#whoops forgot about him

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Sisyphean (6/6)

(Eldritch!Ace Trappola vs SomeGuy!Deuce Spade. Horror AU heavily based on FROM(2022) and That's Not My Neighbor.)

Sisyphean Masterlist

Deuce jumped just slightly when he heard a knock. He hadn’t heard anyone coming –.

The Doppelganger was standing at the door, smiling at him through the glass, its hands behind its back, looking like the picture of innocence.

Save for, of course, the sharp-toothed smile.

“No,” Deuce said, scowling. “Absolutely not.”

“You’re so cold, you’re gonna hurt a fella’s feelings one day,” it complained.

“Good,” he said flatly.

It huffed. “You try and kill an entire building’s worth of people a few times, and suddenly you’re the bad guy!”

“That is how it works, yes.” Deuce rolled his eyes. “Why are you even here?”

“I stop by all the time! What do you mean?” it said, giving its most innocent smile.

“Yeah, but you haven’t come as… yourself all the other times.”

“But I’m so tired these days,” he lamented, its expression shifting into a little pout. “I’m hungry, and shifting forms all the time is hard.”

Deuce pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. How could this thing be so scary half the time and so lame the other half of the time? “Well, I can’t let you in. You don’t live in this building, and we have a strict no-guest policy. As I’m sure you know, since you’ve never tried posing as someone’s friend to get inside.”

“Yeah…” it sulked. And then it brightened up, finally taking its hands out from behind its back, to reveal a… cup of coffee. “Well, I can still give you this!”

Beep.

Deuce stared, blankly, at the cup of coffee sitting in his mail slot. It had Deuce’s name on it, of course, as well as a couple of tiny hearts doodled on the wrapper.

“... what’s with you and hearts?” Deuce asked, because after the pillow, the cake, and this, he might as well ask why it was Ace’s calling card.

It shrugged, smiling. “I just think they’re kinda funny shapes! I mean, human hearts do not look like that… unless you really need glasses, I guess, but at that point pretty much everything looks like those fake hearts.”

That… checks out, yeah.

Deuce sighed, picking up the cup of coffee, spinning the cup, slowly, in careful fingers, half expecting it to blow up… somehow. “It makes it seem like you’re trying to come onto me.”

“And if I was?” It said, batting its eyelashes.

“No guests in the hotel,” Deuce said, flatly.

“Ugh. You’re no fun.”

“Sorry that getting ripped to shreds isn’t my idea of fun.”

“Like I said. No fun.”

It seemed, though, that he was going to be having even less fun, because, at that moment, a new person showed up. They looked a lot like Ace, with the same bright red hair and eyes, but stockier and dressed in a button down and slacks, as if he had just come from a shift at work. He flung his arm around Ace’s shoulders, leaning his weight on him with a wide grin.

“Is this the Doorman you’ve been obsessed with?” He peered at Deuce, tapping his finger on his chin. “He doesn’t look like much.”

It was hard to tell who was more offended by the man’s statement – Deuce or Ace.

“‘Obsessed’ is not the right word,” Ace snapped at the same time Deuce said, “Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

He continued to smile at him, completely unperturbed. “I’m sorry about Ace, I know he’s a lot to handle, thanks for dealing with him.”

The Doppelganger looked mortified, pressing its face into its hands.

Doppelgangers might not have families, not in the way that humans might, but Deuce could spot an ‘older brother’ type from a mile away.

Though that begged the question… was the man (if it was even actually human) aware of what ‘Ace’ was? It hit Deuce that it was entirely possible that Doppelgangers got their names and reputations for a reason – that they might not be homeless at all, that they might take the place of a real-life person and sneak their way into their families, pretending to be functioning members of society for years and years. That, perhaps, there was a reason why they were never spotted during the day.

Deuce gave Ace a wide-eyed look. “Does he know…?”

It was the man who responded, though, by laughing and sticking out his tongue at Deuce.

It was a black tentacle.

A wave of relief rolled over him.

Until the monster said, “Well, now that that’s all done, come on, Ace, we have to go. Mom and Dad are waiting for us, and if you’re late again they’re going to be so pissed.”

