#sorry i forgot a readmore at first!!

[findafight]

Hope you're okay with my stray starbara thoughts bc oh my god you've given me brainworms like no other!!!

They're getting serious and telling each other things that they've never told anyone else before. Barb tells Steve that she worries that Nancy is outgrowing her and their friendship is slowly dissolving. She felt it before but it's worse now after the Upside Down and Nancy is charging her way through the journalism world. And she doesn't know what to do. Steve tells her that he does all these things to impress his father but he's not sure if he likes the man he's becoming. Especially since sometimes he's not sure if his dad even loves him. He sure as shit doesn't love his mother what with all the cheating his dad does. He talks about how lonely he gets in that big empty house by himself and she talks about the stares she gets now that she's Poor Barbara Holland who got sick from a gas leak and got lost in the woods.

Steve invites Barb around to use the pool. He talks about how the water will be good for her physical therapy - and while he's not technically wrong it slowly dissolves into them goofing off, splashing each other, and kissing in the pool loungers. She doesn't feel as self conscious with Steve there with her being supportive the whole time.

The first time he lends her his letterman jacket she rolls her eyes at what a fucking move that was Harrington, oh my god. But she blushes and wears the jacket and Steve smiles and looks so happy and smiley he's practically dizzy with it.

He tells her his hair care secrets and she promises not to tell anyone. Barb lets him do her hair for her one time and it comes out so soft and looks so good and she really likes the feeling of his nails gently scratching against her scalp. She knits him a scarf , and it comes out a little wonky with a couple of missed stitches, and all she can see are the imperfections, but Steve loves it and wears it all winter.

He gets his summer job working at Scoops and he hates his dad for forcing him into it but Robin seems cool - if a bit standoffish to him at the moment. The first time Barb comes by to visit while he's on the clock he pulls out the "set sail on an ocean of flavour with me" speech and it's so lame and so dorky but Barb leans over the counter to kiss him on the cheek when he gets her a free cone.

She gets nightmares of the Upside Down still - though they're not as frequent anymore - and they're horrible but if Steve's there he'll hold her close so she can feel his warmth, and his heartbeat, and he'll run his hand along her back until she feels safe again. She returns the favour after the mall burns down and he dreams of being tortured. Of almost dying. Of being drugged and out of control of himself while others were in danger. She holds him this time and reminds him that he's not alone, and he's safe.

idk they're in love!!

I am not only fine with it, I encourage it!!! Send me so many Starbara thoughts! Brainworms forever!!

yes yes them slowly opening up to each other, being soft together!! How Steve doesn't know what he wants from the future, how Barb feels Nancy pulling away (even though it's Barb who got the shiny, new, popular boyfriend) and how she feels she did the same thing to Robin, way back when. How Barb's parents mean well but they're suffocating in their over-protectiveness and she can't even properly talk to them about what she went through. How Steve doesn't want to become his Father, and how especially doesn't want to become his mother, how he thinks he might not be doomed to it when he's with Barb.

She tells him about the Upside Down, how cold and dark it was and how scared she had been. About the nightmares where it feels like she'll never be warm or able to breathe easily again. How sometimes she can't sleep until she's called the Byers and made sure Will is alright and how sometimes she gets a call from him in the middle of the night doing the same. She tells Steve that some days, he's the only thing about her life that she feels she chose. When her parents were pleased she wasn't distracted by boys, she chose Steve; when Nancy was a bit surprised(though encouraging) at how excited Barb was for the party, she chose Steve; after everything, when the world had tipped right-side up but she was surrounded by doctors and government agents and confusion, Barb chose Steve; how she wants to keep choosing him. (Steve holds her tight, right then. Kisses her forehead as she buries her face in his neck and tells her that he's here, she's safe, it's over. Doesn't tell her quite yet that he's pretty sure she's the first person to choose to love him.)

They float in his pool, no bad memories in it, no last-seen pictures of a girl dangling her legs over the side. Just them, chatting and splashing and laughing and kissing. Feeling like the teenagers they're supposed to be. When he first suggested it she joked that he's just making excuses to see her in her swim suit, and it's a bit self deprecating, because why would he? but Steve just smirked, shrugged, obviously dragged his eyes up and down her body, and said "it worked, didn't it?"

They get looks when he pulls Cliche Boyfriend Stunts and how openly gone on her he is. @jestyzestyn on the first post pointed out that beauty standards and 80's tropes played into the original Nacy-Barb-Steve dynamic. So not only is she Poor Barbara Holland, she's also a not conventionally Pretty Girl going out with thee most desirable boy at school. There's whispers that Steve feels sorry for her--guilty, after she went missing from his house. Once, someone asked why he was with the girl who got poisoned by the gas leak, and he gave them such a scathing look that no one asked again. (the answer is, of course, that he loves her. She makes him feel safe, and loved, and that there's more to life than their dinky hometown.)

She teases that maybe since she has his junior varsity jacket, she'll have to make him a sweater one of these days. (And she knows about the Curse, how making a boyfriend a sweater will inevitably lead to a breakup. but what is the time and effort of knitting a sweater to finding out monsters exist and fighting one, on the off chance it'll help save her? probably even, she thinks.) He says she better make sure it matches his scarf.

Okay lighter side, Steve lifeguarded the summer of '84, and this is prime time for girlfriend to ogling him. But it is also prime people-who-are-not-your-gf-ogling-you-time. Barb is like Steve. those girls were flirting with you. If they wanted an actual pool noodle they would have gone to the office the first time you told them to. and he does his confused puppy head tilt going "why would they do that? everybody knows I'm dating you?" and she doesn't know if she needs to explain the concept of trying to steal someone's man and also that he's hot to him or not. She's like babe.....ok. (there was some jealousy at first but tbh after a guy has told you he loves you and told you how much his parents infidelity bothers him and also literally fought a monster to save you [she isn't letting that one go. nancy makes sense. Nancy is her best friend and is like a dog with a bone for mysteries. Jonathan also makes sense. His brother was missing too. She had been seeing Steve barely a month before everything. who DOES that? Steve. Steve does.] you kinda grow secure in your relationship)

(in the fall, after they get to the tunnels, Steve gives her an out. looking at her through his goggles. He tells her she doesn't have to go back down there, doesn't have to touch the Upside Down again, but she clenches her jaw and tells him that he's concussed and there's no way she's letting him go down alone.)

but oof. lifeguarding you can't get distracted so even tho Barb gets to ogle hot bf steve is a professional and does not get to ogle hot gf the same :( '85 is when they really get their flirt on during company time. He tries on the outfit and shows her at home and he's like "this is literally the worst day of my life. this is horrible."

and she goes "well, hon. at least it makes your butt look good?"

and Steve huffs and crosses his arms over his chest and says "my butt makes everything look good. Let's not give any credit to the sailor suit."

"okay okay."

And every time she comes in he does the "ocean of flavour" spiel and she's dying. he's soooo lame. she loves him so much. she kisses him every time about it.

Robin is a bit cold and standoffish because steve is not only the guy who never paid attention to Tammy Thompson, he's also the guy currently dating Robin's childhood best friend who sort of ditched her. It's many messy feelings inside our girl. But Barb does try to make amends with Robin, and they do rekindle their friendship (and gang up on Steve)(literally I think it'd be so funny if Steve wanted to be Robin's friend sooo bad. world's most giant squish on her. sooo embarrassing. And Brab is playfully like oooh do you have a cruuush on Robin? and steve is like absolutely not I am in love with YOU i just want Robin to live next door and also share cat custody what's not to get?)

When Dustin comes back, talking about Suzie, he looks right at Steve, starry-eyed, and says "she my Barb." hkadsjhfkashd

After the Russian base Barb spends a lot of nights in bed with two other people, shaking them out of nightmares she doesn't want to comprehend, not really knowing what to do but loving them anyways.

#starbara #hollington #steve harrington #barbara holland #barb holland #stranger things #stranger things au #findaanswers #momotonescreaming #steve x barb #i took so long to write this i watched the entirety of Titanic while trying to write it lmao #should i tag the stobin that i compulsively insert into everything? i think i will #stobin #finda writes stuff #barb making fun of the loud sigh steve lets out whenever dustin annoys him #them telepathically communicating because theyve been together long enough to just KNOW #sorry i forgot a readmore at first!!

[aclosetfan]

Looking at the list, 10 reminds me of your little Bloomer (or Cotton Candy) fic. 👀👀

:) here's a five-second continuation of this

Prompt 10: I have never been this sick before I'm sorry did I, haha this is so weird, but did I confess my love for you? f- four times? yeah? haha oh

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and Blossom pulled her head out of the toilet.

“Ugh, come in,” She groaned, green in the face, and instantly regretted it because, a second later, Boomer waltzed with a smile loud enough to make her headache scream.

“Hey-oooo!” He announced, pushing his sunglasses on top of his head and waving a plastic bag in the air.

“B-Boomer!” She scrambled to maintain some decency as she pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders and smoothed down her hair, “What are you doing here!”

“Ah, don’t act all surprised.” He snorted, plopping down beside her, “I told ya I’d stick with you, didn’t I? First time drunk, first time hungover. I brought all my hangover shit.”

She briefly regarded the plastic bag before throwing an anxious look toward the bathroom door, “Did my dad see you? Does he know you’re here? He can’t know—”

“Relaxxx, Bloss.” He waved off her concerns as he stretched out in the cramped space. As if offended, he leaned against the bathtub and flippantly remarked, “I think I can sneak in and out of a girl’s house without their dads’ noticing. Sort of the whole thing with me and my brothers. Bad boys. You feel?”

Her face warmed on its own accord, and considered his words in earnest, “It feels . . . degrading?”

“Yep!” He chirped, rooting around in the plastic bag, “Anyway, Buttercup helped me sneak in. She said you were goin’ through it, and your dad’s, like, in his lab, so we’re all good. It’s not like he has super hearing. Here, drink some Pedialyte.”

A drink was in front of her face before she could blink, “That’s for babies.”

“Annnd it has a shit ton of electrolytes.” Boomer smiled, “Hydration is key. Look, it’s pink! You like pink, right?”

“I’m partial to it.” She deadpanned, accepting the drink and ignoring her reflection in the mirror, head-to-toe covered in pink with fluffy slippers and a headband to match.

He watched her take a sip of the drink and then a gulp until she had chugged half the bottle, and he was laughing, “I bought two.”

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He seemed to like that response because he perked up and started rooting through his bag. “I brought other stuff too, like hangover snacks, but—” He stared pointedly at the toilet, “—I’m guessing you’re not keeping much down.”

She grimaced, “No.”

“How about your sisters?”

Blossom rolled her eyes and fought the pout off her face, “Buttercup’s acting like she could run a marathon and thinks this is all hilarious, and Bubbles, well, she’s been quieter, but she isn’t puking like I am. It’s annoying.”

“They drank less than you,” He shrugged, “‘sides they can handle it better since they’ve done it before. What are they telling your dad? Does he know you’re hungover?”

