#well anyways i guess ill type them out again.......

[skitskatdacat63]

Yaaaayyyyyyyy vettonso wip!!:

THEY WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!

I barely ever use my physical sketchbook, but now there is literally 12 pages just of trying to figure these guys out....

But hey happy to say I can actually draw Seb's face from memory!! I like it better when I can draw from memory than having to stare at ref pics. Nothing wrong with using ref, I use it all the time, but it causes me to think about it way too much. Fernando I've really only drawn one other time so I kinda just copied off my last one as a placeholder 😭 so I should probably just stare at pictures of him for a while, like I did with Seb, until his face is eventually burned into brain

This is like, first joint portrait into the arranged marriage type vibe sjfkfl

[phagodyke]

I will say while I've loved most of elden ring I'm really glad I'm down to just 2 more main boss fights (malenia + maliketh) before I start the endgame boss fights... whew 😮‍💨

[kirammanswifey]

《A Love Written in Pain(t)》

Ekko

writer's note: i'm sorry for making my boy suffer again, ekko deserves better but i'm a sucker for drama. anyways, this little (pretty long) scenarios comes from my arcane imagines, i'll let the link down there for anyone is interested, also i'll be posting a story for each one of those scenarios for this week, tomorrow it's mel's turn ;)

link:

warnings: fluff, angst, terminal illness, death of oc, ekko is a romantic sweet talented baby, reader can be a jerk sometimes but she kinda cool sometimes.

The music vibrated in the air, blending with the scent of fresh paint and street food. You had come to the urban festival on a friend's recommendation, but you never imagined it would be an afternoon that would change your life. Artists were filling the city's gray walls with bright colors and messages of hope, and among them, one boy stood out.

His white hair contrasted with his skin, and the agile movement of his hand as he slid paint onto the wall was almost hypnotic. The mural he was creating seemed to come alive with every stroke: a girl holding a broken clock, surrounded by gears that spun toward nowhere. The image had something deeply melancholic about it, as if telling a story only a few could understand.

You watched him from afar, too shy to approach, until he noticed your presence. He turned his head and smiled at you, his eyes shining with a mixture of curiosity and kindness.

"Do you like it?" he asked, coming down from the scaffolding with the same ease he seemed to do everything.

"It’s... impressive. But it also feels sad, like it’s about a loss or something that can't be recovered."

His eyebrows raised slightly, surprised. "That's exactly what I wanted to convey. It’s about time. How we always think we have more of it than we really do, but we never know when it runs out."

His explanation fit perfectly with what you had felt while observing it. "I saw it more like a fight... like she doesn't want to give up, even if the clock is already broken."

For a moment, Ekko seemed to look at you differently, as if measuring something invisible. "I’ve never thought of it that way. I like that perspective. I guess that’s what’s great about art, right? It’s a conversation."

You smiled, feeling for the first time like someone understood how you saw things. "I guess so."

"Do you always analyze strangers' murals?" he joked, a playful smile on his lips.

"Only when they make me feel something," you replied with a hint of shyness, but without looking away.

"Well, then that’s a compliment."

Hours passed, but you didn’t even notice as the sun began to set. Talking with Ekko felt like discovering a song you didn’t know you needed in your life. He told you about his workshop, his passion for helping the community, and his dreams of changing the world, one gadget at a time.

At some point, he asked about your story, and although you weren’t the type to open up easily, you felt like you could be honest with him.

"I work with kids," you began, searching for the right words. "At an orphanage near my university. I like to think I can do something for them, even if it’s small. I’m studying psychology, and I want to help people like them... people who feel alone."

Ekko nodded, as if understanding every word. "That’s amazing. It’s like... you take care of people, and I try to make sure they take care of the world around them. Maybe you should stop by my workshop sometime. I work with kids from the neighborhood, teaching them how to fix things, build gadgets. We could join forces."

The enthusiasm in his voice was contagious, but you couldn’t help feeling a pang of doubt. It had been a long time since you let yourself connect with someone new, for reasons he didn’t need to know.

"Really? You take anyone?" you joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Only if they have a good eye for art and a heart for kids. You seem to qualify."

When you got up to say goodbye, he pulled out his phone and offered you his contact. "In case you decide to visit the workshop."

You took the phone, feeling a mix of excitement and fear. You didn’t know what you were getting into, but something told you that Ekko wasn’t someone you’d easily forget.

By the end of the day, as you walked back home, you couldn’t stop thinking about him. His paint-stained hands, his sincere laugh, and that strange connection you felt from the moment he looked at you.

You didn’t know it yet, but you had just met the love of your life.

A few days after the festival, you still couldn’t get Ekko out of your head. There was something about him that fascinated you: the spark in his eyes when he talked about his dreams, the passion behind every word, his way of seeing the world with optimism despite the struggles. You found yourself re-reading the festival brochure and checking his social media profile, where he shared glimpses of his life: videos of his skate tricks, photos of murals filled with messages of resistance, and small clips explaining how to build gadgets. And pictures of him too and... he was kinda cute.

Finally, you decided to message him.

"Hey, I’m the girl from the mural. You said I could come by your workshop... Is the invitation still open?"

The reply came faster than you expected: "Of course. Come by anytime. The kids will be happy to meet you. Does 4 PM today work?"

The workshop was located in an old brick building in a lively neighborhood. The exterior walls were covered in vibrant graffiti that seemed to tell stories. The main entrance had a huge phrase in bold letters: "We build the future together." When you walked through the door, you found yourself in a space that radiated creativity and chaos in perfect harmony. There were tables filled with tools, parts of half-built gadgets, unfinished murals covering the walls, and a group of kids focused while Ekko enthusiastically explained something to them.

When he saw you, his face lit up, he said with sarcasm: "Hey, the mural girl is here!

You blushed.

"I hope I’m not interrupting," you said, feeling a little shy as all eyes turned toward you.

"Not at all. Actually, come here. I want you to see this."

He led you to a table full of small artifacts and technological pieces. "This is my experiment corner," he said, pointing proudly at the mess. "This is where the magic happens, although sometimes the magic is more frustrating than anything else."

The kids started to gather around, curious, and Ekko introduced you with a warmth that made you feel at home. "She works with kids too. She helps them find their way."

One of the younger ones looked at you with bright eyes. "Really? Do you do cool things like Ekko?"

You bent down to their level, smiling. "I don’t build things like he does, but I try to help people find their strength. Sometimes, the most important thing isn’t what we do with our hands, but with our hearts."

Ekko, who had been listening, looked at you with a mix of admiration and tenderness. "That was deep. I’ll have to write that down for my next mural."

Hours passed in the workshop. You helped the kids with their projects, painted a couple of things with Ekko, and learned more about his life. In a moment of calm, while the kids were absorbed in their creations, Ekko sat next to you, a screwdriver in hand and a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You know? This place means a lot to me," he started, his tone more serious than before. "When I was a kid, there was nothing like this in my neighborhood. Growing up here was... complicated. There wasn’t always someone to turn to when things got tough."

"How did you manage to get through it?" you asked, genuinely interested.

Ekko smiled sadly. "It was thanks to my mom. She always told me that, even though we couldn’t change where we were born, we could change what we did with it. She taught me not to give up, to find ways to transform things, even if they were small. When she died... well, I promised myself I’d do something so other kids wouldn’t have to feel as alone as I did."

He paused, fiddling with the screwdriver in his hands. "At first, I didn’t know how. I just knew I wanted to make a difference. That’s when I discovered skateboarding, art, and technology. They were my escapes. And over time, they became my way of communicating, of creating something that mattered."

You felt a lump in your throat listening to his story. There was something about the way he spoke, the vulnerability behind his words, that made every detail come alive. "You’ve done something incredible here, Ekko. This place... it’s not just a workshop. It’s a home."

He looked at you, surprised by your words, then smiled, although his eyes glowed with contained emotion. "Thanks. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing enough. But hearing that... it makes me think maybe I am."

"You’re amazing." You squeezed his hand as a gesture of affection and respect, which made him smile shyly.

When the day ended, Ekko walked you to the door of the workshop. "So, what do you think?"

"I loved it! It’s like a refuge from the world."

He smiled, scratching the back of his neck with some shyness. "I try to make it that way. And I’m glad you came. The kids got along really well with you. They liked you."

"And you?" you asked, before you could stop yourself.

"Me?"

"Do you like me?"

For a moment, he seemed surprised by your question, but then he smiled with that spark in his eyes that you were starting to recognize. "I think so."

You said goodbye with a smile that didn’t leave your face the entire way home, carrying the feeling that, in some way, you had found a place where you belonged.

The afternoon sun bathed the streets in a golden light as you walked toward the park where Ekko had arranged to meet you. You weren’t sure what to expect; when he had suggested it, you thought it would be a simple, casual activity. But when you arrived and saw him carrying two skateboards, a mischievous smile on his face, you realized this wasn’t going to be any ordinary day.

“Are you ready to become a professional skater in just one afternoon?” Ekko asked, raising an eyebrow as he held a helmet in one hand and a board in the other.

“Professional? I can barely stay on my feet without falling,” you replied, laughing nervously.

“That’s what makes it fun,” he said, walking up to you to adjust your helmet. His fingers brushed your skin as he fastened it, and you noticed his movements were unnecessarily slow, as if he were looking for an excuse to be closer to you.

“And you? Are you going to wear a helmet or trust your legendary skill?”

Ekko shrugged, smiling to the side. “Nah, I was born for this.”

“Sure, sure,” you replied, nudging him with your shoulder.

The park had a wide track with ramps and flatter areas where beginners could practice. Ekko led you to one of these areas and began with a quick lesson.

“First, keep your feet steady. Don’t look down, look where you want to go. The board will follow your intentions.”

“My intentions? What am I, a witch controlling the skateboard with my mind?”

Ekko laughed. “Something like that. Though, if you were a witch, you’d probably have learned how to fly on this thing by now.”

You tried to follow his instructions, but on your first attempt, the board shot out from under you, and you ended up on the ground.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?” Ekko was by your side in a second, kneeling next to you as he tried to hold back his laughter.

“I’m fine,” you said, though you could barely stop laughing. “I think the board hates me.”

“No, you just have to conquer it. Look.” He jumped onto his skateboard with a fluidity that seemed to defy gravity. He glided smoothly along the track, doing small tricks to impress you. “See? You just need confidence.”

“Of course, confidence is the only thing I’m lacking,” you joked.

After several attempts, you started to improve. You managed to stay on the board for more than a few seconds, though falls were still frequent. Every time you fell, Ekko was there, offering a hand to help you up, his face a mixture of concern and amusement.

After a while, both of you sat on a nearby bench to rest. Ekko took out his phone and began searching for something in his playlist.

“I’ve got the perfect song for this moment,” he said, setting it to play on the speaker.

Tyler, the Creator’s melodic voice filled the air with the song "See You Again." Ekko looked at you with a smile that seemed to hold something more than just fun.

“Why this song?” you asked, trying to interpret the meaning behind his choice.

“It reminds me of you,” he replied, his tone more serious than you expected.

You paused for a moment, allowing the music to fill the space between you. You knew there was something in his words, something he was trying to say without saying it. But instead of confronting it, you chose to laugh, avoiding the weight of the moment.

“Wow, Ekko, if you wanted to dedicate me a song, you could’ve chosen something less obvious,” you joked, pretending not to notice the gleam in his eyes.

He smiled, but there was something in his expression that made you feel a slight pang of guilt. You knew he was trying to open up to you, and you had deflected it.

As the afternoon went on, the topic faded, but a subtle tension lingered in the air. It wasn’t just about him; it was also about you. There was something you couldn’t share with Ekko, something that weighed on you more with each passing day. Your illness wasn’t an easy topic, especially now when you were just starting to get to know each other.

“Why are you so quiet?” he asked, glancing at you from the corner of his eye as you both walked toward the graffiti area of the park.

“I’m not quiet. I’m… thinking.”

“About what?”

“How easy it is to be with you,” you said without thinking. The sincerity in your words took him by surprise, and you could see his expression soften.

“Well, I’m glad it’s easy. But if you ever need to talk about something hard, I’m here too,” he said, his voice filled with warmth that made you feel guilty.

“Thanks,” was all you managed to respond.

Days later, Ekko took you to the graffiti area. He had been working on something in secret and didn’t want to tell you what it was until he finished.

“Ready to see how I see you?”

When you turned the corner and saw the mural, you were left speechless. It was your face, captured with an astonishing level of detail. Your hair seemed to move with the breeze, and your eyes were filled with a light you didn’t recognize at first. Around your face, Ekko had painted details that only the two of you would understand: small rays of light that seemed to represent hope, and a golden phrase that read:

“Life is short, but art is eternal.”

