me rn if you even care (<- their head is so full of ttrpgs they feel like they are going to throw up)

Maybe someone can explain this to me but i don't really get the way the first season ended. Cal has spent the whole season hanging out with a vamp, chilling with a vamp, defending the humanity of a vamp... she thought her brother was dead and now he's not he's a vampire wouldn't she be the first person to be like hey at least he's not fucking dead?? Like we can work with this?? I get her family flipping their shit but its weird to me that Cal is like you've done something unforgivable and Juliette is like im so sorry instead of pointing out the obvious that... at least he's not dead?? Like I dont get why, at this point, her line in the sand is her brother being a vampire and why Juliette herself doesn't point out like hey he's a little funky now but at least your brother is still around? No se

Your honor, he’s beautiful. 

btw i still firmly believe that the person in the PLA Zorua found footage vid was Ingo.

Dropped in the Alabaster Icelands, and not a single character in PLA would’ve recognized a camera in a weird device, let alone know to vlog with it. And this person was punctual of the time and knowledgeable about pokemon and seemed to have no fear approaching them, nerded out over the Snorunt in a way no other PLA character would. They didn’t recognize the now-extinct variant of Zorua, and was attacked and well, gestures to Ingo’s fucked up coat and proximity to the Pearl clan settlement.

Not to mention the similarities in the voice acting to Ingo’s Masters voice

𝓼𝓪𝔂 𝓶𝔂 𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓮

Yandere! Linked Universe x Reader

Warnings: Dark themes, and I mean dark, suggestive, angst, more angst, kidnapping, mentions of death, dark religious themes

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

You'd lost track of how many days, weeks, months years have passed since you'd been contained in this hell. You'd lost track of who you last talked to. You'd lost all sense of what happened, and where everything went wrong.

One of the clearest memories you have is how it happened.

How it started it already began long before.

Just hours after defeating the shadow, you were making plans to leave. To go back home after almost three years. You knew the subject was touchy and created a tense air to the group, but it was unavoidable now. It was time to go.

You look back at the portal, blue and gold wisps illuminating the surrounding area. Why wasn't anybody reacting to it, if at all?

If they pretended it didn't exist, you wouldn't leave them.

Enough was enough. You've waited too long for this, worked too hard. You didn't belong here.

Picking up your pack, you look at the rift once more. The pulsating sensation beckoning you closer.

Leave. Go home. Leave them. Go now, before it's too late. Now now nownownow gonowgonowGONOwLEAVEBEFOREITISTOOLATE-

A hand wraps around your wrist, hot fire against your ice cold bones.

"Stay. Please."

Twilight looks defeated. On the brink of utter collapse, eyes on the brink of tears.

"If only there was another way, Twilight. If only. I'm sorry, it's time."

"I love you, darlin'. I love you so much. Please don't leave m-us. Not again. I can't- won't. Not again."

You weren't her. No, you weren't Midna. You wouldn't leavEhiMheRE

He was on his knees, eyes never wavering off of yours. He was praying. Praying a mantra to your entity. His goddess. His divinity.

You feel another set of hands on your hips, melding perfectly against your form. Prophetical puzzle pieces locking together.

Legend was already crying, salty tears wettening your tunic. His hands were coated with blood. Not his.

"Y/n I- please, Mousey. Please please. Not again. I can't do this without you. Let us come with you. We'll do anything."

His hands. His hands were on your face, sticky blood tarnishing your perfect face. A face that held eras. His and his brothers', embedded in your very soul.

"I'm sorry- I can't. You know I'd bring you with me if I could, but it's time. I don't belong here. You know I don't, you said it yourself oh so long ago."

"That was- I was different. So so much has happened, so much."

The earth started to shake, ramping up in mere seconds.

The rock started to crack, larger and larger chasms forming, decreasing your chances of getting out of here.

It was now or never.

You look back at them, mouthing 'I'm sorry', and run.

Run and don't look back.

Run before you change your mind again.

Run before you miss your chance. Forever.

Your fingers graze the golden light, a sensation unlike you've ever felt before.

A force knocks you out cold, the last thing you see is that damned golden light.

~

You woke up almost a week later, eyes barely being able to open from how long they've been shut.

You remember the blood-curling scream you let out, vocal cords tearing at your anguish.

You remember Wild and Hyrule running in, holding you in place to not harm yourself even more.

You remember sobbing for hours that night, all of them staring at you.

You remember how nauseous and mortified you were when Time bathed you, combing through your locks and looming over you, cooing at you like you were some lost lamb.

You remember how disappointed Wars looked when he found you with your locks strewn around you on the floor, hoping that you wouldn't be pretty anymore in their eyes if you messed yourself up. It made you more stunning.

You remember sitting in the corner of the room, curling in on yourself while you hummed a lullaby, trying to ignore the looming eyes of the chosen hero in the other corner of the room.

They don't let you out past the fence, past it leads into the forest.

You stopped talking to any of them months ago, vocal cords mostly damaged from your screams.

You feel slightly safer with Wind around, knowing they would stay away if he was with you, trusting him to be their eyes for when they weren't home. This wasn't his fault, he was only a kid. Not knowing any better because his brothers told him this was right.

You promised him and yourself that'd you would both get out someday. You both knew he could come and go as he pleased, but he morally couldn't. You reminded him of Aryll, though that personality had long been lost.

You were in your bed, drawing in a notebook that Wind had brought you. It was blue, engraved with small violet flowers. You picked up drawing a few months ago, the distraction keeping you slightly sane. You didn't know what you were drawing, but it felt nostalgic. Safe. Home.

The door opens, Time walking into the room and pulling a chair from the far corner to sit in front of you.

You choose to ignore him, focusing very hard on the drawing at hand.

"You haven't talked much lately, Flower."

You wince at the petname, the syllables off his tongue making you disgusted. He has no right calling you that.

He keeps looking at you, elbows on his knees as he examines you, like some art on a wall. You can look, but you can't touch.

"I miss your voice, baby. I miss you saying my name."

You stop drawing on the paper, but still not looking at him. You refuse.

He crawls up to you, on his hands and knees, praying to his goddess for forgiveness of his sins

"My moonlight... please. Please say my name. That's all I will ever ask of you."

You look at him, noticing how tired and destroyed he looks.

Serves him right.

You close your notebook, lacing it back up with the leather cord. Setting it aside, you look back at him.

You vocal cords scream as you open your mouth, so in pain from the strain.

With gravely words and no emotion to give, you rasp

"Rot in hell."

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Concept: The reader who gets thrown into Hisui can actually still use apps on their Arcphone, and have internet. But only somewhat. They actually can’t type anything. They can’t posts tweets, make any text posts, send any texts, nothing. However, they find a loophole. They can make and send videos, and take pictures. Then they get the idea to stream being in Hisui. It technically works! They don’t have to type anything, just go live and go from there! Bonus points if they were like, a popular streamer/youtuber, or even the Sinnoh Champion before being yeeted to Hisui.

