#worlds least helpful answer ever probs

[roaringheat]

Are snakes like chickens??? Where they just lay eggs whether they’re fertilized or not

KINDA? I thought my snake was male my whole life so im not very knowledgeable on female corn snakes or female snakes in general tbh. I do know that snakes have breeding seasons usually from around April-May and they'll get really active and stop eating. I guess females lay eggs during that time?? I'm assuming all infertile but I think there's a small chance that they can lay working eggs on their own. Also not all snakes lay eggs. Some do live births but I have a corn snake so I gotta deal with eggs now apparently

My snake Rex started getting super active and trying to break out late April which happens every year so I wasn't really fazed. He stopped sometime in May and that's when I found his first big ass pile of eggs. Then he started back up with his behavior and calmed down after laying more eggs. He's calmed down for good for the season but I keep finding new eggs which is why im getting nervous. I just toss them out tho cause they're usually somewhat hard aka obvs not fertilized. I know some snakes can be intersex or change their gender altogether which is still like a vague theory I have for Rex lmao

[cultofdixon]

You never saw me, til now

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • Blind!Reader • Sometimes people go unnoticed within Alexandria. Hell, Daryl doesn’t know everybody’s name. But you stuck out…for more reasons than the obvious • SFW/ANGST • TW: Discrimination / Anxiety Attacks / Minor Injuries / Mentioned Attempt

Requested by: Anon

A new home for everybody, Alexandria. Upon first glance at the locals…most of the group decided that most aren’t fit for the world outside the walls. Even if most were in that world before this safe haven.

Then there was this one person. That stuck out but also no one really knew much about. Granted she stuck to herself.

Once the group had gotten situated and received jobs, Daryl was gifted a bike frame by Aaron when he decided to not go to the party everyone else went to. Thank god he didn’t go. As he started to make his way toward Aaron’s place he noticed the woman he spotted walking Alexandria’s streets around this hour every day, holding the same staff in her hands. But for his attention he forced more on the sunglasses that were kept pristine.

Maybe she’s been here since the fall. He thought as he walks passed her only for the woman to suddenly speak.

“Hello to you too, stranger” She laughs slightly continuing on her way as Daryl couldn’t help but stop and stare at her as she leaves.

Once Daryl arrived to the garage with a confused look on his face, Aaron of course had to bring it up.

“What happened?”

“Who’s the chick with the walking stick?”

“Walking stick…” Aaron repeats thinking hard on it while Daryl went ahead and grabbed the tools he’ll need that day giving enough time for Eric to come in.

“Why is his face stuck like that?” Eric asks Daryl questioning the ‘thinking hard’ expression on Aaron’s face as Daryl shrugs tossing an Allen wrench back in the tool box.

“Asked him about this girl walkin’ the streets right now and now it smells like smoke” Daryl jokes only for it to click to Eric.

“Oh! You just met Y/N?”

So that’s her name Daryl nods as the two watch Aaron relax once Eric answered the archer.

“She’s a sweet girl. You two would probably hit it off, when she’s not busy”

“Busy doin’ what?”

“Just existing” Aaron states only for Eric to smack him in the arm giving him an annoyed look. “Sorry!” He sighs as the two knew that what he said was a bit on the rude side leaving Daryl even more confused than he’s ever been around new people. “She doesn’t really do much around Alexandria after she joined about a month before your group arrived. We have a library and she stays there most of the day…then wanders around the same specific times”

“Alright? Then why did he smack you?”

“Because he hates me” Aaron jokes only to be smacked again as Eric really tried not to plot murder in that moment.

“Y/N is blind. So Aaron saying she just ‘exists’ is a bit rude”

“How is that rude when that’s literally all she do—-OW!” Aaron yells that time when Eric smacked him a bit too hard. “She doesn’t talk to anybody. Sometimes she’ll go to the parties we hold for new comers. Deanna will be seen talking to her sometimes, but only if Y/N goes the route toward her house. But for the most part she really just. Doesn’t do anything”

“Prob doesn’t talk much cuz yea say shit like “she just exists” make it sound like she’s a door stop” Now Daryl was the one smacked in the arm by Eric even if he was just saying an example. But he deserved it nonetheless. “Sorry”

“See at least he apologizes for what he said”

“Okay okay. I’m sorry!” Aaron tells Eric as there was a bit of silence before he was smacked one last time. “Hey!” He snaps watching his partner head back inside as Daryl chuckles to himself.

Once it became night, Daryl made his leave to go back to their given home and on his way he spotted Y/N sitting on the steps outside the more townhouse like buildings that were staked side by side. He noticed her still wearing the glasses even at night as he never really understood that even in the old world. He thought being as stealthy as he usually is that he could check her person out.

“Your mother never taught you that staring was rude?” Y/N startled Daryl back a bit as he had this look so disbelief which she could only assume he had given she started to laugh after she heard the rapid shuffling. “Caught yea off guard huh?”

Daryl didn’t say anything which lead to Y/N thinking for a short second that he had ran off. She’s not a scary person, just likes fucking with people.

“I don’t do nonverbal, dumbass” Y/N sighs rubbing the back of her neck out of anxious habit when the situation got weird.

“Sorry”

“Mm. Nice. Deep gravely voice with a bit of a southern twist in it.” Y/N smiles resting her head in her hands as she leaned forward resting her elbows on top of her knees. “If only I could touch yea to get an idea of what kinda man you are because I’m already sold on the voice”

Man she’s bold Daryl thought as the tips of his ears had a hue of red to them after she said such.

“Either I was too bold for you or you ran off. Regardless I don’t do non-verbal” She brought herself to lean back on the steps like she was previously as she heard the smallest shuffle of feet in front of her. “Left huh”

“Nah” and then she was the one to be startled when hearing the voice so close to her as Daryl had sat down beside her.

“Jesus fuck if I had my gun you’d be dead”

“You can aim?”

“Oh fuck you” Y/N laughs elbowing the man she just met. “I bet yea whatever the fuck is currency nowadays that I’m a better aim than you”

The archer scoffs to the remark but also couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this. He felt good.

He needed that moment to get him comfortable with the other Alexandrian. A part of him enjoyed talking to her and having her around. Even Y/N made the effort to get close to the new people.

Resulting in a day she walked Alexandria without her staff, given she was carrying a box. Daryl taking a break from his bike, he couldn’t stop himself from approaching her.

“You know where you’re going?”

“The second I hear a baby, I’ll know when I’m close” Y/N readjusted herself to get the box more secure in her arms.

“Goin’ to the Grimes place? I live there yknow”

“Then is this you offering to direct me? Or—-“ Y/N strayed a bit too far resulting in Daryl grabbing her bicep and pulling her toward him before she fell. “Uh. Yes. Please say yes”

“If yea needed a hand you could’ve asked”

“But how would I know if you’re by—-“ Y/N stopped herself as it dawned on her, which lead to an infectious smirk appearing. “Oh. Oh!” She cheers catching the archer off guard as he quickly releases her arm once she straighten herself out. “It’s you that’s always around me!”

This is true.

Ever since Y/N had opened that window for Daryl, he never left her space. In a respectable manner but if others noticed—-without noticing what he does, then it would be creepy.

Daryl normally sits on the porch of the Grimes residence whenever Y/N would go on her walks. He’d quickly get up and kick away any questionably sized rock that could get caught on her shoe. Or a stick that fell off the trees that could trip her up. Pretty much if he saw anything in her way, he would kick it away or call Y/N to get her attention and ultimately approach his voice.

There have been times where she would sit with him while he worked on his bike. Sometimes Y/N would scare the shit out of Aaron because she would sit by the door to the house from the garage and he wouldn’t see her when he’d check on the progress. Both her and Daryl get a kick out of freaking him out. With the time she spent in there, she got the hang of recognizing all the tools Daryl uses to build the bike so when he asks for a certain tool…Y/N knows which one to grab. He would even direct her toward the bike to get a feel of it. She’s not a huge fan of motorcycles but she enjoys these moments.

Including nights where Daryl would find himself approaching her door when she would step out to take a night walk. Which she always thought was a bit risky but she doesn’t make a big deal of falling over a few times. A thing she started to admire of Daryl, he would join her on these walks and wouldn’t make a big fuss if she’d fall since she’s used to it. He’d simply help her back on her feet and the two continue the walk. Act like everything was normal. He still did his “push obstacles aside” routine whenever he walked with her.

A few mornings, Y/N would bring herself over to the Grimes’ residence to get to know everyone that Daryl is close with. To get know the people he talks heavily about ever since he opened up on their night walks.

“You like my company, Dixon. And frankly, I really enjoy yours” Y/N smiles as she handed the box over to Daryl. “And since we are close. You can carry that for me”

“But what about—-“ Daryl stopped speaking when Y/N locked arms with him as the smallest thing made his heart quicken. “Alright uh. Yeah let’s go”

His heart may be beating out of his chest, but it wasn’t the only one…especially given the blush on Y/N’s cheeks started to give herself away even if she tried adjusting her sunglasses to see if it covers most of it.

“So what’s in here anyway…?”

“Well your friend Michonne told me about the Grimes kids and when she hung out with me or really asked a lot of questions about the lay out of this place. I told her to just take me to the library and we can find a map to the place in there since it’s also the records room”

“How can yea—-“

“Braille, dumbass” Y/N laughs. “They aren’t on the books though. Just to tell me what rows and sections we were in. So I just helped her get what she needed and she told me that Carl likes comics and I remember us having a few. She dug them out for me and there’s just scattered kids books for the younger one.”

“That’s nice of yea”

“Yeah I would just double check the comics real quick cuz I can’t tell some of them between magazines and…I don’t want yknow. Those kind of mags in there. Tryin’ to get on everybody’s good side…even if this is the most I’ve been out since I’ve arrived”

“Really?” Daryl carefully directs her up the steps and let her hold onto the wall while he rests the box on the porch fence flipping through the pile to make sure everything is alright.

“Yeah uh. I never thought I’d live this long so I kinda locked myself away for a bit when I first arrived”

“Do…uhm. Never—-“

“Do I mind if you asked how a blind person managed to survive this long with undead fuckers around?”

“Yeah…”

“I did. But I trust you, so.” Y/N carefully leaned against the wall after making sure it wasn’t the window or the front door. “I’m blind. No brainer. I’ve been this way all my life…well. I wasn’t blind from ages 0-4 but anyway, I’ve gotten the hang of living this way and all my other senses enhanced. I’m not saying I have super hearing or shit like that. But I’m pretty good at pinpointing shit. Plus when you walk really slow and haven’t washed off the Walker blood you’ve collected over the hairier times…you blend in.”

“Then how did you not get shot?”

“Oh I’ve been shot.” Y/N lifted her shirt to show the bullet wound scar. “Thank god that happened right before Eric found me or yeah I wouldn’t be here. Other times the wounds weren’t so bad. I had my supplies”

“How did no one steal from yea? Have you been with other people?”

“Yeah. A military camp and then a group of assholes…that met the wrong end of my staff” Y/N shuffled a bit out of anxious habit that Daryl could’ve left but he would tap his foot whenever she did such and she’d instantly relax when noticing the small vibration. “Also when you’ve gone unnoticed your entire life before shit hit the fan, it’s easy to know when others try to go unnoticed.”

“How many walkers have you killed?”

“Too many to remember” Rick asked her these questions. She knows the drill.

“Have yea killed any of the living?”

“Only a handful, and that was the group that were a bunch of assholes. As much as I had my dark moments…I didn’t want to be crossed or have the job done for me. So yeah. Only a handful and that’s the literal five ish people”

“Ish?”

“I took down two and then didn’t hear anything more until I was shot so I had to fire back and that racked up to three? So yeah a handful”

“Hm” Daryl felt a bit anxious himself, but for something that happened in the past. Blind or not she would’ve still had to deal with stealing assholes at least once in the end of the world. But a strange part of him wished they met sooner, so he could’ve protected her.

But she doesn’t need protecting.

The walker infestation after the wolves ambush, proved such.

Even if every part of her was screaming when she didn’t hear his familiar sounds anywhere near her. Also during the navigating through the herds that flooded Alexandria until they were all taken out, Y/N lost her sunglasses. As much as that didn’t seem like a big deal, they were to her.

“Y/N are you alright?” Maggie kept checking in on her after she found herself a posted position at the infirmary since she had to take out more walkers than she ever had before.

“Yeah, I’m good. Daryl come back yet?”

“No…”

“Oh. Well alright” Y/N shot her a smile before going back to an anxious look with a permanent frown this time around.

To pass the time a few were cleaning up the bodies and Y/N did her best by using her staff to push bodies into the piles that a few hav started. Her mind was on where Daryl could be. She knew Sasha and Abraham also haven’t turned up and her anxiety was toward them as well. But that part of her was screaming wondering where the hell he was.

Her thoughts distracted her when she pushed one of the bodies over, pushing a bit too far that her staff slipped from her hands as she quickly met the floor.

This happens. It’s fi—- Her thoughts were interrupted by Glenn’s panicked voice checking on her as she felt the vibrations of several footsteps approaching her which meant a small group forming.

“Oh my god are you okay?”

“You hurt, Y/N?”

“Can you get up?”

“Let me he—-“

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Y/N snaps bringing herself in a seated position and checking her person herself. “I can get up myself”

“Who let you help with this? You can’t see what you’re doing”

“Hey, that’s a bitch thing to say”

“Like you weren’t thinking it”

The voices just blended in with each other as she felt like she was drowning from times before the outbreak.

You shouldn’t help

You’re useless

Get out of the way before you cause more problems

Her breath got caught in the back of her throat as she cautiously steps back trying to feel for what’s behind her. Turning around would have the same effect, struggling to get out of the situation.

Her outreached hands suddenly made contact with another pair of familiar calloused large hands feeling them squeeze hers.

“Hey, hey…” His voice was always soothing to her even in the moment when she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. His hands gently cup her face wiping away the tears. “You’re okay. It’s okay…don’t listen to’em”

“I…I was—“

“You were helpin’. They weren’t.”

“Where—-“

“Got lost. Got in a bit of a jam. But I’m back, I’m here…I am here” The archer emphasizes on that last part feeling her hands latch onto his sides steadying herself on his person.

“…I was scared when you didn’t come back”

“Mm. I was scared when I heard about the herds comin’ through…” Daryl frowns resting his forehead against hers to help her relax more and have her know entirely that he was there. “Yea can handle yourself…but I…Yeah it ate at me when I came back”

“You’re okay”

“Mhm. We’re okay. You’re okay”

You’re okay…he’s here, he’s safe…

Everything will be okay

[zombiecakes]

15,17,27,28,29!!,37,49,52,55,59,64 🥺 (sorry lol)

APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED (srsly tho never apologize for making me gush about my babies lmao 💕)

This is gonna be long tho, so under cut 😂

Also some plotline spoilers in here, for those who haven't done stuff like Nuka World.

15. What is their proudest moment / accomplishment?

After he killed Mason, he got a pat on the back from Nisha. He always saw her as the biggest threat to his personal safety as Overboss, so having her support definitely helps him sleep at night.

17. Do they have a job? How do they make a living?

SHAKIN DOWN DEM FARMERS. Basically, everyone and their mother just sends him tribute now as Overboss, so he swimmin in caps 😎

27. What faction(s) are they a member of / allied with?

RAIDERS. It's actually becoming an issue, because he sees the Institute as a threat, and his own gang isn't equipped to bust their way in there. He just got a vision from Mama Murphy that he should ask the Brotherhood for help, which is probs his only reasonable option. (He's HELLA paranoid of synths and would probably burn down the Railroad if he found it DISCLAIMER I DO NOT SHARE HIS VIEWS LOL and he already alienated the Minutemen soooo yeah…) He also really respects and trust Murphy the Madwoman, so he's probs gonna take that advice… at least until he gets what he wants.

28. What faction(s) do they despise?

Oops, I already answered this one lol. See above.

29. What is their moral alignment / karma?

Not pulling punches here: Zirk is evil. He lets fear and selfishness run his life, resulting in the suffering of others. He has a small handful of people he gives a shit about, but I don't think that redeems him. Almost all “good” things he does are still motivated by selfish intentions.

37. What is the worst injury they have experienced?

Zirk has been thru some shit. He didn't turn into the shitty little monster he is because his life was rainbows and sunshine. I would say, consistently ending up as the lowest rung on the social ladder in any group he was part of, and all of the abuses that entailed (for example, his teeth tattoos), were collectively his “worst injury”.

49. What item(s) do they always have on their person?

His glasses! Boy is blind as a bat (one of the things, along with his smaller/delicate stature, that made him a target for most of his life). Finding nice, VATS-connected spectacles when he was looting Vault 111 a couple years ago was a life-changer for him.

52. Can they swim?

Well enough… although it probs isn't too pretty to watch.

55. Are they past, present, or future oriented?

This is a cool question 🤔 I would say up until very recently, present-oriented, because he was constantly scrounging around for his next meal or hit. Recently, however, his gang has swept across the Commonwealth, and he's had to think further ahead so that he can feed his raiders and maintain his safety as top dog. This is not a task he enjoys doing, so he often leaves the minutiae to Gage 💕

59. Do they idolize anything / anyone?

Mama Murphy. She is the first person he's ever met who truly knows and sees him as he is, and she cares for him anyway. This is more important to him than he could ever say, but she doesn't need him to say it 💕

He's also IN LOVE with Gage (not that he'd ever use those words, even to himself), and he really respects and relies on him.

64. How / where do they generally sleep?

The how/where is actually a similar question for him!! He usually falls asleep wherever he can (bed, sleeping bag, large pile of soft dirt), but often around 2-3am, he tends toward night terrors, and often goes sleepwalking/crawling into the nearest small, enclosed space. He knows he does this, so he rarely ever goes to sleep nearby another person. Gage has only witnessed this a couple times, and while familiar with ptsd (raiders have tough lives and rough upbringings, I suspect), he still doesn't know exactly what to do when Zirk does this shit.

[magpiefngrl]

3, 21, 28, 34 for the asks, it’s so interesting when you talk about your writing :)

Ooh thank you so much, anon! I love talking about writing but am insecure and always feel no one cares. Thanks for reassuring me <3

3. How would you describe your writing style?

And off we go with a question I don't think I can answer lol

Mentioning my strengths as a writer is easier because I rely a lot on the feedback I receive and what readers tell me. But my style in general is much harder for me to pinpoint, and I'd love to hear from readers as to what they think it's like. I've been humorous in some of my fics and more poetic and lyrical at others. I like to use metaphors. I love to write long sentences and I adorn them liberally with semicolons and colons. I guess you could say my style is baroque, or at least leans that way.

21. Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

Nope. I've no fucking clue. I assumed some of my longer fics would be around 10k and they were three times the length. With the shorter ones I tend to write them in one sitting so I can tell that I'm writing a 2-3k fic.

I'm trying to predict how long the original romance I'm working on is going to be. My goal is 40k, but I'm looking at the number of side characters I've created and I fear it's going to be longer than that. I prob created too many and will need to sideline a few.

That's can be a way to gauge, I suppose: the amount of secondary characters will necessitate more scenes establishing all the different relationships. More characters=a longer story. Not a hard and fast rule, but it might help.

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

My favourite question! I have a lot of Opinions on writing and I love to be given the chance to voice them.

OK so one tip that always works for me: when I'm stuck in a scene, I stop and describe the setting in detail. This might not be a big help for people who outline but for pantsers like me, it's worth giving it a try.

Say, for example, Draco is at a house party of one of his relatives, Harry's there, they don't talk. They aren't friendly. I know I want Draco to approach him but I'm stuck. He wouldn't go and just talk to him, it doesn't work for this fic. I'm stuck and can't think of how to proceed.

Then I might start typing:

"It was a splendid room, large and airy with velvet curtains that drifted in the summer night breeze. Every piece of furniture was chosen meticulously, antiques paired with design pieces, bold combinations that worked as they were intended to: to impress and intimidate. The chandelier over their heads cast light on the wine-red carpets. A painting of the lady of the Manor hung over the ornate fireplace; her stern gaze warned her guests to behave, or else. Draco had been subjected to her gaze all his life. A desire to misbehave overwhelmed him, to stick a finger up to her and her ilk, smash the delicate crystal flutes and dance on the shards.

