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#or rather thank you for making me lose all of my screenshots

rosemary-morgan · 9 months

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HC's - Making love with them includes... (+18!)

Warning: Nsfw 18+! Language, cum play, oral sex, erotic massages, chocking

Characters: Javier Escuella, Arthur Morgan and Charles Smith X Female Reader. Missing someone? Feel free to ask (❁´◡`❁)

Thanks to all who read and like my stories. Stay healthy and take care, my lovely bees 🐝🌺

Many thanks to @fangirl-ramblings 🖤 she has been beta reading for me 🌹

(Just the screenshots are mine)

Javier Escuella

He is in a flirty mood all the time. Just like you. You both can hardly wait to be undisturbed. You need your peace and quiet, far away from the others, to give each other the love you need.

You have been a couple for three weeks now and you are madly in love. There is nothing as delightful for you as making love to Javier.

And you do it very often. But as already mentioned, you prefer your privacy.

Often you will retreat to a nearby town, where you will rent a hotel room to let your love run free. There you both can be as loud as you want; or rather, YOU can be as loud as you want.

Often, in the early morning hours when everyone is still asleep, you make love under the blankets. Quietly and secretly, Javier fucks you slowly and sensually.

⦁ Javier knows how to satisfy you and he knows what you like.

⦁ He loves to hear his name on your lips. He loves the sound of your voice as you lay whimpering before him and, by God, he loves to see your body tremble while he fucks you.

⦁ Also he enjoys whispering naughty words. His voice arouses you deeply, even more so when he whispers in your ear and nibbles on your earlobe.

⦁ You always take time to touch each other, kiss and enjoy the sight of each other.

⦁ Javier loves the feel of your soft skin, loves to feel your breasts on his body. The scent of your beautiful femininity.

⦁ Javier is very tender, makes sure you feel comfortable with him. But he also has a wild and passionate side that you can easily awaken. Then he can also get a little rough.

⦁ But there are also moments when you are getting wild. And that is when you have been separated for a while. Javier will tear your blouse off, rip it apart, and won't lose a moment to press his face into your tits, breathing in the scent of your skin. Whispering how much he desires you.

⦁ Oh, he loves to satisfy you with his tongue. The taste of your vagina, the sweet sound of your voice when you fall into ecstasy. Javier takes his time with it. Playing with your clit; sucking and licking it before entering deep into your wet hole and tounge-fucking you out of your mind.

⦁ But also he loves to receive as well. The sight of you kneeling in front of him, looking up at him while you have his cock in your mouth. Your plump, delicious tits pressing against his thighs...

He loves the way you play with his cock. Your fingers stroking his thick balls, massaging them, only to be taken in your mouth afterwards, greedily sucking them. Javier goes crazy every time you doing this, moaning loudly your name.

⦁ He is also into choking. Not too rough, but he grabs your throat during sex when he wants to increase the arousal; and you love it. And while he's chocking you, he's whispering things to you.

⦁ Things like, "Yo te quiero mucho" "You like the way I fuck your sweet little pussy, Y/N?" "You love it a little rougher, don't you? You're so naughty." And "When I'm done with you, I'm going to fuck you with my tongue. You like it, don't you? Oh, you sweet, sweet girl."

⦁ He loves to take you from behind. Your buttocks that wobble with every thrust. The smacking, wet sounds when his tight balls slap your pussy every time.

⦁ And when you ride him, he enjoys the sight of your bouncing breasts. Your buttocks wobble with every thrust from him. The seductive sight when you roll your head back in pleasure and show off your gorgeous throat.

⦁ Loves to cover you with his sperm.

⦁ Whether you kneel or lie in front of him, spreading his cum on your face or body will make him go crazy with lust!

⦁ And after your lovemaking, he will hold you in his arms, whispering loving things to you until you both fall asleep.

⦁ You will often find a rose next to your sleeping place in the morning, when Javier has to leave early for reasons.

Charles Smith

King of foreplay. He takes a lot of time to please and satisfy you. You will come at least once, before you welcome him deep inside you.

⦁ Sometimes he also gives you a massage. He rubs your beautiful body with fragrant oils and he knows exactly which parts of the body he has to massage and caress extensively to arouse you.

⦁ The sight of your shimmering tits, covert with oil, makes his cock hard as stone.

⦁ And when he massages your pussy, he takes a long time. His fingers circle your clitoris while he looks into your eyes. You clearly see the fire, the passion in them. "How does that feel? Is that good, yes?"

⦁ Eventualy, it leads him to finger-fucking you. You get incredibly wet for him, every damn time.

⦁ Love to give oral sex. Charles takes his time and enjoys you to the fullest. Your scent is overwhelming and if it were up to him, he would lie between your thighs all night. You will often hear words like: "You smell wonderful" "Mhm, you taste so good, babygirl."

⦁ His lips and tongue will explore your whole body, every corner. Charles is very tender, very careful with you, like you're as fragile as flower petals.

⦁ You love the feel of his hands when he touches you, caresses you. And the tingling on your skin where he kisses you.

⦁ Making love with you is something very special and intimate for him. Therefore, he wants to be as far away from the others as possible.

⦁ You both go camping often, and love being in nature. It also often happens that you take a longer break of several days. And in these days, you love each other passionately.

⦁ During your lovemaking you smile a lot and words full of love leave your lips.

⦁ He prefers missionary, for he wants to look into your eyes while he fucks you. This is an intimate moment you share. But Charles also loves to have sex in a sitting position. Your wonderful legs wrapped around his strong hips, your heated, sweaty bodies tightly pressed together and your trembling fingers clawing at his long hair, while he kisses your throat, your round tits... just perfect.

⦁ You have a secret place by a river; where there is no human soul, you make love at the edge of the shore. Your naked and wet bodies shimmer under the sun and under the moon.

⦁ And there's something magical about embracing each other at night while the moon shines down on you and fireflies dance around you.

⦁ Charles often spreads flower petals on your cot or on your bed. Whether it's wildflowers or roses, it's a loving gesture that says a lot.

⦁ He washes you gently with lavender water afterwards, holds you in his arms afterwards. He holds you in his arms until you fall asleep.

Arthur Morgan

⦁ The two of you look at each other. Full of love, full of affection, holding hands and whispering words of love to each other.

⦁ He also prefers his privacy with you.

⦁ You would camp often in nature, where you can make love in your tent, protected from prying eyes.

⦁ Arthur takes his time to undress you, enjoying every moment with you. He praises your body, kisses and touches every corner with incredible tenderness. This alone arouses you so much that you get all wet for him.

⦁ The first thing he always does when you are naked is to make himself comfortable between your thighs.

⦁ He starts by kissing your inner thighs. Very slowly, agonizingly slowly, watching you very closely. Every twitch, every tremor from you he enjoys. But the most beautiful thing is to see the lust in your face.

⦁ Then, when his own lust grows to strong, he starts to eat you out like a pot of honey. He enjoys every drop. The scent of your femininity makes him crazy with lust. Arthur desires you so much.

⦁ He loves the feel of your delicate body on his manly, strong one. Your skin on his - it's heavenly.

⦁ Slow and sensual. Arthur is a pleasure seeker, but after a while the love making gets a little rougher and Arthur reaches for your body a little harder.

⦁ He loves to press his face between your tits! It's pure pleasure for him to be able to feast on you. Greedily he takes them in his mouth, sucks on your nipple, while you claw at his hair and go for pleasure.

⦁ He also loves it when you grab his hair and pull it. Whether he's tongue-fucking you or sucking your tits, do it and he'll be yours for eternity.

⦁ He loves missionary position, for he wants to look you in the eyes while he loves you. Arthur wants to see how beautiful you are while feeling incredible pleasure.

⦁ Afterwards, he will hold you in his arms, words full of love will leave his lips. Always asking you for forgiveness, if he was too rough.

⦁ But Arthur always takes good care of you, and lying in his arms gives you a wonderful feeling.

⦁ Sex in the kitchen is also not uncommon (depending where you live etc.) Desire often overcomes him when he sees you in, while you're making the coffee, or chopping fruit... and by God, he's going to fuck you really good from behind.

⦁ He lays you flat over the table, watching you moaning his name in pleasure. Enjoying the view every time his cock sinks deep into your pussy, his balls smacking against you... You're so wet for him...

⦁ Often he'll smack your ass, gripping it firmly.

⦁ And he is also into roleplaying - Usually he is the bounty hunter and you are his prisoner, completely at his mercy

⦁ You will often find him in the morning preparing some good breakfast for you

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lynxgriffin · 1 year

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Theories on Kris’s soul and Ralsei’s identity

Hey everyone! This is not my usual thing, but after thinking on it a whole bunch, I decided I wanted to fully write out my theory/backstory explanations based on the last two short Deltarune comics. I usually express theorizing through fanworks rather than just talking through it, but since it's still stuck in my brain even now I figured it'd be fun to also just describe it all. I hope you all find it interesting! Who knows what future chapters will bring us, and anything can (and likely will!) happen, but as of right now I'm pretty convinced this is how things are with Kris and Ralsei. It's long and there's lots of screenshots included, so check below the read more for everything. And huge thanks to DemoPhone for getting all these screenshots for me!

So, Kris is adopted by the Dreemurrs at a young age. As the only human in a town populated by monsters, they already stick out significantly. Considering Toriel checked out a book from the library on how to care for humans multiple times, the Dreemurrs were likely going through a big learning curve with Kris, too.

Kris is not just different physiologically from everyone, but they’re quiet and weird, often mischievous, and just don’t fit in. As a kid, they wear a headband with red devil horns to try and fit in with their adoptive family, and especially to emulate their older brother Asriel, who seems to be everything that Kris isn’t.

He’s popular, kind, well-loved by the town, and is always willing to make friends and do the right thing. Despite how different they are, the two kids clearly care for each other, and Asriel in many ways is Kris’s anchor to this town and this life.

Growing up, the Dreemurrs are friends with the Holidays, and the four kids spend lots of time together. Dess appears to be the more bold and outgoing of the two Holiday girls, but is tempered by Asriel’s responsible nature. Everything between them is going well until one day, when out exploring in the woods south of town, they come across the hidden bunker, and something goes wrong. It’s not clear yet exactly what it is…but it resulted in Dess going missing. Of the four kids, Dess seems to be bold, Asriel responsible, Kris mischievous, and Noelle fearful…so it seems likely that Dess and Kris investigated something in the bunker that the other two stayed away from. Kris witnessed or may have even been involved in what happened to Dess. Dess currently appears to be lost in a dark place, perhaps a place between Dark Worlds, perhaps “stuck in the code” of the game itself. Whatever it is, Dess has gone missing and may even be presumed dead by her family, and Kris witnessed it and may feel directly responsible. This is why they’re still nervous around the bunker, and perhaps even why they’re apprehensive about the appearance of the dark world in the school supply closet.

Dess’s mother, the Mayor, is not going to blame the little kids for what happened…however, she IS going to place responsibility on Asgore, who was chief of police at the time and clearly should have been watching the kids more carefully. Asgore loses his job, and as things slowly deteriorate between the Holiday and Dreemurr families, he also loses his marriage.

The kids stop hanging out together so often, and when they do, it’s more strained. Kris will be playing with Noelle when they stop, getting hit with the memory of what happened, and wander off to the piano to try and play out their feelings.

Kris builds up years of these feelings…underlying guilt for messing up the friendships and even marriages of the monsters that adopted them. Their interests are weird, their habits are offputting, and they can often only express a desire for attention through pranks.

Despite the fact that the monsters in the town act friendly towards them, they still feel outcast and misunderstood. Their popular and beloved brother Asriel is their one solid anchor to everything, and Kris often wonders “wouldn’t things be easier and better if I was just like him?”

But eventually, Asriel gets old enough and leaves for college. Kris is left alone in the town with all their feelings, but no anchor. In some ways, it gets worse, as the other townsfolk continue to talk about how great Asriel is with him absent. And Kris agrees with them…but that doesn’t help at all how they feel.

To top it off, a new girl arrives in the town, who immediately presents herself as a troublemaker. She seems to have some deep problems of her own, perhaps stemming from her own rough upbringing, and takes out her aggression on Kris, the only human in the town. Despite the bullying, Kris takes it all in stride, even amusement. Susie isn’t saying anything about them that Kris doesn’t already believe about themself. If anything, Kris admires how unapologetic Susie is about her behavior, and sees a kindred spirit in her. They’re both outcasts, after all, with gross and offputting interests. And it is pretty funny how clearly Noelle is infatuated with Susie, too.

And yet, Susie doesn’t seem interested in actually being friends now, and while Susie is admirable, she’s not helping Kris’s long-standing guilt, loneliness and depression. They start resenting how things have gone. They start looking for unconventional solutions. Perhaps they try the church, but the church doesn’t seem to have answers, so they look elsewhere. Maybe things would just be better if someone else was running their life. Maybe someone bigger than them can fix these seemingly insurmountable problems. They start looking up how to do magic online. How to summon demons, stuff like that.

When that doesn’t work out, they turn to the local goth girl for help. After all, they’ve done occult spells with Catti before…protection spells for Noelle; something to ease Kris’s worries so that Noelle doesn’t suffer from the same misfortune Dess did.

One night, Kris asks Catti to perform a spell to summon a spirit. And surprisingly…something seems to happen. Kris is suddenly confronted with a strange figure who seems to be the devil. The figure says that it can bring Kris what they want: a spirit that can possess them and potentially even solve all their problems. But the figure requires something in exchange: their soul. Kris is at first reluctant, but the devil figure promises that the arrangement is only temporary: they’ll get their soul back when the spirit is no longer possessing them. So Kris agrees, and gives up their soul in exchange for another one.

The deal supposedly goes over, but Kris finds that it doesn’t seem like anything has changed once the spell ends. They’ve gotten a new soul, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. If anything, everything becomes harder. They start operating on autopilot…saying very little, only doing what’s required of them, and sleeping for huge amounts of time.

The joke around town now is that they seem like a walking corpse. Sure, they’re not dead, but it often kind of looks like it.

Maybe this spirit was just a total dud? Maybe that devil cheated them out of their own soul after all and they didn’t get anything in return. They try more than a few times to remove the new soul on their own, in the hopes that maybe taking it out by force will get them their own soul back. They find that they can remove the red soul with great effort! However, without it, they’re even slower and it’s even more difficult to move or act in any way. Removing it at least grants them a small degree of agency, and it seems to prove that their own soul is definitely around somewhere, because they’re still alive. But they can’t go for too long without putting the new red soul back in, because moving without it is such a strain.

Meanwhile, Kris’s request for something to possess them has worked, just not in an obvious way. The player experiences the passage of time very differently than the game characters they’re playing as, after all. To the player, they’ve suddenly gotten an invitation from an unknown character that they suspect they recognize from another game they’ve played. They don’t know what the invitation is for, but they’re more than ready to find out, even if it means downloading an unknown and potentially shady “survey program.”

Conveniently enough, this invitation and download become available on Halloween. A bit of an odd day to choose if you want a lot of people to download and play your game right away, since it’s a major holiday and most people already have plans. However…Halloween is a great time to summon a demon.

And to Kris, they wake up one morning exactly a week before their brother is scheduled to return home for a visit, and suddenly find that something else is moving their body for them. That new soul wasn’t a dud after all.

No time to even get really used to suddenly being physically possessed, as Kris and that school bully they admire just go to pick up some missing school supplies and get swept up into a strange place that Kris feels might be distinctly familiar. Once there, they meet someone else who, strangely, already knows who they are: Ralsei.

While Kris has been shambling around town with their player soul not in use, their own soul still needs to be kept in good condition. You can’t just leave a human soul out on its own for a long period of time. It at least needs some kind of container…a vessel. And the devil figure works out a perfect vessel for it…an object close to Kris, that they have a lot of sentimental value around. Something that symbolizes their desire to fit in with their family, and be just like their brother. Kris might have given it to the figure willingly, or it might have been taken without their knowledge, but the result is the same.

But hey…why not make things even more interesting? A dark fountain can bring objects to life in their own dark world. What happens if you were to take an object currently carrying a human soul, and bring it to life with a dark fountain? What would it look like if Kris’s soul, filtered through an object that symbolizes their desire to be just like their beloved brother, was given its own form and identity?

You get Ralsei. A “lonely prince” who looks an awful lot like Asriel, but seems to more closely match Kris’s age and stature. He seems to be more like a remixed version of Asriel than identical to him. He already knows who Kris and Susie are, and he knows where things are located in the light world…because Kris knows all that.

He’s able to travel between different dark worlds without being affected by them the way other Darkners are, because he carries a Lightner’s soul.

While it’s unclear if he is talking directly to the player, just to Kris, or to both, he is at least aware of an entity distinct from Kris, since he names the castle town after the player. It would certainly make sense for him to be aware of the player’s presence and influence because he was a part of that whole exchange between souls in the first place. There’s even implications that Ralsei is, perhaps, communicating with Kris in ways that don’t involve speaking aloud to them. When asking Kris to pick up the items from the classroom, he uses parentheses, which typically seem to indicate a character’s thoughts rather than dialogue.

Since the player is able to read other characters’ thoughts, Kris can even respond to them if no one is speaking.

If parentheses for Ralsei indicate thinking rather than speaking, he is perhaps aware of how to communicate with Kris and/or the player in ways that other characters won’t hear…or perhaps is only even capable of it at all because he has Kris’s soul.

He is always deferring to Kris, even when Kris makes questionable choices. While he’s eager for friends, he seems desperate for Kris’s approval in particular, and takes great pains to not upset them…or allow other things to upset them. He seems to be confident in who Kris is, but struggles more with his own identity.

For Kris, seeing their own wish to be like their brother come to life, and then to have the spirit possessing them keep directing them to hug him…well, it’s kind of awkward.

Just to speculate on the future, if it is true that Ralsei has Kris’s soul, this has the potential for some serious drama, and even setting Ralsei up as an antagonist without him being generically “evil.” Ralsei hasn’t had contact with anyone before meeting Susie and Kris. However, as they go on adventures together, he’s meeting lots of new people and gaining new perspectives. He’s steadily growing more independent from Kris, and establishing his own identity apart from them. What happens if Ralsei comes to the conclusion that Kris was right to trade him away all along…that not only does Kris not need him, but that he’s just fine without Kris? That he, perhaps, prefers being Ralsei to being Kris’s discarded soul?

Considering the player can’t keep playing the game forever, and Kris really can’t be left the rest of their life with a nonfunctional soul that leaves them on eternal autopilot, they’ll have to get their own soul back eventually. And after several chapters of the player themselves getting really attached to sweet and friendly Ralsei, that opens up the potential for some truly heartwrenching conflict.

#deltarune #deltarune theorizing #kris #ralsei #red soul #and a lot more references and such #haha somehow I'm more nervous about this than I am usually posting comics!!#I hope it all makes sense!#I think there's even other theories that can branch off from this #but they're even more speculative #I guess we'll see eventually!!

