#the only other spoiler tags I really rock at this point are
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Since we’re in the last third of the anime season and I’m following Chainsaw man & Blue Lock, I’m probably going to be reblogging anime-only spoilers - so just FYI, I’m gonna be tagging those as #Blue Lock spoilers & #CSM spoilers
Also I do use a catch-all #spoilers tag just in case, it’s a pretty safe word to have as a mute option
(Also might post something about Wakanda Forever so uh. #wakanda forever spoilers I guess? Lol)
#the only other spoiler tags I really rock at this point are#Umineko spoilers#and#drv3 spoilers#I think?? idk I do the best I can lol#I’ll try to spoiler tag for other series when appropriate#anyway once again sorry about the queue-only quiet RL has been kicking my ass again#but at least in a better way than the first half of 2022
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Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Light Yagami from Death Note vs Edelgard von Hresvelg from Fire Emblem: Three Houses
(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. please be normal in the notes, i will not hesitate to block if you harass people)
Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:
Light Yagami:
LOVE:
- "He does some messed up things but have you considered: fucked up protagonists rock :)"
HATE:
- "this man makes me sick. ive genuinely had manic episodes over hating him. i have trauma from his existence in general. not even because of the murder. because hes a sexist cheater :("
- "My cousin and I frequently debate this. I think despite his 'intentions' he's ultimately a despicable character who cares for nobody but himself. She disagrees and says that he is just trying to do the right thing and making a difference in the world (she still thinks his actions are wrong, but she doesn't think he himself is despicable)"
BOTH:
- "I mean cmon man"
Edelgard Von Hresvelg:
LOVE:
"People either claim she's the hero or the irredeemable villain with no in between. She's also my lovely wife who has never done anything wrong in her life."
"I never even finished her route and remember nothing of what happens in that game but I DO remember the absolute warzone the fandom turned into because of her. She staged a coup and overthrew the head of the government/church and I think that's pretty cool of her. "But she committed war crimes!" God forbid women do anything."
"I lied in the previous question. I don't hate her or love her in fact I have never even played this game. But I keep finding people making up Discourse™ featuring wild accusations of bigotry towards both Edelgard fans and Edelgard haters so I feel that she belongs here. (Also my friend hates her. but HER friend loves Edelgard. So even in my small social circle there is a clear polarization.)"
"ok I don't have any solid propaganda because my opinion of her is more positive-neutral, but. she fits the spirit of this poll. trust me."
"[three houses spoilers] Yes she started a war but it was the only apparent way to break the chokehold the church had over everyone in Fodlan. Also she’s the only lord you can gay marry so I’m hopelessly biased"
"every time i go into the tag its either "edelgard is perfect no notes!!" or "edelgard is literally a fascist!!!". ive never seen someone with a neutral opinion of her. i yearn for battle."
"I know very little about her to be quite honest! But good god. As a fire emblem fan for the GBA and engage. I have NEVER seen such a decisive character like Edelgard. Jesus Christ. I still find stuff in those tags. What the hell!!!"
"I don’t even go to Fire Emblem but even I know that Edelgard has never done anything wrong, ever, in her entire life, and that if she did any war crimes they were a SUPER effective use of girl power. source: I am a lesbian. (realtalk I genuinely love a noble-minded extremist revolutionary and think Edelgard is a great character, so it’s kind of a shame that opinion on her seems to simply split down the line of “whether the person wants to kiss Edelgard or Dimitri more.”)"
HATE:
"So on the one hand, she's fully willing to kill and burn and murder her way to a "better future" at the expense of the present, but on the other hand she's pretty cool and #girlboss. She's also a canon gay romance option, but idk if that makes her more or less problematic."
"I just. I understand why people like her. I really do.
And I don't have anything new to say for why I dislike her. Edelgard fans and stans have heard everything. She has great points and motivation, but her methods are wrong. She hitches her ideals to the first good opportunity and never reconsiders her allegiance when things go off the rails. She hates the church for "lying to people" and proceeds to lie to her own populace herself in her own route. She gives Claude an opportunity to live because she knows he believes in her goals. But Dimitri and his Kingdom are too beholden to the church to ever be offered such mercy. She herself acknowledges that the change she wants to see is more quickly enacted through war than subtle and slow societal change. She recognizes the human toll of her actions, but she justifies it through flowery language and an insistence that the change needs to happen now or it never will. I honestly find her so interesting, and I agree with a lot of her thoughts about the need for societal change in the world of FE:3H. But people latched onto her and propped her up as someone who can do no wrong. And that just never sat right with me. I just think she’s a hypocrite who got put in front of a shiny means to her end and was immediately blind to every other opportunity around her."
BOTH:
- "I dont even play fire emblem but I cant escape people not shutting up about how much they love or hate her"
- "You said there were no hate answers for her...and I don't really hate her so it wouldn't be right but I wanted to balance things out some. She's the perfect storm of a character who sounds right and progressive and has a route all to herself that doesn't contradict that...but once you play other routes, it becomes clear she's kind of. full of misinformation. And attacking people who don't deserve it. Also a LOT of the divisiveness I'm willing to blame on the writers rather than her, for having her both be Evil Tyrant we NEED to take down and Sad Uwu Baby who just wants to eat cake and laze around and loves You the Player SO MUCH."
#poll#4 submissions#12 submissions#round 2#yagami light#light death note#light yagami#death note#edelgard von hresvelg#fe3h edelgard#edelgard fire emblem#fe3h#fire emblem#fire emblem three houses#fire emblem 3 houses
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Houseki no Kuni Chapter 103 Thoughts: Can't Stop the Inevitable But It'll Be OK (Maybe...)
Hello hello hello. Long time no see, Houseki no Kuni fandom! How have you all been? It's been a while. That hiatus Ms. Haruko Ichikawa took much longer than expected. That's fine by me because I've been pretty busy these past few months. Mostly the usual stuff; had some major ups and downs for me and those who I care about, annoying work/life events, though I had the wonderful opportunity to branch out and meet people who could help me with my career, found some new stuff to obsess over, etc. I honestly forgot about Houseki no Kuni for a little while until I saw the announcement about the latest chapter.
And now here we are.
This chapter was very dialogue heavy, though fairly straightforward. It seems to confirm some of the thoughts and theories other fans and myself had made back in chapter 102, though I left me asking a few new questions. They aren't big questions, but I just can't help but wonder...
This will definitely be one of my shorter posts because I don't have any big analytical thoughts here, just with lots of pictures from the chapter, so I'll make sure to add the spoiler tag. As always, please feel free to share your own thoughts in this post and sorry in advance for any mistakes or ramblings. Might add more later, but I can't promise anything.
Anyways, here we go!
It'll Be OK: Liberation Of Internalized Suffering
The interaction in this chapter was interesting. Like I stated above, this chapter confirms that Phos is scared of corrupting the new rock species or being the catalyst that would cause humanity to come back. They don't want to be the source of suffering again, even if it meant destroying the very last remaining piece of their original self. They were ready to do whatever it took to prevent that from happening, even by having the entity who hated humanity do the deed.
But what surprised me a little in this chapter was Eyeball. For one, even though he could have fulfilled Phos's request, he didn't. He claims that there's only a trace of humanity on Phos's remaining piece, but states that it'd go away over time, therefore there's no reason to destroy it, even though Phos initially wanted that. I'll get back to this part later.
The other thing that surprised me was how Eyeball was able to placate Phos's current mindset, at least for a little bit, and he do it in an interesting way. Eyeball basically told Phos "Hey, your fear might come true... but it'll be okay. If if comes to that, I'll figure something out. And you shouldn't worry too much about it even if it happens because all things will come to an end one day, including us, and things will start over again in some way. There's no point in stressing about that future, so don't worry about it."
In some ways, I kind of see this as Eyeball liberating Phos by taking some of their burdens onto himself by him stating that he'd be the one to figure out what to do if humanity did come back, not Phos, all the while dispelling Phos's other concerns by stating that Phos shouldn't waste their time worrying about what could happen. Phos's fears might come true... but so what? That's just how things go. Somethings are just out of your control and change is inevitable. Yes, it's stressful to worry about but that's just how it is. That's the strange beauty of it all, at least that's how I see it.
And I don't know about you, but I just really liked Eyeball's monologue through these pages.
In the end, I think this interaction helped Phos by the fact that despite their fears, they chose to tell the pebbles about what the Professor said and humanity. Because even though Phos understands that humanity is capable of doing horrible things, thanks to their own experience as a sufferer and perpetrator, they also understand that there are parts of humanity that is capable of creating wonderful things. I'm glad that Phos is the one who wants to take this task. Despite everything, Phos is taking it upon themselves to be the one to teach these aspects to the pebbles so they can have the freedom to figure out how they can learn and evolve from this point onwards. It may lead to a better version of "humanity" or it could lead to something very similar. Who knows? But at least Phos is (hopefully) giving them what they need to figure themselves out.
What will come from this interaction is anyone's guess and I'm hoping we will soon see within the next, and hopefully last, couple of chapters.
The Last Piece Of The Past: Why Keep it?
One of the things that this chapter left me questioning was the final piece of the original Phosphophyllite. Not only is this the last remainder of Phos, but it may be the very last piece of the last human descendants; not just for the gems, but for the admirabilis and the lunarians. If what Eyeball said about the Lunarians intentionally leaving a piece of Phos's untarnished self behind is true, my question.. is why? Why did they leave this behind in Phos?
Was this for Phos's benefit somehow? Is it supposed to remind them of their origins or who they represented they obtained their final deity form? Or is the piece supposed to serve as some sort of artifact that could be beneficial for future organisms that would form over the course of time?
At this point, I have no clue. If anyone has any theories, please feel free to add them or post them!
Until Next Time! (Hopefully sooner than 4 months...)
That's honestly all that I have at this point in time for this post. I may come back to it and add more, but I can't promise anything. I don't know how my future posts for the hopefully last chapters will go, but I'll be honest... I can't wait to see it end. I enjoyed this story and I'm still looking forward to see what happens next, but I'm ready to it end.
For those of you who like these rambles, thank you so much! I still love seeing everyone's thoughts and I can't wait to see what people think of this chapter.
Hopefully this will be the last hiatus Ms. Ichikawa will have and we'll be facing the true final stretch of this story.
Or maybe we'll face another hiatus after another couple of chapters.
We'll see.
See you later!
#houseki no kuni#land of the lustrous#hnk#lotl#hnk thoughts#hnk spoilers#lotl spoilers#hnk chapter 103#hnk spoiler#hnk phosphophyllite#hnk phos#haruko ichikawa#hnk meta#hnk manga#hnk manga spoilers
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~Nature's Gifts~
Nature's Gifts Masterpost
Writing Masterpost | AO3 Link
Chapter 5- Underdark
(3700 words)
Important tags: m/f, inappropriate use of illithid tadpoles, blood drinking, biting, porn with feelings, other tags on AO3!
Summary: “Are you trying to woo me Astarion? Did seeing me getting close to Gale make you realize what you were missing out on?” He studied her face for a moment before answering, leaning close enough that she could kiss him if she just leaned forward, only a little more.
“Yes.” Her heart flipped. She reached up, tangling her fingers into his hair and pulling him even closer, whispering against his lips.
“Then why have you been avoiding me?”
“Gale is good for you, isn't he?"
“Maybe. Are you not?"
“No.”
Masterpost | All Writing | AO3
Spoiler below the cut;
the rest is on AO3
“The point, Astarion.” He lifted his hands, cupping her face and pulling her into a kiss. Passionate and cool against her mouth, soothing against the flushed heat of her skin the way he always was. He kissed her until her lungs burned for air, finally pulling away to stare at her, brushing his thumbs over her cheekbones.
“I'm not jealous. If that's how you respond with a kiss, what do I have to be jealous of? If he's good for you, I can tolerate him. I suppose. I'm benevolent, that way.”
“I'm not… I'm… I'm hardly committed to either one of you.”
“No,” he said slowly. “But if you were, I, for one, wouldn't be asking you to choose. If that's what you wanted.” She didn't know what to say, really. She hadn't expected… any of this. Any of it, since the second he had cleared his throat and startled her out of her dreary thoughts.
(NSFW below the cut!)
So she stepped up on her tiptoes, kissing him again, delighting in the way he melted against her, pulling her close as he turned them around to lead her back towards the blankets.
He laid her down gently, nudging her open with his leg and slotting himself between them, laying against her torso. He feathered kisses along her collarbone, grazing his teeth over her neck as he groaned softly.
“I want to try something,” he finally said softly, lifting his head. His eyes were dark with desire, his fingers rubbing up and down her sides. He reached down and lifted her dress, running his hands along her thighs, making her breath catch.
“What do you want to try, Astarion?”
“The tadpoles. I want us both to feel everything the other is feeling here, now. In person. All of it. We've done it before many times just not… well. Together, like this.” Her eyes widened slightly. She was curious. She knew it would be.. an experience. A very, very pleasurable one. She let out a breath, nodding slowly. She shivered at the now almost normal sensation of their minds connecting, as he slowly grazed a knuckle over her swollen, drenched lips. He tutted quietly, leaning down to coo softly in her ear.
“You're already soaked, pet. We haven't even gotten started.” He moved his mouth over hers, swallowing her moan as he slowly slid a finger into her, brushing his thumb over her clit. Sparks of pleasure danced along her skin, and she whimpered, rocking her hips into his hand. Much to her satisfaction, he let out a startled sound, somewhere between a growl and a gasp, resting his forehead against hers for a moment.
“I… hells. That's what you're feeling right now?” She breathed out slowly, her chest rising and falling as he brought his eyes to hers. He slowly pushed a second finger into her, and she was grateful they were so isolated. She wasn't sure who moaned louder as she clenched desperately around his fingers. She reached her hands down with a whimper, tugging at his pants. He shifted his hips, helping her slide them down his legs before sitting up, pulling her with him.
She lifted her arms as the dress was pulled over her head, watching with wide, hungry eyes as he removed his shirt. He never got any less breathtakingly, utterly gorgeous. It was as if an artist had created the most perfectly carved marble angel, every sharp plane and ridge and dip in his body crafted with so much attention it couldn't possibly be real. His dark red eyes and the way his bright halo of white curls splashed around his face, making his irises look like bloodstained rubies against the alabaster of his skin. And when he fed. The warm, red flush that would color his cheeks, a spray of color on that normally pale face. He was gorgeous.
“You know that I can hear what you're thinking, don't you?” She blanched, heat immediately blooming in her cheeks as she cleared her throat. He laughed, a real laugh, and it was such a wonderful sound she couldn't help but feel like she wanted to keep making him do it, for as long as she could.
The rest of this chapter
on AO3
All Writing | Nature Masterpost
#natures gifts#astarion smut#bg3 smut#bg3 fanfic#Baldur's gate 3#astarion ancunin#astarion x tav x gale#astarion
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ello again sunday six
today's is a fic im writing after seeing daigo's scenes in IW... he is doing absolutely terribly and ofc that made my fic brain whir. daigo depression is back on the menu lads
this isnt really any plot spoilers but it is indicative of 3jima's state in IW so i'm only gonna tag a couple of ppl in this one, just in case the others playing the game rn dont wanna know 🫡 @skysquid22 @four-white-trees
***
Majima took the cigarette box without asking; if Daigo had any complaints, he didn't voice them. He didn't voice anything at all. Ink-black water lapped over the rocks and splashed against him, but he did not move.
"He say anything to ya?" Saejima asked, as Majima rejoined him on the grass.
"Didn't even look at me." Majima lit a stolen cigarette, and spoke the next words as casually as he would talk about going to the store, as if Daigo wasn't standing paralysed before him. "You think he's lost it?"
"Think so," Saejima murmured. "He's not been eating, he's not been sleeping. I ain't surprised he's cracked."
Majima took a drag of tobacco. "He held out for a pretty long time, all things considered."
"These things catch up to ya. There was a man back in the joint who was the same. Kept on keepin' on- until he couldn't." Saejima sighed. "One day he sat down and couldn't get back up. Just plain broke down like a car outta gas, stopped moving all together- said he didn't see the point of it. Wasn't like there was anywhere for him to go."
