even when we were weird about completely different things, but when i went to college i found people who were more specifically like me, and both are amazing!)

to conclude, luz is a very amazing example of fangirl joy. she starts out the show as a fangirl, and ends the show as a fangirl with friends, and more family than she had before. she starts out falling for being called a chosen one, and ends up choosing herself. she starts preforming a monologue as the good witch azura, warrior of peace, and finishes with proclaiming herself the good witch luz, warrior of peace, and customizing the dialogue to fit her. still a fangirl through and through.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 51 – Women Warriors: An Unexpected History by Pamela Toler

This was a book I never would have heard of were it not for the magic of word of mouth marketing (here meaning ‘ recommended on tumblr.com), so I went in with basically no expectations. It’s a history book, but very much pop history – this is a collection of fun anecdotes for a general audiance wrapped in a persuasive essay, not any sort of academic work. Which is to say it’s also extremely accessibly written and easy to read, excellent for when a hurricane hit and you lost power for the day and have nothing to do but laze.

The book is, well, what it says on the tin – a collection of historical woman warriors from across the globe (if disproportionately but not mostly European) from classical Scythian warrior-aristocrats through to Soviet tank drivers (Well, I presume there’s someone out there for whom the ‘unexpected’ bit is still true, anyway. But it’s about women warriors!) The book begins with an introduction that lays out its thesis – that woman fighting in war is thoroughly historical unremarkable, and not any sort of freak aberration or insignificant exception to war being a uniformly masculine affair – and the agenda its trying to advance – that woman should be allowed to serve in the US military on equal terms with men – with I’ll say admirable clarity. Each following chapter is then dedicated to a specific typology of historical woman warriors (e.g. who become warriors due to their fathers, their husbands, patriotic fervour, those who disguised themselves as men to fight), generally consisting of a light coating of theory before diving into the examples and case studies that make up the meat of the book.

I, needing no convincing of the thesis and having limited interest in the politics of who gets to go kill in uniform for America, was reading this entirely for those anecdotes. Those were entirely worth the price of admission – Toler specifies in the introduction that she’s only talking about woman warriors, as in those who either personally fought or directed troops like a man with an analagous command would have, with the result that e.g. Elizabeth 1 gets skipped and some figures I’d genuinely never heard of get included. There’s also something of an attempt to focus on woman who served openly, rather than those who disguised themselves as men, though that’s hardly universal (there’s still at least a couple crossdressing 18th century bravos, don’t worry. Though shockingly enough no Julie d'Aubigny). Each woman profiled gets a short potted biography: her origins, the sources for her exploits and the historiography around her, then a recounting of her exploits, and a short epilogue of her life afterward if there was one (these are rarely particularly happy).

The book’s very much written for the general audience, with some effects on the choices of women to feature I’d call regrettable (e.g. Katherine of Aragon is very clearly only there because people already know her as Henry VIII’s first wife, the historical Mulan probably gets more wordcount than was strictly needed), but overall they were fun and interesting stories, and (thankfully) focused more on explaining why the women profiled were interesting or notable than getting twisted in knots trying to explain why a given mercenary captain or feudal magnate or pirate queen was actually a moral role model or feminist icon or something (an issue a lot of works in this vein do fall into, I’ve found).

I do wish there was more of an attempt to theorize about the general role of religion, given (if nothing else) the sheer wordcount Joan of Arc gets. But overall? No complaints, plenty of fun interesting historical figures I’d never heard of before.

The author does have a couple very clear pet peeves that each get called out often enough I felt like I should start a drinking game. These range from the entirely sympathetic (yelling at how previous generations of historians have applied wildly different amount of skepticism when reading sources about male versus female warriors) to very fair points that are probably a bit belaboured (by orders of magnitude more woman have fought openly as woman in e.g. sieges of their homes than ever disguised themselves as men to join the army) to the sort of thing that only really makes sense as a pet peeve when you remember Toler spent like a decade reading the source material for this and got pretty sick of the tropes (her visceral annoyance whenever anyone is refereed to as ‘th Joan of Arc of [X]”).