She blushed again, “No! He just, oh, you know—” she shrugged and mumbled, “—just that it’s that time of the month.”

“Ah!” He laughed and winked, “Gotcha.”

She took another drink and closed her eyes, mulling over the previous night. The whole morning, she had been battling against a tremendous ball of guilt that she didn’t think was contributing well to her nausea. She knew that she had no reason to feel guilty. From what she had been able to pester out of Buttercup and Bubbles, absolutely nothing (technically) embarrassing had happened.

“But,” Buttercup had cooed with a wicked smile, “someone was certainly getting cozzzzy on the couches. Didn’t think you went for blondies, Bloss.”

She had started puking around then, and Buttercup didn’t stick around long enough to keep teasing her. Her sister didn’t need to, though. Blossom had plenty of half-formed memories to do the job for her.

Blossom’s recollection of last night was fuzzy at best. Still, there were significant chunks of time that she couldn’t remember anything at all outside of abstract ideas, the smell of men’s cologne, and a pair of arms around her waist or shoulders. She had spent most of the morning convincing herself that, at worst, what had occurred last night could have only been perceived as platonic cuddling, but with Boomer here, her heart was too stuck in her throat to believe that.  

She returned the drink to her lips and allowed her gaze to flicker to him. To her surprise, she caught his eye, and he quickly looked away, pretending to fiddle with the plastic bag.

“Uh,” he cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, “sorry, by the way. This is probably my fault. I should have made you drink more water, but uh, I was also pretty buzzed, and—”

“You don’t have to apologize. I can own up to my own choices.” She interrupted him. Then, with a small smile, she added, “Besides, despite present circumstances, it was . . . fun.”

Boomer blinked, and his charming, toothy smile was back on his face, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I can own up to my own mistakes?” She teased, playing along.

“Uh, no, the other thing?” He leaned in, cupping a hand over his ear, “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“You don’t have to apologize?”

“Nah, nah, there was definitely something else.”

“Oh! Was it maybe the part where I may have had fun?”

He snapped his finger and pointed at her, “Yes, that! That’s what I thought you said.”

They laughed together, and Blossom felt herself relax. Despite what may have happened last night, she was glad he had convinced her to drink with him. Boomer was her friend; half-baked memories aside, that was really all that really mattered.

She glanced down at the bottle in her hand, examining the label. For lack of anything better to say, she held it up, “This was a good idea. I would have never thought of this.”

“I—” he paused, looking sheepish, “—well, I can’t take all the credit. I learned about it online, but it sure helps with headaches.”

“Regardless, it’s smart.” She fiddled with the wrapper, “Thanks, uh, for everything really. I’m serious. I had fun last night, and it’s all because of you.”

Boomer flushed under the praise. It was sweet to watch the dark hue travel across his face.

“Maybe—” she gave him a serious look, “—not now, but maybe, later, we can, I don’t know, do it again?”

His brows shot up in surprise, “Really?”

She shook the bottle at him, “Yes, and next time, I’ll be more prepared.”

“Of course, yeah, totally!” He blinked, his reaction a second delayed, “I, uh, yeah! Tha—that sounds awesome. I, um, I actually . . . wanted to ask you something along, uh, along those lines actually, and, well, it’s—”

Her heart swelled in her chest because she had an idea of where this conversation might be going, but it was cut short by a low rumble in her stomach. She paled, and a thin layer of sweat broke out across her forehead. She held a hand up in front of Boomer’s mouth to silence him as she fought off the wave of nausea and ignored the semi-hurt look that crossed his features.

She swallowed slowly and, after a few deep breaths, opened her mouth to explain herself, only to immediately turn and vomit into the toilet.

Boomer cursed behind her and reached over to hold her hair back.

“Th-anks—” she groaned between heaves.

“It’s no big deal. It’s just like holding Brick’s, but you aren’t yelling at me, and yours is considerably softer—” She felt him tense behind her as he started laughing an octave too high, “—not that I notice that stuff, haha!”

“Oh,” She couldn’t respond appropriately; she hardly had anything coherent to say as she turned her face back into the toilet. It seemed an eternity passed before she could get another word out, “I’m so sorry. This is so, so gross. I have never been this sick before!”

“Blossom, it’s totally fine. I've seen grosser.”

“It’s really not—” she dry heaved and moaned, “—what even happened last night? I remember drinking, and then we sat on the couch, and—” Boomer carded his fingers through her hair, adjusting his grip, and her question stopped short, the innocent gesture triggering a painfully embarrassing memory. Now, it was her turn to laugh off-key, “—I’m sorry, did I—haha—this is so weird, but did I . . . confess my love for you?”

“Uhhh,” Boomer started, tensing again, “well, I think we were both a little drunk.”

“So, I did?”

“Well—”

“—like four times? Did I do it, like, four different times?”

“It’s not like I minded!” Boomer argued, “You were drunk!”

“But was it four times into the karaoke machine? That was hooked up to the surround sound? While everyone was watching? And no one stopped me?”

It took Boomer a second to answer, “Listen, I was extremely flattered.”

#bloomer #prompt ask game! #tbh i don't like how this one turned out but it's a drabble and I'm trying not to be too hard on myself about these! #omggggg I forgot the fucking readmore at first #it should be edited #sorry about that

[alstroemerian-dragon]

Hi I saw your tags on that hajihiko art and that bit about your fic sounds really interesting if you don’t mind I kinda wanna hear more if not then I’ll happily wait for the fic!

youve activated my trap card aka asking me to explain my thoughts !!!! this might get long

my fic is basically a long form. uh. character study? relationship study? thats pretty much just hajime and fuyuhiko having Very Intimate And Personal Conversations (Five Times!) over the first. year? post wake up. and in one of them they have a lengthy discussion about the whole concept of any of them having kids

because hiko is like. hiko is the kind of person who is Very Practical And Realistic (though some may say Pessimistic). and he is of the opinion that things can only be calm and good for so long before shit hits the fan again right? so, in that case, having children with them is only going to make things worse. first, putting kids into an actively dangerous situation is pretty high up in his List Of Terrible Fucking Things Someone Can Do (which is fair, because it is, but also because. Yknow. Personal Experience). second, children being with them is, from a purely practical standpoint, going to be a Huge amount of baggage if they ever need to Leave Right Now Very Quickly. kids are also an ENORMOUS weakness if the enemy ever discovers their existence. so in his mind, theyre a huge disadvantage and just generally a Terrible Fucking Idea.

weirdly enough, though, in the conversation, this is not his argument. because in the circumstances, theyre both kind of in a very vulnerable and open place for this conversation, and so he comes at it from an emotional standpoint. and fuyuhikos emotions around them having kids are complicated.

theres the guilt, right? theyre all classified as war criminals, basically, and are guilty of some of the most heinous acts known to man. they may be being left alone, and they may be repentant and in recovery NOW, but the effects of their actions are gonna be felt for a long time, probably decades. do they even deserve the joy of childcare? of having their own children and raising them and seeing them grow? additionally, they have no idea how long theyre gonna be stuck on those islands. maybe even forever. keeping their kids trapped there when they did nothing wrong aside from. well. Being The Kids Of The Remnants. is almost cruel, right? but if they dont want that, they basically have to give their kids up at some point, maybe even to the future foundation to be integrated into the new world. but when do you do that? when theyre babies, so they never know who their real parents are and never have to reckon with the impact they had on the world? or when theyre young adults, with the full knowledge of what their parents did and who they are, and that the world, which will definitely be utterly fucked for a long time even after the tragedy is officially classified as ‘over’ (whatever that means), will despise them just by virtue of who gave birth to them?

either way, theyre gonna lose their kids at some point. and thats going to hurt. not just the kids themselves, being thrust into a world like that, but the remnants too. those are their children.

fuyuhiko also just… has a lot of guilt and fear around having kids because of his upbringing. you cant tell me he isnt so afraid of turning into his parents, of endangering his own kids, of being too angry and too volatile and too broken to care for them properly. so in his mind, the only real fix to the situation is to just never have them in the first place.

but hajime… hajimes situation is a lot different. first off, in my funny little brain space hajime is very very much a trans man, and though his relationship with identity and gender specifically is very messy due to The Horrors, he clings to his identity as a man in the same way he clings to the name hajime hinata, as an anchor to stability and purpose. if he is hajime hinata, then he is also a man, because hajime hinata was one. this is of course a huge simplification and i could make a whole other post about hajimes fucked up gender shit but its NOT THIS ONE so were moving on. anyway, his relationship with having his own kids therefore is very complicated, as many trans men will tell you, and this is… complicated by another thing i wont go into because its very sad and not really the point and also kind of a spoiler. anyway.

but aside from just himself, hajime is also extremely practical. the difference between his practicality and fuyuhikos is that while fuyuhiko’s practicality is rooted in a childhood of danger and violence and ruthlessness, hajimes is rooted in analytics, because thats just the way his brain works now. numbers and percentages and chance. on top of that, though, what balances out that practicality is that in hajimes brain, one of the most important things about Being Human is Having Human Connections. its how he fights the boredom, fights off the constantly encroaching emptiness in the back of his head. people are complicated and messy and a lot more unpredictable than his izuru conditioning would have had him believe, and he revels in that, in understanding that people have habits and recognizable traits while also doing the weirdest shit possible when you least expect it. having human connections helps him feel human, helps him feel his emotions the most strongly, and he clings to that.

so he understands, on a very base level, why some of them would want children. he understands that a lot of them probably will when they wake up. he understands that they will all adore those kids when theyre born, that the fifteen of them will be a village, will do everything in their power to make sure those kids are happy and safe and understand the dangers of the world while not being subjected to the worst of it until theyre ready.

but hajime also understands philosophy and psychology on a very high level. because you know. the horrors. so he also can reckon with the fact that its not an easy question to answer. should they have kids? would it be ethical to have kids? they dont have an answer thats going to satisfy everyone. some of them are going to stubbornly insist none of them should. some of them are going to be desperate for them. some of them arent going to care. hes skilled in medical knowledge (again, the horrors), and if there are accidents they can be dealt with, but some people arent going to want that. he and/or mikan could probably handle childbirth, as long as theyre not actively in danger, but again, theres the question of whether they even should.

thats. the basis of their conversation. they dont end up with an answer, and i dont think i honestly have one either. could they potentially have children at some point in their lives? probably, yeah. but the logistics of that, of when they would, when the kids would leave, how they would be raised, is a lot more complicated than just ‘cute domestic childcare.’

