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whattraintracks · 2 months

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22. Puzzling - TMNT 2012

Don't worry, guys, that wasn't supposed to happen.

When the bit of Kraang tech he's examining (read: poking randomly in the hopes that something will happen) explodes, Donatello's not sure if he or Raphael shrieks louder. He thinks it's Raph. Which would be way funnier under different circumstances.

He blinks against sooty particulates. "Huh, well, that wasn't supposed to happen."

He's amid a cloud of unexpectedly thick, slightly pink smoke. Which is on-brand but frankly annoying. He waves at the air in a vain attempt to disperse it. Maybe he can move this operation to the kitchen, work under the exhaust hood. He should probably install one in here. He gives up flailing his arms, and backs away from the desk. Step one to solving any problem is getting some distance. Step two is—oh, that's weird. The cloud doesn't seem to have moved since the initial explosion. What kind of particles are these? He hasn't seen Kraang tech do this before.

The moment he remembers Raph is also the moment he trips over him. With a yelp, he hits the ground. Hard. Raph giggles. Rude. He's going to have at least two bruises tomorrow. And his scream was definitely louder than Raph's, so he's lost any right to make fun.

"Dude," Donnie groans, pushing to his feet. At least he's away from the Kraang smoke, "Why'd you trip me?"

"I don't know," comes the high-pitched reply, "Why're you so big?"

By the time his eyes clear, he's pretty sure it's a genuine question, not an insult about his height. It makes more sense once he looks down, down, down to find Raph miniaturised.

Donnie throws his hands to his head. "That wasn't supposed to happen, either!" Raph just giggles again.

"Leo!"

As far as they can tell, based on Raph's appearance and memories, he's about five. Donnie can't even remember being that young. Which he counts as a good thing because kids are weird. Or maybe that's just mutant turtle kids. He doesn't have experience with normal children to establish a baseline. Leo and Sensei do, though, and they seem unperturbed by Raph's behavior. Even Mikey takes the whole thing in stride. He is, in fact, absolutely thrilled and oscillates between gathering blackmail material and doing whatever Raph asks.

Donnie will admit he's having trouble making sense of it all. First, and he thinks he’s mentioned this, that was not supposed to happen. He can't figure out how a broken Kraang tech part without any detectable energy source could have caused something like this. Which naturally leads to the question of how he's meant to fix it. Raph has no idea what happened, either, so he's no help. Worse, he just might be the most confusing being Donnie has ever met. Take yesterday, for example.

He's not sure what time it is when he stumbles out of the lab for breakfast, so it might not technically be in the range of the day at which it is appropriate to call a meal breakfast. His brain is too full of viscous pink Kraang smoke to care. It must be some mealtime because everyone but Master Splinter is in the kitchen when he arrives. Leo is at the island supervising Raph and Mikey's mess-making by the stove.

Raph perks up, "Hey Donnie! I wanna tell you a question."

"Ask nicely, Raph," Leo reminds, hiding a smile behind the rim of his tea cup.

"Please, I wanna tell you a question." He barrels on, "How do you open your labrador?”

Open his what? Donnie stares at the space above Raph's head, trying to parse the question until a nudge from Leo resets his brain. "Say what?"

"Your labrador!" He flings his arms out, nearly knocking himself to the floor. Mikey catches the lip of his shell just in time.

“What Labrador? Raph, I don't have a—”

“Yeah, you do!” He's angry of a sudden. Of course, he is. But it's weird. It's not the first time Donnie's made him mad since the incident, but he's never gotten in anyone's face or stormed off with a huff. He just screeches until he gets whatever it is that he wants. It's Raph's anger, but it's not. “It’s how you get to the place you do all your smart stuff!"

Mikey swoops in, crouching to squeeze Raph gently, then translates, “He means the door to your lab, bro.”

“The door? Oh. Why would—?" Donnie sighs heavily, sinking into the stool next to Leo. “Raph, that’s the lab door,” he enunciates, “Not a Labrador. A Labrador is a dog breed."

Just like that, Raph's face unscrunches into something thoughtful. “So it’s not a labrador?”

Well, at least the exasperation is familiar. "I literally just said that. It’s a normal door.” Leo clicks at him warningly. Come on, what is he supposed to do here? Seriously, this feels surreal. Maybe this whole dialogue is a dream, and he's hunched over his desk right now. He straightens his shell to test for any worse-than-usual aching.

“Okay," Raph says. Then he turns around. Just like that. As if the entire conversation never happened. Never mind his original question or whatever he was trying to ask. He makes no sense, literally none at all.

But, you know what, fine. Donnie has to eat anyway so he can go back to the "place where he does all his smart stuff" or whatever. So he can figure out how to get his actual brother back, who at least makes sense most of the time.

Leo finishes his tea, returning Raph's enthusiastic wave goodbye, and then there are three. Mikey and Raph finally settle down to eat whatever noxious concoction they've whipped up as Donnie cleans his dishes. Freshly fed, his brain refills with extradimensional smoke and engineering.

"Well, that's boring!"

He fumbles with his mug at the sudden shout. A glance over his shoulder finds Raph, who had been eating quietly, now glaring at him.

“You should name that boring normal door Labrador so we can just call it that anyway," he says firmly.

He's not sure why he tries to ask, “Why would I—”

“Or or!" And it's like a switch again, anger suddenly dissipating. "We could name it something cooler! Like Thundoor from Crognard!”

“Thundarr,” He corrects. It's too late, Mikey's joins in.

“That’s awesome, little dude!" Mikey laughs buoyantly. "We should name all the furniture!”

“Yeah!”

And Donnie is so tired and so lost, and Raph is too much and too little of his brother at the same time it’s not even funny anymore. He doesn't think it ever was.

“Come one, Dee!" Mikey hoists Raph onto his shoulders, naturally content to ignore the messy kitchen. "Help Raphie and I name everything in the lair!”

Donnie tries to shake his head as Raph reaches for him. “Can you! Can you, please? Just for a little bit, please, Donnie, please?” Oh, now he recalls his manners.

"No, Raph." He bangs his mug onto the drying rack, ignoring Mikey's frown. "I don't have time for your nonsense questions and weird games. I'm trying to fix you."

