#while these three are like SOMEONE IS PROBABLY DYING AND OR UPSET

[jicklet]

Nancy Drew || Favorite Dynamics ↳ Nancy x George x Nick

Nick, that's who Nancy is. As long as I've known her, she's always had these big walls up.

[zours025]

Zombie apocalypse face au I've been thinking of...

Thoughts/details on the AU and an alt color vers of the first drawing (luring you into my evil cave) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Face as unrelated parties... All normal humans. Caname and fruk (separately) wandering the world after generic zombie outbreak. Theyre some of the last ones left so they rarely meet people and need to depend on the other party heavily. Blahblah its miserable everyone is sad and hurt and tired. Francis had to cut off Arthurs leg to prevent an infection. Arthur has to learn to lean on Francis for a lot of stuff and they learn to get over past grudges and such... 😇 Alfred is bitten at some point and hides it from Matthew. Matthew knows, but he's basically lost any will to live and is ready to die whenever Alfred turns because. Well. "I'm only living for him anyways..." type of sentiment... They ignore it and it's never brought up but it's like. I know you know that I know that- Anyways. So those two are trying their hardest to live out their last days in relative happiness. Doing fun stuff. Appreciating the simple things, landscapes, each other's company, etc... That is until they bump into Francis and Arthur in a totally horrible state. And it's like "Well... We can't just let them die can we? We have nothing to lose anyways." So they watch over the two and care for them and once they're all in okay health they decide to stick together and move on. But Arthur and Francis are clearly more determined to live than Mattie and Alfred and they're good fighters. So they wanna keep em around, all while hiding that Alfred is slowly dying and is eventually gonna kill them all. Milking Francis and Arthur's good will... Eventually new relationships form between the four and inevitably weird "betrayal!" and jealousy type feelings show up... Francis is tired of just sleeping with Arthur and when he gets mad he flirts with either of the twins... And the like... Well I haven't thought the whole thing through but these are the important emotional bases to the idea I guess...

I wrote a scenario for many different possibilities of first-to-dies (because i find them all interesting and bcuz twitter oomf asked and i have no restraint. lole)

Alfred dies first: Most obvious scenario (like hes already a bit zombified and clearly hes getting physically weaker) Im imagining a terrible scenario no matter what. Matthew probably finds him first all hunched over and stuff womdering whats wrong before realising that it's finally the end of the line. Francis/Arthur aren't far behind and they blow "Alfreds" head off without hesitation. Obviously causes a rift between the two and Matthew, who broke their trust by hiding this from them. Matthew is inconsolable for a few days, he thought he had more time. Despite the lie I think Francis and Arthur would end up feeling sympathy. They try to keep Matthew up on his feet but frankly I think this would end with him blowing his brains out eventually anyways... 😊

Alternatively Mattie has been mentally preparing himself for a very long time and he immediately kills "Alfred" and then himself in quick succession. Francis and Arthur are haunted by the memory of the two for the rest of their trip.

Arthur dies first: Similarly, I think its easy to imagine this. He's missing a leg and mostly needs to be near someone else to survive zombie attacks/ambushes. Would probably accidentally get separated from the group and get overrun... Might use himself as a distraction to allow the other three to get away in a particularly dire situation... In a way he thinks hes just dead weight anyways and he wants to see the other three live knowing that he doesn't have much left to offer them (Francis would disagree). Francis is obviously very upset and he loses sleep over the memory of Arthur, his last "real" link to his normal life before all of this. But I think Francis is stable enough to prioritise the twins he took under his wing. He knows they need someone to keep them together, so he toughs it out. Everything is fine till Alfred turns some many months later. By then, Francis developed a strong attachment to the two and doesn't have any regrets. Would probably struggle against Alfreds strength to allow Matthew to escape or something along those lines...

Francis dies first: I can also see him just getting killed by sheer numbers. I think he grew very fond of the twins pretty fast + had to be Arthurs protection for a long time and so he developed this feeling of "I need to keep them all safe at all costs". I don't think itd be as much of a letting go type thing as Arthur. It's more calculated and would only happen in a worst-case scenario. I think Arthur would be pretty irritable for the next few weeks, a lot of things remind him of Francis. It bothers him since he wants to just forget and move on, but he finds that his feelings are more difficult to control than he initially thought. Yells a lot at Matthew and Alfred and gets into petty fights. Its not pretty, but they have their moments... In the end, it's not like he wants to make them suffer. They're all he has left now. Hes trying his best. Has a lot of days where he just wishes he had been the one to die instead.

Matthew dies first: Honestly I'm imagining a non-zombie related death, like an accident with one of the guns or some unrelated illness or like. Falling onto a branch? Falling from high up in general? Setting off a trap? Lol idk. Something that allows Alfred to hold Matthew during his final moments or at least look into his eyes. I think hes also the most liable to flip out on everyone and just kill the four of them all together idk ❤ Crazy girl ❤ It shocks Alfred immensely. He expected to be the first one to die and he's really upset about the whole thing. Outwardly, he cracks jokes and tries to convince the other two that he's fine but he's very much not. Doesn't really know what tk do with himself. Just goes through the motions every day. Francis and Arthur notice the slight change in behaviour but don't really say anything and pretend everything is fine. Playing at being a normal family. Arthur and Francis try spending lots of time with Alfred but nothing really helps. Eventually Alfred turns without ever telling them he was infected and they all die the end. Alternatively he kills the other two and then himself on like a random Tuesday. ❤

Bonus: Everyone except Alfred dies lol. Alone in the desolate empty landscape. Welp!!! What now!!!

If you saw my first post of this text part no you didn't im editing this and putting it here with the drawing its more organised ❤ okay ❤

[keepingeahalive]

Why Rapple Wouldn’t Work as a Couple

First off, let’s get this out of the way: Raven and Apple are not related. Well…more like distantly related, but to the point where any relation is almost nil. Raven is not destined to marry Apple’s father because Apple’s dad and Raven’s dad (The Good King) are two separate characters. Raven is only destined to be jealous of Apple and poison her. That is all.

Okay, on with the real debate.

I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this, but I can't see Apple and Raven as a couple. While both of their arcs were about coming to accept each other, they weren't equal in their relationship. Raven made it clear to Apple many times that she felt disrespected, and Apple ignored that and pushed her own agenda on her. It may have come from a place of caring, but Apple didn't get Raven at all. I can see them working through their issues down the line, but their love story (if you can call it that) is better as platonic.

Bulldozing and Passive Aggression

From the first episode, we can see that Apple immediately took control for both of them. She went behind Raven's back to room with her and decorated Raven's side of the room without her permission, all because Raven is an important part of "her" story.

Not their story. "Her" story.

Her friendship with Raven in the first three chapters was surface-level at best. She assumes what Raven wants instead of actually getting to know her, like when she decides to take "Home Evil-nomics" to get back at Raven for taking Princessology. But Raven's favorite class isn't Home Evil-nomics. It's Muse-ic.

We can see Raven trying to be patient with Apple because Raven is a good person. She doesn't want a repeat of what happened between Snow White and the Evil Queen. In fact, we see her other friends hide their concerns from Apple because they don't want to upset her.

When Ashlynn finally comes out about her relationship with Hunter, she's immediately met with Apple's dismay. Apple tells her several times that she's making the wrong decision, and it gets to Ashlynn so much that she chooses her friendship with Apple over her relationship with Hunter because she doesn't want everyone to be upset. Although Ashlynn decides to do what makes her happy, Apple still tells her outright that she's making the wrong choice.

Briar starts to feel the weight of her destiny sink in and, instead of being met with compassion and understanding, Apple tells Briar "we all have our part to play." While Briar rightfully calls her out for how privileged she is, it takes her three chapters and two more specials to admit to Apple that she was too scared to tell anyone that she didn't want to follow her destiny.

They both go behind Raven's back to poison a birthday cake she made for Apple just so she would stop crying about it.

Apple is the next Queen of Ever After, and she wants to take an active role in serving her people. But she thinks she knows what's best for everyone. If they don't do what she says, then there's something wrong and she has to fix them. Everyone enabled this behavior, except for Raven. This domination is what causes her and Raven's tension at the start of the series.

2. Apple's Fears

Apple is a selfish character. But that selfishness is born of fear.

She believes going against her destiny means dying and being forgotten.

I believe she does care about her friends, in the same vein a God-fearing church-goer cares about the people in her community. She believes there is only one true way of staying safe: following your destiny. If you don't, something bad happens. And she has to remind you of that. She thinks she's helping people when she's really being insensitive and condescending. And this comes down the hardest on Raven.

Raven is the equivalent of someone who's become disillusioned with their faith. She's unhappy with the system she's been put in and she wants something better. That doesn't mean she's not afraid of what might happen if she does. She's terrified she might doom everyone at first. But taking a risk on Legacy Day and showing everyone they can live without following a predetermined path made her and others more hopeful that they could live better lives.

But Apple can't be convinced with one act of rebellion. She doubles down on her beliefs and blames Raven for ruining her Happily Ever After. She's so afraid of her future being uncertain that she would rather follow a status quo where someone she claims to care for is locked away for the rest of her life. You could argue that she doesn't understand that's what would happen, but she never bothered to understand Raven's perspective. Raven takes Apple's perspective in Thronecoming and considers the consequences of her actions. Raven cares about her friends too, so much that she's willing to put her happiness aside to keep them safe. Apple never once did that for her, or for any of her other friends.

This stems from Apple being promised the best destiny out of anyone. She'd go on to live a very prestigious life as Queen. But she's too naive to realize what that would mean for everyone else: Raven would be locked up for the rest of her life, Ashlynn would die to continue her legacy, and Briar would marry some random dude several decades younger than her and never see Apple or anyone she knew ever again. I understand that no one wants to lose the stability they've had their entire life. But she doesn't seem to understand how good she has it.

3. Apple and Raven's Growth

Way Too Wonderland and Dragon Games gave us a lot in terms of character development. Apple and Raven have gotten to know each other better at this point. Even though they have their differences, they do care about each other.

Say what you will about Way Too Wonderland, but I do believe Apple has come to know Raven and is genuinely shocked and heartbroken when Raven finally signed the Storybook of Legends. She's come to care about who Raven really is, she knows Raven would never want to hurt anyone, and she realizes that destinies can be dangerous. I understand her main reasoning was that anyone could easily take someone else's destiny if they had the chance. But seeing what signing the book did to Raven frightened her. Destroying the book with Raven cemented a level of trust and understanding that Raven was longing for.

Which is what makes Dragon Games so heartbreaking.

Apple is a privileged little princess who was promised the best destiny one could expect. I don't think anyone would be all that happy about letting that go. It goes back to what she fears the most. She doesn't know what to do without her destiny. And with her mother only feeding into these insecurities, it allows Apple's doubts to resurface and for someone to take advantage of that.

Apple could have prevented releasing the Evil Queen. But she was too deep in her own cowardice to think clearly. Desperation will make people do anything, especially if promised a happy ending for you and everyone you love (maybe subconsciously hoping Raven would be her True Love). That doesn't excuse her freeing a war criminal who happens to be her best friend's estranged mother, thereby breaking her trust all over again. Raven had just started seeing Apple as someone she could depend on. That's gone now, and Raven had a right to be angry with Apple's selfishness and cowardice.

"But Apple realized her mistake and Raven forgave her in the end!" That's true, but that doesn't mean things are okay between them. Apple is still Raven's friend, and it's in Raven's character to forgive her. But I don't see her forgetting this experience any time soon. That trust would have to be built up all over again and, if you ask me, this ruled out any chance of them getting together romantically. I think Raven would need some time away from Apple to figure things out. Apple could use that time to figure herself out too, especially after figuring out it was Darling who woke her.

If that trust was able to be built back up again, hopefully they would have grown as people and learned to be better friends. But you can't expect this level of trust to be regained for a partnership.

4. A One-Sided Romance

If Rapple were to be anything romantic, it would only come from Apple.

Apple was always obsessed with Raven. I do believe she wanted Raven to fulfill their destinies so they would both be safe, but was too selfish to consider how that would look from Raven's end. She never showed any interest in Daring and, while she enjoyed the admiration she got from other boys, never expressed interest in anyone else.

Except Raven.

So, yes. I do believe Apple was in love with Raven. But I can't see Raven returning those feelings. Apple always disregarded what she wanted, ignored her when she argued against her destiny, and continually tried to turn Raven into something she wasn't. Even after her much-needed character development in Way to Wonderland and Dragon Games, these two still don't have a good foundation of trust between them. If we had gotten more of the show, we might have seen some healing. And, in my opinion, that would include Apple learning to let go of Raven and focusing on her own growth as a person.

And maybe someone else...

In all seriousness, Apple and Raven have a complicated relationship that I don't see working romantically. I know they have the most development together, and it would be an interesting take on the enemies-to-lover trope. But with how often Apple betrayed Raven's trust and how grounded and self-aware Raven is, I can't see them getting together.

I can see Raven being Apple's first crush, but the closest these two can get is sisters.

Because, you know, Raven has a boyfriend. It's Dexter. Say what you want about him, but they have a healthier relationship than Raven and Apple could ever have, romantic or not.

[okaydays]

One thing I wish we’d seen was even just a little of Penelope’s reaction to the kiss after she leaves because oH MY GOD

Imagine being in love with a guy for LITERAL YEARS and then getting kissed by him after just asking - like surely she’s dreamt up a million scenarios that would lead to them kissing and none of them would’ve been ‘oh he was giving me instructions on how to attract a suitor as a way of making up for telling a group of people he’d never court me and then at a ball everyone found out so I ran away and had to write about my own public torment in my anonymous rag and he came over to check if I was okay after reading it and I got upset about possibly dying without getting kissed so I asked him to and he agreed’

And then?? It’s the sweetest kiss?? And it kind of seemed like he wanted to keep going?? This guy who she’s spent probably a full three weeks’ worth of time staring out the window at, and almost watching him get married to someone else while pining the whole time?