“Ekko…” you murmured, unable to find words to describe how you felt.

“This is what I see when I look at you. You're art,” he said, shrugging as if it were no big deal.

The mural was more than just an image. It was a reflection of how he saw you: as someone bright, unique, and irreplaceable. As you looked at it, you promised yourself that one day you would tell him the truth, even though you feared losing what you had.

The morning began with Ekko knocking on your door, carrying a huge box that almost covered his face.

"Are you going to let me in, or am I staying here decorating the hallway?" he said, balancing the box.

You laughed, opening the door wide. "What do you have there? A corpse?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you, baby" he joked, walking in and setting the box on the table.

Baby, that's how he was used to call you now. It didn't felt wrong, in fact, you liked it. It felt so good when he said it to you. It made you feel special. It made you feel loved. It made you feel his.

"It's for tomorrow's event. We're going to need a lot of help to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"An event? What are you talking about?"

Ekko leaned forward, resting on the table with a smile that combined enthusiasm and a bit of nervousness. "It's for the kids in the neighborhood. I'm organizing a sort of fair. Games, music, food... you know, something to help them forget for a while everything that's going on down here."

The morning passed organizing ideas. Ekko had an almost contagious energy, moving around your apartment like a whirlwind while making lists, dividing tasks, and talking about his plans.

"So, what do you think of a painting workshop? We could get some cheap canvases and brushes. I'm sure the kids would love to express themselves that way."

"I love it," you replied, watching his face light up. "How do you have so much energy for this?"

"It's important," he said, his tone turning more serious. "These kids... a lot of them don't have anyone who really shows them that they matter. If I can do something to change that, even for just one day, I will."

Your heart tightened as you listened to his words. There was something deeply inspiring about his dedication, how he used his own pain as fuel to improve the lives of others.

"So, where do I fit into all of this?" you asked, crossing your arms with a smile.

"Simple. You're my right hand. Plus, no one can resist your brilliant ideas and that smile of yours," he said, winking before turning back to focus on his plans.

In the afternoon, Ekko took you to his loft to check out some materials he had gathered for the event. His home was filled with curious objects: disassembled tech pieces, unfinished paintings, and notebooks full of sketches and notes.

"This place is like your brain made into physical space," you commented, looking around with a mix of awe and amusement.

"Is that a compliment?"

"Definitely."

You went up to the roof, where there was a small area Ekko had transformed into a personal retreat. There, he showed you his next project: a portable device designed to help people with motor disabilities perform everyday tasks with greater ease.

"How does it work?" you asked, taking the gadget in your hands.

"It's a prototype," he explained, sitting next to you. "The idea is for it to adapt to different needs. For example, someone with trouble holding objects could use it for a firmer grip. It's simple, but it could make a difference."

You looked at him, impressed. "Ekko, this is amazing. How did you come up with it?"

"I guess... I've always wanted to fix things. People, places, systems... whatever." He paused, looking at the horizon. "I don't know, I feel like it's the only thing I really know how to do."

The sincerity in his voice moved you. "You're not fixing things, Ekko. You're improving them. That's something very different."

Later, as you both worked on the final details for the event, Ekko looked at you with an intensity that made you feel uneasy.

"Can I ask you something?" he finally said, breaking the silence.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why do you always keep your distance? Sometimes I feel like you're here, but at the same time, you're not. Like there's something you don't want me to see."

Your heart skipped a beat. You didn't expect Ekko to be so direct.

"I don't know what you're talking about," you said, trying to keep your tone casual.

"Yes, you do," he insisted, his voice firmer. "I've noticed how you avoid certain topics, how you change the conversation when something gets too personal. Is it that you don't trust me?"

"It's not that," you replied, feeling the frustration building inside you. "There are just things I don't need to share. Not everything has to be so... open."

"Not with me?"

His question hit you like a punch to the stomach. You stood up from the chair, unable to stay seated under his probing gaze. "Ekko, it's not as simple as you think."

"Then explain it," he said, standing up as well. "Because from here, it seems like you're more concerned with what you're hiding than with what we have."

What you two had was complicated. You weren't friends, you were more than that, but you weren't a couple either. It was complicated. And you didn't like to think about complicated things.

"You have no idea what you're saying!"

The raised tone of your voice surprised both of you. You felt the stress and physical exhaustion begin to take their toll. Your vision blurred, and the world seemed to tilt beneath your feet.

"Baby, are you okay?" Ekko stepped toward you, but before he could reach you, your legs gave out.

The last thing you heard before losing consciousness was the sound of his voice, filled with panic.

You opened your eyes under a cold, white light. The smell of disinfectant confirmed what you feared: you were in a hospital. You turned your head and saw Ekko sitting next to your bed, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands intertwined.

The room was silent, only broken by the soft sound of the monitor marking the rhythm of your breathing. The sunlight filtered through the hospital window, creating patterns on the floor, but the calm was deceiving. You knew Ekko was worried, hurt, but what worried you the most was what Ekko had started to suspect. You couldn’t keep hiding it, and you knew the time to talk had come.

Ekko had probably been sitting in the chair next to your bed for hours, staring at the wall, lost in thoughts that seemed to consume him. You didn’t know if he hated you or if he was just trying to process what had just happened. After all, you had fallen unconscious in his arms, leaving him with a heavier emotional burden than any gadget prototype or community event. Now, he was paying the price for your secret.

“Ekko?”

He quickly lifted his head, and the mix of relief and worry on his face broke your heart.

When he finally spoke, his voice wasn’t the same as usual. There was something broken in it.

“Baby, what’s going on? What haven’t you told me? The doctor... the doctor told me that...”

It was obvious that the doctor had given him more details than you had wanted to share. You hadn’t planned on opening up to him like this. But something in his gaze, the clear worry, and the deep sadness, made you say what you had kept hidden for so long.

“I know. I’m sorry,” you said, taking a deep breath. “The illness I have has no cure.”

After a long silence, and before everything could completely fall apart, you decided to explain more deeply about the illness that was consuming you because you knew Ekko needed to understand it fully, even though you weren’t sure you could save what was left between you both.

“Ekko… what I have is a rare, autoimmune disease. My immune system is attacking my own organs. It’s called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and there’s no cure. It’s like my body is fighting against me all the time, little by little.”

Ekko stared at you in silence, as if he couldn’t process every word. He knew that everything you had said before, although important, wasn’t enough to understand what was really happening.

“When?” he asked, his voice tense, almost inaudible. “Since when?”

“I started feeling bad when I was 23,” you continued, your voice trembling. “It hurt all the time, and the fever wouldn’t go away. At first, I thought it was something temporary. But then I fainted once, and that’s when they admitted me to the hospital. That’s when they told me that what was happening in my body was much worse than I imagined. From there, my life completely changed. My body wasn’t mine anymore. I lost energy, I lost weight, and the flare-ups became more frequent. It’s like my body is in a constant war, and there’s no way to win it.”

The feeling of vulnerability overwhelmed you as Ekko, standing at the door, continued to look at you with a mix of disbelief and pain.

But before he could say anything, you threw out one last statement that seemed to come from the deepest part of your soul:

“And I don’t know how much time I have left, Ekko. I just know that I can’t live knowing I’m dragging you with me.”

Ekko stood still for a moment, processing your words. His breathing became heavier, as if an invisible weight had fallen on him. Finally, his eyes sought yours, and what he saw in them wasn’t surprise. It was like, somehow, he already knew, as if he had sensed it all this time.

“Your parents?” Ekko asked again, his eyes fixed on you, searching for answers that you couldn’t hide anymore.

“My parents don’t know,” you said, letting out a sigh that seemed to come from deep within. “They have no idea. How am I going to tell them that? How am I going to tell them? No… I don’t want them to see me as a project they need to save. I want them to see me for who I am, to see me as their daughter, not as a broken thing they need to take care of. I don’t want to be a burden. I’m not going to be a burden.”

Ekko looked at you, his eyes filled with frustration, but also with a sadness so deep that it made you question whether he really knew you as well as you thought.

“Baby, why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide all of this from me? Did you think you could protect me from the truth? What were you really protecting—me or yourself?”

The punch of his words was like a gut punch. The wound you had tried to seal with lies and evasions started to bleed, and the emotion overflowed in you like a river that couldn’t be stopped.

“I don’t know…” you stammered, tears threatening to fall. “I don’t know, Ekko. I wanted… I wanted all of this to keep being normal. For it not to be so… so heavy. I wanted to do everything I’ve always wanted to do before… before it ended. I wanted to leave my mark on the world before I’m gone, to leave something that was worth it.”

Ekko began to pace back and forth. His frustration became more palpable, but there was something else in his attitude, something you hadn’t recognized at first.

“That’s not what I’m saying!” he yelled, and the vehemence in his words made everything in the room feel even denser. “I don’t understand why you had to carry all of this alone. Why did you shut me out, baby? Why did you make me believe that everything was okay?”

“Because it was easier that way,” you said, the words tumbling out. “Because what’s happening inside me… how do you explain that to someone who doesn’t understand? How do I explain that my body is already losing the battle, that I won’t be here much longer, that everything I touch will fade?”

The anger in Ekko’s eyes faded for a second, and what remained was a sadness so deep it seemed to swallow the light in the room.

“And what about me, baby?” he said, his voice softer, more broken. “What about us? Did you really think I didn’t care? Did you really think I could go on without knowing what’s happening to you? That I could keep smiling and helping you as if nothing was going to change?”

At that moment, something inside you broke. Without thinking, the words left your mouth, sharp and like a dagger:

“Stop looking for it in me, Ekko. I’m not your mother. I’m not her. Don’t project that onto me! I don’t want to be the memory of what you lost. I don’t want to carry that responsibility, or the guilt of not being what you expected.”

The words hung in the air, and the silence that followed was unbearable. Ekko took a step back, his face contorting with a mix of pain and confusion. His eyes glistened with unshed tears.

“How could you say that?” he whispered, his voice broken, as if every word he spoke cost him more than the last. “I never ‘projected’ her onto you. It’s just… I don’t want you to keep pushing me away. I don’t want you to keep hiding your fears from me.”

And then, both of you stood there, in that emotional abyss that neither of you knew how to cross. Frustration, fear, love, and sadness intertwined in the room, as if time had stopped completely.

Finally, the silence became unbearable. You sat up in bed, defeated, while Ekko turned and walked toward the door. His body tense, his breathing ragged, and the pain in his face made him feel more real than ever.

Before leaving, he stopped and looked at you one last time. “If you had used your psychology for yourself instead of for everyone else, maybe you could’ve avoided this.”

The door slammed behind him with a dull thud, and you were left there, alone, with the echo of his words ringing in your ears.

Time had passed. The days and nights blurred into a mixture of conflicting feelings, unfinished memories, and a void that both of them tried to fill without success. The argument between Ekko and you had left deep scars, although both of you knew it couldn't be the end. Not for you. However, there was something neither of you had been able to face: fear. Fear of love, fear of tragedy, and fear of losing each other before either of you expected it.

You had distanced yourself for a week. A week that had been heavier than you ever imagined. In every corner, in every solitary moment, in every thought, Ekko was there, like a persistent shadow. No matter what you did, how you tried to ignore him, the emptiness left by his departure enveloped you more and more. You tried to convince yourself it was for the best, that moving on without him was the right thing to do. But you were lying to yourself, you knew you couldn't continue without him. Not that way.

Finally, after days of deliberation, finding the strength to face your own fear, you decided to go find him. You had to talk to him, make amends, and make a decision. If you were going to die, you would do it without regrets, without leaving words unsaid, or missed opportunities. You wouldn’t care about the shadows of the future, but you couldn’t keep living with the weight of silence between you two.

You found yourself standing in front of his door, hands trembling and heart pounding in your chest. You knew what you had to say, what you wanted to say, but the words seemed stuck in your throat.

The door slowly opened, and there he was, Ekko, with that gaze that, though intense, still carried a hint of sadness. There was something in his face that told you he had been searching for you in his mind as well, though his eyes didn't yet recognize it.

"Ekko…" you finally said, your voice trembling, "I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

Without saying a word, Ekko took a step back and opened the door, inviting you inside. The atmosphere in the room was heavier than you remembered, as if everything unsaid still lingered in the air.

You stood in front of him, your eyes fixed on his, while the words that needed to come out didn't come immediately. But in the end, you decided.

"Ekko, I know I failed you. I know, and I’m deeply sorry. It was never my intention, it never was." You took a deep breath, struggling to control the emotions threatening to overwhelm you. "But I'm here because… because I need to know if you're still willing to fight with me. If you're willing to continue this battle, to stay by my side for as long as I can."