Or he could snog Harry Potter in front of everyone. That should do it."

And I go "Oooh so that's why he approaches Harry!" I wouldn't have come up with the reason if I hadn't described the painting. This trick got me out of plenty of stuck moments, and my guess is that when I describe the setting I feel more grounded in the world of my story. I feel like I'm right in it and it's easier to imagine what happens next. I often delete some of the description--it did its job, which was to get me unstuck.

I just came up with the paragraph above and now I kinda want to write the fic lol

34. Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

Improvement is a constant concern for me. At times it has actually been detrimental for my health because every single thing I did had to benefit my writing in some way. ("oh look pretty clouds! How would I describe them in a story?") It meant that I got no mental rest. Ever. Luckily, I've learned to take it easy.

Writing isn't the only thing that helps me improve: reading is the big one. Seeing how other authors structure their stories, construct sentences, use dialogue and setting. Also watching TV series and films makes me think about what I can learn to use on my writing.

I don't write fic to improve per se, like it's an assignment, but I do want to improve. I wantt o tell a story but I also think about the writing. Some fics are my attempts on working on a craft element. I've got a wangxian WIP which is a frame story, and I'm very keen on getting that one done.

yet another writing ask

[captainjonnitkessler]

Hey Captain, got a question from a stranger to a stranger (if you don't feel like answering, no probs at all!).

I'm seriously considering turning my life around and starting an apprenticeship to work as a roofer (in my country that'd mean 3y of apprenticeship with low pay for a job with okay pay afterwards). It'd be my first contact with construction and first physically demanding full-time job (have worked physically demanding jobs part-time before, and have enjoyed the construction work i've done as a volunteer). But i'm already 27 and finishing up a Master's degree...

What are things you think i should keep in my mind before taking this sort of step? What were your experiences when starting construction? I'm a bit afraid of the culture shock but also my skin starts to crawl when i think of doing the kind of brainy project management job i'm currently doing for the foreseeable future. I come from a family of academics so construction is a really foreign world but i don't want to let fear/uncertainty make me miss out on trying out a job i'd be proud off. I'm fishing left and right for advice to help me make up my mind so any tips are so very welcome :D

Cheers! Also i enjoy your blog a lot, feels very good to have a level-headed rationalist in the dash

Hey, thanks for asking! I love talking about my experience in the trades. I used to be in school for software development before I joined the trades, but I just couldn't see myself sitting in front of a computer in an office setting for the rest of my life. I liked working with my hands and being active, so when I was about 26 or so I decided to take the plunge and I couldn't be happier.

Things to consider before starting:

The culture shock is very real. In America, the culture is changing slowly but surely as more women and minorities join, but it's still very much a white cishet boy's club. Unions provide some protection against discrimination, but it's not perfect - you'll need a thick skin. On the other hand, construction crews tend to be pretty tightly knit, so you'll usually have people who'll stick up for you if things start crossing the line.

It's physically difficult - you are going to be SO SORE for the first few weeks. Climbing a ladder uses muscles I didn't know I had before I started 😔 But that does get better with time, and it goes easier if you work out/keep yourself active in your off time.

It's dangerous, especially for roofers. Obviously there are a lot of safety precautions you're supposed to take, but a lot of people skip them because a) they think wearing Personal Protective Equipment makes you a pussy, b) there's pressure from the bosses to get things done fast and cheap and safety precautions take time and money, and c) PPE is just really annoying to wear. Again, unions and a thick skin will help - I get jokes about wearing PPE when nobody else is, but this job is hard enough on your body without helping it along.

This one is my own personal opinion, but I think the inherent danger of the job and witnessing accidents and deaths low-key traumatizes construction workers. Add that to the stigma against mental health treatment and you get very high rates of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide.

But in my own experience overall, I've been incredibly happy. It feels great to work with my hands and be able to see what I've accomplished at the end of the day and it feels great to be working on hospitals and schools and housing for people. You'll always be working with different people in different places, there's a lot of camaraderie that's really nice and there's always something new to learn and do. I don't think I could ever go back to retail or white-collar stuff - for the first time in my life I don't dread going to work.

Overall if you think it's something you might like, I'd recommend at least giving it a shot! Worst case scenario, sounds like you'll have your degree to fall back on and at least you won't be left wondering about what it would have been like.

[nought-shall-go-ill]

Was thinking about TOHOTS in the car today 🥰 wanted to drop by and share some love for the world you’ve created there!

This was sent so very long ago, and I’m so so sorry for that — but guess what world I was looking back on last night?

Technically, TOHOTS is still very much on hiatus as I get my life together a little, but because of that — and because I love it still so very much — I thought I’d share a rather large and unedited snippet from Chapter 6.

Anyway, thank you always for your kindness and support, @kay-elle-cee . Please take this as a token of my gratitude.

December 1975

“Where’d you even find this place anyway, Mare?” asked Lily.

She, Mary and Marlene were tightly tucked — feet pressed against the wall, knees near faces — into a small nook by the Transfiguration office, each with a neatly rolled cigarette in their hand. It was past 1 o’clock in the morning

“Potter,” replied Mary on an exhale. “I caught him coming here after Potions the other day.”

“I thought Potter didn’t smoke?” said Marlene. She was fiddling nervously with the Zippo lighter the girls had just used.

“Probs goes for a bit of a chug between classes,” answered Mary, making a lewd gesture towards Lily. She had in recent months developed on a strange sort of whim the belief that James Potter fancied her.

Lily answered in kind by raising her middle finger. Mary blew her a kiss.

“Shit. Someone’s coming,” muttered Marlene, just moments after Lily had heard the footsteps herself.

The girls put their fags out on the wall and watched in silence as McGonagall entered their frame of vision. A tall boy with his head drooping down to his shoulders followed behind her. It took Lily a moment to realise it was Sirius Black.

“You will wait here,” ordered McGonagall with a snap of venom rare even for her.

Sirius simply looked up and stared at her, his grey eyes sharp and cold.

The three girls shared a look.

“I need to organise your punishment,” she continued. “You heard the headmaster. We will do our best to deal with this discreetly but it will be a year of detentions at least.”

Sirius nodded, but his jaw was still tight, his expression like ice.

“Do not move from this spot.”

McGonagall turned on her heel and stormed into the office, leaving Sirius behind to slump against the adjacent wall.

“What do you think he did?” whispered Mary.

“Dark magic?” suggested Marlene. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen McGonagall that angry.”

“Naw,” replied Mary, moving forward slightly to get a closer look. She had always been the bravest of the three. “The Gryffindor boys don’t practice dark magic.”

Lily couldn’t help but think that comment was more than just a little pointed, so she bit her tongue, turning to face Sirius once more.

She wanted to believe Mary — and she would, just days later, when the first of the attacks occurred — but right then all she could think about was just just how terrifying Sirius looked.

Leant against that wall, he was somehow rigidly still — like a bloodhound that had sniffed out its prey — his features straight and emotionless, his eyes as wicked as the prisoners of The Prophet’s pages.

But then something caught his attention — the lingering smell of cigarette smoke, most likely — and he raised his head, inhaling deeply through his tall, aristocratic nose.

And he laughed.

It was a deep, echoing, dark bark of a laugh.

Whatever he’d done, Lily thought to herself, he certainly didn’t seem to feel guilty about it.

***

December 1980

“I have business to attend to this morning, Lily,” said Dumbledore as he and Lily reached the entryway where James was standing. “But I will return in a few hours to let you know the exact details of your new role.”

“Thank you, sir,” Lily replied, though the old man had already made it halfway back to the barn.

“Right,” said James, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Shall we get started?”

“Not before she’s had breakfast,” came another voice from behind the door, and out popped Emmeline’s head following it.

Before Lily could explain she had already eaten, the older woman had firmly guided her to the kitchen where she found Nicolas sitting next to a large pile of pastries. He had a mirror in his hand that he was staring at intently.

“Lily!” he exclaimed looking up at her with a bright smile. He had healed a lot since she had last seen him, yet some of the scars were still stubbornly scabbed across his wizened face. “Wonderful to see you here, my dear! Please help me finish some of these off. Emmeline here likes to feed the five thousand.”

Emmeline laughed, but nonetheless, brought another teeming pile of pastries to the kitchen island. James picked up a croissant off the top, smirking knowingly at the whole scenario.

“Well, I want you both to feel at home,” said Emmeline, settling a plate down in front of Lily.

“Emmie, darling,” came — to Lily’s astonishment — a voice from the mirror, “I’ve told you, he has a grapefruit at home and that’s it.”

Nearly a decade in the Wizarding world, and it was still surprising Lily — it wasn’t every day that Perenelle Flamel’s voice came out of a household object after all.

James seemed to have picked up on this shock though, as he smiled gently and added:

“This is a little invention of Sirius’. We thought it would be a good way for Nic and Perry to stay in touch.”

“Ah,” she replied, uncertain of his informality. Even she was hesitant to call the Flamels by their nicknames, and she had known them for nearly three years.

“You know Perry,” said Nicolas. “Always so keen to be back with her hydrangeas.”

“Je te l'ai dit plein de fois, c'est pas la saison des hydrangea!” replied an irritated Perenelle.

James and Lily chuckled.

“You’ve got to be nicer to Herbologists, Nicolas,” said James, taking the seat next to Lily and another pastry she didn’t recognise. “They could kill us all with just a few seeds.”

“That’s the sort of common sense I need in a husband,” said Perenelle, though turning her head Lily could see that the handsome face of the 600-year-old woman was bright and smiling in the small mirror.

“Now, Lily,” interrupted Emmeline from the cupboard. “As you’ll be spending quite some time with us, you must choose your own mug.”

Emmeline levitated about 30 mugs at Lily’s eye height. She couldn’t help but notice about half of them had a lion emblem on them in some manner or another.

“There’s a lot of Gryffindor here,” Lily remarked, giggling just slightly and taking one that had just a subtle Gryffindor crest on the base. James grinned widely as she did so.

“Mmm,” grimaced Emmeline, transporting the rest of the mugs back with an elegant swish. “Fleamont — may he rest in peace — was a wonderful man, but, Merlin, his enthusiasm for Gryffindor was a touch… much.”

James laughed — a warm, welcoming, gentle hug of a laugh — tipping his chair back with his head.

“Much is subjective, Em, don’t you think?”

“Hmmm.”

“What house were you in Emmeline?” enquired Lily. Nicolas and Perenelle had picked up a quiet conversation in French next to her.

Emmeline raised her eyebrow, a daring look.

“Slytherin, dear.”

Lily blinked. Of all the Slytherins she knew, Emmeline certainly didn’t seem like one of them.

“Oh,” was all she could reply.

James laughed again, though this time Lily didn’t find it quite so welcoming.

“Oh?” continued Emmeline, her eyebrow still raised. “Didn’t expect that? And they told me you have a Slytherin best friend, dear. I thought maybe you’d be a little different.”

“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with Slytherin,” Lily added quickly, feeling the flush rise in her cheeks.

“Well…” remarked James with a chuckle, and Emmeline simply rolled her eyes at him.

“I’m just teasing, sweetheart. Though I do wish some people,” Emmeline gave a pointed look at James, “would be a little nicer about the rival school houses. I’m hoping you might be able to help there.”

“Me? Why?” replied Lily, taking a pastry for want of something to do with her hands.

“I hear you were quite a force to be reckoned with back in the day. Standing up for all that needed it, regardless of their house, and even if they were Slytherin. Quite an anomaly unfortunately, even in my day…”

James nodded along encouragingly, and it made Lily feel quite sick.

It was true. Lily had done that. She had taken pride in doing that, in fact, for years during her schooldays. She had been blessed with a confidence that many teenagers lacked, and well, it was horrible to just sit there and watch people be teased, people be bullied, Gryffindor or not. What else was she supposed to do? It wasn’t just Sev and Mary who dealt with the cruelty of bullies.

But somewhere along the line that had all stopped. She had stopped.

She wondered when she had stopped.

“I hear this one was one of the worst offenders,” added Emmeline with the sort of sternness of a mother or beloved teacher.

Lily nodded, uncomfortable with where this was going.

Because that was true too, wasn’t it? She wondered also when James had stopped being so cruel.

Had he?

The silence of the English speakers in the room hung stagnant for just a moment before James spoke.

“She really used to rip into me, Em,” He tried to smile at Lily, but she looked away with a dash. “But I deserved it.”

Something about this comment awoke a sprinkle of untapped bravery.

“Well, yes, you did,” said Lily, and not only Emmeline, but Nicolas and Perenelle laughed at the comment. As did James, who caught her eye on the pause, though she could not read what he was trying to say.

“Ok. Fair.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I deserve that. But how about we start that tour before my head swells up so big that I can’t fit through the doorways?”

It was Lily’s turn to smile now. That had been one of her most commonly used insults for him in fourth year.

****

Linfred Farm was even more beautiful (and magical) than Lily had realised.

There were more than a dozen rooms on the property, each one decorated in the sort of cosy Englishness that she was sure had only ever truly existed in mind rather than manner: William Morris prints, paintings of rolling hills, piles and piles of mismatched toys and books and other signs of a comfortable life in the country. It was the sort of place that James could show her around with pride — and indeed he did.

She mostly just listened intently — only adding the small, insignificant comment here and there — still unsure of how their relationship was now defined after the events of the previous month.

“Emmeline has set up your room in the nursery again,” he told her, stopping by the yellow-filled child’s room where she’d stayed before. “But please feel free to change. There’s a number of rooms available.”

“Oh no. It’s fine, thank you. Here will do quite well.”

How strangely formal they were being. If only Mary could see her now…

“Right, well, eerrr. That’s it.” He pulled a hand through his thick, dark hair. “I suppose I should get you back to Nicolas. He usually enjoys some television at this time of morning.”

She had watched an episode of Play Your Cards Right with Nicolas last time she was there, but the idea of the very old man tucked up before a television set was still a strange idea to her.

“I never had Nicolas down for such a telly fan,” she remarked.

“You’re not?” enquired James. He beckoned for her to go down the stairs before him.

“Oh, um, I guess not. I don’t own one.”

She didn’t imagine it would go down well with Severus if they did. Not that she blamed him. Muggle items were a contentious point for very understandable reasons.

Still, her mother had loved her films so much when she was a child.

“I love it!” said James, with the enthusiasm of a small infant. “Well, I love cinema. Dorcas has really got me into it. Those moving pictures — what a feat of transfiguration. Of course, it’s not transfiguration but— well, it’s fantastic, isn’t it?“

“You’ve been to the pictures?”

Lily had a hard time seeing a pure blood like James Potter in such a Muggle place.

“Well— no. But I would like to some day.”

It was almost endearing the way he spoke so passionately of something that Lily had known her whole life. She wondered if it explained her mother’s similar affection for the art form.

“My favourites are,” he opened the door to the kitchen for her, “Mädchen in Uniform” (Lily blinked) “and… The Sound of Music.”

“How are you watching these without going to the cinema?” she asked. British terrestrial television would take a few decades to get to that level just yet.

“Magic,” he winked, and she tried her hardest not to blush, turning instead to Nicolas who was still sitting in the centre of the kitchen.

“Finished?” he enquired, moving very slowly — and with an obvious amount of pain — to get to his feet. “Let’s start your work then, shall we young lady?”

[lawrencegarte]

Have you ever wondered why you look up at the sky for answers? Or why flowers in the wind are effortless and eloquent dancers? What forms the rings in the trees? Turns a pine from a seed? What's passed down generationally, to you? (And to me?) And why our eyes all look like microscopic galaxies? Have you ever wondered why you look up at the sky for answers?

Well, you don't have to look too hard We're here for all your question marks If you're try'na figure out just who you are Don't look far In the sky, and your front yard In your heart and in your scars If you really wanna know just who you are You're a star (yes!)

Boom! Did we just blow your mind? Uh-huh Well, I've known the entire time When it comes to the universe we're all shareholders Get that trough your system (Solar!) See we're all just little nebulae in a nursery From supernovas now we've grown into our history We're taking why's right out of mystery, closure Now we're taking in All the star exposure!

We eat the leaves and they eat the sun See that's where all the balls of gas come from Hey, you still look like you're hanging on by a strand But if you just see the mushrooms then you'll understand

So your dust, is my dust? Fantastic! Huh!

Well, you don't have to look too hard It's all around and not too far If you're try'na figure out just who you are You're a star! Do you know you're a work of art Even in the deepest dark? If you really wanna know just who you are I'm a star!

Here's a little fun allegory That gets me excitatory This might sink in in the morning We are our own origin story If I'm explaining this poorly Well I'll let star do it for me It's all quite revelatory We are our own origin story

You don't have to look too hard It's all around and not too far If you're try'na figure out just who you are You're a star! No matter where you end or start We're all each other's counterparts If you really wanna know just who you are I'm a star! Woo

Ooh, I'm a star! Watch out world here I are (hey, hey) You know who's lookin' sharp? (Who?) Me, I'm a star! (Woo) Ooh, you're a star! Watch out world, here you are! (Hey, hey) You know who's lookin' sharp? (Who?) You! You're a star!

I can't help it if mirrors love my face

It's genetics! Yeah, I got these genes from outer space

Peep the name, I'm magnificent

I put the "I" in "omnipotent"

I'm passionate, I'm not petulant

Someone praise me for my benevolence

Uh, just look, ha-ha

I'd give the clothes off Benito's back

If you really needed that

I'd be the first one to volunteer Henry

If your home were to crumble

Or if you were in trouble

I let you live here for free

And I don't even charge you rent

I clean up all your messes

And I'm always there when you need to vent

I give and give and give and give

You'd think they'd all be content

And all I really want is just a little respect

And this is the thanks I get?

This is the thanks I get?

And this is the thanks I get?

And this is the thanks I get?

"You're so brilliant"

Ah, that's the least you could say

There's more, admit it

"You're cute and strong and bold and brave, " thanks

See this kingdom? I built it up

And you still complain? Ungrateful much?

Mm, are you sure that you're not the prob?

I'd love to see you try and do my job, oh-ho!

I granted fourteen wishes last year

Come on, that's a high percent

And now you're questioning your king?

The disrespect I just underwent

You know I always got your back

Yeah, really though, it's no sweat

Since the day you were born and the day that we met

And this is the thanks I get?

This is the thanks I get?

And this is the thanks I get?

And this is the thanks I get?

I didn't wanna do this

I swore I'd never do this

But I'm hypnotized by how these pages flip

'Cause I refuse to have my power stripped

A potion, a spell, a summon, a curse?

Anything to make that light reverse

To this book, I don't wanna be tethered, but

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Brr, where was I? Oh, yeah

There's a traitor in this town

And still I remain unbent

Come out now, explain yourself

I'm sure it's all just an accident

Well, whoever finds them first

Now, that's a wish well spent

Honestly, keeping you safe should be worth every cent

And this is the thanks I get?

This is the thanks I get?

And this is the thanks I get?

This is the thanks I get?

Oh, this is the thanks I get?