BUT THATS. yeah. its really funny that this ended up so long because that conversation is maybe a whole 18% of the total length of that chapter and thats. being lax on what constitutes as ‘part of that conversation’ fjshfjsjfjjsjs. the thing about me is that i can not shut the fuck up to save my life, so they discuss like. SIX different topics in that conversation. it makes me very afraid that people wont be able to follow it or will get tired of all the dialogue but. Thats Just Something I Will Have To Deal With.

someday ill post this fucking fanfiction. im trying to get at least. four? of the chapters done before i start posting because i have a long history of starting to post chapters/segments of a fic only for my fixation to crumble and then i never finish it. im hoping building up engagement w this blog will help so people will talk to me and keep my writing lmao. im glad youre interested though!!!!!! ive put a lot of love into all the writing ive done for dr so far

#oh no i need an ask tag #uh. uh. fuck. #answering machine #gunfr0st #personal #meta #danganronpa #super danganronpa 2 #im so sorry if you expected a short or concise answer. i have worms. in my brain #and ethical dilemmas are like fucking catnip to me #make me go ‘oohoohoohoo for me?? for me you say????’ and then i write 30k words of characters talking about it #sorry it took me a bit to get to this i wrote out most of this when i first got this ask #and then i had to go shopping and take the husband to work etc etc #took a hot minute. thanks for ur patience! #crossing my fingers that the readmore works #oh shit i should probably. main tag this huh. i totally forgot about that

[bird-likes-to-fandom]

why do you dislike michie? /genuinely curious

cracks my knuckles. I'm so glad you asked, dear anon!

First and foremost, I want to say that I'm big on "do what you want forever" when it comes to fandom, even if I hate a certain ship. Just because I post about hating something (because it's my opinion and I can also do what I want forever), doesn't mean I'm gonna police or attack people who love it. I have like 4 or 5 mutuals who like michie! I'm completely fine with others liking it, it's just not my thing and since you asked, I'm gonna tell you why.

Hello! If you're going through the npmd tag and reblogging this post, please reblog the version with the readmore. I meant to put one here the first time and apparently forgot! I'm sorry.

I've tagged this post with "anti michie" for tag blocking purposes.

I don't understand it at all. Max is a vicious, vicious bully, who terrorizes Richie and his friends for literally no fucking reason. He's constantly on a power trip and he enjoys it, and no matter what his home life is like, I don't think that justifies his actions. It doesn't justify his actions. The entire school lives in fear of him, the entire school has physically or emotionally felt his wrath, even his so called "friends", Kyle and Jason. Hell, Richie says he used to not be able to even open his locker out of fear. If Max hadn't died, and if he had genuinely worked on himself, the absolute MOST I could see between him and Richie is a shaky acquaintanceship. I don't think anyone would want ANYTHING to do with him for a very long time, once they knew it was safe to not suck up to him.

I don't understand how people can watch the Nerdy Prudes Must Die song and scene and think it's mutual-love relationship material. Richie's death is genuinely haunting, even only the parts we see of it. Richie is sobbing, begging for his life, and Max taunts him, and you think that's fluffy? And reminder - we don't actually see Richie's real death. We see Max about to strike and laugh maniacally before the lights go black, but at the beginning Bailey says Richie was purple-nurpled and swirlied to death. At the beginning and in Richie's death scene, we hear Max calling out for him, toying with him like predator and prey.

A lot of people make ghost Max out to be nothing that he is in canon, a lot of people make him a goofy guy who is just mildly annoyed by Richie's and Ruth's ghosts. And while canon Max has his funny and silly moments, it's important to remember his actual character and what he represents - a figurative and literal monster. In fanon, people erase all of Max's bad traits, which is what his entire character is meant to be. He's not some dumb himbo, he's a bully. He's meant to represent a real thing that hurts and even kills real people. It's a disservice to take that from him.

I've seen certain Michie works put emphasis on Richie being the one to forgive Max, and not Max taking the long road to work on himself, when in reality it is NEVER on the victim to forgive their abuser. Even if Max works on himself and redeems himself to the best of his ability, even if he gives Richie the most sincere apology in the multiverse, Richie does not have to forgive him. He does not owe him that. And I don't think Richie would forgive him, at least not for a long, long time.

And also, if you want to ship Richie with someone who needs a little redemption, Jason Jepson is right there, and it's a way more probable ship than Michie ever has the capacity of being.

#but again this is just my opinion #do what you want forever #also like. richie is one of the most excited to give max what he deserves with the plan #and you're telling me richie 'mission accomplished?' lipschitz would like max? really? #npmd #bird likes to perch on the mailbox #anti michie #richie lipschitz #max jagerman

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

HELLO TF2 COMMUNITY :D

Do you like fanmade TF2 AUs? Do you like mysteries? Do you like deep DEEP lore? Are you good at solving riddles?

If your answer is yes to all of those, then yay!! And buckle up.

We're going to play a little game. When you click on the link right above the :readmore: all the way down there, you will find yourself at a blank webpage that looks a bit like this:

This webpage will ask you for a specific password for you to enter. If you get the password correct, you will be granted access to the [TOP SECRET]-CLASSIFIED MANN FILES. If you get the password wrong, you will not be granted access to the files.

The password is a four digit number. I will be giving you a riddle to help you find out what this password could be. You might need to use a bit of google for this one:

A little girl with the last name Won goes to an arcade in Korea.

At the arcade, she wins a pinball game.

That was yesterday.

But the pinball machine was cheap, old and rusty.

So all she got was a single coin from it. It was the lowest currency one could get in Korea.

What did the little girl win yesterday?

I know this looks hard, but I promise, you do not have to be Korean to know the answer to this. All you need to know is that, currency in Korea is won (원). I can't give you more information since it may spoil the game, but if you are not sure about anything, you can easily search it up and it'll pop up first thing

If you really find yourself struggling with the answer, I suggest you try reading the riddle out loud ;)

You will be given 24 hours to find the password and get it correct before I reveal the answer for everyone. The timer starts the moment this post is published onto my blog.

There are only 3 rules you should know:

1. If you find the password before everyone else, please don't make it public!! Don't post about it, or tell everyone else. You can tell your friend if they ask for it, sure, but don't ruin the fun for those who still want to try and solve the password!

2. You can not ask for more clues, sorry, but that tiny riddle was the most thinking my brain could take for the week, and I can't make more mysterious clues and riddle :(

3. If the 24 hour timer goes off and the majority of you still haven't managed to find the password, don’t worry, you can always ask for more time. If I get more than 5 non-anon asks in my inbox asking for more time, I will extend the timer.

Anyways, best of lucks finding the password, and have fun :)

[TOP SECRET] CLASSIFIED MANN FILES- PROJECT DOPPELGANGER

(EDIT: hello all! So it seems that the links on this post are causing some problems for a lot of you guys, and the whole password part seems to work just fine but for some reason if won't show the files properly once you guessed it. So if you managed to get the password right but the webpage you were redirected to only shows you blank pages, please pop me a quick message through either inbox or DM so I can get you set right up with a shared google doc file which actually works. Thank you so much for your patience and so sorry for the inconvenience and this technical error kind of ruining the whole vibe :'(

P.S. if you can, the link works a bunch times better when on PC!)

Now that all that jazz is out of the way, here are all of my rambles!

A brief summary for those who are new:

This post is part of a big lore-drop for an AU of mine called Job Switcheroo Mercs, which is basically an AU where all the TF2 mercs have their jobs and classes switched around. If you want to learn more about the AU, you can go check out my #job switcheroo tag on my blog. You might need it for the context.

For those who already know the basic gist of the AU, but just forgot the what the heck this AU is even about, here's a little reminder.

Of course, big hugs and kisses to all my lovely Job Switcheroo AU fans out there. We were a pretty niche group but you guys gave me so much love and support all throughout it and I appreciate it so so so much. THANK YOU <3

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 au #tf2 oc #job switcheroo au #job switcheroo #tw unreality #just in case #those who are not familiar with tf2 can also play this game!! you do not need any knowledge on tf2 lore or gameplay- so just have fun :) #tf2 project doppelganger #job switch mercs

[dotster001]

"You carry me on." ❤️😭 with Deuce

(so...uh....it struck me that I don't write a lot of angst so I hope I did this right also, we reached 600. Geeze you guys, gonna make me cry 😭)

CW:Injury, angst (at least for me I don't want to hurt my baby)

12. You carry me on.

You'd told Deuce once before that you thought he was too sweet to have ever been a delinquent, and even though you totally believed him, you had a hard time picturing his delinquent days being anything other than he might have stolen a cigarette one time, and still felt guilty about it. He didn't feel the need to correct you. If that's how you saw him, it meant he had truly grown.

;readmore;

Now he wished he had told you the truth. That he had been in with some very dangerous people. That him leaving the group had made enemies. That  he always had to be worried that his past would catch up to him. 

But he'd grown complacent. He'd worked hard to become an honors student and a powerful mage. He'd made friends and started dating the love of his life. He'd gotten his life together and made his mom proud. He was happy.

Then he got the call from a very frantic Ace. And now he was sitting in the hospital wing, waiting for the nurse to let him see you. He was furious, he'd punched a hole in his wall already. But now he had to comfort Ace, Grim, and Epel, who were all panicking, despite Jack and Sebek assuring them things would be okay.

The nurse eventually came out and said you were alright, you just had a concussion and some scratches. He'd never been more grateful to how territorial NRC students are, or who knows how long it would've taken for someone to save you.

When the nurse gave him the go ahead, he pushed past everyone to be by your side, grabbing your hand and squeezing it tightly.

"I'm not dead Deucey," you laughed tiredly.

"No, but you could have been," he was crying now, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "I don't want to know what the world is like without you, Y/N. You carry me on."

You shouldn't have had to have been the one comforting him, but you were hushing him calmly, eventually just grabbing his head and pressing it to your chest, allowing him to bury himself  against you, and just cry.

You ran your nails through his hair and hushed him until he had calmed down. Once he was aware again, he realized none of the people he had waited with were in the hospital wing, and they must have left so that you could both have some privacy. He would have to thank them later.

He turned his head so he could face you, your radiant smile gracing his undeserving visage. 

"I'm sorry this happened. And I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he whispered. "I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore."

For the first time, you looked distressed. You pulled his arm so that he was closer to your face.

"Don't say that. You're the man I love, and there's no one else I could want."

He was unconvinced. "But they hurt you to get to me. If you still want me, how can I possibly make it up to you?" 

"Kiss me, that's how," you looked at him with sad eyes. 

He'd comply. He'd kiss you until you forgot why you were here. He'd hold you until the pain was gone, and sing you songs until you were lulled to a peaceful sleep. 

But he would take precautions. This was never going to happen again. He made a silent vow that he would never let his past hurt you ever again.

#500 followers #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #deuce spade x reader #deuce spade #deuce x reader #twst deuce

[fluffle-writes]

Hey fluffle, I'm a BIG fan of your Twisted Wonderland x Sky: Cotl! (Sorry if my english isn't good), and I have multiple questions. You don't have to answer all of them.

I have seen your post about nrc boy seeing the Aurora concert and I wonder if they also turned into light creatures since you know some of the song like "All is soft inside". The sky kid's turns into different creatures.

Also imagine the sky kid's playing in the Spelldrive tournament (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)!! Those little kiddos are going to be like

"It's our time to shine people!"

