#yiik iv spoilers

[crystallizedkingdoms]

love as a construct

The Junctioned Self shimmers iridescent in the cold winter night. White, blue, red, pink. It reminds Alex of a Valentine's long gone. Michael is still. Alex chases anyway.

wc: 2,073 // cw: non-consensual kissing, yiik i.v spoilers

you can also read this on ao3 <3

The Junctioned Self is still.

Its words ring in Alex’s ears, an echo dancing off the glittering snow beneath their feet.

Do you remember when you—?

God, yes, of course he remembers. How can he ever forget? Alex thought he had that memory locked away, hidden under bad action movies and buried sisters, but here he stands in front of it. They meet in front of his house, on a cold winter night, lives crossing in the way it’s always meant to. That’s how Alex always saw it, anyway.

Alex shouldn’t confront it. He knows better than that. He’s gotten so much better at ignoring what he doesn’t want to see. The world endings, the clawing captives, the endless cycles. He knows better than to stare into the pillar of pale white-blue light that is this humanoid figure, vague in its details, standing agonizingly still. He knows better than to keep staring at it as it seems to shift the more he thinks about those words, about the memory attached to them.

“Please,” Alex says to no one. No one but himself. No one but him, the masculine figure in the shifting light, the boy of his dreams…

Fuck, he knows it. Alex tries to lift his feet off the ground, tear it away from the layers of snow he stepped in on his way towards one last side quest he desperately needs before the end of the world— he needs something fleeting, he needs something to chase he needs— but his body does not cooperate. Chained to the ground below him, Alex is forced to watch this ray of light coalesce into something he wishes he could grab and… and what? Destroy, bury away again? Put back in its rightful place? Or maybe even k—

It’s only a figure. The light is too harsh to discern any small details of the face. But Alex knows it like his soul was made for remembering it. The short hair, neatly smoothed to one side. A thin, young body, taller than him— always fucking taller than him, despite how often he used to stand on his toes to try and tower over him for a change. A familiar figure. A figure he has met time and time again. A figure he chases.

If it has a mouth, Alex can’t see it opening.

Do you remember—

It has to have a mouth. Lost in its light.

—when you kissed—

—

You didn’t wait. It was Valentine’s Day and He had just walked you and Her home after being out all day and evening. You couldn’t recognize the fact that it wasn’t a day for you.

He walked you both up to your front door, and She walked inside almost immediately because it was so late and cold and snowy outside, She didn’t want to stand there and freeze any longer with you. You can’t imagine anyone who would.

Except Him.

He turned and walked away, heading back to his home which was right next to yours in the true and perfect reality that used to exist. You stood by your doorway for two degrading seconds before bounding down your icy front stairs. It’s a miracle you didn’t slip and crack your head on those steps. Or maybe a curse.

“Wait!” you called out, and He did. He was always so good like that. He waited until you caught up. You were red in the face, red in the nose, stinging with pain. He looked calm, blue jacket over blue striped sweater. When you caught up to Him, the colours seemed to blur together, mixing with the snow, a glimmering light wall between you two and the rest of the world.

Do you remember if you said anything to Him before making your move? Did you ease Him into it like a good lover does? Can you recall if you asked Him like any normal person would; and not do what a teenage boy raised on movies would do?

Do you remember when you kissed M…

—

Alex kisses Michael.

It feels like hardened sunshine.

Michael’s body, thin and young and soft as Alex remembers it, stands stiff in Alex’s grasp. Its white body wreathed in iridescent shimmers of light is warm to the touch of his hands and lips. The light is almost unbearably bright when Alex is so close against it; it burns Alex’s eyes even as they flutter shut. But Alex doesn’t care. He clings to its heat, his arms grabbing at Michael’s arms so tight he wonders if he might break them.

Michael is still. He doesn’t lean into the kiss or back away from it. He just stands there and takes it. Yes, he definitely has a mouth, and it fits into Alex’s exactly how he remembers it. Soft, unbelievably soft, unlike any other lips he has ever touched since that day. And warm. God, Alex can’t get enough of that warmth. It brings him comfort on this snowy night.

But…

Alex considers pulling away, but he can’t. Not even to breathe. He pulls in air through his nose, right up against Michael’s, and the shimmering boy with light features doesn’t react or think it’s gross and pushes him away. He just continues to stand still, unmoving in Alex’s shattering grip and aching kiss. 