[aquaquadrant]

HOLY SHIT… the amount of time and effort u must’ve put into this is INSANE. literally so freaking cool to read thru all ur thoughts on the series from start to finish. this is prob the longest/most in-depth feedback i’ve ever gotten, it really means a lot 😭😭😭

obvi i can’t address everything you’ve written here but since u took the time to share your thoughts, i can at least answer some of the questions u had 💃

oneshots: yeah, when i posted the first part, i thought i would just do a few ‘one shots’ (unconnected short stories) to tell the story. very quickly, i realized that it’d be better to do more structured chapters- although the structure admittedly could’ve benefitted from more in-depth planning. the story def got away from me a little bit 😂

how timmy knew about other worlds vs hels: at the time of writing, i had more intended for him to have just picked it up over the years. patho’s theory is fairly wide-spread, though not EVERY player/community in hels is aware of or accepts it. but i could definitely see watchers having a hand in that, as well.

how hels tek functions: atlas is unique in how much control he exerts over his employees. he maintains strict rules and high standards of ‘civil behavior’ that aren’t typical for other redstone labs, not even iraid. while instinct himself usually resolves conflicts non-violently, he isn’t afraid to lay down the law if needed. and he tolerates a greater amount of fighting and crude behavior than atlas, so long as his employees are still getting their work done.

the respawn anchor glitch: my intention was for it to be an act of the universe, to give tango the opportunity to free himself and participate in its experiment. but to the players, it was nothing more than random chance. you’re the first person i’ve seen to theorize about that being an act of sabotage, so kudos to you!

bravo’s overworld experiences: he actually didn’t get to spend a lot of time exploring the universe at large before he got stranded in hels, maybe a couple years? his experiences were very limited to a few moderately-sized public multiplayer worlds, mainly for redstone, where his talents were much appreciated. so while he’s heard of competitive multiplayer like UHC, he never participated in that (or knows of anarchy servers) so he got a falsely positive view of what ‘overworlds’ are like and let that sour his view of hels even further.

how alsiker knew bravo wasn’t from hels: it’s the eyes, babey!! 👁️👄👁️

was bravo going to go back thru the hels portal after atlas? i truly think he might have! he was in a full rage at that point and not thinking clearly. same reason he couldn’t calm down and explain himself better to the double lifers (would’ve spared him from being hotguyed 🎻)

bravo’s interest in timmy: it’s a very complex jumble of emotions that guided bravo to that choice. he’s feeling angry and cheated, robbed of all the good things he feels entitled to (and thinks that tango ‘stole’ from him). jimmy sort of became a representation of that, all the ‘good things’ bravo missed out on, so he developed an unhealthy fixation that got transferred on to timmy. it didn’t help that jimmy is actually very attractive in bravo’s eyes and to his taste in men, AND that jimmy demonstrated himself as so devoted and loving to tango. in a way, it’s like bravo looked at jimmy fighting to defend tango and thought “damn i need me a man like that. be great if someone cared for me that way :’)” then looked at the raggedy mess that is timmy and thought “i can fix him” (wrong!!!)

tango’s ‘deceit’: the amount of actual lying that tango did is very minimal, and amplified by his own insecurities and the blame directed onto him by bravo and atlas. he thinks that having those ‘sadistic’ tendencies at all makes him a monster, even tho he found a good way of coping and enjoys making games for people. in his mind, at this point in the story, he shouldn’t enjoy people dying at all, even in the context of a voluntary fun minigame.

mumbo’s redstone world: it is a single player world, however. when grian escaped the watchers, he sort of fell out of the aether and into the first safe world he thought of, which was mumbo’s. normally grian can’t physically enter a single player world whenever he wants, that was a special one-time case. it gave mumbo quite the shock.

respawns: i’m sure bravo and timmy set their spawns in double life before the mission back to hels, just didn’t include it. but players can still set their spawns after traveling thru a hacked nether portal. it just means that if the spawn point is disrupted (ie. a bed is broken or a respawn anchor runs out) they’d default back to their last world spawn. for hels players, that’ll always be hels. the way to change that is by getting a new communicator or joining another world via comm portal- then that becomes their default spawn (btw, post-HTP, timmy’s default spawn is the double life world)

atlas’s defeat: the reason he was so blindsided by tango and bravo tricking him was partly cuz 1) he views himself as smarter than them and 2) he views himself as the manipulator, not the one to be manipulated. those are their roles, in his mind. so while he’s playing all these mental games, he doesn’t see them as active opponents, more like game pieces that he has to correctly move and manipulate to get what he wants. he didn’t think they’d be capable of playing him, back. that hubris of his was always gonna be the end of him!

patho: what IS he up to… hmm…. 👀

falsesymmetry: false is… doing the best she can with the knowledge she has available. she and sym have issues that i can’t wait to explore in future fics. it’s def not gonna go over well with tango though.

scáil: his condition is related to grian’s botched watcher transformation, and that’s not what’s supposed to happen. counterparts can normally be made watchers independently of each other. but something went very wrong. grian really oughta check in 😉

doc’s hive mind: i haven’t fully fleshed out this concept but since doc is not a normal player, and has significant cybernetic enhancements, i imagine hive mind to be a way for him to sort of tap into the communication between watchers? like his own private line into the aether. so he doesn’t hear them in the traditional way of a listener, but all their expansive knowledge is available to him.

portal technology: it’s all a bit wonky, i’ll admit. hacked nether portals can only be opened between hels and a different world- so two counterparts within hels couldn’t travel to each other. players from overworlds can bring items to hels with them, or even mobs, and it works like a normal nether portal, but i imagine that doesn’t track for creative worlds. just cuz like, i imagine creative worlds being almost on a separate plane of reality where the items and mobs they generate aren’t really ‘real’? if that makes any sense. that possibility would just be way too chaotic and game-breaking.

current state of hels: i touched on this in another ask but basically, the firewall being down just means players can make hacked nether portals much more easily. their comms are still hardwired to not be able to open portals, and that’ll always be true. but if they go to another world and get a new comm from there, then those comms will work normally (like what tango did with xisuma’s help).

PHEWWWW i think that’s most of it, i know u were prob just thinking out loud/rhetorical thinking for some of these but it was neat to elaborate a little more on some things!! i hope to elaborate even more in future HTP stories (once i’ve taken my board exam OTL)

and truly, truly, thank you for sharing 💜

I loved reading the "From Eden" story, written by @aquaquadrant and the accompanying art by @lunarcrown. I keep thinking about the story/world, so I decided to be kind to myself and write it out, so at least my thoughts will be organized.

Or so I thought. It turned out to be more of a ramble than a coherent piece of text. I'm not gonna do it to myself to check and clear up everything, it's supposed to be a fun write, not a chore. I've made a lot of (obvious) observations and asked a lot of questions, but that's me just 'thinking out loud'. And I knew it would be long, but I hadn't expected it to be this long. I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in reading all of it, but here it is anyway.

------

I love it, and everything about it.

I love the whole "Hells to Pay" universe. I love how alive the universe feels while at the same time it still feels very much like Minecraft. I love how it has very much game logic while at the same time having very real stakes and dangers.

I love the characters, both the ones based on youtubers and the original ones. The first category are clearly recognizable with their way of speaking and mannerisms and the latter seem just as well developed. I love how everyone has depth. Everyone has strengths and weakness, even if it's not always obvious. No one is fully good and even the worst characters have some good qualities. And everyone has the ability to change and learn, for better or for worse, but only if they choose so.

I love the writing. The way it's structured makes it fun and easy to read. The wording very much supports the world and it's characters. I love how it lingers on some moments and quickly goes over others, it feels very natural. And though I am the kind of person that wants to know anything about a universe/story they love, I do think that the amounts of exposition and explanation are great. More would probably hinder the telling of the story itself. And I love all the extra bits of the world told through answering other peoples asks.

I love the art. Everyone is unique and easy recognizable. The bodylanguage and faces are really expressive. It's great to see. Beside that, it's also an artstyle that I just really enjoy.

So onto more details of the story. A LOT more details, I basically did another deep read to make sure I didn't miss anything. Spoilers I guess for anyone who hasn't read the story but somehow did find this post.

------

Lunarcrown's into comic looks amazing. It also wonderfully shows what kind of world Hels can be and the nightmare that is Tango's life. When I found the story, this intro was enough to get me hooked.

I think it's funny that the first part of an eleven chapter story (of which two are two-parters) is called a one-shot in the authors notes. I mean, I'm not a native English speaker and all that, but I don't think that's correct. Was it intended to be a stand-alone story? Had it been the plan for the AU to be told through short stories?

It's a small thing but I like how every new chapter/place is introduced by "Somewhere in [insert world], a player [is introduced, doing something]", with very minimal variations. It's a nice returning bit, through the whole story.

The way Tango's imprisonment is described is chillingly beautiful. It's horrific, but at the same time almost casual. But that's what is has become for Tango: just another day. In the same way, the manner of escaping is grueling, showing clearly his desperation. Well done.

It's so clearly noticeable, even through the immediate relief of escaping Hells Tek, that he's been through so much and that it impacted him so much. And then he decides to hide it and pretend it didn't happen for another decade. Even if he didn't fool people nearly as much as he thinks he did, it's so sad he though he needed to do that. Not to say that I can't understand it. Sadly, it probably stopped him from openly enjoying what he had: his freedom, all the wonderful experiences of the overworld and his friends. It's an amazing first chapter.

Also I love the way you write Xisuma.

And hello Bravo. I don't really like him as a character, too arrogant and snobbish. But at the same time, I love his journey and it's fun to follow him. He didn't deserve to be stranded here. But then again, that was kinda the point of the Universe's little experiment. I wonder, if he would one day learn about that, would it make him feel better or worse?

It's interesting to see his outside view of Hermitcraft. And them being considered a private bunch in this universe, while we see them pretty much place every block of their megabases, through streams and timelapses. Then again, in-story Hermitcraft is only in it's second world/season. I haven't been following Hermitcraft for THAT long, but it probably isn't a fair comparison. I wonder which of the Hermits Bravo was familiar with. Some of the redstoners, probably.

Timmy leaving his save spot to talk to Bravo wasn't something I noticed om my first read, and it's sweet of him. I love Timmy, and at the same time I want to yell at him for taking such poor care of himself. It's nice to see that through all he experienced he hasn't lost his kindness.

I've been definitely overthinking this, but while rereading Timmy explaining what Hels is to Bravo I was wondering how he knew the difference between Hells and a normal world. The logical explanation would be that some other player told him. But I remembered a post were there was mentioned Timmy was a Listener and I am a sucker for any Watcher Lore (and your version is great), so my mind came to the conclusion that a Watcher told Timmy. After all, he seems so lonely and so attention starved, that he would probably love it when the Watchers are around him. Maybe he tries to talk to them, make them stay a little longer. Most Watchers wouldn't be interested in him, since they can't make him leave. They would only be at spawn if someone more interesting has died without a respawn point. But maybe... Maybe some of the nicer Watchers decide to humor him, and talk for a moment. Maybe after a few times, they discover it's nice to sometimes just have a conversation with a player and just... start telling him things. Random bits of trivia, events that they've Watched somewhere else, things about their old lives. They would still be mostly doing other Watcher stuff, but when they are bored, or were about to visit Hels' spawn anyway, they stop by a certain avian.

Like I said, I've been overthinking this. It probably doesn't fit your story, but it has been fun to imagine. I like the idea that Timmy is one of the few players that is completely comfortable with being a Listener. And I like the idea of someone that people don't spend a second thought on casually having conversations with literal deities.

Back to Bravo for a moment. The stretchend out death-loop that is his way out of spawn is interesting to see. He starts out relatively optimistic but get's a hard and painful lesson on what life in Hels is like. By the time he meets the Arena recruiters he seems to understand why Timmy doesn't leave spawn. Bravo is glad with the resources he has, even though in any other world a second-day player would probably put him to shame. His first instinct on seeing players approach him is now to hide. He's already changed a lot, probably without even realizing it. And that is before he snaps.

The symmetry between the ending of one chapter and the start of the other is well done. One duo dies and Bravo finally gets a break in his struggle to survive. Another duo dies and Tango has a big setback in the game he's participating in.

The tone of chapter 3 is very different from the previous chapters. For a big part, it is an adaptation of Jimmy's and Tango's first episodes of the Double Life series. It's impressive how that part is both true to the source and a good adaptation. And then it smoothly transforms in your own work. Well done.

"They have only one bed." Look, I am very new to fanfiction, but even I know that this is a classic. I don't mind. Classics are classics for a reason, and you've written it good. I love the awkwardness here between the two of them.

Somehow the thing that's hardest to believe is that Grian would be the one to propose an end to the death-game, and it's funny that other characters seem to find that hard to believe as well. But it's a fun set-up to change mid-way in a death game to a survival world.

The addition that the soulbound can make you aware of your partners feelings and that it amplifies whatever is already between them. And thank you Impulse, for sharing your wisdom and for talking some sense into Tango. All the things Tango worries Jimmy will hate about him, seem to be the things he hates himself for. No wonder he feels unlovable. And thank you Pearl, for giving Tango some perspective.

So much of this chapter is just lovely and wholesome. After the Ranches have one good conversation, things just organically develop. Their relations grows closer and stronger. Tango learns to love and how it feels to be loved, he learns to be vulnerable, he slowly starts lowering his walls. There are still mountains of old pain, but there are new pieces that are healing as well. Thank you Jimmy, for being the healer that Tango needs. If only it would last.

Back to Hels. It's a nice detail that beds are a high end item. I guess that means making wool from string isn't possible (4 string into wool never felt right anyway). Though an anchor would prevent a long death loop by running out.

The inner workings of Hels Tek are a nice bit of information, though the place itself definitely is not. How does it compare to other redstone labs, like iRaid? Many workers probably only tolerate the restricting of their freedom because it's still better inside than being alone on the outside.

Clear is a fun character, especially when interacting with Atlas. He can get away with almost anything because he is just to valuable to loose in Atlas' eyes. He is a tragic mess but highly intelligent and takes pride in his work.

It's very telling that young Atlas, with just two minutes of life experience, already assumed the worst of others. That is not something he learned. Why would someone bother to plug a hole at spawn? Ease of traveling? And it's wood, valuable and burnable, it could have been part of a make-shift bridge, or something. Atlas really is the worst. Oh, and rule number one of Minecraft: don't dig straight down, smart guy.

It felt strange to me that Timmy lied to Atlas about Bravo, while pointing them in the direction that Tango want, the guy Atlas is actually looking for. But now I realize that Tango could "still see spawn in the distance", just before the portal spawned. Did Timmy in turn actually see Tango leaving and Bravo joining, from his higher vantage point? That would mean he probably did protect Tango, by not telling the full truth. Also, he's seen both of them. Has he noticed their likeness?

I hadn't caught on to Timmy casually lying Bravo in the first few times I read this chapter. It's sweet. And that he is able to do so while sounding casual surprises me. It feels like a stark contrast with his counterpart, who seems to be a bad liar and with an very emotive voice. And Timmy managed to do so in the face of a powerful man who has already subtilty threatened him and his with minions around. A quiet display of (inner) strength.

Timmy has delayed Atlas and Bravo meeting for five years, half the time Bravo spend in Hels. Five years without answers, five years without any hope of returning. If Atlas had found him the next time Bravo respawned (shot by a skeleton, if matched up chapter II and V correctly) Atlas would have put things together. Bravo would probably have jumped at the chance to get to Hels Tek, to civilisation, and he hadn't learned the "healthy Hels skepticism" yet. Atlas would be his savior! And would have been able to fully shape Bravo's image of Hels. Now, Bravo had to build his own image. Would he think it would have been worth those five years? Maybe, after he finally escaped Hels. I hope so, for Timmy's sake.

Tango had five more years on the overworld because of Timmy's lie. Five years of healing, but also five years of hiding and festering. He would have been in the fifth or sixth world of Hermitcraft, which would have had more resources than Double life. But the Hermit are more thinly spread and not focused on pvp. And on Hermitcraft, Tango probably would have been alone, when Hels Tek came for him. Others would have probably too far away to reach him in time, if they even knew were to go. Or maybe Tango would have been lucky and Hels Tek would have entered minutes before the final battle of the season 6 Prank War. Probably not but that would have been funny. There is a chance that the five extra years were unnecessary and only stopt him from fully healing but I think its way more likely that it saved him. On Double Life and with Jimmy at his side it seems that everything was exactly right for Tango being saved and to make sure his past won't come back to hound him anymore.

I truly hope that Timmy's little lie made things better in the end. I didn't realize that I had so much to say about one sentence in the story. I hope you didn't mind the sidetrack.

Atlas looking for Tango in the Arena seems to be the reason that the recruiters that made Bravo snap ran into him in the first place. Credits were it's due, thank you Atlas, for giving Bravo the means to gain things like good food, end-game armor and weapons. I still don't like you.

Considering Alisker has a spy in Hels Tek, and doesn't actually want hybrid farming to succeed, could the failing of respawn anchor be due to sabotage? Or maybe it was just the will of the Universe. Also, Alisker humiliating Atlas is very satisfying.

The downward spiral of Hels Tek is also very satisfying. It seems that Atlas never bothered to make any protocol for things taking a turn for the worst. I guess that just would be unimaginable for him. And then dr. Clear manages to halt that spiral in one lucid peptalk. That makes me sad that his lucid moments seem to be so rare and frustrated that he uses his skills and talents for Hels Tek. Clear Cut's mental health issues could be some form of heavy depression. That would be treatable. Earlier in the chapter it was mention he has to use potions of swiftness to be functional, but that sounds like management to me, not treatment.

The difference between Atlas meeting Bravo, and Atlas meeting a young Tango is interesting. Tango's base is hidden, while Bravo's is not. Bravo asks questions before deciding whether to attack, while Tango does not. Both of them are wary, but Tango seems eager to work in a redstone lab, while Bravo only sees it as a way home. All of these differences seem to be learned, though. And young Tango is cute.

Bravo at the start of chapter VI has plenty of Hels experience, but without Atlas having manipulated his worldview yet. Still, it's not a pretty picture. He thinks Atlas is probably dangerous because "he’s from Hels, after all". As if overworlders can't be dangerous. Does he know how players on anarchy servers can be? Does he know how an UHC works?

Overworld players gain the ability to travel between world as teenagers, and Bravo mentions next chapter that he probably stopped aging while still looking young. Tango was recruited as a teen, and spent only a few years in Hels Tek. He is the same age as Bravo. In other words, Bravo probably didn't have that much of a window between gaining access to multiverse travel and getting trapped in Hels. Maybe Bravo is just naive when it comes to overworld players.

You know, I really thought Atlas was the one to bring out the worst in Bravo, but perhaps all he did was stop Bravo from examining his own biases. I know Hels is a though place but I can't believe Bravo is that special for having a grand total of three pieces of furniture. He also already considers hybrid players part monster. One of his first thoughts on hearing Hels is an actual prisonworld is that the players that have spawned here must deserve it. And when Atlas guesses that Tango managed "to utilize [Bravo's] connection to leave Hels", Bravo interprets that as Tango willingly trapping him.

Bravo's early days in Hels Tek probably mirror those of Tango. A rundown of practices and procedures of the place, other scientist gathering information about him, leaving the communicator with other scientist to let them figure out the data. Probably to work with the same iron farm scientist Bravo talked to. But Bravo is aware what it's actually for, Tango was fed lies. And Tango was a teenager that had probably grown up feral and just entered a community for the first time.

Hels!Keralis is another fun character. I love that one of the extreme traits that he got from his counterpart is more eyes. How does he know that Bravo isn't from Hels? With the number of eyes he has it somehow wouldn't surprise me if he has some sort of special sight. Or it could be corporate spionage.

I haven't mentioned it before but the way you write the passage of time, with short snippits to show significant moments or changes, is very good. It really gets across how not everything happens in short order, how events can have far reaching effects and how change can happen slowly. It also helps you feel that time has passed and the world isn't static.

Once Bravo had his first impression of Patho, he really didn't bother updating his opinion unless other players made him. Bravo wonders what it could take to loose an eye, and there is something that can do that. In some of the worldbuilding posts it's mentioned that Martyn lost one eye, and Grian both of them, to Watchers. It would make sense that an experienced player would be recruited, but it could also just be an coincident. Bravo disapproves of the fangirling towards Patho, but I wouldn't be surprised if he once was a big fan of Etho. Legendary overworld redstoner and all that. (IRL during April Fools 2013, Etho was famous enough to get his own Minecraft block) The manner Patho let's Bravo know that he doesn't like to be touched is way over the top. Patho is another interesting character, but one of those that I'm very glad of that he's fictional. At the same time it's sweet of Patho that he is very much willing to educate others and share his knowledge.