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Emerald Trio Week: Day 2 - Inspiration
Spoilers: Minor spoilers for Watching and Dreaming regarding Hunter’s new…talent.
Set: After Watching and Dreaming. Hunter is attending Hexside with the others.
Warnings: A reference to the Titanic movie is made… Gus doubts his artistic skills… Contains more Huntlow and Gustholomule— glad I can tag them now!
Note: Again, thanks to @loosescrewslefty for the prompts.
Resting on his stomach above his bedroom rug, Gus squinted at the sketchpad in front him. He gnawed on the end of his pencil like a hungry echo mouse.
Legend had it that human pencils used to contain lead , which was poisonous for humans—
Stop getting distracted!
Gus shook his head and returned to the issue at hand: Matt’s birthday— tomorrow.
Gus could have (should have) gone out and purchased Matt a gift, but, never one to pass up a challenge, Gus had decided to create something instead.
Illusions were too easy. Matt had received plenty of illusions from Gus, and by this point, Matt was proficient at casting his own illusions.
Matt would be expecting something better from Gus. Something Gus had worked hard on. A challenge!
So, Gus had decided to take a page of out of Matt’s book. Gus was going to draw him a picture…
It sounded childish when Gus put it like that. No— he was going to produce a portrait. Paint the canvas. Compose an artistic masterpiece!
…As soon as he could figure out what to draw.
Think, Augustus, think…
No thoughts manifested. His brain was completely empty.
“Uuuuuugh!” Gus groaned and dropped his pencil. “Guys, what should I draw for Matt?”
So engrossed was he in his art that he’d almost forgotten Willow and Hunter were there with him.
They had come over an hour ago to start work on a project for History class, which only Hunter was still invested in now.
“Not sure…” Hunter replied without looking up from his books on Gus’s desk.
Willow made an ‘ I dunno’ noise from Gus’s bed, where she was watching a professional flyer derby match on her scroll.
“Thanks, you two!” Gus said flatly. “Such helpful, reliable friends I have—“ Willow tossed a pillow in his direction.
Gus gasped and moved his sketchpad aside. “Willow! You’re gonna wreck my canvas!” He chucked the pillow right back at her.
“Ha!” Willow caught the pillow. She placed the pillow at the end of his bed and planted her elbows on it.
“You can draw me!” she suggested with a smirk. She held her chin in her hand. “Draw me like one of your French girls!”
That made Hunter’s head turn. Willow pursed her lips at him.
“Ew! No!” Gus protested, poking his tongue out. (Why had he insisted on watching Titanic with them in the Human Realm? He’d thought it was a documentary…! ) “You two can just leave if you’re going to be all lovey-dovey!”
“Very well…” Willow sniffed loudly. She rolled to the left side of the bed and slowly slipped off. “But I promise I will… never… let go—“
Hunter snorted. When Willow’s hand sank weakly out of view, Gus wheezed with laughter too. Hunter joined him, clutching his sides as he rocked back in Gus’s chair. Willow popped up from behind the bed, chortling.
“This really… isn’t funny!” Gus gasped, after a minute. “The Titanic sinking was a real disaster in human history—“
“Kind of like our History project?” Hunter hummed.
“—and so is this!” Gus thrust a hand at his blank sketchbook. “How am I going to impress Matt? How?!”
“Why don’t you draw a beach?” Willow supplied, actually being helpful this time.
“Not a beach in the Boiling Isles… ” Hunter mumbled. Gus glanced at him. Hunter glanced away, rubbing his lip.
Willow said, “Maybe a beach from the Human Realm would be better?”
“Yeah…” Gus agreed. “ Yeah— that could work!”
One sunny day during their stay in the Human Realm, Camila had driven them all to a beach, where the sand was soft and the sea didn’t boil. They could actually swim in the water, without fear of burning…
Witches still had to wear sunblock. (Amity, especially…) But it was definitely worth it for that beautiful sunset.
Gus pictured it in his mind— the sand, the sea, the sunset— and he projected it as an illusion the size of a crystal ball.
“It was great,” Hunter said, smiling at the memory.
“Who needs photos,” Willow quipped, “when we’ve got Gus’ power?”
Gus grinned, grabbed his pencil and his sketchpad, and started to draw the scene. It was much easier when he had the memory in front of him.
The beach had been bustling and bright with colour: The sapphire waves, the golden sand, the pink and purple sky…
Gus had the outlines of the beach, but it was bland and grey with pencil.
Gus frowned. Should he try shading? He gently rubbed a pencil mark with his fingertip and winced at the mess he made. “I need colours— right now!”
“Paints or crayons?” Willow asked, shooting to her feet
Paints would be too messy… “Crayons!”
“You’re a witch,” Hunter reminded Gus. “Why don’t you just—? ”
“‘’S’cuse me!” Willow shoved past Hunter to reach the desk. She pulled a pack of colouring crayons out of a blue pencil pot, and passed them to Gus. “Here you go!”
“Thanks…”
Gus coloured in the lines he’d drawn, but when he was finished, it still looked… wrong. The crayons were too waxy, too artificial, and they didn’t blend together.
A baby could have done better than this!
“I’ve ruined it!” Gus moaned. His illusion-bubble popped. He threw his sketchbook away and flopped facedown on the rug.
“No, you haven’t!” Willow went to pick up his sketchbook
Still on the rug, Gus turned his head to Willow as she crouched beside him. She held the picture up to him, hoping he would see it in a different light.
“See? It’s fine, way better than my doodles—“
“Fine isn’t good enough,” Gus huffed.
Hunter said, “Why not?”
Rubbing his wrist, Gus sat up. “Because… Matt’s a really, really good artist. I just wanted to draw him something— something I put a lot of effort into…!”
“You did put a lot of effort in, Gus,” Willow assured him. “Of course Matt will see that, but if anyone doesn’t, who cares?”
“You can’t please everyone,” Hunter muttered, sympathetically. Willow offered him a reassuring smile.
Gus looked between the two of them. He took the sketchbook back from Willow, staring at his picture .
“But,” Hunter added, with surprising optimism, “do you know what would jazz it up even more…?” He stood up and pulled a small carving knife out of his apron pocket.
“A… palisman?” Gus guessed. “But Matt already has…”
Gus trailed off as Willow made a rectangle with her thumbs and index fingers. Closing one eye, Willow moved the rectangle over to Gus, as if she was snapping a photo of him.
“Oh!” Gus gasped.
-
Matt ripped the wrapping paper off the box. “You got me… a hunk of wood?”
“No !” Gus sighed. Carefully, Gus removed the hand-carved panel of wood and flipped it over, revealing his picture inside the frame.
Matt’s eyes widened. “Wait— you made this?”
Gus wasn’t sure if Matt was referring to the picture of the beach or the frame or both, but he nodded shyly.
Matt snatched the gift off him. For a horrible second, Gus thought Matt was going to throw the framed picture away, but then, Matt held it up for all of his party guests to see.
“Everyone— look at this! Look at THIS! The first of many masterpieces from Augustus Porter! And it’s all MINE…!”
Gus blushed and beamed at Matt’s adulation.
He glanced back at Willow and Hunter, who were both watching behind him. Willow gave him a thumbs-up. Though Hunter looked a little tired, he was smiling.
Gus mouthed, “Thank you—“ but he was cut off as Matt caught him in a one-armed hug.
-
Hunter smiled at Gus and Mattholomule.
He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night— between woodcarving and their history project— but it was worth it to see Gus and his friend/rival/crush(?) so happy together.
Rubbing his eyes, Hunter wondered how much longer he would have to stay at the party…
Mattholomule wouldn’t mind if Hunter left, would he? He and Hunter weren’t really close (Hunter was more familiar with Matt’s brother, Steve), and Hunter didn’t have a present with him…
An arm wrapped around Hunter’s shoulder. Willow pulled him down so her mouth was level with his burning ear.
“You can take credit for the frame,” she whispered. “Gus won’t mind…”
“Nah…” Hunter chuckled. “I’ll let him have this one—“
“That’s sweet of you…” Willow hummed hopefully. “Could you make me a photo frame— when it’s my birthday?”
“S-sure…”
To make sure it was absolutely perfect he’d have to start preparations immediately— finding the right wood, marking the measurements…
Willow pecked him on the cheek, interrupting Hunter’s plans.
“Thanks, Hunter.”
#the owl house#emeraldtrioweek23#emerald trio#the emerald trio#gus porter#hunter noceda#hunter the golden guard#hunter the owl house#hunter deamonne#Shamelessly tagging all the Hunter last names#Willow Park#mattholomule#mat tholomule#Matt actually appears in this— not just as a background character#gustholomule#Sneaking some Gustholomule into your Emerald Trio week#Huntlow#toh winter#hunter/willow#hunter x willow#Gus/Mattholomule#gus x matt#The owl house fanfic#toh fanfic#my writing#my fics
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jumping
For your one-year anniversary, you get one free wish from Azul.
Azul Ashengrotto x Gender Neutral Reader
NOTES: Mild Azul backstory spoilers (from vignettes and Chapters 3/4), nothing too revealing. Despite the tags, this is rated Teen and Up, I swear. Mentions of deep water, tentacles, and sinking. Nothing scary, however.
For your one-year anniversary, you had been briefed in advance about the possibility of getting one wish granted – free of charge, bounding contracts or compulsory compensations. Of course, the only condition was that it was agreed upon by both parties, and that it was made within the realm of possibilities: that meant no wishing for it to rain a million Thaumarks out of the sky – though, at this point, you weren’t quite sure of what wasn’t possible in the world of Twisted Wonderland. You had one thing in mind though, and were quick to jump at the opportunity.
When you had told Azul Ashengrotto your wish, he had immediately recognized it as doable and plausible. He –also immediately– had refused profusely, glasses fogged up in disdain, muttering something under his breath and visibly shaken. Seeing his reaction, you had desisted, but the frown on your brow just wouldn’t go away. Seeing your reaction, he had calmed himself down and dared to ask:
“Is that really something you want so badly?”
Yes – as badly as to go wasting my one free wish with Azul Ashengrotto to make it come true, you assured.
“Fine,” he had conceded, lips tightly under control and not smiling one bit. “But I shall pick the place.”
‘The place’ was a rocky, tiny, inhabited island above the Coral Sea that took a whole ordeal to get to, partly because Azul’s flying was sub-par at best – and he had to manage with you clinging for your life on proverbial ‘back seat’ of the broom. While technically an islet, it seemed more like a series of cliffs speckled with vegetation – waves bursting with high energy chipped away at the rocks, and you knew that if you happened to fall not even Azul could ever hope to retrieve you. However, a concave space between the cliffs created some sort of a bay towards the inside of the island, serving as a breakwater for the crashing waves. As you flied alongside its curve, the ocean got progressively calmer, until you both reached a crevice, an opening in the sediment walls. Within was a cave that was just barely underground enough to be shielded from the sun, but not so far away from the opening so as to be completely in the dark.
It was unlike anything you’d ever seen before. Like a miniature amphitheater of limestone, the carved grotto had layers of rock slowly descending into a pool of blue waters, walls lined with moss and ceiling low, allowing you to sit upright, stretch your arms and be able to touch it. Azul steadied the broom before helping you down, and as the water rolled softly and calmly on the shallow stone steps, possibly moved by the ocean forces way down below, he instructs you to take a seat, and be careful. Dark turquoise in color, beyond the rocks it was unspeakably deep, and he wouldn’t want you falling in. The stone walls naturally merged into two steps: one above the water, and the other just barely covered by it but still close to the surface; so, you sat on the first one, with your feet towards the second.
“There’s an underwater tunnel that goes into the Coral Sea,” Azul says, his voice echoing throughout. The lack of available seating space in the rock formations meant he was flush beside you – not that after a year of dating you weren’t used to his presence, but it still made you feel some kind of way. “I used to come here to think.”
“It’s beautiful,” you gasp, wincing a bit at the cold water flooded your aquatic sandals. Azul had insisted you wear those, plus a short wetsuit, knee pads and shoulder pads. You wondered if all the equipment would not make you sink faster, but safety first, your boyfriend had said.
“Hmm,” Azul hums, deep in thought, before swiftly whiplashing back to his normal self. “Well, we’re not here to do sightseeing, are we.”
His slender, pale fingers fondled with the potion vial hanging from his neck: the answer to his rhetorical question.
“I’ll have to undress,” he adds. “Turn around, please.”
“After all this time?” you laugh dryly, but the mood was not light enough to joke, so you comply.
Even covering your eyes and twisting away from the merman and towards the cave walls, you can still feel Azul’s wetsuit sliding off his shoulder, the damp rubber grazing the side of your back; the clasp of the knee and shoulder pads coming off, his eyeglasses now resting on top of his discarded swimwear, and then a jump – a muted, soft splash.
“Tell me when,” you call, your breath revealing how nervous you were, shaking with expectation and excitement. You had imagined the transformation to make some sort of noise, yet it was unbearably still inside the grotto. The muffled sounds of the crashing waves outside, plus the soft trickle of a leak falling from the ceiling were the only things you could focus on. The stillness between you was so, that if it weren’t for your trust in Azul, you would have thought he ditched you inside the cave as some elaborate mean joke. Thankfully, he was nothing like his moray eel peers – at least not in this sense.
“Done?”
“Not yet,” he replies, hurriedly. “Sorry, Y/N. Give me some time.”
You twist your body to the direction where his voice is coming from, your own hands still veiling your eyes shut.
“It’s okay. As long as you need.”
A loud sigh followed. You felt a pair of hands now grasp at the lower step, where your feet rested, splatting water droplets as they tried to achieve balance. Azul steadied himself, bringing half his body up with the strength of his human shoulders, purposefully keeping the rest beneath the surface.
“Ready. You can open your eyes, now.”
A hauntingly shimmery shade of gray, the pale skin of his face almost seemed to match the color of his eyes – of course, you’d seen his eyes without glasses before, multiple times, but something about the way they reflected the scarce light was different now. Around his neck, and all the way through his arms and torso, the texture of said skin turned distinctly non-human; spotted, gleaming like a black opal, changing colors slowly from midnight blue to mossy brown to nightfall purple, mimicking the stone steps, in a way that would make him eerily disappear into the environment if it weren’t for his familiar face, looking straight at you. Something was swirling deep within the water, and you imagined that to be his tentacles; but as expected, he would not show them – not just yet. For your wish had been to see his true form, and you hadn’t specified if all or just half of it.
“Wow.”
“That’s it?”
You gulp before trying to articulate your thoughts again. “You’re so... beautiful.”
“That seems to be your catchphrase today,” Azul snaps back. You don’t blame him for being defensive – after all, you know he feels at his weakest right now, and this is something that not many humans have ever seen before: only a handful few academic personnel in both the Coral Sea human-training boot camp and in Night Raven College, and only for medical reasons that couldn’t be avoided.
“But you are”, you insist. Every human child has at some point dreamed of meeting merfolk, heavily influenced by bedtime stories, in which even the most fearsome sirens were mystical creatures with hauntingly loving voices and glittering scales of lavender. Maybe that is clouding your judgment, or maybe your love is – for this hardworking, albeit finnicky and distrusting boy who you were lucky enough to spend your happiest times with.
“Sweet-talking won’t get you anywhere,” Azul warns, as he is an expert on the subject. “But coming from you, I’ll take the compliment.”
He is about to suggest transforming back, but you spoke before he could.
“Can I touch you?”
“Uh...” Azul stutters, and he might have blushed if he had been in his human form, but as a deep-dwelling merman, the pigmentation of his cheeks only served for camouflage, and nothing more; its default setting being ash grey. “I doubt it’s anything special, but sure, go ahead.”
You descend to the final step of the stone stairs, before the blue abyss that Azul is floating in, so that water comes up to your hipbones – you don’t mind, as long as you can scooch on closer to him, caressing his shoulders and feeling the slimy, slippery texture of his pores. Every inch of his skin seems to have a mind of his own, contracting and expanding ever so slightly at your touch, changing colors as if involuntarily. To the side of his arms, a few small barnacles are growing – you remember he once told you they were like warts on humans, but because they all slept in seashell beds, every merfolk was bound to have a few here and there (and barnacles were a pain to remove successfully).
