XOXO ❅ VALENTINE'S EVENT

[nightmods]

XOXO

One major problem with being the group that's responsible for solving all kinds of problems in the myth world is other myths can kind of be dicks about it. That's why, on Valentine's Day, Cupid shows up, quickly offloads his kid (the toddler Baby Cupid), and runs off to take care of spreading love on his holiday, with barely a how'd you do. He doesn't even say thank you.

To be fair, you can't fault him too much for only trusting the Guardians to babysit his kid in these dangerous and uncertain times, especially when children at risk against the fearlings.

Still, that means there's a giggling toddler, about 2-years-old in appearance, but maybe with the mental age of a 4 or 5 (he is definitely old enough to understand he's being naughty and deserving of a time out) flitting around the Pole causing all kinds of Valentine's related problems. Fortunately, the toddler has learned that he's not quite old enough to know the right times to help people fall in love (Adult Cupid just helps things along when they're already falling, or when they need help falling back in love, of course).

Instead, Baby C is doing what his father taught him to do and causing all kinds of tricks to try to get people to admit feelings that already exist or manufacturing ways for them to become closer to each other.

HONESTY ARROWS ♥ Baby Cupid isn't shooting magic arrows that cause anyone to develop feelings for each other but he sure is trying to make sure people talk about whatever feelings they have. Anyone hit will be compelled to blurt out various truths about themselves, their personal history, and their feelings to whoever is around them and will have difficulty stopping or drawing themselves away. In fact, if someone walks away they'll feel compelled to find someone else to confess to. The effect wears off anywhere between 5 minutes to a half hour.

TATTLETALE ROSES ♥ Vines of roses are now growing all over the Workshop. For those who are in love, they take the form of the face of the person they're in love with. The more they try to hide it or deny it from someone they're talking to, the more of them bloom with the person's face.

THORNY VINES OF CLOSENESS ♥ The rose vines have their own annoying purpose: bonding! For people that clearly need to become friends, fall in love, or fall deeper in love, thorny vines will wrap around both people, forcing them into a little cage together. The thorns fortunately won't poke them - they seem to be maneuvered in a way to just make sure there are no gaps to escape through. The vines are magically reinforced and can't be opened with any physical or magical means. After that, one of two things will happen:

1) A card will fall from the ceiling of the cage saying: Tell each other how you really feel about each other!!! This will happen if the cage thinks they need to affirm the status of their relationship, whether they need to admit they're in love, admit they've been bitten by the friend bug if they're reluctant to, or really need to talk about how much they mean to each other as friends. Only then will they be let out of the feelings shame corner.

2) If the two don't know each other, or both people could afford to get to know each other better multiple cards will drop from the ceiling with icebreaker questions, as if they're a bunch of new hires at an orientation.

How many will they have to answer before they're released? Who knows! But they have to answer them honestly or the cage won't open.

CANDY LONELY HEARTS ♥ People who are on the lonelier side and in need of support might find a candy heart on a random surface. The messages on them are on the platonic side (Like "You rock!" or "Shine on!") They'll feel compelled to eat them (even if they're on the floor). When they do, a glowing red thread will appear and tie itself around their finger. Briefly, in the air, the glowing string will form into letters that tell the person what they need to do to be release, whether it's telling someone they're lonely, asking for some kind of support, or admitting a vulnerability.

Then it'll whip out and grab someone else nearby, wrapping around their finger as well. Sometimes, two people might eat a candy at the same time and each have a string appear and they'll tie in the middle.

The strings are unbreakable, and they won't be set free until whoever ate a candy talks about their loneliness or vulnerable feelings - regardless of whether or not the other person is an eager listener.

OOC DETAILS
❅ Starters: You can make up your own wildcard effects, feel free! If you do, please consider posting it to the Wildcard comment below so others might be able to pick up the same effect as well if they like them.

❅ Multiple effects: Feel free to have characters slammed by as many of Baby C's traps in the same thread as you want. No reason someone can't have the worst luck and trip three Cupid traps at once or several of them in a row.

