#which in this case i'm taking to mean that they're the featured pairing

[cerisereids]

𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 (𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲)- 𝗮.𝗵. [𝗽𝘁. 𝟰]

masterlist, part one, part two, part three

wc- 5.2k

pairing- aaron hotchner x fem!rossi!reader

summary- down on your luck after a huge betrayal, you return to live at your father's house with your tail between your legs. you're humiliated, thoroughly convinced nothing good could come from returning home. then you meet aaron hotchner.

warnings- swearing, mentions of nudity, we finally find out what happened in new york, one thing about me is my ass loves a simile, make ups all around!!!

a/n- the last part of this series is finally here!! thank you all for the endless support for this series, it means the world to me. enjoy!

The overhead light of your father's kitchen beats down in the middle of the table, the rays acting as a golden barrier between you two. He's just across the table from you, but he may as well be a million miles away. Guilt seeps through your every pore as your father's disappointment radiates through you. It's been a week since he caught you with Aaron, a case taking him away soon after that gloomy morning in the kitchen. You pick at your food, sliding it around your plate with your fork until your father speaks first.

"How long was it going to take?" he mumbles, and your head shoots up. He continues at your furrowed brow, "how long was it going to take to tell me you were sleeping with Aaron?"

The confrontation of your actions shock your nervous system, panic seizing each organ in your body. Your forehead falls into the crook of your neck, your cheeks heating at an ungodly temperature. "I'm so sorry, Papà-"

"Nuh-uh," he cuts you off, waving his fork at you, eyes dark and stormy, "don't 'Papà' me, do you have any idea that your actions have consequences, young lady?"

A pit of guilt sinks deep in your stomach, like you're 16 again and got busted sneaking in after a kegger. Only this time, you're grown, no teenage angst to fall back on as a result of your actions.

"Dad-" you try, but he's not having it.

"Did you tell him what ran you out of New York City? Why not a single publishing company will work with you?" he accuses.

Your heart stops, cheeks heating to an insane degree. Acid gurgles in your stomach as you go over the events that led you back to Virginia, your heart anxiously pounding.

"That's a no," he huffs out in annoyance, and frustration constricts your throat as he stands up to put his plate in the sink.

"Dad, I'm-"

He whips around to face you. "You're what? Sorry? You're my daughter, which means that I'm here to support you no matter what, but not when you lie to me. Not about this," he shakes his head as he makes his way to the stairs.

Soon, you're abandoned in the kitchen, your baggage your only company. You sit there in tense silence, mind flashing back to that detrimental morning one week ago. The way your father stood there, briefcase in hand, staring down Aaron like they're in a Texas Standoff.

The kitchen felt like a war zone that day, and has every day since. Tension rose thick like mud, dirtying you all over, exposing your lies. You remember the way your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach, sitting heavy as a rock as you watched your father figure it out. The way his eyes flitted between you two, his brows furrowed, one raised every so slightly as to say, 'really?'

Aaron's face flashes through your mind, the pale of his cheeks contrasting his dark features, looking like he'd seen a ghost. His hand was still partially inside a bag of Nespresso pods, frozen in place. You were sure you didn't look much better as you shot a panicked look at the raven haired man you'd been...liaising with behind your father's back.

"Don't look at him," your father said, in that stern Italian cadence that meant you were about two seconds away from swimming with the fishes. "Look at me, and tell me the truth. What's going on here?"

He knew, of course he knew, though he's making you tell him yourself. Ever the agent.

"Dad-"

"David," Aaron had cut you off immediately, and you remember the sting of acid that punched your throat, your eyes widening as he took a small step towards your dad. "It's my fault, completely. I initiated this, please don't take your anger out on her. It's on me, and I'm sorry."

You were breathless at the fact that even after all of this, Aaron was still taking care of you. You knew it was inappropriate, but you couldn't have slowed the racing patter of your heart if you tried.

"Don't tell me how to feel about you sleeping with my daughter, Aaron," your father snapped, voice booming off the marble walls. "Aaron, I've always respected you. You're a good man, and an even better agent. But right now? I've never wanted to kill somebody more. Get out of my house."

Your fork clatters against your plate as the memory surges through you, seizing every part of you with otherworldly guilt. You see yourself vaguely in the reflection of your plate, and you don't recognize yourself. The distortion of your reflection in the glass paints a better picture of you than a mirror could right now.

Shame follows the guilt soon after, twisting around your heart like a lasso and pulling until it's so tight, you're bursting out the front door for some air. The cool evening air bites gently at your cheeks, dew already beginning to moisturize the nature around you. When you'd moved back here, you wished to be like the daisies blooming in your father's yard this spring. Born again, renewed.

Angry tears prick hot in your eyes as you stroll, your bottom lip jutting out in a pout. You're in disbelief with yourself, making the same mistakes over and over again. Even in your emotional daze, though, you can't seem to count Aaron as a mistake. You're fully aware of the ways in which you hurt your father, but you can't help but wonder if you had gone about things differently, more honestly, could you still be with him?

The question nearly paralyzes you, shock unzipping down your spine at the thought of being with Aaron, inhibitions stripped away. Your feet make quick work in the direction of his apartment, your subconscious stampeding over the logical voice in your head telling you that visiting him would only be disastrous.

Emotion wins this battle, since you're knocking at his door no more than 10 minutes later. You pick at your nails as you wait for him to open the door and anxiety pools in your gut, tart and bitter. His door finally swings open and he's speechless at the sight of you. His eyes wide and chest heaving up and down, he wordlessly steps aside to let you in.

You cross the threshold and stand awkwardly in the entryway. You wring your hands together, eyes darting everywhere but the man before you. He stands with his hands on his hips, clad in a dark suit, go-bag sat by the front door.

"I'm sorry," you breathe out as you take in your surroundings. "Do you have a minute?"

He nods slightly, and your breath hitches on an inhale.

"Aaron..." you start, but the words get lost in your throat. "What do we do?" You want him to maybe, just maybe, try and salvage what you have.

"I don't think we should continue seeing each other. At all," his voice is small, but firm and low. Your hope fizzles like a sparkler fading into the night.

"What?" you breathe out. You weren't sure what other possibilities were there for you, but you weren't expecting him to shut you down so immediately.

"What?" he asks, tone bordering on sarcastic, "is that not what you came here to do?"

"N-not necessarily!" you choke out, tears immediately springing to your eyes. Your throat constricts with frustration, how easily you fold in front of him is nearly embarrassing.

He looks shocked at your response, and it's like a hammer to a nail in the middle of your heart, splitting it right down the middle. His hands still rest on his hips, but he brings a large palm to his face, running it from his forehead to his chin. When he looks back at you, his own eyes are glossy.

"I-" he starts, unsure of how to finish, "I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it has been for your father and I at work."

Water floods in your ears, white hot anger burning in your core at his words. You truly thought you heard him wrong, that there's no world in which he could be making this about himself.

"How difficult it has been for you?!" you screech, and he flinches at your tone. "My own father won't even look at me!"

He avoids your gaze, brows furrowed and sad eyes trained on the floor. You continue.

"He won't talk to me unless it's to berate me for lying to him, and you think it's hard for you?!" your voice rings louder through the

Your logical mind is once more at war with your fiery emotions. You weren't alone in your deceit, and you know that Aaron has been facing his own consequences, too. That doesn't matter much to you, though, as you stand there in front of him, shaking and in tears. All the while he stands there, still as a statue.

"I've always prided myself on being respectable. To myself and others. The way your father looked at me that day..." he shakes his head and takes a few steps in the opposite direction, regaining some composure. "I never want to feel that guilt again. I'm sure you don't either."

You nod slowly, your brain finally wrapping itself around his decision. Before you can respond, though, his phone pings with a new message. He sighs before running five fingers through his lightly gelled hair.

"I think we should talk more about this later," he says, reaching for his go-bag and meeting you by the door.

"No," you turn to him, heaving chests now inches apart, "there's nothing more to talk about. You said we need to call things off, and clearly whatever you say, goes. Have a good case Aaron," you pierce him with one last scrutinizing gaze before slamming his door.

It begins to rain lightly on your walk home, picking up in speed the further you go. Mother Nature is falling right in line with your mood, you see. You wish you could take your time, mosey in your misery. The rain does unfavorable things for your hair, though, and you'd rather not suffer the frizzy consequences.

A familiar figure waits on your porch as you arrive home, brows furrowing as you trudge up the pathway to the house. Your heart stops once you realize who it is, blood rushing through your head and pounding in your ears.

"Kate?" you nearly whisper, paralyzed with disbelief.

Her long blonde hair whips around her shoulder as she turns to face you.

"There you are! I was waiting for you!" she chirps, fake niceties rolling off her tongue with the same ease they did in New York. Good thing nothing's changed.

"Why are you here?" is all you can get out, uncaring of your nasally monotone.

She scoffs, as if it's ridiculous of you to even ask. "Well...let's go inside and talk about it! I don't want to sit in the rain! It seems it hasn't done you any favors." She scrunches her nose in a fake giggle that almost causes steam to rise from your ears. Rage bubbles up inside you as you pass her by, not looking at her as you unlock the front door.

You're not entirely sure why you're letting her in, maybe it's the itch of curiosity you haven't been able to scratch since leaving the city. Why she did what she did. Some people say closure isn’t real. You're not one of them.

"Okay," you huff out in annoyance, "what is it? Why are you here?" you lean against the entryway table, a hand on your hip.

"Geez! We haven't seen each other in almost a year. I thought there'd be at least a little courtesy!" her nonchalance bites at your heart like a mosquito, frustration and hurt swelling inside you. "I just wanted to check in on you. Is that so wrong?"

You scoff, unsure if she's putting on an act or is genuinely this vapid. You shake your head in disbelief, how were you friends with this awful woman for years?

"You never bothered to check in when I was being shamed out of every single publishing office in New York. You seemed just fine then," you cross your arms over your chest, raising a brow at her.

"I think you're being overdramatic," she responds, and your jaw drops open at her gall.

"Oh, you think?" you sneer nastily. She picked the wrong day for this. "That's really rich coming from someone who couldn't get a single piece published until you stole my manuscript!" the accusation hangs heavy in the air, explosive like a bomb.

"You know," you barrel through any bullshit response she would have had for you, "I've had a lot of time to think since I've arrived home, and something I've come to realize is that the people we surrounded ourselves with..." you shake your head, laughing in frustrated disbelief, "all they care about is status. Money. Who has the 'next best idea'. So what are you going to do once this high wears off? When you don't have a story of mine to refigure as your own?"

You struck a nerve, her stunned silence tells you so.

"Well..." she sputters out, "forgive me for never being able to live up to the Great David Rossi's daughter! Nobody ever paid any mind to me, I had to do something!"

There it is. Your answer. Somehow, it’s not as satisfying as you anticipated. You’re still out for blood with this woman.

"So you framed me for plagiarism and ruined my career because of my father? Awesome solution to your problem there, Kate!" your sarcasm rings clear as a bell through the foyer. "You never considered putting in the work to become a better writer? Nobody paid any mind to you because you didn't have it."

You surprise yourself with your bark and bite, and you thought it'd be much more satisfying to see the tears well up in Kate's eyes. All you feel though, is more guilt, piling itself on top of the endless amount that's accumulated in the past few weeks. The doorbell pierces through the tension, and you whip yourself around to face the door and groan. You swing it open to reveal a wet, sorrowful Aaron, standing on your porch steps in the rain.

You didn't need to ask how long he's been standing there, the pained look in his eye tells you he'd heard most of what you said. You feel like you're digging your own grave in real time, like Ebenezer Scrooge watching his grim future from the tomb.

"Aaron..." you trail off, eyes scanning his face for any sign that he doesn't think you're an awful person, but you come up empty.

"Now who's this?" Kate chirps up from behind you, quickly regaining her attitude with this new arrival.

You whip your head behind you and pierce her with a deathly gaze. "Don't even think about it," you grit through clenched teeth, and her brow raises in curiosity.

"What do you want?" you ask, trying to sound unbothered as you face Aaron once again, "I thought you had a case."

"We do, we don't take off for another 15. I wanted to give you this," he holds out a gold chain with an angel pendant hanging from it. "I wanted to give it to you before I left." The clear reason why hangs between the two of you, and you shakily bring your hands to take the gold necklace from his fingers.

It was your grandmother's, and your mind races back to the night you'd shown it to him. Cuddled on the couch, a blanket draped over your sweaty, naked frames. He'd placed a finger on the pendant sticking to your chest, and you'd taken it off to show him. You hadn't even realized you left it there, another boulder of shame nestling itself on the large pile tearing apart your stomach.

"Thanks," you breathe, eyes snapping up to meet his. His lips roll into a closed lip smile, and he nods stiffly. You sit in the tension, nearly swimming in it as you stare into his dark, sorrowful eyes. Your spine straightens at the snicker that echos from behind you, the reality of the situation crashing down on you like a meteor.

"So this is why you haven't come back to New York..." she mutters slyly, pushing you to the side with her shoulder so she can get a better look at him.

Bile rises in your throat at the way her wicked eyes scan up and down his frame. You swallow the lump forming there and flit your eyes back to Aaron. He's still looking at you, which melts your heart and also makes you want to punch him at the same time.

You tear your eyes away from him, a herculean feat as your gaze drags back over to the nuisance now standing next to you. "Kate," you breathe out, "you have no idea what you're talking about." Your eyes shoot her a pleading look, but she has you right where she wants you.

"No, no, no, so let me get this straight,” she holds a hand up in your face, “we all thought you were having some sort of mental break when you up and left New York, quitting on your ‘dream’ of being a writer," she has a scheming smile on her face, and you're still waiting for the other shoe to drop, "I thought you would have lasted a week in Virginia, tops. But almost three months? Hell, I'd stay too if I had someone like this-"

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" you nearly screech, holding both palms out, trying to keep both people in front of you at arm's length. "Everyone here needs to leave, I mean it."

Aaron spins on his heel without hesitation, and you wonder how long he'd been standing there, and if he'd be late for his plane. You let the thought pass, unable to dedicate another ounce of worry to this man who's just now discovering he doesn't know you at all. Kate, on the other hand, takes her sweet time sauntering over the threshold onto the porch.

"Fine," she holds her hands up in surrender, clearly satisfied she got the last punch, "what I really wanted to tell you is that the book tour is going great," she rests a faux-sympathetic hand on your forearm and it's like you're being branded, "I thought you'd wanna know your book is a hit. Thanks for the script, I owe ya!”

She blows a fake kiss just as you slam the door, hot tears welling up in your eyes as you rest against it. How did things go so wrong? You came back to your father's house to find yourself, to shed yourself of the burden of being in New York. All you've found, though, is that running away from your worries has made them exponentially bigger. It seems obvious looking back on it, like a slap in the face. You know you can't make things right until you confront what's wrong. You race to your room, grab a suitcase, and open your laptop. You type in 'one way flights to New York City' and purchase the first ticket you find.

Aaron Hotchner is having a bad week. The understatement of the year, truly. David hasn't looked at him all week, barely talking to him unless it has to do with the case. Even then, it's still sparse. His team grace him with pitying smiles that only make the pit in his stomach grow bigger, acid singeing his organs.

He stares down at crime scene photos for what felt like the millionth time that day, desperate to crack the M.O. of their current offender. He frustratedly gives the photo a small shove, sliding it away from his prying eyes. It's no use, not when his mind is entirely preoccupied.

He can't remember the last time he's acted so recklessly, sleeping with his coworker's daughter. Not just any coworker, but David Rossi's daughter. Guilt twists in his stomach, like he's being eaten alive from the inside out. He's been dragging his feet throughout the entirety of this case, he feels it. It's why he's been marooned to the conference room of the local police station, sent to look over photos and witness statements.

Every piece of him, though, is with her. There's been a pull in his chest since the day they last spoke, a painful yearning that's taking over every part of him. He feels like he's going crazy, the moment he called things off replaying on a loop in his brain. The soft downward pull of her eyebrows, the pained gloss coating her eyes. He knew, logically, that he made the right decision. So why does it feel so wrong?

He then thinks back to the woman who was at the house when he visited earlier this week. He knew so little of her life in New York, and the way she spoke to her was unlike anything he'd seen or heard from her before. It concerned him at first, but once that door swung open, and he saw the way the unnamed woman scanned him, clearly trying to get under her skin, he felt that maybe she was justified in the harsh words she threw at the mystery woman. He needs to speak to her again, that much is for certain.

The case wraps up later that evening, and Aaron takes advantage of the empty seat opposite Dave on the jet. He slides into the leather chair dubiously, Dave's dark brow raising at the sight of him. He quickly looks back to his crossword. Aaron lets out a defeated sigh, and this gets his attention. Dave closes his puzzle and crosses his arms.

"You initiated?" he asks, and all Aaron can do is nod sheepishly.

"David, I'm sorry for lying to you, but I'm not sorry for my feelings," he begins.

"Which are...?" Dave encourages, and he prepares to say something he never thought would be possible.

"I'm in love with your daughter. Keeping our relationship a secret from you was awful, and I am so, so sorry I betrayed your trust. I love her, though. I want to be with her," adrenaline rushes through Aaron as he breathes out the last sentence. To his surprise, the tiniest smile tugs at Dave's lips.

"Don't screw it up," he points an intimidating finger at him, and Aaron huffs out a small laugh.

"You got it," he smiles, thankful to have taken the first step in earning Dave's forgiveness.

Aaron's the first one off the plane when they touch down in Quantico, opting out of team drinks at the bar and going straight to his apartment. He's in desperate need of a shower, and then he's heading straight to see her. He slows, though, when he sees an envelope taped to his door. He knows it's from her before he opens it, the scratchy Aaron on the center of the envelope giving her away immediately.

Aaron,

I feel like I owe you an explanation for the shit show you had to witness, and the full truth of what happened in New York. I had completed a manuscript just after graduating from NYU. It was my best work yet, and my ex-best friend, the woman you saw at my father's house, completely abused my trust. She had found her way on my computer one day, forwarded herself a copy, deleted any trace of it from my laptop, and gave it to the biggest publishing company in the whole city. She claimed it was hers originally, that she found it on my computer in my attempt to 'steal' her work. I tried to fight back, but she accused me of plagiarism, effectively ending my writing career. I've spent the last couple months nursing my broken heart, and I'm sorry you were caught in my mess. I'm back in the city, and I wish you well, truly.

XOXO

Aaron feels as if the air has been stolen from his lungs as he shoves the front door open. He loosens the tie around his neck and has never been more thankful for Jessica having Jack than he is right now. He fumbles with his phone, trying to find the next flight to New York. He knows it's irresponsible, rash, but she's completely turned his life upside down. What's a little more fuel to the fire?

The sun rises on your seventh day in the Manhattan Hotel in Times Square, and the liveliness of the city that would once annoy you, is now a welcomed chaos. You have no idea how long you're going to stay in room 203, whether you'll return back to Virginia or find another place here, but you've found that returning to New York has only done you good.

You're confronting the beast that's loomed over you for months, and it has not only unlocked an array of emotions- many of them Aaron related- but also unleashed your creativity. You've written three chapters so far, a semi-autobiographical tale of reclaiming your power in times of hardship. You're not sure how you're going to work around the plagiarism accusations, how you'll gain any publisher's trust again, but you figure that's an issue for a later date.

Your phone buzzes on the desk of the hotel, and you reach to flip it over. Your heart drops when you see your father's face in your caller ID. He knew you were in New York, but there hasn't been an attempt at communication until now. A trembling finger presses 'accept' and you bring the phone to your ear.

"Hello?" you answer shakily, "Dad?"

"I'm sorry I was such a jerk, Principesa," his familiar warmth floods you with relief.

"Oh Papà," you nearly exclaim, emotion flooding over you as tears spring to your eyes, "I should be the one apologizing, I'm so, so sorry for keeping my relationship with Aaron from you. It was wrong, and I never should have done it. I'm sorry," your voice wells up at the last sentence, and you hear your father coo.

"Hey, don't cry. It's okay, I had some extreme convincing from a certain grouch at work," he jokes, but you hear his voice start to shake, too.

The mention of Aaron is like a gut punch, and you can't help yourself, "How is he? Aaron?"

"He was grouchier than normal for a while, but he came to me and we talked. Things are better," he states.

"I'm so glad to hear it," you respond, though you feel there's something he's not telling you.

"Listen, I wanted to tell you something. Aaron mentioned that he dropped by to see you and there was a woman there, and that it didn't look good. I'm assuming Kate?" He asks. Your eyes fall closed, your lashes kissing your cheeks as you recall the moments of her berating you in your father's home.

"Yeah, yeah it was Kate," you whisper out.