It's not until he slams closed the lab door that the words trailing after his dramatic exit finally click. A puzzled sort of muttering from Raph: "Fix me? But I’m not broken."

So maybe he got a little too worked up, as tired as he was. But he's better now! He's eaten. He's slept five hours. He's determined to sit here until he cracks this thing.

And then someone bangs on the door.

He drops his head with a groan. How is he supposed to heroically solve all of their problems in these conditions? “Who is it, and what do you want," he shouts into the pages of his notebook.

"Once a second!"

One second, he mouths to himself. He listens to Raph struggle with the door for a lot of seconds and hopes he'll give up. He probably won't. Donnie better unlock it before he hurts himself. Or worse, starts screaming. Only because Leo would find some way to blame Donnie for it.

He shoves the door open, not at all irritated. Or vindicated either, when Raph falls on his shell and his sai skitter across the floor. Wait. “I thought Sensei took those out of your—Hey!”

Five-year-old Raph may not be much of a ninja but he is pretty slippery. He scrambles under Donnie's arm and launches into the rolling desk chair.

“Raphael." He glowers, summoning his inner Leo, "You are not allowed in the lab—”

“Without you,” he recites, spinning the chair so Donnie only catches glimpses of his cheeky smile. “But you’re here too! So it’s okay.”

It most definitely is not. Raph has no understanding of lab safety right now, so if Raph stays in here, then Donnie will have to keep an eye on him, and if Donnie has to watch Raph, then he can't focus on his work. He does not want Raph in here, and he says so.

“Donnie, I'll be so so so good. Please!” Oh, Mikey absolutely taught him how to do that with his eyes. Not cool, Mike.

“Raph," Donnie faux whines back. "I need to work. Go play with Leo or Mikey."

"Ugh," Raph flops onto his shell, letting his head and limbs hang. “But Sensei and Leo are medating, and Mikey’s with Red."

“Meditating," he corrects, "And I know you know her name is April.”

“Casey calls her Red.”

“Yeah, well, Casey’s a—” Raph looks at him with wide, innocent eyes. A promise on his face that anything Donnie says will be repeated. "It’s polite to call people by their name."

Raph hums, continuing to spin idly, “But I don't call you Donatello, I call you Donnie. And you call me Raph or sometimes Fai.”

Not a bad point. But what was that second thing? Fai? Oh. His brain retrieves fuzzy, forgotten memories. That's right. When they were both little, that had been his nickname for Raph. Just between the two of them. He can't remember when he stopped using it.

“Right," he says slowly. "But those are nicknames. They're a shorter version of your name.”

“Oh, okay.” Then Raph rolls out of the chair, clunking to the ground shell first, and wanders away to explore the lab.

Donnie retakes the seat, resigning himself to further interruptions. Part of his brain is devoted to thinking up better excuses in case this is one of those conversations Raph returns to without warning. The rest of his awareness is on Raph as he pokes and prods at books and equipment and even poor Timothy. It takes the better part of a half hour for him to realise he's still sitting at his desk not moving a muscle.

He growls, gripping his head. Raph is on him in an instant. "What's wrong? Can I help? Do you need a book? Do you want one of mine? I can get Leo! Or Sensei, or—"

"No," Donnie snaps.

He gapes as Raph's beak trembles and his eyes fill with tears. "You're crying. Why are you crying? Please stop crying." He slides to the floor next to Raph, "I'm sorry? It's just. I'm trying to focus! I need to fix you, but I don't—"

“I don’t want you to fix me!” He shouts, scrubbing his face and hiccupping. “I just want to play! Why won’t you play with me anymore?"

“Raph, I," Donnie looks down at his hands, "I don’t have time,” he finishes lamely.

“Yes, you do! You’re just being mean!” He runs out of the lab. Probably to someone who actually understands him. Someone who tries. Donnie wonders if he’ll ever stop messing things up for Raph.

Because as far as they can tell, this version of Raph went to bed one day, and the family he found upon waking was suddenly different. Of course, Raph is frustrated and confused and probably a little scared. He's not just normal Raph in a smaller body. Donnie might've realised that sooner if he'd spent more time with him instead of causing one mess after the other and then hiding from it all in his lab.

Donnie doesn't remember when he was five, but he's heard Sensei's stories about their childhood. The ones about his younger self hanging on Raph's every word. That one embarrassing retelling of the biggest fight Donnie ever caused by announcing Raph was his favorite brother. His father's memories of them doing everything together, at least until Donnie really got into science. So he steps out of the lab and locks it behind him. His brother, this brother, needs to come first.

He must look contrite enough that Leo only grills him a little before he points to Raph's room. After a single breath of indecision, he sits, shell against the door.

“Hey, Fai?” he starts, tugging at his fingers, “I’m really sorry. I have been pretty mean lately, haven’t I?” It takes a few moments, but a little thud echoes on the other side of the door.

Relieved, he continues, “I’m not as good at this as I used to be. I might need your help. But I’m out of my lab right now, and we can play whatever you want.”

Donnie hits the floor before he realises the door has swung open. Little Raph is looking down at him, eyes still watery but excited. "Really? Anything? Even Space Heroes!"

And Donnie almost can't believe it's that easy. He smiles with Raph's infectious joy. “Space Heroes? Who are you, Leo?”

Raph collapses into him with a laugh that banishes the rest of his tears as Donnie reaches out, tickling him just like he's seen their big brother do. He's still giggling when Donnie staggers to his feet. “Think I could use some bedding to build us the Dauntless?”

Raph cheers. Launching into an explanation of his favorite episodes and characters as he directs them around the lair to collect supplies. If this isn't blackmail material, Donnie doesn't know what is. Raph will never be able to deny that he likes Space Heroes ever again. Once Donnie figures out how to reverse this Kraang-smoke-induced de-aging that is.

He does still have to. They need Raph as he should be: their teammate, their protector, their equal. But if he were here in those roles right now, Donnie knows he would have heard a thousand times over that he needs to sleep, to eat, to take a break for at least five minutes, Don, come on.

So he'll try. He'll take breaks to hang out with his favorite brother. He'll get a lot of experience building sheet spaceships and pillow forts. And by the end of it all, Donnie will realise his little brother really does just want to play and ask silly questions that probably don’t seem so silly to him. He'll decide this little version of Raph isn't a puzzle of confusing emotions. He's the same pieces he's always been, unfiltered and untethered from all the pain and fear of their older selves.