Like, imagine if you’re a popular face in your country and just,,, disappeared for at least a whole week. Literally nothing to show what happened to you, or how you even left. No clothes packed, car still in the lot, all identification still on you table, and even your pokemon are still on the nightstand next to you bed, safe in their pokeballs! The only thing gone is your phone, but it must be broken or turned off, because the phone company and police can’t track it. Some people wonder if you had been kidnapped, or Arceus forbid, something worse. But the detectives can only scratch their head. The doors were still locked, and there were no signs of forced entry, or any at all for that fact. Not to mention the pokemon would have broke out of their pokeballs if they had sensed their owner’s distress. You were just.... Gone. Until a week later. Imagine a week later, people are beginning to lose hope about you, all trails having gone cold. Until later that evening. People get a notification about a streamer going live. It’s the person who disappeared. People rush to the stream to see what the hell is going on, and maybe get some answers. Maybe an explanation at best! Or at worst, someone hacking your account.... Everyone joins, only to see.... You...? You’re dressed in odd clothing, but it’s unmistakably you. You’re going off, talking about how you got dumped in ancient Sinnoh or something, and have been told by god itself to find all pokemon in said ancient Sinnoh. At first, people think you’re crazy, until they notice some familiar landmarks. And all the wild pokemon. Especially the GIANT wild pokemon. You claim Arceus won’t let you make text posts or regular tweets, and won’t let you receive normal messages, so you’re just,, stuck making streams and videos. You laugh how that’s arguably worse than typing anything else, but hey, you’re not a god. How are you supposed to know how one thinks? People are suspicious at first, but it becomes horrifyingly clear that you aren’t joking, and that you are somehow stuck in the past, still able to livestream and make videos. You jokingly talk about the people you meet, and your job for the day/week. You often stream yourself hunting down pokemon, and writing down stuff in your pokedex. If you still have access to the chat, you gladly answer any questions you get, and happily get all help in filling out the pokedex. If not, I’d think it’d be amusing if people could still talk through donations, the TTS voice talking out to you in the wild. Even funnier since you don’t even get the money being sent to you. “it’s not so bad!” You muse to the phone quietly, back striking a Pikachu with a pokeball, and catching it instantly. “I just wish that the people would stop acting like I’m gonna grow four extra arms and bite their heads off.” You tend to use the streams to vent a bit as well, seeing as they are the only sense of familiarity you have here in Hisui. So when people find out you apparently fell from a space and time rift in the sky, they are rightly horrified. With all of this going on, your situation gets international attention. People from across the globe are wondering what the hell is going on. Champions, professors, gym leaders, you name it. You have a lot of people now watching your streams. It’s gets even weirder when you open up stream on day, both giddy and almost gobsmacked. “Hey guys! So uh- okay.” You start off, almost scatterbrained. “So like, I have to go quell this one pokemon, Lord Electrode, I think? Whatever- ANYWAY you guys will not believe who I found.” You say, ignoring the questions about ‘Lord Electrode’. “Turns out, okay- like, I didn’t keep up with a lot of international news before ending up here, right? But I did hear about a few things. Anyway, this is important. Wasn’t there like, this subway guy that went missing a few years ago? Like, in Unova?” You managed to ask in your rambling. You get a few responses to your question, a lot of people bringing up said Subway Boss’s name. “Ingo? So it is Ingo? I knew it!” Your viewers ask what you were talking about. Why was this relevant? Though a few people already had a sinking feeling in their stomachs. “Okay so, like, I wake up this morning and just?? There’s a guy in a torn coat? Outside my house? Like, he looked like the subway guy, but there are a lot of people who look like people i met personally. I figure, ‘huh, this guy might be an ancestor, or whatever.’“ You ramble on, ignoring how the chat seemed to speed up as you continue talking. “Anyway, he tells me good morning, and says I’m needed at headquarters. I said thanks, and went on, and learned that the guy’s name was Ingo!” You ignored the chat blowing up, as you paced across your little room. “And like, I thought ‘huh, that sounds familiar! And he looks familiar!’ But didn’t really think about it until Irida mentioned he was an amnesiac? And is also not from Hisui? He apparently also fell from the sky or something. He’s not sure.” You said with a wave of your hand. You ignored the onslaught of text to speech messages for now, too caught up in your own explanation. “So then I got to thinking, ‘hey, didn’t a guy with that name go missing in Unova?’” You asked, spinning on your heel, facing the phone once more. “And THEN it hit me, I thought he looked damn near the same as the guy! Just like, a little beat up. His coat is like, super shredded, and his hat has some holes in it.” You said, briefly describing the man. “Guys, I know it sounds crazy, but I think the missing subway guy is the same guy who I’m supposed to meet with today. I think he got sent back like me, but somehow lost his memories!” You told the chat excitedly. Your phone was blowing up with the amount of messages you were receiving. You definitely had a back log. Grabbing the phone, you looked to the door, and sighed. “I gotta go guys. I have to meet Ingo soon, and it’s gonna take a while to walk there. I’ll see if I can get pictures or stream with him! Bye guys!” You wave to the phone, ignoring the messages desperately asking for more details. Shutting the stream off, you begin packing for your journey. Meanwhile, Emmet and Elesa are desperately trying to contact you after hoards of people sent them clips of you talking about Ingo. None of their messages go through. Some people tell them that apparently, Arceus itself won’t let you type messages, only stream and make videos and photos. Emmet begrudgingly waits for your next stream. Eager to see if it really is his missing brother, who’s apparently been thrown several centuries in the past.

I wanna chew on your Misplaced Super Train AU like it's got the texture of perfectly toasted potato bread. I wanna squeeze it like it's a triple-overstuffed squishmallow and wrap it around me like a silken weighted blanket.

This has got to be my single most favorite AU of yours so far, and I feel it with such intensity that all the All Caps and exclamation points in the world could not help me express it.

Feed

Me

More

Please

Like, does the group do anything about Volo, or does he manage to avoid them/avoid giving them Rancid Vibes? I feel like they would have a pretty good mix of people/pokemon able to pick up on individual little things that come together to make a Concerning Picture.

And how are the people (Emmet et. al.) back home doing? How do they feel? Because a whole group of people disappearing launches people straight into conspiracy theories rather than just ("just") the concern a single dissappearance would generate.

Would the group show up in history books? Would Ingo & Co know they were gonna disappear (a lá Stable Time Loop) or is it more like they don't show up in history until it happens (if at all)? (Time is weird.)

I think because of the fact that they just accidentally came through a space-time rift, Volo's operating under the assumption that they weren't sent to stop his plans or anything, so he just avoids them. As for the group, I think it would be super funny if they have like. An instinct for people who wield legendaries. Because they're so used to passengers trying to sneak them into the battle subway. They're BANNED for a reason.

So, like, they KNOW Volo's got legendary voodoo all over him but they don't particularly care? Not their passenger, not their problem.

As for the family back home, Emmet and the others aren't really handling this very well. Interpol gets involved immediately, but their lack of results is very discouraging. See, before this, there has been things disappearing throughout history that logically shouldn't just disappear! Things like a whole fridge or a washing machine, for example. But it's always been attributed to a thief who's got a really well-trained psychic type, or something like that. Nobody is going to connect these random disappearances to a whole ass train vanishing off the tracks, despite the fact that they're both connected to the space-time distortions. Up until this point, all previous disappearances were low-level and weren't given much investigation.

So there's really... no precedence on how to handle this. Not even "fallers" are as bizarre as this. Plus, there's no ultra wormhole energy, so that's ruled out fairly quickly. Interpol has got no leads. And the internet is getting wild with the conspiracy theories, much to the dismay of the family and friends of those who went missing.

Emmet breaks his phone against a wall when some tabloid claims it's a publicity stunt.

Anyways, no, I don't think Ingo or the depot agents had any clue they were going to disappear, but I DO think this is going to be a "stable time loop" scenario— while in the past, they're going to have the caution to not reveal much future info, and keep their identities generally a secret. Not to mention, in the future, the "secret third alien clan in Hisui" is considered a conspiracy theory, regardless of the evidence of their existence. It doesn't really reach the ears of the Unovan subway workers, outside of lesser-known memes. There's no photos of them, and the only person in their group who has much a reason to be interacting with anyone native to Hisui would be Ingo. And that's just because Lady Sneasler's taken quite the liking to him. There's the added plus that with Ingo's amnesia, he actually doesn't run much of a risk when it comes to revealing things, so they're not as worried about him interacting with the locals as they are of Big Mouth Cameron who told people they were FROM ANOTHER WORLD.

I also think, when they return, a lot of the proof of their existence is going to be taken with them... Which doesn't leave much for the historians to find.

When they come back, though? Oh, the historical community is going to have a field day with the goodies they brought back.

Aegon and Aemond having the same childhood friend who they both fall in love with headcanons

request/summary: Aegon and Aemond having the same childhood best friend and they both fall in love with them over the years? Would they share? Would they fight? (Goes w/o saying 💀) 

warnings/notes: this turned out kinda angsty whoops, Aegon in this is very close to his character in the show so he is not great, mentions of alcohol consumption, there is no blacks vs greens drama in this because I can only take so much angst 

Aegon and Aemond have a tempestuous dynamic with Aegon enjoying showing authority over Aemond in their youth and making fun of him while Aemond looks down on Aegon. To both of them, they thought they had little in common with one another. 