She ends up kissing him?? Where did she get the courage? Was it everything she’d ever dreamed it would be, despite the circumstances?

I hope so.

[jeankluv]

If only wishes could be fulfilled - Gojo Satoru

Words: 2,6k

Paring: Gojo x oc

Warning/tags: manga spoilers, angst, flashbacks, mentions of characters death, fluff, established relationship, Gojo and oc adopted Tsukimi and Megumi, open ending, no use of y/n, gn!reader

Note: I posted this one on ao3 weeks ago but never posted here, so here you have. Also Gege when I catch you

Jujutsu Kaisen materialist

Everyone knew him as the strongest, as Gojo Satoru the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, the one that brought balance to the world when he was born. He was also known as someone annoying, irritating, arrogant, never caring about others and too full of himself.

But you knew they were all lies. And it broke your heart they only view him as that, because he wasn’t any of that, sure he was annoying sometimes but annoying in the good way. And he cared, he deeply cared for others.

So whenever you heard people describing Satoru it broke your heart a little bit, each time. Everyone knew Gojo but only a few knew Satoru.

You met Satoru back on the day when you entered the Jujutsu world when you were both 15 at the time and you didn’t know anything about the sorcerer's world or clans. The only thing you knew was that you could see things no one else in your town could, so when three years ago a big guy with sunglasses came and fought one of those things, you asked him if he also could see them. It was then when you found out for the first time about what those things were.

Professor Yaga then introduced you to the school and you began studying alongside Satoru, Shoko and Suguru.

It’s been over a decade since that and a lot of things changed on the mean time. Suguru left only to end up dying by the hands of his once best friend.

You still recall the moment you found Satoru sitting next to the dead body of Suguru.

24th of December 2017

It didn’t take you much to arrive at Tokyo thanks to you cursed technique. Arriving at the school you made sure the students were safe, and fortunately they all were.

“Where is Gojo?”

Yuta looked around searching for his teacher. “He was here just a few minutes ago.”

You looked around and nodded, leaving the kids on their own, knowing they would be safe. You walked across the destroyed place, searching for a white hair.

The sound of loud sobbing hit you in the face, like cold water. It was distant but your heart knew too well who those sobs belonged to.

Moving your legs as quickly as you could, you rushed to the direction where those faint sobs were coming from.

The scene you found was one that you would never have liked to witness, and that would continue to torment you some time later. Satoru was kneeling on the ground, while he hugged Suguru's lifeless body. You froze, not because of the cold of Tokyo, but at seeing Satoru hugging and crying the way he was doing at that very moment.

Taking light steps so as not to upset him, you approached him, even though you knew well that thanks to his six eyes he had already known for a long time that the person behind him was you.

Carefully you placed your hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “Satoru…” You whispered, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to come.

Satoru stood still for a moment and then spoke. “It was what he had to do…” The words barely left his lips. “But it hurts too much…”

You knelt behind him and rested your forehead on his back. “I know Satoru… I know.” You wanted to be able to take away all that pain and keep it for yourself, you wanted those tears that kept falling down his cheeks to stop. You wanted to protect him.

Sniffing he moved and stood up with Suguru's body in his arms. A strong pang pierced your heart as you clearly saw the lifeless face of the person who was once your best friend.

“He had a family…” He whispered. You did know that Suguru had had a family during those 12 years that you had been apart, at least that's what the reports said. “Those two babies that were here with him… you would probably want to say goodbye to him… and bury him.” You knew where Satoru was going, he wanted to return the body to those Suguru had called family for those last 12 years and you weren't going to stop him.

You stepped aside and Satoru walked a few steps and then disappeared.

Satoru returned the next day, you were standing next to Megumi preparing a Christmas cake when Satoru walked through the door. Without saying a word he approached Megumi and ruffled her hair and then approached you and simply hugged you without saying anything. You knew that at that moment words were unnecessary and that what Satoru needed most was to be with those he loved most.

“In the afternoon we will go see your sister.” Satoru spoke, turning away from you and looking at Megumi. He just lowered his gaze and nodded. "Everything will be fine." He told him, ruffling his hair again, to which Megumi protested.

23th December 2018 [present day]

A sad smile appeared on your face as you remembered Megumi and Tsumiki. You had been unable to protect them. You looked up and saw Satoru's back, he was stretching. Tomorrow was the day, tomorrow he would fight Sukuna.

05th October 2008

You looked at Satoru first and then the two kids that were right next to him. “Repeat that?” You were confused as hell.

“Congrats babe, we have two kids now!” He said in a playful way.

You and Satoru had been dating for two years now, in fact your second anniversary would be in November. You were barely almost 20.

“Satoru…” You looked at him with your arms crossed. “Can we talk for a moment?” He nodded and walked towards the bedroom. You looked at the kids. “You can turn the tv on if you want.”

The two kids looked at each other and nodded. The little girl, who seemed older, grabbed the boy and guide him to the sofa and turned the tv on.

“Satoru…” You said entering the room. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Babe listen.” He said leaving a kiss on your head. “The kid, the boy, is talented and they have no one.”

They were alone? That broke your heart a little bit.

“How did you find out about them?”

Satoru sighed. “He is the son of that guy… Toji.” An immense cold ran through your body from head to toe. Just remembering what happened in the summer of 2006 made you nauseous.

“He is his son?” Satoru nodded.

“Before dying he told me about him, he was sold by him to the Zenin clan.” He fell silent for moment. “You know the type of clan they are and his father probably knew that too.”

“So he told you to take him in?”

Satoru shook his head. “Not exactly, but I decided to take him.” He smiled. “So I paid what the Zenin clan asked for him and here we are.”

“Satoru… they are both small, rising a kid it’s a lot of responsibility.”

“And we can do it…” He approached you. “I know we can do it. Besides, I think I could be a pretty awesome dad.”

You rolled your eyes. “Whatever you say, but I hope I don’t have to be taking care of three kids.”

He laughed and grabbed your face. “You won’t. I love you.” And left a soft kiss on your lips.

“Let’s go with the kids and introduce each other properly.”

You walked outside the room to be meet up with the sight of the two kids focus on the tv in front of them.

“Kids.” Satoru spoke and they both turned their attention to him. “This is…” Satoru mentioned your name. “Both of us will be taking care of you two from now on.”

“Hello.” The girl smiled. “I’m Tsumiki and this,” she pointed to the little black haired boy. “It’s my little brother.” She gave him a slight nod.

“Hi… I’m Megumi.” The kid looked up and then down.

“Hello kids.” You smiled wildly trying to calm them down. “I hope we get along well and take care of you as best as possible.” The children nodded.

Present day

Looking to the ceiling you tried to hold back your tears. God, you missed your two babies so much.

“Love…” Satoru’s voice made you look forward. “You okay?”

You nodded, even though it was a lie. “How about you?”

“Perfect.” He smiled but that smile was hiding so much pain.

“You know you don’t need to hide your real feelings from me.” You whispered as he approached the place where you were at.

“The same goes to you.” He said poking your nose. “But love, I’m alright. Tomorrow I will bring Megumi back to us and everything will be fine.”

He sat next to you and surrounded you, you rested your head on his chest and felt his heart beating. "Our poor Megumi... if I hadn't been in the state I was in, he might have been able to save Megumi and also Tsumiki. God, I just hope that Megumi isn't aware of what happened to him, otherwise our poor boy will be extremely devastated. ” Satoru grabbed you tighter and kissed your temple.

“You were injured in Shibuya and mentally you were not well. Shoko made the right deck to keep you away from everything that happened in the last month.” He whispered softly to your ear.

19th November 2018

Shoko had stopped by to check on you that same morning, apparently she couldn't come by in the afternoon and it was better to check on you that same morning.

You had hit your head in a very bad way during the Shibuya incident, it had even left you unconscious in bed for 5 days.

When you woke up, everything, absolutely everything had changed. Nanami was no longer with you, Kugisaki was in critical condition, the higher-ups had ordered Itadori to be executed immediately, and Satoru had been sealed and accused of treason.

At that moment you felt like your world was falling apart, you needed to find Satoru, know where Megumi was and see with your own eyes that Tsumiki had woken up, but Shoko wouldn't let you get out of bed. Apparently the hit had been big, she even was surprised that you could be as well as you seemed to be.

It was November 12th when Shoko walked with her head down into your room and you felt like your heart might jump out of your chest before she even spoke the words that were in her throat.

“Itadori arrived this morning…” She said sitting on the empty seat near a window and taking out a cigarette from her pocket. “Megumi….” Your world was about to stop moving. “He… was possessed by Sukuna.”

Your body felt weak at that moment, you were very cold, so you hugged yourself trying to stop shaking. Was it because it was cold outside? Or something else?

Shoko called you once again. “There is something else…” You could barely see Shoko clearly, your eyes were filled with tears. “A sorcerer from 1,000 years ago has reincarnated on Tsumiki…”

“What… what does that mean Shoko?”

“I’m not sure… but according to one of Itadori’s new friends it was Kenjaku…” Shoko looked at you and whispered your name softly. “She is gone…”

You covered your face with your hands and started sobbing. That was 7 days ago, since then you had barely moved out of bed. Your body was too exhausted to do so, you wanted to go back to a year ago when everything was fine, when you and Gojo were celebrating your tenth anniversary and both Megumi and Tsumiki were fine. Today, November 19, would be your 11th anniversary, but you were there alone and completely broken.

“Satoru…” You said, through your sobbing. “I need you, I need you here.”

That’s when you felt the bed moving and a hand touching your hair. You slowly opened your eyes, meeting up with a figure you didn’t know if it was real or your mind was already playing tricks on you.

“You are real?” You whispered, still crying.

“I am…” He said touching your face and whipping out your tears. “I couldn’t miss our anniversary right?” He smiled.

You sat on the bed and looked at him, still unsure if it was really him. “I missed you…” You said hugging him and feeling the warmth of his body.

“Missed you too, my love.” He whispered to your ear, hugging you tightly.

“Satoru, our…”

“I know, I know…” He said stroking your hair. “I will bring Megumi to us, I promise.”

And you nodded against his neck, believing in all his words.

Present day

“I’m scared…” You finally confessed. “And I know you’re too, that’s why you sent Yuta to talk with Miguel right?” You glanced at him.

He stayed silent. “I’m the strongest, everything will be fine.”

“Satoru… I know you are the strongest but that doesn’t mean you’re not terrified of facing Sukuna.” You moved to face him.

He rolled his eyes. “Love… I will win and bring Megumi back to us. Trust me.”

“I trust you, I trust you with everything I have but… but doesn’t mean I’m not worried and doesn’t mean I don’t know you enough to know that you have the feeling that things might it go as you want.” You took a deep breath. “That’s why you have been doing something behind everyone’s back right?” He looked in another way, you were right. “Satoru…”

“It has to be me…” He whispered. “If I had not been sealed, none of this would have happened. Maybe Nanami wouldn't be dead, nor Yaga either, maybe we could have looked for a solution to save Tsumiki, Megumi wouldn't have been possessed by Sukuna either.” She took a breath into her lungs and continued. “It has to be me… after all I'm the strongest, right?” A broken smile appeared on his face.

You silently approached him and hugged him as tight as you could. People didn't really know what kind of person Satoru was, always putting others before himself and always blaming himself for things that didn't go well, even if they weren't his fault.

“You’re too good.” You whispered against him.

“That’s not true…” He replied. “If I’m good is because I have a reason to be the best version of myself.” He separated from you and looked into your eyes, those blue eyes that you loved so much. “You make me be the best version of myself. Be a better sorcerer, be a better teacher, be a better influence on the kids. “It's because of you and it's been that way since we were 15.” He grabbed your hand and gently caressed it with his thumb. “I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but…” Swallowing and wetting his lips, he looked at your hand and then at you. “Let's get married, we've been together for 11 years and I want to continue being with you for the rest of my days, so…” In one quick movement he knelt before you. “Would you do me the honor of being your husband?”

From his pocket, he took out a small box containing a beautiful ring. “Satoru…” You whispered in surprise, both of you had talked about getting married on more than one occasion. You knelt in front of him and hugged him. “Of course.”

Satoru covered your face with kisses, causing you to laugh. “Thank you…” he whispered close to your lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Your heart still felt heavy, you didn't know what would happen tomorrow in the battle against Sukuna but you just hoped that Satoru would return to you and bring Megumi back. To be able to all be at peace.

That’s all you wished and hoped for.

If only wishes could be fulfilled.

[eydi-andrius]

His Point of View (Gojo Satoru x Reader)

A Sequel to Side Characters End Up Alone

a/n: I'm really sorry that it took a while but I feel much better now to write for angst. I hope this is worth the wait. Thank you lovelies! Again, I appreciate likes but comments and reblogs makes me feel well-loved.

cw/tw: pure angst, unrequited love, pov of the person who was confessed to, from love to despise, probably unexpected pov but I gotta write it, may upset some audience but I have been thinking of this as canon in this story

divider: @/cafekitsune

summary: Gojo knew how precious you are in his life. You are his greatest confidant, his other half and someone to whom he can never live without. However, no one ever told him how to handle a situation wherein his childhood best friend is truly madly deeply in love with him but he only sees her as his friend

The once cute white squared beads of letters that used to spell his name and yours, sewn together as proof of your long lasting friendship, was now across the floor of the dim parking lot.

