#which would kind of explain why i haven't encountered it before

[undertale-fic-librarby]

Do you have any anti harem fic recs?

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

A spider in a graveyard by Rubypasha (Explicit, Incomplete)

You've fought for years for people who hate and humiliate you, see you as more of a nuisance than a hero. A menace to society, just like your mentor. But you keep going, keep fighting. Keep pushing your limits to save innocent's who get tangled in the cruel web of life that you walk as a shadow. As someone who expects nothing but gives their all. But you keep going You'll deal with whatever and whoever threatens the lives and safety of innocents (both monsters and humans) because you are a spider. And spiders will never go down without a fight. Tired and injured you go to deal with one of your greatest enemies, a skeleton who like you loves puns but is dangerous. More so than anyone could ever imagine. But instead of wrapping the night up quickly like you want you're faced with something neither of you can understand. A machine that goes haywire leaving you injured and in the mercy of the two skeleton brother's and their clones But you won't back down. You will fight even if your hope isn't what it used to be. Maybe this 'other mansion' of skeletons will finally break the walls you were forced to put up in order to survive. Maybe, just maybe- You'll finally realise how amazing you are

Full Deck by Sons_of_Sirens (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

You’re just a shy young woman who works at a small bookstore in Ebott City, who has never attempted to climb out of her introverted shell before. Or maybe you’re a sassy young woman who lost her job after sticking up for monster rights in front of your racist boss. Or possibly you’re a traumatized young woman, with a painful past full of abuse and a broken body full of secret scars. You might even be an ordinary-looking young woman, who nevertheless possesses magical abilities and a SOUL far different from a regular human’s. But this is not a story about you. It's about ten skeletons in one tacky suburban McMansion, trying to live together without burning down their own house. It’s an unreasonable convergence of the Undertale AU gang as they go about their lives in a house full of volatile personalities, while trying not to get dragged into a reverse-harem trope. Alliances will be made, bake sales will be ruined and the HomeOwner's Association will be armed and dangerous.

I Like Me More by LambCHOWDER (Mature, Incomplete)

You love pancakes. They're so easy to make. Let's ignore the 7 monsters glaring at you and watching your every move. With obvious red flags, you choose to move in with your ex friend and her harem… for your own benefit, of course. Despite the situations that arise, you push through. Though it may be kind of worth it, you really didn’t expect all the secrets to come loose...

Bleeding Green [Rewrite] [On Hiatus] by pyromaniac_mage (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

[Y/N] [L/N] is a powerful mage with a bloodline well-known throughout the ages and her family have always been celebrated. They, however, despise how their bloodline trapped monsters beneath the ground. But, that is for another day. In not being able to afford basic accommodation for university, they had to rely on an old (and terrible) friend named Bethany. For some reason, most of Bethany's skeleton mates despise [Y/N] but why is that? Apart from the fact she is a mage? Just because she has a kindness soul, it doesn't mean she will stand for their bullshit.

Home for lost souls by SketchyDyslexic (Not Rated, Incomplete)

Sans was so in his head that the resets would start back again, he didn't want to even try. Papyrus put in work to convince Sans that he needed to come to the surface with him, and not continue staying in the underground. Sans agreed to pick out a home with his brother, and began packing his things. With only a week left, Sans decided to try pulling his older brother back with the machine one last time, only to have to watch it sputter and stop. Sans gave up and packed his stuff, ready and moving out to stay with undyne until their new home was bought. His life and a few others really went out of whack because of the machines malfunction, with his sudden influx of brothers and the soulmate bonds that were slowly making themselfs known. Even after settling the chaos, shit still hits the fan every time he gets done untangling one mess. And the woman that is helping his strange family isn't making anything easier by making things easier!

[walkingstackofbooks]

Consider: Julian being pregnant with Yoshi and going to Federation parenting classes with Miles and Keiko. And encountering a list of all the rights and freedoms every child is supposed to be entitled to. Some of which... don't sound like his childhood. (Cw child abuse)

I've got SO MANY more ideas for this it may turn into a series who knows??? But I want to share it now so people can maybe like it? Because I have feeeelings.

--

"So these are just, uh, suggestions, right? Parents don't have to do all of them?" Julian asked, instantly regretting it. If Miles' dirty look was anything to go by, clearly that had been the wrong thing to say.

"Julian," he gritted out, "you're my best mate and you're carrying my child so I'm going to give you a chance to explain. What the hell do you mean by that?"

Julian really wasn't sure that he could. Some of the statements on the poster had surprised him, that was all, but he didn't really want to get into the reasons why.

"Don't, uh-- Don't worry. It's not important," he tried to deflect.

"It bloody well is important, if you're just planning to ignore what you're learning here."

"Miles--" Keiko broke in, placing a hand on her husband's knee.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Julian exclaimed, cradling his stomach protectively. "I was just saying that, um... I guess that they're not all as important as each other, are they? Lack of privacy, for example -- that's not exactly abusive, is it, like some of the others?"

"That's a common misconception, but no, Doctor Bashir," answered Mx Rakoto. "Any parent showing a consistent failure to meet any one of these standards would be enough to investigate them for abuse."

"Oh."

"What do you mean, "oh"?" Miles asked, with an irritation that compelled Julian to shrug and look away.

"I guess I just didn't realise it was taken that seriously," he replied, feeling kind of silly and small as he said it. "I know we learnt about them in school, but back then it was more of a thing for teachers than parents, wasn't it?"

There was a pause, before Keiko said tentatively, "...These have always been for parents, Julian."

"Mrs O'Brien is correct," Mx Rakoto added. "Your parents would have completed a very similar course to this -- some things have changed of course, there's always more progress that can be done, but the fundamental rights and freedoms of children haven't changed, and nor has the law."

"No, but..." Julian's brain didn't seem to be working properly; was he missing something?

"You're saying these are things I should have had at home and at school?"

"Yes?"

"And my parents should have known about them?"

"I would find it hard to believe that they didn't. Parents are required to access learning about this every few years."

"Oh." Julian's voice had gone very quiet at the point. "I think I-- I need a minute..." he said shakily, eyes glued to the poster in front of him, reading and rereading the information as he tried to figure out what he'd got wrong.

Right to privacy.

Right to choose their own name.

Right to appropriate support and accommodations of a disability.

Freedom from unnecessary medical interventions.

Freedom from torture.

Right to make mistakes.

"Julian?" asked Keiko softly, startling him out of his thoughts. "Are you alright?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "I didn't know," he whispered. "I mean, it's not like I thought they were great parents, you know, but I didn't think... Well, most people complain about their parents, don't they? I didn't think mine were abnormally bad. But there are so many things--" His voice quavered, almost breaking. "And you say they could have been investigated for just breaking one?"

"What... what kind of things?" asked Miles hesitantly. "Only if you want to tell us, of course."

Julian's eyes flicked around the room, but Mx. Rakoto seemed to have left the room.

"They've gone," confirmed Keiko, seeming to catch onto what he was thinking. "I can go too, if you'd prefer..."

"No -- it's alright," said Julian. "It's just... a lot to take in."

His eyes returned to the poster. Right to encouragement. Freedom from humiliation and constant criticism. Right to self-expression. Right to relax and play. Right to mistakes.

"It must be hard, right," he started, looking to them both anxiously, "to keep these all in your head? There's a lot of them, it must be normal to not remember all of them all the time?"

Miles and Keiko exchanged glances, a second-long conversation that Julian was not privy to.

"All parents make mistakes," said Keiko kindly. "It's when these things start getting ignored often that there's a problem."

"And some of them you barely have to think about anyway," added Miles. "You know, "right to shelter", "right to food", "right to clothes" -- it's not difficult stuff. You don't have kids if you don't want to look after them properly."

"Then why did my parents find it so difficult?" The words burst out of Juliann before he could stop them. "What was so wrong with me that meant they didn't do all this?"

"No, oh no, Julian," said Keiko, as Miles reached out to pull him in for a hug. "Don't think like that. It wasn't you--"

Julian wasn't really listening: his question had finally given him the puzzle piece he had been missing -- he'd realised what hadn't been adding up.

"No... no, it's fine," he said, feeling a little floaty now he'd got his thoughts all in order. "No, it was me. I was a difficult kid. That's..." He shook himself, feeling his cheeks get hot as he wondered what the O'Briens must be thinking. "I'm sorry, this session was supposed to be about your child, not about me."

"Our child," corrected Miles gruffly. "And this is important, Julian. I don't give a damn if you were "difficult", your parents don't get to just ignore your rights."

"You don't understand," said Julian desperately, hoping he'd be able to make them see even without mentioning his enhancements. He'd made a real mountain out of a molehill here, he didn't know why he hadn't managed to connect the dots quicker before this all had spiralled out of control. "I tried to piss my parents off. I'd stay out too late and go drinking illegally and date guys way too old for me just because I knew it would annoy them. And I'd always talk back and argue with my dad, and find ways to be smarter than him, and--"

"And none of that was enough to lose your rights, Julian," said Keiko gently. "That's not how it works."

Julian was shaking; he didn't want to listen to them. He'd figured it out -- it was his fault his parents hadn't done everything they were supposed to, because if it wasn't his fault, it was their fault, and that meant... well, that they were abnormally bad parents, and that... that...

"Hey," said Miles, more softly than Julian had ever heard him, peeling Julian's hands away from where he'd been covering his ears. "Let's say you're right -- just for a moment," he added in response to Keiko's hissed "Miles?". "Maybe we don't understand everything that went on. Why don't you tell us which of these you weren't getting from your parents, yeah? Explain it to us a bit more?"

Flashing him a weak smile, Julian nodded. he should have known he could always count on Miles.

"Okay, yeah, um -- so I guess, uh, "right to choose your own name"?" he said, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he watched Keiko pull the poster up on her PADD and circle it, but choosing not to comment. "It wasn't like, transphobic or anything though," he defended. "They'd just always called me 'Jules' since I was little, you know? So it's not really..." He trailed off, shrugging.

"Okay..." said Miles, and Julian tried to ignore the dubious look his friend shot at Keiko. "Anything else?"

"Um -- I always had to, uh, leave my door open? Or if I closed it, they wouldn't knock before coming in... That's not that weird though, right? One of my Academy friends thought it was, but--"

"Did you feel like your parents respected your privacy?" asked Keiko, and Julian looked at her for a few seconds, before shaking his head.

"But they were my parents," he said. "That was just how they looked out for me. They were supposed to look out for me."

"And you were supposed to have a right to privacy," replied Keiko, making another circle on her PADD. Fuck, this wasn't going the way Julian had thought it would. Hurriedly, he looked for a different one to try to explain better.

"Constant criticism," he said, distantly noticing the strangled tone to his voice. "That's hardly surprising, right? I mean, if you get things wrong all the time, you're going to be criticised, that's just how it works."