Speaking of pet peeves – Toler keeps a very casual, conversational sort of tone throughout the book, full of asides and tangents. She’s got a very strong voice, and it’s just a matter of taste whether that’s a positive or negative, I suppose. She also uses a lot of footnotes for her asides, especially about historiography and sources, and very annoyingly just uses a basically random series of symbols that I couldn’t distinguish half the time to mark them instead of just using numbers. The combination can grate on occasion, though that might just have been my eyes getting sore reading all the small text.

Politically the book is very consciously and explicitly liberal feminist propaganda, in a way that feels oddly dated for something that came out in 2019? Also incredibly American (woman across the globe are profiled, but she clearly assumes a lot of prior familiarity with, like, the folktale of some woman who loaded a canon during the American Revolution once, and similar). Toler is, as mentioned, incredibly passionate about the cause of women’s service in the united states military, something which I haven’t seen mentioned in the news for so long it almost seems quaint (even though I have no idea whether anything’s like, changed.) Honestly given my social circles at this point it was mostly just deeply bemusing to read a book by someone who clearly considered ‘being able to serve in the US military’ as, like, something to fight for and take pride in. But even beyond that, a lot of the avuncularly and style just felt very 2010s online feminist, I suppose? I really would have assumed the book came out in 2014 or so if I hadn’t checked.

Speaking of – it was just deeply strange how the book had no framework to discuss trans-ness? As in, several of the people the book catalogues disguised themselves and joined the army as men and even after being found out just, never stopped. To the point of fighting duels over the matter, sometimes! And the book never figures out a graceful way to handle referring to them (the ‘him’, scarequotes included, makes a few appearances), let alone really discuss identity. Again, makes the whole thing feel like a bit of a time capsule – it’s about the handling of the issue I’d expect from, like, an old Cracked listickle about ‘10 badass women warriors you’ve never heard of!’, not a recent book clearly marketed towards a progressive audience.

Anyway, as a work of theory or historical scholarship, not going to set the world on fire. But did teach me about the times the Pope and Emperor of Russia separately gave people written permission to crossdress and stab people, and also an actual written pocket biography of Matilda of Tuscany I can cite instead of just ‘forum threads arguing about Crusader Kings 2 circle 2013”. So on balance not a bad read. Just don't go in expecting theory or political enlightenment.

[tillwehavefaces]

I have literally never posted about Buddie before, but I want to add my two cents to the whole Buck/Tommy debate. I know there are mixed feelings and both sides have valid points, but to those who were expecting a Buddie kiss this soon - I don't get it?

Ever since I found out abc had picked up 911, I was and remain cautiously hopeful for Buddie endgame - in fact, the kiss makes me far more hopeful than I was a week ago. Because the truth is that if they'd gone straight for Buddie, it would have been bad storytelling. Offensively bad storytelling.

Hear me out. I agree with y'all that the storytelling that's happened up until now makes it clear that Buddie are in love with each other. I also happen to think that the storytelling that's happened up until now makes it clear that neither of these himbos have any clue that they're in love with each other, or that they even could fall in love with a man.

And it's not for lack of opportunity, if the writers had wanted to go that way, obviously! There's was Buck's reaction to Eddie being stuck in the well and Eddie making Buck Christopher's guardian in his will and both of them almost dying and Eddie having a literal breakdown over all the trauma he's repressed and they've both been to therapy and they've both broken up with women who were all wrong for them ... I could go on and on.

But not only did the writers not take any of these opportunities to make at least one of them realize their feelings for the other might not be platonic (certainly, no explicit indication on screen), but because fox was so afraid of losing viewers if they made both their supposedly straight male firefighters queer, they doubled down on Eddie and Buck seeing their relationship as platonic. Every time one of them went through some kind of life-changing experience and questioned deeply held beliefs about themselves yet never questioned their sexuality, it made it seem less and less likely that *anything* would make them realize they might be queer and in love with their best friend.

Honestly, I think if abc had gotten the show at a different point, they might have been able to go straight into Buddie. For example, a season earlier? Eddie's just gotten through a ton of trauma with the help of a therapist and is returning to the 118, and it would've been easy to write a storyline where he's realized his feelings for Buck and tries to do something about it. Or maybe right after Buck's near-death experience. But they both got through those traumas and started dating new women, as oblivious to the love right in front of them as ever. And that's how S6 ended.

