#also there are spoilers but uh it's kinda inevitable | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brawlqueen · 4 months

Text

PSA. / 2024 goals !

the reason i haven't been writing a lot is i've mostly been on my OC trying to play catch up on her lore and worldbuilding. you can find her in the pinned post . also i've been planning what i want to do for mizuki for 2024, and my interest very normal love for best girl only gets better each year. i just hope to do justice by her in my own way as i figure out what i'm doing post AI1.

as i'm canon divergent and i have a few things to talk about that i'll be hoping to capture or discuss hopefully some of this year that are parts of my mizuki's canon ! so i'll try doing it in uh, the most organized way because one goal i have at least for 2024 is better blog organization . it's too late to make a sideblog for musings / etc . THINGS I'LL BE DOING THIS YEAR . - focusing on catch up. unless a thread is requested to be dropped, please message me if so, i'll be continuing it. some i will drop for my own sanity, not because i don't want to write with you again! - seasonal / holidays asks will just be holiday asks with no specific content save for people i owe, ex: bubblez' kizuna or thane's trunks, etc. why? i think mizuki deserves to celebrate the holidays or anything remotely happy because while aiba is arguably as of now her best support system, let's be real, i genuinely want to find and work on any of her relationships because she's severely lacking in support. even from 2023. i'll try to stay more on the ball for again, my own sanity this year when i reblog them. - i will be writing my version of post-canon mizuki and child mizuki, that goes from her time before adoption from date, aka with shoko and renju which will be tagged appropriately because honestly mizuki doesn't know many reliable adult figures in her life, and it makes me very sad that she's arguably more mature than...most people save say, boss or pewter or hitomi etc. she deserves better! just because AI2 certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, and it isn't mine in a LOT of ways, i still took stuff from it, and i don't think it's fair to halt mizuki at 12 forever just because we fairly have critique of NI / AINI and not let her grow up and experience a hopeful future and more bonds to fill the huge hole in her heart. let her be happy is the goal !

now i'm working on mizuki's post canon verse, as i've restarted aitsf 1 to move to aitsf 2, where i'll take a few things that i won't likely budge on unless you meet me halfway !

the verse title for anything post-canon and generally for 18 year old mizuki / teen mizuki or post explosion mizuki will be this verse tag!

__ 𝐕; 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍*ೃ༄ not compromising with just this; i'm taking back all the happiness i lost.

now onto her post canon details i do have figured out.

mizuki and aiba are partners. one thing that's consistent is through her time with date, that can still be a thing because they ARE a family, albeit i feel estranged granted the resolution route is canon, so mizuki never really got to bond with him, get her aphonia cured, vice versa, is aiba's care through time in his eye socket appreciating the girl's strength and endurance and intelligence in both games. you can have more than one partner, and until / if we have another game and mizuki possibly gets another partner and i debate the chemistry, aiba is mizuki's partner and aiba is generally mostly with mizuki, but that doesn't mean she isn't with date too. she can love more than one person. and both dates are equally dear to her.

mizuki was still experimented on until 3 years old at horadori institute, albeit she has blurry memories at best, and i debate if she should fully remember! one factor of her godlike superhuman strength. but she also is trained in most japanese martial arts she can get her hands on! she is NOT a clone of bibi, bibi doesn't exist whatsoever despite me enjoying her personality, even if i felt it was made to mimic mizuki herself, if others who have muses with canon bonds to bibi, please talk to me so we can plot it out if you keep her as part of your canon ! as long as we meet halfway i'm more than happy to work with you !

mizuki is still a rookie detective and psyncer at ABIS. in my canon, she actually looks to ryuki, also new, but older for advice and i like to think as dual protagonists that they should have been, they get to do some cases together! only if a ryuki is willing of course.

for now, she's working on small to medium cases with aiba. the explosion still happened that took her vision clean out. she does this because of the gruesome history she has, not wanting others to suffer the same kind of unimaginable trauma she has with both biological parents murdered in various means and i'm still debating whether tearer even exists. he likely will, and if people also have the other culprit's actions in their canon, please talk to me too and i'll work together with you on that !

mizuki still runs lemniscate and sunfish pocket. she doesn't have the heart yet to really let go of her neglectful biological father's companies, even if he didn't care for her in a way she needed. in time, i'll see how she feels about this, as i do plan for mizuki to continue her education, as the girl is extremely intelligent.

mizuki is still best friends with iris, but my mizuki also considers amame and kizuna two of her really close friends, but they aren't a sister to her like iris is. they're certainly caring of her, and she'd protect them with her life, but she isn't as close to them as iris, and all of them do hang out together from what i've seen.

my mizuki is a lot more skeptical for the kizunas out there, of lien. she isn't comfortable with his advances towards one of her best friends and generally is a lot more protective. that said, it's all according to people who write kizzy. naturally she's fiercely protective of iris, who now is someone who works for her too as the president of an entertainment company.

my mizuki comes from the MIZUKI ROUTE in terms of character development but NOT THE PLOT EVENTS . iris is not inhabited by so sejima. date and mizuki DO bond like a father and daughter. date unless a date talks to me, DOES cure her aphonia or it's hitomi herself like canon because hitomi is the mom she deserves imho. but i tend to take away the development of her character and their relationship otherwise i feel the date family bond is....pretty estranged or mizuki is MUCH more doubtful of date caring for her at all granted the routes and how she tends to get overlooked a lot.

basically i want to as one of i'm sure other mizuki-mun's, give her my best in my own way, at my own pace !

and those are my goals as i replay the games (again!) . i hope to keep developing mizuki and thank you for being so patient with me as always, everyone ! also kinda sorry for the long post but it was all necessary !

#𝐏𝐒𝐀 *ೃ༄ do you wanna get your ass kicked?#𝐎𝐎𝐂 *ೃ༄ what looks gone but comes back even stronger.#also there are spoilers but uh it's kinda inevitable #ugh mizuki and the girls all deserve better in some way huh #i know the guys do too but geez....#oh well our sandbox right?#i would play aini for the characters !#and the somniums feel a lot more fun and i love unlimited psync and getting rewards / rank up with eyeballies etc #also ryuki and tama are so great i'm glad they exist :' )#also i really like kizuna and will defend her with my life. same with amame. they are REALLY important to her too. but iris is her goofy si #but like I hopefully said! if you have different takes on the series let’s meet halfway!#I’m really chill on that I just want Mizuki to be happy 🥹

7 notes · View notes

dappledpaintbrush · 3 months

Text

Dimentio gets an ulcer: the fanfic. alternate title: King Boo’s inevitable return (more content for A Jester’s Lament) (don’t take my writing seriously here this is just for fun and kinda a shitpost) (also not necessarily canon) (not at the moment anyways) (I haven’t decided) (also spoilers for the entire fic)

also ignore my recent posts with my second dimentio design. for simplicity’s sake, his original AJL design is what we’re working with

(Part one btw)

—————

Dimentio scanned his writings as his eyes narrowed to a squint. “No, no,” he mumbled under his breath as he erased a word, replacing it with its more dignified counterpart. He paused once more, wondering if the extravagant word choice made him sound pretentious. He decided to keep it as it was.

It had been close to a year since King Boo fell to the Pure Hearts, and Dimentio still had yet to finish his collection of tales and spells. He wasn’t even done interviewing the Pixls, and he still had his own thousands of years worth of experience to put into words. If he wasn’t babysitting the Koopalings or visiting friends, he was writing. Writing, writing, writing, from when he saluted the sun till when he bowed to the moon. Sometimes he would even forget to eat or drink. At least, that’s what he told himself to keep things simple. He was keenly aware of his conscious ignorance of his body’s cries for help, just so he could get a few more paragraphs down on the pages.

“Dimentio!”

Despite himself, Dimentio was brought out of his hypnosis. Suddenly becoming aware of the pain in his hands, he lifted his head as Carrie was now fluttering over him. Boomer, who had been sleeping on the Ancient’s shoulder, suddenly buzzed and spun in circles in a frightened daze. Dimentio’s attention shifted to him for a moment, then back to Carrie. “What are you…” He peered at what the Pixl was holding above his head. Dimentio stood, stirring up the other Pixls resting nearby as if they were fireflies in a twilight field. “Is that my mail?”

“Uh, yes. I wasn’t snooping in your mailbox or anything!” Carrie quickly defended himself as Dimentio took the envelope in hand. “The mailman was dropping it off, and I was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take it,’ and-“

Dimentio raised a hand, silencing the Pixl’s anxious rambles as he mumbled, “It’s fine, Carrie.” His focus drifted back onto the letter. He pinched the corner, ripping it along the top not as delicately as he would have preferred.

“Ooo, the Princess!” Thudley announced, having immediately noticed the, Sincerely, Princess Peach, near the bottom of the letter. “It must be important!”

Dimentio looked around him, having been obvious to the Pixls crowding together by his head. “Weird. Usually they just text me. Ah, I must be climbing up in the ranks,” he half-joked under his breath. “Dear Dimentio, blah blah blah, blah blah blah… Mario Kart?”

“Oh, wow!” Carrie sprung up again. “Did they invite you to race?”

“Good Grambi, I hope not.” He held the note closer to his eyes. “Nope.” A strange disappointment fell upon him. I must not be as special as I previously assumed.

“Well, then what’s it for?”

“I’m getting there,” he assured Carrie, beginning to pace around his Flopside home. “Nothing-nothing-nothing, whole bunch of nothing, blah blah blah.” He recalled his eager Pixl audience, clarifying, “It’s a sort of annual race, and, uh…” He looked at the letter one more time before folding it back up and tossing it onto his bed. “I have received some sort of VIP invitation to come watch.”

“That’s so cool!” Carrie bounced up and down.

“Aren’t you excited?” Dimentio heard Piccolo ask as he opened his closet, the door creating a barrier between him and the Pixls.

“Frankly? Yes, I am.” He chuckled a little bit at the thought of it as he slipped his more formal attire off the hanger to change into. “Damnit,” he began to laugh a few moments later as he began to button up his long-sleeved black shirt.

“What’s so funny?” he recognized Slim’s voice.

“I’m just”—he snickered once more—“imagining it. All of them on their stupid little Go-Karts. Bowser, too, hah! I mean, I get it,” he clarified as he tied the strings of his pants. “I get why it’s such a huge event, but still.” He walked back into view, boots in his hand as he sat on his bed. “They have to be at least a little self aware at how… silly it all looks. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just too old for this kind of stuff.”

“Sheesh, maybe you are.”

“Hey now.” He eyed Carrie. Dimentio finished lacing his dark boots and lifted himself off the bed, staring at himself in the mirror. Long gone was his flashy purple and yellow cape and his diamond-tipped cap. Over his shirt draped a dark cloak that fell down to his thighs, and a hood obscured his face with a similar darkness. Even then, Dimentio still raised his hands to tie a dark cloth around the lower half of his face, sparing only his eyes, and even they were half-blind. He knew there was nothing he could do to hide himself while he remained on the mortal plane. Everywhere he went, there was a shiver up one’s spine that followed. He was an ominous sin, an uncanny evil. Blending in with the shadow he brought with him was the least he figured he could do. But they still knew. They all did. As if it were instinct. Everyone, dead and alive, always knew when Dimentio was near.

And now, he was torn between disappointing his friends by dismissing their invitation and disappointing the world with his presence. I should be used to not ever being able to win. Dimentio shook his head at the sinister thought, disrupting the mask. Thoughts come and go. Let them come and go. Let them come and go.

“Is the race today?” Thoreau flew next to his head as Dimentio adjusted his cloth-mask.

“Tomorrow, but Peach invited us to the Castle. I assume it’s an ‘us’ at least,” he referred to Mimi, O’Chunks, and Nastasia. It had been over a month since he had seen any of them in person. He found himself more eager at that aspect than the race itself. Dimentio peered closer at the dark circles beneath his eyes, their existence unknown to him before that moment. Like the fool that he was, he proceeded to smudge them like that was going to help. “As always, you all can come with me, stay, or go.” He adjusted his collar in the mirror one final time. “I’ll return in a few days. Ciao.” Without another word, Dimentio snapped his fingers, a black box forming and closing in on him as quickly as it appeared.

A toad screeched in fright when Dimentio abruptly appeared. Whether it was due to Dimentio himself or his unexpected arrival, it was anyone’s best guess. “Sorry!” The guard cleared his throat as he stood up tall. Well, as tall as he could. “Welcome to the Mushroom Castle, Dimentio. Not…” Dimentio looked at him, and the toad fearfully shrunk down. “Not that you haven’t been here before.”

Dimentio averted his gaze. He could live for another millennia, and his damage could never truly be undone. “Who is all here?”

“Oh, uh, let me think. Her Majesty, for sure. Mario, Luigi,-“

“Dimentio! Hey!”

He peeked behind his shoulder to see Mimi entering the corridor, her arm stretched high above her head. She vanished within a heartbeat, appearing directly in front of him. Dimentio gasped out of fright, then gasped for air as she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as tight as she could. She acted as if it had been years since they had seen each other, but it was charming in a way. “It’s so good to see you!” she greeted, hugging him every tighter.

“Is that so?” He wiggled an arm free to pull his cloth-mask down.

She pulled back, gawking at him. “You bitch, you’re supposed to say you missed me too!” Dimentio laughed in response to the playful shove on his shoulder. Before he could respond, Mimi took his chance, “Hey, come out to the cloisters with me.” She took his hand, teleporting the pair to a lounge area just before the Castle's garden. “Fuck,” she expressed to them all. “I should’ve sent a warning first.”

“I hate you.”

“Aw, Dimentio, you came!” Princess Peach interrupted him, her hands folded on her chest. “I’m so happy you could make it. I think you’re going to love it. Mario Kart, that is.”

“Haha, ‘ere he is!” O’Chunks chuckled, gesturing towards Dimentio with his finger.

“Hey, Dim,” Luigi simply said with a smile and a wave of his gloved hand.

Dimentio smiled at them both. “Hello, O’Chunks. Luigi.” He then directed his attention back to Peach. “I appreciate the invite, Princess.” His body moved forwards ever so slightly in an instinctive bow. A breeze then hit him, and he shuddered ever so slightly. He still felt so vulnerable going out in public without his cloak. Not the cloak he currently had on, his cloak. Nothing could ever replace his cloak. He pushed his thoughts aside, or at least tried to, then succeeded to actually push his wind-disrupted hair out of his eyes as he sat down in an unoccupied chair. “Who’s all racing?”

“Everybody, I think. Oh, wait, I forgot, you’re new to this. Heh, sorry.” A smile formed under Luigi’s mustache. “Well, there’s the Princess, Mario.” He gestured a gloved hand to them both. “Anyone who’s on the usual roster. Oh yeah, me too. And Mimi wanted to race, but it’s so hard to get new people onto the track.”

“Isn’t it literally called Mario Kart?” Dimentio crossed one leg over the other. “Why is it difficult?”

Mario chimed in, “It’s more so just simply named after me. I don’t really run it. Those who do, the higher-ups, they’re very strict. Something about getting new karts, altering schedules, training new racers, so on, so forth. You have to tell them months in advance for them to even acknowledge your request. Did you want to race?”

Dimentio scoffed. “Hell no.”

“How can you not?” Mimi gawked at him. “It looks super fun!”

“‘Looks,’ Mimi. It ‘looks’ fun. You try racing over a hundred miles per hour inside a volcano or something of the sort while getting pelted by shells, lightning, bombs,-“

“That’s the fun part! Geez, when did you get so uptight?”

Dimentio raised his eyebrows. “Do you not know me at all?”

“Gosh, see? This is what happens when you stop all the evil stuff cold turkey. Oh no, Mimi, I don’t want to race inside a volcano, that sounds boring! I’m going to go drink some tea and stare whimsically at the sunset for a few hours. Ooo! Maybe tomorrow I’ll drink a different flavor of tea. My, isn’t that scandalous? Wake up a little!” She reached over and shook him by the shoulders, interrupting Dimentio’s humiliated rubbing of his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at anybody. “You’re as bad as Aldus was.”

“Aldus had a few sins under his belt, don’t underestimate that.” Dimentio resumed rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, yeah, races!” When Mimi abruptly changed the subject, Dimentio lifted his head, spying Luigi quickly pretend like wasn’t staring. “What are the tracks this year?”

Peach, Luigi, nor Mario would know the answer to her question. The “higher-ups” had yet to release the roster and track list. The group conversed some more, all while Dimentio couldn’t fully cower away from the spotlight that had been put on him. He knew he had no right to feel the way he did. He wasn’t the victim of his own hand. And yet, there he was: feeling. Were they still afraid of him? The more he pondered it, the more he felt like it would be strange if they weren’t. Foolish, too. Not because he was ever going to do anything of his former nature again, but because they couldn’t prove he wasn’t.