Neither Keiko nor Miles looked convinced; clearly he wasn't trying hard enough, describing clearly enough why it had been alright his parents hadn't been perfect. He was getting this all wrong.

The right to make mistakes.

For some reason, those had been the words his eyes hadn't been able to leave alone. Every time he went past them, his heart caught on them, as though the words were a rusty nail left half-buried in his skin.

It wasn't a fair comparison, really. He had been different to the other children -- better, smarter -- so of course he hadn't been allowed to make the same mistakes they did. Of course his parents' expectations had been high; they'd known what he was.

But all the same, it sounded nice, that imaginary childhood where all mistakes were okay, not just the ones he'd carefully measured out to avoid detection.

He didn't realise he was crying until he felt a rough thumb wiping a tear off his cheek.

"Oh, Julian," Miles was saying. "It's okay, you can let it out now. We're here for you. I'm so sorry. I wish I'd known."

[lowkeyremi]

mayaaaaa !! so your aot fluff just sent my soul back to my levi fanfic phase 😭😭 can you please please write more of levi with his younger lover ??? i need to know all about it !!! how do they cuddle? how did they get together? what’s he like in public with them????

love you lots <33

OFC!! This is such a cute concept i'm excited to write this >:3 AND ILY TOO <333

It's not required but if you haven't read the first part you might wanna do that :)

CW: None, just fluff

First encounter:

The two of you met when he was on a business trip. You and your friends were shopping for new clothes and he was at the store for a new tie, because according to his boss, "you wear that same tie all the time, Ackerman. This meeting is really important so try to look nice."

When you saw him it was game over. Funny thing is you didn't even try to hide it either, your eyes widened, your jaw was on the floor, and everything.

"That guy is so hot! You should talk to him." Your friend squeals.

"No way in hell, he's probably married! That'd be so weird." You argue in return. Your friend didn't give up though.

"Excuse me, sir! If you're looking for a tie my friend can help you look for one! She used to work in retail." Her voice is sweet when talking to him. If that super hot guy hadn't been right there you would have smacked her.

He didn't say anything at first, he looked you up and down. "He's checking you out!" She whisper-yelled. You elbowed her in the rib.

"I have a suit that looks like- you know what let me just look for a picture." He says, and what the hell... his voice is like silk.

You walk over to him. "Here it is." The suit is a dark gray, with a white undershirt. Your eyes scan his phone, it's an older outdated model and you can't help but giggle.

"Is gray a bad color for me?" He asks, with sarcasm.

"No no! It's just.. what model is your phone? It looks old." His brows furrow as he inspects his phone.

"I don't know, I got it a long time ago." He says with a shrug, "It works just fine."

"Sorry sorry. What kind of tie do you have right now? If you have one." You say trying to be inclusive.

"The one I usually wear is black but this is a special occasion so I need something else." You hum lightly while looking around.

"Okay, I'm thinking blue. Specifically dark blue." He nods and you two look around for a dark blue tie without patterns because he's basic.

Out of the corner of your eye your friends are making smooching faces and other romantic gestures. You're going to end them later.

"I found one thanks for the help." He says.

"Of course!" Fuck, too happy?

He stares at you for a moment, and you stare back before looking away. You take a step back and clear your throat.

"C-can.. I get your number?" Your foot is tapping and you're looking everywhere except for at him.

"Yeah, sorry if my calls don't go through because of my crappy phone." He says with a small.. smile?

You stare for a second in silence.

"That was my attempt at making a joke, it was bad." He says with a sigh.

"Yeah... we're gonna need to work on that. What's your name Mr. Gloomy?" You hand over your phone, you have the dial screen open so he can put in his number.

"Levi Ackerman." That small smile returns.

"I'll see you around, Levi."

In public:

Turns out you were actually the one who wasn't big on telling people about you at first. Levi is proud of everything he does. In all honesty you were slightly embarrassed by having an older boyfriend.

"What if people think you're my sugar daddy or something?" You reason.

"I'm not that old." He rolls his eyes.

"Why does it matter what other people think of our relationship anyway? They're not dating you, I am." He explains. He makes it sound like common sense, which it is, but you still think it's a little awkward.

"I mean it doesn't matter too much but-"

"I respect your decision. I'm not huge on PDA but I'd at least like people close to me to know." He explains rubbing his hand up and down your thigh. You grab his hand (which happens to be very veiny and pretty) and kiss it.

"Thanks, Levi."

-----

When you did tell everyone... you were all over him. Levi was never big on PDA but he didn't mind giving you a little kiss or holding your hand.

The only time he's really touching you in public is one someone's hitting on you. Levi gets scared that you'll find someone younger than him.

-----

"Did you want to go out sometime?" Your new co-worker asks you. He doesn't know you have a boyfriend but you've been rejecting him all week.

You check your phone to see that Levi's just arrived. Your shift ended early today and he promised to come get you and take you out.

"Um no than-"

"Are you ready to go, baby?" Levi's voice is confident and smug. The guy looks over to Levi and then to you. His face flushes and he starts to stammer.

"U-uh sorry. I... I didn't know." Levi exhales as the guy walks away in a hurry.

"You should call me that more often." You chime in with a cheeky smirk.

"I do." He offers you his hand. When you take it, he leads the way to his black cadillac.

"I mean yeah! But not outside of the house."

"I'm working on it... baby."

Meeting the parents:

To your surprise they were very accepting of Levi.

"They've always been very childish. I'm so glad they found someone to keep them in shape." Your mother was embarrassing as always.

"Take care of them." Your father had said.

Levi nodded and they stood there awkwardly.

"Um dad! Levi works for a law firm! Isn't that something? You've always wanted me to get into law school, remember?" Your attempt to change the subject worked.

"I did, but you never wanted to. Always said "Dad! I don't wanna sit at a desk all day!" What law firm do you work for Levi?" It must be a parent's job to embarrass their child.

"Oh I work for..."

That convo went on forever.

-------

"Hello, Mrs. and Mr. Ackerman." Levi nodded, which motivated you to place down the bouquet of Mrs. Ackerman's favorite flowers on her gravestone.

"You guys seemed like great people from what Levi told me. I'm taking care of him, he's not a lonely loser anymore." Tears are welling up but nothing comes out, you smile softly.

"I was never a loser." His eye roll doesn't go unnoticed by you.

"If that's what makes you feel better, then okay. Anyway, I wish I could have had the chance to meet you guys. Mrs. Ackerman I can see why your husband married you. You were fine as hell. That must be where Levi gets it from." You rant with a little giggle.

"I look more like my father." He reminds you.

"Yeah yeah, this isn't about you. I'm trying to meet your parents." You wave him away and continue to talk to the Ackermans.

"I think they would have liked you, a little weirded out by you at first but in the end they would have loved you like you were their own." Two arms wrap around you and then those tears fall. Out of all your relationships none have ever made you feel this loved and wanted.

Chilling:

"Boop!" Levi almost bites your finger this time.

"Stop "booping" me. It's annoying." He's facing you while in bed, those dark, onyx eyes look into yours. God he's so beautiful.

"I'm bored, let's get up." That's probably the tenth time you've said that to him.

"We agreed on fifteen more minutes of cuddling." Levi is a cuddler. In previous relationships you've complained about not being cuddled enough.

Levi is all about physical affection inside of the household. You love it, but at times like right now, you just crave to move around.

He's peppering your face with kisses, your eyelids, your nose, your cheeks, everywhere. The cherry on top is that he smiles when he hears you chuckle at his actions.

"Okay now we can get up, since you're so impatient." Those snuggly arms let go of your body so you can go get ready for the day.

"I love you Levi!" He hesitates upon hearing you say that before responding, "I love you too."

In conclusion Levi is literally like a dad who has to keep one of those little kid backpack leash things on his kid (you) lol he loves you tho <3

[captn-trex]

technical devotion, part twenty-one: stepping back

a/n: okayyyyy finally getting somewhere. and echo gets to be a little cocky bastard, as a treat. kinda ends a bit... hmm, but trust that the next one is gonna be good 👀

content warnings: none :)

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Kan was feeling anything but composed.

It had finally come time that she and Echo were to return to the dwelling of their extended mission together. Before long, they would be leaving the base, going ahead of the others to make sure it was secure. Kan was a little nervous to be alone with Echo after their close encounter the other day, but she would be lying to say that she wasn't also secretly thrilled by the idea.

She commed her mother as a final task before she left, someone whose profession surrounded archaeology and finding the truth in myths, wondering if she had heard of the site that the Empire had been mining from.

“I'm afraid not my darling, I haven't made it that far towards the core worlds in years” the blue display of her mother gave her an apologetic look.

“Ah that's alright, I wasn't necessarily expecting—”

“M'aira are you— oh”

Echo stumbled into the room, looking a little caught as his eyes flicked between Kan and the image of her mother.

“You must be Mrs Hynzir” he drew himself up to his full height, a charming smile on his lips.

Kan couldn’t believe that Echo remembered her last name, she was sure she’d only told him the one time.

“That's me” her mother's eyes crinkled around the edges as she gave him a warm smile, “and you are…”

“This is my friend Echo, Mother” Kan introduced him.

“It’s an pleasure to meet you Ma’am” Echo gave her a gracious bow of his head.

Kan couldn’t stop the way her eyes rolled.

“Please, call me Zinoma” her mother insisted, clearly enjoying how charismatic Echo was behaving all of a sudden.

“What a lovely name” he replied, and Kan rolled her eyes again before he continued brazenly, “I must say, I can see where M'aira gets her good looks from”

“Alright, that’s enough”

Despite the flutter in her heart and having her appearance be described favourably, she pushed Echo out of the room again, closing the door with a huff.

Her mother chuckled when she turned back to her, “do you have anything to tell me about Echo?”

“Mother, please” Kan sighed irritatedly.

“I’m just saying, he seems very charmi—”

“I didn’t call you to talk about the cute boys of the rebellion”

“Ah! So you do think he’s cute?” her mother grinned at her, a teasing edge to her voice.

“Mother” Kan held the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes in frustration, “can we get back to the task at hand?”

“Of course” she chuckled before she grew more serious, “tell me about this material they've found”

Kan blew out a breath before she began explaining, “from what I can gather from the Empire's reports on it, the material draws electrical charge naturally. It's recorded as having disturbed their equipment, which is why the location became a bit if a local legend — the people think a deity of some kind is behind it. Once the Empire started digging about, they found a repository”

“Hm” her mother stroked her chin, “do you know anything more?”

“A little. The material seems to store the electrical charge somehow, which is why they wanted it to fit to one-man fighters — to be able to disable ships that would usually outmatch them”

“How do you imagine that happening?” her mother frowned.