Azul waits in silence, a bit self-conscious, but still fixed on your face. He cannot believe you would honestly look at a creature like him in such adoration.
“Sorry. Are you feeling alright?” you ask, realizing that your natural curiosity might be making your boyfriend uncomfortable. Well, he was prepared for this much, at least.
“Yes,” he declares. “It’s not your fault. I just – I’d rather been born human, that’s all.”
There is nothing ‘that’s all’ about that statement – it’s a very deep and heavy thing to say, making your frown burrow in worry.
“Don’t make that face. I get to be human most of the time, after all. And on a government aid, no less,” he reassures. His stories about how we underwent human training to be able to walk, run, adjust to hotter temperatures and eat warm foods had always fascinated you.
“What was the thing you looked forward to the most?” you ask. “About turning human.”
Azul gives it a good thought. He’s starting to relax bit by bit, as his hue sets on purple, not trying to melt into the foliage anymore. You’re taken aback by the cold burn of his sudden touch, as his hands lazily graze your calves beneath the water. His tentacles are still nowhere to be seen, though. His temple rests on the kneepads he had insisted you wore, and though lightly, you can feel his lips hovering just below your knees.
He finally settles on his answer. “Jumping.”
“That’s... unexpected,” you blurt out honestly, because you can’t imagine how the same Azul who very profusely hates exercise could come up with that response.
“Hmm,” he hums once more, adjusting his weight up, arms crossed on top of your legs, his breath now so close to your thighs, you can actually feel it. He could very much switch to gill breathing at this point, but he’d rather make you feel his warmth. “Maybe saying I wanted to experience ‘gravity’ is more accurate.”
“I see. Did it hurt? U-uh, walking.”
“By the Sea Witch’s benevolence, when the mermaid princess of old finally turned human,” his voice turns darker, still embellished in his notorious sticky sweetness. For an otherwise introverted type, Azul is an amazing talker, and even better storyteller. “Some accounts say that walking felt like a thousand needles piercing her feet at every step.”
“Oh no,” you exclaim.
“An exaggeration, for sure. The only pains I ever felt were – what do you call them? Growing pains? In my kneecaps and elbows. Curious thing, indeed.”
You let out all the air you’d been holding in anticipation.
“You had me scared there for a second!” you scold him, and Azul smiles and shrugs. Absent-mindedly, you squeeze at the muscles tensing in his shoulders. “Ah, then I guess that means your human form matures with your age. That’s interesting.”
“Fortunately, our lifespans are pretty much the same.”
“It must have been so weird,” you continue, as intimate talks like these were rare, what with Azul always busying himself with his various, uh... businesses. “Growing bones and stuff, right? A–are you... you don’t have any now, do you?”
“My human half does,” he says, tilting his head so his eyes meet yours. “Oh, I know that look. You want to see the rest, don’t you?”
Foolish of you, thinking you could get past his wit. “Uh...”
“Not included in the bargain this time,” Azul says. “Though I might... comply, for a small fee.”
“–oof. Knowing you, no thanks. I’ll pass.”
“You wound me, Y/N. You’re not suggesting I’d ever demand collateral from you, are you?”
“As if you haven't before!” you exclaim, not that he needed any reminder of the Mostro Lounge anemone incident.
“Ah, ha, right,” he chuckles wryly.
Azul turns pensive again. He’s got both hands on your legs now, and you wonder if there is an unconscious longing for feeling his own now that he’s in his primordial, cephalopod form. Not speaking a word, he clicks your protective kneepads to remove them, lips ghosting from your thighs to your knees, making you squeak in surprise; he then rests his head in between, and you come to the realization he’s been trying to distract you from feeling the grasp of two tentacles on your ankles.
“Ah –”
“Don’t say it. I know. It’s disgusting.”
That’s a very far cry from your choice of words. It felt novel, and it tickled a bit, feeling the tiny suction cups nibble at your skin, but it wasn’t unpleasant at all.
“I like it. I like all of you.”
A pause. Biting your lip at your embarrassing confession, the cold humidity of the cave is starting to get to you, unwillingly giving you goosebumps.
“Can you show me?”
“No.”
“Aw. Well, okay.”
“Giving up so quickly, are you?”
“Azul!” you let out an exasperated sigh. “Which is it? Do you want to show me or don’t you?”
It feels like a rite of passage at this point. If he passed this opportunity to show all of himself to his lover, no such chance would come by twice. It has been a literal odyssey just getting to the cove, and to be precise – he did want to show you. He was just afraid.
“Your legs,” he says, lips pressed to them as he speaks, further sending shivers down your spine. “What marvelous things. The veins, the moles, the stretch marks,” his hands are human, but in this form, feel scaley and rough against your supple skin; his blackened nails growing out like claws, yet, by the boy’s own gentleness and self-control, managing to not scratch you. “Compared to this, I...”
I’m a monster, he wants to cry out, but he’s no longer into self-pity. And you know that’s not his final say in the matter, so you decide to wait.
They come crawling from the sides. Aside from the two tugging at your feet, two more envelop your waist – although the thick fabric of the wetsuit refrains you from feeling the raw touch, you can still feel the pressure from the suctioning, this time amply stronger. The closer they get to his lower body, the bigger the muscle membranes get, and thus their vacuum force much fiercer. He feels heavy enough, easily able to pull you down to the depths if he wanted to – in fact, you too have a potion hanging down your neck, which Azul had made and given to you personally, A water-breathing potion, in the very odd case you needed it, if his instincts gave in and lost control, or if a tide took you and you got separated. But he loves you too much to let such things happen, so it sits there unused, dangling idlily as you take the whole situation in, feeling your chest get tighter.
Azul reinforces his tentacle grip once more. With his human arms, he cradles your knees and nuzzles his head on your lap, closing his eyes. While your left is being used to stable yourself and sit upright, your free hand now moves to the back of his head, caressing his wet and curly hair gently. As his several arms embrace you, you are lost in thought. In a good way, his scent is like the sea. Not a summery day on the beach, but more like the skies before a storm – salty air, a sharp freshness rolling with the rainclouds. His choice of setting, this dark cave that would catch the remnants of sunshine in its underground pool, a lightshow of turquoise refracting off the surface; it was far away from his usual date spots, smart and cost effective, but it was him through-and-through.
“Well, what do you know,” Azul muses, and each word itches against your skin. “I’m weightless in the water, but my stomach feels like I just jumped from a trampoline and am free-falling into a bottomless pool.”
“That doesn’t sound too enjoyable.”
“No, don’t get me wrong. It is. I’m glad I got to show you.”
“Thank you,” you whisper. “For granting my wish.”
“Aren’t I compassionate?” his modest laughter makes him softly sway in the water. While he had promised the whole ordeal to be free of charge, you were sure he’d find a way to get back at you later.
“By the way, Azul,” you call, suddenly remembering why you were there in the first place. “You still haven’t told me what your anniversary wish will be.”
“That’s strange,” the once-greedy boy says, lips still flushed against your legs, pressing one more kiss on each inner thigh. “I can’t seem to think of anything.”
"to kiss you"
A series of one-shots and drabbles featuring the Twisted Wonderland boys, kisses, and a specific body part.
Part 1: Azul Ashengrotto x Gender Neutral Reader, legs. [you're here]
Part 2: Malleus Draconia x Gender Neutral Reader, lips.
#twst imagines#azul x mc#azul x you#azul x reader#azul ashengrotto#twisted wonderland#disney twisted wonderland#disney twst#jabberwondia#jabberwondia original#azul ashengrotto x y/n#crossposted to ao3
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You know what, you seem cool...
*dumps all of my Seduce Me Headcannons/theories*
~Contains Spoilers~
• The only reason the boys were back in the Chicago area to begin with was for Harold's funeral. They heard about it on the news and all went into shock.
• Getting their Human names went one of 4 ways: 1) They picked them themselves 2) Harold had the names on IDs ready to go, and let them pick a card - he just had to add the persons photo 3) Harold gave them the names persoanlly 4) Damien picked them all out beforehand while he was learning about the Human World
• The reason Sam didn't get to pick - or they didnt have time to do his choice - where they went on for trips was cause he kept losing at rock - paper - scissors (or coin tosses etc) so he never got to pick
• Since Sam and Damien can't read, if they were left on their own to order something they'd just point at something and hope it was good
• It took a bunch of Trial and error to learn that Matthew likes sweeter Coffee
• Damien Is Demisexual - or Graysexual, somewhere on that spectrum (im prepared to die on this hill)
• I could also see Erik being Demi
• Sam was super nervous to tell Carrie he was a Demon and was working himself up, but she already knew
• Damien can get overstimulated with sound sometimes due to his mind-reading. Even when he's human he can still get it from time to time in stressful situations.
• Damien would get frequent panic attacks and the others got really good at learning how to ground him and calm him down. When Mika gets stressed or panics about school or work stuff they use similar techniques.
• Sam does the most abbreviated texts (eg; c u 2nite) James uses proper grammar, Matthew uses Emojis and gifs, Erik knows all the flirty lingo, Damien also abbreviates but not as bad as Sam and he likes using the occasional Emoji😊☺️
• Matthew has fun ringtones while James uses default ones.
• Matthew has Sam saved as "Jackass" and Sam has Matthew saved as "Pipsqueak" (or something similar)
• Erik & Matthew are the type that get sick/pass out when their blood gets taken. Sam sometimes does too, but he will never admit it
• (In the Anderson mansion) James & Erik's rooms were neat and tidy - Erik would decorate. Damiens and Mattgews were stuffed with plushness- clean but not tidy. Sams is the messiest
• They let Matthew try an energy drink once... they never let him again.
• If nights were really bad, Damien would go stay with one of his brothers (mainly either Matthew or Sam since the older ones were always busy and they weren't allowed near) They would stay up with him and talk or try to think of other things to drown out the rest of it all. In the human world if he had a bad nightmare or anything, he'd still get up and go and talk to one of his brothers.
• (this one's based off an old video I made + I'll be using Sam for this one, cause Cannon route)
After the party the boys saw what Mikas dad was like and how tense Mika was during the event. So after the party Sam approached Mika to ask if she was okay. She thought he was talking about Malix for a moment but then he says that She was tense and acting not like herself during the party; that he knows a thing or two about a shitty dad and that he's here if she wants to talk.
• During the party the boys would give Mika small encouragements/ comfort throughout the night whenever they saw the opportunity. Matthew would come to her with extra snacks, or they would distract guests when she needed a break from questions.
• Micheala explained "Soul Marks" and I joked that they're a magic equivalent of a Hickey. So after Mika and [one of the brothers] did it - or they fed off her - they knewww and teased the brother about it.
• Erik wasn't prepared for Mika to flirt back
• The tags that Sam through away ultimately went into the Anderson Mansion. Mika found them (she was younger at this time) and gave them to Harold. They had demon magic energy on it, which Harold could sence. He dropped Mika off early to investigate it more
• One night, Sam and Mika hung out on the roof until the stars came out. Mika pointed out the constellations she knew
• James and Erik had to help the other 3 with their ties (+ the MC if they're played as male)
• Whenever the boys would pine for Mika, Damien had to sit and suffer in silence as he heard their nervous thoughts
• Since Mika was one of the boys first they probably did most of their 'exploring' with her.
• When the incubrothers learned they could never really tell her dad about what they were, they were a little upset - especially Sam. (Damien didn't have much of a problem with it since he wants to be human - and turns - anway)
• The Brothers quickly made Monopoly a forbidden game
• Damien adores his hair being played with and has fallen sleep because of it multiple times
•Matthew and Damiens hair gets frizzy/Curly in humid/rain weather
.
⚠️The next lot of headcannons are based on the more heavier topics of the game and involve Trigger Warnings such as abuse and assault, please proceed with caution:
• After James asked Mika how she got the bruise on her cheek and she brushed it off, no way he didn't know. James knew immediately and knew not to push further. Damien also knew - due to mind reading.
- Damien also dissociated a little after "seeing/hearing" what had happened to Mika.
• In the first flashback In the first game it notes that Damien hid behind Sam... I headcannon that Sam defended Damien from their father a lot. It would normally end in violence since Sam "defyed" his father. But he would also take blame for something that Damien did so he wouldn't get hurt getting in trouble. Sam would also beat up any imps that messed with him.
• Sometimes after being forced to mentally hear his mother and father, Damien go into sever panic attacks and didn't want to be touched and lashed out at imps that tried to 'control' him. These were the worst of them but the brothers knew how to handle it.
#seduce me the otome headcannons#can you tell Sam is my favourite?#part 2? maybe#seduce me the otome#seduce me demon war#seduce me the complete story#seduce me damien#seduce me diana#seduce me james#seduce me erik#seduce me sam#seduce me matthew
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what are your thoughts on loop and siffrin’s hangout in the tree? it always seemed excessively cruel imo, just to prove that sif dying wasn’t the only way to loop. i feel like there were other ways, so i guess i can’t understand completely understand why they would do it.
had loop not pointed out the party dying or had the party managed to beat the king w/o sif, do you think sif would have still looped? Or at the very least managed to make it to the next day?
Anon. are you my loop. afheiohfe LMFAO I'm just. amused by the question because yeah tbh I don't really like the Loop hangout either. I get critical under the cut, so this is only getting a spoilers tag.
I think Siffrin was going to loop then. They probably would have realized what the flash was, or even just realized that the time of day means either the party's made it to the King or things have already ended badly for them, and now they're down a fighter. Siffrin does try to cling to hope at times so I can see him trying to persuade himself that Mirabelle would know the shield, she'd know to shield even if he didn't warn her right??? so maybe they didn't instantly die! but again, they're down a fighter. Even if they win the fight, surely they'd hate him for abandoning them in the final hour. I think he'd give himself a panic attack out of worry and guilt and shame and loop. Loop just hurried it up, probably because they were already hating themself (which, this sure makes it rich for them to try to point out to Siffrin later in act 5 that he's being an ass for saying mean things to the party LOL).
If you want my thoughts. This isn't in the ISAT tag because the hangout is one of the low points of the game for me. It was the "oh, we're just doing shock value now" bit of my first playthrough. I didn't think it made sense then just because how does the party get to the King anyway (even if they can still beat/avoid all the sadnesses without Siffrin and avoid the rock trap/find all the keys because they're like. being more cautious with them gone, they only have a 1/6 chance of correctly choosing the right path on both floors 2 & 3 unless Loop is actively guiding them. Which is an idea I've seen people uncomfortable with, but Loop is purposefully setting them up to die anyway????), and how does Siffrin not realize sooner "hey wait this is going too long what's going to happen to my friends" and panic over that sooner, and nothing in the rest of the game really changed my thoughts on that. Considering Isabeau is right in Loop's potential sight YEAH I FEEL LIKE THEY COULD HAVE COME UP WITH DIFFERENT WAYS OF PROVING IT.
Also iiirc, in my first playthrough I'd already done the Bonnie sidequest of them freaking out at Siffrin and making them loop by this time. I get that the Bonnie sidequest is optional but like. That sure doesn't help with making this hangout feel like cheap shock value.
I think. What I would have liked better. Is if maybe Loop had been trying to do something else and they accidentally established this. Example:
Loop tells Siffrin from the very start they can tell their friends about this and brings the matter up again at act 3 start. Even though it didn't free them from the loops it DID make that one loop better for them when their friends knew something was wrong (they didn't die horribly, for one), so I think they're thinking if Stardust lets everyone in on the full truth, and sooner, maybe they can help somehow!!! Maybe Odile can solve it!!!! 'Why are us two idiots trying to solve this alone!!!' Loop's thinking, and Loop just really, really wants to get out of the loops. So like. imagine a ISAT sus run being a little more similar to a SASASA sus run and Loop specifically baiting them to do that, maybe by suggesting that since they always loop when talking to the Head Housemaiden the loop ends at a certain TIME, this is TIME craft stardust, hurry it up and maybe you'll see something useful besides the roof hm???