And so, even after Raph returns to 16, whenever the thought creeps up on Donnie that he's not doing enough, that he needs to fix it. He'll lock his lab behind him and say, "Hey, Fai! Wanna play something?"

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quilleth · 7 months

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'TIS TIME!!!!!

The first half of my fic for the @moshangevents Big Bang is now live!!

I also am SO excited I got to work with @hagelwolke on this!! Go check out the AMAZING art

Read the fic HERE!!

Rating: M; M/M; Mobei Jun/ Shang Qinghua Additional Characters: Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan, Linguang Jun, Original characters Tags: fae au, fae!MBJ/ human SQH, slow burn (?), mutual pining, curses, transformations, fairy tale tropes, eventual smut

Summary:

The Winter King was as cold and harsh as the lands he ruled. He did not take kindly to strangers, and those who crossed his boundaries vanished, never to be heard from again, or returned, incurably altered, mere shades of their former selves. Shang Qinghua knew the stories as well as any other, but that didn’t prepare him to meet Mobei Jun, the fae king of the North. Expecting to be punished for a transgression that was hardly his fault, he is surprised when the king merely insisted he join his staff, copying old records. Mobei Jun is just as unprepared for the strange allure the baffling human scribe seems to hold over him. He proves every bit as clever and skilled as he claims, however, and Mobei Jun soon grows to trust him. Like so many things in life, good things never last long, and their tentative relationship gets thrown upside down after an ill-thought kiss sets off an ancient curse.

#svsss #moshang #shang qinghua #mobei jun #moshang big bang 2023 #moshang big bang #mebigbang23 #quilleth writes #help idk who i am anymore this is SO LONG?!!! how did i do that?!!#literally y'all this might be like the same length as my master's thesis.#it's definitely the longest thing i've written since i wrote that back in 2015 xD #AND i wrote smut?!!! the power of airplane compels me

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flusteredfools · 3 months

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Rough sketches of chibi FaeY/N (nicknamed Faeyn now) be upon ye! kept thinking about a lil bit of a role reversal with Faeful Hearts and so I might have to write a lil one-shot for the drabbles soon. If even just for myself. A Fa(e)te Reversal Au of an Au? XD

eventually I'll write up a lil short for each one and how they Meet Faeyn.

Lil sketches of Eclipse's Clover, Sunny's Blossom and Moon's Mouse.

#okay now back to writing the main series chapter #also did you know faeful hearts is like less than 1k words from 100k #I might cry #it's my longest fic i've ever written #and i'm so glad there's people who like it #faeful hearts au #fnaf dca #faeful hearts #faeful arts #faete reversal #y/n #y/n x dca #dca au

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jojosgaylittleadventure · 1 month

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This is the fourth fic in my Josuyaus series that takes place while they're still in high school You can find my series here I also have a master post of all my Josuyasu writing here

Summary: After a study session gone wrong, Josuke finds himself needing somewhere he can feel safe and at home and that some where turns out to be Okuyasu. Tags: Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, the following tags are not from/between the ship (just an fyi), Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, Side Character/Main Character Attempted Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Victim Blaming

#I LIIIIIVVVVVEEE!!!!!!!!#sorry for going missing for like 500 years and then coming at you with a heavy ass fic #this is one of the longest fics i've written so far and it took so long because i wanted to do it right #any of my regular readers please read the tags as this is a heavier fic that might cover topics that some people might find triggering #i know that's not my normal thing so i just wanted to give an extra warning so no one get's jump scared tho a lot of it is rather mild #in my opinion #anyways...#Jojo Part 4 #jjba Part 4 #Diamond is Unbreakable #Josuke Higashikata #Okuyasu Nijimura #Josuyasu #Sophia Writes #Part 4 #Josuke #Okuyasu #Tomoko #She's in there for a scene or two lol #Fic #i'm low-key nervous about posting this one because it feels like it really took a lot of me to write it >.>#it was emotionally taxing but i really wanted to write it

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madamemiz · 1 year

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Mayhaps I have a crumb of Ventura Highway content, I live for this AU

!!!!!!

kissing you on the forehead friend, have a crumb :3c

And like a summer storm, the dark look vanishes as soon as it appears, the moment broken.

“Right, right, right! Don’t worry your pretty little head about silly ol’ bears. I can take ‘em!” He dances away from you, breaking you out of your rather embarrassing stupor in the process, and makes a rather exaggerated show of ‘flexing’ his non-existent arm muscles.

The bit works as intended, dragging a surprised laugh out of you. You throw a hand over your forehead dramatically, chasing away the worst of your flush. “Ahh, my hero! Ready to slay the threat of an extinct creature! How exactly will you fell the terrible beast? Shall your tear it asunder for me, torn betwixt like a sheet of fragile paper in your powerful grasp?”

“Of course!” He replies without missing a beat, gleefully sincere.

You pause, staring blankly. The mental image of Sun tearing apart a bear with his bare hands for you is both comical and viscerally horrifying. Whether or not he actually could is another matter, but you completely believe he’d try if push came to shove.

Somewhere, in the back of your mind, you’re sure he’d succeed. You shudder.

#I've had several thousand words of this chapter done for months now but Things(tm) keep happening #it's curently the second longest chapter ive written and it's not even halfway done #might just slice it so i can get something out soon #i still think about this story constantly but free time is at a premium rn ;_#ventura highway #ask #ty for the ask though it's genuinely motivating ;w;

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aeriona · 1 year

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Wrote a random, dumb little scene for my Eldritch AU, set during the events of the manga, before the betrayal.