“Well, they wanted it in the form of a projectile. If they shot it at a ship then it wouldn't only short the circuits of it, but with this material storing electrical charge, it could possibly implode on itself and render it unfixable. Anyone aboard would be trapped on the ship, with oxygen levels dropping faster than they could have time to figure out a solution”

Her mother shook her head with a sigh, “this is outside the bounds of my knowledge I'm afraid. I'm sorry darling, I wish I could help more”

“Don't worry about it” Kan gave her a tight smile, “it was a longshot anyway”

She wrapped up the call promptly, after her mother had made sure to tell her to be safe. Kan sighed and rubbed a hand over her face as she picked up her bag, slinging it over her head and opening the door. She was surprised to be met with Echo waiting outside, leaning against the opposite side of the hall with a small smirk.

“You're unbelievable” she muttered, shaking her head as she walked along the hall towards the exit of the base.

“I think that's unfair” Echo claimed as he pushed off the wall, and Kan let out a disbelieving laugh.

“You were just flirting with my mother, in case you forgot” she glanced over at him, noting his grin.

“I didn't forget” he shrugged.

Kan gave him and incredulous look, “and you expect me to be okay with it?”

“Why? Are you jealous?” his smirk only grew with satisfaction.

Kan's cheeks burned, a darkening blush spreading across her face. She grumbled a few unintelligible words under her breath, pushing open the large door to the hangar.

“So… you think I’m ‘cute’?” he teased, catching up with her quickened steps to give her another smirk.

“Oh maker” Kan whispered to herself, blushing even further, “I’m done with this conversation”

Echo chuckled and followed her up the steps into his ship.

Standing in front of the dwelling, watching Echo unlock the door with the manual lock and key, Kan was struck by a strange feeling. She was suddenly reminded of just how much had happened since the first time she was here, how different she felt.

She followed Echo inside, and placed her bag down on the kitchen table gently, glancing around the familiar room with a fondness.

“Everything alright?” Echo asked, snapping her out of her trance.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine” she replied.

Her thoughts dwelled on the man beside her, though nothing about the way she was acting betrayed that. She wished for just a moment that it could be just her and Echo here again, and under different circumstances, where they weren’t here to foil the Empire, but just to live. It was wishful thinking, in more ways than one. There was no guarantee that they would ever even see the end of the Empire, which was a horrifying thought, and it occurred to her that she may never get some of the things she wanted from life.

“M'aira” Echo called softly, and she looked over to see his slightly worried expression, “what's wrong?”

She smiled genuinely, Echo’s honey coloured eyes bringing the sense of peace that they always did, “nothing, it's just weird to be back here”

Echo looked hesitant “good weird or bad weird?”

“Good, mostly”

“Mostly?”

Kan just shrugged, “I'll go comm Rex, let him know everything is safe here”

She grabbed her bag and headed upstairs without another word, and Echo watched her go with a concerned crease forming in his brow.

Echo had spent the next few hours preparing for the arrival of the others, cleaning up any last remnants of the time that him and Kan had spent there together. Spices that had been used often enough that they didn't make it back to the cupboard, bits of frayed wire that had been discarded, dust that had collected on an assortment of curios that neither one of them had cared to move in their time there.

Something heavy rested on Echo's heart as he cleaned, washing away evidence that him and Kan had been anything more than mission partners.

He was pulled from the thoughts as he began to feel a strange sensation in his cybernetic arm. He shook it out, flexing his fingers, but something still felt off.

“M'aira?” he called from the bottom of the stairs.

He realised then that the day was drawing to a close, and she had been holed up in what had been her room since morning. Echo was beginning to worry about her, as was his nature.

“What's up?” she replied cheerily, her head poking around the door frame, glasses perched on the end of her nose.

Echo couldn’t help but smile. She had really come back to her usual self, the one he first met and the one he had become close with, the one who nudged him out of his comfort zone so gently. He was glad to see her having pushed through the suffering she endured at the hands of the Empire, and he applauded her strength. It only made him adore her even more.

“Can you take a look at my arm? Something feels off”

Kan scampered down the stairs as soon as the words left his mouth, “where does it feel off?”

Echo chuckled at how quick she was to want to help, his chest filling with the familiar warmth that she so often brought to him.

“It feels like the connection isn't as secure, I can't feel things like I usually can” he informed her.

Kan reached out her hand, almost taking his arm before she recoiled slightly, “uh, may I?”

Echo smiled, holding out his hand for her to take, “of course”

She smiled shyly and took his hand in hers, turning over his arm and inspecting the connection between her attachment and his scomp.

“I think I see the problem” she had barely mumbled out, and she was racing upstairs and back down again with a tool.

Kan retook Echo's hand and gently ran her fingers along the point where cybernetic met flesh. Echo had to supress a shiver as she flipped the tool in her hand, and began mumbling about what she was doing.

He could feel her tweaking with the connection to his arm, but any and all focus he could muster was aimed at Kan. She was being so gentle, the way she always was, and it made his heart melt and his skin flair with heat all at once.

He watched the way her lips moved as she murmured out words he couldn't hear, how her eyes narrowed and flickered every time she made a small adjustment. Her brows drew together, her hair falling over her face and casting a shadow over her features. He traced his eyes down the lines of her features, the slope of her brows, the bump on her nose bridge, the peak of her cupids bow.

“You're so beautiful”

Kan stopped moving, stopped talking, and looked up at him, her mouth hanging open.

“What?”

“I said…” he smiled, brushing her hair from her face and sweeping it behind her ear, “you're so beautiful”

Kan just stared up at him wide eyed, and he was sure he could see galaxies twinkling in their depths. He had always liked being close enough to see her eyes properly, so that he could see small fragments of gold shining back at him. His hand lingered on her cheek, and before he could do anything else, Kan surged forwards and her lips met his.

It was over before it even began, and Echo almost wasn't sure it had even happened, the feel of her lips against his not lingering enough to know. His surprise was evident, his mouth agape and staring down at her as his mind went blank for a moment. Kan immediately began to backtrack.

“I'm so sorry Echo, I don't know wha—”

She was cut off by Echo grabbing the back of her head and pulling her lips to his, and all of her with them. His lips tangled with hers, kissing her with an intense fervour, and Kan's body melted against his, her hands finding his waist and pulling him closer.

The proximity was electrifying, both of them desperate to meld together. The need to be closer was overtaking them; this was the first time they had allowed themselves to let go around each other, and it was both overwhelming and not enough at the same time. The feel of Echo pressing against her mouth was everything Kan had hoped to dream of and more. His lips were hot and heavy against hers, taking away her breath and stealing everything from within her.

Echo couldn't help himself, he pushed Kan back into the wall and deepened the kiss, devouring her lips. He couldn't get enough. The kiss was passionate, though sloppy, unprecise, as if neither one of them could keep up with the intensity of the moment. Kan slipped her hands underneath Echo's shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin and skimming her fingers along the metal attachment that ran down his spine. The action drew a unbidden groan from Echo, and he breathed uneasily against Kan’s lips. It felt so uniquely intimate, and it made his brain go hazy.

That was until he heard the din of voices outside the front door, and he shot away from Kan, just as the door opened to reveal Rex and the rest of the clones that were there for the mission. Rex looked between the two of them suspiciously, both of them looking flustered and out of breath.

“Everything… alright?” he asked.

“Mhm” Kan nodded, not daring to say any proper words for fear that they wouldn't come out right.

Rex looked at his brother, “Echo?”

“What? Yeah, everything is fine” he replied in a particularly non-committal tone.

Kan swallowed and looked over at him as the rest of the clones filed through the door, the sound drowning out the way her thoughts swirled within her head. It seemed that Echo was set on not meeting her gaze. She was partly glad for that. She had no idea how to conduct herself in that moment.

Though as the day turned to evening, and he still refused to find her eyes, a strange feeling of rejection started setting in. The kiss was perfect, it was exhilarating and passionate and everything she'd wanted from him for months. The thought gnawed at her that perhaps Echo regretted it, or even worse, that he was embarrassed to be seen with her in that way.

She tried to push it from her mind, but the longer it went on, the more she got frustrated. It was mainly aimed at herself, but she also couldn’t help but dwell on how she thought that her and Echo were past the point of avoiding each other. She did what she knew best, and she went and hid in her room, throwing herself into her work.

taglist: @darthnihila @cdblake1565 @bunny7567

[inf1nyxw0rlds]

reposting my infinite is not weak essay because i got anxious and deleted the last one <3 i've been meaning to do this for months, but i'm not exactly the most functional person and i don't often put myself out there. in the process of rewriting it, i also altered the wording and added a few things, as you might notice if you've seen it before; and if you haven't, then welcome to whatever it is i'm doing here!

this is written with all my love, all my frustration, fueled by years worth of listening to a cycle of minsinformation that left permanent damage in the form of skewed perceptions – based in a false claim and the jokes that came with it – and a hesistance on sega's part to even address him save for a few tossed crumbs over the span of the last half a decade. originally i had an elaborate metaphor here, but there was no need for it and i'll cut right to the chase; there has always been good in infinite's character – but not everyone cares to look for it.

it's been six years since the release of sonic forces. which is insane! it's wild to me! as somebody who's been here since before the game even released, i've seen it all. to commemorate the occassion, when i wrote this originally, i thought that i would talk further about infinite's reception; in particular, the Weak thing. i've discussed it before in brief, and you can read that one here; this time though, i'm going to get more into dissecting the actual problem, and debunking arguments that supposedly prove infinite to be objectively weak and pathetic... when canonically, that isn't the case. i'd actually argue the opposite, but at the very least he isn't lacking strength – his skills are average at worst.

the first reason that i see, the one we're all plenty familiar with and the one i brought up previously, is that infinite is weak because he lost to shadow. once. that's it. do i really have to explain why this is stupid? yeah, he did lose, one time. even against a normal opponent, one defeat in comparison to what we can assume, based on his title, many victories, isn't much of an indicator toward being weak. shadow is also the ultimate lifeform, in case anyone has forgotten that detail, and bear in mind that infinite knows shadow to have just slaughtered his entire team – do you really think he would be at his best in that state?