What Loop is hoping for: Stardust gets the nice little bit of his family comforting him and getting them to open up a little, they get to hurt themself watching it through them, Stardust realizes 'hey I should talk to my friends' and actually starts telling them about the time loop at the start so they can all work through the information together, they just needed more brain cells on the problem so THEY FIGURE OUT THE GD TIME LOOPS AND LOOP GETS TO BE FREE.
What actually happens: *looks at how the sus run goes in ISAT* also since this is already altering what a sus run requires and how it turns out you could also have Mirabelle on edge and unintentionally taking it out on Siffrin, or Isabeau being horrified if Siffrin finally confesses about the time loops under pressure from Odile and Siffrin assumes Isabeau's disgusted about him hiding this (and not realizing like. Isabeau is actually horrified that his friend's been dying? and trying to handle that alone??? SIF), basically like just make it accidentally turn into a train wreck of a scene for a takeaway of "huh. Siffrin loops back from being upset, too." And then Siffrin is further convinced opening up = always bad and just gets more and more set in I AM NOT BLINDING TELLING THEM.
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SCREAMS
WELCOME BACK
I’VE HAD A WEEEK OF THINKING ABOTU EP 4 NONSTOP AND THE ONLY REASON I’M NOT POSTING ART IS BECAUSE I’M PARANOID ABOUT PEOPLE UNTHINKINGLY SLAPPING SPOILERS IN THE TAGS (its happened before) BUT DADSY HAS MY ENTIRE SOUL ANYWAY
ITS EP 5 TIME AND HECK HECK
MONKIE KID SEASON 4 EPISODE FIVE WE HALFWAY THROUGH BOOOOIIIIIIS
BUCKLE UP I AM NORMAL ALREADY FOLKS
actually to be honest I’ve been pretty chillin until I doodled Pigsy and Mk and now I’m feeling feral THIS SHOW REALLY IS SO GOOD FOR MY BRAIN YELLSSS
OKAY OKAY HERE WE GO
COURT OF THE YELLOW ROBED DEMON HECK SOUNDS FUN LETS BOOGIE
continues to be a banger theme song that i will listen to all the way through every time it plays thank you very much
.
.
.
i need a moment
lays down
Pigsy absolute beloved ;-;
ALSO I’M KINDA WHEEZING AT THE BLUE ISN’T REALLY MY COLOUR
HECK I DIDNT’ APPRECCIATE EP 4 ENOUGH SO YOU BEST BELIEVE I’MA BE CHERISHIGN THE CRAP OUTTA EPISODE FIVE
I’M JUST SO HAPPY PLS BGSL;DKFMSDF
Pigsy washing his clothes in the river, Mk doodling i adore I’m so much and MEI BELOVED BALANCING SWORD ON HER NOSE I’M
THE VIBES ARE SO GOOD I WILL CRY
i had to rewind because i just sat here watching and just ;-; SUCH GOOD VIBES MAN |;A;/
ALSO HECK DIOLOGUE
HECKINGDSFLKMSD
PIGSY CALLING OTHER PIGSY A MONSTER
HMHMHM JOTTING THAT DOWN UR HONOUR
NGL BUT THAT VALIDATES MY OWN LITTLE SELF-INDULGENT FIC I WROTE A WHILE BACK OF TIME TRAVEL AND HIM DISLIKING PAST HIM SORRY I’M JUST GRRGRRRAWRRR BITES /POS
IS PIGSY HAVING TROUBLE ACCEPTING THAT WAS A PAST LIFE?
HECK I’M BITESBITESBITES
THE LAST EP KINDA FELT CONFUSING WHERE TANGS FELT VERY THUROUGH IN WHAT THE BIGGEST REGRET THING WAS BUT
AFTER LITERALLY JUST THAT LINE I’M LIKE OH SO HIS GREATEST REGRET WAS JUST BEING WHO HE WAS HUH FR
I’M LIKE THIRTY SECONDS IN AND ALREADY NORMALGBS;LDFKMA
Tang with the name correction ;-;
PIGSYGBSDFLMWE
DON’T GO COMPARING ME TO THAT DEMON
I’M JUST PLAIN OL PIGSY
|;A;/
I’M FINE IGNORE ME
Pigsy ur so valid for wanting layers on hHNV;LKSMFSD But my good sir no need to apologize for being a hunk smhBG;LSKDFM;WOEF
Mei
Mei absolute beloved
a
s
SCREAMS
DRAGON TIME
WE GONNA SEE HIIIMMMMMMM
considering i had so much brainrot about Wukong and Ao Lie brother moments after season 3 if we see him and we get any of his care for his bro i will be emotionally destroyed /pos LIKE I BEEN THINKING ABOUT THEM SM I TELL YOU AAAAAAAA
Mei: oh he must’ve been awesome
you’re right mei he was
just didn’t get much… screen time. book time? time
BG;KSADFKMSDF
I WONDER HOW THEY’LL CHRACTERIZE HIM
HECK
AAAAAAA
SO MANY OPTIONS
i am very normal if we see him i’ll cry
Mei’s got some seriously good balance now
MY ANCENSTORGSLDFKMAGNMAWE
.
Okay i wanna laugh over Mei’s I THOUGHT MONKEY KIGN WIAS YOUR DAD! HE’S NOT MY DAD!!!!
I WAS GONNA LAUGH BUT U H
THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS BEEN MENTIONED
MK IS LITERALLY DRAWING A STONE EGG
THE PEBBLE CRACKING IN HIS FLASHBACK
BUDDIES OF MINE SUDDENLY ON THE MK AND WUKONG SIBLING TRAIN
head in hands
so this confirms the theory that smacked me in the face last week this is fine
Mk fr probably a pebble from swk’s rock or something i don’t know TOO MANY FINGERS POINTING IN TAT DIRECTION I DONT’ KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT FEEL FREE TO PROVE ME WRONG UNIVERSE I WOULD GLADLY ACCEPT IT
AM I AFRAID TO LEARN ABOUT MK’S BACKSTORY NOW?
YEAH A LITTLE BIT
EVERYHTING IS FINE
TIS IS FINE
A
AH
PLS
SCREAMS
HE SAID IT
SHAKES YOU
GUYS HE SAID IT I’MGNSDFLK;MASDF
THE POINT
AND
PIGSY’S MY DAD
PIGSY SWEATINGBDL;KMASD
PLEASENG;LKSAMF
UR HONOUR
UR HONOUR PLEASE
THIS IS MY SEASON
THIS IS MY SEASON
HECKING
GETTING EVERYTHING I COULD EVER WANT SHUT UUUUPPPPBGS;DFKLMAW;EOIMFE
AAAAAAAAAAAAA
HIS BLEP AND CONTINUES COLOURING
Y’ALL MK MY BELOVED I ADORE THIS DUDE SM
PIGSY BLINDSIDED BY BEING CALLED DAD SO BLATANTLY I’M ON THE FLOOR
MK REALLY JUST
LETS CUT THE CRAP THAT’S MY DAD EVERUYBODY ELSE CAN GO I’MGBSD;FKMASDF
Guys I think i found my favourite episode
no lie this is
everything to me rn
PLEASE
A CONSPIRICY BOARDBG;SLKDMFWE
TANG’S DOODLES
SANDY STILL OFF SCREENGBSD;FKM;WOEF
CAN MEI BECOME A HORSENGKLMFD
GOOD QUESTION ACTUALLY
HECK HECK I FEEL LIKE THIS IS MOVING TO FAST I WANT TO GO BACK AND REWATCH THE WHOLE MONKEY KINGS NOT MY DAD PIGSYS MY DAD UH KID I’M NOT TECNICALLY-
HEKCKMGNDSFMSD
YEAH
I CAN’T BELIEVE
THEY’RE THEORIZING ON SCREEN
ABOTU WHETHER OR NOT MK’S RELATED TO MONKEY KING
I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL I FEEL LIKE I’M SCROLLING THORUGH THE FANDOM TAGBGBSDL;KFMSDF
I WILL CRY
HECK THIS IS SO FUNNY SEEING IT ALL SLAPPED OUT LIKE THAT I’VE LITERALLY THOUGHT THAT ALL IN THAT ORDER WE’VE MADE SO MANY THEORIES LIKE THIS I’M WHEEZINGNSDFL;KMSDF
BELOVED MONKEY KING
REAL SWK CONFIRMED
I’M GONNA SCREAM
THEY LEGIT DOING THIS??
FR???
I CAN’T BELEIVE THISGBSD;FKLMOEWF
SO
MK
RELATED TO MONKEY KING SOMEHOW CONFIRMED IG
ALL THAT
PLS
HE’S AT LEAST A STONE MONKEY
I DON’T KNOW HOW THAT WOULD WORK I LIKE MONKEY KING BEING ONE OF A KIND AND ALL THAT NOT SURE ABOUT THAT APPROACH BUT HECK IT WE BALL IG
ALSO PLEASELMGSAOFE
MK JUST LIKE NOOOO NONONONONOOO NO THANK YOU THAT’S CRAAAAZY
ah yess because he’s normally sooooo forthcoming with information
HELPGSDLKF
YEAH
SHE GOT A POINT LAD
SHE DO BE GOT A POINT
poor mk not looking very stoked at this possibility
CURIOUS YOU’D THINK HE’D BE ECSTATIC BUT IG TRUAMA DOES A LOT BGSDL;FKMS
MK COMUNICATING LEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WELL WHEN WE FIND HIM WE CAN ASK HIM! :D
PLS I JUST LOV EHIM A LOT GUYS
PIGSYGBSD;LKFMWE
PIGSY YOU’VE BEEN HERE FIVE SECONDS WHY ARE YOU ANNOYEDNLGKMMFEEF
I’m telling you now! :D
PLS IT TAKES A SECOND TO FIGURE THESE THINGS OUT
H
HECK
SCREAMS
HECK WAIT
I’M NOT READY
THIS IS SO EARLY IN THE EPISODE WDYM
USUALLY THEY WAIT TILL CLSOER TO THE END TO LULL YOU INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY
WE’RE ONLY TWO MINUTES IN
HELP WAITBG;LSDKMF
also welp ig mk really is stone monkey HOW DOES THAT WORK I DON’T KNOW I’M IN PIECES GO BACKGNS;LKFMWE
i DON’T KNOW IF THAT’S MONKEY KINGS ROCK MK I THINK IT’S YOURS
ALSO UM WHAT THE HECKNVG;LKSDMFBGN;AKFMA;WOEF
MK VERY EAGER TO HAVE MONKEY KING EXPLAIN TO EVERYONE HE’S DEFINITELY NOT HIS DADGBSDF;LKM;SDF
th
heck
okay
so
so
soooo
that sounded
less like monkey kings voice there
and more like
ahem
Mk’s
SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN
SCREAMS AND SHAKES YOU ALL
I SWEAR IF HE’S A CLONE
OR HECKING
SOMETHING ID ONT’ KNOW
HE HECKING BETTER NOT BE DEAD
IT BETTER NOT BE MONKEY KING ISNT’ ACTUALLY MONKEY KING AND MK’S HIS REINCARNATION AND MONKEY KING IS ACTUALLY JUST A CLONE LEFT BEHIND TO COACH HIS NEXT LIFE THAT STUPID THING I MADE UP I SWEAR I WILL BE CRUSHED PLEASE DONT’ BE THATBG;SDLKFMAWOE I MADE THAT UP FOR ANGST PURPOSES NOT FOR IT TO BE A HTEORY FOR CANON
i am full of fear
HECK THOSE ARE GIANT EYES
SCROLL CURSE
UP
OH NO THEY LOST THE CHEAT SHEET
CHEAT SHEET WAIT THAT’S SO FUNNYGHSBDFLK;MWEF
OH HECK
HECKK
ECK HECK JGSDJLFSJD
MEI
WATCH IT
OH SHE’S FAST NOW
OH RIP
WELP
I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING
SO WE’RE GONNA GET A MEI ARC IN THIS ONE AGAIN HUH
BREAK THE SWORD DISSAPOINTED FAMILY OR SOMETHIGN GOTTA RE-PROVE HERSELF OR SOMETHIGN HECKINGNFDL;KMWE
THAT’S SUCH PRETTY ANIMATION THO HECK EHCK
WE’RE ONLY 2:50 IN WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS SCREAMS
.
THEY BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN ALL BUBBLED TO DIFFERENT PLACES I SWEAR
oh no yup separated
I’M SO SORRY MEI ILY
OH RIP
WELP
YUP EVERYBODY SEPERATED
AWESOME
.
HELPGML;SDFM
CONGRATS TANG LOOOKS ILKE YOU’RE IN THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN
GL WITH THAT
WIAT HELPGNSAOWE
HE FR JUST SCREAMS AND BUBBLES AWAY
HELPGMSLDF
I WAS EXPECTING HIM TO BE THERE LONGER HELPGNSDLFKMSDF
peak comedy there well done lets scream and run away from that chapter so true bG;LKAWEMFAEWFNAWFE
.
Mei.
Mei you
Mei you literally have the fire of Samadhi
you have the Samadhi fire
you don’t need a swordnGL;KMAWFE
OKAY THO MEI EP OR SOEMTHING IG
SHE’S GONNA GO ON A JOURNY OF SELF-DISCOVERY IG
ALSO WHERE THE HECK DID MK GO
WE SAW EVERYBODY ELSE
WER’ES MY BOOOIIIII
OH I HATE HIM
IMMEMDEATLEY
WHO’S THIS CLOWN
FIESTY
EAT MY FIST
WHY IS HE
TALKINGNSDFL;KMWE
KILL HIM
SUS OLD MAN
OH RIGHT YEAH YOU’RE THIS GUY
OH HE’S A VIBE ACTUALLY
LONG HAIR VIBIN
.
YOU BETTER NOT HTINK MEI IS YOU’RE HEKCING WHATEVER
OR MAYBE YOU WANNA CONSUME HER
OKAY YEAH
FUN
I’LL BE SPICY ALRIGHT
OHH
OKAY CONCERN
BURN HIM ALIVE
COME ON W
oh
not gonna
eat her right away oka
ITS HIM
ITS HIM
ITS HIM HITSBSFBGANFABF;IOAWMEFAWMGFA;LFMAWOIEMFAF
SCREAMS
SCREAMS
ITS HIM
TIS HIM
SHAKES YOU SHAKES YOU ITS HIM
I KNOW IT IS
ITS HIM I TS HIM TBNSLKMGNEEM
ITS HIM
GREEN
GREEN
ITS HIM
SCREAMS
IT HE
ITS HIM ITS MY MAAAN
ITS HE
SCREAMS
ITS AO LIE
SHUT I’M UP GONNA CRY ITS HIM RIGHT NOW HE
I’M HAVING A MOMENT HERE GUYS GIVE ME A SECOND I’M GONNA CRY
OH HE’S SO SCRUNGLY
OH HE’S SO
YES
OH THE LONG SLEEVES EXCUSE ME HE’S SO DELIGHTFUL
I IMMEDEATELY ADORE HIM
I am not normal
HE’S BEAUTIFUL
HIS LITTLE HEADTILT
I WILL SOB
HELPGMSDLFKMSDF
TANG JUST ZOOMIN
NOP NOPE NOPE NOPE
THE NEZHA MOMENT
THIS IS ACTUALLY SO MUCH FUN
HECK AO LIE IS SO SCRUNGGLY I WOULD DIE FOR HIM YA’LL
HE’S DRAWN SO NICE
HES’ BEAUTIFUL
MEI GETS TO HANG OUT WITH HER ANCESTOR
SHE’S EITHER GONNA BE ANNOYED BY HIM OR VIBE AND I’M GONNA CRY EITHER WAY
OH NOPPES OUT TANG ET MOVING
YUP NOPE
THAT’S THE WORNG DOOR VERY MUCH
OH HE’S LAUGHIGN AT HER
WHATS SO FUNNY GUY
I LOVE
I LOVE HIM
SISTER
PLS
I ADORE HIM
YOU DONT’ UNDERSTAND
I’M IN LOVE WITH HIS DESIGN THE VOICE ACTOR IS SO GOOD
THE :3 FACE THEY’RE GIIVNG HIM
i am actually going to cry
YOU GUSY HE’S SO SCRUNGLY
PLEASE
PLEASE HE’S EVERYHTING TO ME
I WANT TO GIVE HIM SNACKS
THE TRIP
PLEASE
HE’S JUST A GOOFY LITTLE GUY
truly this is the youngest sib during the journey truly tis him
i love how i’m just assuming this is Ao Lie when i actually have no proof its just the vibes via the story and the fact he’s beautiful and green and absolutely delightful I WOULD DIE FOR HIM YOU DON’T UNDERSTANDNGLSDMAGNWO;EFM
oh man we’re only halfway through this is gonna be a long post hG;KLSDFJSD
THIS GUY
YUP MILDLY ANNOYED
I LOVE HIM
OH
OH BUDDY NO
BUD
BELOVED
I’M ABOUT TO CRY
BRUH REALLY
JUST VIBIN
WAITING FOR HIS PWOERS TO BE SNATCHED
AND MEI JUST OUTRAGED BY THAT
YEAH
I’M
HECK
HECK GUYS THAT’S HER ANCESTOR I’M GOING TO BURST INTO TEARS THIS IS A THREAT
INACTION IS CARELESS
IN
INTERSTING
MADAM
MEI NOT ALL OF THAT IS CORRECT
OH LETS GO I HOPE THIS IS A BOTH LEARN SOMETHING FROM EACH OTHER ARC I WILL CRY
MEI HECKA PASSIONATE ABOUT HER FRIENDS
HELPGMSDFLMADF
DO NOT SENSE
PLEASE
PLEASE HANG ON THIS IS MOVING SO FAST
THEY WENT FROM LIKE
HI
HI
*INTENSE PHYSCOLOGICAL DISCUSSION*
THEY JUST MET PLEASENG;LKMSDFE
IS IT GONNA BE LIKE
GET OUT AND THEN SURPRISE! I’M AO LIE!
