#//SORRY I GAVE THIS ONE NPC SHIT TALKING ONE SO MUCH FUCKING LIFE

[unboundtravels]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 | @penddraig

𝑇𝑜 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑙,

Attached to this letter, per your request, are concerts to my next opera. If not for your remedy, I would not have been able to muster up the ability to rehearse, let alone perform. I wish I could've paid you back in full for the medicine, but alas— Musicians like myself never have a hefty coin purse. At least, I do not. Point me in the direction of the richer Musicians across the Kingdom and I will speak words with them. For now, take tickets to one of the balcony seats. Perhaps you could bring company, the opera is themed around romance, anyways. 

Regardless, you may be wondering why I had a letter delivered to your estate instead of coming to see you directly. Despite my schedule, I will never not have time for the great Wizard Pendragon. However, I was called to The King's Court to orchestrate music for your recent meeting with him. I was intending to keep it a surprise, to perhaps catch up with you once you had a moment away from the king. I am sorry to spoil the surprise, my friend. However, I think perhaps there may have been a grave mistake.

You see, when The King announced your arrival— I began to play, as was instructed of me. However, when I saw who joined your side, I was a bit confused when my eyes laid witness to the figure next to him. A woman, skin as pale as snow and eyes as sharp as ice. Her hair is this crazy bush of snow white, and her clothes. A long black jacket acts as a cloak that hangs around her shoulders, and she dresses very similarly to you. I knew in my heart of hearts that this was not my friend, but doubt filled my heart. I have heard rumors, my friend, that you change your apperance sometimes. The King called this woman The Great Wizard Pendragon, but the way she spoke... the way she carried herself. Very Erratic, was this strange old woman. Mature, clearly very educated and experienced. She performed some of the magic I've seen you do, and she spoke words I've heard you speak... but... there is something off.

I have not had a chance to speak with this woman, yet. I have tried, but The King— you know her, he won't stop talking her ear off. However, what is strange is that this woman is asking him questions about the Kingdom. Not elaborate questions, but strange ones. She wants to know where we are, and what year it is. The King is chalking it up to a spell gone wrong, but I believe something is amiss here. I have sent this letter directly to your estate in hopes it reaches you directly. Howl, if this you... find time to come talk to me, and tell me what has happened to you whilst you've been away. What is it about this apparating Box people say you arrived in? 

If you have no idea what I am talking about... I believe you should get here at once. I do not believe this woman has the intent to ruin your reputation, but with what she is doing and the tricks she is performing... I fear that even if the truth is discovered... she may put you out of a job still, regardless. I hope things are not is dire as I believe, but I felt I had to write you.

Your Friend, 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍

[mejcinta]

As someone who joined the hotd fandom recently (its a shitshow lmao), and has read many funny (albeit a bit toxic) discussions, I think it's hilarious that, just like his brother, Lucerys Velaryon (I had to search his name because I don't know their names lmao) is often only mentioned/relevant in the discourse when the topic is about his obvious bastardy, his horrific action of maiming a child (and not being apologetic about it), his accidental death (which, I'm sorry, but the moment his tiny dragon attack a war hardened giant dragon, I knew he was fucked, literally fuck around and find out, this kid), or the need to propped Rhaenyra up for the morality ranking bs. Like, the greens gets so much discussion about their dynamics with each other, as well as their personality, despite having less screen time. But Lucreys, the only gist I could get from both teams is that, he was a bully (but he was a child uwu) then struck a kid with a knife in a 4 vs 1 fight (he was trying to protect his brother uwu), wasn't punish for it, was heir for driftmark, and that's about it. Like, the closest hint of personality I could find was him admitting he wasn't ready to inherit driftmark, and being an awful human by smilling unapologetically towards Aemond but other than that I see nothing? But a plankwood, a literal npc that occasionally says something and has to stand next to Rhaenyra, looking like he shat himself. Like, I could've been more sympathetic towards him but nah my man is boring af and that godawful smile at the dinner scene still pissed me off lmao. LMAO, sorry about this rant but I saw a post claiming that they took Lucberys traits and gave it to Aemond and, say, even in the book, there's no mention of anything about his traits? The show tried their best to give him one but made Luchekrys even more bland and annoying lmao.

Urgh! When will people stop being envious of Aemond?

You see, something I've observed about the writing on Team Black is that it suffers terribly from a case of favoritism.

Yes, you can love something to the point of utterly destroying it!! Just like you can spoil a favorite child to the point of serious illness by giving them too much candy.

The writers WANTED the audience to favor team black, and so ended up making them the most boring, upstanding people in an asoiaf show, WHILE sugar coating and making excuses for every single wrong thing they did!!! There are no evident consequences for their actions (everything bad that happens to them is someone else's fault), but what i find more annoying is you will never find team black characters acknowledging their shortcomings or explaining their actions. THEY JUST DO AS THEY PLEASE, and any inconvenience they face is a plot against them...certainly NOT the fruit of their labors.

None of that shit is realistic. We all know for a fact that people like these in real life are the most insufferable and stuck up pieces of shit to live with!

Team Green benefit from more organic writing. Their flaws are acknowledged, even by themselves. They're imperfect people trying their best to get by, trying to change and failing, forced in a corner that they must fight their way out of and harboring ambitions that they often fail to achieve. They struggle as a family, they fight a lot, but by the end of the day they understand that they need to work as a unit to ensure their survival.

ALL OF THIS IS HUMAN, REALISTIC AND UNIVERSAL. What makes a character compelling is showing their inadequacies, making them acknowledge their inadequacies, making them fail, making them win at a cost, making them fight, making them struggle.

Characters that easily get what they want and whose actions can always be excused are boring, boring, boring.

It is ironic that even with all the excessive vices the writers added on Team Green's plate, they only wound up making them more fascinating and worth talking about.

I really can't say the same about Team Black. Daemon is the only thing happening for them because they let him be controversial, just like the Greens.

Long rant, but you can see why Lucerys comes nowhere near being as interesting or layered as Aemond and the rest of the Greens.

His fans can complain all they want, but the fault ultimately lies with the writers, who diluted these characters in efforts to make them the perfect protagonists.

And I don't think much will change in s2.

[pugscoffee]

If your taking asks:

-Who’s your favourite Heavenhold Champion?

-Favourite 3-Star, 2-Star and 1-Star/NPC?

-What’s your favourite world (Story-wise?)

-What’s your favourite world (Mechanic-wise?)

-What’s your favourite element?

-What’s your favourite weapon class?

-If you were a character in Guardian Tales, what would your element, weapon class, and role be?

-What is your favourite boss fight? And which boss do you hate fighting the most?

-If you play Guardian Tales, who’s usually on your team?

-If you could fight/punch 1 character in Guardian Tales, who would it be?

Before starting i want to say what i won't be answering your questions with "Knight","Garam" or "Craig" as response because (i am literally obsessed with them 24/7,like,the brainrot is in fact real.) i want to take this opportunity to talk about my other favorite characters i am very fond of,so now,let's start!

▪︎Who is your favorite Heavenhold Champion?

-My favorite Champion is definitely Coco! (Sorry Lilith,she always wins my heart 🫶🏻)Ough I LOVE HER OKAY??? (Platonic) I'm being honest when i say what she is a very well written character (and World 16 truly showcases that!),i love her personnality so much ok??? I still don't understand why there is people what doesn't like her,she is so nice! her design is cute,it looks so warm and comfyyy,Coco is a very relatable character too-....at least for me (Me 🤝 Coco= Having trust issues ),honestly,i get very happy everytime i see more content of her ingame (like fr,when i saw what Coco appeared in the second Summer Side-story i legit screamed of happiness 😭).

▪︎Favorite 3-Star,2-Star and 1-Star/NPC?