there's also a fuckton of context clues implying that infinite had issues prior to this encounter, specifically inferiority issues. shadow literally told him, after having wiped his whole team out, to never show his pathetic face again. the face with the, you know. the big scar. the blind eye. (shoutout to the person who pointed this out in the tags in the "first part" of this, by the way! based for that)

this argument is so full of holes that it just drives me kind of bonkers how it can be used to claim infinite is weak and stupid. do i think that the scene is without flaw? of course not. if you want to say that the way they handled his breakdown wasn't the greatest, you can, you have every right to your opinion. but that's just it. we're talking about something else. i get it, the "i am not weak" was a memeable line, but it doesn't actually make him weak. people that reduce his reaction to "just" hating shadow because he got his ass beat, people who call it a "temper tantrum", i ... the context is right there. it was never "just" because shadow beat him up. would people say this about anyone else that shadow happens to beat up? that they're irrefutably weak? no. that's stupid. obviously. so why infinite? because it wasn't a strong enough spectacle. let me illustrate this more with another example;

another reason people say that infinite is weak is because sonic didn't need to go super in order to beat him. and... again, this one, too, falls apart pretty easily. sonic has beaten other characters without going super, and this includes shadow. the difference is the when, the how, the context. it's not that infinite is weak, but it was a weak final boss fight. do you get what i mean?

forces, in general, suffered a lot with this problem. it wasn't a problem that was exclusive to infinite. unfortunately, as the new character, he got the most heat. there was a huge amount of hype for him, so when the spectacle fell short, people were pissed. and i get it. but then that issue became, "infinite bad". that issue became "infinite's weak". it has never been that, though. this is why i personally hate weak jokes – because they're rooted in non-issue and misinfo.

a point i saw made once was that the characterisation of sonic and the rest of the cast are part of what made infinite's character hard to take seriously, and i'd agree! infinite actually fits the setting quite well; he has a mysterious, serious presence. he's harsh, he's edgy, but it's cheesy enough that it works in the typical style of the sonic franchise. the problem is, when the other characters aren't taking things seriously, it throws the whole thing off. we're being told this is a hard-hitting, high stakes plot, but how can we see it that way, when they're all just cracking jokes?

as a side-tangent of sorts, you know what's real funny? infinite's backstory, the one thing people use more than anything else to declare his obvious weakness, quite likely wasn't originally going to exist anyway, and he was instead going to be made by eggman. i say "quite likely" as, as i've stated, i don't like misinformation, and sega will probably never confirm this one-hundred percent, but this is something fans – myself included – have discussed a few times.

first, there's the odd dialogue and enviroment in stage 29. tails states outright, as you go through the fortress, where containment/test tubes line the walls in countless numbers, "so this is where eggman built infinite". the tubes do, in fact, appear to have low-res bodies inside them. this is also something they detailed in an early version of the script. infinite's remark on sonic's "data" also fits in with this idea of him being some form of android. prior to release, there was also a cryptic message that, when decoded, referred to infinite as "the fated son of daedalus"; in other words, icarus, who flew too close to the sun; his father being an inventor! that's really dope foreshadowing.

you can argue that tails and amy's commentary is speculation rather than solid fact and that they're mistaken, it's a possibility i definitely consider here, but given how rushed the dlc and prequel comics feel, the fact that there was a statement that big changes were made late into development... yeah. i'll buy it. i often find myself wondering what people would think of infinite had this been his story, whether they would view him differently. also, speaking of the dlc being rushed, there are actually unused lines for episode shadow implying that you would have fought the jackal squad; they were likely just unable to implement it in time. it's a shame, as it would have added to that spectacle factor i mentioned. but hey, gotta push for that holiday release!

what i find really interesting is that you can look at his character through either lense: the former mercenary turned war criminal, or the creation of our ol' doctor, and he still reads well! his behaviour makes sense in whichever context you choose to apply; what he thought he had to become, versus what he was made to be. it's cool and it makes me a bit insane. a lot of people criticise infinite for his one-dimensionality, but in my opinion, like... it's the point. he's meant to feel hollow. because he's masking; or because he wasn't made for feelings, but rather for destruction.

something that seems ironic is that many people attempt to "fix" him by... putting him into a box and inflating a single trait into his entire character and calling it "better writing". now, here's the disclaimer, okay: i'm all for people having fun and being proud of their work! i don't think that we should police what others can create. this is just about the phenomenon of watering a character down or changing them to fit ships and narratives rather than those characters being what shape the direction the story and their relationships take, things like that; which... i mean, i'm not a cop, you can still do these things even if i don't like them! i'm not saying it isn't allowed, but i think that you're kind of missing the point.

he never needed fixing. his story needed refinement. that's different. it's more about exploring what we've been given, looking below the surface; infinite is not just an evil, ruthless tyrant that deserves death nor a traumatised sadboy to be made good by the power of love and friendship – not to me. his trauma and anger are both part of him, and you cannot – or rather shouldn't – reduce him to one thing or another. it does him a major disservice, i think. there are good things there, things you can dissect, you just have to be willing to look.

in choosing to ignore what made him who he is, disregarding the loss of his squad and blatant insecurity unless it's funny, you're purposely looking at him through a faulty lense. bad writing doesn't mean that the intent isn't there. context is so important, and you can't analyse him or critique him with worth unless these things are acknowledged. it's like if you were eating a cake, avoiding the frosting and complaining it's not sweet enough. the frosting is there, not even being withheld from you. it has always been there. you decided not to eat it. sorry i'm making weird analogies again but hopefully this makes sense.

this has gotten long, wow. the point i want to highlight, overall, is that infinite is not nearly as awful as people make him out to be. it was never about his strength, it was about the limits and shortcomings of the narrative, a problem not exclusive to him yet one that has been pinned on him for so many years. i don't want it to sound like i'm saying he is immune to criticism, or that forces is, even though i've criticised forces during the creation of this post (and don't think that i think forces is terrible, either! it's my favourite game and i have lots of things i like about it as well! i've just been drawing attention to these parts to better explain what i want to convey lol); but i do hate how the wrong thing is being criticised.

this issue has been watered down into "infinite weak" when it's way more broad, way more complex than that, and i cannot stand it. it seems like such a trivial matter, like, oh, fandom is being mean about my favourite guy, but it did actual damage and forever altered people's perception of him. i am pissed about it! i'm mad! i don't care if you don't like infinite (because i can just block you as we will not get along!) but... it's about why people don't like him. they don't have to justify it, they can continue hating him, but it always bothered me that the reason is so often not a real problem. yeah.

okay, i think that's it. thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you made it this far, you're gay

[fluffypotatey]

Hello again! I hope you don't mind. What's your opinion on Azure Lion, and the Brotherhood? You said they were a toxic group, can you explain how and why? I am very dense. Also have you watched the newest Monkey King movie? What do you think of it? Are there any part of JTTW or Sun Wukong's story you'd like to see be made into a movie that doesn't get much attention? Not LMK verse of course. I'd like to see Ao Lie, the White Dragon Horse's story get expanded on, especially when the group encounter the Dragon family during their journey. What about you? What's your opnion on LBD's host, or Bai He as the fans are calling her? Would you like an interaction between her and SWK? Have a good month!

ok imma save your brotherhood question for last because once i start with them and swk's relationship with them, i will not stop.

anyway,

no, i haven't seen the new Monkey King movie yet T^T i hope to see it soon when i have free time, but uni's began, so i will be busy with assignments T^T goodbye summer vacation :'(

as for what jttw story i'd like to see more of? hmmmmm, idk, though tbh i am very new with any jttw interpretation (my introduction to this story was through OSP, and after seeing the sun&moon poll i decided to check out lmk), so my personal information is still small compared to the people who grew up with the many stories and variations of Journey to the West and its characters.

however, i kind of wanna say Sha Wujing/Sandy? mostly because he does seem like an interesting character (2nd strongest out of the companions if i'm remembering right), and is fairly clever with his fighting (which might be why he gets along with swk a lot). idk, it would be fun to get some background on how he acquired his skull necklace (pretty sure they were enemies of his???? or something idk) and his own motivations for redemption, not to mention he does become a Bodhisattva just like swk and Tripitaka (pretty Pigsy/Zhu Baije doesn't???), so that would be fun to touch on!

moving on now....i actually do like how the fandom just adopted :BD's host and we all affectionately call her Bai He! it's sweet and i like that we all kind of want to see her own recovery of being possessed for like months (or a year idk lmk timeline is weird and funky and no i am not annoyed-) i am a big fan of the "Macky adopts previously possessed child out of solidarity but also she latched onto him first and wouldn't let go so he's kind of stuck with her now :)" it's very fanon but, eh, i'm a sucker for "reluctant dad to protect the smol" characters (prob another reason why i love Pigsy and swk so much lmao).

ALSO, i think her interactions with swk would be so funny (for me) and awkward (for swk) because she's like "thanks for saving the world and me!" and swk like "MHM! uh yeah, sure, np kiddo" bc he did almost kill her (tho he really did try to find a way to not do that) but also Bai He might not even be mad at him for that. (maybe i want her to attempt to befriend him, but swk is just so nervous and feeling a tad guilty so he avoids her but she's a persistent little fucker, maybe i want to a lot, sue me)

idk what her role is now in the show tbh. she could be sidelined now, and we only get cameos of her (s3 ending & s4 special) for the time being just showing her slow recovery (lmk has been doing a "minor/background character development happening behind the scenes" for awhile (DBK fam) so i wouldn't be surprised if we see that with her). but it's possible that she could grow to have some role in s5 or s6 (maybe she's got some leftover LBD powers bc post-possession symptoms, maybe Mr. Hoodie Man wants to use her too bc she was such a great host for LBD, maybe she saw something plot relevant while possessed concerning MK and wants to warn him or his friend??? WHO KNOWS???)

ok.....Brotherhood™️ what are my thoughts on them......

this post is already long as is, and i have class in 30 minutes, oh boy let's go >:3

sO, let try and summarize my thoughts of them before delving in: i think that narratively, the Brotherhood are a great way for establishing who Sun Wukong was pre-jttw as well as giving us access to his history with Macky (THANK FUCKING GOD I WAS SO DESPERATE FOR THEIR BACKSTORY).

the Brotherhood is also a great way to showcase MK's growing similarities with swk and the narrative parallels the two characters have for each other. we already knew swk was trying to mentor MK is a way that was different from how swk lived his life before because, we he's shown, he really does regret his past actions, and wants MK to be a better version, believes MK can be this better version of him. and you can see him trying, but also he fails to really explain WHY his teaching methods are slow and vague sooooooo, uh oh :)

anyway, character-wise.....the Brotherhood is written to be both sympathetic and dislikable. the sympathetic aspect comes with Azure and his Cause™️ because that shows you that "wait a minute...he really did want to do good, but lost sight of it and the harm he was doing along the way." you're supposed to sympathize with him, you're supposed to feel confused about his shaky relationship with swk because "Azure only wanted to do good, yet swk ruined it" <- this is some excellent unreliable narrator shit i love about this show btw