I'll eventually make more of these, and when I do I might put them all up on AO3? maybe? idk. anyways hope you enjoy my blatant self indulgence goodbye-

~~~~

Vio had returned to the Tower a bit later than he'd expected, the sun was well and truly gone from the sky. According to Vaati, there’d been a sighting of some Hyrulean soldiers wandering through the forest a little too close to the Tower’s entrance. Vio was smart enough to know it was probably an excuse to be rid of him for the day. He understood, the feeling was mutual.

He didn’t even find anyone out there anyway, thank Hylia. Vio shrugged his room’s door open with his shoulder and set down his belongings on the floor, stopping completely in his tracks as he processed what was in front of him.

A gigantic, ash-coloured creature was sprawled out on the bedroom floor, with a myriad of unnaturally-bent limbs and tendrils spread out across the carpet. After a brief moment of panic, Vio realised that he was indeed looking at his friend Shadow, and not a deadly eldritch monster.

No, this monster was nice and not at all deadly. Very fortunate for him indeed.

Shadow had two and a half pairs of arms folded under his head, a few exposed fangs gleaming in the dim moonlight. His breath came out in gentle, rhythmic huffs that reminded Vio a little bit of a dragon.

Vio wasn’t aware that Shadow could sleep, he’s never seen him do it before. Did he even need sleep? Curious, the violet hero quietly approached the sleeping monster with featherlight steps, careful as to not to wake him up. Vio realised with a huff of laughter that anyone else in his situation would have probably found the many-limbed, many-mouthed beast asleep on his bedroom floor horrifying, but Vio did not.

He found him fascinating. Very much so. Besides he was fond of Shadow, with his stupid jokes and that stupid grin and okay he's getting off-topic let's thinkofsomethingelse.

Vio didn’t want to pry too much, especially while Shadow was sleeping, but he was simply too curious not to pass up an opportunity to know a little bit more about his unusual friend. After ensuring that Shadow was truly asleep, Vio knelt and gingerly held a hand to the beast’s head, carefully avoiding his eyes. Surprisingly, he found the monster was utterly freezing to the touch. Did he not give off body heat? Maybe he was cold-blooded, like a lizard. Or, a less-interesting option, maybe he was just chilly. The windows had been left open, after all.

Upon further examination, Vio found that Shadow had smooth, ash-black skin that seemed to spike up in strange, fur-like tendrils along his spine. A particularly long patch crowned his head, resembling a tuft of hair not unlike the stupid, messy bangs he had in his more ‘Hylian’ form.

Vio leaned back on his heels, admiring Shadow as he slept for a long moment. When he was awake, Shadow typically wore this dumb, lopsided grin that crinkled up his features in a way the violet hero couldn’t accurately pinpoint with words at the current moment (nor did he want to, lest he sound like an idiot). It was odd, he thought, to see his friend with such a genuine, blissful expression. It was a rare sight, but an (admittedly) appreciated one.

Vio suddenly wondered if the room was too cold for Shadow, or if the beast was actively radiating a chill in his sleep with how bloody freezing the carpet was.

Or, maybe this wasn’t sleep, Vio’s mind couldn’t help but unhelpfully supply. He didn’t know too much about cold-blooded creatures, but what he did know stipulated that, if Shadow were one, the room was likely far too cold for him to possibly be comfortable in. And, even worse, ectotherms had a tendency to shut down if their body temperature reached low enough levels. Maybe Vio was being paranoid, he probably was. But it couldn’t hurt to be careful.

Vio quietly rose to his feet and hurried over to his bags that he had left by the door earlier, fishing around for their contents. Finding his desired item, he returned and sank down to be level with Shadow on the freezing floor. Carefully, he lifted one of his friend’s large, clawed hands and quickly slid the object beneath his arm so it was snug under his jaw. One of them, at least. He had a few at the moment.

The object Vio had given him was was a fire rod. The sanguine gemstone at its end gleamed with heat, already doing its job to warm Shadow up. Vio suppressed a chuckle as he eventually stirred, lazily manoeuvring the rod under his chest with a sleepy huff. Vio concluded it was cute. factually so, shut up.

#this is might be the longest thing i've ever written... I think i'm making good progress in writing longer scenes lmk i guess lol #my writing #four swords #four swords manga #fs eldritch au #vio link #shadow link #vidow #vio x shadow #fsa manga

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eskawrites · 3 months

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taking bets now for how long the lethal company au will be. my original thought was like 15-20k, but now it's shaping up to be. um. 40k maybe?

#i think i'm a third of the way through and i'm at about 13k words so uh. yeah.#idk it might be closer to 30k #i really don't know why i expected anything else tbh #i was talking to my roommate about word counts yesterday bc she's in the middle of a fic that was supposed to be like 30k #and is now getting close to 80k #and she's like 'this is the longest thing i've written in like a decade! wait how long was your cfdau?'#'160k'#'FUCK'#writing things #lethal company au

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solitaireships · 9 months

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How about 🍬 for whoever you feel like writing for?

~ heart-of-aspiration 📖

Emoji prompts: 🍬 - something sweet

So this one ended up taking longer than I thought it would because I ended up getting carried away. It's about something sweet in multiple meanings of the word- both literally with Bruce doing some baking and emotionally with some cute domestic things

Rating: G

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1380 words

Divider by straywords

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” Alex asks from where she perches on one of the wooden stools in Wayne Manor’s kitchen.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Bruce asks, closing the oven door.

“Bruce, you are the love of my life and incredibly talented at so many things. But cooking has never been your strong suit,” she points out.

There’s a reason that Alfred used to do most of the cooking. With him gone, Bruce and Alex have both stepped up to do more, and for once in her life Alex is pretty sure that she’s a better cook than someone. Bruce can handle the simple stuff just fine, but somehow even with a recipe his meals always seem just the slightest bit off. And that’s assuming he doesn’t end up accidentally burning or undercooking anything.

“It’s not cooking, it’s baking,” Bruce corrects.

“Right. Two completely different things that you surely won’t have similar problems with,” Alex says.

Bruce rolls his eyes. “I have this handled, love, this isn’t the first time I’ve made cookies. And when they’re good, you can tell me about how sorry you are for underestimating me.”

“Alright,” Alex relents.

If nothing else, watching Bruce mix the cookie dough has been fun. Alex always thinks that he’s handsome, but there’s something about how he looks with the sleeves of his button up shirt rolled up to his elbows. There’s a little bit of flour spattered against the black material of his shirt, an accident from him mixing the ingredients together a little too quickly.