A wave of terror washed over Deuce. Because here Ace was, with a clear ‘older brother’, talking about meeting up with their ‘parents’. And he suspected that Ace hadn’t been lying when he’d said that, no, Doppelgangers don’t really have families, because it was such a strange thing to lie about, and its disgust at the way humans worked was genuine.

Ace groaned, running his hand through his hair. “One day I’m going to snap and kill everyone in that damn church, why do sermons have to be so long?”

His brother laughed, reaching out a hand to attempt to smooth down Ace’s now-messy hair, and Deuce could only stare at them, because they seemed like just any other pair of brothers, laughing and joking around and complaining about dumb things they didn’t actually care about… while also talking about murder in the same tone Deuce talked about the weather.

Ace sighed and waved at Deuce. “See ya later.”

“I hope not,” Deuce said, more out of instinct than anything.

Ace’s brother laughed. “Oh, I take it back, I like him.”

Ace grumbled under his breath, suddenly seeming very eager to get to church on time.

~

Deuce, hesitantly, took the lid off of the coffee to squint at the dark liquid. It looked normal… and, after a quick sniff test, he determined that it smelled fine, too. But, then again, so had the cake the Doppelganger had brought over, so…

He took a careful sip.

It was normal coffee.

More than that, it tasted good. Deuce didn’t even know how he took his own coffee, he usually just added sugar to taste and then dealt with it if it ended up too sweet. But this was nice.

That stalker… he thought, annoyed, but also a touch fond.

Only for his blood to run cold despite the caffeine entering his veins.

Because when had he started growing fond of Ace?

When had he started calling him ‘Ace’ at all? Stopped thinking of him as an ‘it’?

What if I think becoming ‘friendly’ with you is the way in?

Deuce marched to the bathroom, intent on pouring the coffee straight into the sink. It was tailor-made to his preferences, yes, but he couldn’t stand what it represented.

But it was good coffee, and a gift, and his mom had always taught him that wasting food was wrong…

He went back to his seat and set the coffee on his desk, wondering if he would even be able to drink it past the bile creeping up the back of his throat.

~

Cater collected the ID from him, before heading off toward the elevator.

“Appreciate you, Deuce,” Cater called over his shoulder.

Deuce waved him off, absently. It was his job, after all, he hardly deserved thanks for doing it.

Deuce went back to the computer, reaching for his coffee cup.

He paused.

His hand had something red and flaky on it. He lifted it to his nose, expecting the smell of lipstick or something…

Only to find that it smelled metallic.

Coppery, even.

His head shot up, to ‘Cater’, already in the elevator, leaning against the back wall. He gave a little finger wave with red-caked fingertips. A wide smile stretched across his face.

And then continuing to stretch, showing off rows of sharp teeth and skin pulling into something that shouldn’t have been physically possible for a human to achieve.

Deuce ran for the elevator, his arm out to try and stop it, but the doors slid shut before he could get inside.

[phreakedt]

actually ill post this too bc it still makes me laugh

[clownsuu]

What does a clown do when someone steals his identity?

…The ‘clownsuu’s.

LMAOO HEHEH this gave a big ol giggle, thank u my guy, take some random ass doodles I was able to scrub up—

Not a new character (a old one in fact- some of y’all may actually remember xem) but I had a undying (pun not intended) urge to draw my lil vampire goober as a muppet (and xem xemselves-)

for newer gamers, this is Xi! Xey go by xe/xem/xeir (xey don’t mind they/them, but prefers xe/xem)

[wasyago]

how is this guy the sneaky one when he literally looks like this

[inspisart]

"it's time to find batman"

[silverskye13]

It's been awhile since Joel has been on a desolate server. That's by design. He goes a little mad, you know. Well, he goes a little mad anyway, but there's something about that old scavenger Lonely that creeps him out, alright? It circles him like a buzzard, always in the corner of his eye. Drives him places. Gotta keep moving or it'll bite you. Gotta keep moving.

He gets back to building. It's quiet. It reminds him of the end of the world.

Joel shakes his head. He scowls at his shaking hands. He looks around. He can see the water, a river full of life running to a distant sea. There's no cloud of black and red on the horizon, there's not even a bloomin Jimmy or Fwhip around.