Comments

[credit_not_blame]

"Ate some stupid magic candy," Stacia says, rolling with Tim's horrified accusatory question with reasonably good cheer. After all, she did do a stupid thing, even if it was compelled. "Because Valentine's Day. Don't worry, it's not permanent. We just need to bond emotionally a little bit and then the string will go away."

[lowercase_el]

[When they originally met, Kon could have never expected that someday Tim would be screaming at the top of his lungs that he has big feelings, nor would he have ever guessed he'd be the subject of them. Not in a million years.]

[He flies them along quickly, dodging all the chaos. But there is a lot of chaos so he doesn't see the arrow coming, especially since the kid came from another direction than the one he flew off in.]

[It's magic so naturally it goes right through his teke shield and absorbs into his chest. It's clear he feels the same itch from the way he scratches his chest with his free hand.]

Aw, come on. Stupid magic.

[But other than rolling his eyes he's not excessively fussed over it. Whatever. They can still have a conversation and hopefully it'll wear off soon. If not, Jack can probably figure something out.]

[He goes back to the conversation.]

Look, I'm not telling you it'll good stuff because it's what I'm supposed to say. I'm telling you because I don't want you to be nervous I'll react badly when I'm about to get all Hallmark up in here instead.

[Kon doesn't blurt anything extra, as if he's not struggling that much with the compulsion. But maybe it's because he's not fighting it.]

[He gets them into their room and deposits Tim on the floor, closing the door behind them, but doesn't let go of his hand. Instead he leads him over to sit with him on the cozy little heavily cushioned window seat set in the bay window that looks out on the North Pole. The aurora dances its usual dance, reflecting on the ice. It's still night all the time. The sun won't rise again until the equinox.]

C'mere.

[He holds his arms open, welcoming him there, wanting to hold him and keep him grounded during something he knows is anxiety inducing.]

We should probably talk about this face to face but I want you to feel all secure and junk.

I know a Bat suddenly having all their feelings fall out over the floor is one of your worst nightmares. Your cowls are full of secrets.

Dan Sagittarius | Open

[hallelujahjunction]

I. Honesty

"Ouch!"

Dan was putting together a sandwich in the kitchen - peanut butter and honey with maple syrup and marshmallows, delightfully nutrition-free - when something stings his shoulder. He whips around to see what caused it but finds nothing, and because his hands are covered in maple syrup and peanut butter, he has to take a moment to wash them before he paws at his shoulder and retrieves the tiny red arrow with a few drops of blood on it. The delay means that he's lost precious time in tracking down the miscreant, so when he turns the corner he doesn't see the archer, but one of his fellow myths.

"I don't know what the solar system is and at this point I'm afraid to ask," he blurts at the first person he runs into.


II. Candy Hearts

Dan's come back from one of his horse runs to a gas station - part of his weekly ritual to restock on his personal favorite junk foods, drugs and alcohol - and has just come in from the stables, having finished giving Concrete Blonde a full care session with brushing, new shoes and plenty of treats to reward her for her work running across the ocean in sub-zero temperatures just so Dan could get his creature needs met. He smells a bit like a barn, and because the stables are cold, he's beelining towards the common area to warm his hands again over the fire - which is when he sees a selection of small candy hearts on one of the side tables to the couch.

"Oh, hell yes." He can tell the candies have writing on them, but if someone wanted him not to eat the candy because it was already claimed, they wouldn't have left it sitting on a table. And surely these can't be warning labels or anything, and if so, he probably wouldn't heed them anyway. He loads up seven or eight candy hearts into his palm and wolfs them down in one bite, murmuring through chewing, "candy for Danny..."

And that's when some red strings seem to come out of nowhere and wrap themselves around his hands, then up his wrists and eventually putting him in a clumsy hogtie on the couch. Some sorts of squiggles that doubtless have meaning parade around in the air, but damned if Dan can interpret them.