Dimentio trekked the halls of the Mushroom Castle, not relishing in the days where he was being chased by a deranged, unstoppable feline down the chasms of blood and broken glass. He passed multiple other rooms before getting to his, a place he hadn’t been to since he was first introduced to it over a year ago. As he opened the door, the golden light spilled from the slivers in his curtains to his boots. He narrowed his eyes as something on the desk caught his attention. Letting gravity pull the door close, he stepped towards the unknown book, picking it up and blowing the dust off.

“It’s a spell book.”

Dimentio gasped and twisted his head over his shoulder, spying a door that had not closed after all and a familiar plumber standing in the entrance.

Luigi’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Dimentio quickly reassured. “No, don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He glanced at the book once more, then lifted his eyes back to Luigi. “Did you get this for me?”

“Yes. No. I mean,” Luigi cleared his throat. “I borrowed it from Merlon, and I got done reading it a while back, and I asked him if I could let you borrow it, so… Yeah, I didn’t necessarily get it for you, since it still belongs to Merlon, b-but whatever. You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Dimentio smiled slightly to ease Luigi’s clear anxiety. He stared at the title, written in the dead language of the Ancients. ‘Ancient Magic for Dummies.”

“Does it actually say that?”

“No, Monsieur, no, it doesn’t,” Dimentio chuckled quietly, and Luigi soon followed. He stepped into the room as Dimentio peered back at the cover. “I’m not too fluent. This language was practically extinct by the time I was born, surprisingly enough. See this?” He held the book out to Luigi and pointed to a word. “I know what that word means, but it doesn’t have a true English translation.”

Luigi nodded, interested. “What is your best guess?”

Dimentio’s eyes rose to the ceiling. “I believe… I am being humbled.” Luigi laughed lightheartedly as Dimentio scrambled for a word. “Enchiridion, perhaps.”

“Is this still English, my friend?”

“Guide. Manual. Instructions.”

Luigi thought for a moment. “So, my best guess is that it technically says, ‘A Guide to Ancient Magic.’”

“No.”

“But technically?”

Dimentio’s one working pupil flicked from the book to Luigi, who had a smug smile and was clearly trying not to laugh. “Sure.”

“Mhm.” He teasingly nodded with a quiet chuckle.

“Sure, I guess it technically says that.”

“And you say you aren’t fluent.”

“My relationship with language is complicated!” he spoke above Luigi’s increasing laughter. Dimentio couldn’t help but crack a smile as he flipped through the book, eventually landing on a preserved passage written in the dead script. “Ah! I know this one.” He garnered Luigi’s attention, who watched him point his finger to a word on the page and translate aloud, “The.” Silence filled the room. Dimentio dipped his head. “Je t’en prie.”

They shared hushed laughter once more. “How long has it been sitting there?” Dimentio finally asked.

“Oh, not long. Couple of months.” When Dimentio eyed him, Luigi muttered, “A year.”

Dimentio looked back at the book, flipping through the pages. While powerful in his spells, Dimentio was likely the dumbest, most pathetic Ancient to ever exist. While there was his dimension-creating spell, Dimentio never finished his apprenticeship, and it was rare he indulged in self-taught lessons throughout his centuries of life. This book was likely the answer to learning all he never got to learn. But even then, he was sure most spells would be lost to time.

‘Year,’ echoed in his head. “This is my fault. I’m sorry.”

“Dimentio-“

“Mimi was right. I do spend most of my time doing nothing. I haven’t spent as much time as I should’ve with any of you since the Odyssey trip. Especially you.” Silence took his place, then Dimentio interrupted it, “It’s not that I don’t care. I do, it’s just… I’m afraid I don’t know.” You do.

“Dimentio.” He took note of the plumber’s hand on his shoulder. In that second, dozens of battles flashed before Dimentio’s eyes. “It’s okay. It really is. I know you care, we all do. I… I get it.”

Neither of them had to explain it. Even if they wanted to say it aloud, they likely couldn’t.

“But hey, you’re here now. I am. They are.” Luigi pointed to the open door. “We’ll be here for about fifty more years on top of that. If we don’t fix it now, we have more than enough time to do so.”

“Fifty years is a second for me, Monsieur, you know that right?” Dimentio instantly regretted his negative words. Luigi was just trying to help him, like always. He was well aware of Dimentio’s statement, too. “Hell, who knows.” He popped his neck as he interrupted himself, as if it could cut off the statement already processed in Luigi’s mind. “You all just might outlive me.”

“God, I hope so,” Luigi smirked, and they both laughed again. Luigi took his phone out of his pocket after feeling its buzz. “Hey, look, they announced everything!” He rotated his phone screen to Dimentio, who caught glimpse of a message from her highness. “The tracks, who’s racing. Everyone’s in the living room. Let’s go check this shit out.” When Dimentio raised his hand to teleport them, Luigi motioned his head towards the door. “Come on, walk with me.” In protest, Dimentio levitated a few inches off the ground, then felt bad and lowered himself back down again. After being extra careful walking down the stairs, Dimentio was met with a turn of heads and a blaring television above them on the wall.

“Boooo,” Mimi called out, her thumb pointed upside down. Nevertheless, Dimentio sat down on the couch next to her.

“Have we missed anything?” Luigi asked as he sat next to Dimentio.

“Nope, nothing.” Mario shook his head.

“I am Lakitu, your host as always!” Dimentio finally paid attention to the yellow Koopa-like creature that was speaking on the television. “And oh boy, do we have some exciti news to share with you all! First, the tracks. What’s a race without its tracks, am I right? Hah! This year, we will be taking a trip down memory lane and return to our 2009 cups! That’s right! It’s all back! From Mushroom Gorge to Moonview Highway,-“

“Woohoo! Hell yeah!” Luigi jumped out of his seat, the applause from the three racers temporarily drowning out Lakitu’s announcements. Lakitu continued to list off the featured tracks from the 2009 cup, alongside bonus courses such as Berlin Byways, Dragon Driftway, and Electrodome.

“We can’t possibly do this all in one day,” Dimentio mumbled under his breath, unsure if his statement would make him sound like a complete idiot or not. He was only slightly confident in his understanding of kart racing.

“You fucking fat-headed orangutan,” Mimi began, and Dimentio sighed upon knowing it was all over for him. “It’s over several days.”

“Without further ado, let’s list off this year's selected racers!” Lakitu cleared his throat, then the green screen stationed behind him began to change. He listed the names off Luigi, Mario, Princess Peach, a randomly selected Toad, all you could expect, featured with their picture and their name written in big, bold letters. “Now, folks, we are onto the big, bad villains. But fret not! As you are all very well aware of, they have taken a solemn vow to keep their antics out of this race.” He adjusted the papers in his talons. “First off, we have Bowser! The evil, menacing King of the Koopas, you all know him! Next up, Kamek! The sly, magical, blue-clothed advisor of the Koopa King. Bowser Junior and the Koopalings are set to join us as well! Don’t let their size or age fool you, they are merciless on the karts.”

“What are they doing here?” Dimentio narrowed his eyes, his enthusiasm slipping. “This is far too treacherous for children!”

“Calm down, dude, they’re gonna be fine.”

“And how do you know that?” Dimentio turned his head to Mimi, who continued to face forwards without acknowledging him, a smug smirk on her face. He sighed, dragging his hand down his face. “I will have to initiate an intervention with their father.” Somewhere in the background, Mimi mocked him. “Right now.”

“Dimentio!” echoed around him, but he turned his attention to Luigi, who was adding, “You’re gonna miss the announcements!”

Dimentio stood and began to make his way to the back of the room. “Don’t pause it. It’s fine,” were his last words before he whisked into the hall, furiously teleporting a scarcely-used phone in his hands. “Bowser,” Dimentio briskly hissed when the ringing ceased.

“Hi!” Dimentio was immediately greeted by giggles and shrieks of laughter. His face fell. This was not Bowser.

“Junior.” Dimentio began to pace, clutching the arm that hoisted his phone with his free hand. “Where is your father?” Dimentio recognized Roy hooting in the background of the call.

“What’s the pth-password?!” Junior could barely get out the sentence before choking on his laughter. The silence that followed from Dimentio only made them erupt even more.

“There is no password.” The defeat in his voice was already present and impossible to ignore.

“Yes there is!”

”Come on, Dimentio, what’s the password?” Dimentio could practically see Wendy’s mischievous glare through the phone.

”Say it, say it, say it!” many began to chant unsynchronized.

Dimentio was a lot of things, a lot of nasty things, but he was no fool. There was only one thing they could be talking about. Dimentio glanced behind him at the corridor’s entrance, then, when no watchful eyes greeted him, breathed a deep and weary sigh. He took a double-take, then gritted his teeth together. “Balls.”

Dimentio ripped the phone from his ear as the detonated cackling threatened to deafen him. “He said it! He said it!” Larry yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Larry! Junior! All of you! Where is Bowser?! Why are you racing?! You should be in school! Lemmy, what’s nine times four?” As he expected, Dimentio’s queries were thoroughly and wholeheartedly ignored, unless the chorus of cackles was a language he didn’t know how to decipher.

After more screeches so loud that Dimentio’s phone speakers were moments away from being placed on life support, a singular thunder rose above the splattering rain. “Hey, hey! Give me that sh- Give me that!” a familiar rumble grew louder with each stomp. Junior’s cry of protest was audibly cut short as Bowser snatched the phone from his claws. “Who is this?”

“Dimentio!” Junior answered for him.

“He said balls!” Iggy screamed from below.

“Oh, y’all got him to say the password? Haha, nice. Hey, Dimentio. What’s up?”

“Bowser, I need to have a word with you about Mario Kart.”

“What about it? Roy, let go of my leg!”

“What is going through your thick skull to even ponder the possibility of letting the Koopalings race? They are children! I assumed it was common sense to not let young kids behind the wheel, especially with such dangerous speeds and unforgiving competitors-“

Bowser let out a loud, exaggerated, drawn-out snore that, for a moment, was loud enough to drown out the ramblings of the Koopalings. “Boring!” he bellowed into the phone. “Untwist your panties, Dimentio! Nothing is going to happen to them. They have their daddy’s genes!”

“That is precisely what I am worried about.”

“Geez, take a step back, won’t you? Dimentio, I’m grateful you babysit and all, but at the end of the day, I am their dad, and I know what’s best for them more than you do. Listen, if you’re gonna cry about it this much, I can at least promise you that nothing bad’s gonna happen. They’ve done this thousands of times! Ain’t that right, kids?!”

“Thousands?!”

“Dimentio.”

The voice caught him off guard, and he nearly hurt himself jerking his head back towards the entrance. There, Luigi stood, stiff, quiet, and hollow, yet so heavy. Casted in shadows, the whites of his eyes were almost like lanterns. He appeared to be unnaturally still, until the shaking of his hands became evident.

The call had become background noise. “I’ll be back,” he hastily murmured, then, with a snap of his fingers, the phone vanished. His heart stammering, Dimentio rushed forwards to Luigi, who refused to even flinch. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Dimentio…” he repeated, his frail voice somehow so sharp. Dimentio opened his mouth, yet he found himself speechless as well. He stood there, waiting, the fear fatally contagious.

At last, Luigi heaved a breath, his chest falling with an uneven shiver, and he rasped out a name Dimentio thought he would never hear in the present tense ever again.

#ajl #lament au #I’m KRILLING myself #ulcer fic #LMAOOO

21 notes · View notes

vinegar-on-main · 20 days

Note

isabeau smt for the send a character thingy 💥

ISABEAU! Spoiler warning for SMT IV!!!

Favorite thing about them Everyone talks about how she reads Yaoi, but nobody ever mentions she was raised by monks, and IS NOT the law guy. I think that's so funny and awesome for her.

Least favorite thing about them If you just look on the surface (Cough do any route besides neutral and DON'T play apocalypse) Shes kinda generic and besides a couple memorable moments, she doesn't do much for the narrative. I'm so happy Apocalypse gave her more of a role. Lets not talk about how she got there though.

Favorite line Well i could go for the obvious. or the not so obvious. But lets go for something that You'll Never See from me:

"...You might be interested to know that I finally read the conclusion of that manga. This is how it ended. Even should an uprising succeed and a new regime be installed, another rebel will inevitably arise." "Do you intend to become the cause of a never-ending war of succession?"

brOTP I cannot see her being friends with anyone but Flynn. They've gone through hell and back together by the end of the neutral ending.

OTP/nOTP Yeah uh I don't see her being into relationships. I would be open to anyone to change my mind, and who knows! Apocalypse may change my stance.

Random Headcanon Isabeau is the funniest person out of the Samurai Squad, (Her, Flynn, Walter and Jonathan) and she doesn't even know it. She'll regularly drop sick burns without even meaning to. Unpopular opinion I'm not sure if the fandom is big enough for that, but I think I stated it in the OTP/nOTP section :p

Song I associate with them Okay i'll be honest. This was the first thing that came into my mind. And not for the Yaoi reasons.

youtube

YES she would read the shit outta this, but OH MY GOD it fits her so much. Susato and Isabeau would be friends methinks. Favorite Picture of them

This one probably struck me the most. She looks so frightened but still stands in defiance.

Also gonna ping @meme-boys-blog because i think he'd wanna see this :p

#crab dni #mav dni #ask game answers #smt iv #smtiv #Isabeau SMT #smt #shin megami tensei #megaten #asks

7 notes · View notes

answrs · 11 months

Text

[minor spoilers for TOTK but also please don't give me *more* spoilers as I'm just starting this area of the game. not quite meta? but mosty just frustrated queer thoughts I guess.]

just started the Gerudo Town line (right after having done the Tarry Town one) and having been dealing with/reading a lot about TERF mentality and gender essentialism and cults lately. and it's, uh....... whoof.

(especially when you put the games side by side with the quote about link purposefully being created as gender-ambguous.)

like in botw there was the "man in woman's clothing to infiltrate the Sacred Woman Sanctuary" Joke™ that was..... yeah. followed by the "if you don't perform The Female Gender Correctly Enough to our rigid idea of feminity you're an evil man and must be thrown out into the wilderness"

like. that was shitty but also felt kinda par for the course for a multi million dollar company to throw in their game without any thought. you could make a joke about changing into Woman Clothes™™™ directly in front of the guards and strolling right on in and like. okay. also anyone else remember that goron that was supposed to be funny because he's a guy and the guards don't realize?

also just as a nonbinary person the excruciatingly strict "there is NO middle ground. you are a woman or you are an evil man." if you like. put on a piece of jewelry or even the motherfucking sacred helmet of Urbosa Herself even when the whole rest of you is still in the Vai clothing set. nope! fuck you you dirty man! get that creep out of here immediately!

and then. you walk into Tarrey Town in TOTK. and the main quest is in detail telling you how Gerudo children are forcefully removed from their families at like. five or whatever. to be taken Home to the City, regardless if mother, father, or child wants it to happen. it Will Happen and must be treated with the resigned sadness of inevitability and under no circumstances should be fought. their loving father will never see them again and they are forbidden from returning, or ever interacting with any Man from then-on until they have to go and 'make the next generation of girls' shall we say to continue the city.

there's a tiny girl in the bunker that is constantly calling for her mommy and daddy as she sleeps. and if you talk to the nearby adult? tldr "Foolish child, she will get used to it and stop asking silly things. She will learn we're all One Big Family here after all." (YIKES)

(her family DID come with her to the town. except her father was immediately thrown into a jail cell. meanwhile her mother was ostracized for Daring to make Man™ Clothing™™ and has been trapped outside the bunker, blockaded inside the Secret Shop on the surface surrounded by giant skeletal monsters none of the Gerudo can fight.)

and then you get to the effect this has on the kids raised in this city! you sit in on a class of full grown adult women and the one instructed to talk to you is literally so terrified by the sight of a Voe™ you are forced to wear a full-head MASK for her to even be able interact with you! what the fuck!

then there's a Fun™™™ quote by one of the older shopkeepers that's legitimately "I'm not letting my granddaughter talk to a dirty Voe like you" if you interact with her. along with a whole slew of other Yikes™ lines, which was So Fun To Read when trying to sell a full inventory of items, oh boy let me tell you.

it's very "terfy cult utopia" vibes is what im saying, honestly.

there IS promise, that the city is apparently now oh so generously allowing a group of men ambassadors to stand at an entrance after years of building connections. and link gets to be the sole exception at the shelter (solely because he saved the entire region with the chief from the raging mechabeast and defeated The Motherfucking Calamity Itself) to the repeated exclamations of shock of everyone there. so narratively they seem to maybe be building up to a "hmm. maybe this is Not The Greatest Idea After All Everyone" but like. I think you can understand why my feelings right now are very. hm. "🙃"

I've been avoiding spoilers so far and HOPE this goes in a decent direction, but please forgive me for having Doubts about nintendo handling this with the best tact. or just, you know. not handling it at all. considering like. they don't have the best track record following up on narrative exposition and worldbuilding. 🫠

#TOTK #totk spoilers #idk what to tag this with ngl #Gerudo Town is. a frustrating topic to me as a NB person ever since botw imo #and i Do Not Trust nintendo anywhere near enough to handle this implied change to it in the narrative lead-up of that plotline #i hope to hell I'm wrong and it turns out well in the end. but I refuse to get my hopes up

15 notes · View notes

theliterarywolf · 11 months

Text

Alright, let's compile some spoiler-related asks under a Read More. There's four here so, uh... Plenty of reading

Anonymous asked: Holy shit, Submission-anon here. I was actually considering mentioning how much Zora's domain bothered me in Totk this time around. Glad to see I'm not the only one, and I hope it's fine I add my thoughts on that to my submission about my observations on Yona's character, since I feel it REALLY plays into WHY the entirety of Zora's domain feels a lot less... fun, emotional and personal, like it did in Botw, or even Aoc. Anonymous asked: Zora's domain was my fave in botw 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 sounds like it'll be my least fucking fave this time around fuck Anonymous asked: Dorephan deciding Sidon is straight, so he can have a go at Link. I'm only saying one thing: 20 liters. Anonymous asked: The straights are at it again /J But seriously, not going to be "QUEERPHOBIC!HDHUYDB!" Bullshit argument for loz, but I will point out that when someone says "This chick kinda sucks I think link fits better with this other fem character!" You get shitton of support or at least no real backlash, even if she's "only a friend". But if you say "I don't like Yona." even non shipping related, so many people will throw a tantrum and claim it's because "you wanna make link gay, dudes can be friends"

Anon 1: Feel free, anon.

