#timeline wise this takes place really early on

[tubes-the-ann]

I did it guys, I comiced.

[hallabun]

Optimizing Bellara’s Romance

So, I am writing this up in case anyone is interested in getting the most out of romancing Bellara, and in avoiding the pitfalls many of Veilguard's romances have. This all comes down to preference, of course, but here are my personal recommendations. Spoilers ahead!

1. Is Bellara’s romance a good fit for you in the first place?

Bellara’s romance is a pretty textbook friends-to-lovers slow burn. If you’re looking for spice, you’re not getting it here. Additionally, with my own personal optimizations, you won’t get the pillow talk scene either. I swear there is a reason for this and I will go into detail below, but... To summarize why, it’s to push the romance’s progression further into the game’s plot for consistency, and to have Bellara directly involved with the game’s finale.

2. Flirting

When flirting with Bellara, you will notice most of it is just general reassurance. Taking the flirting option whenever you see it will make Rook’s dynamic with Bellara a bit more dry and one dimensional. So don’t do that. You only have to flirt with Bellara once to get her initial romance lock-in scene. I recommend seeing what dialogue option fits best for your Rook, as some of the platonic options are much more charming than the romantic ones. For friends-to-lovers to work, you have to be friends first, after all. So, joke around and get to know her! There are a couple of romantic dialogue options I did really like, but they pop up more in the second act rather than the first. I’ll go into this more below.

3. Timeline

The longer you can put off Bellara’s romance, the better. Now, I’m not saying to put off her personal quests and to leave them all for the end - I’m saying you should plan on locking in her romance and finishing up her personal plot towards the end of Act 2, as opposed to speedrunning it in the very beginning. Bellara’s first lock-in is more of a “we’re interested but we’ll just take things at our own pace” deal, while the final lock-in is Bellara asking if you’re sure you’re still interested after all that’s happened with her and her brother. By having these lock-ins occur towards the second half of Act 2, it makes for less downtime with nothing happening between scenes.

It also optimizes the friends-to-lovers feel of the relationship. During Bellara’s personal quest where she first finds out Cyrian is alive, before any of the lock-ins, there’s a lot of protective and comforting touches between Bellara and Rook, making for a good, subtle hint that they're getting closer. The first lock-in happens a conversation or two after this quest as well, further adding to my point.

To specify, the timeline I like to go by is below. This is to get the best friends-to-lovers feel, while making the pacing more natural and having Bellara more involved with the plot.

Initial Meeting [Act 1] -> Ignoring Most Flirt Options [Act 1] -> Taking Some Flirt Options [Act 2, Early] -> Bellara Discovers Cyrian is Alive -> Take Flirt Options [Act 2, Midway]* -> First Relationship Lock-In [Act 2, Midway] -> Mix of Romantic and Platonic Options [Act 2, Midway] -> Final Relationship Lock-In [Act 2, Late] -> Send Bellara to Deal with the Wards [Act 3]

*I know it looks bad, but these options aren’t actually too flirty. They’re more like… being a bit TOO invested and concerned about Bellara, hinting at deeper feelings.

4. Why make her handle the wards? Doesn’t that remove a scene?

Short answer: yes, it removes a scene.

Long answer: yes, it removes part of a scene, but that works in the relationship’s favor, especially tone and pacing wise. Let me explain. A major issue people have with the romances in Veilguard is that the universal romance scene all companions have in Act Three seems out of place and tone deaf. Like, aww… you’re sad your friend died? We’ll bang, okay?

Neve and Bellara have a special opportunity to circumvent this - sending them to deal with the wards. They’ll be kidnapped and blighted. So, if you’re romancing Bellara, having her get kidnapped not only adds insane stakes to the plot, but it also removes the poorly timed romance scene during the finale. You will get an altered version of this scene post-credits. The theme of “we don’t know what the future holds, so let’s embrace the joy in our lives right now,” becomes very, very fitting … especially since Bellara is healing from being blighted, and her future is uncertain. Bonus points if your Rook is a Grey Warden whose future is also uncertain. It also touches upon the, "what happens after the plot ends?" question a lot of the romances fail to address.

Pacing wise, Bellara is also one of the few romances where her first kiss happens DURING this romance scene. She doesn't even have an almost kiss. So having it occur after the credits, and cutting out the pillow talk, makes for a slower, but smoother pace for the relationship, as opposed to having their first kiss, immediately followed by sitting in bed naked after heavily implied sex. The change feels fitting for the tone of Bellara’s romance.

In addition to all of this, and in addition to all of the cool scenes you get from having your love interest kidnapped, it fits Bellara’s arc very well. Bellara is prone to overthinking things and needing a plan for everything; she even mentions being envious of Rook’s ability to “throw caution to the wind” and “face danger” everyday. Even if that's something she already does, but doesn't recognize. Well, when Rook is in danger in the finale, Bellara specifically decides to face it head on one more time. No planning, no thinking. And it wraps up her concerns with the gods as a Dalish, and, oh man… it’s just really good.

5. Optional Flavor

This is just an aside, but I've found RPing as a Grey Warden with a less than pristine past really enhances the dynamic. Bellara is the only companion you're able to confide to about this; Rook explains how they do all of this for redemption. With how much guilt Bellara deals with during her plot (some of it understandable and some of it unnecessary), having a Rook who also struggles with this, but has largely improved since becoming a Grey Warden, is really nice.

Not to mention, Bellara calls Rook a good person, something that could really mean a lot to them. Bellara also shows no judgement to Rook when talking about their past, and only admires their ability to keep moving forward regardless of the risks. She also still loves her brother despite the mistakes he's made, and she is more than willing to admit she might have accepted Anaris' offer if she were in his shoes, so she's no saint either.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is just keep trying your best.

Also, like mentioned above, a Grey Warden Rook is dealing with the blight, much like a blighted Bellara. A Grey Warden Rook also is the most fitting for someone with a past they're not proud of looking for redemption. Bittersweet... but mainly sweet, I think.

[veinsfullofstars]

✨ May I interest you in some Dedede and Meta Knight as childhood friends? ✨

(ID: Kirby series fanart of King Dedede and Meta Knight reimagined as kids, interacting in various cute and wholesome scenarios such as coloring, cloud-watching, sparring with sticks, overindulging on sweets, protecting each other from bullies, and more. Design-wise, young Dedede is short and chubby with a smaller beak and three feathers sticking up from the top of his head. He wears a pair of red overalls with gold buttons on the straps and a pocket on the front with a white two-finger peace sign. Young Meta Knight is maskless and similar in appearance to Kirby, save for his yellow eyes, dark-blue complexion, and a pair of tiny wings on his back. Additional headcanons and worldbuilding for this AU under the cut. END ID.)

(AU info updated as of 11/02/24.)

Started on 10/09/23, finished on 10/11/23, updated 03/11/24, updated for color correction 11/02/24. NOTE: This was originally posted on my deleted account on 10/11/23. | Childhood Friends AU Masterpost

—

-This AU primarily takes place within the Kirby gameverse (with a few superficial elements borrowed from external media), the timeline starting many, many decades before the events of Kirby's Dream Land, eventually catching up to and following the main games’ canon (with nods to side games and some unique events added here and there for character flavor). I am trying to stay canon-compliant, but I’m also making things up as I go and changing them as needed, so no promises I won’t just go completely off the rails the more I workshop things, haha.

-I'm leaving ages nebulous in this AU (both because the series itself doesn't really give characters canonical ages and to keep the timeline a bit looser narratively), but - for clarity's sake - we'll say Dedede and Meta are both the equivalent of 7-to-11 years old here, though they first met a little earlier...

-Meta Knight is just called Meta for now - he won’t earn his title until after he starts his overstars military training with the Galaxy Soldier Army (GSA) in his late teens.

-That hammer belongs to Dedede’s mama - a former pro-wrestler - and will someday be passed down to him (once he’s strong enough to actually pick it up).

-In this AU, the GSA is an intergalactic military group fighting various malignant forces across the universe, their reputation generally positive thanks to a genuine effort on their part to balance acts of war and defense with acts of philanthropy, relief aid, and compassion, well-known enough to reach even distant Popstar. Most known Star Warriors - Sir Dragato, Kit Cosmos, Yamikage, etc. - are either long since passed on or retired somewhere outside of the story (with a few exceptions we may learn about later...). Though really more for background flavor and worldbuilding, the GSA becomes a crucial element to Meta's storyline later down the line, since - upon learning of them in his youth - he becomes enamored with their deeds and longs to be a knight himself (not yet aware of the hardships involved in becoming one).

-The kids like to spar and roughouse in their free time, but they sometimes get proper training from Dedede’s papa - a retired knight himself with connections to the GSA, who’d settled in Dream Land with his wife just before they had their only son. Meta looks up to him with the same admiration he has for the Star Warriors while Dedede doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with his well-meaning but strict father.

-In his early years, Meta is quite shy around people he doesn’t know well. In overwhelming situations, he tends to either shut down and go non-verbal or quietly slip away to recoup. That said, he is much more expressive around those he trusts, listening eagerly and chatting far more than he would otherwise. He also has a bit of an anger streak hidden just under all that resolve, though it takes a lot of prodding to bring it out...

-As a kid, Dedede is impulsive to a fault and likes to make wild plans that often put him and his buddies in precarious situations (when he actually follows through with them, that is). Meta is often the first to point out the flaws in said plans (if Para Dee doesn’t do it first) but inevitably ends up tagging along anyway, his wariness easily overturned by his curiosity.

-Despite the generally welcoming nature of the village, Meta still faces some measure of bullying due to his strange appearance and timid nature. Usually, he waits it out until either his tormentors get bored or Dedede steps in to defend him, but - as the taunts persist and his temper grows - it's only matter of time before he's the one getting into scraps rather than his bigger buddy...

[seventh-district]

Dying Star

In the back of your mind, you recall something you once heard, something about light, and time, and distance. Space. Something about... how you can still see a star that's already burnt out, because its light hasn't reached earth yet. The ghost of a star that's already died. Only still perceptible thanks to time, and distance.

You remember Sam's words, once whispered to you on this very roof.

"Whatever your choice is... I'm not gonna live forever. I made that decision a long time ago."

You think about dead stars.

You think about time.

- - - - - - -

Sam’s words have been weighing heavy on your mind ever since you discussed your shared future and the various forms it could take. You didn’t realize just how heavy they were until it all came spilling out of your tired mind on a late night spent together beneath the stars.

Pairing: Sam x Darlin' / Reader

Word Count: 4,053

Contains: [angst] [a dash of humor] [a hint of chubby!Sam bc i like 'em strong and soft] [crying] [cuddling (dub-con cuddles with Quinn in the past & consensual ones with Sam in the present)] [emotional hurt/comfort] [implied/referenced dub-con sex (nothing graphic) (in the past between Darlin' and Quinn to be specific) (refer to my Ao3 notes for further explanation)] [mentioned Quinn] [not quite Dissociation i guess but Darlin' does zone-out/get lost in thought more than once] [pet names (Darlin' (obvs.) and honey)] [Reader is Darlin'] [Sam wears a cowboy hat bc i said so] [some passive suicidality from Sam if you squint (hell, maybe you don't even have to squint)]

A/Ns: Well, well, well, here I am, the person who said they wouldn't write any Redactedverse fanfic. I recently felt a mighty need to expand upon the blurb I wrote in this post, and I'm braving my fandom anxiety by sharing it here. pls be nice 2 me abt it

Timeline-wise, this fic takes place sometime after the ‘Talking About the Future With Your Vampire Mate’ audio but sometime before their presumed eventual departure from the house that William gave Sam, given that they've already had the 'turning' discussion but are still on the same roof in this fic.

This is a songfic, inspired by and quoting verses from 3 songs. Those being:

‘Dying Star’ by Ashnikko feat. Ethel Cain

‘Fix What You Didn’t Break’ by Nate Smith

‘No Plan’ by Hozier

The roof of Sam’s house is far from a ‘cushy’ place to relax. But as you lie here next to him under the stars, a knowledge settles within you that you wouldn’t trade the rough shingles beneath you for the softest mattress in the world. Not if it meant there’d be anyone other than him lying next to you.

Some people might counter that it’s an easy thing for you to say, given the number of nights you’ve thrown a balled-up shirt onto one end of a worn-out couch and called it a bed. But some people don’t know you as well as they think they do.

You’ve known luxury. Quinn might’ve been just as content taking his fill on a seedy motel bed as he was wrapped in silks at a Hilton, but he knew how to play up the luxe when it served him to do so. And in the early days as he worked to lure you in, it did. Plush sheets and expensive drinks helped to soften the preordained blows and dull the imminent pain that your nights with him held.

Once you’d latched onto the bait though, he let the act drop one piece at a time, like props collapsing on a stage. After all, what was the point in all of those frivolities when you both knew what you really came to him for? It wasn’t to be wined and dined, it wasn’t to be dressed up and shown off, and it wasn’t even to be slowly stripped of it all, laid out across the rolling clouds of a pillowy mattress.