"Jimmy was here," Lonely croaks like a rook on a tombstone. "Recently."

"Shut up." Joel says to himself, because Lonely isn't here, isn't real, it's never real. All in his head, isn't it? An empire of him.

Gotta keep building. That's what he's good at, building. The compulsion of hand and hue and height. He builds a shop. No one stops him. He leaves a note for its neighbor because she's not there. No one is here. Just himself.

"It is so much like the End," Lonely tells him, and it's voice is the melody of a vacant goddess. "Do you think they'll recognize you when they come back?"

"Shut up."

"You're the only one talking, Joel." Lonely laughs like dying fish on a bone-dry seabed. "Obsessed with me, are you?"

Joel gets back to building. Building was always easy, all compulsion and thoughtless movement. Making life with his hands. Sculpting.

"I'm not a sculptor here," he whispers to himself as his hands reach for clay. It yields to his touch, grabs him back with greedy hands like the mud that devoured the sea goddess's castle.

"You always made me such beautiful things," Lonely croons, and he can feel it like a crown on his head, like a cloak on his shoulders. "I didn't remember a single one of them, did I?"

Joel is standing in front of a statue he's sculpted. His hands are heavy, and he's been crying. He looks up at a goddess, whose vacant stare can't see him, but it is the harmless vacant of creation, and not the terrible vacant of a love lost forever.

"I've missed you Joel," Lonely whispers, with the voice of his goddess, in a world that ended far away. "Why did you stop visiting me? You didn't abandon me, did you, love?"

Joel closes his eyes, and grits his teeth. "I can't forget you."

Joel flies away, like he could outrun that circling scavenger. Though still he sees it out of the corner of his eye.

He needs to find something to build.

[zishu-arts]

m more lesssbins bc i am obsessed with them

ahhhhHhHHHHHHHHHHHH they.

[findoesstuf]

“Ouch…you pack quite a punch, Pom.” CW Blood!!

[having-a-hyperfixate]

Don’t mind me sprinting to try and get this thought in order before the Anime Expo panel. I need it to be out in the wild Just In Case.

So, a few of the Gung Ho Guns have gotten reworked for Stampede, yes? To varying degrees.

Ninelives is apparently not a horrific flesh mech, Dark Souls boss thing, according to the end credits of episode 3.

E.G. the Mine just got a HUGE upgrade and didn’t get owned 3 seconds after he showed up.

Monev was an actual character with a fubar backstory and emotional impact instead of just Some Guy who trained in a basement for years specifically to kill Vash. (and Orange is SO EVIL for this)

Elendira is. *gestures futilely* There is so much going on there but yeah. She’s going to be terrifying once she achieves adult body and loses (drops?) the childish attitude. Also because of the whole Plant hybrid thing her nails truly are literally infinite sooooo.

So I have some thoughts about Hoppered the Gauntlet.

In Trimax, Gauntlet’s narrative weight comes from the fact that he makes Vash remember, which by extension makes US, the reader, understand what July really meant. Before that we had heard mention of it a few times as ‘a city destroyed in a single night’ and talk of there being ‘no survivors’ but we had no actual connection to it, and also no real idea if that was even true. But in Stampede, we saw July happen. We were there. So even if Vash’s memory is still shot afterwards, and he doesn’t remember Lost July, we the audience DO. So having the Dragon’s nest play out exactly the same isn’t going to have the same narrative punch in the gut that it did in Trimax. It can’t.

There’s also the fact that, given how we’ve met most of the major players in the story, or had them mentioned at least (hi Milly), it feels kind of Odd™ that we haven’t seen someone has emotionally impactful as Gauntlet yet.

Unless we have.

We saw with Rollo/Monev that Orange is willing to have the person’s regular name be one thing and then have a second Eye of Michael code name. I suspect that is going to happen with Gauntlet; either because EoM or because he has decided on his own to lie about who he was.

And yes, I do in fact have someone in mind.

I checked myself the translation there is accurate; the only change I would make is calling the gun ‘gaudy’ instead of ‘shiny’ but that’s not a huge deal. Also for the record, the original tweet is from Jan. 11, well before he makes his reappearance for the season finale. So when it talks about a ‘reappearance’, it is talking about seeing him again in July. Original tweet here, tweet containing the translation here.