He doesn't cry out for help. He's near a warm, cozy fire, and he's got nowhere to be, and truly, he's sure someone's going to get on his case about this and evangelize about how he needs to either cut back on sugar or learn how to read, and given that he has no plans to entertain either idea he's just going to wait.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ The shot takes the argument out of Tim, all mental energy diverted to a spiral of thoughts too disorganized to be a mantra that revolve around Kon’s being fine because the magic arrows hit Tim as well.

And Kon knows it, too, or knows to not let Tim go when he’s embarrassed nowadays. Feeling small is halfway to being small, but he’s never shrunk when touching someone else. Like an instinctual failsafe.

The offered embrace is too much to resist, though, and Tim takes him up on it immediately to hide in the open. Only when he feels secure and junk does he risk opening his mouth again to breathe the truth. ]

They shot you.

[ it was so quick, when Tim was right there and already blathering about his fear of loss. He wants to hold on until the magic fades, but it’s not all about him. ]

We can’t talk face-to-face. Yet.

[ The word is added with a growl of exertion, as Tim strikes a bargain with the truth. ]

I need five minutes if you want me to be okay with eye contact and this.

[ He can’t lie. Not even white lies about how they can talk face to face. Tim doesn’t - he tries to not hide the big truths from Kon. But he window dresses. Hides the mess.

He’s a disaster. ]

Especially if you’re going to get all Hallmark. With me.

[lowercase_el]

Then just stay here for a bit. We can talk like this. With you smushed into the refuge of my manful shoulders.

[One of his hands brushes the hair on the back of Tim's head. Ever since they started dating he's loved excuses to play with his hair.]

So, gonna circle back now... [Sorry, Tim.] And let me get through all this in case you change the subject a bunch more times. I'm going to say my piece, okay?

[There's too much risk Tim'll blurt his way into more subjects and even hope it happens to move the conversation on.]

First of all, you can't actually screw things up by doing any of those things. We'll figure out a living situation, that can yes, include Gotham - although it'd be nice to have a place in a second city or something so I can get a break from Gotham being, like, intense to death sometimes.

[Not "we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it" or something noncommittal. "We'll figure out a living situation" like it's inevitability. Like he's already given it thought. Like he's been thinking about the future.]

I'll also know which promises will be total bullshit because I know you and I know the things that are important to you and I know the things you'll need to be doing. I know you'll take risks I hate. I know you'll face some serious creeps and I'll hate that even more. I know Batting it up will eat up time you'll really want to promise to me. I know sometimes date night will get interrupted by you going and saving some kidnapped kids from getting their faces eaten by Killer Croc or something. And that there are some situations where I can't Kool-aid man my way in to help or it might blow up worse or attract stronger bad guys to Gotham.

It's okay. If you promise something I know it's 'cause you really want to give it.

Sometimes I'll have to break promises too and run off to help Kal, Kara, and Jon stop a tidal wave in Sumatra or something. Someday when Kal retires, that'll probably be even more of a thing. Jon might need help sometimes. Very big red boots to fill.

I also get that you're going to struggle with the overprotective self-sacrificing thingy. I will too.

[He briefly presses his lips together in a taut line.]

I know since I was so oblivious that you probably have it in your head that I wouldn't have been completely wrecked if things had been in reverse. Thing is...I think I would've wound up less oblivious and only figured it out too late.

And like yeah, I probably would've attempted marginally less resurrection attempts, but only 'cause I'm a little better at leaning on people than you are when I'm hurting. And better at dealing with feelings stuff.

There still would've been this you-shaped hole forever, though. Just like ripping a thread back all the way almost to the beginning of my entire life. And nothing would've ever fixed it.

For half a second after - after what went down on the lake, and Bart and I got you out of the water - I was worried that's how it was gonna be.

And when I think about how that'd feel...I get it. I get why it's going to keep being so hard for you to stop trying to put me ahead of you. I'm going to try not to do the same thing because I know you need me to try but I might cave and break it too.