"Good to know, because the Ring camera caught some very interesting information on her way out of the door. Something about how your book is a hit?" he mentions slyly, and you're picking up on his tone.

You'd filled him in soon after you returned home, unable to keep secrets from him for very long. He'd told you if there was anything you had to prove that she was truly the one who plagiarized, he'd help you in an instant. It seems the instance has arrived.

"You're kidding," you gasp, covering your mouth with an open palm.

"Not one bit. Sent it in to Good Morning America this morning. She's scheduled to be on tomorrow, y'know?" you can hear the smile in his voice, and it's contagious.

"Papà, oh my God!" you exclaim, the anxiety that's plagued you for months dissipating in a blur.

"Keep working hard over there, and don't be afraid to come back to me, alright?" he asks.

"Alright," you respond, and hang up. You ponder what it would be like to go back to Virginia, to write there. You don't think you'd mind it, whether Aaron is there or not. He'd be a nice bonus, for certain, but you enjoyed fostering a new relationship with your dad, cherished the real friendships you made in his coworkers. You could see a life there.

There's a knock on the door a moment later, and your brows furrow. Nobody knows you're here besides your father and Aaron, and the idea of the latter being behind that door shakes you to your very core. Your stomach drops when you realize that's exactly who's standing on the other side of the threshold.

"Aaron..." you breathe out, nearly speechless.

"Hi," he says back, breathing heavily.

You're not used to seeing him dressed so casually, a Georgetown University t-shirt hanging from his shoulders, jeans snug on his hips. His hair is mussed like he's just gotten off back-to-back flights.

"Your father said I'd find you here," he says, and you wordlessly move to let him in.

"What are you doing here, Aaron?" you ask once the door is shut.

"I'm miserable without you," he confesses, and your eyebrows shoot into your forehead, "I've barely made it through the past couple weeks, the whole time I was just waiting for you. I know it was my idea to call things off, and I don't think I've ever been so stupid."

"So why did you do it?" you question, not so ready to forgive him right away.

"The guilt- your father- it was all too much, I thought the only way past it was out," he admits, and you can understand that. You're not one to judge another for running away. "I'm sorry," he breathes, "I should have fought for you. This wasn't just a hook-up to me, was it for you?" he's breathing heavily, and you waste no time in your response.

"No, it wasn't," you breathe, and he steps closer to you slowly.

"Tell me no," he gives you an out as his hands reach up to cup your cheeks, and you respond by bringing his lips down to yours.

Kissing him again is like the first sip of water after being stranded in the desert, refreshing, renewing, all encompassing. His lips part against yours as he presses himself further into you, causing you to sigh into the kiss.

You reluctantly break away from him before you can no longer control yourself. You're both breathing heavily, your palms flat against his shoulders as you say, "Let's go back to Virginia," a cheeky smile spreading across his face.

"What?" he sputters out, a disbelieving chuckle escaping his lips.

"We're going to take this slow, we're going to do it right. I like you, but I also really like the life I began to create while I was staying with my dad. I can write from Virginia," you nudge his shoulder with yours, moving to pack up your belongings.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to nap while you do this," he lays back on the couch, kicking his shoes off, "after we return home, I'm not getting on another plane for 5 years."

You chuckle as you watch his eyes close, snuggling into the couch. You like the way that word sounded when it came out of his lips, home. You could get used to that.

[if-mirrormine]

i'll always save you

summary: grayson is called out on a case involving the mc.

pairing: grayson x mc

word count: 8029

based on the request: i was wondering what would happen if grayson got a call while on duty that mc crashed into a river somehow, and when they get there, mcs body isn't in the car, but there's evidence their body was there, like blood or broken glass, but mc happened to get out of the car and swam to the bank/shore of the river? like mcs just laying on the shore, soaked, out of breath, and kinda injured👀

**unedited//me? writing a drabble at 1 a.m.? it's more likely than you think.**

request a drabble here!

grayson sits idly at his desk, his leg bouncing up and down as he flicks in his pen between his index and middle fingers. he's bored. it's a slow night, which he should be grateful for, but the lack of crime means only one thing: paperwork. mountains of it. taking up the entirety of his desk and blocking his view of the other half of the precinct. perhaps if he didn't put off the task until last minute he wouldn't be here now but even with nothing else to, he can't bring himself to do it.

he's just about to convince himself to get to work when kelsey comes into view. he didn't even hear her get up from her desk across from his and walk over. but now that she's in front of him, he's happy to have something else to do.

"i'd ask how its going over here but given that you've been staring into space for the last half hour, i'd say that answers my question." she sits on the edge of his desk, her arms crossed over her chest as she glances down at the files behind her.

"can you blame me?" he sighs before tossing his pen on the desk, leaning back on his chair as he drags his hands through his hair. "i'm this close to blowing my brains out."

quirking up an eyebrow at him, she smiles. "do i need to take your gun and put it on a high shelf somewhere?"

he grins. "aren't i taller than you?"

"semantics," she says, waving him off. "you want something to do?"

resisting the urge to bolt out of his chair and out the precinct, he sits up straighter, entirely more alert at the prospect of getting to put off doing paperwork slightly longer. "why didn't you lead with that?" he questions and she rolls her eyes playfully. "what is it?"

"got a call while you were daydreaming," she says. "some idiot drove their car off a bridge. my money's on drunk driver."

at that, he stands up, whipping his jacket off the back of his chair and pulling it on. "it usually is." looking at his partner, he gestures to the exit. "what are we waiting for? let's go."

sliding off the desk, she rolls her eyes again and follows him out.

the bridge has been cordoned off, the night illuminated by red and blue flashing lights. there's an officer waiting for them when they arrive, explaining what happened without so much as a hello. there had indeed been a drunk driving, swerving in and out of lanes before throwing themselves out of their vehicle and into traffic. they currently sit in the back of an ambulance, mostly unharmed, and their car still sitting on the bridge.

"i though the call was about someone driving off the bridge," kelsey says, confusion twisting her features.

"someone did drive off the bridge, ma'am," the officer says and she narrows her eyes at him. "probably to avoid killing the guy. though they're probably worse off now than if they had run him over."

"probably?" grayson questions. "you mean no ones gone down to check?"

the officer pales slightly, shrinking back into himself as he avoids looking at him in the eye. "n-no, sir. it's really difficult to get down there, we were waiting for more experienced personnel."

"unbelievable." taking a deep breath, grayson fixes the officer with a look that would be sure to kill. "we'll go check. make yourself useful and get the witness statements."

"yes, sir!" the officer runs off quickly, nearly tripping over his feet in an attempt to get away from them.

"do i really look like ma'am?" kelsey asks as they begin walking over.

"what would you have preferred he called you?"

"oh, i don't know... detective montgomery maybe?"

"he probably doesn't know any better," grayson grumbles. "he barely looks old enough to be a highschool student, let alone fresh out of the academy." kelsey snorts as they come to a stop at the side of the bridge. the ravine falls off into darkness at a near ninety degree angle and when he shines his flashlight down, rocks and mud pave the way down to the water. looking at kelsey, he finds she's already looking at him.

straightening her back, she salutes him. "godspeed, soldier."

he sighs at the thought of having to go down there by himself but he doesn't argue the matter. "at least there are paramedics on standby," he says. "i imagine i'll be needing one by the time i get to the bottom."

kelsey grins at him. "on the bright side, you won't have to do any more paperwork."

"because i'll be dead? yeah, i'd sure hope so."

"i'll tell your mother you loved her."

he rolls his eyes in amusement as he begins his descent. his shoes slide slightly in the mud and he has to slow his pace to not fall but after what feels like forever, he makes it to the bottom. the river is oddly calm, the waves lapping softly at his feet and he shines his flashlight over the water in search of the car. in the middle of the river, somewhat under the bridge, black metal sparkles under the light. the tail end of the car stick out of water, the window of the backseat just barely visible and he swings the beam of flashlight around to look for the licence plate.

"how's it looking, gray?" kelsey calls down to him and he glances up at her briefly to see her standing with her own flashlight.

"well it's not great," he calls back. "im looking for the plates."

as soon as the words leave his mouth, his eyes latch onto the sequence of numbers and letters and he quickly realises its one that he's got memorised. his blood runs cold, his heart damn near stops beating and he's filled with all the same dread and panic he felt ten years ago.

mc. it always come back to the mc.

he's in the water before he even knows it. kelsey is calling him again, demanding to know what the hell he's doing and why but he can't think of anything else but his best friend. he has to get to them, he has to save them. nothing else matters.

his own name is the last thing he hears as he dives below the surface, the ice cold water shocking his system that he almost exhales all his oxygen. weighed down by his clothes, he forces his limbs to work even harder and before long, he sees the vague outline of the car in the murky water.

confusion takes over when he presses his face to the passenger side window and sees that the car is empty, the drivers door hanging open. empty. they mustve been able to escape before the car went under. relief begins to take over as he swims to the surface. oh, his brilliant mc.

gasping for the breath when he breaks the surface, he thrashes around, attempting to search for them in the darkness. he dropped his flashlight somewhere between seeing the licence plate and diving in the water, and he regrets not holding onto it a little tighter. he screams their name, hoping with everything fibre of his being that they're nearby and can hear him.

"grayson!" kelsey calls to him and he looks back to see her standing where he did just moments before, having made her way down the ravine when he dived in.

"it's mc!" he calls back. "they made it out; look for them along the shoreline!"

he doesn't wait for her response, instead swimming as fast as he can to the other side of the river. pulling himself out and wiping the water from his eyes, he takes off running again. his panic comes flooding back in full force, the relief he felt dwindling fast the further he goes. he screams their name, over and over again, only to be met by silence each time. not again, he thinks. please not again.

he skids to a stop when he sees a body lying on the shore and he stops breathing for a moment before he's moving again. dropping to his knees beside them, the pale light of the moon illuminating their face and he cries in relief upon seeing its mc. they're bruised and cut up, blood drying on their face but their chest rises and falls ever so slightly and that's enough for him.

"i'm here, mc," he says, pulling them into his arms and eliciting a groan from them. "you're okay." he rises to his feet, holding them close to his chest as he makes his way back to the bridge. he hates the thought of almost losing them a second time but he tries to focus on the positive, of them alive in his arms. pressing a kiss to their hair, he makes a vow to himself to do whatever it takes to keep them safe, no matter the cost.

[thewertsearch]

[ there was more to this ask, but some was spoilers 😆 - C ]

Ooh, that is a fun challenge! I might make this a bigger Title post, actually, because it's been a good while since we've had one of those.

...alright, I just finished, and this one kind of got away from me. I hope it's ok that I sort of hijacked your post to talk about Aspects as a whole - but rest assured, I did answer the original question. Let's get into it!

Unfortunately, it might be kind of difficult to make Class guesses. My theory is that they're Sburb's take on RPG party roles - and for obvious reasons, we haven't seen how any of the non-Player characters would fit into a Sburb party. A full analysis of the hypothetical Midnight Crew, Exile and Guardian sessions would be fun, but it's a little out of scope for this question.

Personality certainly seems to be a factor. I don't think it's a coincidence, for example, that the Seers are the most inquisitive members of their respective parties. Dave and Karkat both hide their true emotions behind a persona - but then again, so do Feferi and Jade, two happy-go-lucky Witches with incredibly dark backstories. Dave may be the worst offender, but half the cast is hiding behind some sort of facade.

John, for his part, doesn't seem to have anything in common with Equius - at least, nothing I can see. I might dig a little deeper for human/troll Class parallels once we've seen more of Equius and Feferi, but our sample sizes are so small that it's going to be hard to tell which shared traits are intentional.

Anyway, none of the other classes feature a pair of Players that I could toss into a Venn diagram, so we're at a bit of a dead end.

I suppose I could approach this from another angle, and try to extrapolate a Class from each character's life circumstances - for example, by speculating that Grandpa's inheritance of the Betty Crocker brand makes him a potential Heir - but that's clearly not an accurate method, given that literal heiress Feferi is a Witch.

See, Classes are a tough nut to crack! The main issue here is that the comic has given us very little to work with - it's been tight-lipped on Titles in general, and there's been almost no exposition on Classes specifically.

It might be easier just to try and assign Aspects to each of the non-Players - so that's what I'm going to do. I'll also take the opportunity to put forward my best guess for what each Aspect means.

Without further ado:

Time means time.

This one seems extremely straightforward. Not all the Aspects are quite so literal - Breath, for example, seems more closely related to wind than the body function it's named after - but Time is about engaging directly with its namesake. It may have other meanings as well, but we haven't seen any yet.

If you wield Time, then you're the session's designated time traveler - which is a lot less cool than it sounds, because it means you're on Doomed Timeline cleanup duty. Enjoy the corpse disposal!

Both of the comic's Time Players have fashioned their own personal time machines out of musical instruments. Music seems to have some connection to Time - which makes sense, since it's an art form of pitch, rhythm and beat. Music is time.

We can also talk for a second about Dave's Quest. As we'll see, each Land Quest seems to directly concern the Player's Aspect. Dave's Quest is to...

...um.

Well, one of these is Dave's Quest. The LOHACse is the only one of the two which is directly related to Time, but I've speculated that Dave's sword-in-the-stone quest will involve him rewinding Caledfwlch to an earlier point in its timeline. Plus, the Caledfwlch quest also speaks to Dave's Class as a Knight, so I think it's the real one.

For the sake of completeness, let's also talk about the Time Lands. Each Land always seems to feature one trait which either directly or obliquely references its Player's Aspect. LOHAC is self-explanatory, but Aradia's Land of Quartz and Melody is an interesting case, as its 'Aspect trait' could be either of its two descriptors. Quartz could reference the quartz in a modern clock, and Melody could reference the musical connection I mentioned above.

I can't think of any non-Players with particularly strong ties to Time - aside from the Felt and Lord English, who we know very little about. Let's say they're all Time Players, and English rules over them as a Prince of Time. As a mob boss and destroyer of worlds, he undoubtedly shares some of Eridan's megalomania.

Space... well, we actually don't have much for Space. We haven't seen Jade or Kanaya do anything with their Aspect, nor do we know anything about their Quests.

We do know that both Space Lands contain the Forge, so maybe there's something to that. Presumably it's going to forge something, and I think it's probably where you're supposed to create the universe. If your task is literally to create Space, it makes sense that a Space Player would take point - but that begs the question of what would happen in a session without a Space Player.

Maybe the game prefers a Space Forge, but it can spawn on another Land in lieu of one - or maybe Space is the 'default' Aspect, and it's actually mandatory in every session.

As far as Space's symbolism is concerned, my assumption is that it's as straightforward as Time, but we'll need to see more.

While I'm here, I guess I should dip my toe into this hot mess.

Yes, LOFAF's Space Word does appear to be Frogs. Yes, that does imply that Kanaya's was also Frogs, or something equally mysterious. No, I do not know what this could possibly mean.

These frogs are apparently heralds for their god, Bilious Slick, whose shadow has been looming over the comic for months now. I guess their appearance on the Space Lands implies that Slick is Space themed, which is at least consistent with my theory that he's the final obstacle between the Players and their universe.

Moving on, because I give up.

(Oh, and if anyone's a Space Player, it's Bec. You could also make an argument for Mom Lalonde, since her home was fitted with an observatory, but that's very tenuous. We don't know much about Space, so I don't know how else to tie a character to the Aspect.)

There's a lot going on with Light.

All Quests so far have had ties to the Player's Aspect, so whatever Jaspers thinks he's talking about here should have something to do with Light.

Jaspers... seems to be talking about different ways to represent information, and instructing Rose to find a particular DNA sequence. (I have to assume this isn't the MEOW sequence, because I don't think Sburb wants Rose to fill LOLAR's oceans with First Guardians.) So, it sort of looks like Light is information, doesn't it?

Well... maybe. See, things are are complicated by the fact that Dave's Quest above was also Knight-themed, so this spiel from Jaspers could be partially Seer-themed. How can we tell which is the Seer stuff, and which is the Light?

Recently, Rose said this, seemingly confirming that her Title is about information ('knowing shit'), and also implying that the 'knowing' is a Seer thing.

This allow us to compare her to Terezi, the other Seer. As we'll see below, she specializes in discerning people's personalities and motivations - literally, seeing into their minds - so it sounds like being a Seer is about perceiving or 'seeing' things that relate to your Aspect.

Rose, the Seer of Light, should therefore have an advanced perception of Light - but just what is Light? What can Rose see?

Well, she says she can see 'the big picture'.

I think Rose's powers allow her to zoom out, understand the broad strokes of a situation, and see how it all ties together - and I think that is the essence of Light.

Dave wonders how he's going to navigate the Furthest Ring's twisted-up space, so she scans the overall situation with her Light powers, and vaguely understands that it won't be a problem. Dave will be able to play his part.

However, if he asked why, exactly, it won't be a problem, or how he's going to do it, she'd be stumped. That's not her department.

I think I sort of understand what Light means now, but I can't think of a succinct way to describe it. The zooming-out Aspect, maybe? The everything-is-connected Aspect? The don't-sweat-the-details Aspect?

Guys, I think I'm starting to understand Homestuck!

Ah, shit.

Yeah, I don't know how Vriska or her powers slot into this interpretation. As the Thief of Light, I guess she'd be stealing... the bigger picture... from other people? And that lets her take their luck, somehow?

I guess when you give yourself 'good luck', you are sort of improving your situation in the general sense, rather than the specific. You don't know the details of how your luck will manifest, but you don't really need to - all you need to know is that it'll be good for you.

I don't know. This is getting messy, and more than a little abstract. I'm sure Vriska will be doing a lot of luck-stealing, so we'll hopefully learn more as we go.

At least the Land of Maps and Treasure fits Light-as-the-big-picture. A map is, literally, a big picture.

A flurry of disquieting happenstance is related to the ADORED SOVEREIGN. With no other options, her counsel is all that is left to be sought. Abdication is never ideal. But in the face of inevitable conquest, conceding ground can supply the only remaining advantage.

WQ, then, seems like a good fit for a Light Player. After listening to PM's full report, she seems to understand how the pieces fit together.

The Queen knows that Jack wants her dead, and clearly understands how dangerous a Player item can be, in the wrong hands. She doesn't know what's in the package, or what Jack will do with it - but she doesn't need to. She can see the writing on the wall, so she retreats.

I did a bit of Breath research for this post, and landed on the above quote. I think Breath is about direction and destination.

TT: John? TT: Are you there? -- tentacleTherapist [TT] is now an idle chum! -- EB: hey, yeah i'm here! EB: and not dead i think. TT: I know. TT: I've been watching you scramble through the house like a lunatic. TT: You should have answered me sooner.

John's a meandering kind of guy. He's wandered haphazardly around the session for three thousand pages, but he always seems to reach his goal. Despite not knowing where to go, he always seems to be where he needs to be.

John's Quest as the Heir of Breath has been explained in detail. He needs to unclog the pipes of LOWAS and defeat Typheus, freeing his Land's fireflies from their cloudy prison. In essence, John's Quest is to give these bugs a new direction, allowing them their full axis of movement once again.

There might also be some Heir stuff in this Quest, but its ultimate goal seems to align pretty well with that Breeze quote above, so I'm willing to accept it as Breath evidence.

AG: Have you ever tried to fly? I 8et you haven't! AG: How a8out we take to the skies, Pupa! AG: Hahahaha, oh you like that idea, Pupa? Yes, you do. I can feel it in your simple, mallea8le 8rain. AG: You want to fly so 8ad!

Breath might also have something to do with agency - or at least, the ability to choose your own actions. John's freedom-themed Quest isn't the only example of this - Tavros's entire arc is about how Vriska keeps denying him agency, while pretending she's doing the opposite.

(I'm going to avoid comparing Homestuck to other works, because this post is long enough as it is, so you're just going to have to imagine the twelve paragraphs of Deltarune meta that would otherwise be placed here.)

AT: bECAUSE THE ONLY TIME i EVER HAD FUN PLAYING THIS GAME WAS WHEN i WAS ASLEEP,

Tavros just wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to ignore the game and float around Prospit, away from everyone's expectations - but he was denied this opportunity, again and again. It's no wonder that he's on a bit of a high right now, after being granted the freedom of his new robo-legs.

As for potential Breath Players - well, CD reminds me of John a little, but he seems a lot more likely to stay on task. I don't know what Aspect he'd be assigned.

Now - we're onto the Aspects we've only seen in trolls. We don't have as much for most of these, since we haven't seen any troll Quests, nor any Aspect powers sans Vriska and Terezi.

Terezi, the Seer of Mind, deals in personality - or maybe, more generally, vibes.