Maybe if he is softer, Michael will respond? Alex relaxes his grip on Michael, but never truly lets go. One of his hands moves from his arm, up to his cheek, cradling it, keeping it close. The other wraps around Michael’s skinny waist, pulling his body towards Alex’s own. But Michael never makes a willing movement. His body is dragged by Alex, empty-looking, drawn by a string. Alex doesn’t need to open his eyes or break the kiss to feel his idleness.

“Please,” he mutters into the kiss, still not pulling away to talk. His lips drag and crash against the coalescence of sunlight that he traps in his arms. “Please, please, please. Michael, please, why, why won’t you…”

—

He’s still when you kiss him.

Michael was so warm against your thicker, younger body. You were so cold and despite being with you outside all day in the same snow, he was as warm as the Sun and you were stealing his heat. His were soft, you didn’t know lips were meant to be this soft, you’ve only had your own chapped ones and the hard mirror glass as reference. But he’s so soft, but he’s also so still, and when you grab at him and pull him eagerly closer to yourself he just sits there and takes it.

You know it’s not right. You knew this was wrong then, you know it’s wrong now. You knew you were not supposed to be kissing the older boy who took your sister out on a Valentine’s Day date. You’re not supposed to kiss boys without asking. You’re not supposed to kiss boys, period. Especially not when he was as rigid in your hands as he was.

You kept the kiss for far too long. You don’t even want to know how long it actually was. It looks bad on both of you for letting it linger the way you two did. When you finally pulled away, your heart pounding in your chest so hard it drowned out any noise the world had to offer, your eyes fluttered open to behold the sight in front of you. 

And what a sight it was. God, he was beautiful, wasn’t he? How his lips were parted, pink tongue visible when you couldn’t feel it earlier (and yes, you tried). The best part was that Michael’s lips were red from your kiss. You looked at that colour and felt proud that you rubbed off on him. You didn’t see the redness in his eyes as well. You just saw red on his blue and knew it was a match made in heaven, if such a thing still existed to a teenage boy.

You didn’t know what to feel. His warmth, his sunshine, was fleeing from you the second you parted from him, and reality started to settle in. Not the perfect reality you lived in the nanosecond before your kiss. This was a different reality. A reality where sunshine could harden and would never respond to you. A reality where you couldn’t be older and couldn’t sweep him up into your arms. A reality where you couldn’t make him kiss you back.

“Alex!!”

The reality where your sister saw what you did.

…Do you remember when you kissed Michael and Allison wouldn’t talk to you for a month?

—

Alex pushes Michael down onto the snow.

Light flickers at the harsh contact with the ground. Reality and all its cracks seem to break down a little faster tonight as Alex clutches Michael’s face in his hands, and if there’s flesh underneath all that heavenly light, it will surely bleed red against his hands.

“Kiss me,” Alex says. His lips hurt from being smashed into Michael’s for so long without break, but he keeps shoving himself further onto his brilliant body, his hot face. “Why won’t you kiss me?”

It’s like he’s young again. Trying to cling to Michael’s frozen body, ignoring the cold world and whatever cruelties She has to offer. But there’s no pride that makes Alex pull away now, or agency for anyone to tear him off of the light he sits on top of now. He kisses Michael, harder, messier, far more desperate, feeling at his soft face like it’s the very first time. 

Be mine? Alex wanted to ask, all those years and cycles ago. Not Hers. Not your own. Mine. My Valentine. My Michael.

And this is how Michael responds. It’s how he responded those years ago. Nothing. No reciprocation. Not even a proper rejection. Just a glimmering light on a cold winter night, doing absolutely nothing.

Alex pulls away. His lips are red and cracked. He looks down and sees the iridescent silhouette of a beautiful boy beneath his too-big body of a too-old man. And for a moment he thinks of running away, like he did when he was a kid. It’s probably the most noble action after the fuck-ups Alex always does. But as Alex glowers at the glowing body and feels the heat against his thighs, he feels movement that isn't his own.

Michael’s body, stiff as a board and just as interesting, slackens against the ground. His limbs stir upwards towards the sides of his head, and though his light never dims, Alex notices a shift. A change in the iridescent pattern. A flicker of red, brighter than any other colour. The pale white-blue light that previously dominated the iridescent shimmer gives way to red as its new prominence. Gives way to Alex and his cracked, bleeding red lips.