OMG!! Can't forgot how they can just grab the disk and fly towards the goal while dodging most attacks.

OH!! Imagine that one of the sky kids is really tall but wearing a chibi mask and when they take off the mask people are like "Wait! Your THAT Tall!!!"

I have a headcancon that the cape can be made by sky children only l, where they just like gathering wax and lights making it into threads then using something like loom to create a cape

Now! Imagine that the sky kids made capes for the Octavinelle trio since we all know what they are bad at flying

And I think that's all, if I have more I'll be going here since it's fun to share ideas with each other 😄

Hi! :D I'm so glad you like my little AU (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) I'll put some stuff under a readmore 👍

I feel like, in an Aurora concert, the TWST boys wouldn't be experiencing it physically, but their soul or mind would be experiencing it if that makes sense? Like an out-of-body experience where they're all pulled in to experience a shared dream or memory.

So, they'd experience being in the different forms alongside the sky kids, and their bodies would physically remain in the stadium during each song - until the ending in the stadium!

Ahh the spelldrive tournament would be so fun! I feel like they'd be a force to reckon with after enough practice. Especially if one of them is practiced in krill dodging! The speed and finesse they have over their movements through the air would probably impress some of the sportier guys!

Ooh, the chibi mask surprise is fun to imagine! Like, imagine if a veteran with a chibi mask and a moth on the taller side ended up at NRC. The utter confusion when they explain that the taller of the two was, essentially, brand new to the concept of existence would be fun. (Haha Lilia and Malleus parallels)

And I love your headcanon for capes! That's a great take on how they'd work - the image of the magic of the candles transforming into something like threads and being interwoven is beautiful to picture! I can imagine that the capes could take a form based on the soul or magic of the wearer, and it 'locks' onto the first person it matches the energy of.

(E.g. Vil receives a cape made by a sky kid, and when he wears it, it connects to his magic and transforms to look as if it was a peacock train. It would also mean his flight stamina/number of wings is dependent on their magic level)

As for the octo trio - I feel like they wouldn't be too fond of the idea of flying with the capes lol. It'd probably feel less secure than having a solid broom to hold onto lmao. If the sky kids ever want revenge for their schemes in chapter 2, I can imagine them surprise kidnapping one of them by grabbing their hand and flying up into the air to float around with them because of the acrophobia lol.

AAA these were all really fun to think about! ＼⁠(⁠°▽⁠°⁠)⁠／ please feel free to share any more thoughts about the AU if you wanna, I love recieving asks about this AU (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst:cotl #twst cotl #sky x twst AU #twst:cotl AU

[jahayla-parker]

Hii, I was wondering if you had any tips for us ADHD folks for focusing on tasks because I’ve had a horrible week with focusing on tasks even as small just doing the dishes and it’s really stressing me out. No pressure to answer this, I really like your Freddy fics btw, they are soooo comforting and your most recent was is PERFECTION.

Thank you for your question. I’m sorry you’re struggling! As a fellow ADHDer, I know how difficult this can be and that many people don’t understand what it’s like and that it’s NOT laziness or a lack of willpower.

I have put a readmore break for those not interested or otherwise trying to get to other posts. 💜

Sleep! Omg sleep is ssooooo important. I struggle with this so much! (If you need more advice on how to fix this lmk). But sleep is crucial otherwise the symptoms will get worse as sleep deprivation only increases adhd symptoms.

Write down notes/ideas as they come. Don’t try to make yourself memorize or remember things when you don’t need to. My iPhone notes are so random but helpful! This will help get take the pressure off and allow your brain to rest.

Focus on easy wins! I cannot stress this enough!!!! ADHD paralysis/executive dysfunction can make everything feel overwhelming. Breaking tasks into smaller and more manageable tasks seems simple (and in terms of application it is) but it helps more than you’d think! It takes the pressure off of each task. Don’t forgot in getting it all done. Choose one task. Then, chose the first step(s) of the task and set some time (what seems manageable currently not what “you should designate” to it) aside to do it. Then give yourself some rest (see ideas below). Then repeat as needed.

Unless you have to, don’t force yourself to stick to a strict schedule. You might want to choose one important task to schedule if needed (ideally still do it the way mentioned above though). But don’t map out your whole day if it can be avoided. This feels, looks, and in many ways is, far too much. Ideally plan a rest activity too if you’re going to schedule anything.

Rest and self care is super important. This can look different from person to person. Especially downing on what your triggers are or what type of stimulation is best for you. For me and many others (but not all) prefer/find calming stimulation to be easier/better aka grounding. Examples of common grounding techniques include: painting (I alternate between my nails and a color by number set personally), coloring, drawing (for some, not me personally though), reading (varies a lot on effectiveness for people), yoga, etc.

Physical activity can help too but is understandably hard to do when these symptoms hit. Smaller/shorter/less intensity exercises are typically better and easier to get done when it feels like this. The key is rhythmic movement as studies have shown this to help (can help with ptsd too!)

Rhythmic activities examples (both physical and otherwise): Things like a few minutes of yoga/stretching, rolling/bouncing/tossing a ball, (drawing/paint/color can be included here too), tap feet/fingers/etc at a calm but steady pace, find something that makes (or can make) a soft sound and initiate that sound in a calm steady pace, listen to meditation music, petting/brushing a pet, etc.

Don’t strive for perfection. This is a hard one for me too. But, aim to complete something even if it’s not perfect. The pressure to perform well can in itself make the task harder. In these times, completion (even of a tiny step within a task) is perfection!

Motivate yourself! Completion isn’t enough motivation, so don’t even try to argue that idea lol. Instead, reward yourself for reaching small milestones. Motivation is a great psychological tool to overcome this. It can be whatever is the most exciting for you (please consider your health as well. -mostly referring to avoiding substance and addictive behaviors)

Hopefully this helps!💜

#adhd #adhd tips #adhd advice #Jahayla gives advice 🦉 #jahayla checks her inbox 📫 #lovely little anons

[telomeke-bbs]

Hey, in the future could you add a cut to some of your long posts? Some of them are super long and take up a ton of my dash! I’m not trying to be rude. Sorry if it comes off that way

Hey so sorry Anon! At the end of writing a long post I'm often so desperate to get it up and out of the way that I forget about this. I should add the ReadMore cut earlier.

If you're on desktop, tapping 'J' or 'K' on the keyboard will skip to the next post down or up, and then the length of the skipped post will not matter. But I think this probably isn't an option on the app.

Also, with regard to my last long post (sorry this is turning into a long post too! Oops) I read recently that the ReadMore cut actually brings you to the blog itself, and you read the rest of it off the original post.

This means that if the original blog gets deleted or deactivated for whatever reason, the rest of the post may not be accessible.

So in my twistylogic brain, I was thinking it would be good to wait for at least one reblog of the full post before adding a ReadMore, so that there would also be full versions of it floating about elsewhere, if ever the blog got deleted/deactivated. (And thus there would be an off-blog record of it I could access if ever the blog went down, instead of having to rewrite from scratch.) But of course I then forgot to add the ReadMore after the first reblog. 🤷‍♂️

Will keep this in mind for my future posts! 💖

#readmore cuts #shortening long posts

[cerealmonster15]

no wait talk 2 me abt rook&vil they're so silly (unless ur legitimately busy but I will listen if u ever want to talk abt sillies lol)

god i had to restrain myself from literally screenshotting every single convo vil and rook have ever had bc theres Simply Too Much, and even trying to contain myself i still went over the limit LOL god ok anyway love is real and i have to put in a readmore bc i love posting screenshots and talking FOREVER!!!!!

one of my earlier memories of them was back when i first got into twst in 2020 and reading random card stories. i remember the jade leech dorm story and i just got his card recently so i got to relive married couple vil and rook experiencing Jade Leech Behavior

"you're making me jealous~ is he as good as meeee~" and vils like well kinda LOL but also in the rook lab coat story

aka the one where rooks openly thirsting after leona and teases vil about being jealous about it. like hello. ?? ?!?!!?!?!?!

also TWO instances of vil casually dropping that leonas attractive

a pretty face. a good looking layabout. vil no one is making you say these things.

anyway i just love how openly loving rook is in general, but especially with vil 😭

^both from the jade dorm story.... vil shows up and hes like Oh My God Life Is Beautiful. ok well hes like that about everything but he does it More when vils around :')

god this whole second half of rooks lab story is soooooooo hshdhfhehheskefkjjdfjfgfdg yknow????? like the whole story is half rook being So Very Weird About Leona fkjefskljdf "if those sharp fangs of his pierced my windpipe, why, i'd be done for in an instant. the very notion makes my heart quiver" ROOK BE NORMAL CHALLENGE just kidding i love that hes a freak it's so fun. he says something kinda similar about vil??? i cant remember which instance it was - i wanna say maybe when vil got kidnapped in Halloween 2 or book 6 or something? where he said something like "oh no, i know vil doesnt need my protection. if i dared imply such a thing he'd kick me in the head with his six inch heels lol 🤗" like HELLO????

speaking of halloween 2, omg. i forgot to take screenshots but that whole bit makes me insane. he calls vil "my etolle/ my star" and is agonizing over his disappearance......... hes so overjoyed to see him again and rushes to his side when theyre reunited,, and omfg i also forgot the part in masquerade where hes getting ready to leave and hes like "here is a flower, im so sorry im leaving you alone vil, ill be back to you before this flower blooms ♥" like literally why was he so romantic about it. vils like dude you will be gone Three Days fjklsejklfjkls i cant get over it. it's so FUNNY and so,,, hfhdhhhghf. the way he and vil act like parents of pomefiore is so cute too. like when theyre leaving rooks like "dont worry vil ill be with epel to make sure things are going okay!!" and vils like "hmm. yea idk im still worried actually" bc he loves rook but he also knows rook better than anyone LOL

anyway i got distracted, back to the rook lab coat story

this part is so good. rook is going on and on about leona and vils like "ok so just join spelldrive club and bother him there" and rooks immediately like "no. im in science club so i can help you with special effects for your film work to support you " HE LITERALLY SAYS SUPPORT WITH HIS LOVE WAHHHH god they make me go bonkers actually. a lot of what rook does is out of love and support for vil and his pursuit of beauty wahhhh

he likes being close to vil

he knows vils exact measurements, he even says in vils lab story that the only person that looks at vil longer than vil is him lol

he was so enthusiastic about vil and his work that hed run up to him and just talk forever and ever until vil finally spoke back to him and they were just INSEPARABLE after. i think so often about that bit where they say they talked so much they GOT SICK IN THE SNOW!!!! HELLO HI CAN ANYONE HEAR ME- theyre so full of matched passion i love them so much no one understands them like they understand each other AUGHHHH

anyway back to rook mentioning he wants to be up close to vil and his pursuit of beauty,,, i ALSO cant stop thinking about how thats literally one of the reasons he TRANSFERRED DORMS TO POMEFIORE

it means everything to him to be at vils side as long as possible and the fact that he cant when theyre away on their internships in fourth year is devastating WAHHHH 😭😭😭

but also. beanfest.

