#will this be enough tags since i cant tag every group?

[ivysprophecy]

slim pickins

warnings; bad date? mentions of sex, cursing underage drinking and yes i meant for it to be written poorly i was trying to keep the humor of the album in the writing

masterlist | p. 2

no pressure tags; @murdockcastleslut @kimoralov3 @arkofblake

word count; 1911

summary; youre tired of not finding a decent guy who will treat you right and lay you right. at least not one you've known since you were kids. however you just cant help yourself. besides its slim pickins out here you take what you can get.

divider by @bernardsbendystraws

i wanna make one thing clear, when i say there are no good guys left i do not wanna hear about you and your boyfriend of three years that can cook and loves your mom.

thats exactly what im talking about maddie!!! i dont give two fucks that he took you to barnes and noble and bought you every book you wanted.

they are all taken. its plain and simple.

which is why even with a full roster, im stuck taking fucking zander, yes with a z, to my friends' kegger.

i mean yea hes cute. hes tall, built but not that gross kind of muscly. but if were being real i shouldve known better when he was joking about being a male stripper when hes a ginger.

and i can tell kie is judging me, rightfully so. her side eye is lethal. when i introduced him to everyone she asked him about his greta van fleet tee and he said he didn't even know it was a band.

needless to say pope had to drag her away.

after that incident i decided it was best if we tried to talk away from the rest of the group. boy was i wrong.

"so what do you like to drink? ill go grab us something," i offer trying to start the conversation, also avoiding the usual problem with taking a drink from men.

"im good with whatever"

i like to think im not a violent person, but im about to be.

"does a beer sound okay?" i ask him grabbing a twisted tea for me from the cooler.

"sure thing." god why is he acting like such a bitch? i should ask him if he's on his period.

i hand him the can, our fingers brush and its my final clue for the night that i am definitely not going home with him. no spark at all. hes done just about everything else to piss me off.

he did the thing where he licks his lips exaggeratingly looking me up and down, making a point to make sure i saw.

he walks so slow for being 6'3.

and finally he tried to mansplain my career to me. i'd had just enough when he opens his mouth again

"ew, you like twisted tea? who likes sweet tea?" his face contorted in disgust, it was about to contort from my fist breaking his goddamn nose if he keeps talking to me like this.

"we literally live in the south dude." my face could not make it any clearer i am so done with this guy.

"still, sweet tea is disgusting. im not kissing anyone that drinks that nasty shit."

"who said i wanted to kiss your nasty fucking mou-" i was interrupted by the sound of a very familiar giggle behind me as his arm wrapped around my shoulder, the smell of his deodorant and sea salt that cover his skin start to put you at ease.

jj was always there when you needed him, sometimes even when you didnt but right now you couldn't be more grateful. "im glad you found those mama i got em just for you. remembered theyre your favorite. right?"

and you wanna know the best part? zander is shaking already pissed off that jj is at my side. territorial i guess.

"you mind?" he asks him nodding his head at me like im not even there.

jj cant help but laugh at him "yea bud i do mind. she's hanging out with me tonight. have fun with your ipa dick." and with that he steers us off to where the rest of the pogues are.

but not before i can look over my shoulder and give the ginger an innocent smile and a shrug as if i had no control over the situation, when really id pick jj over anyone else.

"you owe me a big fat kiss mama," jj whispers in my ear walking us over to where our friends are standing, drinks in their hands laughing and chatting up a storm.

"in your dreams honey."

"every night all night," he quips back before i shove him off me.

now before you give me shit, jj and i have had our fair share of fun, but unfortunately im starting to look for something more serious.

watching john b and sarah be disgusting together is getting to my head. popes got something going on with cleo and im starting to recognize the pattern. and before i know it everyone will be in love if i don't start making an effort in that department.

random casual hook ups aren't doing it anymore, especially considering they aren't even that good.

unless theyre with jj.

but hes not an option, theres too much drama. too much history. too much too much too much. im not what he needs and i know for a fact he doesn't want me in that sense.

is that a bit dramatic? probably.

i mean hes a great lay, he's hilarious, he's got that blue collar kind of muscle, and he genuinely cares about me.

so of course im not going to date him, why would i?

what do you mean make good decisions? id rather do things in the most difficult way possible!

"y/n youve gotta stop giving those guys a chance, im starting to feel bad for you."

"you try finding a decent guy in a ten mile radius." i glare at him, obviously not wanting to joke about this right now.

he sticks his hand out in front of me, "fine i will. let me see your phone."

curious to see what he will do i hand it too him unlocked, he swipes and taps for a few moments, smiling down at the phone before handing it back to you.

when you look back down at the screen all you see is your instagram open with his stupid fucking smiley face on the screen.

he took a picture of himself and posted to my story. written on the screen in bubble letters in my favorite colored heart 'my favorite guy <3'

"i think he's your best bet." that same smile facing back at me now, cockier than ever. so smug i wanna kiss it off his face

i cant help but roll my eyes. "jj im serious! at this rate im going to die alone. every decent guy is taken or unavailable. all i want is someone funny, kind, and attractive is that too much to ask for?"

"im right in front of you mama you dont gotta look far."

"jj we both know we're not the serious kind of relationship im talking about."

"you can think what you want too but ill be here waiting for that kiss you owe me."

"i think all that tequila youve been sipping has gone to your head maybank."

he stands in front of me, taking his signature red cap off his head and putting it on mine smiling down at me, "what do they say in those books you read? you wear the hat you ride the cowboy?"

"this no ten gallon hat and you are no cowboy."

we laugh at each other, its always been easier to do that then actually talk about our feelings. so i put his hat back on his head, backwards the way he i likes it.

"cmon y/n/n, have a few more drinks, relax and hang out and ill make you feel all better later yea? its what im best at, you know."

"its gonna take more than a few more teas to convince me jj"

"what about that thing you like that i do with my tongue, huh mama? doesnt that sound pretty good right now? i think it does."

"i give you one fucking compliment and it goes straight to your head."

"technically its about my head so that makes perfect sense," he hands me another can with that stupid signature smirk of his and his stupid sexy hat backwards. i hate to admit it's working on me.

just like it does every other time.

i squint my eyes at him taking the can, rolling the idea around in my head. "fuck it. its not like anyone else is offering," i take a big sip of my drink.

jj pumps his fist in the air like a victorious idiot giving a few woots and hollars before picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder despite my wishes.

"jb!!" he shouts turning around to face him, "we're headed out!"

john b looks at the two of us shaking his head at how im kicking my feet to wiggle out of jjs oddly strong grip. "make sure you change the sheets when youre done!"

oh my god he did not just say that. "fuck both of you!"

jj just laughs carrying you back to the chateau like a kid who's excited to use a brand new birthday present.

"what happened to letting me have a few more drinks before we left??"

"youre just too irresistable mama, gotta have you now,' he gives my ass a light slap for good measure causing me to roll my eyes for the 600th time tonight.

"are you gonna put me down now?"

he pretends to look like hes thinking about it, "i guess. only so i can watch you walk away," he does as he says helping me get my feet on the ground.

"youre a pervert."

"no im flirtatious, and you love it, you know it makes you blush i see it. now go on and give me a lil walk yea?"

oh im gonna kill him...

oh wait! im gonna kill him!

"okay... fine. but no touching until we get home," i smile walking away exactly like he asked, but i know behind me he is a puddle of mud. standing still, about to start begging me to let him.

he finally catches up after a few seconds "mama please- cmon thats not fair. you look too good in those shorts you know i cant wait that long. just wanna feel you."

i cant help but giggle at his words, its honestly adorable how mopey he gets. like i just kicked his puppy or something.

"hands of jj i mean it... not until that door shuts behind us."

it didn't really matter that i can see the chateau or that ill be there in literally a minute.

its actually painful for jj to not be able to touch me as he pleases.

i turn around to face him with a cheeky smile. "you want me maybank?"

and of course he nods so hard it looks like his head is going to fall right off.

"come and get me," running towards the house, i can see the moment when his reflexes kick in, his boots thudding against the ground as he gains on me.

just before i can make it to the poarch jj wraps his arms around me, lifting me a few inches off the ground and spinning me around in a fit of laughter.

"okay! okay okay okay you win- you got me."

"oh ive got you mama, and im havin you for the rest of the fucking night," he presses a kiss to my neck hauling me inside, the screen door slamming shut after us.

am i gonna regret this tomorrow? most likely.

but what can i say? its slim pickins in this part of town.

[tootiecakes234]

Your Ex-boyfriend Katsuki Bakugo

The ex boyfriend who acted like he couldn’t care less when you told him you were leaving.

The ex boyfriend Katsuki, who told anyone that asked that about you, to shut the hell up.

Ex boyfriend Dynamite who was on the front page 2 weeks later because a reporter wouldn’t stop asking him about you.

Ex boyfriend that still has to see you often because you have the same group of friends.

The same ex boyfriend that can’t keep his eyes off of you when you’re around. And he tries, he really really tries but it’s instinct to always know where you are and if you’re safe.

Ex boyfriend Dynamite that uses chunks of his patrol time to follow you when you’re out and about. You never even notice him, but he’s there.

Ex boyfriend Katsuki who gets drunk one night and calls you sounding like he’s in tears. Spilling his guts to about how he’s so so sorry, and you’re still all he thinks about. He knows you always deserved better than him and even though it’s ripping his heart out, all he wants is for you to be happy.

Katsuki who can’t meet your eyes the next time he sees you because he remembers every word he said to you and he knows it doesn’t make a difference.

Ex boyfriend whose heart nearly stops beating the first time Mina mentions you have a date because he can’t believe it. You’re moving on.

You’re at a party when he finds you outside alone and tells you that if any of the guys you’re dating ever do anything to hurt, he will hunt them down and end them. Fuck his hero status.

Ex boyfriend who ends up chatting with you for a good long while time and then you laugh and he hasn’t heard that laugh in so long. It melts the ice he’s been feeling in his chest since you left.

Ex boyfriend Katsuki that kisses you in the midst of you laughing.

The man you melt against because it’s second nature. He keeps kissing you as long as you’ll let him because he knows, this is probably the last one he’ll get.

Ex boyfriend who cuts you off before you call that kiss a mistake and says he won’t do it again. He just wanted to say goodbye.

But then you kiss him again. When you pull away you tell your ex boyfriend that maybe you want to try again but you both have a lot of work to do. That it can’t go back to being the way it was or you’d leave and there wouldn’t be anymore chances after that.

“Ex” boyfriend Katsuki who swears on his life that it won’t be the same. That he’ll be whatever he needs because he doesn’t want to live this life without you.

Fiancé Katsuki Bakugo who still thinks of those 4 months without you as the worst 4 months of his life.

Fiancé that 100% keeps his promise and proposed to you 2 years later to the day and was honestly shocked that you said yes because in he is still convinced you could still do better than him. But if you were willing to settle, he’d give everything he had to try and be enough.

*i tried with this but honestly, I ain’t leaving that man.😭

Katsuki Masterlist

Let me know if you want to be added the the tag list💕

Tags: @dreamcastgirl99 @xxvendettaxx @justbepeace @moonpieshawdy @theloveofnagiseishiroslife @mintsbubbletea @darkstarlight82 @anon-mouse223 @b134ch-m4h-ey3z @i-literally-cant-with-this @flowerbedbaby @kit-katsukii @blaize-hewwo @sweetblueworm @tippy-toes @superlegend216

[beyondbinaries]

I'm posting this a bit early in case the 12th isn't a good mental health day. And I'm sorry if the random tag is annoying or if this post takes up too much space on dash.

On Oct 12 2016, I made a coincedental decision that has changed my life as a whole. A choice that has led me to so much pain but also so many happy memories and irreplcable friends. I made my pfp on Quotev a Genis Sage picture and somehow ended up involved in a Symphonia rp group 💕.

I had loved Genis as a character since I was a child watching my sister play at my Nanny's (my cousin would always delete her save before we even reached triet) and when we got a copy of the game when I was around 11/12 I had him on my team for the most part. It was my fascination with half elves and the mysterious Kharlan War Era that led to the creation of Mana, Oracle, Lee, 3rd, and Sunny. But those were all just childish writing in a notebook I hid from the world. Im sure lil me would die on the spot to hear that they are charas so many people know. I always knew that I loved to write but it was for charas like Sherlotta who were niche and not from a series as big as Tales so I never wrote Genis. Well until that day, I was too awkward to tell them I wasnt an rp blog and fully committed to it.