HOWEVER! Azure is not an archetype character (lmk doesn't really do archetypes. okay, they do, BUT it's more of deconstruction of the archetype than really using an archetype, you feel me?) he is a character who is deeply flawed. he is idealistic and vain (yes, yes he is vain bc have you seen this lion????) Azure built up swk on a pedestal of what a true role model king should look like (nevermind that swk's kingdom was on a island and his subjects were just monkeys, meaning his reign was fairly small compared to Heaven, therefore more manageable BUT I DIGRESS)

basically, Azure placed so much admiration and all his ideal onto swk, who was frankly a lot younger than the celestial lion being that he would have only recently met him post-Havoc & he was only about 500-600 years old by then (maybe????), and saw the monkey more as a perfect weapon to use to defeat the Jade Emperor and start a new, "more compassionate" era.

ok, and this is just me speaking, but, Azure, honey, if you really wanted to help restart Heaven into helping out the poor humans, instead of the very flawed bureaucracy you argued against.....maybe, don't continue on with a monarchy????? idk, maybe it's the Western influence talking but Azure, if you hate the celestial lords and emperor so much, maybe create a system that DOESN'T favor the lords and emperor????? break the whole system apart and create something new???? course you didn't think that far (which was eloquently shown in the special) so i'm honestly not surprised that your mission failed so many times

anyway, the dislikable aspect! Peng is a wonderful character for this section! so, when meeting Azure, you may come to a couple conclusions: wow a pretty lion! is he trustworthy? well, he seems to really want to help out.....damn he's got quite the silvertongue there, very convincing and great orator....you seem very upset about whatever swk did to you, huh? but meeting Peng you get: ooooh pretty bird man! oh, they're kind of a bitch, aren't they? yeah, still a bitch (and depending on the viewer, bitch can be affectionate or derogatory)

but yeah, so Peng, one of Azure's brother trio who worked with him in the Celestial Court and views him as the leader of the Brotherhood rather than swk (actually, none of the brotherhood members even consider swk their leader, except Azure and maybe Macky (but that might be bc Macky does not fucking care about the brotherhood member BUT swk) bc the rest view swk as their prized weapon)

Peng is really the character that starts to make you reconsider Azure's trustworthiness because my god is this bird the most condescending and bitchiest of friends. they are that toxic friend, okay? it was because of Peng that i clocked in "oh, ok, this is high school toxicity 101, got it" lol

anyway, Peng does not really seem to care that much for...the Cause™️ like Azure and Yellow Tusk do. rather, they seem to just stick around mostly because Azure and Yellow Tusk are their brothers and that's it. i guess props for staying loyal??? but still, Peng is the character that gives us the first crack into Azure's worthy crusade because their character will resort to violence first, turns on anyone who slightly disagrees with Azure's methods (*cough cough* Mac *cough cough*) or, hm, let's say....surrenders to the Jade Emperor, is missing for 500 years, then miraculously is freed and is working with a Buddhist monk?

so yeah, uh running out of time but to sum up: Azure and the brotherhood were never really "friends" they were colleagues who though they all had a common goal to defeat Heaven but their loyalty was built on ideals and pedestals and flaky attitudes which was why Mac was never comfortable around them, why DBK stopped interacting with them after the war, and WHY swk was so easily pointed as a traitor and a villain by the Camelhead Trio.

*jazz hands* and there you go, i would say more but i have class!

[blazehedgehog]

Have you ever played Chrono Cross?

I own Chrono Cross! Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite RPGs of all time! I was psyched to play Chrono Cross!

I was extremely disappointed by Chrono Cross!

Chrono Cross feels like a game made almost to spite fans of Chrono Trigger. Vastly different art style, vastly different world, with a lore that basically says "Remember everybody you loved from Trigger? They're dead now. And they probably died tragic or embarrassing deaths."

It fills that void with a lot of incoherency. Because Cross hangs its hat on having 44 collectible party members, very few of them have any impact and basically never participate in the main story. The English localization is even structured in such a way that most of the cast pulls from a single library of side-character dialog that gets fed through an "accent filter" depending on who is saying it. Meaning 97% of the cast is not written to have any legitimate role in the story.

What story can be gleaned is a deliberately confusing mess of mysteries layered within mysteries, none of which ever get explained until the last 3-5 hours of gameplay. So you toil for 27+ hours not having any idea what's going on or why, only to get hit by a freight train of dense lore as you start to round the final bend.

I only know this because a friend explained it all to me once, about FATE and the lineage of the Dragonians and all of that late-game lore.

In truth, I got stuck in Chrono Cross and not even pouring over 3 different GameFAQ guides could get me unstuck. It was some event involving one of the versions of Captain Fargo, or at least that's what I thought I had to do. It was some time after the "switch" event with Serge (if you know, you know) and all the guides said I had to get Fargo to go back to Marbule or something.

But it never worked. He never budged. So I didn't know where to go. After a week of throwing myself at that problem I gave up and resigned myself to never finishing Chrono Cross. This was back in, like, 2002 or 2003, so faded memories by now.

Which I was fine with, because honestly, I was getting pretty bored to tears with the game. There's only so much "you don't know what's going on because it's a 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦" before you get tired of it, and systems-wise it wasn't grabbing me either. That was Square's "experimental" phase, where they were messing with (or straight up deleting) core RPG mechanics just to see what would happen. So Final Fantasy 8 screwed with the gear and magic systems, and Chrono Cross screwed with how you gain experience points and level up.

Which is to say you kind of... don't? Only bosses give EXP, so that basically means you're always guaranteed to level up after every boss. There's no reason to fight fodder enemies outside of getting item drops. Which would be great if they let you avoid most monster encounters, but they don't, so it just wastes time and contributes towards nothing. And battles get needlessly drawn out thanks to the elemental field system, too.

It's a gorgeous game, full of absolutely immaculate art direction. I'm a lifelong fan of any soundtrack with Yasunori Mitsuda (and I even have an autographed Chrono Cross songbook from him!) But anything about the story or gameplay is wet cardboard to me.

I keep thinking about going back to it, starting over fresh, seeing if I like it more now that I'm an older and different person. But I haven't gotten around to it yet. Like a lot of RPGs in my life right now it's locked behind the promise of "maybe after I finish Mother 3" which is going on two years now -- but I picked it back up this week and am rounding the final bend on that one, if you can believe it.

[ishipgenfics]

You and Your Human: Part 6

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

You gently peel your human away from you, limb by limb. It makes a soft whining noise.

"I am sorry," you say, edging away from your human. "I need to go."

Your human seems to collect itself, nodding firmly. "Right. Sorry."

"Captain?" the pilot calls. "You really should come look at this."

You wish you could stay. Your human is breathing heavily, and it looks tense as it shifts along the ground, as if any wrong movement might make it fall over and shatter. But this, whatever it is, is important.

You follow your pilot up to the bridge, where your engineer and scientist are both standing. They nod as you approach. You note vaguely that it is funny, how easy it is to pick up on human quirks.

"We got a messsssssage a few minutesss ago," your engineer explains. Her Pyricese is getting very good. "It is the same word... wordsss?"

"Do you mean phrase?"

"Yes. The same phrase, over and over. Many languages, but same phrase, I think."

"What is it?" you say. There is no voice echoing through the bridge, so your engineer must have shut off the message for now. Unless perhaps the message written, and sent through the controls. You can't really say.

"Do you have a human?" the Sirviles quotes. "That is all."

You stiffen, thinking over all the sentients you have encountered so far. Could one of them have figured out your secret, your human?

Or maybe it is someone you haven't met before. After all, your former customers would know what language you speak.

So. Who is this, and what does it want with a human?

"Do you want me to answer their hail?" the engineer asks.

"Yes, thank you," you say. "Please do."

The big screen that usually shows nothing but blank space and the flicker of stars lights up. A human appears on the screen.

It looks young, probably around the same age as your human, if you had to guess. Its hair is the color of dirty sand, and it is wearing a gray shirt that is definitely too big for it.

Its eyes meet yours, and he says, in pitch-perfect Pyricese, "Do you have a human?"

It starts to repeat it in another pronoun variant, but you hold up a hand and it stops. "I am captain of this vessel, and use she/her pronouns," you say in your native tongue, all lilts and rolls. "What are your pronouns, and what do you want with us?"

The human says nothing.

You frown. "My name is Rhy'cd," you say. You had not gotten the impression that names were of much importance to humans, considering your human's behavior, but perhaps it was simply an anomaly. "Please state your intentions."

The human stayed quiet for a moment longer and then repeated, "Do you have a human?"

You stare. "... that's the only sentence in Pyricese you know, isn't it?"

"Do you have a--"

"Yeah, yeah," you wave your hand and the human stops talking. With a sigh, you switch languages. "Do you speak English?"

The human startles. "Yes, I do. Why do you speak English?"

"I have an personal interest in languages," you reply, which is not technically inaccurate.

"Do you have a human?" the human says again, falling back on its weird catchphrase. You try very hard to focus on the words and not just the way this humans speaks. It is different then your human, faster and smoother, with more heavily accented vowels. A dialect, perhaps? Or could English be this human's second language? The books had implied that Earth was a multi-lingual planet...

"Well?' the human demands, shocking you out of your thoughts. Your ears shoot up, and your fur bristles.

"Why do you want a human?" you ask.

The human does something with its lips, like a smile, but not all the way. "Let's just say... I have a personal interest."

Snarky little-- "I will not give up a member of my crew," you say. "Not without a reason."

The human points at you. "Aha! You do have a human!"

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. You try to pull yourself together and deliver some kind of eloquent plea to continue diplomatic talks but what comes out of your mouth is instead, "It wants to be here!"

The human's face shuts down. Completely. You aren't all that good at reading human facial expressions at the best of times(void, you have trouble with it among your own species) but right now you are getting nothing. Except the eyes. Those are filled with cold hard anger. You shiver.

You know humans are predators. But this is the first time you've ever really felt it.

"Wait," you say. "We can talk about this--"

"Will you give me my human?"

... you've had a bad day. You've been a little stressed ever since you woke up, and you really haven't been sleeping enough ever since you started cramming for your human's surprise, and now you're in the middle of a direct confrontation and you're a prey animal, damnit! You aren't meant for this.

And all these things, piled one on top of the other, are slowly wearing down your restraint and making it so that--

Well. When you hear that possessive adjective, your instincts scream.

"Mine."

The human nods, stiffly. "Right then." The screen turns off.

You sink into your chair, wrapping yourself in your tail. No one says anything.

Your engineer is the one to finally break the silence. "Captain? They're charging weapons."

That little tidbit breaks you out of your haze of instincts and failure. Your claws retract and reveal again, scraping against metal. You take a deep breath.

"Pull up the star charts," you order your scientist.

"But--"

"Pull them up!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The screen changed, a sea of empty black appearing. You must have stumbled your way into a dead zone. Damnit. Out of the corner of your eye, you see your engineer frantically fiddling with the controls. The shields around the ship glow brighter, blocking out the first volley of attack. The human's ship pauses, waiting to see what you do. They must not have much ammunition.