He could barely see some of it. The place was illuminated by the yellow, almost dying light of the old light post. It buzzes and flickers as it does its best to give light. The dim colour makes his head hurt more. It was already throbbing when you went to pick him up, but after running after you, the feeling intensified, like splitting his head in half.

However, the blur in his eyes from the pain did not mask how worn out those beads were. He can see the first letter of your name, rolled near his shoe. He bent down to pick it up and raised it, to see clearly on the only source of light. It looks old, yes, but it is well-kept, polished even. As if someone had smoothened it for years…..because she cares and truly treasures this childish gift he gave to her once upon a time.

Gojo closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

Long ago, when you confessed to him, he didn't know what to do. There were only two of you behind the school, you were fidgeting, scared and a pale mess, as you shared your heart out to him. Confessing the supposed to be beautiful truth, but at that moment, can either create something new or break something perfect, that you both had established together for a long time.

Surprised, unprepared and confused, all he did was stare at you, mouth agape. His world stopped, not expecting that you feel that way towards him. How…No one ever told him what to do at this moment. He felt trapped and his mind was swirling, trying to think of the best words to reply, the best course of action to do when your childhood best friend confesses to you. He was overloading and for a long time was just wide-eyed staring at you.

Probably, when you realised he wasn't going to reply, you felt embarrassed and humiliated so you chose to run away from him. During that time, Gojo found that his voice was working as he called out to your small frame, slowly vanishing from view.

You two did not talk about it until after three days. After he had a conversation with Geto. He helped him realise his feelings, for he thinks Geto was really wise for his age. And he is wise and provided good advice. He made Gojo feel confident enough to share his true feelings to you and that was him loving you as his precious friend, nothing more, nothing less.

Gojo wished that at that time he realises that Geto was just the same age as him, and no amount of good advice will come from a person whose life experience were in equal to him. If he knew right there and then, he would have let the friendship go and freed you of the burden of loving him. In that way, you would have been happy. In that way, you probably would have found someone to whom you deserve. Someone who will love you, more than you loved him.

But he was young, foolish and scared about the what ifs. What if you were the best he could ever have in this lifetime. If he lets you go, what if he will never have you anymore? He was scared to be alone. A selfish brat.

And so like a fool, when you pleadingly asked to keep the friendship, he agreed and continued acting the same.

It worked out for a while, until he started having feelings for other girls. Your eyes. God! Your eyes cannot lie at all, it screams your feelings like an open book being read out loud. Doe-eyes stares at him, openly hurting and in pain. It made him go crazy, insane even, affecting his relationships and becoming a toxic partner to some.

Of course, those weren't your fault. It was his. That was his relationship, not yours. However, there was a slitter in his gut, he used to ignore it, until its ugly head showed its face and he openly hated you for destroying his connections.

He was resentful and he admits, he does things to see you suffer. You did that to him!

Of course he knew he was wrong and stupid but he cannot stop the feeling of pure hatred every time beautiful things were ruined in his life because you existed.

You were his blessing but he made you his curse.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the dark sky. The moon was nowhere to be seen but a lone star twinkles beautifully, claiming the sky for itself. His blue orbs twinkled as he stared at it.

He cannot help but smile. It was a true smile. A smile of someone who was relieved. Of someone with a thorn in his chest for years, finally plucked out, relieved of the pain. Finally, your curse was over. The curse he implanted by his side was over.

If someone hears his thoughts tonight, they will probably hate him. But he doesn't care about them.

He was just so happy that now ... .now it was finally over.

He loves you, he cares about you but he cannot deal with your hurt anymore. None of your hurt was his fault. He was torturing himself for years and now, it was truly done.

Feeling the hot tear running down his face, he laughed. It was full of mirth. He is thankful, grateful even.

He wishes you the best as he clutches the only bead he picked up, close to his chest.

He treasures you but he also treasures the distance you now gave him. He cannot wait to finally start his life over.

[kitkatt0430]

do you have a favorite season or episode of Leverage? i love seeing you post about this show :)

Leverage is one of those shows that it's so hard to pic favorites because it's all so incredibly, satisfyingly good.

The first season is probably the worst which is still putting it head and shoulders over the best season of so many other shows that I love. It was hurt by being aired out of order, which thankfully the other seasons didn't suffer from, but it has so many little details in there that become running gags throughout the series. Plan M, Hardison dies. Let's steal an <X>. Parker stabbing a guy with a fork. Hardison's stories about his Nana. Eliot's very specific catchphrase. Sophie's struggle with being an actress vs being a grifter. Alice White. Hurley. Sterling. Old Nate.

I think the Pilot and the two-part finale are my favorites from that season though it is a very close call with basically every other episode.

The Pilot of course gives us the crew and becomes incredibly important to understand the motivations of the final villain of S4. So, so much is established in this episode. The heist at the start, the mini-con at the hospital, and the main con to get their revenge. The walk-away where they all fail to walk away.

And then the two part finale. Nate's ex wife shows up and everyone basically falls in love with Maggie because she's awesome. Sterling truly establishing the Sterling always wins rule with his second win. Nate being able to punch - in the face - the guy who turned down the insurance claim for the medical procedure that might have saved Nate's dying son. Sophie trying to have her cake and eat it too, only to ultimately chose the team over herself. Old Nate becoming the Leverage mascot (to real Nate's chagrin).

Season 2 is probably my second least favorite because I think Sophie leaving the team is somewhat... mishandled? Overall they handled the actress needing time off while pregnant well, but she leaves the team to find herself but is upset that Nate gives her that space and encourages the team to do so as well? Like, yeah, he needs to be better at asking for help and it's his big failing this season but he's very much trying to respect what Sophie asked for and given shit about it. But this is quite possibly the only overarching storyline the show fumbled which is sooooo impressive. (Glances at the Flash and it's many fumbled storylines.)

The first episode of this season is hands down favorite. The team gets back together. Parker as a lock picking nun. The Team taking over Nate's apartment (and then refusing to leave for three seasons). The fact that this episode sets up the series finale. Because it does. The whole reason Nate decides to give in and rejoin the team for more than just this one job at the end? Is because this is where he realizes what really happened behind the scenes of the 2007-08 financial crisis, which leads directly to the target of The Long Goodbye Job.

(holy shit is this show amazing at callbacks and maintaining continuity)

I also really love the Two Live Crew Job for introducing Chaos and The Lost Heir Job for bringing in Tara for the rest of the season (only complaint is we barely get any more of her after this season). Though if I were to pick a second favorite episode of the season it'd be The Bottle Job because I love them saving the bar together and it has the first hints of Jimmy Ford being revealed (explaining further why Nate is the way he is).

I think Season 3 and 4 tie for me as second favorite seasons. S3 has the plot with the Italian and finally stops using Nate's personal failings as the driving impetus of the season finale. Eliot being so very ashamed of the man he used to be is incredibly touching (someone hug this man) and makes it all the more impressive what kind of man he's become now.

I love The Inside Job for putting Parker front and center. Introducing the man who raised her, but also failed her in a way that makes Nate quite likely want to punch Archie in the face. The show never outright calls Parker autistic, but she is. She so clearly is. And it's very plain to see that was factored into the set design for where Parker lives. It was part of Archie's reasoning for keeping her separate from his family - though he can say 'she wouldn't fit in' all he wants, the truth is clear in how he says it. But despite how he failed her, the episode is about showing that Parker does have a family now. The Leverage Crew. And they love her because she is the way she is. Because if she were any different, she wouldn't be their Parker. And they are willing to fight for her and trust her and follow her lead.

I love any episode where Hardison gets to be artsy, so The Scheherazade Job is beloved. How dare he be so talented? So, so, so multi-talented.

The Studio Job gives us Eliot's softer side and Christian Kane's wonderful country singing voice.

The Three Card Monte Job introducing Jimmy Ford in the flesh and giving us the wonderfully fucked up relationship he has with Nate. They love each other but they're too much alike to get ever get along. Each one has a very different code of ethics that clash irreconcilably.

The Rashoman Job is just incredibly well played, with the actors in the flashbacks being slowly updated as it's revealed this person or that person was actually one of the Leverage Crew pre-show. Sophie's accent in the flashbacks getting increasingly incomprehensible until she's basically speaking what the wingdings fonts look like when you try to type normally with them.

The King George Job giving more artsy Hardison who hacks history and probably needs a nap. Sophie's complicated backstory and her realization that cons where she thought no one really got hurt may have actually gotten people hurt after all - a character story beat that Leverage Redemption picked up for her and continued beautifully.

The San Lorenzo Job is absolutely stunning. Sophie shines here (and yet again does not know how to keep out of sight at her own funeral) absolutely stunningly as she builds herself up as a sort of Princess Diana/Evita type before her "assassination" that helps seal the deal of their election theft scheme.

Season 4 tying itself so neatly back to the job that started it all when it turns out the rich dude trying to manipulate them is working with Dubenich. It's impressive how well they pull off the reveal. But he's not the only big call back to Season One we get here. Parker's Alice White persona and the friend she made - Peggy - come back. Hurley comes back.

The Van Gogh Job is the best, best, best of the season. It doesn't pull any punches in saying "hey, this romance we're doing between a white girl and a black man? that used to be illegal. It is in living memory that these relationships could get black men lynched by racists with little to no repercussions. And talented black men would have their achievements handed to white men because 'that's the way it was.'" It puts the main actors into the roles of characters in the past just to make sure it hits hard because we know these faces. We're emotionally attached to them. Holy shit this episode.

The Hot Potato Job where the problem kid of the school field trip Nate and Parker hijack just needed people to treat him like a person, not a problem, to behave well. The way he bonds with Hardison and helps them smuggle the potato out at the end? I love this kid, I want to learn he's working for Leverage International one day.

The Carnival Job where the mark's kid is kidnapped and they burn their con because a child's life is more important. Eliot fighting concussed and with his eyes shut because he will be damned if he fails to save this little girl.

The Grave Danger Job managing to be the best 'buried alive' plot I have ever seen on a tv show (and it is a staple plot of tv shows from the 90s/early 2000s). They steal a police car and an ambulance for the sirens. It gets series with Parker calling Hardison 'Alec' and being at the most emotional we've seen her all show.

The Office Job being done in the style of The Office (and then the mockumentary follow up in the behind the scenes featurettes) is just priceless.

The Girls Night Out/The Boys Night Out Jobs being so perfect in how they intertwine over the course of the same night.

The Radio Job showing us just how much Jimmy Ford loves his son.

The Last Dam Job giving us "my son would be ashamed of me for killing someone. My father? My father would buy me an ice cream." Dubenich ultimately destroying himself while Nate walks away.

Season 5 is my favorite season, though. It's the culmination of where the show was heading from the start. Parker has grown so much from the first season that she's able to run her own con - something Sophie and Hardison have both attempted and failed - and with the rest of the team out of town to boot. Parker and Hardison clearly got the brew pub as a gift for Eliot, while realizing he'd never accept if they don't reverse psychology him into it. Sophie buying the theater and finally discovering her talent for directing as well as overcoming the blocks that kept her from bringing her prodigious acting talent to the stage floor. Nate achieving the goal that's driven him since the start of Season Two.

I love the French Connection Job for giving us more Chef Eliot. His relationship with food is lovely and this is my favorite exploration of it. Parker finally learning to appreciate beauty in art because of how she grows to understand how Eliot connects with cooking and learns to appreciate the artistry that goes into food.

The Gimme a K Job hits home personally for me - one of my sister's best friends (who was also the older sister of one of my best friends) was a cheerleader who hit her head in a cheer stunt gone wrong where the spotter messed up. It took a very, very long time for her to truly recover from that concussion (and thus why I know tv shows are bullshit for having people just walk that off) and knowing her injuries might have been less severe if cheerleading safety were taken more seriously...

The DB Cooper Job being another excellent episode built around Flashbacks staring the main cast in different roles. Agent McSweeten has to know something is up with the Leverage Crew, but he clearly respects and admires all of them. Especially Parker.

The Broken Wing Job giving us Parker on her own putting together a temporary crew from the wait staff and pulling off a con all on her own, while injured. (The whole reason why she wasn't with the team, in fact.) And it's so damn impressive of her.

The Rundown Job being as close to confirmed Eliot/Parker/Hardison as we're going to get outside of word of god (which we have!!!!) and it's beautiful to watch them work together without Nate and Sophie. It's also foreshadowing for them working together when Nate and Sophie retire.

Similarly, The Frame Up Job gives us how far Nate and Sophie have come as a couple and is as close to Nate/Sophie/Sterling as we'll probably ever get. (No word of god on this one, just me being overwhelmed by Nate and Sterling's impressive divorced-couple vibes. They're more divorced than Nate and Maggie, who are actually divorced.)

The White Rabbit Job where they almost push too far with their gaslighting routine but Parker is able to save the day by connecting to their mark in a way she didn't know how to when the show began. Her character development is such a highlight of she series so the repeated payoffs in this season are just... golden.

Every single thing about The Long Goodbye Job. Once again, all the callbacks to previous seasons. Eliot/Parker/Hardison being heavily hinted at again. Sterling letting Nate go because Nate was right, no matter what the law says. Parker inheriting the lead of the team from Nate. Sophie performing on stage the same play from the pilot, but being excellent at it this time. The episode's whole plot - again, cannot stress this enough - being a callback/having been foreshadowed by the season 2 premiere.

As you can tell, I love this show. It's beautiful and incredible and I was so, so relieved when Leverage Redemption premiered and I could instantly see that they'd done the impossible all over again. They'd recaptured the magic of the original show.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Hugest of sighs.