That was true until they both ended up having the same friend, you.

You were brought to court early in your life as your father had been chosen to be on the King’s small council. Being about the same age as Aegon and Aemond you ended up spending much time with them.

At first you were drawn to Aemond and began a friendship with him, thoroughly enjoying his company. But it was not soon after you had found yourself surprisingly enjoying Aegon’s company as well, though usually separate from his younger brother.

Aegon could be very difficult, which was putting it kindly. Many of the other children in the court found him crude and unprincely on his best of days. 

It was a great shock to you when you both began to spend time together that he began to be a little less crude. His sense of humor was unchanged but the Queen had noticed he was not as heavy in the drinks as of late. It took quite some time, by the time you had both starting coming of age and leaving your childhood, for the Queen to notice that Aegon was changed partly due to you.

In the beginning, when you were still children and made the decision to spend time with the Princes you were surprised with how irate they both were. Princes were not accustomed to sharing but as time went on they accepted it. 

As the years went by you became great friends with both the Princes, not quite having a preference between them and the princes even got along a little better when you were in their shared company.

Aegon was not so cruel to Aemond and Aemond did not even dislike his brother quite as much.

You would spend time with them playing outside in a wild way that was not proper of all of you, much to your mother’s dismay. Luckily the Queen seemed to not care, happy enough that her sons were not always on another anymore and even began to get a little bit more along. 

It was admittedly easier for you to understood Aemond while Aegon’s actions sometimes perplexed you. You had been with both Princes when Aegon shared that his mother betrothed him and his sister, Helaena. 

You did not see how bad it was, truly. Helaena was good natured and a sweet person, seeing no reason why he would be so perturbed by marrying her one day.

When you had asked him why this upset him so and Aemond had added if he was betrothed he would at least do his duty, Aegon had grown annoyed, saying that she was not who he would wish to marry.

You did not know what to make of it and you could not ask him as he had scoffed at you both and walked away.

Things were not always so tense but it seemed the more time went on the more tense Aegon made things. You could not know why but had no way of preventing it. He was kinder when alone with you but whenever his brother was near, he did no such thing, becoming harsher and more irritated.

As more time went on there began to be some rifts between you three, mostly on Aegon’s part. When Aemond’s eye had been taken when they were at Driftmark you had not been in attendance, staying in the Red Keep. 

Upon their return you were distraught as your friend Aemond had been changed in more ways than one. His eye was gone and he had a gruesome scar to prove it. What was most upsetting was how Aegon seemed to not care when they returned. 

It rubbed you the wrong way and you were cross with him. Letting out your own aggravations, you said he should have been at Aemond’s side and he was upset because to him, you always took Aemond’s side before his. 

That evening you had called him selfish in an outburst and left him in the room you stood in. Things had not been quite the same after that. You and Aegon had patched the hole in your friendship but subconsciously, you had sought out Aemond more. As a result, Aegon went back to old habits, going to his cup.

It was harder, though, as you got older. Aegon and Aemond turned into men and you were not child either, reaching your maidenhood.

No matter how often you would seek Aegon out he began pushing you away. At this time you were aware of his drinking habits and thought you could persuade him otherwise. You were not, however, aware of his treatment of female servants. 

You were not oblivious as a person but as time went on, you had failed to realize who the boy you befriended had become. The Queen nor his brother thought you had to know what Aegon was like these days without your presence. 

Your mention of how your father had begun to search for matches for yourself now that you had come of age only sent him fuming away from you. 

It had become exhausting and heartbreaking, trying to be around him knowing he usually acted so upset these days. When he married Helaena this only worsened. He seemed to evade you at all times and when you were at the same events you began to see how crude he became and could not bear to become close to him.

You decided you could not worry about him anymore. He was married to his good sister-wife, after all, and you had to worry about finding a husband your father would approve of. No matter how it hurt your heart, you could not help Aegon now.

No one could blame you, really, when you drew away from Aegon and spent most of your time with Aemond.

If the years had been cruel to Aegon, they had been good to Aemond despite his misfortune.

You had come to notice his intellect, his strength, and his care to those who was fond of the older you grew. Despite his loss of one eye, he was far more skilled than anyone else of his age by he had come of age.

You sought him out without intending to, much like when you were young  but it felt so much different now.

You had once spoke to him about Aegon, how you wished to help him but could not see how. 

“My brother is beyond help,” He had said with an expression full of contempt. “Your efforts are noble but pointless I am sorry to say.”

Even then, you could see that there was something about Aegon everyone would not say to you. It was a good thing, perhaps, because if you knew his true nature it might break your heart for the boy you remembered him as.

As time went on, you did not come to Aemond just to speak of Aegon. Eventually you just enjoyed each other’s company and the mention of his brother failed to come up. 

Afternoons were spent in a way different way. No longer did you run wild with both the brothers around and out of the castle, but you walked with Aemond’s arm in yours around the castle. You read together, he told you stories of histories he had learned, you strolled the gardens. 

It was a simple, comfortable presence you enjoyed with him.

You did not realize your father had stopped bringing you suitors for weeks. The first person you mentioned this to was Aemond one of the days you walked with him. You told him how odd it was that your father, so desperate for him to find you a good match, had stopped bringing suitors to you.

“Your father came to me,” Aemond only said, smiling and watching your expression carefully. “And I had offered myself as a match for you. He accepted, of course.”

You looked at him in surprise yet you were not surprised at all. “So we have been courting for weeks and you failed to tell me this,” You only smiled back at him, a teasing glint in your own eyes. This is not something that surprised you, in fact it was something the boy you had once known would have done, always hiding his plan until the last. 

Suddenly he was looking at you seriously, holding your hands in his. “We have been friends since we were children and I have always been fond of you. Everyone knew this but you, always looking after my brother instead. I could make you happy, you know.”

A tinge of regret hit you, wishing you had noticed Aemond’s silent devotion earlier on. “You have always brought me joy, Aemond. But I am glad to see you now as you are,” You said with great meaning, giving his hands a squeeze.

He only looked at you warmly, offering you his arm again, which you took. Continuing your walk you felt something lighter and maybe even more peaceful rise within you.

Days later you had attended a dinner with the King’s entire family. Even Princess Rhaenyra, her three children, Prince Daemon, and his two daughters were in attendance. 

After a long dinner you could not help but look at Aegon, seeing his state and wondering briefly if this was the same person you once knew. 

When you heard his comment to Rhaena, telling her she could bed him if her soon to be husband Jacaerys was insufficient, you felt a bit sick.

You could not bear looking at him now, instead looking at Aemond as he gave your hand a gentle squeeze.

Toasts were given, a family reunited and you had seen Aemond get up.

“A final toast,” He had said, a gracious expression on his face as he looked around the table. “Lady Y/N and I are betrothed to be married by Spring’s end. To my soon to be lady wife, who I hope to always be worthy of her love.”

Cheers and applause were heard and you felt a bit soft, not just at his actions but at how his parents acted to the news. “How wonderful,” you heard the King Viserys say to Queen Alicent. “A good match, my Queen. Theirs will be a good union.”

It was later where you were embraced by Aemond’s family that you had scarcely been acquainted with like his half-sister Princess Rhaenyra with her congratulations. It was only after that when Aemond was speaking with his nephews and you thought to speak to Helaena as you were soon to be sisters when Aegon stopped you, reeking of wine.

“You always did prefer him,” He said lowly. “I should have known.”

You turned to look at him, feeling disgusted. “You’re drunk, Aegon. You should think of what you are going to say.”

He was going to say more, you knew he was and you could feel Aemond looking at you across the room, so you did what you knew would prevent a fight as soon as Aegon said something foul, you turned from him quickly and went to Aemond’s side. 

His eyes said it all, asking silently if his brother had done something. You only took his arms in yours, smiling as you were glad to be in his company. “No, I would just like to retire for the evening. It has been an exciting night and I wish to rest is all.”

As Aemond led you out the room, you could feel Aegon’s eyes on your back but you did not look back. You could not look at him the same way. Nothing would be the same anymore but you were not children anymore. 

