#written before canon

[lovelynim]

Thrilling Bet

Honkai Star Rail - Dr. Ratio x Aventurine

A/N: I know it's WAY too early to write anything about these two, but that leaked LC is living in my head rent free and I needed to get this out of my head so... yeah.

Also, keep in mind this is written before official releases and they may be OOC.

Summary: Aventurine comes up with an interesting bet.

Word count: 1482 words

“Ve~ri~tas,” Aventurine nearly sang, bursting into the room without the slightest care or respect for the other man’s privacy. Ratio closed both the book in his hands and his eyes, taking a deep breath. ‘Patience, Veritas, patience,’ he repeated inside his mind, remembering why he agreed to deal with someone like Aventurine in the first place and how they even ended up together.

Turning his head to look at Aventurine, Ratio gave the blonde a cold, piercing glare. “What?”

“Are you busy?”

“Well, I was rea-”

“Good, because I just happened to find out something really interesting and I’d like to share it with you, my dear Veritas,” Aventurine chuckled after promptly interrupting the other, placing his hands on Ratio’s shoulders as he stood behind his chair. “And I’m sure you’ll love to hear this one.”

“Could you not touch me so casually?” Ratio hissed, slightly flinching when he felt the touch against the bare skin of his left arm. “And, please, go straight to the point this time. I don’t wish to waste another afternoon hearing about your gambling adventures.”

“Geez, so cold, are you mad at me? You are so tense today, you need to relax ~” Aventurine insisted, returning his hands to the top of Ratio’s shoulders when the scholar tried to dislodge them. Aventurine pressed his thumbs, as if to give the man a massage while starting another of his monologues.

Ratio let out a small groan when Aventurine refused to stop touching him, but couldn’t help but feel a shiver running down his spine as that massage-like motion started. It was almost good enough to make him ignore whatever Aventurine was ranting about this time. Ratio hated to admit it, but Aventurine knew how to get him to do things, to get him in the mood. 

But there was a fatal flaw in this whole scene, one that not even Ratio’s most complex calculations could have foreseen. 

Aventurine’s touch felt ticklish. Not like a light tingle or a bothersome fluttering over his skin. It felt annoyingly ticklish. Enough to have Ratio gritting his teeth to avoid letting an embarrassing smile make its way to his face.

“Veritas, are you listening? You're way too quiet - even for you,” Aventurine called, bringing Ratio back down to his senses. Aeons, he was so focused on finding a way to ignore that feeling that he couldn’t even bother to hear that gambling addicted blonde.

“No, sorry. I dozed off for a second. You were saying?” Ratio muttered, letting out a sigh of relief when those hands finally stopped pressing into his skin. 

“Oh? Were my hands this good?” Aventurine teased and Ratio could hear the smirk in his voice. “My, I can always give you more if you want, handsome, you just need to ask nicely.”

“That was not- sigh. Suit yourself,” Ratio stopped himself, letting out what sounded like a confident chuckle, but it was only an attempt to hide what was really going on from Aventurine’s attentive gaze.

As someone who gambled that often, Aventurine had an amazing eye for details, noticing every little thing, catching all the signs and figuring out the meaning behind every sign one’s body could give. Still, Ratio also knew that man liked the palm of his hand and that there was a chance he could make it go unnoticed. “Anyway, back to the topic. What was it that you needed to tell me so bad that you couldn’t even knock on my door?”

“Oh, that?” Aventurine giggled, lightly tapping Ratio’s shoulders with the tip of his fingers, “I already forgot, it wasn’t that important.”

Uh oh.

Despite a calm exterior, Ratio felt like things were starting to drift from the path he planned them to go. It didn’t take a gifted intellect like his to figure out that something else caught Aventurine’s attention, that something aroused enough of his interest to put his ranting aside for a moment.

“You know, Veritas,” Aventurine started, stopping the massage and gently sliding his hand from Ratio’s shoulder down to his arm. Walking around the chair the scholar was sitting in, Aventurine took off his glasses with his other hand, eying the other man with a gleam in his eyes. “I actually wanted to ask if you wouldn’t have time to play a game with me. It’s been a while, no?”

Ratio crossed his legs, leaning back into the chair as he looked up to Aventurine’s face with a defiant, but uninterested look. “I could swear I told you I was in the middle of a readin-”

“Fantastic, so, it’s a simple bet, nothing ‘unreasonable’ this time, I promise,” Aventurine insisted, mimicking Ratio’s way of talking when using one of his comments about the blonde’s endless games.

“And if I agree, will you get yourself out of my room?”

“Maybe,” Aventurine grinned, squatting in front of Ratio and uncrossing his legs, resting each of his hands over Ratio’s knees. “Are you ticklish?”

“Hm? Is that your game?” Ratio asked mockingly, putting up a confident act.

