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mollysunder · 9 months

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Another Clue in Viktor's Tarot Card?

I think I figured something out. In an older post I talked about how Arcane used tarot symbology to possibly hint at future developments for season 2. It was specifically how Viktor and Jinx fit into the role of the Magician and Death tarots respectively and how it works for Sevika. There was one thing that was bugging the hell out of me when i finished it. What was the symbol within the Machine Herald's grasp?

At first I thought it was the mathematical symbol for fish (∝), without the curves, like how Ekko' infinity symbol are sharp triangles instead of round loops. I thought it could mean Viktor needed to recognize the balance and proprtions necessary to unlock the Arcane and be an indirect reference to how similar but different Ekko and Viktor are. But I think the answer might be simpler.

It's an 'X', sideways. Obviously, the 'X' could refer to the x-factor the Magician needs to unlock the Hexcore's power. And that's the fun trick of it because there's only been one person I know in League that's been explicitly associated with this kind of 'X', it's Jinx.

When Jinx's character debuted in League of Legends, instead of releasing a bio first, they had her 'vandalize' Vi's page with graffiti (really fun marketing move). The end of the page had a signature tag that said "X WUZ HERE" because they didn't want to reveal her name so they used this special "X" instead. Later, the tag was just replaced with "JINX WAS HERE.". I thought it was a one-time thing, but no, Jinx's special 'X' still remains in the game to refer to her presence. For example, one of Caitlyn's gag interactions has her shooting her rifle that's been tampered with by Jinx. And when it happens Caitlyn goes, "Ready, aim... (gasps) Urgh! Why am I not surprised?". Who else could it be?

So this symbol is still associated with Jinx, specifically as a substitution for her name, and it's in the Machine Herald's grasp. I don't think this is meant to hint at any future control Viktor would have over Jinx, nor would he want to. It could mean that he will need a partner in Jinx to help him complete the Hexcore once he and Jayce have their falling out and he's cast out from Piltover (some real Silco and Singed vibes honestly). But maybe it's another hint at how similar their actions will be perceived by us, the audience, like they fly under the same banner of void-touched outcasts playing offense and defense against Piltover. And more so that they will have a deeply impact full relationship with one another. Look at Ekko and Vi, they both bare her tag and you can't pretend she hasn't left her mark on them and their motivations. It's just odd that for Viktor, her tag is in a different position. Maybe it's a past, present, future thing.

I wouldn't bring this up if the creators of Arcane hadn't said that there were plenty of hints at season 2 that the audience hasn't picked up yet, so maybe this is another one. Also, I have noticed that Jinx sometimes has Ekko's infinity symbol on her marketing but it's still solidly an Ekko thing. Even when she has it on her Flame Chomper grenades it's used explicitly to frame Ekko and the Firelights for her damage because it's so well associated with him.

Update: I don't know why I'm just remembering this, but Jinx is also just wearing a big X on her shirt. In fact she's covered in X's, her shirt, her necklacklace choker thing, her shoelaces, her belt, her bandage, the back of her shoe they all have X's in her design.

Update 2: I found more X's! They're all over her background in the 'Enemy' music video. The art really isn't being subtle when you notice.

Update 3: Pretty sure this is the last one... maybe. After rewatching I noticed Vi's prison uniform actually has the symbol as a part of her ID number. Altogether her ID would be X516. Though whenever Vi was referred to as prisoner 516. Alone it actually says her name in Roman numerals, 5=V, 1=I, and 6=VI (a but redundant). If we treat it the 'X' as Jinx's name it makes Jinx and Vi before Vi even knows Powder has grown into Jinx, already intertwining their identities.

Update 4: I really thought I was done, but I wasn't. I found that both of Ekko's loc rings (which look similar to the bullet shells Jinx uses in her braids) have partial infinities that look similar to her symbol. Ekko specifically is represented with a complete hourglass, and this is literally the one exception. The fact that this symbol is visible when he talks about Zaun and Silco makes me feel ridiculous. If this is a subtle hint at the way Jinx affects Ekko... wow. Jinx isn't even dead, but she's practically haunting all these characters.

Seriously, it's a purposeful choice to do this, his game icon has full hour glasses. But in Arcane they're not, they're drawn to be similar to Jinx's symbol. Just like with Viktor and Vi, it means internally, not even consciously, he's seeking her out for her.

#viktor arcane #the machine herald #machine herald #jinx arcane #arcane #arcane season 2 speculation #it sometimes feels like any mystery can use jinx to solve it #she's a wild card #a loose cannon #jinx is the random ingredient that falls into the cooking pot and when you taste it you’ve invented a whole new dish #it feels so on purpose that almost every league medium keeps viktor and jinx's interactions from minimal to nonexistent #they'd cause too much of an uproar #legends of runeterra technically doesn’t count #vi arcane #ekko arcane #ekko #arcane speculation #arcane meta #arcane season 2

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miscreantahead · 7 months

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Zoro/Sanji Post Thriller Bark

I've been thinking about Thriller Bark AGAIN so much lately and about how I've never really written anything for them post-thriller bark. So I wrote this little thing, which doesn't feel like enough for my AO3 so I'm just putting it here. Rated M. Tags for uhhh... nonchalant discussion of death? If I were to post this and give it a title, it would be World's Most Sword-Swinging Shithead

----

“Hey, what the hell are you doing here, shouldn’t you be lying down still?” Sanji’s spoke in a slow drawl and lazily waved the spatula at him.

“I’ve been lying down for days,” Zoro dragged his feet walking in.

“Yeah, and you were even more almost-dead than you were at Baratie, so bad dog, go lay down,” he pointed the spatula into the corner for some reason.

“Not tired,” Zoro mumbled, still moving toward him.

“I didn’t say sleep, I said lay down, at least until Chopper clears you to move around,” now he was waving it toward the sky, and with his other elbow raised with his hand on the skillet handle, it gave Zoro the perfect opening to hug him around his middle from behind.

“Wh-wha?” Sanji flailed and struggled for just a second before Zoro let him go.

“Why’d you do that?” Sanji was now holding the spatula with both hands and pointing it in his direction like it was a longsword.

“Because I was almost dead,” Zoro said. and he made a point not to step that far away. In fact, he was close enough that Sanji was able to hold the spatula just under the jut of his chin.

“You’re saying you suffered brain damage, then?” Sanji asked, and his face turned comically sympathetic, “you poor, poor thing…” he caressed Zoro’s cheek with the spatula in a degrading manner.

“Cook,” Zoro growled, grabbing the spatula and shoving it away, “let’s not fuck around right now,” he didn’t intend for his words to come out the way they did. He heard himself, low, hoarse, maybe a little needy, and he saw the expression on the cook’s face change like he’d heard all of that too.

“I want to be with you,” Zoro had no choice but to carry it home, “even just once.”

Sanji’s expression had gone from silly to surprised and now to serious with his brow furrowed, eyes darting around Zoro’s face like he was trying to read some secret hidden within it. It was like he was worried that if he said anything in line with what Zoro was getting at it would be some kind of “gotcha!” He was still reading this like some kind of competition, like some game he was at risk of losing. Zoro wasn’t in the mood for it.

“I almost died,” Zoro’s voice cracked.

“I know that better than anyone, jackass,” Sanji responded through clenched teeth, apparently out of jokes.

“So?” Zoro said, moving closer so their foreheads bumped. “Don’t you want…?” he trailed off, closing his eyes and feeling Sanji ever so slightly press back against him. It was there in a thousand secret looks and just-a-little-longer-than-necessary touches. Something was happening between them, since Skypeia at least, and Zoro was sure it wasn’t one-sided. He was also sure that the damn cook’s mind was a conundrum he might never be able to solve, so he didn’t have a clue if this approach would work.

Sanji still hadn’t responded, but when Zoro opened his eyes his were shut, like he too was just quietly feeling it, their closeness. Zoro wondered how long it would take him to actually verbalize his position, but decided that perhaps he didn’t need to. If he didn’t want to say it, then Zoro could help him around that.

His lips were already only inches away, all Zoro had to do was tilt the orientation of his own head so their mouths touched instead of their foreheads. He started to move, slowly, until he was close enough to feel Sanji take a deep breath inward. When their lips met, it was the slightest ghost of a touch, but Zoro felt an urge to lift his hand and place it flat against the left side of the cook's chest.

His heart was pounding, so fast and loud and Zoro didn’t realize until he could feel it, that he could also hear it.

“Cook,” Zoro voice was weak against his lips.

The response he got was arms around his neck and a searing kiss as the cook surged into the kiss and tugged Zoro close to him. Their hips bumped and Zoro felt the hardness against his thigh for just a moment but he chased that feeling, crowding the cook back against the counter and pinning his narrow waist under the press of his abs and rolling his hips up so Sanji could feel that he was in a similar, or possibly more severe state.

The kiss broke then, Sanji broke it, but didn’t otherwise move, he just looked into Zoro’s eyes with surprise on his face. His expression looked foggy, but like there may have been something akin to reservation far beneath a cloud of desire in his glossed over-eyes and kiss-swollen lips that hung open to accommodate little puffs of breath.

Then a new emotion swept over that face, one Zoro was intimately familiar with: rage.

“Do you remember what you did, you son of a bitch?” Sanji hissed, arms unwinding from around Zoro’s neck, fingers instead viciously curling into and pulling the collar of his shirt instead.

“You knocked me out, threw me aside, left me there without a word while you went off to die,” he spat, literally spat, Zoro could feel the wet drops hitting his face, “and then when I woke up I had to be the one to try and find you because no one else knew why you weren’t there. I went looking and the whole time, every corner I turned I thought I’d see your bloody, mutilated, crumpled corpse somewhere dead—,”

Zoro placed a hand gently on the side of his face and it stopped his ranting.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Zoro said, earning a hardened glare, “but I’m still alive, somehow. And I do have a choice about what to do next, that’s why I’m here.”

“So, what, you realized you forgot to cross fucking me off your bucket list so—,”

“Cook,” Zoro interrupted, calm, because he didn’t want to be like this. Not right now, just this once, he needed it to be different.

“I know,” Sanji croaked, “but I don’t want to have to rush this, okay? Whatever it is, I don’t want to force it, I want to feel like we have all the time in the world. I want—,” he stopped, and looked Zoro in the eye, expression serious but no longer with anger, “—I need more time,” he said.

Zoro’s heart twisted in his chest.

“So just don’t fucking die, okay? Don’t you have to become the world’s most sword-swinging shithead?” He snapped again, “…fucking idiot…” he grumbled, and then Zoro watched him start to unravel, remained still as he collapsed enough for his head to fall and rest against Zoro’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Sanji whispered against him.

“For what?”

“Saving Luffy, and all of us, and…” he muffled the next word by pressing his mouth against Zoro’s skin but Zoro heard it, “…and me.”

Zoro kissed his hair, then released a heavy sigh into it so the strands on top of his head fluttered around.

“So, about my bucket list…” Zoro mumbled.

“No,” Sanji drew back, and looked him in the eye again, “not right now for a million reasons, starting with because I’m literally in the middle of breakfast,” he gestured toward the simmering happening on the stove, “because I can’t look at you right now without being pissed that you tried to leave, and because I’m going to need to be more than a line on a bucket list, jackass, but if that’s what I am then I’ll stay uncrossed just to keep you alive.”

“More?” Zoro latched onto just one word and pressed for explanation, and Sanji’s eyes widened.

“Ah, well…” he wiggled free of any of Zoro’s extremities and turned around to face the stove again, removing the lid and starting to stir.