CG: WE'RE NOT EXILING JACK, HE'S COOL. [...] GC: [...] 1 DO NOT G3T 4 GOOD F33L1NG FROM H1M! GC: H3 K1ND OF CG: STINKS? [...] GC: W3LL GC: SORT OF GC: H3 DO3SNT SM3LL B4D 4CTU4LLY GC: H3 SM3LLS R34LLY CL34N 4ND SH1NY 4ND D4RK D4RK D444RK L1K3 4N O1L SL1CK 4ND TH3R3 1S 4 T1NY H1NT OF L1COR1C3 TH3R3 TOO GC: 1TS MOR3 L1K3 GC: TH3 W4Y H3 MOV3S GC: 1 SM3LL H1S SMOOTH MOT1ONS 4ND TH3 W4Y H3 SQU1NTS H1S 3Y3S 4ND 1T G1V3S M3 TH1S R34LLY N3RVOUS F33L1NG

When she smells someone, her Mind-enhanced perception doesn't just tell her what they look like - it also seems to communicate that person's essence. Terezi can see the idea of Jack Noir, here. She's smelling what it feels like to be inside his head.

GC: TH3 D4Y 1T H4PP3N3D W4S TH3 F1RST T1M3 1 3V3R H34RD FROM MY LUSUS GC: SH3 WOK3 M3 UP, 4ND 3V3R S1NC3 H4S B33N T34CH1NG M3 4 D1FF3R3NT W4Y TO S33 GC: 4 D1FF3R3NT W4Y TO P3RC31V3 3V3RYTH1NG 1 GU3SS, NOT JUST 1N 4 S3NSORY W4Y

Terezi is also a naturally perceptive person, so it's sometimes unclear whether her reads are due to Seer clairvoyance or her own deductive abilities. As a general rule, I'll only treat her insight as a Mind power if she explicitly refers to her sense of smell as its source, since that's the avenue for her supernatural perception.

GC: T3LL M3 YOUR R34L N4M3!!! >:[ TG: ok lets say its TG: dave why not GC: D4V3! GC: TH4T SM3LLS L1K3 TRUTH GC: 1 W1LL D3C1D3 TO B3L13V3 1T >:] TG: fuck

Therefore, I'm pretty sure her powers do, in fact, allow her to detect lies. Mind, then, might be related to the concept of truth - as in, your Mind is the truth of who you are, stripped of all illusions.

I was initially going to place Droog here, since he seems to be the only Crew member with his head screwed on, but I no longer think Mind is about being rational or analytical.

Blood is the first Aspect I don't really have a guess for. Maybe it's got something to do with genetics - Karkat is a carcinoGeneticist, after all, and a mutant to boot.

Spades Slick is blood brothers with a Knight of Blood, and he's got a lot in common with Karkat, commanding his party with a moderately annoying leadership style. I'll put him here on the strength of those parallels, and I can revisit it when Blood is explained.

We don't know much about Nepeta, so we don't know much about Heart. Shipping is all about drawing them, though, so maybe Heart is about romance - or, more broadly, relationships and connections.

Nepeta's Land of Little Cubes and Tea is a lolcat joke, so it might not conform to the Aspect Word pattern. I guess, since the cubes are sugar cubes, it might be a pun on 'sweetheart'? Who knows.

I'll put Hearts Boxcars here, and not just because of his name. He's the only member of the Midnight Crew with any interest in shipping.

Feferi revived Sollux with a kiss, so Life is probably healing, as it is in many other element systems.

How her Land of Dew and Glass relates to Life is a mystery. While dew can refer to condensation on any surface, it's often used to describe the water droplets which accrete on grass and other flora. That's kind of a connection to a living thing, but feels like a stretch and a half.

Let's also put Nanna here, since she's the only true healer in the cast. I don't know why the other sprites don't use the healing beam.

Our Void Player is in a Land of Caves and Silence - a hole in the earth, and an absence of sound. Void seems to represent negation, or a lack of something.

Also - this might be a reach, but Scratch describes the gaps in his clairvoyance as 'pockets of void', so perhaps Void also has something to do with uncertainty - aka, a lack of information.

Most of the Guardians could go here, really. Bro seems the best fit, since he's constantly hiding from Dave, and completely vanishes for most of the session.

When a timeline is marked for destruction, we say that it's doomed.

Doom seems to represent death, obliteration and entropy. Sollux Entered into the Land of Brains and Fire, and I think it's pretty clear that Fire is the trait which is tapping his Aspect.

Doom may also be the Aspect of prophecy. After all, Sollux is a prophet of Doom - so maybe he's a prophet because of Doom. It could also be related to his nature as a Mage, but Mages haven't been explained, so I can't speculate.

I originally thought that Sollux might be a Seer - but the Seer Class seems to be about gathering information related to a particular Aspect, rather than directly divining the future. Maybe a Seer of Time could see future events, but it's certainly not a default ability of the class.

Grandpa seems to have some ties to Doom. He prophesized Jade's death to her when he told her about her dead Dream Self - plus, he's a hunter, with a house full of corpses. Also, his entire presence in the session is overshadowed by the spectre of his future death. This is probably the Aspect guess I'm most confident in.

I guess there's also Hope, a brand-new Aspect with no lore. Eridan's 'hope' would seem to be expressed in the fact that he constantly hits on people, hoping in vain for a yes. Thankfully, we're not aware of any non-Players like that....

The mail is the one final hope for resurrecting a dead planet from its ashes, and the letter carriers are the brave soldiers of God in this righteous crusade. They are the defenders of the light of knowledge, free communication, and the exchange of ideas. They are the bold toters of all those little papery conduits of freedom, the white postmarked angels that whisper a message on their deliverance, a promise to the yearning: "There is hope yet."

...but PM is pretty much screaming about hope in her mail monologue, so we'll put her here.

ORDER IN THE COURT. YOU WILL HAVE ORDER IN THIS COURTROOM. IF EVERYONE DOES NOT SETTLE DOWN YOU WILL CLEAR OUT THIS COURTROOM, YOU SWEAR TO GOD.

It's hard to classify the Aimless Renegade. He's all about crime and punishment - which is certainly a Terezi trait, but I don't think it's a Mind trait.

As for Dad, he has a well-established gentlemanly personality, but I don't know what Aspect is the most 'gentlemanly'.

I could try and classify more obscure characters like FedoraFreak, the Pen-pal, Jaspersprite or the Hussie self-insert, but I'll tell you right now I don't have any guesses. Still, that was fun, and it was a good opportunity for me to update my thoughts surrounding the Aspects!

[thegeminisage]

So You Want To Get Into The Legend of Zelda But Don't Know Where To Start: A Masterpost

this discussion came up in my zelda stream the other week so i thought since i'm a longtime fan and Extremely Normal i'd make a guide to people who are just now getting into the series because of breath of the wild/tears of the kingdom. there's a lot of games and it can be confusing on how they're connected, where to start, etc. this is going to be an EXTREMELY LONG guide, sorry - if you want a short version you can check out this post i wrote a long time ago.

The Timeline

so the good news is that the zelda games were published non-linearly, meaning that the game that takes place first chronologically was not necessarily the first one ever made. they didn't even HAVE a timeline until like 2011 or so. for that reason, with a few exceptions*, you can jump in pretty much wherever you like. most zelda games (or pairs of games*) are spaced hundreds or sometimes even thousands of years apart, featuring different links and zeldas and other characters, which means you don't need to know anything about zelda to start with any game. the series is deliberately made so that each title works perfectly well as a stand-alone game.

*the exception is that a very few games have direct sequels - for example, majora's mask takes places just a few years after ocarina of time, phantom hourglass takes place after wind waker, etc. luckily even with these games, you can still jump in without having played their other half and have a good time without getting lost.

The Introduction

that said, the zelda series is extremely eclectic. while they all have the undercurrent of "zeldaness" that makes them special they can be as different as night and day. 2D or 3D, happy or edgy, mainline or spinoff, story-heavy or story-light...which game is best for you to start with will depend heavily on your own personal tastes.

the short version: if you haven't yet, i recommend most people new to zelda start with either ocarina of time or breath of the wild. these games, released almost 20 years apart, were both completely revolutionary and redefined their genres (or, in oot's case, the entire industry). they usually have something to offer everyone and they're both games with standout tutorial sections that teach new players the lay of the land with ease. there's a reason most people start with one of these two - which one you prefer depends on whether you can enjoy an older game or would prefer something newer. for brand-new gamers, i might also recommend skyward sword because of how much the game holds your hand - it's frustrating for more experienced players, but for those just getting started in gaming in general it might actually work out well.

the long version: OBVIOUSLY i'm going to do a game-by-game write-up. sue me. if you're looking for information on a particular title, ctrl+f it. otherwise, settle in. time for a cut!

The Games

how to read this guide:

which games: most of them. this guide is long enough as it is, so i'm not doing a whole ass writeup for REALLY niche spin-offs like the tingle games, the crossbow training game, the bs releases, or the much-loathed cdi games, even if i think the crossbow game ruled. i will do hyrule warriors and cadence of hyrule because they're properly fleshed out games. ports and remakes are gonna get grouped together with the originals to save time and space. if there's something missing from this list you want to know about, the wikipedia article with the complete list of zelda media is right here and it's a genuinely fascinating read. have fun!!

release date: self-explanatory. using japanese release dates for overall accuracy, and the games are in order of release date as well, but you DO NOT need to play them in that order - that would be madness

console: original console, other consoles it's available on (not including the weird experimental stuff like satellaview, c'mon), and whether or not it is available for switch. why? the switch is the latest console, how many new fans got into zelda, and because of nso, it will be the easiest access point for people who can't or don't want to buy new consoles/emulate on pc. nso stands for "nintendo switch online," which is a the online membership you can purchase from nintendo. the basic plan allows, among other things, emulation nes, snes, and gameboy titles. the expansion pack tier adds emulation of n64, sega genesis, and gameboy advance titles. i think nso is a good service with great value if you can afford it - read about it here. virtual console is just buying the game, usually for a low price, and downloading it digitally to play on newer consoles, but most of those services have been shut down now. there's also backwards compatibility - the wii u can play wii games, the wii can play gcn games, the original ds (and ds lite) can play gameboy advance games, and the gameboy advance (and gameboy sp) can play gameboy and gameboy color games. the snes can also play gameboy and gameboy color games with the super gameboy, and the gcn can play gameboy, gameboy color, and gameboy advanced games with the gameboy player.

average playtime: this comes from howlongtobeat.com - if it seems off, take it up with them

mainline game: this just means whether or not this game was a "big entry" into the series - typically, mainline games are devloped by nintendo directly (though nintendo develops side-games too), and they have a higher budget and a longer dev time, but this doesn't necessarily mean they're better - some mainline games are received more poorly than the ones that aren't mainline. also sometimes people argue about which games count as mainline games so take it with a grain of salt

sequel: whether or not a game is directly tied to another game in the series - again, even if they are tied to another game, you don't HAVE to play that other game first

story-heavy: how many cutscenes/cinematics/character stuff is going on

edge level: how much grimdark and serious stuff is present and how "on-screen" it is. zelda games are infamous for a careful balance of cheerful and dark stuff in all games, but some games are more forthright about the darker elements than others. i prefer those, but you may prefer it the other way!

the premise/the good/the bad/the verdict: the actual write-up. unfortunately not even i have played/finished every zelda game (someday...), so for the games i can't speak on personally, i will make a note on it so you can seek a second opinion.

now let's get started!

The Legend of Zelda (1986)

original console: nintendo entertainment system

available on switch: yes, with nso (basic)

also available on: gcn & gba (ports), gcn (gameboy player), wii, wii u, 3ds (virtual console), original ds (backwards compatibility), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 8-10 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: no

story-heavy: no - in fact, for games in this era, reading the instruction manual is a must if you want story content; because the file size had to stay small, story content that couldn't fit was often added to manual instead

edge level: low

the premise: explore hyrule to find and put together eight fragments of the triforce so you can rescue princess zelda from ganon, prince of darkness.

the good: a solid introduction to the series, you can waste HOURS exploring this game, which is kind of a miracle considering the whole thing is only 128kb. (if you enjoy emulation, any computer will be able to play this. like doom, it could probably run on a microwave.) it's charming enough for when it was made and the music is all catchy as hell, even though it contains only a dozen or so tracks. this game is pretty light on puzzles, but most of the fun comes from the exploration - in fact, it was this game that the dev team for botw drew inspiration from when they were trying to figure out how to "reinvent" the zelda series - what they actually did was take it back to its roots.

the bad: well, it's that you can waste HOURS exploring in this game. back when it was released, the intent was to get players talking to one another - you would get one piece of the map explored and fine one secret, your friend would find and explore a different piece and find other secrets, and you'd trade! many people even had their own hand-drawn maps put together one screen at a time. since it really isn't possible to play this way today unless you get a bunch of friends together to do it blind, you almost certainly need a map or guide for this game when you're doing it on your own, otherwise you're never going to get anywhere, because there aren't usually indications that certain walls are bombable or bushes burnable.

the verdict: if you're a veteran who liked alttp (particularly the combat), if you have a high tolerance for aged games, or if you wanna see what this series looked like during its humble beginnings, you will like this game. if you're looking for a more guided experience or something with a lot of cinematics or puzzle-solving, pass. don't forget to read the manual!

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)

original console: nintendo entertainment system

available on switch: yes, with nso (basic)

also available on: gcn & gba (ports), gcn (gameboy player), wii, wii u, 3ds (virtual console), original ds (backwards compatibility), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 11 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: yes, to the original legend of zelda

story-heavy: no - ditto for story being in the manual, like with the original loz

edge level: low

the premise: dive into six ancient palaces to place crystals there to wake princess zelda from an era long gone, who has been sleeping for hundreds of years. avoid being caught by ganon's minions, who want to use link's blood to revive their master ganon.

the good: because this game began life as an independent title which eventually got zelda-fied, it's quite different from most games in the series. it has side-scrolling combat and rpg elements. the soundtrack is very catchy, and this game also introduces dark link, an extremely cool popular doppelganger of our beloved hero. the map is HUGE in comparison to the original so there's tons more to explore here.

the bad: this game is HARD. not, "challenging," like, "bordering on impossible." i've never beaten it. i got just a couple of dungeons in and i was so miserable i had to give it up. even playing the "special edition" on nso (which is with all the unlockable upgrades to make it easier), it's a fucking slog. that's it! that's the only flaw.

the verdict: even with all its good qualities, even with how fresh it feels, it's so damn frustrating that only gluttons for punishment and very unique souls will truly find joy here. if you do decide to brave it, remember to read the instruction manual.

A Link to the Past (1991)

original console: super nintendo entertainment system

available on switch: yes, with nso (basic)

also available on: gba (port), gcn (gameboy player), wii, wii u, 3ds (virtual console), original ds (backwards compatibility), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 15-17 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: no

story-heavy: medium. this was the first game to actually HAVE a proper story with named characters and extended dialogue. it wouldn't be considered story-heavy by today's standards, though.

edge level: medium, but like, on the high end of medium

the premise: one stormy night, link and his uncle receive a telepathic message from zelda begging for aid. link's uncle goes out into danger and doesn't return, so it's up to lik to go rescue her in his stead. from there you'll have to explore hyrule to locate the master sword, and explore the mysterious golden land behind the seal of the seven wise men to locate their missing descendants.

the good: alttp set the blueprint for the rest of the series - we finally have our first dungeon-crawler with proper puzzles, real dialogue from zelda, named bad guys, a huge array of funky items, and jammin' tunes still used in the games today (hyrule castle anyone?). plus, link has pink hair! the opening to this game is utterly iconic in every way, and traverse through not one but TWO world maps that overlay one another makes exploration even more exciting.

the bad: truly, no complaints here. it does require some patience. it's a little aged, and it's always possible to get lost without a guide, but so is it true for every game with a big overworld like zelda's.

the verdict: again, this game isn't story-heavy by today's standards, but back then it was more story than we'd ever gotten from a zelda game. as long as you don't go in expecting it to have an rpg kind of story, you'll probably enjoy it. if you don't like 2D zelda combat or need shiny graphics to keep your attention, give it a pass.

Link's Awakening (1993, 2019)

original console: gameboy/gameboy color, and a switch-exclusive remake

available on switch: yes - you can play the original with nso (basic) or the switch-exclusive remake

also available on: snes (super gameboy), gcn (gameboy player), gba, original ds (backwards compatibility), 3ds (virtual console), switch (remake), pc (emulation of any version)

average playtime: 14-19 hours for the original, 14-21 hours for the remake

mainline game: yes for the original, no for the remake, technically

sequel: technically a sequel to a link to the past, but they truly have nothing to do with each other

story-heavy: medium - similar story style to a link to the past. smaller cast and less overall dialogue, but more character work on marin specifically

edge level: usually pretty low, but in the rare moments when it jumps out it REALLY jumps out

the premise: while sailing, link becomes shipwrecked, washes up on shore of a remote place called koholint island, and is rescued by a girl named marin. with his boat in pieces, he has to go on a bittersweet adventure exploring the island and getting to know his rescuer in order to wake a mysterious being known as the windfish so he can go home.

the good: a tiny yet vast map, foreboding dungeons (hello, face shrine), a strange and quirky world that's impossible not to love with a small but charming cast to match (though, of course, the real stand-out character is marin), fun minigames, and a soundtrack that only got better in the remake. this game has it all! the story will surprise you by leaving you weeping at the end. there's not a huge difference to the gameplay between the original and the remake - it's mostly a graphical update, though they did add some side content.

the bad: it's one of those games that's different from the rest of the zelda series, which means it's not for everyone - there's no zelda, no ganondorf, no hyrule. also, getting the best ending is absolutely painstaking.

the verdict: what a wonderful game! the story is sparse but rewarding. if you don't like 2D zeldas, story-light games, or don't want to cry through the credits, you can give it a pass - but everyone else should love it.

Ocarina of Time (1998, 2011)

original console: nintendo 64, and a 3ds-exclusive remake

available on switch: yes, with nso (expansion pack)

also available on: gcn (port), wii, wii u (virtual console), 3ds (remake), pc (fan-port or emulation of either version)

average playtime: 25-40 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: no

story-heavy: yes, medium-high. it wouldn't impress by today's standards but back then it WAS the standard

edge level: medium-high. it's horrifying in some respects, but overall very wistful and bittersweet

the premise: link, the local outcast, is ousted from his idyllic home after tragedy strikes in the form of ganondorf murdering his forest's guardian spirit. from there you'll explore hyrule to open an ancient doorway, and go on a time-traveling adventure in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a terrible future and heal a broken world that didn't always want you.

the good: what can i possibly say about ocarina of time that hasn't already been said? critically acclaimed as the best game of all time when it was made and still 25 years later (with only breath of the wild threatening to unseat it), this game is everything. this is the game that taught me to love stories, to love gaming, to love zelda. the world is full of secrets and places to explore, there's a kind of dual-overworld thing happening the way there was in alttp, there's a lot of collectibles and sidequests and TONS of minigames, there's a huge cast of characters with real depth, you can RIDE A HORSE, and the quite literal coming-of-age story has actual plot twists that affect the gameplay. this game defined the official timeline for zelda (massive spoilers at the link), it defined the series itself, it defined the genre and even the industry - games everywhere are still using concepts introduced (or made popular) here, like targeting enemies, context-sensitive buttons, dynamic soundtracks, and day-night cycles.

the bad: one of the dungeons is a shitty goddamn motherfucking royal pain in the ass. you know what i'm talking about. unless you don't, in which case i'm sorry. maybe it's less horrible in master mode, i don't know. also, like, it's not that the game has aged poorly, it's still a solid adventure, but it HAS aged. since basically every game you've ever played has emulated oot with stuff like lock-on targeting, these features won't feel as revolutionary and special to a new player today as they did to new players in 1998. that's not bad, but it has caused some people to get excited to look into the hype, pop the game in, and then go "wait, i don't get it."

the verdict: unless you absolutely cannot deal with playing a 25yo game, pick this up - for the historical value, if nothing else. i cannot more highly recommend any game that ever existed than i do this one. that said, for people who are new to GAMES IN GENERAL, it may not feel as intuitive as it did to new players in 1998, because speak a slightly different language now. new gamers should definitely still play this, but they should either use a guide or consider not making it their very first game. more experienced gamers should still be fine making this their first zelda game.

bonus verdict: as for which console to play it on - the 3ds version has a lot of quality of life adjustments, including gyroscopic controls and a master mode (gcn version also has master mode), and the graphical improvement is absolutely astounding...but it's on a teeny-tiny little screen. i think the best way to play ocarina of time, if you're able to, is to emulate the 3ds version with the fanmade 4k upgrade. of course, this requires a good pc, emulation skills, and a properly connected controller (i haven't done it yet myself) - so don't feel bad playing anyway you can access it.