We'll both just have to try to turn those situations into protecting each other as much as we can instead. Us against whatever together.

[The PTSD thing he's still turning over in his head first because there's less of a pat answer. He knows Tim will (justifiably, given Gotham) distrust therapists. There's no easy solution.]

Honesty

[boldboimler]

Where Boimler is standing there with a cup of coffee, he suddenly perks up, like a dog hearing a dog whistle. Dan may as well have turned on a bat signal in the shape of a Starfleet delta instead of a bat.

There are some people that Boimler would mock for not knowing about the solar system but even though he only knows Dan in passing he's at least keened on that he's a Past Guy, one of many Past People on the team, and he has no idea what the technology or education is like for him back home. He's read things on the past internet that make it clear the education is pretty bad even in lots of places in this time on this version of Earth. If he'd been raised in Modesto in the present day, he might have even not have learned multivariable calculus during his pre-Starfleet education. (Perish the thought!)

"Ooh!" He says it with an energy that's half over-excitable science teacher and half a kid desperately wanting the same teacher to pick him in class. He puts his coffee down on a nearby table and gathers up an armful of random toy making scrap junk off a yeti work table near him for visual aids. "I can totally explain that!"

He goes over and dumps the stuff on the table nearest Dan and starts arranging it into a pattern then looks for something to write with. The Pole always has markers and other non-digital writing tools all over. He is definitely going to fuck up that tablecloth with orbital paths on the solar system's orbital plane in a second.

(How often do you get to teach someone about the solar system for the first time?! Like never. Even kids learn it at a super, super early age and he doesn't ever hang around any kids anyway and also he'd much rather talk to an adult. Besides very small children, everyone else knows about what solar systems are already. Everyone.)

[kemonookami]

Probably not surprising the one who is an eight-foot-tall wolf monster virtually all the time comes across after a moment.

"Hah, what did you do to get yourself locked up like that?"

Garurumon shakes his head, having gotten somewhat used to the presence of all these strangers in the workshop, so although he still is hiding away in the depths of the workshop for long amounts of times, he's venturing upwards, and encountered Stacia among these vines. Having commented that, Garurumon paws at the thorns carefully, testing how bad these are. Since he can breathe fire, he's pretty sure he could just incinerate these, but also doing that indoors is a bad idea.

He has no idea every second he spends here is one second of risk of getting caged along Stacia in there -- and his luck is going to run out.

I

[kemonookami]

The confession Garurumon hears is one he's not sure what to even do about...

"...you sure you're not getting told some random thing to see how gullible you are?"

...because he doesn't know what a solar system is either. Obviously he knows what the sun is! His world has a sun, after all! What's not for sure is if there's anything else up there beyond the skies. Probably nothing, and if there is, it sure won't be a solar system, and why would Garurumon know about what outer space in the human world is like?

So overall, Dan stating he doesn't know what a solar system makes him likely to think someone was playing a joke on this guy.

[arthropoda]

"I feel I'm disappointing everyone I have known by eating candy from the floor..."

Taylor does feel somewhat ashamed over it. It feels like she subjected herself to something a little low, but overall it was harmless, no? Mostly because she's trying very, very hard not to think about the string wrapped around her finger. She knows what's the easiest way to get rid of it, and yet she really, really would like to try a million other ways to break the red string. She always was introverted, and this feels like putting her on the spotlight in some way.

Perhaps that's why, hiding her hand behind her back, she's gone around just talking to others because hey, aiding others in getting rid of theirs the easy way is fine and dandy.

[arthropoda]

[Mutual blathering is fine!

Taylor got a red string tied on her, and fortunately for her, she had been able to not get tied to someone right away -- mostly because, reacting fast, she managed to get a couple insects wrapped into it. It's like she's tied to herself...which is not favorable, because having to carry that around hanging from her hand is cumbersome, but she's been trying to find a way to get rid of it instead of having to do what the string indicated she should do.