Zoro released the breath he’d been holding and a relaxed smile crept over his face as he slowly wrapped his arms around the cook from behind again.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, and squeezed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sanji muttered, “now go back to bed.”

fin More of my bullshit at https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patchratt

#zosan #zoro/sanji #sanzo #zsz

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embraceyourdestiny · 7 months

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tell me about the two vanitases. vaniti

Post I made a while ago about it (might be slightly awkward / messy bc it’s from 2 years ago) :)

Essentially, at the end of bbs Vanitas and ven have a “battle of hearts” (similar to Roxas and sora in kh2) and Vanitas, as the weaker heart, loses and retreats back into his “origin”, ven’s heart. We see sparkles dissipate into vens stain glass, signifying that Vanitas has become embedded into ven’s heart. THEN ven becomes embedded in Sora’s heart, thus making a sort of matryoshka effect inside of sora;

sora<-(inside, ven [<-inside, vanitas])

Cut to ddd where sora is DEEP inside his own heart and thus coming across a lot of shit embedded within. Including Vanitas who appears as a fractured vision saying Sora’s heart is a prison “even if he’s not the prisoner.” Upon hearing this most people’s immediate thought would be *terra/aqua voice* ven!! But most people miss the hidden layer (cleverness intended) that would also mean Vanitas since he’s inside ven. Of course if someone is locked inside a prisoner in jail that also means they’re in the prison, whether them also being locked up was intentional or not

Cut to kh3. The first instance we see Vanitas is monsters inc. but we don’t see Vanitas first, we see the manifestation of his power because as he explains he needed enough energy to come back to life. The clever part about this is this only happens because sora is there with ven in his heart, thus physically bringing Vanitas’s heart to a place where he can regenerate and, if the plan works out, extract himself/ven from Sora’s body. There’s an extra bonus that the power becomes even more potent by upsetting sora and therefor having a STRONG sense of negativity which had been building in our poor boy all game, and as Ansem The Wise said, sora is able to make things be real and that means he was able to make Vanitas come back to life without whatever Xehanort did to make him, even though he didn’t mean to

Then Vanitas gets bodied by scully and thrown into a door, seemingly gone forever

Then like 3 seconds later we see him again in the land of departure. But. Wait. Didn’t scully just throw him to somewhere in Connecticut?

Act II: The second Vanitas

This Vanitas is a replica Xehanort pulled from the post. Xehanort had no fucking clue where Vanitas went after bbs bc he just disappears and honestly he clearly didn’t care because hes always known could just make another one so he does. The reason I know this isn’t monsters inc Vanitas is because one that’s impossible, it was 100% intentional this scene happens after yeetus Vanitas, and two Vanitas acts. Different. For one he’s much more brazen than he was in MI, instead of just his long winded monologuing he’s actually goading them on and being arrogant and feisty and trying to fight, immediately transporting us back to the kind of personality he had before. You know. Ven kicked his ass. And he also teleports and does magic and is way stronger than MI Vanitas because that Vanitas had just formed. There’s no possible way he had all his strength back after being rebirthed for 3 seconds so the fact that he was able to hold his own against aqua who’s been fighting nonstop for 10 years definitely raises an eyebrow and points to this theory because how was that possible and why didn’t he fight in MI if this was the case.

Some people have pointed out that it’s weird Vanitas wears a cloak of darkness in MI and thinking about it I think there’s two answers. The first is he was weak and I think it’s possible the cloak could protect him, esp if he’s not fully darkness anymore bc he has his own heart, has regenerated on his own instead of being extracted by Xehanort’s dark power, and was touched by two very powerful lights for like 10 years (they probably got their light cooties on him lol) and two, I think he was hiding from Xehanort. Vanitas likely knew of his plan since his conception even though he might not have fully understood was it was and therefore he would’ve known what was going on in kh3 and been like “shit. I’m not following the plan bc I’m not even a part of the plan anymore so Xehanort can’t find out.” Because if you remember in com DiZ says the cloaks can hide you from anyone and if Xehanort knew Vanitas was back he would at the very least force him to do his plan again or at the worst destroy him because he’s an unknown factor

Then sora fights replica Vanitas and he goes back into the past and somewhere out there Vanitas is walking around the streets of New York (or shibuya) having no clue what the fuck is going on

So yes. Two Vanitases bc we can’t get enough of this boy. Two of them

#og #two Vanitases theory #Vanitas kh #kingdom hearts #kh #kingdom hearts theory #kh3 #kh bbs #kh ddd #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #kingdom hearts dream drop distance #asks #thanks you for the interest I hope this is good and cool and worth it and makes sense

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kazoolapow · 1 year

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Dark they were, Golden Eyes. part 1

pairing : vampire! Azula x f! reader word count : 2.7k warning(s) : azula being a vampire should be a red alert on it's own. and oh my god, she's gæ. summary : you are a journalist that's struggling to keep your self-employed job running. you specialized in vampire research. Sokka, your partner in crime, forced you to tag along with him for the richest family's party, The Azulon Family (just pretend their last name is Azulon). your mission is to befriended a rich person to support your business. But everything you planned changed when she approached you... A/N : it's my first fic that i humbly share to the world. because it has taken over every waking moment of my life. there will be a few parts to this. i hope y'all enjoy it!

Have you ever feel trapped? No idea which way to go. Whichever paths you choose, you lose? Within your mind, you could have sworn that you had tried every way, anything—no matter how small it is, yet the results countered back your hard work? If yes, then hi, I feel you, I see you. Life is a funny thing. No one said life is fair. But no one warned it hurts like a bitch.

Yes, life sucks. It can go to hell, for all I care, in which I'm unaware of how that concept works. Life going to hell. But that's not enough to convinced me ending mine and actually go enter the place. Hell is a friendly concept I've accustomed with, even befriended with. I spent my whole spirit of being to research this creature from hell. A creature from it lurked around my innocent city.

From what I believed, it tore down and melt the innocence as slowly it replaced by gruesome, wicked, egoistical philosophy that pathetically most people worship. A creature so acute, people started to be indifferent by the sight of it's true evilness. To them, it brighten their minds with new ways of thinking, just enough light to blind them with much ignorance to the nature of this mass of a scam. An intellectual vampire laid out their plans with the outmost care that the facade is as good as it is true. As most people followed the philosophy from an unknown author, a follower with no clue to who.

And so, my pathetic life is on the line to, at least, try to wake people up. I wanted to help. Eradicate this unnecessary pile of evil that no one asked for. The world's already disarray as it already is, it always were. But a place has it's limited space, this newfound philosophy is just none other like an ugly Christmas sweater, you wore it once and for the rest of your time it should be ignored and unbothered.

Of course, what's life without it's injustice. My research is on the brink of collapse. A Jenga wobbly piece, tempted to be pulled by gravity in any moment. If that vampire played their game right, they might just won and left my Jenga to take a dive.

"Hey, Long Face." My thoughts halt, adjusting my blurred vision to his waving hand. "There's no turning back now." Sokka eyed my face, as if he just heard my thoughts narrating.

"I know." I say flatly. My head feels heavier from waking up to reality, I'd rather to be drowned by my flowing thoughts until the time of a big event is five minutes away. The intrusion from Sokka, sadly, set the train of thoughts into the distance, a distance I could not reach. Irritated, I turned to him with his compulsive to take off his suit that he said was torturous. "Ugh," I sighed. "Why do we have to do this again? Just the both of us?"

"Shush. You complained like an annoying walkie talkie."

"But we could get some help! From your sister, Katara would—"

"Listen," He points a finger, uncaring to let me finish my sentence. "Katara is growing a family with Aang. Children, my friend, children. We cannot bother them with this anymore." I frowned. Slumping my tensed shoulders down with a defeat. "You talk big about growing a family. What about Suki?" I probed. He stopped his movements to process what I said. "Aren't you supposed to plan something for her?"

He lets out a dramatic sigh. "You doubt me? Even the slightest bit, teeny tiny bit, as thin as a paper? You wound me, Y/N." His expressions animated with over-exaggerated pout, big doed eyes, and hands covered his face. I narrowed, not taking his hints to break a smile to his magnificent acting. It's quite pitying. He dropped the act to convert to a new emotion. "Of course I do! I'll have that ring slipped to her finger in no time. But just—let her focus on her study, okay?"

I hummed. Everyone is taken to a commitment for the love of their life. A ceremony where exchanging vows and complicated administration work that will lead to their new chapter. Then what's the empty promises that friends made, the ‘I'll always be there for you’. Is that just empty words? Because legally, people are devoted to tie their ropes of responsibility and loyalty to their chosen partner. Love is a funny thing. Like a cake divided up, but one slice have a slight bigger size compared to the others.

"Hey." He called. "It's for your cause, too. If I leave you as a married man, then who's gonna help you do all the dirty work without all the money?"

He spat. He spat the fact that shuddered every living nerves inside of me. I had no fear of working alone. I fear of losing support from like-minded people like him, I fear their trust in what I do will evaporate to thin air. Hope would be all gone within me. I keep digging up the seeds that I sow yet nothing I plant will ever truly grow. I sighed, massaging my tensed temple due to overheating use of brain power. "You're right." I say in defeat.

"Alright then, Frowny Face. We're going to nail this." He took a hold of my shoulders. "I got your back." An instant smile turned my frowned lips upside down.

"Now, listen up. Here's the plan. A bunch of aristocrats will be cramped together for three hours in this party. The main goal is to win a heart of a loaded aristocrat enough to support your work with their innumerable amount of cash. If you're fortunate, then two or more would be nice. But if you're lucky—The Big Jackpot would be to get close to The Azulon Family. At least, one member of the family. Since individually, they have huge, gigantic, loading to erupt of a volcano of a money," He gestured explosion, arms stretched open wide to reveal his "boom" voice more audible.

"But," he added, composing himself again. "Never ever, ever be a kilometer close with the daughter." His lips thinned.

"Azula?" I tried, remembering the family's name one by one.

He nodded slowly. "That woman is impossible to win over. She's ruthless. A great liar and just an absolute sinister. God knows what will happen if we ever partnered with her, we'd be good as a stray cat."

"Why's that?"

"In what mad Jasmine Dragon Tea you've been into? Have you not hear the news?"

I shrugged. "I don't follow politics." Politics is where the philosophy was planted it's root deep. While it may be a main cause on my research to the vampire, it's too much havoc for me to handle. I cut to the chase to the planter instead.

He groaned. "It's a long story. This one thing you should keep in mind. Do not go near her. Understand?" He stare deep to me, waiting for my reply. "Yes, sir."

———

"Act natural." He lowered down to my ear. What's does natural even mean in this cramped up party with full of devious people? "What does it even mean? People like us may have different definition of natural from people like them." I scoffed, earning a glare under his party mask.

"Don't you dare being a partypooper now. If you observe anything from my acting, you would've been so wise." He offered his arm for me to take. Hesitating, I took it as we walk towards the big door that hid the party I dread for. "The Azulon will be dressed in red today." He informed before the doors were being opened by a footman.

As soon as the door was opened for us, my senses immediately struck in awe. Everybody was going out. What's with these doors being opened, and the descent and the start? It seemed as if the whole town were embarking in little boats come ashore to the bank, tossing on the waters, as if the whole place were floating off in carnival. And golden as it was the room shine so bright. The pillars even pronounced itself with detailed, complicated carvings. And there was a sense of midges round the arc lamps. It was so hot that people stood about talking, anonymously, veiling their identity under their elegant party mask. Even when you are the center of attention, you're still a nobody.

I let Sokka guide me to whatever group of people, he didn't care what kind, but only with money in mind. He sparks almost anyone with laughter. Some give him queer looks, mostly from the timid attached with their stuck up personality. From there, I work my way up to try talking to the timid. They are collected, cold in their reactions and firm on their judgement. If the topic is mainly about them though, they'll warm up to you. Treat them special, like interviewing the star of the show.

After a while, I grow sloppy in my choice of words. I slurred and basically parrot what the other person said without adding any spice that would trigger an interest. "Hey." Sokka called, a hint of excitement in his voice. "I spot the son of Azulon. I think I can convince him. Should we go?" He's not asking me, he insisting me as he dragged me to Zuko. "Sokka, please. I need to catch a breather, just a moment, please?" I begged, resisting his pull to the red suited tall man and the crowd surrounding him. He sighed, letting his arm slide from mine. "Alright, you stay here. I'll go get the boy's pocket money."

"But—" He shushed me before I could protest. "I'll do the dirty work, remember?" He patted my cheeks and send me a reassuring smile. I shooed his hands away. "Then what am I going to do?" He shrugged, taking a glass as the waiter was passing by. "You could charm Ursa Azulon. She's an easy one. She's a sweetheart, like you. You two will hit it off." I narrowed, is he being serious? "Then why didn't we start on her, for the last goddamn hour that was wasted?" He held his hands up. "Networking." He said innocently. "But now, I got a boy to catch, Y/N. See ya."

I huffed, letting my hands hang mid air as I watch Sokka dance his way to Zuko. I shook my head and walk ahead without any destination in mind. Would an unaccompanied woman, strolling along like a lost puppy catch any attention? I feel like a child that's hungry of attention in telling their craves with telltale signs and persuasive hints. I try to turn my attention to the room. To the people in their heavenly dresses. To the roar of chats and erupt of laughter here and there. To the chandelier that float with dignity.