Majora's Mask (2000, 2015)

original console: nintendo 64, and a 3ds-exclusive remake

available on switch: yes, with nso (expansion pack)

also available on: gcn (port), wii, wii u (virtual console), 3ds (remake), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 20-38 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: yes, it's a direct sequel to oot. the opening may be a little confusing if you haven't played it but otherwise you're fine

story-heavy: yes, VERY. the character-work alone is unparalleled even by modern standards

edge level: EXTREMELY HIGH. this is without a doubt the darkest and most haunting game in the series

the premise: link, trying to escape his problems back home, gets thrown into an unfamiliar world where the moon is going to fall and destroy everything in only three days. with the help of multiple forms (link can shift into a deku, goron, or zora), and time travel, link relives the same three days over and over again, exploring clock town and the lands around it, and getting to know its people, so he can find a way to help everyone and prevent the oncoming apocalypse.

the good: holy cast of characters, batman! as with every zelda game, there is exploration and dungeon-crawling, and these are phenomenal here - of particular note is how the use of 4 different forms plays into puzzle-solving - but the real meat of this game comes from its incredible cast. near the beginning of the game you are given a journal, in which to note the schedules and habits of each and every resident of termina as you learn them. you play the same three days over and over, so while the clock is always ticking, there's an infinite time to get to know them. each character reacts to the upcoming armageddon differently: some are resigned, some are frightened, some are brave, and some are in denial. (notably, one minor character who appears brave crumbles in the final hours, begging not to die.) who these people are and the sorrows they carry around with them to the end of the world define this game and make it like no other.

the bad: look, it's a game about an upcoming apocalypse. you're on the sinking titanic and the clock counts down every precious second and no matter what you do there will ALWAYS be that time limit, which not everyone likes. it's stressful, and it can be sad and tragic, even upsetting at times, which is kind of a requirement for the powerful catharsis it also offers. it's very different to the usual zeldas - no zelda or ganondorf or hyrule - which also isn't everyone's bag. it's also a huge timesink - you really miss a lot of the point if you don't 100% it or at least get all of the masks, which takes a long time and a guide (although it is fun as hell the whole time).

the verdict: some people really hate the time limit and find it imposing. i mostly don't have a problem with it - sometimes i have to race to finish a task before i run out of time so i HAVE time to travel back before i get blown to bits, but without this mechanic, the game wouldn't work at all. famously, this game was made in only one year (hence the reused assets), so the pressure the devs felt really came out in their work. i think it's a fucking masterpiece, but it is a game about death, among other things, so if you need a feel-good title this one probably isn't your stop. that said, the incredibly powerful cast makes this game timeless - if not for the graphics you'd hardly know it's aged at all. even newer gamers should enjoy this one, but use a guide! for a game this complex it's more important to find everything than it is to do it blind.

bonus verdict: while the graphical improvements on the 3ds are wonderful, and the added fishing minigame is great, i mostly preferred the controls of the original. new players may not notice the difference, though!

Oracles of Ages & Oracle of Seasons (2001)

original console: gameboy color

available on switch: not at the time of writing, but nintendo has confirmed it is coming to nso (basic)

also available on: snes (super gameboy), gcn (gameboy player), gba, original ds (backwards compatibility), 3ds (virtual console), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 16-25 for oracle of ages, 15-21 for oracle of seasons, leading to about 31-46 hours total

mainline game: no

sequel: not linked to any other games in the series, but they're technically both sequels to each othjer - more below

story-heavy: no, about medium-low

edge level: low

the premise: link hears the triforce calling out to him, and when he investigates, is thrown into one of two words, depending on which game you're playing. these two games stand alone, but they can also be linked via a code so that your playthrough on one can be transferred over to the other (like golden sun, if you've ever played those games). you can choose which game to play first. at the end of your playthrough, you can get a code, which can then be entered on the other game - complete both and you get a secret special grand finale. somewhat like pokemon games, the games complement each other in their differences, thoguh the differences here are much more drastic - they have different overworlds and dungeons, a slightly different set of items, and a different way of interacting with the world (by either traveling through the ages or by changing the season). oracle of ages is focused on puzzle-solving, while oracle of seasons is focused on combat and action.

the good: what a dense and detailed little adventure these games are! with a double of everything from items sets to overworlds, there's a ton to do. the worlds have a ton of variety and can feel endless at times. and since they were built on (i think) the link's awakening engine, gameplaywise it's kind of like getting to play a really good sequel to that game for the first time...twice. the lore is fun, the lands are fun, there's a couple of unforgettable tracks i still listen to. since you can play the games in either order, there's a good bit of REplayability involved, because hardcore fans will want to experience it both ways - leading to two playthroughs of each game, meaning four total playthroughs, for up to a whopping total of 92 hours of gameplay. talk about bang for your buck!

the bad: the codes are a real pain in the ass to work with, and you really can't get by without them. not only is it essential for moving your file from one game to the other, but you can also use them to get special items from one file to another. it's SO EASY to enter these codes in wrong and SO TEDIOUS to have to check them character by character. here's hoping the nso version has a better way (though i'm not holding my breath).

the verdict: an absolute must for any 2d zelda fan. first-time players, i HIGHLY recommending playing ages first. there's an important side-character in ages whose story gets resolved in seasons, but not if you play seasons first. of course, if you really like the games a lot, you can always start over and play them in the other order for different cutscenes.

Wind Waker (2002)

original console: gamecube

available on switch: no :(

also available on: wii u (hd port), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 25-60 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: technically, this is one POSSIBLE sequel to ocarina of time (which splintered the timeline, leading to multiple possible branching paths), though it takes place hundreds of years later. it has the same ganondorf from that game, but you should understand everything just fine whether you've played oot or not.

story-heavy: yes

edge level: medium-low - there are some more serious moments, and this is technically a post-apocalypse story, but overall this is one of the more bright and joyful games

the premise: this is a hyrule that was flooded by the gods when the hero of an ancient era could not show up to defeat ganondorf. people live on former mountaintops, now islands, interconnected by only the sea, and sailing is very dangerous. when link's younger sister is kidnapped, he has to leave his little island and go on a sea-faring adventure with pirates in order to get her back and unlock the mysteries of the hyrule beneath the waves.

the good: the game is vibrant, colorful, beautiful, and full of life. even if you don't like the cartoony art style (and i have mixed feelings), you can't deny the ambiance. there's a new combat system where for the first time you can pick up the dropped weapons of enemies, and the cast is stand-out - the "zelda" of this game is more hands-on than in any other title, and ganondorf is at his most sympathetic here, not to mention all the minor characters and their various sidequests. the characters are truly some of the funniest and most endearing yet - this game will make you laugh out loud. the enemies and bosses are unique and fun to grapple with (special shoutout to helmaroc king) and there's no shortage of stuff to do.

the bad: firstly, we have to mention the art style, which has been a little divisive over the years. it won't be for everybody. i like it for the most part, because you couldn't get the same vibe without it, but i do wish it was just a little less stylized - just a little! secondly, the game is just not finished. the development was rushed, leading to the cutting of an entire dungeon and a poorly-implemented second half where the focus shifts from exploration and dungeons to a near-ENDLESS fetch-quest for triforce pieces which involves a LOT of incredibly tedious and time-consuming sailing. (as kids, some trips were so long we could just set the direction and leave the controller on the floor while we took a bathroom break.)

the verdict: overall, the flaws aren't enough to ruin what is a truly great adventure. fans of the more serious games (hi! me!) may find themselves wishing wind waker had leaned into its post-apocalyptic setting and mysterious drowned world aspect more, and fans of lighter zeldas will find themselves wishing the damn thing was finished, but overall, everyone should find it's worth at least one playthrough, unless you absolutely cannot tolerate the visuals. fans of lighter zeldas, combat, and pirates will all love this one.

Four Swords (2002)

original console: gameboy advance

available on switch: no :(

also available on: 3ds (single-player remake), potentially pc (idk if emulation of the original is possible considering the connectivity, but you could almost certainly emulate the remake)

average playtime: 3-17 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: technically, it's a sequel to minish cap, but minish cap hadn't been made yet, so whatever

story-heavy: not at all

edge level: non-existent

the premise: link pulls the ancient "four sword" in order to defeat bad guy vaati and becomes split into 4 selves. this game was the first multiplayer zelda, and you had to have three friends, all with their own gameboys and link cables, to even play this bad boy. from what i understand in most of the game you just compete to see who can get the most rupees? a single-player version was released on the 3ds a few years later but i don't know if you can still buy it legit or if the 3ds store was shut down. since it was so inaccessible, pretty much no one played this, including me, so i can't give it a proper writeup. probably nobody reading this will ever get a chance to experience four swords how it was originally meant to be played either, but you can find this game's spirit in similar titles like four swords adventures or minish cap, which are much more accessible.

Four Swords Adventures (2004)

original console: gamecube

available on switch: no :(

also available on: uh yeah that's it. just the gamecube. you may be able to emulate it on pc though - i've never tried

average playtime: 15 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: teeechnically a sequel to the original four swords, but nobody played that, it's fine

story-heavy: not at all

edge level: very low

the premise: a sequel to four swords, this was intended to be the sleeker and (somewhat...) more accessible version. you can play this one as a single player, but my brother and i did it on co-op with a link cable and a gameboy sp - just the two of us, and no need to find two other friends - we each controlled two links each, to simplify it.

the good: the game is FUNNN as hell. the graphics are sleek as fuck because it's a 2d game running on a system capable of rendering 3d ones (just look at those flame effects!), the gameplay is addictive, and co-op puzzles are a blast. nintendo has always come out strong when it comes to in-person multiplayer (even if they have yet to catch up with online multiplayer...) and this is no exception. for anyone who ever wished they could sit on the floor and play zelda with their siblings the same way they played mario kart or smash bros, this game is a dream come true.

the bad: this game is still so GODDAMN inaccessible. we were lucky enough to have the gameboys and link cables we needed, but i don't have any idea how you'd go about playing it with other people now without some extremely tedious emulation or buying some extremely old (and expensive) gaming equipment. sure, emulating the single-player version on gcn is no big, but the game really shines in its multiplayer aspect, which is all but impossible for most people to enjoy now. it's incredibly frustrating.

the verdict: if you're lucky or rich enough to own a gamecube, a gameboy, and a link cable (multiple gameboys and link cables?) in 2023, AND you have a friend or three to play it with, please pick this one up. unless you just hate 2d zeldas, it is a FUCKING blast, and zelda fans the world over are probably envious they can't experience it for themselves.

Minish Cap (2004)

original console: gameboy advance

available on switch: yes, with nso (expansion pack)

also available on: original ds (backwards compatibility), 3ds, wii u (virtual console)

average playtime: 15-27 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: no, but it is a prequel to the four sword series (made well after those games were released)

story-heavy: medium-light - about the level of most 2d zelda games

edge level: very low - this is such a bright and cheerful adventure

the premise: in an adventure meant to explain vaati of four sword fame's origins, you meet teeny-tiny people known as the minish, who live in teeny-tiny spaces all over hyrule. they mend shoes, use pots and old boots as houses, fight dust mites, and leave surprise gifts such as rupees and hearts beneath pots and the like to help adventurers. by shrinking and growing you explore various nooks and crannies and solve a ton of puzzles, and through fusing items called kinstones with strangers you can change or uncover more of the overworld and unlock even more secrets

the good: the game is beautiful, bright, and fun. the soundtrack is catchy, the gameplay is addictive, the puzzles are very fresh, and the kinstone fusion feature means you'll be doing a lot of backtracking and replaying to see all this game has to offer.

the bad: besides zelda, i didn't find myself terribly enthralled with most of the cast. the reused sound effects from other games can be nostalgic sometimes but sometimes they feel a bit cheap, since they had to be downsized; they're the audio equivalent of a pixelated jpg. and as great as the soundtrack is, it suffered from the same thing.

the verdict: my nitpicks with this game are minor - i think it's a wonderful and fresh entry into the series, and probably one of if not the best 2D zelda. if you like 2D zelda at all, you'll want to pick it up.

Twilight Princess (2006)

original console: gamecube AND wii (i know)

available on switch: no :(

also available on: wii u (hd port), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 30-56 hours

mainline game: yes

sequel: technically, this is another possible sequel to oot, taking place 100 years later, and involving oot's ganondorf. (it has nothing to do with the timeline wind waker is on.)

story-heavy: yes, very - the cutscenes look great, the mocap for this game is wonderful

edge level: very high

the premise: 100 years after ocarina of time, darkness falls across hyrule in the form of "twilight," desolating every part of hyrule that it touches by turning its denizens into ghosts, and forcing princess zelda to surrender to zant, the king of the twilight realm. when link's village is destroyed by this twilight and he is turned into a wolf, he leaves to save zelda, save hyrule, and save his home. this game was meant to be a gcn title originally, but development was delayed for so long that they began co-developing it for the wii and released it as a launch title for that console.

the good: where do i start? this game was intended to be a return to oot's more realistic artstyle after many years of the wind waker art style in spin-off games, and was in fact a spiritual remake of oot in many ways. it is similar graphically, tonally, and gameplay wise - it's the oot they wanted to make in 1998, only with a more powerful engine, and fans loved it - check out this video of its announcement at e3 - it still gives me chills. famously, this game introduced horseback combat, which the devs had really wanted to implement in oot and were forced to give up on due to hardware limitations. the cast and the puzzles are all great on this one, and the world is huge and full of surprises, but of particular note is your partner midna, who comes with a better story and more personality than any partner before or since (sorry, king of red lions). lesbians and their associates will LOVE whatever the hell she has going on with zelda in this game. twilight princess also has the most fleshed-out swordplay of any zelda game - the various techniques you learn from the ghost swordsman are fun as hell, and every single boss battle in this game absolutely fucks.

the bad: despite its high moments, the story in this game is just a little weirdly paced. ganondorf was brought in kind of suddenly, and link's childhood friend from his village, whom the story focuses on a lot, is maybe not the most compelling character (sorry to ilia fans - she's okay, just not my favorite). not everybody liked this game's emulation of oot, and some people felt it was uninspired. personally, my gripes are mostly about the dual-console release; having played both versions multiple times, i think they both suffered from being co-developed. because the wii version uses motion controls and most people are right-handed they switched to a right-handed link for the wii (BLASPHEMY), meaning they actually flipped the entire world horizontally, and there are times when the laziness of this action is very apparent when playing the wii version. while the controls are superior on the wii (there's a mandatory shooting minigame that's all but impossible on gcn connected to a crt tv), the graphics just...look a little aged for a wii game, whereas they look damn good for a gamecube game. the hd remake fixes this, but since it's only on the wii u, fucking nobody has played it, and it remains inaccessible to most players except through emulation.

the verdict: if you can get your hands on this, do it. despite its flaws it's a classic meat-and-potatoes zelda adventure. fans of combat and more serious stories will especially love this one. personally, i preferred the gcn version because of left-handed link, but i do think the motion aiming on the wii (and wii u?) was a great addition, so it's a matter of preference as far as if you want the hd graphics and what controller feels correct in your hands.

Phantom Hourglass (2007)

original console: nintendo ds

available on switch: no :(

also available on: wii u (virtual console), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 17-31 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: a direct sequel to wind waker - not sure if you need to have played that to understand; from what i can tell there are actually a few plotholes

story-heavy: medium, i think?

edge level: low, as far as i know

the premise: after tetra gets sucked into a ghost shiop ad vanishes, link has to set sail on a new ship to find a way to free her. that's all i really know because, okay, up-front, i did not finish it. i did not give it a fair shake. it's got great reviews and they can't all be wrong, but i found controlling link with a stylus (the ds had no control stick) frustrating, the game hard to see (the graphics are trying to emulate ww's style on less capable hardware), and the story uncompelling (tetra? a damsel??). i know a lot of people really love linebeck and i wanna love him too one day, but until then, get your answers from the people who love this game!

Spirit Tracks (2009)

original console: nintendo ds

available on switch: no :(

also available on: wii u (virtual console), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 20-33 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: to wind waker and phantom hourglass, technically, though it takes place 100 years after those games

story-heavy: medium, i think?

edge level: low, as far as i know

the premise: 100 years after wind waker and phantom hourglass, a new hyrule has been founded above the waves and it has TRAINS. for some reason zelda gets zapped out of her body and can now follow you around as a cool ghost who possesses bigass statues to help you out. that's right, your partner for this game IS ZELDA. the main theme for this game is so catchy it's a crime. i never played this since i didn't finish phantom hourglass, but it looks so fucking cool that i wanna power through phantom hourglass despite my initial reservations just so i can take a crack at it.

Skyward Sword (2011)

original console: wii

available on switch: yes, as an hd port

also available on: wii u (virtual console & backwards compatibility), pc (emulation)

average playtime: 30-58

mainline game: yes

sequel: no - in fact, it's the prequel to every zelda, being that it's the very first one in the timeline

story-heavy: yes, very

edge level: mostly low, but it does have its serious moments

the premise: taking place at the very start of zelda's long and complex timeline, this game seeks to explain the origins of hyrule's creation and and some of its mythology. link and the other proto-hylians live in islands high above the clouds and attend the school for flying around on bigass birds, not knowing if there even is a world below, until one day zelda (not a princess but the headmaster's daughter) gets dragged down by a dark force, and link must venture into the land below to save her.

the good: skyward sword is oozing ambiance. a standout area of this game is lanayru desert, in which you can use a timeshift stone to shift the area directly around you back in time by 1000 years or so and watch it come to life with greenery. this soundtrack is fully orchestrated, we get to hear zelda sing (her first voice acting debut!), and when the motion controls are on, they're REALLY on. sometimes the swordfights feel like actual duels. the cast of side-characters all get a lot of development (shoutout to my man groose!), and the villains are creepy and quirky. the dungeons in skyward sword are especially good - the cistern in particular is one of the best in the game, but we can't forget the ghost ship or the sky temple either. minor spoilers for the story, here, but finding out WHY there are so many zelda games and the struggle against evil never ends (it's a literal curse) was really cool and really reframed how a lot of people saw the series and the characters - it's a lot more tragic that they have a fate they can't escape from so long as zelda fans want more games.

the bad: minor spoilers for the story here too. as far as prequels go it did not make a lot of sense. there's nothing about the three goddesses we've come to know and love, only about the minor goddess hylia, and the ancient hyrule features species that don't ever make another appearance mole guys and seahorse dudes. there aren't any zoras or gerudo or koroks/kokiri, there's only one goron, we only see two sheikah...it feels so far removed from the hyrule we know that it doesn't feel like a prequel at all. additionally, when the motion controls aren't good, they're REALLY bad - especially on the switch version, which has less precise controls than the wii. finally, while i personally didn't mind it (puzzles!), a lot of people disliked how linear the overworld was and complained there was no exploration. another common frustration, one which i share, is how much the game holds your hand. (this famously inspired toriel in the game undertale to LITERALLY hold your hand and do the puzzle for you.) this game will present a puzzle and then have the nearest npc (most often fi, poor fi, she undeservedly gets all the blame for this) explain how to do it before giving you even one chance to try for yourself.

the verdict: it has its flaws, but i still enjoy it a lot. i think more experienced players will be very frustrated with it at times, and people who hate motion mechanics or constant alerts/lots of useless dialogue will be miserable. (you can turn motion controls off in the switch version but it feels unnatural because of how sword-swinging works.) on the other hand, the game's linear and hand-holdy nature actually makes it a perfect start for brand new gamers, especially given where it falls on the timeline.

A Link Between Worlds (2013)

original console: 3ds

available on switch: no :(

also available on: pc (emulation)

average playtime: 16-23 hours

mainline game: no

sequel: takes place at least 100 years after a link to the past, and even uses the same overworld! you don't have to play that to understand this though.

story-heavy: medium, about the level you expect for 2d zeldas

edge level: medium-high

the premise: link turns into a little flat guy so he can go more places! this is a sequel involving the inhabitants of lorule, a parallel world to hyrule, one without a triforce. go back and forth between kingdoms to save hyrule from suffering the same fate, all while trying to kick a giant rabbit guy out of your house.

the good: the puzzles in this one are really fun and fresh, the old overworld map feels super nostalgic, the music is charming, and being able to tackle the dungeons in any order is a nice touch. i especially loved getting to know certain inhabitants of lorule.

the bad: the non-linear style won't be for everyone, and i wish i had been able to spend more time getting to know hilda in particular.

the verdict: this in my opinion is one of the best 2D zeldas - if you're a 2D zelda fan, especially a alttp fan, don't miss it!