Ekko stared at you for a moment, his face impassive, but his gaze was full of something you couldn’t decipher. There was a long pause, and then, with a sincerity that made you shiver, he responded:

"I’ve always been willing, baby. From the moment I met you, I’ve been willing to fight for you, for what we have. I don’t care what comes, I don’t care how long it is. What matters to me is that you don’t leave, that you don’t leave me behind."

Those words were everything you needed. No more doubts, no more fears. You embraced his answer with your soul, with the certainty that, finally, both of you were ready to accept the truth. The truth of who you were, what you felt, and what the future held for you.

From that day on, things changed. Although you knew each moment was a fleeting gift, you decided to make the most of it. Ekko never stopped being by your side, and you did the same for him. You were determined to live intensely, no matter how short the life you had left. And he, he was willing to love you until the end.

He accompanied you to every medical appointment, always with a smile, always willing to do anything to lighten the pain caused by the treatment. The hospital visits weren’t easy, but his presence made everything more bearable. He held your hand before entering the consultations, hugged you after every diagnosis, and never let the moments of uncertainty crush you.

"I don’t want you to be afraid," you said one day, after one of your doctor visits, while walking together through the streets, taking a break at a small café. "But I know you feel it. I know every time we go in there, it kills you a little inside."

Ekko looked at you, his gaze full of both pain and tenderness. "It’s not fear," he replied, his voice soft. "It’s not knowing how to save you. I don’t know what to do when I see you so fragile. All I can do is be here, by your side."

And that was enough. Even though both of you knew you couldn’t stop time, nor the illness, what you could do was share every second, every laugh, every small victory, and every defeat.

But it wasn’t only moments of pain and fear. There were also moments of joy, of beauty, and of creation.

Together, you started working on the project you both dreamed of—the gadget you had envisioned, which could change the way the world saw technology. Even though your health was becoming more fragile, Ekko made sure you didn’t stop. You worked side by side, sharing ideas, making decisions, and facing obstacles, but always together. It was your way of fighting, of resisting, of holding on to life amidst the chaos.

One day, while working on the final design, Ekko surprised you with an idea. "How about, in addition to all this, we paint something? Something that’s ours, something that represents what we’re doing together."

At first, you didn’t completely understand what he meant, but soon you did. Together, you would create something more than just a gadget. You would paint a mural, one that symbolized not only your dreams and love, but also the struggle you shared. The mural would represent life, love, and hope, even though you knew time was limited.

In your mind, that mural became the testament of your story, a reminder of what you had built together. The colors shone on the wall, the shapes wild and beautiful, just like your love. The mural wasn’t just a work of art, but also a promise. The promise that, no matter what else might crumble, your love would never fade. No matter how much time you had left.

The last strokes were made one sunny afternoon, in a deep, shared silence. The piece was finished, and as you stepped back to admire it in its entirety, both of you knew you didn’t need words to understand what it meant.

The mural was more than a reminder of your love; it was a testament to what you had built together, of how, even in the darkness, you had found light. Though the future remained uncertain, the mural would stay there, eternal, as a trace of what once was and would always be.

As the days passed, time seemed to grow more valuable, more scarce. You knew that every minute spent with Ekko was a gift. And although illness had taken much from you, it had given you something you never imagined: a deep, real love that feared no tragedy.

One afternoon, while resting together in his loft, Ekko looked at you seriously, more serious than you’d seen him in a long time. In a soft voice, almost as if afraid of the answer, he asked:

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

You paused for a few seconds, feeling the weight of the question. But in that moment, something inside you broke. You smiled tenderly, a smile full of love and resignation.

"Ekko," you said softly, moving closer to him, "we’re so much more than that."

The smile he gave you was the answer both of you needed. You didn’t need labels, you didn’t need promises of an uncertain future. The only thing that mattered was that, in that instant, you shared something so deep and real that it didn’t need to be defined by words.

And, without another word, your lips met in a first kiss, a kiss full of love, despair, and hope. A kiss that marked the beginning of what both of you knew would be a short story, but one that would last a lifetime in your hearts.

The weeks following the reconciliation were a whirlwind of emotions. Even though you knew time was running out, you decided to live each moment with Ekko as if it were the last, because in reality, it was. Sometimes, the smiles were forced, but in the most sincere moments, you could see in his eyes the reflection of a love so strong it took your breath away. Every time he looked at you, every time he held your hand, there was a mix of hope and pain, but neither of you wanted to face the inevitable.

The illness progressed rapidly. Every day, your body seemed to fall apart a little more. The doctors had told you, warned you, but you never imagined how quickly the end would come. You had learned to live with the pain, the fatigue, the moments of weakness, but nothing had prepared you to see Ekko closely watching the changes happening inside you.

You had already told your parents about it, and when you did it he was there with you, by your side, ride or die. And of course they didn't take it well, but there was nothing they could do. They just let you be happy with Ekko.

Sometimes, when you woke up in the morning, you’d see him sitting beside you, his gaze lost in some undefined point, as if he were waiting for you to wake up from the shared dream. He’d ask you how you were feeling, and you’d always say you were fine, even though the truth was you could barely bear the weight of your own body.

You saw him trying to distract you, taking you to places that made you happy, but you knew nothing could escape that reality. He didn’t want to accept what was happening, and neither did you, but neither of you wanted to say it out loud. No one wanted to mention what was already so obvious.

That night, after another doctor’s appointment that you could barely endure, you lay down hoping to rest, even though it was becoming harder and harder to find deep sleep. Your body no longer responded the way it used to, and the symptoms had started affecting you more brutally. You could barely move your hands without feeling pain, your breathing grew more labored with every effort, but you kept smiling. You had to, not only for Ekko, but for yourself.

Ekko was sitting beside you in the chair he always occupied when taking care of you. His presence was as comforting as it was painful. You knew he was holding onto every fragment of his strength to not show you how devastated he was, but you could feel it in his eyes. He gently stroked your hair and whispered, as though afraid that if he spoke any louder, everything would collapse.

“I promise we’ll get through this. Together, we’ll make it. I won’t let you leave me, not without a fight.”

You looked at him, knowing he was struggling not to cry. But his words, although full of love, only reminded you of the harsh reality. There was no more time for promises, no more room for fighting. The end was near, and you knew it.

“Ekko…” you said, your voice weak. “You don’t have to fight anymore. I’ve loved you so much, you know that, right?”

His eyes filled with tears, but he made an effort to smile. “I know. I know, baby. And I love you more than words can say.”

But what you didn’t know was that, at that very moment, Ekko was also fighting his own pain. While you rested, trying to gather some strength, he was in the workshop, working frantically on the gadget, the project you both had shared. The same gadget that, in his mind, represented everything you had built together. The gadget wasn’t just an object. It was the manifestation of what you two could accomplish when united, when you fought as a team.

Ekko knew the gadget couldn’t save you. He knew nothing could save you. But still, he felt that if he finished that project, a piece of you would remain. A trace of the hope you had brought into his life.

Hours passed, and the night stretched on in heavy silence. Ekko was so focused on his work that he didn’t realize time was slipping away. The light in the workshop flickered as he soldered pieces, making adjustments, checking everything over and over, as if somehow he could turn back time, change the course of history. But he knew he couldn’t.

When he finally gave up on the gadget, exhausted from the intensity of the night and the weight of worry, he went up to the bedroom. He wanted to see you, wanted to make sure you were still breathing, even though he already feared what he might find. He entered the room with the hope that, by some miracle, everything had changed. But what he found was the silhouette of your body lying still. In the absolute silence of the room, Ekko slowly approached, his heart pounding, and when he reached your side, he touched your hand gently. It was cold. Too cold.

The shock paralyzed him for a second. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t accept that you were no longer there, by his side, where you had always been. He looked at you, observing your pale face, your peaceful expression, as if you were simply sleeping, but deep down, he knew there was no turning back.

Desperation washed over him. The pain hit him so hard it felt as though his chest would explode. How was it possible? How could something so beautiful, so real, vanish in the blink of an eye?

He knelt by the bed, gripping your hand tightly, as if by doing so, he could bring you back to life. “You can’t go,” he whispered, his voice breaking with the tears he could no longer hold back. “Not now. Not like this.”

But deep in his heart, he knew it was the end. He knew he couldn’t bring back what was already gone. He couldn’t revive the irreparable. And for the first time in his life, Ekko didn’t have a solution, he didn’t have a plan. All that was left was the pain, and that painful acceptance that it was all over.

In the following week, Ekko lived in a limbo. No one saw him, no one knew how to face his pain. Memories of you were everywhere. In the bed where you slept, in the gadget he completed, in the mural you painted together, in the streets where you both walked, always hand in hand. Everything that had once been a dream was now just an echo, a shadow.

Sometimes he’d find himself in front of your photo, the smile you shared on a random afternoon, one that he could no longer remember without the lump in his throat becoming unbearable. The reality hit him harder each time: you were no longer there.

Ekko became a shadow of himself. His mind still searched for you, as though somehow you might return, as though he could find a way to save you. But nothing could change what had happened.

In his darkest moments, Ekko would remember the last words you had said: “I’ve loved you so much.” Those words gave him strength to keep going, to not give up completely. Though the pain was unbearable, he had loved you, and that was something he would never forget.

And with the gadget in his hand, looking at the mural you both painted, Ekko made a promise, a silent promise: he would live to honor what you shared. He wouldn’t let your death be in vain. Your love, your fight, your story would live on in his heart, forever.

The city, as always, continued its course, indifferent to everything Ekko had lost, to everything that had changed in his world. But for him, the day was no longer just a succession of hours; every second was a struggle to find something that gave his pain and love meaning.

Months had passed since you left, but it felt like your absence was so recent, so sharp, that Ekko couldn't stop feeling that his entire being was stuck between life and death. No matter how much time had passed, your image was engraved in his mind, not as a memory, but as a constant presence, a voice whispering in his ear, as if you had never left.

Today, in particular, everything seemed to pull him back to the pieces of his pain. The project you had worked on together, the gadget, was finally ready. After so many sleepless nights, so much effort and sacrifice, the moment to present it had arrived. It had been a creation of love, passion, and farewell. A tribute to you, to what you shared, to what still remained of you in his heart.

Ekko walked with firm steps toward the community event where he would present the gadget. Around him, the people, some curious, others hopeful to see the result of years of teamwork. But he couldn't see them. He couldn't see beyond his own thoughts, the image of you floating in his mind. Sometimes, he thought that everything he had done in the past few months was just a way to avoid facing the truth: that you were gone and that, despite everything, life had to go on.

He entered the venue, a large hall filled with tables covered in technology, art, and brilliant inventions. The gadget was there, on a pedestal, waiting to be presented. Ekko stared at it in silence for a moment, recalling every afternoon spent working on it together. The design was sleek, full of details that reflected his intelligence and your ability to come up with unimaginable solutions. It was more than just a gadget; it was a piece of you, a piece of what they had been together.

The event began, and Ekko, with a calm that only he could have, presented his creation. He explained, with soft but firm words, how the idea had been born, how you had been the spark of inspiration for something that transcended technology and reached the heart. As he spoke, the words intertwined with memories, with your laughter, your jokes, the long nights spent debating the design, the future, and what they wanted to do. Every word felt like a sigh from the past, a sigh that tried to make the present make sense.

But inside him, Ekko knew that everything he was doing was just an echo of what had been. What remained was the emptiness, the absence you had left in his life.

When he finished, he stepped away from the stage, letting the gadget speak for itself. No one in the room understood what that creation really meant. No one knew how much it had cost, not in terms of hours of work, but in terms of love, sacrifice, and farewell. They didn’t understand that every screw, every adjustment, had been made with the hope that, in some way, it would bring you back, even if only for a second.

After the presentation, Ekko moved away from the bustle, walking slowly toward a secluded corner of the city. There, on the wall, was the first mural that he painted of you. The mural was a mural of love, hope, and pain. A mural that reflected every laugh they shared, every glance, every moment they had lived together. In the mural, you were more than just a figure; you were a story told in colors and shapes, in every stroke Ekko had made, in every brushstroke you had guided. The mural wasn’t just art; it was a piece of his soul, his heart, of you.

When Ekko stopped in front of the mural, the wind gently blew, moving some fallen leaves on the ground. His eyes, moist, traced every part of the painting, as if he were searching for something he would never find. He remembered how you had smiled while he was painting you, how you had loved it so much when he showed it to you.

The mural showed a version of you that was etched in his memory. He saw you, with your serene smile and your eyes full of dreams and desires. But what really stood out in the mural was your figure, as if everything else was just a stage for you, for what you meant in his life.

"We did it, baby," Ekko whispered, as if he could hear your voice responding, as if you were still there. "We did it together. Everything we dreamed, everything we wanted... we did it."