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ingravinoveritas · 6 months

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So for those who haven't seen, AL posted a new Insta story earlier today featuring video of Michael. I subsequently saw this post in the tags and felt like I needed to write something about it:

What obviously stood out and angered me about this was the "chunky Welsh salt-and-pepper boyfriend" in the caption. This seems to be the latest in a line of recent instances of people commenting on Michael's weight/fat-shaming him. The difference in this case, however, is that the post above is directly tied to AL's Insta story. Here is a screenshot of the story, for those who haven't seen it (the full video is linked above):

And what stood out to me here is AL's caption of "Can't take him anywhere," followed by the "You're welcome" (suggesting that we are all supposed to fall over ourselves to thank her for posting video of Michael). Given that the video shows him playing with Lyra in a toy store, this would have been a perfect opportunity for Anna to write a caption about Michael being a great dad, or how much he adores his daughter.

Instead, however, the caption/video is all about Anna, and once again plays up the disingenuous "long-suffering partner of a bumbling man" schtick, which is what many of her Insta stories about Michael have been recently. So when you look at the Tumblr post above, you start to get a feeling for the vibe that her posts/stories are putting out. That if it's okay for AL to make comments about his appearance (as we know she has done for the last several years), then others feel no compunction about doing it, too.

There are plenty of ways to interpret all this, but to me, and especially looking at everything cumulatively, none of this speaks highly to the state of their relationship. The "can't take him anywhere" is another example of AL using an Insta story to insult Michael, to convey that--despite the fact that he is literally very sweetly playing with their daughter--she is embarrassed to be seen with him. When you look at the Tumblr post next to AL's Insta story, you can tell what people are picking up on, which means that these posts and stories are not bringing out the best in her, him, or their relationship.

Again, this is all my own opinion and thoughts, but I think it bears repeating that if someone made a Tumblr post like the one above about Anna, or commented on her weight gain/loss, people would be losing their minds. I'm tired of comments like those and hers getting a free pass because Michael is a man. I'm tired of her making him out to be a ridiculous buffoon who she "has to put up with." And I'm really tired of her thinking his fans don't or won't care as long as she provides new content. Because even though this might just be me, I'd rather have no new content of Michael at all than content where his own girlfriend is repeatedly putting him down...

#michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #also friendly reminder that he nearly left Twitter when Rachel McAdams' fans made fun of him when they were dating #and said she was too good for him #echoes of 'she's Barbie and he's just Ken'#i can't even with this nonsense #as i've said before and will again #'d rather look like a 'bad' fan and talk about the reality of the situation #than look like a 'good' fan by ignoring it #i just hope Michael knows he is lovely #and deserves good things #fandom woes #anna lundberg #thoughts #discourse

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sholangagaga · 9 months

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So I finished Ruin and. . . Hoh boy.

Per usual, everything will be below the cut (THERE WILL BE SPOILERS)

The dlc was short but it was super immersive! I was at the point where I was easily losing track of time because I was so lost in the scenery but, we're gonna go in order here of everything that happened!

First, the walkie talkies!! They're so cute, and I love how each one is related to an animatronic (or at least two of them with the Roxy Walky and the Freddy Walky)

Next, the Faz-wrench was such a neat little addition to the mechanics. It gave Cassie her own thing compared to Gregory and it tied into her background of her father being a technician. Plus, the mini game associated with it was super soothing to me for some reason!

The VANNI system and mask was also a SUPER neat touch. It felt like playing Help Wanted with the AR and electronic aspect. I loved how you had little tasks to complete to "breach the security" of each little area which ended in the Parent Node having its own little puzzle to solve in order to full breach it. Not to mention the goddamn Entity who stalked you in the AR world

A little sus that the mask was tied to Vanny, which makes me wonder if the game in Help Wanted was VR but instead of like an occulus or whatever, the item you needed to use was the VANNI mask. It would make sense considering the mask was one of the items you got in Help Wanted and it was the game that "made" Vanny herself

I wish the mask was explained more but I still understood why they didnt focus too hard on it. Maybe in the next DLC/game we'll get an explanation

The Daycare scene was just as jarring as the original game! I both hated and loved it! I did find it super interesting how this time instead of trying to turn on the generators to stop Moon, you needed to turn them on to save Sun.

When Cassie used the Faz-wrench to "create" Eclipse I was pretty flabbergasted! there was a setting, apparently, at all times to combine Sun and Moon to create what looked to be the perfect Daycare Attendant. Which confused me as to why Fazbear Entertainment would risk ever letting Moon out if they could have just gotten rid of him completely?

And it was apparent that Sun and Moon were both suffering, but Sun was more so since he seems to be the dominant personality. The way he begs for help and even thanks Cassie as she leaves is tell-tale that he was having a horrible time being alone and trapped within his own mind.

Oh well, Eclipse is my baby and Kellen's soft voice for him was wonderful!

The part with the walking Endos was awful! Just like in the original game! I'm not even gonna bother posting screenshots of them! I hated them!

The nod to the Freddy and Friends TV show was super cute, I loved it!

Monty's backstory in the Monty Golf was an eye opener as well. You see Monty's roots in the first scene as a One Man Band, playing in his swamp/bayou to whomever will listen.

In the second scene you can see his admiration towards the original band of Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Bonnie. Notably, Monty and Bonnie seem to be looking at each other, which makes me feel like Monty was more so admiring Bonnie rather than the entire band or even Freddy. Freddy is also completely darkened/outside of the light. Which matches what we know about Monty and his inferiority complex towards Freddy and his fame as the face of FazEnt and the Pizzaplex.

In the next scene, you see Bonnie (partially cut off) giving his guitar to Monty, a passing of the torch. The final scene is Roxy "glamming" Monty up for his spot on the band

Now, this all sorta flips what we know about Monty and Bonnie's relationship on its head. In the prior game it's hinted that Monty might have shattered Bonnie in order to take his spot because he was jealous of him or hated him or whatever but. . .If that were the case, why would Monty use Bonnie's bass and wear his glasses? If he hated the guy so much, why use his items and therefor constantly be reminded of him? And why would his attraction in Monty Golf revolve around his admiration for Bonnie if the feelings he had for him were the complete opposite?

I think Monty and Bonnie were fine with each other, or at least friendly in a mentor/student way, and Bonnie being shattered was either something William/Glitchtrap/Burntrap and Vannie facilitated or could have been something where Bonnie fell from the catwalk above Monty Golf and got shattered that way.

Monty seems to hate Freddy more than anything or anyone else, judging by the decapitated Freddy statues in Monty Golf and his cutout being blacked out. and it would fit with that one ending where Freddy ran away and Monty took his place. Idk man, my brain was SWIRLING over this

Plus that whole scene/puzzle in Monty Golf catwalk was both annoying and fun with the blasters. Hate/loved it!

The addition of the jammers was a neat little touch too. It made the game more difficult while also giving you a reason to actually perceive the Entity as a threat (since sometimes the jammers locked you in the AR mode, which is the only way the Entity can catch you)

C....chowda....

Is it Chicken chowder? Seafood? it's even served in a bread bowl and I....I love breadbowls....so much.....

Poor Roxy, man.... She can't see anymore, but she still sits in front of the broken mirror in her Salon and berates herself.....

They're echoing each other.....

This is pretty heartbreaking.

Here's Cassie, presumably on a birthday or some outting to the Pizzaplex, spending time with her favorite animatronic and getting dolled up to look like her, only to end up sobbing all alone and ruining her makeup. And then here's Gregory to comfort her, implying this might've been when they first became friends.

And it explains why Cassie cares so much about him. Gregory helped her when she needed it, and now she's here to do the same

Every single part with Monty in the water was anxiety inducing and I hated it!

Oh. . .what cruel irony. . .

The one to decommission Monty was a neon sign of Bonnie, who was (presumably) either shattered by Monty or because of Monty, and was Monty's biggest inspiration and the object of his adoration. . .

Owch. . .

I was not expecting this fucking go-kart to kill if it hit you so imagine my surprise when I see this cutscene and my brain hasn't registered my flight response so I end up getting knocked out of my fucking sketchers by some kart going 30 on a small stretch of asphalt.

1/2

#this post ended up being way too long so Im gonna reblog with part 2 once i finish it #stay tuned cause im only like halfway done!#fnaf security breach #security breach #fnaf #shoucan says #five nights at freddy's #shooting the shit with shoucan #ruin dlc #fnaf ruin #security breach ruin #fnaf ruin dlc

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kerubimcrepin · 3 months

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Live-read: Dofus Heroes - Kerubim Tome 1 (part 1)

You can find this comic's physical version on Ankama's site, webtoon version on Allskreen, and Free Scans on various file-hosting websites that shall not be named.

Quick disclaimer: While I will be including french screenshots here, because it is a language that uses the latin alphabet, and everyone has that on their keyboards, all ready to type up in DeepL and Google translators — what I will actually be reading is a new fan translation in my native language, which does not use latin alphabet.

Time to quickly switch between two tabs because nobody has translated this comic into English. Yaay...

This comic has, as my fellow crepinjurgenology studies colleague @dullard put it, "thin god Ecaflip jumpscare"

Ecaflip looks a lot like Ush here, and I think it's way too malevolent. Part of the fun of him to me, is that he is an Evil Fucking Cat that looks like a cute cat. It makes his despicable actions more funny & interesting.

...Anyway, this comic came out during the run of the show, in 2013, and its sheer existence, — including its negative portrayal of ecaflip, its inclusion of blood and Kerubim's 20 mental illnesses, — is a direct confirmation of the show being an unreliable narrator story. (Though, we've been knew.)

This comic's most important function for this blog is that it will provide us with a well-needed glimpse at what Kerubim's adventures are like when he isn't retelling them to a 7-year-old child whose respect and approval he desperately craves.

The second Kerubim is fatally wounded, he gives up. Yet, Ecaflip saves him, without using one of his nine lives, just as he did in the Wheel of Destiny article.

I suppose it's one of his trump cards, isn't it?

But I am more interested in how at peace Kerubim is with death... It does make sense for Kerubim to hide some rather morbid feelings about his life behind his cheery facade, doesn't it?

It must be tiring. Losing your family, being a god's plaything, losing your brother, feeling like you have to constantly play the role of the cool womanizing warrior, and never unpacking your emotions about any of it. Death would feel like a relief from such weight.

Which makes Ecaflip's grip on his life feel more malicious.

I know, chances are, this comic, as well as most of the show, were made well before Kerubim's demigod status was thought of as a plot-point.

But even in terms of him being a demigod... I think that death would seem relaxing, despite its temporary nature, wouldn't it?

One of the main things of this whole comic is that Kerubim gets amnesia.

Harry Du Bois-ass character. Not only is he mentally ill, divorced, and has 20 layers of sad backstory, but also he got amnesia. God bless.

Yeah, this comic is more realistic and gritty than the show, but the cartoon shenanigans are still real. Thank god.

There's a reason why I think that a big part of Kerubim's character is his experiences with loneliness and isolation, and the way it makes him crave being loved and cared for, as well as how it makes him act out to get attention and popularity.

It's telling that while completely amnesiac, he identifies immediately with a small kitten, whom he immediately assumes is a "he" and "an orphan", and wants to take care of it.

It may seem like an innocuous moment at first, but "he is all alone" will become a reoccurring motif for Kerubim's mental state and subconscious in this comic, and it is the comic where we get the Orphan Kerubim reveal.

I already discussed the fact that I think Kerubim kept and adopted Joris due to Atcham-related guilt earlier on the blog, but I will take this moment to voice 2 other reasons:

Kerubim identifies with orphans and children easily. He would never leave Joris alone after looking at him and thinking "You're all alone. Like I was."

The idea of having a child would be very pleasant to someone as lonely as him. He struggles a lot with wanting to act in a way that will make people like him, and children are, by nature, inclined to like their parents even if they're complete losers.

Btw, if you follow my main, @joris-jurgen , you probably know that I headcanon Kerubim as having comorbid HPD and BPD. Because it fits. And because personality disorders are usually the result of insane levels of childhood trauma. And... my experience running this blog has so far not swayed me from this opinion in any way. This little paragraph was your Armchair Fictional Psychology Corner. This man can fit a lot of sadness and wanting to be loved in him.

Ecaflips confirmed to, just like real cats, have very good night vision.

...Aaand now I'm thinking about cute scenarios of Kerubim, Atcham, and Joris travelling at night, or navigating their home in the darkness.

(Because Joris doesn't have human eyes, as we've seen from the movie. And considering the way Grougaloragran's eyes reflect light in the Oropo ova, chances are, dragon eyes glow in the dark, the same way cats do. Which brings me to the point that, Joris's dragon-ish eyes would probably glow in the dark. Like a cat. Yeah, I am very sane, and should not be sedated in any way, readers.)

Crocosec has always wanted to have a butcher's shop and feed people with delicious food...

Ah, I don't know why, but my silly little detail-noticing from the first eps, where I pointed out that he has a meat shop, paying off? It makes me feel fuzzy. It's nice to know that the person who wrote this comic cared enough, and that it's something that was put in here with intent.

Anyway, I am about to be very normal about the next few pages.

*jumpscaring you by including a screenshot from the high-quality scanlation I am reading. Because this moment would be too blurry if I didn't.

He isn't even playing with any other kids... This is going to kill me, and not in a fun way.

The translation I am reading interprets the last line as "I would return to..." but it seems a bit wrong to me, especially considering my own research on language sentence-comparing sites.

What Kerubim pretty much says here, is that, he'd like to become a huppermage, and use magic to bring back his parents, sisters, and brothers.

While one could interpret that as Kerubim being lonely while being raised in an orphanage all his life without a family, I have a couple of counterpoints:

He calls the kitten "orphaned" specifically, which implies that there were parents, and that they aren't there anymore.

If it were just a family he wanted, he wouldn't be as specific as to say "sisters and brothers," besides just "parents," which leads me to assume that Kerubim means specific people he used to know (before they died).

3. Atcham is a Crepin too, as was revealed in the Dofus Movie. Logically speaking, if they were both given to the temple after being born, (and as we know, Atcham was at the temple, because Bashi knew him, according to Wheel of Destiny #8) they probably wouldn't have surnames, especially the same one.

4. Kerubim's unfunny joke about being the last in his family.

5. Wakfu: One More Gate's shopkeep being an ancestor of the Crepin family implies that Crepins are a real family that existed, and that, perhaps, Kerubim's affinity for selling stuff has to do with his early upbringing, before he was orphaned.

6. In the Dofus manga, Atcham says that a sword he owned, which was stolen from him, has been "passed in his family for generations", which yet again, points to them having a family to begin with.

All of this to say... What I think happened was far more devastating.

He had sisters and brothers, and two parents — it doesn't matter if the Crepin family was an adoptive one, or if it was made up of their biological mother, her husband, and half-siblings. Because they're all dead, and that's just... horrible.

A whole family, at the very least 6 people (if we assume that by "sisters and brothers", he means just two sisters and two brothers), wiped out.

...Oh, and one last thing.

7. I think that, as an adult, Kerubim did put some research into dark magic, with a hope of bringing his family back.

Just as he said he would.

....Though, as always, that might just be me reading too much into things. ╮(￣ ▽ ￣)╭

These aren't the tears of an orphan who wishes he had a family. These are tears of grief of a child who used to have one.

And Ecaflip, his biological father and God, is taunting him about it.

...I would speak on my deeplore conspiracy theory that perhaps Ecaflip himself is to blame for whatever happened to Kerubim and Atcham's family, — to get Kerubim, or both of them, isolated, and under his thumb, — but perhaps it's just me being actually clinically insane.

#heroes comic #ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz #kerubim crepin #atcham crepin

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theseawillbringdarkness · 10 months

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I rarely write reviews for things, because honestly, I’m just a regular person with no experience or knowledge on the details of game development, and I get anxious that I may misunderstand something due to being unaware of how certain mechanics work or subtle aspects of storywriting, but I decided to give «Cryptid Crush» a more detailed overview than just a little post full of me gushing over this project that I made originally (spoiler alert: this review actually is just one giant post of me gushing over all the things I love about the game, because I just wanted to note down everything that caught my attention). I’m putting it under the «read more», so folks that didn’t play it can avoid spoilers. And also because I got a bit into oversharing\infodumping mode (aka, a LOT of text), and there is a lot of images too. Buckle up for a ride and let’s-a go!

All screenshots are from the game “Cryptid Crush” by Drowsy Drake Studios.

This is a big read. Seriously. 3378 words. Don’t ask me how it happened, I was in the zone.

Spoilers!!

I say “review”, but it’s just my personal opinion, not entirely written in a serious manner, because I by no means intend it as some serious and professional writing.

TL;DR: play «Cryptid Crush», support it’s creators ( @cryptidcrushvn, @squidinu ) and check their website!

I actually stumbled over this game by accident, because one evening I was in especially sour mood and decided to lose myself in one of dating simulators or visual novels, so I was browsing Itchio to see if anything catches my eye. «Cryptid Crush» instantly did just that, because I’m absolutely in love with monstrous characters and I loved what I saw on the game’s main page. Normally, due to whatever weird neurodivergent way my brain works, I can hardly make myself play new games\watch new shows\movies\cartoons, because that requires certain mental preparation from me (aka «the stars must allign in a specific way, or else I’ll stare at the game icon forever, unmoved like a statue»). No idea why it works like this! I have whole lists of things I want to play\watch, but I always have to catch myself in a mental state that is perfectly accepting of getting invested in a new story, even if I know there is 90% chance I will like it. And let me tell you, I’m very glad that I gave «Cryptid Crush» a go. Actually, this is now my comfort story, and there is a lot I want to praise the creators of this game for.

Mechanics

Click to progress the story, which means I can drink tea\coffee AND enjoy a good story. That’s already a win in my books, especially if you’re looking to settle down for a cozy, relaxing evening. Ability to simply scroll back in case you accidentally skipped a dialogue line or want to read it again can really come in handy. Actually, while I’m at it, I have to say BIG THANKS for such detailed menu when it comes to picking where exactly you want to start after you played both chapters. Rather than having to play from the beginning, you can pick a scene to start from, which is especially great for when you want to replay certain moments or conversations in the game.

TTRPG mechanics: at first, I was a bit intimidated, because I always have troubles absorbing technical information about how certain things work (which often looks like an overwhelming cluster of information for my brain), and while I make sure to read through everything, it takes some poking around or even winging from me to get a hold of how something in the game works. However, here it wasn’t so bad at all. I love how «throw a dice to determine success or failure of selected action» here is both used in battle mode AND at a few points in the story, to see if you can get additional information from the characters or get away with a small lie.

When it comes to fights, I enjoyed them more than I expected - said TTRPG mechanic wasn’t so hard to understand after all, and little comments and dialogue lines made the process even more lively and enjoyable. I greatly appreciate the way tutorial was smoothly integrated into gameplay and for a chance to pick difficulty when it comes to fights. I’m a simple person, I play on «easy» majority of the time, so it worked perfectly for me.

Character customization: while the look of the main character, Robyn, is pretty much «set», there are still details you can change, like picking a different color for the coat, hair length, etc. And you can choose whatever first and second name you want (so, like usual, I just used the name of my main OC). Also appreciate the ability to pick pronouns, because I didn’t think too long before picking «they\them». Am I having some sort of self-discovery? I don’t know, but I always appreciate having that option for some reason.