-Favorite 3-Star: LAPICE MY BELOVED WIFE OF COURSE!!!💞🩷💞🩷💞🩷💞🩷💞🩷(Again,sorry Lilith)My silly wifeyyy i'm going to cherish your dreams forever,maybe you don't have that much content ingame (and the Devs are aware of it,and still decided to make fun of it) but i still love you so much 🫶🏻

-Favorite 2-Star: EVA‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ She is awesome! I love her like.....Ourg Eva my beloved you're so amazing I LOVE (Platonic) YOUUUUUUUUU 🩷💞🩷💞🩷💞,best AroAce icon to me frrr 🤞🏻,also! haven't you see the way what she cares about the Princess???? It warms my heart so much ahlskelwwkel🥹💞 She is a very determined person with a great heart,and her knowledge of magic is so interesting,i would like to see the game expanding more the lore of how the magic works in Tetis tbh,and let me tell you her use of magic is cool! Even if is kinda looking goofy ingame tho (like please i would pay a shit ton of money just to have a class about how magic works and how to use it if Eva was my teacher fr 🙏🏻)LET MY GIRL APPEAR IN THE MAIN STORY AGAIN RIGHT NOW‼️‼️‼️🫵🏻

-Favorite 1-Star: AILIEEEEEEE‼️‼️‼️‼️ *fucking explodes*💥💥💥She is my silly underrated girl,she is a bit traumatized but that's understandable,she is capable of committing murder,does shady stuff,her current job is collecting stuff from rotting corpses,a kind of manipulative girl (fitting knowing her job),an Asexual Lesbian with a Boomer Bi Paternal figure what she cares so much of and defend him to dead if possible (according to the worms in my head 💞🩷💞🩷).Someone was stalking her? She knows and completely gaves a fuck about it ma girl can smack their head with a hammer anytime✌🏻,she probably would be a Twitter user in real life and send death threats,she is such a fucking bastard and she knows it✨️

I'm so fond of her unfortunately.

Hoping for her 3-star version soon 🙏🏻 -

▪︎What's your favorite World (Story-wise?)

-Honestly? I don't know..... Maybe World 16? It has so much Lore to dissect here....

▪︎What's your favorite World (Mechanic-wise?)

-None! I have a love/hate relationship with any game mechanics i fear :)

▪︎What's your favorite element?

-Hhhmm this is a hard one.... Light? Because Lapice and my daughters FP and Priscilla are here i guess.

▪︎What’s your favourite weapon class?

-Staff! I love what we can use Scythes there :)

▪︎If you were a character in Guardian Tales, what would your element, weapon class, and role be?

-Easy!

Element: Dark

Weapon: Staff

Role: Support (I know what i would suck at having a fighting role in GT lmao 💀)

▪︎What is your favourite boss fight? And which boss do you hate fighting the most?

-Maybe it was hellish for other players but i love fighting Beth,it was a good challenge! BUT Raid Fairy. I FUCKING HATE FIGHTING HER.

▪︎If you play Guardian Tales, who’s usually on your team?

-Lapice,FP or Priscilla,Hana and Miya most of the time. I need a better team to advance story mode tbh

▪︎If you could fight/punch 1 character in Guardian Tales, who would it be?

-Let me change that "1" to "3" because I want to punch the shit out of Halbal,Kaden and Morrian,and more Kaden honestly 👊🏻.

So that would be! Thank you so much for the questions! They were fun to answer! 🫶🏻💞🩷💞

[crane--here]

hey. hey. hey. give ur thoughts on juan and waltz and aitor :3

as you wish :3 going to put this under read more for long post convenience and HEAVY spoilers for the game, i'm not holding back lol

okay.

he's a VERY intriguing character. with the added benefit of being hilarious (he's fucking with the colonel of all people. power move of the century)

in all seriousness though, i appreciate the way he's written. he's morally grey as all hell. i love his approach to life, when every single other survivor cares mostly about survival, juan among the few citizens can appreciate the beauty of art and food.... and people. does he come off as a bit pretentious? sure but it makes it even better IMO. i think there's a lot of untapped potential here! i want to see ALL his layers. i mean just HOW deep did his connection to renegades go to have him as the only resort to make them rule the city??

one thing i'm pretty salty about is that juan was supposed to lead HIS OWN FACTION that we already know as the suppliers. the way it's currently written it gives an idea that he operates within the peacekeepers only, when in fact (as per jonah's words) he was supposed to be the leader of it as a wildcard faction. think how much fucking cooler it would be to underline that juan genuinely is influential enough outside the pks, because that bitch can bargain

also bisexual king. i am ignoring he fits the slutty bi stereotype criteria he's my scrinkle

aitor was such a surprise to me when i first played! from the very beginning the pks were painted as the "inherent bad faction", with their authoritarian rules and treatment of the bazaarians. and while, yeah, it has some merit to it with characters like anderson not winning my sympathy for them, aitor and his attitude made me realize "holy shit, the pks aren't some one-dimensional video game 'baddies' here. they're actual diverse people". he added that humanity aspect to this faction (later reinforced by squad 404). he's so so caring my heart just melts. also i really love his family?? like rip to him for getting divorced but his kid is fucking hilarious. i love british "people"

one thing i'm also curious about though is his development during the game making, because from his artbook depiction we can see that he used to be... MUCH different

an abusive asshole and the very pk that would immediatelly turn me away??? lol no thanks i love the aitor we have now <3

now, let's waltz!

AGHGHHHHH sorry grandpa for what you got from techland because it was not ENOUGH. there's been so much more potential for his character in the overarching story because it was not utilized enough! he (and williams but that's a discussion for another day) are always told to be these menacing forces that can destroy the city with just a command... which they absolutely can! however, the issue with the writing here is that.... we're never shown any real reason to believe that besides some renegade thugs (which were underwhelming). techland failed to go with the effective "show don't tell" route that would give a BETTER lasting impression of him. they succeeded at the start, sure, i was shaking when i met him in the prologue and then moments before going into central loop and then..... nothing. that's all we get from him really. this is why the story feels so LACKING in this regard, we're not given enough reasons to care about the threat that is waltz and his plans (and by extension we never really don't get to care about mia who is linked to him in every way)

as for his character... well i talked about it here before. he's painfully inconsistent so it's really hard to tell what his deal is. we learn that he was... supposedly a caring person before, to the point where some of the kids liked him a lot. he gave reassuring words to aiden and was shown to care for him too?? and it's hard to tell if it all genuine or all an act - if he put on a caring facade only for the sake of mia. after all, no npcs really tell good things about him - the one instance i remember is that he spared aitor when he was on patrol, but commented that "why is he working for matt when he should be working for him". it's. giving mixed signals to the players. he's a real shitty dude. like. he's selfish with his goals, hurting everyone else around him in the process - even MIA. how much pain did she have to go through because waltz didn't know how to let go...?

but it does make you also think of the possibility that grief and loss is what drove him to such extents. the trauma he endured even as a little boy was enough to give a lasting impression (never letting go of horse lover waltz) and only a faint crack in what is his psyche. it's a possible read on him, and i can see it's what makes him likable to many (hi silas), so even while i personally lean more to the first option i SEE the vision

either way he's still an incredibly tragic character, which i adore. he's also incredibly fucked up which is THE selling point for me tbh <3

[freshcuntgrass]

I've had a mug and a half of this terrible strawberry Franzia that I love so I am going to post with little to none context about the absolutely batshit plot for one of my D&D parties I came up with yesterday, because only god and my 18 followers can judge me

I think one of y'all follows me because I had my own tumbl quoted back to me in a session by accident. but this is dragonslayers spoilers only, not f-team, so whatever. (also hi. also sorry about my tungel in general)

So this particular plot thread requires three unhinged elf women, all of whom are my absolute favorite NPC to play at any given time. the holy trinity of gaslight gatekeep girlboss, the lights of my life

Donna Maria Verdini, the underboss of the Verdini high elf mafia in the city of Cantonova. The Verdini have been the BBEG org for nineteen levels of campaign, literal real-life years, with the first half basically revolving around them keeping a blue dragon in an opera house and running a lot of shady businesses to feed its hoard. Of the whole family, Donna Maria is the ICONIC one. Exactly everything you'd want an elf mafia socialite to be: glamorous, charismatic, big into enchantment magic and also poison and stabbing, does some femme fatale shit on the side because what evil 400-year-old milf wouldn't, and most importantly super-intelligent and has been playing galaxy-brain 5D chess with the party ever since they became a threat. She particularly loves fucking with the bard, who is an operatic soprano equally as fabulous as her, and it's just such a gorgeous rivalry that I love leaning into.