LIKE. HSDFHDSLJ every time they interact in this entire event is So Charged. hey rook your body is bulked up, i know this because I Was Looking. vil i am so excited to brawl with you one on one ive been anticipating it for a month. back and forth banter with each other and then just

whatever this is. and epel standing there like 🧍‍♂️ I Will Avoid Them Actually. jfksdlfjdkslfjkj

hes So Fucking Excited when it's time to fight vil,,, he even brought evil face trey LOL

"btw you look hot-" thats nice rook

THEY ARE FLIRTING. and then rook literally Sent Trey Away because he was so excited for his 1v1 with his beloved husband skdjfdskl and trey was like "yea i dont wanna be involved Bye 🚶‍♂️" fjlkdsfj no one wants to get tangled up in their Strange Relationship

also this line vil says in the home screen

ive seen fanart about this too thats like "hmm. vil most of you is covered. you have no hard to reach parts. it's like, your hands and neck and face 🤨" and it's so tender, rook putting sunblock on vils hands.... but also WHY cant you do that YOURSELF, HMM?? 🤨🤨🤨

ok ok ok but then. book 5 finale. i remember some people were Rook Haters after that and i simply do not agree!! and apparently some people dont like book 5. cant relate!!!!!!! rook hunt dislikers do not interact book 5 is everything to me!!!!

i might have those out of order but sjdklfjelsjkfdjsklf DFHDLKSJFLDKF GODDDD I CANT TAKE ITTTT 😭 rook going on and on about how it doesnt matter what vil looks like but as long as hes confident like rook knows he is then he will always be beautiful!!! i didnt get screenshots of that part in book 6 where theyre flying back and vil Turned Old but i love how loving and supportive rook is while vils just having his breakdown 🥺

idk man i just really like their interaction about this whole think ;A; like yea vil practically fell over in BETRAYAL when he saw rook voted for their enemy LOL but then i like that hes like "please. i know you and i know you dont make biased decisions ever, you always tell what you truly believe in your heart," and and and god damn it tumblr wont let me post any more photos but vil SMILES and hands rook back his handkerchief to let him dry his own tears and it's just SWEET WAHHH listennnnNNNN. i think it's nice. vil couldve gone off and been super mad at rook but he wasn't 😭 like he wasnt happy lol, but he knows rook. he understands [as much as one can LOL] rook. and rook loves and supports vil with everything he has, but hes also true to his heart and i think thats something vil really values about rook and a big part of why he keeps him around. it can be a positive and a negative, sure- this isnt the only time rooks honest to a fault lol, but i love,, multifaceted characters with deep relationships....

point is i lay facedown on the floor and cry for hours when i think too hard about vil and rook bc theres just So Much Love..... i cant get really coherent points or analysis out i just love repeating parts that happen in the game and posting six million screenshots bc thats all thats happening in my brain constantly JKFLJDSKLDJS i love rookvil. one of the ships ever. theyre married your honor theyre MARRIED and also being in a toxic yaoi polycule with leona is very funny to me jfklejskljfe marriage + divorce love wins(?)

#asks #kirexa #SORRY. im asked about my thoughts and i just babble erratically for Many Paragraphs #this is what my dms look like w/felix n my other friend #screenshotting scenes and going 'wow i love this part why is he like that' <- applies to All Characters in this game

[speltfields]

Opinions on Gale Baldur's Gate? 🤔

cheeky readmore (no spoilers ahead other than one party member who joins later game afaik)

SO BALDURS GATE... im only a couple of hours into it. my friend is playing my character for me and streaming it since i dont own it+laptop was gone for so long... i plan on playing more once im back home from work...!

so far my team consists of astarion (funny), wyll, lae'zel (cutie) and karlach

GALE SEEMS CUTE! he needs more grey in his hair though. imo. if i ever draw him hes getting hit with the wrinkle beam. and why does he have abs.. id fix that... im planning on adding him to my party soon... i did give him the thing he asks for the first night. would I romance him? idk. probably. hes up there. Ermmm. Can I top him is the inportant question

i really wish i could romance this lady ⤵️

im so mad you cant... the cowards way out. someone mod her as an option NOW (idk anything about her or her name. i like her eyebrows)

anyways sorry i dont havw more tjoughts rn im barely in the game. and i play like an idiot. i dont like shadowheart that much. and astarion is required to be in my party at all times to keep my bffs morale high while i make the Stupidest Plays In The World in front of them

Why cant you kiss the mindflayers? unless you can? idk. i assume you cant. they should let me?

heres my guy btw. hes based off my deep rock galactic dwarf. lol

(you cant see it but he has the cunty megan thee stallion braid)

i think him and halsin would look good together personally. i have no idea what halsin is like

i found this really cute pic of stan while i was looking for pics of my character💘

i think thats all my thoughts for now.... I'll be back to playing again soon >:) ill be sure to post my thoughts as I play more...

actually i forgot to add my fav thing about this playthrough is that i chose my characters genitals at complete random (kept his pants on) i cant wait to find out what hes got in there. like a kinder aurprise egg

#baldurs gate #like 90% of this aint even about gale SORRAY #um btw does karlach really have a ____ becausw thats epic

[tastygoldentaters]

Sorry forgot to add a number to the last one. Sephiroth 5 and 6

same brainwaves wow

5. What’s the first song that comes to mind when you think about them? One Winged Angel is obvious (and I literally have it tattooed on me), so I'm gonna go with one that's not from any FF7 Compilation OSTs. That'd be My Name Is Human, by Highly Suspect (lyrics after readmore)

6. What’s something you have in common with this character? He is my main blorbo for a reason, so here we go:

Monster complex due to fear of not being able to escape their unusual life history

Raised by abusive family with surreal expectations towards perfection and being used as a poster child

Being a literal test subject in an unethical medical setting

Autistic AF but loyal to the few friends they have, willing to desert duty for them

Really really close to a mental breakdown

EDGY

Traumatized

Incredibly efficient to the point that they make it look like they're just naturally good at everything

Disconnected from family or birthplace, feeling of not belonging anywhere

Thirst for knowledge

Sleepless nights diving deep into hyperfixations in a frenzied state that looks incredibly unhealthy

Yay oversharing!

send me a character and a number Lyrics to My Name Is Human under the cut

Okay

I'm feeling the way that I'm feeling myself Fuck everyone else Gotta remember that nobody is better than anyone else, here (Do you need some time to think it over?) Look what they do to you Look what they do to me Must be joking if you think that either one is free, here

Get up off your knees, girl Stand face to face with your God And find out what you are (Hello, my name is human) Hello, my name is human And I came down from the stars (Hello, my name is human)

I'm ready for love, and I'm ready for war But I'm ready for more I know that nobody's ever been this fucking ready before, hey (Do you need some time to think it over?) So figure it out, or don't figure it out I figured it out The bigger the river (the bigger the river) The bigger the drought (the bigger the drought)

Get up off your knees, boy Stand face to face with your God And find out what you are (Hello, my name is human) Hello, my name is human And I came down from the stars (Hello, my name is human)

Fire world, I love you Fire world

I'm up off my knees, girl I'm face to face with myself And I know who I am (Hello, my name is human) I stole the power from the sun I'm more than just a man (No longer disillusioned)

I came down from the stars (so I'll take my chances) (And what are the chances) (That I could advance) (On my own circumstances) (Said what are the chances?) Hello, my name is human (and what are the chances) (I'm not asking questions) And I know who I am (so you keep your answers) (I'm not asking questions) (I'm taking my chances)

#wark #ffvii #ff7 #sephiroth #highly suspect

[songofsaraneth]

I've been meaning to make a container garden update post for weeks now, but health/life kept getting in the way. So these photos are taken within the last week-ish but I've been getting it all set up over the last month! Including finally getting through the last of my rain barrel so I could scrub and rinse it out.

First major thing is I finally bit the bullet and bought the expensive porch loveseat of my dreams. I've been wanting a little couch or egg chair out there for 2.5 years but nothing ever appeared secondhand, and they're SO expensive. But finally there was a half off sale and so I went for this one from target. The best part about having that wicker back means I can use an umbrella or clip fabric to it as a shade cloth, and since it's already almost 90ºF here, that's a big motivator for spending time outside. Anyway here’s the breakdown of what I’ve got in now. Text and photos not in order bc it was too hard. Also, I tried to put a readmore here, but... I guess tumblrs not letting me have those today so sorry, long post it is! For edibles, I’ve got 4 containers of tomatoes (3 cherry/snacking and one slicing), 2 containers of strawberries (all that survived from last season!),  2 kinds of chives (normal and garlic), 2 kinds of basil (sweet and spicy globe), oregano with lemon thyme, and my hardy old rosemary. The basils got chewed up by a stray cat so I had to keep them inside for a week to recover. Then I sprayed the general area with orange oil to deter it and the orange oil ended up burning their fragile leaves, so thye’ve had a rough time of it. but! finally recovering 😬 And the big blue container I’m trying to repurpose for melons this spring, and will plant spaghetti squash later in the summer. Will I be able to get cantaloupes supported on the treils with netting? Not sure but I’m gonna try. Def most experimental inclusion this year. For perennial flowers from last year, almost all survived! I’ve got 4 kinds of sage (one of which seeded into an adjacent empty pot, so I left it and added some annual violas), guara, penstemon, 2 kinds of lavender, and a miniature rose. My red geranium kept blooming all through winter, so I got a pink and a purple one as well. The sages look a bit rough right now because I left for a week before I put in the other annuals and they’re the thirstiest of the bunch, so dropped a lot of blooms. Oh well.  For new additions and annuals, I went crazy lol. My most dangerous to shop with friend and I went to the local nursery and stores together so of course we both went overboard. I finally got one of the jasmine I’ve been eying for a year and a half, which just started blooming and already smells amazing. My 2 gailardia were tiny rosettes but ones forming a bloom and I’m so excited. Also marigolds, zinnias, petunias, lantanas, those fluffy spike ones I’m blanking on the name of, and a fuchsia! And probably some I forgot. The fuchsia’s been swapped to a shader spot already, but it’s getting ready to bloom and I’m excited. I also, while visiting Colorado two weeks ago, accompanied my friend to a nursery and ended up driving back with a clematis, one of my favorite flowers ever. It’s still vining up right now but fingers crossed for flowers.  SO. Lots of things in at the moment, so far been good for the last week and we’ll see what ends up surviving the summer heat or not once we get to the weeks of 100ºF+ days. I’ve got some other plans/tweaks, but this is the bulk of things. Otherwise, life has been a lot and I’m still goin through it...grad school, research, coping with the porch birds I love getting killed by the feral cats, and so on :( Getting up to water has been motivating at least for finally leaving bed in the morning despite all my eye pain troubles (easier to just keep them closed for an extra 3 hours than to start the sequence of drops and compresses it takes to get them open). But then I can do my morning doomscrolling at least surrounded by beautiful flowers and birdsong instead of huddled in my cave.