Now, you had Aemond, a good man and who you knew would be a good husband to you. There was no point looking back anymore.

One person liked the au comment so here it is:

Concept: people from the rift aren't uncommon. Jubilife and the clans frequently find them and bring them in. In fact, they even fall with all their memories in tact. They know who they are, how they came to be where they went, and where they came from. They know what they were dropped in Hisui to do. The problem is that after some time, some sooner and some later, their memories begin to fade. They remember who they are but they start to think they've always lived in Hisui. They came across with the rest of the jubilife residents, or they were accepted into the clan when they were young and grew up with them. All their memories of where they came warp to suit were they are now. Ingo is one of very few that still knows he is not where he needs to be due to Emmet- he knows there is someone that looks like him that is supposed to be with him, but he is not here. He keeps a hold of his coat and hat because they help remind him to remember something.

Rolling around in my head that, for some reason, Akari is the last to fall. They get a few people a month - one time twenty different people fell at the same time, as if Almighty Sinnoh was desperate that maybe many people would succeed where one couldn't - but their memories were the fastest to flee. They managed to get a lot done, but within the month they could barely recall where they came from.

Akari falls from the rift and after she does the color changes. She's there for a month- memories in tact, no new fallers. Two months- memories in tact, no new fallers. Everyone takes a breath, thinks maybe this is it. Maybe she's The One.

And the memory loss isn't something most people in jubilife bring up. It's depressing, because these people had homes and families and now they are lost in time and memory. Rei fumbles a couple times, mentions "before, when (name) was still helping" or "before (name) forgot." and Akari asks them about the things Rei mentioned but they don't remember. And that's weird but she doesn't think anything of it at first.

Except then things start getting fuzzy. It's after she takes care of Electrode, after she's met and befriended Ingo, after everyone thought she was in the clear. She starts forgetting things. Where she was going. Who she was supposed to meet. More than once Volo has found her and returned her to a campsite, because despite him wanting desperately to meet and defeat Arceus, to be noticed by the god, there is something uncanny and uncomfortable and frightening about people he knew and genuinely cared for forgetting themselves.

Akari struggles to hold on to her memory, lasting longer than the others, but it does fade. It falls to pieces. She stops leaving the village, helping care for the pokemon in the pastures. She doesn't understand why Rei and Laventon, who have always welcomed her so warmly and been so friendly since she first arrived and apprenticed with Marie, are suddenly so sad to see her. Why they don't discuss their research with her like they used to.

And Ingo arrives one day and Akari thinks he looks like a nice person, she may have to go and chat with him. Sure the frown is a little severe but something tells her he'd be comforting...

Except then he walks over to her, greets her, and asks why she hasn't been by for so long. And she's confused, because sure she has her Typhlosion (that she can't remember training) and a lot of the pokemon in the pasture are very affectionate towards her, but she's never been out of Jubilife village. It's scary out there! Wild pokemon are dangerous! (Even though her partner could easily one-shot many of them...)

And it's Ingo who realizes something is incredibly wrong. Because he remembers Akari, how excited she was to learn more about pokemon, how she loved getting rides from Sneasler and Wyrdeer over the highlands, how she delighted in making Melli feel bad for bullying her.

And Ingo realizes she's not the first to stop showing up in the highlands, he just wasn't as attached to anyone else. There are faces he recognizes in the village, faces of people who - at one point - were filling the Pokedex, were exploring the territory, were helping the nobles. Akari was not the first, he just wasn't close enough to any of the others to take notice that their disappearance from the Highlands wasn't retirement or injury, it was something worse.

And he excuses himself, heads back home, and stares at himself in the mirror, because something is off. Something has always been off but now he knows. now there is proof. And he tries to think about who he might be, why he knows something he is pretty certain he shouldn't. And decides the best vourse of action, to figure out what's going on, is to stop sitting around as a warden. He's going to calm the last noble. He's going to figure this out so whatever has happened will stop and people can go back home.

THOUGHTS

My thoughts are that I am insane right now!!!!!!!!

I was in a raid when this happened and then just like a few friends alerted us to come see the channel and we straight up did not believe them. TFS teaser THIS EARLY?? And then they also ofc said "Cayde is there" so we were convinced that they're messing with us.

But then we watched it and like, Cayde being there is the least of my concerns tbh. THE ENVIRONMENT???? It's the other side of the portal! It means we go through at some point in the next two seasons! This was expected of course, but I didn't think we would see anything about it until the actual campaign, definitely not this early. Like, seeing what it looks like on the other side is a huge teaser. I genuinely did not think we'll see a single glimpse before TFS, not even maybe during reveals and trailers later.

But Cayde being there is actually also important. He's not looking right! He has a weird glow on his eyes and other places, including the way Ace of Spades looks; some sort of weird gashes of light-ish tint, almost Taken in nature? But brighter. Kinda reminds me of the way time rifts look on Mars.

The fact that he has Ace in the first place is also suspect; we have Ace. Like, that was very much a huge plot. He can't have it back, not broken up like this, unless some truly WILD shit goes down in the next two seasons and YW like... dies or something. This, alongside the weird lights on him and the gun, seems to be indicating that he's not real. Like, he's obviously him and he is corporeal in some form and he speaks the same and knows who he is, but I think he's a memory that Ikora can access. (more under for length)

Which ties into the place they're at. Me and others have speculated before that what lies on the other side of the portal is the original garden from Unveiling, or some sort of a similar place outside of space and time. This can be neatly tied in with what we know about the Darkness and what has been the most important plot thread since Lightfall: Darkness is memory, emotions, psychic. It's history and time. I've spoken a lot about this recently. Lore has been focusing on it as well, most notably with Inspiral lore book from the raid that showed us two different ancient species that were capable of using the Darkness to access the collective consciousness and the memory of their civilisation, but this has also been brought up before, for example with the Psions who communicate in a psychic way and have an ancient religion that allowed them to contact their ancestors.

This is also heavily reiterated this season with Ahsa who has a similar power, as well as the Pyramid ships, the portal and the Veil who can all affect people's consciousness and give them access to their memories. One particular interesting bit is the ship from this season called Akashic Revelation. In it, we see the Titan, Joxer, making an attempt to pass through the portal. As he gets near, he goes through a massive whiplash of spacetime distortion and ends up having flashes of memories of his life before being a Guardian. The memories continue as he passes through, but we know what happens to him later. He is found outside, bent and broken, fused with his ship and dead. But the portal triggered a flash of memories of his past. Not only that, but the name of the ship is important as well: it refers to something called akashic records, an occult concept of there existing a compendium of everything that ever happened in the universe: all of past, present, future, all memories, events, emotions and people. Joxer seemingly accessed it as he touched and passed through the portal. This is absolutely a wild word to use here, given what we know of the Veil being the "mind and memory of the universe" and everything else I've mentioned.

What I'm trying to say is that the best way to tease about us gaining access to the source of the history of the universe is by showing Ikora speaking to a dead character who only exists as an imprint in the history of the universe. The potential here, if we're on the right track is huge. Not only is this super exciting on its own (a connection to everything that ever happened!), but it also brings the potential that other dead characters might also appear in some shape or form, to help us or tell us more.

It's also wild that this is a teaser. Meaning this is the least spoilery they could get and it's already so wild that it's making me lose my mind. I would definitely advise people not to expect Cayde (or other dead characters) to suddenly "come back" in the sense they expect them to. I don't think he or anyone else will be properly "alive." So in that sense, I don't think he's "back" the way people may think. He'll obviously have a presence in the story, and that makes sense if the story is focused on Ikora. Ikora has never truly recovered from his death and if there was a memory she would access (consciously or not), it would probably be his. She has already involuntarily accessed him as a nightmare.

But given how much we're focusing on the psychic aspects of the Darkness, including right now in this season which is pretty much all about the psychic bond between an ancient creature that has the power to show people visions of the past and the future and Sloane, a bond we have to strengthen to learn more about what's coming and what our enemy really is... The fact that the whole campaign and post-campaign and all lore and quests were focused on explaining the metaphysical properties of Darkness and its connection to the mind, the psychic, the consciousness, the emotions and the mind of the entire universe... Well. It's building up to something. And us being able to communicate with people long dead is not only useful, but might be necessary to understand how to defeat our enemy.