“Not really, but it takes an important part on it. Because I could swear I saw you smiling when I was fiddling with your shoulders.”

“I’m afraid we are not on the same page.” Ratio sighed, resting his head on one of his hands while he considered the pros and cons of kicking that blonde away from him at that exact moment.

“Please, a man like you could have done better at feigning ignorance,” Aventurine smirked, slightly digging his fingers into Ratio’s legs. “Answer me, Veritas, are you ticklish? Because I bet you are.”

“Statistically speaking, every person is ticklish to some degree. It’s only natural for us to-”

“Nah-ah, I don’t care about statistics,” Aventurine interrupted before pulling himself a little closer, making Ratio freeze on spot. “I’m going all in on this one, Veritas.”

“...There could be a huge backlash if you lose this ‘bet’, Aventurine…” Ratio warned, hoping he could develop a way to sink into that chair in the next seconds. 

“And that’s the fun part, Veritas. There is no thrill if there is no risk.” 

Ratio could feel the heating spreading across his face when Aventurine looked at him like that. His heart beat fast and his thoughts crashing one into the other, giving him no logical solution for this situation. “That’s enoug- AGH!” Ratio squeaked like a dog’s toy when Aventurine quickly moved his hand and squeezed his side, his fingers digging into that exposed portion of skin and sending electric shooks up to his smart - but now useless - brain.

“Hah,” Aventurine laughed, “jackpot.”

“Aventurine, no. I’m seheheri- ah! N-nohoh!”

And so, Ratio found himself trapped against that chair, stuck between the soft cushions and Aventurine’s hands. The gambler didn’t waste a single second, using one hand to dig and stroke Ratio’s exposed sides while the other pinched the top of his thigh. “You know the drill, Veritas, I won the bet, so it’s only fair I get to enjoy my prize.”

“D-dohohon’t- ahAHah, t-take me fohohor one of yohohour stuhUHupid games!” Ratio managed to protest between giggles, holding into Aventurine’s arms as he tried to pry his hands off his body. “Now stohohop this, yohohou idiot!”

“Ah, as expected of you, Veritas, even laughing like this, you’re able to keep that sharp tongue of yours,” Aventurine mocked, dragging his nails against Ratio’s side and making the man’s laugh rise an octave. “But I have to say, your smile is as handsome as I expected. You don’t disappoint, do you? Heh ~”

“S-shuhush! AhahAHa, e-enohOHOhough!” Ratio threw his head back, taking as much air as possible to his lungs in a deep gasp before breaking into a renewed fit of laughter. He managed to get a look at Aventurine’s face through squinted eyes and - if the small tears clinging onto his lashes weren’t distorting his sight - he looked more amazed than ever. 

Ratio couldn’t remember Aventurine smiling like that even when accompanying him to his wild gambling nights. Was tickling him really this amusing for him?

In those short seconds he was lost in his thoughts, Aventurine managed to get a hold onto Ratio’s legs and sit himself on top of his lap. Now at a much closer distance, they could admire each other’s features: the rare sight of Dr. Ratio with a flustered expression and Aventurine looking dazzled by his new discovery.

“So,” Aventurine whispered, giving Ratio a break from the tickling but pushing him against the chair by his shoulders, keeping him pinned in place, “where else are you ticklish, Veritas?”

“H-hah…” Ratio wheezed lightly, closing his mouth shut before his lips curled into a grin, “take a guess, Aventurine. No, rather… make a bet. But you know better than anyone else that the higher the stakes-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever… I just want to see that handsome smile again, Veritas. It’s worth the risk.”

[httyd-art-requests]

Concept art light fury? She fits in so well, I wish we got to see her

EXCELLENT REQUEST!!! I love this thing so much, look at her widdle face

Dragon #118 - Concept Art Light Fury

Requests are currently closed!

[triptuckers]

can you write headcanons for percy x child of zeus? (if you’re comfortable with that) i always imagine they’d have such a funny dynamic esp with zeus in the mix, the perfect clash of sky & sea

hiii yes ofc!!

I feel like a child of zeus would have a very short tempter and often get into trouble because of it

but percy would be one of the few people the only one to be able to calm you down

he's prevented a lot of fights because of it

you'd be drawn to the storms so you often go outside during one

obviously you're not scared of the thunder or the lightning

percy would be there to make sure you didn't get soaking wet

(perks of being poseidon's kid)

and it would be especially nice because none of the other campers would willingly go outside in a storm

you'd sit near the lake and watch lightning strike the surface in the distance

you'd definitely try to combine your powers with percy's

9/10 times it doesn't end that well so eventually chiron has to forbid you from doing it unless someone is in immediate danger