I really hate it when I can feel a special interest dying.

It's like watching something you've loved and put your everything into for however long get smaller and smaller in the distance. Until it disappears in a puff of smoke.

I can feel it happening with Dragon Age.

It's actually managed to hang on for a long time, so I guess I should just... wish it a fond farewell and let it go.

I was going to write a less acid filled version of my editorial critique/review about the gameplay preview to send to the devs, but why?

I don't get the kind of interaction I need on posts like my Dragon Age posts to help me keep the special interest alive.

The devs aren't going to listen to some internet rando like me if I did waste my time writing it. Not even if I'm actually a professional editor and this is in fact my job that I'm pretty good at.

They don't even toss me a heart on responses to their posts. And they probably wouldn't read it even if it did happen to make it through all the stuff they probably get on their feeds, anyway. Valuable professional editorial critique or not.

Before I stepped way back from social media I could easily get thousands of @ in a day. I know what they must be dealing with.

I have other things I should really be spending my time on.

Sadly, my special interest in Dragon Age has been on life-support since I saw the gameplay preview.

My DA gaming group has gone from a couple hundred people, most of whom weren't active, to waaaaay more people than I'm comfortable being social with. (I have since muted most of it and withdrawn from anything I'm just... not interested in anymore.)

I honestly feel the new look for Solas killed Solas for me. (Given I'm solavellan that's saying one hell of a lot.) For a bit there, I was hoping he'd grow on me. But apparently, I haven't been inoculated with that particular style of virulent mould yet. So it hasn't happened. Every time I saw a picture I just... cared a little less.

Where once I had the fires of a volcano inside my heart for this franchise, nothing but ash in a breeze remains.

It's always possible that something could happen to reignite my passion for it. It's happened a few times before for faded special interests. It could also be my depression talking and I'll feel completely different tomorrow. That's happened too. (So far hasn't happened in the threeish days since I wrote this. It's probably not the depression.)

But... After seeing that gameplay preview, and listening to the Q&A, and reading the Game Informer post... it may just be time to call Time of Death. As someone who loved the first three, and who absolutely marinated myself in the lore, I frankly feel betrayed. (I mean... Varric with a beard? Really? There were story significant reasons he did not, in fact, wear a beard, did they forget that? Like they forgot his bloody hair colour?)

So long, Dragon Age. It was fun while it lasted.

I truly do hope people enjoy the blathering posts I did about it when passion filled me.

I hope people truly do enjoy the new game. There's too little joy in this world and I hope with all my heart it gives you as much joy as you can handle. I'm just a little sad it won't for me. I'll always have the first three, which I do legitimately love to pieces.

I'm not even crying or upset. I just... don't care anymore.

From a professional standpoint, that's always a danger when you change a piece of media too much. There has to be a certain amount of continuity to it so it feels the same. Without that?

You lose obsessed people like me.

You lose the older gamers who loved what Dragon Age was.

And absolutely, yes, fiction does need to change. It's an integral part of the whole thing. If it doesn't change, if it doesn't adapt, it dies just as quickly as if it changes too much. I like to see change in media. It's needed in so many ways. Change can be hard to adapt to, of course. Or in some cases impossible. Shrugs.

There's a professional balance to these things. It wouldn't surprise me if I have a bit of savantism when it comes to editing and writing. I just seem to deeply understand how it all works in ways others rarely see. Looking at a novel or a game or a show from an editorial perspective is very much like looking at a 4d puzzle for me. I can instinctively see what works and what doesn't.

It's just that, in my honest professional opinion, they tried to change way too much to appeal to a different set of gamers than those of us who are a little older and have loved the feel of the first three games.

It's not the change itself I object to. I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks that DAO was the best DA ever. I've loved them all for different reasons. But they all still felt like Dragon Age. Even DA2, which a lot of people hate, still felt like a fantasy RPGish adventure. (I enjoyed it for what it was. I'd've liked to see what it could've been with more time, but for what it was, they did a great job and it was an enjoyable game).

DA4? From what we've seen so far, it doesn't even remotely feel like a fantasy RPGish adventure game. It feels like a cheap star wars/FFXIV/Fortnite knockoff designed for a much different type of gamer. (Which was actually confirmed by Epler in the Q&A. They did, in fact, design it more for younger players than those of us who have been waiting for it for however long.) Professionally, I believe that was a mistake that may cost them.

The darkspawn alone are a bloody travesty. WTAF are those things? And yes, I've seen the 'lore excuse' that it's the red lyrium making them look like bad halloween deco. I'd buy it if they were kinda spiky and had red lyrium growths and stuff like the red lyrium infected creatures in DAI. But it's like they forgot their own canon.

I dunno. It really just doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure that no matter how beautiful the backgrounds and some of the art they've just... lost me.

I guess I write these kinds of posts so others in the same boat as me know they aren't alone.

You aren't imagining it. While change is in fact good and necessary to a certain extent, they've changed it so much trying to appeal to a different market that it really doesn't feel even remotely like Dragon Age anymore.

[intimidating-fettuccine]

here's a question that has probably been asked before: how did you come up with you rewrites for the characters? all of the backstories you gave them are really interesting and, while I haven't read the originals in a long time, I think I like what you did more. I found your work only in the past couple days, but I like it a lot; your versions of the creeps feel the most like real people that I've found since my interest in them reignited. but yeah, love your work.

(also, I may show back up in your ask box, so may I be "embroidery anon"?)

Firstly, thank you very much!! I tried really hard to make them much more realistic/three dimensional instead of just “oohhh I like to kill people!!” Ya know? I’m glad that people like you over time have liked that aspect of them :)) Prepare for some rambling though-

As for coming up for their specific backstories, that’s a little hard to answer I think just because of how long it’s been since I started doing that. I’ve been into the creeps since I was 11 and I’m turning 23 in a couple weeks so, it’s been a long ride. The creeps grew up alongside me and I think for some of them their stories just sort of evolved in my mind over the years. I mean I’ve literally been in the fandom for longer than several creeps like Toby, Pup, Helen, etc.

The basics are just I’d look at the original story for most of them, decide what I think I could keep, and what I’d like to change. For a creep like Toby, I wanted him to still have a good relationship with his mom and sister, and I still wanted his sister to die, but for Natalie I made her brother an ally to her and someone she loves and trusts instead of one of the bad guys. But I mostly wanted to make the writing darker and more in depth, I wanted them to be darker and more realistic as people.

I also wanted different backgrounds for them, like Toby/Helen/Natalie coming from very rich and influential families, EJ in my canon growing up in a cult, Jason and LJ both being toys instead of just LJ, things like that.

The thing about rewriting them I think is that most of the OG stories are not… The best written stories ever? Most of them were written by preteens/teens and not the most realistic pieces of media. Like in Jeff’s, being burned by fire made his hair turn black and his skin turn white, which is not really how fire and burns work?? And then he went on to burn off his eyelids which also not a great idea? I’ve actually had people get upset that my Jeff has eyelids but like if he didn’t he would be completely blind and in literal agony because his eyes would be completely dried out. That’s not a great design imo, but it was also written by a child so like, that’s why.

Most of my designs just sort of pop into my head randomly though. I get an idea like for BEN I wanted him to be close to his mom, but I didn’t want her to still be living so I went okay, how do I expand on that? And that’s how I came up with my version of his story, with his mom dying young from illness and his father being abusive and resentful.

I wish I had a better way of explaining it but that’s just sort of my general thought process. I started to look at them more as individual characters/OCs instead of just the original lore, which I mean most blogs for the creeps these days have their own lore too. I don’t think my creeps are the best ones ever (except in my heart), but I also had a lot of fun writing them and coming up with their backgrounds. I got influenced a lot by songs and media and they just gradually came into fruition :) I’m glad they were good enough to reignite your interest.

(And also yes, you may take that anon name ^^)

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova's Notes - Dracula Daily - August 6

In which Mina is upset.....

"Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last letter."

:(((((( it feels like she's clinging to Jonathan's last letter like a lifeline and it's not one she can even trust, since it's so different from how he normally writes. It's so sad!!

"Last night was very threatening, and the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey—except the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers."

I highlight this for two reasons: 1) a storm usually means Dracula is not too far off and 2) while it makes sense everything would look "grey", I wonder if this is also a symbol for how the world looks to her without Jonathan: grey. It's even worse that the very creature who caused her to be without Jonathan is likely causing the change in the weather as well.

"'I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:— "'I want to say something to you, miss.' I could see he was not at ease, so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak fully..."

I love how compassionate Mina is for the Mr. Swales here. She immediately sees he's upset (she is very good at reading what others are thinking) and, rather than focus on her troubles, she takes his hand and lets him unburden himself to her. In turn, I commend Mr. Swales for taking the time to talk to Mina about this...

"'I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to expect...'"

Mr. Swales 😭😭😭😭 this is actually such a sweet moment of introspection for him. He realizes he's using humor as a coping mechanism to get over his fear of death, but that doesn't excuse the fact he scared her in the process of doing so. It probably isn't the best apology by today's standards, but for an old curmudgeon, I think it's pretty good.

"'Some day soon the Angel of Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my deary!'—for he saw that I was crying—'if he should come this very night I'd not refuse to answer his call.'"

Nooooo Mina!!!! 🥺🥺🥺 Yeah, talking about dying isn't the best thing for her to hear right now.....not that she doesn't feel for the old man, but when you're worrying about your fiancé missing and possibly being dead, it's usually not great to hear about death from someone else....

"'There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the air; I feel it comin'.'"

Oooo yep, definitely foreshadowing Dracula. 😬😬😬😬 I don't like that.

"After a few minutes' silence, he got up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled off. It all touched me, and upset me very much."

Awwww, someone needs to comfort Mina about Jonathan and if I could hug her, I would!

"I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time kept looking at a strange ship."

Another person Mina has befriended!!! She's only been in Whitby for two weeks and has already talked to so many people. Love that for her!

"'I can't make her out,' he said; 'she's a Russian, by the look of her; but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before this time tomorrow.'"

A Russian ship going to Whitby that seems confused...oh no, I think I know what ship this is...looks like by tomorrow we'll know what happened to our last friend on the Demeter (and I don't think it's a good update).

Until the next one, my friends!

[acesbelovedwife]

Ponytails

Portgas D Ace x fem reader fluff

Also Luffy is your biological brother in this one!

2k characters

Masterlist

"I'm gonna go shower, wanna join Luffy?" you asked Luffy as you both were sitting on the grass on Sunny "sure!" Luffy smiled brightly as you heard Sanji, Brook and Ace gasp behind you "they're siblings for gods sake" Nami hit three of them Sanji biting on his clothes from jealousy and Brook asking Nami to see her panties which resulted in her hitting him again while Ace just pouted looking away "someone's jealous~" robin softly spoke to him as he turned into a tomato, not seeing you already left with Luffy to the bathroom. "Luffy stop!" You said laughing splashing him back for him getting soap in your eyes. After splashing for a while he finally calmed down and let you wash his hair "I'm hungry y/nnnnnn" Luffy whined "I'm sure Sanji is making dinner right now so let's wash up quickly and join them for dinner" you replied calmly already used to his whiny state. "Where are they? The dinners ready, Luffy's always the first one to get the food" Sanji murmured under his nose while everyone was sitting next to the table Ace laying his head on the table upset "c'mon Ace, it's just a shower" Sabo tried cheering up Ace "she didn't even invite me" Ace argued "that's probably because you can't keep your hands to yourself" Sabo argued back with a soft smile, "we're here, sorry it took so long" you huffed as everyone just stared in disbelief at Luffy. "Sanjiiiii foood!" Your little brother whined as you just smiled looking at the cute sight, sitting between Sabo and Ace "god he looks so cute.." Sabo whispered as he covered his face from anyone seeing his blush (which was still very obvious). Ace just gawking at his little brother running after Sanji to steal some food with two ponytails on his head you did on him. "We have such a cute brother huh" you said as the three of you looked like total idiots looking at Luffy as the rest of the crew still tried to proceed what was happening in front of them. You looked at your boyfriend who seemed upset just few seconds ago concerned about him "Ace" you nudged him, he was back up from laying his head on the table "hm?" Ace looked at you changing his face back to looking upset "you have something here" you pointed at his chest, as he looked down you quickly kissed his forehead and ran up to help Sanji get away form Luffy. Ace just sat there with opened mouth looking at you while Sabo was dying from laughter at Aces obvious blush all over his face.

I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, English is my second language. It's just a random thing I came up with. I hope you liked it, sorry if it seems rushed/short (⁠´⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.̫⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠`⁠)

[murkystarlight]

Okay- @crystallisedroses since you asked me to write more about Luktra(and I've been dying to talk about this actually) so here it is!

Another round of random brain ideas

I personally think Petra and Lukas were childhood friends. Since they knew each other before the game, and it couldn't have just been from Lukas getting a nether star from her. Because- Petra was trying to get Jesse's gang to be friends with Lukas. She has no reason to do that unless we say that Petra was already friends with Lukas and wanted them to get along. Or Lukas was sad that they(him amd the treehouse gang) are like... forced into a rivalry(because of the other Ocelots) and kind of in a bad situation with each other but he thinks the treehouse gang are nice people and wants to be friends. So Lukas asked Petra if she could help with being friends with them since he knows Petra is friends with them. So, I like to think the two are close friends.

Speaking of childhood friends,

They know a lot of things about each other. So they tease each other a lot and use it agaist each other quite a bit.