"Expand," you order.

There's a slight pause as your engineer taps frantically at the controls before the screen expands wider. You search the void, sharp eyes scanning every inch and-- there!

"My pilot," you say. "Set a course for the star."

There's a flash of bright light, and as your pilot springs to action, feathers rustling, you turn to see your scientist flickering anxiously.

"Can't--danger-- star-- fire,"

"I'm sorry," you say as gently as you can, as the ship hums and starts flying. "We don't really have a choice."

Your scientist growls.

"Captain?" your pilot says. Their voice is ever so slightly higher-pitched than normal, indicating a hint of hysteria, but they seem to be holding together well. "The other ship is following us."

"Are they charging weapons?"

Your engineer snorts. "At this speed? In that ship? No."

The star map comes down, and you see the star quickly approaching. Your ship slows down/

"Shall I stop the ship?" your pilot asks. "We're going to hit the star."

You nod. "That's the point. Keep going."

You fly into the star. Instantly, the ship starts shaking.

"Shields are down!" your engineer yells. "Shields are down!"

"The other ship has stopped following us!" your pilot says.

There is another flash of bright light and your scientist is gone. You look around, but can't see it anywhere.

"Captain?" your engineer says. "The shields are... coming back up. 10 percent... 20 percent... 30 percent... 40 percent... holding steady at 40 percent!"

You peer at the screen. "My scientist?" you say, feeling stupid. "Is that you?"

A shining face appears and nods at you before vanishing, presumably back into the wiring.

Your engineer coughs. "Captain. We are safe for now, but this ship was not made to enter stars. We will need to do repairs before we can continue safely."

You nod numbly. Your ears are low. You think you might be in shock. Or no.

Adrenaline crash, my old friend.

"Captain?" your engineer says. "What do you want me to do?"

Your head feels floaty. "The other ship isn't coming after us."

"That is correct."

You stand up, and wave a paw at everyone. "You all can... do whatever you want then. I'm going to go find my human."

[kharmii]

It’s always entertaining to me when people constantly bring up Canon to certain topics in fandom but then they turn around and completely disregard the Canon and create a random headcanon that is canon "Because I say so."

Like transing up characters that are canonically normal. Or create ships with characters that have s/os canonically.

Honestly I’m someone that usually sticks with Canon unless it’s something that is not sitting right with me. Like Ingo‘s unsolved displacement. But I also don’t go around telling people what to do and how to treat the characters and canon.

Honestly if it’s built up properly I can get behind non canon stuff but I rarely see these. It’s usually just "they are that and do this because I say so"

Fandom can be fun but also a living nightmare depending on how you treat and interact with canon and the fans.

In the end everyone is free to do what they want, just don’t be a jerk to others about it. (And I‘m sorry so many are a jerk to you for your opinions)

Thought of a couple of rants I haven't covered yet. How about when people take something canon from an anime from another country and interpret it in a (smarmy obnoxious fckn miserable left-wing Marxist) Western cultural kind of way? -Or because people won't let it go, they'll interpret the Himuras from My Hero Academia (family of Shoto's mom and Geten) as being incestuous based on one vague line in a manga? You try to explain the Himuras are Japanese and not Pakistani, so the idea of them marrying first cousins isn't that likely.

Side note: I enjoy being into My Hero Academia because I've encountered so many interesting analyses from people interested in and studying Japanese culture. I'm getting some of the context that we Westerners aren't getting, such as how Endeavor is looked upon more favorably in Asian countries and the context to why that is.

-Or another fandom fail that's mildly irritating is when people take people who are obviously villains and make them virtuous. I get it if you feel sorry for them, -like in the case of Dabi and Shigaraki- but the fact that they've mass murdered people makes them irredeemable in my opinion.

Okay, one last thing about Geten and I'll drop it for now. People say that ReDestro saaaaaaved him from a life where he'd be forced to marry his cousin, but last time I checked, he was facing either death row in Tartarus or a lifetime of misery in a tiny, cramped cell with both his arms and legs confined.

Worst case scenario....Geten is literally engaged to his first cousin in an arranged marriage. That's a thousand times better than being radicalized into a terrorist cult and ending up a mass murderer in prison. Srsly people......

As for Ingo, it used to bug the crap out of me that people would head canon he'd be brought to Hisui via Ultrabeast when the obvious reason was Volo's sky rift. It still annoyed me even when that concept art came out saying he was in Hisui 'XX' years, which a lot of people thought to mean twenty years. That would make Ultrabeast Theory make more sense if his arrival preceded Volo's rift, but then again, one of the clan members mentioned that a rift had opened up years before, and that could have been the one Ingo arrived from. I wish we'd get more lore on that whole deal.

Honestly if it’s built up properly, I can get behind non canon stuff, but I rarely see these. It’s usually just "they are that and do this because I say so"

I'm OCD enough to stick with canon, but since I'm into so many side characters with vague backstories, it gives me a lot of leeway to be creative. Again....why is it that people be all "incestuous relationships aren't in character for X character" but nobody ever says, "werewolf bullshit isn't in character either". In fact, everybody is overly respectful and permissive toward the grossest ass furry bs, like I've yet to see anybody but me take the piss when it comes to Omegaverse, even though it's the most obviously exploitable fetish for comedy and trolling. Seriously, males have wombs routed into their asses, but they have to get c-sections to give birth because semen can go in but babies cannot be shat out for some odd reason. Maybe because the size of an infant would cause a massive perforation of the colon?

Then again, a/b/o is trans coded, and those people take themselves so damn seriously. They want to sound edgy and cool with all this monster fucking, like get it? I'm the monster for being trans! I'm the werewolf! I'm the hunted persecuted dragon that everybody hates!

Not true. At best, the 'monster fuckers' are sad little Shigarakis who had evil adults exploiting them when they were young and impressionable, and the evil bastards did things to their bodies they had no business doing. Yep, they're like Shigarakis, except fat. -Fat and hairy. It's no wonder werewolves have to be in every damn thing. There should be a rule about it, like how Rule 34 is "If it exists, there is porn of it". There should be a Rule XX like "If it exists, there's a werewolf version of it".

Everybody is free to do what they want, and I'll try not to be a jerk about it, but incest arguments will always lead to the argument it should be socially acceptable to bag on every stupid fetish and trend on Tumblr. -And again, use that block button. I sure do. I block and report as spam every stupid 'evacuate the Palestinians' charity whether it's legit or not (so stop pm-ing me Mohammed Bot). We have people in serious trouble in this country. Why would I give money to help people from a culture that sees me as a second class citizen? Go pan handle around the college aged suckers.

[utilitycaster]

Re: Wizard Stupid

As you outline it, i definitely believe its a thing. However, id like to object that Ludinus exhibits it in earnest. Absolutely its what he projects (ie. the absurdity of hating clerics for being gifted magic while working alongside SORCERERS), but i think he projects it knowingly and deliberately, which disqualifies him from Wizard Stupid.

Basically im denying the adage “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately attributed to stupidity”. Id LOVE your thoughts on this but its my belief that Ludinus is weaponizing populist talking points against what are basically ignorant common folk and traumatized people as a shield to hide his greater true desire to become god emperor of Exandria. Especially keeping in mind that us as the audience have a vaster knowledge of the Exandrian pantheon and its inner workings than a regular commoner who’s worked a farm all their life and just wants to make enough money for a meal. If right-wingers get away with this kind of shit all the time, i certainly believe Ludinus does, too.

I would disagree with a few things here; but to address the first point, Wizard Stupid really is just "I think the consequences of my actions will not come back to me, and indeed haven't necessarily thought them through at all", which I believe absolutely applies to Ludinus. While we don't know for sure that teleportation is broken, or that he's fucked the ley network and therefore arcane magic, those are both pretty likely. He activated a machine that had taken damage with his own life force. He also did hire Astrid, who is heavily implied to have been feeding intel to Caleb and would therefore be indirectly responsible for quite a lot of that damage. He stiffed Ira's bill; reneging on a contract with a fey even other fey think is kind of a wildcard? That's Wizard Stupid. I'd also note: never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity is much more about assuming that the person who cut you off in traffic is a fucking idiot who wasn't paying attention, not that they have it out for you and want you to crash. It doesn't mean people can't be both malicious and stupid, and we do know Ludinus is, canonically, evil. I am not denying his malice; I'm saying he's also, in some areas, very, very stupid.

In general though, I don't think a comparison to populism is apt. Ludinus and the Vanguard expressly aren't going around doing massive, active recruiting among common people who are, or perceive themselves to be, disenfranchised. Tuldus is actually the exception to what we've seen; the majority of Vanguard members we've encountered have been Ruidusborn. This is a cult recruiting vulnerable people. If it were truly populist, why is it not commonly known among the population? Why recruit Lilliana and not Relvin, who is similarly a regular commoner who's worked on a farm all his life? Why hasn't anyone in the party, many of whom have been living on the fringes of society, heard of it before now? Why are their only allies other tiny obscure cults and a crawler gang? Why are they killing what appears to be random travelers? The Paragon's Call members are honestly pretty apathetic, and the Malleus Key plan wasn't a recruiting tactic when Bells Hells encountered them; I think it's a case of "boss says we're killing god and they're paying well, so, sure, I don't care as long as I get overtime." Killing the gods is not a talking point being used to rally the masses; it's not populism and it's frankly not even popular. All things considered, the group at the Tishtan site is pitifully small.

I will also admit, and this applies here but to a few other posts as well, that I don't find a framing of Mortals vs. the Gods under any kind of real-world political structure to really work for me. The premise is in fact that the gods don't function like mortals, so even if killing the gods were a popular sentiment, which again, it is not, I don't know if it would map well to populism.

Now, I do agree that Ludinus is being deliberately manipulative and hypocritical. With that said this also doesn't rule out stupid for him (nor for real-life politicians). I do, in fact, think that no shortage of right-wing populists believe a decent amount of their own bullshit. Like...generally, a lot of fascists are very effective at amassing short term power, and they don't believe all the bullshit they say but use it to manipulate the population, and we obviously don't want that either, because it does not take terribly long to do a massive amount of harm; but they do often fuck up the long term planning. Eventually, you eliminate everyone you've been scapegoating and you still haven't built a utopia so you either need to, as Ashton said, get down to like 5 people at which point society collapses; or someone else shows up and you now become the target of the population's ire. Basically this is all to say you can be both stupid (and specifically Wizard Stupid, which is about ignoring immediate and possibly lethal consequences, often though not always in the service of pursuing knowledge or a greater vision) and manipulative, ie, Ludinus is not in fact disqualified from Wizard Stupid simply because he also deliberately misleads some people.