I think Chuck Lee is going to be our Gauntlet. That he made it just far enough out of the city to survive, but that he was badly maimed in the process, and that his family didn’t make it. He’s the ONLY member of the military police with a unique design. He has an actual name, and the director himself tweeted about his backstory. His gun is so unusual that we would recognize it anywhere. Hell, I referred to him as ‘the gold gun guy from episode one’ when one of my friends didn’t recognize him immediately. His gun is so incredibly recognizable. Almost like we need to be able to recognize him by that alone, when everything else about him has changed.

THIS could be how narrative weight for Gauntlet is established in the Stampede universe when it can’t be done the same way as in Trimax. Taking a character who has, in a way, also been with the audience ALL ALONG, who was there with us for two pivitol moments, the beginning and the awakening, but who comes at it from such a horrifically different angle and bringing him back in such an agonizing way. Because he was very much in the wrong with his stunt at Jeneora Rock, but his rage over the loss of his family in July would be justified, even if we know it wasn’t Vash’s fault.

(Also, the IRONY of him ending up as one of Knives’s lackeys when Knives is the one that caused all of this? Damn.)

Footnote: I have Thoughts on why they can get away with adding Milly to The Squad late. That is a whole other Thought but tldr; (and also I haven’t actually written it out) Milly is the most perceptive of all of them she doesn’t NEED an extended intro to Vash to Know.

[waitingforsecretsouls]

Gustang truly gets NO respect on this team

[kiquebi]

I present to you my very first fic ever!!! ~1.7k words brought to you by my Kww obsession…

Sorry in advance if I didn’t do their characters justice please don’t burn me at the stake. 🙏

Shipping ahead, proceed with caution now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wifies knows he’s not in the factory anymore.

He’s very aware of that fact; he’s made aware of that fact every day he wakes up in a soft bed and hears Wato in the kitchen, a warm spot on his left and Ken curled up on his right. He’s grateful for them, they’re the reason he’s still here after all, but he can’t shake the feeling of wrongness every time he gets up and sees his own face.

Today, Wifies awakes to a sunbeam to his face and Ken’s ears tickling his nose. Like usual, Wato’s side of the bed is empty but the leftover heat tells him that they haven’t left for long. He moves to untangle himself from Ken, making sure to be extremely careful about his tail. Wifies had accidentally squished it while getting up once and Ken’s resulting yowl and scratches were something he’d rather not experience again. Ken whines at the loss of warmth, but he quiets down again once Wifies wedges his pillow between Ken’s arms with a fond smile.

He drags himself into the bathroom, taming his hair on the way, and stops in his tracks. In front of him stood the mirror, and Wifies felt himself standing up straighter. He had never seen a mirror until he left the factory, there was no need for them in the escape rooms after all, but despite having easy access to one now, he never fails to stop and stare, and now is no exception.

When he peers into the glass, all he sees is him. No, he sees them. In the mirror, he sees the face of his creator, the original Wifies, the real Wifies, the person who had mocked him to his face and told him his destiny was no more than to become mere parts. It’s the same face of those soulless clones he had seen trapped in a glass cage, aimlessly solving puzzle after puzzle and then ground up into scrap metal. It was through those clones that Wifies first became aware of what his face looked like, and it was moments later that he learned that the face he had was not his.

It makes him sick. There’s a knot in his stomach that gets tighter and tighter the more he looks at himself, the more he drinks himself in. Wifies takes a step towards the mirror.

He slowly brings his hands up to his face and traces his brows, bringing them lower as he trails his fingers around his eyes. They’re dark, not quite the color of the hungry void, but yearning for something nevertheless.

“Like crying obsidian” Wato had once said. “But we’ll make sure the tears won’t have good reason to come, yeah?”. Wifies doesn’t have it in his heart to tell Wato that he’s incapable of tears, though he treasures the sentiment with all he has.