It was to be used. Tranced. Restrained. Bitten. Drank from. Choked. Hit. Edged. Denied. Made to writhe and whine and bleed and plead. Plead for more, for less, for nothing, for anything. Anything to quiet your mind and fill the ever-expanding void inside you where you suspect love was supposed to live.

That’s what you both really wanted.

At least, that’s what you told him you wanted.

That’s what you told yourself.

You only got what you asked for.

To your right, Sam stirs, stretching gently with a yawn. The soft noise he releases as he does so reminds you of where you are, and you trace back through your thoughts to find how you got so lost.

…Right. Luxury.

While your relationship with Quinn certainly changed over time, you never forgot what it felt like in the beginning. 

You remember nights laid next to him, body sore, mind quiet. Quinn’s idea of aftercare was lacking to say the least, but you had nothing better to compare it to at the time, and you’d take what you could get. At least your head felt empty, and the bed was soft. Exhaustion would pull you under soon enough.

The mattress, sheets, and pillows enveloping you were likely worth more than you even made that past month. ...Or several. You found that display of luxury hard to be impressed by though, when it wasn’t the type of comfort you’d been seeking.

As Quinn shifted in his presumed sleep, pulling you in tighter, you didn’t fight it. You found yourself unwilling to fight anything he did, like his mere presence was enough to drain the fight right out of you. You told yourself that you were okay with that. Because you wanted it.

Lying there with your head on his bare chest, you took a deep breath and told yourself that you liked the stench of cheap cologne, poorly masking the cigarettes and alcohol on his breath. You silently told yourself that you liked everything. You liked the pain that he chased with hints of pleasure. You liked the loss of power, the way you couldn’t fight back if you wanted to once he looked you in the eyes. You liked all the things he said, no matter how much the truth might hurt.

He was right, you supposed. Your desires, the things you craved, the depravity that you so enjoyed, wasn’t normal. It was uncommon, unusual, and in the eyes of some, unfathomable. To possess such dark desires, there must be something truly broken inside you.

How lucky you were, to have found someone willing to indulge you. Someone that could give you everything you wanted, and be so kind as to keep it a secret too. He promised that word of the things he did to you, the things you let him do, would never get out. You remember the way he held your hand as he told you, falling for the guise of sincerity in his eyes. You remember his warm smile, and his razor sharp teeth.

You remember seeing that exact same smile on his face through one-way glass as he sat across from Sam and told him everything.

You stood in that room and thought back to those nights of luxury. To the feeling of his nails ghosting over the freshly healed punctures in your neck. To the way he held you against him. You remember laying there, lifeless, feeling like prey playing dead. Afraid to move, afraid to disturb him. But why? He hadn’t threatened you. He never told you that you had to stay. He never said that you couldn’t move, or pull away. So why did you feel that way?

As you stood, helplessly witnessing hours of his slander in that interrogation room, you understood. Your rose-tinted glasses had long since shattered, and you saw that smile for what it was. It was the smile of a man playing a dangerous game, brimming with satisfaction, thinking he’d won.

The radio near you begins to crackle, static obscuring the hosts voice as they announce the upcoming song. Sam doesn’t even open his eyes, just raises a hand and reaches out, blindly adjusting the antenna of the old device.

You’ve teased him for holding onto it for so long, as he is wont to do with damn near all of his possessions. But as you watch him deftly extend and angle the antenna with practiced care, the response he once gave you proves itself true once again.

“I don’t wanna replace it, Darlin’. It’s not broken. It just needs someone who knows how to make it sing again.”

The static clears, and music flows through the radio’s old speakers once more.

You watch Sam return his hand to its prior position beneath his head, acting as a makeshift pillow of his own. The way he’s lying has his hat pushed forward, and it’d be doing a damn good job of shielding his face from the sun if it weren’t somewhere around midnight at the moment. Still, it suits him somehow, despite its lack of any practicality. All he’s missing is a stalk of wheat between his teeth and a tree to lean against and he’d be the spitting image of the cowboy he swears he isn’t.

His other hand rests on the soft curve of his stomach, rising and falling again as he breathes. He’s the image of peace in moments like these, and you’re drawn to it like a moth to flame. Maybe one of these days you’ll find some of your own, but for now you’re more than content to bask in his.

As you admire him, he takes a slow, deep breath and you mirror it on instinct. The grounding practice helps you leave your mind and return to your body, if just for a moment. In doing so, you realize just how tense your ruminations have made you.

You relax your hands, releasing the blanket beneath you from your iron grip. You brush your palms over it, worried that you’ve torn the fabric once you realize that your nails had halfway shifted to claws. You don’t fret much over damage to your own possessions, but this blanket is Sam’s and you’d hate to ruin it. Though, you suppose he doesn’t prize it too much or he wouldn’t have laid it out here across the roof in the first place.

“If I buy somethin’ it’s because I wanna use it. Now quit frettin’ and get over here.” You recall what he told you earlier as he patted the blanket next to him in invitation, and you smile.

Doing a small stretch of your own, you release the tension in your shoulders, turning your attention back to the stars above you. For a while, you let the soft music wash over your tired mind.

“I asked him not to kill me politely. He drained my magic core, bottled up at the source. I washed up on the sea glass shores. I’m nobody's captive.”

In spite of your best efforts to relax, you’re still subconsciously futzing with the loose threads of the old blanket beneath you.

You’re made aware of it when Sam reaches a hand down, gently laying it over yours and effectively stilling your anxious motion.

“Burning like a dying star, invasive weeds rooted in my heart, set in a crooked trajectory. The journey here was hard, I was almost pulled apart. Trying to leave his orbit took what’s left of me.”

You flip your hand over beneath his so you can hold it properly, lacing your fingers together.

For reasons beyond your understanding, emotion tightens your throat, the threat of tears pooling in your eyes.

…You must be more tired than you thought.

As minutes pass and one song fades into another, your gaze dances across the blurry, scattered points of light in the dark sky.

“You were the star in the pitch black, shine the way on the way back. Out of nowhere, answered all my prayers.”

Sam’s always been so much better at identifying stars and finding constellations. But as the music plays, you begin to see one of your own.

“Picked up the towel that I threw in, took in a heart that was ruined. Showed me the past ain’t a tattoo, loved me even when you didn’t have to.”

“Sam.” You squeeze his hand to get his attention.

He squeezes back in acknowledgment. “Hm?”

“I want you to look at something.” You swallow back the emotion that tries to seep into your voice, but it catches his attention all the same.

He leans up and lifts his hat from his head, setting it aside near the radio. He then reaches to turn a dial back, lowering the music’s volume to give you his full attention.

You release his hand, raising yours up as he turns back to face you. You don’t say anything at first, nearly too lost in your own mind to realize you need to actually voice your developing thoughts.

"What—what're you pointin' at Darlin'?"

Your hazy focus is trained on the brightest star visible in your line of sight, arm stretched out to the sky above you. "That really bright one, to the... to the left."

Sam does his best to follow your less-than-specific directions of 'to the left', your pointed finger doing little to help given the difference in perspective. Luckily, after all these years, he knows this stretch of night sky like the back of his hand, so it isn't hard to locate the brightest one. Ghosting his fingers up along your exposed wrist where your sleeve had slipped back, he takes your hand in his again and brings it back down to earth. "Okay, yeah, I see it now. What about it though?"

"That's you." You say, matter-of-factly.

"That's me?" He questions, humor in his tone.

"Mhm." You nod with finality, blinking slow.

Sam considers the odd statement for a moment before gently correcting you. "I'm uh, I'm pretty sure that's Sirius, actually."

You scoff. "I am being serious."

Sam stifles a laugh. "No—no I mean—like... what's another name for it... Oh, it's also called the Dog Star."

"C'mon Sam, at least call it the Wolf Star if you're trying to turn this around on me..."

He shakes his head and readies himself to explain further, but you cut him off before he can start. "But no. No, this isn't about me. That's you."

He decides to play along, finding something endearing in your overtired nonsense. "Okay... then would'ja be so kind as to explain to this confused old man just how, or why that star is me?"

Your frown is audible in your voice as you latch onto the wrong part of his sentence. "You're not old, Sam. ...Do I need to tell Asher to kick the jokes down a notch?"

He smiles at your over-protectivity. "There'll be no need for that, now. Was just a joke, honey, I promise."

You huff, but begrudgingly shift focus back to the prior topic. "It's... I dunno. It's just you, Sam. It's... bright. Light. Something warm, out there in the cold dark. Standing out amongst all the rest. Calling to me, stealing my attention.”

Sam’s brow furrows as you continue to explain, realization setting in that you really are being serious.

“I... I didn't come out here looking for it, but there it is. ...And there you were. In the dark. The only bright thing I'd seen in... fuck, in years. Years of chasing fleeting warmth, tripping over myself in the pitch black, falling into... places and people that I shouldn't have. You were the light in that darkness. Even there, at Wonderworld, surrounded by the ghost of him. Your warmth, your presence, your aura—even with all of your walls up, you outshone it. Your warmth didn't hurt. I didn't have to squint when I looked at you. You weren't the blinding sun. You were the brightest star I'd ever seen. You guided me home."

In the back of your mind, you recall something you once heard, something about light, and time, and distance. Space. Something about... how you can still see a star that's already burnt out, because its light hasn't reached earth yet. The ghost of a star that's already died. Only still perceptible thanks to time, and distance.

You remember Sam's words, once whispered to you on this very roof.

"Whatever your choice is... I'm not gonna live forever. I made that decision a long time ago."

You think about dead stars.

You think about time.

"...-lin'? Darlin'?" Sam's calloused hand squeezes yours tight, his urgent tone pulling you out of your thoughts. "There you are. Think I lost ya' for a minute there... you good?"

You look up at Sam, concern creasing his features, faint shadows cast across his face from the light of the dying stars above him.

You reach out, pulling him down into you. He falters for a moment at the sudden proximity, but quickly embraces you in turn. Burying your face into his collar, Sam's concern grows when he feels it saturate with tears. A human might struggle to hear your words, muffled against the thick flannel, but his hearing catches them just fine.

"Don't burn out too quickly. Please. I still need you here. I don't—I don't wanna be left in the dark again. Please, please Sam. Don't leave me here. I'm not selfish enough to ask you for forever, but please. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet."

The words feel like a weight being lifted from your shoulders, but with it comes a flood of emotion they’d been holding back. You cry harder into him, and as much as it pains Sam to witness, he lets you feel it, for as long as you need.

Your fear of losing him manifests itself physically, nails curling and sharpening again. When he feels them prick his skin through the fabric of his shirt, he calls your name but doesn’t pull away. Instead, he leans further down into you, letting his weight ground you. “Darlin’, I am right here. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

As you eventually cry yourself out, enough wherewithal returns to you to realize that you should probably release the poor man from your grasp, and the awkward position you pulled him into. When he pulls away enough to see your face, you notice a string of snot running from your nose to his shirt collar. Quickly batting it away out of embarrassment, you cringe, voice thick as you apologize. “Eugh, gross. Uh… sorry. About that.”

He shakes his head, laughing good-naturedly as you wipe at your nose with your jacket sleeve. “It’s completely fine, honey. After all, I’ve been covered in plenty of your, uh… various fluids before. When you come from my line of work, this is child’s play.”

He leans to his right, reaching back and pulling—of all things—a handkerchief from his jeans’ left back pocket. You laugh at his words, and at the sight, but with how congested you are it turns into more of a hacking cough than anything. Accepting his offering, you blow your nose into the black patterned fabric.

As soon as you can speak somewhat clearly, you can’t stop the teasing remark that slips out of you, gesturing with the wad of fabric in your hand. “You know, you really aren’t beating the cowboy allegations with stuff like this.”

He rolls his eyes but his soft smile remains. “It’s a practical thing to have on me, ‘allegations’ be damned.”

You shake your head with a smile of your own, but don’t disagree. As you’re visibly unsure what to do with the dirtied fabric, he takes it from you, setting it aside. “I’ll toss it in the wash when we go back inside. Along with my shirt, and…” He eyes you for a moment. “…that jacket of yours too, given how long you’ve probably been wearin’ it.”

Normally you’d argue that it hasn’t been that long, but come to think of it, you actually can’t recall when you last washed the thing.

Reaching up and rubbing your temples, you already regret your crying fit as a headache begins to set in. “Fuck, Sam... I’m sorry for… whatever that just was. I don’t know what came over me.”

His expression falls into something serious again. “You never need to apologize for feeling. And it certainly seems like… you needed to feel that.”

You nod quietly, but don’t elaborate, prompting him to question you gently. “Darlin’. What was that about? The—the askin’ me not to leave. Are you… afraid that I’m gonna leave you?”

You close your eyes, weighing out your response. “…Not in the sense that you’ll break up with me or something, no.”

His gaze narrows and his head tilts as he rolls your answer over in his mind. “If it ain’t that, then—” He remembers how you mentioned ‘forever’ and cuts himself off as the puzzle pieces start coming together. “Oh. …Oh, Darlin’, no.”