I like the touch that the first two times the portal is lit, it has everchanging colours. Like the Hermitcraft portal Tango went trough. And it's later explained that inter-world portals have unique color-paterns, depending on their destination. So Tango is still on Hermitcraft in the early attempts. After that it switches to the red-yellow-green of the Traffic SMP/Life Series.

Bravo almost shows some critical thinking and empathy when he finds the Tango Tek farm, but it's immediately ruined when Atlas shows up. I hope Bravo gets nightmares about this when he finally learns how to self-reflect. Bravo's sarcastic reply on whether he has said his goodbyes is telling. He could have made friends if he had wanted to, I'm sure. The scientist had been welcoming and curious about him, and as a redstoner himself it's not as if they had nothing in common. That's a good base to build upon.

His first moments in ten years in the overworld are beautiful. Though Bravo has very many flaws, I do have sympathy for him gotten trapped in Hels. But not for anything else at the moment.

Jimmy reflecting on getting to know the Hermits is fun and wholesome. The little things he has learned about Tango, the thing he seems to love most about him, seem to be mainly related to being a blaze hybrid. All the things that are just Tango. That makes Bravo's claim that he should have been Jimmy's soulmate just plain wrong.

The whole conversation between Jimmy, Tango and Bravo is amazing. Jimmy is trying to figure out what is going on and all is knows for certain is that the person he loves is scared and hurting. And once again Bravo almost seem to realize the universe isn't as black and white as he though it was.

And then the fight! Tango's terror and fight response. Jimmy's terror. Tango's shutdown when he realized that he hurt Jimmy. Just wow. And Jimmy's reaction to seeing Tango freezing up is pretty much forgetting he is on fire because Tango needs him! Poor, poor Tango. Bravo clearly sees himself as a good guy by taking back his rightful place and trying to help Jimmy, not realizing that for Jimmy he is the villain and the leader of the group that invaded the Ranch and is kidnapping his boyfriend. And Jimmy placing himself between the invaders and the portal, knowing he can't win is a beautiful show of his care, courage and determination. These guys have very shallow definitions of strength and weakness.

The Cavalry arrives! And the announcing their presence with the horns is very much Double Life. I know that battles are hard to write, but you did an amazing job with it. It's definitely chaotic with much going on, but it's clear to read and good to follow. Every Lifer does their part in the battle and everyone has their own fighting style.

Was Bravo so angry of Atlas that he tried to follow him back to Hels? The place that he tried to leave for ten years? The moment the portal breaks he is surrounded by overworlders. He can blame the battle going wrong and the mistrust of the players on Atlas, but they give Bravo a chance to explain himself and he messed that up all on his own. And Bravo has seen they are pretty much what he thinks overworlders should be. It's a server where they don't grief bases, where they work/fight together, where they defend each other, where they ask questions and don't immediately attack. (Outside the battle, but that doesn't count, they saw their servermates in trouble.) But they don't welcome Bravo as one of their own. They restrain him and mistrust him. They don't see him as different from the other players that came trough the portal. ("What did you guys do to him", emphasis mine) They hear his explanation but don't believe him. They dislike it so much they kill him, meaning this time he is send to Hels and it's not a fluke or mistake. It's overworld players wanting him gone.

I don't think he realizes this, not at first at least, he has his mind on other things. But once he has time to process what happened? It has got to hurt, even if he doesn't admit to himself he was wrong. I think it all does help later with Tango's words finally reaching him.

Jimmy's fear of not knowing were Tango is when the portal is broken is so real. So is the relief on knowing he's still (physically) with them. Scar being the one to shoot Bravo feels right. Scar has a goofy and easygoing demeanor, but he is very capably and not someone who you should cross, and Bravo did that by saying nasty things about his friend.

It's a relief that Bravo has finally up enough to stop working with Atlas. Progress? His fight against the hired muscle parallels the fight Tango had in brutality, as much as he might deny it. and slicing his own neck is brutal as well.

I'm still not sure how to feel about the Bravo/Timmy reunion. I'm happy that Timmy isn't alone anymore, that he is with someone who has been, not quite nice, but at least polite towards him. At the same time Bravo isn't doing this for the right reasons, he later admits as much himself. He is using Timmy as a substitute for Jimmy. Thing is, he doesn't know Jimmy. Is he really so hung op over the whole 'should-be-soulmates' thing over a stranger? I don't get it, and that could very wel just be a me problem. But he does want Timmy around, even if he's not Bravo's first choice. Since Bravo stepped through the portal that was supposingly taking him to Hermitcraft, Timmy might have been the only one that has been there for him. Timmy was the one who explained Hells to him, without trying to manipulate him. He has been welcoming to him. He has been the one who showed sympathy when Bravo died. The only thing Timmy wanted was not to be alone, but he didn't force that. I hope Bravo's biases don't blind him towards all that.

And that final sentence. If he can’t have the sun, he’ll learn to love its shadow. I know I haven't been the only one going crazy over that. That one sentence it saying so much. I've also have been (over)thinking what that makes Timmy, symbolism wise. The sun doesn't actually have a shadow, being a light source. But there is one thing, it isn't a real shadow, but there is something that is a lack of sunlight. If Jimmy is the sun, Timmy is the night sky. Both are beautiful on their own.

Back to Double life and their aftermath of the battle. I like that you fully wrote the aftermath. Things like this often get skipped or summarized. Now things have calmed down a little, the players have room to feel their exhaustion, their fear, their pain, to become more aware of their wider surroundings and to start figuring out what actually happend. It seems that no matter the universe, the Ranch is destined to burn down. It's sad to see, especially with how warm and cosy you had written the place. And ofcourse Etho and Joel have water buckets, with that clutching trick they love doing.

The state Tango is in, is heartbreaking. No one seems to be sure how to handle that situation, except Impulse, but that might just be appearances. Impulse and Jimmy have a very similar comforting warmth around them, I'm not sure how to call it. So, while Jimmy might feel useless (and the 'intrusive thoughts' aren't helping), I don't think he would have done a bad job with helping Tango. But Impulse has known Tango for years, and has some experience. And he didn't just went through the things that Tango or Jimmy just did. Jimmy's comment about the lights show that he does know Tango, no matter what he thinks. It's interesting that the comments from the Watchers right after are ambiguous in whether they are directed at Jimmy or Impulse.

You cannot sleep, there are monsters nearby. That sentence fills me with dread ever time I read it. It's a dread probably every survival minecrafter knows. And for that sentence to be directed towards Tango is devastating. Luckily Jimmy knows just wat to say to pull Tango out of it. The whole conversation after feels beautifully sad and vulnerable and raw. And it's once again devastating that Tango still feels that he has to be strong in front of Jimmy and only let's himself cry when he thinks there's no one to see it. But Jimmy is not doing nothing, he is being Tango's shoulder to cry on, an that is worth a lot.

The game-chat log of the battle is a fun read. It's very bare-bones, due to it's nature but it gives a good overview and a good indication of how the other Lifers reacted. You have a very good grasp of how you can use the chat in the story. Also, good job Bravo, you did the impossible and make Jimmy hate someone.

Tango's desperate attempt to avoid talking about what happend is painful, and it doesn't exactly work when other players were actually there to witness it. He's still afraid of being rejected because of the truth. And when de finally talks about his past he uses the word 'evil' to describe the players of Hells multiple times, he really believes it. Of course, his friends know better. I like how mad the Lifers are about Tango's past, how offended they are for his sake. And Tango's fear of they kicking him out never crossed their minds.

Whether or not it makes sense for this AU to have a concept of years, I'm glad they exists because it makes it much easier as a reader to keep track of time and of a player maturity. Gradual growth isn't really a thing in Minecraft, so it could even work as kind of sub-growth-stages between player children, teens and adults.

Another vulnerable conversation between Tango and Jimmy, with Tango admitting things he probably never said out loud before. But how bad is it really if he found a healthy way indulge in his questionable desires? And it's not like death is permanent. I can't argue with Tango saying he's messed up, but that's the trauma, not an inherent part of him.

I don't think he has deceived and lied as much as he thinks he has. His friends seemed to realize that Tango had a traumatic past and that some things set him of. They knew Tango didn't want to talk about it so they didn't ask. And he may have hidden his past and a part of his personality, but that was mostly lying by omission. Were the parts of his personality he did show false? Did he not want people to have fun with his games? I highly doubt that.

And it's not as if he's the only one with questionable personality traits on this server. In chapter IV Pearl gave him a bucket of powdered snow so she wouldn't succumb to the temptation of torturing her own soulmate, for example. Nobody is perfect, don't try to live up to an impossible standard.

The good thing about Tango saying all his insecurities aloud is that others can point out he's wrong, and Jimmy let's him know very clearly. Tango seems to be so surprised about it. He never considered his fears being wrong.

All things considered the Ranchers seem to handle the burned out ranch well. They're sad about it and Tango feels guilty, and that makes sense, but no anger or panic or deeply repressed feelings. Progress? Jimmy's comment about liking to wear the gloves is cute. Him not giving them back to Tango is also saying that Tango doesn't need to hide his claws, or himself. I thinks Tango is starting to understand that, even if he has trouble believing it. Same with all the players showing up, Tango sees that the truth about him hasn't scared them off.

I guess that there have been times that all the hiding was too overwhelming at times. Those probably moments Tango looked for Hels. If he was there wouldn't have to keep lying to his friends. He would have felt so much guilt, especially after learning that he had a counterpart that was probably trapped there. So it's a good thing it doesn't show up.

The similarities and differences between Patho and Etho explaining the portals stuff are fun. They have different experience with portals and different tools to work with, but they figured it out. And Patho isn't willing to give up one redstone ore block, while Etho is willing to get up and look for one with a friend.

Every time Tango mentions something about his past in Hels, Impulse seems to be in conflict to be a comforting presence or to be in righteous furry. It's hard to blame him. It's nice to see Impulse and Jimmy kind of team up to try to help Tango work trough everything.

I'm not sure how firewalls and whitelists work (or don't work) in combination with hacked portals. I'm also not sure how those exactly work. Then again, I know it's more important that they work than how they work. My brain just wants to understand it.

Tango, I get that you want to protect your friends but going into Hels alone isn't the solution. That way they at least get hurt by your actions and you actually encourage them to make unprepared, desperate attempts to get you back. If Tango had succeeded in breaking the portal, the Double Lifers would still try to follow. Since they know Bravo met Etho's counterpart, they would probably open a portal with his data. That would definitely have been interesting, but that would not have been good.

Thankfully, Jimmy is there to prevent all that. It's good to see that he stands his ground when Tango wants to cut others out, even though Jimmy has his own insecurities to deal with. And he already followed him to Hels, so of course Jimmy wouldn't think twice about following Tango into a trap.

Bravo has so many villainous vibes. It's a miracle he hasn't noticed it yet. He has figured out why they are here, but at the same time doesn't seem to realize they are here to help. And the hypocrite is calling Tango a monster for his temper, while he started the fight because of his anger. Bravo is a very good fighter, we've already seen, he's been in much tougher fights against much more experienced fighters. So it's not that surprising that the Ranchers lose.

Even after they lose Bravo keeps on hurting Tango with actions and words. It's no wonder that Tango realizes that the personality trait he hates so much about himself -a thing that makes him believe that he deserves all the bad stuff- is something he inherited from Bravo. It's something he only has because it comes from his 'better' counterpart. And that realisation gives him wat he needs to get through to Bravo.

Bravo's breakdown is beautiful to watch. You can see his whole beliefsystem falling apart and him having nothing to keep up his mental strength. It's so well written. For all the wrongs he's done, I never saw him as an evil person. Arrogant, biased and misguided, yes. Even so, he came to Hels with a strong sense of justice but he had to spend so much energy on just surviving that somewhere along the way he had to give it up. One can only have a survival mentality for so long before things have to give.

Tango understanding what Bravo must have been trough heartwarming. And I'm very much with him on this. Him embracing and accepting Bravo and Bravo finally accepting him is great. And now it's time for Bravo to begin his redemption arc. I absolutely love redemption arcs and -though I don't think Bravo's finished at the end of the story- this is a good one.

Timmy and Jimmy meeting each other is pretty much the opposite of Bravo and Tango meeting. No mistrust or hostility at all but mostly awe. It's nice how Tango describes it in his point of view. Timmy admitting he understand why he isn't good enough is just so sad. He knew Bravo couldn't fully accept him as he was, and he sees that his doppelgänger looks much better than him (rather objectively, being healthy beats being unkept and skin-over-bones). Jimmy basically goes all 'protective big brother' over Timmy, it's great. It's a relief that Bravo learned to (or at least started to) see Timmy as his own person.

The last scene of chapter X. It was so frustrating to wait to see wat happened next. Bravo seemed to be on Tango's side, so it would probably be a ruse. At the same time, it wouldn't have been the first time if Bravo had lost his temper and stopped being smart. I'm rather new in the fandom side of Minecraft Youtubers, so this was the first chapter I came across and the first time I had to wait for an update. I found it after someone reblogged some of Lunarcorwn's art (along with a tiny excerpt) about this chapter. I was immediately fascinated, and after the intro comic, I was sold.

The start of the next chapter doesn't give immediate resolution to a first time reader. Bravo is definitely convincing. He has to be, Atlas is not easily fooled. But knowing what's going on there seem to be small tells in how Bravo acts. Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Bravo's aggression looks like anger but is probably his newfound guilt and insecurity. He only talks to answer Atlas' questions, his speech seems more to the point while at the same time he uses more filler words.

It's interesting to see Bravo trying to trust Tango and Jimmy, while at the same time having learned to be distrustful of everything. He's really going back and forth between the two. Thankfully, Tango is understanding and shows him grace. Why does Bravo tense up when Tango mentions his friends won't attack on sight? Had he forgotten that overworld players don't tend to do that? It would probably be painful for him to realize there are things he has unlearned or forgotten.

Poor Timmy probably hasn't interacted with more that one person in ages. The Double Lifers must be very much overwhelming, especially since many of them aren't exactly low-energy players.

It's Tango's job to make sure his friends don't go with a bad -but easier- plan? Talk about role reversal.

The conversation between Bravo and Timmy by the portal is nice. I like whatever kind of relation they have, messy as it is. I'm not saying it's good, but it's interesting to read about. They each have many issues. Bravo is now aware of that, but I'm not sure if Timmy is. I'm not even sure Timmy knows what a healthy relationship looks like. They both care about each other and I think they could help each other out. But at the same time, Bravo has anger issues and biases against Hels players and hybrids and Timmy is both and probably wouldn't set any boundaries. At this moment them being together could either be healing or toxic. So I get Bravo's hesitance.

Jimmy's hostility towards Bravo is so odd to see. It's so unlike him, though it's fully earned. Tango and Bravo sharing their braincells while coming up with a plan is fun, especially since Tango has to tell his friends that every time that, yes, he is on board with what Bravo says.

I admire Tango's courtage to enact the plan. Then again it's in a way a variant on Tango's earlier plan to sacrifice himself, now it's only temporary. It's no wonder he looses his nerves and fully panics at the last moment when he is actually faced with the machine that caused most of his suffering. Once again: poor guy.

Bdubs has a point about Bravo calling others bad, but Patho literally disemboweled him so I think Bravo is being fair in his case. As for instinctSV, he barely appears in the story, so that's hard to say. But I don't think you get to lead a company in Hels by being trusting and charitable.

Grian and his Watcher abilities! This is a great moment to use his powers, especially since he so hesitant to use them. And he and Jimmy are right, this is not the moment to explain it all. This is the second time that Grian uses his silent 'Watcher voice' in a group meeting and this time there is an extra Listener around. Grian's secret is all but out.

Grian getting Mumbo to come with him with some crazy but true explanation somehow sounds like a very Grian thing to do. I love your portrayal of Mumbo. It's been a lot so it's no surprise that he needs a moment to wrap his head around it. Mumbo is a good friend, keeping how he helped/helps with Grian's eyes a secret. And Grian turned up on his redstone world? Wouldn't that be single-player? How did Grian manage that? And it's good to know that Grian told Mumbo what happend over time.

Something that stood out was that Mumbo stopped himself from tugging his mustache. The way it was worded was like a habit he tries to unlearn. It was also something Clear did but didn't seem to mind.

Tango finally understands he doesn't have to do this on his own and that he can rely on his friends. The warmth he has for the people around him here is so sweet. And he finally doesn't just want to confront his past, but actually wants to put it behind him. He still thinks that the "entire mess is solely his fault" (as if he asked for it) but he knows they will do whatever it takes to help him. "Is it really any wonder he learned how to be a good person just by knowing them?" Just beautiful! Though, is he seriously gonna give Jimmy a lecture about self-blame? That's just funny.

It's promising that Bravo corrects himself about the burned Ranch. Especially since nothing about it is even spoken out loud. He might have had a change of view, fully ingrained change requires more than that. But Bravo is willing to work on it. He does note himself that he wouldn't have been able to see Tango's influence on the interior.

It's entertaining to see how Bravo describes the Lifers, and Mumbo. The sentiment of wanting to kill Atlas is very understandable. Though Bravo is the Plan Guy, Jimmy is the leader here. He listens to Bravo because Bravo has the most expertise. But Jimmy is the one who the rest listens to, the one who keeps the conversation on track and the one who validates the plan.

Tango and Bravo realizing how much they both have changed due to were they have been living feels like something they needed. I like how they are now that they're not hostile towards each other. Bravo and Timmy's realisation neither of them is a builder is a fun parallel of Tango and Jimmy, and I'm glad Tango is there to watch it. It feels promising somehow.

Once again, Jimmy is being a leader here. Checking in, helping, dispelling fears. I highly doubt that Jimmy sees himself as a leader, though. The talk between Jimmy and Bravo is amazing. It just radiates growth and caring.

Tango in the farm. Oof. It's amazing how he is so close to drowning in despair, but still manages to find something to hold on to. And then he realizes he was strong enough to survive it all before, and that he is stronger now. It's wonderful how he let his good memories strengthen him, and that while he is currently living through his worst nightmare.

Clear not realizing Hels Tek is being invaded and said invaders being fine with Clear just continuing to do his own thing is really amusing. Clear 'recognizing' Grian is so sad. But Grian doesn't seem to have the instinctive recognition of his counterparts name, and later when said counterpart realizes Grians name, it's not his player name. That's interesting. I appreciate that Grian stays with Clear and I wonder what is said between them off screen. I hope Clear eventually realizes Grian is not Scáil.

The invasion of Hels Tak is a fun read. Overpowering the first guard went so smooth! Then the ravager just had to shake things up. It's nice that during everything, Pearl and Scott seem to have patched things up and are flawlessly working together now. Jimmy seems to notice a 'intrusive thought' cutting another off, noticing how odd that is, even if he doesn't understand wat it means. Bravo and Jimmy fighting in sync is awesome! What's also a difference between this fight and the previous is that Jimmy uses his wings while fighting. Something that wouldn't be fair in a friendly fight. Tango notices later that he fights way better when he does use his non-human-side, for Jimmy it might be the same.

It's so nice that Jimmy notices that Tango lost the fear he always carried with him. He handled the last hours in the farm well. The first time I read this part I was so worried that there wasn't any mention of breaking the respawn anchor. I couldn't imagine that they would forget while standing right in front of it. Luckily there was no need for a respawn. I had also been a little nervous about Timmy and Bravo, had they made sure they would respawn at Double Life if their spawn point got reset? (Is that even possible for Timmy with his Hells-comm?)

Sweet Jimmy does not tolerate his boyfriend being name-called. And sweet Tango won't stand for his boyfriend being hurt. They're cute like that. It's good to see that Tango being called a monster has lost its power to hurt him, no matter how hard Atlas tries. He's finally able to fully accept his mob-side. It feels good that the three of them manage to piss of Atlas so much that he finally cracks, giving Tango the closure he needs. And then what's probably the most satisfying punch in Hels' history, even inflecting permanent damage.