His tears began to fall, one by one, flowing like a torrent he could no longer hold back. His heart broke once more, but there was something in the sadness of that moment that gave him a strange sense of peace. Maybe it was because he finally understood that, even though you had gone, the love you shared could not disappear. Love doesn’t vanish with death; it stays, like a shadow that always follows the light. In the mural, in the gadget, in his memories, you would always be a part of him, forever.

Ekko stepped away from the mural, glancing one last time at the figure that now represented everything he had lost. He looked toward the future, toward the horizon, where the lights were beginning to flicker on, and the streets once again filled with people who knew nothing of what he had been through. An uncertain future, but a future he would have to face, because at the end of the day, what really mattered was how he would live after the loss.

With the image of the mural etched in his mind, Ekko moved forward. And in his heart, a promise: he would never forget what you both shared, he would never forget the legacy you left, and he would move forward with the strength of your love, because now he understood that love didn’t die, it transformed, just like art does. Like you did.

[herlondonboy]

i bet on losing dogs, clarisse la rue

summary: based on this request. you’re in love with clarisse, but she’s in love with another.

warnings: unrequited love, ruegard, angst, no happy ending, swear word.

wc: 1.4k

clarisse was a drug. it didn’t matter what drug she was, though, you just knew you were addicted. you didn’t really know why she decided you were to be her friend. her group was small. a few siblings of hers, chris rodriguez, silena beauregard, and you.

you were nothing special, just an unclaimed camper that was good with your hands. if she had to guess, clarisse would have put you in the hephaestus cabin. you were one of the best blacksmiths and she was sure if you wanted to, you could make something far better than chameleon armour.

though you disagreed, you’d never say anything to clarisse. the thought of upsetting her or making her angry at you was always there. even when you tried not to care.

clarisse first picked you up a month after you arrived at camp half blood. she spotted you working away with an anvil and some metal. she asked you what you were working on and if it was important. when you said no, clarisse smiled then told you to make her a new dagger. did she ask nicely? no. did you make it anyway? yes.

clarisse had the kind of eyes that you could drown in. deep and brown, warm. you could never say no to those eyes. no matter how sharp their glare was.

she had the kind of eyes you could fall in love with.

you realised you were in love with clarisse not very long ago. about three weeks to be exact. you were sitting next to her during the bonfire. she was staring at silena, who had been whisked away by charles beckendorf. he wasn’t bad looking, but he definitely wasn’t your type. besides, you’d spent so much time with the hephaestus kids that charles felt like a big brother to you.

you could tell clarisse was upset at the fact that silena had left. if you weren’t so blind, you would have been able to piece together why. nevertheless, you watched her side profile as it was illuminated by the fire. you watched her jaw clenched and loosen. you soaked it all in.

how you were so close that her thigh brushed up against yours, how softly she was breathing. and you realised, you were in love.

now, normally when you realise you’re in love with your friend, you would distance yourself so they never found out until they crush wore off and you could be normal again.

that wasn’t going to work with clarisse. instead, you just refused to look at her. even when she was speaking. sure, it was rude, but you didn’t care. you weren’t going to ruin your friendship over a silly little crush.

there was one part of you, though, that thought maybe your wildest dreams would come true. that clarisse would confess to you. you allowed yourself to think this because you felt her eyes on you. ever since the campfire.

they followed you. every step you took, every walk you went on, until she finally caught you alone.

clarisse didn’t like talking about feelings. she didn’t understand them very well.

‘why would you feel sick to your stomach looking at or thinking of someone you love?’ she had asked one time.

you chuckled and shook your head. ‘you feel sick to your stomach because you don’t know if they love you too. you feel that way because you need to know, but won’t ever say anything.’

“y/n!” you heard, making you flinch and turn.

you felt ill. her crooked smile, how her hair bounced as she ran.

“clarisse,” you responded softly, already thinking of all the ways you could escape this conversation.

“i need your help.”

you looked around. “another dagger? i can’t do it today, but to-“

clarisse cut you off. you forced yourself to look at her face. you noticed how rosey her cheeks were.

“can you forge a ring?” she asked. you’ve never seen her so timid. so small.

you nod slowly.

the girl opposite you grins. “great. i-i made a sketch. can you make it as close as possible to it?” she shoved it in your hand and you opened the paper.

it was just like any other ring, only…

you wanted to throw up. you should’ve known.

“‘c heart s,’” you read aloud.

the red tint on clarisse’s face deepened.

she nodded slowly. “i think i really like silena,” you voiced your worse fears. “i want to tell her before charles does. at least then if she rejects me it’s just because she doesn’t like me, not because of some guy.”

“oh,” you said.

you wondered if she could hear your heart cracking inside your chest.

“i’m going to do it during the bonfire next week for chris’s birthday.”

you nodded, forcing a smile that you were sure looked more like a grimace. “i’ll get right on this then.”

“thank you,” clarisse smiled. gods, her fucking smile. “you’re a life saver, y/n.”

the way your name rolled off her tongue like it was made for her.

and just as quickly as she came, she left.

pushing the paper down into your pockets, you pushed a bit of steel into the fire.

-

chris’s party was tonight. you don’t feel well enough to go. well, that’s a lie. you’re not sick in the way that means you’re going to throw up, you’re sick because the person you love loves someone else.

the thought of it brought tears to your eyes. it was embarrassing. you’d allowed yourself to fall so deeply in love with someone that could never love you.

a sob wracked through your body as you lied, staring at the wall. gods, you loved her so much.

you were so in love with clarisse la rue.

the door to the hermes cabin creaked open you were still crying. then you saw her. she was blurry, but it was her.

you don’t know how much longer you can hold it in for.

“are you okay?” she asked. she was always soft with you. soft with you. not with chris, not with silena, not with her siblings. just you.

you shook your head as you sat up in bed, shoulders shaking as your tried to be quiet.

“are you sick?”

you just cried. clarisse didn’t know what to do, so she leaned forward and hugged you.

gods, you hadn’t touched her in so long. her skin was soft, just like how your remembered it to be.

“i love you,” you choked out. you were sure if she heard it because nothing changed. then you heard a timid ‘what?’

you cried harder thinking about how she was was just hours away from confessing to silena. “i’m in love with you,” you forced out. “but you’re going to confess to silena and i’ve probably just gone and ruined our friendship. but i thought… i thought i had a chance until you asked me to make a ring for you.” clarisse just looked at you as you wiped your tears. “it’s like betting on a losing dog. it was stupid. i’m stupid.”

clarisse shook her head softly. “i didn’t know,” she murmured. “if i had known…”

“you should go,” you murmured. “wouldn’t want to lose to charles beckendorf,” you joked, clarisse just looked at you. “i’m fine. seriously. go.”

when she realised you wouldn’t take no for an answer, she left and went to the party. your tears stained on her shirt collar.

you decided not to go to chris’s party. even if he was your friend. you just couldn’t be there when clarisse took silena away from the party. you couldn’t be there when clarisse gave silena the ring you made.

hours passed before chiron called quits on the party. instead of just returning to their own cabins, some decided a small after party in the aphrodite cabin sounded like fun.

“hey,” you turned to see clarisse with a weak smile.

you smiled at her, though it pained you to do so.

“i didn’t do it.”

it took you a minute to figure out what ‘it’ was but when you did, you frowned. “why not?”

“y/n, you’re my best friend. why would i go into a relationship knowing it was killing you?”

you shrugged.

“i can wait. until your crush is over.”

that hurt. she didn’t want to hurt you, but the only way she could refrain from hurting you was by liking you back. and she’s never like you back.

[sircantus]

infecting u with demons

Hey im taking this as the chance to rant you doomed yourself

Im thinking about the concept of uhhhh gods in the zombie apocalypse again but the idea of emduos dynamic being that of a god and their follower i suppose but it sometimes goes back and forth between them what i mean is like Techno would just be this Guy who is trying to survive and he is remarkably cool headed against the presence of a death god and that in itself makes their relationship unique but theres also this thing where techno as he begins to really kinda? Comprehend what Phil is he begins to wonder if there is a sense of like needing to give back for the unspoken protection Phil has laid onto him. And at some point i think it would be cool for techno to outright just offer to be a follower to Phil like very bluntly very to the face just saying “do you want me to worship you” more or less and Phil is kinda Used to that type of response

THE BUG IN MY ROOM FUCKING BIT ME WHAT THE FUCK

Anyway phil is used to being treated as a god its kinda just the result of people being around him they see what he is and look to him for a sort of guidance of something but he really likes techno because of his nonchalance around the whole god thing so Phil is like i dont need your devotion i want your friendship which makes techno go ah okay well i guess ill my best at doing that and EVENTUALLY phil

BUG BIT ME AGAIN

anyway eventually Phil begins to value techno more and more for how hard he tries to treat Phil as if hes on the same level as if they are just two survivors sticking together instead of a man and a wandering god out in the dead streets of the world and thats where the REVERSE devotion goes into play bc Phil hasnt ever had a human where he can be so- human with, and so now Phil has his duty as Death of course but he also puts his time and energy into keeping Techno safe and fed, with the food being given kinda feeling like an offering made by a follower! phil has his moment where hes like ah how the turns have tabled, people have done this to me, and then he does it to techno he gives his trust and almost kinda looks to him for guidance in humanity and its a cool concept and it came out of. nowhere. also this bug disappeared where the fuck did it go it took my blood

[brokenmachinemusings]

guys idk if anyone else has but i found the link click camera. rolleiflex 2,8f aurum, a special edition. at first i thought it was a regular 2,8f rolleiflex, because most rolleiflex are black and on later models they have a very similar look; 2,8f lenses looked the most similar to link click ones. however, the sphere engraving at the top is throwing me off; maybe it’s a different brand? but that makes no sense, considering it looks like a typical rolleiflex and at the top cheng xiaoshi it literally says “polleiflex” and it has a diamond engraving. (sorry, i don’t know how to call it, i’ll just say engraving.) at the reflection of the sphere TLR (ill call them that, stands for twin-lens reflex, which is the camera type) it does turn into a diamond (if anyone has the blank version of this poster i would be grateful!), which makes me to think it was probably from the messing with timelines? which is a wild guess. but regular butterfly effects occur so much in time travel media, and in link click, too (you just haven’t realized it).

reflections… they typically tell the objective truth, don’t they? it used to be a diamond engraving so typical of most rolleiflex cameras; the logo. yet the meddling of time has skewed even that, and you can’t tell which is real and which is fake. i looked through a list of models; did it again. maybe i missed something. there are NO rolleiflex with a circle. the can spelling out “past or future, let them be” next to said TLR is even more telling. a typical warning label, one that wasn’t followed. even if you try your best, you’re bound to make a mistake or two, and suddenly all of history is altered to the point the logo (and maybe the name?) of a camera production company looks different.

you know, what’s interesting is these cameras are big on the parallax effect. due to the viewfinder being one lens, where you can look through to better capture your photograph (it’s why they were more popular than SLRs at the time, or single-lens reflex cameras), there is bound to be a mistake due to the height. well, not mistake, but the result is slightly altered; slightly skewed from how you perceive it. TLR’s also shoot in 6x6 dimensions; there’s the number 6 again. link click has a lot of repeating numbers, the most of them being especially 8 and 5, and 6 is another one. (let me redirect you to the fact li tianchen’s localized/english name is ‘vi’; not one i’m on-board with, but an interesting choice, considering that is the roman numeral for 6 and you could’ve chosen literally anything else. i’m slowly starting to believe each character has a number associated with them; cheng xiaoshi 8, li tianchen 6, and lu guang likely 5. but maybe it’s the other way around. if you’re curious, my personal belief is that we are currently in the 8th timeline.)

the model of our rolleiflex, K7F aurum, or 2.8f aurum, whichever you prefer to call it, comes out in 1983. cheng xiaoshi was likely born around 2000. well, it says 2000, but it’s unsure if that’s set in stone. which means that was 17 years prior to his birthday; his parents have well been alive at the release of this special camera.

you know what i think? i think it might be a gift, or a heirloom so to say. his parents — while we don’t know which one does more — are obviously working with photography, likely from a young age, just like him. likely bought the camera themselves, or got it gifted from someone close — either way, it ended up in time photo studio, or in cheng xiaoshi’s hands, likely stashed away. you don’t take a special edition camera out to shoot every day, do you?

well, that’s what i’m gathering anyway. it could be that cheng xiaoshi doesn’t even have such a camera — or OUR cheng xiaoshi doesn’t. it’s not explicitly shown in the donghua; like i said, either doesn’t exist yet or is hidden away somewhere. the only problem i find with it not being in cheng xiaoshi’s hands until the time comes; where does he get a rolleiflex aurum? a camera that often goes for around 4k, one that was made a good almost 40 years ago. it’s possible that the camera is meant as a simple metaphor, to represent something in the show… we don’t know what, yet, but this is just speculation.

i tend to end off my rants in a weird note, unable to think of how exactly to formulate that. i apologize in this case. thanks for reading; if you have any thoughts or any way to extend this, feel free to reblog, comment or go to my askbox. leaving the full art/posters at the end here in case anyone wants to look at them. again, if you have the clean version, please please please send it to me

(i think, a really interesting detail of this poster is that li tianchen’s on there. if you look close enough)

[rapturence]

TELL ME ABOUT EUROFAUST HC YOU HAVE !! 🗣️

YOU SHOULDVE NEVER ASKED. ILL PUT THEM UNDER THE CUT

massive rambling warning because i cannot word this for the sake of anything but eurofaust is rotting my brain. also a bit of nsfw?