Gepopo, spymaster of the city of Cantonova. She's been an ally of the party for almost longer than Donna Maria has been an enemy. I'm talking like, session 4 or 5. This does not mean she's good; the entire Voice for this character is "wave a glass of whiskey around and be a massive fucking bitch." her alignment is [loud TV static???]. she has a centuries-long criminal background and a body count probably in the hundreds? absolute menace, has been since childhood, can't take her anywhere. but on the other hand, she's deeply loyal and strongly motivated by love. and on some sense she believes in and supports the people doing good in the world-- but she died and went to hell as a kid, and ever since she got brought back she's basically been like "well, sometimes you have to do bad shit in the course of doing good, and I'm already going to hell, so what's one more sin on my plate?" (kinda catholic if you ask me tbh) anyway, the only reason she's a government official is because her adventuring party saved the Count's ass decades ago and he gave her a position so that another country wouldn't force her extradition and execute her again (she's died a lot)

Lona te-Morigana, the newly elected leader of the main wood elf pantheon's religion. We just finished up this whole plot where the party was asked by the PC monk's head abbess to support and guard her during the election, and guess what? They immediately hated her! So so so much! Her general vibe is that of the sentence "I don't really get that reference because I don't own a TV." Absolutely TERRIBLE vibes, but nothing about her that's *obviously guilty*. She had trouble with the politics side, but had an ~inspiring backstory~ as the youngest candidate in a thousand years. She got her eye stabbed out in a schoolyard fight centuries ago, but the people say "she sees more with one eye than most do with two" because she's apparently been going around inspiring all the villages with mystical bullshit. The party did not pick up on any of my subtle clues she was evil, except that she was petty and mean to their sidekick Sen once and just like, generally low-key sucked. Since the other candidate was openly fashy, and they did not listen to the rebel group I also tossed in there, they got her elected. So now she's elf pope basically. What the party has not noticed, not even a little bit, is that she super totally has the eye of Vecna (who in my world was originally a disciple of her god, Morigana). I gave them Vecna lore and they went "lol that's from Stranger Things" and immediately forgot about it.

CONNECTION BETWEEN MARIA/GEPOPO: enemies, deadlocked for 20 years, the entire reason the party knows about Maria is that they came to Gepopo with a rumor/problem and she immediately went "okay so it's obviously this one bitch I can't catch." The party's seen Gepopo outsmarted by the Verdinis before; she had a capo in custody thanks to the party, he taunted her until she murdered him in front of the party, and he then ambushed the party during a big battle because he had a Clone.

CONNECTION BETWEEN MARIA/LONA: they are actually sisters-in-law! (The party has all the information to put this together, or would if they took notes, but has not yet done so.) Maria's son (Lona's nephew) got chosen for a high priesthood right before the election, whole party thought it was extremely sus (it was) but blamed the fashy candidate instead (nope lol). Lona is the gods' little blorbo now, so she has the Hand stored away as well, and she's planning on giving it to Maria.

CONNECTION BETWEEN LONA/GEPOPO: who do you think stabbed out Lona's eye lol (this is less important, but deeply funny. also loops in with Sen, who went to school with both of them, but he's not a girlboss so he doesn't get his own bullet point)

The big question I needed to answer: how does Donna Maria get to the Hand of Vecna, while fucking with her enemies as much and as stylishly as possible?

It's been established that the Verdini are not above the Clone spell. (In fact, they just heard the Verdinis probably have more Clones in their estate, so that's fresh in their mind and they're planning on dealing with that next.) Maria was at the elf vatican for the election, just like the party was. She was there to rig the election for Lona, which she did by several means (all of which the party almost got! and then turned around and said "I bet she's here working with the fashy guy!"), and she was also there to drop off something special afterwards: a Clone of herself, left hand already amputated, to be stored in secret and sacred chambers where only Lona is permitted to go.

Meanwhile, the party is back in Cantonova. Maria has been Scrying on slash tracking the party via a cursed bracelet she gifted the bard, in another absolute 5D chess plot a while back that involved murdering the Count and pinning the blame on the bard. She also recently killed an assassin she thinks the party sent, dropped him headless at their door as a warning... it was a whole thing and she's out for more blood than usual. Whatever she might've been waiting for earlier, no time like the present to get that hand.

But... why kill yourself, when you can have your enemies do it for you?

Again-- she'll know exactly where they plan to go, what with the Scrying. She will wait for them, in a public place that I have a beautiful battle map for. She will wait until they get close, dig around in the bard's thoughts to catch her (and only her) attention, and then use Subtle Spell and attempt to Disintegrate her boyfriend. (This is Sen, the beloved sidekick that Lona was mean to earlier, who Gepopo coincidentally absolutely adores. He also has absolute fuck-all for DEX saves and is in every way the perfect target.)

The party's gonna attack back. There's no way in hell they won't. This is their longtime enemy. She's fucked with them a million times, and she'll do it a million more. I will write a beautiful, loving description of them having a wonderful time with the lil guy they saved from a whole bunch of miserable shit. He's finally happy, they're all finally home, it is a beautiful day and I am a horrible DM. Because at the exact worst time, I will call a WIS save and switch to a description of the bard's thoughts being probed. She will just barely have time to register that something is wrong before Sen crumples in front of her.

They'll see her, easily. She won't hide from them. What she will do is scream that she's only defending herself, that she's being attacked unprovoked. Toss in a Subtle Spelled Mass Suggestion as necessary, particularly at any nearby city guards who come to break up the fight. She'll get her hits in, but she won't fight optimally, won't take a life unless the chance really opens up. She'll Counterspell anything that attempts to end the fight nonviolently. She will die at their hands on a crowded city street. And she will wake up in the temple, ready to painlessly attach the Hand and be on her way.

Meanwhile, the party is fucked. They just murdered a prominent citizen in broad daylight. Gepopo is the head of law enforcement; does she bring charges against her friends for the crime of murdering her worst enemy in public, or does she refuse and get fired or forced to step down, thus risking her life? Does the party go on the run, or stand trial for a crime dozens of people saw? Do they go through with their plan of raiding the estate while the "mourning family" is transporting a fake body to Lona, or do they follow the family and figure out the ruse? Every option is bad, in an absolutely terrific way. I can't wait.

[tartagliaxx]

hi. i only got to play in inazuma today so here's me live reacting to the archon quest. it's a lil out of context tho so have fun trying to figure out which parts im talking abt. also, this is the only time i'm going to be talking abt spoilers for at least one week so... 🤷‍♀️

swordfish ii? cute.

Jesus Christ. and here i thought it was my lowest settings that made his hair grey… this poor kid. teppei i admire your determination but no… just no...

SCARAMOUCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

IF EVIL WHY SO HOT

you know.... scaramouche could stand still and the air would get electrified. and yknow,,, that's p... that's p attractive

ugh im disgusting myself. and here i thought i still had an inch of sanity left in me.

of all people it had to be this little jerk

scaramouche is so fucking evil. i’d like ten of him, please.

man,, they expect me to dodge this shit? that’s the biggest l i’ve heard today. none of that shit. i’m bringing out my zhong and my sweet madames skrrt

sayu is adorable… i remember when i had hopes of growing up too… alas, it has come to this.

OH MY GOD AYATO CRUMBS. I AM LICKING THAT SHIT UP. PLEASE— HE HAS A SECRET UNIT. THATS SO HOT WTF. AYATO MY DEAR, PLEASE DONT BE A REGULAR ICKY NPC BUT WHITE HAIRED…

SNEAKY SNEAK. SNEAKY SNEAK.

THOMA OH MY GOD MY MALEWIFE. HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? also, sayu’s sleeping again. this girl’s got talent. is her circadian rhythm okay?

pains me to be the bearer of all bad news and no good news…

WAIT THOMA IS LEAVING NO DONT LEAVE YET I WANT TO LOOK AT YOU MORE

oh nvm he’s still in the background.