Anon 2: I mean, you'll probably still have fun. I will say that reassembling the Zora Armor was interesting, at least...

Anon 3: First of all, I can't get over 'deciding' because I want anyone who has played through the Zora's Domain portion of TotK to look me in the eyes and deny that it honestly felt like Dorephan was more excited to see Link than Sidon was.

Like, yeah, after the Water Temple when Sidon went down on one knee to present his vow to Link and all, but still...

...Also, you just had to add that cursed tidbit at the end there, huh?

Anon 4: I feel that we have been seeing a more vocal amount of headcanon brainrot with ToTK as of late. Because, yeah, even though me and another anon were joking about Yona being a beard, they were just that: jokes. Some people out there are legitimately trying to cry homophobia because of her introduction and it's just, like I said, Sidon is a Prince (well, now a King but whatever), he is Dorephan's ONLY HEIR because Mipha DIED, he has to get married in order to keep the bloodline going. This isn't hard to understand.

But, also, I want to take a moment to point out the obnoxious level of 'this character is X and if you don't agree you're a bigot' as well as 'why do the alphabet-soup people ALWAYS have to make characters gay or trans?!'

Because I know where the upsurge in all of this came from: that interview that Aonuma gave where he was talking about 'oh, we always develop games with Link being more nonconforming to gender'.

And, of course, that should be taken as Link is more of a slate for the player to project themselves onto, no matter what gender or sexual-orientation, to create a more immersive experience.

But then we ended up with people going 'So, Link is trans then? It's canon, suck it homophobes!' And then legitimate edgelords going 'Link can't be a tranny, stop projecting onto everything!' And then there's that back and forth while rational people in the middle are just trying to live and vibe with 'In my headcanon, Link is a GNC man and Sidon has two hands and I'm happy and not bothering anyone'

So there's what was mentioned above and that animosity leaches over to conversations about Yona (people on both sides thinking that the only reason she's disliked is shipping)

Anyway, I'm just going to stay in my corner, enjoy this game at my slow-to-medium pace... And brace myself for the 'jealous wife'/'fujoshi wife' fics that will inevitably fill up the SidLink tag on AO3 because people forget that polyamory is a thing.

#Spoilers #so many spoilers #tears of the kingdom

2 notes · View notes

pokimoko · 2 years

Note

OH DUDE YESSS I love behind the scenes looks at fics Ohh my god 👁👁 What are some of your favorite details/parallels/moments from in memory of that you would love to talk about? (And if they end up tying into other stories feel free to infodump ab that as well I am all ears)

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. *thumps book binder bursting with notes onto table* Get ready, this is gonna get long. Oh, and don't let this folder fool you, this is far from organised. For anyone else following me who hasn't read the story and would like to, warning, there are spoilers ahead:

Okay first of all, there's the 'sunny morning hello' / 'cloudy afternoon goodbye' parallel that you pointed out in your comment. Originally, I put more of a focus on the fact the sun was going down in the last part, because in 'The Ode to Remembrance' there's the line "at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them", so I wanted to make a subtle reference to that. And also originally it actually started raining after Randall was gone, and Marc took the time to admire it rather than shy away from it; there was a little rainbow and everything.

But! But then my brain was like "why don't we have the story start with Marc meeting his brother, so that the story acts as a chart of Randall from beginning to end, and to give the reader some time with Randall before the cave so they're sad when we inevitably lose him" and welp, couldn't refuse that idea could I? I've always loved first and last lines being a reflection of each other, it scratches an itch in my brain. In the last scene, the sun's still on the process of going down, but I decided to have the clouds part and to have the sun shine of him to represent him making peace with his past, and to show he was allowing himself to move on from that rainy day. I am not immune to pathetic fallacy. (I'll admit, I listened to 'Más Allá Del Sol' a few times while writing the final scene. Thanks to episode 5, I now have a kneejerk reaction to get upset when I listen to it. And also, y'know, the sun motif.)

I personally am very in love with the height chart part. I was trying to think of an image for the header and that came to me with no warning or lead-up (I was in the middle of hugging my mum at the time and gosh, the fact I had to continue acting normal after getting hit with that idea was definitely something. And yes, I do think about my fics while doing normal things. The only problem is that it leads to conversations like this: "oh crap, I'm so sorry, I didn't hear a word of that, I kinda zoned out, I was thinking about Mayan gods" "...Why were you thinking about Mayan gods?" "Uh" *sweats nervously*).

But anyway! The height chart. They mark the passing of time, but they also act as a preservation of what has come before. And of course they're associated with childhood and growing up. Eventually you reach the point where you stop measuring, because you've grown as much as you ever will, and then it remains simply to act as a reminder. Marc's chart is like an old journal entry; you don't remember writing it, or even the context for it, but you know it's your words, written by someone you used to be. But Randall's chart is like an unfinished sentence, (or one that in its shortness tells you everything...'for sale: baby shoes, never worn'). His chart will never be finished, but the indents remain, a reminder of where his story came to a stop.

This is where the Peter Pan inspiration came in. I didn't take inspiration from the story itself, but rather its own inspiration. When J.M. Barrie was 6, his 13 year old brother David died, a day before his 14th birthday. His mother was distraught, having always favoured David, but she took comfort in the idea that he would remain a young boy forever, never growing any older. This concept stuck with Barrie, and he eventually went on to write a story about a boy who would never grow up. In a way, it was his way to cope with what had happened.

For Marc, Randall's youth is a haunting reminder. Marc will grow older, but his brother will always be the same. The distance between them grows with each passing year. As a teenager, there would have come a day that Marc realised his brother had been dead longer than he'd ever been alive. Then that Steven had been around longer. That he'd known Layla longer than he ever knew his brother. Times goes on, and Randall's life in comparison to his own grows smaller and smaller, until it is only a tiny portion, barely a blip. But the marks remain. The distance that time brings only makes it harder for Marc to reach out for who left them in the first place.

The name of the fic was another idea that hit me in the head like a dodgeball to the face (and trust me, I know what that feels like). The working title for a long time was 'to weigh the heart of an albatross', to allude to ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. In the poem, the titular Mariner shoots down an albatross for really no reason and then, either as a coincidence or as a result of him killing the bird (it's a matter of interpretation), everything goes to shit. The rest of the crew blame him and he is forced to hang the dead albatross around his neck as punishment (and then the crew all die and the Mariner is cursed by Life-in-Death, and is forced to keep living on and suffer as the only survivor, surrounded by the crew's dead bodies, and, well, y'see the connections, yeah?), and I wanted to be like "but see, Marc is the Mariner AND the albatross. He is the guilty man and the one enforcing the guilty. He is burdened, and the burden itself." (The fact Marc was a Marine certainly helped with the idea.)

I also originally wanted the epigraph to be a line from the poem (one contender: 'And they all dead did lie: / And a thousand thousand slimy things / Lived on; and so did I.' Because, survivor’s guilt and all that, and the complete self-hatred in comparing yourself to a ‘slimy thing’. Which as you know in the story, Marc hates..) but none of them fit the way I wanted. I did manage to sneak a sly reference to the albatross with KHONSHU BEING A BIG FUCKING WHITE BIRD HANGING AROUND UNWANTED LIKE A WEIGHT AROUND HIS NECK ENFORCING THE GUILT EVEN FURTHER AND STIFLING JAKE’S FREEDOM. And like, the actual bird Marc sees at the end, flying high.

But then 'in memory of you' came to me, thanks to me thinking about obituaries and such, and since the story is about memory and loss, I thought it was more fitting. I then shortened it to 'in memory of', to make it more open, to have it allude to all the things Marc lost that day. His brother, his innocence, his family. He's living his life in memory of what came before. Around the time of the getting that new title, I also rediscovered the Hill House quote (from an episode aptly named 'Steven Sees a Ghost') and knew it was a perfect fit.

The scene where Marc and Layla are talking about the meaning of their names was in there simply because I found out Layla means "night" and I was like "they really went and called her 'night', huh, in a show called 'Moon Knight...well, I can't let them get away with that, everyone must know." But it is sweet when you think about it, that the Avatar of the Moon god fell in love in with someone named after the night sky. Afterall, the moon shines brightest at night...

Wait. Shit. Oh shit. If that concept shows up in a future fic of mine along with some 'She Walks in Beauty' references you know fucking why.

Anyway. This next detail is actually one I picked up when rewatching the Field of Reeds scene (so many times; I do not particularly enjoying novelising scenes but I knew it was important to explore that scene within the fic itself, as it's an important step towards Marc's self-forgiveness). The way that Taweret says that there is "no danger" there and Marc immediately asks about Steven. Because of course, "when danger is near" and all that. Marc doesn't associate Steven with danger, but rather his safety from it. And when you find safety in something, you keep it close, even when there is no danger near. Because safety is comfort, and comfort is peace. The Field could only offer absence from all things bad, rather than the presence of that which is good, and so of course Marc left. He was never going to find true peace there. He would rather deal with the good and the bad than nothing at all.

Another detail: the movie night choices, because I can't ever just pick a random movie or song and be fine with that, no, no, I have to pick one with meaning. Silly writer brain. Anyway, the movies! If you seen 'The Bridge to Terabithia', I think you'll know why I chose that one; the synopsis literally has '(the imaginary world) helps Jess to escape and cope with a tragedy.' And like...the tragedy itself. 🙃 It's been years since I first watched and I'm still not okay. And 'The Lion King'...well, *gestures at the scene where Simba finds his dad's dead body* *gestures at Scar blaming Simba* *gestures at the years Simba spends trying to escape his past*. Guilt is a very huge part of that movie. Not that Steven would've picked up on that. Just like in 'Absent Place', he does a lot of things subconsciously; using muscle memory he can't remember forming, crying over things he can't remember hurting him, seeing the ghost of a boy he doesn't recognise. There's a blindfold around his eyes, but he keeps swinging the bat anyway, trying to hit the piñata, not knowing where it is or even why he's doing it at all.

Speaking of Steven, I wanted to make his interactions with the ghost distinctly different, to highlight the impact that Marc's guilt has on how he perceives things. With Marc, Randall is very much the epitome of a ghost, lurking in corners and doing nothing but watching. Marc has come to the conclusion that the ghost shows up to remind him of his pain, rather than realising the ghost shows up because he's in pain. But with Steven, Randall acts more natural, almost like a very quiet but kind child. Steven doesn't try to push him away, and he doesn't see him as a source of guilt, but rather comfort and companionship, so Randall acts accordingly.

(I kinda explored the idea of ghosts being shaped by our perception of them once before in a Lucifer fic I wrote a few years back which has, uh, well, a lot of thematic similarities to 'in memory of'. Like, a lot. Grief, guilt, ghosts, hiding in a fantasy, the past lingering. So, yeah, I don't get new ideas, I just pull out my old ones and put new clothes on them.)

But eventually, with the help of Layla and Steven, Marc slowly but surely starts to see past the wall of guilt his mother forced him to build up, and to remember his brother for who he truly was. That's why, by the last scene, when Marc sees him, Randall is swinging his legs and staring up at the sky, acting more like the child he is. Because Marc no longer sees him as something to dread, like you would a ghost, or as a condemnation. He sees his little brother, he sees him crying, and he goes over to give him one last word of comfort: I'm okay. I'm going to be okay. You can go now. Thank you for keeping your promise too.

Jeez, wow, okay, I told you this would be long but I wasn't expecting it to be this long. If you've made it this far, great job. Why don't we tie this whole ramble up with the most behind-the-scene detail of all: the notes I wrote when the idea first came to me, on the 23rd of July. Back when I thought it was really was just going to be 10 scenes.

My notes are usually more...coherent, but it was late at night and I just needed to get the thoughts down. Still, it's fun to see what stayed and what evolved through the writing process, and obviously everything that got added in, because there was a lot that was added in. I salute you Past Me, for ever thinking this would be a short enough story to have roman numerals denoting each part.

Alright, that's definitely enough rambling. I hope you've enjoyed me dumping all my brain's contents onto you. It was fun verbalising some of my thought processes to you and having the chance to explain some of stuff that wasn’t really made explicit in the writing itself. Thank you for the ask! :D

#ask #moon knight #meta #this counts as meta right?#long post #long fucking post #i told you you'd regret asking #when you get me going i fucking go i am an unstoppable object #especially about my writing #i am a child jumping up and down and pointing at my painting and going #did you see did you see #and you are the teacher patting me on the head going #yes dear it's lovely why don't you tell me why the curtains are blue #i love explaining symbolism and writing choices. so much so i had three english classes in my senior years of high school. shocking i know #and i was the only person in my entire year to take those classes too #that's right i had the awful nervewracking privilege of sitting alone in a classroom with no one else but the teacher #if they asked a question i had to answer #but at least the questions were about books and movies #those extra english classes are why i know so many bloody capital R Romantic poems anyway #i literally went back to my old school notes to gather some ancient mariner symbolism for the story #and uh if you ever see me writing about Jake and his kinship to Frankenstein's monster and how he's been treated....you know who to blame #the absent place had many underlying influences from things i learnt: the yellow wallpaper. plato's cave allegory. edgar allan poe's stuff #smoke and mirrors alternatively was inspired by media with magic mirrors: 'football' adventure time. sorceror's apprentice. infinity train #i like to hoard stories in my mind until i can steal them for parts #they are the foundations upon which i build #ANYWAY #thank you again for the ask i am sending you even more hearts #( ○w○)_💜💜💜💜

11 notes · View notes

what-yadoking-likes · 1 year

Note

Henlo how are you?

Are there any games besides Payday that you're really into? I've been pretty hyper fixated on Terraria recently. Idk I just really want an excuse to talk about Terraria with someone but like no one here plays it as far as I know and I have this pent up excited Terraria energy I just wanna unleash on someone but I don't want to confuse or burden anyone so I'm just in the corner alone with my Terraria hyper fixation. Sorry if that's too much I just wanted to ask you something but couldn't think of anything cool.

Actually I did have a good question (maybe idk). Are you proud of how you're doing with The Cell? Like are you satisfied with the direction it's going and how the plot is unfolding or do you just feel like it's not right or it could be better? Also completely unrelated but Jacket just coming in and cock blocking Wolf and Hoxton is fucking hilarious

Uh idk how to end this so I'm just gonna put an emoji here 🫠

Hi-iiiiiii

I have personally never played Terraria. My partner has played in the past & occasionally goes back to it, gets obsessed for a few days & then the cycle repeats itself all over again.

Games other than Payday I am obsessed with HMMM. Well... I often find myself going back to Left 4 Dead 2 (which isn't surprising considering it was inspo for Payday : The Heist). There's something weirdly comforting about it?