All of this is ofc purely wild speculation. It's way too early to say anything conclusive, outside of just trying to gauge which aspects of the lore Bungie wants us to pay attention to and which aspects of the lore are being focused on. The Veil and the memory of the universe seems to be this year's theme leading us into the Final Shape so for now, that's the direction to go into.

Full reveal will be on 22nd of August, which is the start of the next season. We'll definitely know more then, especially since Deep will be done and most of the new Ligthfall quest audio logs will likely be done too. Until then, I know people will go into wild directions and speculation, mostly because it's Cayde. In the same way that I advise people not to think that he'll suddenly be alive, I'd also ask people not to be too negative about what may happen because we literally don't know. Cayde's presence is not an indicator of either good or bad. I'd also like for people to focus more on the actual important background stuff rather than zero in on a single character, but I know that won't happen lmao.

In a way, I wish Cayde didn't overshadow the completely insane scene of Ikora sitting in a garden-like place on the other side of the portal that nobody has been able to go through before (and those that tried suffered violent deaths after being having visions of everything that ever happened). Because to me, that's the true teaser here. I can't wait to find out more and I'll definitely be looking at the upcoming lore from Deep in a different light. Things are building up and I hope people will pay attention to the background stuff that's been going on about the Veil, memory, history and consciousness.

TV Show - Dr. House | House M.D. IX

Over the weekend, I finished watching the fourth season, what a wild ride!

The team breaks up and only House remains. Of course, one could say that he also needs a team because he is the top diagnostician, but that would be short-sighted. Without the constant brainstorming and influences of the others, the diagnoses would never come together. Unless he's at Wilson's and has a brainstorm again. Still, he needs the team or a team to go down this path, a lesson House doesn't really need to learn, but it seems Foreman does. He briefly has a team and behaves like House, but it's a completely different dynamic.

What's really interesting, though, is that the old team never really goes away. While the new team is very different, because it's familiar, you still get to see the old faces here and there, namely Chase and Cameron. Foreman is always around anyway. It's a bit like changing your diet, where you're eating completely different foods but still occasionally have a cheat day, so your head, not just your body, is on board with the whole thing.

I especially like that they've thought about the nerds with the new team. Kutner often waves this flag by bringing in pop culture topics, asking about Star Wars stuff, or just being a bit childishly naive. I don't mean that derogatorily; in such a serious series, I think it's pretty good and necessary.

Since the production of the fourth season falls during the writers' strike of that time (2007-2008), we have a very short season with only 16 episodes. This gives us relatively little time to process everything that's happening. First, there's the selection process for the new team, then Wilson's new relationship with Amber, and before we know it, we're first in "House's head" and then in "Wilson's heart". The impactful double feature at the end of the fourth season really throws the world around House out of whack, not to mention Wilson's world. This is also where the rift between the two begins, which lasts until House's father's funeral. I particularly like the reconciliation between them, or rather House's welcome back to Wilson. First a prank, then a donut and a carton of milk; that's true friendship and yes, also a bromance, for sure.

As I write, I always pause the current episode I'm watching. Right now, I see that I've already reached the tenth episode of the fifth season. The episodes themselves, I don't want to say are standard, but they don't have major implications for the overall House world, except for dealing with Amber's death (important topic!!!).

However, two important new story arcs are starting. First, we meet Lucas, the private detective hired by House to shadow Wilson. We'll see more of him in a prominent role later, but it's still quiet around him for now. But an even bigger impact is Cuddy's increasingly strong desire to have a child, which has been around for a while but is becoming more concrete until the episode where she's almost there but then gets disappointed by the mother of the child she was going to adopt. Kudos to Lisa Edelstein, because the pain she experienced in that scene, or rather her role, came across very convincingly, and she manages to carry that pain subtly through several episodes. And yes, I noticed the kiss between her and House, don't worry. But I also count that as part of this pain.

But the moment that impressed me the most was at the end of the fourth season when House is sitting on the white bus with Amber (what an incredibly good metaphor). Perhaps this is indeed the only scene where we get to know a House who is happy, and not just a part, a small piece, or a fragment, but 100%. His words that he wants to stay there because he has no pain hit me to the core because I also suffer from chronic pain. I don't mean to say that they are as severe as House's, but they are there, and I can relate to that so well. This has nothing to do with suicide or anything like that, please don't get me wrong. It's just the desire for a certain form of normalcy. To wake up in the morning and have no pain, not to worry about whether you'll make it through the day or have to take a step back somehow. I felt incredibly understood in that scene, and I think that, in turn, is an important point of the series. Showing people that they are not alone with their problems, that they are seen, and giving them a pleasant form of representation so that other people also notice that they exist. Especially because in my case, except for a slight limp, you can't tell, just like with House, for example.

So much evidence that this series is incredibly good and that on so many levels. I don't watch many medical series anymore, except for the first season of The Good Doctor, but I can't remember much beyond the first scene with the little boy. And unfortunately, I feel like it's the same with many of these series because they just don't have the impact that House does. I don't want to badmouth the other series, absolutely not. They have their place, no question, but they just don't have the scope that House does; they're more for pure entertainment and have chosen medicine or a hospital as a setting.

Can you post fics where Andrew and Neil argue but make up in the end?

Enjoy this walk through andreil feels, anon. The previous asks mentioned lead to a bunch more asks and fics. -A

also see:

andreil arguing here

new andreil breakup/make-up here

fave break up and make up here

andreil or jerejean kiss & make-up here

miscommunication leading to near-breakups here

angst w/happy ending: miscommunication or pining here

andreil enemies to lovers 2 here

Andrew makes Neil cry here

Neil snaps ‘not nothing’ here

‘quicksand’ here

‘low quay, no pressure’ here

‘transience’ here

‘transmission’ here

‘Tumblr Headcanons - Andreil’ Ch 11 & 12 here

‘Neil worried that Andrew cheated’ here

‘Home for Christmas’ here

‘Wake Up to Your Sunset’ here (completed)

‘All I Wanted’ here

‘Some Kind of Disaster’ here

‘I’m Not Dead Yet’ here

‘Can Nobody Hear Me (I cannot breathe)’ here (completed)

‘nice to see your face again’ and ‘Dawn Won't End the Night’ (updated) here

‘please come back, save me from myself,’ ‘ghostin',’ and ‘I ran out of every reason’ here

‘but i don't think i can ever learn how to love just right’ here 

‘Shared Custody’ and ‘Shared Custody (The Blame the Cat Remix)’ here

if you really love nothing by seasy33 [Rated M, 39713 Words, Complete, 2022]

Andrew finds an interesting piece of paper. He's not quite sure how he feels about it.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: rape/noncon, tw: flashbacks, tw: alcohol 

Undefined Roommates Code by Helpisneeded [Rated E, 56760 Words, Incomplete, Updated Oct 2022]

Punching your roommate is not a very smart idea. Starting a friends with benefits relationship with said roommate is an even worse one. Setting up a string of rules to keep it purely physical and make sure you don’t catch feeling but catching them anyways is certainly the stupidest thing you could do in that situation. Luckily for Neil, he never claimed to be smart.

tw: explicit sexual content, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced suicidal tendencies

Regrowth by Mystrana [Rated E, 4836 Words, Complete, 2021]

It goes like this: Neil's giving therapy a chance. He's dealing with every emotion he's ever pushed down trying to leak back up. When he gets hurt during a game, Andrew gets upset and they get into an argument. And then Andrew apologizes. A fic in which Andrew and Neil work on healing together and cry and have the softest sex in the world.

tw: explicit sexual content

An intimate moment with someone you hate by krasmataz [Rated E, 7414 Words, Complete, 2023]

Neil and Andrew have their first fight after trying something new in the bedroom. Hope they figure it out before they destroy too much school property!

tw: implied/referenced self-harm, tw: blood, tw: implied/referenced suicidal tendencies

over/under by likearecord [Rated E, 9506 Words, Complete, 2023]

He’d thought Neil, with his smart mouth and his wild eyes, would be satisfied with what Andrew was offering. He guesses he’d thought Neil was used to living on scraps—and Andrew has never had anything meatier to give. He’d been wrong.