EYY WHATS UP AYAKA. YOU’RE AS FINE AS EVER.

i… i don’t like where this is going… i refuse to be the bait. i’m too hot for that. so spicy they’ll spit me right out

DONT VOLUNTEER YOURSELF LUMINE— GIVE ME AN OPTION OR AT LEAST AN ‘OH SHIT HERE WE GO AGAIN’ LINE

YES FIREWORKS THAT WOULD WORK RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME THAT WOULD WORK-

oh thank god… wait... they… they wouldn’t ask me to be the one to set off the fireworks right?

UNFORTUNATELY NO. AFTER YOU BECOME A FREE MAN, YOU’RE IMMEDIATELY MARRYING ME THOMA ANJKFHAIGHLANGKLAHOFJLKAB

oh crap… i’m… i’m in deep.

HE’S BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING US AGAIN EVERY DAY SINCE HE GOT THERE ANFLaglvbajlfblabvljabefva;bfalLJBLJDABVBAALSNADL tumblr user @tartagliaxx is broken. she is now irreparable. she has no regrets. goodbye.

ehem… what if… you and i… and hotsprings… together?? JUST KIDDING. PG-13 OVER HERE. NOTHING INDECENT WHATSOEVER MOVE ALONG NOW

poor thoma,,,

oh come on ayaka… cut us some slack… i just watched lumine wheeze bc of evil purple mist only to be dragged into 2 timeskips and an entire training arc. dont let her be yet another traumatized shounen manga protagonist… altho, it might be uh… too late for that…

oh dear… is thoma going to get another round of diarrhea?

OF COURSE. OF COURSE IT’S ME DOING ALL THE WORK. OF COURSE IT’S ME WHO’S RISKING MY LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN. GOD! GIVE LUMINE A BREAK. BEING A TRAVELER DOES NOT MEAN IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE.

hello yoimiya… still looking as bomb as ever i see……… mhm… gonna see myself out rn…

HELP MY SHITTY GRAPHICS COMPLETELY ERADICATED HER BROWS

oh god… are we dying because of fireworks? forget getting caught by the patrol… we’re about to light up an untested firework that was made to be a billion times more explosive….

NO. SHE SAID IT. SHE SAID THE CURSED SENTENCE. WHATS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? IDK YOU TELL ME. YOU JUST SENTENCED US TO DEATH YOIMIYA GREAT GOING still love you tho.

man… these patrol guards aint shit… i literally walked an inch behind their backs and they did nothing… its a surprise the rebellion still hasn’t won when they place guards like this in their ranks………. ok that was kinda mean i’ll apologize in a bit.

SAYU OMG… DONT WORRY I’LL SNEAK YOU OUT AND RISK MY LIFE willingly JUST TO RESCUE YOU. ILYSM HONEY YOU’RE DOING SO WELL

no, paimon. it’s not but we’re doing it anyway 🤡

NO ONE TOLD ME WE’RE GOING TO RUN. I WENT COMPLETELY OFF COURSE. first try tho 😏

HELLO THOMA. HELLO AYAKA.

HELLO SAYU. HOW DID IT GO? IM GUESSING IT WENT WELL BC YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?

oh no….. she’s worn herself out…. man,,, this is why you dont make convicts out of kids….

WE ASKED SAYU FOR AN INCH AND SHE GAVE AS TEN THOUSAND MILES. SAYU MY CHILD YOU EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

god, don’t remind me. as hot as the shogun trying to kill us w her blade was, i don’t appreciate almost getting murdered on screen (even if we most certainly have plot armor)

awwww is thoma worried about me uwu owo? dw i have like… a lumine w 6% crit rate by my side

sigh… i dont want to leave yet… cant i just stay by thoma’s side and not go to war for a change?

it was at this moment that tumblr user lei saw the wonders of being a housewife.

oh sara… my stars… i’m so sorry. i feel so bad for you but at the same time… this oddly makes me want to write a song for you ABJFJKABJABCABVABVKA I KNOW JACK SHIT ABT SONGWRITING WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS

well… there she goes…

oh…. oh….. yae is stealing my heart. WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO (i have an alt for a reason heehee)

DEAR LORD. PLEASE STEP ON MY NECK SARA.

these guys got guts to say ‘i’m sorry ma’am’ to THE kujou sara.

oh old man… you’re dead. you’re so dead.

man… this old man is a simp? sheesh.

YES. GO TELL EM PAIMON. PREACH THAT SHIT LOUD AND CLEAR.

oh my god… is that dude dead? i probably should’ve uh apologized b4 he flopped down to the ground ig…

MAN,, SARA’S DOWN FOR THE COUNT?? tbf i didnt expect much but…. also, AYE SIGNORA’S SO ICY.

she’s calling me out for being a simp ;-; heart been broke so many times or smth

OH SHIT LUMINE SPOKE. MAN,, WHY IS SHE SO COOL.

oh… i love this part of the vow… im suddenly inspired to write… how about a wedding au? an angsty wedding au?

goddamn… it’s been nice knowing you all…. i dont think i’ll come out of this alive if signora went out like that…

WHATS HAPPENING? ARE YOU SAYING KAZUHA WENT THROUGH THIS BS? IS LUMINE OKAY-

DID THEY REALLY JUST STORM THE ENTIRE FUCKING CAPITAL?? THEY HAVE SOME NERVE.

FUCK OMG KAZUHA AHHAHFHAFHAHGKJABKASBGA IM TEARING UP WTF WHY AM I GETTING EMOTIONAL- HONEY BUN THATS SO HOT OF YOU TO DO

oh… oh it’s time for round two? haha… time to… say my goodbyes….

yo… there are actual tears in my eyes… like… idk why… but that cutscene? shit man… that hit me…

hm… i feel bad for the shogun… ultimately, there is reason behind every act no matter how horrid. no matter how unreasonable, the reason one thinks of is always justified on their end. whatever everyone else thinks pay little effect on whether the act is fulfilled or not. also, her little laugh? i’m extra deceased.

the animation's fire as always wtf

oh but my kokoro... oof... my kokoro... ugh...

I’M SO FUCKING DONE AJKFHAKJBVAK- WE BEAT A HARBINGER AND FOR WHAT? she should’ve just tossed that gnosis into the ocean or smth...

HAH OMG SCARAMOUCHE. WHAT A MAN. I’M- I WAS RIGHT OMG. I HAD A LIL THEORY AND ITS JUST SMTH I HAD IN THE BACK OF MY MIND. I NEVER THOUGHT IT’LL ACTUALLY COME TRUE DEAR LORD. so now ig i have to admit i think abt him a lot and he has a soft spot in my heart 🥺 he’s evil you see and you know what my type is? evil men or at the very least, men with the potential to be evil. ugh so annoying.

scaramouche banner when

bc i sold everything worthy of money in me (read as my organs) for albedo, i'll sell my soul for him how about that?

EYE- makoto huh… well… fuck…

it’s day 400 of being ayato less even if he’s like… teased a million of times (jk it’s like… a grand total of seven but thats still p high)

im so… sigh…

i wonder if i’m still alive by the time sumeru releases… at the very least, i know my brain wouldn’t be.

....we were literally a captain for like... one second. that is so sad.

[finnskeeper]

Critical Role - Campaign 1 (Thoughts Machina): Episodes 57 - 68

AKA ~CALL OF THE (FEY)WILD ~ 

***MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 1*** 

ROFL, poor Matt. Taliesin keeps going to Victor for black powder, but he really has no one to blame but himself

I heart Victor so much. I also love watching the rest of the cast (mostly Liam) lose it

Vex: "I haven't gotten to wink in a very long time. It felt good."

Travis' reaction to the girls' talk is sending me

No joke: The Unmentionables was legit our band name when Rockstar first came out on XBox 360

ROFL @ Matt's Sun Tree voice. "Sun Tree A-OK"

OH SHIT IT’S REVERSE HANDS TIGER

Scanlan jumping off the balcony to save Vax gave me life

And then rolled max damage!