Recently I've been playing Pokemon Scarlet alongside my partner who plays Violet. We did our best to ignore news of new 'mons & spoilers & so far I have enjoyed the game! Pokemon came out when we were in primary school, so it's nostalgic for us to play, but we've also been playing the games together since we got together some 13 years ago, so it's kinda like a couples activity we do now, I guess.

I have a lot of time & love for Final Fantasy, too. FFIX & FFX are amongst some of my favourite games of all-time, but because of their nature (huge-ass games with sidequests that send the in-game clock into the hundreds of hours), they're not something I dip into all the time - but I do re-play them often, & even have tattoos referencing both games.

NOW ONTO THE CELL OH HO HO.

This is how I had imagined the Cell going all along, pretty much. I didn't always know how they would get to the exact position Wolf and Hoxton are in right now, but I knew that I wanted it to be an examination of Hoxton post-breakout, because when I first started playing Payday 2 (immediately after blasting through Payday: the Heist & loving it), I was disappointed that the development/story seemed to be told more through blocks of text accessible in menus & live-action films rather than in the game itself. Don't get me wrong, I love the live-action stuff and the opportunity to have written information on hand, but I felt a bit... disappointed... with how the breakout was this huge cinematic thing, and then the revenge happened, and then... Hoxton is back to his old self again? I didn't buy it. There would be more to it than that. Speaking as someone with anxiety, depression & PTSD... there's always more to it than that.

My original intention was to have the main focus be on Hoxton and his PTSD/anxiety/trauma from being left behind and replaced. As I started writing I quickly realised I was actually more comfortable writing from Wolf's POV. This inevitably meant I ended up focusing on his traumas too, but I'm not displeased with how it turned out that way.

I guess... when I first started writing it, I didn't think I would still be writing it so many months later. I knew it would be multi-chapter but I had no idea it would become as big as it has in terms of the word count.

Originally I wanted a way to take one of my favourite fanfic guilty pleasures tropes - 'but there was only one bed!' - and find a way to make it believable. We all love a good power-cut/thunderstorm situation - I've written them myself - but I wanted to challenge myself to write it in a more... plausible way?

I guesssss I also didn't intend on having Dallas be a prick... but he turned out that way.

If the focus is more on the 'am I proud' of the Cell, well... I have lost confidence in myself a bit recently. In the beginning I got a lot of comments which were really lovely & went into detail about what people liked or found funny, & now there are less of those & part of me wonders whether the readers are happy with the direction its going. That's... been a tough thought to deal with ngl, because I did really think I was telling a good story and telling it well, & now there's a lot more uncertainty & insecurity about it for me. But I need to hold steady and get the whole thing done so I can move on to something else because... it's been a long time.

Also lol Jacket. I originally wanted him to catch them in the previous chapter (before the rimjob scene), but figured it would be a bit awkward to have them get caught, then immediately getting back into it like 'OH WELL LOL', so I switched the order a bit instead.

#Yado replies #Yado answers #Yado drinks #Yado is slightly hungover #Thanks for the Ask!#This was a long-ass reply #The Cell #video games

2 notes · View notes

agallimaufryofoddments · 2 years

Text

Kinda wild that the announcement teaser for Fate/strange fake's upcoming TV special (airdate Dec 31) already has nearly 1.3 million plays (views?) on Twitter. It's been up for less than a month.

Not wild because it’s a Fate property, obviously. It’s not even really wild that F/sf is getting a TV special; we all knew an adaptation was inevitable, the question was only ‘how long would one be held off?’ Nah, It’s just wild to me that this TV special will be the first major animated adaptation of one of Narita’s works since the Durarara!!x2 ended in 2016.

Man, if F/sf Volume 8 does come out in, say, January or February... I’m going to think happy thoughts and not “Baccano! Volume 23 top 10 betrayals” thoughts. I’m just going to hope the F/sf TV special will spotlight Ryohgo Narita’s name for mainstream western audiences and boost LN sales. On the one hand, it’s ‘just’ a TV special’. On the other hand, it’s a special seemingly hyped up by Aniplex and, uh, y’know, part of the Fate franchise.

Wasn’t F/sf the number 1 or top 3 ‘most requested anime adaptation’ in a poll a few years ago? That might account for some of the hype. Whether the special will lead to a 2023 summer TV anime like other Fate Dec 31 TV specials have, or whether it will be its own strange thing, the sheer fact of it finally happening is a Fate/strange feeling indeed..

It’s been pointed out that some other Fate adaptations have started with December 31 TV specials (Episode 0s) and gone on to have summer TV series, e.g. Lord El-Melloi and Grand Carnival. So...should we speculate this pattern repeats with F/sf? I haven’t really consumed anything in the Fate franchise and have little interest in doing so beyond F/sf, which I’ve been slowly and sporadically reading, so I’m not exactly familiar with precedent.

For instance, Fate precedent re: adapting incomplete source material. The LNs are at seven volumes so far and (though I’m not caught up yet) in the thick of the plot, and I’m not sure how a one- or two-cour anime would tackle adapting it. A two-cour anime would make more sense than one. Definitely not sure what a 24-minute TV special could accomplish, considering that F/sf is a bit like Baccano! with tons of stuff happening in one, two, three (etc.) days.

Maybe the TV special will be an hour long or something; that would make more sense. Aniplex announced it in a livestream, didn’t it? Hyped it up? Is it normal for Fate TV specials to get the amount of hype it feels like this one’s getting? Am I imagining the hype due to my Narita bias? A long TV special would warrant it. A long special is almost necessary if they’re planning to introduce characters with it, because the entirety of Volume 1 is character introductions and couldn’t possibly fit into a half hour.

Oh, hm, the special could feasibly function as some worldbuilding / backstory set up. I’m guessing that most if not all Fate stories review Fate’s conceit for hypothetical newcomers, which is what Narita helpfully semi-does in Volume 1 (thank God, since I’m essentially a newcomer). Narita’s twist on holy grail wars is new—I understand that pretty much every holy grail war in all the Fate derivates has gone awry / atypically since...the first series?—the setting (Snowfield, Nevada) is new... so a TV special ‘orienting’ viewers makes sense.

Except it makes sense only if the plan is 100% to proceed with a 2023 anime, so, who knows. R.L. (from the PSA teaser) and Ayaka (character’s VA returning) are both Volume 2 material, so... either the TV special is going to blitz through Volume 1 and end with R.L. and Ayaka as a huge cliffhanger / hype teaser, or possibly the special won’t function as a story episode at all and just be a compilation of ‘hype’ moments. That sounds... I mean, wouldn’t that just be spoiler central? I don’t buy that.

Precedent, huh. Also, since A-1 Pictures is handling the F/sf TV special, is it probable that A-1 would then handle a proper TV adaptation? Based on El-Melloi and Grand C., probably. Oh, wait, I forgot A-1 did that 2019 F/sf PV for the light novels—so make that ‘almost definitely’.

One potentially major aspect is that the TV special will have a simuldub, which, from what I’ve read, will be the first 1:1 complete simuldub of a Fate adaptation? Major for us since a simuldub will cast the spotlight on F/sf and concomitantly Narita’s name that much wider, even if the dub is terrible. The sheer novelty alone of a Fate simuldub may be enough to attract viewers. Er, beyond the existing big Fate audience, of course. I’ve also read that a simuldub was greenlit because F/sf is set in America (oh, Narita, you wag), but that’s no guarantee the dub will be any good.

....it’s also wild (well, weird) that I’m thinking this actively about an anime TV special, since I’ve barely watched anime these past few years. Could be that I’m aging out of anime, though, let’s be real, when I was an undergrad I was already more discerning. Could be that I’ve been in mental limbo ever since spring 2020 with the ‘advent’ (you know what I mean) of the pandemic and its affects on my grad school.)

#Ryohgo Narita #Fate/strange fake #F/sf #Fate franchise #PSA #long post #It should boost LN sales no matter what right? Is it possible to overestimate the Fate IP?#It's because it's Fate that I'm assuming sales boost is all but assured even if A-1 Pictures screws up.#With A-1 Pictures the quality of a show really depends on staff; Sawano composing the F/sf score alone is huge given how popular he is.#I don't have strong feelings about his music but his name translates to hype for a lot of people.#Sorry; this was just supposed to be a those video statistics are wild and so is Narita's return to anime post #but it ended up being a dump of F/sf thoughts.#I don't have many of those I swear; I've read the F/sf manga and 'am reading' the LNs...incrementally...#Way more thoughts on what does this mean for Narita than on F/sf itself at the moment.#the length of the post is also strange considering WOW my indifference to Fate is measurable and my knowledge minimal.#I'm having a decently good time with F/sf since it's Narita (also big plus that it's standalone despite all the meta references)#and actually it has raised my interest in Fate a little so let that append or amend my 'indifferent' statement #but I just don't have an urge to get into the rest of Fate soon. Maybe someday.

4 notes · View notes

duckuwu · 1 year

Text

I posted 4,066 times in 2022

That's 645 more posts than 2021!

252 posts created (6%)

3,814 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ontari

@swallowedabug

@karatam

@damnwormholes

@erinmcsave

I tagged 2,955 of my posts in 2022

Only 27% of my posts had no tags

#criminal minds - 150 posts

#a league of their own - 129 posts

#art - 127 posts

#critical role - 109 posts

#motherland fort salem - 95 posts

#a league of their own spoilers - 87 posts

#batwoman - 85 posts

#vines - 69 posts

#criminal duck minds - 64 posts

#queued for your pleasure - 55 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#it's such a complex issue because you know none of these people (including martha) would ever willingly choose to have not known the doctor

My Top Posts in 2022:

I, uh, I'm too in love with the concept of long game slow burn Imogen/Laudna to even enjoy Dusk asking Laudna out tonight.

I don't know if it's purely because I just hate love triangles, or if I'm against it because we know that Dusk has a hidden agenda and their niceness is just a front.

As a multishipper, I'm leaning towards it mostly being the second one. I know it's partially Erika having some fun, which I'm not really against. But idk...

I'm glad Laudna left. Not only cause it was directly choosing Imogen (because Imogen is all she really cares about), but also like... I already wasn't liking the whole notion of Laudna potentially being interested in something romantic with Dusk only to inevitably find out that they've had an agenda this whole time. Dusk's inevitable betrayal was already enough for me to place a Do Not Ship this label on the relationship, but then you've got Laudna saying she's never been asked out before...

...and all my protective instincts just took over. I absolutely do not want Laudna being taken advantage of. And that's what Dusk would be doing at this point.

Listen, as a storyteller, I absolutely understand how this sort of betrayal could bring about a whole bunch of interesting narrative paths. And I'm sure it was more of a throwaway line for Laudna/Marisha, and again I know it's all a bit of fun for Erika and potentially a genuine (somewhat fun times) interest for Dusk. But given the context of what we've been given wrt Dusk, and now Laudna... it's coming really close to the first time CR has ever made me feel uncomfortable/unsafe in terms of storytelling. I've come to cr knowing I could trust that certain things just won't happen in game...

...but boy howdy Dusk taking advantage of an innocent and inexperienced Laudna is absolutely not a thing I want to have happen / watch.

((again, I know it was mostly just having fun and throwing chaos into the mix, and that Erika probably wasn't really thinking in terms of anything THAT nefarious. but wow. That got so uncomfortable and unfun super fast for me.))

I sorta wish we got to have that sort of a moment between them PRIOR to learning that Dusk is not a friend. Because seeing the kinda adorable, and innocent seeming, Dusk asking Laudna out probably would've been really cute and fun to enjoy. But context is everything.

15 notes - Posted July 14, 2022

I just wanted to say that I'm grateful for all of you I get to interact with on a fairly regular basis, mutuals or not. Seeing your urls still around just makes me happy.

I also really miss the folks who aren't around anymore. (I mean, I'm happy for them having lives elsewhere, I'm believing they're happy.) I just miss seeing them around and getting to interact with them.

I know the internet can seem weird and fickle, especially in this weird hellscape, but y'all do matter. you are loved. You are my friends.

15 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

youtube

This trailer is 🔥🔥🔥

20 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

Criminal Minds | Season 3 Blooper Reel Clip

AJ Cook & Paget Brewster

Some folks were asking for the clip I made this gifset from, so here you go babes.

Transcription beneath the cut.

[sound of crying kid in background]

JJ: We're here to walk you through this.

Offscreen actor (with attitude / sarcasm): You're gonna walk us through this? Could you run us through this please?

Emily: [indecipherable]

JJ/AJ: Not if you're going to be an [bleeped out: asshole] like that, I can't.

[cast and crew in background laugh. paget laughs. then up close crew yell CUT]

25 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Y'all I just wanna talk about this official poster for A League of Their Own for a second. I won't go too deep with it, but there's a HUGE thing that was done with this poster that you just don't see normally in marketing.

The Black people/characters are front and center.

That's just something that rarely happens traditionally (and it sucks). But here we have the two leads as the large and prominent focus, but Max is in front of Carson. Usually, when things are marketed like this, the white (or white passing / lighter skinned) person is put in the front. (I'm not going into the why of that rn, just one of those 'racism built into a profession that you might not question until you're like 'thats fucked up' situations you can look up.)

They took great care in making this promotional graphic. It was important to them that people knew that Max's storyline was as important (if not more) as Carson's. There's a balance and equality implied in this graphic. An emphasis on: this is the heart of the story we're telling. And that's just really cool 'cause that usually never happens, usually if there's a single white person in a show/movie/whatever they somehow always end up being propped up in front of everyone. But not here. And ugh even the little detail of the highlight around Clance and Greta being blue, which ties into Max (making sure your eye is drawn to Max first) is fantastic. They could've easily gone w red, to draw your eye more to Carson, but they didn't.

My graphic design nerd heart is so full. They truly took the time to think about things and get them right and I love it.

320 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #Youtube

0 notes

thora-jane · 2 years

Text

I've Already Lost (TASM! Peter x Reader)

a/n: Hi everyone. I swear I'm alive. This is my first time getting back into writing in a while so I'm sorry if this is a little rusty. Lately, I haven't been feeling too great, but I watched No Way Home (this is spoiler-free, I promise) and between a rekindled love for Andrew's Peter and my sad feelings, this was born. I'm considering making a part two, but I guess I just want to know if people like this enough to write more.

Comments and reblogs are really appreciated, I hope y'all enjoy

Summary: Parker Family Game Night leads to an inevitable confession of feelings, but with Peter happily dating Gwen, the only victory is found in a painful game of cards.

Warnings: There might be like, 1 swear word. 2 if you squint. Also this doesn't exactly have the happiest ending.

Word Count: 3,293

| Next |

You leaned against the doorway of the room. Parker Family Game Night; the classic once-a-month ritual in which Peter and Aunt May summoned you and Harry for a night of cheap takeout and playing different games until you go insane with exhaustion.

This was also the second time you were all joined by Gwen, Peter’s girlfriend. She was one of the greatest people you had ever met, she was brilliant, her humor wove perfectly with Peter’s, and the way he looked at her…you could tell he had fallen head over heels. It was just too bad you had fallen for him first. You pretended to ignore it, even though you had been in love with him for years. But you had to admit it was hard to think of him as only a friend when nearly every day you watched Peter be in love with someone else. You took a sip from your can of soda and tried to laugh with everyone else as Peter tried to knock Gwen down in their game of twister, the couple a precarious stack of intertwining limbs. “So…Peter and Gwen, huh?” Harry nudged you. You tried not to spit out your drink.

“Yeah uh…” you swallowed, “yeah they’re…they’re great. They’re such a cute couple. They were meant for each other, really,” You sighed, hoping your voice didn’t sound fake as you chugged the last of your drink, “Pete’s really got it for her-”

“And you really got it for Pete,” Harry interrupted quietly.

You froze, before he had a chance to continue, you grabbed his elbow and dragged him to the kitchen.

“Ozbourne what the hell are you talking about,” you whispered, looking over your shoulder to make sure no one else had heard.

“I’m just saying, I’ve kinda picked up on how you look at him, and it bears a very strong resemblance to how Gwen looks at him. Or how he looks at Gwen-”

“-Stop it,” You cut him off, setting your empty can on the counter a little harshly. You paused, “You think anyone else can tell? Is it too obvious?” you started to panic, glancing back out to where the couple had only partially given up playing twister.

“Not obvious to the other parties involved, they’re too busy looking at each other,” he half-chuckled at his own joke before looking back up at you, “Hey… hey I didn’t mean it like that. You know Peter still likes you as a friend.”