ANYWAY IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU BYEEEE
PLS
A SWORD IS POWERLESS WITHOUT THE HAND THAT WEILDS IT
I ADORED IT
MY DUDE WHO IS PROBABLY AO LIE no its’ definitely Ao Lie AO LIE BELOVED I LOVED IT ITS A GREAT BIT OF WISDOM
THEIR LITTLE BANTER IS SO FUNNY PLEASE
MEI’S READY TO BITE HIM HE’S JUST SILLY GOOFY MAN
THEY BOTH GOT GOOD POINTS
man family dinner must be fun if his sister’s anything like Mei bGALK;SMDFAOWEF MAN I LOVE THEM
TANG REALLY GOING THROUGH IT
M
MO??????
MO??????
MO IS THAT YOU???
HECK???
WHERE’D YOU COME FROM???
WHY AREN’T YOU WITH SANDY??
i mean sandy’s probably not sandy rn but MO????
OH HECK
HELLO
AH
LOUDLY
DECLARING THAT HUH
WHATS GOING ON OVER THERE
Y’know hang on before we listen to Wukong’s bros trash talk him i wanna think about the fact that Wukong and Ao Lie probably get along great because they’re so alike
they’re just silly goofy Ao Lie probably reminds Wukong of himself back when he was just goofing off pls
OH??
OH MACAQUE’S THERE LISTENIGN TO THEM TRASH TALK HIS BELOVED FRIEND?? YEAH?? OH I’M INVESTED LETS FREAKING GO
unpredictable sure is a word for WukongnGL;KMEAFWE
CHARERISTICALLY QUIET PLSNG;LSDKMF
oh wow hey
New VA nailing it actually
deeper sounding
more gruff
hang on i need a sec
lays down
heck
okay
okay we’re good
lets see if Azure’s vibes continue to be rancid or he says something to bring it back
also my goodness what a good thing to slap in there, Monkey king gone for years at a time sure does make it sketchy i’m biting this
OH HE’S IN THE BIG OL KING SEAT UH
TANG RECIGNIZING HIM FROM THE DOODLE
PLS THAT’S SO SILLY /POS
NO YEAH ME TOO DUDE
HE’S HECKA SUS
HIS VIBES CONTINUE TO BE RANCID
also heck i’m curious as to what they’re gonna do with this
like if Mac goes along with those three and then it’s actually the other way around not Wukong betraying them but them betraying him that’d be WILD considering we’re all so sure its something Wukong did but heck maybe Azure really does do something heck heck
OKAY BACK TO THE FAMBLY
and the excellently designed dude i immediately hated
he and Ao Lie are on opposite sides of the scale for me pleasemKLGASDF Cool design I IMMEDEATELY HATE HIM and COOL DESIGN I ADORE HIM
Whats up greasy ole face weirdo
oh
OH BELOVED
BEAUTY FIRST
DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT
DID HE JUST SAY BEAUTY FIRST OR AM I JUST IN LOVE WITH THE DESIGNGNSDLFKMABGOWEMF
I’M GONNA ASSUEM THAT’S WHAT HE SAID AND CRY OVER THE FACT AO LIE IS PRETTY WE BEEN KNEW
OH MAN MEI’S GREAT
YEAAAHHHHH
SCREAMS
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
is the the DANG DRAGON MOMENT U SEEM MORE FAMILAR ARE WE RELATED MOMENT OR GNSLDK;MFAOWEIM
AAAA
SEH’S SO GOOD I LOVE HER A LOT
GET EM MEI
OH
AYO
MADE HERSELF A SWORD
LETS FREAKING GOOOOOOOOOOO
SHE’S SO GOOD
I LOVE HER
WHITE HORSE DRAGON
HEAR THAT AO LIE??
HEAR THAT???
Its okay i’m fine i’m just losing it
GET EM GURRRLL
SHE’S SO
FREAKING POWERFUL
OH WOW THE DRAMATIC
HAIR SWOOSHY
I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS THE RIGHT DAY TO BE CARELESS
OH
OH FREAKING
HECK
WOW
HE’S
OH WOW
AW
I LOVE
HIM
I LOVE IM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM
ITS YOU
AO LIE LIKE EH??
VA GO BRRR
I KNEW YOU WERE COOL
OH REALLY YOU THINK SO? :D
HE’S SO SCRUNGGLY
OH THE COOLEST
PLEASE
I WANT MORE OF HIM
I WANT MORE OF HIM SO BADLY
I BEG OF YOU
HE IS EVEYRTING TO ME I GOT CHILLS
HECK
HECK
OH
OH
OH MAN
MAN
AMV TIME HERE I COME THIS SEASON IS SO FREAKING GOOD I’M LOSING IT
I’M GONNA MAKE SO MANY AMVS I SSWEAR
I’M GONNA WATCH THIS EP ON LOOP
AO LIE IS EVERYTHING
I WANT HIM BACK
PLEASE
AAAAAAAAAA
|;A;/
SCREEAAAMMSSS
OKAY
OKAY
MK
OH MY BOY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?
HECK HE WAS STRAIGHT UP KNOCKED OUT UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE
GO BACK WHERE’S PIGSY
HECK HECK HECK
I WANT MORE DADSY CONTENT WAAAAIT
OHBOY
WHERE ARE THEY
W
OH PUTI
OH
OH
OH
OH ARE WE
WHERE
HECK
HANG ON
SHOOT
HE IS NOT REPLACING SWK IN THIS
I SWEAR
I WILL LOSE MY GOSH DANG MIND IF THEY DO THAT
SWK IS TOO IMPORTANT TO ME DON’T DO THIS TO ME
HECK HECK HECK HECK HECK
SCREAMS
OKAY
OKAY SO MK IS IN
MONKEY KINGS PLACE
HECK
SO CONFIMRED MK STONE MONKEY AT LEAST, LITERLALY SWK’S SON OR SIBLING AT MOST OR LITERALLY SWK, AO LIE IS MY MOST FAVOURITE EVER I WANT HIM AND SWK BEING GOOFY TOGETHER RIGHT FREAKING NOW, ZHU BAJIE’S GREATEST REGRET MIGHT JSUT BE HIM BEING HISMELF, LBD LOOKED RIGHT AT TANG, MEI CAN MAKE HER OWN NEW SWORD NOW, MK MIGHT BE REPLACING MONKEY KING, AZURE’S VIBES CONTINUE TO BE RANCID, THE NEW VA FOR MAC IS DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB OF SOUNDING CLOSE THE TO THE OG (nothing but appreciation for this guy thank you big shoes to fill) AND THEY’RE ALL SEPERATED, TANG FOUND MEI THO, AO LIE WAS READY TO GIVE UP HIS OWN POWERS, THEY CLASHED BOTH HAD GOOD POINTS, TANG BOOKED IT OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN, MK DIDN’T KEEP HIS FRIENDS IN THE DARK ABOTU HIS VISIONS FOR LONGER THAN LIKE TWO EPISODES AND IS COMMUNCIATING, SEEMS TO HAVE A PROBLEM THINKING ABOUT SWK AS HIS DAD, PIGSY GOT CALLED DAD PIGSY’S MY DAD, AH HECK HECK THIS EPISODE HAD SO FREAKING MUCH THEY FOUND MO, HOLDS HIM GETNLY, MACAQUEEEEEE AAAAAAAAA I LOVE ALL THESE GUYS SO MUCH
SHUT UP I THINK THIS IS MY FAVOURITE EPISODE NOBODY TOUCH ME I GOT EVERYTHING BUT WUKONG AND I’M ON A HIGH
KNOX OUT I GOTTA GO RUN INTO SOME SNOW
#knox rambles#knox reacts#monkie kid season 4#lmks4spoilers#lmks4englishspoilers#I AM MENTALLY ILL /POS#AS EXPECTED THIS SEASON IS DESTROYING ME I'M#AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA#HOLY CRAP WHAT A HALFWAY POINT EPISODE THAT WAS SO MUCH I#HECKECKGMGBJMGOI;AWO;IEFJ;LAKFDS#THANK THE GODS FOR THE LAST CHILL EPISODE THIS WAS SO MUCH I'M HECKGB;SLKDFMEW#OKAY I GOTTA GET OFF WIFI SOMEONE NEEDS IT FOR THEIR MEETING I JUST WANTED TO POST THIS BECAUSE I'M LOSING MY MIND AND WILL BE FOR THE REST#OF THE WEEK THANKS GOOD DAY#HOPE Y'ALL ARE DOING WELL AND VIBIN I'M GOING FERAL
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Thoroughfare// Joel Miller x GN!Reader
Word Count: 7891
Warnings: Spoilers for the beginning of the game/ episode 1 of the series (character death), swearing and lots of it
Summary: Fic based on the song Thoroughfare by Ethel Cain (please listen to it). First-person POV. Reader and Joel have known each other since childhood but are separate post-outbreak. What happens when they’re reunited and old feelings resurface with the prospect of exploring the West.
A/N: so I edited this like once but in the spirit of the new episode dropping early today I wanted to post this! Let me know of any errors and/or tags/warnings please and thank you!!!!
Being alone after the fall of civilization wasn’t the plan, but given the selfishness and brutality of the new world, it was necessary. It was a dog-eat-dog world, even a human-eat-human world. Most survivors I encountered wanted to take everything I had, even if all I had was the skin on my back. Even long-standing groups imploded on themselves at one point or another. It was lonely but safer, no one to turn on you, trade you, or use you. I hadn’t started alone, on the day of the outbreak I was at Joel’s, it was his birthday and even though he worked I ensured there was a hot meal and cake for him no matter how late he got home. Everything went wrong so fast, we lost Sarah and everyone was fending for themselves, not that I blame them. For a while, it was just Joel, Tommy and me, until things got messy. We were ambushed by a group and separated, I haven’t seen either of them since, survival got in the way of finding them.
I hate not knowing how they’re doing, I grew up with the brothers, I’ve known them for as long as I can remember. Joel and Tommy were hard workers, they were always trying to support themselves and each other. When Joel told me he was going to be a dad I was shocked, he and Amelia had been dating for a couple of years but we were in high school, and I knew it was going to be hard on the both of them. But I was also excited, I’ve always wanted to be an aunt! So I put together a baby shower for Amelia, collected clothing for their soon-to-be daughter and even managed to get them a crib. I was happy for Joel, he always talked about having a family, and wanting that mushy romantic domestic life. I did always harbour a crush on him and wish I could fulfill that for him but was happy nonetheless, he deserved it. They got married after high school at 22, but it was first and young love, it was never meant to last. By 28 he and Amelia had divorced, it was as amicable as possible. They harboured no hard feelings, they both grew and matured and understood it was for the best.
Now, I’m somewhere out east alone. I find some rocks and trees that can provide my resting body coverage and make myself comfortable for the night. I’m calm, or as calm as I can be. Still on edge and alert for any unwelcome surprises but there's only so long I can go without sleep. I never really set up camp, unless necessary, I never wanted to notify others of my whereabouts, I learnt that the hard way. A lonely traveller is an easy prey for any group of 2 or more.
Exhaustion is what lulls me to sleep, the moment I lay down I’m aware of how tired and sore my body is but I don’t have time to care as I’m pulled into a state of half-consciousness
A low groan, almost a growl, rings through my ears, immediately putting me on high alert. My heart is racing at the sudden prospect of danger, it’s unlikely that one lonely infected has travelled near me. Pulling my pistol from my pocket, I prepare to take out a few infected and escape as soon as possible. My ears strain with the effort of trying to hear anything but it’s pretty quiet. I don’t let my guard down, just because I can’t hear them doesn’t mean they’ve left. Then heavy repetitive footsteps, getting closer. I switch the safety off, I’m about to reveal myself when my brain stops me. These footsteps are too consistent, there’s no fumbling around or fast changes in direction. I strain my ears again, there’s no wheezing or the sound of wet breath that accompanies the spores in the infected’s lungs. They’re human, seemingly alone, which makes people very desperate. I’m conflicted if I take them by surprise or wait them out, taking a human life who hasn’t yet wronged you isn’t easy. But do I want to wait for them to potentially wrong me? The decision is made for me when they painfully fall to the ground next to me. They are a man, with eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted. I run my eyes along him quickly, he’s well equipped but his hands are busy clutching his blood-soaked side. His eyes shoot open, and like I’ve been wounded by his gaze I, “Joel!?!”
His movements stop and his eyes shoot to mine, shocked silence engulfs the two of us. Then I remember he’s injured.
“Let me help you,” I say giving him a hand and bringing him into the nook that was my resting place mere moments ago.
He sits propped up, “you wanna tell me what happened and what I’m dealing with?”
“Bullet wound. Ran into a couple of hunters.”
“How far from here?” I ask while digging for medical supplies in my backpack, worried the hunters may still be looking for him.
“You don’t have to worry about them no more. They were scouting the highway.”
“Got it. What kind of medical supplies do you got?”
“Nothin’”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Christ, alright. Okay, I’m gonna lift your shirt and have a look.”
Lifting his tattered green plaid shirt reveals a bloody mess.
“I’m going to clean the area a bit to see what the damage is, this will probably hurt.”
He nods. Wiping the excess blood and grime gives me good news.
“You sir, are a very lucky man. It’s only a graze. It’s a pretty clean wound which ensured minimal bleeding, the edges are clean. As far as bullet wounds go, this one is a beaut. I’ll clean and bandage it, and then… we’ve got some catching up to do.”
I clean his wound in silence and as the adrenaline leaves his body he becomes lethargic.
“Gotta be honest, I thought you were dead,” Joel mumbles lowly.
“Well, I probably should be. But I thought the same of you. Tommy?”
“Alive as well as I know, he’s got a camp out in Wyoming.”
“West from here,” I add. I don’t know what happened that caused the two to split and I don’t push it.
“Stay here, I’m going to see what I can raid off those bodies you left on the highway.”
I attempted to get up but am stopped by Joel's hand on my arm.
“You ain’t leaving me are ya?”
“I’d never leave you, Joel,” I say a bit more sincerely than I intended but in his exhausted state, he’s likely to forget about it.