(doesn't stop you from doing it though)

in the beginning most of the kids at camp were a bit hesitant around you

you thought it had something to do with the fact your dad is one of the big three

but then you noticed they didn't treat percy the same way

so you figured out it was just because zeus is your dad

when percy found out he was furious

telling people there was no way you'd treat people the same way zeus treated them

after that people eased up around you

some kids were still a bit hesitant though

which was to be expected when a child of zeus is dating a child of poseidon, your powers combined are just powerful

you and percy train together a lot

because you're pretty evenly matched, neither of you has to hold back

you'd often train for hours, getting a lot of energy and adrenaline out of it

then you'd end up at the lake again

you'd lay on your backs and look up at the sky

telling percy about the sky and the clouds

which clouds indicate rain, storm, etc

percy just loves listening to you talk about the sky

and in turn he tells you about the sea

after spending almost all of your time around each other

you just become two halves of the same coin

wherever one of you goes, the other one usually follows

you complete each other

[pepperpixel]

Initial drawings of that old man… I literally, I haven’t finished reading the book of bill yet!!! I had to stop and take a break for a week to feverishly draw fanart of myself petting fords floofy hair and giving him attention and shit…!!!! The urge was too great….!! I’ve literally. I had a crush on this guy the instant he was first REVEALED in the show, but I did not have the artistic prowess to draw good looking old men back then… but I do now… thank god… thank fucking god

[artifeast]

telesphore tkh and hamid rqg interacting, cuz why not. and also i love them. and also @yamikakyuu suggested it

[atchamcrepin]

A still frame from the animatic I'm working on. The japanese text is just a lyric from the song～ 😺

[somegrumpynerd]

HEY. POINTS FINGER… any thoughts on how everyone reacted when the other joined the team? as in how did killer react when dust came, how did he and dust react when horror came, how did they all react when cross came, etc. i love love LOVE your bad sanses thoughts way too much they make me so happy. if i write hurt you write comfort and it’s awesome. also how do you think they slowly started to get closer? just.. bah give me your thoughts on them!!!! any thoughts!!!!!!!!!

You fool!! You’ve given me a chance to ramble about my special little guys and now this post will stretch on forever!! Mwahahahahah >:3c

No but seriously this is probably gonna be wicked long cause I have 1 million thoughts about these guys joining and meeting each other so uh, readmore for everybody’s safety and sanity

(^ I wrote that in the document before I started typing out my actual thoughts and uh

yeah no kidding, this is like a fucking essay so proceed with caution)

OKAY SO

I’ve said before that Nightmare got Dust for two reasons; one being that Dream had just recently started working with Ink (and soon Blue) so he and Killer were no longer able to gang up on Dream. He wanted somebody else to bulk up their numbers and give Killer a little back up. He also was starting to realise that Killer didn’t handle being alone very well, since this was when he most often got worked up and broke things around the castle (and sometimes tipped over into stage 3). Dust would be a perfect fit since he had the same amount of lvl and fighting experience as Killer, and since they were so close in circumstance they would be practically like brothers right?

The irony that he thought this about a guy he was recruiting to help kill his brother was apparently lost on him.

They absolutely hated each other. Like, it was instant. Killer saw him as a replacement, why would boss go out and get another sans - one with almost the same backstory as me - when I’m right here? Does he think I’m not good enough? Am I disposable and this is the backup for when I die in combat? He didn’t take it well. He took it all out on Dust too, not cooperating in battle, trying to start fights in the castle, etc. He couldn’t outright kill him because Nightmare had given him strict orders not to, but Killer loves a loophole. If he roughed Dust up down to 1hp and something else happened to finish him off, technically he’d followed orders.

Dust just straight up didn’t want to be there. Nightmare just showing up and yoinking him had worked fine with Killer, but Dust had wanted to sit in his empty au and die, he had no intention of joining a team or doing work of any kind - good or bad. The only reason he didn’t just lie down and refuse the entire time was that he had to fight back against Killer, as much as he wanted to die he refused to give this ass the satisfaction or lvl. He didn’t intend to be any help out in the field either, but again, Killer was making sure he got fired at so he had to retaliate to stay alive.

Eventually it got bad enough that Nightmare had to pull Killer aside and demand answers. In the year or so of knowing him Killer had never willfully disobeyed orders before, so Nightmare needed to know what had gotten into him. He dispelled the replacement rumour right away, he still wasn’t quite softened up enough to be sappy about it but he made sure Killer understood what a good worker he was and that Nightmare had no intention of losing him. It didn’t help a lot, they still hated each other for other reasons, but it eased a little.

Killer still had pretty frequent dips into stage 3, except now he would go straight for Dust usually. Nightmare had tried to explain what he’d learned about it to Dust, but he didn’t really believe that it wasn’t just Killer deciding to try and kill him for funsies. He only accepted it after a particular episode where he attacked Nightmare instead, which Dust knew Killer wouldn’t try in his right mind.