Artwork

The visual part is stunning! The art style is so beautiful and cozy! I love the thicker lines on the outline (no pun intended) of characters, the soft colors, the creativity of monstrous designs. Love how big hands some of characters have (like August in werewolf mode, Oz, Jamie, Mike, etc.)!! My absolutely favorite part, as usual, is facial expressions, of course. Backgrounds also have each their own atmosphere (like cozy one at Robyn’s place, or creepy haunted one at the Elkhorn radio station. Actually, this bit has tons of details - a nice example of «environmental storytelling») and vary in level of detail, allowing some scenes to have more focus on the characters. This pencil-painting style looks great, by the way!

Story

The story in «Cryptid Crush» is very intriguing and allows you an easy integration in it’s world, being a good mix between supernatural and something familiar to all of us. Like dealing with mysterious curse, living in a town full of various cryptids and all the shenanigans that come with it, while at the same time being a relatively regular person, who is just trying to navigate the chaos of their life and worrying about groceries. There is a main story of searching for answers about said curse, but plenty of other storylines that entwine with it, enriching the story and making it feel so full of life. The world here truly feels alive, and there is one part that I love so much.

Despite characters facing hardships and things being rather scary at times (like Robyn’s trip to the void, their first nightmare and what Mike had to face while dealing with Mr.Walker), the story is so. Very. Wholesome. It’s in everything, in the way characters communicate between each other, and especially in their relationships. I’m a big fan of the «found family trope», it always moves me, and I truly believe that sometimes a family can be just a bunch of dysfunctional adults that love each other and try to get along, and seeing those little details or these heartfelt talks that characters share (like the talk between August and Atlas, for example) - they warm my heart so much. My own life may be a mess at the moment, but somehow, this story gives me reassurance that it will work out. Things can be tough sometimes, but they don’t stay tough.

On that note, I absolutely have to mention the amazing writing. Different people obviously gravitate towards different writing styles, but this one is great in so many ways. The descriptions are dosaged perfectly - they’re not dry or, on the contrary, stretch so much that it significantly slows down the story. They’re perfect in giving you enough information to imagine the scene and atmosphere well, without turning into cluster of words (I enjoy big descriptions, but sometimes they may be more fitting for an actual book, rather than a story with a certain flow). And when you’re given lore at the library, it’s also written very interestingly (and the illustrations are so great!!), giving you a better outlook on the world of cryptids. I love the way that size and type of the font (or little details, like «shaking» letters) is used to better convey emotions. All characters feel so alive, they each have their own very different personalities and little quirks. I also absolutely have to applaud the sense of humor that comes into writing and makes it such an easy and comfortable read! I don’t have enough words to describe properly how much I love the writing, okay.

Characters

Usually, I always have a few favorite characters when it comes to stories (I’m personally very fond of Oz, for instance), while I’m rather neutral towards the others, sometimes warming up to them as the story progresses and I get to know them better. «Cryptid Crush» is an exception, though, because I actually love all characters that were introduced to us so far?? So allow me to spam a little with silly little commentaries for each of them. Also, I may mention it about dozens of times, so let me say it here: all voice actors are doing spectacular job! I’m legit in awe of the talent and range, and it’s clear they’re doing their best and having fun in the process too.

«Mothman»

Not gonna lie, I keep asking him for «dad advice» just for fun (I can’t believe his sound effect is straight up «hi Hungry, I’m dad»). The answers are simultaneously the worst and the best.

«Robyn»

I’m fairly certain they’re a mom friend at heart, being a voice of reason on different occassions. Probably unsuspecting that they’re in need of the «found family», but also I hope that it certainly awaits them. Absolutely love it how they’re just trying to ignore all the weird things that are happening in their life currently. I mean, sure, there is a ghostly cat and also now another ghost that haunts your phone. Doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about breakfast.

«Taro»

She is a little goblin of a cat, and I love her. I mean, I’m aware she is a cat, but at the same time she is so... CAT. If you know what I mean. Waking you up by putting a paw on your face (or through your face in this case), demanding food and attention. Love her, and the voice is absolutely perfect for this type of personality! And her monstrous form looks awesome!

«Atlas»

The quote that comes to mind right away is «I only had them for an hour and a half, but if something happened to them, I’d kill everyone in the room and then myself». Many bits of his personality feel so relatable, especially the urge to infodump\overshare (like what I’m doing right now, whoops). Side note, but in Chapter 1 «Leviathan Waltz», during the phone talk before bed, I always got the picture of Atlas chilling in the attic, identical to the one at the intro of the chapter. An alternative, creepier version was unexpected, but that was a really cool surprise! In any case, I love Atlas dearly, and his enthusiasm towards things is very contagious. I’d absolutely watch a trilogy marathon with him (if there are subtitles, or I’m gonna miss 40-50% of information).

«Jamie»

I didn’t know what to expect at first, but with all the «Let the crimes commence» and casual trashing of the haunted radio station, I did not expect how gentle they are (not with Mike, for obvious reasons, but you know). I adore the manner in which they wrote the message to Robyn the next day after the trip to Elkhorn radio station, almost sounding like what one would write in a full on letter, as well as their overall manner of speech and also being a voice of reason, taking care of their friends. Also, they have a skull-face, which automatically makes me love their design. And bright blue details go so well with the rest of their palette! Also also, I was really thrilled to see a character that goes by «they\them» (okay, yeah, maybe I am going through some self-discovery here).

«Mike Madhouse»

I have to note right off the bat: Mike’s voice actor really be WILDIN’. The absolute charisma that drips off every voiced dialogue line, the unrestrained enthusiasm and madness?? Absolutely amazing. I’m not the person to genuinely laugh that easily, but sound effects for Robyn’s haunted phone crack me up every time. As much as various facial expressions Mike makes (I swear, you guys cranked it up to 200% and I’m loving the result). I’m looking forward to seeing him getting some character growth, and I was happy when he didn’t turn out to simply be defeated and leave the scene for good. He is a complex character, not easily showing his true emotions, which only makes these moments hit even harder (like the sad face he makes at the mention of Atlas, when they’re about to leave for Edith’s shop). «MeAt GrInDeR!!!» moment is definitely one of my favorite ones. (Also, different variations of sprites during the fight, like Atlas Madhouse and demonic looking Madhouse, look epic!)

«August»

He is friend-shaped. That’s it, I don’t have anything more to say, I bet he gives the best hugs. Well, of course not, I do have more things to say. For instance, how adorable he is when he gets flustered after being called, well, adorable. Actually, I only recently noticed the blushing sprite that flashes for a second when he turns around to jump through the window right afterwards. I mean, he wanted to get out of the clinic anyway, but that was a smooth escape. Also, I adore the «I was already a wreck» pun when Robyn apologies for hitting him with a car (I actually love puns, and sometimes I make it other people’s problem, pfft). The enraged snarling August makes upon realizing Atlas forgot to turn off the oven was both terrifying and hillarious in the context. (Lowkey, love all of his sprites and the fact that he has these different «stages» of his werewolf form too.)

«Oz»

I said this already, but when seeing Oz in Chapter 0, I thought he will only make a fleeting appearance and that’s it, which made me a bit sad, because he instantly caught my eye. So I was absolutely delighted to see so much more of him in the next chapter! I love how chill he seems to be, looking intimidating, but at the same time giving impression of a gentle giant who wouldn’t hurt someone without a good reason. It might be a bit challenging with a character who doesn’t speak majority of the time, but it also allows a lot of creativity with the way he communicates and expresses his feelings, and it makes it entertaining to see his facial expressions change at various comments the other characters make. The very rare «pleased» expression he makes honestly warms my heart. But also he gives a strong feeling of a «this bad boy can store so much PAIN inside-», which makes me want to give him a hug and a kiss on the forehead. I’m looking forward to see more of him in the future, his appearance in the dream sequence alone was very surprising (especially having him actually speak here). Also I loved the moment when he and August were in the middle of an argument, and Gus waited politely and patiently while Oz was writing down what he had to say. ALSO have to note that I absolutely love his color palette, which makes yellow eyes stand out even more on top of various shades of grey, black and white.

«Thursday»

Beloved goblin: Bird Edition! Thursday’s pleased expression is one of my favorite sprites. I’m losing it at the contrast between their «crow mode» and very sudden «deep-voiced man, enunciating perfectly clear what they got to say», the first time it took me by surprise.

«Edith»

I was wondering if she is a normal human, right until that one «it’s the charm that protects you-» sprite that made me go «grandma, why are your teeth so big-». At the same time, I felt for Edith in this moment, because I felt exactly the same on multiple occassions, whenever I had to explain something obvious to a customer. Looking forward to seeing more of her, but it’s obvious she is very caring.

«Hazel»

She is sassy, and she clearly had enough of whatever shit she has to put up with. But she still loves her brother, even if she seems annoyed.

«June»

Literally the most adorable ball of energy! I wish I had at least half of her energy.

«Goatma’am»

Her coat! Horns! And overall colors!! She is so pretty, and so nice and helpful! I love the way she is voiced, and I really enjoy listening to this specific kind of speech\voice for some reason. «Parsnip» bit made me snort, though.

«Robbie»

It’s actually very refreshing to see a Cryptid who is just as bewildered at many things about Longhope as any «regular» person likely would be. Lowkey, I loved that wobbling sprite of his when he was telling Robyn what people call cryptids where he is from. He seems to be up to some shenanigans, as well as being determined to find the «goddess sleeping at the river», so I’m hoping he will eventually succeed in his quest.

«Tessie»

She is a mysterious lady (and so beautiful too!), and I’m curious to learn more about her!

«Mr. Walker»

Despite looking rather simple, he’s got an eye-catching design (which I liked even more, because I love shadow-like monsters), and the fight had a lot of creativity put into it! It was a nice twist with Mr.Walker looking like a bigger threat and with smaller HP than the Lantern, seeming like the most reasonable target to take down first, only to swiftly come back into fight after being defeated. And the «Lantern cuts the lights» move was also nice. All in all, Mr.Walker makes easily a very disturbing and terrifying enemy, making the encounter at the graveyard so intense.

Music

Last, but not the least, is music (and it’s nice that you can see the name of the current soundtrack playing in the menu in the lower part of the screen). First of all, the soundtrack in «Cryptid Crush» is straight up enchanting. It always fits the mood perfectly, and I certainly got a few favorites. I kept «Dirt Nap Dreams» on while working a little while ago, and it was soothing and nice for concentration. The track itself is rather chill and a bit somber. «Thaumaturgy Thursdays» makes a perfect soundtrack for Edith, Oz and Thursday trio, having a bit of this «something wicked» energy to it. «Midway to Nowhere» appears to be rather chill, but has this very unsettling mood that is so great for certain scenes and places. And, of course, one of my most favorite ones - «Urgently Jammin’», both remixed version and the original! I swear I listened to this for days. But I also love «Supernatural Foe» for a nice beat and «Old Gods» for how dramatic it is and how it makes you really feel how high stakes are during fight with Mr.Walker.

Second of all, I just have to mention how well sound design is used in the game and how many details go into it. My favorite examples: 1) when Atlas tells Robyn he wants to show them something, and then suddenly «Urgently Jammin» breaks off instead of «Loosen Up Longhope», when he makes a big reveal of still being possessed; 2) «casual» soundtrack breaking off into intense and terrifying «The UNWELCOME Visitor» with Oz seemingly about to get Taro on Edith’s orders, only for everything to abruptly go silent as she goes «I’m joking» and slip back into «Thaumaturgy Thursdays» as the mood changes from threatening back to casual; 3) when Hazel and Oz are having an argument, «Elkhorn Radio Intro» plays out (which is associated at this point with the fight sequence beginning), only for things to suddenly cut back to normal when Robyn and Atlas enter the scene.

All in all, I just want to say that the attention to detail is insane here (another example I didn’t mention above is when Robyn is searching for Mike, and before you see the actual sprites of August and Oz fighting in the background, you see their icons and damage). It’s obvious how much hard work and love is being poured into this project, and I just want to say big «THANK YOU» to Drowsy Drake Studios for creating such amazing story with so many lovable characters. You’re doing amazing work, and we all appreciate it!

Again, I strongly advice to also check out their website for more information:

https://cryptidcrush.com/

P.S. Apologies if I forgot or misunderstood something, it was a bit hard to properly gather my thoughts, but I did my best! If you actually managed to read all of it, you’re a champ.

#cryptid crush #long post

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rabidferretnightmares · 1 year

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MC calling the Obey Me! Cast 'maidenless' - pt.1 the brothers

A/N: But you may ask, "OP, what does 'maidenless' even mean?". Well, I say, have this (probably very unhelpful and) very Elden Ring-esque screenshot of an urban dictionary entry about it.

You're welcome! c; - Plue

Lucifer

"Pardon me?"

He heard Levi ranting about that one game that was all the rage currently and his brother mentioned some memes and gamer lingo as well

Does Lucifer understand the exact specific meaning and context of what you said? No, because he is a boomer.

Congratulations, he is butthurt now.

Was he really giving you the impression that he was single for the past thousands of years because he doesn't have the skills necessary to get head?

Get ready to be proven wrong as soon as he gets you alone because you managed to deal severe emotional damage to his ego and he can't let that slide

Mammon

"Huh? Maids? MC, do ya think I own a Café or somethin'?"

The remark is (unsurprisingly) lost on him

Sure, he sat close by when Levi ranted about the newest games he was playing, but did you seriously think that Mammon listened to him?

Funnily enough, Levi called him the same thing just two hours earlier... However, our resident tsundere is none the wiser either way

Honestly what did you expect?

Leviathan

Ouch. Please apply a burn heal to the wound

It's not that you're wrong... but did you really have to rub salt into the wound?

His Player 2 called him maidenless

He's gonna need quite some time to recover from that

Oof

I seriously hope that you have limited edition Ruri-Chan merch at the ready, because otherwise he won't talk to you for a while... Or at least until the next co-op event for Mononoke Land releases

Satan

To be honest, he takes it worse than you expected

He has been playing the game as well; the aesthetic, difficulty and the open world nature really got him hooked

Until Lucifer had to confiscate his copy of the game because Satan destroyed the living room in a rage fit after losing to the second boss 34 times in a row

Now he is silently seething at all times

Apart from that, he doesn't only read a lot of detective and mystery novels, but also a lot of other (human world) literature

More specifially, romance novels

Anything really, ranging from very sappy straight romance to LGBTQIA romance novels

Well, this turned him into a hopeless romantic

He knows this is an in-fandom joke... but will he really never find true love, MC? T^T

Asmodeus

LE GASP

MC, what did you just call him?

While he doesn't play the game or know anything about it apart from Levi's random rants at the dinner table where he zones out about halfway through every time to check his devilgram notifs

He still catches the drift of what you're implying

He is the Avatar of Lust after all

How dare. The sheer audacity.

He has lots of maidens! All kinds of maidens.

All the maidens he needs

He is the Avatar of Lust after all, thank you very much

Beelzebub

First of all, I have questions

Why him out of all people, MC?

This is straight up mean in my opinion. Shame on you. And your cow.

Beel would probably be confused and/or upset if he had understood your statement

But his brain is so wired to food and eating that he heard you talk about marinara sauce instead

And is now giving you puppy dog eyes, asking you to cook something with marinara sauce for him

Get your behind into the kitchen and start cooking, MC

That's the least you can do after even thinking of doing that to him

I'm serious, start cooking n o w

Belphegor

Lmao didn't ask, didn't care

Are you sure he isn't having a conversation with you while sleeping again?

Belphs tried playing Elden Ring, but decided the difficulty was too much work for him and he'd rather nap instead anyway

Did I say he didn't care about you calling him maidenless?

Yeah scrap that, he does care and is butthurt

Even if he doesn't show it

But you're gonna nap and cuddle with him to make up for it, right MC?

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3-aem · 4 months

Note

nk here, can you unblock me so we can talk on twt without the whole back and forth in the replies? thanks

Hi nk my dms are open here and you may use them

I explained I blocked you because you have a history of lying and hiding the truth. ironically you immediately hid my replies and are now asking to talk after I have reblocked you to prevent you from further hiding my replies.

you are a person who appears to spend the majority of their time looking for artists to cancel. Against me you make repeated claims that I have admitted to taking an easy route to success, traced ai artwork, and claimed you should feel guilty for calling me out. none of this is true and I think you know that. this is not letting the people who support me know anything- this is lying to them and making a well documented, resolved problem appear unresolved and neglected.

in your reply you express clear acknowledgment of my message to you. In that message I explained that the issue of referencing artwork was an old mistake, one that is not continuing today. and furthermore it is one that I have settled with the artists AZ Wald and Kooks. Both of whom have expressed they felt the matter was handled. I attached screenshots of this in a later reply. I also tell you that I have paid Kooks double the profits to correct my wrong decision to monetize. Given all that information that you still proceeded to make the following post.

I can only apologize for my mistakes, make it right with the artists (which includes deleting and compensation), and not do it again. that is not playing the victim or dodging the problem, that is literally taking accountability.

You seem to know that this is not an ongoing issue but still implicate me in entirely unrelated issues with actual ai artists in an attempt to make it seem current.

Nk let me address your belief that those few pieces are the cause for my success. Social media does not favor one hit wonders, it favors consistency, dedication and a fair amount of chance. You take a look at any of the popular artists within any fandom and the one thing everyone has in common is quality and consistency. Everyone has had successful pieces and flops and not a single one of them would likely attribute their long term success to a single work. There are no easy routes. Sooner or later you will lose relevancy if your work is not ever adapting and improving.

Lastly, you will find eventually that I am not alone in my mistakes. I will obviously not be providing names but I have encountered several established artists make the same mistakes I have. Some have been called out, some have not. It was a great contributing factor to why I did not recognize what I had done was wrong sooner. This is not an excuse but rather to point out your obsession with me cannot be remotely written away as under good faith.

nk i will take this post down once i have a dm from you. it is not my intention to put ur actions on blast. i would much rather resolve this privately however know that you have in many ways forced me to acknowledge you.

to anyone who has read this, do not harass nk or give them attention for this.

#ask

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call-me-copycat · 1 year

Text

I'm so mad! I saved the ask sent to me, but it disappeared when I went to check on it! I do hope they know that I finished it, but now I'll make sure to screenshot every ask when I get them so this doesn't happen again!

Hello and thank you for your request! Please don't ever worry about being too much, I love writing complex stories, they're my favorite!

I'm very sorry this is so late, I've been rather busy for awhile, but lately I've been cranking out as much writing as I can! I sat down and wrote for 4 straight hours, so I'm sorry if it feels a little rushed!

Also, I don't know if it's okay with you or not, but I made it a little horror themed, it's not the main theme, but it's still there in case you didn't want that (๑////๑)

Please feel free to pop by and request whenever you'd like! It makes my day! (ृ´͈ ᵕ `͈ ृ )

♡ ••┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈•• ♡°°°♡ ••┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈•• ♡

Declaration of Distortion

Welcome! - Introduction and request rules (if you want me to write for you, or if you want to know who I am)

▶ Characters: Mentor Aizawa & Gender-Neutral Reader (platonic) + Shinso & GN Reader (platonic)

▶Genre: A little bit of horror+ some fluff sprinkled around

▶ Summary: A courageous reader with striking white wings and a powerful quirk falls victim to a malicious mushroom spore quirk. Along with many others, they are ruthlessly mind controlled and forced to battle numerous heroes, and their own mentor Aizawa, a formidable hero in his own right.