It’s a good look for him. Maybe if these cookies come out well he should start baking more.

Though Alex still isn’t sure why Bruce decided to bake cookies today. He told her he was going to like it was something normal— like they’re a regular couple who does things like this.

It’s nice. But it’s also weird.

Alex knows that she’s not forgetting their anniversary or any other relationship milestones. It’s not anyone’s birthday. But there has to be a reason why Bruce is doing this. It's so peacefully mundane that it feels like there has to be some kind of meaning behind it.

The oven’s alarm rings before Alex can figure out why Bruce was in the mood to bake. He’s quick to retrieve them from the oven, and the smell of freshly baked cookies washes over them.

“Mmm. They smell good,” Alex comments, getting up from her seat.

“They should taste even better,” Bruce replies. “Once they cool down, you get first choice from them.”

Alex comes up behind Bruce, wrapping her arms around his middle. She kisses the side of his neck. “Thank you, bat.”

“You’re welcome.” Bruce leans back a little against her. “Are we going to stay like this until the cookies cool?”

“I think so. Unless you have any objections?”

“Hrn.”

Alex doesn’t need to see to know that Bruce is rolling his eyes. He pretends to be annoyed when she makes jokes around her being a defense attorney— though this one wasn’t intentional.

The cookies do look good from here at least. They're chocolate chip ones, and the chunks of semi-sweet chocolate dotted through them look like they’d melt in her mouth. Alex is tempted to reach past Bruce and grab one, but she knows to wait. She’s sure they’ll still warm in a couple of minutes, and there's no point in touching something too hot to handle right now.

What’s warm right now is Bruce in her arms. He always seems relaxed when Alex holds him like this. It’s nice to think that he finds her presence comforting, especially because she feels the same way about him.

“I think they’re ready,” Bruce says after a moment, turning his head so that his nose brushes against her temple. “Take your pick.”

Alex unlatches from behind him and grabs a cookie from the right side of the baking sheet. It’s warm to the touch, and she’s admittedly excited to try it. As much as she still doubts Bruce’s cooking skills, he seems convinced this will be good and she's inclined to trust him.

Alex takes a bite of the cookie, and Bruce’s attention is sharp on her.

She was right to trust him. This is a good cookie. The edges are a little crispy, but the middle is soft and the chocolate chips dotted through it melt in her mouth. It’s sweet but not overpoweringly so.

Bruce picks up a cookie of his own. “Do you like it?”

“It’s really good,” Alex says.

“I think you owe me a apology for doubting my baking skills earlier,” he teases.

“I was doubting your cooking skills. Like you said, those are two different things.”

Bruce takes a bite from his cookie, a wry expression on his face. He’s both cute and annoying when he knows he caught someone in something. “Ah, so you agree now?”

“You’re very lucky you’re pretty because you can be a pain to deal with sometimes,” Alex states.

“I know,” he replies. “But I think you’d like me no matter what.”

Alex would. It’s hard to imagine ever not adoring Bruce. And as she finishes her cookie and reaches over for another, she thinks that she’s lucky he loves her too.

“You know,” Bruce says after a moment, “I used to make these cookies with my mother.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he repeats. He nudges Alex’s arm with his elbow. “Which is why I was saying that I could handle baking these. Though I’ll admit that I’m out of practice.”

“Well, you did a very good job,” Alex compliments. "And I'm sorry about before."

“Thank you. But you don't need to apologize. You had reason to be cautious.”

They stand in silence for a couple seconds, Bruce reaching for another cookie.

“Is there any reason you decided to make them again now? Since it sounds like you haven’t made them in a while,” Alex says.

“Not really.” Bruce takes a bite, catching a couple of falling crumbs in his other hand. “I thought you’d enjoy them.”

“I do.”

Alex is pretty sure there’s more to it than that. But she doesn’t push. She knows Bruce well. Neither of them like talking about their feelings. It always feels awkward and too vulnerable. It’s easier to talk now— especially with the two of them having been married for years. But putting feelings into words is hard, and she isn’t going to force him to keep talking. That would only make him close off more.

So Alex waits. If he wants to say anything else he will.

Bruce doesn’t say anything else until he’s finished the cookie, going over to the sink to rinse any spare crumbs off of his hands. “Making these was something that we did as a family, even if my father didn’t usually help us make them. So I wanted to share this with you.”

For a moment, Alex isn’t sure how to respond. She’s never been good at emotional displays. That’s part of why she and Bruce work so well. They’re both awkward and have trouble with putting their feelings into words, but they can understand when the other is trying to show them they care in their own way.

But this is something special. She already knew that it was when Bruce said he made these with his mother, but this is even more than that.

They’ve been married for years now. Alex knows that Bruce loves her and that they’re a family. This, though, feels normal. Like something a family that wasn’t a pair of workaholic vigilantes would do. It’s soft, and it’s sweeter than the cookies themselves are.

“Thank you so much. I love you,” is all that Alex can think to say. She’s not sure that it’s enough to show just how important this is to her, but this should do the job well enough.

“I love you too,” Bruce says.

“Maybe next time we can make them together,” Alex suggests.

He gives a dry laugh in response. “You hate cooking with people.”

“It’s baking, remember?” She moves to give Bruce a quick kiss. The taste of chocolate lingers on his lips. “And if it’s a family tradition, I’m willing to give things a shot if you are.”

#my writing #asks #heart-of-aspiration #🦇 batrimony #♠️ alex #🦇#thanks for the ask!#i think this might be the longest thing i've written for here so far #safeship #selfship #selfship fic

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meownotgood · 1 year

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oh we're cooking. we're cooking alright. WE'RE GETTING THERE!!!!

don't have that much good stuff to share yet because it's really rough but here, have this.

#I knew once I got to the smut it would start flying off the page #the smut is very very rough though so lots of edits will be needed #I'm splitting my attention between adding more writing and editing what I already have #guys I... I feel like this... will be like 20k words before they've even fucked yet #I have a whole nother scene to add before they start going at it #and then I need to edit which will surely add a ton of words since what I have now is essentially no more than a rough outline #what.... what have I done #I set out to just write a bit and then it consistently turns into the longest thing I've ever written #WILL THIS FIC EVEN BE GOOD / ENTERTAINING ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY THE LONG WORD COUNT AND EXTENSIVE SMUT #I don't know...... nobody knows.....#I might write a bit more but I'm getting tired so it's bedtime soon yawn