And look where that has led me. Here to you all. This journey may have been long and filled with things I'd never wish on anyone but I'm happy. So many of you have encouraged me and been there for me. I love and appreciate you all. Under the cut imma try to have things for a lot of you all word wise as gratitude. But thank you all so much, there are no amount of words or tangible sentences to express how much you all mean to me. And a happy birthday to my Genis interp who I wish i still wrote

@pyonpyonpyon ; Yuki youve been around since I started on here and damn time sure does fly. Thank you for always sticking around and plotting some of the most insane relations w/ me (Moe and Yuuri family) and dealing with tye silly kyubey meming I did back in 2017 (its been that long)

@mermaus ; sobs you know how much i lov and appreciate you but I will reiterate here... Lena you have stood by me for so much, have made my day so many times, etc. You are one of the most talented people on this website and in general? You are funny, kind, brave, strong, amazing. Im forever thankful to have met you and to be in your life. I am so eagerly awaiting the day we can meet and I can hug you irl.

@strebcr ; Pineapple !!! I am so so glad to have reconected with you! You are truly an amazing person and i am forever blessed to be considered your friend.

@in-sum ; Puyo !! Sobs I am so glad we were able to reconnect again, you are an amazing friend and you are always there for me. Youve stood in my corner when I was going through some of my worst times and I am forever grateful. You are talented and kindhearted and you stand up for what you believe is right.

@malusrecord / @constellationcrowned ; Kala!!!!!! It goes without saying how amazing of a writer and person you are. You bring so much life to your characters and it truly shows. I always find myself reading and rereading your posts when I am active on dash. You deserve all the good things in the world. And thank you so much for being my fren, I will always enjoy our dms and learning more about series i never thought I'd enjoy.

@ervaurem ; Shai!! I appreciate ypu so heckin much, you are such a kind and thoughtful person. I adore your presence on my dash and i adore the bonds between our characters. You've been there for me for such a long time now and I cant ever thank you enough..

@ofstarsandskies , @mathcs , @altosk , @cataclysmus , @talesofourworlds , and @broadswordandpistol ; a big catch all for all the wonderful people I met during festitales, despite how rough i am forever thankful for the oppurtunity I was given to force others into my point and click dm style of adventure. I have so much I cam say to each n every one of you 🥺

@solivcgant ; Mochi Mochi!! I am so sorry for the crimes Mana has committed against food and Eiji's mental health (eggbear eggs painge). I enjoy your presence and dog memes so much. You are so cool amd amazing aaa.

@twinklesofhope ; Ringo!! You are so talented and seeing you around makes me so happy.

@canidgrit / @nickitsden ; Fox!!! Hi we don't write together often but you are such a joy to see on my dash.

@biisutoarm ; Red!!! Hewwo hewwo, i love your Elfman so much he is such a treat and seeing him on dash always brightens my day. You are such a talented writer !

@osovereign ; Rinni! Hi hello, you are such an amazing and wonderful person. I have a lot of fun dming and writing with you. Its so nice to write with you again (I found a draft from like Jan 2017 on an old blog for you and i had to stop and stare at it lol--). I appreciate you so much and I hope to keep expanding Kratos' collection of poor Mana art.

@ednaeflowers ; Jenny!! Hi!! I know we aren't all that close or anything but you are such a delight to see on my dash. The Eizen and Edna thread we have is near and dear to my heart. I also really appreciate Mana and Edna's little friendship thing. I just really love your Edna interp 🥺, you are so talented and I appreciate you.

And to anyone else who read this far down, I love and appreciate you so much. Even if we don't speak or really write together. I genuinely believe each and every person I follow are talented individuals.

[echo-of-damnation]

Echo's First Bath

A new creature has entered the heart of Konrad and his sons.

Everyone say hello to Echo, my sweet little science experiment.

Tags: oc!Echo, oc!night lord Tavs, oc!night lord Johanas, mentions of oc!night lord Torment, Konrad Curze, little creature Echo, mentions of past body scars, bathing creature, Soft Konrad.

Echo's echo: This is going to be out of order but this it a short about my OC Echo. A small humanoid creature some brothers find on a ship. For physicality context they look like a Nostramo born child but have no clear gender, teeth like Konrad, their arms are inky black bring the elbows down ending in sharp claws, weird bat wing like ears, and animalistic legs and feet. Experimented on to look like a a Warp Talon but in human form and v smol. I had a brain itch about them getting bathed for the first time and here we are. I will write the actual first meeting of them all later but this was too soft and sweet not to do. their name being echo will make sense later but basically they end up repeating Konrads sounds like a little echo even tho they cant speak just yet. Think of a parrot mixed with a thiefing raccoon, mixed with a feral kitten and thats Echo

Tavs didn’t mind being the de facto leader of their little trio. Johanas was the oldest of the three of them and while he was truly knowledgeable in tactics of war, but he was a quiet man outside of their little group. He was an intimidating figure, but when it came time for him to give any sort of order to others, it was like he forgot all the high and low gothic he had learned over the last few hundred years of being alive. Torment was another thing entirely; he was ruthless and hardheaded. He was constantly getting in the faces of those he felt were a challenge to his strength. Not only that, but their other brothers no longer took him seriously when he demanded everyone address him as “Torment” years ago. Tavs even took pride in his leadership every now and then, but right now, his black off duty shirt and sweatpants soaked through with bath water as he wrangled what could only be described as a rabid tyrranid, he loathed his competence over his dimwitted brothers.

  It had been a few hours since they brought the little creature, who Johanas loving named Echo due to it constantly copying their gene father, on board after their failed search of the otherwise dead ship they were sent on. Their gene father took an unsettlingly quick liking to the thing, showing a soft side of himself no one imagined he had. After they had found some raw meat in the little reserves they had and fed the small thing, eating as much as any of the largest Night Lords on the ship, Konrad asked the three of them to sort out bathing it and finding some sort of clothing for it.

                “DAMNIT. ITS JUST WATER,” Tavs was getting fed up of being splashed in the face by the feral Echo. Readjusting his grip on the scruff of its neck with one hand, he wiped away the newest soaking from his face. At this pace he’d be the one getting a bath instead of Echo. Konrad insisted they use a bathtub in his adjoining bathroom and not a shower, saying that the sound of the water and it raining down on Echo would only stress it out and cause it to possibly hurt itself. After another struggle of dipping the little beast back into the lukewarm water, Tavs was starting to thing that maybe locking Echo in a shower would have been the safer route at least for him.

                His arms were covered in thin scratches from the yowling Echo trying to escape the apparently torturous bathwater. Johanas was no help either as he leaned against the wall, his excuse for not helping was due to him being too big to fit beside Tavs, which was utter bullshit. There was enough space next to him to land an emperor class ship. Echo squirmed helplessly again in Tavs’ grip, letting out a pathetic mewling sound.

                “Echo, please, if you want this to be done with please, just work with me here,” he wasn’t above pleading with the thing.

                “Maybe the water is too hot?” Johanas dumbly suggested behind him.

                “If the water was too hot, I wouldn’t be as calm as I am now after being drowned in it for the last 40 minutes trying to wrangle this beast,” Tavs had no patience for his bothers stupid remarks.

                Sighing, he gently pushed the wet warp rat back into the soapy water. Careful not to grip it too hard as to not break any bones. They still don’t know anything about the creature, but he knew that if he were to damage it in some way, Konrad would have his skin. Echo whined as it was once again submerged to it waist in the water. Tavs taking advantage of the calm and rubbing down its arms with a rag they had found. “See, its not so bad. Feels nice huh?” he cooed as he made more progress. With all the fighting they had done, Echo’s small body was almost clean, the dried blood and caked on muck coming off to reveal a scarred little body.

                Tavs almost felt sorry for the thing when the first set of faded scars began to make their appearance. They seemed to cover every inch of skin, some long and clean while others looked to have been done with the dullest blade in the galaxy. It’s abdomen had the worst of it, obviously having been experimented on hundreds of times. He was surprised that the little thing was still alive.

                Rinsing off the soap from it’s body, Tavs tried to come up with a way to wash its matted hair. He would need to use both hands for that mess but if he let go, Echo would be out of the bath and halfway to Terra in a split second. “Jo, go get father. If you aren’t going to help here then be useful some other way.”

                He continued to pour water on Echo to keep them warm as Johanas grumbled under his breath as he left the bathroom. Echo had tired a bit from the fight, but Tavs still had to be alert to the sudden thrashing they would do. A low sad whine constantly coming from the pitiful thing.

                “Why did you call for me,” Konrad was suddenly next to Tavs causing him to startle. After all this time, he still could never hear when his gene father moved.

                Shaking off the embarrassment of jumping, Tavs explained the situation he was facing.

                “I see, and instead of ordering your brothers to help, you summoned me for this petty work,” the tone in Konrad’s voice letting Tavs know that this was a dumb thing to ask of him.

                “I asked for your help father because I know Echo would be calmer in your presence and I didn’t want to hurt the little beast,” It wasn’t entirely a lie. Tavs could feel the slack in Echo’s body the moment Konrad had appeared next to him. The soft repeating of Konrad’s words filling the silence between the men.

                Konrad was quiet for a while and Tavs thought he had just left him without saying anything, but looking over at the place his father would be he could see he was still there. A softness in his eyes as he looked down at the wet Echo. He could see his hands twitch slightly in an effort not to reach out to touch the creature. Glancing over at the wet creature in his hand he could see that Echo was quietly looking back at Konrad, a strange recognition in its wide black eyes. “Very well. I will stay but I will not help,” Konrad said as he kneeled next to Tavs.

                Releasing the breath he didn’t know he was holding, Tavs cautiously began to loosen his grip on Echo until he could move both hands away. After flexing the tired hand that was previously having to death grip the scruff of Echo’s neck, he reached over to the shampoo. Pouring a small dollop in his hand, he began to gently massage it into the matted mess.

                It was a night and day difference with Konrad in the room. Echo calmed to a state where they began to close their eyes at the ministrations of Tavs’ fingers on their scalp. More dried blood came from its hair, turning the bubbles into a deep brown color.

                “The little beast has been through a lot it seems,” Konrad said quietly. A hint of sadness in his words.

                “Yes they have. I don’t know how they are this alive,” Tavs confessed.

                His gene father hummed a response at that, the sound winning them a quiet purr from Echo. “I told you Echo would be better with you here,” Tavs added.

                “It does seem that way.”

��               Once Tavs was satisfied that he thoroughly washed Echo’s hair he rinsed its head, careful not to get the soapy water in its eyes or ears. When the water ran clean, he went for the conditioner Konrad had demanded they use but before he could pour some in his hand, Konrad cleared his throat.

                “May I?” He asked, nodding his head toward the bottle.

                Tavs was a surprised that his father just asked for permission for something but quicky recovered. Nodding his read furiously and handing the bottle over to Konrad, Tavs watched as he poured the conditioner in his large hand and began to work it through Echo’s hair.

                He was painfully tender with the creature, carefully working the knots and mats around its head. A strange ache shot through Tavs as he watched his gene father work with delicate dedication. The ache only growing as Konrad began to hum a tune as he worked. Echo’s purring grew louder when it heard Konrad, its tiny shoulders dropping as it relaxed completely under Konrad’s fingers. The three of them stayed in that moment until Konrad had removed every obstacle in Echo’s hair. Their small head beginning to nod forward, obviously fighting sleep.

                Konrad carefully rinsed the last of the conditioners and soaps from the small creature, gently holding its back in one large hand to keep Echo from slumping forward or backward. Tavs rose first, grabbing a towel from the stack by the wall and handed it to Konrad. In a practiced motion, Konrad wrapped the small creature in the towel and cradled them against his chest. His eyes shining as he watched them sleeping in his arms, a slight rise in the corner of his mouth.

                “Tell one of the serfs to bring some of the spare blankets to my room. I think I will keep Echo in there with me for this first night…to keep an eye on them,” Konrad said to Tavs as he turned to leave him in the bathroom. Never taking his eyes off the sleeping creature.

                “Yes, sir. I’ll make sure its done,” Tavs said but it was too late. Konrad was already gone.                

He stood there for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened. Trying to figure out what that strange pain was when he watched Konrad care for the little Echo. Dragging a large hand down his face, he signed and decided that that was something to figure out at a later date. Instead busying himself with cleaning up the bathroom before leaving to go find a serf to get those blankets.

[wazzappp]

Alright I figure since Lisa gets her little redux / refresher so does Gabe!

Just a quick refresher so you don't have to scroll all the way back down that tag: Gabe was really REALLY sick and Robbie was getting desperate. The Connections (bioweapon company. A rival to Umbrella Corporation) reached out under the guise of a group wanting to test a new experimental medical treatment. Robbie hates the idea of being away from his brother but Gabe is DYING and they aren't even asking him to pay anything. So they ship Gabe out, do their testing with exposing him to the E series mold (they want to see if Eveline can manipulate the biologies of other people so they introduce him as a friend who needs help. Eveline is so excited to have a real friend to run around with, so she makes him able to run around. His mental disabilities remain but his physical disabilities are basically gone.) and he's better than ever! They get him back on the ship (new facility for more testing. They aren't really planning on returning him to Robbie i mean Robbies just some kid what the hell is he gonna do [<- lol. lmao]). When Eveline throws her tantrum and crashes the ship. Theres about a three month period (instead of three years. i really don't know what would happen to Robbie if he went that long without Gabe) until Robbie pieces together stuff from their video calls and news of a crashed liner in Louisiana and GOES. Thats where the games plot starts.