I also really like to think that Petra was a really small and cute (and chaotic) kid when she was young. So when she got taller(and stronger) Petra made a lot of comments on it. But Lukas doesn't actually mind it all that much. Still pretended to be upset and made a lot of banter with her though.

Of course, one of the usual conversation starters would be,

"How did you get so tall? You were like the smallest kid ever"

Petra probably leans on his head a lot cause he has the good hair(and he isn't short y'know. So makes him a little bit uncomfortable to use as a arm rest). Makes a nice cozy place to face plant in

I also like to think that, Petra just loves messing with Lukas' hair. She ruffles it, ties it, decorates it... stuff like that. Lukas hates it. But gave up on trying to fix his hair and tell her to stop. He has no choice but to let her play with it until she's satisfied

Sometimes when she is in deep thought, she looks like she's planning to murder someone and everyone else is worried while Lukas has a warm smile on his face not feeling anything is wrong. The others look at him and go "she doesn't look the slightest bit intimidating to you?" And Lukas just keeps smiling and says "she looks calm" With like zero emotion(the others get used to it later)(and I'm not saying the others, the treehouse gang, weren't friends with Petra before the game. I'm saying that I think Petra would have been friends with Lukas longer than with them. Like.. if she was friends with Lukas since pre-school, then she would have been friends with the treehouse gang since like... high school-ish)

AND if Petra was younger than Lukas- that could make the cutest thing ever. Imagine Petra being like a clingy three year old, refusing to let go of a new friend she made. And Lukas is just standing there looking down at her, a girl he picked up on the streets that is now currently holding onto his legs, and he is patting her head with a smile.

Watching old videos and photos would be so fun- (Lukas probably has a lot of blackmail material from when they were really young like elementary school +some recent ones. And Petras would mostly be from when they are a bit more of age)

Lukas' cottage in season two was like- a checkpoint to Petra before she started going into distancing all her friends too much. She would sometimes stop there to visit him if she ever comes across a part of the forest where he lives. They would hang out and Petra gets a place to rest. Lukas often bakes her small snacks to bring along her adventures before she leaves. Even if she refuses them, they do come in handy when she doesn't have enough food around

They both love animals, so they like playing with Lukas' ocelot. Lukas is totally fine with the cat playing with Petra more than him.

Lukas got her into reading. Or, well. She always kind of liked reading, but she never really told anyone or read in public in front of people(cuz- persona lol)(you can kind of see something like this in the Netflix version). But sometimes they read together. Just sitting in the middle of a forest on a nice sunny day and just read for hours.

Lukas tries to keep a healthy schedule. Most of the time he does. The problem is when he is really into writing, then he forgets to take care of himself. So Petra tries to remind him not to do that, even when she isn't around. Which actually is a bit very irritating for Lukas since, she always brushes off her injuries.

Whenever Lukas finds/notices a new scar or some injury on her he sits her down and starts patching her up immeatiently. While scolding her for being too reckless and not telling anyone about them.

One last thing I want to add in this,

the song 'Valentine' by Laufey and 'Small girl' by 이영지

It fits so well to them(or maybe anyone. Just- it fits well with Petra for sure though) in my head- I swearr

So that's about it for now. This- it's all mixed up and makes no sense... and probably not the kind of content you were expecting🙏 but I can only remember stuff like this right now. I'm open to writing more about this though if anyone's interested 👉👈

I'm sorry- so hh... take this instead

Friends, lovers, whatever

I had fun🙂

[gengarartblog]

Not really phases of the incident but more like different concepts of what could have happened? These are mostly scrapped now but I figured I could post them since they were technically almost done. This is again leaning into the "what if Dalv was the Integrity SOUL's final boss fight" idea I had. Maybe if I figure this out I'll make a doodle page or something.

Ramblings below the cut for my thought process atm when it comes to me trying to figure out the timeline of events with the Snowdin Incident. Because I am fucking STRUGGLING with this one.

Enjoy the scrapped concepts and, if you read it, the rambling below the cut.

All I know that I have to work with is:

-Kanako was unharmed -Dalv was injured, bad enough to be traumatized by it. He's also aware of the integrity human dying. (He mentions that day just repeating for him, which is probably flashbacks.) -Chujin knows that Dalv was injured, and instead of comforting his daughter or helping Dalv, he sends Axis after the human only to arrive to an absolute mess of a scene when he finds Axis and the remains of the human.

So the first issue:

Did Chujin and Axis show up before the human ran? Chujin was told by the other Snowdin residents about the human and he definitely found Kanako and Dalv at least. I'm actually starting to lean towards him having not arrived before the human ran since Chujin mentions that Kanako had no one to protect her (technically incorrect, as Dalv was 100% there and likely would have been protecting her. BUT if he had died then she would have been next with no one to save her). This would mean that for Kanako to be unharmed and for Dalv to be still alive, one of three things had to have happened:

a. The human decided to spare Dalv. Maybe because they didn't want to kill in front of another child or because they just decided to spare Dalv after beating him up. They then ran to waterfall because that was the next area they needed to go to get to the castle, and had no idea that Axis would be following soon.

b. Dalv managed to deal enough damage that the human decided to flee. He does mention holding back against Clover, and he's one of few monsters that live long enough to speak a few sentences after a fatal hit (like Starlo, Ceroba, Papyrus, and Undyne to name a few examples, who are all stronger regular monsters). And as we've seen from Undyne, even regular monsters can hold their own against a human if they're protecting someone or something. Hell, with Undyne we even have to run from her to be able to spare her in UT. The problem with this is that Dalv mentions that he won't run away this time ("All I know is that somehow... you found me. Sorry to make things difficult but I'm not cowering away this time"). But I'm not sure if he means the snowdin incident or if he means when he ran away twice from Clover in the dark ruins. Because while he's mistaking Clover for the integrity human here, he did run away from them in the dark ruins. However the pillar fun value event has Dalv running away???

c. Dalv and Kanako ran when they had the chance. But then why did the human run to waterfall instead of just wiping out snowdin? Sure Dalv and Kanako could have been the last monsters the human encountered before waterfall, but then Chujin would have likely encountered the human before Dalv and Kanako did. Not only that but from the sounds of it, Dalv stuck around for a bit probably due to injuries since Chujin mentions that he should have stayed to help calm Kanako down and to help Dalv with his injuries.

So what the hell is the timeline of events here? Like. Was the human already past Snowdin and went backwards for some reason at some point? Maybe they found out what happened to some of the other humans and that upset them to the point where they started violently defending themselves? I dunno.

The second issue:

Who the hell is the "friend" that Dalv mentions in his journal that apparently "doesn't exist"? I'm guessing it's whoever was leaving the corn right? Maybe Kanako since he said it's been a year?

I have no idea. I'm gonna go back to trying to figure out more stuff and put a timeline together for this. See ya.

[plasticbag3207]

My Headcanons On How All of the Vees Died :D

Hi! I’ve seen some people talking about how the Vees died, and I decided I wanted to give my own two cents :) (Warning: I ramble a lot)

Velvette:

Starting with Velvette because my headcanon for her is the shortest. I think she died in a car accident because she was texting and driving, or using her phone in some way. She was most likely behind the wheel and not paying attention, ran a red light unknowingly and was smashed in the collision. Something along those lines that could have been easily prevented by not being negligent.

Another thought: Maybe instead of texting she was trying to take a photo of herself for a social media post? Idk, same sorta idea though.

Vox:

I’ve seen people theorizing that Vox died from a seizure, and I agree. Specifically a tonic-clonic seizure (this is the type you’d probably immediately think of when you imagine someone having a seizure).

I think he was probably watching one of his shows on TV (I headcanon he was a news reporter or smth for a large TV News company, probably his own). Suddenly the TV lost its signal and the screen went static, this caused the seizure and he ultimately died from it. As some other people have pointed out, when Vox gets more upset/uses more of his powers he tends to have red lines appear on his screen coming from his mouth. It looks a lot like blood, and sometimes when people have this specific type of seizure they bite their tongues or lips, causing them to bleed.

Another pointer to him dying of a seizure: he can wield electricity and can use it to travel wherever he pleases along with other powers relating to it. From my understanding, seizures are when the brain malfunctions and rapidly and uncontrollably sends electrical signals. I know it’s not technically the same type of electricity (electrons vs ions), but it’s still just something to think about. :)

Valentino:

I have lots of ideas for Val, and out of the three Vees I think his death is the most up to interpretation. We really don’t have many hints to what it could be at all, which I think is fun. I also haven’t really seen any theories for him, so if this matches up with your headcanon let me know! I also have multiple different theories, so I’ll talk a little about each.

Theory one: murdered

Val was probably a pimp while he was alive too, and I think there’s a good chance one of the people he “owned” finally snapped and in an act of desperation to escape, they murdered him. A friend and I were talking on how he might have been murdered. My friend suggested that maybe one of his workers poured some cyanide into his drink, or messed with his drugs. I think these are both valid ideas, and likely.

Another theory along the murdered idea: he was gay and someone discovered he was gay. Obviously in the 70s being queer wasn’t widely accepted yet, and I think it’s very possible that someone found him out and killed him for it.

Theory two: Overdose

I’m not sure if it was on purpose or not. Maybe one of his workers increased his dose while he wasn’t looking, or maybe he was miserable and decided he didn’t want to deal with life anymore. It also could have been completely accidental, and he shut his own book without even knowing.

Theory three: Illness

Probably the most likely out of all of these is that Val died of some STD or other terminal illness. Again, assuming he was a pimp in life and slept around a lot, there’s a good chance he picked up some deadly STDs. He technically died before the AIDS crisis, but there are still plenty of other options that he could have contracted.

But how does any of this relate to him being a moth?

I have literally no idea and frankly it is stumping me immensely. The best my friend and I could come up with was that while dying (slowly, of poison potentially) he was blankly staring at a light or something? Again, I really don’t know what to do with his moth appearance. Maybe he died on a summer night? I genuinely can’t think of anything very meaningful or concrete that I could relate to him being a moth demon. So hey, if you have an idea on how to incorporate that let me know, I’d love to hear! :)

Okay this got really long but I can’t help but ramble. I’m especially curious as to what people’s headcanons are for Valentino’s death. And if you actually read through all of this, props to you and your patience for all of my tangents <3

[werecat1234]

Merging Timelines Chapter Ten

Ok, so this is officially the longest chapter so far, and fair warning: There IS a dirty joke in this chapter. It's extremely subtle and there's no elaboration on it, so if you know, you know, if you don't, you stay innocent and Killer will just be laughing for no reason. Just don't expect an explanation in the comments, and if you ask, no one explain it. If you explain it, your comment or reply will be removed. Happy reading!

After Sans went into the subconscious to check on Killer, Dust was left to his own devices. Naturally, Dust was a lot more serious than Killer and wasn't about to cause chaos out of boredom or drive someone crazy through annoyance, and... well, he'd been wanting in on these interactions for a while now. He'd missed his friends, and now he had a chance to spend time with them.. just like good old times. He may not have beaten the human in his timeline, but at least he had a chance to savor things here, a reminder of what he'd dreamed about for so long before losing hope.

Maybe he could take advantage of this opportunity; have some time with his old friends that didn't involve someone dying. Last Reset didn't count. He looked ahead again, walking next to Papyrus and Skyler, trying to seem relaxed even though he couldn't be more tense. His last interactions with Papyrus and Undyne had been keeping them safe from a genocidal brat, and even before that his interaction with his brother had gone from trying to make amends with his brother and to see him happy again after so long while battling his own guilt and self hatred. Then proceeding to delve into a breakdown where his guilt and sadness overwhelmed him, all from his brother offering him the other Cinnamon Bunny.

He wasn't completely apathetic like Killer, but some of his emotions were... detached, to say the least. Getting some feelings back... it was... odd, to say the least. Oddly enough, he had genuinely laughed, and not from insanity or pain, for the first time in what must have been around two years, and it was from seeing Killer with bunny ears and tail of all things. He didn't like Killer, but somehow Killer let him cut loose, and while he could sympathize with Killer's past, there was things he couldn't forgive, and he doubted he ever would, even if Killer was occasionally somewhat tolerable to be around.

Killer didn't have guilt or sadness; he could act carefree and energetic, stirring up trouble, causing chaos and mischief, and acting like a complete and utter child, yet being capable of severe mood swings and getting upset in a split second after laughing and in a good mood. That was without even mentioning the fact that Killer usually exaggerated emotions or just hid them, or just didn't even feel them at all. He was also mentally older than him and Sans combined, and yet he was the most immature out of the three of them, and was somehow able to get Dust to join in on his antics, be it roughhousing or a murder plot board or trading off insults, the list goes on and on. Dust didn't know how Killer somehow had the mentality of a child, complete with mood swings, energy, and overall actions and his likely ADHD behavior, and yet he could have a breakdown like the one in the beginning of the Reset... Something wasn't adding up, and sure, Dust might be putting a lot of thought into it, more than he probably should, but he couldn't help himself.

He was stuck with Killer for the foreseeable future, and he might as well make an effort to understand what the hell was going on in his mind. Dust didn't doubt that Sans and Killer were trying to figure him out too. What he still couldn't figure out was the drastic change in behavior when Killer's soul changed. He'd acted like he was in so much pain, and then suddenly it and all of the emotional pain he'd been feeling was gone, and Killer was acting normal again. There had to be something else going on than just his soul changing stages and letting him feel different spectrums of emotions. Dust could feel it in his bones. 

A tug on his sleeve drew him out of his thoughts, and he looked over at the source. Skyler was gently grabbing his sleeve with a curious expression, and they asked quietly, "Are you ok?"

Dust nodded, slowing his steps as Skyler did the same, releasing his sleeve, and he whispered, "yeah, i'm ok."