Nothing was interesting anymore to hawk. The all the same visual impressions becoming dull after half an hour. My idleness has failed me now, as if the eye were a cup that overflowed and let the rest run down it's china walls unrecorded. It's now or never. It’s now or my work will drown forever. My brain must wake now. My body must contract now. My soul must brave itself to endure.

"Hey. There you are." A cool, feminine voice sighed. Her arm tangled mine without warning. She and her all-black-themed dress bounced as she pivoted back to a disheveled man, panting for air and pouring sweats. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm afraid I'm already taken by this girl right here." And that was the moment, when my prayers was heard. A roleplay to save a fellow woman from a persistent man.

"Dear," I turned to her. "Who was this man again?"

The lady in black blinked twice. Her head tilting up to match the mischievous quirk of her lips. "Oh, he's a friend from work. Quite drunk here, my dear." She leaned in closer, invading my personal space. I respond. "It's a pity," with cracks in my voice that fail to hide my trembling being. I took a moment to muster up courage and say, "You heard the lady, young man. Let go of her."

He lowered his head, gloom soon color his pale skin. "I hope you got demolished by the vampire." His spirit went away as he wandered off, dragging his dejected body. Whoa, he dropped the V-bomb. What did she do to make him burdened with such agony?

I heard her exhale heavily. She took away her arm and keep it to her side, she turned to me with a beaming smile. "Not bad."

I returned the same smile. "Thank you."

Her dark hair spilled over both of her shoulders fairly, straight and voluminous. Her skin is fair and warm to my freezing body. Her eyes were glittering golden rays of the sun, that—I just noticed—it dragged slowly down my body in a leisurely appraisal, lingering in ways that left me light-headed.

"Anything—any explosion or any horror is better than a pretty lady like you wandering aimlessly." She said, her perfect white teeth sank into the plush swell of her bottom lip. I blinked dumbly, red rising up to my face. Her eyes flitting upward, in which I could guess crinkling softly at the corners.

"Uhm, yeah." I stuttered, unsure what to respond to that. "I was on the mood to just observe." I played the top button of my dress and try not to squirm under the mysterious woman's hot, heavy-lidded stare. "Oh," I started. "I didn't catch your name."

One of her arched brows rose. "I didn't throw it." The corner of her mouth rising, devilishly. A hot rush of blood raced to fill my face, leaving the blood on my brain completely dry. A laugh from her made my heart rise into my throat. "Well, what's the name of my hero, tonight?" Her lips quirked, deriving perverse pleasure in my growing flustered manner.

"Y/N."

"Y/N. My hero." My name runs through her mouth, rolled by her tongue, it scattered butterflies everywhere down there. She started to look around, circled a little with her swaying hips, satin skimming the skin of her thigh with each languid step in a direction towards a waiter. She took two glasses of champagne and stopped ahead from me, handing me a glass. "To you, Y/N."

"I don't drink." I send her an apologetic smile, waving off the glass to deny. "Come on, now. Let loose a little." She pressed, forcing my hand to accept the glass. "Please. For me?" She stared up at me with pleading eyes.

I sighed, who would say no to that eyes? "Alright," I hold the glass, brushing against her delicate fingers. "I'm warning you. If I'm drunk, It'll be all your fault. And who knows what will I do." I raised my glass to the air as she clinked it with hers. She gulped down the liquid like it was water while I'm wincing as I took a sip. "I'd take the blame as far to take you home," she smothered a sly smile. "If you're willing."

My breath hitched, almost chocking on my drink. "You don't have to go that far," I cleared my throat. "Yet."

She cocked a brow, satisfied with my reply as she rasped out a laugh. I continued and change that topic for future me to worry about. "What's your name, really?"

"Lady." She said almost immediately.

I arched a brow, "Lady...?" I trailed off, hoping for her to fill in the blanks. "Just call me Lady."

"That's not your real name, is it?"

She shook her head, a smirk lingers on her lips. "At a party like this?" She chuckled as if laughing at my own stupidity. "You're kidding." I said. My fingers twitched, anxiety crept gradually to my sickening stomach.

"A crying shame I didn't pursue a career as a stand-up comedian." She sighed. And I'd like to excuse myself from her, for a moment, the urge to smack my head off against a wall for slipping my real name without more careful consideration is highly tempting to do. "A party like this hardly ever contain originality, dear Y/N."

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picnokinesis · 3 months

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My friend is running a text-based rpg campaign, and I'm absolutely in love with it, so I decided to draw a 'cover' for each day in the story. We'll see if I can do one for each day, but I'm SO proud of how these turned out so far - all of them are inked in my notebook first, and then coloured digitally. If anyone's interested in the story, I've explained more about it all under the cut!

OKAY. So the game is called City of Mists, and basically it's...kinda hard to explain, but I'd call it 'cyberpunk noir', but with a 90s technological aesthetic. Kinda like when you read Issac Asimov's books and they're using computers but it's all cassettes and film-based technology. Anyway, it's awesome. Every character has a normal life in the city - their 'logos' - but there are some characters who are called Rifts, who have something mythological manifest within them - their 'mythos'. Now, the mythos can kinda be anything, but the point is that it's a legend or story that manifests within the character, and thus gives them new abilities. And every Rift has to balance their logos and their mythos - because to delve too much into your mythos means you forget your normal life and become entirely consumed by the mythos...but to focus too much on your logos means to lose, and forget, your mythos entirely. The 'mist' of the city obscures mythological and supernatural things from those who haven't 'awakened' yet - but Rifts can see through the mist.

So, my little guy is - sighs. Okay. Y'all are gonna laugh. Please be aware that I know, okay? I know. It's fine. This is a choice I've made. But he's called Nakis Sandhu, and he's an investigative journalist (NOT with amnesia) who, when he was a kid, was involved in a train accident that killed his parents, but him and his twin sister miraculously survived. He's trans, and he has a van - he doesn't live in it, thank goodness, but it is important because his mythos is Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (this is why he looks like Sacha Dhawan, because like....Sacha Dhawan should play Captain Nemo and I'll die on that hill). And so Nakis, when his mythos awakened, turned his van into the Nautilus - Captain Nemo's submarine - and so it now works underwater too, and can travel undetected. He also becomes like, a technological genius and can invent stuff on the fly, but he never studied engineering or anything - it just comes to him in flashes of inspiration.

Nakis' main thing is that he's trying to figure out what happened in the train crash when he was a kid. He saw something different to everyone else, because he saw through the mist - what everyone else thought was an accident was actually two Rifts duking it out (I think). One of these Rifts was a blue bull that is apparently called 'the Bull of Thunder', and the other was a man with fire based abilities - called 'The Burning Man'. On Day 2, Nakis discovered a metal case that had belonged to the Burning Man, that had been hidden for twenty years - since the day of the accident - and was full of clues, including some photographic film that needed developing. Unfortunately, seems that there's a strange filter on the photos, so it's impossible to tell what's on them...luckily, my guy made friends with a photographer on Day 1 (who I believe is another player character) whilst investigating something else, and as a result he's now passed the film on to him, in the hopes that he'll be able to clear them up.

One funny thing: Day 0 was supposed to be a 'chill' day to figure out how the game mechanics worked, and figure out what your character would do on a normal day. Nakis immediately went to investigate something and then nearly ended up drowning RIP. On Day 1, when continuing to investigate the thing from Day 0, he...got shot in the shoulder HAHAHAH but he's fine, he's doing great, he didn't bleed out in his apartment which is always a win. He also bumped into another player character by doing this - so yay!

#taka draws #city of mists #uhhhhh idek what to tag this??#art #original art #digital art #SKSKS anyway it's like #if i had a nickel for every time i had an investigative journalist character with a van and a train crash related backstory #i'd have two nickels #which isn't a lot but it shows that i have a type SKSKKSSK #but yknow i wanted an investigator character #and i didn't want a police officer or detective or PI so....#ANYWAY #nakis sandhu

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darklight-owl · 4 months

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Owl Reviews Stuff She Just Finished: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright

So yk I didn't know what to expect going into this game, I'd seen really funny dialogue of it and mostly got it because I was extremely hyperfixated on Layton. But I did NOT expect such an emotional rollercoaster of a game with themes that tie into both Professor Layton and Ace Attorney and utilizes the strengths of each series so efficiently. I did not expect this game to make me cry. I did not expect this game to become one of my favorite Professor Layton AND Ace Attorney titles. But it did so I have to talk about it.

With two successful IPs on the cover this game could have easily been halfassed but every corner of it is full of passion for both titles. I mentioned before how they build off and complement each other and I think that's a result of the people working on this game having an in-depth knowledge of what makes PL and AA work and what their shortcomings are.

For example (I mentioned this in the liveblogs but may as well repeat myself here) Ace Attorney games are often limited to just the courtroom and investigation, not to mention you're not going to see 90% of the characters ever again after the case is done. This is serviceable for the kind of game AA is but it makes the world itself feel a bit uninteresting. However Professor Layton games have you confined to one town and make you explore it in depth, with recurring background characters who all have different (yet basic) personalities. Because of this, the Layton segments where you walk around town become crucial parts of the game where you can interact with future or past witnesses as they go about their lives, making these witch trials feel like they're taking part within an actual community, which make the emotional beats in the trials hit REALLY hard.

In turn, AA strengthens PL by adding variety. Layton games can be a bit monotonous if you're not engaged since the gameplay mostly consists of talking to people and solving an occassional puzzle, and there's a lack of interesting smaller mysteries to keep the audience engaged while they work on solving the bigger ones. But Ace Attorney games thrive on side stories, they're what make the trials so interesting! So by adding the smaller mysteries in the form of witch trials and mixing in clues about what the Hell is going on in Laberynthia you make a much more dynamic story that never feels like you're getting nowhere.

Enough about story structure and nerd stuff like that though, let's talk characters!

I love the main four and have always loved the main four so I'm not gonna talk abt them. The original characters for this game were freaking amazing. I see a lot of people really dislike Espella (which is understandable since she's probably the weakest of the cast) but she's pretty alright imo. She's going through a lot of things with the entire town despising her and [SPOILERS] so it makes sense why she would act the way she does, even then I feel like most heartfelt moments with her were a bit forced, which kind of lessens the impact of the last scene. I LOVE the relationship between her and [ANOTHER SPOILER] as well as the dynamic she has with Maya though.

I LOVE BARNHAM. He's one of my favorite prosecutors, he may not have any deep angst or trauma like so many of my favs do, but he's just a well meaning dude who thinks he's doing what he needs to to protect his town, even if it means casting wiitches into the flames. He also goes through a little character arc of his own where he also starts to bend the rules, the only laberynthian to do so. It's fun. Barnham is my best friend.

Unfortunately I can't talk about Darklaw or The Storyteller without getting into spoilers but basically: I love Darklaw and think she deserves the world, I'm on the fence about The Storyteller and feel like parts of his character were extremely rushed.

The secondary characters are also great, you have your classic goofy witnesses but also some really heartfelt characters and relationships in the trials, this is nothing new for Ace Attorney but when you include the conscious knowledge that these characters are going to be cast into the fire then these mini stories are enough to move me to tears (Looking at you, Golden Court).

Anyway, overall a fantastic experience that caught me completely off guard. No notes. I give it 10 burning witches out of 10.

Oh. And also:

#once again spoiler free so i can convince you to like the things i like #sorry for the incomprehensible rambling these 'reviews' are essentially excuses to ramble anyway so #i have a lot more concrete thoughts on this than i did for ghost trick i think thats bc im familiar with these series and ik how they work #owl reviews stuff she just finished #plvspw #professor layton vs phoenix wright #plvsaa #professor layton #ace attorney

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mzminola · 1 year

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Because something superhero comics, noir, and fanfic all have in common is leaning into soap opera convolutedness, @alexmaybe & I have come up with the Bruce Wayne Spawn Shell Game AU, in which the middle kids are all biologically Bruce’s.

(Dick really is John & Mary Grayson’s, and Damian is Talia’s direct clone.)

No one finds this out until Batman!Bruce & Robin!Damian are fighting a magic user who has heard rumors that Robin is Batman’s son (rumors started by Damian’s not so quiet comments about being The Blood Son). The mage gloats that they’re going to use a “teleport everyone with X trait to me” spell to yank Robin over, and use the disorientation of teleportation to take him hostage. “I will summon Batman’s direct blood descendents! Mwa ha ha ha!”