In the actual RE7 part of this AU Gabe is having. A BAD fucking time. Essentially being Mia's replacement he gets the great privilege of being forced to slam his brother into walls, stab him and cut his arm off (for the small small price of an axe to the neck some shots to the chest and a lifetime of trauma).

(That blood loss is hitting hard buddy you don't look so good)

During the opening I think Robbie is just thinking that if he can get them out of there then things will be ok and thats what keeps him going instead of just breaking completely.

Gabe is having a much better time in RE8. He's a bit wary of his abilities (basically Rose's in reverse. He creates little bulbs and if they have enough time to grow he uses them as an anchor to develop independent mold colonies that he can manipulate). Eventually (after just. a LITTLE freakout [which I kind of want to draw]). He eventually reasons out that this isn't so bad because 1. he is very much in control of this rather than being controlled and 2. It allows him to protect his brother. You cant tell me Gabe wouldn't feel SO BAD about what happened while he was being controlled. Every time he looks at the scars from Robbies spontaneous amputation via chainsaw he feels so absolutely terrible about it.

In RE8 Gabe's big thing is that he wants to KEEP ROBBIE SAFE and BE USEFUL. He absolutely hates seeing him get hurt, inevitable as it is. He doesen't trust Lisa until he sees Lady D go down (she was telling the truth about how to kill her own MOTHER that must mean something). But he doesen't really end up liking her until he sees how well she covers Robbies back. The verdict for future judgement is still out but for now the best path is to trust her.

[shrimpalbuspotter]

explain your fav underrated marauders era character? and tag with #underratedmarauders

CHARITY BURBAGE CHARITY BURBAGE CAHRITY BURBAGE CWH39VI9VUW9VUV9UE

So. Heh. Charity Burbage... yeah. She's pretty awesome....

I think my love for her is rooted in the fact we actually KNOW what she's like. She's a muggle studies teacher, she openly believed in and taught about Muggles and Wixen being the same despite Voldemorts return, and she believed she was friends with Severus Snape. (This moreso implies that she was the type to believe everyone was her friend just by association, and less that her and Snape were genuinely friends)

Popular fandom theory is that she's a Hufflepuff, I agree with this. It's clear she values kindness and unity despite her limited book time, and she's obviously very loyal/accepting since she still considered Snape a friend, who at this point was shunned for killing Dumbledore and being a Death Eater. I know this could just be a case of pleading so she doesn't die, but the idea that she truly did still think of Snape as a friend breaks me. Also, if I was in this situation, I would go out screaming. I would have no belief that anyone there would save me. The fact she can even THINK Snape had some heart left in him to fight off VOLDEMORT for her?? This makes me assume she believed everyone had some good in them, even someone like Snape.

Anyway, onto her Marauders era character.. another popular fandom headcanon is that she was rich, and hung out with the same people Snape did (a group of mostly future death eaters, emphasis on MOSTLY, which implies there were indeed people who DIDNT become death eaters in this group but most likely held the same blood purists beliefs, which means the theory cant be completely debunked). I don't reallly believe in this. Do I think she was rich? Absolutely. Mostly because I imagine her as a witch hippie. Do I believe she hung out with death eaters? No way.

I think she would definetly be a believer in House unity, and she'd have friends from every house, but I also think she'd know who to steer clear of. Although I do like to believe she might have had an acquaintanceship with Snape in Hogwarts, like being his partner in Charms or something like that and that's where she had the idea in the future that they were friends. (Imagining Charity trying to casually chat it up with Snape during a staff meeting or in the main hall is oddly funny. But I see her hanging around with the likes of Aurora (though she seems a tad too stern), or Wilhelmina more possible. I can also imagine her trying to befriend Trelawney despite her low status amongst the staff.)

OK let's get back on topic.

All in all, she's my favourite underrated character. There's enough about her that I can build up a personality for her in Hogwarts, but also not enough about her that I have the creative freedom to add some stuff (like her being a rich hippy.)

Honestly this was such a difficult question because all of the Marauders era characters seem to be popular but just extremely fanonised. I still don't feel comfortable saying Snape because although he is underrated in the sense nobody in THAT side of the fandom care about him, he's also incredibly well known and used in content even if its negatively. Originally I was going to go with Narcissa, but shes popular, then Pandora, but shes popular, then I went to Rodolphus, but before I could write anything I remembered Charity existed and tadahhh:))

Anywho, I hope I answered you okay! Thanks for the ask anon!

[mitski-leaked]

Good Omens Analysis of the Day (Salt In The Wound- Boygenius)

this one is a bit longer than the others so please bear with me

gnashing teeth is pretty self explanatory (take this as the burning chain line too since hes gnashing teeth about ditching armegeddont and helping azi with gabriel respectively)

this one is a little contentious for me because i dont take azi slander but it kind of works if you want to be objective(?) about it

and then of COURSE the magic tricks... (not when hes doing it to play knight in shining armour but when he really needs to make it work- and also fucking stops time itself)

the ask for the secret part is a little open because i read it both as: 1. literal: not taking the magic as it is, needed every move unpacked (essentially opening crowley's heart for dissection to put it crudely) 2. potential(?) double take on asking for a secret: asking for ThisTM (the Ineffable Husband team, group of the two of them) to be kept like a secret (crowley keeps him like an oath)

Now option 1 is never explicitly supported because they dont TALK enough to pack substance into that but I feel like its pretty heavily implied and understoof that azi needs romantic intentions highlighted in neon to actually start believing that crowley's feelings run DEEP anyways. onto option 2. s1e3. s2e6. Need i say more. every shut-down, i forgive you, you go too fast for me-- all the little accumulative rejections that i am WAY too heartbroken to compile together right now.

and to close off with a banger:

Nina and Maggie coming into the bookshop hammer the nail in this particular coffin- Crowley was Already well on his way, fixing the bookshop, planning the Ritz date, chasing Muriel out (LMFAO)

He'd already felt like this was the last leg of this slow burn race when Nina and Maggie pretty much confirm that nothing could go wrong because the whole world can see they're absolutely Married.

and then the Metatron happens. (I refuse to recap but I wish the Metatron a very D!E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

and then what's on the other side?????

ok i think thats it for tonight. this was supposed to have gone up half an hour ago. its half past 3am now but i was scouring google for the images to match up with whatever the hell i was typing. i am now at peace and will attempt to take a nap

venture into the tags only if u want to witness emotional breakdown real time its late and i cant deal with much more

[sickknotdoom]

I've seen you pop up in the #sparkletag quite a bit recently, and as both a Patron and as a friend of Kneeby, I think I've had enough of your antics.

It's really depressing to see someone dedicate their entire online presence towards hating someone. It's extremely creepy and weird to obsess over every single thing kit does like this. I urge you to go find a better hobby, and I mean it. This kind of parasocial behavior is toxic and only serves to hurt everyone including yourself. Take a break from this and use that time to reflect on yourself and what you really want. Do you want to dedicate all of your time constantly rambling and raving about everything kit does online? Does that sound like a productive use of your time? I don't think it is.

all my posts boil down to "the pacing and prioritization of this comic could use a lot of improvement + i find it weird that the creator isnt raising awareness to a literal genocide going on rn" and you react by writing an angry essay. your ask seems to boil down to "you cant criticize my favorite comic because it might hurt the creators feelings" so im gonna respond with an angrier essay

there are good things about sparklecare, obviously. i resonate with it in some regards. but that doesnt mean its perfect, as nothing is. i dont even tag my shit under the main sparklecare tags (apart from the stuff about kneeby not raising awareness towards palestine) because i know people like you are gonna get upset if you see a conflicting opinion on your dash. the only tags i tend to use are #sparklecriticism and #sparklecare criticism, none of the main tags. block those tags if you dont wanna deal with me.

my criticism is valid (i think) since yeah. the comics writing has a huge problem when it comes to letting things happen naturally instead of rushing them, which results in kneeby having to explain things on the blog (which 99% of the time you have to scroll deep into since the main blog is constantly reblogging the cometcare one) rather than having the comic clarify it on its own. thats a genuine issue in storytelling so i feel like it should be addressed and worked on.

i have way more of a presence online than this blog, obviously. i just dont want this blog connected to my real identity for a wide variety of reasons (mainly not wanting to be harassed even further than i already am)

if youre a friend of kneeby then i think you should tell kit to actually DO SOMETHING to raise awareness to the genocide going on in palestine and other targets, PUBLICLY. not just an announcement in a private discord, a public statement, or AT LEAST reblog the fanart of uni waving the palestinian flag. all the social commentary ive seen (yes im still taking the social commentary into account since the comic was described as such until my blog popped up) has come across as performative to anyone besides the clowns themselves, id love to see kneeby talk about issues that dont just apply to kit.

i know damn well the sparklecare blog is kits biggest platform, kit should use it to raise awareness, i dont care if the topic makes kit sad, it makes me sad too, but i still retweet as much shit about it as possible whenever it crosses my mind because i actually care about issues that dont involve just me and i actually want to do something to change the world. im a teenager and i do more to raise awareness than a group of adults.

im just a kid with opinions

[sixosix]

I need you to know that I squawked at the cliffhanger of childe’s appearance. Lost my mind and almost threw my phone. Fingers crossed that Aether got to him before the banquet!

But to the chapter as a whole! There are?? So many things I wanna talk about? I’ll try to keep it somewhat short so I can fit it all into one ask but sienussnei-

I’m like 50 percent sure those strings pulled had something to do with the fauti. Something I remembered!! Not every person from the house of the hearth becomes one of the fauti! But they still do remain close to the group! My crack theory is that Rosalie is one of people in that latter group. Arlecchino was able to fully attempt an assassination on Furina without anyone knowing before or after( including the orphans in this as well since they don’t say thing about it as far as i know? And im absolutely positive they wouldn’t push for more info and take her at her word that she didn’t have the gnosis) and the only reason why it was a attempt and not a success is because she stopped herself! Either way though, considering her disguise used for that same attempt, I sure that the hooded figure was Father herself.

ALSO THE PINING OF THIS MAN!!! That polearm?? The sudden flip from fake to real the moment he saw Rosseland (I’m assuming that was the kitty in question) had led Thawed!Reader to him? The instant flirtations? Not to mention that despite the fact Thawed!Reader kept talking about kissing him, he refused!! Because he knew they were both drunk and not quite in their right minds to do that!!! THE MAN CARES!! It’s also a blessing and a curse rn that Thawed!Reader is kinda drunk. A blessing because she isn’t hiding her feelings as much, but a curse because she isn’t being subtle at all. The straight forward question she asked? Lyney isn’t drunk enough to forget that.

The callback to the last chapter too! She really does know lyney so well, even after all this time. He was right, she did know he was lying. And she’s just sitting there, trying to figure out what’s going on while Aether’s just sitting there like ‘you two nerds love each other.’ Not that she would admit it out loud. Yet. Also RIP reader, paimon and Rosalie are friends now, friendship forged by food. They aren’t gonna leave readers life once this is over and done. Say goodbye to your peace and quiet! (Although lyney may complain about that but that’s a different story-)

Losing my mind also over Rosalie and Thawed!Reader’s connection. She doesn’t even realize she is calling Rosalie maman!! But Rosalie does and it’s just so soft and sweet and family and rurnfjkeis. I’ve known Rosalie for 7 chapters and if anything happens to her I will kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Great chapter as always! I’m a little sad to hear regular updates are potentially stopping for a bit but I fully understand! Best of luck with school!!

-Deadman Aether Anon

deadman aether anon i wish you couldve seen my face when i saw your ask i literally lit up. and im sure that the other readers have been waiting for your thoughts as well, based on the tags of reblogs i read (“cant wait for deadman aether anon's insight now”)

HAHA i talked about this w my friend but i wanted to make childes appearance TERRIBLE. i wanted everyone to be like "FUCK. I LOVE YOU BUT NOT NOW." while childe shows up lke a celebrity in a disneyshow. it seems like it worked LMFAOO

INTERESTNG CRACK THEORY U HAVE!!!! the truth will be revealed eventually but i applaud u for how ure thinking of it. :D big brain as usual. it is also interesting to see people trying to figure out who the hooded figure was? deadman aether anon idk if u saw but there are other people guessing differently. im surprised bc i thought it was pretty obvious !!