He moves on lower, going down the slope of his nose, tracing back up his jaw, and he has to give credit where credit is due. The original Wifies was attractive, he had to give him that. There’s not a single flaw, no crookedness to his nose, no slanted jawline and Wifies drags his nails down his cheeks. His synthetic skin doesn’t welt and all Wifies feels is a dull ache. He hates it. Wifies knows this face of his would never change no matter how many times he does this but-

It feels wrong. This unblemished, symmetrical face of his feels wrong, wrong, wrong. It easily could have been one of those other Wifies Ken had saved. It easily could have been his creator who had won. Why was it him that lucked out? He’s not anything better than them, he had just been lucky. His survival was based solely on the RNG that Wato had so often complained about escape map designers relying so often on. After all, no matter who made it out of that factory, they’ll all look the very same in the end, would they not?

Wifies jolts. He slowly moves his hands away from his face and back to his sides. ‘No’, he decides, ‘none of that today’. Ken and Wato had spent so much time reassuring him of his newfound freedom and he would not throw away their combined efforts today. However, his eyes still advert themselves from the mirror and Wifies tries to bury the spark of disappointment he feels at that.

As he moves to tie his signature headband around his head though, he notices a pencil on the rack next to him. He recognizes it: it’s an eyeliner pencil, a brand that Ken swore by.

“Makes your liner sharp enough to cut a bitch” was what he said at the time.

Wifies’ eyes quickly dart around the bathroom as if he expects something to jump him, but after a moment, his hand reaches out. He picks up the pencil and with shaking hands, brings it right under his left eye. Wifies steels himself and looks into the mirror again, this time leaning in to leave a splotch of pigment at the corner of his eye, where a tear would appear if he had been capable of shedding one. A stain on the perfect canvas that was his face. He puts the pencil back down, takes a step back, and stares.

One tick. Two ticks.

Wifies doesn’t know how long he stood there staring at his reflection, but that knot in his stomach loosens just a little. In the mirror, he sees neither his creator nor the trapped clones. The person in front of him no longer had the same face he had seen hundreds of in his dreams. He looks like Wifies, Ken’s Wifies.

He hears a breathy laugh and seconds later, he realizes that it’s coming from him. It’s silly really. All he’s done is draw a dot on his face and suddenly the sinking feeling in his stomach is gone. It’s not logical in any way, but it’s still the reason for the stupid smile he sees in his reflection.

“Wifies? Are you alright in there? I’m coming in okay?” Ken’s voice drifts through the door.

He turns around and a moment later, Ken’s head peaks into the bathroom. “What are you up to today? You don’t usually-” his eyes scan Wifies’ face and zero in on the artificial mole he’s given himself.

“Oh”. Ken’s eyes soften in a way that never fails to make Wifies want to follow him anywhere, like the first time he led him off the winner’s podium, walking above the literal void. Ken walks up to him, flips him back around to face the mirror, and wraps his arms around Wifies. He rests his face on his shoulder, and oh, Wifies has never felt quite like this before.

“So, any plans for the day handsome?” Ken asks, tail wrapping around their legs.

“You think I’m handsome?” Wifies blurts.

“…..Wifies my hands are about to go under your shirt right now”. A tick. Wifies’ eyes move down the mirror to see that yes, Ken’s hands had indeed snaked down to the bottom of his shirt. His eyes dart back up and he’s met with his own bewildered face.

Another tick. “Yes, I think you look really good right now Wifies” Ken sighs, an exasperated look on his face. Ken’s hands move back up to Wifies midsection and he pulls Wifies closer. “It suits you” Ken murmurs.

They stay like that for a few moments and then Ken perks up, raising his head from Wifies’ shoulder. He turns his head to the door and Wifies follows suit. A second later, Wato’s figure emerges from behind the corner, and upon seeing them, their tail begins to idly wag behind them.

“I was wondering why no one was coming down for breakfast. Are we doing hugs in the bathroom now?” They ask head tilted to the side, and Wifies starts to make grabby hands at them, coaxing Wato closer.

They oblige, and Ken scoots over to let Wato in on the embrace. Wifies looks in the mirror again and he sees the three of them pressed close together, their limbs barely fitting into the frame. Ken on his right, Wato on his left, and himself in the middle. It’s a beautiful picture they paint, and Wifies decides that he likes seeing them together like this. Wato peers into the glass as well. They smile and there’s a tender mirth in their voice as they say “Heh, Wifies sandwich”.