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chaotic-goodsir · 7 months

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Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Stephanie Lauter/Peter Spankoffski | Hot Chocolate Boy Characters: Ted Spankoffski, Peter Spankoffski | Hot Chocolate Boy, Stephanie Lauter, Richie Lipschitz (mention), Ruth Fleming (mention), Pokey | Pokotho, Tinky | T'noy Karaxis Additional Tags: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, well not happy exactly, Canon-Typical Violence, somebody has got a gun tra la la la how fun, Strong Language, Excessive use of italics, Possession, eldritch horror, Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, its Hatchetfield after all, Musicals, npmd characters in the tgwdlm setting, Ted POV, Pete POV, OOC Pete but for obvious reasons Summary:

In another timeline, Ted joins Bill and Paul on their rescue mission to Hatchetfield High, and finds what used to be his little brother.

#the second chapter of my Hatchetverse fic is up #This might be the longest fic I've ever written?#it's kinda consumed my brain for the past few days #also one day I will learn to write paragraphs longer than five sentences #but it is not this day #Hatchetverse #starkid #npmd #tgwdlm #fic

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pauking5 · 2 months

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guys, guyssssss

over 15k on the new year new me sequel 😰

got three more scenes to edit and read it all again and it's yours this weekend. hope that won't be too much of a read. if it is, blame it on a certain green-haired man being everything ever.

ps. i did think of cutting stuff but i said yall deserve a little treat after all the waiting 😉

#new year new me #crying over roronoa zoro hours #roronoa zoro x reader #this might be the longest thing i've written for a two part

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timeskip · 2 years

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Zero Time Dilemma roles analysis (and other discussion of how ZTD is set up)

So I finished replaying ZTD the other day. And I have a lot of thoughts about it, like “why did it end up so bad when it had so much potential” and “god I wish the characters were written better.”

And you know, I like thinking about ways I could rewrite ZTD to be better. But as much as I think about it, I don’t think I could ever fully rewrite ZTD. I’m not sure any of the rewrites I’ve read (not that I’ve read many) has come close to my “ideal ZTD” but also, I don’t think “ideal ZTD” exists in any form. So instead of thinking about rewrites, I’ve started thinking about what role each character plays in the story.

This is so long and rambling. But I’m posting it anyways.

When it comes to 999 and VLR, every character plays a role which is clearly illustrated. 999 is easy, because every character has SOME connection to what happened 9 years ago, and that’s why they’re there in the first place. VLR is similar, because all of them were brought into the game for a reason, albeit some just being waved away as “well, it increases the resonance of the other espers” which works well enough that it shouldn’t pull you out of the story. But even outside of the in-universe explanations, every character plays an important part in getting across the story; ex: Tenmyouji being Junpei, and his distrust due to Akane’s death affecting how the AB game plays out, etc.

There’s a lot of different ways this manifests, but I think it’s particularly interesting to look at how ZTD doesn’t make the roles clear.

I mean, to some degree, they actually do. D Team’s role in the story is VERY clear, that being them creating Delta, whether you like that twist or hate it. I’m personally in the “hate it” camp, but hey, to each their own. It’s the other teams that mostly don’t quite fit, that feel out of place. You get the sense that it DIDN’T need to be these exact people, the way it was in 999 and VLR. I mean, if 999 had replaced Seven with someone else, the story would shift dramatically, and not in a good way. Even if D Team are essential to ZTD, and maybe C Team are essential to the continuation of Akane and Junpei’s story, but like, all the new characters? Their roles are vague and largely circumstantial. If I, say, switched Junpei with Aoi, would that be different? I don’t think it would change the course of the story that much, other than the specific character moments. Of course, ZTD isn’t all flaws, so each character does have a role to play, but it’s a lot less dramatic than the interconnected pieces that built up 999 and VLR.

First: what is ESSENTIAL to ZTD’s story (as set up by VLR)?

- There’s a mars mission test site in the Nevada desert, where Radical-6 escaped from.

- Diana is the one who let it escape, and she KNEW it would kill 6 billion people.

- Sigma and Phi came from the future. Akane set up this plan, and will come with them.

- Sigma and Diana have some kind of connection. Enough for Sigma to make Luna based on Diana.

- The one who released Radical-6 is Brother from Free the Soul, who believes in cleansing Earth, and will want to stop Sigma/Akane/Phi from stopping his plan in 2029.

- Sigma lost his eye and both his arms, somehow.

- None of them remember anything that happened, or at least they don’t know anything that can help their past selves when they go back in time.

That is a lot of interesting things. I might be missing a few details, but it definitely sets ZTD up in an interesting way, which obviously is why we wanted ZTD in the first place. This doesn’t really tell us much about how ZTD would end up, but it’s an important base on what the stakes are: our heroes (Sigma, Phi, Akane) want to stop Diana (who is a good person but let it out knowingly) and Delta (who is acting maliciously) from releasing Radical-6.

I don’t think ZTD goes against this central goal. That’s a good thing! Overall the structure of the story supports this, because Delta was always going to be Zero for ZTD. There’s no doubt in my mind that however they would’ve played it, Brother being Zero is the only way things could have gone, even if they decided to change Delta as a character completely. Even if Delta went by a different name, had different motives (as complex as they are), and lived a completely different life pre- Decision Game, he’d still end up being Brother. In that way, Delta is kind of a central pillar to ZTD as we know it. It’s HIS complex motives that shape the entire story, even if they’re difficult to understand.

Of course, ZTD shifts the point of view from our previous heroes (Sigma, Phi, Akane) to our new heroes (Carlos, Diana, Sean) which is interesting because a) Diana is previously established to be the one to release the pandemic and b) Sean is literally subordinate to Delta. But more importantly, shifting the choices to those three takes away some of the power of the other character’s decisions, even if they’re supposed to be actively trying to stop Delta’s plan.

Another thing that takes away decision making of every single character is the Decision Game itself, ironically. Because they’re all so isolated from each other, it makes everything feel disjointed. And because it’s all part of Delta’s game, his “life is unfair” shtick just ends up making them unable to interact with the other teams.