YEAHH!! IT WAS ROSSELAND !!! i love rosseland and how lyney ended up making the cat his assistant-- that little backstory is so cute. rosseland is such a smart cat, too; writing that scene of leading mc to lyney didnt seem absurd in the slightest to me.

drunk t!reader is a mess kwdhkdfhd some drunk words are sober thoughts. and yes i think and know that lyney is a gentleman. even drunk he would always put reader first. always!

aether is so silly he came in there to blackmail someone and ended up playing secondhand matchmaker, if that makes sense LMFAOO i actually love aether and readers dynamic its so absurd when you look at it from a different perspective. its such a strange friendship they ended up making

yes ure right!!!!!1 im not sure if im portraying it well but reader calling rosalie maman is so ? subconsciously done. its like looking at a cat and going "here kitty". u look at rosalie and the way she treats reader and u go "thanks maman".

tysm for this ask!!!!!!!!! always such a delight to see you stopping by and sharing your thoughts, but i think ive said that every time by now LOL. and thank u too for the wishes T__T ill need them when i deal with chemistry <333 MUCH LOVE

[raysletters]

2023 Character Wrapped

Rules: share your top 9 characters of 2023

tagged by the lovely @suseagull04 (like, so long ago, but i had forgotten to do it so here i am)

1. Alex Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

i wish i could explain to you the deep connection i have to this fictional man. he is me and i am him. he probably has been my favorite character since i first found him on 2021 (which is the longest hyperfixation ive ever had, funnily enough) and has actually shaped me to be more confident in myself and all that mushy stuff, so yeah, im just missing a henry kinnie that wants to put up with this mess.

2. Percy Jackson (Riordanverse)

i binge read pjo and hoo these last months, and the way ive become attached to this kid is something else. i want to protect him from anything.

3. Nico di Angelo (Riordanverse)

like with percy, i became attached to him from the moment he showed up, and i would protect him with my life even from rick riordan. he cant do no wrong ever.

4. Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor (RWRB)

henry has specially gained a piece in my heart lately, but i have to be honest, when i first read about him, i thought nothing of him more than the perfect companion and love interest in alex's story. i have to say that getting a glance to his mind through both the bonus chapter and really fucking good fics gave me the insight i needed to comprehend him: his actions, his motivations, and everything in between that made him who he is and made me realize how many things we have in common and how many things i could learn from him, which is always a beautiful experience

5. June Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

theres nothing i wouldnt do for her. even though i absolutely HATE how i wrote the fic that has june's pov, im still in the process of learning about her and comprehending her more. still, she reminds me so much of my own sister, even though i should kin her more than alex because of the whole sapphic latina journalist who loves her sibling very much, even when they annoy the shit out of you, but alas, im a younger sister and june has so much vibes of my own sister except with my tastes, so yeah, nothing i wouldnt do for her

6. Iris West-Allen (The Flash TV)

in case you didnt know this about me, i had a not-so-recent hyperfixation on the flash (and it can absolutely be seen in my sky high au), and she was half the reason of it. i wish i could put into words how much i fucking love her in every sense of the word. like, i'm in love with her but i also want her to be happy and protected at all costs and i would do anything for her to actually get those things. she can also step on me and i would thank her, but that is unrelated

7. Annabeth Chase (Riordanverse)

what you dont get is that for her i would become like a rabid feral gremlin or maybe that dog that takes a sword in its mouth and starts swinging carelessly. thats how ready i am to protect her from absolutely everything, even spiders, no matter how fucking scared i am of them

8. Imogen Heaney (Heartstopper TV)

yes, i am absolutely biased because the actress also has t1d and my hc is that now imogen also has t1d, but also because i, too, affirmed with my whole chest how i was an ally and totally straight and then slowly realized i was sapphic bc of one cute girl in my friend group that called me out on my bs 💀

9. Barry Allen (The Flash TV)

yes, we dont acknowledge that other version by that other actor. yes, he's last because i had a love-hate relationship with the way he was written. but season 8!barry became one of my favorite versions of him, and i absolutely thank grant (the actor) for the way he made me love the character once again

i missed so many characters that i love but just not like i love these ones. the only one who could easily take barry's place on the list would be nick nelson my absolute beloved, but since flash tv ended this year, it had me in my feelings and i couldn't not put him there, so yeah

DISCLAIMER: i am at the moment reading trials of apollo (im just like 1/4 of the first book) and if somebody spoils me anything i WILL become a rabid feral gremlin, this is your only warning, thank you very much.

anyway, you can consider this an open tag and do this and tag me in it bc i always love to read about yalls favorite stuff. still, no pressure, but im still tagging beautiful ppl so i can read about your favorite characters @anincompletelist @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- @sherryvalli @14carrotghoul @formorewishes

[sperm-in-mcdonalds-sprite]

I empathize with Palestinians, not the so called "freedom fighters" gang raping and killing people. The innocents we see.

But i am so fucking tired of this, a cake page i followed that was run by an Arab woman keeps saying I'm so tired i cant do this. But she just keeps sharing so much outstandingly tone deaf posts.

Last week it was "you expect me to condone Hamas when not even the 'hostages' do"

This week she said that she cannot empathize with "the other side" because there is none, because the Israelis are enjoying the Renaissance movie (and of course she had to point out it was haram, a statement that doesn't matter to the Israeli people)

How could they enjoy themselves, how could they have a break from the terror and the fact the whole world is telling them they don't belong in their homeland. That they are colonizers to their home. How could they enjoy anything, since after all they are jews.

She kept saying how there is no proof of the attacks on October 7th, while also saying she blocks anyone with the smallest varying viewpoint. I cant disagree with the logic there, at least i see the carnage on both side though i plan on blocking anyone telling me to kill myself in the tags.

I keep seeing people say that its a slow genocide, completely ignoring the fact that none of this checks off any boxes on the genocide code. (Almost as if it isn't a genocide its just a war) I'm not going to praise the idf, but I'm sure as hell not going to act like they are perfect. All military forces are varying ranges of fucked up with people who use it as an excuse to harm anyone.

But don't act like it isn't the same on the other side, Hamas has been the ones harming every fucking person in their own state. They were voted in when they are just as bad as every fucking other terrorist group, they paraded the streets with the bodies of their opposition just like the paraded the streets with the women they murdered in Israel.

Just like they did with the hostages that people are bragging about looking so happy. You all say it like they weren't held captive while their family was waiting for them to cone home safe, like they don't look thinner and the bags under their eyes are deeper then ever. Like the little children didn't witness their families killed and the young girls only stopped talking after being held captive because who knows what the sick fucks did to them in their cells.

I find it so interesting how everyone is using their voice to call jews fucking colonizers. To call them white even, given so many were killed simply because they werent white enough. Sorry to the millions slaughtered in the camps, turns out you were really white all along.

I saw someone say "Bethlehem, Palestine" and nothing has made my blood boil more. Could you imagine the uproar if this was in Mecca, if the romans instead pushed them out of their homeland and when they finally returned the new settlers acted like their sacred ground wasnt theirs any longer.

But of course, when its the jews it doesnt matter.

They dont seem to acknowledge that if anything, the arabs are the colonizers and were for so much of history. Or that the whole state of Palestine was created because the Romans hated the jews so they pushed them out of their land and named it after their enemies (Philistines) and when europe named the land again it was after the short lived country. Once again stealing it from the ones who should have had it, but once they reclaimed their home they were the evil cruel people.

do you think the lost jewish souls greet their families in heaven, and their ancestors excitingly ask if they have their home back. If they are finally safe. If they can finally be somewhere without being killed.

One day people will realize too late, that once the jews are lost they cant come back. That the blood waged against the people who were just like us stained their hands.

I am not Christian or Jewish or anything, but i pray in whatever afterlife there is the Palestinian and Israeli souls that were lost are blowing bubbles in a land without pain, that the sun shines on them every morning. And they are greeted with hugs from the people around them

[whollyjoly]

1- what is your fav part about being in the fandom? please do tell

HELLO MY DEAR!

thank you so much for asking this, there is just so much to love about the bob fandom!!! 🥰

one of the biggest things is how absolutely kind and welcoming everyone has been, not just in the last day or since i joined the discord server, but even before then

engaging in fandom is usually really hard and anxiety inducing for me? ive felt before like im looking in from the outside, or that theres a core group that i could never make it into. that i wasnt talented enough or part of it enough to be able to engage. and so, ive rarely felt the urge to engage and contribute back.

but bob?? maybe because its such a small fandom, maybe because its for a show thats long over and is such a beautiful, wholesome (if not heartbreaking) story, but every single person i've interacted with has been so kind.

like, i will never forget @ronsparky reaching out and dropping in my asks after i reblogged one of their amazing edits? and @blood-mocha-latte tagging me in my first ask game in the fandom?? and @footprintsinthesxnd immediately responding to me, someone who had barely been on the fandom tumblr a few days, about joining the server?

and fuck i cant even begin to talk about how amazing and absurd and chaotic and perfect the discord group is, answering my weird questions, riffing off my accidental cult creation, and encouraging me to do things like make this ask game.

and like, not to mention how we come together to support and lift each other up. ride or die, baby, that's how we do.

all these little things make this fandom so special, so tight-knit, and so pure. we're more than just a collection of blogs that like the same show, we're a community, a goddamn band or something if you want to be poetic. and i just think that's neat, you know?

anyways, this has been my rant. i love you, i love all y'all, and i hope that we keep this positivity going as long as we can, because it is absolutely so special 💕

from this ask game!

[taomyou]

The Romance of Reimbursements - Chapter 16

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader Status: COMPLETED Summary: There’s a guy you see every Friday on bus 143, and you think he’s pretty hot. It wouldn’t hurt to tell your best friend about him, would it? or, you and Levi take the same bus home from work every Friday, and you fall in love slowly, clumsily, and with all the time in the world to fold as many paper stars as your heart desires. Word Count: 7.7k Tags: slow burn, friends to lovers, modern au, office au, fluff, romance, meet-cute, matchmaking (A/N: this fic is entirely available on ao3 here if you would like to read it there instead!) Chapter Navigation Accompanying Playlist

the feeling not understood

When you're comfortably situated in your usual seat on bus 143 on Monday after work, you reach to take your phone out of your pocket to give yourself something to occupy yourself with for the next 45 minutes. You see a text from Hange, so you smile and go to unlock your phone to read it.

Hange - 5:20 PM

Remember to leave saturday free!!! We're celebrating Moblit's birthday with everyone at Sina's :D

You - 5:22 PM

his birthday is today, right?

Hange - 5:23 PM

Yup!!

You - 5:23 PM

tell him i say happy birthday ^^

Hange - 5:24 PM

What makes you think Im seeing him today?

You smile to yourself and shake your head. Right, they still don't know you know they're together.

You - 5:25 PM

i never said you were going to see him today i simply don't have his number to tell him myself

Hange - 5:25 PM

WAIT HAVE I NEVER ADDED YOU TO OUR GROUP CHAT????? Oh my god I cant believe we've gone this far without adding you IM SO SORRY

You roll your eyes.

You - 5:26 PM

it really isn't a big deal, i don't need anyone's number

Hange - 5:26 PM

NO NO I MUST RIGHT MY WRONGS Honestly tho we never use it anymore bc Levi has had us muted since like february and we have to text him separately anyway STILL I AM SO SO SORRY LET ME ASK THEM RN IF I CAN ADD YOU

Before you can even come up with a way to tell them that you really don't mind that you haven't gotten access to this apparently dead group chat, you see a text from a group chat titled The Hottest People Ever. You giggle at the title before switching over to see what's going on there.

Hange's typing when you get loaded in, but they're taking a while to type out whatever they're trying to say, so you go to check who's in the group chat. There's two numbers you don't have saved (presumably Mike and Moblit), Hange, of course, Levi, and Erwin.

Erwin's number is actually saved as "Erwin (WORK, DO NOT ANSWER)" because you haven't had the chance to change it since becoming better friends, so you quickly remove the parenthetical before clicking back to the chat.

Hange - 5:30 PM

Hello!!! WELCOME TO THE GROUP CHAT ASTRAEA!! Everyone say hi pls :D 

Unknown Number - 5:31 PM

Hello! This is Moblit :)

You - 5:32 PM

hi!! happy birthday ^^

You quickly go to add him to your contacts, as well as Mike since he’s probably the other number you don’t already have.

Moblit - 5:33 PM

Oh, thank you!

Everyone else is probably busy, going by the fact that there’s no other texts that come in, so you exit out of the chat to scroll through SNS.

In the middle of you reading some random news article talking about the economy, you get a text from Erwin.

Weird, he never texts you. If anything, he’s the type to only call.

You tap on the notification to see what’s up.

Erwin - 6:05 PM

Sorry for the late notice, but could you stay late tomorrow? I need help with something.

The period at the end of the message comes off as way more passive aggressive than you’re sure he intended, but you still feel intimidated by the relatively minor punctuation.

You - 6:08 PM

Sure.

You cringe when you go to send the message, the capitalization and punctuation too serious for how you normally text, but you figure that’s good enough of a way to respond to Erwin (who was just speaking to you as your boss and not your friend).

You hope that he takes offense to your reply, actually. Who actually wants to stay even later than normal at their fucking office job?

You get home soon thereafter, and while you do your homely chores and get dinner ready, you try your best to take your mind off of the impending doom that awaits you at work tomorrow. Knowing how the workflow has been for the last… four months now, Erwin’s probably asking for your help for the rest of the week and not just Tuesday.