Any and all of them reacting to irl noises on set as in game effects always cracks me up

"I've known a lot of people with money, none of them are worth you."

The birth of Bidet

NO MERCY PERCY That title drop though...

Well, if anyone was gonna out-fae a fae, it was gonna be Taliesin

Oh, Trinket. Bud-dee. You take on that spectral bear. He's only twenty times your size.

Trinket gets an upgrade!

Vax in the Feywild: I'm gonna check out this music! It could be the theater! Nevermind the multiple warnings I've gotten! *is immediately charmed* Vax, 30 minutes later: Maybe we shouldn't check out every single thing we come across. Stay focused on the bow, people. Me: You know what that is? Growth.

Travis is COMMITTED to that petrification

Matt is so happy to be able to counterspell their shit right now. Fucking pixies.

MARISHA STOP ROLLING THAT DIE

The entire audience groaning in synchronized heartbreak as Matt references Atreyu and the Swamp of Sadness got me feeling some kind of way.

GARMELIE IS ARTAGAN?!? AMAZING

"For someone who hates the theater, you've made quite the show of this." MIC DROP

Oh man, I just had a thought. I really want Gilmore to be given the other barony in Whitestone. His smugness would be immeasurable.

RIP Tiberius Stormwind. Matt did an excellent job with this scene. Watching Taliesin during the reveal, and then watching the others react...heartbreaking.

FUCKING. FINALLY.

Liam rolling double Nat 1's to avoid a walk of shame...poetic cinema

Jesus Taliesin. What kind of pact have you made with an eldritch being to be able to roll like that??

THIS. IS. VOX. MACHINA!

Keyleth getting tossed out of the casino two minutes in is pretty on brand.

MEAT MAN

Of course Percy wins on his first roll at the casino. Of course he does.

THE MEAT MAN COMETH

Man Ank'harel does not agree with Scanlan at all

Matt whining indignantly at them to shut up after they laugh at his NPC...I have never related to that man more.

I love watching Liam enjoy Matt's NPCs.

Ke-teor. That's cute

Man was not meant to go that fast, Vax. Good gods.

What I want for episode 68: Robinson Crusoe What I will probably get: Muppet Treasure Island

Percy maintaining his hex on Ripley through a fucking bomb in his face is poetic

Orthax??

KYNAN?!?

Percy: "I'm sorry my issues have guns." LOL

Down goes the gunslinger (again).

And again...for good this time. That’s rough.

Leaving it there? coolcoolcoolcoolcool

Oh man, waiting a full week after that would have been TERRIBLE *clicks next button on YouTube*

Character Thoughts (As of Episode 68) Because Ranking Them is Now Impossible and I Give Up

Vax: I love those sexy, sexy paladin levels. The RP potential of a rogue turned paladin is so good. That communion scene was *chef’s kiss*

Keyleth: She is creeping up on number one, not gonna lie. High level druids are badass and Marisha does so well diversifying her selections to maximize the potential for damage and just fucking shit up. Also, her high fiving Vax after her confession made me LOL for real.

Percy: (I mean, is that fair? He’s technically not...whatever.) No Mercy Percy ftw. That title drop in Syngorn was probably my favorite moment of this little mini-session, but watching Taliesin gleefully play about in the Feywild was amazing. I mean, he’s a fae-being himself, so I should have expected that.

Vex: Excuse me. Lady Vex’ahlia, Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt. Now she has a title that befits who she always was on the inside. Her reaction to that title drop was so good, though.

Scanlan: The Meat Man Cometh. That entire spice escapade in Ank’harel gave me life.

Grog: He did not have a great time in the Feywild, but I LOVED Travis’ entire commitment to that petrification and his genuine frustration at not hitting anything, AND THEN HE FORGOT.

Pike: Poor Ashley, her work schedule keeps her from being with her friends (and they really, really need her now). I hope Pike gets to come back soon.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E79 (Oct. 1, 2019)

Good evening, all; sorry for the delay! @eponymous-rose is off in heckin’ Bavaria, so those of us left behind must make do on our own. Tonight’s preshow: a beautiful Jester sculpt made by @ohpleasestopit.

Tonight’s guests: Liam O’Brien & Laura Bailey.

Tonight’s announcements: Brian will be moderating a panel called Roleplaying a Human with Mica Burton at NYCC this Thursday. Clint McElroy from TAZ, Joe Starr, and others (many others) will be there as well. Oct. 3 at 12:30pm in room 1A21. No CR this week due to ComicCon; they’ll airing a oneshot dmed by Sam instead. Brian, Liam, & Laura share difficulties spelling each other’s names (Riegel? Reigal? Rie-gel?) and I’m infinitely relieved. They also just took Travis through the haunted house they promised after reaching the secret stretch goal for the Kickstarter & filmed it, so that will be airing Thursday, Oct. 10 on the Youtube channel! Brian’s happy he seemed genuinely terrified in some parts; “when he wants to move quick, he can.”

Episode 79: Through the Trees

CR Stats: Fjord cast his 100th Eldritch Blast. Liam has received 5 whispers this campaign. The natural 1 perception check into the tree camp was the 1000th natural one this game. The longest peer combat this campaign was 9 rounds against Oban. The only encounters longer than one in-game minute were crossing the Gibbering Chasm and escaping from Gelidon.

Caleb empathizes with Yasha because they’ve both “had their heads scrambled a bit.” He also thinks her muscle would be useful, as well as finding they have a lot in common despite not talking much this campaign. He thinks it’s also in part because they’re a bit lost in their planning stages now.

Jester finds it heavy scrying on Yasha because she’s the only one truly seeing everything. She found it encouraging that Yasha is still trying to fight. She doesn’t think Greater Restoration will be enough to break his hold. Brian tells us Ashley is fully caught up on the show right now and is VERY excited to get back.

Caleb feels like the M9 have been “eating shit” lately. Every plan seems to go wrong; they feel frustrated as players too. Liam: “They are not the Elite Seal Team Six, you know? They’re still scrappy assholes. They’re dealing with things that are so much bigger than them; let’s just focus on this one thing--“ Laura: “--and it’s still too big for us, you know? As players we know we’re going in over our head, but as characters you have to go after your friend, right? That’s hard because I know if dice rolls had gone differently, we could have come out on top.” They do think something good will come out of this struggle, though, even if it’s hard when your characters aren’t heroes.

They’ve spent way longer as the M9 to get to this level vs. VM.

Caleb’s more physical connection with Essek this episode had nothing to do with the whisper. Caleb felt he was a bit put-out, and he was just trying to connect. He does think Essek is “fun” in his own way with the M9.

Jester was more cautious this episode because both she & Cad were almost completely out of heals & revivifies. “It just didn’t seem smart to rush in.”

Liam started to really worry when abandoning the circle in order to help everyone else; he’d checked with CR Stats and discovered that very few encounters had gone long enough for the plan to work, so he made the split-section decision to abandon it and help in a manifest way instead.

Cosplay of the Week: A gorgeous Cad by LizardKingCosplay. Laura: “Man, Taliesin’s designs are always so fucking extra.”

Jester wants to bring joy to people; at the same time, she realizes people think she’s naive. She’s at the point where she wants people to look at her and see her in the way they see other adults.

Laura thinks Essek should have stayed and helped a little instead of leaving. Dani: “It’s not my fault; it’s the NPC’s.” Liam talks about feeling so competent after the dragon only to have this other task fail very visibly in front of Essek.

Caleb was frustrated about the counterspell issue, but recognizes it was an artifact of how chaotic that fight got. “It’s like Jenga. It’s what happens.”

“We’re not pushing Travelercon.” If the time comes & the M9 are not where Jester needs them to be, she will probably leave the M9 to go to Travelercon.

Liam talks about how Laura loves to mess with Travis and make him think there are ghosts or that the people he’s talking to are not real. Dani tells us of a recent incident where Travis was bent down talking to a little girl, and Laura walked up and said, “Baby, who are you talking to?” It is hilarious.