After he came back to his senses he sought Dust out. The air around Killer was very different after a stage 3, sort of sombre and almost calm, so Dust let them sit together and Killer apologised for giving him such a hard time. They actually talked for the first time in months while Killer was still calm (or tolerable, as Dust describes it), and it didn’t magically fix everything but, things were a little better. They still fought and argued and bothered each other but it wasn’t as sharp, there was a lack of real murderous intent in it all, and sometimes after an episode they would talk a little bit. It was the best Nightmare was going to get for now, so he took it.

They were still completely incompetent about taking care of themselves though. Neither of them would eat unless prompted and Nightmare didn’t have good enough knowledge of mortals to know when that should be to stop them passing out from hunger on the job. Not to mention the stars were now a full team, and with the way Killer and Dust would sometimes rather target each other on the field he could do with more backup.

Horror was the first of the group to get a choice in joining. Nightmare had taken note of how much Dust didn’t want to be part of things, and while it was in his best interests in the long run given his situation, Horror’s au was still mostly intact - though a little in disrepair. Horror was also the first in the group to have a good (and ongoing) relationship with his brother, so Nightmare knew he couldn’t just pop in and steal him, he had to be a bit more diplomatic with this one and offer a deal.

He gave Horror some time to think on his proposal - he would set up regular deliveries of food to Horror’s au in exchange for him joining their team - and was quite surprised when Horror agreed, with some stipulations. Horror was equally surprised when Nightmare agreed so easily to his terms (that he didn’t want his brother to know what he’d be doing, and that he wouldn’t kill). A little down the line the terms were altered to add that he would also be left to visit his au every week or so.

Horror was not impressed meeting the other two. He didn’t need his power as judge anymore to sense the lvl coming off them both, and given who they were working for he was instantly distrustful of them both (the uh, brother situation did not help). He was also in a place that had an abundance of food for the first time in probably years, so he was doing a lot of going hog wild in the kitchen and then getting very sick as a result.

Dust didn’t particularly feel anything for him. This guy hated him, sure, but it wasn’t forward and slashy like with Killer, it was just quiet loathing which was fine. That’s how Dust felt about himself so, y’know, mood. He did kind of feel sorry for him though, not just because of the whole famine and everything, but also because he was watching this guy eat like his life depended on it and then get sick and undo it day after day. He was the one who suggested Horror getting his food in moderation to Nightmare, which did help but was an absolute ordeal to enforce. Y’know how some people get hangry? Imagine that but you haven’t had a proper meal in years and now these people give you tiny amounts of food and don’t let you eat more for hours. The hunger mood swings were a sight to behold, you would never have guessed in those days that Horror specified not wanting to kill.

When his ability to eat had evened out and he was in better shape, Horror made a point of apologising to Dust for being aggressive with him. Over time he’d kind of softened up on him from his initial impression, since he could see plainly how wracked with guilt Dust was over his situation. It was a little easier to imagine that whatever he’d done was truly out of desperation and not just for fun, as Horror had assumed at first sight. 

They also both retained that classic sans laziness, so it was easy for them to share a space while saying and doing nothing. It made Horror the first person that Dust willingly spent time around in the castle (and vice versa since Horror was still largely suspicious of Nightmare and Killer - the deal seemed too good to be true and the stage 3 episodes didn’t help). As time went on, Horror kind of became Dust’s emotional support skeleton in a way. Dust had become quite averse to touch in his solitude and Horror very slowly brought him back out with casual gentle touches, until not only did he no longer freeze or stiffen at being grabbed but Dust would seek him out to flop next to on the couch. Horror claimed it was just returning the favour for helping with his eating situation, but really it was nice to have something resembling a friend here.

Killer, for his part, was going through This is My Replacement 2: Electric Boogaloo. Not to the same degree as with Dust, since Horror was quite a bit different, but Killer was still wary of this new addition. He didn’t really instigate anything though since, to be honest, Horror had the intimidation factor. He was like a foot taller than both of them, he had a cracked skull and completely different magic and it seemed like every time Killer saw him he was eating bread like a wolf eats a deer. So while he was going through his food moderating, Killer mostly just stayed quiet and kept his distance.

Horror had not softened on him like he had with Dust, since Killer didn’t openly show remorse. He still watched him with distrust, especially after seeing the way he scrapped with Dust for seemingly no reason other than for violence’s sake. Killer was still mostly targeting Dust in his stage 3s, but Horror had to be careful to stay out of his way since he was still working with much lower hp than the other two. What did start to convince him was seeing how similar Killer and Dust were after a stage 3 episode. Once Killer was slightly more composed (ie stopped crying), he became so tired and quiet and blunt about things he normally joked his way around. It was a little startling, but also started to bring Horror around to the idea that Killer might regret his actions too, just buried under several layers of whatever the hell is also wrong with him at any given time.