Hyrule Warriors (2014, 2016, 2018)

original console: wii u

available on switch: yes, as a remake/collection

also available on: this is complicated. the game was originally released on wii u, then ported to the 3ds with new added content but i think mising some other content, and then FINALLY released on the switch with ALL the content. you can also emulate any version on the pc

average playtime: 17-38 hours, though people report up to a whopping 366 hours to 100% it

mainline game: no

sequel: no

story-heavy: medium-ish. there's cool cutscenes but it's not that deep

edge level: low, this shit is just balls to the wall crazy-ass fun

the premise: a crossover between dynasty warriors and zelda. turn zelda into a beat-em-up and add cameos from popular characters doing increasingly batshit anime fighting moves. what's not to like?

the good: this game is insane. the electric guitar soundtrack, the cameos, the nostaliga - it's all here. the gameplay is good mindless fun you can really sink your teeth into, and despite it not being the point i had fun running around and exploring all the maps. there's so, so, SO much to do (366 hours!) you will literally never see the end of it.

the bad: the OCs are maybe not my favorite people. i don't know if they come from other dynasty warriors games but they were a little annoying and truly, uh, underdressed. also, as someone who likes to 100% games, it annoys me that i'll likely never 100% this, just because of the sheer timesink/grinding required.

the verdict: if you like fighting games and combat, this is for you. if you're into zelda for the serious story stuff and the puzzles, give it a pass. completionists beware, 100%ing this game is NOT for the faint-hearted.

Tri Force Heroes (2015)

original console: 3ds

available on switch: no :(

also available on: pc (emulation)

average playtime: 14-26 hours, but up to 56 hours to 100% it

mainline game: no

sequel: takes place a few years after a link between worlds - not sure if you need to play that to understand this, but it seems unlikely

story-heavy: doesn't look like it

edge level: low. oh my god, he's in a little cheerleader outfit. look at him

the premise: i don't really know, i think you crossdress to gain superpowers and then solve puzzles with your buds. i didn't play this one because i didn't have 2 friends with a 3ds and a flexible schedule. apparently there's a one-player mode, but it just doesn't seem as fun, and the lack of a 2-player mode is sad because my brother and i could've rocked it. like the four swords series, this looks like great multiplayer fun, but it's inaccessible to people without the time or coordination to get 3 people together. it looks fun as hell, though.

Breath of the Wild (2017)

original console: dual launch on wii u and switch

available on switch: yes, obviously :)

also available on: pc (emulation)

average playtime: 50-100 hours, though to 100% everything and enjoy the dlc it could take up to 210!

mainline game: yes

sequel: technically, it's a sequel to everything, since it takes place at the end of (somehow) every timeline. but you don't have to have any prior experience to enjoy it

story-heavy: medium-heavy? this is the first zelda game with voice acting, and what cutscenes it does have are amazing, but you can expect to see only a very few of them

edge level: very high (this is once again post-apocalyptic), but not as high as majora's mask or twilight princess

the premise: link wakes after a 100 year sleep with no memory of who he is or what happened to the ruined world around him. explore a completely open world in your own way at your own pace, recover your memories, rescue zelda.

the good: this game hit the industry at a thousand miles per hour and six years later the hype still hasn't slowed down. this redefined the series and the genre in a way we haven't seen since oot in 1998. this game is revolutionary in the way that oot was revolutionary back then, but updated so that newer players find it just as surprising and refreshing as new players in 1998 found oot back then. the exploration, the physics, and the world are all totally unparalleled - three decades later, this zelda truly gets back to the original explorer and adventuring spirit miyamoto tried so hard to capture in the very first legend of zelda game all the way back in 1986.

the bad: as much fun as this world is to play around in, i found that most of my joy came from the exploration and not knowing what i'd find around the next corner. it's still a very, very, VERY good game, but i found that on my replay it just didn't have that same shininess that other games in the series do when i replay them. and, of course, because it's so different it's very divisive - there's no human ganondorf in this game, no dungeons - all your puzzle-solving comes in microdungeons called shrines scattered around hyrule. weapon durability is also a hotly debated feature - even i found it frustrating at times, although in many ways the forced improvisation it brings to the table is more than worth the cost of admission. and overall the enemies are all the same and have no real difference between them, even the bosses, and the boss fights kind of suck. it's a really good game, but it does have its flaws.

the verdict: this is the perfect starting point for anyone new to the series. many people have started with this game and learned about hyrule alongside the amnesiac link - i had an extremely interesting discussion once with someone on tumblr about how the game is different if you've grown up loving hyrule and see it get torn apart, vs if the only hyrule you know IS the one that's torn apart. both ways are wonderful experiences, and i think even non-zelda fans would find something to love in the freedom this game offers.

Cadence of Hyrule (2019)

original console: switch

available on switch: yes, obviously :)

also available on: pc (emulation)

average playtime: 6-11 hours, but you can add up to 12 more if you play the dlc

mainline game: no

sequel: no

story-heavy: not really

edge level: low

the premise: a crossover with crypt of the necrodancer, a roguelike rhythm game. there's no real story here except, notably, a brief cameo of a younger ganondorf, though his back is always turned to you. (if you could go back and kill ganondorf as a baby...)

the good: well, a rhythm game's gotta have good music, right? both the rehashes of the old songs and the new music are absolutely stellar here. i'm normally iffy on rhythm games but i found the gameplay addictive (there's a strong tactical element to moving around) and the exploration fun. getting to play as zelda (!!!) if you want is a great bonus, too. there's really nothing not to love.

the bad: the kind of movement you have in this game doesn't lend itself super well to boss fights most of the time. they weren't bad by any means but definitely one of the weaker parts of the experience.

the verdict: unless you hate rhythm games or hate fun, you'll like this one, especially if you're a crypt of the necrodancer fan or a fan of zelda's music in general. puzzle fans might be disappointed there aren't as many mind-twisters in this one, though.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (2020)

original console: switch

available on switch: yes, obviously :)

also available on: pc (emulation)

average playtime: 25-40 hours, though it can take up to 76 hours to 100% it

mainline game: no

sequel: a direct prequel to breath of the wild and its eventual but as-of-yet unreleased sequel tears of the kingdom

story-heavy: yes

edge level: relatively low, i'm told

the premise: so this is a prequel to botw, taking place during the era just before the apocalypse. i didn't finish it because it came out right around nov 5 2020 (iykyk) and then someone spoiled the ending for me and i thought it sounded stupid, so i was less motivated to play. what little i did play of it was great, though - it was exciting and fun in all the ways the original hyrule warriors was but bigger and badder in every respect, and with a little more of that somber botw flavor. i intend to finish before totk comes out despite my reservations about the story.

The Conclusion

it's a great time to be a zelda fan because out of the 22 games on this list, only 8 of them are unavailable on nintendo switch, and only 2 of those are what i would consider to be mainline games. that means you can access two thirds of the ENTIRE SERIES, spanning almost 4 decades, on a single console! your only limits are your time and your wallet. most of the ones that AREN'T available on the switch can be played on a 3ds, so if you have or buy one, nearly the entire series is at your fingertips. (you can emulate the shit out of your 3ds, btw, and play a lot of these gameboy, gba, and ds games for free - nintendo isn't looking anymore so they don't care.)

sorry i couldn't fully cover all games - i welcome opinions from people who have played games i've missed in the tags. when i do get around to playing them, i will come back and update this guide! expect an entry for totk eventually too. thanks for reading and i hope it was helpful to someone!

[triforce-of-mischief]

You know what? I cast it back at YOU! What do you think the boys most irrational fears are? - Fire

mmmmm fear~

Time: Being grabbed from behind. If he's hugged unexpectedly then the other person will find themselves thrown into a wall/tree. This is because of Redeads. To make this a full-blown fear instead of just a minor inconvenience- Time is almost constantly on guard, imagining a body creeping towards his back, a gasp of air on his ear taking in a breath to scream... then he whirls around to find nothing.

Twilight: Fire because something something manga. I just think there's potential here- regarding even tiny candles with a wary gaze, shying away from the campfire, being overwhelmed at the strong smell of smoke...

Warriors: Becoming incapacitated and unable to fight in any way. Illness, injuries, loss of limbs... he lives in constant anticipation of the unavoidable. You would think this means that he visits the med tent often, but it is of course the opposite. Medics mean healing, recovering, sitting and doing nothing to help his brothers and people in danger. Illness and injuries may slow him down, but by Hylia they will not stop him.

Wind: Everybody says he's afraid of big birds, but you know what's way scarier than a couple of Kargoroks? Those noodly hand things that pop out of the ground, grab your face, and drag you into the unknown. The kid, much like Time, hates being grabbed unexpectedly but is terrified if somebody suddenly goes for his face. Nobody tell him about Wallmasters.

Four: Green peppers Seriously what can beat that? I haven't played Minish Cap yet so I think I'm gonna go with the beloathed produce. He turns into an absolutely feral demon when faced with an innocent green pepper, and they are the cause for his worstest of nightmares.

Wild: Jumpscares. No really, anything can set him off and nobody expects such an extreme reaction (scream, leap back, probably some tears). Out in the wild, you have to constantly be on guard for a falling boulder or a stampeding goat or a sneaky Stalmoblin about to yeet you off a cliff. And frankly, Wild has never gotten used to these.

Legend: PROJECTION CITY I see your "Lege has a million piercings" and I raise you "There's a reason why he doesn't have a single pair of earrings in canon and that reason is a fear of needles". He would like to stay very, very far away, thank you very much. He is an absolute mess when somebody forces him to get his wounds stitched and requires a task force of at least 3.

Hyrule: Big crowds. The poor thing gets overstimulated, overwhelmed, and just shuts down in the busiest of Castle Town markets. Goddess forbid the others leave him behind or send him on his own.

Sky: Underground tunnels. They're dark, tight, and you never know what's around the corner (probably a giant centipede or an approaching wall of lava). He can barely move in the first place, and under stress he gets his directions mixed up and starts to hyperventilate which is Very Bad for an enclosed space.

Ravio: Paintings. Yuga threatened to turn him into one if he wasn't a good little bunny. Ravio was actually immensely relieved to be rid of the bracelet just in case he accidentally activated it one day and couldn't figure out how to escape. Now every painting featuring a person freaks him out and he refuses to let any decorate his Link's house.

[sabrinahawthorne]

JUMP! Devlog, February 2, 2024

Combat - tactics versus drama

I'm not trying to make a tactical combat game. If you want anime games who focus on the moment-to-moment of a fight, there are better options out there for you. I personally recommend DAWN: The RPG, if that's your preference. But I digress.

I'm really happy with the core Bidding mechanic in the JUMP prototype. After a playtest, it proved to work exactly how I'd hoped. The feedback I got was a resounding: more please. So this month, I set about expanding combat.

To keep a long story short, I tried a couple of different things, and they didn't work. I ended up just building a second, different combat that sat on top of the first and didn't interact with it at all. More than that, the design went directly against my design goals. It was tactical, and approaching a level of crunch that I wasn't really happy with.

I eventually found the solution while rereading Aver Alder's Monsterhearts 2: Conditions and GM Moves.

My mistake was trying to tie every piece of the fiction into some discreet mechanical state or interaction, instead of providing a robust imaginative space paired with concrete, narrative goals. Conditions are great for this. I can attach them to some simple mechanical consequence, but their focus is solidly in the story. You don't clear a condition by meeting a numbers threshold, or performing the right bonus action - you build a narrative moment.

GM Moves are also great for this - In giving the GM a toolkit that operates primarily in the fiction, as opposed to their own set of stats and rules clarifications, they enter the role of a director. They can focus more and more on what a fight means for the story - playing to find out what happens, as they say.

Truth be told, I struggle with narrative game design. I like a harmonic system - a clockwork. It feels very easy to me to take the numbers and boxes of a system and build my own fiction around them. Giving the written fiction the same weight as the clockwork is something I'm still working on. Which makes working on JUMP! exciting! It forces me to open up to new avenues of my own design, and to bring in color that I wouldn't otherwise be inclined to be.

2. Playbooks - How Moves Make the Fiction

Give everyone their own Power Up Move. Duh.

I spent a lot of time this month trying to make character features universal. Again, clockwork. But again, the Apocalypse Engine saved me - I got to thinking about Sex Moves, and what purpose they serve (in this case, in the context of Monsterhearts). They're so character specific - they forward the tropes, the imaginative space the table is here to engage in. So I've been leaning in. It's all chicken scratch in a notebook right now, but I have a lot of ideas for how to rework the Playbooks. They're going to end up with a lot more individual toys than they have now. For now, I'll say that I have the words "Hedonistic Hero" written under the Powerhouse Playbook.

Work continues, I dinner to make. Check out JUMP!, and keep an eye out for more logs and milestones!

[melonsinthesky]

Here goes nothing, so here are some friends and more family of Damian (Jon's not his only friend)✨️

In case you ever want to read the comics I included some spoilers ig and pictures too!

Maya Ducard (aka Nobody)

So, Damian killed her father. Yikes. He is eventually forgiven in the comic series, Robin: Son of Batman. Which features one of the few depictions of brown Damian

She's his big sister (Damian being 10 y.o. in R:SoB and Maya 14 y.o.)

She was the first person of his siblings that he called by their name.

She helps Damian with undercover missions (as seen in Supersons), is a proficient fighter, also an ex-assassin, and the voice of reason.

Maya is black-latina.

Maya hasn't appeared in the recent timeline, last she was seen with Kathy (aka Beacon) in their own base.

If I'm not mistaken there's one maribat fic that's got her

She's family 💖

Suren Darga

Like Damian, they both are initially interested into following their father's footsteps.

The Darga and the al Ghuls are rivals. But DC hasn't mentioned again since R:SoB

He's arab too! Like Damian.

Suren is a magician too.

If you think the al Ghuls are stuck in past, the Darga's are way more in the past.

He's also pretty exaggerated. I think he was dead but got resuscitated (it's been years since I've read R:SoB and my English wasn't as good as it is now)

Damian relates and cares for him in his own way.

Colin Wilkes

He's an orphan, who's also a meta-human. Colin was experimented on, and when he's using his powers he doesn't look alike, he goes by Abuse.

He's a little bit like Jon, except that Jon is a little shit who never hesitates to fight Damian. Colin is a nice kid.

He appears a lot in Li'l Gotham. Damian takes him to the BatCave, and even lets his friend use a batsuit.

Colin hasnt appeared in a while because DC doesn't like Damian having friends or something.

Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi

She's from the comic series "Gotham Academy" (currently working on a fic that has the GA kids)

I never understood if Maps got a crush on Damian or on his weapon(?) But they're cute together

She's a bit eccentric, likes to wear suits instead of dresses.

Maps like cartography, that's where the nickname Maps comes from.

She gets into trouble a lot. Dreams to be Robin, well she kindda is.

Maps as Robin was a thing during the We Are Robin arc, and on one more newish solo issue which probably means there's more of Gotham Academy in the works!!!

I've read one or two maribat fics that feature her!

Kathy Branden (aka Beacon)

She's actually not Damian’s friend, she's Jon's.

Kathy is Jon's neighbor from when they lived in Hamilton County and he went by Jonathan Samuel White.

She's an alien like Jonny.

Seemingly DC was aiming to pair them.

So, Kathy and Damian develop a friendly relationship and ofc they're allies.

She lives on her own, in her farm along with Maya.

Mara al Ghul

Cousin of Damian

Damian left her blind on one eye while after sparring she launched a dagger at him and he did the same to her but :/

She's the daughter of Dusan al Ghul (aka White Ghost), older than Talia but because of his albinism he was discarded of being the heir.

They have reconciled

Athanasia al Ghul

She just appears in Injustice and she's Damian's bio-sister.

Daughter of Bruce and Talia.

She was kept hidden while Damian was away with Bruce.

I guess, Flatline (a love interest) and Connor Hawk enter into this category too but I don't particularly care for them. Flatline is a new character from the Robin solo and Connor was revived(? for the solo too ig

Here's a pic that's got Flatline, Connor, and Rose too bc she was important too

[ichorblossoms]

glance, stature, canvas, roots, texture, wardrobe for grimm & yarrow :)

HELL YEAH THANK YOU A TON CHASE!!! >:D love talking abt these two

okay this one is long bc i can never be concise and has a lot of pictures, so i'm putting it under a cut

glance: At first glance, what stands out most about your OC's appearance? What's their distinguishing feature?

i think for grimm it's their preference for wearing dark clothes that catches people off guard. not enough to make them stand out too much in a crowd (as long as they're not wearing their poncho), but enough for someone looking at them long enough to think "you're wearing that in the desert? in the summer?" its hair would be more distinguishing, but it actually has it tucked into its hat most of the time. i don't draw it like this often, partially bc it's fun to draw its hair down, but also bc i don't really draw it On The Job

^ in most cases, if they're out in public they wouldn't wear both the bandana and poncho bc of the attention it draws, but it would wear this while working, especially since it's mostly at night

while the clothes can sometimes be distinguishing enough between the all-black, the bandana, and/or the poncho, if its face and/or arms are uncovered i think a lot of people notice its scars; the one on its jaw is particularly notable, especially when it starts talking bc it tries not to move its jaw a lot when it does (it's a combination of hiding its extra teeth and its jaw being genuinely kinda fucked). grey eyes aren't unusual for this universe, but there's a certain intensity that grimm has in theirs sometimes that can stick with people too

as for yarrow it's defs the Bee Shit they have going on that stands out, i mean it's not like there's really any way they can hide that hdlkfhg though before that yarrow really is kind of just A Guy. they have an approachability and harmlessness to them that a lot of people take notice of, especially when most men in town are miners and more of the rugged sort. he earns enough respect for his work that people don't give him shit about it

some people notice when they talk to him that he has straight teeth, which make it really evident he's from the city and not one of the many small towns. some people are wary of him because of this (at least at first), others will ask how he came to live out in the middle of the desert. gold/yellow eyes aren't unusual in this universe either, but i think a lot of people notice them bc in a way it compliments the "warmth" he has when talking to people.

stature: What's your OC's body type? How tall are they? Do they wear clothing to accentuate their look or do they try to mask it?

told myself that if someone asked this one i'd finish the refs i was drawing for how they looked at the beginning of each part SO

honeybee takes place over ~10ish years, so both of them defs psychically change; yarrow's ofc more drastic than grimm, but also grimm was humod before the story

anyways yarrow's 5'8", skinny at first but puts on weight in the five years between p1 and p2, then gets bee'd between p2 and p3, which doesn't affect his body type at all but. still significant. while they don't dress to intentionally mask or accentuate their look (at any point during the story), not passing as particularly masc in their late teens~early 20s affected their fashion sense, so there's a lingering preference for layering clothes

grimm's 5'11" and always thin. their build fluctuates a little throughout the story, but not drastically. it's not pictured since these are all the beginnings of their respective parts, but over the ~2ish years that p2 encompasses, grimm works as a cowboy (instead of their freelance outlaw stuff) and also eats regular meals, so by the end of p2 it's a lot healthier overall. still thin, in a lean sort of way rather than a scrawny one if that makes sense? it likes sleeveless and occasionally tight shirts paired with baggier pants, but it's more of a motion thing than a look thing. that being said, it can pass as a man or woman depending on the situation/how it dresses and occasionally does so for work shit or hookups.