Think about why VLR’s AB game is interesting. It’s because of the ways the characters interact with each other, the ways they trust (or don’t trust) each other, and the ways that their choices in the AB game affect the game as a whole. It’s a way of building their individual characters through their relationships, always shifting. But ZTD is comparatively static. Even when we learn their backstories, they have little control of this, and them always forgetting makes it difficult to show everything connecting to each other.

And honestly, I’m going to blame VLR for this, because establishing that Akane and the others don’t remember anything of ZTD kind of made it impossible for the apocalypse timeline to have anything but the memory loss drugs as in ZTD, which is kind of sad, but sure, I understand why they chose to do this for the sake of VLR as a story.

Now for actual role discussion. I’m not going to mention every time a character is important, but just their overall part in the story, as well as their team.

C Team

C Team is interesting, because their main role is SHIFTing. Like, really. Their role is to go through the story, SHIFTing the whole time, and sometimes Carlos makes important decisions, but it’s mostly about Carlos learning how to SHIFT, and then using it to remember plot relevant information to (try to) save Akane and Junpei.

Carlos’s main plot role is as stated above. He’s learning how to SHIFT, and... that’s it. His stuff with Maria is background information that doesn’t affect the plot except for giving him a reason to be at Dcom. He may or may not feel out of place, but at least him being a strong SHIFTer is explained by his ability to sense the danger of being a firefighter. I won’t say it’s the cleanest integration, but it works overall even if he feels very unnecessary to Delta’s plan. Why is Carlos here? Why is he important to Delta, specifically? We don’t have an answer. All we see is Delta telling Carlos to choose the coin toss.

Akane, meanwhile, is important 100% because of VLR. Does Akane actually do anything plot important? Well, yes, but it’s all SHIFT related. She teaches Carlos to SHIFT, and she erases Junpei’s memories and starts her VLR plan, which... is all offscreen between ZTD and VLR. Which disappoints me, because she’s supposed to be a huge mastermind but she’s completely without any control in ZTD except for telling everyone that SHIFTing swaps you and could kill your alternate self. Oh, but she totally doesn’t care about that consequence. She’s used to build up that theme, but in a clumsy way. (I really want to like Akane ZTD but... compared to 999 and VLR I think her characterization is strange. That’s all. Plotwise, she’s good at being an explanatory vehicle.)

Junpei is the only part of the team that I’d argue is basically irrelevant to the overall plot. Since Carlos is the point of view guy, and Akane has things to explain and VLR to get to, Junpei only has his own personal story to attend to. I’m not saying he’s a bad character! Actually I think the opposite, if you’d believe me!! But he doesn’t have a lot to do other than give Akane the ring, which means a lot to me, a Junepei fan, but doesn’t mean a lot to. idk. Delta, maybe. Or any of the themes that ZTD is trying to build towards. The other role Junpei plays is that early on he plays an antagonistic role, as compared to Carlos and Akane, who don’t want to kill anyone. It’s not a useless role, but it feels weak compared to what he was in 999 and VLR.

Q Team

Q Team is the least popular team of the three. I don’t think that’s necessarily saying they’re unimportant to the plot of the game, but with Mira and Eric not being espers it kind of makes them feel a little bit unimportant compared to everything else, especially when you get to the end of the game and SHIFTing is the most important thing for all the characters to do. Also, you might notice I’m leaving Delta out of this, but don’t worry. I’ll get back to him later.

Sean has the most clear role of them all. He was created by Delta in order to facilitate the game, and I think this is a good thing! I legitimately like the reveal that he’s a robot, that he hasn’t been dying when we think he has and everything that comes with it. Is it underexplored? Maybe. But him being able to activate the force quit box, or being able to point out who Delta is, those are SUPER important aspects of the story, and him being there as an assistant to Delta makes sense both in universe and out of universe. His place in the story is completely justified. Nice.

Mira serves one main role: chaos. Delta took her into the game on purpose, and the game never really does anything with that other than a mention, but at least him choosing a serial killer makes sense for that goal. Her chaos comes into play in two key parts. One is that she kills Junpei, causing C Team to suspect each other. The other, and arguably more important role, is to inject Radical-6 into Phi, causing the entire apocalypse timeline. Other than that, Mira is just there to drive specific things that happen within ward Q, the most active participant in the early game. Many of the later Q Team segments have her dead, though, because Eric’s role relies on her being dead.

So speaking of Eric, that’s his entire purpose. He knows someone killed Mira, and he wants to get back at them. That is the only reason he’s here. I don’t think that having someone who’s so suspicious that he kills everyone is a bad thing, since it drives the plot, but it’s unfortunate that the only really important thing he does is that. Other than that, he gets killed by Mira a couple times, which does nothing for the overall plot of the game, and... well, what else does he do? SHIFT at the end, with everyone else? Eric is genuinely, really, very replaceable, as long as whoever takes his place has a reason to suspect everyone.

(Back to Mira: she’s very comparable to Dio. Dio is also an antagonist who causes shit, connected to Delta. I’m surprised ZTD doesn’t have more Free the Soul stuff, especially when we have someone working for Delta/Brother just like Dio did. Free the Soul ended up not being important to ZTD overall, but it’s interesting to see that Delta pulled the same stunt with someone entering a game in order to kill as many people as possible twice.

Also, because Delta is manipulating the Decision Game, we can assume that he chooses to kill Mira just because she’s not useful to him, or something similar. Her role being the one needed to inject Phi at least seems useful to Delta, but I’d argue that him being able to kill her whenever he wants is also kind of taking Mira’s choices away from her, even if her choices 9/10 times will be “let’s kill someone just for fun <3″ if that makes any sense. Delta controls the Decision Game entirely, and Q Team is the biggest part of that because 2/3 of them are directly following him.)

D Team

I’d argue that D Team is the central plot. Not only was Sigma the main character of VLR, but Phi and Diana were both important to the things that make up ZTD as established in VLR!!! And then we get to ZTD, and they CREATED DELTA and my god, the two big plots of ZTD are that Delta wants to release Radical-6 and that Delta wants to be born. And I GUESS that he wants to lead them to another timeline where they fight the fanatic, but for D Team, the main thing that matters is them creating everything Delta wants to come to pass. These three have huge roles to play when compared to the other teams (excluding Delta) because while Carlos shifts information around and Akane is somewhat related to VLR timeline, and Sean and Mira are connected to Delta, well. Those are just side things to the real story here.