I’m careful on the dark highway, Joel says I didn’t have to worry about the group of hunters but you can never be too sure. Turns out, the hunters were desperate because they had nearly nothing of use on them, even their weapons were looking worse for wear, and they likely wouldn’t have made it another winter as they were. However, one had something that was of more value to you than anything else they could’ve harboured together, a transfer pump. On a highway filled with abandoned cars, we’re guaranteed to get something working and a full tank of gas.
I make my way back to Joel, he’s barely alert but has enough in him to point his gun at me upon arrival. Raising my hands in defence I reassure him that it’s just me.
“Rest up, I’ll keep watch. You get busy healing.”
Joel lets out an entertained scoff before allowing exhaustion to take over.
As the sun begins to rise, its rays wake Joel. He seems slightly confused at first but relaxes when he sees me and remembers last night's events.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Pretty good, all things considered,” he says while lifting his shirt and looking at his bandaged wound. The bandage is still clean of any blood or any other excrements which is a good sign.
“Good because we’ve got a mission.”
“Oh yeah, what's that?” His rough voice asks.
“Getting one of them cars out there to work.”
“Then we better get going.”
We pick a truck that seems to be in order besides a few parts and the fact that it’s blocked in by other cars.
“You ever fix up a car before? Because you were never a car person before.” Joel asks.
“Nope, and I’m still not but I spent time with a group that did and I learnt enough to escape them so I’m more qualified now. You?”
Joel shakes his head, seemingly thinking of something rather than answering my question.
God isn’t real, that much is clear given the current state of the world but I might have a guardian angel because, after a few hours, Joel and I are able to get a truck running. We then spend some time pushing other cars out of the way before we’re able to drive. I’m tired, I haven’t slept in days, I was supposed to take a night's rest when Joel stumbled upon me but he needed it more than me and now that things are going to plan my body begins giving out. I look at Joel in the driver's seat, “where are we going?”
“How about West? We go further East and the coast will make some unforgiving winters. Plus, Tommy’s out West.”
“West it is.”
Once he gets us off the crowded highway, he speaks up.
“Get some rest, you need it.”
I smile, “Yeah… I missed you too,” then prop myself against the window and close my eyes.
I’m softly awoken by Joel's sturdy hand on my thigh and his deep hushed voice, “C’mon baby, let's get some rest.”
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, my neck and shoulders sore from the odd position they found themselves in. Joel makes his way to and opens my door, wraps his arm around my waist and leads me out of the truck and towards a long, 2-story building.
“Where are we?” I ask gruffly.
“An abandoned motel. I’ve already scouted it out, it’s safe.”
I’d normally yell at him for doing something as stupid as clearing a building alone when he has help but I’m too tired. So I lean into Joel and allow him to lead me to a room. Inside is a dingy mattress with some threadbare pillows and blankets, our bags are already stashed under the beaten-up desk, Joel prepped the room before bringing me in, that caring bastard. Joel sits me down on the bed, I fight slumber while watching Joel push random furniture in front of the door and draw the musty curtains over the boarded-up window. Someone was clearly here before us and made it their safe space, I try not to think about what happened to them.
Joel makes his way to me, I can see a small smile on his face, trying to hide the amusement he’s getting from me fighting to stay awake.
“Lay down, baby. We’re safe.”
I do as he says and Joel sits at the foot of the bed, taking my feet into his lap. He begins to carefully remove my shoes. Suddenly I can keep my eyes open with some ease and I watch him, his steady hands and caring face. My chest fills with a warm radiating love, I haven't seen a man with such soft emotions in his eyes in years. Joel hasn’t been consumed by anger, he’s still human, still a good man. It was touching to see given that most of us were left in a world where there was no one else to leave and no one else to love. Looking at Joel I felt some peace, I didn’t care where we were or where we were going, as long as I was with him.
Finally, Joel gets up and joins me in bed, he keeps a respectable distance but in my sleepy state, I have the confidence to inch my way against him, spooning him while resting my forehead in between his shoulder blades. I fall asleep with my arms and thoughts filled with my southern sunshine.
We spend a few days resting before continuing our travels West to Tommy, which sounds like paradise from Joel’s description.
“How much longer of travelling d we have ahead of us?”
“Probably no more than 3 days, we’re close.”
“Why’d we stop if were so close?”
“Needed the rest, plus there are so cars here that we’ll take the gas from.”
I nod, half believing him. 3 days is nothing it seems odd that he stopped for multiple days for 3 days of travel. Unless the next 3 days are hell…
“Do you know something I don’t?” I ask.
“What d’ya mean?”
“Resting multiple days for 3 days of travel? What’s up ahead that I don’t know about?”
“I hope nothin’”
“But there was something?”
“No, look I just- I thought we could use the rest, you’re complicatin’ it”
I’m still skeptical but I let it go. Joel’s being weird, sure we were tired, we always were but you had to trudge on to survive.
“Let’s go,” he says while getting up and grabbing his things to leave.
Joel hands me my backpack, I let out a quiet ‘thanks’ shy under his direct gaze.
“We’ve got some gas to steal,” I say while we leave, distracting myself. I hear Joel let out a scoff to cover his laugh. A smile takes over my face in pride knowing I can still make the man laugh, a laugh I’d kill to hear more often. When we step out of the motel, the morning sun is warm and welcoming. I feel… new. I’m not one for ‘signs from the universe’ but the sunrise and its accompanying warmth gave me this sense that this was a new beginning and that things are going to be okay. I stop to bask in it, letting the sun warm my face and seep into my bones. Joel stops beside me and when I look to him he’s also taken by the sunrise. He looks almost at peace, like in this brief moment the war in his head, heartbreak from his past, and the worry of tomorrow, have all quieted down, allowing him a moment of enjoyment. He looks so pretty. The moment ends and Joel looks at me, catching me staring.
“Hmm?”
“Nothing, I just- You look-.” I take a breath, trying to collect myself while my mind swarms with thousands of things I want to say to him. “I’m just… really happy to have found you again.”
I’m too scared to allow him to respond or even react because I’m already walking away, “c’mon we’re getting gas, remember?”
Joel spends 20 hours driving, he's tired and fighting sleep.
“Joel let me drive, I promise not to crash and I’ll wake you if we die.”
He smiles, glancing at me, “you know where we’re going?”
Shit. “No…”
Joel laughs at my realization.
“We’ll show me on a map! Then I’ll follow that.” I explain excitedly.
“Aren’t you ‘map blind’ as you always put it?”
Just then, Joel and I are years younger, pre-outbreak young. We’re each other's rocks, constantly teasing one another while never letting the other fall.
“You remember that?”
“Course I do, you couldn’t read that damn map even if there was a ‘you’re here’ sticker on it. You gawked at that thing like I handed you an old scripture in hieroglyphics.”
Joel looks young, the recounting of that story releasing the constant stress in his face and body.
“You had it upside down.”
I can’t help but laugh, I did have it upside down. And even in an apocalypse, I am still map blind. However, Joel remembering such a trivial moment in our time together in our past life has me astounded. In a world where life, as you know it is flipped upside down and your daughter is taken from you while still in your arms… it’s hard to imagine those moments still taking up space in his memory.
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don't know because there's so much happening all the time and there's other things that are more worthy of being remembered.”
Joel's face falls, his eyes follow suit, looking at the ground. My name falls from his mouth like a whispered prayer, scared that if it can be heard by the human ear it’ll be tainted. “I held onto every memory of you because sometimes… sometimes it’s one of the few things that keeps me going. I treasured our time together then but now? Now, I hold onto those memories because they remind me of who I was, they ground me, and remind me of how there was so much good in the world.”
He stops but there are still words that are stuck on his tongue, “I thought I lost you for good. Tommy and I- we looked for you but you know how it goes. I accepted that you- that you were no longer a part of this cold and selfish world and yet… here you are. And you still have that warm smile, you’ve kept the damned sense of humour and you’re just as snarky, if not more so, than before.”
My eyes are hot with tears, not the usual tears of loss or frustration or hopelessness but tears of love. I love this man. I loved him then and I love him now and I don’t know if anything could ever change that. I quickly wipe a defiant tear as if he wouldn’t see it. My overwhelming emotions leave me unable to speak, so I don’t, instead, I take his hand in mine. I hold him like a loving partner holding their sick lover's hand to provide comfort, I hold him like my life depended on it, I hold him like he’s my everything because he is.
“You’re one sappy son of a bitch, Joel Miler,” I say quietly.
His chest rumbles with a low chuckle, and his warm thumb smooths over my hand. I relish in the moment of intimacy. Loving intimacy is harder to come by than kindness in this world even in something as small as hand-holding. I think it is more likely that I read a map correctly than I come in contact with regular loving intimacy. Everyone is touch starved and yet no one is willing to be vulnerable enough to provide that touch because people are too selfish for it to be a safe and wholesome act, because one that is often abused and adulterated.
“Only for you, darlin’”
“Well then let’s pull over so you can get some sleep,” I then bring his hand to my lips and give him a small kiss.
Joel hides us in some foliage, trying to ensure we don’t stick out like easy prey out in the open. We fold the back seats and do our best to make the musty upholstery comfortable, not that it’s the worst place either of us has slept. The sun will rise in a couple hours and in dead spaces like this? That signals a sort of quiet. Most hunters move at night in these areas, trying to catch innocents off guard while they’re trying to rest. Travellers move as fast as they can in the night thinking danger will be asleep. The world is a free-for-all but when the sun sets? It becomes a war against you and every other thing, living or not.
“I’ll keep watch, you rest,” I tell Joel.
“Ain’t you tired?”
“I got some sleep in the car, plus if I really need it, I can sleep when we’re on the road again.”
I sit myself up against the back of the driver's seat, placing different clothing items in my lap, “come on, I promise not to fall asleep,” I tell Joel, gesturing to the makeshift pillow I’ve made with my lap and clothing.
Wordlessly Joel situates himself, laying on his back with his head in my lap, groaning when his body relaxes and he becomes aware of the tired and sore muscles within his body. Something is missing…
“Oh,” I begin ruffling through my bag, “here,” I pull a blanket from my bag and place it over Joel’s body. The blanket is worn out but it’s more for the comfort of having than it is for warmth. A soft, barely audible ‘thank you’ escapes Joel.
With the man's eyes closed I selfishly stare, taking in his face. Theres more lines than there were before which I expect after 20 years but they’re not where I want them to be. Instead of crow's feet from a smile reaching his eyes he has wrinkles between his brows from having them furrowed too often. In place of smile lines, he has frown lines, lines that tell a story of a resilient man living a hard life. Even with his eyes closed he still holds the face of a hardened man. His hair and facial hair are peppered with grey and even in a world s dirty as this I can’t help but run my hands through it. At first, Joel tenses, a reflex nearly everyone has developed to stay alive. But when his mind reminds him it is the hand of the person whose lap he rests his head in, he relaxes. Joel not only relaxes to post-outbreak Joel but, after a few moments, to pre-outbreak Joel. All the lines and wrinkles in his face soften, he doesn’t look young like you often hear, but he looks calmer. In my lap is a man whose gone through hell and back and is finally letting a couple walls down after decades of hardship, he almost looks relieved. His hair tells me the same thing as his face, caked with dirt and oil and tangled from years of neglect and unrelenting weather, he’s a man who’s been stretched far too thin. I continue running my fingers through his hair during the hours that he sleeps no matter how ‘gross’ it is because the truth is, my fingers are just as covered with the survival of this world. In this musty truck with our unwashed bodies and difficult pasts, things almost feel normal, the birds sing and rise with the sun and I can almost imagine we’re on Joel’s old tattered couch, having stayed up late to watch a movie only to have one of us pass out before the climax.
Unfortunately, the man only sleeps a handful of hours, it’s not even mid-day when he wakes. Although it’s probably the longest he’s slept in a while and the first time he’s woken up peacefully, not in a panic or with an impending task looming over his head. Joel is pulled from his slumber not because he’s well rested but because our minds are never completely at rest, we don’t have time to be so vulnerable for so long. His eyes, still filled with sleep, look for mine immediately, like he knows rationally I’m still here because his head is still in a warm lap but he’s scared that it’s an illusion and he’ll break that illusion when he opens his eyes and doesn’t find mine. When the illusion doesn’t disappear, I speak up, “Morning, southern sunshine.”
“Southern sunshine?”
“Yeah, 'cause you’re from Texas and… you always brighten my day,” I shrug.
An amused scoff escapes him while he sits up, blocking me from seeing his face.
“You, my dear, are too sweet for me.”
“Why? Can’t handle it?” I tease.
“Don’t deserve it,” his voice is a little lower with those words, they’re filled with doubt.
“Well, that’s ain’t true. You deserved it then and you deserve it now more than ever. I might not know the horrors that haunt your past in between then and now, but… I know Joel Miller and he’s more deserving of someone's unyielding love and affection more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
He looks over his shoulder at me, face heavy with a mix of disbelief and self-hatred: a look he shouldn’t hold. My brows crease with worry and sadness, I slowly place my hand on his cheek like he’s a scared animal that might run if I move too fast. Instead, he leans into it for a moment before taking my wrist in his hand and pulling my palm to his lips where he kisses me. Still holding my hand between the two of us he gives me a small smile. Not a happy or grateful smile but a doleful one, one that says ‘this can’t continue, we have to keep going, there’s no time for us’. So, silently that's what we do, we get back on the road and continue West.
The remaining drive is relatively quiet, a mix of comfortable and awkward silence, like sometimes we don’t what to do with ourselves regarding the idea or possibility of us. Then it dawns on me, after years of not knowing I’ll (hopefully) get to see Tommy. I’m not sure if I sigh or mumble or if there’s just a shift in the air but Joel turns to me, then back at the road and back at me pensively.
“What’s wrong?”
I take s deep breath, “I’ll get to see Tommy,” my voice is soft like if I say it too decisively I’d jinx it. Joel hums in response.
Holy fucking shit. The outbreak took nearly everything from everyone, but two of my loved ones were still alive and I’m about to be reunited with both of them. People I love unconditionally, that I spent days with together, people I lost for years and grieved, are alive and returning to my life. I’m overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, I’m ecstatic to see them again, I’ve been given a second life with them, and I love them and want them back in my life. My heart is filled with happiness and loves but my chest is heavy with fear. I’m scared, scared of how our relationship has changed, scared of how different the past has changed us, scared to lose them again. My body is hot like it’s overworked with the flood of emotions, and they’re just boiling to the surface. Slow tears reluctantly sting my face.
“Hey hey hey hey hey, what’s going on?” Joel asks confused.
I snap my head towards him with fearful eyes, like a deer looking at the driver that’s about to hit them, “I’m not ready!”
“What do you mean ‘you’re not ready’?”
That question opens the floodgate to the storm that is in my mind.
“I’ve been alone for years. Years! I’m completely independent, I don’t need anyone and I tricked myself into believing that I don’t want anyone. And-and-and we’ve all changed, we’ve all done things we thought impossible for us before, and we’ve all done things that haunt us. What if- what if that’s changed us so much that the person I know from before is dead and someone new is occupying the body I’m familiar with? I want things to be how they were but they’re not going to be and I don’t know what that means. And we’ve lived different lives now that-…”
“Do you hate me?”
Joel interrupts and shocks me, “wha- no, why on earth would you think that?!”
“Well, you seem so worried that things will be so different we won’t be able to be a family like we once were. Yet, here are the two of us…”
Closer than ever.
He doesn’t finish the sentence like he’s unsure of the right words to use. Neither of us explicitly acknowledging what’s between us.
“Things are different. They have to be. We’ve all lost so much, including pieces of our old selves, but, I know that I still love you… and Tommy… but don’t tell him I told you that.”
I laugh at Joel’s brotherly love but my mind raves with how he stopped with me, like adding Tommy was an afterthought.
I didn't realize Joel rested his warm hand on my thigh until he gives it a squeeze, I don’t know how long it’s been there but I welcome the comfort as it calms the sea within me.
“Right…” I take hold of his hand kissing it as I did before and keeping it in my grasp. There are a few moments of silence as Joel allows me to calm down.
“Tommy’s gonna lose his damn mind when he sees you.”
The two of us can’t help but laugh not so much at Joel's comment but at the rarity of it all, what are the odds we would find each other again.