Cue Damian staying firmly at Bruce’s side, while Cass in street wear with bubble tea, Jason doing gear maintenance, a random college student studying for exams, and Tim in his pajamas pop out of the ether all within a yard of the mage.

The mage regrets their life choices.

Now, how did we get here?

Firstly, during the years Bruce is doing his world tour of Learning Batman Skills while still swinging in and out of Gotham, Bruce is seeking physical activity to make his brain shut up, and also seeking intimacy but keeping too many secrets to let himself actually get close to people, so he is sleeping with Even More People Than In His Batman Years. He remembers condoms but always doesn’t use them perfectly.

Bruce meets Sandra & Carolyn Wu-San at their dojo in Brooklyn. Some time later when David Cain coerces Sandra into reproductive sex, she seeks out every male martial artist she vaguely respected or thought had potential to sleep with them too as a Fuck You to undermine Cain’s scheme without openly breaking their deal.

Bruce has a one-night stand with pre-transition Willis Todd, both of them just giving their first (legal) name, no contact info. Figuring out several months later that he’s pregnant but no clue how to find the other father, Willis, who does want kids someday, weighs the pros and cons of “having trouble making ends meet right now, can I support a kid?” with “everyone says pregnancy would be harder later in transition,” and opts to have Jason now.

Sheila Haywood is either a friend or a bribable hospital worker (or both) who agrees to put her name down as the mom so Willis can legally be his kid’s dad without any complicated paperwork. Willis and Catherine never got around to telling Jason before both of them died. When Jason showed up at the camp thinking Sheila was his bio-mom she rolled with it, figuring she could get details of why he thought that later, and then unfortunately [canon ensued].

It won’t be until the spell incident happens that Bruce puts together one night stand Wilhelmina with Why do the pictures of Willis Todd look kinda familiar? Because he definitely never slept with Catherine or Sheila.

Bruce meets, befriends and sleeps with Janet Drake while going on an archaeological research binge. He’s also still having a lot of random bar and nightclub hook-ups.

Some months later, while Jack is out of town on a business trip, Janet complains to Bruce that Jack really wants a son, but the latest ultrasound shows a female fetus. Janet really doesn’t want to deal with pregnancy ever again, but Jack isn’t open to adoption, and ugh if only Janet could just swap this one for a male infant. It would be so easy to nudge Jack into an archeology dig closer to the due date, he’d never have to know!

(No, neither Bruce nor Janet have thought maybe Bruce got Janet pregnant instead of Jack.)

“You’ve got this knack for finding odd things at just the right moment, Brucie…”

Janet knows it’s a long shot, and dubiously ethical because adoption records exist for good reason, and if they can’t find a baby that works she’ll just have to dig her heels in with Jack against trying for a son, but if Bruce could find a baby…

Bruce makes no promises other than keeping an eye and ear out.

Anyway, Bruce isn’t Batman yet, but he’s home between tutors on his World Tour and venturing into the city in various disguises to learn more about Gotham’s underworld, and getting into trouble. So it is Bruce Wayne with a fresh concussion, not a drunk Brucie, who stumbles into an alley to vomit and finds a baby in a dumpster.

It’s a very full dumpster, one half of the lid broken off. An orange cat (who may or may not be Teekl returning a future favor) is curled around the newborn baby boy. The infant has a shock of hair as dark as Janet’s.

Concussed Bruce walks all the way to the Drake townhouse marveling at the tiny hand gripping his finger so tight.

Janet schedules a C-section. Bruce forges Timothy Jackson Drake’s birth certificate and arranges the adoption of Janet’s daughter by a family in Oregon. He keeps tabs on them over the years, preparing a Wayne Foundation scholarship to the college of her choice someday.

Back to the magic incident: Nightwing and Batwoman were on their way there as back-up when the mage cast the summoning spell, so Dick is able to hug Damian as the kid bluescreens about Not Being The Blood Son.

Bruce awkwardly explains that yes, he ran Damian’s DNA when Talia dropped him off, but when he realized Damian was Talia’s direct clone, he also realized Talia was taking steps to ensure her child escaped the League of Assassins, by attaching him to one of the few people on the planet who can go toe to toe with (and even defeat) her father. Bruce opted to go along with Talia’s choice.

Kate has gotten popcorn from somewhere, munching on it while Bruce desperately thinks back to his Mega Ho Years to figure out how everyone else happened.

Cass is feeling a vindictive sort of smugness about not being David Cain’s bio-kid. He’s still her dad, but he only got part of what he wanted from Shiva.

Jason is pissed at Bruce for not figuring it out earlier, but kinda relieved that Sheila wasn't actually his mom.

The freshman college student from Oregon is really annoyed, she was at study group and she CANNOT fail this class!!! Now she’s on the entire opposite coast???

Tim is having some feelings about how fucking soap opera his origins turn out to be. Bruce slept with his mom Janet, but also she wasn’t his birth mom, he was adopted and no one told him??? Who the heck is his other birth parent??? What were the odds of his apparent bio-parent Bruce being the one to find him??? Wait, was finding baby Tim in a dumpster why younger!Bruce suddenly had Wayne Enterprises put money into improving and proliferating Safe Drop-Off Sites in Gotham???

(He is Not Thinking About his complicated relationship with Jack.)

Tim, when things are just starting to quiet down: “Wait, so does Talia have XY chromosomes, or does Damian have XX? Because I’ve done a lot of of cloning lab work, and—”

Damian: “Don’t talk about my mother’s chromosomes, dumpster baby.”

Tim: >:(

Bruce, very tired: “Damian, don’t call your brother a dumpster baby.”

Damian, indignant: “But you just told us you found him in a dumpster as an infant!”

Freshman college student: “Dude, it’s still fucking rude? Like how would you like being called a test tube baby?”

Damian: /draws sword/

Dick, pushing sword back into sheath: “No drawing weapons on civilians. Or calling Tim rude things. Tim, I think any chromosome questions are Talia and Damian’s personal medical business, so please don’t speculate on them.”

Tim, sarcastically: “Sorry, I forgot medical privacy exists after how you all reacted to the spleen thing.”

Freshman college student: “Spleen thing?”

Tim: “Don’t worry, it’s not genetic. Speaking of, B, you’re gonna have to update, like, all our medical history now.”

Bruce, even more tired: "Hn."

#post contains infant abandonment and reproductive coercion in fiction #fic ideas #that we are making technically plausible within canon for funsies #Min Writes Stuff #with friends!#Bruce Wayne Spawn Shell Game #DC #Batfam #Bruce Wayne #Sandra Wu San #Cassandra Cain #Willis Todd #Jason Todd #Janet Drake #Oregon College Freshman #Random Gothamite #Tim Drake #also mentions of David Cain Catherin Todd Carolyn Wu San Sheila Haywood Jack Drake #guest appearances by Dick Grayson and Kate Kane

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runningatypufullspeed · 2 months

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@vostokmcclellan you have no clue what you have just unleashed within me. You reap what you sow. You have asked, and you shall DEFINITELY receive

Intoduction to C,honny jash 🔥🔥🔥 (no way fire... like from *gets shot)

CLAPS HANDS TOGETHER OKAY. OKAY. so chonny jash is this really cool singer guy song cover man on YouTube he makes some really good goddamn music and if you like tally hall, will wood, lemon demon (all other alternative/indie music creators and bands) then you MIGHT like him.

I think his most popular work/the work that gets most people invested into his music in the first place would be his album CCCC (chonny’s charming chaos compendium) which is a cover album consisting of songs that were originally from tally hall before jash took the lyrics and the music and like. Molded it to fit his ocs. That’s the best way I can describe it.

The three main characters of this album would be Heart, Mind, and Soul, and people (including me) GO ABSOLUTELY NUTS OVER THEM jash’s writing and singing and like general music skills are so good if you want to get into this album I’d seriously consider checking out his mind electric video first (the twelve minute one, it has 3 songs in total and they all do a pretty good job of introducing all three characters respectively).

Not only is the music like REALLY FUCKING GOOD the entire. Differentiation between sepereate characters based off of jash's artistic skills thing + motifs/symbolism for each one is extremely well thought out and the relationships between the three of these guys are CRAZY and TOXIC and RIVETING and bottom line SUPER GODDAMN RELATABLE to the vast majority of those in his audience. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy concept albums/piecing together a story based off of several songs for me it was certainly an arduous process but BOY was it rewarding.

The lore/message itself is mostly up to listener interpretation but I personally like to think of that album as being centered around how valuable self acceptance is, how important communication and understanding and empathy is in a relationship, learning to break free from the bars that society cages one within, and just general dealings/causations of psychological turmoil. I think that what I like the MOST about CCCC tho is how lax/free you can be with your interpretations. it allows a LOT of space for creative liberty and overall message variation, and I like that. I like that very much.

OH and if you enjoy witty lyricism/enjoy having a bunch of allusions that you can rabbit-hole yourself into then you’ll probably like chonny jash . His stuff is like a puzzle but in video/music form. Anyway chonny jash changed my life I think everybody should listen to and look at the lyrics of one of his songs at least once in their life this shit is so good

Tergun 🤤

AND . AND TRIGUN. TRIGUN ISN’T A VIDEO GAME it’S a space western anime. Well OKAY it was originally a manga from the 90s that got adapted into an anime in the late 90s and then ANOTHER newer anime in 2023 so it’s actually just a broad term for these 3 pieces of media .

This is very general btw and while all adaptations go about it in different ways all of them center around the same plot; humans completely NERFED earth so they sent out these ships in order to find another habitable planet, and this mission is called “project seeds”. Aboard these ships are a bunch of humans put into cold sleep but OBVIOUSLY they can’t survive without resources, so alongside the cold sleep people are these human-made organisms called “Plants” who produce the necessities + more that humans need to survive.

Still with me? Ok So everything’s all fine and dandy, but then suddenly due to an event that I cannot disclose because of spoiler related reasons these ships CRASH on a deserted sandy desolate planet, and the remaining humans are then forced to survive solely off of the remaining plants (since all the technology from the spacefaring age was lost in the crash).

Now that the worldbuilding stuff’s outta the way, the main character is this dude named Vash the Stampede who is constantly being chased and hunted down because of this CRAZY bounty he’s got on his head and this is where . The main themes of Trigun start to shine through. It’s about morality and the lives of other people, about the cycles of abuse that lead to why people do certain things and it dives quite deep into the psychological and philosophical aspects ESPECIALLY since this is like a “kill or be killed” world and the main character ALWAYS chooses NOT to kill, no matter what.

I started out with watching the newest adaptation (Trigun stampede) but there’s no right or wrong order to consume the three medias, so start with whichever one you’d like ,,,, assuming you do want to start watching it, anyway.

Judging from what little i know about ur interests, I think trigun would be more up your alley BUT ALSO chonny jash is so good ESPECIALLY CCCC AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ENJOY A SMALLER AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS COUGH COUGH COUGH but it's ultimately up to you, this is all assuming you'd wanna delve into anything in the first place. anyway yeah rant over . 👍

#I know this is an f451 acc but bear with me here #the brainrot has hit #me spewing my twisted gospel #these are (somewhat) old-ish hpfxs btw so if I got some things wrong I apologize #cough #stinkygirldays pee you!!!!!!! 😡#unshowered #I love acting like I know what I’m talking about #yapathon #kinda copied my friend at the trigun part I was having somewhat of a hard time remembering I am a #fake fan

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squaretable-sims · 1 year

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THE MISSING SIMS FROM 1 and 4 (Custom Stealth Hood)

This has been a long time in the works. @profesionalpartyguest has probably stopped talking to me over it; @justwierzba has probably forgotten about it (and me); and @knut-rocketman has probably stopped caring about it, if they ever did.

This is a custom Stealth hood, with some townies, and a lot of ancestors, containing sims from The Sims, and The Sims 4. It also has lots for 7/9 families, including the families which you care about the most. For myself I call it Caldera Lessaules.

Continued below the cut:

From Neighborhood 1 we have the Roomies (bless their sapphic souls). From Old Town we have Claire Charming, and the Hicks. We also have the Snooty Patooties, because they’re iconic and someone had a headcanon.

From The Sims 4 we introduce 3 families from my Willow Creek - Pancakes, BFFs, and Spencer-Kim-Lewis - including the all important Lydia Spencer (she’s a townie). Also say hi to the Sims 4 Roomies (the New Girl spoofs), the only original family in Oasis Springs (unless you count Johnny Zest, but he’s all tied up with the Landgraabs). We also have the Harris family from Eco Living Newcrest Harbour whatever that pack and town are called.