tw: explicit sexual content

Only Fools Fall. by Random2002 [Rated T, 19789 Words, Incomplete, Updated Feb 2023]

Neil tests how faithful his clients partners are. Roland is a client; he's worried about his boyfriend. It isn't long until Neil notices some serious rifts in the relationship he is meant to test.

tw: child abuse

Cold Cookies by Preludeno3 [Rated M, 11583 Words, Incomplete, Updated Jan 2023, Locked]

It starts off as an abstract, incomplete thought. Andrew’s on his knees on the rug in his Columbia bedroom, going to town on Neil’s dick. Or Andrew wants to try face fucking, trauma is a bitch and Neil is almost too understanding

tw: explicit sexual content, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

First fight by Olympyas [Not Rated, 3265 Words, Complete, 2023]

"There is no this, you are nothing and nothing doesn't exist." It hurt. A lot. Especially when you spent the whole day feeling like nothing. So he wanted to hurt Andrew in return. He wanted to get, even the slightest, reaction from him. "Well, at least you can't hurt 'nothing' like you destroy everything around you." —hurt him— "You'll still run away like the rabbit you are. Tell me, Nathaniel, why are you staying?" Neil hated this name in Adrew's mouth "For nothing. I shouldn't have stayed in the first place." And he left.

tw: panic attacks, tw: violence, tw: assault, tw: attempted rape/noncon

A Substitute For Please by cadkitten [Rated E, 1911 Words, Complete, 2018]

Please is a word built to make things easy and life has never been easy for either of them. Please is meant to smooth things over, but they're all rough edges. Please is a final ditch effort when hope is lost and, Neil, he knows there's still hope here.

tw: ptsd, tw: depression, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: alcohol

NB: find more about Nicky’s state of mind here

To Be Close With You Is To Be Close With Myself by jostenskeys [Rated E, 20359 Words, Complete, 2022]

Andrew has always been a protector at heart despite how often he bullies Neil for his martyr complex. The summer before Neil's second year, however, he begins to feel the impacts of his life finally crash down on him just as they were finally safe from harm. Andrew fights with himself and doesn't know how he can help. But he soon realises, in order for him to help Neil, he needs to help himself too. Or The Convincing-Neil-To-Get-Therapy Chronicles. Written by Andrew Minyard and edited by Betsy Dobson.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: rape/noncon, tw: self harm, tw: urge to self harm, tw: blood, tw: suicidal ideation, tw: nightmares, tw: panic attacks, tw: depression

Stay series by jaydreamz [Rated M/T, Collection with 2 complete works, Updated Nov 2021]

Part 1: Was Sorta Hopin' That You'd Stay [M, 25740 Words] Neil and Andrew have HATED each other since an incident in college. They really, really do. The Minyard-Josten rivalry is not a sham. But now Andrew's transferring to Neil's team and all hell is about to break loose.

tw: alcohol, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: explicit sexual content

Part 2: Before I Hated You [T, 5974 Words] Before the Minyard-Josten rivalry was on, there was something else entirely. *** Andrew and Neil's first meeting in college that ended up starting the feud between them.

Bittersweet by Mercey [Rated M, 8370 Words, Complete, AFTG Mixtape Exchange 2021]

‘Why would Neil want to be with someone who can’t even care for him the right way? Why would he want that life for himself? He’s not a runaway anymore, he’s not so desperate for affection that he’ll settle for my meagre offerings, and good for him. It’s better that way.’ Andrew's spiralling with graduation coming up, and beginning to question the very foundations upon which he and Neil are built.

tw: depression

Hold Each Other by exactly13percent_OLD (hymbeaux) [Collection Rated T/E, Complete, 2018]

Chapter 12: Stranger [T, 2854 Words] Sometimes, love comes easily. That's the problem.

I took a breath and took the knife by eeveepkmnfan [Rated M, 2271 Words, Complete, 2022]

Andrew and Neil argue. Or, Neil is still struggling through the aftereffects of being drugged. Andrew is forced to confront the consequences of that decision.

tw: transphobia, tw: implied/referenced sexual assault, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced involuntary drug use, tw: ptsd

Spring Cleaning with a Man on the Lam by SugarLime [Rated G, 2240 Words, Complete, 2019]

Neil glared at the wrapper Andrew had tossed on the floor next to his chair. He stalked over with a nasty frown and leveled a glare at Andrew. Andrew met his glare with an empty expression. “What?” He asked, following Neil’s gaze as it tuned to the discarded wrapper, “it’s a wrapper,” he said wisely. His gut did a small flip as he tried to figure out why his boyfriend was mad.

I Won't Be Home For The Rest Of The Night by CasTheButler [Not Rated, 1039 Words, Complete, 2017]

Neil and Andrew have a fight, Neil learns to let someone new in.

Stars and Moons by sonyathefairy [Rated G, 1111 Words, Complete, 2017]

Neil ponders about the stars and his fight with Andrew. Or in which they both realise that they can't live without the other anymore.

Where We Belong by conniptionns [Rated T, 1374 Words, Complete, 2017]

prompt: andrew and neil get into this huge fight while andrew is driving so he tells neil to get out the car and walk the rest of the way.

Still here by theresnothis [Rated T, 2779​​ Words, Complete, AFTG Summer Exchange 2022]

After a fight with Andrew, Neil ran off into the night (but he would go back). Andrew found him and of course with Neil’s luck a robbery would occur.

flashes of intimacy by mostly_maudlin [Rated T, Collection, Complete, 2023]

Chapter 3: conflict resolution [385 Words] Chapter 4: space [507 Words]

tw: mild self harm

Chapter 16: picking fights [554 Words]

tw: mild self harm

“I don’t want your pity, I want your absence.” by markonasurface (idwir) [Not Rated, 1627 Words, Complete, 2018]

After the freshmen find out about Neil and Andrew, a terrible practice leads to Neil saying things he shouldn’t.

tw: involuntary outing, tw: homophobia, tw: scars, tw: anxiety attack, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: victim shaming, tw: self harm

“So much for not getting involved.” by markonasurface (idwir) [Not Rated, 769 Words, Complete, 2020]

“I don’t want your pity, I want your absence.” pt 2

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa

“don’t call me that”-andreil prompt fill by @markonasurface [Tumblr, 2017]

Neil heard the door to the roof open and knew it was Andrew. Annoyance flooded his chest and he had the overwhelming urge to hit him. Instead he lit another cigarette and let Andrew pluck it from his fingers even though he hadn’t offered it to him.

Don't Leave

Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4 Vol 2

Pairing: Eddie Munson x gn!Reader

Word Count: 1,737

Warnings: Heavy angst, mentions of character death, heartbreak

Summary: You deal with the aftermath of Eddie's death

A/N: This one hurts a lot, my friends. I cried so much writing this, but I somehow had to write it just to deal with everything. Hope you'll like it.

Not proofread so I apologize for any typos

It's been weeks since the incident.

Weeks since you and your friends volunteered to help the victims of the earthquake. It was nice work, you were glad to be of service, lending a hand wherever you could, the occasional smile on people's faces enough to make you feel at ease

It also kept your mind off of Eddie.

Today, however, they gave you the day off, told you to get some rest since you've been helping out day and night.

Dustin watched you worriedly when you practically begged them to let you take the shift. He knew exactly why you were doing it, he understood, but he, too, knew that you should try and come to terms with the terrible events.

You couldn't even get yourself to go to the small funeral the kid held for him.

But no matter how much you tried to avoid it, you knew you'd eventually have to face reality, and with it, the loss of your best friend.

You didn't even get the chance to tell him how you really felt.

Walking the broken streets of Hawkins on your way home was devastating. Seeing the town in its destroyed state, the place you and Eddie grew up in together, every other corner a reminder of another memory you shared.

You kept your gaze to the sidewalk, only looking up when you were crossing the street, a van passing you before you did. But it was then that you suddenly stopped, turning your head to watch the vehicle dissappear behind the next intersection.

It looked like Eddie's van.