“I know,” you bit the inside of your lip, running your hands over your face, “It just…hurts, y’know? Like…That should be me…but it shouldn’t, because I could never make Peter that happy and Gwen is a wonderful girl and that just makes me shitty for wanting to come between them. And I just…I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Harry.” you let out a dry laugh as he reached into the fridge and grabbed two cans of root beer, handing one to you.

“Can’t keep doing what?” he asked, smirk fading from his face as he leaned against the counter next to you.

“Pretending that I’m fine,” you shrugged, opening the can and taking a swig. You swallowed, “Like, maybe things would be better off if I weren’t around? I really think the group would be better without me, so I might just disappear for a while, see how things go.”

“What’s this about you disappearing?” Peter asked, leaning in the doorway.

You nearly snorted root beer out your nose, “Pete! Holy crap, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“What can I say, I’m a sneaky guy,” He winked. God this hurts. You tried to focus on the burning in your nose and not the aching in your heart as Peter and Gwen shared a laugh.

“How long were you standing there?” you asked, wiping your nose with the back of your hand as you tried to hide the blush on your cheeks.

“Just long enough to hear you say the group would be better without you – hey, listen. I’m going to walk Gwen home but when I come back,” he pointed at you as he backed out of the room, “we’re playing Garbage and unpacking that statement so be ready, ‘cause that sounds like a load of garbage. We need you here, (y/n)”

Gwen smiled, “yeah, I can’t be the only girl here, I need you.”

“Alright,” you nodded, “I’ll shuffle the cards, ket ready to get thrown out on the curb Parker, it’s collection day.”

“Hey! That’s a good one!” he laughed over his shoulder before closing the front door.

“God, how am I gonna do this,” you groaned as you set down your drink and pressed your head against the side of the fridge, “this is gonna be ugly.”

“I have a feeling it’d be better if I weren’t around for this?” Harry asked, dipping his head to make eye contact.

“Yeah, this’ll be uncomfortable for everyone involved.” You tried to smile, but your mouth only flattened into a line across your face.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, nodding, “Call me when you get home, let me know how things went.”

“Yep,” you agreed, popping the p and patting his hand as he left you in the kitchen alone. You heard the front door close a minute later and sat in silence. May had gone to bed and now it was just you in the kitchen, worn old deck of cards in your pocket. You chugged the last of your root beer and squeezed the can, leaving a dent in the side before you placed it next to the other empty cans on the counter.

You took your place at the kitchen table, clearing crumbs left from someone’s pizza before unboxing the cards. You were never good at shuffling, fumbling with the stacks of cards, and often sending a couple flying on occasion. But Pete? Pete was a master at shuffling cards. He could do the weird card-bending bridge thing, he could do the thing where he drops the cards from one hand to another, he said that Ben had taught him all the tricks he knows, but you swear you saw a tab for card tricks open on his laptop once.

You only knew one card game, and it was garbage. Pete had taught you when the two of you were supposed to be working on a project for chemistry. He claimed it would help you bond as partners and bring your project-making abilities up to the next level, and refused to listen when you tried to remind him you two had already been friends for a while. In the end, you both got an A. You knew it was because Pete was a science genius, but he always insisted it was because you two had dropped everything to play cards instead.

Your phone buzzed,

Sk8r Boy Pete:

omw back. get ready to go down the sink. i’ll be flicking the switch.

ok that was a really bad joke

tried to do something with garbage disposals

i’ll admit, it didn’t work

You couldn’t help but smile, typing out a response:

eyes off your phone when you’re on your board pete.

You remembered the first time he dragged you to the skate park with him. You made him hand over his camera so it would break if he fell off his board, And managed to take a few pictures of him mid-air. You were sure he saw them, after all, they were on his camera, but he never said anything about them. You didn’t want to bring them up now, that was years ago, but you wish you could have gotten them developed. You remember later that night he had you try to skate down the half-pipe, one of the shallower ones, but you still managed to take a tumble that left you scraped up with a scar over your knee. That didn’t stop Pete from cheering you on louder than he should have that late at night, and every time you wore shorts after that, he’d point out the scar on your knee as a “badge of honor for the most epic crash ever” and remind you how he had to practically carry you home.

Any feeling of peace you felt sunk to the bottom of your stomach as you heard the front door open and close. Barely a second passed before Peter slid into the seat across from you.

“Ready to lose, (y/n)?” He smiled.

I already have, Peter. “Oh Pete, I’m afraid you’ve caught me woefully unprepared for defeat, I am however perfectly ready to step away victorious.” you put on your best smile as you started to deal out 10 cards to each of you.

“That’s what I like to hear,” He smirked, cracking his knuckles dramatically.

The two of you arranged your cards in silence before you flipped over the first card in the deck, “I believe you go first, Mr. Parker,” you nodded.

“How kind of you, Miss (y/l/n),” he took the card and began flipping over cards as such, “What’s this I hear about you wanting to disappear for a while?” he motioned for you to take your turn, and you drew a card from the deck putting your cards in place.

“I wish you didn’t have to bring that up,” you sighed, putting a card back in the other pile and ending your turn.

“(y/n) I don’t know why you’d want to leave. Is it Harry? Is he bothering you? I’ll go have a word with him he’s bothering you. You shouldn’t have to leave if he’s being a dick-”

“It’s not Harry, Pete,” you interrupted as he put down his card.

“Oh, ok,” he answered quietly as you took your next turn in silence.

He drew a card again, it was a number he already had down. He tossed it into the other pile.

“Did Gwen have a nice time tonight?” you tried to steer the topic in another direction for a bit as you took the card he discarded.

“Yeah,” he smiled, “yeah she said she had a lot of fun. She told me to tell you thanks for being on her team in Charades, she really enjoyed it. She said she couldn’t have won without you. She thinks you’re pretty neat, did you know that?” He looked up at you, grinning the most you’d ever seen. It was his turn, “Queen!” He smirked, looking up at you before stealing the ace of hearts you had and placing it in his empty ace slot, ending the round.

“It’s nice to know she doesn’t hate me, yeah,” you nodded, gathering up the cards before handing them to Peter to shuffle.

“Of course, she doesn’t hate you!” he laughed, dealing out nine cards for him and ten for you, “Why would she hate you?”

“Uh…well…” you drew a card from the deck and started flipping over your cards in succession, “I don’t know. But it’s nice to know she doesn’t have any bad feelings.”

“(y/n)...does your wanting to leave have anything to do with Gwen?” Peter asked, his smile fading as he started his turn.

“No!” you panicked, “No uh…no not really. No. Gwen is…Gwen is fine. She’s cool. She’s nice. Good on you for dating her…” your voice trailed off as you took the card he discarded, flipping over a card before your turn ended.

“Because I care about Gwen very much, (y/n),” he continued, drawing a new card. He paused, before adding softly, “I think I love her.”

You froze, looking down at the 2 of hearts he had placed in the discard pile.

“So I can’t just make her leave. If you have a problem with Gwen I’m willing to help you two work it out but-”

“I don’t have a problem with Gwen, Peter.” you said, maybe a little harsher than you should have.

He held his hands up in surrender, “Ok! Ok,” he offered a smile “That’s a good thing.”

The two of you went the next few rounds in near total silence, you had both worked your way down to two cards each before you finally had the courage to let out your thoughts.

“I think…I think I have a problem with you.”

He stopped, not even touching his card as he looked to you, “(y/n)...what’s wrong?”

You looked him in his eyes. His big, beautiful brown eyes. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him this hurt before, it looked like you had shot him thorugh the chest, “(y/n), talk to me, please.” His voice was soft, and you could have sworn he almost sounded scared.

“It’s nothing actually, Pete. Just forget it,” You said, flippoing over your two cards in one turn.

“No,” he started, gathering the cards and reshuffling, dealing out one card for you and two for him, “(y/n), you’re my best friend. If you say I’m doing something to hurt you I can’t just shrug it off. You’re my best friend-”

“And that’s the problem, Pete,” you sighed, unable to look him in the eye as he turned over the top card It was that stupid fucking ace of hearts again.

“What?”

“I’m your friend. I’m your best friend. I’m the girl you’ve done everything with for the past few years and now you finally have a girlfriend and…” You felt your words choke up in your throat. You weren’t crying, your voice just started to close off.

“(y/n) what are you saying-”

“Peter I’m in love with you,” you finally looked at him again. His face had gone pale, it felt as if he were looking right through you, “And…you’re in love with Gwen. And that’s great because you two make eachother really, really happy and it’s so nice to see you both together it just…kind of hurts sometimes I guess. And-”

“How long have you felt this way,” his voice was still, quiet, barely above a whisper.

“Years,” you mumbled.

“You could have said something.” he swallowed, still not quite looking at you.

“I know,” your voice was nothing more than a whisper, and for a moment the air stood still, “I guess I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to.”

He nodded. Nearly a minute passed before he nodded at the cards. “You go first, remember?” You looked down at the ace of hearts, swapping it out for the face down card you had. The two of hearts.

“It looks like you won,” he tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a wince.

“I should go,” you pushed back your chair and stood up, walking over to the couch to get your coat.

“Wait,” Peter stopped, you, grabbing your wrist before you could pass him. You could never remember his reflexes being as fast as they were in the last few months, but really you just wished you could run out of here, “Let me walk you home, it’s late. You shouldn’t be out by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, Peter.” you shrugged off his hand grabbed your coat, not even botheing to put it on as you tried to rush out the door.

“(y/n) wait please,” He turned, getting out of his seat. You tried to ignore the pain in his voice as you jammed your feet into your shoes.

“Pete please, I really need to go.” you tried to smile, but could already feel the heat pricking your eyes, “I had a fun time tonight, really. Tell Gwen I had fun playing with her too.” You nodded, wiping the back of your hand over one of your eyes before opening the door, “G’night, Pete. It’s been fun.”

The second you closed the door, you started running and didn’t turn back.

Thank god it was Friday night, the last thing you wanted was to have to face Peter or Gwen the next morning.

That didn’t stop your phone though. Throughout the day your phone was buzzing with texts from Harry and Gwen;

‘Hey, how did things turn out last night? You never called’

‘Hey (y/n)! Have you heard anything from Peter?’

‘Wth happened Pete’s not texting me either’

‘I haven’t heard from him since he walked me home last night, do you know if he’s ok?’

‘Did you two have a fight?’

You never replied to any of them, and eventually you gave up, wrapping your phone in a sweatshirt to muffle the buzz. The sweatshirt was then shoved into your closet when you remembered Peter had given that to you years ago. Maybe you could burn it. Maybe you could burn your memories. Maybe you could chop off all your hair and move to another city. You all graduated soon, maybe you could apply for some foreign exchange program or go to a college out of state in the middle of nowhere. No, it was too late to apply. You’d be stuck in New York with Peter.

Hours passed, and you had managed to do all your homework in one sitting. It was now a few minutes passed noon. You groaned, you’d never gotten your homework done this quickly, usually Pete showed up and distracted you, or you distracted him. Either way, the fact that you now had nothing to occupy your weekend with was entirely his fault and no one else’s.

Against your best judegement, you checked your phone again. The only new text was from Harry.

Harry:

Peter told me what happened.

That was hours ago. You hadn’t heard anything new from Gwen, and you doubted you’d ever get a text from Peter again.

You cracked open the window to your room and crawled out onto the fire escape. The wind was bitter, but maybe you deserved that. Your street was quiet for a Saturday afternoon, and you figured it’d stay that way all weekend. Maybe that’s what you needed. Just some silence for a little bit. You walked over to the railing and leaned off the side, letting the breeze hit your face.

It wasn’t until you saw Spiderman swinging through the street that you realize you had zoned off. Your finger tips were starting to feel a little numb, and your toes were freezing. Crawling in through your window again, you heard a knock at your bedroom door.

“Hey,” your mom nudged the door open, an envelope in hand, “Peter stopped by and told me to give this to you. Is everything alright between you two? He looked kind of upset- Oh god, shut the window, (y/n) it’s freezing in here.”

“Everything’s fine mom,” you lied, locking the window and taking the envelope from her hand before all but shooing her out the door.

“Ok well if either of you need anything let me know.”

You closed the door as fast as you could without slamming it, holding the envelope in shaking hands. You told yourself you were just cold and nothing else. It’s not like there could be anything significant inside this envelope. It’s not that you were hopeful of anything. He was probably just saying to never speak to him again you thought as you tossed the envelope on your bed.

You ripped it open a second later.

There was no letter. No note promising that he felt the same now, or ever in the past. No apology. Not even a “you’ll mean something to someone someday” note.

Just pictures. Not pictures of you. Thankfully not pictures of Gwen. They were pictures of him. On his skateboard. Late at night. The ones you took.

(y/n) dabbles in photography Peter had scrawled out next to the date you had taken them.

He was giving them back to you.

(a/n): If you've gotten all the way down here, please get up and drink some water, take a few deep breaths, and remember that you're loved. Thank you <3

#marvel #tasm!peter parker imagine #andrew!peter x reader #peter parker #andrew garfield peter parker #tasm peter parker #tasm peter parker x reader #peter parker x reader #tasm!spiderman x reader #tasm peter x reader

1K notes · View notes

letapollojusticesayfuck · 2 years

Note

Your post about Klavier being unbendingly lawful made me think about how hilarious it is that if you put Apollo, looking all proper and serious when suited up, next to Klavier, grinning rockstar decked out in chains and shirt partly unbuttoned, one would think Apollo would be the stickler for rules and laws.

But in reality Klavier has managed to make even being a rock star all about law, while Apollo was raised by literal rebels, has possibly been living with forged papers ever since being sent away at age [young], and also can and will punch someone for being too much of a dick. Not to mention what else he might have been up to inbetween age [young] and now.

Kinda makes me wonder if Klavier would assume the same, and how long it would take for him to realize otherwise... 🤔

okay so i'm going to take this as an opportunity to talk about one of my favorite things from aa4: the way that almost all the characters entirely subvert your expectations of them based on their outward appearance. (obvious spoilers ahead, if you're somehow following me without having played aa4)

So, yeah, there's Klavier and Apollo--the supposedly "bad boy" rockstar with a motorcycle and self-branded boots, contrasted with the seemingly straightlaced Brand New Defense Attorney in his comparably normal businesswear. ...and then Klavier turns out to make music entirely about upholding the law and is the prosecutor in the series most dedicated to finding the truth above all else right from the start, and Apollo punches his first ever client in the face once he discovers that the guy was...let's politely say not giving him all the information about the evidence he had.

The most obvious way AA4 subverts expectations surrounding appearances is probably in Turnabout Trump--you expect the legal mentor figure (Kristoph Gavin, in this case) to be trustworthy and upstanding. You're introduced to your somewhat shady-looking client who's Obviously hiding something. And then it turns out that the sketchy guy you're defending is Phoenix Wright, former paragon of justice; and you realize your mentor is significantly more personally involved in this case than you could have imagined, and by the end of the trial you're not really sure what the status quo is actually going to be for this game.

(the rest of this is under a cut because I uh. had a lot to say about this)

And then this subversion continues with characters like the Kitakis, who are notorious for organized crime but who are revealed to be trying to put that behind them and open a bakery; or Alita Tiala, who at first glance seems to be a devoted fiancée but who's been planning on taking advantage of Wocky's inevitable death for her own financial gains. You've got Lamiroir, the "landscape painter in sound," who turns out to be blind; and Machi Tobaye, the young boy who's actually been caught up in a smuggling plot.

(...come to think of it, AA4 has a lot of children who end up involved in dubiously legal schemes through the influence of parents/guardian figures in their lives (Machi and Daryan; Vera and Drew Misham; Trucy and Zak Gramarye--and even Trucy and Phoenix Wright, honestly).)

Ultimately, almost everyone you encounter throughout AA4 is lying about who they are--they're acting, putting on a performance. And this is one of the things about the game that I think is genuinely so brilliant--because Perceive, as a mechanic, is all about seeing through this seemingly-perfect image to what's being concealed. You have a game full of people whose identities involve some form of pretense (Phoenix, pretending to be a washed-up piano/poker player; Klavier, and the inherent pretense that comes with being a celebrity; Trucy, and her whole family's illusion-based magic; Lamiroir, who doesn't even know her previous identity; etc, etc, etc), and the whole point, more than ever, is being able to understand and see through to what truth they're hiding.

(this is one of the things that annoys me about the fact that we never got a resolution for Kristoph Gavin's black psyche-locks, actually--because the game leaves that as a dangling plot thread, because we never do get to find out entirely what he's concealing with his polished, perfectly composed facade. We can make educated guesses based on everything we find out--he's a perfectionist, obsessed with being in control; he wants to be admired and have people depend on him. But the why is never resolved in a satisfying manner within the text of the game, and then isn't revisited)

...I can't remember if I had some sort of profound point to this--I think I just wanted to talk about how interesting the characters in AA4 were, honestly--and because I really, really love themes of concealed/hidden identity, whether it's more concrete or abstract. I think I was probably supposed to talk about klapollo here and not give you half an English Lit essay--but i've been wanting to ramble about this for ages and this gave me an excuse.