"Is Sans ok?" Skyler whispered their question.

Dust nodded, whispering, "yeah, just checking in on you know who. he was pretty pissed off but he wouldn't tell me what was up."

"Oh.. I thought you two didn't get along? I didn't know you cared about him.." Skyler whispered. 

"i don't. not really, at least. i sympathize with him because we were both in genocide loops and i know what it does to someone and what it's like to uh... go to extreme measures trying to stop it, but i still don't like him, and i definitely don't care about him. i'll admit, he's slightly growing on me, but that doesn't mean i care about him." Dust whispered.

"He's interesting, huh?" Skyler whispered with a slight smile.

"oh you have no idea... he... how do i put this.. he's like a puppy with murderous tendencies, extreme sarcasm, a dark sense of humor, and got into the energy drink stock at an entire store and the only evidence that he was there was that there was just empty cans everywhere."

Skyler barely held back a laugh, "Ouch." They whispered, laughing a bit. After a few moments of silence, Skyler spoke again, still talking in a hushed whisper, "Hey, Dust?"

"yeah?"

"How come you're being nice to me? I... The timeline you're from... How don't you want to attack or kill me?..." Skyler asked quietly.

Dust thought his answer for a moment, before whispering back, "because you aren't them. i'm not going to judge you off of the actions of someone else in your body in a different timeline. you're a good kid, and i understand that. as long as you don't kill anyone, especially not paps, me and you are ok. just don't screw up."

Skyler nodded, smiling a bit, "Thanks."

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO WHISPERING ABOUT? OH! IS IT A GAME? CAN I JOIN??" Papyrus asked, looking back at the both of them. 

Dust and Skyler looked between each other, laughing a little.

"sure, paps. all you gotta do is- oh look, we're here." Dust said, seeing Undyne's house up ahead. 

"YIPPEE! COME NOW, SKYLER, AND YOU CAN MEET THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!!" Papyrus cheered, bolting ahead. 

"so, you ready for this, kid?" Dust asked, and they nodded, "good. i'll have to get killer before her house blows up. for some reason he loves fire."

"He does?" Skyler asked, curious.

"yeah, it's weird. he starts laughing like a maniac and screaming about arson. good thing he doesn't' know i can do something..." Dust said, "for now, at least."

"What can you do?..." Skyler asked, a bit nervous. 

"boss monsters, uh... when they kill another boss monster, they... they gain their abilities. for example, i'm a boss monster, so is papyrus, toriel, asgore, undyne, muffet, and even flowey. killer... his soul isn't human or monster. it's so corrupted by what chara did to him in his timeline that he's something else, and i still can't figure it out. however, my soul is still a monster soul, meaning what i did caused me to gain their abilities. me and killer are at full strength here, which is extremely useful for fights, but it also means me and killer are both maxed in terms of lv, and it means... well..." Dust snapped his fingers, a purple flame forming in his left hand, "i can still do this."

Yes I'm making the Fanon ability Canon here. I've always found it extremely interesting and it's overall a very cool concept. I'm well aware it's not Canon, but neither is Dust wearing Papyrus's scarf, getting along with Killer, or being called Dust and not Murder. I've read through the ask-dusttale thread and I'm aware of what is and isn't Canon. In this book, Dust is a mix between Fanon and Canon. Not too far Fanon, but not too far Canon either. I'm trying to keep things mostly Canon with bits of Fanon in it to make everything work here. I'm aware Killer doesn't usually eat anything either and his character is a bit different and would be more complicated to write if completely Canon, but again, mix of Fanon and Canon characteristics in the characters that I'm trying to balance out juuuuuuuust right to make everything hopefully flow smoothly and not make everything difficult to stitch together.

Skyler looked at the fire in shock and amazement, "Oh my god..."

"yeah... it can be a bit of a pain to use, but it's useful." Dust said, closing his hand into a fist, the flame going out.

"... Why are you telling me this?" Skyler asked him. 

"because you knowing isn't going to affect me negatively. hopefully it'll convince the genocidal brat from last time not to do what they did again, or i can and will make them suffer, and i don't even need to kill them to do that." Dust said, and Skyler nodded in understanding. 

The two approached the door, seeing Papyrus talking to Undyne, and Dust looked back at Skyler. Their appearance was hidden for the most part by Killer's coat, especially with the fluffy hood pulled up.

"AH, HERE THEY ARE! UNDYNE, THIS IS MY BROTHER'S FRIEND, SKYER! SKYLER, THIS IS UNDYNE!" Papyrus introduced them.

Undyne looked at Skyler suspiciously, looking them up and down, and Dust could see Skyler growing nervous. Thankfully, Undyne seemed to buy it, and held her hand out.

"Hey, punk." Undyne greeted, and Skyler hesitantly shook her hand, "Jeez, guess that's one thing you have in common with Sans. Both of you are super weak!" 

"right, and you basically being a shark on steroids has nothing to do with it..." Dust muttered under his breath, and Skyler let out a surprised laugh.

"You say something?" Undyne asked, narrowing her eye at him.

"me? nah." Dust replied innocently.

Undyne shrugged off her suspicions, standing aside from the door, "Well, come on in, I guess." 

Papyrus, Skyler, and Dust entered, Undyne closing the door behind them.

"So, you're the one Papyrus was talking about, huh? Where you from? I've never seen you before." Undyne asked, holding out a chair for Skyler to sit in, and after a firm look from Undyne, Skyler sat down, and Papyrus stood off to the side. Dust didn't feel like standing around, so he summoned a few bones out of the ground, and made himself a reclining chair to lay back in, folding his arms behind his head and watching the interaction.

"THEY'RE FROM A PLACE CALLED AROUND! I PERSONALLY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF IT, BUT IT SOUNDS VERY INTERESTING!" Papyrus answered.

"'Around'?" Undyne asked incredulously.

"YES!" Papyrus replied. 

"Hmmmmmmmmm..." Undyne examined Skyler carefully.

"i've been. it's not much to see." Dust said after a moment, getting Undyne's attention.

"... What are you doing?" Undyne asked, looking at the makeshift chair.

"i was too lazy to stand around." Dust answered.

"So you... made a chair?" Undyne asked.

"no, i made an amusement park, complete with a roller coaster and ferris wheel." Dust said with sarcasm that could rival Killer's.

"SANS, DON'T BE RUDE." Papyrus told him as Skyler laughed.

 Dust smirked slightly. He could see why Killer was sarcastic; it was pretty damn fun. Not that he'd ever tell him that, though...

"sorry, pap." Dust apologized.

"... CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE ONE OF THOSE CHAIRS?" Papyrus asked him after a moment. 

"No need!" Undyne said suddenly, walking into her bedroom, returning with a chair under each arm and slamming the door closed with her foot behind her. She put the chairs on either side of the table, and said, unnervingly calm, "Sit."

Papyrus sat down on the chair on the left, and Dust sat on the other chair, the bones he'd summoned for the makeshift chair vanishing. The bones were more comfortable.

"So... Skyler, I heard you're from 'Around'. What's it like?" Undyne asked in suspicion while still being friendly. 

"Oh, umm... it's... it's not much. It's actually pretty boring..." Skyler replied.

"How come?" Undyne asked.

"Just... not a lot happens there." Skyler said.

"What about the weather?" Undyne asked.

"Just... usual." Skyler said, growing nervous. They tapped Dust's leg with their foot under the table, hoping for some help.

"i went there once. kid's right, not much to see." Dust replied. This was the stupidest lie ever.

"I see..." Undyne said, looking thoughtful, before relaxing a bit, seeming to buy it. "So, Skyler, you hungry for anything?"

Skyler shook their head no, "No, umm.. we actually just left Grillby's before coming here." 

"Oh. Thirsty?" Undyne asked.

"A little..." Skyler said, and they moved to get up after Undyne did, but Undyne threw a spear at the table, stabbing through the wood, and Skyler immediately stopped moving. 

"Sit. You're a guest, you don't do anything but tell me what you want." Undyne said, a big smile on her face. 

Skyler stayed seated, picking up the spear and pointing at some tea, and Undyne got four cups of tea prepared, giving one to each of them and keeping one for herself. Dust looked down at the tea for a moment, drinking some. He remembered this kind of tea, albeit vaguely. It was Asgore's favorite, if he was remembering correctly. 

"So, how long you hanging around?" Undyne asked Skyler.

"Umm.. don't really know yet. Was hoping I could stay with Sans and Papyrus for a while, at least for a few days." Skyler said.

Dust's eye sockets widened immediately, eyelights turning red and cyan from shock and he spit-took the tea, coughing on it. A few days.... The Resets never lasted longer than a day... So this meant... 

"OH REALLY? I DON'T MIND AT ALL!" Papyrus said, and looked at Dust, "SANS, ARE YOU OK?"

Dust gave him a shaky thumbs up, still hacking, and Papyrus got up, going over to him and patting him on the back.

"Sorry, I meant to ask earlier, but it just kinda slipped my mind.." Skyler apologized, looking at Dust in concern.

"n-no worries! 'course ya can stay, skyler! long as you want!" Dust said, coughing a little but feeling something for the first time in so long.

It was this... this anticipation, but in a good way, not like dread. It was this... this hope, this feeling of looking forward to something in this... this happy anticipation. It was... what was this??

"Thanks." Skyler thanked the brothers, and Dust's eyelights returned to normal.

"OH! BEFORE I FORGET! UNDYNE, CAN SKYLER JOIN OUR TRAINING TODAY??" Papyrus asked.

"Huh? I mean I guess so?" Undyne replied, "You want to, punk?"

Skyler nodded a bit, and Undyne grinned, getting up and picking Skyler up, who yelped a bit, and carrying them to the kitchen, Papyrus following. Dust watched on as the 'training' continued, with the three of them making pasta, which, wow, no wonder Papyrus's pasta was so... uh... interesting. It was when Undyne and Skyler were at the oven, Papyrus standing off to the side, that Dust knew it was time.

'killer, undyne's house is about to explode, get out here. oh, and uh... i have some good news.' Dust informed Killer and Sans in the subconscious. 

A moment later, Killer popped up next to him, and Undyne's house went up in flames after a few seconds. Undyne grabbed Skyler and Papyrus, carrying them out, and Dust teleported himself outside. As the group stood outside of Undyne's house, watching the blaze, Killer was cackling from the inferno, and Sans appeared in front of Dust, sighing. 

'anyone want some fried parrotfish?!' Killer asked before laughing harder. 

'parrotfish? what.... oh. ... killer!' Sans scolded, and Killer laughed harder, and Dust chuckled internally.

'oh, you're in a good mood, huh dust bunny? what was this news of yours anyways?' Killer asked, right eye socket half-closed.

'tell you two in a bit.' Dust replied.

"So.... ... THAT WAS AWESOME!!" Undyne shouted.

"It was?..." Skyler asked.

"YEAH!!" Undyne replied. 

"But your house..." Skyler trailed off.

"The pasta was good enough to blow my house away! Fufufu!!" Undyne yelled.

Skyler looked over at Dust, who snorted. Dust could hear Killer chuckling in his head, and an audible facepalm from Sans.

"BUT WHERE WILL YOU STAY, UNDYNE? YOUR HOUSE... PASTA-WAY.. NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus asked.

"I can stay with Alphys! I'd stay with you, but Skyler's already staying with you, and Alphys has a lot more room." Undyne replied.

'wait, skyler's what?' Sans asked.

'... they're totally doing it.' Killer snickered, eye sockets both closing for the most part, and he completely ignored the main piece of information in that sentence.

'killer!' Dust and Sans snapped at the same time, Killer laughing harder.

"ALRIGHT, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO! UNLESS YOU WANTED TO STAY IN MY ROOM! I CAN MAKE ONE OF THOSE CHAIRS AS A BED ONCE SANS TEACHES ME HOW!"

'chairs?' Sans asked.

'long story.' Dust replied. 

"Nah, I'm ok. Thanks though, Papyrus." Undyne replied.

'wait wait wait wait wait. dust, what was undyne talking about??' Sans asked, circling back.

"oh, real quick, skyler, can we talk? in private?" Dust asked them quietly. 

"Sure?" Skyler replied, and Dust went around a corner.

Skyler followed him, and Dust teleported them both into Sans and Papyrus's house, right by the front door. Killer appeared, leaning over the back of the couch, arms slung over the back of it, a knife in his left hand. Sans was over by the TV, leaning against the wall while looking at Skyler curiously.

"alright, here we go. killer seems to be doing better, and i wanna clarify on something. skyler, you weren't just saying that before, right? you're actually planning on.." Dust trailed off.

"Yeah, I am." Skyler replied, and asked, "Are Killer and Sans listening right now?"

"yeah, they're listening." Dust answered. 

"Ok, so the idea I mentioned earlier, which I'm hoping will work, is not ending the route so quickly. I want to draw it out as long as possible. The coat is a good thing because it mostly hides the fact that I'm a human. I said I was planning on staying here for at least a few days, but in reality it's as long as I can." Skyler explained. 

Sans was wide eyed, and he appeared next to Dust, jumping into him, taking control back, and hugging Skyler.

"thank you." Sans thanked them, "seriously, thank you, kid."

Skyler hugged him back, "You're welcome. Hopefully it can give you guys a break from everything getting worse."

Sans nodded, stepping back and pulling his hood down. Killer was smir

"you look pretty happy." Sans observed, looking over at him.

'lucky, the timelines never lasted this long! in over two decades, a timeline never lasted longer than a day! this is new!" Killer exclaimed. 'this will be so much fun! we'll finally see something different! something new!"