▶ Warnings:

- Some body horror if you think about it

- Unconsented Mind Control (Not Shinso)

- Decay/Rotting flesh (for a moment at the end)

- Blood/Wounds (Not too graphic)

- Paranoia/Mental Instability

- Infection due to process of a quirk

- Per the request, the reader has wings

- While there is no romance, there is still platonic love

▶ Word Count: 15,420

(The Mother of all my stories. My phone/Tumblr crashed a total of 13 times while trying to post this. In case you didn't know I only have a budget phone that works similar to a brick)

"Ready... Start!"

Upon hearing Eraserhead's signal, both you and Shinso lunged forward at the same time, fully content with the goal to bring the other down.

It was a muggy day, the clouds always filling the sky and casting their shadows over the little seaside town. Wet droplets of the previous night's rain still clung to the blades of grass that you all were training on.

Aizawa had recently taken you under his wing alongside Shinso, and had been training the both of you excessively for the past few weeks in order to prepare the two of you to join alongside him during patrol. He was being extra cautious, as he knew that underground hero work was much more hazardous and unpredictable compared to regular hero work, and he wasn't going to lose either of his students.

Worried for the both of your guy's safety, Aizawa wanted to implement extra training and taught you many techniques in case things were to ever go south, too filled with paranoia to recognize the signs of exhaustion the two of you were dealing with due to the extra work.

Watching the both of you train with stern eyes, Aizawa was beginning to notice large improvements, not just in one but in the both of you. Shinso no longer went straight ahead when fighting or throwing a punch, and you no longer tripped over your wings nearly as much as when you first began.

The wings were your entire quirk, and oddly enough you didn't really use them to fly (no matter how much you trained, you struggled to stay aloft), but they were rather a mix of offense and defense. Large and white, they had the ability to solidify into metal, creating a sort of shield to protect you and others if needed, and- in a similar manner to Hawk's quirk- the individual feathers had the ability to shoot off as projectiles. Although they weren't nearly as sharp at his, they still gave a nasty sting as they flew with the speed and force similar to that of a bullet.

Currently, Aizawa was having you both train on hand to hand combat without the use of quirks (although you didn't believe it was all that fair at Shinso was allowed to use his metal staff). The reason being Aizawa wanted to check up on the progress the two of you were making, wanting to determine the place you were at so he could adjust future training lessons accordingly.

As soon as Aizawa gave his order, Shinso lunged and swung his staff at you immediately, trying to catch you off guard. It was in vain however as you tilted your head to the side which made him miss, combined with the fact that you had to swerve your body to the side as well to dodge his additional kicks.

Frustrated, he swung his leg up at your head, and in an act of panic you grabbed onto his ankle to keep it from making contact. This in turn caused you to fall to the ground on your stomach as he lowered his foot, and you nearly got jabbed with his staff as he stabbed it down at you like he did earlier.

You went to attempt to stand up again, as it was commonly known that whoever was on the ground was most vulnerable. Shinso knew this as well, and fought to keep you down by putting his staff under your leg and flipping you over and onto your back so he could gain the upper hand, since if you were on your stomach then your wings would protect you and only serve to get in the way. Irritated, you tried jumping up onto your legs, only for your jump to be interrupted by him swinging his staff at your head, which kept your upper torso on the ground as you needed to dodge, while your legs were bent in a sort of crab-walk pose.

*Kind of like this (this is what I went off of)

Contorting your body so the staff wouldn't make contact (you knew from personal experiences that it hurt severely), you moved to the side as he lunged at you again with the staff, and this time you grabbed it to keep him from moving it. When he went to pull it out of your grasp, you clung on and used it to your avantage to get up from the ground again, the extra weight on the end of the staff causing Shinso to lose his grip. Throwing away the staff so Shinso couldn't get it, you looked directly at him (trying not to laugh at his exasperated expression), and the two of you went to lunge at each other again, but right before the either of you could get a hit in you both instantly halted as Aizawa blew his whistle, indicating he had seen enough and that the exercise was over.

You had both succeeded Aizawa's expectations, and so he decided that you two were ready to accompany him on his patrol. Although paranoia still clung to his thoughts, Aizawa knew that you were well trained enough to protect yourselves in case of an accident. He had seen the effort that you two put in when it came to surpassing his training checkpoints he made when it came to teaching the both of you, and he certainly wasn't going to turn a blind eye to the sheer exhaustion that you suffered since you were pushing yourselves.

On the walk back to the dorms, Aizawa began to explain what things you and Shinso should expect when it came time for the mission. As he listed off the numerous precautions and emergency procedures, you couldn't help but get lost inside your own mind, the beauty of the post-storm environment radiating a calm tone.

The sun was beginning to set as it was late in the evening, you all had been training together as soon as school was let out, and in a way you were grateful that the weekend was tomorrow (although you knew chances were you might end up training even more).

The golden rays of the lowering sun were making their way through the numerous plants and buildings that filled the UA campus, everything glittering with a lovely shine from surfaces that were still wet with drops that were caused from the recent storms that had been going on lately. Birds made their way overhead every now and then, and the air was quiet and calm, the only sounds filling the air being Eraserhead's monotonous voice and the light steps the each of you took.

You were currently balancing on the slightly higher edge of the sidewalk, hanging your arms out to the side in the shape of a "T" to help you balance further as you walked and listened intently to Aizawa speak. Shinso was walking beside you, grumbling to himself everytime your wings got in his face (you knew he didn't mean any harm- besides, you liked messing with the guy).

As Aizawa continued the mundane speech about hero safety and villain techniques to look out for, something he said caught your attention.

"- of course, a student isn't expected to completely fix the situation themselves, but it is worth noting that all student interns are given high expectations. Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the mission that we're going to be looking for."

Aizawa turned to look behind him at the two of you, face hardened and serious. The once light-hearted mood plummeted and took a more solemn face instead, and you hopped down from where you were standing, going beside Shinso.

"This case is more of a serious one compared to what the others are working on. Lately, I'm sure you've heard from the news about the numerous missing people, yes?"

Upon reviving two silent nods, Aizawa continued, arms crossed and fatigue pressuring him persistently.

"Now, we don't know anything about what these missing people have in common, only that they were by themselves and didn't arrive back where they were heading. Another thing they all had in common was the fact that they disappeared away from any witnesses and cameras, meaning that whoever is behind this knows what they're doing and is actively planning it out."

Shinso raised his hand, speaking right after Aizawa paused.

"When I saw that case on the news, didn't they say that all the victims had some kind of strong quirk? Maybe-"

Aizawa cut him off, shaking his head.

"Sorry, but that's just a rumor. Looking over each of their files showed that most had weak quirks, with only a small handful having semi-useful quirks. Some were even quirkless, so that crosses out that idea."

When you thought back on it, you realized that you had indeed saw a news report on this particular case, but it was so vaguely described that you didn't really see any difference in it from the other numerous cases that had happened in the past. Nothing really stood out to you, and you were surprised that Shinso had even paid attention enough to remember it.

"We thought it was a lost cause, with cases popping up randomly without pattern and without a targeted victim, it was nearly impossible to try and get close to solving it. But recently, a woman that had fallen victim to this mystery fortunately had a tracker implanted behind her ear since she was prone to wandering off because of her unstable mental state." Aizawa paused, letting you both take in the info since he was worried he was coming off too fast.

"So that means... We can track down the woman.." you began.

"And possibly find out where the others might be as well." Shinso finished for you.

"Bingo. Tomorrow, get plenty of rest during the day because we'll be starting as soon as the sun sets, and my work schedule is often unpredictable and can leave us working throughout the night and until the sun rises again. I'll explain what we'll be doing beforehand, and feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Better safe than sorry."

When you made you way back to the dorms, it finally hit you. You were finally going on your first mission tomorrow! Too filled with nerves and excitement, dinner was one of the last things crossing your mind as you went up to your room instead, politely greeting your classmates beforehand.

You stayed up most of the night contemplating on what might happen, and what things you might run into. Sleep was non-existent, and you wanted to make sure that you were mentally prepared and to especially make sure you wouldn't slow everyone down. Shinso and Aizawa were rather talented at keeping themselves hidden in the shadows, but you struggled to keep of up with their abilities at times, your wings that normally held you up high being the thing that slowed you down and limited your abilities.

With newfound determination, you took to the internet to look up how others in the world delt with their wings, as it was pretty common to run into someone with some type of them, always a little different from each other. You found a few online blogs that helped you understand the limits and anatomy of wings, but none that specifically stated how to sneak around with them. Regardless, you still were going to help in any way you could, and so all night you stayed up preparing.

It wasn't until an alarm went off on your phone that you realized it was morning, and when you went to open your curtains a bright stream of sunlight hit you directly in the eyes, cementing your realization. Since you spent all night awake, your body and mind were both exhausted from the intense training and lack of rest. After eating a quick meal and greeting your classmates once more, you finally succumbed to sleep, allowing yourself to fly away in the dark depths of your mind.

"Bzzt..."

Grumbling, you opened your eyes to be greeted with nothing but pitch black darkness. For a quick second, you almost went back to sleep as you thought you set your alarm incorrectly, only to immediately jump up at the realization.

A quick knock on your door further helped you remember what was planned, and Shinso's voice spoke up right after.

"Turn off your damn alarm, it's been going off for ages. Also Sensei said he wants you to get ready 'cause we're leaving in an hour."

And with that you concluded that he must have left, before scrambling for your phone to turn off the repeating tune coming out of it.

After getting into your hero outfit and grabbing your duffle bag full of supplies, you left your room and went down to the common room in search of Shinso. Once you made your way down there, you instantly saw Shinso and Aizawa both already there, Aizawa sitting on the couch and Shinso standing in front of him, both holding a conversation that came to a slow when you came into the picture.

Embarrassment rushed through you as you began to think that you were the last one finished and that they were both waiting on you this whole time.

"Sorry if I'm late, I didn't know we were supposed to get up earlier. It won't happen again."

Aizawa cocked an eyebrow, "You're not late? You and Shinso are both on time. That gives us enough time to prepare and possibly get some breakfast in the both of you since you're still children who don't just run on a stale cup of coffee like me."

Ah, that made a little more sense, Shinso must've just finished up a bit earlier than you did. You blamed your awkward conversation on your nerves, not knowing how to get them to calm down.

"I know a good shop around here that's still open, it's run by an old friend of mine, so he'd know why we're there since I've been going there before going on patrol or on a mission since I first started."

You and Shinso nodded again, and as you all walked out of the dorms Aizawa began to catch on to your nervousness. Leaning over so he could get closer to you, you noticed this and listened.

"You know, Shinso's just as nervous as you are. He just doesn't show it since he's worried about coming off as weak." Aizawa whispered to you in an attempt to reassure you. Your eyes widened at this and looked at Shinso who was walking ahead of you two, completely oblivious to the conversation.

"Don't worry about a thing, kid. I've seen you train, you'll be okay", Aizawa reassured, patting a firm hand on your shoulder before walking off to lead you all.

This news helped you understand that you weren't the odd one out, and your nervous thoughts calmed down a little upon realizing this.

After waking for a bit, you and Shinso were brought to a little food stand, being run by only a single elderly man. Upon noticing Aizawa and the two of you behind him, you noticed his face light up.

"Shota! How are you, my old friend?", Turning to look behind Aizawa, the man took a glance at you and Shinso standing behind him. "And who are these little ones that follow you like a duckling would to their mother?"

He had a warm, friendly smile, and didn't seem the slightest bit tired when compared to the dark night sky. Though he spoke with a bit of an accent, you found that he was still easy to understand.

"They're students of mine. We're going on a mission soon and they needed something to eat."

Once again, slight embarrassment caused you to warm as it sounded like Aizawa was referring to little children when speaking about the two of you even though he's seen the work you put in to train. Turning to Shinso, you noticed that he was unbothered, simply scanning the little sign that advertised all the foods that the man made with a look of disinterest.

"Oh, yes! Young ones need to eat, it's very important! I'll make something for them, know anything you'd like?"

"I'm good."

And with that, you followed Shinso and sat down next to him on a bench that was placed behind the food stand.

After getting some warm soup to fill your stomaches, Aizawa led you to his office at a special institute for underground heroes, seeing as he never bothered in getting an agency of his own even though he's been offered many times in the past.

Once you both arrived, Aizawa went over the plan with you and Shinso, trying to get you both as used to how things ran over there as a real underground hero as possible.

After about 20 minutes of going over the plan, the hour of prep time you had initially started with was almost up, and things had to be started soon.

The plan was set. Since missions normally don't get solved in a day (especially mystery ones such as the one you were assigned), the first day would typically be a simple search for any clues and witnesses, just gathering as much information on the topic as you can. The 2-5 days after will typically be when things start getting put together, and any days after that would be when direct action will take place.

This was a rough template to go off of as every mission is different than the other, but Aizawa needed to give you guys something to go off of for reference.

Aizawa had pinpointed the target's location of the lady that had the tracker implant, and found that she was in a cave of some sort, possibly since it would be a smart hiding place seeing as that cave in particular was deep and had been infamous in the past for getting people sick due to the mold and mushroom spores that filled it.

With this newfound information, you three geared up and trecked to the forest, minds sharp and clear, ready for anything that was thrown at you.

It was quite a walk there, and by the time you reached the forest your legs were starting to feel a bit sore, but nevertheless you continued on, pushing past overgrowth that tickled and scratched at your legs.

Aizawa was walking in front of you with the tracker in his hand and was focusing intently on it while his other hand pushed the meddlesome plants to the side as he walked. Shinso walked to the side of him, trying to do what he can and show off any skills of his, although all that the two of you could do at the moment was simply walk and follow.

Watching Aizawa for any signs of being near the location, you both came to a stop when he did, looking around for any signs of a cave. Despite looking around, all you saw was lots of plants and other undergrowth, and not the slightest sight of any cave nearby.

You saw Aizawa do the same thing, look around and shake his head in confusion. He turned around and walked back to see if he missed anything, you and Shinso following obediently. Aizawa shook his head again, muttering to himself as he turned around as walked back again, this time Shinso spoke up.

"What's the matter?"

Aizawa stopped and sighed, turning the tracker towards the two of you. Looking at the blinking dot and the one that indicated you three, it seemed as though you had already reached the cave. Looking up, you still didn't see any signs of a cave nearby, and now worry was starting to eat away at you.

Aizawa grumbled, "I don't know if it's bugged or if someone purposely messed with it. If we don't find anything then we'll have to go back."

Your stomach dropped when he said that. You had been looking forward for this mission for the longest time, and now there was a possibility for it to end before it even started?

Seeing the other two begin to make their way back, you panicked and tried catching up to them. However, your wings weren't fit for the forest as it was dense with growth from the recent storms that had been happening lately.

Your wing got caught up on a vine, and the thorns caught onto it further as you tried pulling it away. Tugging with all your might, you ripped your wing free, only to fall flat on your face, sliding a bit from the tugging.

Aizawa and Shinso heard the commotion and turned to see you fall, rushing to go help. Trying to stand up and not get any further entangled, you stepped back from a cluster of sticky plants, only to feel a dip behind you, sending you falling backwards as you were on the top of a slope.

A little like that ⁠(⁠･⁠◡⁠･⁠)⁠/

You heard Aizawa and Shinso shout your name, sliding down skillfully after you so they can help. You slid on your back, hardening your wings so they'd protect you as you continued down the slope. The ground was still damp, and the wet soil and plants made a perfect mixture for sliding a long ways down without stopping.

You finally slid all the way down into a sort of ditch that had stagnant water sitting on the bottom, but luckily for you the numerous plants that swallowed the bottom of it protected you from the water and provided a soft cushion for you to fall onto.

Landing upside down, you struggled to get back up onto your feet as your hardened wings stuck into the wall of the trench. Tugging them out, you finally managed to sit up into a crouch. You heard Aizawa and Shinso calling out to you, and just as you were about to call after them, something in the trench caught your eye.

There was an oddly shaped cluster of plants on the wall of dirt, and nowhere else. You would've brushed this away normally, but maybe since the adrenaline was still coursing through you it made you extra alert.

Standing up and patting the dirt and crushed plants off of you, the reached over and hesitantly pulled at the plants, only to see that they were purposely tied and braided together to create a net or mesh to cover something when you took a closer look.

Now confident that something was up, you pulled off the net cover, and found the entrance to a large opening in the wall. You had found the cave.

Looking behind you, you shouted to the other two, "Guys! I found it!". You wanted to run towards them, but stayed since you didn't want to lose track of the cave.

Aizawa was the first to shout, "Found what?!"

Behind him, Shinso was panting as he slid down the rest of the slope next to Aizawa, careful to not accidentally fall into the ditch like you.

They made their way to where you were, and Aizawa skidded into the ditch where you were without hesitation, immediately going over to you and checking you over for injury. Shinso slid in a little more hesitantly after Aizawa, and went over to you to flick you on the forehead.

"Idiot. Only you can slide down a hill and into a wet ditch."

You rubbed your forehead, then remembered and gestured to the opening you found.

"Look! "

"What is it?" Shinso asked jeeringly.

You huffed a bit, not in the mood to deal with his teasing.

"It's the cave! I found it, so we don't have to go back!"

Aizawa silently approached the entrance, and looked down at the tracker to see that the dots perfectly aligned this time. He rubbed the back of his neck, still a little apprehensive due to the glitch out that happened earlier.

"I don't know... How would we know that this is the right cave? We don't have any proof..."

You picked up the tied plant mesh and gestured for Aizawa to take it from you.

"I found this covering the front so it would be better hidden.."

Aizawa looked closer at the plants, and found truth in your words. He handed it to Shinso so he could learn from it, to which he just muttered "Huh, you did find it".

Aizawa grabbed the small bag he had brought along with him, and pulled out three different sized respiratory masks that had facial guards, as well as three headlights that went on the top of the masks.

You each took a mask and put it on, along with attaching the flashlight to your heads and walkie talkies to your waists. Gloves were also given to protect your hands anything dangerous in the cave, and so if the police needed evidence then your DNA wouldn't be on the scene.

Taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you looked at the entrance of the cave, dark and menacing, as though it was an open mouth waiting to swallow you down it's throat.

Aizawa patted your shoulder, and when he saw that it didn't calm you down very much he did something he normally wouldn't do; he held out his hand and let you hold it for comfort. He didn't want to baby the either of you, but something about the look of fear and panic across your face made him feel a little bad and made him worry that he was starting you both off a little fast.

With Shinso on one side and you on the other, the three of you turned on your lights and began to descend into the open cave.

As you delved deeper into the cave, you noticed your worry went away bit by bit as you began to see how pretty the cave looked on the inside. Glowing bugs sat across the roof of the cave and shimmered as each bug would flicker their light, and you took notice of the numerous glowing mushrooms that lit up the cave in a hazy purple glow.