#lucy's thoughts #ask #asks #SORRY I JUST RANTED ABOUT IDENTITY FOR A MILLION PARAGRAPHS #I JUST THINK THE WAY AA4 UPENDS EVERYTHING YOU'D EXPECT ABOUT CHARACTERIZATION IS NEAT #journeythroughtherain #thank you for the ask!!#even though i very much went in a weird direction with it #uhhhh #ace attorney #ace attorney apollo justice #i spent too much time on this it's going in at least some real tags

248 notes · View notes

mummifiedgoose · 2 years

Text

Okay folks.

Everyone who said anything in response to This Post is the love of my life, you guys are so sweet and I lost my shit every time some said something in the notes. People seemed interested in hearing more (!!!) so uh...

FNAF x Ghoul Boys AU except I put them in the story this time. Security Breach spoilers.

This is gonna be super lengthy and kind of all over the place because I just.. wanted to get it out of the way?? I'm gonna write actual scenes after this and not just bombard you with bullet points but I wanted to have something to base things off of so uh...

I think the actual story part of this AU can go two different ways. You can have the story be fully about Shane and Ryan, subbing Gregory out for them instead, OR you can have Gregory be there too and have it be a joint effort between Shane, Ryan, Gregory, and Freddy. Ultimately, I think the first option is the better one because I think that having Gregory’s story and the guy’s story combined would diminish both of them in the long run (not that the Security Breach story is very good in the first place lol). However, I think Shane and Ryan trying to protect a kid is adorable and hilarious and I will write about that at some point. I know that removing Gregory kinda fucks with Freddy’s purpose but it’s not like he’s totally useless.

With that out of the way- Here is how I think Shane and Ryan would handle the actual story of Security Breach, culminating in them getting the Afton ending. Full warning, I have the vaguest memory of the actual game because of the sheer amount of headcanons I came up with so sorry for the inevitable inaccuracies. Also I’m totally gonna tweak stuff because the Security Breach plot is fucked lmao

Also, I do not understand the Vanessa/Vanny thing so I’m sticking with the theory that they’re the same person and Vanessa is just brainwashed by Afton or whatever who cares.

And we're splitting the night up into hours, here we go!

11pm-

The night that the game takes place they're supposed to be headed out but realize that something is very wrong and decide to stay

Well Ryan wants to investigate and Shane really wants to go home and not deal with it himself but he doesn't want Ryan to disappear too so he sticks around

Vanessa notices they're still in the building and tries to get them to leave before doors close for the night (so she can do whatever evil shit she does)

She acts super strange throughout the whole interaction but they say that they'll leave, they just forgot to grab something

When she leaves they have a moment of "We're definitely staying, right?" "After that? Obviously."

12am-

The doors lock and she sees that they're still there and that they're up to something so she sends the animatronics after them

Although they don't realize that until they try to talk to Chica and she immediately goes into murder mode and they have to run for their lives

They decide to try and get into Vanessa’s office to snoop around but she’s a higher ranking guard than them (on account of her being good at her job)- this is what sends them on the wild goose chase trying to get higher level security cards

They go to the daycare where Ryan apologizes profusely to Sun for not being able to play and Shane bites his tongue so as not to piss of the animatronic, considering that they’ve been trying to kill them

They do the whole daycare thing, freaking out and whisper yelling at each other the entire time

They get the card and then narrowly escape the Daycare with seemingly everyone chasing them

It ends up being a very close call and they both come very close to death and Shane gets really fed up

Like Ryan is obviously terrified but when he's focused on something he commits to it so he's insistent on getting to the bottom of everything

But Shane is fucking done. Like legitimately. He figures that it's not their business and he really doesn't wanna die over it.

Ryan tries to convince him saying shit about how they can't keep letting little kids die

Shane feels guilty but he can't do this and neither can Ryan. He tries to convince him to stay somewhere safe until morning but it pisses Ryan off

They get into a full blown argument (for plot purposes) and then separate but neither of them really feel good about it

1am-

This would probably be where Freddy shows up

Ryan's sneaking through Rockstar Row and Freddy catches him but he's confused as to 1. Why Ryan Is still at the pizza plex and 2. Why he's suddenly so scared of him

Poor guy has been chilling in his room, listening when Vanessa tells him to stay

Ryan explains everything and Freddy comes with him to try and help

Also: “Where’s Officer Shane? Is he okay?” “He’s a bitch.” “RYAN!”

Ryan goes through the whole loading dock with Chica by himself and kills it despite being scared- that’s not relevant but I need you to know that he’s kicking ass

2am-

Meanwhile, Shane gets jumpscared by map bot (oh great, of course that one’s functioning) and gets caught by Vanessa who takes him to lost and found and the entire way there he’s just really bitchy

“Fine by me! You think I wanna be out here with all these shitty animatronics? I am more than happy to spend the night in Lost and Found, thank you very much” and Vanessa is like “Great! Where’s Ryan though?” and he’s all pissed about the fight still so he’s just “Oh I don’t know. And you know what? I don’t care! That son of a bitch can get himself killed and see if I care! I won’t.” and Vanessa is just “Uh huh.” as Shane goes on about how much he supposedly doesn’t care

She leaves him stewing in lost and found then Vanny shows up and he realizes that he might die and now he’s angry at himself for abandoning Ryan and how he won’t be able to apologize but then Ryan shows up to help get him out

Shane jumps to apologizing and what not because that interaction was horrifying and Ryan tries to be all “good, you should feel sorry” but Shane sees right through him and just kinda gives him a look and he’s like “Yeah okay, I’m sorry too. I’m glad you’re not dead.”

So they make up and Shane figures that he's not gonna make it trying to hide and if he has to fight a bunch of animatronics he'd rather do it with Ryan than alone so Ryan fills him in on all the shit they need to do

They go find Freddy and get a backstage pass and end up doing that security room fight where they work together to keep the animatronics out and guide Freddy (we’re gonna say he has to break the grate off for them to get through)

Okay, misc shenanigans while they try to get Freddy to Parts and Service, Moon shows up and takes Freddy away and again- they almost die

3am-

THE ENDOSKELETON PART!!!!

They’re trying to get to parts and services and have to deal with this shit

“Wait! They’re like weeping angels..” “What the fuck is a weeping angel!!!!”

Just freaking out, whispering “fuck, shit, I hate this, go, go, go!” the entire time until they to Freddy

Ryan’s actually kinda teary eyed, Shane has never looked more pale in his life

Shane works on fixing Freddy and is actually pretty good at it (one time when he was working the night shift Roxy and Monty got into a fight and no mechanics were on the clock so he had to fix them)

Because they’re playing detective and are not actively trying to escape instead of trying to hunt down more passes and shit they are going to be trying to actively get the Afton ending (because I find that the most entertaining)

While Shane’s working on Freddy, Ryan digs through some of his research (“Have you been carrying that around this entire time?” “It seemed relevant!”) and comes to the conclusion that the Pizza Plex was built on top of an old Fazbear restaurant

“I call bullshit, wouldn’t we know about that?” “Why would you want people to know your establishment is built on an actual burial ground!?” “Who builds their establishment on the remains of the previous one!?”

Shane is a character in FNAF that thinks the lore is stupid lol

Ryan decides that’s their goal but that they need to upgrade Freddy for it

4am-

Fazer Blast- Nothing to note here. They get the blasters, they meet their objectives, they get a little carried away trying to blind each other but eventually move on

They take the steps to decommission Chica except they feel so horrible about it. Ryan keeps saying “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry” over and over again

They get lost for a while and get chased by Chica which makes things feel worse

They upgrade Freddy

5am-

They go to Roxy Raceway etc, etc, not really important

THE DJ MUSIC MAN SEQUENCE

A lot of frantic running and screaming

“I TOLD YOU HE'S THE WORST” “HE’S USUALLY NICER THAN THIS”

I don’t remember when you go back to the arcade and see him vibing but I imagine he just goes right back to patting Ryan on the head

Ryan’s like “See! He’s chill!” “Fuck you.”

Anyway, they take Roxy’s eyes and they feel so goddamn guilty because of her crying and what not

They evade her but it’s rough and honestly pretty horrifying and they feel awful for doing this to her

Then they upgrade Freddy

6am-

They take out Monty with a lot of terrified yelling and way too close calls

When Monty catches the ball bucket they just- “Oh shit!” “No, no, no, no, no-”

They upgrade Freddy

TIME FOR THE TRUE ENDING

Freddy starts acting weird, they’re extremely put off by the blob (Ryan starts pointing out animatronic bits in it as characters he recognizes from his research, Shane starts to feel like he should have paid more attention to that)

They find the Pizza Place and Ryan’s just like “I FUCKING TOLD YOU” “NOW IS NOT THE TIME”

They see William on the monitor and to be honest, I don’t think they’d come to the conclusion that it’s William, it’d be more of a “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT” moment

Freddy instructs them on what to do and they get to work trying to beat his ass, burning him and trying to keep the others at bay

They win and they run away

Ending-

Is it implied that the Pizza Plex collapses at the end of this ending? I can not tell and I’m mostly really confused. If it does, then I’m gonna say that Shane and Ryan barely escape with their lives and that Freddy most likely doesn’t survive and neither does the other animatronics. Vanessa/Vanny would likely escape, probably freed from Afton’s control if he’s actually killed, although I doubt he is.

If the Pizza Plex doesn’t collapse but the basement caves in then I think it’s likely that everyone except Chica, Roxy, and Monty would survive. Shane and Ryan would leave, Vanessa would likely run away, and I don’t think any of them would set foot in the pizza plex again.

Either way, Shane and Ryan are no longer employed at the pizza plex but they haven’t quite put the whole story to bed. What are they missing? Who was in the basement? What about those missing kids? What about Vanny and Vanessa? What the fuck just happened? So they decide to go around trying to unearth the history of the Fazbear Entertainment company and become the next people to try and put Afton down.

Although, he always comes back.

OKAY I promise to write something more interesting next time but if you read through all of this I love you- MORE COMING SOON

#buzzfeed unsolved #ryan bergara #shane madej #watcher entertainment #five nights at freddy's #security breach #glamrock freddy #glamrock chica #roxanne wolf #montgomery gator #mummifiedmumbles

30 notes · View notes

smellsfaintlyofvanilla · 3 years

Note

Hey~~ could you write Annie x reader? What I had in mind was towards the end of s1 when Annie was trying to climb up the wall, could she try and take reader with her because they always talked about being together? Kinda like when Ymir took Historia in s2, and I really love your writings 💕 thanks~

TAsdfhjksfadh you didn’t specify whether Annie made it over the wall with the reader or not so uh I just kinda picked one lol hope you don’t mind

Also, sorry this is a little late, I've been feeling just a little sick for the past couple of days.

Prove It

(Annie Leonhart x Reader)

AU: Canon

Warnings: Season 3 spoilers

Category: Mostly angst, little fluff

Summary: When Annie was outed as the Female Titan, she didn’t have a lot of options on where to go. And, as the fight between her and Eren progresses, it becomes clear her best option is to flee. Yet, there’s just one thing she can’t leave without. And it seems the feeling’s mutual.

Words: 3.1K

That wicked laughter.

It rung through the empty streets of Stohess, abandoned specifically for this military operation.

The goal? To lure out the suspected Female Titan, Annie Leonhart. Your girlfriend.

At first, you were violently against participating in the operation. You weren’t going to incriminate her, that would be incredibly faithless. Really, you wanted nothing more than for her to be vindicated, and to prove the the world the the “heartless” Annie Leonhart is a loyal soldier, not the traitorous snake they started to make of her.

It got in your head, most certainly. Within hours of the first discussion, ‘Annie Leonhart’ and ‘Female Titan’ had become synonymous with each other, and you hated every bit of it. You always defended her fiercely, because you could only hear so much distasteful talk towards her before you started to broil over with rage.

So, you agreed. You were going to lure Annie down in to the tunnel and prove once and for all that she wasn’t a monster. You could clear her of suspicion, and the two of you would go back to your ordinary lives with each other.

And oh, if only that was what happened.

But you watched in horror as Annie refused to go down the tunnel. She laughed, laughed, when you pleaded with her to follow you, that all she needed to do was come along with you to be unshackled from the scrutiny and doubt.

But her feet remained planted in her rigid stance of defense.

“Y/n...” She slurred out, laughter finally subsiding. “I’m glad I could be a good person to you.”

The slope of fear seemed to lose it’s steadiness, and the drop-off into the pit of empty horror occurred when she held up her hand to her mouth, preparing herself for the bloodshed to follow.

“You’ve won your bet. But this is where my bet begins...!”

The signal flare fired, and the countless soldiers waiting in ambush jumped from all angles. You watched, wide-eyed and frozen, as they restrained her and gagged her, like muzzling a dog. But, it was no use. Her ring, the silver ring she never let you touch, sprung up a spike out of it’s side, and a quick slide of her thumb across the tip opened up a bloody gash in her finger.

And then came the lightning.

Mikasa had thrown her arms around you and Armin, dragging you down into the tunnel to get out of harm’s way of the transformation.

You knew she had finished her transformation when the thundering stopped, and chunks of debris rolled to a stop at your feet, stirred dust slowly settling itself back onto the stone ground. For a moment, everything stilled, and only the ragged breaths of Armin and the sheathing of Mikasa’s blades were audible.

And then something moved.

You weren’t sure what it was, until around the corner, the light was consumed by a large shadow, growing closer and closer and absorbing more of the sunlight until it rounded the corner.

A fingertip. Then the finger. Then the hand. An arm—and it was traveling down the hallway, fingers frozen in a pose as if it were trying to grab onto something, something it couldn’t see.

“Shit!” You let out a terrified yelp and took off running, Mikasa hot on your tail and Armin stumbling closely behind.

It sought after the three of you, until a distant thump could be heard. You whipped your head around and stopped running, noticing the hand—ever present, it’s finger stretched desperately in an attempt at grabbing something, but it was no use. You caught a glance of it’s upper arm, flush against the wall of the curve.

She couldn’t reach any farther.

You let out of a sigh of relief, falling to your knees and gazing at it. It’s shaking fingers stopped, finally, and went limp into it’s palm in defeat, before slowly pulling itself out. You had no clue whether it was trying to grab you, or Armin, or Mikasa, or if it was planning on killing you or not. Bottom line, it was unsuccessful.

But then more thunder.

It seems Eren finally got his cue, because the signature yellow hues of transformation shone even into the dark abyss of the wrecked tunnel.

The three of you took a deep breath and shared a collective glance. Before long, the unsaid instructions were followed, and the three of you scurried out of the tunnel to witness the action.

And action it was—the first sight you were greeted with upon exiting was that of Annie delivering a decisive punch to Eren’s jaw, sending him flying backwards into the streets of Stohess.

Eren returned to his feet as fast as he could, and let out a menacing roar as he charged at Annie, arms low like a football player preparing to pounce on something.

He charged, but her feet remained planted, arms bracing for impact.

You watched as the two of them brawled furiously. You didn’t even notice that Mikasa and Armin had left your side—you hadn’t moved. You couldn’t find it in your heart to fight Annie, but neither were you going to fight Eren. No, all you could do was watch, helpless.

The battle continued fiercely, absolutely wrecking the city in the process. Building were destroyed and crumpled, streets of stone completely upended as one or the other got helplessly tossed around.

It came to a head as the fight eventually progressed to a wide, open space of stone, and the two of them were fighting hand to hand, both of them looking worse for wear. You shot your ODM gear into the roof of a nearby building, watching the fight with a slacked jaw. You had no clue how Eren was even standing a chance to Annie, since you yourself had seen how skilled she was in martial arts.

Soon, though, a decisive kick to Annie shin sent debris and rocks flying everywhere. Annie lost her footing, tumbling to the ground with a thump.

And you had been so fixated on Annie in that moment that you failed to notice the debris, and it was headed right towards your face.

Something—rigid and powerful—collided with your head, and you fell to the ground instantly.

Your vision was already fading, and you watched as tiny streams of crimson flowed over the shingles and down the roof—no doubt stemming from the newly opened gash on your scalp.

The distant clinking of the rock as it tumbled down the slope of the roof was the last thing you heard, and the world around you faded to black.

---

Through the darkness, a memory flashed through your mind.

---

It was dark out, of course it was. Shadis would never let you have leisure time at all when the sun was up.