But don’t just think I’ve left you with families with nowhere to live, there's lots too!

The Pancakes, BFFs, SKLs, and Sims 4 Roomies have the strict recreations-within-limitations - without CC - you know and love from Willow Creek. The Cacti Casa is a new recreation for this hood, the others are cleaned exports from Willow Creek.

For the Sim Lane Roomies, say hello to my labour of love ✨inspired✨ recreation of 10 Sim Lane. It has Foundations! The floor and wall coverings are close calls to the original. Claire Charming and the Hicks have their houses also recreated with Foundations. I found all three Sims 1 recreations really fun to build, and I love how their energies have translated across, especially for the Hicks’ Trailer and 10 Sim Lane. There is also an additional variant of Claire’s House I made for personal reasons.

The Snooty Patooties and the Harris family’s houses haven't been recreated - the latter because I don’t actually own the EP, the former because I would have to base it off of Marka93’s as I have no clue how to get the Downloadable Sims into my Sims 1 game. Besides, they’re added extras, just slip them into your Main Hood, Viper Canyon, Downtown, Bin Lots, it's up to your imagination! Feel free to export the lots and plop them in your main hoods, or just delete the subhood, its fine, I guess…

I hope you enjoy this labour of hate and love. Its an essential ingredient in my own Uberhoods. I genuinely miss these sims - especially the Sims 1 ones - so much in my games otherwise.

Special Thanks :

This version of “Caldera Lessaules” is officially a testing version, however nothing core is expected to change. That said, make a backup before adding it to your game. I am not responsible if your savefile becomes a BFBVFS and you don't have a backup. I may decide to add or tweak things in the hood, like ancestors, additional townies, etc, or roll-out fixes if people find errors which I haven’t picked up, but please do not hold off downloading if this is something which you'd think you'd love!

The creators mentioned in the first paragraph made most of the ancestors between them. ProfesionalPartyGuest also made the Harrises. Without them my hood would be ancestorless, which depending on if you care about Character File Count, is a good or a bad thing.

Download from (MEDIAFIRE) (SFS wouldn't work)

#squaretable-sims #squaretable-cc #caldera lessaules #sims 2 hood #townie pool #4t2 #1t2 #ts2 hood

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heliads · 1 year

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hi again !! person who asked about part 2 4 the benoit blanc fic here !! thank u 4 agreeing 2 write it !!

k so here's my request : it's like half a year after part 1 , and benny n the reader r solving crimes together but they're like ... super awkward with each other . they don't dislike each other , in fact they want to be closer , but r really wants a parental figure but isn't sure how to verbalize that and benoit jus does NOT know how 2 parent.

but then when they r on a case , r gets hurt ( not 2 serious , but enough 2 be scary ) , and benoit realizes how much he actually cares about this kid . n then they have a really sweet moment n decide 2 try n get closer ?

thank you so much !! i'm super excited 2 read this !!

anything for benny

part one / masterlist

Benoit Blanc is lost. Usually, this is not enough to trouble him. Problems are only worthwhile if they take some time to parse out. Benoit has no fondness for pointless mysteries, games in which the end is clear from the beginning and the middle has no value at all. He has always preferred to amble along and seek out clues. That is his best method of solving, it always has been.

It is a confounded issue, then, that Benoit is lost now. He is not in the midst of a crime, nor locked within the confines of a good hoax. He is between jobs at the moment, which usually means that his problem-solving fingers should cease to twitch at his sides, that he would no longer be ready to reach for a hint that will let him catch a killer.

Benoit’s problem at the moment regards his apprentice. He took on a teenager to help him with his cases about six months back, Y/N L/N. They’ve been an excellent aid, no cause for concern there, but Benoit’s judgment is faulty in where he is meant to draw the line between work friend and real friend. Typically, he never runs into this problem because he keeps each case to itself with no overlap whatsoever. By bringing Y/N with him, he now has someone closer than an acquaintance.

The issue is that Benoit would like to go about making their dynamic a little less stilted but he has absolutely no idea how to do it. There are moments when he’s certain that Y/N would appreciate a little parental guidance, for a lack of a better word, but Benoit is few things and one of them is certainly not a father. Thus, he is left grappling with how to indicate that he would like to try having a more central role in Y/N’s life with absolutely no idea how to do it.

Benoit took the idea to Phillip a month or so back to limited success. His partner had been focused on the intricacies of some blasted sourdough starter, his attention more in line with tossing flour to the heavens and whatnot. Benoit had posed the concern of what to do with the L/N kid. Phillip had allowed him to ramble on during the feeding time of the sourdough starter, which was consistently scheduled as if it were some kind of beast in need of a kilogram or ten of raw meat.

Benoit cannot fault his partner for the importance of the sourdough, however. They all need a task, some project in which to throw their focus and only withdraw some time later, wholly spent and perhaps a different man. Phillip finds his outlet with baking. Benoit does so with the lives of other people.

Some would consider that to be a sign of their true characters, but Benoit tries to prioritize the people above the thrill of the hunt. That, in the end, is what he feels separates him from the gaudy treasure-seekers of podcasts and true crime shows. Although he does feel that he would make a superb advice host if the chance ever came along. Phillip has yet to catch on to the idea, but Benoit is giving it time.

The conversation was brief but sincere. Phillip had dashed about a cup of flour into the ominous bowl of starter, then turned to him with a sigh.

“You’re getting in your own way,” he had said simply.

Benoit had spread his hands. “Obviously, but how do I get out of my own way? It is difficult, sometimes, to find one’s path long enough to step aside and let the truth rush forward. Sort of like a child who’s just taken off their training wheels. They can go fast, of course, and wreak havoc throughout the suburbs, but, Lord, they should not be allowed to do so.”

Phillip raised a weary brow. “In this case, I don’t think the issue is that you shouldn’t be able to go fast. You just are afraid to let go of your inhibitions. They’re a kid, Blanc, not a piranha. Although God knows you’d rather investigate a piranha than deal with this.”

“It would be interesting to figure out how a piranha had managed to cross my path,” Benoit had mused. “That isn’t the point, though.”

“No,” Phillip said around another sigh, “it isn’t. You need to find the proper time, then tell Y/N what you expect, plain and simple. There’s no other way around there.”

Phillip was right, as expected. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the advice Benoit had wanted to hear. He would have preferred something along the lines of ‘don’t worry about it, how about you go take another case’ or even ‘wait for them to come to you,’ but life is hardly fair.

“Thank you,” Benoit had said at last, “and for goodness’ sake, stop pointing that spatula at me. I’m going to do it. No threatening necessary.”

Phillip had disagreed on that point, but that was hardly a surprise. Benoit had gone to bed that night wondering how he was going to find the right chance to explain his expectations for the situation between himself and Y/N. In the morning, he woke with a blessing.

Handwritten letters have long been Benoit’s favorite way of hearing about a new case. Typically, he can figure out half the evidence just from studying the correspondence. Is the information scribbled in a hasty scrawl or typed out to avoid giving anything away? Do they mention his prior cases from the papers, and if so, which ones? Are the stamps perfectly organized, the product of a great time for leisure, or slapped on the envelope just before the mailman came?

This letter is no exception. Already, Benoit has a few ideas percolating in his brain even before he starts reading the message. This is a call to arms, to be certain. A murder. A weapon. Several innocents all in the line of fire. An inheritance, ready to fall into the wrong hands. Yes, this is a case for him without a doubt.

Benoit explains the situation to Y/N when she comes back from school in the evening. They discuss initial motives, then agree to respond back in a most reasonable fashion. The police investigations start Saturday, so they’ll arrive early in the morning in the hopes of reaching the family before too much has happened.

The car is studiously quiet on the drive over to the crime scene. A few times, Benoit or Y/N will attempt to bring up a casual source of conversation, but they always seem to lose their nerve before true discourse can occur. Something will happen to make them hesitate, and then the ball is dropped and they’re back to silence.

Benoit is grateful to see the address of the crime scene before long, sparing them from another few unsuccessful endeavors. Half an hour later, they’re so lost in the tangled threads of this particular mystery that they don’t have much time to trouble themselves over small things like whether or not this whole apprenticeship deal was worth it.

By Saturday evening, Benoit feels that he’s got a pretty good hold on the case itself. It seems to be your typical run-of-the-mill inheritance snatch. A primary character is established, the man who would receive the largest cut of a will. They’re then framed for murder, thus ensuring that the bounty will instead fall to the second-in-line, a brother-in-law who only married into the family in the hopes of collecting this sort of bloody check. Very satisfying.

Sunday morning rolls around. After a final late night check with Y/N to make sure their facts are in order, the pair feels ready to present their findings to the police and distraught family. Benoit, always excited at the possibility of an audience, leads with his theory and watches the brother-in-law’s face twist with horror as he realizes he’s been exposed.

All is going according to plan, or at least it has been until the brother-in-law stands up and announces that he isn’t going quietly. The money has already been transferred to his account, much of it withdrawn, and he can live off of it for quite some time. The murderer moves to flee, but when the police start to block his path, he does the unthinkable and grabs Y/N as a hostage.

Benoit has no choice but to watch as the murderer leaves the house, gun pressed to Y/N’s temple as a guarantee that he’s going to remain untroubled. Benoit has been involved in quite a few murder cases over his time, and is no stranger to danger, but this is something altogether different. He is terrified, plain and simple. Terrified that he’ll lose his crime-solving partner before even a year has passed. Terrified that he’ll never get that chance Phillip was talking about.

It occurs to him now that Benoit needs that chance more than anything. If he does not speak with Y/N about the fact that he wants them to be better friends, to rely on each other more than the stilted dynamic they have going on right now, he will carry that regret to his grave.

It is good, then, that Benoit and Y/N had factored in the fact that the murderer would try to run and planned accordingly. The brother-in-law’s car only makes it halfway down the street before the tires abruptly give out and the vehicle screeches to a stop. Y/N was evidently waiting for that moment, because they fling open the door and dive out without a second’s hesitation.

Benoit sprints to their side, pulling them away from the car and towards safety. The police surround the car, and after a few tense seconds the brother-in-law comes out with his hands raised. Benoit only starts to relax once the killer is in handcuffs and he knows for certain that the situation is in the hands of the law.

He turns to Y/N at last, checking for signs of damage. “Are you hurt?” He asks, frantic.

Y/N shakes their head. “No, I’m alright. Just startled, that’s all.”

“You’re a brave kid,” Benoit manages, “I don’t know that many people who would be this unruffled after being taken as a hostage. It speaks to your character. It also reminds me how affected I would be if something worse had happened. You’re not a stranger, Y/N, you’re a friend. I’d like for us to believe in that.”

Y/N starts to smile. “More than normal?”

“Far more than normal,” Benoit confirms, “millions of miles beyond that point. The best partnerships are based on trust. I trust you, Y/N.”

“I trust you,” they respond, “that’s why I was alright. I knew that no matter what happened, even if the tire thing didn’t work out, you’d look for me.”

“You didn’t need me, though,” Benoit argues, “you had the situation handled just fine. You were courageous all by yourself and I am quite impressed by that.”

Y/N shakes their head. “I could be brave because I knew you were there. I trust you.”

“Alright,” Benoit says at last, “we’re good, then.”

“We’re great,” Y/N confirms.

Benoit thinks that he’s going to have to talk to Phillip about this. The plan has gone quite well indeed.

part one requested by @starlit-epiphany, your ideas are very popular around here

knives out taglist: empty for now!

#benoit blanc #benoit blanc imagines #benoit blanc x reader #benoit blanc oneshot #knives out #knives out imagines #knives out x reader #knives out oneshot #platonic benoit blanc #platonic benoit blanc imagines #platonic benoit blanc x reader #platonic benoit blanc oneshot

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tame-a-messenger · 30 days

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just read the ask about what the announcement could be and how you said it wouldn't take long to organise SSG.

I work in immersive theatre and events, an undertaking like SSG even within an internal company would be a massive undertaking and could take between 3 months to 6 months to plan properly depending on where it's taking place.

You have to book the site where it's taking place, making sure no one else is around because Smosh are notoriously loud while filming. You have to make sure everyone is available, as a business they need to transport everyone out to the site and if it's far enough away put the cast and crew up in hotels as it's going to be a multi-day shoot and it may be too far for them to get back home. You also have to advertise it well in advance to maximise the excitement and views of SSG. There are also a ton of other details that I have no clue about because I don't work within film/TV/digital content. (Also call me stupid, but I think a sleepaway camp themed SSG would be hilarious)

I'm glad we can talk about this!