Caleb held up his other book during the banishment because it was something he believed the creature would find offensive, like a crucifix to a vampire. Laura is delighted at this coy drop.

Fanart of the Week: @lissinatorr with an awesome M9 portrait in their new costumes.

While it feels a little different now, throwing Guidance around as much as Jester does right now reminds her of her childhood, where he was more accessible.

Brief divergence where everyone talks about accents, and Laura tells us the best advice JB Blanc (Laura’s dialogue coach in Unchartered) gave her was to do it with confidence.

Caleb looked for information about the Traveler because he wants to make sure Jester will remain safe & that she’s not tied to something dangerous.

Jester had tutors growing up because Marion wanted her to be cultured, but Jester never had interest in going to school. In Laura’s backstory, when Jester was tossed out of Nicodranus, she was given thousands of gold that she immediately blew “on carriage rides, on clothes for her horse--she wanted them to have matching dresses!” Laura assures us she is not nearly so profligate with money in her real life.

Neither Laura nor Liam knows what Essek wants from them, but Liam wonders if it will be something directly related to the war; “go here and kill these orphans, etc.” Laura just wants to have a fully good NPC on their side.

The only way to deal with their current defeats is to recognize it as characters and move forward from that.

Laura talks about how everyone in the M9 has doubts about their NPCs because everyone’s background involves them being betrayed. She talks about how in RPGs some decisions can be difficult to make because they can’t see if innocent people will be harmed. They feel like they’re walking a tightrope. Liam says it feels like they’ve been totally self-consumed so far and that it’s going to be a change when a bigger crisis truly demands their attention.

And that’s all for tonight! Is it Thursday yet?

[kyu-bri]

Magia Rapport pt 2

@magiarapport​

August 24th prompt: What was your favorite event, and why? Is it because of gameplay or the story?

It’s hard to choose so I’m gonna just, gush a bit.

As you can probably tell I’m very biased toward the OG girls, I started Magia Record primarily because PMMM had become my new obsession and I wanted some sort of constant flow of content out of decade old anime lmao.

But another thing I think I hooked onto was Inu Curry’s writing. They really know Madoka Magica and aren’t afraid to really play with them- something the writers for a spin-off gacha game (as with most spin-off stories honestly) can be scared to do. Inu Curry made references, revealed secrets and built upon the story we already know- which lets be honest is what we always truly want from a spin-off series. Magia Record proper does this well by putting more magical girls into the world and letting us see things work out better for them than for the original cast, but what I really appreciated with this story was getting to see that old original cast get to get in on that, and these events managed to do that without watering them down any.

Under the cut is me going on for 3000 words about why I love these three events I’m so sorry. TL;DR at the very end-

I’ll go in release order,

A La Carte Valentine was one of the first if not THE first event I got in on. I was eager to bc 1 Gay Magical Girl Shit Guaranteed. And ofc 2 OG Cast participation.

I want to preface by saying I actually loved all the girls’ stories in this. I was very much still in a state of getting used to Iroha’s gang let alone trying to care about the secondary girls. I knew Tsukasa had this angsty Twins Separated At Birth Deal and liked seeing her home life (also I immediantly stanned Take. Regular well-meaning dude who has no idea whats going on just trying his best and hating his boss). I knew nothing about Ami except Cowgirl Meguca and getting the bulk of her personality in one short even I think really kept me from being absolutely sick of her, she’s just a cute silly teenage girl who could be in literally anything and I was able to just endearingly giggle at that. Hinano managed to do the heterosexual unrequited crush cliché without me groaning or missing any of her regular personality. Also was there a Ren part? I don’t remember because everything Ren does feels like a Soft Yuri Valentines Special. Also I love Momoko. Ok moving on to what I Really wanna talk about.

Madoka is genuinely my Least Cared About of the Holy Sextet. I don’t think she’s bad or even boring- Madoka has a depth to her character, like, really deep- but that’s not something ever really touched upon by the fandom. Even when people like her and make her the Heroine she’s Supposed to be, it’s usually in the context of “Girl who feels nothing but kindness and happy thoughts would cut off her right hand to feed to a hungry dog. Isn’t she so Good????”. And honestly, while I understand the point it was going to make, I wasn’t crazy about her sacrifice in the end of the series. (Team Homura “Rebellion Is Good Actually” ftw) All because I think that I’m an Adult Woman watching this like “You are 14yrs old and need to be home playing Sims and not sacrificing yourself for the greater good you stupid silly little baby girl”

So my point is here near all fan content I encounter tends to emphasize whats sort of my least favorite facet of Madoka. I don’t think she made the ‘wrong’ decision in the context she and the story were given, but it’s still a sad thing to show a depressed(!!!) insecure girl resolving to give away her very existence so that every other girl on earth has a chance to just Dream. Oh and they still usually die young. But that’s ok because then she takes them and lets them sleep peacefully forever in her Heaven Basement (Yes I am bitter stan Homura I would yank this savior complex infant girl out the sky too)

MY POINT BEING (The servers closing let me BLEED OUT ALL MY FEELINGS) This event did not do that!!! It made Madoka…….. EVERYTHING SHE SHOULD BE??? ALWAYS??? Showed her HOW WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW HER??? (Read: Happy and Alive and Confident at no foreboding or sacrifice of anyone else!!!!)

She is Sassy and Surrounded By Friends and Really Funny??? And we get this Ridiculous Oh My God On Crack metaphor about her being this all-powerful apocalypse bringing being which is representing her love for the universe through her Witch form of Wanting Everyone To Be Happy And Safe With Her??? And she still risks herself to save everyone as is her Thing to do but we get to have her do it without erasing her existence as a human being at the end and if that is not some GOOD SHIT????

Ok next:

NGL Sayaka’s (fav character, inarguable best girl, can u not tell) parts in MagiReco til like the last arc have always left me a bit disappointed. She was the only late comer of the OG girls from what I understand and it kind of gives her the air of what a lot of the second(/thirdary?) girls suffer from. You can tell the writers can’t even figure out a trope to apply her to to make her easy and two dimensional to write about so they just don’t know what to do. They definitely try to make up for it (especially in the anime which Praise Be but that’s probably Inu Currys doing) but she’s still lacking like, any of the depth of her personality. Which, I guess I could anticipate. Because most of the fandom tends to as well. (again)

Gonna stop complaining and get on with- That didn’t feel as much the case in her Valentine event. Sure it was still the same formula of “The Issue Is Kyosuke” but that didn’t play out as grueling as her personal story did with “Nine Episodes Of “The Issue Is Kyosuke””

There was one big glaring heart-aching detail of “Mami isn’t really there because SHES IN A FUCKING CULT RIGHT NOW” which kind of jarred the event out of the ho-hum silly valentines sidestory these events usually keep up.

Sayaka has this crisis about Doing Anything Meaningful With Kyosuke which we all know what That’s calling back to, but in this environment we get to have Kyoko come right up and be in a position with her to earnestly and affectionately Push Her To Do It. The lonely little tsundere bitch girl pushes her Not Friend to Give The Bastard The Gotdamn Chocolate Already and for a moment you can only think about What If’s and If Only’s. Sayaka’s is still the weakest of the threes stories in this event but it worked harder to show us different sides of the characters then 6 chapters of Another Story managed to do.

And then there’s fucking Homura.

I will be, eternally grateful for Kuro. As a character that becomes metaphorical for the 2D ways we initially viewed the feathers and just NPCs in games in general, and also like, giving Homura a friend she actually cares about that isn’t the tangled dark web of Bullshit she’s gotten tied up with Madoka in. Please ask me about all my AU’s where Kuro is Homuras first girlfriend.

Seeing Moemura in Magia Record has always been a bit surreal, we never really understand just what stage of Trauma this Homura is in because Multiverses Are Hell, but this event gives us a good chunk of a Homura who still has hope and faith both in the world and Madoka. Theres this wonder to her that while still bogged down by terrible experiences still has the energy to be Trying. And she sees a girl who used to be like her- which when you think about it is probably what Madoka saw in her- and she wants to help. Because Madoka helped her. And Madoka is the best thing in the universe and maybe Homura can be just a little bit closer to that.