There’s a fluttering feeling in his chest, but Wifies ignores it so that he can shove Wato’s face out of frame. He can hear Ken snickering at their antics, and Wifies ignores that too. He can feel his ears heating up.

“Wato, look at Wifies and agree with me that he’s handsome”.

Wato indulges him, and their eyes go half-lidded as they lean closer to the mole Wifies drew below his eye. “Hey handsome”, their hand gently intertwines with one of his, and- “did you know they say that moles are where your past lovers kissed you most?”. They press a kiss right on the mark, and Wifies is gone.

Ken barks a laugh, leisurely pressing a kiss onto the back of Wifies' neck. “Should we add one here too then?”, he questions as he continues to trail kisses up to his jaw. Wifies’ head feels muddled, as if Wato and Ken had stuffed his brain full of cotton from their words alone.

His knees feel weak, his eyes are glued to his reflection, and he tries moving his mouth but nothing comes out. The Wifies in the mirror looks like a goldfish. Wifies tears his eyes away and groans into his remaining hand, the one that Wato hadn’t taken hostage. His face feels hot, and he’s probably as red as an apple right about now.

Both Ken and Wato break into giggles and Ken takes Wifies’ hand off his face, entangling it in his. He has nowhere to run now, and both his hands are in the hands of two menaces who want him dead.

Thankfully, Wato seems to be in a merciful mood today. “Alright, alright, let’s get some food for you two, it’s already noon.” Ken decides that food was worth a pause in embarrassing Wifies, and begins to drag him out of the bathroom. They head towards the stairs, and both his hands are still being held. His hands are warm and his heart feels fuzzy, and yeah, Wifies thinks he can get used to this.

[emilylsart]

Here have some Matthew Patels I drew some weeks ago based on some poses from the movie 'cause I gotta say they are quite epic :)

Which one's your favorite mine's almost all of them LOL I did pretty good

[thatswhatsushesaid]

Who are your top fave characters from each mxtx novel? 👀

i'm going to exclude svsss from this list because i haven't finished it yet and therefore all of my opinions are just based on hearsay. but for the other two:

mdzs

1. jin guangyao (obviously); the antagonist of circumstance who but for a trick of fate and authorial intent could have easily been the novel's protagonist

2. lan xichen; the very best of men 🥹 truly the person with the kindest heart and (in my opinion) the most tragic ending in the novel*. also i'm xiyao trash, who's surprised

3. su she; he and i are the same person honestly

4. jiang cheng; i think if i was going to go insane about any of the core cast, i'd probably go insane over jiang cheng. and i probably would have, if jin guangyao didn't exist! sorry, jiang cheng.

5. wen qing; who doesn't love a mad scientist??

tgcf

1. xie lian; no seriously, i love the protagonist of this novel the best because he is everything i love about jin guangyao and lan xichen burrito'd up into one character

2. shi wudu; the heavens' cuntiest proto-capitalist, and also arguably the elder brother that the mdzs fandom wishes nie mingjue was for nie huaisang 👀 (this opinion has gotten me into at least 4 fights on the mdzs subreddit specifically)

3. pei ming; my ethical slut general. also the other half of peishui, my main non-hualian ship for this novel

4. mu qing; he did NOTHING wrong except have a bad attitude, since when is that a crime!!! (this is not serious analysis, please don't @ me with your mu qing criticism, i'm too tired for it right now)

5. jun wu; daddy 🥺

[suppenzeit]

viago/illario is one of my favorite nonsense ships cause i just think it would be hilarious if after the events of Murder of crows when viago is tasked with looking after illario they develop this sort of dynamic

and worst part is that viago kinda wants to do it. because having illario be smug and quiet is infinitely better than normal illario (smug and talking)

[barbieaiden]

rememberwhen he. remember. when. when.when. he

[sesamenom]

High King Maglor during the Siege of Angband: what if Maedhros never passed the crown to Fingolfin?

(also)

fingon is a translation of findekano kanafinwe is just findekano backward kanafinwe therefore sindarinizes to Gonfin

and maglor as high king (or even as regent during thangorodrim) could add a second finwe prefix to be

Fingonfin