- eurodead haunt the narrative forever i guess but it starts off with admiration. eurofaust being penpals -> faust developing a stupid little puppy crush given him looking up to euro. it starts off as a mentor/mentee type thing

- faust tries to talk himself out of the crush, excuses it as mere admiration (also the typical closet-case and internalized homophobia stuff though he doesn’t care as much as others might)

- faust visits kråkstad a little later on since they’re buddies!!! he does NOT expect himself to get jealous of the whole thing eurodead have going on but he does. he decides to push through it because he doesn’t want to make things tense between any of them (since he gets along with everybody so well, doesn’t want to risk losing friends and basically outing himself anyway) also he’s convinced there’s no chance of euro ever liking him back

- implying they have a very frayed power dynamic given the age difference & the whole mentor-mentee thing

- lots and lots of repressing from both sides. i’ll elaborate

- skip to faust moving to oslo to live in helvete with euro (also varg but that’s a whole different batch of hcs wink wink)

- sharing the same living space as euro proves to be a massive relapse. the boy crush comes back and hits twice as hard since euro’s presence is a constant now. faust tries to act like everything is normal but it’s not as easy as it used to be, cue lots of awkward hovering and acting all distant

- “why’re you just standing in the doorway, dude.” “i dunno” “you can come closer, y’know…”

- nothing really suggestive, euro definitely notices the sudden standoffish behavior

- more into proper hc territory, they turn the helvete basement into a temporary makeshift “cinema” (basically a shitty old television without half of its functions that just isn’t loud enough and a few old stained mattresses on the floor instead of a couch) so they can watch the snuff tapes snorre trades in from abroad and lends to faust

- faust being a bit of an alcoholic (his words, not mine) they drink a lot during the little movie nights. cue them both getting drunk and making “minor” mistakes

- tldr they dry hump and make out on those same mattresses in the basement while the tape keeps playing in the background #funny

- AGAIN euro being so repressed after pelle’s death, he takes it out on faust because his poor lil employee is so willing and possible it’s almost funny to just toy with him, it’s the fix of contact he was used to before pelle died so he can’t help but succumb to it

- faust feeds into it. whether euro notices or not. faust often intentionally acts naive and willing just for kicks, likes the way euro takes all the repression out on him (sexual or violent who cares)

- more than a few instances of them breaking down in front of each other in that same fucking basement, it’s a bit awkward but they learn how to comfort one another after a few incidents

- they fucking suck dude they dry hump and grope each other a lot at the counter in helvete. lots of kissing and being handsy constantly since they’re usually the only ones there when varg & samoth run off elsewhere

- i imagine faust to be pretty handsy in general, which eventually rubs off on euro and he’s turning to pulling faust in for dumb little pecks throughout the day at work

- them making out at that dumb fucking counter (again) just for a scarce customer to walk in on them, to them immediately yanking away from each other all red-faced and bruise-lipped trying to ignore each others presence while they work blah blah blah

- faust often feels like a walking wound simply because he’s known euro since before pelle’s death, during eurodead. he was even on friendly terms with pelle.

- ^ this leads to him trying to “compensate” for what he thinks is him “taking pelle’s place” because his view on love (for lack of better term) is so jaded, so he instead overcompensates by acting like a total dog

- lots of engaging in under negotiated absolutely amateurish bdsm. also just morbid curiosity. everything starts off as “haha no homo man but i wonder what ___ feels like”

- primarily knifeplay. lots of emphasis on their power imbalance because euro often plays dirty whether he notices it or not. sado/maso, praise and degradation, restriction (ropes, shitty prop cuffs and zip ties, no proper equipment) and some other stuff

-don’t even get me started on feminization/light crossdressing

- i don’t think they’d ever define their relationship in any way (which is a given with these ships I GUESS) but it’s definitely something. not something healthy tho!!!

- they have their sweeter moments too i guess man… lots of reassuring and complimenting one another regarding music stuff, abilities and other things

- ^ since euro’s already so supportive of emperor, he tags along for a few of the bands rehearsals just to be a gay little freak towards faust

- neither of them are big on PDA (the homophobia demons are within us) but faust is more malleable with it than euro is. it’s never anything “suggestive”, just lingering touches and the occasional arm over euro’s shoulders, etc

- they poke fun at each other a lot though 99.9% of it is just faust intentionally annoying euro and egging him on because he finds it funny. also for repercussions but i will not speak any further on that.

- euro enables faust a lot with his more “destructive” behaviors but he also neutralizes him a lot, tells him to stop being an idiot etc

there is. so much more going on in my head regarding these two (++ lots of more “unsavory” shit i’d get pitchforks thrown at me for) so i might add to this eventually Maybe………

[keymetaphor]

It is time for me to post what I lovingly call my

“Overly Complicated Mechanism” Theory.

I originally wrote it right after Cat, but Amane trying to commit homicide again reminded me of its existence, and then I forgot about it until now. Anyway…

In short, my theory is this: Milgram’s preventative measures for violence against the Guard could be bypassed if the prisoners used an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine.

With Kazui’s first interrogation, it was heavily implied that the way Milgram actually stops prisoners from attacking the Guard involves a mental block, similar to hypnosis. This means the “invisible barrier” is very likely a result of their muscles locking up from brain signals that force them to stop before they hit the Guard.

The main piece of evidence for this comes from Kazui’s first interrogation, where he tested the limits of the Guard’s, uh… guard. Kazui’s attempt to restrain Es ended with his body suddenly losing strength, as if he himself became opposed to the idea of restraining them.

With Milgram’s themes of reinforced and rejected thoughts, I believe the most plausible explanation is a type of mental block instated in the prisoners’ psyches that prevents them from completing actions with the intent to harm or restrain the Guard. (Of course, it’s possible there really is just a magical barrier, but given the results of Kazui’s little experiment and Milgram’s emphasis on altering thought patterns, I think it’s unlikely.) My most pressing question about this is whether the mental block prevents a prisoner from carrying out any action with harmful intent toward the Guard, or if it only stops direct actions.

For example, say Muu wants to hit Es on the head with a rubber mallet. To accomplish this, she comes up with a design for a convoluted mechanism that effectively removes her from the act of wielding the hammer itself. For the sake of consistency, we’ll say the sequence of events is as follows:

Someone tips over a cup. The cup hits a rubber ball, which rolls down a ramp and hits a series of books set up like dominoes, which all fall one after the other. (I don’t have time to do a full illustration right now, but here’s something I sketched out really quick as a visual reference.)

The last book falls off a table onto the pedal of a trash can, which opens the lid and sends a tennis ball flying. The ball knocks over a metal water bottle, which releases the string held in place beneath it.

The string is tied to the rubber mallet, suspending it in midair above a doorframe. Releasing the string also releases the mallet, dropping it directly onto Es, who is (hopefully) standing underneath the doorframe.

There’s enough steps in the sequence to remove Muu as the one dropping the hammer. However, she would still be acting with the intent to harm the Guard. So, would she be unable to complete the action due to the mental block? If the answer is yes, as I theorize, then this obstacle can be bypassed with another workaround: telling someone else to do it for her.

If she tells Haruka that activating the mechanism will release confetti, and she obscures the mechanism enough that he will be unable to discern the actual purpose, (e.g., covering it with a curtain,) then Haruka would be able to activate it because he is acting without ill intent. Since he is fully convinced that the mechanism will release a shower of confetti, he can activate the chain reaction where Muu would be stopped by the mental block.

This leads to another possible obstacle, though. Would the mental block prevent Muu from building the mechanism in the first place? Since she is making it with the intention to cause harm to the guard, would she be unable to create it? It all depends on just how deep the mental block runs.

Based on what we’ve witnessed so far, I’m guessing that the mental block doesn’t extend quite that far. As seen with Fuuta, Kotoko, and Kazui, (and now Amane as well,) the prisoners are still capable of acting with the intention to harm Es; the mental block just stops them from completing the action. In other words, they can try to punch Es, but they’ll be forced to stop right before hitting them. Similarly, Kazui’s attempt to restrain Es was possible at first, but he quickly lost the strength to do so.

It is likely that Muu would be able to build the mechanism in the first place, but attempting to activate it in order to hit Es would result in either her suddenly losing the strength to do so, or another “invisible wall” where her muscles lock up right before she can tip the cup over.

If Muu lies to Haruka about its true purpose, however, Haruka will be able to activate the mechanism in her stead, and the hammer will successfully hit its mark, provided Es is standing in the right place.

So here’s how they could kill Es with a banana peel…

[crkstuffidk]

Hey I'm here again for a little prompt or whatever you call it for the beasts If they find a baby! There are two versions for each one, because I also wanted to do their pre corruption reactions, this is mostly because of the headcanon that the beast won't hurt baby cookies, also I headcanon that the beasts would call baby cookies crumbs or something like that. Again feel free to share your own opinions. Anyways here we go. This took so long.

Pre Corruption ShadowmilkCookie: He'd be surprised to find a baby just abandoned in the middle of nowhere as he picks the little thing up and holds it close before going to the closest village and asking any cookie if they know who the child belongs to, when he hears that no cookie recognized the small baby he'd take it back to his spire and try his best to act as a substitute parent until he hopefully finds the crumbs parent, he'd probably get attached, but he'd still be extremely happy if he finds the babies parents.

Shadowmilk Cookie: He'd also be surprised and also maybe just the tiniest bit remorseful when he discovers a baby, unlike his past self he doesn't really know how to handle baby cookies so he kinda just picks it up like it's an angry cat, he'd stare at it for a while the bells on his outfit jingle as his head moves causing the baby to laugh, hearing the Crumb make noise would startle Shadowmilk before realizing it's because of the bells, and he just takes one of them and jingles it infront of small cookie. Overtime he'd grow attached to the little thing, and just becomes the babies parent. He'd put on little puppet shows with actual Puppets and not cookies so he doesn't scare the crumb

Pre corruption Eternal Sugar Cookie: Finding a baby cookie alone is a strange sight for her, since many of the residents in her domain are doting parents but she'd definitely take it into her arms, if it's awake she'd sing it a lullaby as she carries the baby asking cookies if they have potentially lost their kid. If none have lost their baby she'd probably carry the baby back to Sugar Paradise where she rests the baby on a cloud and prepares food for it since it'd probably be hungry. She'd most definitely take up the role as the crumbs mother.

Eternal Sugar Cookie: Eternal Sugar wouldn't be surprised finding a baby abandoned amongst the ruins of the village, she'd slowly start singing a lullaby as she picks up the baby and wraps it in her wings as she rests on the cloud, lulling not only the baby to sleep but herself as well. She'd surprisingly be a very attentive mother figure even if she's half awake most the time. And she'd be the type of parent to forget that the baby is in her arms in her half awake state and just looks everywhere on the cloud and begins to freak out thinking the baby fell off before noticing the crumb is in fact still in her arms.

Pre Corruption Mystic Flour Cookie: just like the others she's surprised, but not as much since to her dismay many cookies have fallen ill in her domain and have passed leaving behind their babies. She already guessed what happened to the parents but of course she asked around anyways, and her guess was correct the parents were deceased. So she takes in the crumbling and nurtures it like any parent would. She'd probably usually hold the baby in a baby carrier as she goes about her, she didn't necessarily want to be far away from it as she didn't want to risk it getting sick.

Mystic Flour Cookie: Again she isn't surprised by the young cookie being alone, after all the residents of her domain either fell to the disease or fell to her ruthlessness. She'd pick the child up with one of her sets of arms as she continues to walk around the ruins. She didn't express many emotions but this crumb..It brought a small smile to her face. And for once she felt glad that a cookie didn't fall to the disease, she'd probably always carry the child around, and be very displeased if one of the other beasts get to close to it.

Pre Corruption Silent Salt Cookie: They weren't fazed by the small cookie being alone, as the residents of these hills weren't exactly known for their parenting skills. They sheathed their sword before picking the baby up. They carried the baby around in one arm as they trekked through the hills occasionally stopping to ask if any travelers recognize the child of course none did, or maybe they did and just didn't say it. Either way they continued to carry the baby around as they checked on the villagers of the hills.