And Michael’s hands reach up.

Alex almost throws himself off of Michael. When has He ever reached towards him? Towards anyone but Her? Alex is meant for chasing. Michael is good at being chased. But Alex doesn’t run and cower like he thinks he will because his body knows what his heart really wants. And his body wants to stay still.

The slivers of light that are Michael’s fingers reach up towards Alex’s face. They grasp at his cheek, and the feeling of heat on his cold skin once again makes Alex lean into it. Michael cradles him with crooked fingers, which shift and weakly curl into his skin. Alex can’t tell if he’s grabbing him to pull him closer or to tear his skin apart. Alex doesn’t care either way. It’s far too weak to do either on its own.

A smile flits on Alex’s lips as he leans back down onto the facsimile of Michael. He leans his head on Michael’s forehead and stares into where his eyes would be, never blinking. It makes Alex’s eyes sting from staring so long. You’re not supposed to look directly at the sun, after all.

Alex closes his eyes and kisses Michael again, softer this time. And Alex swears, he really does, that Michael’s hand trails from his cheek to the back of his neck. A hand that grips him deathly tight. Blood stains their lips as the body of light melts into Alex’s body, finally giving away the warmth Alex so obviously deserves after all his withholding.

A warmth that Michael will always give, even in stillness.

[toydrill]

you're smart enough, you'll figure it out

[constructreese]

we are yiiking out hardcore

[nightmarinarting]

happy (late) birthday idiot

read more 4 gif (warning; flashing lights and bright colors)

[epiceneandroid]

claudio unkrich: appears well adjusted on the outside, depressed sad nostalgic weirdo on the inside

chondra unkrich: appears well adjusted on the outside, unhinged insane girl on the inside

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

[crystallizedkingdoms]

EATS UR WHOLE HAND INCLUDING DA SUGAR CUBE!! whats michael like now??

michael is my Sweetie pie my shmookums my ugly hater faggot FREAK!!!! more below

I am just. obsessedddd with him. I was always interested how they would write the difference between the “fantasy” Michael and the Michael whos trying to break free, but they took it to a level that was. So insane. I really love that the Red Room is just a little pocket of reality that Michael could escape into after being puppeteered into being the sweet childhood friend, but that even that little bit of reality can’t escape Alex’s grasp and how it slowly bends to his will regardless because of how dependent on Alex Michael has become… how Michael was trying to break out of Alex’s cyclical fantasy, yet also how in his attempt to break free of it, he only reinforces it in his endless hate??

seriously I’m just. UGHHHH I love how intertwined he is with Alex. that bit either in the diaries or the red room where he realizes that so long as he tries to break free, so long as he continues his fruitless search of Allison, he will always have to have Alex/ONISM Man at the centre of everything. that there’s nothing he can do to break free of Alex. I really really love that deep codependency that Michael doesn’t even want. legit everything I wrote about Michael taken to the Best extreme and im so glad it developed this way.

also. his dedication to Allison… haunting. he loves her so much and he wants her so bad but it isnt enough to stop him from loving the cycle more. it isnt enough to stop him from getting off on the chase for her, to the point he would take Allison hating his guts just for the satisfaction of finding her and ending his game. And I find that really fascinating and compelling and I need to beat him over the fucking head I need to GORE HIMMMM

[crystallizedkingdoms]

walks over while clearly being a horse.. haayyy can u talk about yiik iv

omg hi horsie!!! if you have anything specific you want me to talk about feel free to send me another ask but for now im gonna talk about my feelings of I.V in general and my favourite additions!! spoilers under the cut

let’s start this off by saying i am Not 100% done with I.V. ive gone through the whole main story and NG+, but i have yet to go through NG++ nor have i begun any search for the third ending (but i really wanna!!) so i will be speaking from that perspective.

but here’s what I think in general, and i say this with no exaggeration: I.V has elevated YIIK to one of my favourite games of all time. legitimately top 3. I.V balances between strengthening and improving on plot points in 1.25 that existed in a limited aspect, and adding entirely new things that make it so much fucking bigger than i ever expected it to be. Everything about Benevolent Psychosis had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, being in completely new territory yet understanding how it tied in with the original story made it so incredible to experience.