We drive over a small hill, revealing a fenced civilization in the lowland.
“Hooollly shit…” I breathe, “it’s a whole city…”
“Sure is. Guess he didn’t do too bad.”
I let out an incredulous laugh, “they have electricity?”
“Yup.”
“Hot water?”
“Mhmm.”
I fall silent in disbelief and overwhelming joy, “I haven’t had a proper shower in… years.”
“I can tell,” Joel jokes.
I shove his arm, “watch it southern sunshine, you’re pretty ripe too.”
Joel chuckles.
At the gates we’re asked who we are, Joel explains but they’re still skeptical.
“Just get Tommy,” Joel says.
“Tommy’s busy.”
Joel scoffs, and mumbles a ‘busy my ass’ to himself.
“Alright then get Maria, she’ll have questions anyway.”
“I don-”
“Boy, do you want me to have to explain to her how you refused to get her and made a big fuss outta something that should’ve been finished already?”
The man behind the gate disappears, likely to get this Maria.
“Who’s Mari-”
I’m cut off by a woman shouting in a calm yet authoritative voice, “LET HIM IN!”
When my eyes land on the woman I see she's waving us in motioning for the others to open the gates. As we wait for the gate to open, I nod towards the woman, “Maria?”
“Yup.”
“I like her.”
Again Joel chuckles, “You ain’t even met her yet.”
“True but I like her, I can feel it.”
“Well, you ain’t wrong. You’ll definitely get on with her,” I smile at Joel’s words while he pauses, “which is what I’m worried about,” he finishes.
Maria gives us a quick motion telling Joel where to park, when the truck's engine stops filling my ears I realize how nervous I am again. Joel grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze, “C’mon don’t you want that shower? You certainly need it.”
He hopes out of the truck before I can berate him. I make my way around the vehicle next to Joel.
“Been a while,” Maria opens.
“Yeah, I know. Trying to stay alive seems to take up most of my time,” he shrugs.
“And you?” she asks me.
“Oh-”
“This-,” Joel attempts to answer but Maria stops him, “I didn’t ask you.”
Joel stops and almost visibly cowers, his head downcast like a kid in trouble.
When my name leaves my lips a look of shock passes over Maria’s face.
“Well I’ll be damned, Tommy might just shit himself.”
Joel and I chuckle but mine’s more in confusion.
“Y-you know of me?”
“Pfft, course I do. You kept these two idiots alive before shit hit the fan.”
At that, I let out a genuine chuckle.
“Tommy’s on patrol so let me get yall settled til then.”
She begins walking and we follow.
We were welcomed so fast it goes against everything I’ve come to learn in the last few years. I lean towards Joel whispering, “are they not going to check if we’re infected?”
“Generally? Yes, they would. But given that it's me and you? They trust us. Plus last I checked we haven’t been bitten, so what’re you worryin’ for?”
At that, I shrug, it's just instinct to be weary of everyone all the time.
Maria brings us to a house, not a completely run-down house, not a building that will suffice as a shelter for a short period, but an uninhabited home.
“Get cleaned up and by then Tommy should be back. Meet at ours for 3?” Maria asks, although I get the sense she’s not really asking.
Joel nods.
“There are some clothes in the hallway closet, have at em’ wouldn’t make sense for yall to shower and get back into dirty clothes. “
“Thank you, Maria,” I cut in.
“Of course. Can’t wait to see Tommy’s face,” and with that, she turns off the porch and leaves us.
Joel closes the door and begins dropping his things, “go on and shower, just don’t use all the hot water, yeah?”
‘First of all, if I’m getting into a running shower with hot water… not only am I using it all but I might just cause a drought. Second, why don’t you join me?”
All confidence I had prior to making the offer is gone and I’m left wondering why the hell I opened my big mouth like that. Joel clears his throat, “I- uh-”
“I didn’t mean- just like- the water is warm and then no one has to fight and water conservation and all that and I-”
I’m too busy babbling to realize that Joel is watching me with an amused smirk before letting out a chuckle that brings me back to earth.
“I know what you meant darlin’, I was gonna say I’d like that.”
“Oh…”
“C’mon we’ve got some warm water and real soap calling our names,” he says while leading the way.
I’m surprised he said yes. I mean throughout our journey here we’ve shared some affectionate moments, even before the outbreak we did. But the Joel I knew then was pretty closed off and pales in comparison to the Joel I met a few months ago. We beat around the bush, never explicitly mentioning what we’re doing or what we may be. I know with his divorce, the loss of Sarah and just who Joel is that he doesn’t come by commitment and intimacy easily. The outbreak has changed us all and for Joel that meant protecting his heart a little more than before in fear of how the world may strip him of what he loves again. So… I don’t push him, I love him however he’ll let me and accept whatever he’s willing to give me because I know the Joel inside his rugged exterior and he’s worth waiting for. I let him lead us upstairs to the bathroom, the calmness and security of the house brings back a domestic Joel that I’ve missed. Joel starts the shower before leaning over me, “Why don’t you get a head start and I’ll go get us some clothes,” then he leans in and kisses my cheek and all I can do is nod in adoration.
While Joel leaves to get us the clothes, I strip off my grimy ones and get into the stream of hot water. I groan escapes my lips as the hot water cascades down my body, already cleaning better than the attempts I’ve made over the years. My muscles yearn for the relaxation and healing that comes with its warmth. The cleanliness of the water makes me aware of how dirty I am and feel. I reach for the bar of soap, lifting it to my nose and smelling the notes of lemon and mint, someone here has worked hard to make these bars. I begin to lather my body in the velvety luxury, the steam of the shower accentuating the soap's scent. I’m so caught up in myself I don’t realize Joel’s returned until he’s joining me in the shower. He presses himself against my back and wraps his arms around my waist. We close our eyes savouring the moment that almost replicates something that could have been before the outbreak. I turn us around so Joel can be in the stream of water. While facing me with his hands on my waist, I take some shampoo in my hands and begin emulsifying it in his hair. I massage his scalp for a while, lifting the stubborn dirt while relaxing him, using my nails I give him some light scratches, refreshing the follicles and gifting the nerves a tingling sensation. A few groans escape him when I reach particular points but this moment is nothing but pure. I drop my hands from his head, keeping them on his shoulders. When Joel tilts his head back into the stream of water I return my hands to the base of his scalp slowly massaging the soapy water from it. Throughout this, his eyes remain closed in blissful indulgence.
When his hair is clean, he turns us around and washes my hair. My arms remain wrapped around his shoulders while his hands make careful movements, his face softens and his eyes remain lovingly trained on my hair. He spends some extra time lathering, just playing with my soaped-up hair. When I tilt my head into the stream of water he kisses my forehead, I open my eyes to find his looking into mine tenderly. We freeze for a moment, both scared to make the next move.
“Tell me I can kiss you,” I whisper.
A corner of his lips quirk upwards, “Anytime darlin’,” he says while leaning in and joining our lips together. The kiss isn’t lewd or filled with sexual tension but filled with fearful love. Love that can appear so quiet but wreaks havoc inside the individual, a cyclone of fear that your love may leave, move on or end up entangled in a worse fate. Love that hurts the beholder with its overwhelming size, that one may bust at the seams at any moment because their body just can’t contain it. We spend time so wrapped up in each other, so much said without a word being spoken, that the water begins to lose its warmth.
“Go get dressed, I’ll finish up and join you,” Joel utters in a hushed tone.
I nod and peck his lips once more before reluctantly leaving him.
In the bedroom, I find warm clothes: sweatpants that aren’t tattered, they still have the soft fluffy cotton on the inside; a large t-shirt that doesn’t have more than the necessary 4 holes; and a woolly cardigan that isn’t holding so much moisture that it’s its own breeding ground for mould and bacteria.
When Joel comes out and dresses, it’s time for us to make our way to Maria and Tommy’s. I’m still nervous, my stomach is twisted in excitement and anxiety. When we arrive on the porch I suddenly feel uplifted.
“Wait! You open the door and I’ll stay hidden before revealing myself, don’t tell him anything!”
Joel chuckles, “you really do wanna give the man a heart attack.”
I press myself against the house behind the screen door, Joel knocks and inside we hear his muddled voice, “Who the hell is that?”
Maria doesn’t say anything or if she does we don’t hear it. Then the door opens and a heavy silence drops before Tommy speaks, “Son of a bitch, who let this old fuck in!”
The brothers embrace one another and then I make my way around the door, “If you’re that shocked to see him wait till you realize that I’m here too.”
Tommy's eyes widen, for a split second I think they’ll pop. He, in brotherly fashion, quickly removes himself from Joel and pushes him aside.
“This ain’t real,” he says while standing in front of me.
“I can hit you if you’d like, if not to convince you then for old time's sake?”
“Oh my god,” Tommy says while laughing in disbelief. He tightly wraps his arms around me, when he lets go his hands remain gripping my shoulders looking at me like he had to double-check if things were true.
“Holy shit…”
I laugh and see Maria leaning in the doorway with a smile on her lips, I return the gesture.
“Well… aren’t you going to let us in or keep us out here on the porch like some stays?” I tease.
The evening passes fast, turns out we had a lot of catching up to fit in in the few hours that was dinner. Everyone has a smile on their face and exited disbelief in their eyes. When dinner is finished I get up to help Maria, which she attempts to decline.
“Maria, c’mon? You welcomed us, gave me some of the best clothes I’ve worn in years along with a hot shower and filled our stomachs with delicious food. I wasn’t asking.”
My authoritativeness seems to impress and please her as she just gives me a smile and walks into the kitchen.
“We’ll let the boys catch up on whatever it is those two get up to,” Maria yells from the kitchen.
I laugh and join her, “You heard the woman, go on, get!”
The Miller brothers leave to sit outside on the porch while Maria and I fall into easy conversation about ourselves and how we found ourselves in the Miller's lives.
“So how long have you and Joel been together?”
“Oh- it’s not- we’re not-”
Maria laughs as I stumble to find the right words, “Okay so Mr. Scared of commitment hasn’t officially labelled it. But, you’re together. So, how long?”
“Oh…uh… I don’t know, we were reunited a few months ago but-”
Maria chuckles, “Oh my dear, you really are blind aren’t you?”
“What?”
“I don’t mean when you reunited or when did you guys start being more affectionate or anything like that. I mean, how long have the two of you been in love?”
I’m dumbfounded, what does she know that I don’t?
“That man has been in love with you forever. Now I’m not basing this off the fact that he looks at you like he’s afraid to let you go even for a second or the fact that his entire demeanour lightens when he looks at you. Even Tommy knows, he watched you two lovebirds beat around the bush for years I think you referred to you two as ‘a couple of love-sick puppies’. You’ve been in love before the outbreak, yes?”
“Yes,” I shyly admit.
“And Joel has loved you for just as long if not longer. You may not see it but it’s true and in this world, we don’t have time to deny ourselves of any love we may have a chance at. Don’t let him believe he can go about this world as a lone wolf forever.”
~~~ JOEL’S POV ~~~
The sun is setting, taking its warmth with it. Tommy and I sit in silence, not because there’s nothing to say but because we’ve got so much to say and don’t know where to start. Both of us sipping our respective drinks.
“Can’t believe they’re alive… or that we’ve all been reunited,” Tommy says.
“You and me both.”
“You better not blow this again,” Tommy said while taking a sip from his glass.
“What d’ya mean?”
Tommy scoffs, “You might be my older brother but you really are an idiot. Don’t let them get away again, we don’t normally get second chances in this life. You’ve been handed a second chance on a fucking silver platter. I love you but if you fuck this up?” Tommy finishes with a scoff.
There’s a heavy silence for a few moments before Tommy presses on.
“You love them.”
“Is that supposed to be a question?”
“No, you do love them. I ain’t asking. I want you to accept it and, for the love of god, admit it.”
“ I don’t kn-”
“Oh cut the shit, Joel. You’ve been in love for years, before this damn virus. I watched the two of you act like a damn couple but then have these moments of… weird, awkwardness as if you’ve just realized what you’ve done and are like ‘oh yeah we’re not actually together better backtrack a bit’. I mean for fucks sake just admit it, tell them, be together.”
I sigh. I know I love them and that I’m in love with them, but admitting it opens me to the possibility of losing them and I’ve lost too many to want to open myself to that hurt again. But he’s right, I’ve been given another chance. The apocalypse separated us and has nearly liked us dozens of times but then we were accidentally reunited. I’ve spent months with them, sharing close proximity and moments of loving affection. How can I be so stupid, in closing myself off I nearly lost them while trying to avoid just that.
“Fuck…” I murmur.
“Go on, go get them.”
I quickly get up, entering the house with urgency.
~~~ YOUR POV ~~~
The front door opens with a sense of urgency. Maria and I turn towards the sound and heavy boots bring Joel in.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Can I uh, steal them?” Joel asks Maria.
She smiles and pops a hip out, leaning against the counter, “it’s about time,” Maria nods me towards him.
I join him and while we’re leaving out the front door Tommy enters the house, giving his brother a pat on the shoulder. Joel has a nervous air around him and he grabs my arm and urgently takes me onto the porch. When the door closes I speak out.
“Joel what the hell are you-”
I stopped when Joel grabs my face in his hands and kisses me. This kiss is urgent, filled with a passion of gratitude and unease. When we release Joel doesn’t pull away far.
“Joel what-”
“I need you to know something,” he interrupts quickly, he takes a breath and continues in a slower calmer manner, “I’ve spent so much time with you, shared so many memories with you, and you might not be my love but honestly? I doubt it. I love you. I’ve always loved you, you’re my family and I’m no longer going to push you away in fear of losing you because I’ll lose you by doing that. I’d rather fear losing you, having loved you rather than losing you anyways and wondering what could have been.”
“Oh Joel,” I say with a soft sigh, “You think I would have agreed to get in the damn pick-up with you with nothing but what was on us and some dumb luck if I didn’t love you?”
Joel smiles, “Hey, do you want to explore the west with me?” he ends by motioning between us and with a teasing tone.
“I’ve spent a lot of time without love and a lot of time with you, and there’s nothing I’d like more than to explore the two together.”
We share a small kiss, “it only took an apocalypse for us to get together,” I laugh.
“That might be true but I’m happy we got here.”
“Me too… We don’t actually have to go West, right? Like that was a metaphor,”
Joel laughs at me, “Yeah baby, I mean I’m happy as long as we’re together but if you don’t want to stay-”
“No, no. I want to stay. We’re staying.”
“Good.”
We watch the last bit of the sunset in each other's arms. We don’t know what tomorrow holds but we’ll figure that out and we’ll do it together.
Taglist: @spideysimpossiblegirl @littlemisspascal @writer-darling @avengetheunnatural @louderfortheback @Currentobsessionrabbithole
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The Party - Chapter 1
Content Warnings: Alcohol, Cigarette, and Weed mention - Mild spoilers for Alex’s route if you look close enough - Something is up with the ASS trio - Grandpa isn’t doing well - Your parents are morally ambiguous
Important notes! In this fic Stardew is set in 1996, the Scream movies exist, at this point in time the main characters are in Highschool. ALL CHARACTERS OF ROMANTIC INTEREST ARE 18+! MINORS DNI
The valley is nice, calm. The forests, full of chirping crickets and critters, and all was silent. Except for one house, with all the bright lights and blaring rock music: the Aitken household. Well, household and general store.
With her parents out of the house, Abigail decided what better way to celebrate not just the new weekend but the new member of the group than to party? And guess what? You’re that lucky member! That’s awesome, getting to hang out with the cool kids!
You were nervous in this new town, after all. Your parents have sent you off to help take care of your sick grandfather; make sure he doesn’t collapse and have a heart attack. Having a new classmate caught the attention of the others, though, and soon you were recruited into their little group.
That brings you here. The combination mom and pop convenience store/Aitken household turned club by their gothic daughter. The stench of alcohol, cigarettes, and... weed? - Wasn’t that only recently legalized for medical purposes? - Fill the house. You have two main worries about the overwhelming party and how Abby was gonna clean this up. Her parents are going to kill her if they find out. You can see you’re not the only one worried, looking over at the local jock’s face.