Killer and Horror only really started interacting after talking about Dust. Killer was asking how he got Dust to like him since he seems to hate everyone and everything else, Horror told him very pointedly it was because he wasn’t trying to kill Dust. Killer admitted he wasn’t trying to kill Dust, at least not anymore, he just wanted to fight for fun. It opened up a better channel of understanding, knowing that Killer did not actually have murderous intent behind his swings (stage 3 notwithstanding). It made it easier for Horror to occasionally get involved in the roughhousing which Killer delighted in, knowing that the other two knew how to hold back enough to keep him from dusting.

Speaking of stage 3, it was around this time that Killer and Dust made a very important deal. After a particularly rough episode with a little too close of a call, Killer showed up in Dust’s room and begged him shakily to make a promise - that if he ever got too out of control during one of his stages, Dust would kill him. He’d been told over and over by Nightmare that it was impossible for Killer to hurt him since he was immortal, but now there were more people around him where that wasn’t the case, and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he came out of a stage and found himself alone. Dust promised.

It’s also worth mentioning that, once they were all close enough to be on speaking terms, Horror started bullying the shit out of these two about eating. Now that Horror knew neither of them were going to kill him, he felt safe enough to pick them up by the scruff and set them at the table to say they weren’t leaving until they had at least a snack. He let them pick what they would eat - he wasn’t that cruel about it - but he had to see them eat at least 3 times a day or they would hear about it.

It was by no means perfect or regular, but after about half a year Nightmare finally had henchmen who ate food and worked together (mostly).

Now here’s the problem… I still haven’t really figured out how or why Cross joined the team. Like, obviously there’s some kind of point in the events of underverse where it splits off into an alternate timeline, but I haven’t really figured out where yet so. Leave that one with me just a little longer. Cross joins.

Nightmare really truly didn’t intend to take anyone else in. They were (mostly) getting along, they were pretty well matched to fight the stars, he had no need of more mortals.

…but he was also pretty soft at this point. Every one of them had taken a blow to his I’m immortal I’m an island I don’t get attached to others persona and he’d gotten pretty damn fond of them all. This was why when he felt the sheer weight of loneliness radiating off of Cross, he just couldn’t bring himself to leave him.

So Cross entered the castle. 

He did not particularly intend to stay or make friends, he was trying to get his world back and nothing more. He even revealed a little down the line that he outright refused to kill, and was quite surprised to find that Nightmare was fine with that. At the start he was polite but not friendly with the others and mostly kept to himself.

Dust, as is often the case, did not really have an opinion. Another new guy, this one was self sufficient and didn’t bother him so he had no reason to get involved. He was content to be in the same room as Cross but didn’t start up any conversations.

Horror felt the need to speak to Cross, since Dust would happily stay silent for years and Killer was, well, Killer. Horror was somehow the closest thing to normal they had, so he was the one that made small talk. Mostly asking what Cross would like for meals and encouraging him to pick something he liked when he got the answer of “anything is fine”. As Cross settled in a bit more and actually opened up, they bonded over being the only two to enjoy food. Horror made a point of adding chocolate to the stock they kept in the kitchen and making tacos here and there for Cross.

Horror was also the first Cross kind of warmed to, mostly because he was the one devoid of lvl and Nightmare had mentioned he’d also said he wouldn’t kill. Learning a little about his au’s situation only softened Cross to him more, especially seeing that he still cared a lot for his brother and was trying to protect his home (even if Cross found it unthinkable that he lived away from it). It was through Horror that he also got accustomed to Dust, how being quiet and distant was kind of his default and that he also felt deeply haunted by the loss of his world. They weren’t exactly friends, but it was comfortable enough.

So now boss had taken in another new person, someone who takes orders like a soldier and fights with knives and ruthless precision and aims to be his righthand man, and Killer was ecstatic. By now he’d mostly put his fears of being disposable behind him, Nightmare had gotten a bit less subtle in showing how important they all were to him and Killer felt confident he wouldn’t be replaced. Which was a little bit funny, because the only guy he didn’t feel threatened by was the one who absolutely competed for his spot.

Cross needed to prove he was useful, he had to feel like he earned his keep and that all the training and suffering he’d done was for a reason. When Nightmare sent them on missions, Cross aimed to be the fastest and the most efficient and to report to Nightmare without question. Horror and Dust looking on would have expected Killer to see this 100% as a threat to his position as (self proclaimed) Nightmare’s second in command, and to go for this guy’s throat when nobody else was around.

But Killer was fascinated. Cross was completely different from any of them, bar Nightmare whose au is a whole different kettle of fish, so he had a certain element of unpredictability to him. Horror and Dust were both based on classic sans just like him, so to a certain degree he knew how they would feel about most things and what they might say, the only differences being in what they had experienced through their own timelines. Cross was based on a swap sans and his au had taken wild twists and turns away from usual events, so Killer had to learn everything about him by poking and prodding for answers or observing from a distance, much like back when it was just him and Nightmare. Cross was something new to be studied and Killer loved taking notes.