Silent Salt Cookie: Silent Salt wasnt surprised at all. They had killed practically all the residents of the hills so finding a baby abandoned wasn't a surprising sight. They picked the child up and just carried it around, they didn't really acknowledge the baby cookie until it reached up and touched their helmet. They still didn't say anything, but they looked down at the crumb in their arms, the baby was looking at them with a confused expression, probably because it can't see their face. Silent salt wasn't exactly a parental cookie in any way, and they knew that very well, I mean they didn't speak or really show any emotion so how could they act as a parent, well either way they weren't going to hurt the child, they may be corrupted but even the beasts had some moral code. So they were forced by their moral code to become a parental figure to this crumb, and that is exactly what happened.

Pre Corrupted Burning Spice Cookie: Again shocked is how they reacted to seeing a baby cookie, they weren't exactly good at handling children, but they still cared very much so they took the crumbling into their arms and looked around for its parents. They knew that their people weren't the best at keeping track of their kids, so they walked around each village until they found the baby cookies parents.

Burning Spice Cookie: They were actually a bit shocked at the sight of an abandoned baby cookie. They knew that it was most likely because they killed its parents, but their were cookies that escaped so why didn't they grab the baby..they didn't really bother thinking about it much as they grabbed the crumb and walked through the burning place, the baby itself seemed a little intrigued by the glowing of the fires, the bright colors probably caught its attention. They didn't know much about caring for a child aside from the very common times in the past where eternal sugar would talk everyone's ear off about how the children in the orphanages are taken care of, surprisingly the orphanages took good care of young cookies. Either way Burning Spice never thought they'd be thankful for Eternal Sugars rambles on how the orphanages care for young cookies. But here they were holding a crumb in their arms as Eternal Sugar even in her sleepy state smiled smugly at them.

This took awhile to finish, and I'm sorry about Burning Spices being probably boring I just didn't know how to write them finding a baby, and I know the situations are very similar but honestly I think they'd truthfully all react the same way, they see a child, either try to find its parents(pre corruption) or they know the parents are dead and just take the baby in as their own. But either way I hope you enjoyed this. And again feel free to share your thoughts! And if you want share your ideas on what the beasts would name their child

[fourleafclovxr]

15: delayed flight

Across from Rhian, two children begin to cry.

Kei’s eyebrows curve in concern beaide him; the children’s mother rushes to soothe them, and he shifts as if he wants to reach out, wants to help, though Rhian can’t think of any way he could. Kei has always had a soft spot for children.

They’re not the only ones in distress. The announcement went something like, this flight is being delayed twelve hours, and now they’re surrounded by clamour and complaints. Rhian pictures himself as an anchor of calm, of silence, in all this noise.

He’s kind of relieved, actually. He hadn’t particularly wanted to go home. He doesn’t, ever.

Neither had Kei, but worry twists at his mouth all the same. Rhian nudges at his shoulder in a silent question, and Kei shrugs.

“My parents will be unhappy,” he says softly. “Though I admit they would be anyway. My sisters— well. I don’t know what they’ll think. Maybe it’s just not meant to be.”

Kei speaks of his sisters often. At Arbed— when they would talk about other schools, more normal ones— they had almost seemed like a point of pride. It’s difficult to tell. For people like them, the problem children, the troubled cases, it is endlessly hard to think well of your family. They won’t ever think well of you. Even Japeth dislikes Rhian, and they’re both in the same boat, so it’s not like he has anything better to show.

But perhaps that’s just them, the Sader family. Kei talks about his sisters from a distance, more like characters than anything else. But he has never quite spoken ill of them. lt’s more that they were never afforded the chance to be close; a forced sort of isolation. Again, very much unlike Rhian and Japeth, who were stuck together, like it or not.

His parents are a different story, a more sensitive one, but so are everyone’s.

“I guess you’re happy,” Kei observes in that same, quiet way.

“Any excuse not to go home,” Rhian says. “Anything at all.” It’s a strange thing to say, in the midst of all these people who want to go home— because no one goes to Foxwood for any other reason, no one thinks of it as anything but a poorer, less exciting version of Camelot or Jaunt Jolie— but it’s the truth.

Rhian does not know what it is, to long for home. Home has always been this: absent father, obsessive mother, crazed twin. Not people Rhian wants to be defined by. Not somewhere he wants to go back to.

And sometimes it was this: inadequacy. Rhian tries— tried?— to be a good kid, to make it work, if only because he knew Japeth wouldn't. It won't ever be enough. There will always be something in him that his mother resents, even if it's only his father’s blood, his father’s face. And there will always be the fact that his father didn’t care for him, for them, that they were only an afterthought. And there will always be this family he cannot fix.

Home is too much work and not enough to gain from it, from trying. Rhian doesn’t really care to try anymore. He’s not scared. He’s not. He’s just— not willing to watch it fail.

Kei lays a hand over his. “You're in your own head again,” he says, not unkindly.

“I always am,” Rhian murmurs. Always dreaming, or, lately, the antithesis of it. Convincing himself of reality. He curls his fingers through Kei’s, and for a moment they just sit like this, holding hands at the boarding gate.

He is blessed, to have Kei, who is perhaps the only person from whom he has nothing left to hide. Rhian could not ever know how to thank him. Could not ever be grateful enough.

Kei squeezes his hand, near-gentle, and lets go. He picks up his phone from where it lies in his lap, starts typing a message. To one of his sisters, most likely. They’re lucky to be sitting next to a charging station, though they’ll probably have to give it up sooner or later. Rhian glances at his own messages— four from his mother, one from his cousin Agatha. He contemplates ignoring them.

“At least reply to Agatha,” Kei says abruptly. Rhian hadn’t realised Kei was looking over at him and his screen, close enough for their shoulders to brush. “I like Agatha.”

“Who I reply to isn’t defined by who you like,” Rhian mutters. But he clicks her message open anyway. Kei’s mouth curves into a slight smile, the only response that Rhian gets.

you’ll be here at seven tomorrow, right? Agatha has texted. my dad is worrying again.

And then there’s that. Rhian tries very hard to avoid family dinners with the previous generation of Sader siblings, which are made even more awkward for him by the fact that their entire branch of the family is technically illegitimate, and also born out of Rhian’s grandfather cheating. Going to school in a different region of the Woods has made that quite easy— for him and Agatha both, as awkward classmates, though she normally does try to go home.

This was supposed to be the first dinner he attended in a year or two. Well, that’s unfortunate. my flight got delayed, he types back. twelve hours. but mom and rj will be there at seven.

you’re KIDDING me, Agatha replies almost instantly. honestly, good for you. but good luck telling your mother. This is followed by a string of pictures of pathetic-looking animals, about ten more than Rhian asked for, or wanted. At least she didn’t say skibidi like she did the last time they texted, or he might have to block her again.

“I almost feel bad,” he mutters. “Throwing her to the wolves.”

“The good Professor will protect her from the worst of it,” Kei says lightly. “Unless your brother brings Aric, in which case there will be blood, probably. I wouldn’t put it past Aric to take a shot at Professor Sader, too. Animal that he is.”

Kei, of all of them— Rhian and his mother and Aric’s own mother and everyone else but Japeth— has always despised Aric the most. It’s been a long-standing grudge, held since Aric nearly killed Kei back in Arbed. Years have passed, now, and the scar still tugs at Kei’s lip when his mouth curls. A constant crooked flaw in his joy.

Kei, Rhian remembers, had been more angry than anything else. It had been Rhian who had worried, hands curled in Kei’s, heart in his mouth.

“If Japeth brings Aric, I’ll throw him out myself,” he says.

Kei laughs— breaks off halfway to say, “Hello, did you need something?”

Rhian stares at the kids standing in front of them. One taller girl, one tiny boy who can’t be more than five. Kei smiles, indulgent.

“Could we share the charging station?” the girl asks shyly. She holds up the phone she’s holding. “Please?”

“Of course,” Kei says, before Rhian has the chance to react. Not that he would have said no. He’s not a terrible person, just… not particularly fond of children. “You can sit there if you want?”

He gestures to the empty seats on their other side. “If your parents are alright with it.”

The two kids are already looking at their mother— and, oh, they were the ones crying. She waves an affirmation at them, exhausted, and Rhian feels a little more sympathetic. Fine. He can tolerate it, for now.

Kei tugs his charger out so that the kids can plug theirs in, chattering happily. They’re playing Candy Crush. Because of course they are. Five minutes later they lean over to ask Kei whether he knows how to play.

Kei is on level eight thousand and counting. Rhian is pretty sure he was playing earlier on. What a question to ask. What a question, indeed.

The kids are on level five hundred. Kei is practically glowing. Well, as long as he’s happy.

Rhian wouldn’t mind staying like this, he thinks, a little wistfully. Twelve hours, four more on the plane. A world to themselves. A little life of their own. A liminal space, a transition, a delay. Rhian and Kei, the way he always wants it to be.

If he’s ever longed for home, he thinks it might look something like this.

[jaladwolf]

Yandere!Silly Pete’s headcanons

Welp, I guess we’re doing this. This has been something that I’ve both been wanting to and have been dreading to do, and my urges won so yeah…

Quick disclaimer: this is not going to be your typical yandere stereotype. It’s instead going to follow my personal take on a yandere. Don't get any ideas, okay? I don't endorse or condone this type of behavior; it's all part of the typical yandere traits.

TW/CW: Obsessive/Possessive behavior, manipulation (I think), mental illness, implied attempted murder and S/H, mentions of previous toxic relationships, people pleasing behavior and possibly intimate themes (nothing smutty though). Please proceed with caution!

Pete🩶

Oldest of the three

As well as being the only one with some proper relationship knowledge. Only because he was in a not so good one about a year back.

He has scars on his arms and one on his cheek. Some of them are from previous altercations while others are… self inflicted.

His biggest rival is Freddy, mostly because he thinks he's trying to make passes towards you.

He’s kinda degrading, but most of the time he doesn’t mean it. Hell, if he made you cry, he’d feel guilty about it for a good while.

He’s the type of guy to use words rather than actions.

His possessive behavior would start out small (ex: being worried about you constantly) and it would begin to ramp up to the point where he refuses to let you out of his sights.

Whenever he’s irritated, he’ll literally just scream into your chest. And then afterwards he’ll just go about his day like it was nothing.

He at one point nearly let his more violent urges take a hold of him, and during an altercation with Freddy, he threw a kitchen knife at him. He’s been doing whatever he can so it doesn’t happen again..

He also can sometimes have mood swings.

———

Dottie💙

Middle sibling

Has some relationship experience, but not a ton.

Her previous crush was a absolute piece of sh-t, but since she was so infatuated with him, she couldn’t see that.

At first, her behavior seems sweet and caring. But after some time, you start to notice that it’s more akin to worship than devotion.

She bakes to try and keep herself from from obsessing over you.

She loves hugs. Though she mostly likes how easily they can trap you in her hold.

She has a ton of regressed emotions, and these have surfaced several times, specifically her anger.

Anyways, going back to her behavior, she’s also a bit of a people pleaser when it comes to her crushes to the point where she almost sets aside her own morals, which is bad.

I cannot count how many times she has thought of kissing you all over your face. Just constantly praising you nonstop.

———

Finn🧡

The youngest of the trio

He’s kinda new to the whole love thing, so he only knows like the basics.

When he first started crushing on people, it was more like obsession.

He starts off as a bit of a nervous wreck, but as time goes on, more of his traits will start to surface, both good and bad ones.

He’s known to act on impulse when he’s upset, which is a bad thing because most of the time, it leads to unpleasant situations..

He likes to draw. He says it keeps the bad thoughts away, though it doesn’t always work…

Will follow like a lovesick puppy.

He also tends to fantasize. A lot. Nothing dirty though, I swear-

Did I mention he has an altered consciousness?

———

Okay I think that’s everything. Feel free to ask me questions or add your own thoughts!

[thenewfuture]

chapter 2 of DT has ended what do you think of the last episode

Okay, let's finally get to it and end this thing!

We've confirmed that Ace was the culprit last episode and we've also found out that this final episode was going to be 27 minutes long. Shorter than the trial episodes but clearly longer than what many would think it to be.

Well first is the voting and to no surprise, it is indeed Ace-

Who voted for Teruko? Was it David? I bet it was David :P

And speaking of David!

Right?! I never get over how certain blackeneds talk about murder being wrong with everyone, knowing damn well they did it.

The relationship Ace and Levi had this entire chapter is truly sad when you think about it. Ace was upset with Levi for even threatening his life in the last chapter whule Levi has been trying to repair that relationship ever since, but Ace has been seemingly wanting to murder someone since the start of this chapter. They've both been hurt by the revelation of each other, yet at the same time are still trying to keep the image of the other in a good and positive light. "Doomed Yaoi", is what I think they call this.