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

gonna throw these older (but still accurate) refs here too bc they show both their humod traits and scars a bit closer

yarrow's got a handful of scars, most of them are just day-to-day ones he got from accidentally stabbing himself with a scalpel or being clumsy. while they're generally nonviolent, they do have a fight response and earned some scars trying to give their captors grief between p2 and p3. he doesn't think much about his scars or his humod stuff and wears clothes as normally as he can (the secondary arms do pose a problem, but he mostly tries to tuck those into his torso). also will often cover up their face with a bandana if they're in public as to try and be less memorable. if if either of these two had piercings it'd be yarrow, but in all likelihood he had them pierced as a kid and prolly let them close up

grimm doesn't care to hide it's scars or display them, but it absolutely hides its humod traits. after yarrow gets transformed, it becomes more lax with trying to pass as pure human and doesn't shave its face anymore bc it's like "well you can't hide what you've got going on so there's no point in me doing the same"

i'm playing with the idea of grimm having a tattoo/marking/scar/thing specifically from their past as a bodyguard, but i haven't figured that out yet. if i do figure out something, that shit is either covered, burned off, or carved out

tbh it's not unlikely for either of them to have decorative tattoos, those are just always a low priority for me character-design wise that i haven't gotten around to it hlsdkhf

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

bc honeybee is a low-tech sci-fi(ish) western, i'm ofc influenced by "cowboy" clothes and anything that fits that vibe. i've been bopping around and doing some research into clothing styles, but also its a sort of free-for-all style-wise bc it's not beholden to having historical clothes. bc it takes place in the desert, there's also a heavy emphasis on practicality, so clothing made of cotton or otherwise breathable fabrics/styles, large hats, sunglasses (that i don't really draw oops), as well as facial coverings for dust

for grimm specifically, the jumping point for their design was actually nezumi from no.6, their design very quickly became it's own thing, but i think that influence is evident with the grey eyes/dark hair combo but also the scarf...thing he wears. grimm's definitely the more "cowboy" or the two of them and their style tends to drift towards gothic western with a touch of techwear? something like that

yarrow didn't have concrete point i derived their design from, i just wanted to doodle a character with bee mandibles and the rest came later, though the inclusion of pink in their design was inspired by the scar shion (also from no.6) has. their design gets more cowboy/ western elements to it in p2 and p3, but overall yarrow's fashion sense was inspired by my own: muted colors, button-ups, rolled up sleeves, maybe silly socks idk

when i design new characters, i try to look for gaps in my current cast for traits i haven't featured a lot, which is why grimm has long hair, a small chest, and wide shoulders, and why yarrow has that hairstyle and build (his build specifically was to challenge myself bc i need to practice drawing different body fat distributions). yarrow was designed about...30 minutes before grimm, so they were more or less developed in tandem to one another and their designs are kind of me playing with themes of like warmth/cold and sun/moon. also the nonbinary flag. though that gets thrown off bc there's not really a purple in either of their designs so much as that vaguely-purplish black i use for grimm

texture: Does your OC favor any specific kinds of cloth or textures? Is there anything they can't wear or don't like? What sort of fabrics do they prefer?

hm. this one is a little tricky bc i don't have any particular fabrics or textures i'm adverse to, so this isn't something that crosses my mind all too often...?

like i said above, i think people in this universe wear mostly breathable fabrics like cotton or those cotton/nylon/polyester sort of blends bc that's not a hell to exist in, esp during the summer. some people have heavier winter coats (nothing like fur coats through), but yarrow runs too warm for really heavy fabrics and i dunno if grimm could afford/have the space for that.

yarrow likes layers and button-ups, his go-to is either a button up with a tank top underneath or a t-shirt with an open button-up over it, so he definitely leans towards breathable fabrics that won't make him overheat. fucking hates it when one of their open shirts or jackets snags on something though. also wears latex gloves a lot bc of work and doesn't mind it until his arm hair gets pulled by it

grimm prefers to sleeveless when it's warm out, if they're outside during daylight, they'll usually wear their poncho to prevent getting sunburnt. the poncho itself is a funky tarpish material (it's based off those military ponchos that're durable and can act as a tent or smthin if needed) and it's not like, the most pleasant thing to have rubbing against their skin, but it's tolerable. still gets sweaty though, so grimm prefers to travels by night, or at least low light. it'll switch to longer sleeves in the winter to stay warm. it's gloves and boots are leather, and honestly it might have a leather jacket idk, i haven't given much thought to what their winter clothes might look like

wardrobe: How big is your character's wardrobe? Do they wear things threadbare, or can they afford new clothes often? Are they any good at mending and repairing their own clothing?

grimm's constantly travelling and moving around with the exceptions of p1 and p2, so its clothes are pretty limited to what it can carry between places and jobs. it has a few hideouts around that it might have a spare thing of clothes at, but if it's keeping something there, it might not get it back. has moderate mending skills, but will wear boots and gloves until it can't any more. when it settles down in p2, it collects a few more clothes, but still is in the habit of keeping its wardrobe small

yarrow starts p1 with basically the clothes on his back, so he doesn't have a huge wardrobe then, but since he's not on the move until p3, he has the space and time to accumulate a wardrobe. he doesn't make a hobby of collecting clothes or anything, but it's like...idk average? someone taught them mending skills at some point, and if they can't fix it, they can probably go to someone in town who knows how, so many of their clothes last a long time and they don't feel the need to buy new ones all that often

OKAY i think that's everything. i'd love to draw pictures for all of these answers but some of them i had no idea or too many ideas for drawings hgkfhdlk

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 27: The Wondrous Beach

[Story Masterlist] // [Aitana’s Masterlist]

Fandom: Criminal Minds // Pairing: Spencer Reid x OFC

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​​ @averyhotchner​​​​​​ @foxesandmagic @kmc1989​​​​​​

If you’d like to be a part of Aitana’s taglist, please let me know!

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

So much for having a simple case, Aitana thought as she stepped onto the sandy beach. The wind was particularly strong which made it hard to keep one's hair out of the face. And for this case, they needed to have keen eyes. It wasn't every day that dozens of human remains were dumped out from the ocean pumps.

Aitana headed for the set up the local precinct had placed a short distance from the shoreline. She had done her due diligence with the media and found that this was one case she wouldn't be able to push them away from. The beach was big and reporters were relentless.

"They won't be leaving," she told Hotch on their way to meet the main detective on the case. Already there were several news reporters lining up outside the cautionary tape. She was sure at least one of them would sneak in sooner or later.

"It's fine for now," he told her. He was aware that it being her first case back she was doing everything to be one step ahead of the others, basically exerting herself more than she should. Her evaluation was up soon too, as well as a pending talk about her status at the BAU. She had every reason to take things one step extra.

"Agent Hotchner," the main detective greeted first when the pair arrived, "I'm assuming Agent Serrano?"

Aitana nodded. "We spoke on the phone. Detective Foreman?"

"Yes ma'am. Call me JT. Not the most cushy arrangement," he made a feature to their set up, "But it'll keep your team close to the crime scene for now."

"Well, thank you for setting it up," Hotch said. "This will help us preserve what we can. Excuse us." He walked away with Aitana.

"Has Garcia found any potential leads on who we found so far?" she asked curiously.

"Cold leads but they might not be that if we keep studying the remains," Hotch said, stopping by another tent where Spencer was currently examining the pieces of bones.

"You know, based on the parasites on the most recent kill, the unsub killed as recently as a month ago, which means he's still active," he told the pair as soon as he felt them coming in.

Aitana blinked at his quick-pace. "How did you establish a timeline so quickly?"

"By reverse engineering mother nature. Each year, sand and sediment cover up the remains, creating layers on the ocean floor. The deeper the pump dug, the older the remains. Nine victims in 9 years means that he's in control of his urges."

"Any sense of the victimology?" asked Hotch. He and Aitana gazed over the different bones. Some definitely appeared older than others, some even grimy.

"Only that he likes variety. Pelvic bone width indicates that he kills both men and women, and skull structure says he crosses racial lines as well."

"Agent Hotchner, excuse me?" Foreman peered into the tent. "We found 3 more remains."

That would make the count go up to 15 at least. Aitana lowered her gaze to the bones on the tables. "If he's been dumping this long, it's not just out of convenience," she murmured. The mere conformation of her words laid with the bones themselves. "There's got to be an emotional tie as well."

"He'll change his M. O. because he has to, but he won't be happy about it," Spencer added, "And he'll have the entire Atlantic to choose from."

~0~

"They keep growing!" Aitana exclaimed with heavy annoyance when she found Morgan and Seaver near the lucky pump that gave them all their bones.

Seaver looked up first to set what Aitana was so irritated at and when she saw the heavy load of news reporters outside the perimeter, she understood Aitana's frustration. "That is quite a lot."

"They're not leaving," Aitana said through gritted teeth. "In fact, they're probably calling each other like the glorified gossipers that they are." Seaver managed a chuckle but when there wasn't any type of response from Morgan, Aitana stopped. "You okay over there?" she called. Seaver seemed like she had already been down that road.

"Yeah, case is tough, that's all," Morgan said simply before moving off to the side.

Aitana raised an eyebrow at him. "He never says that," she said.

Seaver agreed. "Struck me strange too."

The only sensible reason for that behavior is when the case struck too close to home. Aitana would never be brave enough to directly as Morgan what happened...but she was sure that a little blonde birdy behind the computers would end up telling her anyway. After half an hour, Aitana decided the news reporters would have to be dealt with directly.

She found Hotch back in the tent with Spencer going over the bones. "Hey, busy?" she asked.

"Going over the victimology," Hotch said. "Is it important?"

"Sort of, yeah, but so is this." Aitana noticed the new additional bones had been laid on the table. "Do we have anything conclusive about it?"

"I found a unique evolution, actually," Spencer said, "The earliest victims appear to be high-risk." He moved around the tables for a specific set of bones. "These lesions are consistent with syphilis, most likely a prostitute. This one has severely ground and missing teeth, commonly seen in excessive methamphetamine abuse. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, a sea change…" He moved to a whole new table and gestured to the series of bones. "Healthier and stronger victims all the way through to number 12."

"What do we know about the first victim?" asked Hotch.

"You know, that one's tough. He or she has been in the water so long, they're mostly bone fragments. I can attempt to reconstruct—"

"You've got 3 hours," Hotch cut him off and apparently it was rather offensive by the look on Spencer's face.

"I can do it in 2!"

Aitana rolled her eyes at him. "Great deal you're making—Hotch, can we talk now?" She was a little jittery and though it was unusual for her, Hotch knew why it would suddenly happen.

He walked out of the tent with her and listened to her story about the troubling amount of media around them. "How much has gotten out?" He asked her.

"It's hard to tell," she admitted. "Some of these news crews are national. If the unsub doesn't know we found his graveyard yet, he will soon. Then we'll hear from everyone who's ever filed a missing persons report. Plus, I'm worried somebody's going to sneak through and leak things."

Hotch would agree. The media was getting antsy as the hours went by without anything being revealed. "Maybe we can use this to our advantage. We could talk to them. It might feed the unsub's ego, take the sting out of him losing his site. It could keep him in the area."

"If you're sure," Atiana said, throwing a reluctant look at the ocean and the media.

"What?" Hotch tilted his head at her.

"Well, it's the ocean," she said with a weak gesture towards the waters, "He could already be there and without a way to see the broadcast."

Hotch understood her and partially agreed with her. They were assuming the unsub wasn't already at sea because it's all they had. "We have to move with the pieces that we have."

"I know," Aitana nodded. "I'll go get everything started." She had an easier time gathering up the news reporters in one spot than she had when she tried to amicably get them to leave. Everybody was all nicer when they were allowed closer to the scene.

"Nervous?" Rossi asked her while they waited for the last of the details to be sorted around them. Most of the team was going to be there with her except for Spencer who would be devoting himself to the bones.

"You would think," Aitana said with eyebrows raised, "But...not really, no."

"Attagirl. But you do know that you don't have to overwork yourself just because it's your first case back."

Aitana paused to meet the man's look. "Am I that obvious?" Rossi wouldn't say it but his smile did. She sighed. "Oh God. I gotta work on my expressions around you people." Rossi patted her shoulder.

Shortly after, they were given the 'go' sign to start the broadcast.

Aitana originally thought she had trouble with the beach's strong winds but now she had the flashing lights of the cameras too. "At...at this moment it would be premature to comment on the details of the case. Our goal is to identify the recovered remains as quickly as possible for the families involved." She could hear the bumbling questions beginning to tumble out from a few reporters so she picked up her pace. "In order to expedite that, we're asking that the families or friends of people who went missing on the east coast of the United States since the year 2000 come forward. We'll be matching DNA to the remains, and it will be helpful for us to have a personal item from each of the missing persons. An article of clothing, a hairbrush, a blanket, a pillowcase, photographs or medical or dental records if you have them." She thought she heard someone's cellphone ring nearby them. "Um...we're also looking for items of significance to help us determine the last known whereabouts of each of the victims. Correspondence like letters or emails will be helpful." She would've stepped down as soon as she was done had it not been for the torpedo of questions thrown her way. It was hard to differentiate which question was coming from who but there were distinctive ones that soon stood out.

"Miss Serrano!"

"Agent Serrano," she corrected with a sharp look at the older reporter. "And I will not be taking any questions. None of the victims have been identified and that is where we will be focusing on until further notice. Thank you." She finally stepped down and left the officers deal with getting the group back behind the cautionary tape. She stopped by Hotch to make sure she'd done everything right. "What if he didn't see it?" she asked with decent concern.

"It's a risk we had to take," he said. "You did everything you were supposed to. Now we have to go back to the precinct to start dealing with the calls."

Aitana nodded. "Okay. I'll start gathering people for that too." She moved around to meet the others but noticed Morgan had gone off to the side again. "Oh, so it was his phone I heard," she said, unable to completely hide her annoyance.

"Be easy," Rossi said suddenly, gaining both her and Seaver's attention. "What?"

Aitana raised an eyebrow. "You know something us newbies don't."

Seaver agreed. " Morgan was telling me how difficult these cases can be. Who did he lose?"

Rossi shrugged. Why did things like this fall in his arms? With a sigh, he motioned the two agents to come closer. "Some years back, Morgan's cousin fled a stalker. She made it to South Carolina. She was never seen or heard from again."

"Was it the stalker?" asked Aitana.

"He killed himself 2 weeks later, so we never found out for sure. But Morgan's profile led straight to him. So whenever unidentified female remains turn up…"

"He gets that call," Seaver concluded much like Aitana had.

"Parents will do anything to believe their child is alive and well," Aitana said, "My parents tried to do that multiple times while I was in WPP. I can't imagine what his cousin's parents must feel, especially if they just saw this whole thing."

"Oh, I'm sure Morgan is getting to know that," Rossi said, eyes drifting over to the man still on the phone.

~0~

In a matter of hours, people had lined up at the precinct to discover if their lost loved ones were one of the victims they currently had as bones on tables. There was a long list. It was heartbreaking seeing so many missing people and yet it wasn't surprising. Aitana stepped into the bullpen to see the heavy crowd waiting anxiously to be called for an interview. As the liaison on the field, she had already talked to most of them and each story tugged more and more at her heart. She was glad to have reinforcements towards the end because she might not have made it.

"Alex Cottle, Beth Riley, Louise Jones," she called the trio of names and looked up to see three similar grim faces move forwards. "I'm Agent Serrano, I'll be talking to one of you while 2 of my colleagues take the other pair. Follow me please." She led the trio out of the bullpen, leaving one of the women with Seaver and the man with Morgan.

She sat down with the last woman, Louise, in one of the last family rooms. Just like she had with all the previous people, Aitana reintroduced what they were attempting to do. She went over the few public details of the case and the victims they had lined up to see if one of them could be whoever Louise was thinking of.

The woman seemed pretty sure of it. "We were working on a gene therapy project at Johns Hopkins when Samantha got the news. Parkinson's." She handed Aitana a photograph of a blonde woman.

"That must have been pretty rough on her," Aitana said. Samantha seemed happy in the picture ahe held.

"I was her best friend, and all I ever got was this postcard." Louise presented the postcard to Aitana who immediately took it to study. It was a simple card with no more than four lines as a message.

"'Weze, I'm not going back to school. There's nothing there for me. I need to find myself. Love, Sammy,'" Louise recited by memory.

Aitana had to wonder how many times Louise had reread the postcard since she'd received it. "Does this sound like her to you?"

"Not really, no," Louise shook her head. "She would have written a 12-page letter. But she addressed it to "Weze." She's the only one who called me that."

That was very specific. At first glance, if Samantha was a victim, the letter could've perhaps been forced by the Unsub. Gunpoint or any other sort of threat could've made it happened. Either way, the postcard could be a potential clue. "Can we keep this for further analysis?" She saw the clear hesitance in Louise's eyes. Of course she wouldn't want to part from the last thing Samantha supposedly sent her. "Please, you'll get it back, I promise."

Louise eventually agreed. "Okay."

"Did you happen to bring anything of hers that we could get DNA from?"

"Well, everyone on the project mapped their DNA into the database…"

"Great, I'll need that information." Aitana grabbed her clipboard and flipped to the last pages. She was making another list of each potential victim's information. So many lists, so many victims…

Later on when she walked Louise back to the bullpen, Aitana caught sight of Rossi doing the same interrogation but with Morgan. That could not be easy.

~0~

A few hours later Aitana would bring the picture of Samantha to their evidence board. It was bittersweet learning she was one of the victims. "Meet our first confirmed victim, Dr. Samantha Cormick." She turned away from the board to meet the team's gazes. "Since her DNA profile was already developed, we were able to save a couple of days. Based on where Samantha disappeared, we can start assuming that the unsub dumps here and hunts in Charleston."

"It's a tourist spot. Larger victim pool," Seaver reasoned.

"It's a 250-mile trip back here. It's a lot of exposure," Morgan said, leading Spencer to think ahead with his own findings from the bones.

"Torture takes time and privacy, and disarticulation is a mess. You know, he could have a mobile torture chamber in his truck or trailer," he said. He found in the first victim, a terrible disarticulation had been done to great extent. That kind of thing needed a lot of space.

"We've seen that before," Hotch agreed with him.

"Or maybe he doesn't drive at all," Rossi suggested. "He could do it all from his boat."

Morgan liked the idea. "Well, if he gets them on board in Charleston and sails them out here, he would have time for both. And nobody would even notice a fisherman tossing chum into the water."

"Well, let's see if our dear Garcia can help us." Aitana moved for the landline on the table. Poor Penelope had been going crazy trying to narrow down her search for the Unsub. Maybe now they could finally give her some useful details.

"Yello!" Penelope answered after the first ring.

"Hey Garcia, we've got more information about the unsub's boat," Aitana said, eyes flickering to Spencer. No doubt he already had the exact numbers for the dimensions of the torture room the unsub would need. "It might help you narrow your list."

"Ok. Bring it!"

Spencer moved around the table until he was closer to the phone. "Can you give us boats with cabins large enough to hide a torture chamber?"

"Torture chamber?" Penelope paused. The others could just imagine her shuddering. "'Cause that would, yeah, totally be listed in the manufacturer's specs of amenities."

"Try cabin dimensions. Start at 10 by 10 feet and cap it at 30!"

"That is totally gonna take forever 'cause I gotta go record by record. You are lucky I love you!" Penelope huffed. "Bye!"

"We need to go back to the families and see who else got a postcard," Hotch said as soon as the line went dead. "This might finally be a link to victimology."

Aitana went to grab her clipboard to go over the list with them again.

"Sending goodbye postcards as a ruse is a gamble," Seaver spoke up, "Even if written under duress, the victim could sneak their own message into it."

Spencer glanced at the post card on the evidence board. "I don't think this was written under duress." He walked up to the board to take the postcard off and really look at it up close. "You said Dr. Cormick wasn't taking medication for Parkinson's, right?"

"That's what Louise said," Aitana nodded.

"Yeah, but look at her handwriting." He turned around to show the team the postcard. The handwriting was perfectly neat. "No indication of tremors or shaking. There's a drug called trilamide. In minute doses it treats Parkinson's, but its main use is for seasickness."

"Something a fisherman would have access to," Morgan realized.

Spencer agreed and added, "And criminals in South America. Intel reports say they figured out a high dose makes the victim totally compliant. They slip it in your drink or blow the powder in your face and nasodermal absorption's almost immediate. You're instantaneously susceptible to any suggestion. There have been reports of locals letting thugs into their apartments to rob them, even helping them load the getaway trucks."

"So writing a four line postcard is child's play with that drug," Aitana's gaze fell over the postcard. Louise had been right all along. The postcard had something that only Samantha would say but the overall feel to it was like it didn't even belong to Samantha at all.

~ 0 ~

Within a day, the team had gathered up four more postcards confirming the same amount of victims. They were going through the unfortunate four victims' family extensively. When Aitana finished with her round, she felt herself mentally exhausted like she never had before.

"Hey," Seaver found her on her way to the conference room. "You guys done?"

Aitana nodded. "Rossi's talking to Morgan. I thought it was better that way. What about you?"

Seaver had gone off to talk to the local fishermen about the Unsub. She unfortunately had nothing to report. "They haven't seen anybody like our Unsub."

"Great," Aitana mumbled. She pulled the conference room door open and led Seaver inside. "How's the linguistic profile?" She asked of Spencer who was deep in work by the table.

"Nothing truly significant," he said, "And you?"

Both Aitana and Seaver shook their heads.

"No fishermen saw anything," Seaver said.

"And nobody was suspicious about a postcard written in the victims' handwriting," Aitana added. "Why would they?" She sank down into an empty chair. "I swear, why did this have to happen by the beach again? Beaches are supposed to be fun. Dipping your feet into the water, having sweet coconuts, building sand castles—"

"You do realize that beaches are magnets for bacteria, right?" Spencer interrupted her.

She deadpanned him. "Don't ruin my beaches, Dr. Reid."

"I'm just saying," he raised his hands quickly. "Beach sand contains more fecal bacteria than the seawater. In fact, sand itself is just more dirty than the waters."

"Didn't I just say not to ruin it? I'm pretty sure I just said that."

Spencer scrunched his face. "Sorry."

"Have you ever gone to the beach?"

"I feel like you already know the answer…"

Seaver couldn't help her fit of laughter. "Oh, Reid…"

Aitana was, of course, not surprised at all that he never went to the beach. "You need to go to the beach," she declared.