This is the first time Tango consciously reached out for his own fire, isn't it? His own firestorm is a beautiful thing. And powerful. I'm so happy for Tango! Atlas having to helplessly watch how Tango casually strolls to the portal is extra satisfying.

Atlas just sitting outside and letting his laboratory burn really shows how defeated he is. If he was any other person I would probably feel sorry for him. And why is he so surprised that Tango and Bravo are the ones that beat him? They're both smart people that know how he works and with plenty of reasons to hate him. Are they really that unlikely to bring him down? Or did he underestimate them because they don't have the authority to boss others around? Good thing Tango had his friends on his side and that Bravo understood the power of friendship.

And then bX has the pleasure of kicking Atlas while he's down. Must have been a great relief too, to let the hybrid-farmer know his life's work was done for.

Even for the Hermits that had known something was 'off' about Tango, finally hearing what happened must have been a shock, for the ones that didn't know yet. And for Tango it must be nice to be able to tell it on his own terms, this time. He probably knew by now that the Hermits wouldn't abandon him after telling the truth, but having conformation must still feel great. It's also great that talking about it is becoming easier.

Alisker and xB are very sweet together. Very different from how they interact with other people. I admire Alisker's long term plan and how successfully it played out. He really made sure Atlas' damage stayed limited. I just wish his plans hadn't required for Tango to be locked in the farm in the first place.

I think it's a wise choice for Bravo to take some time for himself. Processing and healing from everything that happened can be nasty, and at those times it's nice not needing to mindful of others. At the same time, part of me is worried he's gonna overcorrect himself or close himself off. I'm not sure how excluded different worlds are, and how much contact players can have through the multi-net, but I hope that Bravo stays in contact with at least Timmy. It's sweet that Bravo clearly cares about Timmy's progress as well and that he regrets they both have to take different roads to heal.

The progress Timmy has already made is wonderful to see. Not only physically, he questions Bravo's decision to go and voices his discontent. Gently, but still. It feels like he's learning how to stand up for himself. Timmy himself really wanting to grow as a person is very promising, especially as someone who represents his counterparts (*checks external authors posts*) passiveness and victimhood.

Dbubs first appearance in the main story! His and Patho's relationship is both so warm and unhealty. I love complex people and I love complex people being even more complex together, and this story is full of them! I also love it every time when players are having that instinctual recognition at the proof of existence of their counterpart on page, whether is just the name or meeting face to face.

I wonder why exactly Patho wants to leave. It's not he didn't know about them having counterparts. Why does it suddenly matter? Is it because they visited Hells? Because they visited Hells together? Because of the recognition Patho felt? Or is it something else?

False, seriously? I don't think having someone chained up like an animal is keeping you in Tango's good graces. And you basically told him it could wait until he got back, while you're holding your twin prisoner! There might be something wrong with Sym, but what's wrong with you? It sounds like an interesting story, and I definitely have questions.

Poor Scáil. His suffering might actually surpass that of Tango in the farm. And if he's been like this since he left Hels Tek, it's been more than a decade, considering they never met. How did he become like this? I know it's related to Grian almost becoming a (full) Watcher, but this can't be how this is supposed to go. And even Grian has control of his abilities. Scáil using Grian's Watcher name makes me wonder how how much player vs Watches they actually are. Grian, please check in on your counterpart.

Stress' way of talking is always fun. Her and Doc's origin is cool. And I'm curious what your interpretation of the Hivemind is. Doc not having a Hels is a big relief, considering Doc himself already loves creating game-breaking machines. That trait would be terrifying on someone with a Hels mentality, let alone an amplified version of that trait. I understand why they are conflicted about it, though.

I'm glad we finally see Instinct in person. I like him and the vibe he gives off. Atlas working for him is amazing, how far he has fallen! I hope Instinct enjoys bossing him around.

Tango making the video about Hels and how to get there surprised me when I first read it, even though it makes sense. A lot of Hels players will probably change for the better because of it. It might also wreck the Hels economy. Overworld players could give their counterparts a way out, or provide them with resources that are easy to get in a normal world.

I have so many questions about it all. Can mobs travel through portals? How would it work when someone creates a portal in a creative world? Could they just spawn in rare items (elytra's or even things like spawn eggs) and bring them to Hels? Can counterparts create hacked portals when both of them are at different places in Hels? If so, that would create fast-travel. That would be especially valuable in such a giant world.

It would probably kind of sting for Bravo to see the video. Everything he needed to know and took him a decade to figure out, quickly explained in one video, uploaded not long after he finally escaped. Not that I think he woud disagree with uploading it, it's just, where was that when he needed it?

The idea of Bravo seeing Tango's video is interesting. Bravo could see all the videos Tango made while he was trapped in Hels. All the inventions and games (first Decked Out) that Tango created, all the projects he worked on with other Hermits. Tango could see the ones that Bravo made before they switched places. He could see how Bravo acted before Hels crushed him, the friends he had back in the day and how young he was when he got trapped. I wonder if they do that, and how it influences how they see each other.

It's very nice how you worked Steve, Herobrine and Alex in this universe. Does the Hels firewall being down also mean that overworld comms now work there properly? Herobrine being Hels former admin makes sense, as the first counterpart, though I hadn't expected it. It's nice that there won't be new player condemned to spawning in Hels.

The scene with Jimmy and Tango is just lovely. The cuffs and everything they stood for were so loaded for Tango. I'm glad he's finally able to take them off, and that Jimmy understood how much it meant for his soulmate.

I love how the last paragraph is inspired by the end credits poem. And I love how it both does and does not breaks the forth wall, and the things it explains. It's a nice touch that it's in-story explained by Aqua and Lunar.

-----

And that was it. For the main story anyway. I've also read the short stories from the Hels To Pay universe, but I leave that for another time. Maybe. I liked writing this but I've had enough for now. If you actually read all of this, you have my uttermost respect.

[felswritingfire]

(Hades) Gods x Shade! Reader

No matter how much you try, mortality will always catch up to those who are not of gods. Even the most blinded of them learn this eventually. You take your death with grace, choosing to go and explore this new world as soon as Lord Hades permits you to go, impressed by how little you complain and demand. You are one of the brighter parts of his day (night?).

You drift along, catching certain snippets of other Shade’s conversations as you wander aimlessly. You notice a crack in the wall; deciding to muster up your courage, you slip through it to find yourself in the glowing green torches of Tartarus. With what little you have, you hold it close to your translucent body and push forward.

You’re quick to notice the large glowing ball with an oddly familiar symbol floating in the middle of it. You take your time circling it, feeling compelled to touch it. When you do, a beam of light comes slicing through the dreary air to reveal a mighty god who stares down at you at your shocked form...

Zues

Cause of Death: Lightning Strike

Zues is confused when he sees you. He’s even more confused when you start screaming at him, waving your hands about and threatening to fight him yourself.

“You fucker! You killed me!”

He raises a brow. “I think I’d remember if I killed you.” You flipped up your middle finger at him and his eyebrows drew into an angry v. “How rude! I am the God of Gods-”

“I don’t care!”

Zagreus had to high tail it to you before Zues tried to smite you (possibly a second time).

Suffice to say you hoped you’d never bump into that boon again. And you didn’t. No, the God of Gods and Lightning himself decided that he’d have to make a house call himself (Hades was not pleased when a bolt of lightning came crashing down and left a scorched black ring in the carpet).

He picks you out quickly and you try to zoom out of the lobby until he catches you by the back of your robe and then you’re swinging and yelling profanities at him. He’s kinda amused now instead of angry- you’re just so weak and tiny compared to him. It’s hysterical- ow! Did you just bite him?

After you and Zues finish your little “spitting match”- Hades kicks Zeus out and you're forced to hang out in Tartarus for a bit (“but I’m just a simple fisherfolk! I can’t fight anything!” You cry, Hades does not spare you a look as you're dragged out by Meg).

You think maybe that’s the end until you’re approached by a… a squirrel? You almost punt it when his voice spills out as he shoots into a long prattle about how much of a jerk Hades was and how he couldn’t handle someone as grandiose as him appearing before him. Threatened him as a god or something- you were busy trying to figure out how you were going to kill this guy and make sure he stayed dead.

Turns out, after the two of you chattered (argued) a bit about whether or not he actually killed you, Zeus had some neat stories about the gods.

While you were interested in his children’s and brothers’ and sisters’ stories, he was interested in your stories of the mundane. A simple fisherfolk? That was a word? You just fished and traded? Amazing! Tell him more!

After this particular interaction between the two of you, Zeus really ended liking you. Maybe a little too much, but, aw well, it wasn’t everyday a mortal soul had the balls to argue with him for something he doesn’t remember doing (he probably did. Probably. Most likely). He swore that he’d come and see you everyday as he sat on your shoulder as a squirrel, going on and on about how you should feel blessed to be praised by one such as he. You were about to throw him until a giant hand came out and grabbed him (seemed you drifted too close to Lord Hades’ desk), the hulking god flinging him out of a portal.

He continues to pop up and bother you and, to be honest, he’s kinda growing on you. Also, I’m gonna be frank and lay it out that, if he likes you enough, he’s probs gonna want to smash, especially if you lean more towards the feminine side (he’s fucking AWFUL). It’s up to you if you wanna indulge that or not, I don’t recommend it, but you can if you really want to.

We’re going with the option you don’t smash- he’ll be salty at you for a whole ass day before he comes back the one after that as a rat (Hades kept finding out his forms that he used to sneak in so it was an ever constant menagerie of appearances to keep up the disguise) and is like: “I thought you would miss me too much so I came back before you could even complain.”

Zag likes to watch the two of you interact because he finds it absolutely fascinating. It’s like watching… He doesn’t know what it’s like but he’s having a blast as you roast his uncle to bits. It really helps him out when he’s feeling a bit down after failing getting out one too many times.

When you first get Zeus an Ambrosia, he thinks it’s poison and then he gets all prideful because of course you would give him an offering, he was the strongest of all the gods! Him and him alone!

“Silly, mortal, you cannot poison me! I am a god.”

You squint your eyes at him before you huff and pull the bottle closer to you. “Fine, whatever, I’ll just give it to Zagreus- or better yet, Hades if you don’t want it.”

“No! No! I want it! Give it to me! It’s mine!”

During this time, he’s actually experiencing some purer emotions in life- he’s genuinely giddy that you got him the Ambrosia and asks how you got it. You hold up a makeshift fishing rod and grin at him, telling him you snatched it from some nasty shades before you wandered back down to Tartarus.

His gift to you is a little lightning pin that, when you're in danger, will send a nasty bolt of lightning down on your enemies. You wonder what good it’ll do since you’re dead already, but shrug and accept it, thinking that he looks years younger and friendler when his smile isn’t packed full of ego and pride.

Poseidon

Cause of Death: Drowning

Poseidon, Lord of the Oceans, Earthquakes, and many other things, is simply- how do you say? Amused? It’s the best way to describe it at least. Of course he was mostly surprised when he appeared expecting the Little Hades to be waiting for him just to meet a Little Shade in his place.

“Why, hello there, Little Shade! You wouldn’t happen to know where the Little Hades is, would you?”

You shake your head, he doesn’t miss the way you nervously play with your hands, drifting back as some of his droplets float close to you.

He laughs at your simple reply. “Shy one aren’t you?” He leans closer to you, squinting and running a hand through his beard while he hummed.

You fight the urge to take a step back, the smell of salt water making your stomach churn.

His eyes flutter shut as he takes a deep breath. He takes a moment before he opens his eyes again and a look of understanding flashes across his eyes. “You drowned. Didn’t you?”

You stare up at him, eyes round and glassy. You nod.

Before your conversation can go any further, Zagreus comes running through the window, surprised to see his Uncle talking to a Shade (you look so scared- he hopes that you aren’t being bullied). You’re quick to take your leave bowing to both and passing the boon to the Prince before you scurry away into the cover of the other Shades.

He hums to himself, a cryptid smile on his face as his eyes follow after you. Such a strange little thing you were- he wouldn’t mind seeing you again.

It takes a bit, but he does happen to see you again, by peaking through a fountain in a fountain room in the Underworld. He spies you trying to poke at the water that he happened to choose, but jumping back each time. You face scrunched up into one of pure frustration. He asks if you’re doing alright there, Little Shade? Causing you to flash out of existence for a moment before settling back down and looking into the pool with wide eyes. Posiedon almost busts a gut with how hard he’s laughing and you huff telling him that it wasn’t funny.

He says otherwise, but asks what you’re doing. When your face bursts into a large blush you mumble something that he doesn’t quite catch and he’s left with more questions than answers as you take the chance to phase out of the chamber when Zag walks in and steals his Uncle’s attention for a split second. He furrows his brow before asking his nephew about you, which Zag, surprisingly, supplies rather quickly, seeing as the two of you talk a lot: apparently you’re deathly afraid of water after you were thrown into the ocean by your supposed best friend. The memories of the waves crushing you deeper and deeper beneath them sticking with you even in death. So, you were trying to curb that phobia. Posiedon nods, letting the words sink in before he offers the Little Hades a thumbs up and says he’ll help with that.

The next time you see the god, he’s eager to call you over and explain that he’s figured out what you were doing last time and offers to let you mess with some of the drops of water that follow him wherever he goes. You stare at them, eyebrows furrowed and looking just as sick as a shade could look. Yet, you still nod your head and hold out a shaky hand. He smiles at you, praising you for your courage and flicks one towards you; it floats gently before it rests serenely on your palm, allowing you to feel the cool sensation of the droplet. You marvel at it, still shaking with an anxiety before you nod. He pulls it away, it shoots back to rest next to his head and you thank him for going out of his way to help you and ease your fears.

He remarks that you should fear the water out of respect: it’s unpredictable, terrifying in it’s own right- vast and, seemingly, never ending, what could possibly be more terrifying than the unknown, hm? He continues to say that you should also hold onto a bit of bravery at the very least, for untold treasures come from there for those who look.

After that conversation, Poseidon makes it a habit of having you hold onto his droplets of water, making them slightly bigger each time for you to get used to them.

By the time you’re able to touch them freely without experiencing crippling fear- the droplets are almost the size of you. Poseidon praises you the more you grow out of your fear.

You do eventually open up to him about how you died and he never tells you that he already knew. Just allows you to talk in a soft voice as you recall it. It’s a nice bonding experience for the both of you and Posideon decides that you’re his favorite Shade and he’ll treasure you for as long as you exist.

The first time you get him a bottle of Ambrosia, you come to him shivering and sopping wet. He’s confused and concerned as he hovers to you.

“What happened to you, Little Shade? Are you alright?”

It takes you a moment to be able to speak. “I- I found a bottle of Ambrosia. I thought-” you take a deep breath, holding out the bottle with both hands- “I thought you’d like it.”

It’s one of his prized possessions now, he takes little sips of it once in a while, but other than that it remains as one of his most precious memories. He’s very attached to you at this point and you’ll forever have his blessing. His gift to you, aside from the undying loyalty, is a shell necklace, if you ever need him- you only need to whisper his name to it and he’ll appear in an instant.

Athena

Cause of Death: Exhaustion

Athena had been prepared to meet with Zagreus- not a curious shade staring back up at her with all the relevance of one of her worshippers.

“What business do you have with me?”

She raises her brow at your gobsmacked expression, watching as you screw your face up before bowing. “Apologies, m’lady, I only happened to bump into your…” you look at where it glows, furrowing your eyebrow, “your orb?”

“Boon.”

You nod your head in understanding before bowing your head again. “Again, my sincerest apologies.”

Luckily, she didn’t smite you, instead asking the question of how you were even talking to her. Getting a shrug from you, you say that maybe it’s because you worshipped her (unofficially, you were never able to make it up to her shrine much to your disappointment) when you were alive- maybe a deeper bond is there compared to someone who had never prayed to her for her protection and guidance.

When she hears this, she’s very interested, pressing you to elaborate further when the Young Prince comes jogging out of the glowing window, waving to you. You slink away, passing the boon to him and bowing to her once again before you disappear into the mass of Shades that choose to wander their new home as well.

After the conversation, you had caught the Goddess’ attention, planting a desire in her to see you again. Even going as far as to write a letter to ask her uncle for a council with you after a week passed of her placing her boon in Tartarus so that maybe you would drift too close to it once again. But each time only the little prince would find them (which she was fine with, but it still left such an unflattering taste of defeat on her tongue each time it wasn’t you). She figured it would be a moot point to send the letter, but it was worth a try.

But she decided to place her boon down once more before she sent it out. Just to try. And this time it worked.

You were the one she saw and she was absolutely delighted- not that she showed it, choosing to keep her stoic and sharp expression. You greet her in a similar way before: awed before bowing your head to her. You continue to go on about how you're happy to see her again and, despite how little you had been buried with, you hoped that she would take this- a broken sword, despite the worn hilt and the deep scars the littered what was left of the flat of the balde; it was still polished (at least what was left of it)- as a proper offering to her for all she had done in your life- even if it truly wasn’t all her doings.

She takes the sword in her hand, holding it high, her eyes shining as she studies it: truly, it was a warrior’s blade. She watches as the history and memories flash in the smooth iron. She remarks that it is a remarkable offering, but she cannot accept it. It feels wrong taking a weapon of a warrior such as yourself.

You smile as her, shaking your head, urging her to take it, for you didn’t need that blade in this afterlife. You had already fought your battles, killing the man who you had been battling with and quelling the rage that had followed you since you were a child for revenge. Eventually, dying from the strain of the fight with a feeling of contentedness.

Athena raises her brow, remarking how that sounded more along the lines of Ares rather than her.

You nod, but say that you couldn’t help but desire her help for she was the goddess attached to your favorite animal. She had to fight the urge to laugh, a shaky smile slipping through as she nods at you. Such a silly thing you are. She decides that she’ll take the sword as a reminder of you, no matter where you should go now. She also decides that you were forming a rather soft cradle in her heart.

After this, she is quick to ask Zagreus about you every chance she gets- not that he minds too much, he tells her about how you’ve been helping him train and you’ve even told him about your life when you were alive (“a general, can you believe that? They’re so young!” Zagreus says as he shows her the new move you taught him). She’s only the slightest bit miffed at hearing that you and Achilles have begun to form a sweet friendship. She’s pleased to hear that his father has been trying to barter with you to get you into Elysium, though she’s a tad confused on the reason you refuse to.

She asks you about it one day and you say that it would take longer to see her and you would prefer to avoid that. It was the only time the goddess has ever had to fight down a blush.

When you get her a bottle of Ambrosia, she’s in pure awe at the huge bottle.

“How did you get one this big?”

You lean against the new sword you managed to get your hands on- something simple and obviously used- you offer her a lopsided grin. “Well, not just any Ambrosia would work, so I decided to try my luck with Lord Theseus and, The Great Bull, Asterius. Took me a couple of tries but I managed to beat them and snag it.”

Athena smiles warmly at it, telling you that she’ll treasure it and think of you every time she takes a drink of it. She realizes in that moment just how important you had become to her, never feeling this… soft for a mortal soul in her life. Her gift to you is a shield and a new sword: the shield bares her symbol of an owl while the sword was ornate with a divine glow. She promises that no matter what they’ll protect you and so will she, you only need to call out her name.

Aphrodite

Cause of Death: A Broken Heart

When the Goddess of Love first sees you- she thinks you’re absolutely gorgeous (of course not as gorgeous as her). The sad look in your eye and the slight frown that rests on your lips makes her almost fall in love right then and there.

“Hello, little one- do you know where the little godling is?”

You shake your head. “I’m sorry, Lady Aphrodite. I know not where he is.”

She raises her brows, a smile on her face. “How did you know I was Aphrodite, my dear?”

You look up at her, a sudden glint in your eyes has her yearning to see it once again. “No one else could be so breathtaking, my Lady.”

Oh. Oh, she likes you.

She chooses to chatter away with you- despite you mostly listening, adding little things here and there, she feels a strange sense of fullness, like she just ate a full and warm meal for the first time in a very long time, by the time Zagreus arrives. You bid your farewell and she can’t help but follow you with her gaze as your transparent form blends in with the other Shades.