At least you have Saturday’s dinner to look forward to. Maybe you can tell the waiter to pick Erwin’s credit card in the roulette.

✰

The next morning when you leave for work, you're unsurprised to see Moblit walking out of Hange's apartment, arms full with bags of gifts. You both wave to each other in greeting, and because you're both headed in the same direction, you end up walking together.

“Need help with the gifts?”

“No, I’m alright. Thank you for offering, though!”

“You sure? Your arms are, uh, pretty full.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

There’s a door between where you are and where the elevator is, so you go ahead and get that open so he can get through. You push the button for the ground floor, and he thanks you before the both of you step into the lift.

“How’re you and Hange? You guys look really happy together,” you tell him in earnest.

“Oh! Have they finally told you? I thought they wanted to keep it a secret, like, for fun.”

You roll your eyes. “They haven’t, you guys are just terrible at sneaking around.”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Yeah, I guess we are. I run into you practically every time I’m leaving their place.”

“Yeah, I don’t really know what you were thinking with that,” you say.

The elevator beeps once you’ve reached the ground floor, and you step out first so you can hold the doors open as he stumbles out. He thanks you, and before you split paths, he answers your question from earlier.

“And we’re great, I feel like I’m falling in love with them all over again,” he beams. “I’ve had a crush on them since uni, but I didn’t really know what to do about it until a couple months ago.”

You reflexively smile and go to put a hand over your heart. Moblit’s such a sweet guy, you really couldn’t wish anyone better for your best friend.

“You guys are so cute,” you gush. “Drop hints to go public, yeah? I have a bunch of candid photos of you and them walking in the courtyard here, and I’m sure Hange would want them.”

He perks up. “Wait, could you send those to me? My phone wallpaper is just an old picture of us at graduation, but I’ve been meaning to change it.”

You nod enthusiastically. “Yeah, of course, I’ll get them to you!”

You wave goodbye to him, and he gives you a nod before heading off to the parking lot and presumably back to his car.

Ugh, you hate the both of them (in a “they’re so cute, I need to strangle them” kind of way).

As you’re walking over to the bus station, you sigh, remembering what Erwin texted you yesterday.

Thinking about it presently, what is there for you to even help him with? He definitely is the better lawyer between the two of you (objectively, at the very least), so what does he need you specifically for?

Yeah, you most definitely will be making sure his card gets chosen on Saturday.

✰

Turns out, Erwin needed you to review some work reports, entrusting the task to you while he's gone at higher-up meetings. You were right to assume that it wouldn’t be just Tuesday—it was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Reviewing such paperwork isn’t particularly difficult, but it takes fucking forever, and you can’t afford to make any mistakes. Because of this, the next couple of days pass by slowly, with both nothing and everything happening all at once.

Unfortunately, the slow pace doesn’t mean anything anyway because you aren't able to get even a second to breathe, and when you finally go to take your seat next to Levi on Friday at 3:02 PM, you can only greet him with a defeated sigh.

It’s a miracle you’re here at all, considering how late you’ve been coming out of the office for the last 3 days. How you managed to get all of your work done before this exact moment, you have no idea.

You’re too exhausted to try and strike up conversation in the moment, so you prop your briefcase up higher so you can put your head down on it comfortably and close your eyes.

“Sorry, is it okay if I rain check on talking today?” Your voice comes out weaker than you intend it to, but you’re much too tired to pay any attention to it.

You feel a bit of weight at your left side, and you’re unsurprised when you turn to see that Levi’s lightly tapped his shoulder against yours.

“Yeah, get some sleep.”

You hum tiredly. “I don’t need sleep.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yep, I just need to quit my job,” you whine. “Ugh, I still have to go grocery shopping, maybe I’ll go tomorrow.”

“Are you actually going to do that? Quit your job?”

“Of course not, but it’s nice to dream.”

Your mind actually is too busy to let you fall asleep even with your head down, so you just sit there quietly, waiting for the bus to eventually get to your destination.

For whatever reason, it feels like it’s enough to just be sitting next to Levi. Your nerves leave you slowly, and you eventually get to settle further into your spot and enjoy as the scenery passes you by.

It’s the middle of spring, so the flora on the route is in full bloom, lighting up the way with bright colors and visible gusts of pollen.

You wish you could muster up the energy to talk to Levi—to ask him about his week, to tell him about yours.. You’re not physically tired; you very well could.

But when you turn to look at him, he looks content with the silence that covers the two of you, going by his stare out at the same flowery paths that pass by in the window.

You open your mouth to speak, but you can’t find the words to say. Somehow, you can sense that if you do talk, he’s just going to tell you to shut up anyway.

Or maybe he’d look up the definition of “rain check” on his phone to make sure you understand what it means.

You smile gently at the thought before putting your head down again on your briefcase, and you close your eyes. Not really to sleep, but you might as well try to get some of your energy back before heading home.

✰

When the bus’s sound system tells you that you’ve reached Rose, you lift your head from your briefcase and yawn, making sure to cover your mouth. “Get home safe, Levi,” you tell him, slowly blinking yourself awake.

When you wave goodbye to him, however, you’re taken off-guard by the warmth that takes over you when he takes hold of your hand and gently pulls you up.

You get the message quickly enough and scramble to get your briefcase secured in your other hand, but you’re unable to ask any questions as you try to get yourself oriented enough to get off the bus. 

You manage to tell the driver a “thank you,” but other than that, you’re at a loss for words until you’re both safely on the sidewalk, the bus leaving a huge gust of wind behind it and blowing both your and Levi's hair in all directions.

The two of you just stare at each other, daring the other to speak, but you hardly feel like you’re the one who has to do any explaining.

And he probably feels the same way, because he wordlessly turns away from you and lightly tugs at your hand. When he starts walking, you have to jog a step or two to catch up with him.

“Where are we going?”

He doesn’t slow his pace, instead giving a squeeze to your hand. The contact is hardly meaningful in that he’s probably only holding your hand to drag you around, so you won’t take it as anything else.

“Surprise.”

Well, you doubt he could take you anywhere surprising, especially when you know that the only things in the immediate area are Magnolia Floral Company, the supermarket, and his car, but you suppose you’ll entertain him. Not like you have anywhere else to be anyway.

When you’re taken to the front of the supermarket, you’re hardly surprised, but you still play along. “The grocery store? I never would’ve guessed!”

He rolls his eyes and flicks your forehead, eliciting a whine from you. “Really, now?”

While you rub at your forehead to make a show of the pain (it really doesn’t hurt at all, it’s just in good fun), he drags you both over to get a shopping cart. He puts his backpack in, and you follow suit with your briefcase.

He lets go of your hand to push the cart, and you feel like you miss the warmth. It’s hardly winter, and the weather is definitely warm enough, but your hand feels… cold, all of a sudden.

Instead of weaving through the lanes like you’d think he normally would, he stops at the very beginning of the produce section and just stares at you.

You blink owlishly at him. “What’re you looking at me for?”

He rolls his eyes, almost ruefully so. “You’re the one who has to get groceries, or did you forget already?”

You raise an eyebrow. “That’s why we’re here?”

“Yes, so start putting shit in and let me pay while you’re at it,” he says. Before you can protest, he continues. “And none of your ‘stop paying me back’ shit, we both know neither of us are letting up anytime soon.”

You’re still frozen in place, at yet another loss for words, but when Levi reaches over to seemingly try and flick your forehead again, you move out of the way to get out in front of him. “Okay, okay, but you have to get something too. I don’t want this to be a waste of your time.”

He scoffs. “As if I have anything better to do right now.”

You lead the both of you through the aisles, looking at anything and everything. You’re hesitant to add things to the cart, but even when you put things back on the shelf, Levi moves to put them in anyway. You chastise him for it, telling him you don’t want him spending too much money on you, but he just flips you off and continues to follow you as you venture through the store.

At the checkout, he’s quick to get ahead of you so you don't get the chance to pay, and you just roll your eyes before loading everything on the conveyor belt.

When the cashier hands the receipt to him, Levi scratches both the singular and total prices out with his nail before handing the long sheet to you. “For you to make your stars.”

You take it from him with a nod, and you tuck it into your pocket before helping him put everything back in the cart. He pushes it out for you, and before you know it, you’re both in front of his car.

“I assume you’re driving me home.”

“No, you’re gonna have to haul all of this stuff back to the bus,” he deadpans. “Yes, get in.”

You laugh. “At least let me help put everything in your car.”

He shakes his head, but he lets you do just that. He wheels the cart back to its designated space in the parking lot after handing you his keys to start the car, and you get yourself situated in the passenger seat after you do that. By the time he comes back, you’ve already torn off your first strip of paper, and you’re looping it onto itself.

He reaches over you to his glove box, and from it, he pulls out a small box of blueberry merlot tea. He puts it between the both of you on the little open space, probably because your hands aren’t free in the moment.

“Did you take me grocery shopping because you forgot to bring the tea with you?” You ask.

He hums to himself as he goes to back out of the parking space, his hand on the back of your headrest. “Maybe,” he replies, “but Erwin’s been complaining about work a lot more than usual, which means you probably had a tough week too. Might as well help make you feel better while you’re here.”

You sigh. “As if it isn’t his fault I’ve been so busy at the office. That fucker asked me to help with reports all week.”

“Or so I’ve heard. Don’t worry, I chewed him out for it already.”

You laugh, and you shake your head. “Thank you, I guess.”

As always, the drive is silent, save for the rustling of paper. You reach your apartment easily enough, and he goes ahead and parks in the parking garage for the building. You hand him the stars you’ve made from the receipt, and he reaches over again for his glove box to put them away.

You know he’s going to do it anyway, so you let him carry some of the groceries up to your apartment with you. When you reach your unit, you get your keys and open the door to let him in to get everything set on the table.

You’re still at the door, watching as he does that, and when he comes back to you to leave, he gives a curt nod.

“Get home safe.”

“Stealing my jokes now?”

“I made it first.”

You blink. “Huh? When?”

He rolls his eyes. “When I dropped you off after our Valentine’s Day disaster.”

You sigh, shaking your head. “You still make fun of me when I say it.”

“It’s only funny when I say it.”

“You get home safe too, then.”

He nods, and you watch as he starts to walk back in the direction you both came from, and before you can stop yourself, you yell out his name.

“Levi!”

He isn’t too far, so the volume really isn’t necessary, but he still turns around. “What?”

You look back and forth between him and the groceries that’re set on your dining table, and you think for maybe two seconds before deciding that it’d only be fair for him to at least have some use for your groceries, seeing as he’s the one who paid for them.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” You ask.

He stares blankly back at you, but after checking the time on his watch, he eventually shrugs and walks back over to you. “Sure, but only if you let me help cook.”

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, and you open the door further to let him inside again. “Okay, fine.”

You go to quickly change out of your work clothes, not wanting to get them dirty with anything in the kitchen, and you bring back the same set of clothes Levi wore last time he was over so he can do the same. He excuses himself to go change, and you hum to yourself as you get everything sorted out so you can figure out what to cook for the both of you. Levi comes back out relatively quickly, his work clothes neatly folded up, and he sets that at the edge of your dining table before joining you in the kitchen.

You aren’t able to figure out what you should make, but it seems that Levi has more cooking knowledge than you when he naturally takes initiative in deciding for the both of you. Of course, he asks you if it’s alright to use any ingredients before he does, but you wave him off every time and tell him that he doesn’t need to keep asking.

You let him guide you throughout everything, listening along as he directs you to chop this, stir that, whatever it is. There isn’t much room for any other conversation, but that’s fine with you.

Dinner gets made quickly enough, and with a pot of blueberry merlot tea between the two of you, you start to eat.

You take a sip of the tea first, though, and you give it a solid 7/10. He does the same, but he gives a 5/10, citing the fact that it doesn’t have caffeine as reason for its lowered rating.

You both take the time now to talk about work, since you weren’t able to earlier on the bus, and conversation flows easily. Talking about the misery of the last workweek makes up for the trouble because it lets you completely let go of any of the anxieties you had about it, and when Levi talks about the hell that is grading college papers, you know he feels the same as you do.

After you’re both done venting about work and your coworkers and your clients and practically everyone else in the world, the topic shifts over to Moblit’s birthday dinner the next day.

“Are you bringing a present?”

He shakes his head. “He’s not a gifts person, never accepts them from anyone.”

You go to cover your mouth to stifle your giggle. “Right, right.”

“How’s that funny?”

“I saw him leaving Hange’s place on Tuesday, he was bringing home a bunch of gifts from them.”

Levi sighs, shaking his head again. “I would say I’m surprised, but I’m not.”

“Does he like sweets? I’d feel awkward showing up without at least that.”

“That’s not a terrible idea, but knowing him, he’s probably going to give it all to Hange.”