Eddie's van, which was probably still parked in the woods near Reefer Rick's. You stared at the empty street in front of you for a moment, thoughts running wild in your head. Would it really still be there? Or did it fall into the rift? But the earth cracked open towards the other direction. So it should be there.

But where you ready to face the imminent truth of Eddie's death?

"I didn't run away this time, right?"

His shaky voice echoed in your head. The very thing you tried so hard to keep off your mind, tried to cover its image, which had burned itself into your brain. Denial had set itself into you since the moment it happened, not letting you believe he wasn't there with you anymore. The pain of it was just too much. You feared accepting it. Feared your heart breaking. But if Eddie didn't run from his fear, then you shouldn't run away from yours either. That much you owed to him.

As soon as you arrived at home you grabbed the keys to your own car, getting in it and driving off to Lover's Lake, the only thought in your head being to collect all of Eddie's belongings before someone decided to throw them all away. Everything else was already gone, you couldn't risk losing anything else of his.

Once you arrived at the lakeside, you ran down the small pathway into the woods, the tire tracks from last time you were here long gone. But you still knew where he parked the van.

And there she was, hidden behind a bush in the shadow, a tree branch fallen on top of it having left a huge dent on the roof of it, probably due to the earthquake, but other than that the car was still in a pretty good condition.

You fumbled with your keys, trembling fingers trying to pick the spare key of the van Eddie gave you when he got the car. He would have never let anyone else drive it, his most priced possession, but he trusted you completely. You remember how he threw you the key, laughing at your confused expression.

God, you missed hearing his laugh.

When you finally found it, you took a deep breath before unlocking the door. The signature smell of weed and cigarettes that came from it already making your eyes swell with tears. Sighing shakily, you get in the car, everything in it making the memories come in immediately. It took everything in you to fight the urge to cry, blinking your eyes to keep the tears at bay.

You picked up a tape that layed on the floor, looking at its cover. It was Black Sabbath's latest album, the gift you gave him for his last birthday.

"Happy Birthday, freak!", you shouted from behind him, holding the wrapped gift right in front of his face. He jumped up a little in his chair, startled by you. The whole cafeteria turned to you, giving you dismissive looks before getting back to whatever they were doing.

"Is that for me?", he asked in surprise, looking at you dumbstruck. "Yeeees! Now open it!", you grinned, scooting Gareth away on the bench so that you could sit down next to your best friend. You waited in anticipation for his reaction while Eddie carefully tried to unwrap the giftpaper. "Just rip it off, will you!"

"Okay, okay, I just don't wanna destroy it, it looks so pretty," he replied, ripping it open now anyways.

When he realized what he was holding his mouth stayed open, staring at the thing in his hand.

"What is it?", Dustin chimed in, curious as to what the gift was.

"Am I really holding Seventh Star by Black Sabbath?", Eddie spoke in excitement, turning the tape so that the others could see it, too. His eyes, however, were fixed on you now, a wide smile on his lips, which made your heart flutter. You nodded, grinning from ear to ear at his reaction.

He immediately stood up, scooping you up in a hug from where you sat on the bench and twirled you around.

"You, Y/N, are an angel!", he exclaimed, putting you back down on the floor before engulfing you into yet another tight hug. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Your heart clenched at the memory, something heavy setting itself into your stomach. You put the tape and all the others laying around on the floor into your backpack, even checking the glovebox so none of them stayed behind. But once you put all the other tapes away, you found an envelope at the bottom of the compartment. You pulled it out, opening it to find a bunch of old polaroids.

Looking through them, you realized they were the pictures from last summer, when you both went on a roadtrip together. Polaroids from street signs, different cities, rock bands that played live in the bars you went to. But most of them were of you both. Eddie driving the van. You sitting in a diner booth with a milkshake, shaky pics of you together pulling silly faces.

The tears ran down your face now as you went through the polaroids, your breath hitching shortly when you stumbled across a picture you haven't seen before.

You and Eddie sat next to each other, an order of fries and burgers in front of you on a table. You had a huge smile on your face, eyes scrunched closed, while Eddie kissed your cheek, his arm around your shoulder. You remember the waitress taking the picture, but you don't remember ever seeing it.

And now that you did, you started sobbing.

You were happy then, Eddie was too. You just arrived back in Hawkins after your trip, both glad that you were able to spend the summer together in such a memorable way. And even though summer break was about to end and fall was gonna come, you were the most happy you ever had been. Excited for what was to come next, knowing that whatever happened, Eddie and you would stick together.

You both promised that day you would never leave each other.

It all feels like a fever dream now.

With burning cheeks and hiccups you turned to the back of the van, climbing over the seat and laying down on the old blankets that he had put there, the small effort of making something comfortable to lay on the last time you both were watching the stars at Lover's Lake.

They still smelled like him.

You pulled the blankets up to your nose, inhaling his scent, the lingering notes of tobacco and leather, and something that was entirely his own. You tried to muffle your sobs, your body shaking from it. You held the polaroid tightly against your chest, hoping somehow it would ease the pain of your aching heart.

"You see that bright one up there?", he pointed his fingers towards a star. You shifted closer to him, laying your head on his chest so that you could see it.

"Yeah, what about it?"

He was silent for a minute then. You waited patiently, turning your head towards him when nothing came. He was already looking at you, a little smile on his lips. It seemed like he was gonna say something, but then brushed it off and instead said:"I just think it looks really pretty."

Slowly you pulled the blanket back down, pulling out the polaroid from beneath it to take another look at it. You really wished you could go back to that time.

When you turned it, you saw his scribbly handwriting on the back.

I love you. I wish I could tell you.

It all came at once then.

The ache in your chest became unbearable, tears blinding your vision, the note becoming nothing but blurry lines. Raw sobs leaving your throat, eyes getting puffy and cheeks burning. It hurt. It hurt too much. The realness of everything suffocating you, its pain tearing you in half.

He was gone. He was gone and you couldn't bring him back. He was never able to clear his name, wasn't able to finally graduate. He could never make his dreams come true, could never leave this shit town that never cared about him. He couldn't plan another campaign for Hellfire, couldn't hug his uncle, couldn't fool around with Dustin, couldn't watch the stars with you anymore. He couldn't tell you he loved you.

He was gone and you were here.

You were here, and wouldn't be able to ever hold him again, wouldn't be able to hear him playing guitar again, wouldn't be able to braid his hair again.

He left you here, and took your heart with him.

"Promise me. Promise me you'll never leave me."

"I won't leave. I promise."

I so desperately want a massive political history of The Earth Kingdom. If I could have any other thing from the world of ATLA/LOK — book, show, comic, game — it would be that. Bc I am so interested in it.

🚨 Spoilers for every thing — Yangchen and Kyoshi books, ATLA, LOK, Comics, etc. 🚨

The earliest we hear about an actual Earth Kingdom and Earth Royal family is in F.C. Yee’s Yangchen books. At this point, the Earth Kingdom has just gone through a civil war, wherein the White Lotus manipulated the Water Tribes and Fire Nation to sponsor a challenger to the throne, which is wild. The challenger was defeated and the Earth Kingdom entered a period of intense isolationism. There are a handful of port cities where foreign trade is allowed, with incredibly powerful governors who actively manipulate the system to build their wealth at the expense of the citizens. The Earth King is paranoid af, to the point that he is donning disguises and sneaking around to catch plots against him. And some of these governors are actively plotting against him and inventing new weapons of mass destruction (combustion benders) in order to usurp him.

The next we see of the Earth Kingdom is in the Kyoshi novels were it’s a devolved mess of warlordism. Various daofei groups had taken over parts of the inner provinces and the Earth Monarch was incredibly weak. There’s also the whole Wars of Secrets and Daggers scramble for the throne, which is only mentioned.

According to the Wiki, in the online comic Escape from the Spirit World, Kyoshi pressured the ineffective 46th Earth King to adopt a constitutional monarchy in order to prevent further oppression. This occurred in the aftermath of a peasant revolt that occurred after the death of Chin the Conquerer.

Avatar Legends then gives us a King Jialun, who reversed many of the progressive changes of this constitution and murdered the sages who agreed with Kyoshi in “The Night of the Silenced Sages.” The government was recorrupted, but no other successor had the same power as Jialun. So the Earth Kingdom monarchy was corrupt but weak.