But it appears Teruko has an idea that might just save them.

And I mean.....Teruko's logic isn't exactly.....wrong? What does a blackened have left to lose at this point? And it hasn't been confirmed at this point if MonoTV had any replacements or copies like Monokuma. Well we the audience know this is a fruitless effort, but the cast doesn't.

Then we get another animated cut-scene! The Dev is putting some serious work out here and I will appreciate it. But still there's no way Ace is ever going to-

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

GET FUCKED YOU STUPID TV HEADED BITCH! OH YOUR DAD COULD NEVER! MONOKUMA WOULD NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN TO HIM! WHERE'S YOUR DEFENSES, YOUR SPEARS, YOUR PROTOCOLS?!

Damn. I would have never, NEVER, guessed something like that would happen. Hoo boy! .....well sadly we all know how this goes.

This doesn't work, and MonoTV springs back to life. With a new voice as well. This is either some really good range by the VA, or its someone else entirely. And I could swear it sounds almost like Teruko....Hmm... I could be looking too much into this. Anyways, after that...

Oh hey, is that the rule Bubbles and Poi were talking about? I still have no idea what episode it gets brought up in. Well it looks like it's paying off now.

But MonoTV attempts to punish Teruko and everyone is trying to convince Teruko to run and hide but she is unfazed and unmoving. Calling back to Chapter 1 where Xander stabbed her and Teruko claimed that she cannot be killed, no matter what. She seems completely sure about her luck in these types of situations. So where does this put her on the luck power scale? Kinda the same as Nagito, right? But just how is she going to survive this-

LEVI AGAIN! YOU TOOK THE HIT FROM THE SPEARS IN THE PROLOGUE AND NOW THIS! WHY ARE YOU A LITERAL GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT? I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS!

But he is alive. Barely, but alive nonetheless. However, no one can leave quite yet. Ace still has an execution to get through. And so, with a heavy heart, and scarred out of his wits. Ace demands MonoTV to execute him to get it over with so everyone can save Levi. And onto that execution.

Thanatophobia: the fear of dying.

This execution is pretty unique in the sense that it's not about Ace's talent, but rather his personality. I can only name a hand few of executions that do this sort of thing, and it makes so much more sense. All Ace has been talking about is that he's scared of death, he doesn't want to die and this execution has him face those fears personally. Death by illnesses. Death by fire. Death by drowning, getting hit by a car, falling, lighting. And finally, all that fear and anxiety caused him to have a heart attack. Ace's fear of dying finally caught up to him. It's incredibly sad. Not so fun fact is that if you notice is that certain sprites have Ace clenching his heart. Probably not from theatrics, but because he could feel the pain his heart and could tell he was indeed going to die soon. It was all a matter of time.

And adding on to this is that fact that STILL, no one cared about Ace to react to his death. I know they were all in agreement that the second it ends to get Levi help, but the only one that had any reaction or acknowledgement of it...WAS VERONIKA!

(Please stay away from me at all times...)

The elevators open and everyone gets on, save for Teruko who uses this time to talk to MonoTV and essentially....vent.

If there's one thing that Chapter 2 has made evidently clear, is that Teruko wants to trust in others. Try as she might to push others away, she still holds a lot of baggage. All stemming from her and her luck ability. At one point in her life just accepted it. She accepted all the shortcomings her luck gave her and that included the death that came with it. Whether it be from Teruko miraculously surviving events that should have killed her, or the death of others close to her such as her family like her secret claimed

Attachments bring pain, and Teruko never wants to feel that pain again. But all it's doing is making the pain worse. Chapter 1 showed what happened when Teruko was all trusting, this chapter showed what happened when Teruko wasn't trusting, and now she's worse for wear because of it.

Balance. There needs to be a balance.

And with that. The chapter comes to a close. And Teruko sits there at the trial grounds....all alone in the darkness....

........

.....Hoo boy, this chapter sure was all over the place, huh?

From secret guessing, to attempted murders, theories about swapping victims, and how Teruko would react to it all. Needless to say it kept a lot of people guessing. But I think that's good. One of the themes of this chapter; in my opinion, is the price of what happens when assume someone. Many assumed Levi was an all around upstanding fellow, when in reality he was an uncaring and antisocial criminal. Many assumed Nico was just the sweetest thing and couldn't hurt a fly, and then they nearly murdered Ace. Many assumed was too stupid to think of a murder plan this thought out, and well he did! Almost all of the cast assumed David was this upstanding and good moral-ed fellow, and then he....okay he's a whole new can of worms, but you get the point right?

But you may be thinking, well doesn't this mean you should stay away from everyone entirely. No. Of course not. That what Teruko had to learn this chapter. That's exactly why you hang around people, to know them. Even in a situation like this. I think Teruko finally got that point, or at the very least a part of it and hopefully that'll continue going on into the next chapter.

While it will be another long while before Chapter 3, or even any other bonus content we may get from this series. It's evidently clear that the Dev put a LOT of work into this second half alone, and needs an understandably well deserved break.

So until that time comes, I'll still be here doing my own thing. And hopefully you guys will enjoy that. I'll see you around!

-Mod

[malware-180]

The unsaid (Tenma x Grimmer)

NOTE: ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE, SORRY.

♡♡♡♡♡♡

The irritation he felt in his throat gave him no respite day or night; but it did not compare to the mortification of suddenly expelling petals so frequently the last few days.

He suspected what illness was afflicting him, why and by whom. He knew that illness of unrequited love, but he did not believe that, of all the human beings on the face of the earth, he was the one who experienced it. His ability to love was zero according to his own experiences; It was a miracle that he got married and had a son who had died, that outcome made him know how fucking broken he was. For feeling extreme pain?

The opposite, in fact, couldn't feel a damn thing; He did not cry for the loss of his son, which caused his ex-wife to see him as a being without a trace of empathy and warmth.

He was an anomaly in the world, a monster that created Kinderheim 511. It wasn't his fault for having been raised by an experimental orphanage where his childhood was flayed, but he was responsible for managing his own emotions. That was the problem: he didn't grow them successfully, and that made him look like a miserable man in some ways.

The most ironic thing was that when he thought he could never feel like others, he was wrong and, judging by his symptoms, he was feeling fervently.

More unexpected was the reason why he began to feel anemic both physically and mentally. Tenma was a comrade who supported you in any conflict, no matter who you were; Even if you were a scourge of society, the doctor would never look down on anyone. A shepherd who led the lost sheep back to the flock as God commanded.

He had gained a belligerent side after learning that he let Johan live; Germany's monster and Europe's most feared killer. Tenma also bled emotionally, but he never let his spirit be eaten away. What a more ethereal being the Japanese was. It wouldn't be mutual.

Leaving out the fact that Tenma was straight and, even if he wasn't, his reputation would be undermined by their hypothetical relationship; The most important thing is that they were both a pair of melancholic people, aged at heart, exhausted by visceral experiences, and they were not even convinced if loving after all would be ideal. The scalpel would be his savior, he immediately thought. A part of Grimmer wanted to tear his feelings for the Japanese to shreds; The other wanted to delve deeper into this because, even though it was unrequited and began to burn unpleasantly in his system, he felt alive. It would be a whim to remain with this feeling for that banal reason; It would also be to get rid of it to avoid pain.

Choosing to die seemed radical to him, and it was not beautiful as others paint it, not even he was as self-pitying. However, a lump formed in her throat at the thought of concluding her love for the doctor. What else could the poor devil do? The thorns of the flowers touching his lungs overwhelmed him at a certain time of day. He thought it was some kind of signal to hurry up the surgery, and he already knew who was going to perform it.

“You should have come earlier. You know that right? “ His paternal scolding melted his reasoning at this point.

“I know that love is difficult, but there is always a solution for this type of bad things. Anyway, who is she?”

》He, Kenzo. And he is you. 《

He notified his mind quickly, but he did not have the courage to expel this out loud.

“Irrelevant right now,” he urged.

“It's not the kind of thing you go around telling about; You have to respect the privacy and identity of a lady.” Grimmer learned to pretend very well.

Kenzo shrugged.

"It's not a bad thing to fall in love, Grimmer. It's actually a blessing after a turbulent life like yours. I wish I had the same luck sometimes, but you see, no one has come to claim that position. I'm not in a hurry, really; It's not like I want to go through that stage again. I guess marriage wasn't for me. But you, maybe you have time to get married again. Don't waste it.”

Every word he heard translated into a pang against his ribcage. He was assaulted by a volley of coughs that came accompanied by petals, this time blood spurting out next to them.

The Japanese man soon took his friend to the bathroom so he could vomit without restriction. Tenma lightly tapped the opponent's back, as if that action would decimate the ordeal that the tormented man was suffering. After a few minutes, Grimmer was sitting on a grayish sofa with flecks of gold and sky blue. He should have felt comfortable, but he only felt chills invade his spine and his head hurt a little.

"You must get this out of me soon, or I'm going to become insane", he warned to the Japanese when he offered him a cup of cherry-lemon flavored tea. The doctor frowned at the comment.

"You didn't even make an attempt to conquer that woman, what a shame."

He shook his head, but gave him a smile. His companion pondered for a moment, before responding in a half-defeated voice.

"It seems to me that she had someone else, that's why I didn't court her." The German lied again.

“Oh, yes? I'm sorry for that, it would have been comfortable to see you in love” Tenma highlighted, “But you didn't tell me what her name was, come on. Who was the lucky one? Maybe I know her,” he insisted.

The journalist was emotionally drained. He resolved the conversation simply.

"I'd rather keep that to myself if you don't mind, buddy."

He winked, forced by himself.

Tenma agreed.

He then instructed him to ask his secretary to schedule the operation within a few weeks. Honestly, Grimmer's stomach clenched just thinking about it, and he felt the thorns cling to his insides, as if thereby persuading the German to let them reside permanently.

No way.

●♡●♡●♡●♡●♡●♡●♡

It was exhaustive, but it finally happened. The root of the problem was annihilated, but now the former spy felt like a broken shell; he didn't know the result was going to feel so overwhelming.

The regret of not confessing the truth to Tenma suddenly hit him, he had nothing to lose but he acted cowardly. Perhaps it was the unconscious fear of rejection, or of ruining a friendship with the surgeon. In any case, the operation was irreversible and, after a few weeks, his life began to feel stable again. If he had told Tenma the truth. If only he had...

♠︎•♤•♠︎

Tenma buried the withered flowers in his garden; He thought he would be gentler and more respectful towards them, since they were the symbol of the feelings Grimmer once experienced.

Yes, the Japanese was still emotional.

He couldn't think much about it, because his throat began to itch and his insides seemed to breed something peculiar.

[spidermanifested]

Greed or Bido for the give me character thing so you can ramble for 3 hours straight grins

okay well i uave to do both of them now. you understand this.