“That’s alright, still better than nothing,” you muse, swirling the teacup in your hand. “We could make something together. Maybe you could bring some of it home for Isabel and Furlan, too?”

Levi hums. “If you’re fine with it.”

You nod, going to take another sip of your tea before gathering your now-finished plate and utensils to bring to the sink. You hold out another hand to Levi’s spot at the table, and he shoos your hand away before getting up himself to put his tableware into the sink.

He tries to start washing them, but you gently shove him out of the way before turning on the faucet.

“Remember what we said? No washing dishes at the other person’s place.”

He doesn’t give any contest, but he grabs the small dish towel that hangs on a ring above your sink, and he waits next to you so that he can dry the dishes before putting them away.

The running water is loud enough to fill your relatively small apartment, so neither you nor Levi feel any need to talk. While Levi finishes up with drying and putting your tableware away, you take out your recipe book from one of the upper cupboards.

You check the time on your phone: 7:31 PM.

It's quite late already, so you flip through the pages to try and find something that doesn’t take that long to make. Levi is done with getting everything put away shortly thereafter, and he comes up next to you to watch as you figure out what to make.

“Is there anything he likes in particular?” You ask.

“He likes brownies,” he answers. “Do you know how to make those?”

You look over at him, mock offense on your face. “You think I don’t know how to make brownies?”

He puts his hands up, sarcastically so. “Sue me.”

You shake your head with a smile, and you go to close your recipe book. “I will.” You start heading over to your cabinets to get the ingredients, knowing already what you need. “Could you get some eggs and butter from the fridge? Just take out everything you can find.”

“Yeah.”

Soon enough, there’s a hefty pile of ingredients on your kitchen counter, and now you’re the one directing Levi to do things. You turn on the oven and get the ingredients measured out, but you leave everything else up to Levi.

Brownies are certainly not complicated and you could have very easily just made these on your own, but you still feel happy to be making them with him. He struggles a bit here and there, but he doesn’t give up, which is more than you could say for Hange whenever you’re in these situations with them.

It’s weird. Ordinarily when you teach other people how to bake, they feel more like a hindrance to the process than any help.

You let Levi finish mixing the batter while you get the pans prepared, and you can see a faint smile on his face when he goes to pour it all in.

It warms your heart to know that he’s having fun, even if he doesn’t quite know what he’s doing.

You’ve just finished putting away the dirtied utensils and food scale, so you come over to where he is so you can help scrape off the rest of the batter from the bowl.

You quickly get some star confetti sprinkles from your cabinet to put on top (you know, to make the brownies more birthday-esque, or whatever), and you hand the shaker to Levi once the lid’s off.

After that, you open the oven door for him to slide the pans inside, and you close it once they’re all neatly put in.

Looking over at him now, you laugh when you’re met with a better view of his flour-dusted front. “Can I take a picture?”

“Fuck no,” he scoffs. “How long do they take in the oven?”

You shrug. “40 minutes, give or take.” He looks past you and at the bathroom, and so you assume he wants to wash up. “You can shower, if you’d like.”

“I am never taking a shower here ever again,” he laments. “I’ll just go change back into my work clothes.”

“My shower really isn’t that hard to use, but that's fine,” you tease.

He walks past you and into the bathroom, making sure to stop by at the dining table to pick up his clothes on his way there. You go ahead and get started on washing even more dishes, and you hum to yourself as you scrub them clean.

Levi comes back just in time to grab the drying towel a second time, and he does that next to you while you wash the soap off your arms.

For the rest of the time the brownies bake, you and Levi migrate over to the couch and turn on the TV. Thankfully, you find a decently entertaining episode of Shark Tank to put on, and you and Levi shout at the TV when the contestants pass on offers from the Sharks or when the investors say something stupid.

The oven beeps to tell you that the brownies are ready, so you excuse yourself to go take those out to cool. You’re quick in doing so, and not even three minutes later, you’re back on the couch, screaming at Mark Cuban for passing on an especially cute line of plush animals.

You and Levi spend the next hour or so keeping up with this. Thankfully, all the contestants in this extended episode are incredibly bad at their pitch, so there’s no hard feelings from either of you when practically all of them leave the Tank without any deals.

You doubt that Levi understands the business lingo any better than you do, but you’re glad he finds as much fun in yelling at the screen as you do.

The ending credits roll, and you stretch upwards, yawning. “What time is it?”

Levi checks his watch. “10:15.”

You hum. “Let me get some brownies for you to take home.” You get up from your spot on the couch, and Levi follows closely after you. You grab some cellophane bags, twist ties, and star tags from your cabinet, as well as some disposable gloves for yourself.

You move everything over to the dining table so you can sit while you work, and when you come back with a knife to cut everything, Levi’s there too.

“Can I help?”

You nod with a lazy smile on your face.

“Please.”

You slip on your gloves after giving the bags to Levi, and you carefully go to cut out neat squares from the pans.

“Where’d you learn how to bake?” He asks.

You sigh. “It’s been a while since anyone’s asked me that.”

“Sorry,” he apologizes quickly.

“No, you’re good.” You hum as you reangle your knife to start going in the perpendicular direction. “I don’t know, everywhere? I watched my mom do it as a kid, and I picked it up as a hobby when I was in high school.”

“You didn’t come out of the womb with a whisk?”

You snort. “No, but I might as well have. Could you open a bag for me?”

He does, and you slip in the first brownie.

“Thanks.”

“Did you ever want to be a baker? Not that law isn’t admirable either.”

You nod, careful as you continue putting away brownies. Levi continues holding out bags for you to do it efficiently.

“A little, but I didn’t really consider it when I got older. It’s still fun, though, I like it a lot,” you tell him.

“Evidently.”

You smile, shaking your head. “Yeah, I’m sure.” One of the brownie’s hasn’t been cut properly, so you set that aside for you and Levi to have later. “It’s nice anyway, everyone likes being friends with the baker, so it made socializing easier for me.”

“Had trouble making friends?”

You shrug. “I guess, yeah. I was always busy with school, so I never really went out. Baking just gave me another crutch.”

He nods in understanding. “If it’s worth anything, I don’t think anybody now only sees you as a free baker.”

“Not even Isabel?”

He scrunches his nose and aggressively shakes his head. “Absolutely not, she never fucking shuts up about how much she loves you.”

You laugh. “She’s a sweet kid.”

“Hange used to call you ‘Sugar,’ though. Before we knew your name.”

You cringe. “That’s the name they chose for me? I couldn’t get something cooler?”

He nods nonchalantly. “They would not shut up about how they hit the jackpot getting you as a neighbor because you’d always come over with snacks for them.”

You laugh at the memory. “Yeah, I was still used to baking for groups of people, and I didn’t know what else to do with my leftovers.”

By now, all the brownies have been put into their bags, so you go to throw away your gloves, get the pans in the sink, and come back with two pens to write on the tags. You hand one to Levi, and you tell him to just write whatever he wants for Isabel and Furlan, and you can do the tags for Moblit.

You make sure to put that one misshapen brownie on a plate between the two of you, and while you write, you both take small pieces from it.

“Did Hange ever give me a different name or did they stick with Sugar?” You ask.

“You know them, they never change names for anyone,” he complains. “They say it works anyway, since you’re apparently so sweet.”

“What, you don’t think I am?” You tease. You’re both looking down at your writing so you don’t catch his reaction to that, but he does take a while to respond.

“I never said that.”

The two of you continue writing on the tags in silence, and soon enough, all of them are being looped onto iridescent twist ties. There’s more than enough for Levi to take home with him even after you have a good amount prepared for Moblit, so you have to excuse yourself to grab a bag for him to put his share in.

You hold the bag open for Levi to put everything inside, and you laugh when you see that he’s addressed Isabel and Furlan with curse words instead of their names on his tags. He helps you put Moblit’s share into some boxes that you had leftover from when you made all that shortbread for him a while ago.

You watch as Levi slides on his shoes, and before you can open the door to let him out, you remember he still has your clothes.

“You can just leave the clothes you borrowed here.”

“I don’t mind taking care of it.”

You wave him off. “It’s okay, I’m doing laundry tomorrow anyway.”

“If you say so.” He unloops one of his backpack straps to bring it forward and take out your clothes.

You take them from him. “Yeah.” You go to open the door for him, and he steps out into the hallway.

You bring your hand up to wave goodbye to him, but before you can actually do the motion, he brings his hand up too. You half expect him to grab your hand again, like he did on the bus, or maybe even give you a hi-five, but instead, he swipes at your cheek with his thumb.

Again, it feels warm—comfortable. You almost feel yourself wanting to lean into the touch further, but his hand doesn’t linger on your skin for any longer than it needs to.

He flips his thumb back to you. “Crumb.”

You nervously laugh, rubbing the back of your neck with your already raised hand. “Right, thanks. Get home safe, Levi.”

“You too.”

“I’m sure I will.”

This time, when you watch his figure disappear around the corner of your apartment floor’s hallway, you don’t call after him.

You almost wish you do, only to see his face again before he has to go.

✰

The next day, you feel… confused as you go through the motions of your morning and afternoon. Hange comes over at around 4 to get ready with you, and you manage to fend off the nerves, but they come back again in the car.

For once, you’re grateful their driving is so horrendous. If anything, you’ll just let the feeling of crashing be more paramount than anything else.

Nothing even happened last night. Nothing insurmountable, at least. He went grocery shopping with you, drove you home, you invited him inside to make dinner and dessert with you, and he left.

But the feeling—this one, where you feel so comfortable—you don’t know what to do with it.

It doesn’t have you red in the face. It doesn’t fill your stomach with butterflies. It doesn’t force you to shy away from spending time with him.

If anything, it prompts you to do exactly that. It’s weird. It’s so glaringly different from the attraction you felt in the beginning, when you didn’t know his name and he was just another stranger you saw on the bus once a week.

Do you even have to figure this out? It could very well just be something completely normal, and you’ve been overthinking it this entire time.

Hange suddenly stops the car, which snaps you out of your thoughts. Though you’re grateful for the mental break, you have to grip even harder than you already were on the grip handle above your seat.

“What the fuck, man!?”

They only laugh before going to take their key out of the ignition. “Well, we’re here!”

You shudder before getting out of the car, careful not to forget anything, and the two of you join the others in the waiting area. You’re the last to arrive, courtesy of Hange’s poor driving skills, and you watch as they naturally drift towards Moblit.

Mike and Erwin, upon seeing you and Hange enter, go to the reservations desk to presumably tell them “table for Smith,” and that leaves you and Levi alone with each other. You raise the boxes of brownies you brought with you, and he nods in acknowledgement of it.

“Did Isabel and Furlan like them?” You ask, unsure of what else to talk about.

“They liked them too much,” he whines. “Begged me for the recipe and everything.”

“I don’t have one written down, but I can do that on a napkin while we wait for our food,” you offer.

“That’d be nice,” he says. You nod, and then your group of six are guided by a hostess.

The rest of the night is a whirlwind, spurred by Hange’s excitement to celebrate their boyfriend’s birthday with their other friends present. You hand Moblit his brownies, and like the saint he is, he thanks you before splitting it up between everyone at the table. You, Levi, and Erwin refuse them, but he insists that he’d rather share than have to take so many of them home.

You aren’t able to write out the recipe on a napkin as promised because the napkins are fabric, but after figuring out the measurements for a more… manageable batch, you text the information to Levi.

Levi does actually call over the waitress to bring over paper napkins for you, just like when you both came here on Valentine’s Day, and you thank him before starting to tear at the paper. You hand that one to Levi, and instead of rejecting it like you expect him to, he takes it and waits for you to make yours so he can follow along again.

When the food eventually comes to your table, all six of you can do is eat in silence to savor the expensive taste as well as you can. There’s no drinking tonight, probably because everyone drove here in smaller groups and it’d be too inconvenient to figure out how to get home, but it’s still lively and exciting.

Towards the end of the night, you and Hange slip away to “the bathroom” to tell the waitress that it’s Moblit’s birthday and to pick Erwin’s credit card, and when you come back, you both have to act surprised when the whole restaurant starts singing Happy Birthday and when Erwin gets fucked by the expensive bill.

Levi seems to catch on that you’re responsible for Erwin losing the roulette, but he only rolls his eyes and doesn’t make a scene out of it.

When everything’s paid for and everyone’s back outside, just about ready to part ways for the night, Hange winces.

“What’s wrong?” You ask.

They nervously go to scratch behind their ears. “Do you think you could find another ride home? I totally forgot to tell you, but I’m going over to Moblit’s to, uh,” their gaze drifts off to their not-so-secret lover, “test some liquor!”

You should’ve expected as much, but it’s no trouble.

Get some, Hange!

You wave them off, and you look around at the group. “I’m sure least one of them have a seat to spare.”

They wrap you in a warm hug, nearly crushing you, and you return the gesture with just as much enthusiasm. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much!”

You try to wiggle out of their grip after a while, but they don’t really let up, instead rocking back-and-forth with you still in their arms.