I also was taking into account most of the things you mentioned (booking a site that would be unbothersome, the hotels/lodging, everyone being available for at least a week straight(?), and the actual process of getting all the cast and crew to location) and I still believe that is something they could get done, with a lot of hard work.

My biggest worries regarding it (and the biggest reasons I feel they haven't done it already) are making sure everyone gets to go, with most of the cast being freelance and therefore busy.

Another BIG thing is having enough crew to film IRL content. Since most of the crew works with 3 steady-cams and the occasional hand-cam, it is a big undertaking if they tried to film anything as chaotic as SSG Wild West or any of the other Games versions.

I don't think they currently have enough people to film it well. (meaning they would have to hire on more camera operators and everything else) Which I'm imagining is not only a big chunk of change $ but also hiring new people could make for an uncomfortable atmosphere.

As for them advertising it- I haven't seen ONE person that's in the Smosh fanbase not want them to continue doing SSG/SWG. I'm EXREMELY CONFIDENT that if they did some crowd funding they would hit the goal. No question. Which leads me onto the next big thing-

I'm curious if they haven't done it because of legal issues regarding health and safety.

Most of the games they would do involved a lot of potentially harmful 'stunts' that the cast did themselves (obviously), like the mouse trap blindfolded thing they did in SSG Camp, or the mechanical bull riding in Wild West (pretty much every season had some sort of dangerous activity) so I could see them not wanting to have someone get hurt and have legal action taken. (obviously I wouldn't want someone to get hurt regardless, but we're talking about absolutes)

I still think it's possible for them to do it, it would just take someone with gusto to head the whole thing (something Smosh has been missing recently). It makes me really miss some of the old producers.

I think I mentioned that if they were going to do SSG they would have already been planning it for at least a month (so that would be the minimum you said- 3 months) so I'm starting to think because that wasn't what they were teasing today that we aren't going to get SSG but SWG is still on the table?... maybe...?

So biggest things I can see causing trouble-

Not enough crew

Cast having enough freetime for a week(?) of videos

Legal is scary

Not having someone willing to lead the charge (it is a big undertaking)(but not impossible)

If they wanted to they would. But benefit of the doubt says timing is a cold hearted bitch.

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hrokkall · 9 months

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Saw the little nightmares 3 trailer got released and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Is there anything in particular that you're excited for or just generally hyped about?

Also sorry if this question comes across weird I have no clue about the series but remembered you enjoyed it and drew some stuff for it so I thought it'd be fun to talk about it if that makes sense?

- 🥊

Oh I have so many thoughts on it. So many that I'm going to put them below the cut so this post doesn't take up anyone's entire dash.

First of all, damn my copious amounts of coursework for the fact that I couldn't sit down and start drawing fanart immediately the moment I finished watching the trailer once… or twice… maybe three times. Mark my words though these kids WILL be getting some day 2 (actual) art, even if it's just a little sketch.

…Point being, I was pretty excited right out of the gate. Admittedly, I was a little nervous that the studio changeover would mean that any (potential) future Little Nightmares content would mean a massive tonal shift, but based on the trailer alone + the additional guides related to the game, it nails the atmosphere of the previous games pretty damn well. Hell, the giant baby enemy even resembles some of the concept art from the flesh walls!

Already, Nowhere is combining some of my favorite things (notably locations that seem/are "alive", steampunk motifs, and copious amounts of birds… also reminds me a little bit of Zone 3 from OFF, but that's probably just me), but most notably is the fact that it actually seems to resemble some of the locations seen in the (tragically cancelled) 2017 comics. This is particularly notable in the first issue, which features two children taking shelter in a barn from a monster known as the North Wind (who is made of/"sees through" the eyes of black birds, presumably crows), but the second issue is about a monster that lives within mirrors, which are shown a lot in the trailer as well. Either way, I'm cautiously hoping for some references to the comics, especially because we never got to learn what happened to the rest of the Maw kids there (the answer is probably "they died horribly" but I mean hey. You never know).

The designs of the two protagonists are, of course, adorable. I love the plague doctor/gas mask duo (especially because having face coverings makes sense in such a dusty place) and the bit where they both glide down using feather umbrellas is genuinely so fun—absolutely no complaints there.

…Actually, one complaint: I have no idea which one is Low and which one is Alone. None of the official sources have clarified that. Please LN3… I need to know the names of my new kids before they get put into the meat grinder like every other protagonist in these games. (Given the series' track record, I'm not too optimistic about their fates—sorry little guys! I'll be rooting for you anyway). EDIT: It seems like Low is the bird mask kid and Alone is the hazard suit kid

Mechanically… I don't think we've seen enough of the game for me to make any hasty judgements. I know everyone wanted LN2 to be multiplayer (and LN3 appears to have a singleplayer option), but I'm unsure of how that will work. Will it be Spiritfarer style multiplayer where only one player has to own LN3? Will it be online? Will it be splitscreen? Will me inevitably ditching the main campaign to screw around with my friend ruin the atmosphere? No idea. The way I see it, it's too soon to tell.

While we're on the topic though, I did also listen to the first episode of the audio drama! Without spoiling anything… yeah I can definitely recommend it. It's very reminiscent of The Magnus Archives and/or The Bright Sessions, so if you like either of those podcasts you'll probably like The Sounds of Nightmares. Even if you know absolutely nothing about Little Nightmares, I'd honestly recommend it. Voice mixing is a little off in places (though there's a decent chance it was just my headphones being fucky), but the podcast MORE than makes up for it in terms of imagery and phenomenal sound design. No word on the lore implications though; I'll listen to episode 2 when I get the time and THEN deliver the verdict there. I also hope they release an official transcript for it—there isn't one right now afaik, but that would be really helpful for a multitude of reasons.

But yeah, that's about it! TL;DR hell yeah I'm excited for this game, but I'm trying not to fill in the blanks with too much supposition while there's still so little info available

#Also I can promise this isn't a weird question at all; I was freaking out over it on main #And I've drawn/talked about loving the LN series here too! Point being no worries :]#Re: Inbox #🥊 anon #Little Nightmares 3 #<- For indexing. Apologies to the maintag

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brightnote · 11 months

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The Talos set Maria up to ice out Fury theory -- more unusual stuff surrounding Maria & some Far From Home connections

Oh. No. Another one. I have gone off the rails. This is all I do now. Episode 1 & 2 spoilers below.

I have an extremely long break down post here about some things surrounding Maria and her unforgivable demise on Secret Invasion. I’ve thought of even more things as reviewed some stuff from Far From Home. This is another long one. But so far my theory on Maria’s fate is that Talos has set up Maria, used her as pawn to lure Fury back and then ice Fury out of his network and allies.

Issues from Far From Home:

If you remember when Maria and Nick are the bar in Moscow in Secret Invasion Maria tells Nick that she contacted him at “Talos’s request” but if you recall from the end of Far from Home where Soren (RIP) has shape shifted as Maria and Talos is covering for Nick on earth Talos calls Fury directly. (Link to the scene here). We don’t know if Maria knows that Soren was acting as her in Far From Home and we have no idea where Maria was at this time — but Nick knows Talos and Soren were standing in for him and Maria.

At the very end of the scene TALOS CALLS FURY HIMSELF ON SPEED DIAL. So why would Talos need Maria to contact Nick for him at all? Nick confirms this when he yells at Talos on the train. "YOU KNEW HOW TO CONTACT ME MAN” Maybe ignoring Maria was away to keep her away from the skrulls? (that didn’t work re skrull Ross) Is Talos now actually a villain who used Maria as a pawn (re chess scene where Maria moves the pawn first obviously intentional symbolism here) This never explains why Soren was acting as Maria with Talos standing in for Nick in Far From Home. (or real Maria was just working I guess) I don’t assume we will ever get a clarification on this from Marvel because Maria is stuck in that shitty position of only being someone useful for male story arcs, and then goes back to a no one who doesn’t exist outside of propping up men but it is a bummer if we don’t get this figured out. But if we look at some other things that happened in Secret Invasion episodes 1 & 2 so far theory leans toward Talos set used and then set up Maria.

In my last ridiculously long spiraling out post about Maria’s time on Secret Invasion I mentioned that I think the totally idiotic way in which she and Fury fell into this trap might be a clue within itself. As you can recall in Far From Home, Maria and Nick were also acting bizarrely stupid. I know by mid movie I was punching my best friend saying there was no way Nick and Maria would fall for “Mysterio” In fact as the story started to play out Maria stans were quick to roll their eyes and recall that Maria held a very high position at Stark Industries for some time. Until that end credit scene I was stunned at how stupid Marvel made Maria and Nick look (Nick much more so, but in the end it ended up being Talos and Soren which made more sense). If Fury is ‘always in’ then it seems like he would be above these bonehead moves like he would have been in Far From Home. But if he’s being lead astray by Talos that makes way more sense. If these bonehead moves are what kick him back into gear wouldn’t a real Maria be able to keep him in check unless she was also being played by Talos. She’s bold enough or caring enough to tell Fury to step out of the game and take a break and let someone else handle it but then dumb enough to just follow him into it? He’s not ready but she goes for it with him? I don’t know. The one thing that was nice before we saw the reveal that Maria was Soren was that Skrull Maria in FFH did put Skrull Nick in check a few times.

Ok! Well now let’s also look at a few MORE things from Secret Invasion:

Skrull Ross running away with the plans he stole and then calling Maria for extraction likely means Skrull Ross was going to show Maria the plans he stole to try and get her to contact Fury. Likely this Talos’s plan all along. Interestingly, from what we see after Skrull Ross is exposed Maria does little not notify anyone after learning that she was interacting with Skrull Ross. Were Ross and Maria in Moscow together for something specific? Isn’t Ross supposed to be hiding? Is Maria actually working or off on her own...does she actually cut off communication from her team/crew because there is a Ross Skrull imposter and that’s why she goes with Talos to some safe location that we do not know if it is hers or his? Talos and Maria take the plans Skrull Ross had and then Maria contacts Nick with the encrypted message at least we assume it was her based on the Rhodey conversation with the President. —- We assume Maria is working in Moscow for unknown reasons and she blindly switches to helping Talos and Fury does this mean she stopped working on whatever she was doing and cut off communication? Kind of odd unless she was getting lead on by Talos?

This is totally nothing but in my very first Secret Invasion melt down post over Maria’s death I joked that the only thing we learned about Maria is that she doesn’t change her clothes because she’s wearing the same clothes the whole time. She actually has two sweatshirts at least, one is light gray/whiteish and she has blue jeans, a white undershirt, a blue v-neck, a light grey/white hoodie with a navy peacoat. Someone said Maria has a dark gray and then a light gray hoodie but i think one is light gray and the one at the bar seen is like a dark brown or even dark olive green color!! It’s really hard to tell in the lighting at the bar. But there is a lot of layering of blue and white which probably means something! Her color scheme changes once she starts working with Nick and red is added when Maria gets the cut her nose from fighting G’iah. I thought there was no green on Maria HIll at all but maybe actually there is or it could be a dark gray. This is a tough one I think there is a dark gray sweatshirt and a light one and in this show wardrobe choices do matter.

Maria’s encrypted message she allegedly sends to Nick means that Maria did not want anyone in the government or any infiltrated skrull to see what she wrote to Nick showing that Nick returning from Saber was supposed to be on the down low or that Maria knows Skrulls have infiltrated high level positions or TALOS pretending to send the message as or through Maria knows other skrulls work in the government.

Maria contacts Fury and then picks him up alone and Fury and Maria return to the safe house. If Maria thinks her network is infiltrated by Skrulls and she’s acting in secret with Nick why would she return to a safe house that was set up earlier? I think this location has to be via Talos and not Maria but I don’t know and it does not mean Sonya is not involved with it, but if Sonya is involved with it spying on her there seems like a particularly bad move unless Talos and Sonya are acting in some kind of collab.

Nick goes for a walk at night in Moscow and we know now that Gravik is actually following him as a shapeshifter in a number of forms because we see Gravik shape shift into these same people at the bombing. This means Gravik knew Fury returned to earth when Fury had only been in contact with Maria and then Talos another strike against Talos. Either Gravik was tipped off by someone on Saber or Gravik had already been monitoring Maria and was still able to do so after Maria learned about Skrull Ross which means skrull Ross is likely a red herring and Talos is pulling the strings.