Unfortunately for Taylor, this kind of magic won't be held under loopholes forever. She didn't take into account someone else would get their own string entangled upon hers, and so Boimler's ties itself to the string on her finger, connecting them. When she sees him careening towards her, guided by the string, Taylor mutters under her breath]

Shit...

[She really had hoped she wouldn't have to play along but looks like all options are closed off now, now that someone else is involved]

II

[arthropoda]

Encountering this guy hogtied on the couch makes Taylor sigh. Truthfully, she has been going around trying to aid others to get rid of the strings they get tied with, with varying degrees of willingness from the other party. Encountering once another person like this, Taylor decides to give this a try as usual. Sitting on the floor, she nods.

"Okay, I'm here to listen, no judgment. Go ahead."

It's a bit exhausting, to be a bit of a sounding board for feelings, but she does it willingly. Despite everything, she does care about other people's wellbeing, so although it's tiring she gives it a try.

[arthropoda]

It's not poisoned, is it?

[This is the first time Taylor sees the little cherub shooting someone, and right away, her thought was that it might be laced with something to weaken you. She doesn't suspect a thing about the real effect of the arrow.]

Re: Dan Sagittarius | Open

[branchifer]

For a frolicking woodland creature, Branch has definitely taken to doodling around on his phone comm like a pro.

But also to be fair, he'd be a Gen Zer if he'd been born on Earth in the same world and country as Dan. Maybe being glued to a screen just a little too much is some kind of contagion, hopping species.

There's a lot of useful information, though, and he hasn't stopped being curious about the human world. And there's general knowledge too, about human machines, about building things, about survival skills (in case he ever finds himself in the human wilderness), etc etc. He'd never dreamed he could have the equivalent of basically a million scrapbooks right at his fingertips. He liked reading but he'd had so few before rejoining village life - he'd rarely come into the village to have a chance to pick them up.

Right now he's currently sitting against the wall that has his tiny little front door. At this point, everyone knows that's the tiny door to his tiny little house that they're allowed to tap at, though it's clear he's taken over some of the interiors of the walls due to how he definitely comes out of random holes in the walls at times. He's only commandeered one of the actual human rooms for a work room to tinker in with big human stuff.

He's mostly just lounging and looking chilled out. The only sign he's alert to the chaos going on is the way his big ears are sort of scanning to track the noises like little radar dishes.

He's outside his little hole and at his 3-foot size because there's chaos going on and he wants to be aware of any threats before they happen. He's near his door so he can shrink boogie out if one of said threats gets too close. So far it seems like it's just the baby myth kid getting up to some mischief, though.

"...I have no clue what that is either."

Woodland creachur, after all.

He shrugs.

"If you haven't needed to know it by now it's probably not that important."

Garurumon

[kemonookami]

Arrows

[kemonookami]

It's kind of embarrassing he got hit by an arrow, but Garurumon just shrugged it off. He got a little bit cocky, probably -- the arrow was just a tiny little thing! Didn't even stick on him, it vanished in a puff of smoke almost right away. Didn't even get through the skin, his natural endurance making that not do a thing physically.

But the more insidious effects sure make themselves known after a while, and Garurumon absolutely hates it.

Perhaps it's no wonder Garurumon, once he felt the burn of having to share something significant enough about his emotions or his past, he tried to get away, back to the sleigh room as usual, but that didn't do a thing. A couple hours of that itching need to share made him go out to the common areas.

There's something kind of pitiful about this large wolf creature, hunched over in a loaf, head against the floor and front paws over his snout, a tad distressed from what this might all lead to.

Whenever someone is nearby, he mumbles:

"Don't make me speak about anything. Keep walking, come on."

By now everyone must know what's going on with the arrows, so it's not hard to guess what's afflicting him!