"heh. killer's pretty stoked, kid." Sans told Skyler.

"Really?" Skyler asked.

"yeah. none of this has happened before. he's.... he likes when things change." Sans said. 

"Oh." Skyler said, chuckling a bit. 

Killer vaulted himself over the back of the couch, lunging at Sans, who yelped, getting tossed out of his own body. Sans had flinched back when Killer took control, eyelights vanishing, and Killer looked over at Skyler, who looked confused and concerned. A manic grin spread across his face, matching the smile on his hallucination's face.

"you have no idea how much fun this will be! all the possibilities! i've always wondered what the next day would be like! i finally get to see so many new things all at once! it's almost too much!" Killer grinned.

"Oh wow. Umm... Have fun?" Skyler replied.

"oh i will~" Killer smirked. 

Sans appeared where Killer had been, and sighed. He could see from the perspective of where he'd manifested; it was extremely strange and was a bit tiring, and it was definitely something to get used to. Sans looked over at Dust seeing him pinching the bridge of his nose with his eye sockets closed. 

"hey kid? quick question: do you think, if we found a different coat, that i could have that one back? kinda attached to it, and i know the snowdin shop has some coats in stock." Killer asked.

"I mean it is your coat, so I don't see why not..." Skyler replied.

"great! let's go!" Killer replied, and instead of teleporting, he grabbed Skyler's hand and bolting outside, the kid yelping.

Sans and Dust both appeared by the igloo, Sans watching Killer run by. Damn, how was he so fast? They were at the shop in seconds, Killer still feeling and looking more energetic than ever. Sans could feel it, and even he was starting to get giddy from it, and Sans had a feeling Dust was too. Sans and Dust appeared again on the left of the shop, Dust looking confused upon closer inspection. 

'what the hell even is that feeling? i felt a bit of it before, but this is... a lot..' Dust asked Sans.

'that, dust, is called excitement. with the way this is looking, you'll be getting used to it.' Sans answered, and Dust looked thoughtful. 

"Hey hun, you look... happy today, like you just won the lottery or somethin'. What can I do for you?" The purple bunny monster asked.

"my friend here needs a new coat. you have any that'll fit them? they're borrowing one of mine, but i was hoping to get them their own." Killer replied. 

"Ah, I see. Well, you're in luck. I think I've got some they'll like." The shopkeeper said, turning around to grab a box and placing it on the counter.

It opened to reveal multiple coats on a bar that popped up, each coat on a hanger. There was a few different coats, some fluffy, some not. Each coat was a different color, and each looked really warm.

"take your pick, kid." Killer said, looking over at Skyler.

Skyler looked between the coats, grabbing a orange coat with extremely fluffy orange fur inside the hood.

"That one? Good choice, hun. That'll be 40 G." The shopkeeper said, and Skyler handed over the required payment.

The purple monster gave them the coat after accepting the G, and Skyler thanked her. Killer and Skyler headed back to Sans and Papyrus's house, Dust walking a bit ahead of them, looking back at them as he walked, despite it not being at all effective. Sans appeared next to the front door, looking at the approaching group, and he sighed a bit. He had a feeling Killer wanted his turn at controlling the body, as Dust and Sans had already had a decent time in control.

Besides, Sans supposed that as long as Killer behaved himself, then there was no harm in it. Besides, Sans still felt bad about earlier, and he figured it was a good way to make it up to Killer. Skyler took off Killer's coat, handing it back to him, and they put on the new coat, pulling the hood up with a slight giggle as their face was almost completely covered. Killer snickered, shrugging off Sans's hoodie and putting his coat on, looking pleased with himself. Killer tossed the hoodie on the couch, teleporting to recline on it, feet crossed and arms folded behind his head, a grin on his face. Skyler sat down on the unoccupied spot on the couch, as it was rather long, and Killer was still rather short, and they looked at him with a small smile, pulling the hood down. Sans appeared next to the TV, Dust over by the pet rock.

"kid, i don't think you understand exactly how long i have been waiting for something like this to happen. i've been stuck reliving this day for over two decades, and i finally get a sequel!" Killer grinned. 

"I thought you couldn't feel many emotions?" Skyler asked him.

"i can feel the anticipation of something new happening, and besides, you have no idea how much fun it'll be experiencing something new like a new day, a new week even." Killer replied, smirking. 

'should we do something?' Dust asked Sans.

'nah, let him have his fun.' Sans replied.

"hey lucky, can i have control for the rest of the night?" Killer asked, right eye socket half-closed.

'... ok. go ahead, but at least attempt to behave yourself.' Sans replied, and Killer grinned wider.

"he said yes." Killer explained to Skyler, right eye socket opening, and he teleported to Sans's room.

He dug around in the closet for his clothes, grabbing the black turtle-neck and fingerless gloves, white shorts with a black stripe down each side, and his blue sneakers. He quickly got changed, let his target soul float out of his chest, and teleported back downstair to the couch in less than a minute; Skyler jumping at his sudden appearance. Killer was still containing his excitement, laying back on the couch again as he started thinking of all the things he could do now.

"hey kid? what do you wanna do tomorrow?" Killer snickered, and Skyler laughed a bit at his enthusiasm.

"Hotlands, maybe?" Skyler asked.

"how's you and that coat gonna work there? you'll overheat in seconds." Killer pointed out.

"Crap... maybe a mask or something?" Skyler asked. 

'paps should have some old costume materials in his closet that i'm sure he wouldn't mind lending to the kid if they asked.' Sans supplied.

"huh, good idea, lucky. alright. kid, when papyrus gets here, ask him about his costume supply to play dressup or whatever non-psychotic kids do for fun with their friends." Killer said.

"... Killer?" Skyler asked after a moment.

"what's up?" Killer asked.

"What umm... What was your relationship like... with Chara?" Skyler asked hesitantly, and the smile immediately disappeared from Killer's face, his expression going blank, broken Determination coming from his eye sockets, and Skyler tensed up. "Killer?"

"i don't want to talk about it." Killer said, his voice lacking it's former emotion.

'dust, maybe we should give them a minute and he'll talk about it?' Sans asked Dust.

"still won't talk about it, lucky. nice try, but no." Killer said. 

'killer, it won't hurt to talk about it.' Sans told him.

"look, i don't even wanna think about that brat, much less talk about them." Killer snapped, irritation forming, glaring at where Sans was, "so no, i'm not talking about it. you leave, i still won't say a damn word, so drop it." 

Sans sighed, looking down.

'killer, that kid messed you up. it might... oh i don't know, help you to talk about it?' Dust suggested.

"this timeline isn't turning into a damn therapy session." Killer snapped at Dust in anger, like lava in his bone marrow, and he narrowed his eye sockets at Dust.

Sans looked over at Skyler, and he knew it probably was an extremely weird thing to witness. To them, it probably looked like Killer arguing with thin air, but the reality was much different. 

'all i'm saying is that it won't hurt to talk about it.' Dust said.

"you two will probably see it in a nightmare at some point, so what's it matter?" Killer asked.

'you talking about it beforehand is different from us finding out on our own, Killer.' Sans told him, and Killer scoffed, 'seriously!'

"still, no." Killer said, Sans and Dust both sighing.

"S-Sorry. I umm... I shouldn't have asked... you just said 'whatever non-psychotic kids do for fun with their friends' so I just wondered if... never mind..." Skyler looked off to the side, feeling guilty.

"it's fine. just... don't ask about them again, ok?" Killer requested.

"I won't." Skyler replied, and silence ensued.

After a minute, Killer's fingers on his left hand twitched as he quickly grew restless. Sans and Skyler watched him as he got up, headed into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and walked back over to the couch, laying back down and fidgeting with it. He spun the blade in his fingers with skill and speed, the blade becoming a blur as he twirled it in rapid circles. He suddenly stopping it, the blade immediately ceasing it's motions, pointing up at the ceiling.

He looked at his reflection in it for a moment, the edge of the blade briefly flashing red before he started spinning it again. He was concentrated yet absentminded, focused yet doing it idly. Sans looked back at Skyler, seeing them watch him with a concerned expression on their face, their hood pulled down. Sans could sense the emotions fading from Killer's mind, as though fidgeting with the knife was siphoning everything out of him. Killer heard steps coming, and he stopped spinning the blade, slipping the knife expertly into his pocket and forcing his soul back into his chest just as the door handle turned. 

"hey, papyrus." Killer said, not even having to look up.

"NYEH? OH! HELLO, BROTHER! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES IN FOREVER! OH! SKYLER, YOU HAVE A NEW COAT AS WELL!"

"Yeah, I umm.. I figured Sans could have his coat back." Skyler replied.

Papyrus nodded in understanding, and looked at Killer in concern. "SANS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? AND WHAT'S ON YOUR FACE?"

"yeah, i'm good. just had this on for a joke on the kid." Killer replied. 

"I SEE... OH! THAT GIVES ME AN IDEA! IF MY BROTHER CAN CHANGE CLOTHES, THEN SO CAN I!" Papyrus ran upstairs, coming back down in his Cool Dude shirt, shorts, hat and shoes. "NYEH, SEE?!"

"You look great, Papyrus." Skyler complimented.

"THANK YOU, SKYLER! OH! I MUST ASK... ARE WE FRIENDS? I DIDN'T WANT TO ASSUME ANYTHING, AS THAT IS RATHER RUDE, AND YOU SEEM LIKE AN AWESOME MONSTER, AND IT'S ONLY FAIR THE GREAT PAPYRUS COULD HOPE TO BEFRIEND YOU!"

'paps...' Dust whispered, looking over at him with a few purple tears in his eye sockets. Papyrus could be so precious sometimes. Sans patted him on the back, knowing Dust was probably still missing seeing Papyrus like this.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean you're way cooler than me. You definitely earned that shirt!" Skyler said.

Papyrus looked absolutely ecstatic, and he somehow eyeballs formed in his eye sockets, and he cheered in enthusiasm. "IT IS AMAZING TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU, SPECTATULAR SKYLER!"

"'Spectacular Skyler'?" Skyler asked, smiling a bit.

"BUT OF COURSE! MY BROTHER IS THE SLUGGISH SANS, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND YOU ARE THE SPECTACULAR SKYLER!" Papyrus announced.

"Wouldn't you be the Phenomenal Papyrus if we're going with alliterations?" Skyler asked, and Papyrus gaped at them.

"YES!!!!!!" Papyrus cheered, eyeballs coming back again. 

'would that make you the kooky killer?' Dust snorted.

Sans burst out laughing at that, and Killer fought to control his expression.

'i was thinking more kickass killer.' Killer replied, 'dumb dust.'

Dust scoffed, 'please, if anything i'd be something like deadly dust or dreaded dust, something badass. kiddish killer.'

'drab dust!'

'kinky killer!'

Dust froze after he said it, and Killer was actually surprised for a moment, before grinning. 

'not bad, depraved dust.'

'guys, knock it off!'

'kibitzer killer!'

'despondent dust!'

'klutzy killer!'

'that is extremely false, distasteful dust!'

'knave killer!'

'that is extremely true, dismal dust!'

'thought so, kerfuffling killer!'

'heh, detestable dust!'

'kumquat killer!'

'dejected dust!'

'guys!' Sans snapped, appearing between them; attempting to break it up.

Dust and Killer looked at each other, both grinning now, and they replied in sync.

'stupi d sans!'

Sans gave them both a blank look, Killer laughing internally as Dust was trying and failing at not laughing. 

'you're both hopeless.' Sans sighed, wondering how he got stuck with these two idiots. 

"BROTHER? WHY ARE YOU GRINNING AT A WALL?" Papyrus asked Killer, gaining his attention.

"just thinking about something funny, that's all." Killer replied innocently.

"... OK... OH! DINNER! DO YOU ALL WANT SOME OF MY STUPENDOUS SPAGGHETTI?! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus asked.

"Sure!" Skyler replied.

'lucky, can i not eat it?' Killer asked. 

'no, sorry.' Sans replied.

"OH, BROTHER!-" 'crap.' "-DO YOU KNOW SKYLER'S PREFERENCES? I COULD MAKE THEM SOME SPAGGHETTI BASED ON THEIR FAVORITE FOODS!!"

".... oh really?~" Killer grinned, right eye socket half closed, Skyler was frantically waving their arms back and forth like they were an aircraft marshaller while shaking their head no.

'crap.'

Dust said several obscenities.

"YES!" Papyrus replied, nodding.

"y'know, now that i think about it, i think i know some of their... preferences." Killer grinned, right eye socket opening as he hopped off of the couch.

"I can do it too!" Skyler piped up quickly.

"I KNOW! YOU BOTH CAN HELP ME! THAT WAY WE CAN MAKE THE BEST PASTA EVER! THE PERFECT PASTA! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!!" Papyrus cheered. 

'killer, no!'

'do not poison us!'

'please!'

'relax~ i've got this!~'

'i don't trust a single thing about what you just said.'

'you and me both. killer, if you poison us, i will kill you.'

'heh.'

Killer walked over to the kitchen, a smirk on his face, eye sockets narrowed a bit as he effortlessly jumped on top of the sink, sitting down on it, legs hanging down in front of the cabinet, and he grabbed either side of the sink, leaning forward, "so, chef papyrus, what's first?"

"WELL, FIRST SKYLER MUST COME IN HERE, AND I WILL SHOW YOU BOTH HOW TO PREPARE THE SPAGGHETTI!" Papyrus declared, not seeing where Killer was yet.

Skyler went to run up the stairs, but Killer used blue magic on their soul, quickly bringing them into the kitchen.