We next have the bizarre and totally lopsided scene where Nick and Talos leave Maria in the car but If Maria was supposed to be on look out for them when they go after the art dealer why would Maria leave her spot and follow G’iah? The dark tunnel fight is apparently where we learn Hill might be the one not up for this fight since she can’t even stop a 5 foot lady from walking ..? Talos comes to help Maria up but she stops him and sends him after G’iah. Maria gets up on her own in a totally weird way, just saying!! G’iah has a break down over seeing Talos for a few moments. When G’iah returns and talks to Gravik she tells him she saw someone and he asks if she could identify them G’iah says no but i thought she is referring to Talos to protect her dad and not mentioning her run in with Maria at all meaning they already know who she is and wouldn’t need to identify her and or that she wouldn’t need to identify Talos to Gravik?

I think that above detail is important because the standard argument is that Gravik learned of Maria at the bar but as my extremely extremely long prior post Gravik may already be in the bar when Fury gets there. Nick comes in and he takes off his gloves and orders a drink. No one follows him inside. If G’iah didn’t identify Hill to Gravik then he already had some clue in of her existence likely via Skrull Ross or Talos! If Gravik wasn’t following Fury into the bar that means he followed Maria there or some how learned they were going there.

As discussed in the last post this whole scene is totally unusual or intentionally different from the kind of scenes we see in Marvel between Maria and Nick. It’s here where Maria echoes Sonya and Talos (i don’t remember which order Maria is when she says this but she is not #1) which is either a clue something is up or Marvel just doing a thing like ‘women telling men to be careful’ I don’t think Maria has to tell Nick to be careful but who knows. Also it’s odd to me that Maria would contact Nick, go pick him up, and then say ‘you know what, maybe just sit this one out pal and watch from the sidelines.” Maybe Talos put this idea in Maria’s head afterward? Why contact Nick at all even if Talos asked her to, if she thinks Nick has changed from the blip wouldn’t she just tell Talos it’s a waste of time, and he hasn’t been responding, wouldn’t Maria ask him to contact Nick himself since he has a direct line that Nick apparently answers? Although I assume Maria doesn’t know this. As we’ve known her Hill is generally nothing but efficient, but ok sure, she calls him down here and then tells him take a break pal, you can’t do it.

Next right before Maria is killed-- in true Maria fashion she stops to help someone ‘find their footing’ which is when Gravik as Fury sees her and calls her over. This is the exact opposite of what happened when Maria and Talos were in the tunnel he tries to stop and help and she points Talos to G’iah. Is this some kind of symbolism? Talos is not killed by G’iah and later it seems like G’iah’s encounter with Maria is forgotten. Maria has a long history of refusing help from people. Helping other people including Nick is what gets her killed.

Does Nick use Maria’s name at all? I thought Gravik called out Hill but I saw a cap that says he called out Maria! I can’t rewatch that scene yet so idk. I think he’s likely aware of her some other way that I assume won’t be fleshed out but I hope it is. When Maria is shot and confused Gravik notices Fury coming up behind her and he then flees. In the soul crushing moment in which Maria tells not asks Nick “it was you” in the chaos Nick says “not me” but it is an interesting choice of words for both of them. Was this choice of words actually Maria giving a last warning to Nick if Maria thought Nick shot her why would she say anything like that at all or why didn’t she ask him why. Was it a fake out Maria trying to truly devastate Nick Fury down to the core?? No but i would kind of love that twist tbh. Why wouldn’t Garvik just finish the job anyway so Fury couldn’t get a last chance to explain it wasn’t him. Ultimately, this is just another moment where a woman’s death is truly all about a man and not her own thing but ok. Maybe just maybe this is a coded warning.

Nick and Talos did blindly accept the intel from G’iah which is more support that Talos is actually a bad actor that set up Maria and got her killed We can also see in the pan out that when Maria dies her feet are pointing to the right which is where Fury was when he was talking to her as she died, I would think her feet would point the other direction if she thought Fury killed her just a thought!

When we meet Maria’s mom, her mom insists that Maria ‘would follow Fury to hell and back’ so telling Fury hey step out of this fight isn’t very Maria like unless that’s a line she was fed which i think it is. Additionally, when Fury doesn’t step out of the ring Maria still follows him to the bombing, which shows she was leaning toward and still loyal toward Fury. Also is ‘to hell and back’ some kind of resurrection clue or a red herring? The casting of Maria’s mom just to say this line is probably more than just nothing or just another woman yelling at Fury. In fact, actually spending the time to cast Maria’s mom to say this line might be a hint about a devil hiding in plain sight like Talos. Remember Marvel treats Maria as a nothing character which is why we don’t get fill info about her like where she has been but then they use her death “to raise the stakes of the show” is she minor or not? (This is the problem I think so many of us have with this plot even though if Talos did set Maria up it is actually a good plot device but could we at least get to know her first geeze)

Of course we don’t know for sure that Rhodey did get Maria’s body back from Russia we just presume it from the scene. But Nick ‘left her body in Russia’ Fury is convinced I guess. Argument for Talos being the bad guy is that Talos is the one who pulls Nick away from Maria but I think Fury could have done more on this. Additionally if Talos is a bad actor leaving an American body in Russia to set off a fire storm would be great for Talos.

To be clear, I think Maria (true Maria) is dead but I think the story of how and why she is dead is more complicated than it seems or at least how it has been addressed in the online breakdowns. I don’t think it’s Nick being dumb I think it’s Talos leading Maria and Nick astray. But the Talos needing Maria to contact Nick for him part really got me and we will never know why Soren was covering for Maria or maybe Fury has always been in as he claims and just got Maria killed as collateral damage because he’s being a bad friend and maybe he licensed her identity out to Skrulls without her knowledge or permission?? Hmm. Overall, what I can get from this is Nick has been a truly, and I mean truly terrible friend to Maria in work, life, and even in death so far, which is a shame since their honest and supportive relationship was the best part of their dynamic. I think what feels like a bad friendship where he ignored Maria for years is lessoned if this is some kind of set up, Nick Fury is not careless and this was carelessness!!

Additionally I am still holding out for Maria content somewhere in the MCU or in Secret Invasion as an interview Cobie did says she “had a lot of scenes at the same time as Don” so maybe we will have flashbacks coming. I also think Cobie is giving us secret messages like when she wore a neon green skirt for Secret Invasion press day and then a sheer black dress at the premiere. Recently in one interview I saw Cobie quotes as saying she “was told the skrulls would shoot Maria” years ago. I assume Marvel coached her on this choice of words because she didn’t say she was told the skrulls “kill Maria.” And as Cobie has said herself “her death feels real, it looked real to me but I don’t know.” In the same boat with all of us I guess.

Let me know what you think, sorry for yet another very very long read! Please share/comment/reblog and tell me what you think! I am desperate for someone to talk about this with!

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pochapal · 7 months

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1. Congrats on the kinda blown up post!

2. This is a really weird, kinda stupid ask, but out of the Umineko characters u know, who seems like they’d be the most fun to play in a ttrpg? I ask because I know multiple people have done this one character and, for spoilery reasons, I have no clue how.

1: thank you i guess! feels weird to have a post gain traction among people beyond my usual follower circle lmao

2: now the first thing you need to know is that i don't do ttrpgs or understand anything about them in any meaningful way so this is very hard to consider. i do think the dice rolling factor of certain tabletops plays nicely with the whole "demon's roulette" angle of umineko except for the part where umineko only pretends like it's a series of random chance events and not a thoroughly premeditated script but maybe chance vs control could thematically translate into a good ttrpg character basis maybe? i guess the hard thing with umineko is that everything including its characters was not designed for a rng roll one outcome of millions scenario but instead deliberate consideration and understanding - idk much about ttrpgs but i feel like needing to take a 3000 word break to painstakingly sketch out a deeply biased account of a character's tragic backstory in order to explain the relevance of the morally questionable action they have just taken (the explaining of which being as plot-critical as the actions themselves) isn't the most friendly thing you could mix in with a ttrpg formula.

as character archetypes i think a great deal of umineko characters ire fun and engaging to explore on their own terms, but ttrpgs often have a growth/power fantasy element baked into them that isn't entirely congruent with the grounding theses of most of the cast. natsuhi is deeply fascinating as an individual but "powerless woman who is snared in the twin nets of pride and desperation and whose only agency is whether or not she can uphold a conspiracy to people who can leverage all kinds of abuse towards her" doesn't really work in any kind of rpg sense. if natsuhi were to get "stronger" and "advance" this would lay ruin to the underpinning tragic essence of what makes natsuhi *natsuhi*. same goes even for characters like battler who you'd think would click more with this formula - even a hypothetical mystery-solving based ttrpg could not accommodate battler as the inherent gamification of the narrative necessitates truths and evidence being revealed on a diegetic level in such a way that battler could actually figure out, and at that point what we're talking about is basically danganronpa instead of umineko.

i think in this way despite being a vn and thus a form of video game so much of umineko is heavily resistant to being "played" in the traditional game sense. there is a game going on in umineko between writer and reader, but this is a game of thinking and interpretation and understanding and not something that can be broken down into quantifiable Progression Units. the only "final boss" of umineko is your own lack of understanding and this fight is waged in your own head and not within the fabric of the story - even if in umineko proper battler "figures out" the mystery, it won't end up in a climactic final fantasy-esque showdown with beatrice on rokkenjima. gamification is kind of like "fantasy" within a narrative context (this is something i have/will talk about more in the writeup so forgive me if this isn't clearly defined yet) in that it's an embellished obfuscation of truth in the Romantic sense where you get lost in the process rather than the results - in theory, battler cornering beatrice during the denouement and saying definitively "this is the truth behind everything" is as a decisive an action as battler using the power of anime and friendship to energy blast beatrice into ash. the difference is the former keeps the mystery and tragedy front and center, while the latter out of necessity makes it specifically about battler as the center of the narrative universe.

this goes into the territory of mystery fiction and whether or not the designated Detective (capitalized in the stock archetype way and not the literary analysis dichotomy way) character must also occupy the traditional role of protagonist in the Hero sense. battler is the central character in umineko and the most crucial information is filtered through his lens, but battler is not the Hero of umineko - he is a passive witness to the tragedy who can only grow more desperate and powerless as the atrocities continue to pile up. the troubling thing about a lot of mystery is how you make a Detective that isn't basically just a cop - there is a certain power tension in mystery where through uncovering the truth the Detective takes the obfuscating "power" held by the Culprit and redirects into a clarifying force of their own. a denouement is when the Detective has, after a sort of hero's journey, acquired enough truth/power to unmask/dominate the Culprit, and as a "reward" is able to use the power structures of society (police, carceral punishment, "Just" murder) to get their way (return to a status quo) where the Culprit was previously able to use the power structures of mystery narratives (tricks, unreliable perspective, misdirection, "Unjust" murder) in order to get theirs (subversion of the status quo in accordance with their motive). all of this very easily feeds into copaganda-esque regurgitations of power dynamics and grows more prominent the more physical agency a Detective-Hero has in their given narrative situation.

bring those elements to a gamified stage and what you're left with is more a simulation of dominion through your character's power biases than a nuanced understanding of the social conditions that led to the formation of these events in the first place. you could of course perform a complete dissection of the Events and Circumstances of a ttrpg's setting, but is producing a diatribe on social structures and reinforcement of power akin to "playing"? i think maybe an umineko character might work in an undertale/deltarune-esque manner where there is an explicit conflict and tension inherent to the non-neutral action of "controlling" a character, but i don't see how that easily fits into the dna specifically of ttrpgs. there is an element of roleplay in ttrpgs where there is a meeting of the player's self and the character's self in order to produce the performance of the game-narrative in accordance with the structural rules. laying out like that i guess there's overlap between the premise of a roleplay-focused ttrpgs and the Witch Narrative, but both have different causes and different end goals. in a ttrpg no matter what in some form your goal is to "win", to attain something and move on to the next thing - everything in a ttrpg/game serves more as a vessel to enable the player to both achieve and experience a victory-state. there are ttrpg types that could interrogate these elements in a satisfying way, but nothing in umineko is directly about these things and thus a translation in this form would be to lose something in the process.

you don't come to umineko to "win" umineko. or if you do you'll quickly figure out that that is something not possible within the story's verbage. mystery and horror and tragedy do not produce victory in the conventional sense and any story in those genres that uncritically ends on a "victory" is dubious at best and incompetent at worst. in these worlds and fictions, how is it that something you could call victory can be attained? what sort of person would you need to be in order to strive for this victory? if any of the umineko characters were capable of this trajectory then they would never have ended up in the situation that they are in. to not only be concerned with powergaming but also to have the ability to do so fundamentally changes an individual's position within a narrative - for the premise to exist it implies a way out of any potential hardship, that if you're good enough at [power verb] then you can attain autonomy/power/dominion. nobody on rokkenjima ever had any of these things, which is why this is all happening in the first place. i don't think you can ever satisfactorily separate umineko characters from their disempowering material conditions like that.

the silly answer to this question, of course, has to be beatrice who has already been roleplayed by half of the cast of umineko at this point anyway. beatrice "exists" and beatrice is a vessel for power so in this way beatrice is already kind of a ttrpg character in that sense if the ttrpg's goal is desperate slaughter through at least two layers of metaphor and obfuscation. the important thing to take into account is that a playable ttrpg character "exists" and so maybe if more people on rokkenjima were into roleplaying none of these horrors would be happening lol.