Then we next see the Earth Kingdom with King Kuei (the 52nd Earth King). According to the old website, he ascended to the throne at the age of 4, which is why Long Feng — who served as regent — was able to essentially takeover.

But based on what we see in the show, the Earth Kingdom has completely splintered. The Earth King only has power in Ba Sing Se, and that power is only ceremonial. He is unaware of the 100 year war and completely inept to rule. Then it’s Azula and the fire nation takeover.

In the comics that come between ATLA and LOK, King Kuei, without the influence of Long Feng, takes an active role in the governance of the Kingdom. He is willing to go to war over the colonies in “The Rift,” but is also willing to be shown wrong. He was instrumental in the peace after the war and fully restored the monarchy as the full power of the Earth Kingdom government.

Then we get to LOK. Hou Ting is a fairly powerful, incredibly corrupt monarch. She tried to exert more control over the people, especially the outer provinces. She’s then killed by Zaheer. The power vacuum is ultimately filled by Kuvira, a non-dynastic dictator who rules by force and sponsors brain washing and the forced removal of Fire and Water nation descendants. The next dynastic ruler is Wu (whom Kuvira had usurped). He is Hou Ting’s great-nephew, and at least third in line from her. He is the only surviving member of the dynasty and seems unprepared to rule at his coronation, after three years of living in Republic City.

After the whole Kuvira thing is taken care of (Book 4 of LOK), Wu then decides to abdicate and democratize the Earth Kingdom. The post-canon comics (Ruins of Empire) show the struggles and setbacks of this, but ultimately reaffirm this path.

And I am so obsessed with this whole history. There are, according to the Wiki, at least 2 dynasties, the Hao and the Hou Ting. It resembles Chinese history, but doesn’t just follow it. There’s dynastic decline and really interesting incidents that I wish were more fully fleshed out. Not to mention as the centralized monarchy weakens, you see the rise of local powers, like the King of Omashu. I just find the whole thing so fascinating and I wish I had a comprehensive book.

I had a tought, when Akari come home, would they be interviewed about the pokedex to know if what fact where real or just myth?

Could be funny if people goes "why did you wrote that Spiritomb were composed of spirits? You could have chosen better idea, or even wrote their true nature?"

And she goes "But that's the truth :/????"

Cue Cynthia watching her Spiritomb in diesbelief.

Anyways, love what you're doing ;)

Thank youuu! Guys i promise I'm still working on this behind the scenes, I just really wanted to finish my ogerpon head so I was focusing on that.

As for interviews, I know I said previously that Akari would be uncomfortable with Cynthia upon getting back initially (because Volo) but once everyone is reintroduced and the drama of omg Kieran is alive has passed, Cythia would actually reach out with questions to both Akari and Ingo. I think Akari would go back to Sinnoh for a bit with Carmine (because she is sticking to that kid like glue) as a request from Cynthia to help clear up some misunderstandings on the pokedex and gain clarity on certain misconceptions they had about that time period.

The Spiritomb question would be hilarious because in SV they're just sort of...there lurking in ruins. So hearing " no yeah they're an amalgamation of 100 malevolent human souls" or whatever is insane, on the level of Phantump is the soul of a child who got lost and died in the woods. There has to be some sort of ethics behind how the greater public handles and treats pokemon who were supposedly once human.

Akari calls their Spiritomb Vessa for obvious reasons but like, do all the spirits merge into one being or is it just a mishmash of the souls of the damned screaming in eternal anguish? Spiritomb as a concept is terrifying.

But Akari would definitely be able to answer questions they have about the pokemon of the region and their more natural habitats before numerous settlements displaced them. Like there's some Hisuian pokemon present in the Terrarium in the DLC, so there has to be some sort of preservation or breeding initiative in place for extinct variants. Akari would know exactly where they lived, what they ate etc and have actual notes on it, so the chances of them finding preserved remains of these pokemon have significantly gone up.

Not to mention the variants they'd have brought back, along with Ingo. Alpha pokemon in particular were considered a bit of a myth so having literal alpha pokemon present confirming yes these things used to get this big in the wild would open a whole new area of study because HOW. And then there's the evolution of modern pokemon battling from battling wild pokemon and trying not to die, that's a whole thing to get used to again. Im sure there's regulations for a reason, stay behind the line for the trainer's own safety but in a controlled enviornment like what Ingo fostered with his path of solitude, it would be neat to see a different branch of competative battling being fostered similar to how HEMA differs from modern fencing.

But having access to one of the people who helped make the original pokedex would be such an exciting experience for that corner of academia because seriously, "how was porygon present in Hisui" "oh yea it came in a space time rift and i found these cable things during those too and thats how i could evolve haunter" would be WILD.

(Chatting)

I know a lot of people love the Self-Aware Au.

But I can’t help imagining the Hisui residents being in another universe that playing PLA gives us access to. They are unable to see us but can feel us looking over the MC’s shoulder.

=================================

Most of them brushed it off during the first few days. There were enough things to worry about before Ward (and wasn’t that just the oddest name for a young girl) fell from the Rift... Until they started noticing something following the sky-faller. It seemed to have some control over the girl if all the inhuman feats she pulled off were any indication. Not to mention everyone could feel it looking at them from behind her.

The first few signs were hard to miss. Ward was able to stay up for several days and nights going on surveys. Except she started sleeping through entire days, getting up at specific times, went out to catch, and repeat. Her throw accuracy topped even that of Captain Cyllene, though according to the Professor she would occasionally break a ball on a tree. Secondly—Ward never seemed to get dirty despite being in the wilds for so long. How ironic dirtiness would be more normal than her spotless ness.

Pokemon caught by the corps member would rarely if not ever misbehave. She tamed them in some unseen ways but even too-powerful ones who ignored her commands never grew hostile. They were too frightened to tell her off for sending out Pokemon inside Jubilife Village.

(Marie seemed to be affected when she didn’t mind how peculiar the Pokemon were. How did a wooden fence stop them from rampaging???)

It could also predict what their requests were going to be. Ward spent many weeks religiously catching Buizel before taking Dorian’s request. His new Buizel was the exact size he had been looking for to aid his original one. Beauregard got three new Wurmples with the being saying something about Beautifly being impossible to get with one. And wasn’t that a shock! The non-human thing would make rare comments on issues—it seemed to have selective hearing...

A rather startling surprise came when it left Ward standing in place. She didn’t talk but they heard her hum, saw her fidget, even stretch.

Never did the being get truly mad. Frustrated over losing the chance to catch a rare Pokemon was the closest. But a poor Agriculture corps man was left shaking after Ward listened to him talk about his Cherrim request. Kichi described the absolute hate directed at him for half hour from it. First, he felt its gaze focus on him more intently than a casual glance over. Then he could feel the thing glaring at him and its voice complained so much about how stupid Cherrim was! He just wanted to see the complete entry!

It got mad enough to leave Ward stuck for a few minutes in front of Kichi. So. The entity didn’t like all Pokemon as its dedication to the Pokedex project indicated...............

========

Otherwise, us playing through Day and Night cycles. Sleeping at camp. Getting through requests as quickly as possible. And hearing about the dreaded Cherrim quest yet not knowing who exactly gave it to us.

I might write more of this. What do you think?

These ideas are very interesting, building off of that last ask 👀

Idk, just the idea of characters being wary of a ‘vessel’ is pretty neat.

To everyone, it’s just weird. No one really knows how to react to the hero, seeing as they are just… only somewhat there? Just a puppet to whoever is really in control. It makes conversations… tense.

And seeing everything they do… being able to sleep like a rock without moving a muscle, as much as needed, at any time. It has people on edge. Especially since despite how the hero may sleep in the weirdest places at the weirdest times, pokemon don’t attack the camp.

Sometimes the hero will just stare in the fields at nothing, standing there for hours. Sometimes even days.

If you watch them long enough, you start to notice how often they repeat thing. The same exact stretch, the same exact look around, the exact same hum.

It’s unnerving.

Sometimes the people think it’s better if they leave the hero alone…

Best not to poke the beast behind the hero. The one they cannot see.