So I don't think there's anything abc could have done to convince me that either one of them suddenly realizes how they feel without something happening. If that Buck/Tommy kiss had instead been a Buddie kiss, I would have loved it, but I wouldn't have really believed it. It wouldn't have felt genuine.

Excuse my nerdy science brain, but it's like inertia - Buck and Eddie have both been going in one direction for so long (the 'we're straight best friends!' direction) that it's going to take some kind of force to knock them off that path. It can't be near death experiences, cause they've both been there and it hasn't worked. It can't be finding new girlfriends or breaking up with said girlfriends. No, it's gotta be something really obvious.

That force is Tommy. A canon gay character who recognizes Buck as queer even when Buck doesn't recognize himself as queer. Who (unknowingly) forces Buck to confront that part of himself by kissing him, which will in turn force Eddie to confront his feelings and reaction to seeing his best friend and co-parent now dating a man. I can't say for sure that Buddie is coming, but I honestly think this (not Tommy specifically, but a queer man who is outside the whole Buddie situation) is the only way to tell this story in a way that makes it feel true to life, given the mess that fox created.

[single-malt-scotch]

Given we are two episodes in to bdubs this HC seasons I will ramble a tad about his format this season and the timeline/comparisons to past ones!

Let's talk in parts for a second. For thumbnails. I didn't really know what to expect tbh. He's been going more minimalist in thumbnails for a while now- HC S9 and Create have very simple thumbnails very focus on the builds (if they occur in the HC video). Go from season 7 HC to now and they've changed a Lot. S8 was simple too if you take away the color overlay. But S10 is mega simple. There isn't even a title on the thumbnails!

Then intros. S7 and S8 would randomly have an intro of "welcome to hermitcraft!" And sometimes none at all. S9 started "welcome to hoymicraf" (how do we spell this) consistently. Additionally all those seasons had some intros beginning with some third person camera to start a scene (more consistent as time went), or without that intro in season 7, 8 and 10 we'd also just start in first pov while bdubs is already in action. Additionally intro music was always very energetic, and so far what we heard in his first s10 intro (and based off the time lapses) we are getting something way more chill. Ep2's intro is one of those exceptions for the specific scenarios that happen sometimes. The choice of situational music.

General editing? Kinda crossed over with intros here because intros have very blatant editing with music and camera etc. Tbh the biggest thing to any season is music choice, which changes how things feel entirely. Past seasons had faster paced songs in intros and many building segments had orchestral, so on. The way those building segments play out has slowly turned into bdubs cutting it up to fit the beat of music, which is most apparent now in S10 and bwb S3. For S10 I feel like this enunciates the calm music even more as it puts emphasis on what is the louder/more striking note of the song. Through S10 episodes right now we have seen more use of replay mod in more than just the intro. Usually wide shots with music. Thought out compositions and wide shots often showing scale of things around him. Even purposefully taking moments to stop and pause and linger on the shot. Definitely more cinematic, and completely different with his it slows down.

It is interesting to see what some people might feel is a total 180! Considering I have seen the flow of his format for so long "slow" is not unfamiliar but because he has grown so much as a commentator he handles this very well. It's not "old inexperienced commentator" slow. Because you can tell if you pay attention he isn't different from who he has been in recent years. He's always the same and going this direction is done w the same level of development and experience. Hes still silly, he's still got energy. It's just presentation! It feels different a lot by how he's editing.

Even so it makes me wonder Why. Was his previous loud style and high energy more aimed at when his kids were just born and very little, and he had an obvious shift to making his videos possibly more appealing to children and be child appropriate? Has he 'mellowed out' for any particular reason? If you watch him a lot, especially his Livestreams (the member ones rly) bdubs thinks hard about his building skills. He is genuinely an artist aiming to improve every day and I think he's gotten a lot back into really expressing his thoughts and feelings regarding the art. It's been a gradual focus returning I have seen. Perhaps he has decided to lean into this more on purpose, and in doing so that shifts his focus away from what people felt was "childish" acting. But it's important to remember, as a bdubs lover, the analysis here isn't actually one to say he's "changed" because he hasn't. As a content creator he knows what he's going for and to some level has consciously made these changes. We still got bdubs, he's just doing it different. And honestly if you were turned off by the energy of S9, I highly recommend giving this season a watch if you want something more artistic, and good discussion about building process.