II. Candy Hearts

[composinghistory]

Jaskier also saw some candy hearts sitting on a table and assumed they were free real estate. He ate a few, then noticed the red thread that tied itself around his wrist. He's intrigued, and it only might be dangerous, so of course he's going to follow where it leads. (He does not notice the bright red words hovering above his head stating "I FEAR THAT EVERYONE I CARE ABOUT WILL LEAVE ME")

Finding Dan all trussed up on the couch is a pleasant sight. He looks quite comfortable. He leans oh-so-casually against the door frame.

"Well, I can't say I anticipated this particular surprise, but I certainly won't complain."

[mostdangerousbird]

Most nicknames are short like that.

[ He keeps the correction gentle, because Tim’s not about to make Lucky feel like he’s wrong or less for being a clone.

(Kon would handle this better, but it’s not on him to be their resident clone expert.)

He’ll come back to why it’s not safe in a moment. ]

No. Well, yes, but it depends on your definition of stealing. They called me Rob because I go by Robin sometimes. Rob sounds like a normal name. Nothing to be suspicious about hanging out with your buddy Rob. Rob’s shorter and easier to shout during an emergency, too, so it’s safer in a fight.

When we’re here at the workshop, you can call me Tim, but if we’re out in the world? Then you can call me Rob.

[orivodika]

[It's like how Dooku and Tyranus are the same person, but no one's supposed to know that.]

I know someone with two names like that. He tried to kill me to keep it a secret, but I got away. Are you going to do that too? No one's tried to kill me since I got here, which is strange.

I'm Boba. That's the name my dad gave me: Boba Fett. It's a real name, not a clone name.

[He doesn't want to be saying any of this. It's none of Tim's business!]

I called myself Lucky when I was trying to pretend to be one of them, but they found out who I was when Aurra made me leave the cadets floating in the escape pod- [his voice gets more distressed as he continues to speak and can't seem to stop] -and none of it mattered anyway because she tried to make me kill the Commander and stole my ship and left me behind to get caught-

[Boba slaps a hand over his mouth to make himself stop talking.]

[mostdangerousbird]

I do like your shoulders.

[ It’s a helpless under-his-breath declaration, because he couldn’t keep quieter than that.

The face smushing helps. He wouldn’t be able to shush if he wasn’t tucking his face against Kon’s shoulder. The hand smoothing over his hair is better yet, just an extra sliver of deliberate contact. It’s not just about talking Tim down from the side effects: it’s wanted.

The lack of self control isn’t only verbal, Tim realizes miserably, when his whole body flinches at the mention of the lake. When Tim sank in the cold water and didn’t come back up, and his lungs were burning.

(He can taste the water he coughed up and the relief when his eyes opened again to see Kon and Bart.)

He draws a shaky breath. He can’t fill a Tim-sized hole, but he can smooth out a divot without making this worse. ]

I’ll tell you if it’s him. Or Ra’s al Ghul. I won’t shut you out as much, and you can have your pick of second cities. You want to snowbird? I’ll use an entire tub of sunscreen. Start a metahuman foster care system in Montpelier? Ask me now because I don’t think I can lie.

[ Kon’s not taking advantage of it; he’s giving Tim what he needs to feel less stripped. Tim’s giving him permission because he trusts him to not ask questions that will hurt them both. They’ve both been burned by Tim’s reluctance to open up first. If he’s going to keep blurting out truths, they might as well be answers that one of them wants. ]

II

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny is on his way from giving Stacia her daily hug to getting some Yeti translator backup for his next mission when he spots Dan. He pops in to say hi initially before spotting the strings tying Dan up, and the words floating over his head. Most of them aren't surprises. "I don't know who the President of the United States is but based on exposure I think it's Kim Kardashian" is of no consequence to Bunny at all; he doesn't know who the current POTUS is, but he doesn't know who Kim K is either. "I don't believe in evolution" is something Bunny already knew, and so is "I hide my health issues from my husband," but it's only that second one they'll have to address sooner or later.

Now isn't later, though. Bunny smirks at Dan. "How long is it gonna take you to get yourself out of that?" he asks, pointedly not helping.