You leaned against an lone oak tree, fingers brushing through the soft grass idly. The air was cold and crisp, and a soft breeze flowed through the air, just barely enough to rustle your soft hair.

Annie sat silently next to you, shoulder brushing up against yours. Slowly, she slinked her hand over yours, hesitantly grasping at your hand. You entwined your fingers with hers, and she looked away shyly.

She often had bouts of insomnia, lying awake at night for hours, unable to get her body to relax. And, the first night she tugged at your nightshirt, waking you up to go outside with her, she fell asleep in your arms due to exhaustion almost immediately.

So, it had become an unspoken ritual from that day on. She couldn’t sleep, she’d wake you up, the two of you would go outside, and talk or busy yourselves until sleep inevitably caught up to her.

But today was different. For whatever reason, something had been keeping her up for a lot longer than usual. You knew something was weighing down on her heavily, but you weren’t going to pry it out of her.

Deciding to break the tense silence, you squeezed her hand gently, getting her attention before you spoke.

“It’s nice out, isn’t it?” You observed. You weren’t talking about the weather per-say, but the thousands of white speckled stars that dotted the sky, and the bright, full moon that illuminated the grass and dirt beneath you.

“It’s cold.” She said bluntly.

You chuckled softly, her bleak attitude was so characteristic of her.

“I guess that’s true.”

More silence.

And then she sighed, bringing your hand into her lap to cusp it in both of her palms, clinging onto it as if it were grounding her.

“What do you plan on doing later in life, Y/n?” She huffed, leaning her head backwards against the back of the tree and gazing up at the sky. “You don’t possibly plan on staying in the military your whole life, do you?”

“No, of course not.” You sighed.

“Then do you have plans afterwards?”

You paused for a minute. She raised a good point, you didn’t really think of anything after the military. Deep down, perhaps you understood that by joining the Cadet Corps you didn’t have much ahead of you. You can only survive so many brushes with death before it’s your turn to go.

“I guess not...” You hesitated, deep in thought. You swallowed a lump in your throat before changing the subject. “Why, do you?”

Even through the darkness, you could feel the shrug of her shoulders against you.

“Not really.” She muttered. “Just... stay with the MPs, make a living wage, retire somewhere in the interior, and... relax. I just wanna... find somewhere to relax.”

She paused for a second. Clearly there’s something tugging at her mind, something she wants to say. So, you sit back and wait for her to find the confidence.

“Do you promise me that... sometime, after a while in the Scouts, that you’ll come back to be with me?”

The future between the two of you was always painted with uncertainty—whether the two of you could ever truly stay together. It would be difficult, between soldiers, to be able to settle down and stay together no matter what, especially from different regiments. But you could always try.

She exhaled shakily, struggling to get the words out of her throat.

“I just can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you. ‘Cause... if anything ever happened to you in the Scouts...” Her voice trailed off near the end, and you assumed she was trying to plan out her next words carefully, until you heard a small sniffle pass her lips.

Surprised, you turned to face her. She was trying to fight off the tears at the corners of her eyes, lip trembling as she struggled not to cry. It wasn’t until now that you realized just how tightly she gripped your hand.

“Annie- Annie it’s alright.” You stumbled, trying to comfort her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was upsetting her—she was scared of living a life without you.

You hooked an arm around her lower back, pulling her closer to you and putting your other hand on the back of her head and guiding her to your shoulder.

“I promise you, no matter what, I’ll live. And one day, we can spend all our time together. I’ll go wherever you go, I swear.” You ran your hand through her hair, undoing the bun she kept it in and evening it out over her shoulders.

“You promise?” Her voice sounded shaky and weak, a vulnerability to it that she rarely showed. “No matter what happens to me, you’ll trust me and stay with me?”

“I promise. Of course I do.”

---

Warmth.

It was the first thing you noticed upon waking up. The second was darkness. You sat up, noticing how wet the surface beneath you was. And how how fleshy.

Your face paled in realization. You were in a titan's mouth.

You raised your arm up, cringing at the trail of saliva that connected you to her tongue.

Immediately, you searched for a way to get out. You didn't plan on leaving her behind, but you'd rather not be stuck in a place as slimy and dark as this either. However, your efforts were pointless, since her jaw was clamped shut, her teeth caging you in and preventing you from escaping. Your heart dropped a little, wondering if she didn't trust you not to run away.

Suddenly, you felt a large thump, the unexpected movement causing you to grab desperately at anything that would keep you grounded in one spot.

But then, another thump. And another, and another. It felt like running, almost, but far too slow. You pondered it for a moment, before you realized what was going on.

She was trying to climb the wall.

But then, the thumping stopped. She wasn't falling, thank god, but all movement has seized.

Hesitantly, her jaw started to open, giving ample space for you to squeeze through. A sudden thought came to you—she needed your help.

With no hesitation, you drew your blades and burst through the skin of her cheek, not even waiting for her to part for lips. Adrenaline pumping through your veins, you immediately search for the source of the problem. And you found it in the brute of a soldier, Mikasa Ackerman.

The girl was perched on Annie's nose, staring down at her. A quick glance to your side and you realized, with horror written all over your face, that Mikasa had cut off almost all of Annie's fingers—one more and Annie would easily lose her grip.

You understood, as soon as Mikasa drew her blades towards Annie's hand, you only had one option.

You shot your ODM gear towards her, not even caring when the hook dug into Mikasa's shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain as she turned to you.

She wasn't even given a moment to process as you came hurtling towards her, colliding with her shoulder and sending both of you flying through the air and towards the ground—fast.

Despite the small voice telling you that it would be easier to just ditch Mikasa, to release your ODM gear and let her fall, you shot the other hook into the wall, and your momentum halted to a stop.

She peeled her arms away from their protective guard around her head, processing that the two of you had stopped before looking up to you in surprise. You looked back down at her, an expression of sorrow in your eyes. It hurt you to betray her, and all of your comrades, like this, but you knew as soon as Annie placed her trust in you by opening her mouth that you only had one choice.

"Y/n what are y—!"

"I'm sorry Mikasa!" You yelled, trying to put aside your emotions for the time being. "I can't... I can't leave her, I promised I wouldn't!"

You took a deep breath, positioning on your finger on the trigger, preparing to release Mikasa from your ODM gear's bloody grip in her shoulder. "I'm sorry..." You muttered, before pulling the trigger, watching Mikasa tumbled towards the ground, her betrayed expression still glued helplessly on her face.

You decided that it would only hurt you to look at Mikasa—engraining that image into your head would certainly plague you later on.

You finally turned to look back at Annie, and your heart picked up a couple paces at the sight.

Her head was turned to you, watching—waiting—for you, her hand outstretched in your direction. You smiled, firing your ODM and flying into the palm of her hand, quickly climbing up onto her shoulder to allow her to finish her ascent up the wall.

You turned back one last time, looking over at the destroyed city, and the furious and betrayed faces of your comrades. You sighed, turning back around. That's in the past now, you thought. It doesn't matter. I... made a promise to Annie, I can't betray her. I can't...

---

The line of trees in the distance grew closer and closer as Annie jogged forwards, having made it over the wall and all the way to the forest inside Wall Maria.

She slowed down to a walking pace as she neared the trees, kneeling on the ground before releasing herself from the nape of her titan. Steam flowed from her body as she immediately collapsed forwards, and you instantly lurched forwards to catch her exhausted body in your arms.

"Grab on." You instructed, waiting for her to securely wrap herself around you before you flew through the air and onto a tree branch, making sure you were safely out of the reach of any mindless titans before you let go of her.

She took a deep breath, leaning against the wooden trunk of the tree to recollect her strength. After all, even as a titan, the fight had done numbers to her body.

You sat there in comfortable silence for a little bit, waiting for her to catch her breath while you idly readjusted the straps to your ODM gear.

Finally, she reached over to take your hand, grabbing it in both of hers just like she had during your conversation with her years ago.

"I'm so glad..." She sighed, voice weak and wavering. "I was so scared when I opened my mouth that you would just... run off without me."

Slowly, she shifted, wrapping her arms around your neck and leaning her entire body weight on you. You could feel some of the tension leaving her body as she sighed against you, burying her nose in the crook of your neck.

"I was terrified that if you found out my real identity, you would just leave me. I don't know how I would've handled it. I was just..." She took a shaky inhale as she continued, and you felt a few wet tears against your neck. "Scared. So... So scared..."

You set a comforting hand on her back, hugging her tighter in an attempt to sooth her.

"Annie..." You cooed in her ear. "I promised you, remember? I would never leave your side. I'm gonna stay with you for the rest of my life."

Her breathing started to calm against you, your words managing to ease her worries.

"Yeah," She sighed, pulling away from you. "I shouldn't have doubted you, sweetie."

You smiled and placed your hands on her shoulders, bringing her in for a quick kiss before wiping her tears with the back of your hand.

"It's fine. Just remember," You leaned in and hugged her, exuding a warm feeling that made Annie's heart swell with love. "I'll always be on your side, no matter what."

"God, I love you so much, you dork." She muttered, heat rising to her cheeks with a content smile.

You chuckled, "I love you, too."

MAN THIS IS ASS

This is what happens when you force yourself to write with a headache whoops haha

#aot #snk #attack on titan #attack on titan x reader #shingeki no kyojin #shingeki no kyojin x reader #annie leonhart #annie x reader #annie leonhart x reader

245 notes · View notes

luci-in-trenchcoats · 3 years

Text

15x20

Spoilers for Season 15x20 finale

Summary: This is a semi-rewrite of episode 15x20...

Pairing: Dean x reader (reader is treated more like an OC than a typical reader)

Word Count: 2,000ish

Warnings: language, major 15x20 spoilers

A/N: I wrote this for myself honestly. I know it is idealistic and was never going to happen. Again, I’m sharing simply if you’re interested but please feel free to ignore. This picks up from a very obvious point in the episode...

______

Dean POV

“Fuck,” said Dean, his hand over his chest. Something big was stabbing into his back. This felt wrong though. A dull, achy pain trickled up and down his spine and across his chest. His heart was racing up and slowing down when it wanted and Dean shut his eyes as he recognized the feeling in his bones.

He was dying. The kind of dying a doctor can’t fix.

“Jack!” shouted Sam, Dean peeling open his eyes as he realized Sam was besides him, hand covered in blood. A few seconds later Jack appeared in front of them eating a bar of nougat. “Jack fix him. Please.”

“He said he was hands off,” said Dean with a wince, his whole body shaking. Jack cocked his head and walked over, touching Dean’s forehead. The next thing he knew, Dean was sat on the ground and taking a deep breath, the pain gone as he looked up. “You said you were hands off.”

“You’re my dads. Why wouldn’t I help you?” he asked, a confused look on his face. Dean chuckled and nodded, still holding onto his chest. “You seem upset. I’ll pop you guys home.”

“Kid there’s-”

“Those boys are okay,” said Jack, snapping his fingers. Dean was suddenly sat on the steps up into the library, Jack mentioning something about taking some nougat from the pantry before he headed out.

“You alright?” asked Sam. Dean shook his head and he took a seat. Dean rubbed the heel of his palm against his chest and shuddered. “Jack got there in time.”

“If he hadn’t-”

“Dean-”

“If he hadn’t...because it was bad, Sammy. If he hadn’t...I’m so proud of you and I love you, so fucking much. I couldn’t have asked for a better baby brother, a better best friend. You just gotta tell me something. When the time comes, you’ll be okay without me. Tell me Sam. Please.”

“I’ll be okay,” said Sam quietly. Dean nodded and moved his hand to his lap, Sam scooting closer. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What?”

“Let’s get a house. We can get a big yard for Miracle. Run an operation like Bobby did, do the occasional case. Let’s go live more,” said Sam. Dean paused but rubbed his chest again and smiled.

“Dibs on the master bedroom,” said Dean. Sam chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. This place is home but I wouldn’t mind an upgrade.”

Two Months Later

“Miracle!” called Dean when he ignored the ball Dean had just thrown across the yard and ran around the corner of the house. “Miracle!”

“I think your daddy’s looking for you,” Dean heard a voice giggle. He walked around the house and saw a woman knelt down and ruffling the dog. “You’re so cute. You’re so cute.”

“Yes, I am,” smirked Dean as the woman popped her head up. “So, how can I help you and why are you parked in my driveway?”

“I’m Y/N. Y/N-”

“I heard of you. Hunter out of Alaska right?” he asked as she nodded. “You work a lot of Canada cases.”

“I did,” she said with a shrug. “I was thinking of retiring down south. Wondering if you got any tips on how to adjust.”

“A dog helps,” he said and she smiled, Dean looking her up and down. “You do realize this is Austin, Texas right?”

“This is south to me,” she said. “I know Donna through a friend of a friend. She said it’d be cool if I came and talked to you?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” said Dean, Miracle running over to the ball and rushing back with it. He nudged Dean’s hand and Y/N smiled. “You mind chatting while we do some fetch?”

“Not at all, Winchester.”

“Kinda funny how Eileen and Y/N know each other,” said Sam, Dean looking out the back window to where the girls and Miracle were sat on the back deck after dinner drinking a beer. Dean hummed and dried a plate, Sam nudging his arm. “You like her, don’t you.”

“You like her.”

“Dean.”

“Yeah, I like her. What’s the big deal?”

“Oh, I don’t know. A gorgeous, former hunter with your kind of humor, love for pie, muscle cars and classic rock that’s single just happens to have stuck around long after she got done talking to you.”

“I invited her to dinner.”

“She understands the life Dean. All the shit we carry. You’ve never tried with a hunter. Give her a chance.”

“Tried what?” said Dean, putting the plate in the cupboard.

“You can have a relationship Dean. I’m pretty sure she likes you too,” said Sam.

“Hello, Dean,” said Castiel, both guys jumping as they spun around. They stared at the angel as Cas looked around. “I enjoy your home. The air is fragrant.”

“It’s a candle,” said Sam, pointing to the flickering light on the countertop. He blew it out and Dean walked around the island, shaking his head.

“Where the fuck have you been?” said Dean, giving Cas a hug. Sam joined them and Castiel shrugged.

“Rebuilding heaven is labor intensive process,” said Cas before turning to Dean. “I felt you would be coming there soon a few months ago.”

“Why didn’t you pop down when you knew he was dying?” asked Sam.

“You are humans,” said Cas with a pout. “You will die someday. It’s an inevitable fact. Time is very strange in heaven in its relation to earth. I assumed you were an old man.”

“No, not old,” said Dean.

“Would you two like for me to prevent your deaths until a certain age?” asked Cas.

“No,” they both said, Dean smiling.

“But if we ask for help, you will help?” asked Dean.

“Always,” said Castiel. He tilted his head and looked out the back window. “Who is the woman with Eileen?”

“Y/N. Hunter from the Yukon area. Dean has a crush,” said Sam. He smirked when Dean whacked his arm, Cas still cocking his head. “You know her?”

“She’s quite drawn to Dean. Metaphysically speaking.”

“Yes cause whatever you just said was very clear. Like I’m five Cas,” said Dean. Cas sighed and pursed his lips.

“Jack has given me some extra power to help assist him better. I can see more of a person now,” said Cas. “Their energy, soul, things of that nature.”

“Okay...so what does that mean?” asked Dean.

“Oh your souls are quite intertwined. She’s your soulmate,” said Cas.

“Really?” said Dean, allowing a brief smile to cross his face.

“She also has a growing inoperable mass in her head that will kill her in the next few years. She suffers from headaches quite frequently,” said Cas. Dean sat down at the counter and stared out the back door, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Why can’t I be happy?” he breathed out. “For a fucking minute I can’t even be happy before the rug gets pulled out.”

“...Did you not want me to heal her?” asked Cas. Dean rolled his eyes and Cas’ glowed blue for a moment. “She’s fine now. You seem...emotional.”

“Well I am Cas,” said Dean.

“You’ve been off since that hunt and the barn,” said Sam.

“Sam I shouldn’t be alive,” said Dean. “I got lucky.”

“You have sacrificed your entire life for others, Dean,” said Cas, Sam taking a seat next to Dean. “You should take advantage of your powerful friends. Let others care for you now. I will speak to Jack about the remaining monsters and their relocation to somewhere better suited for them, perhaps a new world.”

“Everything alright?” asked Y/N, slipping in through the back door with an empty beer bottle.

“Yeah, we’re all good,” said Sam.

“Liar,” she said, smiling at Dean. “I’ll be right back.”

She excused herself to the bathroom, Sam and Cas going outside. Dean got another set of beers out just in time for Y/N to return.

“Can I ask you a question?” she said.

“Shoot,” said Dean, handing her the drink.