Aphrodite is thrilled the next time she runs into you- or rather you run into her boon. She missed the melancholy look in your eyes, she also doesn’t miss the fact that you’ve come bearing gifts this time: an assortment of colorful flowers rests in your arms and you offer it to her. That glint coming and going like a shooting star as she accepts the offering, holding it up to her nose to take in their sweet scent. How sweet were you to hand her something so delicate.

She asks you where you got them and you remark that you made your way up to Elysium. She’s surprised to hear as such- you didn’t seem like the warrior type. You shake your head, your eyes sweeping low. You weren’t a warrior, far from it- a simple florist if anything. You just drifted until you made it up there and plucked some flowers to make bouquets. You mumble that maybe you’ll be more useful in death.

She tilts her head at the comment, beginning to ask until Zagreus is jogging up to the both of you and it was time for you to leave. She’s a tad annoyed, but reminds herself that the little godling didn’t know- simply trying to break out of this dreary place he calls home and see Olympus in all its glory. She’ll just ask next time.

You gave her another bouquet, this one more beautiful than the last, when she gets the chance to ask you her question. Your eyes pool with a mournful look as you gaze up at her, your hand resting over the place where your heart used to beat as you look to the ground. You explain that you were young when you were wed- just as you were young when you died. You were married off to someone you did not love- someone awful, vile, who beat you down daily just to build you back up so they could laugh when they toppled you over once again. You remark about how you could feel yourself dying little by little, your delicate heart bleeding as your want for life began to dwindle away. You grew sick and you would sit by the window day in and day out, staring out and wondering what your life could have been if you were married to someone you loved. A ghost of a smile blooms on your lips as you look up at her, that glint she oh-so loved twinkling in your eye as you say that you did not die in as much loneliness and pain as you could have; having been making a bouquet dedicated just to her love and sweetness: your Lady Aphrodite who you love, ever so much.

She’s shocked when she realizes the tears that drip down her cheeks, her hand coming to caress your cheek (really your head, she was hulking compared to your small form) with her fingertips. She comments that she would accept every bouquet you made and treasure each flower like it was the one you made for her with your last breaths in the living world.

After that interaction, she comes down a lot more, asking Zagreus if he could bring along her darling florist so that she could talk to you. He always obliges, loving to see the two of you chatter about (well, her chatter about, you usually just listened with a smile on your face as you used the flowers you had plucked into flower crowns for him and Lady Aphrodite). You two become a sort of comfort for him when he’s getting frustrated: seeing your usually melancholy demeanor light up as soon as the goddess appears and in turn the goddess becomes something less vain and more gentle as she speaks to you.

At some point, you’ll probably meet Ares himself- the two never that far from each other, also she adores you, so it only makes sense for you to meet him. He’s honestly a tad unimpressed when you first meet, but when he hears about the heart ache you faced he gains a sense of respect for you, remarking that love is a battle in and of itself and you fought valiantly to keep your ability to love freely (Aphrodite might convince you to have a threesome, I’m not gonna lie, she’s attracted to you on a deep level and she has her trysts with Ares- it’s perfect in her eyes. Though she won’t push you if you don’t desire it).

When you first get her Ambrosia, she’s flabbergasted before it turns into worry for how you got it and the potential danger you were in.

She takes the bottle of gold liquid and the flowers that you had so carefully arranged. Her attention, though, is focused on the said bottle of Ambrosia. “My Darling Florist, how did you get this?” Before you can answer she shoots into a flurry of questions. “Are you alright? Did anything catch you? Hurt you? You don’t seem hurt. Oooh-” she puffs her cheeks out, her gaze sharp- “why did you get me this? It’s dangerous!”

You wait for her to calm down. “I apologize for making you worry, but I simply snuck around and grabbed it from some witches- they didn’t even notice me. And I-” you tap your fingers together, a blush blooming across your face as you look away from the goddess and she decides that she craves seeing that expression on you again- “I thought that you deserved it. It’s a much better offering than my silly bouquets.”

Well, aside from the ‘silly bouquets’ comment (which she corrects you on very quickly), she’s absolutely flattered and it might be the final nail in the coffin that has her falling for you, the little shade in front of her. She decides that you hold a piece of her heart in your translucent hands, though she chooses to keep that information to herself.

Her gift to you is a hairpin that matches hers, though if you don’t have enough hair- she says, you can always pin it to your robe. It’s a blatant claim on her part, but it also helps ease the residual heartache that followed you into death. And, hopefully (a personal hope of her), each time you look at it, you’d fall deeper and deeper in love with her as well.

Artemis

Cause of Death: Arrow to the Heart

She’s confused when she sees you, quick to voice her confusion as well. Also depending on if you're more feminine or masculine (and I don’t mean woman or man, I just mean how you present yourself), she will treat you differently depending. So, for now, we’re gonna go with the more “feminine” option:

“Who’re you?”

You bow. “An honor to meet you, Lady Artemis, I seem to have bumped into that orb on accident. Wasn’t sure what it did and the curiosity got the better of me.”

She hums, she perks when she notices your bow. “You’re a hunter?”

You smile, holding it out to her. “Yes, indeed, my Lady- I prayed to you a lot.” You laughed, adding. “Hoped to join your hunters when I was young.”

She’s quite happy to hear that and begins to chatter along with you. For some reason feeling oddly at ease around you. It’s probably because you were a fellow hunter but she simply can’t help the way she grows an odd sort of… adoration? Something like that, she thinks- for you. She almost laments the fact when Zagreus comes to get the boon.

You nod to him, biding your farewell to the Goddess and passing the boon to the Prince. She doesn’t miss how Zagreus’ eyes shine as you walk away. She almost comments on it but bites her tongue, wanting to observe the prince and the dreamy look that drifts over his features, even as you disappear.

The next time the two of you meet, she asks if she can see you in action. You agree and search up ahead to find something to demonstrate your skills on. You’re quick to find a few Numbskulls. She watches as you take a deep breath, your eyes narrowing on your unassuming targets and your footsteps become silent as you skirt closer to them. You nock an arrow, never looking away. Her eyes gleam with thrumming adrenaline at the way the muscles in your arms tense as you draw the string back. The low groan of the wood barely above a whisper as you wait for them to line up. You hold your breath, releasing the arrow- it goes through all three of them, making them break into dust in a consecutive line, a harrowing scream being wretched from them as they fade from existence. You release the breath you were holding and stand, sending a smile to the young goddess whose eyes shine with stars.

She praises you for your amazing skill and sings of your prowess. You shake your head, looking down at the ground as you argued that you were but a simple bow folk in your living life. Nothing more, nothing less.

She begs to differ! That type of skill only belongs to those of her highest ranking huntresses! She continues to gush about you until Zag comes up and, once again, greets the both of you. That dreamy look coming over his face as he looks at you. She watches as you once again disappear into Tartarus, this time though, after you’re gone, she turns to her cousin and shoots into a tangent about why he had never told her about you before and where did you come from? She has to know!

He answers all of her questions to the best of his abilities but there are even some he doesn’t know about, for example: how you died.

Artemis accepts this and decides that she’ll just ask you the next time the two of you meet.

And, true to her word, she does. She asks you point blank and you can’t help but be slightly taken aback. You laugh softly, leaning on your bow as you begin to recount that you were traversing her forest, as you had done many times before, and noticed fresh foot prints of man. You decided that it would be a good idea to look and you found hunters trying to kill her Golden Stag. You had dove in as quickly as you could, shooting one- the arrow sailing in a clean arch through his wrist before he could let loose his arrow. But as you went to nock another arrow- a searing pain in your chest and heart. You looked down to see blood pooling around your robes, dying the olive green of your cloak a wine red. You remember the last thing you saw was the Golden Stag running away. You smiled telling her that you were happy he got away- you don’t know what you’d do if he had been captured despite your effort.

Artemis suddenly remembers that day: her stag rushing to her and urging her to follow him- he bounded through the forest, frantic and panicked. When they got to a clearing, she was quick to notice the blood and the drag marks of a body. Her stag pressed his nose to the ground sniffing at the pool of blood, his eyes watering and bulbous tears slid down his muzzle. It suddenly made sense. You were the one he was mourning for.

She couldn’t help but grab your hands, resting her forehead against the back of them; thanking you for protecting her stag when she couldn’t. You smile at her, bowing your head to her and thanking her for the countless hunts she went on with you. You pull your hands away from her and hold out your bow to her. She asks what you think you're doing in a watery voice and you say it’s an offering. You couldn’t give much when you were alive and you still can’t give much now, but, this bow- it shall treat her right.

She sniffles as she takes it, trying to hold in tears. She vows to treasure it for all of time as she admires the worn wood.

That day, the two of you became closer as comrades, she would actively come down to say hi to you (and encourage Zagreus to take the leap and court you after she learned of his growing affections for you). The two of you would talk about everything you could think of, explaining how your hunting styles differed or how you could set a trap easier. She had realized that she had never felt this carefree with anyone before. She felt like a child. It felt nice.

When you snag her a bottle of Ambrosia- she’s swaddled in a whirlwind of emotions.

“You… You got this for me?” She asks as she takes the bottle of golden liquid.

You nod, that gentle smiling spreading across your face. “Of course. You had helped me so many times- it is only fair, my Lady-”

“Artemis-” she sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles- “call me Artemis, my friend.”

She finds you to be a perfect friend- a breath of fresh air from home. She may not feel any romantic feelings towards you, but she still holds you in a dear place in her heart. Her gift to you is a new bow and quiver that will never run out of arrows. The bow is enchanted and you’ll never have to fear it breaking for it will protect you for as long as you exist- in this realm or another.

Ares

Cause of Death: Blood Loss

When Ares first sees you, he is… well- he’s impressed that you stumbled upon his boon, but at the same time… He’s a tad miffed? That you found it?

At the very least he’s condescending as all hell about it:

“What is this? A little lamb came to beg me for power? How foolish. No matter how hard you struggle you will never be much more than some little shade.”

“Ah, sorry, my Lord! Didn’t mean to bump into it!” You hold up the basket in your translucent arms, “I wanted to see if I could find some new ingredients to bake with! I do oh-so miss it, sir.”

Well, he wasn’t expecting that.

He ends up allowing you to chatter on with him despite his obvious judgement on your, what he calls, “soft mortal hobby” until Zagreus comes to do his daily try of breaking out from the Underworld.

As he watches you drift away (after passing the boon and giving words of good luck to the Prince, who happily takes it), he kinda hopes to see you again

And see you again he does! He literally sees you the next day- night? Whatever, he’s never sure when he drops a boon in there- it’s damn dark-

He’s presented with a basket of treats and your gleeful greeting as you chatter that you found ingredients to make some Baklava and you thought that, maybe, he’d like to try it?

He smiles- cruel and sharp- and asks if you truly think that this is a fit offering for a god such as himself?

You shrug, saying he doesn’t have to eat it if he doesn’t want to

He laughs and takes it and you two are off chattering again: him regaling you with his war stories and you of the ingredients you had (somehow) found down here until Zag shows up, once again, the boon is passed to him (this time along with a slice of the delicious, warm Baklava. Which, he’s confused on what it is but he finds out very quickly that it’s his favorite treat).

The two of you talk a lot, which Ares is pleasantly surprised about, usually he’s the scorn of everyone- not that he cares, it causes conflict and he likes that. But you’re so calm and sweet that he just can’t get a rise out of you. Which, on one hand, pisses him off to no end, but, on the other, it’s such a nice change of pace for him. He’s used to the bloodshed and animosity of battlefields- the iron tinged air that follows after the warriors that traverse those fields. And yet, here you are: a shade that always has a treat for him when you run into him and the smell of warm sweetness wafting after you.

So when he learned exactly how you died- he was absolutely floored.

“How did you die, little baker?” He asked one day, fiddling with his knife, tilting it discreetly so that your reflection was in it.

“Oh!” You smiled sheepishly, glancing away from him and placing the bag of flour (how did you even get that? He’d have to ask you next) back into your basket. “Well- you see, I bled out.”

He raised his eyebrow, suddenly very interested. “How? You’re so…” he tilted his head and flipped his knife so that the blade pointed at him and the hilt pointed at you, he poked your arm with said hilt. “Soft.”

“Well…”

You explain that you had a little brother who had a nasty habit of getting into trouble- he was a good person, just made foolish choices- and this time, it had cost you your life. He had pissed off the wrong person and, well, when the man had attempted to grab your brother when the two of you were out walking the stalls on your break- you did the only thing you could think of: you fought.

Of course it went horribly, you’ve never been in a fight before then and, despite all the work you did with dough, it didn’t help much when the man pulled out a knife and dug it straight into your gut. But, you don’t mind too much- your brother’s alive and well and, from what you understand from asking Lord Hades, he had started to be more aware of himself and who he angered. Which made you super happy and proud of him!

Ares can’t help but feel some sort of pity for you. So much life to be taken so quickly and placed in- wait. Why weren’t you in Elysium?

You’re incredibly confused when Ares suddenly disappears (Aphrodite appearing in his place in the blink of an eye- she greets you happily and asks if you have any of Baklava to share today. You do not but you do have some Loukoumades if she wanted some. She did). You’re even more confused when the Underworld shakes and angry yelling fills the entirety of it for a solid ten minutes before all goes back to normal.

You tell Ares about it the next day and he simply hums. Keeping it to himself that he made a whole scene about you not being in Elysium by popping up and butting heads with Hades, of course he got kicked out. That still doesn’t stop him from sending angry letters that can span anywhere from one word letters (usually containing a curse word) to a 30 page essay on why you should be in Elysium instead of milling about in such unkempt places.

The first time you go out of your way to get him a bottle of Ambrosia is the day that both scares the shit out of him and makes him hate you for giving him mushy feelings.

You came to him in, almost literal, tatters: your greenish, transparent form ripped in places, the few wisps of you following after your torn form like they were tied to a string. You had held it up to him in a basket, a plate of Baklava sitting next to it, along with some other treats. “Lady Aphrodite mentioned that she wanted to try my Baklava, so I made her some! Though the Ambrosia is just for you, my Lord!”

He blinked at you, taking the basket in a delicate hold. He turned it this way and that, his chest feeling… warm? He wanted to grimace at the soft warmth that thrummed through his veins, yet it was replaced with a smile as he held up the gold liquid. “Thank you, little Baker.”

It was the first time he felt something so unexplainably soft: so gentle and warm as it settled somewhere between the bottom of his ribcage and the top of his stomach. He listened as you told him how you had gotten it: with Zagreus’ help (you even got to meet Lord Hermes! It was so amazing! He had scoffed at that) he led you to a room with Ambrosia as the prize and, despite the young prince’s worry, you managed to beat the monsters and collect it, mostly, by yourself.

Ares was so flattered, but he couldn’t help the way that your tattered form made him feel a sort of worry. He waved his hands through the wisps of your body before he snapped his fingers and a small blade appeared: a beautifully constructed blade that was an exact replica of his (albeit much, much smaller). He handed it to you, telling you that you should have a proper weapon if you’re going to go out of your way to fight in his name.

Dionysus

Cause of Death: Alcohol Poisoning

Dionysus, unlike many, is incredibly excited to see you sitting there. He adores mortal souls and can’t help but look at them each time Zag chooses his boons and he has the chance to glimpse at their souls (despite his tendency to let them go completely after they die- he can’t help but wonder about them once in a while).

“Why, hello there! What’s a little thing like you doing strolling up to my boon, hm?”

He can’t help but notice the way your eyes are a tad dull, but he writes that off as the dark of Tartarus since it’s gone as fast as he noticed it. You smile up at him, absolutely beaming at the God of drink and madness. “Hello, Lord Dionysus!”

“Oho, you could tell it was me? What gave it away?”

The two of you laugh, diving into a conversation. He offers you a cup of wine and is put off with how long it takes you to decline it. He almost thought you looked absolutely ravenous as you peered into the deep red liquid. He shrugs it off and continues to chatter with you until his favorite Zagman stumbles upon the two of you. He’s quick to say hi to you and even leans down to ask you… something. Dionysus misses it, but still watches the way you stiffly nod before you pass the boon to the prince and scurry off.

He’s tempted to ask about it, but decides that he should probably ask you himself instead of trying to pry. Mortals didn’t take well to people snooping around their private lives, which he could respect.

The next time he sees you though, he relaxes you into a sort of peaceful lull as he chats with you before he drops the question.

You stare blankly at him, that dark look in your eye coming back and making his skin crawl. You suddenly laugh it off waving your hands as you tell him that a god shouldn’t worry about a little ol’ shade like you.

He doesn’t push for an answer but the question still swirls in his mind, even as you toddle off after his Zagman pops up. He decides that he’ll actually ask the Prince this time around.

He asks him point blank and Zag, despite him being hesitant at first, decides to spill how you died. You had been the black sheep of your family, never truly fitting into the carefully set path that they wanted you to follow- so you found solace in drinking from a young age. It had taken the edge off of everything, Zagreus recounted you telling him. It filled you with a warmth you had been missing all your life and you couldn’t help but indulge more and more in it until it slowly became your own personal poison. Dionysus grimaced, for once feeling a sort of queasiness in the pit of his stomach as Zagreus continued on with your story. So, one day, you had drunk yourself into a deep stupor after an awful argument with your parents. But, this time, you never woke up. Instead you woke up floating in the river of blood- the River of Styx.

Dionysus had nodded after the Prince finished the story, playing with the goblet in his hand and swirling the red wine that resides in it. He offers a bitter smile to Zag and bids his farewell (of course leaving a boon of his choice with the lad) popping off back to Olympus.

The next time he runs into you, he asks if you’re feeling alright- if you want to talk. You blink at him, confused at first until realization dawns you. You bite your lip, looking down. He’s quick to assure you that you didn’t have to talk about anything- you two could just have a good time like always. You tell him that you’d like that, not yet ready to face your past. He nods, immediately telling you about an embarrassing story about Ares and how much of a lightweight he was which had you letting out an ugly snort along with your loud cackles.

The god begins to take it upon himself to have you smiling more and maybe remedy those dark clouds that appear in your eyes once in a while. He’s pretty observant despite being piss drunk half the time, it also helps that he’s very intune to your emotions for some odd reason, so he’s quick to pick up on when you feel down or your having something the equivalent to a relapse. He has you drink just a little bit from his goblet since it’s better than quitting cold turkey. And that little bit is always enough to quench your thirst and calm you down. You’ve been needing less and less of it as the days (nights?) pass by.

The first time you get Dionysus Ambrosia is the same day that he almost swears that he’ll marry you. He’s quick to grow emotional with the sheer fact that you went out of your way to get something so special for him, his face almost splitting with how wide of a smile he has on his face.

“You got this for me, man?” He says, holding up the bottle in his hand and inspecting it like it’s a precious jewel. “You know this stuff is hard to come by, super hard.”

You nod, the clouds far from your eyes now. “I had to thank you some way and punching a couple of Shades to get my hands on that was worth it.”

“You punched people for me?”

“Of course.”

He fights the urge to squeal and pops the top off, summoning another cup and pouring some in it. “Here’s to us!” He says as he hands you the cup.

He’s honestly never had so much fun just existing with one person. After that he’s never far from you, one usually not seen without the other around- even despite the Underworld not being Dionysus’ favorite place, he can’t help but be willing to venture down there to see you in person (he’s been trying to convince his wonderful Uncle Hades to let you come up with him to Olympus for a little bit- he’s even got his dad and (other) Uncle in on it. Hades officially hates all of them). His gift to you is a matching goblet that will supply you any beverage of your choice. It also has the double power to protect you from all that wishes to harm you, but you’ll learn that in due time. It’ll be more fun that way, Dionysus muses.

Hermes

Cause of Death: Falling

Usually, Heremes wouldn’t have taken the time of day to chatter mindlessly with a shade. But, it was a different story when that shade summoned him through bumping into his boon- now it’s just interesting!