[lowercase_el]

[Tim tensing means he holds him just a tiny bit tighter. Not too tight, just enough that he can feel truly enveloped. Cradled in warmth and protective strength.]

I don't need to ask about it all right now. I already know that when we get back home and have a chance to really sit down and plan things that we'll figure out where to meet in the middle. And that you'll make sure I have what I need to be happy just like I'm gonna to do for you.

[They don't to chart out their whole future right now while Tim is forced to be honest. Kon doesn't need proof he'll follow through on trying to be flexible enough to have a life that includes Gotham and something else.]

[He knows when they get to that planning, Tim absolutely will make sure Kon gets a space away from Gotham to breathe. There is nothing but pure trust that Tim will step up to the plate to work it all out with him in a way where they can both be happy. He doesn't need to press for any truths to believe that.]

I mean, come on, back in the last world, we were already living together before we were even dating. While basically in hiding from the Alliance.

We managed to make a life together as dimensional refugees in a breadbox roach motel, on the lam from the law. We didn't even have social security numbers. Of course we'll be able to figure out a future together when we finally get back home.

[A future together. There it is, right out in the open. This isn't just some temporary thing that can only work on strange adventures in other worlds. Kon's been thinking about a future together like it's a foregone conclusion.]

[boldboimler]

[When Boimler finally comes to a stop, since the string isn't tugging him anymore, he just falls on his back on the floor, arm extended and dangling from the thread.]

I - and I cannot emphasize this enough - hate magical bullshit.

[A pause.]

I want to study the magic to figure out how it works on a fundamental scientific level - [Far from being annoyed at how nonsensical it is, he is fascinated by the tricorder readings he gets every day. He's Starfleet, of course he'd want to figure out how some kind of new metaphysical interaction with physical reality works.] - but also I hate it.

[Unfortunately, that statement doesn't count enough as any sort of confession. The string stays tied. He sits up but doesn't get off the floor yet.]

[boldboimler]

[It is completely unavoidable when they're both being dragged like that: they're set on a collision course. Boimler screams even louder as he sees Tim being dragged his way. Then they slam right into each other so hard they bounce off to separately fall to the floor.]

Oof!

[Tim maybe has a chance of flipping to land in a crouch or something. Boimler just falls on his back.]

...ow.

[The strings are tied together so solidly they're one string now.]

[arthropoda]

[Part of Taylor futilely wants to hide the hand where the string is tied behind her back, as if that'd conceal the fact she's also obligated to make confessions about things, about how she feels, like to delay it a little more and not have to put in plain sight something that makes her feel vulnerable in this group of people she's working with. Takes all of her willpower to let her hand hang to the side, she making the bugs her red thread were tied to go away because it'd call a little too much attention to see that.

Still, Boimler's statement does get her to raise her eyebrows]

I mean, I get it. Good news, a lot of bullshit does have its own little rules. Why hate magic so much, though?

[All magic is just science that hasn't been fully understood yet, they say! Or something like that -- and Taylor is well aware that's not too far from the truth.]

If it makes you feel better I don't have magic bullshit, so that's all fine. I have nothing like that.

[........

Half-truth. Taylor may not have magic, but she has superpowers, powers she has been hiding from the rest, things she didn't want them to be aware of. She can already see it coming: this string, and the rest of the things happening in the Workshop today, it all is going to lead to her unmasking. She's going to have to admit she's concealing actual powers over insects, she's sure that's big enough for the string to accept as she opening up and exposing some vulnerability -- because she wanted to keep it hidden to not cause undue suspicion on herself]

[hallelujahjunction]

"I ain't about to complain about you being the one to find me," Dan says, giving Jaskier bedroom eyes, oblivious to the red thread spelling out I USE SEX AS A DISTRACTION FROM MY EMOTIONS right above him. He squirms on the couch until he's sitting up. He gestures with his nose to Jaskier's own hearts.

"Can't let some free sugar pass you by neither, huh? Reckon this is what we get for liking it sweet." He winks.