[indiaalphawhiskey]

i was just wondering do you think there really is a chance that harry might be less popular when he comes back (whenever that will be) and not be at his career peak anymore? i find it really hard to imagine him not playing stadiums/ being extremely popular etc anymore tbh for me it obvs won‘t make any difference i will always love him just the same (and wouldnt mind annyoing tiktok stans and fans who only like him bc hes „trendy“ to leave lol) i just wanted your thoughts on that :)

Okay, so I’m not a music industry buff. What I know, and what I’m about to say is based entirely on my general knowledge of pop culture (that’s heavily influenced by American pop culture, btw) so if I make any leaps, or if there’s an alternative view from a non-America-centric perspective, please forgive me.

But, for all intents and purposes, if you look at Harry’s profile as an artist and compare it to other artists of a similar profile (super popular boyband member + teen heartthrob turned solo pop star), historically you don’t really have many examples of successful solo careers, and even less of career longevity.

If you compare it to The Beatles, for example, they weren’t a traditional boyband (and arguably, neither was One Direction after TMH, but still), and if I’m not mistaken, though John Lennon and Paul McCartney both went solo, (and Paul obviously has the longevity down), their individual work still wasn’t comparable in popularity to their work while they were in The Beatles.

More modern examples, like George Michael, Robbie Williams, and Justin Timberlake, have a similar story in that while they were all able to launch solo careers, they all had a relatively short shelf life because pop music (and their fan bases) are very synonymous with youth, and they all eventually “aged out” of that marketing bracket.

So, really, the only example I can think of, of someone who was more popular solo than he ever was in a band and still managed to hold such a wide and devoted fanbase over multiple career eras, is Michael Jackson. And that’s like, music legend level.

I think Harry has already currently surprised people on many counts by being able to equal and arguably surpass his success and popularity in One Direction as a solo artist, especially without having to drastically rebrand or pivot his genre of music. He’s managed not only to hold on to what people thought was a very age-specific fanbase, but also broaden it massively. That’s beyond rare in pop music, and if you add that to the fact that a lot of people still attribute a big part of his success to his looks, the music industry is expecting him to age out soon, and therefore, for the steep decline in his popularity to start. That’s why people think it’s crazy that he’s taking a break because the industry is constantly pumping out new young artists and so, there’s always going to be a ticking clock.

Personally, I think Harry is a once in a generation performer, and has everything it takes to get to that legend level. But it’s something that is so rare and impossible to predict or orchestrate because so many factors have to go into making that happen, and the pressure of setting that as the ultimate goal of creating music could very, very easily break a person. I think he’s much more content to take a break, cultivate his connection to music, and just let those dice fall where they may.

[erisenyo]

Questions for fic writers 1, 3, 5

Anon thank you so much for indicating the ask game, I did not realize I reblogged them both so close together lol

What inspired you to start writing fanfiction?

Epistles by Lady_of_the_Flowers lol. It is an absolutely stellar fic and I couldn't get it out of my head when I finished it. I kept imagining how the story might have gone on, what their BSS reunion could have looked like, how they might have found their happy ending...

And eventually I couldn't get it out of my head to the point that I wrote the BSS reunion (the teashop alley scene for any Burning Bright readers). And then I went hm, this could be better with a bit of context... (880K words later.)

3. Are there any specific themes you enjoy exploring in your fics?

I LOVE playing around with perception! How can two people experience the same event but interpret it differently because of their different frames of references. How can a character's behavior suddenly be recast in an entirely different light because of revelations about their background. How does an external POV contextualize or challenge or reframe an event. How does the reader's own perception come into play, whether through canon events or tropes or genre conventions, where expectation builds perception which then is challenged and recast by the unfolding events, not just within the text but within the reader as well.