I am absolutely in love with the Nameless segments. I really looked forward to playing her every time i was nearing a chapter end. learning about Allison and Carrie through this vessel and learning to question her presentation, and those she interacts with (God of Hope im looking at you) is the most fun ive had in a long time, and i love picking through my multiple interpretations of her character and her sections. especially the Hell House segment. the level of dread i felt when i realized what i was playing genuinely made me so happy, and the gameplay of that moment really fucking enhanced it.

also. Michael. what theyve done with Michael is fucking genius and i am in honest shock of how theyve managed to expand on him. he was easily my least favourite character of the main cast in 1.35, not because i disliked him, but because I honestly felt Nothing about him. as much as i did end up enjoying 1.25 after letting go of my irony poisoned interaction with the game, i still hold the belief that Michael simply wasnt written that well. but holy shit does I.V rectify that. All the extra context we have of him now, from his relationship with the Camera and the Red Room, his younger existence in the Nameless sections, his strengthened connection with Chondra, and his diary entries in BP are honestly phenomenal. hes become such a central character in I.V and now easily one of, if not The favourite character of mine in all of YIIK. his relationship with the Egglestons will ruin me for years to come

Another thing that i am such a big fan of is the dive into memetics that I.V takes. I will not act like i am super well versed in philosophy, but seeing the concepts and characters (namely Kisage X) brought from Deviation Perspective to I.V was really really fun, and learning about Memes in the context of Original Sins/Wins was really incredible. I feel like it’s genuinely taught me about some things in life, which imo is what a fucking phenomenal story does.

but. if there was One thing about I.V that i did not like, even if it’s ultimately really minor… it’s the Mind Dungeon. dear god navigating the Mind Dungeon is an absolute total nightmare, despite how cool the area itself is. I’m lucky im not sensitive to eye straining visuals (in fact i personally love it) but Jesus Christ how does this game not have a warning for it. the camera is very wonky in that area and i for the life of me do not understand how or why the dash button is also the “teleport yourself to the main hub section” button. What the fuck. also I don’t think I ever figured out all the skills or even that one floating platform in the distance but that’s entirely user error on my part

so uhhh yeah those are some of my thoughts. again feel free to ask for anything in particular . here’s a sugar cube if you read all of this

[crystallizedkingdoms]

You seem to have a lot of opinions on yiik. Would you happen to have some sort of tier list for which characters in the cast you'd like to have intercourse with? This is a normal thing to ask

weird, I had this VERY SPOILER HEAVY tier list with all the characters I want to fuck (from BEGGING, yes!!!!!!, sure!, maybe, nope, and no (stronger)) prepared just for you!

[epiceneandroid]

OKAY OKAY chondra just surpassed vella alex and claudio as my current yiik faves HER "WE'RE NOT DONE KICKING HIS ASS" after beating the perfume king

SAME HERE CHONDRA I HATED FIGHTING HIM AND HIS STUPID NOSTALGIA PERFUME AND HIS STUPID PERFUME GLOBS AND HIS STUPID COPS!!!!

[crystallizedkingdoms]

YIIK IV spoilers, specifically takes place when you go outside during the night in the calendar segment of Chapter 5: The Y2K Problem

I AM NOT FUCKING NORMAL

I didn’t think ACKK would have the balls to do this im not gonna lie but ive never been more fucking insane and crazy to be totally wrong because HOLY FUCK!!! DUDE. HOLY SHITTTT

I have barely been able to even think straight because this is actually fucking astounding. Alex KISSED MICHAEL. HE KISSED HIM. STRAIGHT UP. AND ALLISON KNEW ABOUT IT AND DIDNT TALK TO HIM FOR A MONTH. HOLY SHIT. what can I even say about that this is literally driving me insane Alex fucking KISSED MICHAEL!!!!!!

what was the fallout!! what did Michael think!! is this specifically why Michael hates Alex so much, or at least part of it? WHEN did this happen?? Were Michael and Allison already dating? HOW fucking old were they considering Alex is definitely younger than Michael, maybe even by a significant amount for their ages (3+ years? my headcanon was 7 years but now this has me wondering if theyre a little closer in age). dude this is crazy i need to fucking figure out their timeline IMMEDIATELY I need to WRITE THIS IM NOT FUCKING NORMALLLLLLLLL