“Eh? Who’re you? It’s kinda strange for a shade to be here and not my Cos, huh? Did something happen to him? You his stand in or something? That’d be kinda funny because you don’t seem like his stand in- not buff enough or something like that.”

You blink slowly taking in the words of his mile a minute speech as he continues to prattle on. You take a seat in front of the quick mouthed god, getting yourself comfortable as he flutters about and chatters. Not like you minded- he filled in the places where you couldn’t with steady conversation. You nod to some of the quips he makes, just to show you were still listening.

He decides then and there that he likes you a lot and that you should meet Charon. As soon as Zagreus pops up to collect the boon- he grabs the back of your robes and goes zooming off with you in tow. You wave to the panicked prince, allowing yourself to be dragged around. He continues to chatter on and on, only taking a break when he reaches the Boatman (who was not expecting a Shade to be accompanying the God of Messengers). He sets you down, tries to introduce you two to each other- realizes he doesn’t know your name, so you end up telling them your name- and then is quick to say goodbye, after he gives a scroll to Charon, and shoots off.

You end up staying with Charon after learning a bit more about the quiet boatman and Hermes is quite pleased when he realizes that he’d be seeing you around a lot more. He’s quick to flutter about you and chatter for a few quick seconds before zipping off. You wave at him.

The process repeats for a while before he finally takes a moment to really sit with you, Charon having gone to pick up more souls and lead them down the River of Styx. He chatters on aimlessly, asking little questions here and there before he decides to ask the million dollar question: “How did you die?”

You blink slowly as him before murmuring that you fell from a very high place, you head cracking open on the rocks at the bottom and now here you are. He asks why you were messing about on a high place, as that seemed to be something most mortals avoided doing. You explained that there was a kitten stuck in an old root on the ledge and you couldn’t just leave her. So, you crawled onto the branch and put her back onto safe ground, but the root gave way and then you went tumbling to your doom.

Hermes is surprisingly quiet throughout the entire exchange until you reach the end and he says: “you’re a real bleeding heart under all that quiet, huh?” You nod solemnly and he laughs, pulling you into a side hug. How could something with such a fleeting life be so selfless with it? He squeezes you harder before he stands up and bids you farwell, shooting off once again. And, again, you wave as he goes.

He grows attached to you quickly afterwards, bringing you little things that might help make you more comfortable down in the Underworld. Of course Charon is there to keep you company which he’s happy about- and he voices that exact thought to the boatman, who just grumbles out a long: uuuuaagghhh as his reply. He pats his arm and says that he knew he’d get it.

When you manage to get your hands on a bottle of Ambrosia- he’s completely blind sided that he almost trips on his own feet. His face flushing a deep red as he takes the offered bottle.

“How’d- how’d you get this?” His speech is all jumbled and jumpy, though he tries to keep the giddy excitement bubbling in his stomach as bay.

“I saved up my coin,” you said, nodding to Charon who nods back. “And bought it from Charon. I would’ve fought for it, but I’m no warrior.”

A smile splits across his face and the wings on the side of his head flutter. He’s quick to scoop you up and hug you, floating up with you as he does.

Hermes is an absolute giddy mess with your offering, not sure if he should kiss you or simply remain holding you. He had a special place for you before but this just solidifies his adoration for you. His gift to you is a pair of boots with wings on the side of them- an exact replica of his (in your size! Somehow-). He promises that they’ll help you get anywhere you want quickly, also the two of you match! How cute is that?

[zingaplanet]

Tagged by: @kuhcra 🙌❤️

Sign: I'm an aquarius, i never really get these things, come on astrology mutuals tell me smth about myselffff, am i gonna die and become a cat? Am i destined to save the world from a catastrophic alien invasion?

Height: I'm 172cm ish!

Last thing I googled:

Believe it or not, the Reading fest ticket, I'm contemplating whether 100 quid is worth it to get smashed to a pumpkin amidst crowds of thousands to watch the Killers play

Number of followers: hmm i dunno around 400ish? Doesn't matter tho, I love. Every. Single. One. Of. My. Mutuals. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ i also love that all of you come from different fandoms and come here to be chaotic with me or be introduced to some completely random ships lol. My page is a fandom networking platform n i won't have it any other way!

Amount of sleep: oof I'm an old man. I need my 8 hours beauty sleep. Sometimes 9 hours on weekends lol

Lucky #: I've absolutely no idea what this means, tumblr lingo expert help?

Wearing: A knitted sweater, cozy pajama pants and CHRISTMAS SOCKS! I luv my festive socks 🧦🧦🧦

Dream job: Oooohhhhh this is so difficult. Ok there are 2 things to this (leave it to me to overcomplicate stuffs lol)

Within the unachievable realm I've always wanted to be a musician (Hency my profile background!). I kinda almost did, I taught piano for quite some time, and was in a band for a long time. Hey you never know, might get called to headline glastonbury anytime, hang out with Alex Turner backstage and never have to work a day in my life anymore 😉

Frankly I just dream of playing a rock concert with my band at the royal albert hall and crowdsurfing the dead-est, posh-est crowd ever just cause i thought it'd be hilarious to see their faces 🥲 lol

In the slightly more achievable realm within my field right now, my dream job is to work in the UN peacekeeping or other international conflict orgs to help broker peace deals and help resolve some of the conflict stalemates around the world. I've worked with humanitarian charities before but I get really frustrated seeing so many efforts gone to waste cause the bureaucrats on top just couldn't be bothered to sacrifice their political interests for longlasting peacekeeping efforts. Sorry this is such a geeky answer! It's just that I've seen so many unnecessary sufferings and I just really really want to be in a position where I can at least make my mark to do smth good to change the world for better before I die!

Movies/books that summarise me: prob Orwell's 1984 lol, i'll leave it to you to interpret why

Favourite song: Oh this is so difficult! My current fav is by the Belgian artist Stromae, the one he made as a tribute to Cesária Évora, one of the greatest living singers of all time!

My current fav album and something that you DEF DEF DEF should listen to is the new album by the Canadian indie band Peach Pit called From 2 to 3. It has that old school road trip feel good vibes with your friends during a cross-country, it calms the soul and soothes the mind just uuggghh absolute masterpiece! (My fav track is give up baby go!)

Fav instrument: My bass! Especially my fender jazzmaster bass Rory ❤️ it's been my date for 23 years

Aesthetic: Have you seen the riverside of Thames in autumn?

Fav author: I don't read a lot of non-fictions anymore sadly, but I love poetries and literature. Jeanette Winterson is one of the only I feel that can really capture the essence of our souls and unearth emotions as raw as our hearts. Here's her masterpiece from Lighthousekeeping:

Fav animal noise: 🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬

Random: my dear mutuals, I am working on 2 deadass long angsty carraville and fedal fics that might never get finished but I'm committed to see them to the end even if it takes years!

On another note, if somehow our interests overlap again, the last fic I did was on pepmou. It's so sappy, I don't even know how I got through it! But if you're feeling a bit in need of enemies to lovers... ⬇️⬇️

Enjoy the tag my lovelies: @surreality51 @aramblingjay @tam-is-blogging @aliceinqueensland

[brokennerdalert]

2D men that I probably shouldn’t be attracted to but am...

       ~HISOKA~

I’m sure you guys could’ve guess. I mean everybody has the hots for a pervy clown. 

I normally hate clowns -with their over the top makeup and constant need to make you laugh- but I cant even with him. Like how?!? I dont have an explanation why, so I’m just gonna leave it. (I’m not even gonna talk about the clothes, because we all know he’s gonna die in those heels)

          ~ILLUMI~

Illumi and Hisoka sort of go hand in hand. Maybe it’s the blank look in his eyes or his soft looking hair. Ok, ngl he looks like a vampire. With slightly better clothing taste than Hisoka, but still kinda bad. But him as a teen! *chefs kiss*

          ~OOROCHIMAU~

Alright, now we did NOT come here to judge. I understand he’s creepy and barfs up snakes but... he looks good in uniform? Ok I got nothing. Ooops.

          ~HIDAN~

He literally licks blood, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had HIV or an STD. And since he’s super into doin his cult thing, also wouldn’t be surprised if he murdered me in my sleep.

But on the plus side his chesticales are just exposed?

               ~KAKAZU~

What a lovely smile. I get he’s old as dust and prob smells like it too, but COME ON! LOOK AT HIM! Again he’s only smexy without the mask. He otherwise looks like a toe.

          ~SANGWOO~

...sorry not sorry.

..I feel bad for thinking he’s cute since- ya know. But can say I dig the eye bags. Why does he always walk around in his undies? Less mess or is he too “hot” (you know what I mean)

          ~ALUCARD~

Super classy with the hat, shades and trench coat. He does had a...unique laugh. But he’s a badass so I suppose he has the right to screech like a freakin donkey. But his sass and snarky comments need to stop.

        ~AINOSUKE (aka ADAM)~

 Man gives me Hisoka vibes, but less rape-y ( tho maybe not)  and more child-beating. I dont know if it’s the hair or the voice that reminds me of our beloved predator. But Adam has the same need to “fight” and trying to find the perfect competitor.

i may only like him cause he reminds me of Hisoka.  

          ~FERID BATHORY~

Nice hair. Nice clothes. Nice smile. Only problem is he’s a sadist. And may be into young boys...

         ~SHUU TSUKIYAMA~

I get he moans every time he eats. I really got no answer for this one. He’s just such a douche. 

Maybe it’s cause he speaks french. 

          ~ZACK (aka ISAAC FOSTER)~

Freakin’ batshit. Literally throws up when someone isn’t scared. I know I shouldn’t make excuses, but he’s my lil edgy traumatized boi and I love him. He gets better...kinda. 

          ~MORI~

Another pedo. I CANT HELP IT! HE’S HOT OKAY! (i prob can help it tho) I think it’s just the hair and clothes for me.

          ~FYODOR~

He’s Russian. That’s it. 

(okay maybe his hair too)

          ~RYO~

I love him and hate him. He’s a boss ass bitch with extra salt and a heaping pile of sass. 

          ~GAROU~

Bad guy with heart of gold. He’s prob the least “bad” guy on the list. I mean he has a soft spot for kids, what’s not to love.

NOT TO MENTION HE’S EFFIN RIPPED AND A FREAKIN BADASS!!!

          ~SUKUNA~

Cocky bitch. I fuckin love him and his tattooes. Extra mouths and all.

          ~DABI~

This man has the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen, end of story. Kinda dig the scars and piercings. But give this boy some new clothes please.

          ~ZEKE YEAGER~

I hate this man with a passion. Like so so so so MUCH! But he do have a beard that’s on point. And nice looking hair. With his lil ole glasses. 

          ~ELIAS AINSWORTH~

This...man? Did nothing wrong. I think i’m just confused about the fact the man has a carnivorous goat head. Does this make me into beastiality? Please say no. He’s like the perfect gentlemen. He likes tea and is sweet. 

He 100% deserves all the love in the world.

[mewberii]

Streamer!Scaramouche AU

i feel like he’d be one of the biggest streamers on his platform- probably one of those that everyone has heard of even if they’re not into watching livestreams and all

but between those who do know who he is, they either love him or hate him. no in-between

it’s kind of understandable because his attitude is not suited/can be handled by anyone

he’s brutally honest even when his opinion may be seen as rude (to him he’s just saying the truth so he doesn’t mind if people get offended)

of course he doesn’t try to be rude on purpose but i mean it as in he’ll say what he thinks

imagine he’s playing a game and he doesn’t like a certain mechanic, or he isn’t enjoying the story;

he won’t say the game is bad but he’ll openly say he doesn’t like it/it’s not for him. it makes him seem strict but tbh he’s not that hard to please and even when he complains about one or two things he still enjoys the game

he usually gives every game a chance even when from what he’s seen it doesn’t sound like a game he’ll like. if he turns out to be right he just won’t play it again and if he’s wrong he’s a little too prideful to admit he spoke a little too fast but in the end he will admit the game is good or he’s having fun

probably the kind that just knows so much about all games and all the creators and all the game-making engines and is up to date with every single news of everything video-game + streaming-related,,, how does he do it, i don’t know,,,,

and also since he’s so popular he probably gets packages from game developers with limited edition stuff or merch from different games soooo often

and he placed the ones from his favorite games in his setup room and it looks INCREDIBLE he has so much stuff

he did a room tour stream once talking about all he has, where he got everything, from his monitor to every complement of his computer and like,,,,, the cost of his setup,,,,,,, some people already know they’ll never be able to afford that in their entire life

and he already had a great setup before he even became big as a streamer so people can already guess he’s fairly rich 

also i feel like he would have started his career as a streamer without using a facecam and even like that, he already managed to get very popular because of his professional commentary of game dynamics/playability + you can tell that he’s passionate about this and also he’s very funny without even trying??

he says some stuff so casually that he doesn’t realise how funny it is

probs showed his face after he hit a very important milestone

he never considered showing his face that important but he understood why people would want to see his reactions when playing games (even tho he warned them he’s not the most expressive/dramatique person in the world and they know by now) and would want to put a face to the person who entertains them so much with his streams

and when he does show his face people go absolutely cRAZY BECAUSE he is crazy good looking (if you don’t think he’s good looking i’m sorry for your eyesight. jk i’m sorry in general i just really love him)

some people who didn’t watch his streams will even check them out because of that but literally if you come for the visuals only you won’t stay for long because as i said not anyone can handle his personality

if he sees people being superficial about him too much instead of paying attention to what’s happening in the stream, he will immediately turn the subs mode on in the chat (if he didn’t have it on already)

being rude, being disrespectful/saying discriminating stuff or anything of that sort won’t be tolerated and anyone who does it will be banned instantly

without even interrupting what he was saying before he saw the comment, he’ll just type the ban to whoever said that and go on

and his mods do the exact same. they are just as strict as him

if it ever got too much of course he wouldn’t be afraid to speak up about it and tell his chat to stop that behaviour or else, as they should already know, he won’t be afraid of banning them even if they’ve been subscribed for months or years

ANYWAYS

why do i feel like he has a super organised chat— as in instead of spamming 5 emotes per comment they all send just one and it looks so tidy and perfect

literally other streamers would be jealous of how not-messy his chat is even when he has thousands and thousands and thousands of viewers all the time

also i have this idea that maybe any of his fans would have designed him as a genshin character (which would be the design of the scaramouche we know (?))

and the little pop-ups (i don’t know the name in english rIP) thingies that show up to notify when someone subscribed or donated would be lil chibi art of that design

it’d be really cool

and since i also doodled what a stream of his could look like (i’ll show it in the future when i’m done!!) i thought that way it’d be more recognisable that the streamer is scaramouche

99% of the people who have seen him irl found him too intimidating to go ask him for a picture or tell him anything

he’s not a huge fan of taking pictures anyway + is more on the introverted/reserved side but he wouldn’t mind if someone went up to him (if he’s not busy with something) to tell him something or say they enjoy his streams

i feel like in a couple occasions he would have played a game with some subscribers and he’d like to tease them speaking with his usual tone and face (in case they’re watching the stream as they talk) so they think he’s serious

“did you watch my 12 hour stream the other day?”  -scaramouche

“ah,,,, i-” -the sub

“think well of what you’re going to answer.” -scaramouche

“i-i couldn’t watch the whole thing,,,” -the sub

“ah, is that so…?” -scaramouche 

he’ll pretend to sound disappointed but at one point he just can’t help but smirk and hold in a chuckle before telling them he’s not serious

(he literally doesn’t know how the hell he survived that stream himself because he isn’t one to stream for that long)

i feel like deep inside people who know him would know he wouldn’t say such things seriously/wouldn’t be disappointed in anyone for not watching every single minute of his streams or not even all his streams

but he says all that so seriously that it’s,,, intimidating and they’re lowkey like “god but what if he’s not joking-”

he’d play games with the other streamers sometimes but i feel like most of the type he’d play more single-player games

it’d be so funny if he plays among us with others and for example one of those others it’s childe

both of them would always be suspecting of the other first/bickering, especially scaramouche

and if one game turns out they’re both the impostors… people would know right away

like, if any of them tried to defend the other, everyone else would be like “!?! what is this? scaramouche and childe defending each other? scary”

they’d vote one of them (maybe scaramouche) out because they started guessing + saying proof of how both of them could be the impostors (but the biggest proof is them not coming for each other’s throats sNKJFNGKJS)

scaramouche would have to resist the urge to S C R E A M

needless to say he doesn’t like when he has to be impostor with childe

and unfortunately for him, fate makes it happen considerably often

i feel like at least one time scaramouche would kill next to childe and then report it and literally blame childe

and childe would be like ?!?!?!?!?? WHAT- NO- (struggles bc his brain instinct is to say ‘it was you!’ but they’re both the impostors??? how-)

and then they’d eject childe,,, and then people wouldn’t suspect of scaramouche for most of the game because ? why would he- blame his partner---

well he did it with no regrets and at the end when they all found out they found it very funny (except for childe, but even he ended up laughing in the end because what a mean strategy sjkfhdsgkj)

i have this feeling that even though they bicker so much and for any strangers it’d seem like they hate each other, when scaramouche does play online games, many times it’d be with childe?

ik they aren’t supposed to get along but for the sake of it being a modern au i don’t want bad vibes between any of the characters pls-

and everyone enjoys their dynamic and those streams always get a ton of viewers sjfhdsgkj and i’m sure both their chats would be good friends (most likely one’s fans would also be a fan of the other too)

very very very rarely (because he prefers just playing and talking while playing) he’d do streams where he doesn’t play anything but just talks with the chat, watches videos that they send him, looks at the fanart they make, just talks about games,,,,

it’d be super chill and the perfect streams for people to be doing homework/work/play games/draw or do basically anything while they listen to his stream in the background

he’d also be answering some of people’s questions about him or about his favorite games, or if he’s playing this new game that came out earlier this week,,,

“will you play ‘it takes two’ with childe?” -someone in the chat

“absolutely not. i won’t play a co-op game with him”

not even 5 days later, tweet from childe saying “streaming in 30 minutes! Scaramouche and I will be playing It Takes Two on my ch---”

anyways this will be all!! (for now?) i obviously knew genshin before this but, yesterday i could finally start playing it myself! so i feel like if not now, soon i will also write headcanons of him playing genshin! i don’t take requests but if you guys have any ideas or anything you want to say about this AU, send me an ask!! i’d love to talk about this and about genshin in general!

also, i was very inspired to write this by @baeshijima​ ! so thank you very much to her for her wonderful streamer AUs and if anyone reading this hasn’t read hers already, go check them out!! they’re amazing!!

[soobirou]

their s/o likes the way they smell

request: txt reaction to their s/o always nuzzling into their neck because they like their scent

pairing; txt x gn reader

warnings: none !

notes: thank you for requesting!! this idea is so cutee and i hope you like it 🥺✨

♡꒱ soobin

you and soobin were a fresh, new couple but who was to stop you from being as affectionate as you could with him

deciding to stop by during his break, you basically ran into his arms, allowing his scent to travel up your nose

he totally smells like laundry softner

soobin couldn’t help but feel shy as you snuggled your face further into his neck

his heart started beating so fast and anyone could see that his ears were red from miles away

nonetheless he still wrapped his arms around you, squeezing just as tightly as you were

he may be shy at first but quickly adapts to it

and loves it djdjsj

not only does it comfort you, it also makes him feel at ease especially when he’s had a tiring day

soobin loves it the most when you nuzzle into him in the middle of the night, when it’s time for bed

“good night y/n~” soobin will whisper into the dead of the night, heart filling with softness as you sleepily snuggled your face into his neck

it makes him feel like the best boyfriend ever

give him all the affection you can

♡꒱ yeonjun

yeonjun had basically begged you to cuddle with him, even though you were trying to work on something

being unable to resist his puppy eyes, you quickly complied with his request

this was the first time you ever nuzzled you face into his neck, as you layed down with his arms around you

plss he gets so cute and smiley 🥺

“what’s this y/n?~”

you answer his question by talking about how you like way he smells

yeonjun gains so much confidence from this

like it’s just a confirmation to him that he really does smell good

n e ways

sometimes he’ll purposely try to get you to do it again like

“y/n..aren’t you missing something”

really loves when you’re affectionate with him

in his eyes you’re the cutest hshshs

♡꒱ beomgyu

this first happened one day beomgyu had been playing video games with his online friends the whole day

and you had missed him even though you two had been in the same room

at first you were just trying to get his attention when you sat in his lap

but sitting in his lap, turned into hugging him, which turned into nuzzling your face into his neck and inhaling his scent

is genuinely surprised, to the point where he stops playing his game

you may not have realized it, but you made his heart do somersaults

beomgyu loves when you nuzzle yourself into his neck and will reverse the roles, doing it to you as well

every once in a while he’ll change it up and get a different cologne or fragrance that he thinks you might like

“do you like the way i smell today y/n??”, he’ll ask with a small smile plastered on his face. a feeling of content washes over him once you nod your head that’s currently snuggled into his neck.