#coolstuffiseverywhere #can you have a satisfying ttrpg character who is truly and inescapably doomed by the narrative? that's the real question here #anyway this deranged tangent was not what you asked for and doesn't address your question in any way but here we are lol

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centuryberry · 1 year

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@peachshadows / @terrible-leviathan Finally, we look at the other side of things as the Canon Counterparts panic over MK and A-Dan's disappearance.

When Wukong and Macaque returned to Flower Fruit Mountain from their date, MK and A-Dan were already gone. Not that they realized it immediately. Their A-Dan adored playing pranks and games, so they thought that she had dragged MK into her recent scheme and hid.

But then, Wukong couldn’t find them. Not even with his golden eyes. No matter how loudly they called or how many times they combed through the mountain, MK and A-Dan remained gone. That was when the concern and anxiety began to set in.

They made calls to their friends. Surely, there was some sort of emergency in Pigsy’s Noodles that made MK leave with A-Dan. Surely, Mei dragged MK and A-Dan into some spontaneous kind of fun. Surely, Red Son tried to reignite his old rivalry with MK and accidentally dragged A-Dan into it. Surely -

But no. No one saw or heard from MK ever since he left to Flower Fruit Mountain to babysit A-Dan. No, he wasn’t answering his phone.

A kidnapping, then. Wukong and Macaque knew that something like this would happen. A-Dan was the daughter of the Monkey King and the Six-Eared Macaque, after all. They both had a fair number of enemies who were the sort to try to take the child of the most dangerous beings in the Three Realms. They just didn’t realize that it would happen within the boundaries of Flower Fruit Mountain.

Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy looked around the city, asking around for MK in his usual noodle-delivering routes. Mei and Red Son joined forces and turned to technology, flipping through all the cameras in hopes of finding any clues of MK and A-Dan’s whereabouts.

Macaque turned to the underbellies of Demon Cities, shaking it down for answers and keeping his ears out for the familiar heartbeats of his cub and his student.

Wukong turned to Heaven. He broke into the Celestial world and upended the entire realm, including the Jade Palace. It was the reenactment of the havoc he caused in his youth except his aim wasn’t the throne or to cause mischief - it was to find his children. He was actually in the middle of threatening the Jade Emperor himself when a familiar voice called out for him to stop.

“Wait! Waitwaitwaitwait! Stop! I’m here! Monkey King, I’m here!”

Wukong froze and slowly turned to where the Trigram Furnace sat. After the Lady Bone Demon’s defeat, it had been safely returned. MK’s frantic face stared back at him.

“…MK!?” Wukong turned back to the Jade Emperor with a snarl. “So you did have them! Release him and give my daughter back!”

“Monkey King, NO!”

It took some coaxing and pleading, but MK(?) managed to calm Wukong down enough to get him to release the Jade Emperor and listen. The reflection explained the situation as best he could.

“So, you’re not MK,” Wukong concluded.

“Not really? I mean, I am a MK, but I’m not yours. Think of me as a possibility that never came to be,” the reflection suggested with a shrug. “To be honest, the only reason why I exist is because of MK. Think of me as a clone except…more. Your MK isn’t in this world anymore. He slipped between the cracks and ended up in a completely different dimension. But he’s trying his best to come back. He needs your help.”

The reflection proceeded to give Wukong the outline of what happened to his cub and his student. It was a fantastical tale of multiple worlds that spanned beyond the three realms born of different paths, choices, and possibilities.

Wukong didn’t have time for disbelief. MK and A-Dan were nowhere to be found. So, when the reflection was finished, Wukong only asked one thing: “How do we get them home?”

All too eager to get the Monkey King out of his hair, the Jade Emperor let Wukong “borrow” the furnace and gave him all the other required items that the reflection listed before hastily shooing him away from the Celestial Realm.

“A-A-Alternate realities?!” Tang all but salivated at the idea of it when Wukong explained it to everyone. Of course, his scholarly excitement was immediately cooled when he realized what that meant for MK and A-Dan. “There’s a way to get them back, right?”

“Yeah, there’s a way,” Wukong assured all of them. “The hard part’s getting them back home without a fight.”

“If we need to fight to get them home, we’ll fight,” Pigsy spoke up fervently. Mei nodded enthusiastically in the background, already unsheathing her sword.

Wukong felt his mate at his back. His mate was shaking. “They have A-Dan. They have our little girl.”

“And we’ll get her back,” Wukong swore as he turned around to gather Macaque up in his arms. But his mate wasn’t distraught like he had originally thought. He was enraged. He was ready to rip someone’s throat out. Wukong held him tighter. “We’ll get them both back. I promise.”

The ritual was simple. With the help of the furnace and with Tang’s power, they opened up the portal. To all of their surprise, two shocked faces stared back at them from the other side.

“It worked?” The Tang lookalike blurted out, completely mystified. “I mean - it worked!”

“You can trust them,” MK’s reflection assured Wukong from the piece of a reflective surface of the furnace. “They want to help MK and A-Dan get back to where they belong.”

Wukong shouldn’t have been surprised that it would be Pigsy and Tang’s counterparts who had MK and A-Dan’s best interests in heart. They had been working nonstop to find a way to get MK and A-Dan back home.

“P-P-Please, you need to help MK!” The other Tang stammered with a panicked gleam in his eyes. “He’s -!”

“What? Held captive? Tortured?”

“Getting married!”

“What?!l”

To Red Son’s chagrin and everyone else’s horror, MK’s groom-to-be was none other than the dimension’s heir to the Demon Bull King Family. The entire mortal realm sang about their “epic love story” far and wide. So smitten with his fiancé, this world’s Red Son was willing to brush aside all tradition to jump right to the engagement ceremony and marriage. The mortal realm of this world seemed to be celebrating this “great love story second only to the Emperor and Empress.” Wukong was not as happy or amused. No doubt, MK was being strong-armed into this, either for his power or just to control him.

Wukong knew how Heaven loved its control.

But this world was different from his own. His Havoc has been successful and demons ruled the Three Realms. It was a vision he used to dream about in his younger days. Seeing it come to reality was horrifying.

Demons glutted themselves with power and prestige while humans and celestials suffered under their greed and entitlement. Violence was a part of everyday life. And the weak could only accept the constant injustice and abuse dealt onto them.

This was not where MK and A-Dan belonged.

“We’re totally going to crash that wedding, right?” Mei asked rhetorically, looking all too ready to make her own Havoc in Heaven happen. “Like, there’s no way MK would have his wedding without me so this is obviously something he doesn’t want.”

“Not like this is our first Celestial break-in,” Macaque said dryly, sharing a look with Wukong. “But we’re going to have to be smart about this. We want to make this quick and not alert anyone if we can help it. This isn’t just any enemy we’re facing - it’s ourselves.”

With some planning and a little bit of magic, the entire group managed to (subtly) cross into the Celestial Realm and (quietly) break into the Jade Palace.

Which….wasn’t as hard as Wukong initially thought it would be. Every servant recognized him as “The Emperor”. All of them were too fearful of catching his attention, so no one questioned his presence - or the presence of the others for that matter. And the people who would notice the difference weren’t around, too busy with the wedding preparations to notice that something was amiss.

“MK is right there,” the Reflection guided them all to an intricate set of doors.

Enthusiastically, Mei came up to the doors and knocked on them. “MK? MK~! We’re here to get you out!”

“…Go away.”

Mei’s smile wavered. “MK?”

“…Go. Please.”

Wukong stiffened at how dispirited the kid sounded. What in the world did the other him do to MK? To A-Dan?

Mei went to knock again but was interrupted when Red Son simply drop kicked the doors down.

“Cease your pathetic moping, Nyoodle Boy!” Red Son sneered as he stepped over the broken doors and towards the lump in the bed. “We have come to rescue you and you aren’t even expressing a proper amount of gratefulness! You should at least show some initiative and punctuality in your own rescue. You are wasting precious time as it is, peasant.”

“I told you to go - wait, “Nyoodle Boy”? “Peasant”? RED?!” MK jerked up from his bed with an overjoyed expression on his face, nearly headbutting poor Red Son, who was stunned silent at how decorated MK was with the Bull King Family’s symbols and colors. The young Monkey Demon’s joy doubled at the sight of his best friend. “MEI!”

“Heya, Monkey Man! Ya missed us?” Mei chirped cheekily.

To everyone’s surprise, MK began to bawl loudly. “Yes!” He wailed. “Yes, I did! So much! So much!”

“Awww, MK, c’mere,” Mei cooed as she drew him into a tight hug. He sobbed into her shoulder. “We missed you too.”

The rest of the group were quick to join in on the group hug, adding their own comforting words and expressions of worry. Red Son was the only one who stood back, too awkward to properly contribute to the reunion. That was, until Mei grabbed his elbow and dragged him in too.

“You guys came for me!” MK warbled as he sobbed into Macaque’s fur. “You guys really came!”

“Of course we did, bud. Was there any doubt?” Macaque gave MK’s back a final pat before drawing back. “Now…where is my daughter?”

Before MK could answer, Wukong felt something tug on his tail. He looked down and jerked in surprise when he saw small hands popping out of MK’s shadow to tug on his fur playfully. It took Wukong a ridiculously long moment to process that it was A-Dan. With a joyous shout, he lifted his tail, tugging a giggling A-Dan from the shadow.

“A-Dan!” Macaque all but ripped their daughter from Wukong’s tail, making the Monkey King wince as the action caused the loss of two, tiny fistfulls of hair. His Moonlight completely ignored his pain as he cuddled and kissed their small daughter, who could only wiggle and chirp with confusion at her Mama’s sudden smothering. “Oh, darling, you’re safe! You don’t know how much you worried me and your Baba, my little dawn. We ripped apart the earth and heavens for you. You won’t be leaving our sight for an entire century.”

“Cen’tree?!” A-Dan repeated with alarm. Though Wukong was sure she had no idea what a century meant, she certainly recognized Macaque’s tone and wasn’t too thrilled with what that meant. She turned pathetically to Wukong and sniffled, hoping to wiggle a different verdict from him. “Baba?”

Wukong could only smile helplessly at her pleading eyes. “Your Mama is right, A-Dan. You won’t be leaving our sight for an entire century.”

“Awww.”

Wukong’s smile wavered when he felt the little piece of the furnace vibrating and heating up in his pocket. He fished it out just in time to catch the last of what the Reflection was desperately trying to communicate to him. “ - to go. Monkey King! NOW! They’re on their way! They’re almost - !”

“- here, MK! Everyone’s waiting!”

Wukong heard all about the him in this world. The Emperor of the Three Realms, who overthrew Heaven and brought all demons to the top of the food chain. He sounded every bit of the person Wukong used to be before his Journey. And he was right. The Emperor who stood in front of them had the stance of someone who never faced a single consequence in his life. There was arrogance and cruelty in his stance. It was like taking a look at everything terrible and shameful about himself and making it a thousand times worse. This could’ve been him and Wukong hated it.

“You,” Wukong seethed.

“You,” the other him snarled.

Before either of them could act on their hatred, a shadow portal opened up under Wukong and the others, causing them all to drop and fall. Before the portal closed above their heads, Wukong could hear the other him shout.

“NO!”

If Wukong didn’t hate himself so much, his heart would’ve ached for the heartbreak and grief he heard in the Emperor’s voice.

#fic update #shadowpeach #the sundown era #lmk #little dawn au

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