Diana is the vehicle for the whole story, unless you count Delta. Diana is the mother who made it all happen, by breaking down in the twins ending and causing everything to happen. But also, she’s the one who decides that Phi’s life is more important than the lives of 6 billion people on Earth, condemning humanity to Radical-6 for Phi’s sake. Diana, I’d argue, feels like she has the most personal choice, not as heavily manipulated by Delta even if she does the things that Delta wants her to do. Her choices are what builds the story itself, and her love for Sigma and Phi is what drives the story. I’m not even saying that it’s a good thing for her to have so much control of the plot (I don’t really think it is, but that’s personal preference) but when you look at her letting Radical-6 out, it really is Diana’s choice and Diana’s choice alone.

Is her being left behind with Sigma in the twins ending also, at the same time, a way of taking away her agency? Maybe. But when it comes to Radical-6, that’s all Diana. Whereas Sigma and Phi are unable to do anything to even attempt to stop Delta’s plan (which, remember, is what their goal is supposed to be) Diana is the decision maker for D Team, and she chooses to let it happen.

But of course, Diana didn’t choose to be Delta’s mother. That’s not really something she could have known, this isn’t a path she chose. She’s also a victim of Delta’s “life is simply unfair” mentality, being put into a situation where she and Sigma are trapped, with Akane not coming back for them. It’s a game about decisions, and Diana’s decisions ARE important, but there’s still aspects that make it difficult to believe that choices are what led to this, especially when Delta and Delta’s choices in particular is so unexplored as compared to Diana’s choices and attempts to save people.

Sigma is also a major part of the story. I don’t think that’s up for debate, as Delta’s father. Even though he’s not making that choice, and his role is often relegated to reacting to what other characters do (Diana’s breakdown, Phi’s death, Delta killing Q Team with D Team’s bomb...) that’s not the worst thing the story could do to him. Overall, Sigma is just there to explain timelines and SHIFTing to Diana as well as, um. be a father I guess. But also he’s the one who chooses to use the transporter, so he’s got that going for him. Overall, he feels like a very different character than VLR Sigma, though I think this is understandable as it’s been 45 years since he was the Sigma we saw in VLR. Still, Sigma’s role is less about stopping Radical-6 and more about being there with Diana while the story happens.

And then we have Phi. Phi’s role, to put it bluntly, is to die and be tormented. The most important thing she ever does is to tell Diana to kill her and not shoot Sigma, even if it’s illogical! The second most important thing she does is get injected with Radical-6, becoming patient zero for a disease that she doesn’t want Diana to release! That’s not counting her being born, because her birth is arguably the most important event to the game’s plot, and yet because it wasn’t her choice, that’s more Diana and Sigma’s thing. I love the scene where Phi is trapped in the incinerator, but really, her role is just to be loved so that the story can start in the first place. We don’t even get her emotions on it.

And that’s the tragedy of ZTD. Phi is one of the most important characters, but her kicking Delta doesn’t even change anything. Even if we love the contributions she and all the other characters with only minor roles in the plot make, those choices don’t matter.

Life is, after all, simply unfair. Phi spends a lot of the game dead, and Akane spends a lot of the game passed out, and Carlos spends a lot of the game jumping timelines trying to find ways to save people who will never be saved. In a way, it perfectly fits ZTD’s themes, that Delta wants bad things to happen to people as long as it’s for the greater good (ie: his own birth, and the eventual death of a terrorist who would kill humans.) But he didn’t choose any of these characters in particular, except for D Team, and maybe Mira and Sean since they’re helping him.

Delta’s role is just to make the game happen. His motives don’t connect to the other characters, and no matter the Decision Game’s whole deal being about their decisions, their decisions never matter when Delta has mind hacking and ends up blaming it all on a single solitary snail, anyways. We don’t even learn anything about him as Brother, or why he knows about anything. We needed ZTD to have a complete story, but the story they give us leaves us with both a conclusive ending, and absolutely nothing that satisfies why all these characters are here. Even if it followed through on the things VLR set up, it only feels like an ending, not a full story.

And I’ll admit, I’m being a bit harsh. There’s a lot of interesting things in ZTD that I think are more important than the plot itself. But ZTD doesn’t tie itself together the way 999 and VLR do, and while I’m more than happy to explain that away as the writers not having enough time to develop the story in a good enough way, I also think it’s tragic that the story revolves around an event like Delta and Phi’s birth, something that has nothing to do with Phi as a character and very little to do with Delta, even if he set it up. There’s the bones of something good! Zero Escape as a series IS GOOD! But even if I’m always glad that it was created, even if I love some of the things it gave us, there’s still not enough here for me.

So. How is ZTD set up? Clumsily, for sure. I think it’s interesting to look at how the story has such an uneven focus, if nothing else. I think if they’d been able to work away at the story for longer, maybe the final product would be less clumsy. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking...

I still think there’s good things, though. C Team has a goal of including SHIFTing and multiple timelines in the story, continuing Akane and Junpei as characters and leading into VLR. Q Team has a goal of being part of Delta’s plan, making things go the way he wants. D Team has the burden of the story placed on them, but if it got spread out among the characters more I’m sure that the secret child twist wouldn’t sting so badly (even if a lot of people still wouldn’t like it, lmao). And even before we get to that, D Team has interesting character moments, and a lot going for them as characters.

Maybe what I’m saying is that I think that ZTD suffers from focusing on the plot and not the characters. I think it’s important in games like this to tie them together, and 999 and VLR did that AMAZINGLY well. Even connections that we didn’t know about at first and all the wild twists make sense in the end and are beloved by fans. ZTD could have had that too, maybe. Even if I don’t have a rewrite for you, and even though the “ideal ZTD” is nonexistant, I think picking apart the way ZTD works makes it easier for me to conceptualize what I like and don’t like about these games.

Thank you for reading something so long that I wrote for my personal enjoyment!

#ztd #zero escape #zero escape spoilers #long post #this might be one of the longest posts i've EVER written. uchikoshi what did you do to my brain #also no i didn't reread what i wrote. if it's incomprehensible i'm sorry

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