The idea seemed to horrify Spencer, judging by his wide eyes. "Do you know how many pathogens there are on a beach?"

"Do you know how much fun it is going to the beach? Volleyball, sand castles, swimming — need I go on?" Aitana thought she made a pretty good argument.

"Sand everywhere, salty water and sunburns?" Spencer shook his head. "I'll pass."

Aitana could not believe her ears and yet at the same time, because it was him, she did. "You haven't been to the right ones."

"All beaches are the same, Aitana."

"No they're not. You have to visit a fun one. These American ones…" she made a weak gesture, crinkling her nose, "They're not it. You want fun beaches? Go to Mexico."

"Cancun?" Seaver made the presumption with curiosity. It grew when Aitana shook her head.

"That's a popular tourist spot that is deserving of its reputation but I'm talking about slightly lesser known ones. I get the best, and biggest, coconuts, temporary tattoos, my hair braided, and so much more!"

"But it's still just a beach," Spencer remarked, earning another deadpan from Aitana.

"If you say that one more time, I'm going to hit you."

For some reason, Spencer found himself smiling against the threat.

The only thing that saved him was Hotch's and Morgan's hasty entry into the room. They may have figured out a new angle for their profile which solidified their overall profile.

~0~

While the team delivered the profile, Aitana set herself aside to handle any lingering victim's family wanting to know more information. Now that more victims had been confirmed, it was harder to contain their questions. Aitana didn't want anyone listening in on the profile. There was just one person who managed to grab her attention and mostly because she refused to step out.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry but you need to follow the others to the family room," Aitana tried gesturing her towards the group, even wanting to lead her there, but the woman refused.

"I know one of your agents," she said much too certain to be a lie.

Aitana paused and studied the woman. "I'm sorry? Who—"

"Derek Morgan — he's my nephew and I really need to speak with him!"

It all clicked for Aitana at that moment. The woman had to be the mother of Morgan's missing cousin. "Oh."

"Please, I really need to talk to him," the woman said.

Aitana knew there was no way the woman would leave on her own. "Yes, okay," she sighed. "But my team is in the middle of a...presentation…" She supposed that would be the simplest explanation for a civilian. "You'll have to wait until Agent Morgan can come speak to you."

The woman dutifully nodded. "Yes, I understand."

"Okay, follow me." Aitana turned to lead her back to the bullpen. She really hoped they were done with the profile but, unfortunately, they were not.

"...until he finds another spot in the ocean to replace this one…" Morgan trailed off when he spotted his aunt beside Aitana.

Aitana could only apologetically smile for bringing his aunt at a time like this. She walked a few steps forwards to meet Morgan because there was no way he was going to continue with the profile with his aunt around.

"I am so sorry," Aitana spoke hushed and quick when Morgan met her. "She said she was with your aunt and she didn't want to leave—"

"It's fine," he told her. He knew exactly how his aunt could be. "I should've expected it. I'll handle it."

"Sorry," Aitana still felt the urge to apologize to him when he walked off to meet his aunt.

~0~

Talking to his aunt seemed like the right thing to happen because it gave the team a whole new angle to look the case from. If Morgan's cousin was really their last victim, it changed the entire way the unsub was abducting the victims. His cousin wouldn't willingly go on a boat which left the land transit as the only other way.

"You know, if the unsub's abducting in transit, how can he cover it up?" Aitana asked the group. "Everything leaves a trace. Buses, trains, whatever."

"I felt like we were close with the charter idea," Rossi said, exchanging glances with Seaver who'd helped pitch the idea earlier. "Maybe he doesn't abduct them off a boat."

"What means of transportation doesn't issue a ticket in advance?" Seaver then asked.

"Passenger trains," Hotch answered with his first thought. "A conductor can hand-write a ticket once you're already on board."

"Actually, most of the smaller stations aren't even manned," Seaver said, "You have to buy tickets on board.

"You know, the train is a concept that attracts people who are trying to start over," Spencer said, "The appeal of escape, of romance."

"So if he's a conductor, he's in a target-rich environment," Aitana said with a horrified face. It was basically a free for all for that guy.

Foreman knocked lightly before coming into the room. "Agent Hotchner, my men pulled a body out of the water. Agent Morgan's at the autopsy now."

The unsub was accelerating the time between victims—what's more is that it appeared he was indeed in the ocean like Aitana had originally feared.

~ 0 ~

With the new victim, Morgan and Spencer were able to deduce that the victim had been a father. It meant that now the unsub was left with the man's child. Time was of true essence! Luckily, Penelope came through quickly.

"I'm getting it now, baby girl." Morgan was right in front of the fax machine watching said paper slide out agonizingly slow. The others watched him yank it off the machine to see the photograph of a man. "That's our victim." It was a direct match to the body he and Spencer had seen earlier.

"My beautiful SSA Derek Morgan, you deserve a raise," Penelope hummed. "Gary Rhymer of Virginia just got full custody after his wife failed drug test number 3."

"So who's the child?" Hotch asked. They had nothing on the child and it was concerning.

"His name is James. He's 15. Enrolled to start school next week in Mount Pleasant, which is east of Charleston," Penelope explained. "Looks like Gary has a sister there."

"How about how their way of traveling?" Spencer curiously asked. They had yet to confirm any specific way their victims had travelled.

" No. Sorry, babe, there's no record of that."

"Just like the others," Seaver said.

Aitana walked into the room looking weary. She had just done another round through the families for the new details they were discovering. "None of the family members could confirm a train line for us. What do we do now? Rule it out?"

"No…" Rossi seemed to be thinking of something the others had not yet caught up with. "There's one person we haven't asked."

"Who?" asked Morgan.

"Your aunt."

As quick as Morgan wanted to shut the idea down, the logical side of him knew it was a fair idea. He would have to talk to her again.

~0~

In half an hour, Penelope had the lucky train line to help narrow down the search even more. "James took the train 3 summers in a row during his parents' divorce. His aunt from South Carolina bought the tickets, filled out the unaccompanied minor paperwork, which is why it didn't show up in my search!"

"And the train line?" Morgan asked, fingers tapping against his side while he waited for the answer.

"Surf Rider," Penelope answered fast. "It makes stops in Jacksonville, Charleston, and Miami."

"Cross-reference your list of boat owners with railroad employees," instructed Hotch.

"Okay!" Penelope would have results in a short minute. "I got a hit on a last name. Chuck Wells, local fisherman, son Blake, conductor on the line. And there it is. He didn't show up for work this week."

"Is there a current address?"

"No. Only a boat in the dad's name, which moved to Norfolk in 2000 when the mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died a few months later."

That helped put more puzzle pieces together.

"Dad walked out and the unsub had to punish him for that," Rossi said.

"James doesn't fit the victimology," Spencer cut in, "It doesn't make sense the unsub would take him."

"He picked up on a father-son relationship that reminded him of his own," Morgan reasoned logically given what they had just learned. "What he didn't count on was Gary fighting for James' life."

"How do we know the unsub hasn't already killed James?" Seaver regretted to ask but it was something that had been gnawing at her head for a while now.

"So far he's only punished people who've abandoned their responsibilities. But that's exactly what James is to him now, a responsibility," Rossi explained.

"The unsub's gonna get angrier and angrier at that kid, and when he does, he's gonna become more like his father." Morgan had to wonder if the kid had already figured that out based on what happened earlier.

"Maybe we should start manning the shoreline again…" Aitana felt sick to her stomach saying those words. Even her old wound may have taken an extra jab. It was how they had found the father after all.

Unfortunately, given the new unique situation the unsub now found himself in, Hotch thought it a good idea. As repulsive as it was, they needed to be ready for anything that could happen.

~ 0 ~

"Garcia narrowed the unsub's history with his dad down to two locations," Morgan came back to the group after a long, one-on-one conversation with Penelope. "Seaside pier, which is where Chuck Wells used to dock his boat."

Foreman had joined the group after they disclosed their recent findings. "All the locals do. It's the cheapest spot to tie off," he said.

"She also mentioned a cannery on St. John's River."

"That place went out of business last year. It's abandoned."

That seemed like a ringer already.

"According to Garcia, the dad brought his catch there while the unsub worked the floor. Started at 16, which is roughly the same age as James."

"All right, we'll split up," Hotch decided. "Morgan, you take one SWAT team and go to the cannery. Detective Foreman and I will take the other and we'll go to the docks."

"We can be in both locations in 5 minutes," Foreman told the pair. His gaze then fell on the remaining agents not forming part of their plan.

"We'll man the station, don't worry," said Rossi when he caught on. Foreman offered him a small smile before taking off to gather the other needed officers.

"I'll head to the beach again," Aitana said. "Seaver can stay with the families...if that's alright?"

Seaver nodded. "Of course."

"You want some back up too?" Spencer thought to ask but Aitana shook her head at him.

"Don't worry, Spencer, I wouldn't want you to have to go back to the sandy pathogens," she said with a bemused smile.

He scrunched his face when he concluded that he didn't really have a way to make a comeback for that one. She hadn't even said it rudely and it was for that same reason that he was out of words. He was used to having to defend himself that the one time someone didn't go down that route, he had no idea how to respond.

Aitana laughed to herself and turned to leave. At least she would have something funny to remember while she was out by the ocean waiting for a child's corpse that may or may not appear. A shuddering reality.

~ 0 ~

Morgan and his side of the team would be the ones to find Blake at the dock. It took every part of Morgan not to fire at the man for holding the fifteen year old boy with a knife at his throat. "He's just a kid, Blake. And you don't hurt kids." Whether it was true or not, they had yet to find any evidence against it in their investigation so Morgan would use it as an advantage.

Blake was twitchy, no doubt disoriented from his recent killing spree. "You have no idea who I am."

"I know that you're a smart man. You had a long run at killing under the radar. But I also know that we can learn a lot from a man like you. See, studying men like you is my responsibility. And I'm telling you, if you let James go, we can be a part of your life. We won't abandon you, Blake." And that was essentially was Blake was summed down to.

"What makes you think I want to teach you?" sneered Blake.

"Look at your alternative, man. My guys are ready." Morgan had a full flock of armed men and women ready to take aim as soon as he gave the sign. Blake wasn't stupid at all. He would get the idea. "They will take the shot and they will kill you. What happens after that, Blake? Do you really think you're gonna get to see your mom again? Or maybe it'll just be cold...dark, empty. Like the water where you put your dad. It's your choice, man."

Blake deliberated for a couple minutes. Morgan paid attention to the man's white knuckles gripping the knife against the teenager's neck. Any sudden movement and he would give the 'go' sign.

Luckily, Blake gave in.

The only step afterwards was to finally give the victims' families closure. For Morgan, it was a lot more personal given the unconfirmed fifth victim. He played it entirely like an agent would and even though Blake saw through it for one second, he still fell for the trap. It just left Morgan with the same questions as before. He would probably never find out what happened to his cousin. But just because he would never know didn't mean his aunt would have to live with the same burden.

~ 0 ~

Aitana wanted to make sure that the beach was clear of any evidence of what happened. It was the least she could do for the neighborhood and the victims themselves. They deserve proper burials. She started as many procedures for each of the victims to be returned to the families.

"Serrano?" Hotch startled her in the tent where most of the victims bones were in the process of being bagged.

She turned around and came a few steps away from the fifth victim's remains. "Do we still know who this last one is?"

Hotch shook his head. "No."

So it wasn't Morgan's cousin, Aitana felt for Morgan and his aunt. It had to be rattling not knowing what happened to the poor girl. "Well, I'll see to it that the bones get sent to a cemetery anyways."

"That's not really part of your duties," Hotch said as a reminder and not reprimanding for taking on tasks that weren't part of her normal assignments. He already knew what she attempted to do, after all.

"I know," Aitana agreed. "But I need to do it. For sheer human decency."

"Right." Hotch wouldn't push her. She wasn't the first agent to come back after their first injury from an Unsub. He would just do what he could from his end to help the transition. "I need to postpone your evaluation."

Aitana blinked in surprise. "What? Again? But I'm good—"

"It's me," Hotch clarified. "I have some things to do for Strauss, so...you get some more time to think about where you would like to go if you prefer to leave the BAU."

"Right…" Aitana cleared her throat, "Um, well, I'll think."

"We're heading out in a couple minutes," Hotch said after a moment. It was ironic that he couldn't tell whether or not she was inclined to stay. It was a bit refreshing.

"Aitana?" Spencer poked his head into the tent. "You called?"

Aitana cleared her throat again. She nodded fast then turned for the table. "I'll be done soon, Hotch, I promise."

"Please," the man said sternly. As much leeway as he wanted to offer her, they were on a schedule to get back home. He turned to leave and warned Spencer as well they had about 15 minutes.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if you could add anything else for this victim." Aitana had moved to their unidentified victim's bones. "I'm trying to see if we could leave the preliminary profile for the precinct and they can hopefully match it to a missing person case."

"I'm pretty sure they would do that on their own," Spencer said and Aitana nearly cut him off to make her case.

"I know but I want to help before we leave," she spoke rather quickly. It earned her a full study from him in return. She sighed. "I know it's not part of my job, I just...you don't have to say it. I know what I'm doing and I will fix it in the next case. Right now, can you please just help me?"

"Of course." Spencer sincerely hoped she was being honest because she really couldn't afford to do this with every case of theirs. She would never be finished and worst of all, it would bury her.

He offered her and her report as much he could to help her out. She handed the report to Foreman herself with the desire for him to finish the last piece of the case.

Aitana was quiet when they stepped out of the tent. "Thanks." Maybe their work would be futile but at least she tried.

"No problem but, um, if you ever want to talk — it doesn't have to be me — you can always find someone in the team." He may be overstepping but it was better to do so than let Aitana get swallowed up by her problems. He knew what that felt like.

"I know you guys don't believe me but I'm good. I have a bad scar but I'm good."

"It's just...I had a friend many years ago who was badly hurt by an unsub, almost to the point of death, and she said she was fine but she wasn't. She ended up leaving the BAU after it got to be too much." It was odd bringing up Elle after so many years of radio silence from her. Even when Penelope was shot he didn't really think about it as much as he had with Aitana. Of course at that time Emily was still around with no possible implication of her dying too. But, in all honesty, what right did he have dumping this on Aitana now? It was his problem, his way of thinking. He had the responsibility to figure it out and move on.

And so it was especially difficult to hear Aitana apologizing to him.

"I'm sorry about your friend," she said. "Do you still talk to her?"

"No," he shook his head. "The day she left is the day we lost contact with her."

"Oh…" Aitana didn't know what to say then. It had to be horrible losing a friend like that. A part of her felt actual guilt because this superficial incident apparently brought up deeper feelings for Spencer. "But there are big differences here. My injury is just a scar now. I wasn't close to death at any point. But you want to know why I'm okay?" Spencer nodded. "Because I have gone through much worse. I was in the middle of a massacre. I survived but I still lost two years of my life because of it. Then I had to work on reintegration. Coming back from that was ten times harder than it was coming back from this. I don't know if it's good or bad but this is pretty much how I felt it."

"It does make sense," Spencer admitted. He hadn't thought about her previous life in WPP. Of course those 2 years would seem like hell for her. "I'm sorry. It's really my problem—"

"Like you said, it does make sense," Aitana shrugged her shoulders. "No need to explain anything. Sometimes we can't help but to think a certain way and you, my friend, happen to think a lot."

They shared a small laugh.

"The only thing I guess I do have to admit is why I worked extra hard on this case, but I'm sure you guys already figured that out."

Spencer nodded. "Your first case back after being out for a while?"

"Yeah," Aitana scrunched her face. "I may have to talk to Hotch more because he pushed back my evaluation again."

"If you're being honest, he'll see it and you guys will get to sit down to talk."

Aitana hummed. She started heading out, prompting Spencer to follow. "C'mon, we should go before they leave us."

"Garcia would be on them if they did," Spencer's response had Aitana laughing.

"I can see it, but maybe it'll give me an extra day to actually enjoy this sight — look at it!" She had turned to face the ocean now boasting a beautiful red sky as the sun was close to setting. "I get the feeling Penelope would agree with me here." She sent Spencer a specific glance for his words from before.

"Seriously," he began, his hands sliding into his pockets, "If you only knew about the never-ending — and drug resistant — bacteria spread by seagull feces, you'd see my point."

"I really doubt that," she said with a small laugh. "I'll give you a point for the seagulls, though, because they're so damn annoying. I understand that what you're saying is true. I'm sorry if I came across as me being dismissive—that was never my intention—but just hear me out."

Because she somehow found a way to make things so casual and even playful over something the others would have definitely passed over, Spencer motioned her to make her point. He was fairly interested in seeing her do it.

"I hear your 'sand everywhere, salty water and sunburns' and I raise you sandcastles, riding on a stupid banana boat waiting to get thrown off, and a nice umbrella keeping you completely safe from the sun." Aitana waited with her palms turned up in a 'what do you think?' gesture.

Spencer nodded, acknowledging each of her alternatives but he couldn't hide the disdain for each one of them. "Yeah, no…" he shook his head in the end. "I heard 'sand in your pants, crashing into people as you're thrown from what has to be a boat that hasn't been disinfected in ages, and an umbrella waiting to fall on you'."

Aitana couldn't believe her ears. "Unbelievable. How dare you turn my family vacations into that?" She turned away from the ocean to head back to the car.

"I can't believe you never thought about it," Spencer followed her. He had plenty of more alternatives if she was still unconvinced about the terrible place that were beaches.

"Don't talk to me for the rest of the ride back!" Aitana warned him then threw out something about "beach hater" that just made Spencer laugh.

[neonganymede]

Hey! I hope this is ok to ask about but I was curious about your original piece that you mention on occasion (cocat?). I'd like to know what it's about, or if you could share something you like about it or would want people to know.

I just really like your writing and I'm deeply curious about what an original work would look like from you :)

Hi!! Of course it's okay to ask!!! I'm always eager to talk about cocat!! Thank you for asking!! This book is my baby, and I'm >////< glad that somebody is curious about it!

Putting this under a read more just in case I ramble a little~

If I were to tag cocat (which spelled out is City of Crime and Teeth), it would fall under the twisted and fluffy category. The focal point of the novel is the relationship between Malise, an unwilling and listless crime boss who sees no way out of his current position other than his own inevitable death, and his husband Riot, a man he married the night they met who has plenty of his own dangerous secrets. They both have their shortcomings, with Malise not knowing how to deal with his emotions and Riot believing that he'll never have a place he can truly call home. Neither one have any idea how to navigate this strange relationship they find themselves in, but they both dig their teeth in the moment they meet. It's immediate, simultaneous obsession for the both of them, and they change each other indefinitely. Their relationship would be considered toxic for anybody else, but it works for them.

I really love writing emotion, and that's a big part of Malise's journey. He always thought that he couldn't feel things because he'd never been taught how, but he actually feels too much, especially in regards to Riot. Meeting Riot is like a burst of color in his otherwise bleak world, and he doesn't know what to do with all of these new things that he's feeling. It confuses the hell out of him, but he'd burn the world for Riot's sake.

And Riot is such a little shit, too. I adore him. He's lived the past ten years on the streets, so when he's suddenly a trophy wife (Malise's words and a definite point of contention between the two) Riot sure as hell takes advantage of that to indulge himself and spend as much of Malise's money as he can. And he's anything but a trophy wife. He's strong and lithe and fiercely devoted to his incredibly stupid and reckless husband. He thinks his situation is temporary; he thinks that Malise will eventually get bored and kill him, and Riot hates how much he ends up loving him.

Cocat is honestly a bit different from what I usually write, if I'm being honest. It's a little dark, a little angsty, but it's also about two incredibly broken people, two victims of circumstance who firmly believe they're only capable of cruelty and pain but have to learn how wrong they are.

Also featured in this mildly violent package: a found family consisting of these two married dumbasses, a pair of knife-wielding twins (one of which is trans, but neither one wants to tell me who it is. And frankly, it's none of my business), possibly the worst but most well-meaning secretary ever, and an ace lesbian who is easily the most unhinged character I've ever written (and easily my favorites. I love her so much).

So yeah! This got away from me a little, but I don't usually get to talk about cocat ^^; so thank you again for asking! And if you were ever interested, I posted a tiny drabble here~

[m4niackkyun]

“Words I've Heard” || [fdau fic]

The former groaned as he tried to get into a comfortable position, hissing in pain from how sore his body was in each stretch. It was just him, the closed space of the school bathroom, and a first aid kit he kept in his bag everyday; just in case.

He furrowed his eyebrows when the stinging sensation of the alcohol cotton pad that made contact with his bruised skin, a bit of blood still leaking from the cut. A long sigh escaped his lips, he was tired, so tired. He had to skip class again just so he could tend his wounds, they really didn't go easy on him this time.