You open your eyes to watch as he shifts from leaning next to you, moving to sit up beside you. “Is this about what I told you, when we sat up here and had our uh… turning discussion?”

You hate to admit it, but you nod in confirmation. “…It’s your choice, Sam, and I never want to take that away from you. I shouldn’t have said what I just did, I—I don’t want to make you feel guilty, or like you have to stick around for my sake. But I’d be lying to you if I said it hasn’t been playing on my mind. The thought of you… leaving. Like that.”

He reaches up, running a hand through his hair. “I… think I maybe should’ve been a bit more clear, when I said that. Because I wasn’t talking about any time soon. I didn’t want to give you the false impression that I plan on sticking around for centuries, but… I also wasn’t trying to imply that I’ve got plans to do it next week either.”

You bolt upright, voice cracking. “Next week?! I sure as shit hope not!” You grab your head, pain flaring and suddenly dizzy from the quick shift in position.

He places a hand on your shoulder to steady you. “I’m not, honey, I’m not. Did you catch the rest of my sentence? I’ve got no plans to leave this world any time soon. I promise.”

You groan, head pounding. “I heard you, I did, I just—fuck, I don’t even wanna think about you leaving so soon. Here I am, stressing, thinking I’ve only got—I don’t know—some odd years left with you, and…” You sigh, trailing off.

Sam stays quiet for a minute, letting the crickets sing.

Eventually, he interrupts their chorus. “…Can I get closer to you?”

You nod. “…Please.”

He closes the gap between you, carefully wrapping a strong arm around your curled shoulders. “You’ve got way more than a couple years. I promise you that.” Your tension begins to ease a bit as he clarifies. “You… you’ve helped me find a life that I actually feel like livin’ again, for the first time in a long time. And I want to experience it with you for as long as I can.”

“…Really?” Your voice sounds so small, so unsure, so… unlike you when you question him that he wants to kick himself in his own ass for the role he unintentionally played in making you feel this way.

“Yes. Really. I mean—” His voice takes on an edge of humor. “If you decide to set your sights on the year 3,000…” He shakes his head. “I don’t know about that. But as far as the 21st century is concerned? …I think I’d like to see it through. For as long as you’re there to see it with me.”

His words cause fresh tears to well up in your eyes, and you sniff in an attempt to hold them back. The sound catches his attention, and he leans forward, thumbing across your warm cheek. “…I’m makin’ you cry again…”

You shake your head, clearing your throat. “No—No, it’s okay. It’s good. They’re… they’re good. It’s… relief.”

He breathes out a relieved sigh of his own. “Yeah?”

You nod, leaning into him. “Yeah.”

As you rest against each other, breathing in the cool night air, you nudge him with your shoulder. “Can we… lay back? For a bit?”

He squeezes your arm in gentle confirmation. “Of course.”

He twists and reaches back to straighten the wrinkled blanket beneath you, before laying out across it himself. The radio crackles as he turns the volume back up a bit. Watching him with tired eyes, you smile at the sight of him patting his chest in habitual invitation.

“Sit in and watch the sunlight fade. Honey, enjoy, it’s gettin’ late. There’s no plan. There’s no hand on the reign. As Mack explained, there will be darkness again.”

Curling up against his side and laying your head on his chest, you release a heavy sigh when his hand comes up to rest on your shoulder. As his fingers press rhythmically into the tense muscle beneath them, you breathe in his scent. Black coffee and wildflower honey… he smells like home.

“Your secret is safe with me, and if secrets were like seeds, when I’m lyin’ under marble, marvel at flowers you’ll have made.”

You reach your hand out across his broad chest, slipping beneath his open flannel and sliding down to rest on his waist. He sighs, relaxing further beneath your touch.

“My heart is thrilled by the still of your hand. That’s how I know now that you understand.”

Yeah, you’ll take this over ‘luxury’ any damn day.

“There’s no plan. There’s no race to be run.”

Laying there with him, listening to the low hum of the radio, the moment grows so comfortable that you almost hesitate to break it.

“The harder the pain, honey, the sweeter the song.”

“…Sam?” You whisper into the night.

His hand sweeps across your back before returning to your shoulder. “I’m here, Darlin’.”

“There’s no plan. There’s no kingdom to come.”

You smile. “I… I’d like to be there, to be here, to see it through with you, too.”

It takes him a moment to recall exactly what you’re referring to, but when it hits him he hums a low understanding tone, clearly pleased. “Then let’s see where it takes us, yeah?”

“But I’ll be your man if you got love to get done.”

He presses a soft kiss to your temple. “We’ve got plenty a’ time.”

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. You can find my extensive notes and commentary on this fic right here on Ao3. My Sam & Darlin' Playlist My Sam Playlist My Darlin' Playlist My Sam & Darlin' Moodboard My Sam Moodboard My Darlin' Moodboard Header Image Credit: Gage Smith on Unsplash

[aenariasbookshelf]

Fic: The Intern (MCU/911 ccrossover)

Finally posting this here because I have apparently lost my goddamn mind and it's all @typhoidmeri's fault.

(Also I have had an absolutely terrible last few months and could use some validation, pretty please.)

Title: The Intern

Summary: “Okay, wait, why the hell is your name popping up in a SHIELD file, of all places?”

All right, so maybe there are still one or two secrets in Buck’s closet. But in his defense, they’re all Darcy Lewis’s fault anyway, so the blame lies solely in her hands.

a/n: I plead temporary insanity, that’s the only explanation for this piece, which is probably only of interest to me and like three other friends. But, given the last few months I’ve had, I figured it was worth it to exorcise some demons and get this piece out before I chicken out.

Timeline wise (which, dear god, trying to figure out timelines for this show gives me a migraine), this takes place very early in S1. Like first couple of episodes early. As for the MCU, we’re going with a kinder, they all lived in the tower sort of a universe, no Civil War, no Thanos, etc. Because that’s how I roll.

More notes after the piece to avoid spoilers.

*

“Okay, wait, why the hell is your name popping up in a SHIELD file, of all places?”

Buck looks over Hen’s shoulder at the tablet in front of her, a page of search results front and center on the screen. Halfway down the page, past a few youtube entries of his spiderman interview, is a link to a searchable database full of files from the massive 2014 document leak that emerged when SHIELD had collapsed in on itself.

Ah, shit.

“Why the hell are you googling me?” is all he asks instead, because this is a story that he really doesn’t want to get into.

Actually, he may not even be able to get into it, considering the approximate 5 billion NDAs he   had to sign before he closed the book on that so-called vacation. None of which were his fault, thank you. He was just an…innocent bystander. Ish. He really just followed his cousin straight into the midst of trouble. So really, it was all her fault.

“Because that’s what we do with the new people around here, probie,” Chimney adds. “So what exactly were you doing in the UK in 2013?”

Buck just gives them a wink instead, because that’s what they’d expect from him. “Well, I’d tell ya, but then I’ll have to kill you.”

I mean, it’s not like people haven’t heard about aliens by now, especially in light of what happened in New York in 2012. Which was another incident that was also his cousin’s fault, though it doesn’t look like Hen and Chimney have found that link yet. So that’s one small mercy, at least.

“Just like a bargain basement James Bond.”

He’s ready to fire back another retort at Hen, but then the alarm bell goes off and it’s time to go to work, all talk about mysterious files forgotten.

(Though, to be fair, before Buck skips down the stairs he makes sure to wipe the history and cookies from Hen’s tablet. Just in case.)

*

It’s well after ten by the time Buck gets back to the frat house, which is still buzzing because his taste in roommates isn’t exactly the greatest (look, he knew at least one of them before he got there from Peru, and the room was cheap enough that it totally didn’t obliterate the meager salary he got as a probationary firefighter) and, well, it was a Thursday. Any excuse for a party, really. He doesn’t bother to hang around, just gives them a wave and heads up to his room.

He tosses his duffel into the corner, and is sure to lock the door behind him, because no one needs to witness the call he’s about to make.

With an exhausted sigh he flops down on the bed, but he can’t sleep. Not yet. Not if he’s going to speak to his cousin and annoy the hell out of her in the process. He pulls up Darcy’s entry in his phone, flips over to the text message thread.

>> hey u up?

Is what he texts, solely because he knows it’s going to annoy the hell out of her.

About ten seconds later his screen lights up with an incoming FaceTime call, followed quickly by Darcy’s familiar face. Brown hair tossed up into a messy bun, glasses, pursed lips, and definite dark circles under her eyes from some inevitable late nights.  He can’t see much of the room behind her, but there’s plenty of glass and steel and sterile white walls, which doesn’t exactly scream astrophysics to Buck, but then again what does he know?

“Hey, fireboy!” she says, far too chipper for the late hour.

“Really? That’s the best you can do?”

“It’s after one in the morning here, cut me some slack. Science and Jane Foster don’t sleep, therefore neither do I.” To emphasize the point, she picks up an iced coffee and slurps loudly on the straw, echoing loud and clear over the call. “So what’s up, cuz? Why are you calling at this stupidly late hour?”

“Did you know that my name is apparently showing up in SHIELD files online?”

“What??”

Buck nods. “Yep. My co-workers were having fun during some downtime today and decided to google everyone’s names. And there in a database of all the files from the 2014 data leak from the Triskelion is a file that mentions me, the UK, and 2013.”

“Goddamnit,” Darcy mutters, wincing and running a hand over her forehead. “What, you mean you’re not showing up as L.A.’s finest Spiderman knockoff anymore?”

“Oh, don’t start. Also, it’s after those entries.”

There’s the telltale clicking of a keyboard coming from Darcy’s side, then a few seconds later Buck sees her grimace again, looking none too pleased. “Yeah, that is definitely your name showing up in the leaked database. Well, shit.”

“Yeah, understatement. Is there anything you can do about this? I don’t exactly want my new coworkers to…know any of this.”

“I mean, the internet is forever, so I don’t know if there’s any putting this back in the bottle, so to speak.” Buck just groans at that, falling back on the pillows and falling out of the frame of the call. He pulls a pillow over his face, because this is just what he wants to hear. Really. So much. “You mean you don’t want everyone you work with to know that you helped defeat an invasion of alien elves from before the dawn of time in London one year?”

“It’s not exactly something easy to explain,” he shoots back, still offscreen and muffled by his new face covering.

“But it’s still a hell of a story.”

“A story that not a lot of people will believe, even now.” Because even though it feels like the world’s gone mad, more than once, these days, what with aliens and superheroes and killer robots, sometimes it’s still hard to believe the stories when they happen to someone they know up close and personal.

(Happens twice, really, but the first time he legitimately was just a bystander. Not the only one, not by far, but just an observer rather than a participant. Unlike the second time. That one they were well into the thick of it, hence the interviews, NDAs, and eventual SHIELD file.)

Buck sighs again, pulling the pillow off his head and sitting up so he can look Darcy straight on through the phone screen. “Are you sure - are you absolutely sure that even with all of your alleged connections that there’s nothing you can do?”

Darcy glances off camera again, followed by a few more keyboard clicks, and she chews at her lips. “I may be able to tweak the optimization so it gets those entries buried a few pages further back, get the L.A. Spiderman entries further up the list to take priority, but there’s not much else I can do.” She sighs heavily, pursing her lips and blowing air through them. “I might - and this is no guarantee at all - be able to ask someone else to help.” This statement is followed by another grimace from Darcy, and a muttered “I am going to owe Nat so much for this.”

“I will owe you so much for this,” Buck insists. “Even more than the fake ID debacle of 2007.”

Darcy smirks and jabs a thumb at herself. “Bucks County’s finest teenage fake ID forger, that’s me.”

Before any more words can be said, there’s what sounds like a small explosion offscreen on Darcy’s side, followed quickly by an “Oh, shit!” and scrabbling feet.

“Everything okay?” Buck asks.

Darcy flips the camera to the other side, revealing a slender brunette woman whacking at a smoking piece of technology with what appears to be a damp towel. “Lab’s on fire. Again. It happens a lot with our homemade equipment.” She flips the camera back to her face, rolling her eyes at the sight in front of her. A loud, strident alarm sound erupts from somewhere on her side, accompanied by rapidly flashing strobe lights in the reflection of Darcy’s glasses. “And there’s an Assemble call. Just fucking ducky. Gotta go, fireboy, we’ll talk soon!”

With that the call ends, the screen going black and silence descending on the bedroom. Buck flops back again, dropping the phone on his chest with a sigh. “That was not helpful.”

(And what the hell did she mean by an Assemble call anyway? Whatever, half the things Darcy says don’t make sense anyway, and he pushes the thought aside.)

Still, the matter of Evan Buckley’s SHIELD file never comes up again at work, so Buck figures that the matter’s over and done with.

Until it isn’t, of course, but that’s a story for another day.