#ramblings #container garden #my stuff

[boymage666]

I survived the

WIZARD RACE

Anyways I'm gonna talk about it now. no readmore because mobile tumblr is dumblr, sorry.

So, only slightly relevant to anything, but I did the entirety of the game during the school day. Started around 11:30, but I didn't find my first charm until about 12:45 (I had to go to an assembly then eat lunch)

Finding the charms was a pretty fun challenge, the only one I didn't get on my own was the heart (thanks for that one @wizardgoblin )

had to take another break after submitting the charms because I had to get back to school, by that time 3 people were already done. No big deal to me, all I wanted was top 13. So I do my work for that class and open Tumblr again to start phase 2.

This is a good point to say I love codes and cyphers, so I was very excited at the idea of the next part, only to metaphorically fall on my ass because I forgot that the actual question was on the main post about the game. Once I found that again I copied it onto a sheet of paper so I could write out the sounds as I figured them out. And so the teacher of my next class wouldn't flay and crucify and sous ve me for using my phone, but more so i could write my thoughts.

This bastard. (affectionate)

That symbol right there caused me the most trouble of everything, I thought for a moment I was going mad because I couldn't find anything like it in the sample text. But you know what? I think it's better that way. Made me think harder. I was kinda skipping around on words while translating, going for the easy words first then the words that I felt would be important. Decided I would hold off on this word and skipped back to the line above it to solve the big word up there. Catchphrase. And the last word was "Weekly". I realized then that this had to be "Wizard".

I'm glad that the "z" sound wasn't in the passage, it made me think harder about the puzzle, and that was fun in hindsight.

(please ignore the blatantly mistranslated word on the second row.)

Unfortunately I don't have timestamps for exactly when i entered the maze, but it was probably around 3:40, as I remember realizing school was about to be over, which meant I'd have to drive home before finishing if I didn't get through fast.

MAZE SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE IT RUINED FOR YOU. DO READ IF YOU'RE STUCK AND WANT TO PLACE. IM NOT YOU MOM.

On the first page of the maze there were three options to choose where to go. I translated the first option, If I recall correctly it was scoundrel. Did not want to deal with that, the second option I couldn't translate immediately, so I skipped to the third option. Merchant. Sounds safe enough, I should go there.

So I did.

Reading the options, and knowing I was at a merchant, I decided to barter, and got an item. Cool. Sick even. So I move on.

[something] [STRENGTH] [STEALTH]

Decided to go stealth, and remembering how the merchant went, I choose the stealth option. Made it out with a cool gem. Encountered the dragon. Decided I didn't want to give up the candle and tried using the gem. Back to the start. Same path with the merchant, chose the option i didn't translate for the monster, and decided to try and charm it. Sandwich aquired. Not a good offering, back to the start. Merchant and gem? Close but no. Finally, I decided to try and fight the monster. It worked, and the item visually matched what I got from the merchant much more that the other items, sure enough, it was a good enough offering, and I got to move on.

Last part of the maze. 14 options, one was correct, spotted it immediately. Escaped at 3:57 pm ctz, day one of the race.

Honestly, I thought the game was fun! The maze was slightly easier than the cypher, for better or for worse, but that also could have been on me by refusing to try the other routes at the start of the maze. I can't wait to see what future events have waiting for us! Thanks for hosting this @wizardweekly

#wizard #wizardposting #wizard race #wizard weekly #longpost

[roukabi]

if you're still into hadestown id love to hear more details of act II in your broadway x nytw au :)

OHHH ANON DEAREST....... YOU’VE ACTIVATED MY INFODUMP CARD!

ok ok first of all i am so sorry for my incessant videnoirposting, rest assured i am still very very into hadestown and I Will become normal again! and i have a backlog of ht-related art to finish lol.

Second.... BOY OH BOY DO I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY NYTW x BWAY AU!

(for the uninitiated: for the longest time i've had this nytw x broadway au, called the “Old Song” au, in which nytw orpheus becomes a very sad ghost and haunts the present (broadway) orpheus. Meanwhile, nytw Eurydice and bway Eurydice find each other in Hadestown and try to help each other 'survive'. I’d recommend reading the first part, otherwise the rest of this post won’t make much sense. I'll drop the link in a rb.)

(And I'm putting this under a readmore, because this is gonna get long.)

Now there are a few things I forgot to mention in that post, one of them being what this whole AU is actually about. Greek tragedy says that, despite what we (the audience) desire and what we understand, the characters will still fail. And that's alright. Life goes on, sometimes for the better. It's awful, but it's not the end.

In this AU, we're past having the characters try and fail. And y’know, it wasn't the end for them, either! Their failures mattered then, and they will now! Orpheus and Eurydice's futures will still go on whether they want them to or not!

But... because they are worlds apart, with (seemingly) no other way of reuniting and having the happy ending they desired... does that leave any hope for either of them?

This leads me to another theme of Hadestown, and the one I'm focusing on in this AU: despite everything, there will always be hope. It might take a while to see it, but it's always gonna be there. And how this AU is gonna work out is that we'll see this hope manifest in some characters (bway Orpheus, nytw Eurydice), how the lack of hope manifests in others (nytw Orpheus, bway Eurydice), and how all of that is subject to change as the characters grow. Somehow, though, they'll all have to cling onto that hope - that struggling dream of a better future - if they want to finally build a better life.

uh

ok

um

enough cringe talk about themes let's get some found family in this house

Soo.... Act II! I'm gonna start a bit ahead, where the first post left off: the Orphei are traversing the underground, and nytw Eurydice is giving bway Eurydice refuge.

Anyway, where we last left off, the Orphei have made it to the underworld! bway Orpheus kind of broke the Wall, which nytw Orph (nicknamed Ghost in this AU to make things easier, and to let nytw Orph distance himself from his past life) takes as good sign. If he can get past the wall like that by singin' a little tune, then the rest of the journey will be a cinch!

...It was not, in fact, a cinch.

Everything in Hadestown is Really loud, Really bright, and Really unfriendly to trespassers. Bway Orpheus gets overwhelmed very quickly and nytw Orph gets frustrated - he knows this place already, and also knows that strolling in during daytime hours is a one-way ticket to death (see Hermes's advice in Wait for Me).

They end up hiding in some abandoned worker cabin for the rest of the day, a rather unproductive start to their journey.

It's not helping matters that the Orphei had quite the argument back during Chant - nytw Orpheus got after bway Orpheus for not helping Eurydice, and it got to the point where he deliberately tried to break bway Orpheus's optimism so that he'd "wake up" and "finally try to be useful"... yes he was projecting, no it was not fun, yes it is still eating at him, and Yes, their relationship is... pretty strained right now. As if bway Orpheus's self-esteem wasn't already garbage.

This isn't the case for the Eurydices though! They're chilling in the house nytw Eurydice borrowed from Persephone + are escaping work quotas. The bad news is that they're content with sharing a name, which is kind of frustrating to try and write. Oh well!

Anyway, bway Eurydice finds it nice to have someone who actually understands her. Not that Orpheus wasn't understanding, he really, really, was, but he just didn't see the world the way she did. And nytw Eurydice can talk to someone who hasn't lost their head to the mines + machines! So yeah they hit it off real fast.

Eventually, though, bway Eurydice asks how the other managed to get stuck in Hadestown for so long. Nytw Eurydice stiffens. Frowns a bit. She stares at the floor for a beat or two before telling her that she doesn't know. Forgot.

She does know. She knows that it could probably happen to bway Eurydice, too, given all their similarities. But she's not going to be the one to break this new girl's spirit.

It's a vow that nytw Eurydice makes around the same time nytw Orpheus does, too. bway Orpheus isn't sleeping, and whether it's the noise outside the cabin walls, or the sneering voices in his head, nytw Orph doesn't really want to know.

That poor kid. He'd been nothing but kind to nytw Orpheus, trying to make his (after)life more bearable, a little more colorful - and nytw Orpheus had the gall to tear him down. He wouldn't have dared to hurt him if he were his old self.

It's just that bway Orpheus doesn't know how the world really is. Hadestown was cruel, and its brainwashed people wouldn't stop at hunting him down. Hades wouldn't let Eurydice go - not without an impossible price to pay. Nytw Orpheus didn't want to crush his successor's hopes by telling him all that.

And yet, he kind of... did.

Damn it.

He’s got to be better toward that boy. For both their sakes. 

The nytw duo realizes that, despite what happened to them before, they can’t let it interfere with the future of the bway duo. There’s still a chance for things to turn out, and after all, they aren’t the ones with something to lose.

However, not everyone in this story has this mindset. There’s still one more thing I really forgot to mention in the last post...

Because of her appearance in both NYTW and Broadway Hadestown, Jessie Shelton’s fate, Clotho, is here to add even more conflict! What about her sisters? uhhhhhhhh don’t worry about it lol they’re fine. She’s with the bway Lachesis and Atropos, but this is likely to change.

Clotho’s not pleased with the trajectory of this story. It was her job to keep it from changing, and now her #1 enemies are coming around to throw wrenches in her plans? Well. If she’s going to clean up the messes they’re making, she might as well have fun with it.

Clotho ends up terrorizing all four heroes, but really the bway duo, and mostly bway Orpheus because in the end, it's his actions that will determine the outcome of the story. The nytw duo is Very Much Not Happy with Clotho’s existence and they get very protective of their counterparts whenever she shows up. 

bway Orph tries really hard to guard nytw Orph from her, knowing their history and all. It doesn’t really work, but he tries!

(Clotho does, at one point, threaten to kill bway Orph if the Orphei continue their journey. Remember this.)

The Eurydices learn more about each other the more questions bway Eurydice asks - Do you think your Orpheus is looking for you? Is he down here? Will everyone forget about me, too? Different words, all asking the same thing: Is there a chance for me to get out of here?

bway Eurydice tries not to show it, but she’s scared. She has no idea what she’s gotten herself into, and she’s desperate for a ray of hope.

Nytw Eurydice tries her best to reassure her, but sometimes she just can’t answer. 

bway Eurydice does ask if the other workers could break free of Hadestown’s brainwashing. Nytw Eurydice thinks it’s possible.

Meanwhile, the Orphei have taken to sleeping during the day and moving at night - to keep from getting caught. bway Orpheus isn’t handling this well, nor is he handling the constant overstimulation, the paranoia of being an ‘outlaw’, all the pain and horrors inflicted on Hadestown’s people, Clotho being Clotho, etc., and one night he just... breaks down. He never thought the world could be this cruel.

Luckily for him, though, a certain someone who understands exactly what he’s going through sits down with him. Lets him vent. Gives him a hug.

Nytw Orpheus finally apologizes to the boy for his distance, and convinces him that not everything is awful; they have each other, and the very reason Nytw Orpheus is down with him is that he cares about bway Orph and wants to protect him. 