“Mm...how am I gonna explain this to mom...saying I tripped off my bike again? Ugh...no no she wouldn't believe that,” he grumbled, to think he'd be worried about himself, he was much more worried about making his dear mother overthink about his own safety. He'd rather play off as the good and proper elder brother that he is...most of the time. He's the eldest Lee sibling, he's supposed to act stern and strong. He's supposed to be the one figure his siblings could look up to and depend on.

....

Ugh who is he kidding... What kind of big brother gets beaten up and hides away in the school bathroom like some fucking coward..? All that he's been doing is just lie to himself.

SLAM!!!

“Fuckin' hell!?! that dipshit ran away.”

The pair of red orbs widen in fear from the familiar voice, his breath almost stopped from how dreaded he was. He stayed quiet despite the pounding sound of his heartbeat which he felt ringing loudly within his eardrums.

“Oh c'mon, let it go dude. We beat him up pretty badly, he probably went somewhere to piss himself hahah!” another voice, a somewhat lighter toned speaker, chimed onto the other's frustration.

“Tch, well I ain't done playing with him—I mean, did'ja see how that stupid prick looked at me?! He dared looked at me dead in the eye with those disgusting eyeballs of his could you belive it?!?”

The other one scoffed, “What? You scared of that loser?? Pfffft—” the ravenette kept silent as he heard one of the two individuals crack a mocking laugh.

“Like hell I am, shit head. When I find that fucker I'll beat him up twice as much so that useless brain of his wouldn't forget who he's messing with.” his voice laced with malice. The ravenette couldn't help but quitely curl into a ball, a hand covering his mouth as he tried to steady his breathing. He was trembling, he couldn't risk going out now, not when he knows what will happen to him.

“Hey, don't you think we've been messing with him enough? Yer gonna attract those two other assholes,” another voice, this time gravely rough and hoarse, he also heard the clicking sound of a lighter. Ah..they're gonna take a smoke...great. now it'll take more time for him to wait.

“The twins?? Naaah, don't worry. Pretty sure they wouldn't care, they're not even family.”

The ravenette jolted.

“What..? You 'know it all' fucker, don't go blabbering stupid shit just to act smart,” the hoarse voice spat.

“It's true, dipshit! They all look nothing alike, that bastard's practically the ugly duckling of the group!”

There was a brief silence between the three of them, or... more like four.

“Ya, but Lee Soohwa's also got dark hair too? That kinda contradicts your theory.”

“So what? Hair is irrelevant. You know what Lee Jaemin, Lee Jaehwan, and Lee Soohwa all have in common?” he snaps his fingers before the others could answer, “Normal. Fucking. Eyes. Have you even been hearing what I'm talking about?! This bitch has red eyes. Red. Eyes. Don't that ring any bells for ya??”

The hoarse voice cackled, “That's your only argument? It could've just been a genetic mutation. See that's why you read books Einstein, fucking learn.”

“Tch, I'm also talking about facial feature-wise dammit. Jaemin, Jaehwan, and Soohwa all have that same smug shit-eating looks on their faces while he...” the former paused, as if he were finding the right words to describe him.

“I-i don't know he just has this weird carnal...sort of... grim look on his face that just...j-just like today he—I don't know man! It just fucking creeps you out.”

“So you ARE scared, HAHAH” the lighter toned voice cackled once more, it sounded like he was slapping the poor guy's back while he was at it.

“Fuck off, you don't know how it feels, asshole!” the former hissed, shoving the person in question away harshly, making him stagger a little from the rough gesture.

“Heheh, but that's a pretty funny theory. Like what if he's actually an illegitimate child, a bastard, if you will hahah!”

The individual who has been the topic of their conversation kept dead silent. Guilt and frustration started to boil within him, his jaw tightening more and more, hands balled up into fists.

Stop...

“Ahh right right right, no wonder he looks so different. Someone probably picked him up from a brothel!!” the lighter toned one chimed in.

Stop.

“Pffft—ahah! Or maybe, y'think someone could've knocked his mom up and made a little mistake along the way??” the hoarse voice emitted a squeaky laugh, “Man talk about lame pull out game—”

SLAM!!!

“??!?”

That was it.

The last. Fucking. Straw.

——

Hasty footsteps echoed through the halls, He knew exactly where his brother was. And he knew damn well what's gonna happen when he's either left alone or when they find him. It was like some sort of protocol that's bound to happen at least 4-6 times a week. Jaehwan had been a little around 5 minutes late due to the fact that his history teacher wouldn't stop blabbering about WW2.

Luckily he'd already texted Jaemin to get a head start and find him quickly.

Just one hall to the right and hopefully he'll arrive before things start going downhill.

After a sharp turn and nearly tripping over his feet, he saw a familiar figure standing stiff in the middle of the hallway, right in front of the opened bathroom door.

“Jaemin,” he huffed as he attempted to catch his breath. Slightly crouching his back forward as he placed his hand on one of Jaemin's shoulders. Not getting a response, he swallowed thickly, looking up to his twin who plastered a dreaded expression. Almost as if he's in total shock, his eyes locked onto whatever it was in front of him.

“Jaemin...? Where's hyu—” The bicolored teen glanced over the scenery before him. His dark orbs widen to the point where he was practically bawling his eyes out. The display was rather...grusome.

His brother, the person in questions, had his hand gripping the head of another individual. One he would recognize as “Taesang Hwang” from class 2-B perhaps if his face wasn't mushed up like a squished grape from the way his brother kept slamming him agaisnt the bathroom wall over and over and over again until the white tiles were absolutely painted with blood.

“H-hey, th-that's enough m-man, you're gonna k-ki-kill him!?!”

Another student, supposedly one of Taesang's lackeys, yelled from the corner of the room. Blood gushing from his mouth, probably from a few lost teeth. A couple of them scattered near him as evidence of the assult.

There's was also one more student right next to him, laying unconscious on the floor with one of his elbows dislocated just until you could see the bone poking out of the busted up limb.

Jaemin grimaces at the sight. Perhaps not out of any sympathy knowing what these three have done towards his older sibling, rather because of a little bit of nausea tickled his throat. Pools of blood were practically drowing the bathroom floor. Not only that, what sent goosebumps down his spine even more was his brother's complexion that laid no remorse.

After one last slam, he let go of Taesang's now deranged limp head. Jaemin stared at him before letting out a subtle sigh in relief after seeing Taesang's body twitch a few times.

Hey, that's a good sign okay? Means that he's not dead... yet.

The ravenette got up, his eyes moved slowly to trace the twin's figures. He was an utter mess. His hair was wet and sticky from a mixture of water, sweat, and maybe a little bit of blood. Uniform absolutely spoiled with the thick crimson fluid, and his hands shaking from the adrenaline rush.

A soft smile appearing on his face that made both Jaemin and Jaehwan's blood run cold.

“S...sorry...I—i..Th-they—” his voice was quiet, but audible enough for them to both notice how it shook.

Jaemin, initiatively pulled him into his embrace. Wrapping his warm arms around the ravenette in hopes that whatever he was doing would calm him down.

“It's...'s alright hyung, we'll get you home...”

As for Jaehwan, whom eyes were still fixated on the three beaten up bullies laying limp on the floor tiles like lifeless dolls. He couldn't help but feel a sort of....fear? He always knew his hyung couldn't fight for shit, and yet this goreish display in front of him was evidence of what he was more than capable of.

Lee Dae-Jung was something, but he wasn't a full blown brute. The ravenette was nothing but a gentle, soft-spoken guy that doesn't like violence. At least, that was the Lee Dae-Jung he knew all his life.

——

Thanks for @shuuryuhei for the name suggestion :> i decided to go for it anyway cause it'd seem fitting than the other ones

[always-just-down-the-street]

My AirPods Max Don't Fucking Work

This is a rant that has been basically bubbling up ever since I got a brand-spanking new pair of AirPods Max for Christmas back in 2021, I wanna say. They were great, I enjoyed the slightly better quality and the over the ear feeling compared to my Bose Headphones which had served me well, and I knew about all of the cool features like automatically pausing when you take off the headphones and the noise-cancelling and transparency modes, but I soon ran into constant, constant problems.

You pause an audio source? Fuck it, not even the one you're primarily listening to, if you accidentally turn on a YouTube video, even if it's muted, even if it was never playing sound, and pause it? Disconnect! You let your iPhone bring you to another song on Soundcloud or iTunes? Disconnect! God forbid you do anything, these are the most fickle things in the world and I have to constantly reconnect, but that isn't why I'm making this post.

On today, the eleventh anniversary of the Hermitcraft SMP, April 13, 2023, my headphones just fully stopped functioning. They won't connect, I can barely reset them, they're clearly on and have a full battery but even if I can connect them, they refuse to send any sound to me at all. And the worst part is, this is the third time it has happened to me now. On two occasions separate from this, I go to bed, I left them in the case, I do nothing to them, and the next morning they're completely unresponsive and uncooperative. And I have no extra headphones here because I'm at my mom's, so now I'm stuck with a broken, unresponsive pair of headphones, and if I want them fixed, I have to send them out to Apple for a week to get back a new pair that will start suffering the same problems from the second paragraph in two weeks' time. The only reason I haven't ditched these things entirely and just went back to my Bose is that my parents are pressuring me to keep them because they were expensive, but all of the money and fancy tricks in the world mean jack if they just. Don't. Work.

The AirPods Max are like an incredibly expensive can of soda- they are best out of the box on the first use, and then slowly but surely they will just get worse and worse.

[r-f-m-writes]

OMG I'm so excited you have a tumblr with asks!

I found you on Ao3 via pretty dead animals and I have been completely obsessed, I literaly scream every time you update XD

Its the best original work i've read in a year, the OW space on archive has been so dead lately its so good to see writing that isn't complete shit lol

You're super talented and i'm so looking forward to all your new works

back to what I came here to ask, do you have any fan casts for Linette and Logan? Like any actors who you would want to play them or models you think look like them ect

I love Linette so much i want to put a face to her!

Hi!

Thank you so much for your kind words. I am thrilled you have enjoyed Pretty, Dead Animals so much!

I can't speak to the state of the Original Work pool on Ao3 as I have only been using it for about a year and, prior to uploading my own works, had never been in any fandoms or had any reason to go on the site.

I have to confess I used to be a real "published books are the only real books" author snob.

The positive reception to PDA has been overwhelming, I am so grateful to everyone who has left Kudos and Comments and Bookmarked my work! It really means the world, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To answer your Ask about the appearances of Lin and Logan, I've attached some images to help you visualize the pair. Obviously these aren't exactly how I imagine them in my head, but they're close enough that I feel comfortable prescribing them to my readers, lets say as 'lookalikes'.

For Logan, I've chosen American actor David Corenswet. He's objectively very handsome, but there's something extremely off-putting about his face that makes me immediately uneasy, it's almost uncanny in it's effect.

Nothing against the guy, it really isn't his fault he has a face that looks like you asked an artist to draw Henry Cavill from (foggy) memory, lmafo.

In the case of Linette, I'm referencing an Australian model named Samantha Harris. She's beyond striking and has features that make me think of Mother Earth, like something that has lived for thousands of years and will go on living long after the end of existence. She's so perfect it almost makes her painful to look at, there isn't a single aspect of her face that doesn't catch your attention which is exactly the sort of appearance I visualized Linette to have.

There has to be a reason Logan sees her and instantly becomes obsessed. I personally can't subscribe to the "she was plain to the point of being lowkey-ugly but this super hot ripped dude was just SO into her" thing that some dark romance authors like to lean towards, it's just too unrealistic and always takes me out of the story.

Additionally, I felt like it was important that Linette be significantly more attractive than Logan (again, no offense David Corenswet) because there had to be a part of her that was objectively out of his reach otherwise his resorting to kidnapping her wouldn't make much sense; why not just go up and ask her out for coffee like a normal person? Logan had to feel some huge insecurity in order to take the course of action that he does, him being much less attractive than Linette seemed like a believable catalyst for me.

Please drop any more asks you have straight into my inbox, this is such a fun topic for me - I could talk about these two forever!

Thanks for your ask,

~P

[practically-an-x-man]

Hope you don't mind your own asks lol. Surprise me on the OC I want to learn. Pen, charcoal, pastels.

Paper, creative!

"don't mind"? Bestie that's why I created them! It's like half for my friends and half so I could maybe-possibly get more asks lol

ok here we go. For OCs I'm gonna go with one character I've written about (Madison) and one character I haven't yet written (Atlanta)

OC/Writing Asks (created by me!)

Pen: what's one minor moment your character regrets? A small mistake, but something they "can't erase"?

Madison: I think she regrets not entering a relationship with Alex sooner. It doesn't matter in the end, they're happy together either way (and besides, she knows she wouldn't have realistically been ready for a relationship any earlier than that), but looking back, she wishes she'd been a little more daring because no amount of time with him is ever really enough

Atlanta: She's a historian, and I think there are times when she regrets not taking a university job instead of a research job. She's not a particularly money-oriented person, but that doesn't mean it's easy living in New York on a research-based position.

Charcoal: share any unique physical features about this character that are not scars or tattoos.

Madison: part of her mutation is that she has coral-colored markings in the shape of arrows/V's going down her arms, legs, and spine. Her hair and eyes are also reflective, like mirrors, and she has gills at the sides of her throat. She's loosely modeled after a lionfish, in case you can't tell.

Atlanta: She has a port-wine stain underneath her right eye.

Pastels: Give me three colors that best represent your OC. Now give me three colors that your OC likes best. Is there an overlap?

Madison: The represent her: coral (for her mutation), green (for nature, and symbolizes family), and bright red (for her fiery spirit). That she likes: coral (for her mutation - it's her), blue (for water, and Alex's eyes), and dusky orange (for the sunset)

Atlanta: That represent her: royal purple (for her ties to Ancient Greek/Roman history), red (symbolizes fighting, and she has ties to Daredevil and Deadpool), and blue (associated with medicine, which plays a big role in her story). That she likes: gold (the myth of Atalanta, golden apples), dark green (for her eyes), and like a silky gray (don't know why, I just think she'd like it).

Paper: Who do you feel is your most two-dimensional or underdeveloped OC? Why is this? (including those that are still in development/haven't been written about yet)

Hmm... I feel like once I get to the actual writing, and even a bit before, the OCs are pretty well-developed, so I've got to go with one of mine currently being workshopped. I want to write something for Sean Cassidy, and I want his pairing to be with a mutant, but so far all I've got it their mutation. Their ability is sort of the opposite of Kitty Pryde's, so they can visualize solid matter where there is none. Basically, they can walk on air. But that's really all I've got so far.

Creative!: free space! share something you've been dying to share about your writing! Could be an OC that never gets the limelight, a moment you were proud of, or anything else you'd like to share

I could share something from one of the fics you don't know much about, but... idk, I feel like you deserve at least something you're familiar with after all this rambling I've done on the characters you've hardly heard of. So here's this:

Ruin, the third piece in the Prometheus series, will start with Nyx finding their way back to becoming Prometheus after the Corruption ending of Secret Worlds. There will be a lot of angst... but a happy ending. And that's all I'll share for now ;)

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Going home days are almost always totally logistics.

This time around we're up at seven sharp (pretty much just me) to get hot water going. The plan's to pack pack pack, take hot showers, and hit the road at 830.

Doesn't quite work out like that.

For one thing, there's a metric ton to pack. To collapse. To sort. To organize. To Tetris. To pack our two monster bags in such a way that neither heads north of fifty pounds lest we incur baggage charges. Which means, pretty obviously, that we're better off foregoing the hot showers to focus all our energies on packing our belongings for air travel that'll happen later the same day.

We hit the road at 915.

Not a problem, by the way. Everyone, it turns out, is at church. And not on the roads, highways, and freeways. So we definitely catch a break there.

Thank you... Easter. 😉

Now, we're supposed to have Big Foot the campervan back to the Inglewood lot by 10. We do, however, have an hour's grace period and Google Maps calls it a fifty minute drive from where we are.

About a mile into our return, of course, we stop at that Starbucks again to grab a breakfast sandwich 'n drip coffee for Kimmer. Then it's drive drive drive... drive drive drive... until we pull into the lot a little after 10:30 with Big Foot newly gassed up.

I let the admin know we're back, then we quickly unload our gear, check all the nooks and crannies of the van for anything that might still be in the van, and then we pick up and wipe down all the surfaces that are obvious to wipe down.

After we're checked back in, turns out we used 91 less miles against our trip's allotment of miles and, thus, we get a bit of refund.

Huzzah!!!

Plus, the admin takes a moment to show us a new rig they're renting for adventuring: the Del Mar. It bigger than what we just took on the road so you don't have to collapse a bench to form the bed. The bench stays put with the full bed behind it.

It's a new, 2023 model featuring a back-up camera and other automotive goodies.

Okay.

Still following the plan Kimmer conjured, we hail a Lyft, grab a full size Dodge Charger II upgrade from the Alamo car rental lot a coupla miles away at 11:30, and drive down to SNA, John Wayne International, to drop off the bags we're checking in. Only... Southwest doesn't accept any bags for check-in until four hours before scheduled departure. And we're waaaaaaaay before that time. So there we are, having lugged these big bags across the parking garage, and we basically have to turn around and go back. Not before, though, having our bags weighed to make sure neither of the big ones topped fifty pounds.

One-thirty we're back at Derek's place for a lazy afternoon. We start off with Ruby's Diner leftovers and leftover pasta from the dinner party the previous night. And then...

The aforementioned hot shower.

And yeah. We each took our time with that one.

Afterward, we get some time to hang out with Kyle. And then we get a little time to hang out with Derek who's been unloading and unpacking his gear and disassembling his teardrop trailer for storage. And then, coming up on 430, it's time to go home.

Our adventuring is over. The curtains are coming down on our trip.

So Derek grabs a pair of our bags (I'm certain to make sure we're actually leaving 😉), I grab my rucksack, Kimmer grabs her laptop case and bag, and we all walk over to the car, parked at the end of Derek's street.

Once the bags are tossed in the car (that Dodge Charger which is a wicked cool shade of blue), I figure to take advantage of a rare family photograph: Kimmer. Derek. And Kyle.

Interestingly, they oblige without complaint, and many, many photographs are taken.

These are but three...

We hit the road at 430, stopping a mile into our route in the Starbucks parking lot to repack some things since we still have all our bags with us. So we're checking in as much as possible, carrying on as little as possible.

By the time we pull into the Alamo rental car return, it's a quarter passed five. A little later than we'd like, so we muscle our bags out of the trunk, out of the car, we check in the car and then set about trudging to the Southwest kiosk lugging absolutely everything we're traveling with, this 100% awkward weight, in as unwieldy a manner as possible. We're muscling two nearly fifty pound bags on rollers, our personal luggage (one each) also on wheels, and then each of us also has two personal bags of at least rucksack size for good measure.

And we're moving it all about the airport by sheer force of will.

We're just tired, is all. And we want to get this done.

Now I said before how going home days are almost entirely about logistics. Which they are.

However.

All that packing and putting away, all the dismantling of this temporary life on the road is also an act of reliving. Of being reminded. Of memories triggered.

We marvel, for example, not at how fast our time has gone. On the contrary. We marvel at how much time there was. So much that we had a multitude of memorable experiences without robbing our days of the ability to do long stretches of nothing in particular. Of just being.

In fact, dismantling our adventure reminds us of how large an adventure it was. Fun. Relaxing. Meaningful.

Dismantling our adventure forces us to reconcile experiences that happened within days of each other. Only the distance seems much larger than that. As if our time on the road was being measured in weeks... not days.

Dismantling our adventure also forces us to face the end of that adventure, its final moments.

Now you may, understandably, consider actually arriving home as the end of the adventure. After all, the adventure starts when we open our front door and step out into the hall with luggage in tow.

So it stands to reason it ends once we step back in and throw ourselves on the bed.

Experience informs me, however, how that's seldom ever the case. Experience informs me that the emotional end of our adventures usually occurs before we even land at Sea-Tac. There's always some moment, you see, that feels like the end of the journey. That serves as the final period, that little black dot of the story.

In our case, our adventure ends in a pair of seats at gate 20, John Wayne airport.

It's 6 in the evening.

The sun's easing into sunset mode.

Kimmer, God bless her soul, scored us a pair of blended matchas, each topped with whipped cream.

Milkshakes, basically.

And so we sit there in the light of a setting sun. Tired. Ready to be home again. But delighted.

With each sip of milkshaky goodness.

😁

[hua-fei-hua]

perhaps doing an experimental work featuring a pairing i’m not known for focusing on that is also typically relegated to side pairing status was not my best idea ever but at this point i have accepted my fate as the writer of cult classics and flops