*

a/n part two: So while it may not be entirely obvious here, but this universe has spun out in my head over the last few weeks and has become its own, canon divergent mash-up crossover of an alternate universe beast. This is just a little part of it, to test the waters and see the story come to life a little. A kinder, gentler universe where some characters get treated a little better than in canon (because this is fanfic and I can do what I want). Though there may be one or two hints in here about this alternate universe…

And yes, just picture Thor: The Dark World with a younger Buck in there playing the role of Darcy’s intern, with a lot more personality and a bit more sass. The movie would play out exactly the same way pretty much (except for the kissing bits because ewwww no. They are family, people.)

No constructive criticism please, gentle readers. I’m just here to have fun. Thanks for reading!

[raayllum]

Anyways time to analyze this screencap

This was originally a split second clip from the Bardel projects' reel, although it's since been omitted... and interacted with online by some of the team / cat's out of the bag, so uh - here's the meta!

The first aim is to try to establish when this is taking place timeline wise (aka in which season and when). The second will be who I think this scene involves (which is Rayllum and I'm gonna explain why). Spoilers for 6x01 thanks to previous Cons and proceed with caution if you don't want any spoilers!

So 6x01, "Startouched," has Rayla and Callum embark to the Starscraper by the end of the episode alongside Stella. This means they will presumably not be reuniting with anyone else from the Main Cast until at least the season's midpoint (6x05) if not later (6x07-6x08), by which point the plot will likely be in full swing, even if Aaravos was not released by the season's midpoint. That means there may not be as much time for something that seems like a cute little filler moment as this seems to be.

Not impossible, but I think it's unlikely that this shot/scene is from S6 from a plot / time standpoint.

Another reason in this column is that we know Hat at least, but presumably the other Baitlings too, are with Soren and Zym when they go to Lux Aurea to meet up with Corvus again.

So there's no way, realistically, it could be in early season six. If it is in later season six, it means that Callum and Rayla succeed at the Starscraper / escape relatively unscathed enough with a small window between reuniting with the boys / Ezran and shit hitting the fan. It is a window, narrow, but not impossible

My early estimate could also be early S7 as, again, the latter half of the final season will be particularly intense, and I could see the characters trying to have some down time / make the best of a bad situation earlier on in the season when there's a bit more time, well, to let them try

As for the boat itself...

The first thing is that the boat is decorated quite prettily and prominently with roses, which just feels romantic. Stella is juggling and the Baitlings (who seem to be singing) seem to be putting on some small, endearingly silly sort of performance. possibly added by the two (Star arcanum?) birds we see. There's also a warm yellow-ish light source coming from the bottom of the picture and subsequently probably the upper middle of the boat, which makes me think of candles.

I'm willing to bet that this is a Rayllum moment since it just screams Callum being very sweet and romantic, and setting up this (maybe they have to take a boat and he wants it to be better, maybe it's just for fun) boat to try and distract Rayla because she doesn't really like them. I can't see Janai or Amaya being interested in a little animal circus performance, so that rules them out to me, and we hardly ever see Stella be separated from Rayla, even temporarily. So I think this being a Rayllum scene makes the most sense because of Stella's inclusion, and maybe it is Callum wanting to do something special for her, whether it's them officially getting back together, or just spending some time together even while the world is ending cause y'know, they missed out on two years of dates they could've gone on, and want to use some of the time they have left for that.

Stella is also juggling Adoraburrs, which have a tendency (presumably) to be primarily close to the Moonshadow forests, since we don't see the tiny ones anywhere else in Xadia, so it could even be a pit stop on the way back to the Silvergrove to get her and her family unghosted, perhaps (and all the more reason to try and take her mind off things).

My other consideration for a pair is Sorvus, since I could see Soren being silly and setting up the Bailting choir (he seems close to Hat in particular) and I think Corvus would be endeared by it, ultimately. That doesn't account for Stella though, and while Soren and Corvus are clearly friends/co-workers on the crownguard, they haven't had a lot of even teasingly romantic development, so I don't feel like the story is really gonna prioritize them heavily as a romance (especially because we have Karim/Miyana, Callum/Rayla, possibly Aaravos and someone in his past, Claudia/Terry breaking up and presumably getting back together, we're gonna get Runaan/Ethari back in these coming seasons in addition to Lain/Tiadrin, and there's always Janai/Amaya, of course). TDP already has a lot of romantic relationships in it, so I feel like Sorvus, if/when they do get together, would probably be a smaller moment later in the final two seasons, and they probably wouldn't get as big a focus as a scene like this seems to imply just from a pacing/character standpoint

Plus, Rayllum kinda has a thing with boats and important moments for them happening on said boats, but that is a meta for another day

[atiny-for-life]

I apologize if you’ve answered this before, but is there a reason why the Kingdom performances are not included in the Ateez lore masterlist? Thank you!

No one's ever asked before, actually! I'm happy to explain:

There are multiple things making me hesitant about this right now. For one, I wouldn't expect them to assume all Atinys will watch these performances and look to them for lore clues since most only go by official MVs and the albums.

To me, these performances have always had the energy of getting people hyped and excited about their lore themes of revolution, pro expression, anti oppression and their team was likely working on putting together The World series at the time so it made sense to trial run some of their ideas here.

I actually tried to fit these performances in before but I could never find a place where it'd make 100% sense - they seem to be a blend of real lore and stuff just meant for Kingdom.

To start with: in "The Awakening of Summer" (the Rhythm Ta performance), Hongjoong breaks the Cromer out of a glass case at the end. Based on that, timeline wise, this would've had to happen in the Z-World before Ateez ever got there because the only time they lost the Cromer after was when Yeosang smashed it and the recovery of that was in the A-World and we know how that went down (Museum heist gone wrong) and it was nothing like this.

However, with it happening before Ateez's arrival, I wouldn't expect to see them distributing flyers (with the anarchy logo from Guerrilla) and for Hongjoong to hold a speech at a podium because something of that scale didn't really happen before they hijacked the Strictland transmission system in Guerrilla.

From everything we know, the Black Pirates were only doing street performances before their movement picked up speed after Ateez got there. They didn't have the manpower and means to pull off large scale heists prior to that; they were operating out of an abandoned warehouse and they didn't really start getting allies until Left Eye set up the Black Link where people could reach out after waking up.

And on top of that, it was A-World Yeosang's tech know-how that got them spy gear and everything so I kinda don't see them breaking into a Strictland government facility full of armed guards in their early days.

But, if I did have to fit it in somehow, I'd put it pre-Ateez's arrival as the event in which the Black Pirates first got hold of the Cromer:

The Awakening of Summer

They caught wind of the government having found the Cromer and heard it has unique abilities like teleportation, entering the dreamscape - powers that could help them free their world

So they get all the guns they can find, hop into their bulletproof van (like in Guerrilla) and take off

They shoot down the guards stationed at the facility but then also somehow manage to bring them back to life with the magical masks they own (?) or maybe they used rubber bullets or stun guns or something

Regardless, the masks presumably contain breaker technology (somehow) which separates the guards' microchip link connection which means they can now feel and think freely

However, Ateez aren't dumb so they keep the guards tied up for now so thy can't run off and rat them out

While some of them are looking for the Cromer, San straps a bomb to a security guard's chest and ties him to his desk chair (pretty extreme - that's some Halazia universe Matz shit)

During the heist, Yunho and Wooyoung find their Wanted Posters and a bunch of newspapers

The front page headline of the newspaper reads: "The Central Government defined The Black Pirates as a terrorist"

San then goes off on his own and climbs up a rope to an emergency button which opens the massive double doors to a high security section of the building (the one with the Cromer)

This allows the rest of Ateez to waltz right in and Hongjoong immediately goes off to the section with the confiscated art

Which should normally be stored in the Android Guardian bunker, the converted museum on Guardian Island, but I guess they must've used another type of building before - maybe they changed it after the Black Pirates broke into this place (I digress)

Either way, the former guards are now freely raiding the place, making me assume they've switched sides after discovering what art is and that the government's intentionally been withholding it from all of them

While Hongjoong's raiding the place with the guards they captured in the beginning, Wooyoung, Jongho, and Yeosang are handling the guards stationed in this section

During the following dance break, Hongjoong's walk off right before something interferes with everyone's ear pieces (I assume they were using them to communicate while they were separated)

Immediately after, Hongjoong begins his speech, indicating he hijacked all frequencies, including the one they'd been using, so he could broadcast this to the entire city:

"People, open your eyes! For our lives! Keep your mind! Now is the time for freedom, if we try! Listen, look, write! Open your eyes!"

(Note the slogan "Hearts Awakened" on the podium and the small-scale version of the blimp we saw in Guerrilla above Hongjoong - these, plus the van, are part of the reason why I think this was a test run for The World series and the Guerrilla mv in particular)

After the speech, they walk off and Jongho throws up a handful of flyers (which, again, look exactly like the ones from Guerrilla)

During Jongho's high note, Hongjoong walks off again and we next see him putting on the Black Pirates' getup (signature fedora) and break the glass case in which the Cromer is kept

(The clothes are likely just to ensure we as the audience know this isn't A-World's Ateez but the Black Pirates)

Cromer in hand, he smiles and walks off. Mission complete. The performance ends.

Ode to Joy

Now, regarding Ode to Joy, this one feels like it's more so meant to connect some dots between the former two series and the (then) upcoming one.

To start with, they filled in the small gap between the Fever and Treasure series by exploring how they, Ateez and the Black Pirates, managed to break out Yeosang after he was captured by the Android Guardians at the end of Deja Vu/the Fever Pt. 3 Diary Entries since the only canon thing we know about this event is from Say My Name and this one section from the Fever Epilogue Diary Entries:

"Somebody please get me out of here! Please!" The light that I hadn't seen for ages slid in when the door opened. Men in black fedoras were fighting with Android Guardians behind the opened door. "Hey, Yeosang." I heard a warm voice calling my name. A guy came near my glass room and pulled down his black mask. Tears of relief burst out of my eyes. It was Seonghwa.

We open on Yeosang in the glass prison during the Full Moon (meaning reality jumping is possible with the Cromer right now so Ateez can switch over from A to Z World)

One of the Android Guardians walks in and the camera moves to the moon where we get to see the Cromer in action (sand disappearing from the bottom, indicating it's flowing up like we saw in the Diary Film)

Seonghwa, holding the Cromer, then appears in Yeosang's cell (small deviation from Yeosang's diary entry but I'll take it)

Yeosang and Seonghwa then, together, turn the Cromer again, causing Yunho to appear who immediately starts fighting the Android Guardian

After distracting the Guardian for long enough, Yunho pushes him away and runs off, leaving the Guardian to turn around and realize the cell is empty - Yeosang escaped

Following this, we move right on to Answer and that one iconic meeting where Ateez and the Black Pirates got together and formally established an alliance - they're even on the same sides

We then see Hongjoong walking along during his verse while, behind him, people in different get ups are throwing each other guns, etc., indicating the spread of the movement we later read about in the Movement Diary Version: The Revolution

And then we get to the part where I first went "eh?" which made me realize I can't see this performance being fully canon:

San, during his verse, tries to run off but Wooyoung grabs him, clutching him by the jacket, to stop him from leaving

But it doesn't work - San's made up his mind

He holds eye contact, yes, indicating they would've exchanged words if this weren't a song (likely something along the lines of "Stop, don't do this, it's suicide!" and "I have to, I'm sorry.") before he removes Wooyoung's hand from his jacket and runs off-

- and literally hurls himself at an Android Guardian - presumably sacrificing himself by knocking them both off this ledge for the sake of protecting the others

Then we've got Jongho fighting an Android Guardian while Hongjoong is blindfolded and gets captured by four more

Jongho wins his fight (potentially) and makes his way to the grand staircase where he receives a crown on the way up, only to hold it out and toss it aside once he makes it to the top

However, I'm quite certain this isn't related to the lore at all but rather the concept of the show which wants all groups to compete for the crown and see each other as opponents

Ateez refused to align with this idea - they wanted to make their time on the show about friendship and collaboration, having fun, which is very obvious when you watch their performance of The Real

But to really drive this point home: the song "An die Freude" ("To: Joy" as in it's addressed to Joy), which is being sung here by a guest performer, is actually a famous Germany poem by Friedrich Schiller, and an ode all about an idealistic society in which everyone is connected through joy and friendship

While this is being sung, Ateez, the Black Pirates, and the Android Guardians are all dancing together - a truly idealistic and unrealistic outcome far removed from reality but one that wouldn't have required the loss of life we just saw with San throwing himself off a ledge and Hongjoong getting surrounded and captured

The implication is clear: in a world where everyone treats each other kindly, a world without oppression, peaceful coexistence is 100% possible

But in a world of injustice, of oppression, the loss of life, the deaths of some of the kindest people, are inevitable because the ones who are oppressed will always rise up to free themselves of their shackles, even when they know some of them will have to die to make it happen

In conclusion: I think the performances do hold lore beats but they're not fully canon and the lore gaps they fill in are small enough that I always thought it was easier to toss them entirely than to potentially confuse anyone by telling them to disregard some aspects and embrace others. I hope this helps!

[idrkwhatthisisimsorry]

Flying to Italy pt.1

Description: Y/N finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her with her best friend, and decides to take the trip she had planned with him to Italy anyways, but alone. But she meets Harry along the way, and so it goes... Does she decide to stay with Harry, or is it too soon and too fast? Or will she forgive her boyfriend? Only time will tell.