"WONDERFUL! YOU'RE VERY EAGER!" Papyrus smiled, running to the living room, placing the physics book on the couch, grabbing the side table and carrying it to the kitchen, putting it next to the stove, picking Skyler up, who had tried slowly backing out of the room, and putting them on the table. "NOW, WE- SANS, GET OFF OF THERE!"

"... ok." Killer said, jumping over to the top of the fridge. 

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT! GET DOWN! YOU'RE GOING TO FALL AND GET HURT!" Papyrus yelled as Skyler laughed a little.

"but it's comfy up here~" Killer fake pouted as Papyrus walked over and grabbed him.

Papyrus sighed, putting him down and picking up Skyler, putting them to piggy back on his back, and when he turned around, Killer had teleported on top of the fridge again.

"SAAAAAAAAAANS!!!" Papyrus yelled in disbelief, annoyance and exasperation.

Killer laughed childishly, hands on top of the freezer doors. Sans was watching from by the trashcan, still wondering how Killer's mood and attitude could change so rapidly. It almost gave Sans whiplash, and he knew it probably did the same for Dust. Dust was over by the sock on the floor, likely seeing out of Killer's point of view. Seeing from the perspective the his hallucination was still very strange, and also really draining. Sans could feel himself growing more and more tired as time went on, and he knew he'd need to see from Killer's perspective eventually. 

"STAY HERE, BROTHER." Papyrus told him, putting him on the table.

Killer watched Papyrus intently, waiting for him to look away, grinning at him mischievously. He saw his opportunity when Papyrus was grabbing the tomatoes from the fridge, and he teleported on top of it, grinning down at him. Some of the Broken Determination dripped onto Papyrus's head, and he flinched.

"NYEH?!" Papyrus asked in confusion, looking up and seeing Killer grinning at him, "DID YOU JUST SPIT ON ME?!"

"no." Killer replied as Skyler wiped the Broken Determination off of Papyrus's head.

"THANK YOU, SKYLER, ALSO... SANS GET DOWN FROM THERE RIGHT NOW!"

"hmmmmmmm... nah, i'm good."

"SAAAANS!" Papyrus yelled, Skyler laughing on his neck.

"oh alright~" Killer teleported down to do a handstand on the table.

Papyrus turned around, eyeballs appearing in his eye sockets. "HOW?!"

"i can't stand to see you angry. it just doesn't sit right with me." Killer grinned.

Sans burst out laughing, Dust following shortly after. Killer turned his head to see Dust leaning against the wall by the sock and sticky notes, trying and failing to conceal his laughter, and Sans was by the trashcan, crying cyan and yellow tears of laughter. Killer cackled, eye sockets closing as he laughed. This of course, gave Papyrus the opportunity to pick Killer up and turn him right side up. Killer yelped, taking the table with him, holding it above his head. Papyrus stared into his now wide eye sockets, and Killer grinned into Papyrus's narrowed ones.

"SANS. PUT THE TABLE DOWN." Papyrus said.

Killer responded by putting the table on his own head, keeping a straight face the whole time. 

"ON THE FLOOR." Papyrus clarified, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Killer sat it on the floor, it's legs in the air.

Papyrus groaned, picking it up and putting it right-side up, grabbing pasta from the cupboard, turning around to see Killer spinning on his back on the table, breakdancing.

"SANS, I SWEAR TO GOD!!" Papyrus yelled.

Killer laughed, ceasing his spinning to lay on his side on the table, right arm holding his head up and his left leg was bent, foot on the other end of the table, his right leg hanging off. Papyrus groaned, putting the pasta on the counter and picking Killer up again and putting him down to sit on the table.

"PLEASE, STAY THERE." Papyrus pleaded.

Killer sighed dramatically, crossing his arms and pouting like a petulant child, though a slight grin was on his face. Papyrus sighed as he grabbed a pot, filling it with water, and was surprised to see him still sitting there. He sighed again, turning the stove on and heating the pasta up.

"NOW, SKYLER, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FOR THE SPAGGHETTI?" Papyrus asked.

"they-" Killer was cut off by Skyler.

"Where it's medium cooked! Not too soft but not too hard!"

 Killer burst out laughing after a moment of silence, bending over in complete and utter hysterics. Tears were coming from his eye sockets, the transparent black tears rushing down from his eye sockets. He pounded his fist on his knee a few times, crying laughing. Skyler and Papyrus looked at him in confusion, and Sans groaned, puling a Dust and pulling his hood up to cover his skull, trying to bury his head in it. It didn't help that Dust also let out a quiet laugh, trying to contain it before it burst out into an all out guffaw.

'killer, what the hell is wrong with you.' Sans asked in exasperation.

'they said it, not me.' Killer pointed out, snickering.

"... BROTHER, WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Papyrus asked.

"n-nothing, papyrus..." Killer managed, laughing.

"... OK? ALRIGHT, I WILL FOLLOW YOUR INSTRUCTIONS, SKYLER!" Papyrus replied, "SANS, I AM ALMOST AFRAID TO ASK WHAT YOUR THOUGHT OF SOMETHING TO ADD IS."

"hmmmm....." Killer looked thoughtful, before saying, "maple syrup."

"... WHAT?" Papyrus was confused, and so was Skyler.

"it's from a movie." Killer said. 

"OH, I SEE." Papyrus replied, going back to cooking. 

With Skyler's instructions and input on how to cook the pasta to where it was actually edible, and Papyrus actually poured maple syrup on it. The three of them ate the food on the couch, and it was actually surprisingly good. Sans and Dust were both on either side of the TV, with Sans looking really tired and Dust was just lounging. 

'hey, it's actually not poison. i'm surprised.'

'yeah. good job, paps.' Sans thought.

'... wait... does this mean we'll have edible pasta for the rest of the timeline?!' Killer went wide eyed. 

'... oh my god.' Sans gasped.

'it could finally be happening.'

'i thought you liked it, dust bunny?~'

'i do, but only because of the memories and because eating it makes him happy. the timelines also don't last long enough for me to really get sick from it, i don't think.' Dust replied.

'fair. i chugged a bottle of laundry detergent once.'

'... why?'

'what the hell, killer?'

'i was bored!'

Dust and Sans both facepalmed, completely exasperated. This was the skeleton Sans was giving control over his body. Sans really was going insane. 

'don't do that here.'

'obviously. i don't wanna be burping up bubbles for the rest of the timeline, and it's gonna last longer this time too. i'm gonna make this fun~'

'i think i'm actually scared for this.'

'just don't leave him unsupervised.'

"SANS, ARE YOU OK? YOU'RE GRINNING AT THE WALL AGAIN." Papyrus asked.

"huh? oh, i'm great. this pasta is really good, papyrus." Killer replied innocently. Sans saw the fearful look on Skyler's face when Killer said that, likely knowing trouble was brewing.

"ALRIGHT..." Papyrus was still not completely believing him, but he shrugged it off. Papyrus quickly cleaned up dinner, not accepting any offers to help, and he sat back down on the couch, asking, "SKYLER, WOULD YOU LIKE A SLEEPING BAG TO SLEEP IN? OR YOU COULD STAY IN MY ROOM AND I COULD SLEEP ON THE COUCH?"

"No, but thank you. I was actually thinking about sleeping on the couch." Skyler replied. 

"ARE YOU CERTAIN?" Papyrus asked.

"Yes, thank you." Skyler replied. 

"OK.. WITH THAT SAID, TODAY HAS BEEN VERY LONG AND I AM QUITE TIRED! I WILL BE RACING OFF TO BED, NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus ran upstairs, getting ready for bed.

'we gotta go read him a bedtime story.' Sans reminded him.

"huh? oh yeah, right.. that..." Killer mumbled. 

"What is it?" Skyler asked.

"forgot papyrus got a bedtime story." Killer said.

"... Oh..." Skyler said, looking down.

"dust, you wanna do this?"

'can i?' Dust asked hopefully.

"yeah, knock yourself out." Killer told him, getting up from the couch, before turning around, "night, kid." He hesitated before saying, "thanks for... you know... this. it's..." Killer was for once, at a loss for words.

"You're welcome." Skyler replied, taking off the coat and laying down, using it as a blanket.

Killer nodded a bit, unsure of what to say, before heading up the stairs, Dust appearing by Papyrus's room. Killer looked at Dust, gesturing for him to come closer, and Dust did, walking into him and taking control. Dust pulled the fluffy hood up as his eyelights appeared, and wiped at some of the broken Determination that had been coming from his eye sockets. He grimaced at the sight, wiping the liquid on his left shoulder. It felt extremely weird to be wearing Killer's clothes, but he could deal with it for now. He hesitated for a moment before knocking.

"COME IN, BROTHER!" Papyrus replied, and Dust entered, seeing Papyrus tucked in on his racecar bed, looking at him excitedly. "WHAT'S THE STORY FOR TONIGHT?" Papyrus asked.

"i'm thinking about it." Dust replied, closing the door behind him as he headed over to the bookshelf, looking through the books, reading through the titles. "hey, have i read all of these to you?" Dust asked.

"I BELIEVE SO, YES. WHY?" Papyrus asked.

Dust turned around to look at him, seeing Killer by the door and Sans was next to him, looking exhausted. Dust felt a bit concerned for him, and he'd ask him about it later. Killer was fidgeting with a knife, because of course he was, and Sans was watching the interaction with a tired expression, looking like he was going to fall asleep. 

"i was thinking i'd tell you a new story." Dust told him, sitting on the side of the bed, one leg hanging off the side and the other half on the bed, crossed over his other leg, foot on his knee. 

"REALLY?" Papyrus asked in excitement.

Dust nodded. "yup. it about a fluffy bunny named snowball, and snowball was a very happy bunny. snowball was admired by everyone around for their kindness and good spirits, being able to make anyone feel better when they were upset, and always looked for the best in everyone. well, snowball had an older sibling named icy, who was also fluffy, but they were smaller than snowball. anyways, icy was really sad one day, but they always hid their sadness very well.

"snowball had noticed this time though, and had asked 'icy, what's wrong?'." Dust saw Papyrus grow concerned, and he continued, "icy had tried dodging the question for a while before finally saying they were sad because they'd gotten accidentally broken a gift snowball had made for them, and snowball had done what snowball always did, and made sure to cheer icy up." Papyrus perked up, smiling with a relieved expression on his face, "they made their older sibling an even sturdier present, and they'd used some of the pieces from the old present. icy was overjoyed, and was successfully cheered up, and was thankful they had such an amazing younger sibling. the end."

"THAT WAS A TERRIFIC STORY, BROTHER! ICY IS A VERY LUCKY BUNNY!" Papyrus said.

"i sure am.." Dust mumbled.

"HMM? WHAT WAS THAT?" Papyrus asked.

"icy sure is. night, little brother." Dust said, getting up.

"GOOD NIGHT, SANS." Papyrus replied.

Dust started heading out of the room, looking over his shoulder to see Papyrus going to sleep. He smiled fondly, some purple tears in his eye sockets. He opened the door and exited, closing the door as he left the room. Killer appeared outside of the room, and Dust walked through him, giving him control back. Killer adjusted to gaining control again, and he pulled his hood back down, heading to Sans's room. He laid down on the bed after tossing the sheets off, relaxing as he closed his eye sockets, a smirk on his face. 

[fluffypotatey]

ok so. i already told you about the task gimmick for secret life smp, and the lives gimmick for the whole series, right. the episodes from recording session 7 came out yesterday and im so normal about it

the session starts out pretty normal, pretty casual. everything seems fine. sure, some people are acting a little off, but this is the “people being secretive and acting weird” series, so most people just brush it off.

and then people start dying. and then they start hanging out with the people who killed them, and don’t seem that upset about it. and then those victims start hunting down other players as well.

about halfway through the session, the players start figuring out what’s going on: someone got a task telling them to essentially start a zombie apocalypse. the remaining survivors (about half of the server) band together and hole up at probably the most defensible base on the server, belonging to the Roomies faction

(the Roomies being the players ZombieCleo (yeah, ironic), Etho, and Grian) (i don’t think that’s their official faction name but i also don’t think they have one) (also, all three of them are at that point uninfected)

the zombies attack, and grian attempts to trick them into looking at an enderman. this backfires, and directly leads to etho’s death and subsequent conversion to a “zombie”. (they’re actually called “Boogeymen” after a mechanic from some of the previous seasons, but i like zombie better)

during his whole time on Team Zombie (not the official name), etho did not attack grian or cleo, his factionmates, once, several times risking his own life to cover for them and sabotage the zombies’ efforts to kill them (sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much)

after you die and join the apocalypse, your task changes to become “infect all non-infected.” etho chose to actively fail his own task rather than attack his team.

about a quarter into etho’s episode, he had a chat with bdubs (the first player to be “turned,” and who was infected at that time), where they talked about the game (note: bdubs and etho have been friends for over a decade, and within the life series have a really weird gay thing going on). bdubs confidently declares that he’d choose to fail a task if it involved killing etho, and etho said he probably wouldn’t go that far for bdubs.

but he did for cleo and grian. do you understand how insane i am abt this

in the end, both cleo and grian survived the apocalypse without becoming zombies, and while im not sure how much etho’s actions specifically had to do with it (there was one point at the end of the session where he Definitely saved their lives), it’s just. he tried. he failed in his task but he succeeded in his goal.

(also, right after etho got infected, he went back to the Roomies base/survivor hq (don’t remember why), and cleo warned etho that she Would kill him too. except in their episode, she has a little subtitle that pops up on the screen when they say that, and it says “I won’t.” like even if he turns on her, she wont follow through on that threat and do the same. these block people make me go crazy)

they had a zombie au episode 🥺🥺🥺