It’s here that bway Orpheus starts to smile again.

From that night on, things are a little better. Sure, all the terrible things  mentioned 4 bullet points ago still exist, but now the Orphei are joking between one another, collaborating on songs, and climbing the petrified trees scattering Hadestown’s landscape.

And for the Eurydices, life-after-death is getting... almost bearable?! Nytw Eurydice made the other a notebook of all her surface memories, just in case, and it’s not like either of them stopped singing. They’ll go out and check if one of their Orphei is out there. Sometimes they’ll just talk for hours about whatever the Memory of the Day is.

For the first time in decades, there's a sound so sweet and clear against the echoes of steel on stone: laughter is heard in the realm of Hades.

A month or two pass, and neither party has found the other. It’s around this time when the bway duo wonders about their companion’s past. 

It’s a topic that sickens the nytw duo, but they figure it’s time to talk about what happened. Time to show where all these mental - and in some cases, physical - scars came from.

After nytw Orpheus turned, Eurydice was almost immediately offered sanctuary by Persephone, who took pity on her. Eurydice took it, as long as she didn’t have to see Hades ever again.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t upset with Orpheus. She was actually pretty bitter about him for months, before she came to terms with how powerless they both were in that situation.

However, time wore on, and the mini-revolution Eurydice + Orpheus created fell further into obscurity. Less workers remembered what happened that fateful night. And then, to Eurydice’s dread, not even the gods knew who she was anymore. Afraid of losing herself, Eurydice hid by herself most of the time, alone with her memories in the old goddess’s house. At least without Hades knowing her, she couldn’t be tracked.

For Orpheus... well, he definitely didn’t receive a hero’s welcome upon returning to the surface. Wholly blamed for the loss of his wife, Orpheus, too, hid himself from the public. His relationship with Hermes soured as he pressured the poet to move on. It wasn’t just a shift in the people, either - in the rare times when Orpheus played music, his songs were so sorrowful that nature herself turned gray, and wept. Believing the change in Orpheus to be a curse, the townspeople banished him. Not that Orpheus had any time to grieve - he had brought upon himself the fury of the Maenads, whose courtship he refused. They slaughtered him by the river and threw his bones into the current. (Hermes found them, but never told Eurydice.) Orpheus woke up as a ghost, stuck on the surface with his guitar. No longer could he be seen, heard, or touched by mortals. Not that they’d want to find him, anyway, Orpheus thinks.

All four members of this Songbird Quartet are in tears by the time the tales are told.

It’s also worth mentioning that both nytw Orpheus and Eurydice conveniently left out the part where Orpheus turns. 

It’s also also worth mentioning that nytw Orpheus takes off his red jacket for the first time since death, letting bway Orph see the extent of the Maenad’s brutality.

The strangest thing happened to the nytw duo, though: things started getting much better for them once the bway duo came into their lives. Orpheus is finding his hope again and Eurydice has found meaning in her afterlife. Through the tragedy, something good did happen.

(... uh, little side note: I really hope y’all are catching on that the relationships between Orphei and Eurydices... are platonic in a brother/sister sense. I mean, I can’t stop you from shipping them, i guess, but romance isn’t what I’m aiming for... that’s all.)

A n y w a y , what ho! After months of searching, bway Orpheus gets the biggest smile on his face upon seeing his beloved Eurydice creeping through metal stacks surrounding Hades’s mansion (it’s work hours). The Orphei agree to split up for a bit: bway Orpheus reunites with Eurydice, while nytw Orph makes a quick last look for his own lover.

He travels a little far, and then farther, getting increasingly desperate. Where is she? Was he never meant to find her? Is she on the other side of Hadestown? Where is she now?

Panic and heartache spark in his chest and he starts to call her name into the expanse.

“...Orpheus?”

The voice is from behind. Orpheus won’t dare turn around. Not again.

She knows this. She knows his posture, too, and the shape of his hands - which are shaking. She comes up to his side and takes one before facing him. Tears are already spilling over his cheeks.

“It’s you.”

Tears threaten to spill on Eurydice’s cheeks, too.

“It’s me.”

yayyyy they’re together again! it’s really sappy and they keep apologizing to each other for everything. It’s a little sad when Eurydice puts a hand on Orpheus’s scarred face but that’s neither here nor there.

But woe! the happy reunion is cut short when a loud, booming voice shakes the songbirds’ cores:

“Young man!”

Eeeheeeheheeehee

the nytw duo, realizing that their sibling is now in Huge Danger, rush to Hades’s mansion. There stand a stricken bway Orpheus, a dreading bway Eurydice, Persephone, Hades, Hermes, workers... and the Fates.

There’s a moment of “woah everyone’s here” as the Songbird Quartet recognizes one another.

Hades and Persephone don’t recognize nytw Orph, which is great for some reasons and terrible for others.

Hades tells bway Orph that Eurydice can’t go back - she signed the deal, and sold her soul. Orpheus, horrified, looks at her, and Hades... and nytw Orph, who was too afraid to tell him. 

Nytw Eurydice, on the other hand, stares down Clotho with a ‘what the fuck do you want’ look. Clotho just smiles.

Hey, so, remember when I told you that Clotho threatened to kill bway Orpheus if they kept looking for Eurydice? Well.........

Hades calls upon the workers to drive bway Orpheus out. Unfortunately, though, Clotho has also given them the order to kill. Her word isn’t questioned: If Fate wishes it, then it shall be so, after all.

Clotho + her sisters nab bway Eurydice. Two workers restrain nytw Orpheus, who, while not knowing what exactly will happen to bway Orph, can deduct from Clotho’s threat that it won’t be good, and begs Hades to spare the boy. Nytw Eurydice, still wearing worker clothes and remaining undetected, sneaks out of the fuss and creeps behind the mansion (if we are thinking of the stage setup, where everyone is kind of in a circle, the nytw duo are on the opposite side from where the Fates + bway Eurydice are).

Workers circle bway Orpheus, and he gives nytw Orpheus one last terrified look before the first strike lands.

Now, we all know nytw Orpheus as a guy who’d have no problem throwing hands during Papers. Except this Orpheus has been ruined by his past, and freezes up when he sees the mob attack bway Orpheus. There are screams in his ears that aren’t there, the smell of metal, blood and wine, and a thousand terrible scenes in his head. It’s too much for him to watch.

...But the very reason nytw Orpheus is down here is because he cares about his newfound brother and wants to protect him. It was the one thing he promised to do.

So god damn, what was he doing?

Something snaps in him and he tries once again to wrestle his arms away from the workers holding him back. They don’t budge - nytw Orpheus’s strength is his words, not his muscles.

But then a low thud sounds against nytw Orpheus’s ears, and the hold goes loose. 

“Go!” cries nytw Eurydice, wielding a shovel and slamming its head against the other worker’s. “I’ll get Eurydice!”

nytw Orpheus gives a quick nod of thanks to his lover before rushing up to bway Orpheus, grabbing a pickaxe on the way.

Bway Orpheus has tried to flee the pack, but they keep catching him and throwing him down. He’s exhausted, he’s injured, and they aren’t letting up. One of the workers - the largest one in the mob - raises a pick. Orpheus can’t get himself off the ground.

Then there’s a flash of red, a scream, a metallic smell.

bway Orpheus dares to open his eyes and sees that the mob has stopped, paralyzed with shock. The worker who held the pick now clutched his arm instead, pressing against a long, gruesome tear in the skin.

And standing in front of him, a pickaxe in his hands and a wild, cold glare that’s stark against his bloodied face - is Orpheus’s brother.

A couple steps behind the mob are the Eurydices, and one of them still has her shovel. Nytw Orpheus shouts at the workers, telling them to back off (in a much ruder way). The workers, seeing the outcome of fighting these three, retreat.

Nytw Orpheus, chest heaving, drops the pickaxe and carefully steps over bway Orpheus so that he is behind the latter. He gently scoops the boy into his arms. He’s blacked out, but he’s still got a pulse, thank the gods.

Now, while nytw Eurydice did do what she said she would (free Eurydice), that doesn’t mean she got rid of the fates. And of course, Clotho appears.

Nytw Eurydice somehow keeps enough composure to not beat the shit out of her with a rusty shovel. She gives Clotho enough time for her to say that while, yes, the initial murder plan was foiled by our heroic rulebreakers, the damage has already been done. bway Orpheus has been told that his lover sold herself to Hades, and on top of that, the people who could’ve been his friends on the surface nearly killed him in Hadestown. It’s not like this was a sudden effect - Orpheus’s worldview started crumbling the minute he entered Hadestown. This was just the last step. Now with that sweet, sweet doubt in his head, things should go back to normal.

bway Eurydice is quite shaken by this - it’s her story, too. So nytw Eurydice swings her shovel a bit to get her to fuck off. Clotho does. (I like to think that the Fates can appear + disappear in a plume of dark smoke. Just a lil thing that’d look cool in animation.)

The three of them kinda. stare at each other for a bit. 

They take bway Orph to nytw Eurydice’s house to patch him up and rest. Nytw Orpheus washes the blood from his face, and there’s a distant look in his eyes as he recovers from what he did. bway Eurydice, who’s a smidge intimidated by him, says she thought he was pretty cool back there. It gets nytw Orpheus to laugh just the slightest bit, and thus, a friendship is born.

Nytw Eurydice and Orpheus take some time to catch each other up on what happened to them while bway Eurydice looks after her Orpheus.

He wakes up after some hours, a little worried, but with Eurydice there he settles down. She jogs his memory of what happened.

He starts venting to her, apologizing profusely for putting everyone in this mess and placing all their hopes on a song he couldn’t finish. Nothing Eurydice says can comfort him.

Unfortunately, Clotho was right: bway Orpheus is shattered. He goes on about how he is at fault, not just for Eurydice’s imprisonment in Hadestown, but for forcing nytw Orpheus to re-live his trauma to save him, and putting nytw Eurydice back on Hades’s hitlist. He’s hopeless, he says. This whole journey is hopeless. And because he’s the one to blame, he’s better off leaving.

He tries to leave Hadestown, despite the other three trying to get him to stop, but there’s another force keeping him from going too far: the workers. They’ve been listening to his plight, and they feel their old humanity come back to them at his sorrowful song (If It’s True).

Orpheus looks at his family, then looks back at the workers. Perhaps he did do something good for these people. Perhaps there’s still a chance for them.

Hermes comes up to the quartet, bearing news (it’s kind of his thing): Hades has also heard what the workers are starting to whisper about - a possible revolt against Hadestown’s cold-hearted structure - and demands for the four of them to come to his mansion. It’s judgment time.

Nytw Orpheus, who is bitter toward Hermes, demands to know why he didn’t help bway Orpheus since he was a god. Hermes, unfazed, asks why he couldn’t prevent the mob from attacking bway Orpheus, if he’d already lived Orpheus’s life. This quiets nytw Orpheus’s anger.