Warnings: angst, cheating

Word count: 1K

Masterlist

A/N: hey! I haven't written in a while, and I have never posted Harry on here, but I'm on a serious kick with him rn and I've been thinking of this idea for a few days and I really wanted to write it, so here y'all go! I hope you enjoy, it's gonna be really good. This takes place in about early 2019 btw! Not everything is gonna be totally correct timeline wise, so just pretend it is lol

"Hey, me and Lily are going to go out tonight, I don't think Colin can come, are you up for it?" Jackson, my boyfriend said. I've been dating Jackson for almost ten years. We've known each other since we were fifteen, and we've been dating since we were sixteen. He's my rock and my best friend. But not as much as Lily. She's been my number 1 since we were about five years old. She's been dating her boyfriend, Collin for about four years now, and little does she know, he's about to propose when we go on our Italy trip in a few days together. I'm a little jealous because Jackson hasn't gotten the balls to propose to me, but I couldn't be happier for my best friend.

"Uhhhh, I might come later, but don't count on me, I have a lot of catching up to do on work if I don't want to work while we're in Italy. You guys gonna be in the same place all night?" I tell him. Any normal girlfriend would be skeptical of their best friend and boyfriend hanging out without either of their partners, but I've known both of them for so long to know that they're just good friends. We were just a trio throughout high school and college until Lily finally met Collin, and if I had any skepticism, that was all thrown out the window after seeing the way her and Collin were together. I would go as far to say they're even cuter together than me and Jackson.

"Yeah, we're going to R bar. If you don't come, it's fine, babe, I'll just see you when I get home. Love you." He said, as he gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked out the door. "Love you." I said back, as he walked out.

...

I finished up enough of my work, and decided to go meet up with him at the bar. I quickly changed and did light makeup and got an uber.

I got to the bar and didn't see him or Lily with our group of friends. I walked over to one of them, "Hey have you guys seen Jackson? He said he and Lily were gonna be here with you guys tonight." I asked, still looking around the bar. "Uh, last I saw them was about ten minutes ago when he said they were gonna go get a drink from the bar, but I think I saw them walk off somewhere." Alex said, giving me a nervous face, which made me really nervous. I've never had reason to not trust him before, so I didn't expect what I was about to see and hear as I walked towards the bathrooms. I went into the women's restroom and didn't see Lily, and obviously I couldn't go into the mens, so I walked over to the single unisex bathroom door, and put my ear up to it. Someone was obviously having sex in there, very loud sex for that matter. I knocked, just in case my worst nightmare was coming true. "Busy!" A voice, very similar sounding to my best friend of twenty years, called out. I tested the door handle, and in their drunk idiocy they forgot to lock it, and I barged right in on my boyfriend fucking my best friend. Her small black dress, that she actually borrowed from me, hiked all the way up to her stomach, and his pants pulled down just low enough for him to be sticking his dick somewhere he shouldn't have.

The second he saw me, his eyes went wide and he immediately went wide and he pulled out of her and started to pull up his pants as quickly as possible. "Y/N-" "I don't want to hear it, Jack. The two people I thought would never hurt me. How long have you two been fucking behind my back?" I yelled angrily. "No no no no no, Y/N, this is the first time this has ever happened it was such a mistake, I'm so sorry, please, you're my best friend, I am so so sorry." Lily said, apologizing over and over again, as if those words could ever reverse her actions. I just stared at them in horror, tears threatening to spill over, my heart breaking as I knew I was losing the two people I cared about most in my life all in just five minutes. "Your sorry means nothing to me. I trusted both of you. I loved both of you, and you stabbed me in the back. I never want to see you again. Either of you. Might as well cancel your tickets to Italy once you're done fucking each other." I say, as I slam the door shut and leave the restaurant as fast as I possibly can and order an uber to the nearest hotel.

...

I sat in my expensive ass hotel room contemplating almost every single life decision I'd ever made. How long had this really been going on? Was it really the first time? How stupid have I been? And what was I going to do about Italy? Where was I going to live? My brain was going a hundred miles a minute, while I just sat there crying in my short little dress I wore to the bar. For him. Because I knew how much he loved that dress. Loved. He didn't have the right to love anything about me anymore.

I was so excited for everything in the future. We were supposed to spend a whole month in Italy together, the four of us. I was so so excited. I never got to travel ever, my family never had enough money, and then I went to college, and then I had to work my way up in my career to have money and actually get time off. Jackson and Lily have both been to Italy before, so it's not like this is some huge new experience that they're going to miss out on.

I laid on that bed for hours just crying, and thinking about what to do. I was going to go to Italy and forget all about people that never deserved me.

[1moreff-creator]

new fnaf-drdt cross-headcanon (and i wanna hear ur thoughts lol)

david chiem IS david murray, its just that david murray had such a career with his speeches, that he decided to change his surname! with diana chiem being an adopted step-sister who was actually a close classmate of david

(with despair time being an au to fnaf of course)

(as to how this would fit timeline wise into the danganronpa canon?wellllllllllllllll lets just place the tragedy in the super early 90's for this epic headcanon to work shall we?)

CW: Child death, car accidents, murder, AI possession (Glitchtrap), mention of fires.

Okay, well, it can certainly work! On account that we know nothing about how David Murray would have been like were he to have survived childhood, so it's not like there's a personality issue. But the fact David Murray didn't make it past childhood brings its own problem that, uh, we're gonna need to cook something strange for this to happen, right? Like, the most notable thing David Murray does aside from befriending the Mimic when it was first created is die in a traffic accident, so... Robot children?!!? No.

First issue is that DRDT takes place several decades after the Tragedy, and David Murray was born around the 70s more or less. So pushing the Tragedy back to the 90s still means David would be either a teenager or an adult by the time it happens, and would be way too old decades later when DRDT happens for this to work. It'd probably be easier to push the FNAF timeline forwards; the Tragedy set back technology several decades, so the Mimic's creation actually happens decades after the Tragedy and only about 15-17 years before DRDT (since David Murray was 4 in the Mimic story, putting that 15-17 years before DRDT makes David Chiem college age when he first goes to Hope's Peak a year or so before the killing game starts, which fits canon DRDT). We don't have a great estimate of when exactly The Mimic happens (that I know of anyways, only "late 70s" I think), but it still puts most of "80s" FNAF lore (MCI, the bites, etc) a few years before the killing game, and anything after the 30 year time skip after it. Like, William's probably dead and trapped in the private room, and Fright hasn't opened to get him out of there yet.

That still leaves us with the rather pressing issue that David Murray died, and that's a pretty important part of the story. I guess you can change it slightly to have David be grievously injured in an accident, but not dead, then... uh, fill in the blanks I guess. Or you could have David posses the Mimic somehow and David Chiem is a human costume of some kind, which is kinda weird but hey, Ennard happened, so. You can probably make Diana another animatronic disguising as a person if you want, even if we are getting to "robot people" territory at this point.

I bring up the possibility of David being the Mimic because, to be frank, I have genuinely no idea where this would go without that point. We don't know much about David Murray, and for David to still be the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, he'd probably need to have moved firmly away from Fazbear's, which by the time the killing game starts would kinda be dead/dying anyways. That is to say, I don't know what David Chiem being David Murray would actually change, unless you throw in an extra twist. In this case, Mimic stuff.

Even then, I struggle to think about what exactly that would mean for DRDT canon. Beyond some trickery with voice mimicry and stuff like that, I think the killing game would mostly go the same (provided David's motive secret remains the same, but I don't see how anyone would believe David's a robot if that's what his secret was, so). You'd probably need to have a few other DRDT characters secretly be FNAF characters, but you didn't mention anyone else, and there's too many good swaps to really talk about here, so.

Unless you're not talking about a killing game AU in FNAF, but rather a FNAF AU where certain FNAF characters get replaced with DRDT characters (I don't really know what you meant lol). We still have the problem that I don't know what David Murray would have really done if he'd survived past the 70s, though, given he didn't in canon FNAF (which canon timeline I'm referring to is up to reader interpretation lol). Would David even be involved in the early happenings of the 80s, like the bites and the murders, or would he have nothing to do until the Pizzaplex era? Even when he is involved one way or another, what does that look like? Why would he even go back to Fazbear's if he has a successful Speaker career?

As a first approximation, here are my ideas. The setting I'll use has no Tragedy or killing game, as I'll talk about a FNAF AU, not a DRDT AU. David survives the car accident when he was younger, but Edwin still beats up the Mimic because that's a pretty big part of the story. A big difference I'll introduce, though, is that the Mimic actually kills Edwin in retaliation, because getting him out of the story makes it easier to move David around to where we need him. See, now that David's an orphan, he can get adopted into the Chiem family, explaining both the name change and Diana's hypothetical existence. It also allows him to fully separate from Fazbear's without issue, leading him to become the Speaker we know him to be without interfering with the main FNAF story.

However, David never forgets about the Mimic. Edwin's death was formally reported as an accident while he was working with machinery, but David has his suspicions about what exactly happened there. It takes him a long time to actually connect Fazbear's to the Mimic, especially because it's not like he has a lot of time to study the connection while he's also working on his speeches. In fact, by the time he graduates from Hope's Peak, Freddy's is officially closed (which I think works assuming David was 4 around '79 and the last Freddy's before the skip closes around '93), so there's nothing he can really do about it as an adult.

But. He kinda figures out a lot during the 30 year time skip. What exactly he figures out depends on where exactly you want to go with his character and where the other DRDT characters are placed in the AU. However, I'll say he figures out that Fazebear's did, in fact, use the Mimic program after Edwin's death. Normally that probably wouldn't mean much, but this is where we can use the Fazbear's Frights plot device of people being inexplicably drawn to Freddy's under certain circumstances (I think that's a thing, right?): we can say that David feels compelled to bring the Mimic back, to the point of obsession. Unfortunately, with Fazbear's dead and buried, that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

And then the time skip ends, and Fazbear's Fright opens. In this AU, the events of FNAF 3 and FFPS happen one right after the other, so David doesn't have time to interfere before it all goes down in flames. However, with public interest in Fazbear's officially back, the company starts building itself back up, and David becomes a member of the board of directors through his immense amount of wealth as the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker. I don't know how companies work but sure let's say that's possible.

Now, David starts making moves to bring the Mimic back, because for this AU to work at all he needs to be obsessed with that thing at least as much as canon David is obsessed with Xander. David is the one who comes up with the plan to hire a game dev to discredit the old stories, because his ultimate goal is not just to bring Fazbear's back, but also to get them to create a game themselves; Help Wanted. Basically, David's idea is that because Fazbear's are cheapskates, they're gonna find whatever they can to speed up the process, and he's hoping that the Mimic program can do just that.

His plan goes perfectly, and the Fazbear people dig up the Mimic program that makes Glitchtrap appear. From here, David can probably team up with Glitchtrap to try and find the original Mimic body and finally fulfill David's life-long goal. Around here is when you can start throwing around other DRDT characters, such as Hu being Vanessa (because she's manipulated by David and Glitchtrap), Veronika being Vanny (because she's crazy and she's Hu's recap foil), maybe Teruko as Tape Girl (goes against David; also gives you an excuse to make the goat Tape Girl more important) and... pick one of the guys as Cassie's dad ig. Whit maybe? You can twist his nostalgia of his mother to be nostalgia for Fazbear's or something. Or maybe you'd prefer Teruko as Vanessa, since Vanessa does more to fight the Mimic in canon than Tape Girl. Fits her bad luck, I suppose.

I'll leave whatever comes next as a reader exercise. Hope this was enough for you, thanks for the ask! And sorry this took a while, like all my asks recently lol.

[buff-electra-truther]

Some of my Electra headcanons (exhaustively long LOL)

My mental image of Electra takes VERY heavily from irl US train context, which I largely explain here.  I very much tend to make Stex characters into reflections/parodies of real industries and politics vs some independent train society.  It’s more train Hetalia with the kid playing them acting as the government/railroad authorities.  I’m prone to sidelining or outright chucking canon out the window in favor of realism for a lot of things (especially since the real life thing is often more nuanced and interesting).  Which leads to many… almost hilariously contrarian preferences for them (though they aren’t that incompatible with canon portrayals). 

I’m actually not that consistant on how I picture many aspects of the character.  The variety of depictions in canon is part of their appeal.  But the following are things I tend to do consistantly

-I use they or he inconsistently between posts.  Honestly I see Electra as a pretty neutral character in my mind and I don’t see them as caring much about pronouns.  

-Electra was always a trial/exhibition unit and genuinely doesn’t remember life outside public scrutiny.  Basically a train child star.  Situation akin to Amtrak testing X995/X996 in the 70s or the X2000 and ICE 1 tours in the 90s.  Basically going around the country on publicity tours and trial runs (where possible- which isn’t many places beyond the Northeast Corridor).  They eventually go into regular service on the NEC and just become another one of their class, but tend to be its public “face”.