You tried letting go of Aizawa's hand as you felt a little more confident, only to immediately grab it back as you worried you had lost them for a second. He squeezed your hand in response to let you know you were okay, and you tried your best to be as useful as you could, just like you wanted to earlier yesterday.

You all eventually walked into a rather open area of the cave, filled with the glowing purple mushrooms that made it nearly useless to have your flashlights. With the light helping him see everyone, Aizawa let you and Shinso walk around to look for any clues you could find. Unbeknownst to the two of you, he was on high alert as he sensed something felt extremely off. He couldn't scrape away the feeling from his mind that something wasn't right, and so he wanted to make sure you were safe.

You walked around, marvelling at the little puddles of water and stalactites, making sure not to touch anything that wasn't a clue. You walked around and looked behind the edge of another opening in the open area, trying not to walk too far off so Aizawa could still see you.

You looked around and shined your flashlight wherever you could, and upon seeing a ripped green sweater your blood ran cold. Shaking, you ran the flashlight up the sweater and saw other pieces of ripped clothing and small drops of glowing purple liquid surrounding the whole thing.

You felt nothing but fear as you stood there, chilled to the bone as the thought of an actual threat made its presence. With trembling arms and frozen blood, you still moved the light further over the scene, and what you saw made your breath hitch and every thought in your mind stilled. For a split second, time was non-existent, frozen just like the blood that ran through your veins. You felt weak, like a small child. You forgot everything. Where you were. Your quirk. Your training.

Everything was forgotten in the frozen second as true fear hit you for the first time. Because what you saw was the woman, unconscious and bruised, but alive. And next to her, a man with glowing purple mushrooms clinging to his skull, eyes devoid of emotion and pupils, instead the only thing in his eyes was a bright glowing purple that seemed like nothing but two empty holes that sat on his face. His clothes were tattered, much more than the lady's, and he stood with a crouch, like a beast of sorts. His mouth was agape, constantly in motion of slight opening and closing, as if an internal hunger always gnawed at his mind, even when he was resting.

And when you made eye contact with him (it?), that seemingly empty head of his bursted with action as he lunged at you with a likeness of that of a loaded spring, as if he was waiting for his next victim to come across his territory. He had moved faster than your mind could comprehend, and still it didn't help that your legs were frozen and your mind was full of fog.

It was only when his chilled fingers scraped against your mask that you began to move. You threw yourself back and tried to scream for help, only for the man to grab your throat and throw your head against the wall, letting go only to let you slide down as warm pulsing pain shot throughout your head.

You clutched your head in pain, and the man lunged for you again, grabbing your ankle and sliding you towards him, hungry mouth still moving and empty purple eyes looking for another pair to join his. Fear moved you this time, and although you were too panicked to think properly, you still had the energy to try to move yourself back and away from the thing antagonizing you.

Everytime you tried to get up he would just try to grab your mask, so you stayed on the ground and tried scooting back to where Aizawa and Shinso were. You couldn't use your wings on the ground, as that was one major downsides of your quirk.

Deciding that you needed to get out of there, you tried to throw yourself up and run out, but as you attempted to jump up the man threw his weight at you, slamming you down again, this time coming at you with a large rock in his hands.

Seeing his empty eyes and dead emotions, you looked up in pure terror as tears ran down your face, the thought of death consuming you. He slammed down the rock on your mask, cracking and breaking it, and you snapped. If you were going to die, then you'd take the risk. You screamed out as loud as you could, screaming with your throat until it was raw and sore, begging for help with all you had in your lungs.

Aizawa and Shinso weren't too far away, and so when they heard you scream they immediately thought of nothing else but getting to where you were. Every part in their bodies was on high alert, and Aizawa noticed you weren't in the same open area anymore, cursing himself out for not paying better attention to you. Every thought coursing through his mind was only you, you, you.

He thought back to earlier, about the scared student who had to hold his hand in order to make it into the cave, about the student he had been training and worrying about for so long.. Now, all his fears and worries were coming to life, much to his horror.

Aizawa heard you scream again and followed where it was coming from, giving a quick signal to Shinso to follow. He ran behind one of the turns and came across a sight that would most likely burn into his head for a long time.

He saw a man crushing a large rock into your mask, and knew that once the mask was gone then that would be your skull. Rage filled his mind, and he saw nothing but red as he lunged his scarf at the man with more violence than needed.

Aizawa completely wrapped the man in his scarf and swung him into the cave walls with crushing force, before tugging the man towards him and landing a solid punch directly to his face then harshly kneeing him in the gut. The man was beyond unconscious after this, and the largest glowing mushrooms atop his head had fallen off in combat while the smaller ones were still clinging to him. His nose was definitely broken, and Aizawa was sure he might've accidentally broken his ankle when swinging him, but he didn't care as he believed it was well deserved.

Wasting no time, Shinso ran over to you after the man was taken down, and Aizawa joined him. Aizawa pulled out his first-aid kit, wiping down and bandaging a deep gash across your arm, and pulled out a smaller temporary respiratory mask, replacing the mangled one immediately.

You were conscious at least, but you were still stuck in a state of shock, not comprehending what was happening. Shinso laid your head in his lap as Aizawa cleaned a cut on your head, wiping some tears as the medicine stung.

"You did good, kid. You did so very good. Let's get you out of here, okay? "

Aizawa looked to you for a response, worry filling his mind as he mentally beat himself for taking his eyes off of you. It wouldn't happen again, ever.

"C'mon kid... I need a response.. something, even a nod.."

You were still trembling in Shinso's arms, but this time you attempted a nod, immediately regretting it as a burning pain shot through your head. Still, Aizawa got it and took it as a signal to get you two out of there. He wrapped the man up with extra rope that he had on hand so he could have his scarf back, and checked the lady for a pulse, relieved upon finding a steady one and minimal bruises.

He marked the coordinates of where the two were, and called the police so they can handle the rest. For now, Aizawa was only concerned about you, and carried you out with Shinso walking by his side.

The police quickly made their way to the coordinates given to them, and as Aizawa tended to you on the slope above the cave, Shinso let him know that he saw police officers arriving. They apprehended the man, and decided to send him to the hospital for treatment for his broken nose and ankle. As they were dragging him out of the cave, you noticed that his eyes weren't purple anymore, probably since he had a quirk cancelling bracelet on.

He was awake again, and this time he yelled in anger and desperation that he didn't do anything as the police tied him up for the hospital. It disgusted Aizawa, to have seen him try to murder his timid student right in front of him and then try to claim innocent.

Yes, Aizawa was used to villains and criminals doing this all the time, trying to say they didn't do something they very clearly did before, but this time was different since it was a direct attack on someone he cared about.

As you watched the man get taken away, you couldn't help but notice how heavy your eyelids seemed, as though they were weighted drapes trying to close. This was accompanied by a warm and painful throbbing that seemed to push against your skull, the adrenaline wearing off and letting all the pain you endured loose.

Eventually your world went dark, although you couldn't tell exactly when it did, as it just happened at some point in time. While asleep, you felt warm and fuzzy, as though the darkness surrounding you was a hug that enveloped you entirely in its kindness.

Simply drifting through the darkness, you let it's familiarity carry you wherever it wished without care. The edges of your sleep began to fade, and as your slumber began to deteriorate you heard an unknown voice ring out from the vast darkness.

"Please... p-please.. I w-want to go home..."

It was an unfamiliar voice, one that sounded timid and scared, and upon hearing you wanted nothing more than to help whoever was attached to it.

As you turned and tried to reach out your hand to help, the final borders of your sleep wore off and you woke up.

Blinking open your eyes, the first thing you noticed was the light. When you passed out it was still pitch black. The light was muted and soft on the eyes, coming from a single window to your left that was covered with curtains.

I hope that helps, I'll be using this setup a lot for future stories! (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

Your brain was still rather foggy from waking up, and your whole body ached from overwork and the attack.

Right... The attack...

You started remembering things little by little, struggling a bit extra for some reason as your mind was refusing to cooperate with you. Blinking a bit more, you looked around to distract yourself from the pain, nearly jumping out of bed upon seeing Aizawa's sleeping form sitting in an uncomfortable-looking chair that was placed right next to your bed.

Seeing all the machines in between you two and the white walls, you decided that you must be in a hospital or at least something similar. Looking down, you realized that you were in a hospital, as instead of seeing your hero outfit you saw it was replaced by mint green hospital gown.

Now that you knew you were in a hospital, you started to wonder why you were there. Was it the hit to the head you took? The gash on your arm? You hadn't the slightest clue.

"Oh, you're awake now?" Startled, you turned around upon hearing Aizawa's classic fatigued voice, and saw that he was awake- albeit looking a little tired (since when had Aizawa ever looked completely awake?).

"How're you feeling, kid? That was a nasty hit you took.." Aizawa gestured towards your head with his eyes, and you felt around your head in confusion, wincing when your hand came in contact with the bandages that were wrapped around your still sore wound.

"Maybe.. don't touch it.", Aizawa offered, gently grabbing your hand to lead it away from your wound. "It's still healing, but Recovery Girl can come over and speed it up for you."

Feeling a little nauseous and sore, you still asked "how long have I been asleep?"

"You passed out in my arms last night. You were brought over to this hospital by ambulance, and I rode with you to make sure you be okay. I guess I fell asleep alongside you."

Looking at nothing in particular, you squinted your eyes at the blank white sheets in front of you, pain beginning to rush through your system just as it had done the night before.

"You need me to get a nurse?"

You simply shook your head a little, the warm throbbing degrading your thought processing from taking place, the only thought in the head being that you wanted nothing but the pain to go away.

Soon enough, a nurse came by and administered you some pain medication and the pain was quickly soothed away, finally allowing you to rest.

Sighing in content, you leaned back in your bed, body and mind still exhausted from the weeks of intense training and the attack on the mission.

A knock brought both of your attention to the door, and a nurse opened the door to allow Shinso in, shutting it once he was fully in the room.

He walked over to where you were laying, you having went back to closing your eyes after seeing who it was due to the fatigue taking control of your worn-out body. You heard him sigh and some rustling as well.

Curious, you opened your eyes the best you could to see Shinso reaching into his backpack and bringing out a plastic bag that looked like the one you'd get from a convenience store, before wearily placing it on the table next to your bed.

It seemed that Shinso was just as tired as you were, the mission having taken up most of his energy and worry taking up his night as well, making it a fight just to get to the hospital to check up on you.

"I thought I told you to stay home for the day, why're you here?" Aizawa asked Shinso, with no real bite to his tone.

"I wanted to check up on them... Also got some snacks for while they're here.." Shinso replied while motioning to you laying in your hospital bed, fatigue and exhaustion resonating through his voice. As you looked at him it seemed as though he was struggling to purely stand up, swaying lightly from side to side.

Aizawa huffed out a bit, "you're exhausted, kid. You can talk a bit but I'm sending you home right after, okay?"

Upon receiving a curt nod from Shinso, Aizawa excused himself so he could go get a coffee from the vending machine down the hall, still tired himself.

So many worries flew across his mind, what was supposed to be a simple learning mission turned into an unpredicted attack and with one of his students ending up in the hospital, even though they were under his watch.

Aizawa had checked with the police to see if they got any info out of the suspect, but they just reported he was stubborn and denied everything that was asked of him. Regardless, he was put in prison after a quick trial deemed him guilty. Although... Aizawa couldn't help but believe that the mission went a little too fast, that it was almost a little too easy (minus your condition).

Upon making his way back to your hospital room, he noticed you and Shinso both fast asleep, with you slouching down from where you previously sat, and Shinso who was seated on the only chair that Aizawa had been sitting on earlier, resting his head in your lap on his crossed arms.

Chuckling to himself, Aizawa went over to the window and peeked out over the city for a second, just for the view, before going over the small couch that sat in front of your hospital bed, folding his arms and resting similar to the two of you.

• • • • •

After that, Recovery Girl made her way to the hospital that you were situated at and used her quirk on you to speed up your healing. After another day of rest, you were finally released from the hospital at the end of the same day you were healed.

Although it was the end of the weekend and school was to start the next day, Aizawa instructed you to stay at the dorms and rest until you felt fine enough to go back to school. With all the rest and recovery you had gotten to do in the hospital, you attempted to head to class as soon as the week started. However, you were promptly stopped by Shinso, who had been sent by Aizawa to make sure you stayed and rested for at least a day, especially since it'd be beneficial for Shinso to stay for a rest day as well to get his energy back up.

"Look, I don't want to be here, either."

Shinso had told you while you crossed your arms and refused to look at him, slightly bitter that your friend would go against you. You didn't mean anything serious as it was all mainly for show, and Shinso knew this, it showed by the smirk that he had on his face.

"Then why're you here? Why bother stopping me?" You rebutted.

He just smiled further, leaning back into the common room's couch cushions as he answered.

" 'Cause... First of all; I'm tired as hell, there's no way I'd make it through a school day, even if I wanted to or not."

Looking over at you this time, he continued.

"And second; free day. Even better that it's Aizawa Sensei that gave it to us, he rarely does stuff like that. "

You grumbled, but didn't argue back as you had nothing to state. You supposed he was right, but still, you wanted to be back in class.

After waiting patiently, your perseverance was rewarded with finally being able to go back to school again, and you were a little relived that things were finally getting back to normal.

You went through your day like normal, going to classes, doing your work, eating lunch, talking with your little friend group, and so on.

Only, something felt... Off.

You couldn't put your finger on it no matter how hard you tried to trace where the source of the feeling was coming from, but you knew it was there.

It started the same day you were allowed to go back to school, now at night, as you and Tokoyami did the dishes for your classmates, Mina trying out one of her "foolproof" dishes of hers in the background. It was a calm, quiet night, one that normally was something you'd look back on to calm yourself when doing something nerve-wracking.

That's when you heard it.

"ple-please... light... I can-cant't take it anymore..any-anymore.. "

Startled, you paused your washing and looked around at your friends to see if anyone had said anything. You just saw Mina whining over her spilled food, Iida helping out Ojiro with his notes, Denki and Sero playing a racing game in the common room... Everything looked fine, but you couldn't shake off what you had heard.

"Everything alright? You look a little pale.", Your friend, Tokoyami stated, now also having paused his washing to look at you with concern. He had seen you stop washing and swivel around without warning, eyes darting around your classmates rapidly- liked a crazed animal.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm just feeling a little tired. I-I think I should head to bed soon.", you lied. You didn't know how to tell Tokoyami your concerns without sounding like a maniac.

He looked at you once again, not fully believing you, still giving you a polite nod regardless as you caught on to his disbelief.

"Well... You had better rest up then. Have a nice night.."

You gave a nod of understanding as you caught on to his doubt, and went to the elevator to go up to your room. As you watched the doors close, you suddenly felt a chill going up your spine, and tremors shook your body. You couldn't for the life of you find out what was wrong. Cold chills wracked your body, climbing from your fingers and toes up to your torso and eventually claiming the rest of your body, and nausea made itself known even though you knew you hadn't eaten anything odd.

Paranoia began to claw at your thoughts. Was it an infection from the wound on your head? Or the one on your arm? Did you overwork yourself, should you have stayed at the dorms for another rest day?

As these thoughts and worries began to distract you and cause you extra anxiety, you were caught off guard by another voice again. This time it caused you to completely black out as it spoke, and your mind seemed to fill with fog.

"I... can't... breath... I-I don't... I can't... I n-need to... to..."

To?

"My-my... daughter... please...she's sick..."

You don't have a daughter though, so who is this?

"I'm sorry I ... couldn't help... I-I'm sorry I.. l-lost..."

Who lost? What'd they lose?

"I... I-I wanna... go home..."

...

So many crying, broken voices tore their way into your mind. Drilling through the little cracks they caused, they ripped apart your very being with their sorrow, all the voices blending together to create a somber harmony of the broken that cried for their freedom, that grieved for their losses, that worried for their loved ones.

It hurt, hearing these voices cry out and plead for help, just as you had done when you got caught up in the attack. These were the kind of voices that had nothing to offer, but everything to lose. The kind to cry out when pushed into something they didn't wish to be a part of. The kind that was actively losing their energy, but still begged in hopes of getting a response.

And you wanted to be that response. But you couldn't move, your body was frozen in place as the voices begged for action, and you were chained in place of you subconscious as they each bombarded you with their melancholy and pain.

You don't know when, eventually the voices stopped when you felt a tapping sensation on your head. Finally being able to open your eyes, you were relieved to be in control of your own body again. You met eyes with a worried Shinso who was standing in front of you, and you realized that you had at one point gotten off the elevator on your floor right before zoning out. He was shaking you slightly, left hand holding your shoulder, the right gently tapping your head.

Once you moved your eyes, Shinso let out a sigh, his panic alleviated now that you were back again. You turned to him, still a little foggy about what had just happened.

"Geez!... What on Earth were you daydreaming about?! You were standing there for like a solid 10 minutes, not moving an inch." He was exhausted and exasperated, confused as to why you weren't acting yourself.

You felt frozen all around, but still worked up enough energy to force yourself to muster a simple yet stiff "sorry.."

Shinso rubbed the back of his neck, still a bit freaked out, but now feeling a little guilty over his freakout once your pathetic response hit him. "It was kinda freaky if I'm being honest .. but I'm glad your back. Just, don't pull that again, okay?"

You attempted to give a nod, but seeing how stiff and frozen you felt it was barely noticable. Shinso noticed something off with you, and his suspicion rose again at your weird behavior.

"Something wrong? You're not really acting yourself.."

For some reason, the fog in your brain clouded the thought of telling Shinso about the weird event that had just taken place, and you only recited what you had told Tokoyami earlier, before stiffly walking off to your room.

He knew something was wrong, but Shinso decided to chalk it up to just you being anxious after the attack, as HoundDog had told him that students normally act odd for awhile after their first missions and attacks, as they're still preparing themselves and aren't used to the daily amounts of stress that heroes typically go through. As much as his inner conscious screamed at him to not ignore it, Shinso didn't want to make matters worse by trying to fix something he knew almost nothing about, so he decided to let you have your own space for some time.

That night you struggled to grasp even the tiniest threads of sleep, an intense battle between mind and body. Your head grew foggier with time, and you would constantly switch between feeling cold and numb to hot and burning. Not a single scrap of peace and recollection graced you with its presence, no matter how much you fought to collect it.

You were always in a state of motion, flipping and floundering in your bed, trying to make yourself comfortable enough so you could possibly go to sleep. As more time passed your mental state began to crumble, coherent thoughts and logical beliefs disappearing as the heavy fog claimed more and more of your mind. Until eventually you were just a cold, empty-headed version of yourself, still confused and now scared for what small remains of your mentality remained.

You made a silent promise to yourself that you would definitely get Aizawa's help in the morning, as you eventually passed out from sheer exhaustion.

The morning sunlight that hit your eyes and the singing of birds that met your ears seemed a little... too calm. At least when compared to what you went through last night. Speaking of, as much as you tried to remember everything that went on last night it just wouldn't come to you. You fought and struggled, eventually going out with a sigh before you went to get ready for the day. Bits and pieces still clung to your memory, but you could only recall tiny fragments at a time. Still, you held onto those pieces with as much mental strength as you held so you could reassure yourself in the future.