At the mansion, Hades tries to intimidate bway Orpheus before he actually passes judgment, though a very aggressive nytw Orpheus protects the other. Not today, Hades!

Persephone gives the Eurydices a bit of advice - maybe a mix of the London and NYTW Seph verses for Chant II - as she, too, heard the poet’s song.

The Fates are also there, watching. Plotting, probably.

Finally, Hades gives bway Orpheus his task: Sing a pretty song, and perhaps Hades will make use of him and spare his family. If he fails, it’s to the Great Beyond for all of them.

bway Orph is shaking like an autumn leaf. He’s not done with his song. It never worked the way he wanted it to. He’d tried to get nytw Orpheus to help him with it, but he’d refused, saying that if the song were really special, it would’ve come straight from bway Orpheus’s heart.

From the heart. Okay. That’s what Orpheus will do.

And to make a long story short, it works. beautifully. Orpheus sings his song of love and it swells as everyone else joins in. It’s like the heart of Hadestown is glowing.

At the end, Hades remembers his love for Persephone. He remembers his humanity. The old gods dance as if they were young lovers again.

And Orpheus just about blacks out again from cathartic relief. (Side note: I like to think that nytw Orph says something along the lines of “Easy there, rockstar!” I know the term won’t come around until the 60s but I think it’s really cute :))

Well, things seem to be going alright now! Hades isn’t as Bent on Harming the Four, Persephone’s smiling again, the workers are getting hopeful, and our four songbirds are together now. 

... Except, a look of unease haunts the nytw duo’s faces. They know what comes next after this. So does Clotho. The song wasn’t the real test, as we all know.

bway Orph asks if they can go, Hades says no, blah blah blah we've been here before.

Hermes tells the four (well, mainly the bway duo) of the task ahead. They are, of course, dumbfounded and frightened by what it entails. They look back at their older siblings, wordlessly asking, “did you know?”

Nytw Orpheus and Eurydice look away.

The bway duo demands them to tell the full truth of how they were separated. So they do. They tell their doomed successors that nytw Orpheus failed to bring them both out, and that the chances of it happening again are high. It’s completely up to the new duo, and the nytw duo didn’t want to talk of it out of fear of crushing their hopes.

The bway duo is... not pleased. They’re not just crushed, they’re betrayed. How could the nytw duo lie to them for so long, lead them down this path just to pull the rug out from under them? 

Nytw Orpheus reaches out to bway Orpheus, but the latter backs away, and leaves them. Bway Eurydice just shakes her head. She leaves them, too.

That night, when the four are preparing for the journey out, bway Eurydice finds her lover cupping his carnation in his palms. They talk quietly about the trek ahead, and Eurydice tells Orpheus that, even though their predecessors failed, that doesn’t mean they will, too. For what it’s worth, said predecessors didn’t have dead companions to travel with. And if the nytw duo were able to change (for the better) because of the bway duo’s actions, then maybe their ending could, too. “If they could do it, so can we.” 

Orpheus smiles, but his doubts still gnaw at him. What if their actions changed the outcome for the worse? He just wanted everyone to be safe and happy, but what if this night’s events shouldn’t have happened the way they did? Especially with Clotho’s plan unraveling faster than ever, did they really make all the right decisions? Could he put faith in himself, or was everything that the townspeople said up top, about the harshness of the world and all, really true?

Speaking of Clotho, she appears once more to nytw Eurydice. Eurydice snaps at her for putting everyone on the road to ruin, but Clotho merely states that she’s not the only one trying to get what she wants. Like it or not, everyone had a part to play. “This story of ours was your doing, too,” she says. “Now you finish it. I’m just helping it move along.”

As Clotho departs, Eurydice finds that statement... oddly comforting. If bway Orpheus just holds onto the hope he’d always had with him, then maybe... just maybe...

It’s a long night, and it’s a little odd with two somewhat estranged couples sharing a house. Eventually, they all decide to try and make amends in the tiny living room. Apologizing, conversing softly about their fears and hopes, curling up together on the surprisingly large worn couch. bway Orpheus lets his brother hug him. 

“I’m scared.”

“I know,” nytw Orpheus whispers. “And I have so much faith in you nonetheless.”

They sleep together on the couch that night. Lovers, brothers, and sisters say “I love you”. Hell, friends do, too, why not. There’s an air of peace in the stony caverns of Hadestown, and it’s enough to bring the four to a restful sleep.

They’ll need it for the journey ahead.

And, then, that morning, they set out, and... 

OHHH, GEE! Look at how long this got! Gee whizz, look at the time, too! I think it’s time to stop. We’ll leave the thrilling conclusion for another time!

Thanks a billion for the ask, anon, and thanks a lot to you, reader, if you actually got this far! I don’t write much, but when I do, I get really into it... 

There’s some stuff in Act I of this AU I still haven’t talked about - mostly silly fluff between the brothers, fluff between the sisters, some angst between the brothers, orphydice fluff, and nytw Orph’s strained relationship with the new Hermes, but again, that’s for another time. 

#OOOOAGHGH maybe notn didn't give me carpal tunnel but writing this sure did! #this was so much fun tho. i got so excited when i read the ask bc that's a Thing I'm Really Passionate About! #I've been refining it for years! no i don't like letting old ideas go lol #hadestown #hadestown au #hadestown broadway #hadestown nytw #orpheus #eurydice #orpheus hadestown #eurydice hadestown #nytw x broadway crossover #old song au #rook roars! #long post #rook's mailbox #also sorry if i misinterpreted all the characters. i promise bway orph is still sweet n loveable it's just that (class) war is hell #caps tw

[digital-roots]

Doing the tdi simulator and i want to share some highlights rn (which are mostly abt Cody)

- Owen was the first to get eliminated

- Leshawna has gotten close to getting eliminated FOUR TIMES already

- Cody is the best player in Screaming Gophers and is in two alliances: One just with Izzy and one with literally everyone else EXCEPT Noah (whos the only person that disliked him so far)

- Noah and Trent are close but Cody gets Noah eliminated, making Trent dislike Cody and leaving the alliance

- so Cody (who everyone else in the Screaming Gophers like) gets Trent eliminated right after Noah (Its shown that Cody voted both Noah and Trent out too)

- Im actually really impressed at how Cody is doing what the fuck why is he being so smart

- also i want to point out that he still has his two man alliance with Izzy. (Anyone here watched the Izzy isnt crazy conspiracy video. What if he knows)

- oh god Cody dislikes Beth shes gonna be next

I've been trying to put a readmore here but tumblr wont help im sorry yall

- Geoff and Bridgette hate each other :(

- CODY FUCKING OVERCOMES HIS FEAT TWICE. I DID NOT BUFF HIS STATS AT ALL BEFORE I MADE THIS

- Cody and Justin just had a MAJOR fight

- this has quickly spiraled into me liveblogging abt Cody boybossing his way into victory

- the entire time most of the Killer Bass fucking despise each other

- Gwen, Izzy and HEATHER all feel an unbreakable bond towards Cody. He gets bitches!!!!!!!!!

- im going insane HOW does he do it. Cody literally Screaming Gophers' saving grace

- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH CODY JUST HAD A MAJOR MELTDOWN

- whats gonna happen to his reputation??????

- Sadies impressing her team :)

- Tyler just got eliminated and i forgot to mention how he had two alliances in the beginning. And he left both of them

- Cody and co havent seem to change anything (oh and btw heather and beth have an unbreakable bond now)

- OHHHHHH NEVERMIND CODY HAD ANOTHER MELTDOWN AND HE JUST LEFT HIS ALLIANCE. CODY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING

- Sadie has also been close to elimination three times now bruh

- Cody and Izzy still have their alliance. Maybe he's trying to focus more.

- the screaming gophers have been winning back to back so much damn

- Cody and Beth fought but then they made up after

- Sadie literally competing with Leshawna on who can get the most amount of almost elimimations

- AAAAANNNNNDD FOR THE FIFTH TIME SADIE ALMOST GETS ELIMINATED

- Courtney and Ezekiel of all people have an unbreakable bond

- can the killer bass win one time guys. Can the screaming gophers stop being infinitely better than them

- Beths impressing the rest of the team....

- oh and the alliance is falling apart....ever since cody left gwen and heather left too

- SIX ALMOST ELIMINATIONS. HOW DOES SHE DO IT

- despite being a boyboss cody still sucks at sports

- FINALLY. SADIE FINALLY GETS ELIMINATED.

- holy shit katie voted for her what a twist

- its literally so pathetic that the Screaming Gophers has 7 members while the Killer Bass has. 3

- ohhhhhhh shit yeah this is the part where it gets grouped to guys and girls now. Uh oh Cody only has Ezekiel and Justin now

- THE GUYS WIN THE CHALLENGE

- ok merge time

- Harold and Tyler return!

- wish it was either Trent or Noah tho

- Cody has so many unbreakable relationships its unreal

- of course Heather gets a torture where its literally just listening to her own voice

- izzys final torture is literally just getting pelted by water balloons and She LOSES how embarassing

- Everyone else thinks Izzy was cringe and all vote her off

- and ofc Justin wins cologne

- i am not fucking kidding CODY GETS THE INVINCIBILITY GIFT BASKET. HE IS LITERALLY CANON TDI HEATHER IF SHE WAS ACTUALLY WELL LIKED

-if cody actually wins i might get mad everything thats happened so far HAS to be because he'll lose

- harold elimimated Cringe

- Cody at the very least is still pretty weak theres been numerous times where hes almost cost his team (and despite it still winning)

- oh and ofc he wins invincibility again. Cody you goddamn rascal

- Literally only Heather and Gwen didnt win the challenge (Gwen got voted off)

- oh cody and justin have an alliance now

- leshawna :(

- oh shit cody only has heather now

- huh ezekiel has actually won a lot of challenges i just realized

- codys noticed ezekiels winnings. He does not like that

- Heather chose a chipmunk for the challenge and she LOST that mustve been a hilariously long time wrangling that chipmunk

- OH. MY. GOD.

- CODY FUCKING GOT ELIMINATED.

- Ezekiel was the enemy he found out about too late

- Im so mad this simulator game has made me feel so much for Cody that i'll miss him so much im never seeing boybossing Cody ever again

- Im actually rooting for Ezekiel now what

- Ezekiel got eliminated.

- everyone hates Katie wow

- the final four are Courtney, Heather, Justin, and Tyler

- Tyler naurrrrr he was so close :(

- JUSTIN LOSES!!!!!! HEATHER AND COURTNEY FINALE!!!!!!

- HEATHER WINS TOTAL DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!!

- fuck this Cody aint in total drama action

- oh my god. This was a lot.

Here all the placements btw

- Katie and Sadie have the most votes wow

- Screaming Gophers literally won 7 times in a row. Unreal

- I think i need to lie down that took so much out of me

#total drama #total drama island #tdi cody #td cody #he needs to be tagged. #a-maize-ing post #savefilez #long post