Kuro is too far gone though, as is the reality frequently in this series, things don’t work out just because of circumstance. Kuro was a bullied, insecure little girl who realistically shouldn’t have had to become a rampaging monster because of it. We’re reminded of this being the reality of the Madoka universe. Homura, is reminded of this reality. Homura loses this one chance to bring hope into the world like Madoka brought hope into hers.

And then her story ties into the ending of Madoka’s. Madoka saves her life yet again, even as Homura continues to feel miserable and empty. But at least Madoka is with her. The girls then share a quiet, intimate Valentines together. And you sort of understand how Homura fell so far into the darkness that the only thing she was able to still care about and fight for was Madoka’s safety.

That shit slaps. It slaps you right in the heart and causes fucking bruising but then u want it to do it again because you’re masochistic and Meguca Is Suffering.

Anyway I hope Kuroe slaps our hearts more in season2

MOVING ON!!!!

~Nagisa’s Wish~

Ok, I don’t remember what got me so simp over Nagisa, I think it was the heart-aching irony that Mami adopts the witch that fucking ate her. But that is my baby now and I’d die for her. Fandom Charlotte whose pink and silly and loves her mom and is Mami’s cancer-riddled girlfriend is cool and all but she isn’t a tiny Halloweeny baby whose fucking bitter angry and manically obsessed with cheese due to PTSD.

I had saw a summary of Nagisa’s Wish reposted just to quickly explain Nagisa’s backstory, and as such immediately had to search out if that crazy ride was true- so I actually watched this whole event probably before I downloaded the game. It was surreal on its own but replaying it when it came to NA didn’t lessen it any- I got to process more of what I was witnessing and as result stanned Yu pretty hard.

I guess to explain my Emotions here, saving Yu for later- calls for me to just, describe who Nagisa is as a human being and my headcanons surrounding it all with what this event gave us. Whether you consider it canon or not it’s one version of events that we were given and that I am all for accepting.

Nagisa’s Mom was a celebrity, she could have been an actress though I also like the idea of her being an Idol. She met Nagisa’s Dad oh-so romantically and got knocked up- they very well could have been married but it doesn’t seem clear enough. He seems to have left too suddenly for legal matters like that. Nagisa is approximately 11, and while she seems to remember her Father, she doesn’t in the sense of having had a relationship with him or any feelings. Her Mother has to “explain” why he left, so Nagisa was probably still young even if not a baby. What I’m getting at here is the timeline for when Nagisa’s Mom Got Like That. Nagisa can remember her from before she was, and then says that she got sick after her Dad left. So what I’m wondering is did Daddy Momoe ruin this young rich girls life, give her syphilis and then leave her with a baby she was unfit to care for in poverty? I know half of this is running on anime logic but Holy Shit all the possible ways reasons and ideas for why things could’ve gotten This Bad.

Is it ridiculously dark and edgy that the original story we were given was “Girl wishes her dying mother could have her favorite cake but then realizes OOPSIE-DAISY I could have wished for her to Not Die instead!!!!” got turned into “11yr old hates her abusive mother so much she wants to make her suffer in the most symbolic way she can and then goes mental when she isn’t able to do it”??? Yes. But if I had the mental capacity to I have to admit I was in a position to be just as bitter at that age too. I can’t call it unrealistic. I may infact be projecting hard with how much I support and enjoy this backstory.

Anyway Nagisa was in such a state of trauma and distress at a horrifically young age when she died that it broke her mental faculties so severely that even when she came back as a literal Angel of God she had blocked it out so deeply and thoroughly she seemingly regressed to an even younger capacity and hyperfixated on the trait that she has before used to try to bond with her Mother who she had died hating.

And that also slaps u right in the heart.

A N D T H E N !

~Beachside Bonds~

Just the simple structure of this story was so enjoyable and nicely done. We finally get to see the OG girls in a context we wouldn’t be able to in literally any other scenario. They’re going on a summer vacation together and Homura is sentimentally journaling every single second of it. Is this mayhaps because she’s never gotten to be this happy and blissful with these girls she loves so much??? Of course this is are you not paying attention what the fuck. Homura is so optimistic and healed and hopeful she’s acting like what she might actually be doing as a normal teenage girl. (A heartrending contrast to the end of her Valentines Special)

We get nothing short of pure fluffy Slice Of Life shenanigans on the beach which even includes a bunch of the Kamihama girls that the OG crew knows! And they talk about it! And introduce eachother! And their friends commentate on it! Ren gets to see Kyoko Not Being A Bitch and then Sayaka teases her about having made friends and oh my god my heart is turning into cottoncandy as we speak Mom holy FUCK

Sayaka’s existence fucking matters in this story! It’s her families Hotel they’re staying at and she has relationships and memories with the creepy twins that live there and she talks like a fucking person??? And gives opinions??? That aren’t just copypasted “Justice is Good and Bad things are BAD!!!!”

Mami is fresh out of her fucking Cult Drama and she’s still trying to be cool Senpai but then she DECKS Homura in the face and gets scared by the ghost stories and then turns into pudding and waxes nostalgia at Kyoko out of nowhere IT’S ALMOST LIKE SHE’S A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL????????

G H O S T S ? ? ? ?

Y U ! ? ! ? ! ? !

(IS G A Y ! ! ! !)

This whole fucking backstory and truly horrifying Romeo and Juliet on Acid love and death story between Yu and her girlfriend and like if I wasn’t fascinated enough by Yu just being the creepy organ harvester before but apparently thats what she became after she literally made some sort of wish that erased all of her memories besides the nickname her sweetheart used for her and coincidentally also added to her the task of killing all Bad People?????

Yu made a wish to be able to get rid of All Bad People preserving the innocent version of herself who grew up with this girl and it was right after a failed double suicide attempt on fucking Doomed Lovers Cliff fucking Lifetime Will You Ever.

It then pairs with Homura whose PTSD gets to shine through a bit in being unable to believe any bad sort of Madoka which how could you try to force her to at this point while Also pairing Homura with Ren in the “Gay Love Saved Our Lives: Traumatized vers & Vanilla vers”

I don’t remember if there was a symbolic finale and tbh I have forgotten a lot of the details with Yu and her girlfriend Whatsherface because that shit was just so shocking and bizarre to read and much too painful to reread in a timely fashion just.

That shit hurted but it was full of so much love and hope both doomed and stolen but still was wrapped up in the comforting concept that This Is The Universe Where Homura Gets To Be Okay This Time.

She’s still scarred beyond comprehension and this ghost drama accentuated it all but at the end of the day this is still the Safe Universe where all of them are alive and the Holy Quintet are friends and they’re all going to be okay (Godoka & Aniplex willing) and so many of us love Madoka Magica because it shows girls fighting through the same pain we’ve been through and keeping their hope alive and here we get to see them actually find peace in a clunkily written fanservicey spin-off mobile gacha game and hey, that made me happy while I got to experience it. Thanks for the ideas and memories and tragic backstories and funny thirdary characters MagiReco I’m gonna take em all and Run.

Akjsladbfalkjfsbslk If you read this all without getting a migraine or blocking me ily thanks for listening!!!!!!