GREED

how i feel about this character:

he is the perfect man. i want to lick him. no further comment

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

BIDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you know this. bido is such important representation as the first ever Fridged-For-A-Guys-Character-Development Barely-On-Screen Love Interest to be a middle aged bald man. every day i lose my marbles about how im cursed to carry this torch all by myself. four foot something homeless guy says fuck it ill do anything to save this person magnitudes stronger than myself, after ive already lost everything we built together. ill follow him into hell for the faintest chance of saving him. because hes my friend. and then he dies in his arms. abd a flashback of him looking lovingly into his eyes is the last straw to make greed accept friendship into his life again. royai WHO

i went into greed/scar in my scar post so im not typing all that out again but its also so good. extremely potent character development to be had. somebody validate me here im right

my goofy one is greed/madame christmas "married for tax benefits and also every couple years they meet up and have crazy sex" style. only a little bit because i thought about greed getting to say i fucked your mom shitlips to roy mustang.

is there ajybody else. im thinking. Uhhhhh. honestly i dont think so dvdggxf im too committed to the ones ive got and i have to put all my energy into those because NOBODY ELSE IS DOING IT!!! whole fma fandom spinning a roulette wheel to find a new random man they think is hot to ship him with every so often. when they could instead be sipping from my font of boundless wisdom.

my non-romantic otp for this character

the devils nest gang will never die. in our hearts and souls. also i need him and mei to be friends IMMEDIATELY

i DO appreciate the friendship between him and ling, but im not as nuts about it as a lot of people (i say with fondness). they can do bros attacks it is true. but they also knew each other less than a year, and sometimes it feels like people tend to. overstate i guess? the impact of ling and ed vs the whole, One Hundred Years Of Living In Human Society thing. i promise a couple of 15 year olds did not give him all that character development okay he was already basically there he just got set back a LOT because of the-- see now youve really got me rambling for 3 straight hours this wasnt even what the question was about

my unpopular opinion about this character:

wow i could have literally just waited one question to say all that. now i have to find a new one

uhhh "hes openly 200 years old and solidly established as an adult man from his very first appearance and the fact that his soul later gets a timeshare in a 15 year olds body does not change that fact and its alarming to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend that it does". is that unpopular. bbecause sometimes im so scared it is

one thing i wish had happened with this character

@catenation

okay now BIDO

how i feel about this character

would that i could simply transmit my feelings through a less uncertain interface than words. words alone cannot do them justice. look at my blog i guess

all the people i ship romantically with this character

greed and scar ive gone into already so now we can get into the even nicher stuff. Awesome

not quite romantic but i tjink he and ulchi had a fwb thing going on. bidos into hunks with sharp teeth we already know this

hmm i think theres a lot of guys in the series hed be INTO/would be into him to some degree or another, but i dont know if itd be romantic per se? like. theres only so romantic you can get with barry the chopper even if it would be really funny. "please please please let me chop up your tail it looks so juicy. itll grow back anyway right. ive never asked before"

also for catenation i thought itd be really funny to make him and greed and yoki into an extremely lopsided love triangle, where yoki develops a weird crush on bido which manifests in very odd ways that bido cant make heads or tails of and doesnt really care to because he doesnt like him at all. does that count.

i also have. a handful of crossover ships, which grew out of roleplays with friends. bidos boytoy and boytoy-adjacent collection includes

psycho mantis from your playstation

the bad guy in the harley quinn movie but not that version of him

KING MORGOTT, LAST OF ALL KINGS

and yes. they do smoke weed.

my non-romantic otp for this character

once again the devils nest gang at large has me in a vice. i care about greed and bidos friendship as well as the romantic aspect but the fact that bido doesnt really interact with any of the gang aside from greed SUCKS and i wish we could have seen some of that

however we do at least get a flashback of bido Standing Next to blondie and one of the bouncers. which in true "desperate enjoyer of a very minor character" fashion ive extrapolated into him having been good friends with that bouncer, because from what little pagetime he gets he seems levelheaded enough to win bidos trust. at a baseline i think bido would be wary around most humans and especially just after escaping, so knowing one reliably-decent human would have probably helped a lot with readjusting to the outside. & then i think out of the chimeras he was probably on the best terms with martel and ulchi, both from Reptile Solidarity and those two being more outgoing and upbeat than average

i ALSO WISH he got to meet mei because i think theyre really similar in a lot of ways. he would relate very heavily to being small and disregarded and saddled with the responsibility of helping so many people survive by whatever means necessary. they also both love yelling indignantly at rude people which is awesome. i think theyd yell at each other like that Once and then shake hands out of respect

my unpopular opinion about this character

all my opinions about him are unpopular babey Nobody is tjinking about him as much as me!!! he is important and memorable for one. and he is so brave and he loves his friends so much. he deserves as much focus as the rest of the gang if not more. he is the gayest fma character. and his face is HANDSOME he looks like an awesome muppet and if you cant handle that then get your ass off sesame street........

one thing i wish had happened with this character:

the chaptwr after greed gets introduced should have been just 43 solid pages of bido and greed making out rapturously, with the rest of the gang doing various tasks in the background. for flavor

[my-castles-crumbling]

hi cas <3

cw/tws for medical stuff, complex family relationships, discussion of death

so, for context, im a regulus black kinnie (itll make sense, give me a sec aha). ive got a difficult relationship with most of my family, but most especially my mother and older sister. my sister is a lot like our family's sirius (except if he still had walburga's narcissism, cruelty and manipulation), and she really doesnt get along with either of our parents. my mother is... a difficult woman, in that she likes to victimise herself in every situation, shes homophobic/transphobic/all the phobics, shes also very narcissistic, and likes to make uncomfortable comments without bothering to be nice about it. all in all, i try not to be around her much. im also supposed to be moving out soon, and planned to minimise contact as much as possible once i do.

to the point: my mother was diagnosed with cancer yesterday. my father (hes kind of a neutral party in the family dynamics, btw) was the one talking to me about it, since she's in hospital at the moment. he said they caught it early enough where a bit of chemo over the next few months should get rid of it and she'll be okay, but 'cancer' is a scary as fuck word. he also then told me that this isnt her first time with it — she had a different type of cancer around 20 years ago.

honestly, i feel like my brain is battling itself about how i should feel. on the one hand, ive been looking forward to not having to be around her now for years, and i hold very little love for her at this point. why should i care? she'll be fine at the end of it anyway. but shes still my mum, yknow? and i feel awful having these thoughts about how badly ive always thought of her and how much ive wanted for so long to get away from her and how it almost feels like this is some sort of sick fucking joke from the universe about how i should be careful what i wish for or something.

this whole situation keeps making me think about regulus in best friends brother(? i think thats the right fic) or p much any modern au where walburga dies so tbh ill probably end up writing a fic about it to cope, but still i just... i guess i needed to tell someone? my father asked me to keep it to myself for now so that it wasnt spread around where we live (its a small area; everyone knows everyone).

and the bit with my sister - as i said, she doesnt get along with our parents. i dont talk to her much anymore either because she seemed to inherit a lot of our mothers worst traits, but im afraid that if we do talk about this then she'll have some awful thing to say about it. she makes some really dark 'jokes' sometimes about suicide and death and such, and im nervous that she'll say something about how she hopes it kills her (again, my sister fucking sick, and has zero empathy), because shes made similar jokes about other stuff in the past. i also dont think she'd understand that im still afraid for our mother even after everything shes done, and i hate the way my sister turns on me and rips the piss out of me when she doesnt like what i do.

it all kind of circles back to how im supposed to feel, i guess. part of me wants to not care and brush it off, whatever, but theres still part of me dying for my mothers love and approval and is terrified of losing her, even with the low possibility.

sorry this got so long, and for how heavy it is. i hope youre doing well cas, and thank you for all you do for us <3

Hi hon!

My god, you ARE a reg kinnie.

Here's the thing- there is not a RIGHT way to feel about those things. You have a complex relationship with your mom, so of course you'll have complex feelings about the situation. You don't need to feel guilty for feeling any certain way, because there's no right or wring way to process this. You're allowed to feel scared and neutral and confused and ambivalent. That's okay!

Your feelings aren't a betrayal to anyone, and you have a right to them. You also have a right to any action you choose to take. Remember to do what feels right for YOU, because YOU are important.

I'm here if you ever need to talk <3

Naming you reg kin anon.

[synthetickitsune]

(X-)EXO Powers Headcanons

(This is really just a future reference for me when writing fics to keep things at least somewhat consistent and while thinking about this I had some fic ideas so hopefully I'll remember when I come back to this lol)

Anyway, a couple word before we start:

Some of these are based on the stuff that’s shown in MVs or that were mentioned in official contents, some are just me fucking around

Because of who I am as a person, I imagine the X-EXOs would all have stronger powers than EXOs - as in the powers they share would be stronger (e.g. no limit in how much amount of water X-EXO Suho can create before getting tired) and they’d have some skills EXOs just don’t have

Suho / Suhø

Power: Water

Water creation & manipulation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - He can create water and manipulation it’s shape, move it and stuff - It’s canon that in Obsession, Suho drains water from Suhø’s body so that’s another way they could use their power - maybe on smaller scale to cause some health issues - By manipulation the surface tension, they could make it possible to walk on water I suppose - Maybe this could also do with increasing/decreasing humidity in the air if they wanted to make their job easier and just synthesize water from moisture in the air? - Adding to that ^ (I guess) it’s also canon that part of what they could do is make rain - Manipulation of liquids based on their water content - the higher it is, the easier it would be

Weakness: Dry areas

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Water breathing - Listen, I’m just putting this here on the off-chance that I get to write something with EXO fighting against X-EXO because I want the angst of Suho drowning despite his power literally being water

Liquids manipulation - And since blood is and the liquids in human body are mostly water… perhaps some leverage over movements of a person, not enough to order them around, but maybe enough to make it a bit of a challenge to disobey his wishes (just to make it fun)

Xiumin / Xiūmin

Power: Frost

Ice creation and manipulation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - So that’s freezing stuff and people, but also creating ice out of nothing, moving it around, shattering it into smaller pieces and all that - Moving objects covered in ice (but only if it doesn’t shatter under the weight of the moved object)

Can create hail and snow storms

Lowering temperature - Idk if this is canon or not tbh, but why not, seems logical 

Weakness: Hot areas

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Frost resistance - Again, purely for angst purposes lol

Power boost if he freezes someone to death - That can be healing faster, getting stronger for a limited period of time etc.

Lay / Yïxing

Power: Healing

Healing - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - Healing himself, others, living things through touch (physical injuries and diseases only, not mental illness - Can heal either completely or just partly - Regeneration takes a toll on a body so the beings he helps are exhausted afterwards based on how much healing he does

Enhanced self-regeneration

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Immortality - Not completely immortal, but basically yeah... really hard to kill - more so than regular Lay, his healing would be faster, he doesn’t age

Overhealing - You know what happens when the cells don’t grow as they’re supposed to despite cell growth being important for regeneration…

Reverse healing - He can cause all sorts of damage to alive beings through touch - cause bruising, cuts, break bones, speed up aging of the organism - Can cause injuries and some types of disease but not stuff like the flu, covid etc.

Lifesteal

Baekhyun / Baëkhyun

Power: Light

Light creation & reduction - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - He can create balls of light in the mvs but let’s say he can produce light on a larger scale as well and reduce it, make it disappear - Can blast light - He can light up his own body as well

Illusions - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned.

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Light manipulation - He can manipulate the intensity and colors of light, meaning he could remove colors from the world - Enhanced abilities - can limit the disappearance of light and all of the above to a certain target aka person

Sharper senses - Other than sight, he’d have sharper senses since he’s used to living without his sight when he gets rid of light - And as a little side note for future me to consider: Baëkhyun being more sensitive to touch

Chen / Chën

Power: Thunder

Electricity creation and manipulation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - He can create sparks of electricity at will, I suppose he could use to attack or overload electronics, use them without being plugged in etc.

Lightning - According to the official mvs, he can also bring storms and lightning, probably manipulate it as well

Weather manipulation - canon - can cause storms, hail and “other various weather phenomena” - immune to any and all weather conditions

Magnetic field creation

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Conducting (or not) electricity through his body

Physiological changes - look I’m not a doctor but according to one Film Theory, you could erase someone’s memories by using electricity on their brain and that’s a great power to have for angst purposes so… - also a lot of stuff in the human body depends on some form of electricity so he could have a lot of fun with that

Chanyeol / Chanyeøl

Power: Fire

Fire creation and manipulation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - Can either set things on fire or just create balls of fire regardless of the conditions (e.g. lack of oxygen wouldn’t be a problem), envelop his body in fire etc., move the flames as he wishes - or he can extinguish them

Fire resistance

Rising temperature - Idk if this is canon or not tbh, but why not, seems logical 

Weakness: Cold areas

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Enhanced fire skills - He can create fire that cannot be extinguished by anyone but him - Can manipulate the temperature and color of his own flames

Fire and heat resistance

Power boost if he burns someone to death - That can be healing faster, getting stronger for a limited period of time etc.

D.O / Đ.O

Power: Force

Superior physical strength - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned.

Force - Also canon - He can manipulate object like he’s using telekinesis, lift them with invisible force, crush them, throw them, make them fly - Can manipulation mass, shape, form - He can also change gravity - make it stronger, lighter, so he could potentially make himself levitate and fly (sort of and it’d take quite a lot of effort and concentration I suppose)

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Force fields

Enhanced stamina and durability(?) - Enhanced stamina + can harder his body so he cannot be harmed, reinforced bones, his skin is harder to cut and get through - If hit, can use the power of the impact to enhance his own attack but it has to be done immediately

Kai / Kāi

Power: Teleportation

Teleportation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - Can also teleport other people, objects and energy from one place to another

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Enhanced control  - can delay the teleportation for a second or less - can teleport just a part of the thing - either with damage or without → people can live without being harmed if i.e. only their arm is ported

Sehun / Sehůn

Power: Wind

Wind creation and manipulation - Pretty self-explanatory, also canon as far as official lore is concerned. - Can create breeze or a tornado, can change the direction and strength of blowing wind and use it to change trajectory of object in the air - Can enhance hearing and sense of smell through bringing scents and sounds closer to him - for himself or others

X-EXO exclusive abilities:

Air manipulation  - can manipulate but not really change (i.e. add or subtract elements) the content of the air - so he can make certain area of air more oxygen-rich by making another less oxygenated, can manipulate the air itself (create vacuum, decrease or increase volume), air resistance 

Levitation - can levitate and fly using the strength of the wind/air but it takes a lot of effort and practice