Cross did not see this as friendly. He was competing with Killer for approval, not realising Killer was playing their contest like a game. When he saw Cross training he would jump in to spar for fun, but Cross saw his rival trying to get a jump on him and take him out of the running. When Killer would hang around and pester Cross in their off time with questions, it didn’t seem like someone taking interest, it seemed like someone being nosy and looking for weaknesses to exploit. When Horror mentioned that Killer was being surprisingly contained and friendly, Cross really thought he was fucking with him.

The first time Cross was willing to even consider this was the case was when his locket came loose on the field and Killer ran back to find it, since one of the notes he’d taken was how the locket wasn’t something Cross would play about (the same as Horror with food). It didn’t make sense for someone who was seriously competing to have him kicked out to just hand his necklace back, no ransoms or attempts to crush it to upset him, just some vague remark about “owing him one” and then right back to Nightmare for orders.

Cross had to give him something of a chance after that, Horror helped a lot by telling him “he doesn’t want to hurt you, he just doesn’t know how to be normal”. It was mostly a playful jab at Killer, but reframing their interactions changed it significantly for Cross. Now they were sparring playfully and having friendly competition on jobs. He wasn’t as put off when Killer went into stage 3 because he knew he could match him in combat and the others were always on hand to help restrain or distract him. Cross also took note of how Killer calmed down a lot for physical touch, not unlike how Dust had warmed up to Horror. It went a long way into not only making him a little less combative for attention every day, but it seemed to put longer stretches between his episodes (which Cross had also started tracking so they wouldn’t be caught out by them as much).

For his part, Killer has disobeyed instructions in the past to benefit Cross, usually ignoring the task to help him if he’s hurt. He’s also given Nightmare nudges towards praising him because he’s noted that that’s what Cross needs in the same way he needs touch (not that Nightmare doesn’t praise them normally, but when Cross is going through it and needs something). He also doesn’t particularly like chocolate but has made a point of not admitting this to Horror so he can give his chocolate to Cross.

(It’s also worth noting that Cross is the only one, besides Nightmare, that has been to Horror’s au. He offered to help out during the food delivery and got to meet Horror’s Papyrus (who he is a little intimidated by but ultimately friendly with, even though it’s a little weird since he’s a good bit different from his own Papyrus). Dust and Killer can’t really visit for a few reasons, mostly because everyone will notice their lvl immediately and know what they’ve done. Dust especially doesn’t know how he would react to having a Papyrus in front of him again and doesn’t want to put Horror's family at risk to find out. Whenever he visits, his Papyrus asks about Cross now and sometimes tries to make tacos for him (key word tries, he’s still a Papyrus after all). He may have joked that seeing Cross sometimes is “like having another brother but younger and less lazy” and when Horror told him this Cross may or may not have cried.)

And that’s where we are now!

They’re a very strange group who’ve been through some inexplicable events and have all changed each other in one way or another. And whether or not it can be admitted, they are a family c:

Now onto how Nightmare was made emotionally open by each of them!! In this essay I will no just kidding could you imagine this is already like 7 pages long

If you got to the end of this post please drink some water and get yourself a snack

[bazoonga-bazinga]

watching tua s4 knowing fully how its going to disappoint me rn and something that keeps bothering me is just how awful it is that they dont show what happens during the 6 year time skip.

like in season 2 we get to see an abridged version of how everyone got to where they are. this allowed for me as viewer to at least undertsand the reasoning behind the siblings' actions and conflicts. but in season 4 there is just none of that.

instead we only get to see the after of the timeskip. Whatever bits we do hear abt the time in between are extremly limited because they are things that are told to us from biased/flawed/one-sided perspectives. I as a viewer do not get a clear idea of why any of the 8 charcters of the main cast change the way they do becuase i am never shown how this change ocurred. its more i am told things and have to accept because of the 6 year gap.

lila and diego's strained marriage is actually i think the only they showed without telling to an extent. but it still would have also been nice to see thier struggles transitioning to suburbia and would also aid me to better understand why neither of them tried to find an adequate balance in the 6 years. also like why is diego working as a delivery driver? in my mind it makes more sense for him to be a mediocre private investgator or something like that? idk just some more context behind the tension and thier decsions (especially lila dear god dont even get me started) would have been wonderful

viktor's journey to Canada and his distancing from the others sounded interesting and i would have loved to see that on screen. he clearly is unable to form long lasting intamate relationships and showing his life in the time gap would have been a great way to show his journey of accepting the loss of sissy.