5. What techniques do you use to create believable dialogue?

I really like writing dialogue, and I tend to think of building up an exchange in a few layers:

Verbal Habits: is your character a rambler (Sokka)? Blunt and terse (Zuko)? Always trying to poke fun (Toph)? Those verbal habits help build out the conversational voice of each character, and are often rooted in their characterization

Recognize Rhythm: Actual conversations tend to be a mixture of long and short sentences, exchanging listening and speaking, nonverbal as well as verbal cues. A hear-to-heart will have a different flow to it than shooting the shit after work.

Dialogue Isn't Perfect: People stutter and stumble, thoughts start and stop, there's cross-talk and interruptions, spoken word tends to be less formal than written word--building in those pauses and half-thoughts can help it feel more natural, and also show where a character is stumbling or struggling with a thought

Build Around the Words: layering in even simple action is a great way to make a piece of dialogue more engaging while also accomplishing some needed point A-to-point B or worldbuilding or exposition. Characters are also reacting to and thinking about what they're hearing, what they might say next, how it makes them feel.

Don't Forget Nonverbal Cues: Someone saying something with averted eyes and fidgeting hands suggests something very different than the exact same thing said with a direct gaze and squared shoulders. Body language makes the dialogue more rich.

Mix Up Your Sentence Structure: This is related to rhythm, but switch between using dialogue tags or not, put your internal aside at the front of a line of dialogue or the middle or the end, switch between long and short sentences. And do it all with a purpose--fewer dialogue tags and shorter lines of dialogue generally feel like a faster conversation, dialogue breaking in the middle tends to shift the emphasis of the sentence. Get a feel for the ways you can leverage your sentence structure itself to signal tone or pace or pauses!

For this Questions for Fic Writers asks game!

[daybreakrising]

BLADE HEADCANONS - Y.INGXING & THE HIGH CLOUD QUINTET

before i begin, just a reminder that this is my personal headcanon and i don't expect anyone else to agree with me. regardless, this is how i will approach blade's history with the high cloud quintet, so it needs to be its own meta.

and whilst i am firmly on the hill that the high cloud quintet were a nice little polycule, i won't force that on anyone. blade's feelings towards the other four will remain the same, but i leave it to the writers of those muses if they want to go down the polycule route or not. i'm good with either.

also if you want a beautiful animated short that revolves around their story, then i direct you to this video. i've watched it at least a dozen times since i found it and i am now drowning in hcq emotions ;_;

A HIGHLY PASSIONATE INDIVIDUAL

i've talked before in this meta about how for someone to hate as fiercely as blade does, one must also have the same capacity to love - and that this is the remnants of y.ingxing that linger within him. y.ingxing as a man was proud, confident to the point of arrogance, but also incredibly passionate about the things that mattered to him. and i mention all of these things specifically because it is at the root of why i see him having deep feelings for every member of the HCQ.

it's a cliché, of course, to say "there's enough of him to go around", but it's also true. y.ingxing has such capacity to love that it cannot be restricted only to one person. now, that's not to say he cannot do monogamy - he can, absolutely - but i do feel like he thrived most under the affections of (and in giving affection to) many.

but lauri, i hear you say, why can't it just be platonic affection? why does it have to be romantic? well, it doesn't have to be, and in fact, in every case regarding the HCQ, that's how it started for y.ingxing: these are people he admired, respected, cared for deeply. they were his friends. none of these dynamics started out with romantic intentions & whilst there would definitely be degrees of initial attraction involved with some of them, he certainly didn't seek their company for that reason.

for the majority of those connections, that deep platonic love for them didn't develop into something more until he was well into adulthood, having spent many years alongside them. and, of course, each relationship was different.