-The race depicted in canon is basically a trial of different engines.  Racing isn’t Electra’s main career (or anyone else’s), they’re just normal trains in their countries selected for the event.  Electra just works normal regional trains, downgrading to commuter trains later in life and maybe freight work depending on how sci-fi our timeline gets.  

-They have poor boundaries and social issues from not really being around other engines or working in normal situations early on.  They don’t tend to get into deep, attached relationships.  Ironically, they’re actually very outgoing (almost too bold a lot of the time) and VERY affectionate.  They endlessly crave being cuddled and held and pet, and once they feel safe around someone it goes from “please pet my head” to “you have free access to my butt now” in no time.  It generally fades with age, but they have a lot of weirdly childish tendencies (for better and worse) ala Michael Jackson for similar reasons to him. 

-Personality-wise, I tend to make Electra a lot warmer/hotter than most others.  A lot more outgoing, surprisingly approachable, and someone in constant motion, but also a lot stronger willed, pissier, erratic, and downright mean.  Mentally I always think of loud, fast, snarky northeastern transit/rail fans who shit talk EVERYTHING (but also secretly want it to get better).  Mainline electric trains in the US are just so synonymous with a string of big cities known for being loud, fast, and/or abrasive that I tend to mentally associate Electra with varying shades of their stereotypes.  

-I’m generally very sympathetic to Electra lashing out and throwing tantrums because well, they DO have a lot hanging on them and considering the pressure that would have been on them then and now, trying to look less like a backwards embarrassment to the Nationals and justify their existence to a government who could care less about them…. it’s a wonder they aren’t pelting the preservationbait choo choos with tourist railroad flyers, telling them how ugly and unglamorous the main line actually is now, and hijacking the show for an extended rant on who REALLY got wronged in US rail history.  They have their own feelings dismissed in favor of short-minded populist pleas and romantic sentiment time and time again and that can lead to them getting bottled up and exploding on people.  

-Electra actually becomes pretty reasonable to deal with when not stressed and agitated and people are working with, not against them.  They tend to be domineering and smug, but are a lot calmer and can be reasoned with if you actually have a rational conversation.  Physical touch or talking about non-transport interests are easy ways to soothe them.  They can be pretty fun to hang around if you’re like minded and can withstand their personality, they’ve seen and know a lot and can go on and on about things they care about. That and train gossip… they know so much damn train gossip from being in areas with so many connections from elsewhere and being physically in so many places.

-I lean heavily into them being a “stereotypical liberal” and being treated like one because I think it proves a lot of points about rail electrification politics in the US.  Others act like they’re whiny, entitled, and out of touch… but it’s something that really is practical, is popular almost everywhere else in the world, and USED to be pretty common in the US too.  People will make fun of them saying “civilized society is where you can walk out and buy nice rolls and pastries at any corner store!” and “we should do VAT and just pay employees to begin with instead of having tipping”.  I’m not very consistent on what basis I give them, but basically all of them are super European because there aren’t really any US-based companies making them later in the 20th century and uh, it shows.  

-Acts more like a urban transit fan than typical foamer, constantly going on about logistics, fictional subways for places like Cleveland, going on and on about the economic merit of electrifying lines, figuring out whether a Deep Level London Underground train would fit in one of Musk’s stupid car tunnels, and crying about the trolleys vs “omg big boy!”. They just do not care about the romance of steam engines or fallen flags or how luxurious 50s sleepers were, just screaming at the state of electrification and public transit in the US over the past 70+ years.  

-When compared to subways, they get REALLY offended… on behalf of the subway.  Electra is genuinely very defensive about being electric and standing with other electric trains in the US due to their history of government and corporate obstruction.  Even “low-class” public transport is closer aligned with their needs than anyone on the uncivilized unelectrified high iron out west.  They know there’s a high chance they get demoted to commuter service in New Jersey and aren’t above anything.  They’re not even hostile towards freight service- they know they’re bound to get drafted into it eventually and would be good at it, they just get pissed at how backwards the big Class I railroads are and how they perpetually get in the way of electrification and their fellow Amtrak comrades.  

-Bonus: yeah Electra will joking call anywhere not electrified “uncivilized” only half-jokingly.  Leading to hilarious declarations like calling Ohio and Texas “savage wastelands”and vigorously defending cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia.  I mean, they’re basically immobile in that 90% of the country so can you  really blame them?  

-Pretty much all trains probably hate cars to some degree but Electra REALLY hates cars.  Electra has probably been victimized by cars the most of the main cast, government investment in highways was one of the main dooms of electrification in the US, and highways were never expected to be profitable vs Amtrak.  Oh they HATE cars on every fucking level and think they are Moloch Incarnate.  Even comparing them to Moloch vs Satan is a very old anti-car messaging thing because they burn things and early car accidents disproportionately killed children.  Buses are on thin ice.  Planes are grudgingly accepted as a necessary evil but a more humanoid Electra wouldn’t fly unless there was no other option.  

-Make various whines, whimpers, chirps, hisses, screeches, and buzzes akin to actual electric trains.  They are not quiet and actually make a lot of distinctive noises.  Electra is one of those incessant hummers, which is cute at first but gets grating after a while (a lot of things about them are this way).  Their cooling fans are also fucking LOUD, especially when set in older periods.  I think most if not all the 80s-era engines I associate them with sound like vacuum cleaners.  I’m inconsistent on how cold tolerant they are, but they tend to be more vulnerable to overheating vs being too cold.  Traction motors make plenty of heat, ESPECIALLY with old dynamic brakes that basically are resistance heaters like space heaters.  

-It’s something I’m very vocal about but I have hilariously contrarian physical preferences for Electra vs… almost everyone else.  My mental default is that they’re short and very cute, but also unambiguously an adult.  MUCH denser and beefier than most picture, electric engines are not “fast but weak”, they tend to be compact and very powerful for their size (and often end up becoming mixed traffic later in life).  I wildly oscillate between Koffi Missah and 90s-era Mykal, who look wildly different other than the above two things but I love both of them visually for different reasons.  Koffi has that MJ/Prince look to him and cute boxy appearance that matches the irl AEM-7s used then.  Mykal has the soft face and curvier silhouette that resembles the generic image of more modern electric engines… even heavy freighters tend to be very smooth and “cute” vs American-style diesel ones.  There’s also the weird parallel between him having the kind of soft, smooth, flat features a ton of black guys have irl but are weirdly pretty rare in media, which matches how electric trains are everywhere but largely ignored by train media.  I tend to draw Electra the latter way more because it’s fun and I think the combo of “idealistic yet weirdly average” is super fitting.  

-“passenger geared” Electra looks more like the above, but can be “freight geared” and suddenly turn into uh, 2013-era Mykal. Not as fast but actually very capable on heavy freight service, especially on steep inclines (VERY common crossover for electric express locos irl).  Electra generally shifts more to freight service later in life.  

-Older Electra mellows out a lot and is much sweeter and gentler.  Smooth, handles the Freight like they’re all carrying eggs and fine china, very efficient and doesn’t move more than they really need to.  Still VERY firm when pushed by others, and pretty snippy and testy, but a lot calmer with a lot less pressure on them.

-Little visual things… I’m very consistent on Electra having deep brown/black eyes (though I’m equally fond of them being bigger and heavier lidded OR strongly almond shaped).  I see them as having basically no body hair and probably not much of any on their head either, not even eyebrows/eyelashes.  They actually wear falsies out of necessity and just like getting fancy with them.  Probably due to some nebulous autoimmune condition they keep under wraps.  

-Very in tune to electronic music (mostly favoring older 70s-80s era stuff), appreciates subtle differences between various synths and tones and has a very good sense of pitch.  Quickly falls into pretentious prog rock territory, they love their weird time signatures and microtonality and questionable concept albums.  But don’t you dare insult disco around them.  They might be disco’s biggest defender.  They think listening to “stupid meat and potatoes troglodyte rock” from the time is the real insult.  They also listen to a lot of weirder world music and like it the more authentic it is.  

-They downplay their interest and abilities in visual art but are genuinely really good at bold, graphic stuff and makeup. They genuinely enjoy a lot of modern abstract art most people hate and take even the most pretentious money laundering pieces at face value.  

-Electra’s kind of a snobby coastal urbanite but I tend to make them a lot more down to earth than most others.  The kind of trains they’d work on were decently nice but not really fancy (ESPECIALLY vs older passenger trains most other characters are associated with).  They’ve been weirdly sheltered due to their upbringing but are just too closely associated with regular regional and commuter trains to be fully out of touch.  They’re a lot more utilitarian in associations than steam excursions or whatever UP corporate/anachronistically pre-Amtrak passenger train Greaseball runs.  Yeah Electra assumes people know more about art or music history or public transport politics than they probably do, but they’re also the type who’ll explain that kind of stuff if you don’t and broadly support public education in general (because more educated people tend to vote for the kinds of politicians who help trains like them lol).  Kind of goes full circle where they’re seen as pretentious… but a lot of what they support is just the norm in Europe, even in countries that aren’t that rich.  

-I have a weird amount of eating-related headcanons despite them having no reason to.  So apply these to a more humanoid setting.  I think they go from noticeably hungry to weak and exhausted VERY quickly, but also get knocked out by overeating, so Electra eats smaller meals very frequently.  They also just have a sensitive stomach in general, it’s partly why they hate flying.  They have a lot of food intolerances and a system prone to upset.  Definitely lactose intolerant, doesn’t handle high fat well, probably has issues with legumes and specific vegetables and some random artificial ingredients.  Not terribly picky based on taste/texture but comes off as fussy because a lot of things will just genuinely make them sick.  It’s stuff that can be managed with home or over the counter remedies, it’s just really annoying to deal with. 

[penncilkid]

Welcome to the first of several Sam/Milo posts! /lh

Let's start simple with the overall dynamic notes (under the cut because it's gonna be lengthy /lh)

-Pairing Adjustment: Milo/SH + Sam/Darlin —> Milo/Sam + SH/Darlin (This is tailored heavily towards my listener OCs ssssssh /lh)

-Milo and SH have a brief (physical) situation of sorts around the end of the shade case, but ultimately decide to be friends instead

-Milo brings SH around the pack for one reason or another, which is how them and Darlin end up meeting. They have a slow burn but like *slow* burn ‘cause they’re meeting before the Quinn stuff really pops off

-When the Quinn stuff *does* happen and Darlin leaves, Milo ends up getting a bit of info on Quinn from David, SH, or both, and he starts going around and trying to find the fucker that fucked with one of his closest friends.

-The timing of Milo and Sam meeting (in my vision) coincides closely with A) the audio where Milo talks about being teased/belittled by the pack and B) Fred and Bright’s turning. This is very very important because:

-In my heart of hearts, *Milo and Sam have such a visceral first meeting* (/lh). Early them is so full of sass and bite and snarky attitude, which is amplified by them both being stressed/pushed to a point. I’m imagining them getting into it badly enough that they’re yelling/fussing to the point that another vampire at the estate is like “What is happening out there—” (Timeline wise, that’s around early Nov. 2020 iirc)

-Have I mentioned the sass and bite? *Because it really is one of my favorite things about these two together.* Like imagine Sam making a sarcastic jab at Milo with a smirk, only for Milo to later return it with an “I told you so” and middle finger? It’s so fun

-Something I’ll expand upon later is Milo’s dynamic with Fred and Bright and how that influences this pairing. Besides me thinking Milo would call Sam out for being a hardheaded piece of shit when it comes to those two, I’ve quickly become attached to the idea that Bright specifically could reach out to Milo to talk. My version of Fred and Bright have a kind of tense relationship until right before/around the start of Inversion, and Milo being a non-vampiric space to turn to is so tasty.

-The other reason why I’m enjoying this idea so much is because I want Milo to be actively involved in the whole “Darlin came to Dahlia but is hiding” plot point. In general, I love eyeing this when it comes to Darlin rarepairs. In this context, it’s basically Milo feeling like “Two people around me aren’t telling me jack shit and it’s driving me insane” (because at this point, SH and Darlin are definitely dating so SH *has* to know stuff as well). Milo doesn’t want to ambush them (D) but pretending like he’s not upset hearing they’re being reckless again wouldn’t be possible.

-My canon divergent solution to this? Milo talks to David about how he can also tell Darlin’s back in town but no one’s telling him anything. David’s “kill two birds with one stone” solution is to have Milo be the one to go and talk to Darlin directly. The Sam/David call still takes place, but instead of him being the one to talk to Darlin, he mentions how he’s sending someone in his place. (Sam’s proximity to the pack at this point is up for debate but I feel like this still works fairly well)

-This is everything to me because in both cases, we have a speaker wanting more information about someone close to them that only the other has. I think that’s a funky parallel. I also think this would be a good catalyst for Sam and Milo to finally get together, especially since this would give them a few months of officially dating before the solstice/Inversion (it always comes back to Inversion at some point)

///

[Bonus: Quinn related stuff]

-This is a tweaked version of my usual Darlin/Quinn canon, but in the context of this ship, I think they’d have a very transactional relationship/dynamic. It’s one that SH finds out about early-ish/when things start to get rough for Darlin

-At some point, SH approaches Darlin (again, knowing that Darlin and Quinn have some sort of complex situationship of sorts). Them convincing Darlin that they (D) deserve more, that they (SH) can offer them more, that they can see the intense chemistry between them— It leads to Darlin turning the dynamic with Quinn into one of feeding only (no sex) because them and SH start dating.