Their grip on you finally loosens up when Levi comes up to you, and he practically has to pry them off of you before they let go. You thank him, and Hange’s off to go… test liquor with Moblit, the two of them headed for where Hange parked their car.

Erwin chimes in first. “Mike and I live in the opposite direction, so you can go with Levi.”

“Is that okay with you?” You ask him.

Instead of answering, Levi goes to stomp (lightly) on your toes, and you take that as a yes.

You and Levi give your goodbyes to the other two men, and you follow him to his car.

This sure does feel like a repeat of Valentine’s Day. It's parked in the exact same spot.

When you’re both in the car and about ready to leave, he hands you the receipt, telling you that Erwin forgot to take it before he left. You thank him for the paper, and you promptly start tearing and folding it.

The ride is completely silent, again, with only the sound of crinkling paper filling the vehicle, but it’s comfortable. Almost alarmingly so.

You drop the stars into the palm of Levi’s hand when he’s parked at the curb of your building, he reaches over to put them away in his glove box, and nothing is said other than a “get home safe” from the both of you.

When you get safely inside your apartment, you don’t even know what you’re supposed to do.

At least when you were constantly anxious and high-alert around Levi, you could at least find reason to denounce those feelings and get rid of them.

Maybe you should ask Erwin to give you extra work this week to distract yourself.

Who are you kidding, you definitely aren’t going to do that.

Still, when you go to sleep that night, you wish for more opportunities to skip on thinking about it entirely, and even more opportunities to just enjoy the feeling while it’s there.

✰

Both fortunately and unfortunately, your wish is granted to you.

Unlike last week, this week is fast. It rushes past you, works you as hard as it can, and spits you out without so much as a “thank you” for your efforts.

Erwin, bless his heart, apologizes profusely and comes by your office often to check up on you, but you barely spare him a glance whenever he passes through.

The only silver lining in any of this is that Friday comes just as quickly. That and the fact that the hustle and bustle doesn’t give you any time to overthink any of your feelings.

When you go to take your seat on bus 143 at 3:09 PM on Friday, you have to put your head down after you hand Levi his tea. You ask for another rain check, and Levi doesn’t make any fuss about it before taking out his phone to busy himself.

Unfortunately, because there’s a lot of traffic on this particular Friday, there’s plenty of starts and stops, all of which break you out of your resting state. The sounds of city bustle don’t help either. When the bus comes to a sudden halt for what feels like the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, you groan and lean your head back, looking up at the ceiling.

You chuckle halfheartedly. “Maybe I should just jump out the window and walk the rest of the way home.”

Levi scoffs next to you. “We’re still in the city, you might as well stay here until Monday.”

“That’d be better than getting shaken awake every three seconds.”

“You were sleeping?"

“I wasn’t, but I can’t really rest with the traffic. My briefcase isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world either.” You sigh and prop your elbow on your lap, resting your head on your hand. ��So, how was your week? We might as well talk if I can’t keep my eyes closed.”

He doesn’t say anything, so you naturally turn to look at him. He’s propping up his backpack straighter on his lap, and he slides his phone into the front pocket.

He turns to look at you when that’s done, and the two of you hold eye contact before he looks away and out the window in front of your seats.

“You can rest on my shoulder.”

You lazily shake your head. “No, it’s okay. That’s probably uncomfortable for you, and you seem tired enough from work.”

“You literally look like you’re about to fall forward,” he scolds. “And no talking, you need to rest.”

“Geez, you make it sound like I’m sick or something,” you joke.

“Picked it up from you,” he contests.

You follow his gaze out towards the window, and you hum. “But it’s okay, I can stay up.” As if on cue, you have to yawn, and you can see Levi shake his head out of the corner of your eye.

Before you can bark out something to dismiss any further scolding, you hear him turning towards you again. You wait, still staring out the window, but you watch as his left hand reaches over to push your head gently onto his right shoulder.

It feels awkward, honestly, and you kinda want to laugh.

You’d think the touch was romantic, but it hardly is when he struggles to reach over the backpack in his lap and your briefcase, and the bumps of the roads that knock you back-and-forth hardly do anything to help the atmosphere either.

But still, the act has you breaking out into a shy smile.

Had it been months ago, you probably would’ve passed out then-and-there from just his touch alone, but you don’t feel any red creeping up at all.

Just a quiet, comfortable glow in your chest, and a smile that acts as a silent thanks to him for lending you his shoulder for the rest of the ride.

He pulls his hand away from your head, and he reorients himself to look outside again, and he sits up straight against the back of the seat. You don’t dare move your head away, instead just slightly turning to look at his face, and you close your eyes once you see that he's comfortably settled back into his seat.

“So, how was your—”

“Just shut the fuck up,” he mumbles.

You sleepily hum. “You like silencing women?”

He groans. “Fuck off.”

You laugh and shake your head, position permitting. You close your eyes, and you hum to yourself as you try to find your sleep.

Yeah, you can figure out your feelings later.

You know you definitely shouldn’t be continuing to put off the emotionally daunting task, but you definitely don’t want to confront anything right now.

You still think it’s weird, that much hasn’t changed. And this is definitely not normal. That much is apparent, more so now than before when you were first starting to question things halfheartedly.

All you need to know is that here, with him, you’re comfortable.

For you, it’s enough to know that. Even if it isn’t, you’re okay with not knowing anything else, so you'll just spend the next... however many minutes left of your ride through the traffic, with him, trying to imprint the comfort that he gives you into yourself as well as you can.

✰

Next Chapter

[totentnz]

pinned post time (remake)

used to be drthamen 

sammy, 28 (may 13th), germany, nb biace, they/she

multifandom but currently focused on cyberpunk (clearly)

pinterest

info about the main OCs under the cut

since i cant seem to link tags properly im just gonna list them, im so sorry fellas

cyberpunk 2077

V full name: valerie jeanne evans scene lifepath: streetkid, "netrunner" faceclaim: royal and the serpent other: pinterest board | spotify playlist info: the "small-time klepto punk from the afterlife", "the dirtgirl from heywood who found the guts to walk a few extra blocks from home" this how kerry & johnny describe streetkid v and that is exactly what she is. a troubled past, present and future, constantly pissed off with some bad habits. she's been a merc since she can remember but also had some "normal" odd jobs: repairshop for electronics, waiting tables, customer service and many others. she was the lead singer of rotten, a nu metal/ alt-metal band from night city that was doomed to fail thanks to aforementioned lead singer. she's always had a knack for technology so hacking badges and corpos came naturally to her. most people call her a netrunner, a pet-peeve of hers since it's not what she technically does. that being said, she doesnt shy away from physical altercations either though it usually ends in getting her ass beat. v spent her two years in atlanta with her brother vincent, he had convinced her to get out of nc for awhile in hopes it would help on her healing journey but the city has and always will have an iron grip on her. temperance is her canon ending (for now). while it seems nonsensical at first glance she wasn't going to take johnny's chance at a second life away from him just for her to die within months. besides, she would adapt to life behind the blackwall better than he ever could. v was always going to die young, might as well die for love, right? tags: -> otp; just the two of us - my personal flavour of silverv brainrot -> otp; mary on a cross - v & dagger (more below) -> otp; the ghost of you - v & lou (more below) -> p; a little bit happy - v & vincent -> p; my ordinary life - v & kerry -> p; rise rebel resist - rotten, the band she used to be in -> au: watch the world burn - 2020s AU -> au: generation doom - 2020s AU but more messed up -> au: say yes to heaven - happy AU johnny where gets a body, v lives, they are dating and kerry & v are best friends relations: -> vincent - twin brother also rotten's bass player -> dagger - band's lead guitarist and her ex also obsessed with kerry eurodyne (because im annoying like that) -> lou - dead ex, every day i inch closer to just scratching this ngl -> freddie - drummer of rotten, if v = johnny then freddie = kerry but ten times worse (they actually hate each other) might be kovachek's son idk sometimes i have silly ideas -> krasny - plays second guitar in the band, lowkey the mom of the friend group, will break up the fights between v & freddie, calls v a psychopath regularily Vincent (big WIP so there isnt much) full name: vincent raphael evans other: pinterest board info: same backstory as v, obviously. but unlike her he managed to heal to some extend; the polar opposite of what she is: he is happy, kind and believes that there is good in this world. moved to atlanta at some point to get away from the place and the people who hurt him (parents and v). v introduced him to the love of his life kerry and romance ensues, he even comes back to night city for a while. (i will be real with you the reason i made him initially was to romance kerry) not technically a "v" but i really dont care if you call him that. tags: -> otp; industry baby - did you know kerry and vincent are in love? relations: -> dagger - his bestie for some time, unlucky his sister broke her heart but they are still in contact -> freddie - had a crush on the band's drummer but things were messy enough already so nothing ever happened -> alexa - daughter, vincent & kerry had twins in my sims game so naturally they become somewhat canon. overachiever, became a lawyer -> rico - child (alexa's twin), rebellious nb disaster, gamer, lived in their parents house for a bit too long -> valonia - daughter, spoiled youngest child, named after v, kerry's favourite

dragon age

Athras - dragon age: inquisition full name: athras lavellan origin: dalish elf, mage (ice magic & shapeshifting) other: pinterest board | spotify playlist info: athras never wanted to eventually lead her clan so when the keeper sent her to the conclave she gladly accepted. the chaos that ensued and her becoming inquisitor, thus being responsible for so many more people really put that into perspective. she wears the dirthamen vallaslin but it extends down her arms and back, in hopes that it will help with her messed up spine (scoliosis girls rise) and enhance her magic capabilities. clan lavellan specialised in potion brewing and it's a craft she follows proudly since she has zero affinity for healing magic, which is one of the main tasks for a clans first and keeper. (she might not like leadership, but she still wants to be useful to her clan) her magic manifested as ice but later on she adapted the long lost art of shapeshifting. her preferred form is that of a raven with a wolf coming in a close second. looks lowkey evil with her dark hair, pale skin, SUPER tall stature (2m) and red eyes. she likes it that way since it makes her less approachable. doesn't like most people and hates very few. tags: -> otp; dream collector - i am forever stuck in solavellan hell -> otp; let's get this bread - after inquisiton athras builds a home in the woods and falls in love with a baker in the nearest village, their name is morgan (the shipname was a placeholder) -> otp; running with the wolves - her first big love, a dalish from another clan who happens to be a werewolf, his name is ilvin -> au: nas'taron - athras takes a nap in a temple and wakes up with dirthamen in her bones, they also fuck (can you believe i wrote "what if you fell in love with the person living in your head" before cyberpunk came out because i cant) -> au: the mad inquisitor - in order to find solas and bring him to justice she injects herself with red lyrium (#girlfail) -> au: professor lavellan - modern au duh -> au: all alone in a pack of wolves - after deciding to stop solas at all costs it finally comes to a confrontation but she caves in and saves his life at the cost of her own, she wakes up in his base of operations -> au: dhru'an'adal - ancient elvhen AU (the emerald graves grow around her sleeping body btw) -> au: dinathe'dirthelan - harpy AU i never did anything with and was inspired by my friend who did a similar au (hello reed) relations: -> mareloen - mother, she left clan lavellan not long after athras was born, she would visit when they were in the area -> rasdheas - father, lowkey a vampire, don't ask me how he dresses like that, has a lame leg -> fisara - sister, joins her at haven after the conclave because she was concerned. rogue/ bard, falls in love with josie -> deshanna - keeper of the clan and thus athras' teacher (also her aunt since mareloen is her sister), wears a plague doctor mask all the time, a little weird even for clan lavellan standards -> ilvin - her first big love i mentioned before, sort of becomes warden at some point lol -> morgan - the baker i mentioned before, they leave athras somewhat abruptly, might be my dreadwolf protag who knows -> agrippa - athras finds an abandoned child in the woods near her house post trespasser, turns out he is a mage and obviously in need of tutelage, another candidate for dreadwolf protag

[nineliabilityrisk]

Who's your least favorite animatronic?Which game is your favorite?What's your favorite Fnaf song?Have you played any fan games? If so which is your favorite?

6. who's your least favorite animatronic ?

— hard to say because i like so many of them. however uh . do the plushbabies from help wanted count? because if so its them. i hate those little things so much their minigame is SO ass its unreal. honorable mentions to scraptrap / burntrap [ good character, visual designs left something to be desired . would say the same about glitchtrap but hes growing on me, ] the dca [ FINE AND GOOD CHARACTER. i have just seen enough of them to last me 14 lifetimes from tumblr despite having literally every imaginable tag about them blocked, ] any iteration of balloon boy / jj, plushtrap, and the bidybabs / minireenas, as the whole group makes me see red and fills me with the urge to punt them straight to timbuktu. why so small if not meant to be launched at high speeds.

7 . which game is your favorite ?

— already answered in the last post but uh. fnaf world, and sl / pizza sim are tied for second place

8 . what's your favorite fnaf song ?