♡꒱ taehyun

you had a really important exam coming up and being the great boyfriend that he is, taehyun had been helping you study

unfortunately the material just wasn’t sticking and this endless study session was starting to get boring

so you decided to take a “break”

which was really just you squeezing all the affection that you could out of taehyun

he didn’t find it unusual when you sat in his lap, you had actually found yourself seated there more than a few times throughout the few months that you had been dating

so he was pretty much fine with it

but taehyun didn’t expect for you to nuzzle your face into his neck

at first he was concerned to whether or not you were okay

“is everything alright y/n?”

once you finally told him that you needed a break and really really like the way he smells, he got so flustered on the inside

it honestly takes him a while to get accustomed to it

but he ends up really liking it, at the request that it’s done when you two are only in each other’s company

♡꒱ hueningkai

no matter how many times you nuzzle into kai’s neck, he’ll never get used to it

the first time was when you two were baking the whole day or at least trying to, which wore the both of you out

exhaustion filled your body as you collapsed onto the couch, laying on top of heuningkai

unconsciously you found yourself looking at his neck, nuzzling your face into it as you inhaled his scent

omg you literally broke him

he’s so shyyy and doesn’t know how to react, what to do or what to say

after a while this could honestly go one way

like he will become super happy and giggly mess at the action

out of everyone, he loves it the most when you nuzzle into his neck

prob because it makes him feel warm inside and he thinks you’re his adorable s/o and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world

kai doesn’t even say anything, he just basks in the affection while hugging you tightly

“you’re so cute y/n!”, heuningkai basically beams at you as he ruffles the top of your head

[talkfantasytome]

Would you be open to writing a Gwynriel piece? I'd love to see your interpretation of them!

Helloooo! I'm going to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if this is just a question out of curiosity, or a request for a drabble or something. 😂

So, to answer the question, YES! Absolutely. They're probs a top 5 SJM world ship for me (maybe top 3?) and, to be honest, in my little side Gwynriel convo in 'Don't Forget Your Orgasm', I shocked myself in the banter I wrote - in a good way. Something about them seemed to inspire me, and I hope it'll do the same in a full Gwynriel fic.

Sadly, I often find myself struggling for the inspiration/motivation to start or fully create Gwynriel pieces. But I do wantttt to do more with them. And I do hope to have at least one or two stories in the Velaris State Chronicles be focused on them.

I would love more info on what interpretation you mean - just, in general? Canon compliant? Modern AU? etc. Or if you have a prompt in mind? Just lmk - since I do struggle, I'm all for hearing extra ideas.

That being said, in case this was just a request, here's a small drabble (a true drabble 👀) of Az coming to pick Gwyn up for that date mentioned in 'Don't Forget Your Orgasm'. Az POV, it's a bit short, but it does capture (I believe) what I think they'd be like even in canon compliant once there's healing on both sides.

P.S. Other nonnies - I see you, I love you, I WILL answer you. But it's now past 10 and I'm not the fastest writer. Not the slowest, but not the fastest. lol But if you're in my ask box currently, you will get an answer and/or a piece for the prompt sent - most likely tomorrow when I'm supposed to be working. I've seen you, and I'm all for it. XD

Azriel pulled up to Gwyn's apartment complex, breathing deeply

He couldn't believe what had happened today. Gwyn was a spitfire, to be sure, and she'd definitely not shied away from some flirtatious banter on their first date - but that? That he wasn't expecting.

If he were being honest, he hadn't been expecting the words that came out of his own mouth. In fact, he'd kicked himself internally for that stupid comment on finding her new tattoo…until she replied and he felt himself go hard right then and there.

Thankfully, her two friends - both terrifying in their own right - weren't paying attention to that. One just didn't seem interested in what happened below his belt, and the other was far too interested in what was happening beneath his brother's. Based on the little he saw, he had a feeling Cassian would be having a good night.

After a minute of just sitting in his two-door Jeep Wrangler, Az finally turned the car off and got out of it, heading toward the door.

He buzzed Gwyn's number and was greeted by a quick "Hi! Come on up!" and then a ringing sound to let him know the door was unlocked.

He spent the entire journey to the third floor schooling his features to not look surprised.

None of it mattered when Gwyn opened the door, bathrobe still on, portable curling iron in her hair, still looking like the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

Yeah, he was done for.

"Hi hi! So sorry!" Gwyn sighed, opening the door wider so he could come in. "Emerie and I were about to leave the tattoo parlor, but then Nesta decided to go back into it, and we just ended up talking for way longer than expected. Oh, and for the record, your friend Cassian definitely got lucky."

Azriel couldn't help but laugh as Gwyn just rambled on.

"I had a feeling he would," he sighed, taking in the apartment.

It was cute. Decorated mostly with an ocean décor - lots of shades of blue and green, and a few 3D pieces of art featuring colorful fish. It fit.

"Make yourself at home," she said as she started back toward the bathroom. "I know it doesn't look it, but I'm almost ready!"

"Take all the time you want," he offered, smiling more to himself than anything. "I'm not going anywhere."

Gwyn popped her head back out into the open threshold of her bathroom. "Why would you?" She smirked and winked before her head vanished again.

"Great question," he breathed to himself, leaning back into the couch.

It didn't matter that they'd only had one date so far. There was nothing that could make him leave, could make him miss out on time with Gwyn.

[scariusaquarius]

to taste the freedom of peace. 2.

Ken Kaneki x Female! Human! Reader

Synopsis: Anteiku is one of your favorite coffee spots in Tokyo. When a new worker suddenly pops up, you can't help but notice. Should you have been surprised that he noticed you too?

-

A/n: I feel like the first chapter was kinda bad, but I’m high as shit right now and kinda blanking on ideas lmao idk why though. Probs cause I haven’t written for a while rip. Anyway, here’s chapter two.

CHAPTER ONE 

-

Genre: Romance, Friendship Rated: Everyone Warning: Fluff, Sweet themes

-

Author: ScariusAquarius

-

After your morning classes had ended, you were well on your way to Anteiku to do your homework and relax. The rain had continued through the night, and the city smelled heavily of wet concrete and fresh morning dew. Fog was heavy, but it was a beautiful day.

It was almost poetic how the suffering of the world yielded such a beautiful aftermath.

Walking into Anteiku, you were greeted almost immediately by the lovely smell of baked goods and coffee. Looking around, you spotted the staff and regulars who knew you as well, and greeted them all.

“Good afternoon, everyone.”

Kaneki came around a corner and lit up when he spied you, Yoshimura greeting you and handing a cup of coffee for Kaneki to take to you.

“Good afternoon, Ms. (L/n). How were your classes today?”

“They went alright, but I have a large workload ahead of me. Finals for this semester are coming.”

You made a face, and Kaneki offered gently.

“Don’t worry, (L/n). You’ll do great!”

You smiled gently, and Touka, the purple-haired one that always looked annoyed, rolled her eyes. You snorted slightly before nodding to Kaneki.

“Thank you, I appreciate that. How has your morning been so far, Kaneki?”

“O-oh, just…just the typical.”

You tilted your head at him, asking.

“What’s your typical?”

Kaneki flushed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I don’t really have a set thing that I do. I just wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, and then whatever happens.”

You chuckled and drank your coffee, sighing at the taste before saying.

“But even something so basic as that can be considered a routine. We should talk more once I finish some of my work.”

Kaneki smiled and nodded before making his way back behind the counter. As he worked, Kaneki couldn’t keep his eyes off you. Despite almost all patrons at Anteiku being ghouls, you were probably the only regular that was human. It seemed almost strange to Kaneki.

Though humans did come from time-to-time, you seemed to be the only one who made it apart of your daily life to come to Anteiku. Kaneki didn’t know for how long, but it must have been at least a month or two for Yoshimura to be so friendly with you.

Well, maybe. Yoshimura was a genuine man, even having said that he liked humans once. Yoshimura was probably just being kind…but even so, Yoshimura didn’t ask every single patron how their day was. Yoshimura seemed to observe Kaneki as Kaneki watched you, chuckling lightly before saying to the young and infatuated man as he frowned to himself in confusion.

“Ms. (L/n) has been coming here for about four months now. She comes in every single day at noon to do her homework and read, save for Saturdays and Sundays. Since Anteiku is the only café within walking distance of her home, she chose this place for a safe haven.”

Kaneki looked over at Yoshimura, asking quietly.

“Does everyone here know that she’s human?”

Yoshimura chuckled.

“Of course. Even so, we at Anteiku are dedicated to treating everyone equally.”

Kaneki went back to watching you before jolting as Touka threw a mug at him.

“Quit staring, you creep, and get back to work.”

“I-I wasn’t staring! I promise!”

Touka rolled her eyes, and muttered.

“Whatever, eyepatch, just get back to work.”

Kaneki flushed before brewing more coffee, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. You were an enigma, a sudden mystery, and Kaneki was interested in figuring you out. Though, the last time he did that with a girl, he got turned into a half-ghoul…

Pursing his lips, Kaneki shook his head a little, and Yomo said to Yoshimura.

“He’s gonna get infatuated with her.”

“Perhaps it will be good for the boy’s soul.”

The old man replied as he wiped a cup and set it down on the counter, smiling to himself. There was a twinge of sadness in Yoshimura’s voice, however, that Yomo did not comment on. Instead, the man drank his coffee and went back to being silent and mysterious at the counter.

-TIMESKIP-

You sighed as you shut your books and relaxed in your seat. You had managed to finish at least three classes worth of work, and now needed a break. Your coffee had since gone untouched, cold and bitter as you took a sip, and you made a face at the coffee before sighing.

Packing all of your schoolwork up, you were surprised to see a new cup of coffee being held out to you. Taking the cup with a smile, you thanked Kaneki as he sat across from you.

“Thank you, Kaneki. I was just about to ask for a new cup.”

“Of course. How was your homework?”

You took a thankful sip, sighing gently.

“I managed to finish most of my work, but I still have one more class to do. What about you, Kaneki? Do you go to school?”

Kaneki seemed to get a faraway look in his eyes, one that spoke many words, and your shoulders dropped a bit. Kaneki answered honestly.

“Nowadays, I rarely have any time or any energy to go.”

“I see. Do you miss it?”

Kaneki nodded, giving you a small sad smile.

“All the time. Most importantly, I miss my friend Hide. We’ve been childhood friends for a long time.”

You smiled at Kaneki, simply observing him before you ears caught the news report on the television that was playing. Turning to watch the screen, you began to frown.

“-Three new bodies have been found within the 10th and 11th wards. They are believed to be connected to the binge eater that was located in the 20th ward. These deaths-“

Tuning out the report, you sighed and looked back down at your cup of coffee, staring down at your reflection. Kaneki was interested in the sadness that seemed to fill your eyes. Taking a chance, Kaneki asked you.

“Um…I hope it isn’t too personal to ask…but you look sad. Is everything alright?”

You nodded before admitting to Kaneki.

“it’s just…I don’t understand the concept of killing and how a person can just…kill. Why do people hate, Kaneki? Wouldn’t it be easier to just love one another?”

Kaneki was at a loss for words. It was a question that he had thought of for so long, but never could get a solid answer to. How could he answer you if he didn’t even know?

“I honestly don’t know, (L/n). That’s not an easy question to answer.”

“It shouldn’t be hard to love someone else, even if you don’t know them. Why not just care? Why not love? We have the ability to do so…so why are people afraid?”

You looked genuinely upset, and it made Kaneki become speechless once again. Never had he ever come across someone quite like you. Kaneki looked down at your previous and empty cup of coffee, and glanced at you as you sighed.

“I’m sorry, Kaneki. Please don’t indulge me. I tend to think on philosophical topics a little too much at times.”

A pretty smile came across your face even though Kaneki could see that you were still bothered, and Kaneki’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Instead, Kaneki simply smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind listening. Seems like you really have a lot to say.”

You looked taken back, and for a moment, you both stared at each other before getting embarrassed. Kaneki shot up, chair skidding as he grabbed your empty cups.

“H-Here! Let me refill this for you!”

Kaneki stumbled away, almost dropping the cups, and you couldn’t help but giggle. When Kaneki came back with another cup of coffee, you thanked him and took a sip.

“Kaneki, can I ask you something?”

Kaneki nodded, saying to you as he stood beside the table and gazed at you in interest.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Would you like to be friends?”

[CHAPTER THREE SOON]

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS WORK, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND REBLOG. SUPPORT YOUR CONTENT CREATORS.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Dogwarts Angst prompt: With so many out for his blood, Martyn needs power and protection so, what does he do? Mutiny, he slays his king in a way that gets him no suspicions and claims it was another faction (prob the desert given they have a gunpowder farm). Then, uses Ren as a martyr and symbol ("for our fallen king!") to gain the loyalty of the Red Army...HIS army...

this was so painful to write asdfghjkl not because it’s bad but bc i love loyal Martyn too much and the idea of him betraying Ren is horrible lol

...

It’s nearing sunset and Martyn and Ren are out for a walk near their base. Martyn is sweating a little; he has a plan and everything has to go just right or his life will be over. Ren has already asked a few questions but at least he seemed mostly satisfied with Martyn’s answers.

“You alright, there, Martyn?” says Ren after a while. “You seem to be looking around a lot.”

“Having a bounty on my head is making me a little nervous,” responds Martyn. “I love being wanted but it really makes a guy paranoid.”

Ren smiles sympathetically at him. “Understandable. I never thought-.”

“Wait!” Martyn gasps involuntarily, spotting the thin tripwire he set up, only just visible through the trees. “I-I think I see someone. Quickly!”

He takes off towards the trees, with Ren just behind him. Hopping over the tripwire, he hides behind another tree a few blocks away until he hears Ren yelp, “Martyn, I just tripped on something!”

Martyn immediately dashes for cover, leaving Ren behind.

The last thing he hears is Ren yelling his name, before the world explodes around him.

Luckily, Martyn is far enough away that the explosions only knock him lightly off his feet. Hurriedly getting back up, he rushes back the way he came, to find Ren lying in the centre of the large crater on his back, a small puddle of blood under his head.

Martyn kneels down beside Ren and cradles his head in his lap. Despite his plans, he can’t help feeling a twinge of guilt.

“M-Martyn…” coughs Ren, eyelids fluttering. “Wh…”

“I’m sorry, My Liege,” Martyn starts quietly, before abruptly changing what he was going to say. “I shouldn’t have left your side.”

“It’s okay,” Ren whispers, giving a weak smile, as he reaches up with a shaky hand to touch Martyn’s shoulder. “T-Take my crown. D-Dogwarts is yours, o-okay? Take c-care of it.”

Martyn nods as he carefully takes the crown from Ren. “Of course.”

Ren’s eyes slowly close for the final time and his body disappears.

Renthedog blew up

Martyn sits back on his ankles, allowing himself a minute to cry. He doesn’t hate his plan - he chose this path after all - but he does hate not being honest. He’d been planning to reveal his treachery to Ren just before he died but when it came down to it, he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t quite force himself to admit that he’d betrayed the man who gave him shelter, a purpose, and the position to be able to take control of arguably the most powerful alliance on the server.

He has made the decision to let Ren go to his grave believing that his dedicated friend was loyal to the end.

And now Martyn must live with that.

He stays there for a while, until he hears a distant voice yelling his name. It’s a friendly voice, so Martyn doesn’t move. This is his chance to start the performance of his life.

Sure enough, Skizz soon appears through the trees, followed closely by Etho. The two skid to a halt as they register the scene: Martyn kneeling in the crater with Ren’s crown in his lap.

“No!” Skizz gasps, rushing to Martyn’s side. “Oh no, are you okay?! What happened?!”

“I… The D-Desert Alliance must’ve trapped the area,” Martyn croaks, forcing himself to act shell-shocked. “I was stupid; I-I left Ren’s side to scout ahead. By the time I heard the TNT hissing, it was t-too late to save him.”

“Oh my god…” Skizz hugs Martyn tightly. “I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?”

“N-No, I was far enough away from the explosion.” Martyn clutches the crown as if his life depends on it. “I… What do we do now…?”

“Now, you gotta take over as the red king,” Skizz says, exactly as Martyn hoped. “Ren gave you his crown, right? He wanted you to take over for him.”

Martyn clears his throat. “Yeah… you’re right. We have to avenge Ren.”

Skizz nods, his eyes flashing red. “They gotta pay for what they did to our king, Martyn. I need to make them pay.”

“Me too,” responds Martyn. “For Ren."

…

When they get back to Dogwarts, the sun has long since set. Martyn is standing on the altar, holding Ren’s sword. He can’t stop thinking about Ren, as he’s sure none of his team can. But he knows it’s for very different reasons.

“Hey,” says Skizz’s voice gently from behind him. “You should get some sleep. It’s been a rough day.”

Martyn nods slowly. “I know, I just… I’m a little nervous.”

Skizz moves to his side and places his hand on Martyn’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Martyn. You know we’ll all protect you, right? You’re our new king; we’ll protect you with our lives, no matter how many stupid bounties are on your head.”

“Thanks, Skizz. I appreciate that.” Martyn can’t quite manage a smile. “Get some sleep. We’re gonna attack the Desert Alliance tomorrow at dawn.”

“Really?” Skizz stares at him. “Do you have a plan?”

“I’ll address everyone properly first thing in the morning.”

“Okay. Night, buddy. I mean… My Liege.”

Martyn carefully watches Skizz go into the building, before heading out towards the gate. His plan is working better than he could have ever imagined. Nobody suspects him. The only person who would even have the capacity to suspect him is-.

“Hey, Martyn.”

Martyn freezes as he hears Etho’s voice. Turning slowly, he spots his ally leaning against the wall, arms folded. “Hi. You startled me.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Etho’s expression is friendly but there’s something underneath, something that makes Martyn uneasy. “I just had a question for you, if that’s okay?”

Martyn turns fully to face Etho. “Shoot.”

“Did you see anyone around when you and Ren were out there, just before the trap went off?” Etho asks. “Anyone at all?”

This feels like a trap to Martyn. The easy thing to do would be to say yes, to tell Etho that he saw someone lurking around. But at the same time, maybe Etho is expecting him to say no. Either way, Martyn risks elevating Etho’s suspicions.

After taking a few seconds to think, he replies, “I thought I did, but I can’t be sure. That’s part of the reason I went ahead; I thought maybe someone was waiting to ambush us.”

“Right, I see.” Etho seems neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with his response. “So. An attack on the Desert Alliance at dawn, huh?”

Martyn nods, realising that Etho heard what he said to Skizz. “My reasoning is they’ll probably be expecting us to be weak and have to spend a few days to regroup after Ren’s loss. They won’t expect an immediate attack.”

“I see. That makes sense. I guess we’d better all get some rest, huh? Including you.”

“Yeah, I’ve just gotta do one thing before I turn in. But by all means, you go ahead.”

“I will,” Etho says. “Night, Martyn.”

“Night.”

Martyn watches Etho go back inside, before heading out to the grave Skizz made for Ren. He kneels in front of it and lays a flower on it.

“Sorry, Ren,” he murmurs. “There’s a new red king now.”