Sitting in bed, you braced yourself when you slid out and stood up, only to become confused in the process when nothing came at you. No dizziness, or numbness, or heat flashes. Nothing. Well, nothing but the mind fog that still gripped your mind with an iron fist. It felt odd, because on one hand you felt great, no random back pains or headaches or morning fatigue, nothing. But that's the other hand, as you didn't feel yourself in the process. You moved simply because your muscle memory of your morning routine kept you going, and you felt as though you couldn't force a single new thought to appear in your own head.

For once, your mind was silent. Empty and vast, with little bits of your personality desperately holding on to what they can.

Of course your classmates noticed something was wrong, as you wouldn't just go silent on them so abruptly and without a meaning behind it. But, they understood your kind nature, and they understood that you most likely needed some time to yourself after the attack. Shinso could only describe the situation to the best of his ability, and even then, that was enough to invoke a sense of horror to your normally upbeat classmates.

And so that's why nobody said a thing. That's why not a word was said when you didn't fill in your notes during class, that's why nobody went to check on you when you didn't grab your lunch and instead sat at a table zoning out, and that's why nobody tried to interfere with you when you hadn't spoken a single word all day.

Except for a few, that is.

Shinso had gone up to you during lunch, and attempted to get you to eat.

Gently pushing his lunch tray so it was a little closer to you, he motioned for you to take something.

"You not hungry?.."

You sat there, eyes wide and soulless, and gave him nothing but a simple shrug before letting your shoulders sag down again. You wanted to say something, but you didn't know what. You couldn't know, it was like trying to come up with an answer in math class to a problem you couldn't solve. You hadn't even the slightest clue as to what to say, mind too heavy and foggy.

"C'mon..." He nudged you with his elbow, trying to cheer you up with a little smile of his. It quickly fell from a lack of response.

Sighing, he just scooted closer to you and ate his lunch in silence, getting increasingly worried about your abstract behavior.

After that, Present Mic tried to entertain a smile onto you after English class, telling some of his favorite jokes and stories, often laughing at himself (though it was mostly to try to help crack a smile out of you).

He just smiled a with a saddened expression in his eyes and patted you on the shoulder as you walked off to your next class, his smile dropping and turning to a gloomy sigh when you were out of view. Truly, he was worried when any of his students were down in the dumps or just plain sad, and it was a natural instinct of his for him to try to get them to cheer up again.

The whole day seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye for you, going from waking up to hearing the last bell ring for the day. You felt even foggier than normal and now it seemed as if your head was actually the same weight at a chunk of lead, struggling to stay awake, let alone keep up with everything going on.

Everyone filed out of the class, calmly chattering to their friends, while you still sat calmly at your desk. That's when you felt it. A similar snap that felt like the one from earlier when you were about to lose everything in the attack.

You knew you couldn't go on like this, and so you forced your way through the thick and heavy fog, standing up on wobbly legs and stiffly made your way to Aizawa's desk. It felt almost as if you could collapse any second, but you weren't going down without a fight.

You knew it had something to do with the cave. It felt like a puzzle left uncompleted, the photo never making itself known. Something somewhere was screaming in the depths of your head with all its might to go back to the cave. That the answer was there.

Aizawa looked up from the papers he was grading, noticing you stop next to his desk and just look at him with large, blank eyes. Aizawa's an observant man, of course he knew you weren't acting yourself. He was actually going to question you about it at the end of the day when he was finished with everything just to make sure nothing behind the scenes was going on. He understood the difference between being sick, being in shock, and then being whatever it is you were dealing with. But, to his surprise, you beat him to it.

"I...", You started, voice timid and airy, a stark contrast to how it normally was. You grew frustrated, not realizing why it was so difficult to get your words out. It was like trying to run underwater, as if you were forcing yourself though something thick and vicious holding you back, forcing you to struggle against it. How did it get to this?

You met eyes with Aizawa, and instantly you knew that he somehow understood. He may not have known what was going on exactly, but somehow he understood you were struggling with your words, with your mind and so on.

"I... ", You started again. "I... feel.. funny. " After a quick pause, and a nod from Aizawa, you continued. "The... Cave. We need... To go again..." This time his eyes widened slightly, and you knew you probably caught him in surprise with that.

"The cave?" He asked, voice gentle on comparison to his stern monotonous tone that he normally uses with everyone that. "Why? To check again?"

"Yes... The... Cave. The cave. I can't- just... please..."

That's all you could muster, all the energy seemingly evaporating right from you. Nothing more would come out no matter how much you fought, and so you just hoped that he agreed.

Aizawa looked down to the ground at nothing in particular, seemingly thinking about his decision. He looked around, then back at you before sighing and leaning back in his chair. The cave... Why'd you have to want to go back to the cave? There had to be a reason, you were terrified of it...

After much mental deliberation, Aizawa nodded his head a bit, looking back at you again, deciding on just trusting your word. You were an honorable student, you got good grades, were kind to everyone, and never really went out of your way to break the rules.

"The cave... Alright. " As much as the fog consumed your mind, you still had enough energy to have your eyes widen in surprise. "We'll go back, check and do some inspections, but I can't promise we'll find anything, kid. If we don't then we'll just have to call it a day, alright?"

Giving a stiff nod, your hope grew.

Later that night, Aizawa couldn't help but feel that something for horribly off with the whole situation. Nothing seemed to add up, and if anything it just made him ask more questions rather than answering any of the ones he had beforehand. He was worried, not only for him and his students, but also for you. Especially for you. He almost had half a mind to send you back to the dorms for more rest, but he noticed that during training you were at the top of your game, just as you always had been. He just realized that you must've been stuck in your mind all day, noticing your dazed looks during class and empty eyes during training.

Something didn't add up... It was nothing but a mess he wanted to be done with. But when it involved the safety and sanity of one of his students, he knew he had to get dirty to clean it up.

It was impulsive, but at that moment he felt that he had to go now. When you asked to check the cave again, he saw something in your eyes. Something like a ticking clock, counting down the inevitable moment something happens. Something that certainly wasn't good. A timer of sorts, he supposed. No... Aizawa felt that he was going insane over the whole thing. There was nothing to read in between the lines of something that didn't exist.

He had told you and Shinso that you would be going to the cave again for a check over in two nights, but nevertheless he still decided to change it to that night instead. The confusion wouldn't stop until he knew he wasn't crazy and wasn't worth worrying over nothing, so moving it earlier wouldn't hurt anything but your sleep schedules.

And so, that's how you found yourself walking alongside Shinso and Aizawa through the same forest that you all had done earlier. The same chopped up plants were there, luckily they hadn't had much time to grow again and block the path so you ask could walk without stumbling, and this time the walk was easier as you all knew what to expect now. The same tree stumps that stuck out and tripped your feet earlier were now skillfully avoided, the rabbits that would dart out in a blur no longer spooked you, and you all walked with more confidence in each step.

It was darker this time though, as last time the full moon was out and lit everything up, it now having disappeared behind the thick layer of clouds that filled the chilly night sky. The ground was still damp, and the air was cool against your already chilled skin, but you didn't notice either, as your full focus was simply trying to put one foot in front of the other, mind still heavy and clouded.

You were gripping onto Aizawa's jacket for support and so you wouldn't get lost, and he let you only under the fact that he was also concerned about you in your foggy state. As you walked through the forest, the you noticed that the voices head gotten louder. Each step lead to an increase in their cry, and as much as you hated hearing the horrible cruelty, it seemed to draw you in. Almost as if something was pulling you towards the direction... Each step made your mind foggier and your body colder despite the cool wind, and with each step it felt as though there was something tugging on your mind, trying to bring it down into something soft and warm.

It seemed so hard to resist, but you still continued your fight against the temptations through nothing but sheer will. The warmth was so kind and inviting to your frozen and stiff body, but you still attempted to tear away from the claws that tried to drag you down.

You don't know when, but during your internal battle you all had reached the cave in no time. What snapped you out was Aizawa placing a respiratory mask over your face for you, and you tried to reach your hand up to put it on yourself, only to panic as it didn't move despite your intentions.

This was unnoticed by both Aizawa and Shinso, and you didn't have much time to worry about it before the temptations came back and the struggle continued. Still fazed, you groggily grabbed Aizawa's hand before you all descended into the cave, and he looked over at you to make sure you were okay before you all stepped in, armed with your lights and masks.

"Listen because I'm not going to explain it twice; we're just here to double check everything. If something's wrong, let me know ASAP, and in case something really bad happens there's numerous of heroes patrolling around here that I can call for help"

Aizawa quickly explained as you all made your way through the dangerously familiar dark cave. The voices were practically screaming right next to your ears, so you missed what Aizawa said entirely. Nothing felt right. Everything spun in circles as you let go of Aizawa's hand, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Alright, but is there anything specific we're looking for, or is it just anything at all?" Shinso questioned, also going alongside Aizawa when it came to wanting to find the reason behind your life behavior.

"No, nothing specific, just anything you happen to run into... " Aizawa answered, looking around to his side.

"Also, I want you to keep an eye on [Name], they've been really out of it lately, so we can't afford another attack."

Shinso's eyes widened. "I thought you were watching them.."

Aizawa's eyes shot open as he quickly spun around to where you were once standing behind him, now nowhere to be seen in the large, dark cave.

"Shit! I really am an idiot!" He exclaimed in worry as horrible memories of the first attack remained fresh in his mind.

Immediately turning back to Shinso, Aizawa shouted, "listen, you can look around but stay in the area! I'm going to look for her since she couldn't have gotten far. And please, for the love of god, don't wander off, and yell if you need anything!"

Aizawa was already running down the tunnels before he even finished his sentence, leaving Shinso to himself while Aizawa focused on finding you before you got you lost.

As he ran throughout the tunnels, something clicked on his head. Your hero in training tag. All students had one, and they all had trackers in case the student got lost or kidnapped during a mission. Perfect.

Thanking whatever higher beings that were out there, Aizawa practically ripped out his tracker from his pocket, seeing two different color dots on it, one for Shinso and one for you. He was so focused on finding you that Aizawa didn't notice Shinso's blinking dot rapidly chasing after him.

Looking up, Aizawa was initially relieved when it said you were just around the corner, but it quickly dropped and turned to alarm when he actually saw you.

Unconscious and mask ripped off and broken into pieces on the ground next to you, Aizawa couldn't help but panic and his senses all heightened as he looked you over. However, that was the least of his concerns. What he really was focusing on was the glowing purple mushrooms that clung to your head, glowing with a beat that seemed to match the pulse of your heart.

Nausea made its way to his system, but Aizawa remained stone faced as he tensed himself for attack.

Crack

A cracking of something behind him gave him all he needed before turning around only to come face-to-face with another person, glowing mushrooms also growing atop their head. It looked like an average man you'd see walking the streets, having on nothing but a tattered white T-shirt with blue basketball shorts and one sandal, the other seemingly missing. His eyes glowed a hazy purple, but Aizawa's heart dropped as he looked behind the man.

There were more of them. Lots of them, all average-looking people with glowing eyes and mushrooms on their head. His heart dropped even further and his blood ran cold as Aizawa realized that these were all the missing people, and that they couldn't have been coincidentally waiting there for him at that exact moment. Then it hit him.

It was a trap.

Mine fully alert and panic now fueling his legs, he promised himself that he'd come back for you as he side-jumped onto the wall and over the crowd that was grabbing and lunging at every bit of him. Aizawa cursed, as he had to leave his scarf back at the dorms due to the tight tunnels.

He dashed through the thin tunnels, throwing himself around as he searched for Shinso to make sure was was okay. Feeling a hand grab his shoulder, he ripped it off of him and swung them from behind, slamming them into the ground without as much force as Aizawa had liked due to his panic.

Shinso wheezed, hitting the ground hard with a thud, landing on his back.

"Kid! You know you can't surprise me like that! I thought I told you!" Aizawa growled a bit, although his tone didn't match his elated expression.

He pulled Shinso back up with ease, the boy in turn staggering a bit after the hard hit, but stabilizing quickly after from having taken many similar hits during training.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything. It's just, I was looking for you because I think I found something." Shinso was still out of breath, but he breathed and then started again. "I think we fell for a trap!"

Aizawa turned behind him and Shinso followed, a look mixed of fear and surprise on his face as they both saw the huge crowd of mushroom people chasing after them.

Aizawa pushed Shinso in front of him, giving him the single command that beared the weight of their lives: run.

With that being said, the duo stormed out of there, there being just too many to fight. Swerving left and right to dodge the incoming attacks, they took turns with one leading and the other pushing back the hoard. The tunnels grew wider as they pushed on, and it seemed the entrance was coming up, but they were once again ambushed.

Coming from the other side of the cave, another hoard came barging in and blocked the way, crushing their hopes of getting out of there. But what shocked them most of all was seeing you among the group. Your eyes were a little lighter purple than the others, but you still had the all too common mushrooms clinging onto your head just as well.

Shinso could only look at in shock, refusing to look into your terrible empty eyes where there should've had their original shine to them. It was awful, really. The dead weight settling into their stomachs as they were blocked from all around. The absolute loss of any hope of escaping. The snuffed flame of their still disappearing predictions and being replaced with a sense of hopelessness as they realized that soon they'd be a part of that crowd.

Aizawa was still, a single thought in his head.

"Shinso... This is my fault. I should've done a better job at looking out for the both of you. Now, because of me one of you is gone and the other is soon to be the same.."

Shinso shook his head, tears of frustration growing in his eyes as he refused to admit defeat.

"It's not your fault! None of this is... It's someone else's doing! You did all you could, right?! You called for help and we still ended up like this! We tried, we got this far, we can't give-"

Aizawa cut him off, a heavy expression gnawing at his features as a shadow covered his face.

"No, I haven't done all I can yet. I'm going to get you out of here, whether that be at my expense or not."

Shinso shook his head at his teacher's words, still denying the fate that awaited them. In an act of desperation and anger, he looked to all the empty-eyed people, shouting at them while trying to use his quirk so he could have something, anything.

"You can hear me, right?!" The empty faces didn't flinch.

"What do you want from us?! What could you possibly gain from taking my friend away?!" He cried out, fear and desperation now beginning to settle on his mind as the crowd looked at him while getting closer, empty and stiff.

"GIVE THEM BACK!" Shinso yelled out one last time in a fit of rage while looking at your blank face, sparking you to lunge at him without warning.

It felt as though time was frozen again. The air felt thick and jellylike as your cold fingers grasped the edges of Shinso's mask, purple eyes mirroring his as he could only look in shock.

Without a single moment of hesitation, Aizawa launched himself in-between you and Shinso instead, and you took the bait, hands clawing at his face and tearing the mask off him instead, scratching him in the process.

It was over for Aizawa now. He knew that. He inhaled the spores, now he lost the game, and it was only a matter of time. A matter of time.

Time...That's right. The clock was still ticking, he had time.

Without sparring so much as a single second, he grabbed your collar and pushed you out of the way without any harm, and quickly did the same to all the grasping hands that ached to infect the fresh faces. Grabbing Shinso by the arm, Aizawa led him through the crowd without much care for himself now that his cards have been dealt. These were regular people, people who never trained a day in their life besides maybe going to the gym, people who never thought of fights and violence, but rather just living their lives. Aizawa was a trained and hardened pro, he understood he had a good hand dealt to him.

But there was power in numbers, that was certainly true. He never understood a saying more than that one as he struggled to guide Shinso out to safety, using himself as a human shield against the hands that aimed to infect. Time was ticking...

It was a sea of people, pushing and shoving at all sides around. Purple eyes and glowing mushrooms crowded the tunnels, and Aizawa could only hope the entrance was near. It was hard to tell because as he pushed through the people would only follow.

With Aizawa giving one last shove that ended with a couple people falling to the ground, Shinso pointed out an opening that Aizawa practically threw them both into. There was no sigh of relief, because the crowd surged forward, catching them both off guard with the unpredictable mass movements.

A million hungry hands reached in their direction, like a wave of flesh coming to crash down upon them. The constant loss of hope and fear of infection was beginning to get exhausting.

Aizawa's muscles were sore and burned with white hot agony, but he still needed to give his all while he still could. Before he eventually would join the crowd. It was the least he could do, ensure that at least one of you three made it out and spread the word.

Purple eyes, glowing mushrooms, a million hands... It all seemed inescapable...

"BANG!"

A sudden sound shot through the air, and the man closest to the two immediately crumpled to the ground as red flew through the air from his ankle. A few more shots were heard and an opening was made wide enough for the duo to pass through as several more people crumpled to the ground like the first.

Aizawa led Shinso, and they found standing at the entrance of the cave the hope that they had been losing all night. Because there stood a large group of a random assortment of heroes that came to their aid. And finally, the thought of loss was lifted from their minds.

They made their way out, still tense as the battle was far from over. The infected had followed Shinso and Aizawa all the way outside, and now in a grassy opening in the dimly lit forest, a battle was being held by the heroes in an attempt to restrain as many people as they could.

As Snipe ran over to check on Shinso (the only student there), Aizawa collapsed, weak and without any energy due to the fight and the spores that were quickly taking over from how long he was breathing them in.

He rushed to check on Aizawa after finding Shinso to be okay, but Snipe and Shinso both panicked when a hero next to them also collapsed, along with another further away, and then two more to the opposite side.

As more and more heroes collapsed, most having coughing fits, Aizawa came to a dreadful realization. Each hero that collapsed didn't have some kind of mask, while the few left to help did. And he understood.

That they were fighting a losing battle.

Because of his mistake. Again, he ruined more and more with his recklessness.

Hero after hero collapsed, some catching on to the pattern and masking early, others catching on too late and falling to the ground in a coughing fit while they attempted to protect themselves with pieces of cloth from their costumes or spare masks they had on hand.

It was an appalling sight, to see the empty eyed win so easily by simply existing, while the heroes that had trained for so long and hard lost while fighting with all they had in them.

So few were left standing as the sun's rays began to peak overhead, a painful irony that life kept going despite the losses and wins of those that lived it. Everyone that could move called in for more backup while trying to help the fallen and also attempted to restrain weak alongside all that. It was too much for too little people.

Things only kept getting messier as Aizawa had kept trying to fix it, and now he wasn't the only one paying the price, but also many, many others were as well. Aizawa refused to give in to the infection until he had fixed what he had done. It was the least he could do.

However, something took a turn. As the sun rose, everyone who was infected lost their mushrooms and thus they got their mind back once the sunlight reached them. This was only discovered as an infected woman who was pushing back a struggling and weak hero suddenly went still before falling to the floor, unconscious.

Once this was discovered, those that still had the energy and their abilities led or pushed the infected people into the spots where the sun shone, causing the tables to turn in the battle with the newfound information. Better yet, those that were fighting the infection had it removed from their system as soon as the sun met their head.

Aizawa attempted to stand after the sun sunlight reached his body, but he had to quickly catch himself as his knees almost buckled, and he found that although he was no longer infected, he was still dealing with the after effects such as what he was dealing with currently; all his energy seemed to have seeped straight out of him, leaving him weak and vulnerable.