allison was definitely hit hard by the lack of explanation. i understand the scheduling issues with raymond's actor but it truly was a heavy blow to season 3 allison actions when they just said he left with no other explanation. most of her conflicts in season 3 were motivated by the loss of claire and raymond and you are telling me she just lost 50% of that a year afterwards? and like this doesnt get mentioned until episode 3??

i actually enjoyed klaus's shift to a risk averse person and it did make sense to me after losing his immortality to become more aware of not only his but his loved ones mortality. the biggest glaring issue is the one everyone has talked about: the lack of dave. i think if they had shown klaus trying to find info on dave and/or even visiting his grave in the timeskip it would been fine with me that he wouldn't mention dave that much. but the dog tags being on screen and him not saying anything is actually inasne??? also it sounds like there was definitely more to his sobriety than what they have told sad that we didnt get to see that storyline....

everyone has said thier piece on how luther just mentioning sloane and then no other explanation is actually awful. like a simple flashback fo luther searching and finding sloane living a different life would have been better than them giving us nothing💀

ben i actually have nothing to say...it would have been silly to see the crypto scam ig. also an explanation of why they even showed the other ben the post credit of the s3 finale i think is warranted. like even a mention of yeah there is probably another ben who belongs to this universe walking around would have been okay ig

five oh where to even begin.... first of all how tf does a person who isnt even in thier 20s even get a gig at the cia. i know they said some bullahit abt five being a part of a relative young group/recruit (cant remember the exact wording) but like a person who is younger than 19 getting a job at the cia is a bit much. also i actually refuse to belive that five wouldn't have figured out his boss was part of the keepers there is just no way. after the handler and reggie i refuse to belive that five would lose his suspicion towards authority figures. i think the only authority figure he has ever listened to was the founder version of himself and even that took time. like if you want me to believe that bs then show me how five turned his brain into mush in the 6 year time skip. either that or show how me his loneliness in those six year because from what i have right now five worked at the cia and that is it nothing else. like from what i have been told by the show nothing else happended to him besides working. which if thier implication is that he was only working and drifted apart from his siblings that message was not clear enough to me as viewer and would have been alot clearer if i was shown such as thing.

[rosetterer]

If you're going to be mad that a canon ship has 1000+ fics when HenRen also has that amount but spread out over several years, then you should be furious that a non-canon m/m ship has 25k+ fics... you know, if this REALLY was about caring about the way that people write for lesbian couples compared to gay couples...

Just like some of y'all all of a sudden care about the female love interests

And just like you all of a sudden care about racism

But... it's not really about all that, now is it?

[orangeoctopi7]

My takeaway from The Book of Bill:

Bill is a cringefail loser who feels bad for all his crimes but still refuses to confront his past, grow, change, or in any way better himself.

[mamawasatesttube]

bruce characterization is so hard because he really has been written all over the place. generally i try to think of him as a man who really does mean well, but whose drive for justice and unprocessed traumas can blind him to his shortcomings and lead to him inadvertently hurting his children. i also think that comics are a medium that doesn't usually lend itself well to character growth, because they to maintain a certain status quo to keep telling stories from, and so the bruce in my mind would honestly develop and learn from his mistakes a lot better than canon bruce actually does, because for someone who espouses the values he does, it makes no sense for him to completely stagnate, right. he's a puzzle you can put together in a lot of different ways and it's fascinating but also can be such a pain because of all the different books writing him in so many different ways, but characterizing him solely as an asshole is just boring and reductive imo...

...but all of that said i still think if martha kent ever found out how he talked to kon in sb94 #85 or in those issues of batgirl '00, she should be allowed to beat his ass with a pitchfork. yknow?

[shyguygubbs]

I was thinking about kotlc recently and how the Black Swan originally wanted to wait to bring Sophie into the Lost Cities until way later, probably when she turned 18, and how different of a person Sophie would have been if that were the case.

Like at the start of the series, she's this child prodigy who has to go to community college in the fall at the age of 12 because her parents won't let her go to Yale (a totally valid parental choice btw), and the thing is I think she would have THRIVED in that environment. Like at first she would be scared and hesitant because in all other school environments she has been bullied for being as smart as she is, but now she's going into a school that people choose to go to in order to learn. Community college doesn't just have mean, jealous teenagers who attend, there are people of all ages and all walks of life who are ready to learn. Sure, Sophie would still be the youngest one there, and I doubt it would be super easy with the whole mind reading thing, but she would be in a much more supportive environment when it comes to learning than anything else she's experienced.

She'd be able to make friends with her peers, being able to bond over a shared love of whatever they're studying, and these friends don't think she's too smart or too weird. She maybe finds some way to muffle the voices in her head better than her earplugs did. Yeah, she still gets headaches, but she can manage it. I can see her taking as many classes as she can, figuring out her passions and what she might want to do as a career. She'd be in a fantastic place academically to transfer to any school she wants when she turns 18. I can even see her parents letting her graduate when she's 17 and allowing her to transfer to a four year college to get a bachelor's in whatever she wants to study, whatever she finds her passion for, because she worked hard for this, and doesn't hate school now, and has found a path for herself in life that feels right.