“Are you alright, Alex? You seem kind of, uhm.. torn up.”
“Huh? - Oh. Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just... you don’t mind if I head out early, do you? I felt like I at least had to come, seemed like the polite thing to do, but I uh, I have something to do. Homework and stuff.”
You gave a shrug, not really expecting him to care that much about it, and let Alex go off on his way, not really noticing the relief in his eyes.
And then someone grabs you.
"Well, well, well! There’s the star of the show! We’ve been looking all over for you! C’mon, we have all sorts of stuff to do!”
Sam chuckled, dragging you by the arm towards his trio of pals. The council of darkness, if you will.
“We got a bunch of scary movies and board games, and guess what? We even got our hands on some video games!”
Of the options, you decided Scream was the best choice. Just came out, seems cool.. And clearly they agree, the trio's eyes lighting up. It felt nice to be seen. For some reason, though, you almost felt too seen. Oh well, you’re probably just being paranoid! Now you have a movie to watch.
Credits: tata on Pinterest for the header, @beamer-boy for the footer, beta read by @sashiavi
Tags: @phebbsl @warpedbands
#stardew valley#sdv abigail#sdv sam#sdv sebastian#Alex makes an appearance#scream 1996#ghostface#dark content#minors dni#cw drugs#not too many warning for the first chapter but it will get worse I promise you#the party
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They Wyll Not Stop Him
Chapter 4 of
Where There's a Wyll There's a Way - Masterlist
Wyll (Baldur's Gate) /Reader - Enver Gortash/Reader (more a warning than a promise)
Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage - Angst
Spoilers for Baldurs Gate 3
Wyll attempts to crash your wedding. (I may make this longer eventually, I wrote this on an airplane)
None of his allies thought it was a good idea to crash Gortash’s wedding. With the information Mizora had told them about his father and the new development of Orin supposedly infiltrating the camp they all had other things on their minds. To them, stopping a seemingly harmless wedding was not worth the dangers of fighting Gortash, the Steelgaurd, and the flaming fists with little preparation. He knew on paper they were right, it was rash and undoubtedly stacked against them. He was damned if he was going to let you sign away your life to a man as corrupt as Gortash. Not if there was a chance he could stop it.
He snuck away as they ate lunch to head to Wyrm's rock. He knew the layout of the building and he knew ways to sneak in. Unfortunately that was not his style. He confronted the guards and told them he was there for the wedding but had lost his invitation. Expecting some sort of scuffle he was met with the news that there were no invitations. The wedding was open to the public. He however would not be let inside though as he was dressed in armor, and not the required black tie attire. At this point he realized he was attracting quite a few Steelwatchers. There was no way in through this entrance now. His half assed plan based on his heroic instincts had failed. He turned around cursing himself for not charging through them to find you. His friends really had rubbed off on him. He was going to have to take a page out of Astarions book and be sneaky.
It was dark before Wyll was able to find a secret entrance into Wyrm rock that the guards were not stationed at. As he snuck in he realized he did not have a plan to find you. The wedding was surely over by now. He hoped he could at least catch you before you signed the papers. He ran through the stone halls using an invisibility potion he had found in his pack. He came across a group of people heading out the main entrance, obviously inebriated, they laughed as they exited. He went through the doors they had exited and followed the sound of people until he found what he assumed to be the reception. The room was dark and lit by candle chandeliers to create what would have been a lovely party ambience if he was here under different circumstances. He spotted Gortash immediately. Surrounded by people in the middle of the room holding a flute of champagne with his head tilted back in laughter.
You however were nowhere to be found. In your youth you were never the center of attention but it was not like you to shy away from a crowd. He looked along the walls and checked the corners but could not find you. This was your wedding reception and you were nowhere to be found. It was about time that the potion was going to wear off and he was no closer to finding you. He left the party and headed up the stairs. Avoiding the Steelwatch as he explored the top floor. It was mostly empty as the main group of guards was concentrated around the party downstairs. This allowed him to explore the top floors freely. Only using minor spells to distract the lingering Fists. It was on the top floor at the end of the hall where he heard sniffles coming from an undiscerning door.
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Masterlist
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OH OH sages of the calamity if you will…
I will indeed!
so. spoilers ahead for both botw and hyrule warriors: age of calamity if you want to avoid them. like, the Main Plot Twist of age of calamity. also some plot spoilers for the sage quests in totk. putting the rest under a cut o7
sooo. y'know how hyrule warriors: age of calamity had a really fun plot twist of "the people who helped link take on the divine beasts in the botw timeline got brought to the aoc timeline to help save the champions."
(also now that I think about it they might have foreshadowed tulin being your main buddy for the rito questline in totk... because it was teba who came to help revali, tulin just got yoinked by accident too)
the botw timeline, presumably, still exists. and is progressing at roughly the same speed as the aoc one.
imagine, if you will, that a repaired terrako Notices Something's Up There. passes this info on. and, well, the champions are well aware that they'd be dead without help from the warriors of that future.
they can help! (also, they're like. the only ones who can help due to something something "things get a little weird if you have multiple versions of the same people in the same world for long, we're lucky it worked out at all with the sidons")
(...I may be planning to try and use that plot point to bring back the main timeline's champs? maybe. if I can make it work and it doesn't feel narratively unsatisfying to me. We Shall See.)
anyway. when link wakes up on great sky island, he wakes up with terrako there. he's confused. rauru is confused.
he gets A Lot More Confused (and so does tulin) when they're midway through the rito questline and aoc revali comes crashing in (somewhat reluctantly) to help.
(also - unsure if I want to go this route, but it's entirely possible that the people who went to the aoc timeline straight up Don't Remember their time there. maybe they never remember it. or maybe they remember it again once they run into the other timeline's champions. there are a lot of loose threads I have yet to figure out but it would be a really cool fic y'know?)
highlights include
-the climb up to colgera being Much Less Of A Hassle thanks to revali's gale. when he can be convinced to use it, anyway.
-daruk might show up a bit early specifically because I want him to see yunobo being Weird. (and also I think it would be funny if link had to drag him away from the marbled rock roast he might be too old to eat anyway)
-there is so much fucking crying between sidon and mipha and dorephan. I don't think :) she can heal :) dorephan's injuries :) I also think it would be funny if she showed up to help with the sludge like at mipha's court and then Turned Around.
-fun fact! riju can die during the gibdo assault on gerudo town. it's fucking heartbreaking. she drops to one knee like urbosa did during the aoc cutscene and everything. I think the ~parallels~ of urbosa showing up Just In Time would be fun. also, like, more lightning where gibdos are concerned cannot be a bad thing
-throughout the fic zelda is in contact with the champions via terrako. totk link really wants to talk to her and then just kind of starts crying once he does.
so yeah uh. another fic that would be really cool if I had more solid ideas for it lol (and if ao3 would separate the damn botw and totk tags like they should have to begin with-)
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Random Glitch Trio Headcanons
(aka i'm in my idw sonic brainrot era and remembered i have a tumblr to dump stuff in)
Starline
• Really into long baths (the type with candles and rose petals everywhere)
• Would be obsessed with Lush bath bombs if they existed in Sonic's world
• Acts really pretentious about music, books, films, etc., only claiming to like highly obscure and experimental stuff (bonus points if it's technically complex). While he does genuinely like this stuff, he's also a fan of more 'popular' music like disney songs (or would be if they existed in Sonic's world), musicals and 80s synth.
• I could weirdly see him being into old detective novels/movies, e.g.- Poirot
• He doesn't like science fiction because it tends to be wildly inaccurate
• Spends hours daily doing his hair and makeup even if he knows he's about to get into a fight which will inevitably mess it up again (if he's going to get his hands dirty he might as well look good doing it)
• Had an emo phase in his undergrad years, refuses to talk about it
• Claims to strongly dislike cursing (it's vulgar and juvenile) but swears like a sailor when he's angry or drunk (I stole this one off the Bumblekast but come on)
• Occasionally gets drunk (he normally drinks wine because it's classy but switches to whiskey when he's in a bad mood) and makes extremely unhinged vlogs ranting about stuff, mainly Eggman (e.g.- why doesn't he notice me after everything I've done for him, why does he love his robots more than me, what does Metal Sonic have that I don't, etc...) This happened a lot during their divorce arc
• His ideal date would be a classic romantic candlelit dinner, bonus points if there is singing involved. However there is absolutely no one who could meet his impossible standards for a romantic partner except maybe Eggman and even then he's on thin ice
• Probably a good dancer
• Feels a sense of superiority over extremely 'chaotic' individuals (e.g.- Eggman, Orbot and Cubot, Rough and Tumble, his adopted children), hence why he tends to gravitate towards them. He has a habit of trying to correct and fix other people to show off how put together he is (spoiler alert: he is not put together whatsoever)
• Hopelessly addicted to caffeine
Surge
• Into shounen manga
• Has tried vaping before for the sole purpose of pissing off Starline
• Likes J-rock, metalcore and punk music
• Not really into movies or books because they're long and boring. Her attention span is like 5 minutes max, hence why she prefers comics and manga
• If she was forced to watch a movie, she'd go for a really over the top silly horror movie. she's easily scared by psychological horror/anything with a lot of jumpscares though (not that she would admit it in a million years)
• Likes spicy food and sushi
• Has shoplifted before and will do it again
• Commits arson on a regular basis, Kit frequently depletes his water reservoir trying to put out the fires before Starline finds out
• Would shop at Hot Topic
• Her ideal date would be something super energetic like paintball or laser tag. She would then proceed to get excessively competitive (read: violent) and scare off any potential suitors.
• Starline once took her and Kit to a Disneyland equivalent for 'family bonding'. She used her super speed to cut the lines, made a rollercoaster go faster with her electric powers (because it was too slow- boring!) causing it to derail and almost murder the several children unfortunate enough to be on the ride with her, and set fire to at least one food stand. All three of them are now banned for life.
• She would probably hang out with the Babylon Rogues from time to time
• Unlike Starline and Kit she is a morning person, and is extra loud and obnoxious around them at this time of day just to be an asshole (Kit doesn't mind though)
Kit
• Likes reading technical manuals/long academic texts (aka Surge's worst nightmare)
• Really into horror, especially psychological and body horror (he would really like Junji Ito manga), but doesn't get to watch horror movies much because Surge doesn't like them
• He doesn't like music that much, if he had to listen to something he would prefer white noise because he finds the repetitive sound comforting
• Doesn't really have any food preferences but he likes coffee
• Secretly returns the stuff Surge shoplifts because he feels guilty
• Likes tinkering with bits of tech in his free time
• On the aforementioned 'family bonding' trip, Kit almost murdered the employees of a haunted house because they startled Surge (not that she would ever admit it), contributing to the lifelong ban
• Sometimes stays up all night reading or working on a project, he always looks tired during the day because he doesn't get much sleep
• His ideal date would be a non-existent one because he can't be away from Surge for more than 5 minutes without feeling anxious (also he's like 8). However he would probably stalk Surge on her date and try to sabotage it because he doesn't trust the other person to treat her right
• Is going to have an emo phase in a few years' time, following in the footsteps of his father (ik he's already emo but I mean like he'll start getting more into the music and fashion)
• Is actually capable of being pretty snarky but is too shy to say most of it out loud (he mocks Starline relentlessly in his head though)
#idw sonic#sonic headcanons#glitch trio#dr starline#starline#kitsunami#kitsunami the fennec#surge#surge the tenrec#shitpost#i made some more serious headcanons before doing these maybe i will post those at some point
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!!CW: DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE/SA (and spoilers, obviously)!!
Highlights from my Paradise playthrough. Shout out to my saint of a partner for letting me spam him with my bullshit.
I use generic names for my partner's benefit (they're a sane person with no interest in BL VNs), so MC-kun is Azuma, Fluffy-kun is Takara, Asshole-kun is Mitsugi, and Reliable-kun is Madara.
Let's begin!
Paradise is the 20th VN I've played and I think it's the first one to have this option. Overall I really liked the technical presentation.
I generally avoid checking spoiler tags when going in so at this point all I had was my experience with other BL games and a few hints about this game's brutality. Overall the content itself is in line with things I've seen before, but hoo boy did some of Azuma's inner dialogue hit hard. That poor guy.
As an aside: I always approach a VN blind until I get an ending. After that I choose who to target and get all their bad ends first, then the good before moving on to the next LI. This approach was perfect for Paradise since the bad ends gave you the context needed to fully understand the good endings and greater mystery in the narrative. Mitsugi > Madara > Takara is definitely the best experience.
(This is subtle foreshadowing of me using up the nation's entire copium supply a few days later)
(And this is subtle foreshadowing of my choice for Best Boy)
The translation for this game was pretty good until the last arc. Mitsugi and Madara's routes all felt natural. I'm not the kind of person who wants everything to be literal, so it was nice to see a real effort put towards localizing their routes. I think the only line I raised an eyebrow at was the Scooby Doo reference (which I'm assuming is localizing an extremely Japanese joke/reference).
Sadly this didn't hold up in Takara's route. Suddenly it felt like a very unpolished machine TL- stilted phrasing and sudden tense switching pulled me out of some big moments. Inconsistent terms were suddenly an issue too; namely, the literal transliteration "log house" being used instead of the localized "cabin" in a few places. Lastly, the many instances of "we're" instead of "were" in the script. C'mon! I've read fan TLs with more polished writing and editing y'know? Was it due to a deadline crunch? Careless oversight? Don't know, but I do care.
My heart broke for Azuma over and over again. Just, all the time. At this point I knew the game was an utsuge so I just sat back and let my feelings get trampled as intended.
Classic BL problems.
Classic BL "solutions".
Go ahead and laugh at past me. I am so disappointed in him.
I can't tell you why I like having my heart crushed, spit on, set on fire, and launched into the sun. But at least I know what I like.
I have mixed feelings for the story itself but the characters are above par for a BL VN. Faint praise? Maybe. But I get the sense that the happy ends are supposed to make you feel despair too despite the upbeat music and framing. It's not a good thing that MC-kun comes to accept the guys who have fucked him up. It's uncomfortably true to life how he makes excuses for their abuse just because they showed him some kindness, and it leaves me feeling hollow to watch him disappear into the sunset with them. Yes even Mitsugi. He doesn't get a pass just because he sticks to verbal abuse in the same story as a violent sadist and a murderous cannibal.
Case in point about the "good endings still feel bad".
I was down so, so bad. Good job Paradise you successfully got me to pin all my hopes on this little fucker.
I'll spare y'all the long barganing phase I went through but it ran the gamut from "maybe he's possessed" to "split personality" to "unholy experiment gone wrong". By his first bad end the scales had started to fall, though. I hit rock bottom at last in the second bad end.
I generally limit the title of Best Boy to a LI, even if it's closer in spirit to "Guy I Hated the Least". The only VN I've changed that for is Tokyo Onmyouji because none of those men deserved Tengenjibashi. It wasn't even a fucking contest. Here? Well...
Badly stilted TL in a crucial emotionally heavy scene. This is just the worst example I snipped while playing but man, did anyone look at the script for this route after the machine TL spat it out?
I learned nothing.
And here is where all of my negative feelings about Paradise stem from...
I understand that writers need to rein in the story at some point. You don't have infinite budgets for VAs and all. But the janky, sudden skip to the reveals being recited right away followed by the drive off into the sunset soured the whole experience for me. I wasted hours of my life trying to figure it out when the writers just said shit we gotta go here's the Cliff's Notes see you never. I bought in and was rewarded with the most underwhelming delivery I've seen this side of Phantom Thief Jade. The payoff is the second most important part of a mystery story guys! You gotta take the time to pace the Big Reveal and let the player chew a bit before taking the plate away! It's such a shame that they went through so much effort to layer and misdirect only to give up right at the finish line.
Despite that, I still had enough fun that I consider Paradise a worthwhile investment. I hope the fan disk can be brought over too someday.
Never mind- burn it all down. No survivors.
#paradise vn#long post#yes Takara got the Best Boy Award#I know he technically had three sex scenes but only two of them had CGs#Takara's the best cannibal murderer rapist I've ever had to end up with
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