Still, he fought the exhaustion and forced his legs to stand. He had to find you, wherever you were. He knew you were outside, and he knew Snipe was watching Shinso. Goodness, he just hoped you were okay. After looking around through the chaos and clumps of people, Aizawa finally spotted you, unfortunately hiding away under the shade of the trees and still very much infected.

There were almost no infected people left, and so most heroes turned to you upon noticing this. However, everything went still and silent upon noticing a large shadowy figure standing behind you. The figure stepped out and into the light, causing several gasps as people finally got a look at who was behind this whole thing.

It was a lady who had long dark hair and was covered all over in different kinds of mushrooms. She had a horrible expression on her rotting face, and it was discovered that the mushrooms were growing only where she was decaying. Aizawa felt no fear when he saw this lady, only pure, unadulterated, rage. He had no clue who this lady was, only that she was the one responsible for this whole mess, and that she currently was the one controlling you right in front of Aizawa.

It was quickly discovered that her control was stronger when there were less people being controlled, and as you were the last one, that meant you were at her bidding no matter what it was, sunlight or not.

She looked over to Shinso and scowled upon seeing him fine and untouched.

"I recall earlier... You were asking what I could possibly gain by taking your friend from you?... " She spoke to Shinso, who wasn't that far away from her. Her voice was deep and raspy, and as a result it barely understandable, but it still resonated with everyone around. All was still and everyone was silent and on edge as she was basically holding not only a student hostage, but also everyone around as she had complete control over you and now your quirk as well.

Shinso shot a sharp glare at the lady. Seeing an actual villain with a quirk similar to his... All the bullying and relentless stereotypes that were forced onto him growing up... It was all because of people like her...

And now she was holding his friend under her control. He couldn't stand the sight. Unheroic thoughts plagued his mind at the moment, as he couldn't help but feel a deep seated rage beginning to boil in him. But he was stuck. He couldn't move and risk you getting hurt, or anyone else either.

Aizawa watched the interaction, wondering if he could sneak in with using his quirk and end the whole thing. Some heroes around him caught on to this while still staying silent.

"I'd like to know!" A man, a new and young hero stated from far away, a telepath spreading the message.

"You're nothing but evil, using innocent people to your bidding! Doesn't it make you sick? To act in such a manner?" He declared confidently.

"Nice try. " She simply stated, eyes slanted and an expression that was tainted with an evil sense of joy and merriment. Everyone froze as she turned and looked Aizawa straight in the eye.

"I can hear all of your little friend's thoughts. Erasure? Sorry, but that won't stop my spores..."

She looked at Aizawa with a gloating expression that was mixed with her own rage.

"How does it feel?!" She exclaimed, causing the alert heroes to tense.

"To have lost control of those that you love?!" She asked, and at that moment Aizawa noticed that the victims weren't chosen at random. They each were related to a hero somehow, but weren't directly one themselves. This was an attack on the heroes the whole time. From the inside out...

All over, many heroes were still weak and recovering from the infection, and those that were masked had little energy left from being the sole protectors and fighters. She knew what she was doing this whole time.

"Lemme tell you this... When my friend was sick and dying from a burglar's quirk, did any hero come to save her day?" No one spoke a word.

"No. And so all was up to me... I didn't know... My quirk would just speed things up... I didn't know... " She looked down at her hands, trembling sightly as if she was still remembering the day she lost her closest friend.

"I know what it's like to lose control! To lose someone you love... But you heroes don't! You never did! You never attempted to help, you didn't even try to save her!" She shouted, voice growing more raspy with volume.

She grew quiet, and heroes all around looked at each other. No one had the energy left in them to fight anymore, and backup was still too far away. Aizawa looked up at you with worry, your eyes still empty and mushrooms still glowing atop your head. He needed to get you to safety.

"That's why...", She looked up, face now devoid of any earlier emotion, just like her puppets.

"I need to show you what it's like."

And with that, she raised her hand towards Aizawa, and in the blink of an eye, you were shooting forward at him.

His eyes grew in surprise, not predicting a direct attack being sent on him. He could barely stand, let alone fight. Shinso attempted to throw himself in your way, but you hardened you wings and closed them around yourself like a cocoon, before shooting them open again with enough force to send him flying.

Snipe, although reluctant to shoot one of his students, still knew what he had to do. Looking down, he saw he had two bullets left, enough for each ankle or arm if he could make it.

He aimed in between the crevice of your wings and shot once. The bullet sped through the air, but before it could reach you, it fell to the ground in between the two of you after a sharp "clink" was heard, and he realized it was your hardened feathers. He tried again but the same thing happened, and this time you sent a speeding feather at him, hitting his sleeve and pinning him to a tree with several more.

Following this, Aizawa could only attempt to use his quirk as you expanded your metal wings, them glowing a beautiful pure white that radiated a deadly beauty. It did nothing, but he stayed strong and held on as he watched you raise several fatal feathers in the air.

He closed his eyes awaiting a sharp pain, but never felt anything. Aizawa tensed, and opened his eyes upon hearing a vulgar curse coming from the mushroom lady who once stood triumphantly, now clutching her bleeding arm and abdomen.

He saw you, also clutching your bleeding head, standing tall and no longer infected.

You turned to him, eyes now their original color and mushrooms gone from your hair, and gave him a large, joyful smile. He could only stay frozen in surprise, but before he could say anything you turned back to the lady who was attempting to escape.

She brushed her hands on the trees in an attempt to colonize more of her mushrooms, but it was too bright for them to grow and they could only get to about a hair's width before shrivelling and dying. It was pointless for her to do, and you steeled your wings once again and sent out more feathers at her departing figure. She got hit in the backs of her knees, her Achilles tendons, and the back of the neck before getting pinned and retained by surrounding heroes after she crumpled.

While that was going on, Aizawa forced his burning muscles to cooperate and limped over to you, and when you noticed you ran over to him to meet him halfway. Shinso jogged over to the two of you as well, disappointed in himself for not configuring l contributing more, but relieved you were okay.

Aizawa grabbed you before your could speak and just held you in a tight hug for a solid second of silence, to which you didn't mind. After letting go, he had to ask, "how?"

You chuckled a bit, knowing exactly what he was asking.

"Your quirk helped snap me out for just enough time to send one my feathers at my head which helped to give me more time free from her control which I used to send at her ". You rubbed the back of your neck, not used to all the attention. "I guess her quirk lost control when I hit her. I can't explain it, though. I suppose I just got lucky.."

After that, several ambulances and an armored criminal hospital truck showed up, and everyone got a check up. Those in the worst conditions were given first treatment, and you were one of these people with the opened wound on your head. Shinso was alongside you, as he broke his right wrist when he got flung by your wings, but other than that, the two of you were okay. Aizawa didn't have any major injury, but was still given plenty of pain relief and sent on his way.

The whole event had involved so many people that it got put in the news. That's an understatement, it was all over the news. Your classmates thought it was the coolest thing, and were glad you ended up being okay.

The cave was inspected by a team of crime-scene containment and contamination experts, and they were able to remove every single trace of the lady's quirk, down to the smallest spore. Still, the cave was filled so no one would be able to go in it ever again.

The man accused earlier was apparently the first to be controlled, and he was sent as bait for the heroes so they'd lose track of her. He was given a formal apology of the court and proper payment for the whole incident. The innocent victims were also given payments as well, and they were hospitalized and sent under a strict quarantine for a month. This was too ensure that no missed spores had the chance to grow and spread.

Since you and Aizawa were infected at some point, you both were put under quarantine as well, although you simply weren't allowed to leave the dorms for a month, however your classmates happily entertained you (much to Aizawa's dismay).

During that month, you and Aizawa got to learn a lot about each other, and it drastically boosted your confidence when it came to fighting. Aizawa was glad for your successes, and he definitely looked forward to seeing you grow up.

Shinso wasn't placed under mandatory quarantine, so he was able to go back to school when he was finished resting (properly). Although he was a bit jealous that you got a whole month to yourself.

The mushroom lady was healed by prison doctors and sent over to Tartarus where she'd stay permanently with all the other villains. Since she had a powerful quirk if used right, she had to have a constant surveillance and checks to make sure her quirk cancelling bracelet was working properly.

• • • • •

Some time had passed since the incident, and before you knew it you were starting your second year of upper secondary school (highschool) with your classmates.

It was the first day of school, and waiting for you and Shinso at the gates was none other than Aizawa no himself. He saw your expression and chuckled a bit, asking "Nervous?".

You shrugged your shoulders. You weren't scared like you always were in the past, but you didn't know what the future was going to hold. It was out of your control.

And so Aizawa did something he had only done once before. He offered you his hand.

Smiling, you accepted it and all three of you walked together, beginning another year.

A/N:

Ahh! That took so long! But I enjoyed writing it very much!

(🎀ơ ᎑ ơ)

This is to make up for the small breaks I've been taking (I apologize for that, exams are here, I've been looking for a job, and my mental health hasn't been the best..)

NOTE: I don't think I specified this, but the voices reader heard was due to the mushroom lady's quirk, which created a sort of hive mind. That's also how she was able to read your mind when infected.

One last thing, please request if you want! I don't judge, and I promise I see them all! I just ask for patience is all ꒰˶ฅ̀•ᗜ•ฅ́˶꒱おけ〇

Thank you for being here, I hope you have a fantastic day!

年2023/月03/日08

Reblogs and any feedback are very much appreciated! (Seriously, it's the only thing keeping me going sometimes)

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eardefenders · 3 months

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Regarding your reply to anon, I totally agree with you. I didn't really care for the patreon I'm happy to wait for the weekly releases since it gives me something to look forward to. Then I came across your transcript of their 1st q&a bonus ep and it was what made me want to subscribe to their patreon. I'd say the transcripts actually BENEFIT them since it gives us a sneak peak of what they offer behind the paywall and let's people know what they're getting into. It's similar to seeing an edit or a screenshot of a movie or a TV show online, it doesn't make the production lose money because people won't bother to watch the full thing after seeing it. Rather it encourages people to check it out and experience it for themselves.

I among others truly appreciate the effort you put into doing all this. As of the moment, I'm still saving up to be able to afford a subscription so you're keeping my fomo at bay lmfao. 💞

Well that's nice to hear (read?)! I'm glad you're enjoying the show and the transcripts and there is SO much more to the patreon and the discord so I really hope you do manage to save up enough! It's so much fun!

Thank you for the message anon!

#sherlock & co #sherlock and co #q&a time #transcripts #patreon

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imogenkol · 11 months

Text

— WIP WEDNESDAY

The Wednesdays start comin and they don’t stop comin. Just like smash mouth used to say

Tagged by @inafieldofdaisies and @adelaidedrubman thank you both!!! 💕💕💕

No pressure tags: @marivenah @voidika @simonxriley @corvosattano @socially-awkward-skeleton @detectivelokis @minaharkers @shegetsburned @loriane-elmuerto @florbelles @roofgeese @kyber-infinitygems @chuckhansen @queennymeria @jackiesarch @shellibisshe @jacobseed @unholymilf @aceghosts @nokstella @risingsh0t @jinfromyarikawa @shadowglens @sstewyhosseini + anyone else who wants to share a wip!

Well this is basically just *sees one grainy screenshot of a trailer leak and becomes mentally ill about it* warning for a bit of a heavy mood: suicidal thoughts implied as well as talking about trauma and the like

Bix lay sprawled out on her stomach in the messy bed, appearing about as put together as her living quarters. If Imogen hadn’t heard her voice just a moment before, she would have thought Bix wasn’t even conscious. As she drew nearer, she noticed a familiar blaster rested loosely in her mechanic’s grip.

One step forward, two steps back.

A lump formed in Imogen’s throat, but she swallowed hard and sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

The first sign of life from Bix was a weak shrug. “Somewhere in between wanting to blast some Imp’s head off and my own.”

That filled Imogen with a sickening, ice-cold dread. She carefully reached for the blaster. “You know that I would never allow you to do that.”

Their fingers brushed as Imogen took the weapon out of her hand. The touch roused a reaction and the mechanic’s gaze snapped up to meet the former Inquisitor’s. Imogen expected to see anything from pain to fear, but Bix’s eyes were simply hollow. She could not bear to witness it for more than a couple of seconds.

“All of a sudden you’re so concerned with coveting life, huh?”

“I covet yours above all others, Bix,” Imogen replied.

A sigh expelled from her lungs and she dragged herself into a sitting position. “You don’t need to worry. I was just… too deep in my own head.”

Imogen nodded, but fully recognized the danger of such a thing. “Have you gotten out of this room today?”

“No.”

“One prison is enough to endure. You should not make it two,” she said gently.

Bix ran a hand though her disheveled curls and released another impatient huff. “Everyone has been looking at me like I’m some broken thing. I mean, I am, but… seeing it all over their faces makes me feel like I’m still strapped to that chair, losing my mind.”

Imogen knew she must have inadvertently contributed to that. Guilt twisted her insides. Of all people, she should have known better. “My master used to look at me differently than anyone else. Not in a way I found to be encouraging. Though she never said it, I could see she spent most of her days anticipating the worst from me. It is taxing.”

“It is,” the mechanic agreed wearily. She shifted closer, looping an arm through Imogen’s and resting her head on her shoulder.

Despite the topic of conversation, Imogen felt a light flutter in her chest as the heat of the other woman’s body warmed her. This type of candid affection they had started to share more frequently brought a specific kind of intoxication. It felt just as thrilling as any intimate touch and she hid a smile. Imogen could be content with her like this. Just like this.

Imogen turned her attention to the blaster in her hands. “I had not realized you still had this. I thought it was lost.”

Bix studied the blaster like it was the only object of importance to her. “I kept it from you.”

“Why?”

“It makes me feel less vulnerable. And because it’s yours.”

Imogen recalled when Bix had taken it straight from her holster out of a strong will to escape the Empire with her life. Perhaps the blaster was not some dark force searching to prey on an addled mind, rather the only tangible reminder of her own survival.

After a long moment of deliberation, Imogen offered the weapon back to her. “Now it is yours.”

Bix leaned back enough to meet her gaze again. Relief washed over the bounty hunter at the small spark that reignited within her rich eyes. “You’re sure?”

“I trust that you will continue to protect yourself with it. As I will continue to protect you.”

A soft smile tugged at the corner of Bix’s mouth, drawing Imogen’s gaze down for a split second. She suddenly became keenly aware of their lack of personal space. Bix took in her features as well before she accepted the blaster. “Thank you.”

“You will not be broken forever, Bix,” Imogen promised.

The movements were subtle. Fingers tightened around her arm. Bix tilted her head towards hers ever so slightly. Imogen felt even the most acute form of contact. It pulled her in like a magnet, making each short breath stutter past her barely parted lips.

“You can kiss me, you know,” Bix whispered.

Imogen had never experienced a deeper temptation in all her life. It would be as easy as leaning in an inch or two. The last time her lips were graced by a kiss was on Ferrix before the uprising. That moment felt so far away and it made Imogen ache terribly for her mechanic. This pain reached past every defense to tear at what was left of her very soul. Somehow, that only made her crave it more.

But Imogen could not bring herself to give in. Not while Bix was like this.

Wordlessly, the bounty hunter tilted her chin up and gently pressed her lips to Bix’s temple. Imogen felt her beloved lean into the kiss as her tense muscles eased. She sensed it gifted them both a moment of peace, so she pulled away and rested her forehead where the ghost of her kiss remained, feeling no rush to part from her mechanic.

#my writing #oc insp: imogen kol #ship insp: if i had a heart #its mostly hurt/comfort but Bix is not doing well for obvious reasons #seeing how she looks in s2 like nah I gotta do something about that rn #I have Many thoughts I've been sitting on about what I saw in the trailer leak #but I'm back to being very worried about where her storyline is gonna go #this is how I cope and also cope with the irl horrors lmao

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silentspectres · 7 months

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I would like to know about your disaster tiefling! Backstory, current romance, what drives them, anything youd be excited to share!

thank you for indulging me! I cannot express enough that I am like a vampire in that I have to be explicitly invited to do something, so I'm grateful

This is my disaster tiefling Mercury, they're a mephistopheles tiefling rogue (assassin specifically) and they're allergic to making wise decisions

I have a hard time grabbing good screenshots from my console sometimes so a few of these are Crunchy™ but I genuinely love the range of lighting the game has that makes them go from somewhat well-adjusted looking to mostly just glowing eyes. I'll put the rest about them under a read more!

Mercury usually sticks to decisions that will benefit themself or their friends above all else (and usually not through honest means), but they've been known to freely help children with no clear end gain. They had a great time around Mattis, the tiefling child, out-conning him. It's probably the closest to playful their group has come to seeing them be playful (save around Scratch/the Owlbear), since Mercury was using it as an opprotunity to teach the kid rogue techniques that would benefit him later from someone who's been at it for quite some time. It'd be cute if they weren't such an awful influence

Mercury's backstory is admittedly not something I've been able to work out past large overtones or some general character defining events, but they're a character that likes to keep their privacy and hold things that matter to them close, so I think it works out in the long run. They were fiery and loudly defiant against the world and its cruelty when they were younger, but as they grew older and realized that the only person they could rely on was themself, they grew more cunning, quiet, carefully composed, and discarded the intense emotions that once drove them. This change most likely came from being used + discarded by a disguised devil, and they have an extreme discomfort and distrust for devils or the Infernal as a result

I like to call Mercury a mirror - they're a reflection of the general harshness the city had on them (being a scrappy tiefling with nowhere to call home), but once they're surrounded by people who offer them kindness (Wyll/Karlach/Gale particularly being huge influences) they actually almost habitually return kindness + favors to the small group close to them. Their friends are one of the only noted exceptions, though; they still don't really do great in the empathy department otherwise

I could write several pages about Mercury's romance, BUT I'll try not to ramble too long (narrator voice: this was a lie). Mercury is romancing (spawn) Astarion + their dynamic drives me up the WALL. The two of them had a weird push and pull to their early relationship - Mercury was well familiar with the song and dance Astarion was performing when he targeted them and knew he certainly had ulterior motives, but they... truthfully, between the empty meaningless void that had become their existence and the inevitable certain death they would now be facing as a result of being tadpoled, and the fact that they could never remember a single moment in their life in which they were wanted (let alone desired by someone), they didn't care. So they let him use them and they played along as coyly as he did, fully aware that the more that they got involved with him or the others the higher the chance they might end up walking away caring. Which, unfortunately, happened.

A lot of factors contributed to changing Mercury's apathy toward the group and ultimately swayed the change to caring romantically about Astarion, almost none of which was even Astarion's doing himself. It started with Wyll, who was always kind and selfless without a second thought, who willingly chose to risk losing everything against Mizora because he'd rather stand by Karlach. And Karlach herself was easy to get along with - she cared deeply and loudly about those around her and wasted no time or consideration into treating Mercury with the same warmth as she did the others. Gale, maybe surprisingly, was the ultimate catalyst, though. He had formerly been a wizard Mercury kept at the same distance as everyone, one of the companions Mercury actually thought less often about despite traveling with him among the most, before they met Elminster along the roads to the Shadow Cursed lands. Mercury is hard to sway, but a goddess telling her most devoted follower that he only stands to make something meaningful of himself by killing himself ignited some long since extinguished anger in them - anger at the gods, anger at the world, anger at the shitty hands they and these people they're around were dealt - and Mercury drunk themself to sleep that night following the realization that fuck, this anger in place of apathy meant they cared. Astarion was next to show them a little vulnerability by letting them read his scars to him (and it drives me insane thinking about the level of trust he would've reasonably have had to have in them to turn his bare back to another rogue), revealing that he is only one part of an unknown whole, and that that unknown whole could very well be an Infernal pact. And so it goes - suddenly, Mercury was in over their head. Suddenly, they cared.