-Either Quinn tries to convince Darlin otherwise a few times *or* he tries to bring them into other sinister things he’s doing (which would admittedly be more canon compliant honestly—) but either way, their clear line in the sand wis what leads to them (Darlin/Quinn) getting into it and Darlin having to go home for a bit

-As a mini palette cleanser: I also think about SH coming to visit Darlin while they’re in Washington

[ponyextulparlog]

Log # [REDACTED]

[Pony Express long-haul space freighter "Tulpar"] [Crew: Five]

[Planned Shipment Duration: 382 Days]

[Elapsed Transit Time: 147 Days] [ I HOPE THIS HURTS.] ...

... .. Hello? Hello? Ah, hello. I've been trying to log into this site for like, a while now, since apparently my password has already been used once to create an account under the name "PonyLover739".. Wonder who that is. Nevertheless, feels weird to be here. Tumblr's the only thing that properly runs on our wifi though, so we'll just have to settle for that. I go by Curly, I'm the captain of the Tulpar. Our crew consists of Jimmy- my co-pilot, Swansea as our mechanic, Anya as our nurse and Daisuke as our last-minute placed intern.. I should've really made a bigger stink about that. I'll mostly use this for frequent updates on our supplies for food, water and whatnot, as well as our current distance from our destination. Feel free to interact, if you really want to. Just know that I'm a pretty busy guy and responding may take a while.. ---- //OOC info hi i'm ewren (@hellishkittycat), it/they/he, and this is my mouthwashing acc, as demanded by my brain worms. pre crash Curly rp acc like all the five thousand others, yk the deal. this Curly's timeline is set BEFORE everything went down, at the start start start of it all. so no, Jimmy hasn't commited any crimes.. Yet, and Curly trusts him with controlling the ship, unaware of what may happen in the future. morally grey freak. >PLEASE AVOID MENTIONING POST-CRASH EVENTS!! like i said this is set very early in the game. SUGGESTIVE ASKS AND THREATS ARE ALLOWED BUT TO A BARE MINIMUM. no weird shit like "i wanna get you pregnant". you MAY insult him. lightly. you may also compliment him or flirt but it won't get far. no nsfw get your horny ass out of here DO NOT INTERACT: if you support pedo/incest/zoo/pro/radfem/lgbtq+phobia/ableism/ whatever. if i find out you fall under any of these labels (i WILL be checking), you'll get blocked. DO INTERACT: fellow mouthwashing fans, other rp blogs, cool fellas (this includes outside media blogs and ocs!!) oc/canon and or selfshippers are allowed to stay as long as you act civil. STRICT RULES: DO NOT HARASS ANYBODY. you do that and you'll get blocked plus i shall wish ten thousand cramps upon you. this is for FUN. that being said, please pleasee don't get personal on here.. i am NOT Curly. Curly is a fictional character. i, on the other hand, am. and it makes me uncomfortable. ADDED INFO: this Curly is 35, 'merican, probably with some undiagnosed stuff going on, bi, and really stupid (canon). TAG GUIDE: captain's favorites: rb tag ay; captain!: in character posting/rp starter captain says;: for asks/continued rp. horsin' around: for posts which relate to jimmy. our nurse: anya our intern: daisuke old man swan: UPDATED swansea tag ooc/mod talk: out of character posts CAKE SLICES: blog gimmick! to earn a cake slice is basically to earn a piece of Curly's trust. use this knowledge wisely. you can get cake slices by frequently interacting with him through the inbox/tags! be nice, and you'll maybe make your way into his heart..

JIMMY COUNTERPART: @worlds-least-responsible THIS POST HAS BEEN MAJORLY EDITED.

[inhuman-obey-me]

If the devs do this right for once, and we actually make it to the end of NB story-wise, do you think we'll actually get to go back to our real timeline and meet the og brothers again? As much as I love the time travel premise of NB and these past!brothers, I really do miss our dorks from the present and hope MC isn't stuck there permanently. I need emotional closure after getting ripped away from them so suddenly, damn it. At the very least, a hard mode story update on the others would be nice.

Hahaha...if the devs do it right, for once.

(Loooooong rant & ramble under the cut)

That said, we should be returning, yes. If nothing else, the devs did promise in their pre-release AMA that "the story from lesson 80 will eventually continue in Nightbringer" so we're pretty sure that means we will return to the present...eventually being the operative word. Whether that means the current situation will get wrapped up neatly at the end of NB Season 1 haha OM wrapping up a season neatly? and then plop us back to normal time for Season 2 to continue as a figurative "lesson 81", or if it's going to take a full 4 more seasons to get there, who knows! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But eventually they have promised that the story will pick back up, so that should mean that we are not stuck in the past permanently.

Now, there's a few caveats to this -- the biggest of which may be that it's wildly unclear if they're going to follow through on an "alternate universes" approach to the current time travel, where the situation as it left off is untouched, as Nightbringer seemed to imply when he called this time a "world", or if they will do the "time paradox" singular timeline approach as Solomon warned us about. We personally are going to interpret it as the former until proven otherwise, but it's hard to declare it for sure, as both have been mentioned.

That also means two different things for how things could go.

If it's a single timeline, then it seems clear we have already wildly changed the past with our presence, and we may return to find that things in our own time will be a different as a result. We did mention before that Nightbringer seems like a soft reset to the story because they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner with Season 4, and they could use this to retcon some of the more immediate directions they took and change course. Or, they could perhaps use it to introduce new problems which would set them up for things to solve in future seasons? And if things are changed, then we may end up with an unsatisfying version of returning where it still feels a bit off from the continuation we've all been waiting for.

That brings us to the other option -- alternate universes. This can just be an entirely different universe and timeline, which will have no impact on our own time, and we could return to things as they were and pick up from there. Now, the devs did emphasize that NB is meant to be welcoming and playable for new players as well as players of the original, which...probably means at least that they would have to explain a lot of things all over again? Though they haven't explained a lot of shit to new players, like the whole MC having the Ring of Light thing, so it's not like they're especially doing a great job of that! BUT, personally we really prefer this explanation.

First off, having them be entirely separate would really help to explain things like, again, Luke's many-millenia-early visit to the Devildom. And more than that, it seems like it could fit really well into where the story conflict is setting up to go: MC being presented a choice of siding with humans vs demons.

Solomon, in Lesson 9-A, is presented with what is later revealed to be a test by Nightbringer, and there's some key wording in that test about what demons offer.

And what has Nightbringer been saying? That they can bring MC to where they will be happy. "A place that will bring you more joy than any other."

We know that he had wanted Solomon to choose his side, and that Solomon opted to reject both angels and demons to choose humans instead. His big question to Solomon, then, is what MC's feelings are -- although Solomon says that MC agrees, Nightbringer questions if he really knows how MC feels.

That brings up the interesting possibility that, if this world represents a demon (Nightbringer) leading a human (MC) to "happiness", then MC's original timeline could be the option that represents "choosing humanity" instead. If so, this could be a big test from Nightbringer to see how MC feels, just like he tested Solomon, and it could all culminate in a big decision where MC might be torn between choosing this world or the original one -- though, technically speaking, it realistically probably can't actually branch the story drastically, just coding-wise. But even so, it's possible that, like Season 2 with the dagger, they could still give us the option, and hey, that'd be some pretty interesting storytelling if that's the case!

However, that's all just guessing and speculation. More than anything, we simply do not know Nightbringer's intentions as of yet.

It seems as though he may genuinely mean it when he says this is "what will bring us happiness," but he also mentioned that having us make the pacts here in past is what he wants as well. What does that mean for what his own goals are? Why does he want that? And considering that the whole reason we even want to make the pacts in this timeline is so that we'll have the ability to return to our time, it's pretty suspicious to use that to say we "want the same thing" as him. So we do not trust Nightbringer right now, but we don't have enough information as of yet and we'll just have to see what direction this is going to go.

As for a hard mode story update on our boys of the original time, though...unfortunately, we wouldn't hold our breath. There's a lot of really big stuff going on thematically in this past time we're currently in, and they likely won't want to distract from that with a jump to the present unless they're trying to make a point. If it does go towards a "MC has to choose between worlds" thing, there might be a slim possibility of it, just to give us a peek at the other option. However, again, the devs have stated that they wanted to make NB accessible to new players as well as fans of the original game, so we think it's pretty unlikely for us to get a story glimpse of them just for us to get to see how the characters as we knew and loved them actually are.

Also, the whole "MC misses their home and needs to make these pacts because they can't see their versions of the characters until they get back" probably hits a little harder if we really actually can't know how they're doing without us but that rests on the basis of narrative design, which Solmare clearly doesn't believe in, with the whole Ruri Tunes theming and all the backgrounds so far. And then there's the whole possibility that the entire concept of time travel means we may get returned just minutes after our disappearance or something, and that time isn't actually passing for them.......time travel is too frickin' complicated, y'all.

Anyway, all this to say, as much as we are totally loving all the new lore and theming and stuff we're getting in Nightbringer, we miss our OG boys too. Hopefully we'll get back to our original time someday.

[crguang]

ok, so, I wasn’t sleeping bc I probably just have insomnia, possibly my depression, and also I’d just moved in to my dorm and I suck at sleeping in new places, lol, dw tho I slept for like most of the weekend and I’ve been sleeping regularly this week.

I honestly forgot that we don’t actually know wtf the stellaron hunters are actually doing , line they literally could just be lying abt everything. Actually none of them even say anything except Kafka , blade has his own thing going on, silver wolf is usually behind the scenes fucking around and firefly just didn’t say a thing , like come on, TB didn’t even think to ask anything, there was that dreamscape pass thing of whatever it’s called and the quote from 2.3 is like “Once, we dreamed of being strangers.Upon waking up, we realized we had always loved each other.” Which I assume is abt TB and firefly, and I do kind of wish we got some more stuff about TB’s past with the stellaron hunters, especially since firefly was so important, but it’s whatever. I am actually kind of interested in the script, what Elio tells them to say, and the stuff they’re just making up as they go. Especially since firefly’s script for penacony was just a few words (also firefly said she was part of the iris family the acting/performing one bc she carries out scripts). And Kafka was told was to tell TB during her interrogation abt what they’re doing on the Luofu, but I’m not sure if she’s just lying after that 😭Kafka has some explaining to do when she comes back very soon, in the main story.

hsjajsmskdmnx the arrests on the Luofu are so silly tho, especially since jing yuan pardoned her so she’s not technically wanted there anymore BUT I STILL WANT HER even tho she’s literally worth almost 11 billion by the IPC. The IPC stuff kind of bothers me tbh, they’re not the government, but also they’ve got a fair amount of authority, I feel like pardoning the stellaron hunters wouldn’t be allowed, like I don’t understand how Jing yuan did that without getting in trouble 😭 especially with the most wanted one. And topaz APPARENTLY doesn’t know who the stellaron hunters are, in her voice line abt them she said she didn’t know who they were but they had a good credit score ITS KAFKAS CREDIT SCORE SHES THE ONE W THE CARD and like it’s funny bc that means Kafka registered it under her actually name, and no one cares. Like it would’ve been funnier if she said like the wanted criminals, the ones who blah blah blah, but they have a good credit score. And jade knew exactly abt firefly and the other stellarom hunters, and even tho they’re different ranks topaz should know them. Especially considering the fact that they’re pretty infamous, ig I shouldn’t be nitpicking especially since march literally says when in Rome one time, but whatever.

sorry for ranting 😭 hope you’re doing ok!