And then the Black Swan shows up and whisks her away from all of that, and she's heartbroken because she doesn't need to be taken away from everything she's worked so hard for. Yeah it feels nice to finally have the whole mind reading question answered, but she doesn't need a new place to belong, she has one. I imagine this Sophie being a lot more confident in herself, but a lot angrier too. She's fascinated by her new world, but desperately wants to go back home, to just live out the life she's been working towards. I can see her working side by side with the Black Swan from the jump, because she's in a world with injustice and she can't just sit back and let this slide, but constantly fighting back this resentment for them and how they took everything from her. I think of how canon Sophie had a brief moment of hesitation when it came to training her Telepathy, and I think this older Sophie would be conflicted between wanting to know more about this abnormality that she's been dealing with her whole life, and wanting to cling to her human identity and her old life as much as she possibly can. Because she's been ripped away from it, and no matter what her genetics say, this Sophie still views herself as human.

[kindaorangey]

idk why it's taken me this long to think about it like this but the real reason i don't like 70s/80s era DM in the show timeline is because it's cheating. and i don't mean infidelity, i mean it's a cheap way to cut around all the issues armand and daniel have with each other in the modern day. like it's a massively difficult thing to write these characters getting from point A (armand's life being ruined by daniel and daniel hating armand/being highly distrustful of him) to point B (a sincere romantic relationship) but if you invent a Secret Romantic History That Daniel Forgot But Will Remember then it's a piece of cake for them to forgive each other. but no! i say no! i want the writers to put the work in!!!!

[crystallizsch]

anon that said they wanted to kiss jamil on the lips here . I FEEL BAITED :(

AAAH SORRY okay one kiss :D (and i’m kinda in a writing mood so uh)

if you wanna kiss mr jamil viper, don’t worry. i’d like to think he would just ask you straight-up so you don't have to do anything. one day, both of you would just be taking a stroll just chatting. but he had something else on his mind. you two had never actually kissed before. and he wanted to try it out. it was a weird thought. and he tried to ignore it. but the more he did, the more it kept him awake at night. so he finally decided that he wanted to give it a shot. there was no point adding unnecessary stress thinking about it. you two were close enough, right? he’d assess the mood first to make sure. it was the usual banter so that was good. and then he'd finally bring up the courage to finally ask you. "Hey, Prefect... Would you mind if we kissed?" you laugh because you were taken aback. before jamil could take your reaction in a wrong way, you agree with a sweet smile. good job, that laugh and that smile ruined the composure he had built up earlier. it's not showing on his face, but his flushed cheeks say otherwise. regardless, jamil cups your cheeks in his hands once he was given permission. you gaze at each other. you see that there was a softness in his eyes. at the back of your mind you thought of his signature spell that he could have easily used on you. the fact that he hasn't speaks volumes about his feelings towards you. you both slowly lean in towards one another and your lips met in a soft and tender kiss. it was quick and brief but it felt like forever. as you both pulled apart, you rested your foreheads against one another in a state of bliss. you two could get used to this.

happy valentines :3

anyways, i had an alternate vision before this with my yuu (imagine he's saying a shitty pick-up line)

this was their first attempt. they're such cringefail losers.

(part one right here)

[eri-pl]

Interesting timing

So, on the reread I noticed that just after the Moon and Sun are mede, there's a speculation that Morgoth went to find the newly-awaken Men to talk with them*, and left the war efforts to Sauron.

Which means, something like this very likely happenned:

Day 1. Morgoth leaves and Sauron starts organizing the war, optimizing the strategies and what not.

Day 2. Maedhros is gone from Thrangorodrim and nobody in whole Angband knows what hapnned.

All the following days until Morgoth's return: Sauron is trying to find a way to explain it. Everyone else is as quiet as they can be. (Also, there is a siege now.)

* i have no idea how to describe it in short, because it's one of the parts where Tolkien's intent and his execution don't really match that well for me, so I have a hard time talking about it witout making it sound funny, but also it's on top of my "what Melkor did wrong" list, so. Let's just call it "talk to them" and assume the readers know the lore. Or at least can imagine what type of talks he is interested oin having. I think you would imagine it better than the [semi-]canon manages to.

[crownedwille]

Throw Me In The Pit of Your Fire [Explicit, 9k]

Simon was aware of two things:

He was absolutely terrified.

And Wilhelm looked really good in his suit.

– It's Wilhelm's public birthday celebration and Simon is attending it officially as the Crown Prince's boyfriend.

Or the birthday fix-it fic

Read here