“Your friend, the angel, did he just heal me? I’ve had constant headaches for awhile now. Brain tumor. I feel different. You guys wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that would you?”

“You deserve to enjoy your retirement,” he said. “A very long retirement. You’re fine now.”

“I won’t be mad about that,” she said, leaning against the counter by him. She took a long sip and smiled. “I like you, Dean.”

“I like you,” he said.

“I’m gonna stick around town for a bit, see if things work out,” she said. He nodded and smiled, watching her smirk. “So there’s really no more monsters?”

“Uh, what?”

“I overheard Castiel when I walked in. Guess we’re really out of jobs now,” you said.

“I got an offer for a construction manager,” he said.

“You gonna take it?” she asked.

“I think so. What do you think?” he asked.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “Gotta keep busy somehow.”

“What’s your retirement look like?” he asked. She shrugged and smiled. “Now that death isn’t imminent.”

“Maybe I’ll find a guy, try the domestic thing,” she said, a soft smile staying on her lips. “Know anyone who might be interested?”

“I’m sure I can think of someone, sweetheart.”

One Year Later

“So what do you think?” asked Sam as he spun around in his suit in the family room.

“What do we think junior?” asked Dean, the baby on his lap clapping his hands. “He says dad’s gonna score tonight.”

“I fear for you teaching my son things when he’s a teenager,” chuckled Sam.

“That’s what Uncles are for,” said Dean as Y/N got up from the couch and started fixing Sam’s tie.

“And what Aunt’s are for to rein them in,” she said, smoothing it out.

“Thank you,” said Sam. “Hey, when you two gonna have a kid?”

“Who says we aren’t?” smirked Dean. Sam went wide eyed and she rolled hers.

“We’re trying just recently. You will literally be the first to know once we do,” she said. She winked and Sam narrowed his eyes, looking back and forth between them then down to her stomach.

“You’re so pregnant.”

“Ugh, we were gonna surprise you guys. Let us surprise, Eileen at least,” she said.

“You guys are pregnant!” said Eileen from over the balcony upstairs. Y/N laughed and headed up, Sam taking a seat next to Dean and plucking his son into his arms.

“You’re gonna be a real good dad. You got a lot of practice,” said Sam. Dean shrugged and Sam gave him a side hug. “I’m really happy he gets to know his Uncle, Dean. You’re gonna do great.”

“I’m really happy I get to be here too,” said Dean. He sat back and shut his eyes. “I owe you one.”

“For what?”

“The barn. I thought Jack wouldn’t come. I didn’t even bother. I thought that was gonna be it,” said Dean. “I didn’t want to go yet.”

“You don’t owe me for that,” said Sam, handing the baby back when he heard feet on the stairs. “Be good for Uncle Dean, baby boy.”

“Go have fun on your date, Sammy,” said Dean.

“You have fun on your stay at home date,” chuckled Sam. “See ya later, De.”

“Later, Sammy.”

_________

#spn #spn spoilers #dontspoilthefinalhunt #spn season 15 spoilers #supernatural #dean x reader #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural dean winchester #supernatural sam winchester #one shot

378 notes · View notes

ask-whitepearl-and-steven · 4 years

Text

Alright alright alright

You’ve all been asking for it, so here it is!

This will be (edit: HELLA) long and obviously spoiler-y, so everything is under a cut.

Are you ready?

Before we get to it, I want to mention that for the sake of keeping things organized, I will NOT be talking about my AU (@ask-whitepearl-and-steven) in this post. I want to just analyze the show as a viewer and a fan first. I’ll make a seperate post for AU-thoughts a bit later.

Without further ado:

EP 1: LITTLE HOMESCHOOL

This is a great way to open up the episode and show the changes through the lens of someone who has been a bit out of it for a while (we are all Cherry Quartz, fresh from the hiatus, aren’t we?) but I’m sorry, this post still takes the cake:

Okay, okay, back to the program.

“That used to be a loaded question...“

Right off the bat, Steven is SO much more confident about saying that he’s... HIMSELF! What a good feeling. I’m very proud of our boy.

I love the name “Gemglyph” for the gem language! I’ll need to know who wrote these, though. And who the heck drew the diamonds? Hopefully it was BP.

And I’m not the first one to point this out, but MORE ANIME REFERENCES!

Which can be seen as either a reference to the Chill Low-Fi Hiphop Beats to Study To OR Whisper of the Heart.

And absolutely no one cares but something that caught my eye is the fact that they have an EARTH FLAG at Little Homeschool! How cool is that!

Earth 4ever!!!

Off-note - I love how INVESTED they are in this conversation Pearl is having with Holo-Pearl.

Peak entertainment.

I love Professor Amethyst and I love the random human who snuck in to apparently take lessons on Not Giving A Single Shit About Anything, Ever.

And here we FINALLY are in the FUTURE

Where we FINALLY get Jasper as a functioning character

And

She’s

SO DRAMATIC, I LOVE HER.

This is literally SO funny like she... she was just... laying on top of her house... under a blanket..... FOr WHAT? To stand up dramatically and throw it off when Steven inevitably paid a visit?

Is that just what she dOES?

“It’s FINE I don’t need any HELP, I’m FUNCTIONING, I’m just having a SELF CARE DAY OK”

Also I’m sorry but

Jasper: “It took forever to yank those puny green earthlings out of the ground.”

Steven: “You mean grass...?“

THIS. RIGHT HERE. is peak Jasper.

It’s also curious how INVESTED Steven is in this:

“I’m TRYING to give you [a purpose]!“

Why are you... trying to do that, though? Isn’t the whole idea for gems to surpass their ‘purpose’ and just kinda... do whatever? Isn’t Jasper just kinda... doing whatever?

I mean, sure, it’s not useful to anyone, but she seems relatively happy. Aside from. You know. The whole laying on rocks under blankets until she’s disturbed thing and-- okay, you’re right, maybe an intervention would be healthy.

I’m not gonna talk at length about the rest of the episode - although I think it’s really good, I don’t know what I can say about it that hasn’t already been said. Jasper is definitely poking Steven’s buttons and rephrasing a LOT of what WHITE has said to Pink: “You surround yourself with inferior gems because it makes you feel better.”

And Steven REACTS to this. The taunt WORKS.

And yes, he gains some extra powers for it, but something tells me this AIN’T the only thing he will get. It feels like a two-edged sword. Like it’ll be his own downfall somehow....... maybe at the end of the series.

Ashes to ashes.... hole to hole.

And oh wow I thought they were gonna bond but LMAO

“Consider your fight back there your first and ONLY lesson.“

Basically:

I love you Jasper.

EP 2: GUIDANCE

I LOVE YOU AMETHYST.

sHE’S doing SO much and she’s SO good at it!! Look at her!! Organizing stuff!!!!

RUBIES IN SUNGLASSES. IN SQUARE SUNGLASSES.

I need 20.

And I also need 20 of Larimar because holy shit that’s hilarious.

Larimar: “I want to hear the human screams forever.”

Steven: “Okay that’s kinda troubling.”

I love the reference to Monsters Inc here and I love the callback at the end of the episode when Larimar switches to Human Laughter to get her fill of that particular erm... need.

And honestly the ensuing chaos is equally predictable and entertaining.

I’m SO glad to know that Rubies are just... Like That and that actually Navy is not a deviation from the norm but rather a different flavor of the chaotic energy all Rubies naturally seem to possess.

Amethyst is also super relatable:

“Ah yes, the fool comes crawling back. Come to beg for forgiveness, have you?”

In fact, the episode’s WHOLe HUMOUR is just very much My Brand

“Sometimes you save all the people but the rollercoaster still crashes into the ocean...... and that’s okay.”

Including the Running Gag that is Onion. Who... does not appear to have aged. At all. And that’s okay.

EP 3: ROSE BUDS

Okay where do I even begin with this one. Um.

I have to openly admit that I spent the majority of this episode wheezing with laughter. Let’s start with the Zoomans:

Who are CLEARLY STILL SUPER SALTY AT GREG ABOUT REJECTING THEM??? Which is hilarious.

And also this paradise is fascinating in and of itself.

But the next scene is basically where I started losing my shit.

Okay, okay, alright so. Uh. I have... a few questions.

Like Why. WHY. Does she look. SO MUCH like Rose?

Clearly Rose Quartz differ in coloring and etc. But She literally looks. Like THE Rose. VERY explicitly.

So here’s several options here:

1) Pink made Rose Quartz way before any of the Rebellion happened and Pearl just basically pigeonholed her into THIS specific Rose Quartz appearance because she (???) had a crush? Or somehow saw this specific Rose, thought ‘hot, i can make my sympathetic Diamond wear this exact costume and that would be EXCELLENT fanservice for ME’

2) Pink didn’t have any Rose Quartz until the Rebellion, and thereafter quickly decided ‘I need these gems as an alibi, so we’re just gonna make them” and she and Pearl basically inclubated Rose Quartz like a pokemon trainer hatching for a Shiny until they got one that looked Exactly Like That.

3) There was no Thinking involved because this is Pink we’re talking about, and it was all just a huge coincidence for the sake of this Very Hilariously Uncomfortable Episode.

While we ruminate on that, let’s look at some Relatable Reactions.

And here we have the holy trinity of “I have just seen the clone of my deceased parent/parental figure/lover.”

Featuring: Bonus ‘I’m Almost Over It’ Pearl

Also, I need y’all to make this into a meme:

For example:

Anyway, alright, alright.

That relatable feel when your (hot) dead lesbian lover’s clone asks you if you’re okay after another one of the (less hot?) clones offers you a whole ass stick of butter to eat.

And then you and your friends all hide in the bathroom to talk about your feelings:

Okay, the rest of the episode gives me FEELINGS and I love how hard Steven is trying, so I’ll just close it off with:

I LOVE THEM. Unironically, they are EVERYTHING I had hoped Rose Quartz would be. They’re SO MUCH like Rose herself - did she model her personality after them? Or are they just like her because she WAS like that, and they’re made from her essence? WHO KNOWS?! They’re adorable!

And the conflict between them and Steven is honestly so gooD! I don’t know if it’s completely relatable but I’m glad they ended up talking it out.

I wonder if we’ll ever see Her again... you know who I’m talkin’ about.

Her....

I’m madly in love with Rose, ok, I don’t need a callout post. Just leave me be.

EP 4: VOLLEYBALL

Alright, alright, alright.

OKAy,.... It’s fine. It’s FINE. I’m fINE.

Confirmed: 8000 years. That’s. UH. A LOT? That puts our timelines quite a ways back. We kind of estimated as much, but still, it’s so jarring to think about. And PP is VERY casual about it.

She’s also VERY casual about the injury.

“This is all Pink Diamond!”

It doesn’t seem like it bothers her to talk about it at all. She’s not even trying to keep it a secret. So I’m almost wondering - was there a connection to her being taken by White and the injury at all or not?

She came to Steven to get healed - she clearly wants it gone. At the time she was injured, did Pink not even attempt to heal the injury?

Follow up question: If she DID care, why didn’t she try to heal it?

Follow up to the follow up: Was it because she didn’t know she could? Or did she simply not have the time to (White removed her before she could)?

When Steven goes pink, she gasps - but makes no further comment. It’s presumably because she’s seen this happen before. She doesn’t try to move away, weirdly enough - she asks him if everything is alright. Perhaps the context is too different for it to be triggering for her. Perhaps there’s more layers to it? HMMM.

What follows is, perhaps, the SALTIEST we’ve seen Pearl since Greg rolled around.

“Did you come to compete?”

This is doubly curious to me because Crewniverse has previously explicitly stated that Pearl was NOT in love with Pink Diamond. She was in love with Rose. So if this is true, why would Pearl care about her place as Pink’s Pearl? She is supposed to be past all that, isn’t she?

And yet as time goes on, the salinity grows exponentially. Alright, you two, I know you’re Pearls but tone it down with the sass.

(Also, I’m sorry but I will NEVER call her Volleyball. That’s all. Bye.)

Also it’s worth noting that... PP is clearly VERY much in love with Pink.

This is, perhaps, where the lack of a grudge plays into it. She’s completely enamoured.

Moreover, she’s VERY casual about how she talks here. This isn’t exactly how one talks of their Diamond. This is how people talk about their romantic partners. She calls Pink silly, calls her ‘funny’. That’s not exactly a term of respect - it’s way more intimate than that.

Also, did anyone else notice how, although CG Pearl’s gem is usually shaded in teal, it’s in Pink in this episode? VEEEERY subtle, Crew.

Also, we can’t quite see Pink Pearl’s expression fully here because her working eye isn’t visible, which makes it hard to get a read on things like

“I’m older than you.“ Is she just saying it casually? Or is she fully aware that she’s poking fun at CG Pearl?

HI SHELL. ISN’T IT FUNNY HOW YOUR VOICE AND YOUR NAME ARE A SUBTLE NOD TO PORTAL, WHICH IS FORESHADOWING HOW BADLY THIS IS GONNA END.

Meanwhile, Pearl continues to be in character.

“No need to be overly... attached.”

And this has nothing to do with anything but

she cute

Aaaand now it’s creepy again.

The rest of this is super important so let’s get to it:

“Oh, no. Pink did this.”

“What did you say?”

“It’s a funny story, really. Once, Pink got tired of asking Yellow and Blue for her own colony, so she went straight to White. Of course, White told her she wasn’t fit to run one... and well! That set her off.”

“Set her off? What are you talking about?”

“You remember how she was! With her destructive powers, throwing tantrums left and right! She had a scream that could crack the walls. She didn’t mean to hurt me! (giggle) I just happened to be standing too close to her that time and--”

And then Steven interrupts.

We get more CG Pearl arguing for how wrong this image of Pink is to her. What CG Pearl knew was a totally different (or, well, same, but VERY changed) Pink.

But what we have to prove our point is Steven himself. He rolls into the EXACT same state as Pink presumably did - and begins to over-use his powers.

(This isn’t the first time we have seen him use this attack.)

The reactions from the Pearls are telling - this is clearly not Pink Pearl’s first rodeo with this type of Mood.

And it’s important to note that Steven clearly didn’t direct any attack AT them. He simply yelled - and the whole dang place literally started to crack. There’s weight to the argument that possibly, Pink really DIDN’T mean to hurt her Pearl - that she was just collateral damage.

Which doesn’t make it any better, obviously. Even if Pink had no direct intention of hurting her Pearl (and there are theories that Pink purposefully hit or threw Pink Pearl or somehow physically acted directly to damage her, which I was skeptical of) the result of it is still the same.

If you raise your voice and yell, even if you’re just yelling because YOU are hurt/have feelings, you might still hurt the people around you. If you throw a tantrum, even if your direct goal was just to let off some steam without aiming to harm anyone, whoever gets in your way is still the victim.

And this is all very much On Brand for Pink’s timeline as we know it. We already knew this about her - we KNEW she tended to throw tantrums (like in the flashback on Jungle Moon) and that she was childish. The fact that she accidentally hurt her Pearl in the process because she had no self-control at that period in her life comes as no surprise.

(Although it’s important to mention that perhaps hurting her own Pearl WAS the breaking point during which she finally realized how her emotional outbursts could have negative consequences on those around her.)

And this is a very beautiful message - even if Pink Pearl still doesn’t want to blame Pink for what was done to her (”But... she didn’t mean to!”) Pearl brings the point of it back around to her (”But you were still hurt!”) The point isn’t the person who did the hurting - the focus is on the victim and how they were affected.

And the rest, I daresay, is history.

I like the fact that they managed to still bring it back around to the main message:

It isn’t about just “Pink was bad”. It’s about how she did bad things. And there were multiple sides to her - multiple stages. And the Pearls who knew her knew different sides of her - the side that didn’t know how to be a good person, who was selfish and childish and unrestrained... and the side that was, arguable, too restrained. Who hated her own past, her own character and her own mistakes so much that she would rather bury them and keep secrets from everyone.

And neither of those things were good, and neither were healthy, but they are a GREAT contrast to a GREAT character arc that is, arguably, still being unearthed. And we have so much more context for it all now.

I, for one, can’t wait to see and discover more of Pink through Pink Pearl - no matter how ugly that side of her might be. I think it gives great perspective to her later growth.

And if you ship the Pearls.. .well, I get why.

Personally I’m not interested in it that way. Call me unromantic - I don’t think their relationship NEEDS to be shippy in order to be satisfyingly deep. I love the idea of them having a deep bond over this - a shared past, a shared experience, and gaining confidence through one another.

Cheers and thanks for listening!

#steven universe future #steven universe: future #steven universe future spoilers #su:f spoilers #suf spoilers #su spoilers #steven universe spoilers #spoiler warning #pink pearl #volleyball

4K notes · View notes