— SHIIIIIIT time to promote my fnaf fansong playlist. out of here, my favorites would probably be [ in no particular order other than where they appear on the playlist because i could NEVER rank them: ] after hours by jt music, game over (y.g.i.o.) by miatriss, theyll find you by griffinilla, survive the night by [ you know who, i know hes a shitbag but that song was one of the biggest things i remember from my childhood so it stays, ] five nights at freddys pt. 2 by saymaxwell / five nights at freddys 2 by miatriss [ two versions of the same song, they both slap, ] the bonnie song by skyfixing, run run! by jorge aguilar II, not the end by saymaxwell, join the party by jt music, circus of the dead by tryhardninja, another round by apangrypiggy, you cant hide by ck9c, you belong here by jt music, nightmare by design by tryhardninja, left behind by dagames, please stand by by nightcove_thefox, l.o.l. by rockit music, now hiring at freddys by jt music, going back by various artists [ too many to list, ] labyrinth by various artists, and afton family by kryfuze. i KNOW thats a lot but please do not make me choose ill like. cry. this playlist is practically all ive been listening to since before i started this blog. it is my magnum opus. i enjoy it a normal amount.

— if you REALLY want to make me choose i would say any of the above listed songs by miatriss. smth about her music scratches my brain in the right way and Y.G.I.O. was a core memory for me

9 . have you played any fangames ? if so , which is your favorite ?

— i have, in fact! the glitched attraction is easily my favorite out of the ones i have played, and likely always will be. if forsaken ar counts as a fangame you can also count that. i have never actually played the joy of creation or return to bloody nights but i enjoy them both as well !

[scrappedidea]

I don't know if you've noticed but i usually just keep my thoughts on your posts (or really any post) to the tags, but since this is my ask ill properly put my thoughts in full here.

I don't know how to put a read more prompt but i didn't realize how much i typed until i scrolled back up lol. Don't feel the need to go over this in detail, its just nice to write down your thoughts sometimes. This is where id put the read more if i knew how so you've been warned. >:)

I hadn't actually logged into the game to check out the details of the new skilltrees until tonight as i saw the news as i was going to bed yesterday and had to work today. I wrote the above ask based off of a quick overview i saw online and missed a few details, but my thoughts are mostly unchanged.

I am mostly the opposite of how you play, i rush to get to the dangerous late game, and usually end up getting bored of a world after i've set up a proper base with late game materials and start all over again. So i can give the perspective of his skills when it comes to the practicality of efficiently progressing through the game's story content and boss fights.

Before the skilltree Wortox was, and still kinda is, the worst character for my play style, but i love his design and quotes so i stubbornly stuck with him. His only real strength for an experienced player that another character cant do better is group healing, which is completely useless to a solo player like me.

When it comes to teleporting he's beat by Wanda, Winona, and lazy explorers, he had no way to deal increased damage despite being heavily incentivized through his reliance on souls to be in constant combat, and he doesn't work or move faster than the average character either. He has two of the harshest downsides in exchange for a resource (souls) that are made completely redundant by basic food management and intelligent use of late game items.

Wortox's skill tree as of this first patch addresses.... none of these issues. It offers a couple bandaids that make his downsides a little easier to work around but don't actually warrant using him over characters with more apparent positives or a more substantially changed gameplay style.

The decoys are useless as escaping enemies and dangerous situations is usually done just fine with a single soul hop and soul echo, so the extra distraction is redundant. The damage they do at tier 3 is so infrequent and small that there isn't much point in spending 3 points on them.

Soul thief 1 and 2 are worthless as if you are playing alone all souls produced around you are caused by you. Increasing the range at which souls spawn around you makes absolutely no sense as you have to be present at the death of an enemy to benefit from the soul anyway.

Soul pierce 1 and 2 are honestly insulting due to the fact that if you are in a tough fight there isn't going to be any stray souls around to increase your damage. If you're surrounded by souls it means that you already killed what you were fighting. i literally don't even understand the concept they were going for here, dealing damage... by killing your target... whats the point? Even in crowd control situations where you're fighting a large group of enemies, it doesn't do substantial enough damage in large enough area to warrant putting yourself in danger to sneak in a kill amongst a group of enemies that will likely stun lock and kill you in the attempt!!! Not even to mention the fact that as you progress into the game more and more enemies don't even drop souls in the first place!!! >:( This is the skill idea that i most want to be removed and replaced with an actually good and easily usable area of effect attack, as every other character that has gotten a skill tree either already had an area of effect attack (and usually got expanded upon in their tree) or had one added through skills.

The Knabsack and Soul Jar are soooooo close to being cool and useful, but as it stands, it is an absurd ask to get the most out of these items. The Knabsack as it is currently is just a more convoluted and arguably more expensive spear. It only does 36 damage (the same as a spear) without the absurd requirement of 5 fully filled soul jars in your inventory. The recipe isn't all that expensive and if you're playing Wortox as most people do (glued to bee hives and spider dens) you'll have an abundance of silk to make as many sacks as you want.... but come on, Wortox is the single most deserving character of an easily repairable all purpose weapon like Wanda and Wigfrid have. It is extremely annoying spending all your pigskin on hambats, but there really isn't a better option as Wortox needs a durable weapon to maintain his soul count. The soul jars are a nice idea but forcing the player to dedicate 6 inventory slots (5 jars and a sack) to a glorified dark sword is a ridiculous hoop to jump through! Its not like Wortox has any other use for the abundance of nightmare fuel you get by choosing to subsist off of the sanity draining souls, so you might as well just save the inventory space and use a dark sword! While I'm at it the fact that the soul jars have to be full (Which adds up to 200 souls with 5 jars!!!!!) completely voids the purpose of an item to store souls for later use! You get No extra damage from a soul jar unless it holds its max of 40 souls, so if you want to make the most of the Knabsack (which only has 200 durability(for reference a spear has 150 durability and a dark sword has 100)) you MUST keep the jar full! This boils down to stockpiling a huge horde of souls that you are dis-incentivized from actually using for soul hops, healing, or hunger!

Finishing my tirade on the skills i think are bad enough to be completely reworked, we get to the nice side of the tree which is... better but not by much than the naughty side.

I'm not going to spend too much time on reaching souls 1 and 2, and soul bastion 1 and 2, as these are useless to a solo player. i will say though that Wortox isn't competing with any other character for area of effect healing, and is more that adequate with his base kit to keep a group of survivors fully healed with little effort. Spending 4 points on skills that are, at best, a minor convenience, is quite the wasted potential.

Also useless to a solo player, Lifebringer 1 through 3 are actually quite nice for a group I would imagine. I'm not a huge fan of Klei adding character specific revive options given that if a group of players are dying so frequently that they feel the need to keep a revive in their back pocket... they can just turn on the endless world setting and revive at the postern. Regardless, i can see the 3rd tier of this skill being fun and useful to groups for not getting left behind by a hoppy Wortox friend. I wish it didn't take up 3 skills and more over I wish it had atleast one selfish use case. a small thing I think would be neat is if you could use this item like Wanda's Rift Watch. If Wortox used it he could choose a place to open a portal that lasts for like 30 seconds. This would be useful for transporting a whole team of players, and/or moving suspicious marbles or moon alters!

For the last of the non affinity skills we end on lifted spirits, capricious movement, and reverberation. Finally a good one! My only complaint is that these should not be spread over 4 skills but the effect is quite nice for extended play-throughs. Reducing a cross map teleport to 10 souls on a fully explored map is a huge cost reduction and will save a lot of time, allowing you to actually get places faster and not spend all of your time smacking bees and spiders to fuel your hops! The extra time with a soul echo is also quite useful for using soul hops in combat scenarios, though it is still clear to me that Klei really hasn't thought the practical use of these hops through... Using soul hops in combat removes the usefulness of a speed bonus as you don't need to kite with the invulnerability granted by the hopping animation. The speed is nice for the early days exploring the surface, but once you have the surface mapped you don't really have a practical use for the speed bonus as you'll just use the map teleport once you've already been to a location once.

I basically already gave my full thoughts on the pan flute skills in the tags of another one of your posts. An occasional free pan flute use is worth a skill point. Longer sleep time and lost aggro though? Not so much.

We end on the affinities and.... yeah they're terrible. Or at the very least they're terrible lore wise. I hate the fact that Wortox, the only character who isn't directly aligned with Tenebrau or Alter (Wormwood), Who has Genuine Inner Magic and a solid personal understanding of the Ancient magics of the Constant, Who doesn't just use machines (Winona, Wilson, Wagstaff, Wanda, WX) or boons granted through a pact with the nightmare throne (ie Charlie or any of the characters brought in by Maxwell specifically(Willow, Wes, Wickerbottom, Wigfrid, Wendy, Wolfgang)) needs Wagstaff or Charlie's assistance to make use of shadow and lunar magic. Bullshit. At the very least just remove the lines about the ''shadow queen'' and ''cryptic founder''.

Getting to the actual skills though, they aren't great gameplay wise either. The lunar skill allows him to very specifically avoid a Single Attack coming from a shadow aligned mob if a soul echo is active, while wearing BrightShade armor. This is so niche it would be hard to make use of even if you were TRYING to get it to work. Realistically if you have a soul echo active you would just use the invulnerability frames granted by the hopping animation or just hop out of the way like i mentioned previously. And really, Wortox is one of the easiest characters to stay alive with, due to the mass amounts of healing he can provide. Tanking 1 (one) hit from a shadow mob while wearing planar armor? Who cares?

The shadow perk is a good bit better than the lunar perk but also has a glaring issue. Similarly to the lunar perk you have to have a soul echo active and be holding a shadow reaper. Hitting an enemy with the shadow reaper while a soul echo is active will double the damage for that hit. This yet again incentivizes you to use soul hops to dodge attacks and works quite well with the hit streak mechanic that the void cowl and shadow reaper have. The issue is, WE JUST INTRODUCED A WEAPON THAT'S STRICTLY BETTER THAN THE REAPER!!!! Why restrict him to a weapon that has already lost its crown as the highest damaging weapon???????? I double checked and the shadow maul introduced in the Depths of Duplicity Does Not Work with Wortox's affinity skill. To add insult to injury they didn't even add new dialog from the shadow reaper when wielded by Wortox. But they did add character specific dialog to the Maul when Woodie is wielding it.

I know you were opposed to the idea of an affinity skill at all for Wortox but i knew for a fact that he was going to get one like everyone else, it just wouldn't make sense with the whole idea behind the plot Klei is building up surrounding ''Them". I'm personally fine with the affinity skills but frankly I'm annoyed that they are often completely restricted to Post Game progression. the only character who gets an affinity skill that's actually useful before you get access to planar gear is Willow and she had the best skill tree so far.

That mostly wraps up my thoughts but WOW I wrote a lot more in an hour than I thought! If you actually read to the end of this, Thank you. I doubt a lot of what i said will even make full sense to someone who plays much differently than i do but i hope it was insightful? There is a good chance a lot of what i just ranted about will be fixed by the time the update leaves beta so i put my whole soul (haha soul get it) out there for nothing but i had fun writing this. Yet again Thanks for giving me an outlet for this part of my brain i have dedicated a startling amount of time to. I spent my whole work day thinking this through for some reason. Your art is great and i wish you a good approaching holiday season.

Wortox skilltree beta is here, and with the first patch, it's looking grim in my opinion :/

They expect you to dedicate 7 inventory slots to expensive gear to get damage equal to a darksword, no consistant area of effect damage like other characters got, affinities aligned with charlie and wagstaff that are exclusive to post rift gear, and worst of all they made the whole tree into a moral choice. So now I have to make him mean if I want more damage :(

Honestly kinda devastated because I doubt they'll make any big change, just small number tweaks, and it's just really underwhelming. I know you're more of an atmospheric player than a fighter, so you'll have no reason to choose the naughty side. I hope this isn't too intrusive, but there's no one else I can think of to confide in this very niche obsession of mine.

Hey, your good! My inbox is always open for various Wortox thoughts :)

I've had a bit of a play around with the new skills tonight, and i gotta preface my thoughts with this; You are correct i am a very atmospheric player, i can't fight and i dont go in the caves, i generally just play to build a fun base and mess around so a lot of the intricacies of the gameplay aspects of his skilltree will be completely lost on me

I like alot of the imagery it puts in my head, the souls sparking at his feet when he gets the speedboost, the little taunt the decoy does, I like the idea of Wortox crafting an item to teleport his friends around, it's just fun :)

I don't tend to mind the moral split, its phrased in a silly enough way to not make it seem overly evil (though some of the new naughty soul quotes eer a bit on the overly malicious side for his character for me) and also the fact that your not locked out of either side if you pick skills from one side, but i can def see why it'd put someone off!

I think overall i'm pretty neutral, i like the character of his skilltree, but I'm a tad miffed that it is so focused on souls, but for it just focusing on souls, it's not quite as bad as it could have been, however annoyed i am that they did end up giving him alignments but such is life