I also don't think Ludinus wants to become god-emperor and haven't seen any evidence he does - it's a theory, but I don't agree with it and believe he genuinely is mostly focused on just killing the gods. But, frankly, if he did wish to be god-emperor? Doing so by allying with powerful sorcerers whose powers are believed to come from Predathos? Of whom we know he - one of the most powerful archmages in the world - is jealous? And assuming he'll keep that position? With all the potential fuck-ups to magic? Also, specifically pissing off druids, who might actually (along with paladins) be the group most able to withstand what may go down if Predathos is unleashed given that their magic comes neither from the gods nor is arcane? Now that's Wizard Stupid.

[blackjackkent]

Well, that was a hell of a night. Time to check in with the rest of our companions!

We'll go clockwise around the room, starting with Shadowheart, and I'm just gonna do conversation highlights because these turned out to be rather long chats. :D

Highlights from Shadowheart conversation:

She noticed murals in the grove that appeared to depict Shar warriors (specifically, an elite group called the Dark Justiciars) in combat. Hector gathered that she would have liked to join them, and she agrees it would have been a great honor, but it's a "distant dream," as the Justiciars haven't been active for years.

Hector said her conviction was admirable but that he would not have submitted to the loss of memory she went through in order to fulfill her mission - that he would prefer to know what he was getting himself into. She responded, "That's not a luxury open to many people, us included. I have my faith to turn to instead. You should find something of your own." Which...ouch. (It really is kind of annoying that as a monk I don't have the option to choose a deity as I would with a cleric. It's still an ostensibly religious calling, no?)

She doesn't know why the wound on her hand hurts, but hopes the meaning will be revealed to her when the time is right. She seemed rather touched when Hector asked if he could do anything to help with it, but asked only for patience when she gets struck by it.

He made a vague comment about having to stop traveling with her if she keeps secrets from him, but she called his bluff and he backed down almost immediately. They also discussed the fact that Shar worship is basically illegal in a lot of places, to which her response was (paraphrased), "Arrest me, then. Oh right, we're in the middle of nowhere and you can't."

Describing her reason for faith in Shar: "She took me in when no one else would. Without her, I wouldn't be alive. She is my Mother. She nurtures me, cares for me, loves me. Don't believe the lies the Selunites tell." Hector, as one of those Selunites, *is* inclined to believe them over her - and yet, as someone who has never known his mother, the imagery is...oddly compelling.

He prodded her for info about herself not to do with Shar or the tadpole. She told him that she likes night orchids and can't swim - and also that she can barely remember anything else of herself, as the memories of Shar's secrets were not the only ones that were suppressed.

Asked what she thinks of Hector: "I don't think I've ever had a confidante quite like you - and if I have, I can't remember them." Which...is equivocal enough that it might not be intended as a compliment, but he suspects it probably is, and it makes him feel bad for how warily he's been treating her in return.

---

Highlights from our first conversation with Wyll:

He also had the dream! (Which leads me to believe the rest of the crew did as well.) He, however, is super skeptical of it and assumes it's a trick of the parasite to encourage us to use its power more. Hector agreed, but somewhat uncertainly - it's hard to shake off the feeling of safety that came with the strange guardian, and she did calm the transformation that was threatening to overtake him.

He told Hector a bit more about his pursuit of Karlach - described her as "chaos incarnate, a devil with pure fire for a heart." However, he was reticent about who exactly his source of information about her was, describing only "a powerful friend with a keen interest in...privacy." More secrets; Hector disapproves.

He explained his life before becoming Blade of Frontiers - child of a single father, who did not want the adventurer's life for his son. But Wyll encountered a young boy in the Cloakwood who was attacked by goblins, and saved him - and it stirred in him a desire for action, to protect those who needed it, and an anger at the monsters of the world and the "so-called good gods" who let evil things happen.

He lost his eye in battle, and the stone replacement is made of bloodstone, "carved from the Galena Mountains just north of the Moonsea. A reminder that sometimes, blood must be shed and sacrifices must be made" - but he did not want to tell the full story. It's "reserved for lifetime friends and calmer days."

---

Astarion highlights:

He also had the dream, and is much more excited about it than Wyll was. He's clearly curious about the manipulative powers of the worms, and was not happy when Hector said they should be careful and avoid using them unnecessarily. Hilariously, he burst out in a bit of a sulky snit - "Is there a reason you're always such an utter drip? Do you have some sort of condition? Honestly, it's like you hate good news. Did you actually want something, or are you just here to spoil my fun?" Lmao.

The weird thing is, in spite of everything, Astarion has such an exaggerated affect that Hector finds he can't entirely dislike him, but he doesn't trust the other man's intentions and has no intention of letting him have free reign with the parasite.

Astarion claims to be a magistrate back in Baldur's Gate, which doesn't entirely track with the images we got in his head back when we first picked him up, so I am pretty sure he is lying. (Not that magistrates can't be vampires, of course, which is the one thing he definitely is.)

He doesn't know what might be waiting in Moonrise Towers, but hopes they can find answers - "if we can convince the right people to talk," he said, with a rather disquieting smirk.

---

Gale highlights:

A pretty short conversation, but the most reassuring to Hector so far as regards the dream. This was the first conversation where Hector was able to express uncertainty about whether he believed the dream guardian was to be trusted. And Gale seemed similarly inclined - "Nothing wrong with maintaining a healthy suspicion in such matters. Still, it might be wiser to keep an open mind - our visitor's promises of aid might yet bear valuable fruit."

His description of his magic-consuming condition was...less reassuring. "Think of it as...tribute. The kind a king might pay to a more powerful neighbor to avoid invasion. As long as I pay, there will be peace. But should I ever stop, along comes a war. I can assure you the battlefield would extend well beyond the borders of my body alone."

---

Lae'zel highlights:

A lot of recap here, presumably for people who haven't been paying attention the first six times she told us about the creche. Unsurprisingly, she does not trust the dream and the guardian as far as she could throw them.

They both admitted that neither has much familiarity with the other's race. Lae'zel, humorously, lashed out that Hector looks just as alien to her as she does to him, and that "that large, fleshy nose of yours looks like a mistake." Hector, wisely, did not rise to the taunting.

We got our first chance to actually take a dialogue option reflecting Hector freaking out. Lae'zel gave an entirely-too-vivid description of the actual process of illithid transformation, leading to the very Hector-apropos option Try to suppress your rising panic. She was unimpressed. "That shiver betrays your fear. Suppress it. It is useless. We must find my kind and be rid of the parasite. It's as simple as that."

[childofthewolvess]

I adore what your relationship with your familiars feels like from your posts. I want to know about familiars in general!

From most posts from different people I stumbled on about familiars, they always seemed like something really really serious, something only people with experience should engaging with, something that never enjoyable and are there only for magical purposes and nothing else.

I have connection with some animals, always had. I don't know how exactly explain it, they just always had a place in my heart. I thought to incorporate them in my practice, maybe worshipping them as general spirits.

I remember seeing your post about why everyone should have a familiar, so I wanted to ask:

How did your familiars found you? Or was you, who found them?

What are general requirements for having a familiar? If there are any?

Are familiars there only for magical work? Would it be okay to have familiars just as companions?

I got assumption from your posts that familiar is choosing their person and not other way around. Is it spirit's choice or person can choose, which animal they want?

Those people I mentioned before say that having familiar may come with a price. Is this true? In which scale?

What general precautions you would advise?

Thank you so much, kind person. Your blog is really informative and it's pleasure to read it. I hope you will have a great week!

Oh I love a good Q&A. Thanks for all these questions and the kind words! 🫶🏻

First of all—familiars are a pretty niche topic that I haven't seen many sources for, anywhere. I navigated a lot of familiar work all by myself, especially starting as a child. And the problem is, during 18th century English witch trials, familiar spirits were completely demonized. This big-time messed up our jobs as ecologists.

Demonology/demonolatry—which I am entirely unfamiliar with—also has familiar spirits in the form of demons in their practice, involving a familiar spirit sent by a demon or that is a demon. I'm completely out of the scope of this practice, and every single animal spirit I've worked with has either been a spirit who lived its life as an animal before it passed to the afterlife, or a spirit guide sent by some other entity. With all spirit work, individuals should always practice protection and understand how to vet spirits (which is not that hard, with intention), but a lot of the sources claiming that familiars aren't enjoyable have a lot of post-Christianization bias and fear behind them. Any time you're contracting a spirit, you want to know the spirit well, but that goes for all spirit work, not just familiars! :)

In my experience? I've never once met, invoked, or encountered a malicious animal spirit. I do, however, work explicitly with animal spirits. I do not work with entities or spirits of any other form. This is a boundary I've set for my protections—only animal spirits, spirit guides, and deities may occupy my physical and spiritual spaces—and peace of mind.

That being said...

Familiar Spirit Anon Q&A

I also added not only this ask, but a couple other questions in here to make one concise post.

Q: How did your familiars find you? Or was you, who found them?

My familiars were gifted to me by my ancestors. From as early as I can remember, I was being followed by two wolf spirits. To get really technical—my male black wolf familiar was a previous alive-wolf companion to an far distanced ancestor of mine in Scandinavia, and was sent to me in this lifetime for some personal reasons I won't disclose. My female gray wolf familiar was the black wolf's mate, and whose spirit followed his through the afterlife. One of my deities worked with her and allowed her to become my familiar in this life! In other words, my familiars kinda have always been with me; they found me, then I found them!

Q: What are general requirements for having a familiar? If there are any?

Mentioned above! There's not really requirements, besides making sure you vet the spirit and be able to confirm that you are in fact talking to the spirit that you think you are talking to. This is because you're contracting the spirit to make it a familiar. I just personally find much lower risk with animal spirits and I'd venture to say the same "requirements" go for familiars as they would deities. Just always do your research in any spiritual practice and what it entails for you!

Q: Are familiars there only for magical work? Would it be okay to have familiars just as companions?

Nope! Familiars can absolutely just be companions. My two familiars are spiritual companions more often than aide for my magical work.

Q: I got assumption from your posts that familiar is choosing their person and not other way around. Is it spirit's choice or person can choose, which animal they want?

More often than not, the familiar chooses the person, or the familiar is sent to the person. If you're familiar with spirit work, then you could invoke a specific animal spirit to become a familiar, but honestly, most of the time you've already got a spirit guide in the form of an animal surrounding you. If you're asking if you can choose what animal/species your familiar is, then no, spirits either choose their own form or it was a form previously-had in a physical life.

Q: Those people I mentioned before say that having familiar may come with a price. Is this true? In which scale?