-🌠

hope you’re doing a bit better!! insomnia is a bitch, make sure to take care of yourself as much as u can <3

i totally agree with you on the stellaron hunters not revealing anything, i dont really expect them to since we’re still quite early in the game timeline wise but it’s a bit disappointing for the TB to have gotten close to firefly and she never alluded to them knowing each other before, especially when the game’s marketing was pushing romantic implications between them😭 and the trailblazer’s “idgaf” mentality is a bit annoying because i get wanting to move forward and not wanting to be burdened by the past but not being curious at all is… weird. even march, who was repeatedly told not to look into her past, got upset about it at some point. and in the TB’s case, their connection with the stellaron hunters is actively shaping their present/future, so it’s not like they gain nothing from asking a few questions. kafka was the one who encouraged them to get some information from her when they were alone by playing truth or lie, like they don’t care😭 it’s annoying cause i wanna knowwww. a big missed opportunity with firefly imo, we could’ve gotten a pattern of learning a little bit about the trailblazer on every planet they stop by and it’d have been nice. instead all i get is trashcan and raccoon jokes like oh brother are we 8. i wonder what the script actually says, the SH says he always tells the right future but from what we know , it feels super vague. “experiencing 3 deaths” “finding the stellaron in a non-physical way” is not precise at all like how do they even carry those orders😭 no wonder they have liberty to do lots of stuff during missions, there’s barely anything in the damn script

about jing yuan, he’s general of the luofu and the xianzhou has its own regulations and criminal law, the ipc has no control over how they treat their prisoners and their bounties dont really matter to the xianzhou unless they want the money LMFAO, so the ipc has no jurisdiction to punish jing yuan for letting the SH get away. not to mention that the alliance and the ipc have trade agreements and stuff, so their relationship would be damaged and the ipc wouldnt benefit from that. at the end of the day they’re a corporation, they don’t really care for justice.

what bothers me is TOPAZ. IT MAKES NO SENSE. she’s a stoneheart in the same division as jade, sure jade is more cunning and always looking for opportunities to make profits but not knowing them at all is so ridiculous and unrealistic fr. they’ve broken into pier point like twice and that’s her place of work😭😭😭😭😭😭 no way she never heard anything about it to not form an opinion on them. i feel like giving her a voiceline about them was just for the credit score joke which also makes zero sense because why would any of them pay taxes to the corporation that wants them dead or imprisoned. how would the ipc even know which credit card is theirs and why are they doing nothing about it like its so stupid… herta froze all of silver wolf’s accounts cause she was feeling petty but youre telling me the ipc is monitoring their credit scores?.. like im not going to lie i dont take the ipc seriously at all. silver wolf was literally participating in a tournament they sponsored and they just let her compete. like that girl was on the big screen with people cheering her on… for a company that would benefits from civilians fearing/hating the SH, they really dont give a fuck. once again it lowers the stakes and makes the story less exciting for me, and in general it’s inconsistent and weird narration wise to approach heavy themes while simultaneously making a joke of everything. if that makes sense 😭 like the tonal shifts are always very harsh and out of place, it’s one of the things i hate the most about hsr. having the trailblazer crack a stupid joke when everyone’s super serious (which often gets them ignored by dan heng or makes march’s face turn unimpressed, or has her tell them now isnt the time) is starting to annoy me like we get it they’re dumb as rocks omg. when cocolia died at the end of the belobog mission and march’s first words were “well! what an adventure!” in front of bronya hello?!? having no tact in actual serious situations isnt endearing to me like u can just keep ur mouth shut atp

anyway sorry i ranted i guess i needed that off my chest HDJFKFKG

[robynmas]

Been playing around with making a backstory for Stork, as mentioned, and I just want to get out what I have so far because writer's block from work has been killing me.

Basically started as my analysis of his trauma/paranoia. We never really learn how long he was in the wastelands, just that it's been years, and he's been alone and surviving that whole time. That alone could explain a lot of his behavior, especially his attachment to the condor. However, then I heard about this theory that the battle Lightning Strike's Storm Hawk team perished in was actually over Terra Merbia, and that started to make sense, proximity wise, to how Stork had been able to find the Condor in the first place (as I imagine he would have immediately taken shelter in the first "safe" location he could find, especially considering he was running from a war zone).

From there it blew up. I know Stork's age is inconsistent, the general range being late teens early twenties, but regardless Stork would have been a child if this timeline fit. A literal child alone in the wastelands. I started to work out ideas for his family; his parents dying in the attack on Terra Merbia, maybe one being alive, etc but I kept coming back to the idea of one of Stork's parents being a mechanic. If I were to have Stork, as a child, survive the wastelands and be capable of repairing the ship, he would have to have a familiarity with tools from somewhere. This made sense but then I thought about taking it a step further. What if one of Stork's parents was actually a member of Lightning Strike's team? Understandably, Stork's devotion to the Condor would take on a new tragic light. It could also explain why he was so ready to believe/help Aerrow and the team when they first met. He believes they're the Storm Hawks because he knew the original Storm Hawks.

So then we're wading into deeper angst. I like the idea of Stork's parent bringing him along on some missions, on him basically living on the Condor, to the point where he considered Lightning Strike and his team family. This includes the Dark Ace who, at this point in time, would also have been the closest to Stork in age range (around 12-16 during his time with the Storm Hawks) which is just too tempting to ignore.

So there you have it. What went from being a simple backstory just to get something finished has turned into Dark Ace and Stork being the brothers from hell, much to the confusion of both their teams.

[puella-1n-somn10]

Sophocles; the Miracle Child of Melemele

Total word count: 2,096

This was supposed to be a brief analysis post regarding his parents alone, but, admittedly, I got carried away whilst writing all this down. Sincere apologies for those waiting on the Meguca!Penny megapost and analysis of the families present within the Sun and Moon anime; I will do my absolute best to bring both of them on the table as soon as I am able to. This has been, let's say, a fun little writing exercise that got way out of hand- but I am happy to confess that I did have my fun writing it all down, and do hope that you guys also enjoy what I have brought in- consider it a sort of a snack made to prepare you all for the next meal!

So, starting from the very top, I have noticed that a couple of the parents' designs within the SM season of PokeAni do correlate with some NPC models present in-game for quite some time now; specifically with Abe/Mallow's father and Sophocles' parents. In the former's case, he's clearly based on the chef class; just slightly tweaked and redesigned to make him resemble his two kids, which was surprisingly effective enough to give us a simple yet unique design that helps him stand out. Meanwhile, with the latter, they're based on the madame and gentleman classes respectively- down to the minute detail of both the father and said gentleman class possessing a grey watch on both of their left arms.

It really isn't a surprise seeing how these inspirations work in their favors not just design-wise, but also within the narrative; Abe is already present in the games donning the exact same NPC model, and it has been all but outright confirmed to us that Sophocles' family is of high societal status - with both Molayne operating Hokulani Observatory and the father being the VP of the tourism board -. These designs and their inspirations help them fit in to their roles seamlessly and perfectly; giving the impressions of who they are to the viewer and their respective without the need to state their purposes to us outright.

What caught my eye for quite some time, though, is that it does appear to us that Soffy's folks are quite, let's say, quite old when compared to the other parents present within the show; not just in appearance, but it's also clear to us through their mannerisms - with the both of them having this polite, old-timey, and jolly vibe they tend to carry wherever they went -. A rather innocuous detail to fuss over, but it is one that would throw a wrench at whatever timeline one might be working on once you take Sophocles himself into account; how he appears to be so young, especially with the rest of his classmates already being in their early teens and himself being at least 11 years of age in comparison.

While I could see that the writers didn't really think too hard on it, I personally believe that this little detail right here might provide more insight into Sophocles' upbringing and why his old folks are doing their damned best to provide for and help nurture him in the best way they could. As a matter of fact, I have half a mind to say that, alongside Kiawe's and Lana's families, Sophocles' might be one the healthiest family dynamics we have seen throughout the Sun and Moon seasons of the anime, and, by golly, I am really excited to explore their interactions and the core reason behind it all in as much detail as I could.

After pondering on the topic for a while, I've managed to muster up two little theories that might help bring everything together and provide more insight into Sophocles and his folks as their own characters. Bear in mind that, aside from the analysis of certain context queues and symbolic references, neither of the following proposals are anywhere near canon; they're merely nothing but my own 11 AM ramblings on a Sunday, but it is fun to speculate and place those three goobers under a microscope! These are simply my interpretations of the events that have lead up to the present day and the characters we are currently discussing, and if you guys have other proposals behind this you want to share, I highly encourage you to do so! We are here to inspect these characters through various lenses and perspectives, so the more interpretations, the better!

The first, and most possible, reason behind all this is that the two met during later stages of their lives; the both of them already having more than enough experience to not just create a healthy relationship between one another, but also grant their eventual future child a prosperous and loving home life where he could grow up into a promising young man- with his own skills and experiences evolving with him in-tow. This scenario would not only paint the both of them in a wiser light than what we've seen throughout their appearances within the episodes they're present in, but it also boosts speculation on who they are before they both met and eventually had their kid; what sort of achievements they have personally accomplished, what they've gone through to become the people they currently are, the circumstances of their own upbringings to begin with- all of these and more are essential building blocks to a person's overall character and how they view the world. After all, though they have their similarities, the differences between the two are almost night and day- and I hope I could bring said key differences to light soon! They, alongside the other parents of the main cast, deserve an analysis post of their own, and I hope I could share my speculations and findings with you all soon enough!

The second possibility, though, teeters more on the speculative and even symbolic angle, but still manages to fit like a well-placed jigsaw piece on a puzzle board. I should give you all the heads-up, though- it's best that you take a good look at the trigger warnings present within the tags before proceeding here; if what we're about to discuss is triggering to you in any way, shape, or form, click away now for the sake of your own health. I apologize for the inconvenience, but, once more, one must place the health of the reader in a higher regards over their creative projects. Please be safe, darlings.

What I am about to suggest next is that...in gentler terms, Sophocles was the child they have managed to conceive after such a stretch of time- after countless trials and tribulations. The toll of trying and failing to conceive throughout the years may have managed to take its toll on the both of them, but now look- the duo have finally managed to bring forth their little miracle into existence. They have given their all so that they could have their sweet little child in their arms, and now he's here; happy, healthy, and breathing.

This is a...rather grim scenario, but it's also one that makes a shocking amount of sense; after all, Sophocles is usually associated with either of the two symbols within the overarching story- lightning (which is to be expected, as he is an electric type specialist) and stars; the latter of which being a common symbol of wishes, especially when in the form of meteors. Heck, when you look at him back when he was a toddler as shown in the episode "Showering the World with Love", you can even tell that his hair at the time looked like a star!

Speaking of, within that same episode, we were also presented with the life cycle of the meteor pokemon, Minior; a species that is destined to one day make an impact on the earth's surface, live out the rest of their brief lives amongst its inhabitants, and float back to the skies as they dissipate into fine particles- marking the end and new beginning of their species' life cycle. It is in that episode where Sophocles had his first encounter with loss, and, according to some, might be where he tackles the root cause of his scotophobia; witnessing a friend he's managed to make at such a young age at the time fade in to the dark with no promise of return- dissipating into the vast nothingness of space peacefully and without a care in the world, for they have long come to terms with their destinies. There was nothing he could have done to change or prevent this, as this was one of the many set rules of nature, if not existence itself.

Once more, I have to repeat myself and state that the possibility of Sophocles being a couple's only success at making their own bundle of joy is shockingly dark- and I wouldn't even blame you for believing that this is way too much for Pokemon to ever portray. However, one most also remember that the topic of grief, as we've already discussed just now, is no stranger to the Pokemon anime, especially within the Sun and Moon seasons. As a matter of fact, one of the many overarching themes present with this set of seasons is, in fact, grief- it is this state of mind and deep sense of sorrow that drives a majority of our characters, whether that's been made obvious to us or not, and it is within these seasons that we learn of the many ways one might handle or even tackle the impact of sudden loss.

Besides, in complete contrast to our first proposal, it is also implied that both his mother and father have been a thing for quite the stretch of time now; from their choice of words and language in the EN dub, to them addressing one another via affectionate nicknames such as "love" and "dear". All that, and that's on top of the father being completely smitten with his wife; taking every opportunity to give her praises all while blushing like mad whenever she compliments him. To me, that's a couple that went through thick and thin via healthy communication, and are cooperating with one another to ensure that they manage to live their lives harmoniously.

"Hang on, didn't he also have an implied celebrity crush on Kahili?" Yeah, well Burnet also had one towards the Masked Royal before she knew he was Kukui- it's ok to find some people attractive or generally good-looking, just don't go out and form romantic relations without the awareness of your partner and cheat on them. :/

All in all- though these scenarios were born from mere speculation, they still stand as a testament to how well these three are written, and how the way they interact with one another grants leeway for fan interpretations and conjectures. While I am bummed by how we didn't get any more of their dynamic in the canon of the anime, I don't think it's time to close the book on them just yet; after all, if Kiawe's grandfather was canonized by the games - specifically in Pokemon Masters EX - years after he made his debut in the anime, then there might be hope for other anime-only characters later down the line.

Personally, I am hoping that they grant us more content in regards to Sophocles' old folks, and the reason behind this is mostly due to the similarities our child of the starts has with none other than Team Galactic's leader, Cyrus. They may share similar strengths, skills, and struggles- heck, it isn't hard to see that, once upon a time, Cyrus may have been in a similar spot as Sophocles back when he was a child, but, in the end, it is their respective upbringings that have molded them into who they currently are; a child who wishes to explore the stars with his partner pokemon, and a man who sought to destroy the entirety of existence by reweaving the fabrics of space-time so that he could rebuild it all in his own image.

To a select few, Sophocles was their little blessing; a bright and peculiar little child, indeed. To those few, he deserved to live his life in harmony and peace- with the opportunity to continue growing and honing his skills in a healthy environment. To those few...I can only hope that they are now glad with all their hearts; he has, indeed, become a talented young man with oh-so much just ahead of him.

Stand proud, Sophocles.

Stand proud...our dearest bundle of happiness, pride, and joy...