FORGING BONDS FOR LIFE

j.ing y.uan

there was also the boy who kept bickering with him.

it was j.ing y.uan who first sparked something beyond friendship in y.ingxing's heart, though it wasn't acknowledged until well after the fact. they had a good-natured rivalry right from the start, being similar in age (at least in emotional maturity if not actual age, given one is a long-life species and the other a short-life), and though they bickered constantly, it was always in good spirits. the banter, the sparring, the fond little jabs at each other - this kindled the first flames of an affection that went beyond platonic.

y.ingxing treasured that rivalry from its beginning to its end. he found in jy not only a true friend but someone he felt he could rely upon no matter what. for all their bickering, there was no one more loyal than jy. and that meant everything to him. it still does.

b.aiheng

what difference does it make to your achievements, whether you're a long-life or a short-life species? just focus on what you want to do, and let fate take its course.

things progressed somewhat differently with b.aiheng than with jy. she was the first of the hcq that y.ingxing truly trusted - she had known him when he was still that shy, insecure apprentice, and her words of encouragement had pushed him to find the confidence in himself that he would later become known for. she was the first person he opened up to, allowed himself to be vulnerable with, and he adored her. her endless optimism, her vibrant nature, was always enough to chase away any lingering doubts or worries he had about himself and his skill. he attributes a great part of his success as a craftsman to her for this reason. without her continued encouragement, he might never have had the confidence and inspiration to achieve great things.

that adoration didn't blossom into something more until he was invited into the hcq officially, and started spending even more time in their company. it was so easy to see why b.aiheng was the most loved amongst the five - what else could they do but love her? her spirit was something to be greatly admired, and admire it y.ingxing did with his entire soul. he would have done anything if it earned him one of her smiles.

dan f.eng

out of all of us, you were the closest to him. it was strange, really — to see someone so arrogant get along with someone so proud.

there is no denying that the bond between y.ingxing and dan f.eng ran deep - deeper than any other bond y.ingxing had within the hcq. but, as with the others, it was its own unique bond: y.ingxing loved j.ing y.uan for his loyalty and friendship, b.aiheng for her spirit and belief in him - and dan f.eng for the kinship he felt with him from the start. of all the hcq members, he felt instantly drawn to dan f.eng for no reason he could name. there was simply a natural comfort to be found in his presence, one he didn't question, and one he came to value highly.

of all the hcq members, the path from admiration to adoration was much shorter in the case of dan f.eng than the others. perhaps this is in part due to the timing of their meeting: as an adult already aware of his growing affections for his fellows, y.ingxing was more in tune with his emotions, more comfortable in following his heart's desires, less afraid to chase what he wanted and certainly not lacking in the confidence to approach it head on. whatever the reason, y.ingxing cherished the moments spent in dan f.eng's company, even those - especially those - spent in companionable silence.

j.ingliu

at first, i wasn't too fond of his defiant nature...

as with the others, his relationship with j.ingliu was very different - and remained the most complex of them all until the end (and has since become even more complicated-). initially, y.ingxing sought only to earn her respect and admiration, caring little for anything beyond her acknowledgement of him. that she had inspired his respect and admiration goes without saying - he was in awe of her skill and strength, though he may not have outwardly shown that for the longest time, choosing instead to relay a more subdued acknowledgement of her prowess, largely as a matter of pride.

the sword he crafted for her was the ultimate test, in his eyes: only the sword champion of the luofu cloud knights can tap into the full potential of this sword i have crafted. and seeing her wield it, this blade forged specifically for her hand - that was the moment y.ingxing knew there was more to this bond than simple respect or a desire for acknowledgement. and of course there was: what else was that blade forged with but love?

LITERALLY, FOR LIFE

y.ingxing held onto these bonds so tightly, treasured them so fiercely, that they linger still somewhere within blade, though often clouded by mara and painful memories. of those relationships, the one that brings him the least pain overall is that of j.ing y.uan - his friend, his rival, the first one to win his heart but certainly not the last.

but blade is not y.ingxing; and whilst he still carries these bonds in his heart, things will never be the same. such bonds may have to be forged anew from the ashes that remain.

REGARDING INTERACTIONS WITH HCQ MEMBERS

as said at the beginning, this is how i approach blade's history with the rest of the quintet. however, i am in no way suggesting that any of these feelings were reciprocated - or if they were, that they were acted upon. if i'm writing with any of these characters, i leave that decision up to them, and we can discuss how the dynamic would play out both in the past and in the present. regardless, y.ingxing loved them all and i will die on this hill.

tldr; y.ingxing was in love with every member of the high cloud quintet, each in their own unique way.