With normal animal spirits, absolutely not. I've never once had to pay a "price" or a "sacrifice" for an animal spirit. There is no price to animal spirits in the same sense that there will never be a price to a deity. Now, I don't speak for familiar practices in demonology/demonolatry, but as said before, I work solely with animal spirits.

Q: What general precautions you would advise?

Refer above!

Hopefully this helps! As always the inbox is open, just be aware I may take forever to respond (lol).

[sokkastyles]

personally, as an azula stan, I love her going crazy arc and I'm sad they got rid of it in smoke and shadow. alot of times right before/during a character's redemption arc they need to hit rock bottom to be viable for redemption and azula's mental health going down the drain seemed perfect for that but then they just decided give up that plot line :(

Did they? I haven't read Smoke and Shadow and this is the second time I heard that, so it's kind of curious to me. I know the asylum is referenced in Smoke and Shadow but I guess the hallucination thing is dropped probably because it's not sustainable as a plot line.

I agree that it makes sense for her to hit rock bottom and for her mental health to go down the drain after experiencing defeat and the shaking of her entire wordview, and it does open her up for potential redemption. That moment when she cries upon facing the love from her mother and brother does seem to be taking her there, even though she rejects it at the time, because it shows that something is getting through the cracks in her armor. I do think Azula has to be emotionally broken down before she builds herself back up, because so much of her villainy comes from those walls she put up, the belief that she had to be the monster to avoid feeling like one.

But I'm not surprised the more concrete aspects of her having a mental illness, like the hallucinations of Ursa, were dropped. They were important to "The Search" but not a sustainable plot point past the search for Ursa. This is why I wish the show hadn't necessarily gone the mental illness route. I've said before that her emotional breakdown can be explained without trying to imply chronic illness. Even her hallucinations of Ursa can be explained in other ways, especially in a setting where it is common for characters to encounter spirit visions. I actually would have loved for Azula's hallucinations of Ursa to have been caused by some malevolent spirit pretending to be her mother or some spiritual manifestation of her own internal conflict over feeling like her mother hated her. Which is what it really is, a way for the writers to visually show that internal conflict, in much the same way that Zuko gets physically sick because of his own spiritual conflict. That would also be a way for the writers to tie East Asian spiritualist aspects back into the story instead of relying on hokey mental illness tropes. The new comic looks like it might be going in that direction, actually.

[star-going-supernova]

Okay, so this originally was going to be the author's note for the fic I'm planning to post tomorrow, where I kind of explain my thought process for how and why I wrote the fic. But it got way too long for an author's note very fast, so I'm sharing it here and now for anyone who's interested in my reasoning.

It's mostly just my thoughts/opinions mixed in with some frustration over missing plot points, assuming I haven't somehow missed the answers to my questions, lol.

Basically, a few nights ago, I found a notes doc full of questions I had after watching an SB play-through for the first time and was reminded of the below exchange between Gregory and Freddy right at the beginning and the many questions I had about it. 

“I-I’m Gregory.”

“Gregory. I will notify the main office. Huh, connection error. I cannot connect to the main network.” 

“It’s her. She cut you off. She’s not going to let you call for help until she finds me.” 

“Who? Who is looking for you? Your mother?” 

“Shh! I hear footsteps.” 

“That is the security guard. She can help!” 

“No, no, I don’t trust her!” 

“Why not?” 

“I don’t know who she is, but she’s trying to get me.”

And like, it’s so specific. The way he talks about Vanessa, like he knows for sure he can’t trust her, like they’ve already had an encounter. Especially with the “she’s trying to get me” that’s way more ominous than saying literally anything else. His reaction goes so far beyond “I’m an unattended child in a mall after hours and the security guard is doing her job and trying to find both me and someone to take me off her hands.” 

But that’s the logical answer! That he knows he’s not supposed to be there and doesn’t want to get caught! Except this is fnaf! It’s horror! Something has him not disgruntled but scared—which stands out because Gregory doesn’t show much fear in the face of other dangers. And then Vanessa gets weird about it, whether or not you want to cast her as Vanny, when she locks him in a room after a scene that, to me, implies she knocked him out (“Where am I? Look at all this stuff. Freddy? Freddy, are you there?” is what he says when the scene in the lost and found starts. First of all, people who walked somewhere with someone do not look around once they’ve been left alone and start wondering where they are. Not like that. His eye-line also seems lower, like he’s sitting on the floor. Second, when Vanessa starts talking to him through the computer monitors, the way she says everything makes it sound like they haven’t spoken before. So either she knocked him out/he passed out and she left him there or they walked all the way to the lost and found without exchanging even a single word between them and also maybe Gregory’s eyes were closed.), and taunts him. 

Infuriatingly enough, it goes nowhere! They barely interact! I’m furious about it! 

Besides that, I’m infinitely curious about why Freddy glitches out during the show in the opening. His little HUD flashes, “Warning! Alert! High Threat Level Detected!” before he falls over. Like, what does that mean? What is he seeing? Is this better explained somewhere? Am I missing something? Even if it was just the virus, why does it clearly zoom in on a particular part of the crowd and flash a little person symbol? 

And then by all accounts, he just doesn’t remember that happening afterwards and it sounds to me like his memory’s just been rolled back to before the show. “Showtime already?” he says. No! The show happened already! It’s after hours and now there’s a kid hiding inside you (why is Gregory in there? how did he get in there? the questions are just piling up by the minute!) who I sure hope wasn’t there the last time you were conscious, Freddy. 

If this was literally any other story with a logical plot, something would have happened before the game, something that pissed Vanessa off and spooked Gregory and made Freddy malfunction. And, assuming I haven’t missed them, since they’re not going to give us the answers I’m looking for, I’m writing the missing scene myself. 

[sophieswundergarten]

20 Questions for Writers

Thank you for tagging me, @myfairkatiecat <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

29 so far

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

81,543 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly MBS, but I have a few very short Wolf 359 fics

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Weirdly, Lights and Sounds (And What Comes After) is one of my top fics in Hits and Kudos. Which. Strange. But other than that it's Of Missed Opportunities and Scaled Fences, Mental Literature, Chance Encounter, and my first fic and biggest titular regret Reynie Going Comatose Apology Fic Where it Actually Ends Happy

So, basically y'all like seeing me bully Reynie /j /lh

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! It can be really intimidating sometimes because people are really nice to me and it doesn't feel like it can be real, but I do my best to respond to every comment I get.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Deep Space Survival Tip #552 because of the things it hints at with Hui. I love him so much but I didn't want to fight canon so it's a bit sad.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I work really hard to have happy endings, but the silliest one is likely The Best Solution to Nightmares is Buying a House because it fulfils my headcanon of the Society all living together when they grow up and I also ignored federal laws in order to explain where they got the money adsjkdf

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

I haven't yet, thankfully. I think I'd probably just cry.

9. Do you write smut?

Absolutely not! To do so would make me personally really uncomfortable, so I don't think I ever will.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I've never tried, but I have a feeling I'd be pretty bad at it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, but none of my fics have been up for very long anyway

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! I'd be happy to help in any way I could if someone wanted to, though

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, but it sounds fun :)

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I don't really do ships, but I like all friendships and familial relationships!

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Um. Honestly all of them right now. I'm kind of Going Through It with my writing at the moment.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't know about strengths, but I love writing dialogue. It's usually what comes to me first.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Holding out long enough to finish something properly! I get nervous halfway through and abandon a lot of projects because I worry so much.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I love writing dialogue, but I am terrified of messing up another language and upsetting people, so probably not.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

MBS! I had never really tried fanfic writing before last summer, so it was very exciting for me to try.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Probably I don't wanna know I'm not capable. I feel silly saying it, but it's pretty long for me, and it was such a struggle that I'm still really proud I was able to finish it at all.

[adamsvanrhijn]

What's interesting is if we'll see how the other characters will react to his decision to settle down. Aurora didn't seem to take it for granted. Obviously there's an expectation for him to marry and continue the family line. But I'm also sure others have picked up on him being a 'confirmed bachelor' or even a little bit 'artistic', if they are worldly enough. I actually suspect Ada could see Oscar being 'artistic', as she seems aware of some pretty modern concepts. She has read about gay people for sure... Agnes seems to be more likely to suspect him of having affairs with women, but she's probably in some hardcore denial. Then again, they have seen that it's not the kind of a trouble Oscar's got himself into. He's always been surrounded by single ladies, and plenty of them have probably been charmed by him, but his family has only seen him acting careless and even 'reckless' with other things.

ada knows a lot more than she lets on and is extremely perceptive, & we're going to see even more of that this season, i think (hence the ada talks about sex bingo square) but i do think after 1.07 it is likely she just has an idea now that oscar is being stealthy and that is all it must have been... although i also think she would have been more inclined to believe oscar when he denied the allegations than agnes for many reasons.

meanwhile agnes lives in denial and only knows things about oscar that she wants to, which includes things she made up, which includes that oscar is not having sex with women or anyone at all and is magically going to be a great lover to a nice wellborn young lady on their wedding night 👍 amen.

aurora....

i cannot fucking parse aurora is the thing. i think it is very telling that she reminds oscar she has Tried Helping Him [secure a wife] before and nothing came of it - and him saying he knows what to do now, and the way he is framing that element of their history and how receptive she is to that... i don't know what she was thinking (& we do know aurora acknowledges the fact that gay people exist.) but i think she's very susceptible to Oscar Just Needs To Find The Right Girl logic (i don't really think she wants her cousin and apparently the only young man alive with her maiden name* to be a permanent bachelor!) & i think oscar is going to lean into that hardcore.

tbh it is important to remind ourselves i think that oscar has a reputation as a fortune hunter before the series starts - but we can infer from his interactions with his family and with john especially that he has not been developing this reputation with much drive until within the first season, and then Everything Changes, as we very well know.

i think oscar is delulu <3 & thoroughly in denial if he truly genuinely thinks that nobody is Wondering about him yet, and he still has Time before this will happen. he is So gay. the show is taking steps to single him out in this regard in terms of e.g. fashion and bearing and manner and vocal qualities etc. he is Ticking Boxes. and generally oscar sees only what oscar wants to see.... i would say of his family members, aurora and ada are most likely to have Ever considered any of this in direct regards to oscar, and i think honestly they might not want to think about that for a variety of reasons and so maybe they haven't!

marian knows about gay people but needs impropriety explained to her with the subtlety of a brick to the face so she's not parsing that without evidence in front of her nose, imo. which is why i'm hopeful that she eventually is in a position where she does encounter and has to make a decision about what to Do with that evidence.

and agnes, as i've said above and elsewhere.... agnes doesn't see anything she doesn't want to and she has major blindspots about oscar for that reason.

* aurora van rhijn fane isn't Confirmed confirmed but also it. got pretty close on sunday so hoping we do get it ocnfirmed-confirmed by end of season.