They both end up stumbling through figuring what a relationship (and even the full scope of what either of them truly want) means later, when they're both forced to face the fact whatever was between them is now real (and dangerous, Mercury reasons, because to admit they want to care and be alive means they have to invite back in all the hurt it could bring - hurt they're intimately familiar with - but they can't deny that what they have is nice.) Mercury is very much a deeply touch starved person, so they offer Astarion a lot of small, quiet moments of physical intimacy like leaning against him in camp, resting their hands on his, soft touches against his face to brush against his hair, stuff that, in general, he probably has no lasting memories of ever having. In turn, Astarion offers them a quiet sanctuary - a gentle reminder - that they have others they can lean on and rely on and that they don't have to bear their burdens alone. There's a lot of push and pull in this stage of their relationship, too, but it's less about a game they're performing and more about learning boundaries, limits, and the depths that they're both willing to admit to themselves about whatever it is they have.

By act 3, Mercury has no doubts about where Astarion stands to them, and truthfully I don't think Astarion does about Mercury either, but it's a bit harder for him to think about with certain looming disaster hanging over his head. Reasonably. He sort of lashes out the closer they get to dealing with the inevitable, not in the way he's harsh, but in the sort of defensive "I feel like a cornered animal so I'm reverting back to trying to pull the strings (new strings at that!) to use/manipulate you into doing what (I think) I want because I genuinely can't believe in a kinder future for myself" sort of way. Mercury by this point can see right through him and offers a constant, steady pressure by always pointing out "If you do this, you'll have to do a lot of difficult things, are you sure you're prepared to do that?" and by the point of the crypts, it's clear he'd be really fucked up by carrying through with it now that he's had to come face to face with both what he's done and what he stands to become by taking Cazador's power, especially after finding the scroll about the other vampire masters. So Mercury stands firm and becomes his reminder that things don't have to end in bloodshed, lashing out, and bared teeth - a lesson Mercury themself was taught by the kindness (a kindness they had always lacked) their companions (now friends) never gave up on. Their relationship is stronger for it and they're genuinely good influences on each other (somehow, Astarion has become some sembalance of the voice of reason and is a good 90% of the reason Mercury has stopped doing things with no regard to their own self preservation now) and they're both extremely well adjusted partners despite the so many issues both of them have. Who would've thought the local pair of murderers are an exceptionally sweet couple???

I have rambled for far too long and I have a thousand more things I could say about Mercury but I'll spare you because it is very early in the morning, but thank you for letting me speak a little about them!! I have a playlist and a pinterest for them if anyone is seriously further curious about them and my inbox is always open for more questions but I must sleep for now

#bg3 #bg3 tav #bg3 spoilers #answered #rhubarbtonapalooza #my ocs #silent speaks #seriously my mental illness with Mercury is unparalleled #if anyone takes commissions for fandom ocs let me know maybe #one of my favorite things about my stupid disaster tiefling I didn't cover in the main part of this post is that they've #accidentally done quite a few good / selfless things for people throughout the campaign #they're like i'm going to agree to help because this person will owe me something later or surely give me something I need in return #and half the time those people were like thank you :)) that was very kind of you #and mercury every time was like WHAT WAS THE POINT #one of my favorite moments was showing up to the city finally and there's this guy loudly complaining about people breaking into his house #so Mercury immediately is like why?? do you have something valuable in there #and the guy alludes to something being in the basement #so Mercury decided actually I think that'll be mine thank you #they show up to civilization finally and immediately get in a fight with some mercenaries #proceed to break into this man's house #pays the family to leave because the guy has a kid and the kid deserves to be safe #goes down to the basement to see if the guy does have anything valuable #discovers a plot to explode some refugees #they're like COME ON I just wanted some gear I didn't come down here to play hero #(some of the tieflings from the grove were part of said refugees so they unfortunately did once again play the part of the hero)#anyway I am so tired I need to sleep #bg3: mercury

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1aim2kill3 · 4 days

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i’m sat🧘🏻‍♀️(— this is @/nathanielhsewell btw)

okay okay listen i'm cooking. havent touched the books since #3 released BUT i went thru the bobby stories a Lot so i think i remember a decent chunk. now because i am tooootally unbiased i pretty much never touched the negative-bobby-relationship track but i've read about it and seen screenshots from others so i think i have a pretty good idea. ANYWAY. ahem. thank you for attending my ted talk let's begin:

Bobby has two(out of three) routes where they for sure aren't following the detective around for some kind of vindictive or personal reason. The strangers route (the one i often shoot for in my personal playthroughs) i feel shows the most about Bobby's character in line with the rare snippets we recieve from seraphinite. Reasons for this are as follows: their personal relationships are. Bad. their sister hates them, as do their parents (which makes me suspect an early golden child/loser dynamic but that's not confirmed so i won't be digging into that). If you were exes (or even friends) they betrayed your trust or used your love for them to manipulate you and get something not-romance, not-sex related out of you. ie: your essay, or your connections, or a million other things.

Bobby is no different now—they mention having sex eith others exclusively for profit, complain about how unfulfilling it is, and barely try. Kissing you seems performative, and they clearly don't enjoy it for what it is, but rather what it means: getting their hands on your secrets.

In fact, as a journalist, bobby is a *workaholic*. wayhaven is said repeatedly to be a small town where nothing ever happens—everyone knows each other, and there isn't a lot of need for newspapers because. duh. human oral communication. The detective (i believe, but i might be misremembering which character) gripes about "the most interesting thing happening" being a dog peeing on someone's flowers.

Bobby is *starved* for content. A bit like a rabid dog who just goes fuckin crazy at the scent of meat. no fuckin wonder they're following you around like a creep! And then when it all comes to a head at your apartment, they see an in—you keep a lot of secrets, but 'everyone likes sex', right?? so they push past your comfort, searching for an in. and they would have found it (in some runs) if you hadn't caught them in the bathroom on the phone.

After this, Bobby (non ex routes) doesn't seem to miss the sexual encounter and mostly feels shitty about losing their chance to get info straight out of the detective's mouth. ex bobby i believe tries to call back to previous sexual encounters, to which the detective shoots them down by saying it was for (their essay?) (my memory's a little fuzzy because this is all remembered from screenshots)

ANYWAY. putting this all together leaves me with the following facts: bobby sucks at sex. bobby is not particularly interested in sex for the sexual aspect. bobby historically uses sex as a tool to get what they want (which is almost never sex itself). bobby has weird assumptions about other people and what they want from sex.

conclusion: bobby finds no pleasure in sex acts and doesn't fully understand how other people experience it. conclusion: i headcanon bobby as an asexual.

keep in mind that most of the above applies to friend and stranger routes because i haven't dipped my toes into exes and i don't know how the dialogue changes there.

#bobby marks #i hopw this makes any amount of sense i'm typing this on my phone with frozen fongers

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citrusella-flugpucker · 11 months

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My Ship Unmoors from the Habitica Docks

((Or: Habitica Ban Speedrun, Sub 1 Hour, Luigi Citrusella Wins (Loses?) By Doing Absolutely Nothing (or at least nothing that would have warranted that kind of response from staff, seriously)

There was an anonymous asker on my blog in Feburary saying I should voice my concerns about Habitica on Habitica, and I wanted to let them know: I did it!

If you’re curious what I wrote, it was the following (slightly modified, as the character count my draft doc gave me didn’t match Habitica’s character count logic so it was over character limit):

So when I originally came up with the idea of making this post I thought I'd frame it like a two-weeks' notice for a job, a little ha-ha nod to years of my serving wench moniker… but then as time went on, it didn't feel right. So I'll just lay it all out.

I can't do this anymore. I can't continue being complicit with a staff that:

makes decisions that seem retaliatory and then disallows anyone from discussing it or their feelings surrounding it, even if other people remark on a way the community changed from it that they're confused about

uses alts (scroll to bottom and show the last images in the set) to artificially inflate staff post like counts to make them seem better-received than they are

fearmongers Socialites by implying they are witnessing bannable behavior and encouraging it

thinks that being anti-censorship is a personal attack

strongarms users into silence (but only tells Socialites, for some reason) so rudely that several users (including myself) asked for their tiers to be removed

changes the community guidelines so that if they discipline you in any way they're not required to tell you what you did wrong, so it's possible for you to be blindsided by a disciplinary action and have no idea what you did

This post isn't "relitigating" anything because litigation in a fair court implies the possibility for more than one outcome. I'm just sharing how I feel, which is something that used to be allowed. However, given that I'm sharing feelings that are something other than Shiny Happy People about something that staff would rather enforce a forgetting-of by silencing those who also want to move on but needed to work through their feelings about it, I'm sure staff won't feel the same way. I know from the fact that several people have been banned for saying anything that there's only one thing that will happen when I post this.

Since staff are more interested in throwing their admin toys at people who disagree with their actions than, you know, actually talking things out other than behind closed doors, I'm sure that this will end with me being muted or banned. I've made my peace with that, which is why my name is what it is.

I've made this post because, as a Socialite, I feel it's of grave importance that people have complete, accurate information to work off and with little to no word from staff this is the most complete info I can share in 3000 characters. My penchant for sharing my knowledge hasn't changed just because my tiers are gone; I've just accepted that there are far better, more ethical places to volunteer one's time. I'm sorry staff don't seem to feel the same way.

Thank you. For everything.

Staff liked it so much that this happened within 20 minutes!

(That’s a chat mute, which I am familiar with the basic look of because I once (twice, actually) asked for a temporary one specifically to get screenshots of it for fact-finding science reasons.)

And then within the hour, more or less without me doing anything additional on the level of warranting it, this happened!

(That is a full site ban. I cannot use the site at all. Very interesting that this kind of thing took 20 minutes to an hour to receive this level of action but I saw full-on (real) community guidelines violations sit unhidden for hours in the same chat as recently as a week ago.)

I expected this sort of thing to happen (to the point that I prepared and got basically all my pertinent user info just in case, but I hope it’s clear now why I waited until I no longer had commitments tying me to the site, and why I didn’t expect posting it to the site to be effective at changing anything. I’m not so much mad as disappointed at this point. The kind of quiet anger I reserve for a very select few things in my life, as it were.

Except for the part I didn’t mention yet where they also hid a post in a guild I owned (The Crystal Gems guild) that contained important information for the guild members regarding a temporary leader I was assigning because even if I hadn’t gotten banned I’d planned to stop using the site tonight either way, which meant a following post by someone else suddenly lacked important context and might have made it look like the search for a more permanent leader I’d asked about a few days prior was over. Someone had to clarify in my stead what that meant because the context I’d already provided was suddenly missing. That makes me angry because it’s even more needlessly petty than the reaction to the quoted post above that I knew they’d be upset with.

TL;DR: I finally posted about the state of Habitica on Habitica. Staff didn’t take it well and nothing is changing. -_-’

Screenshot of the version of the post that actually was posted to (and hidden on) Habitica under the cut. It does not have alt text but is nearly identical to the block quote above so that will serve as its image description. I’ll add here that my name had been changed from “citrusella, the serving wench💔” to “💔 the serving wench quits 💔” and my avatar is shrouded in black and red under a dark rain cloud (it’s been like that for months, but only because when other people started getting banned I changed my avatar into something I was comfortable with it being “buried” in, in case I got banned suddenly).))

#habitica #habitrpg #ponderings on habitica #ponderings on habitrpg #habitica exeunt

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blakebouchard · 4 months

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D&D Youtube is going to get real weird in 2024

I saw a kind of interesting video from the YouTube channel Treantmonk's Temple a little while back. I want to talk about it a little bit.

Without getting too much into it, the premise of the video is thus: It doesn't make sense to boycott D&D in retaliation for the layoffs, because if people stop buying Wizards products, it will lead to more layoffs.

I've already gone into why I think this is flawed reasoning in my previous post on this topic. But what's more interesting to me here is that this highlights a conundrum that every D&D YouTuber must be dealing with right now: that a weakening D&D brand is bad news if your own brand is tied to that game.

That anxiety was spelled out almost perfectly by the "Indestructible Boy Who Cried AI." His account on Twitter is private right now thanks to his little oopsie, but a very helpful Twitter user screenshotted this take:

Indestructible Boy here is railing at Wizards to delay the release of the Revised Core Rulebooks because he's anxious that a half-baked release in 2024 might cause "another 4E situation." And thus we arrive at the heart of the issue.

There is a certain breed of Brand Loyalist who sees the possibility of D&D becoming uncool again, and will do anything to stop it. Why, they might even go so far as to accuse Wizards of cutting corners on the book by using AI art!

Wouldn't these accusations hurt D&D's brand though? Maybe, but what would hurt D&D's brand even more would be a not-so-well-received Core Rulebook refresh in 2024 giving people yet another reason to abandon the game for newer, more exciting products.

Of course, the possibility of D&D losing all of its cultural cachet from one poor release is laughably small. It's an absolute powerhouse, and likely will continue to be.

However. What Indestructible Boy actually said was another 4E situation. A situation where, despite industry insiders agreeing that 4th Edition sold more books, it was Pathfinder that is widely agreed to have "won" that generation.

The Horror Scenario for D&D YouTubers

The thing I advocated for before was that the D&D community should redirect their spending toward rival products. This would spur competition in the TTRPG industry, create jobs for recently laid-off Wizards employees to fall back on, and give people more of an excuse to see what they've been missing in the broader TTRPG landscape. Plus, it incentivizes Hasbro to increase their investment in the D&D print team to repair their market position.

But if you're a D&D YouTuber, that scenario is an absolute nightmare. D&D might never slip to #2 in the polls, but it's also extremely possible that it loses its status as the "Majority game" if its rivals manage to grab a significant chunk of its player-base.

If the Revised Core Rulebooks turn out to be underwhelming, as the Indestructible Boy seems to fear it might, then D&D risks once again becoming uncool. And that is the apocalypse scenario that the D&D Brand Warriors would rather avoid.

The YouTuber's Dilemma

So now, if you're an online personality who has primarily covered D&D 5th Edition up until this point, you have to make a choice. Do you:

Continue to be a primarily D&D-based channel and hope that your commitment to the brand pays off in the long run?

Pivot to producing more genre-agnostic content, before you know where the chips are going to fall?

Use your platform to subtly bury D&D's burgeoning competition?

I don't actually know what the answer is here, honestly. Using your platform to promote games that your channel is not traditionally known for might be risky. But at the same time, if it turns out that the era of the "D&D Hegemony" is coming to a close, then handcuffing yourself to the railing might backfire if the ship starts going down.

And speaking of #3...

They Protec, But they also Attac

youtube

This is another video that I find utterly fascinating because it also presupposes the idea that if Daggerheart can't outsell D&D, then it's doomed to fail.

There's a term for this: Fantasy or D&D Heartbreaker. It's the idea that if your RPG doesn't have a shot at being #1, it shouldn't even bother trying. It assumes that the fans will always choose the market leader when it comes time to decide where to spend their gaming dollars and their time. The "losers," aka the "Heartbreakers" just end up collecting dust on the "unloved games shelf" at the local hobby store.

But the idea that your game is a failure if it can't "beat" D&D also reinforces the "One Game to Rule Them All" paradigm that many D&D YouTubers benefit greatly from. And this is where we see that there is a massive conflict of interest.

Here's another video from the Roll For Combat channel featuring Baron de Ropp where he spells it out much more plainly:

youtube

At about the 1:45 mark in the video, Baron says this: "In order to prevent the hobby itself from imploding, there has to be that one central pillar that everybody kind of gravitates to. Because otherwise, if you don't have that, the only thing that sticks around are the hardcores."

I don't want to seem like I'm dunking on Baron specifically, but he definitely seems to care a lot about that "Central Pillar" existing.

I have taken to calling this the "Election model" of TTRPGs, where even if there are more than a couple of candidates for the role of "President," only one of them can win. Whichever RPG is the "President" is the one that will receive the vast majority of coverage, and also the "Default" choice whenever the question of "What game are we playing next" comes up.

The "4E Situation" but Worse

I don't think the real fear is that D&D suddenly loses all of its brand awareness because of a couple of scandals. It's that D&D goes back to being "Just another game" like it was during the 90s. It used to be just as likely that your table was running something like Shadowrun, or Rifts, or Vampire: The Masquerade, or any number of other games.

In that "Fractured Landscape" scenario, it becomes very difficult for a YouTuber to make videos that appeal to the majority of the TTRPG audience, if you can't make assumptions about their playing habits. The safest bet continues to be D&D, since it will always have a thumb on the scale thanks to its cultural awareness.

But if the "4E situation" happens, it also means that D&D is no longer the default game that everyone is assumed to be playing. Your content is increasingly targeted towards beginners and casual fans, while the "Hardcores" have split off and are playing other games. The D&D-playing audience is divided, and that's the audience that these YouTubers depend on.

"Reasoned Criticism"

I don't know what the solution is here. What I do believe is that there will increasingly be a conflict of interest between Youtubers covering new upcoming games, and their need to protect the D&D brand which their own online presence depends on.

What I absolutely do not want to see are videos like the one I posted above, where people with primarily D&D-oriented content take a little sidebar to bury the competition. If you have a channel whose bread and butter is videos like "The Top 5 Multiclass options for Lizardfolk Druids," I don't want to see a video called "Why Fabula Ultima is mid, actually!" with a stock photo of some generically attractive person giving a big shrug.

Even if you're not paid directly by Hasbro to promote D&D, you benefit from doing it just the same, thanks to SEO and Algorithm placement on Youtube. So you don't have to disclose that you're being paid (because you're not) but you absolutely are making money off of the D&D brand, and that makes any talk about other RPGs, especially negative talk, a conflict of interest.

Well, anyways

The question of whether to stay committed to D&D as a brand, or diversify, is a legitimately difficult question that I don't think anyone has a real solid answer to.

A lot depends on how well the Revised Core Rulebooks are received in 2024. There are going to be big questions to answer with regards to what system to choose going forward: Stay on 5E? Switch to 5.5? And what about Tales of the Valiant? Then there's upcoming public playtests from both Daggerheart and the MCDM RPG.

How players choose to spend their money will significantly affect the D&D YouTube landscape. Those personalities will have to choose whether to dig their heels in on D&D, or diversify. Neither option seems safe at this point.

However, what we should absolutely not tolerate is any attempt by D&D personalities to "nudge" the TTRPG industry back into the loving arms of their chosen brand, away from its upcoming competitors.

If you are a person who's handcuffed your brand to the ship called "Dungeons & Dragons," you cannot be trusted to be objective about the TTRPG industry as a whole. Not until you have made the effort to talk about games outside of the D20 Fantasy sphere without the intention of dismissing them outright.

#Youtube #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd5e #kobold press #daggerheart

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