TL;DR

Me likey A La Carte Valentine bc it’s silly and gay and I simp Kuro

Me likey Nagisa’s Wish bc sawft baby is good and so are Tragic Edgy Backstories

Me likey Beachside Bonds bc Gay Ghosts and Our Girls Finally Get To Be Happy Peaceful(ish) Teenage Girls and that’s all I want for them ;w;

Reeses In Pieces ya’ll

1Ten 2More 3Words 4To 5Hit 6(3000 7Words 8Woo 9Boy 10Howdy

[deonisms]

━━ ( booboo stewart + cis male + twenty one ) oi , have you seen deon damgaard around he lives in flat 14 in bedroom 2 ? i was meant to meet them this morning at bean me up before our lecture but he didn’t show . no ? well , shit . if you do see them , can you tell them i’m looking for them ? they’re a 3rd year robotics engineering student from gainesville, florida & you’ll know it’s them because they might just remind you of the faint smell of something burning, the restless clicking of a tongue piercing against teeth, boisterous laughter muffled by thin walls, dark circles combined with blindly bright grins, the warmth of overheating machinery . just be careful, he can be a little tactless, gullible & mercurial sometimes . —- oh don’t look like that , they’re usually eccentric, innovative & intuitive most of the time . ✏ pepper , twenty three, she/her, est

ABOUT THE MUN. hey demons, it’s ya gurl pepper

djkdsjk hello it is me again,,, simply out here being a slave to my own inspiration. honestly, i love ismael but i was torn between him, theo, and deon before apply for this rp and i am just feeling deon a bit more atm. i might still bring ismael in later as my third muse but for now it’s going to be all chaotic energy with one mr. deon! but omg okay a bit about me, i love the bachelor/bachelorette so hit me up if you want to mourn the death of pilot pete’s last braincell. i have a yorkie who literally runs my household as she should. i am honestly a hoe for a good aesthetic, like pinterest runs my ass. and i love sparkling water, which is controversial i know but perrier? god. fuck me up.

BIO. i need a himbo! i’m holding out for a himbo at the end of the night! he’s gotta be strong, and he’s gotta be fast, and he’s gotta be dumb and polite! suicide tw, depression tw, death tw !!!

Deon Damgaard was born from a tryst of passion. In other words, an affair. A very exciting affair, if that makes things any better. Said affair was between his mother, a talented young pianist, and his father, an influential, very much married businessman. You see, his father saw his mother play once and instantly fell in love. He came to every single one of his mother’s performances after that, and every time he did he left her flowers. Extravagant, beautiful flowers, the kind of flowers that make an impact on a woman, apparently. And they must have, because before long Deon’s mother was falling just as in love with Deon’s father as he was with her. And obviously you know what happens next. Deon.

Now, the thing about passionate love affairs is that they’re love affairs for a reason. There’s the love part of course. But there’s also the affair part. And that’s where things get complicated. Because despite being utterly, and completely in love with Deon’s mother, his father was still married. And he had no intention of ending his marriage, even for love.

But Deon’s mother didn’t know that at first. You see, Deon has inherited his mother’s easy optimism. The woman was in love and she believed with absolute surety that the love of her life would ultimately choose her. And so she waited for that day. And waited. And waited.

She spent most of the first few years of Deon’s life waiting, but the longer she waited the less Deon’s father even bothered to come around. The thing with falling in love hard and fast is that you can fall out of love just as quickly. And that’s exactly what Deon’s father did. He fell out of love like it was nothing.

So there was Deon’s mother, with a baby she shared with a man who didn’t love her anymore. One that carried his last name against his wishes, one that even had the name that he’d said he’d always wanted to give a son. One that she loved, truly. But that love wasn’t enough. Because Deon’s mother was in pain. More pain than a little baby like Deon could understand. Enough pain to end her own life.

Deon was six at the time. Not old enough to know what the big deal was, but old enough to understand that something was wrong. Especially when he  quickly found himself in an orphanage. His father never claimed him of course. Deon doesn’t even know if he mourned his mother. Or if he wanted to come to her funeral. All he knows is that he wasn’t there.

There’s not much to be said after that, or at least nothing as poetic as the beginning. Deon was put into the foster system and he was never really wanted again. Well. Maybe that’s not completely true. The truth is no one ever wanted to adopt him. But he always hoped someone would. He’d be passed from family to family to family, bright eyed and hoping like the optimistic child he was. But they never wanted him. Some said he was too hyper. Others said he was too curious. More than a few just said he was too odd, and Deon always found that strange. That he was too odd to keep. Too odd to love.

Of course most of them didn’t expect Deon to be eavesdropping when they said these things so Deon couldn’t really fault them. They didn’t mean to hurt him. And so she could never truly hate them. He couldn’t find it in his heart to. But it was painful, to get his hopes up each time only to have them dashed away. Whether that be by being tossed aside like nothing but a nuisance or tossed around like nothing but a rag doll. It always hurt to seek love and give love and yet never get any in return.

The bright side in Deon’s eyes was that at least he never made any friends. Because could you imagine how hard that would be? To pack your bags and have to say goodbye to your family and friends every time? It’d be too much to bear. So Deon counted his blessings. There weren’t many but he cherished the ones he had.

One of which was school. Deon didn’t have much at all, but at the very least he had school. Because everything had a price. Toys. Food. Even families (Deon wasn’t completely ignorant to the fact that his families got paid just to take care of him. For a lot of them that was the only reason they kept him around in the first place.) but school? School was free, and he adored it. Okay, maybe not all of it. English and foreign languages and god, history, all of that was painfully boring. But science? Science was the one thing that he had to look forward to throughout most of his childhood. And it continued to be that one thing into his young adulthood.

The majority of Deon’s said young adulthood was spent sporadically behind bars. Let’s just say Deon fell into the wrong crowd. It wasn’t on purpose, Deon has just and likely always will be the kind of person who is eager for friendship. All these kids had to do was be even slightly nice to him and ��sure, man! i can totally hotwire that car for you!’. That’s not to say Deon was completely innocent himself. Most of his arrests for theft, graffiti, and street racing, were products of his own doing. But sometimes, Deon just happened to be the guy abandoned at the scene of the crime. He never gave up his friends, no matter what the cops threatened him with, but he unfortunately never had the privilege of having his loyalty returned.

Deon stayed out of juvie by the skin of his teeth. It was mostly due to the fact that he lived in a lot of different small towns for majority of his adolescence. Deon could usually endear the small town sheriffs to him with his incessant chatter, and well meaning demeanor. He honestly made friends with more than a few of the cops that had arrested him, and there are more than a few that Deon would still call up today and chat with.

Despite his dabbling in crime, Deon graduated from high school with an almost spotless GPA and partial scholarships to more than a few universities including Harvard, MIT, Yale. Deon was kind of startled by all of the offers, but he did have more than a few projects during his years of schooling that caught the universities attention (including making a car that ran on used vegetable oil, a charger that could charge your phone to completion in less than a minute, etc). But with all the offers, Deon picked Larnswick. Why? Well, mostly because he’d never been on a plane but also because he picked his university by playing eenie meenie miney mo dkdskj

Deon showed up to flat 14 with one pretty light suitcase, a rat in his hand, and a beaming grin despite being in a new strange country. He’s here on a full scholarship, but doesn’t really have any money of his own so he works a lot of jobs, or rather he gets fired from a lot of jobs. Every month or so you can see Deon in a new uniform for a new establishment, and every once in a while Deon will tell you the wild story of how he got fired from said establishment. Honestly he could really do well in a job as a handyman, but jsdkj he hasn’t thought of that yet. 

HEADCANNONS. if i get shot do i own the bullet? like can i keep it?

fun fact, i originally made deon as an npc in a house party para i was doing with my friend sdkjsdjk he was genuinely made to be as annoying as possible but then my friend actually really liked him so now he’s a whole ass muse. that said if he is annoying... it’s because he was legit designed to be i’m sorry folks sdkjdskj fingers crossed he’s not though! but grating traits he has: never stops talking man, says man, dude, bruh, and bro, constantly. CONSTANTLY. you’ll be having a conversation with him and he’ll just blurt out something completely off topic??? HE’S SO LOUD TOO! And incredibly inappropriate god

that said deon was also inspired by jason mendoza and i literally teared up writing that because i’m pmsing so sdkjsdkj let’s move on!

has a septum piercing, a tongue piercing, a smiley piercing, a nipple piercing on his left nipple and several tattoos, most of which he’s done himself after buying a tattoo gun (honestly you shouldn’t let deon tattoo you because he just does whatever comes to him at the time but also LET DEON TATTOO YOU!). honestly probably has more than a few earrings too, and he’s very proud of all of his piercings honestly. 

loves colour and neon especially, but also loves to wear a lot of black like he’s a whole ass mess. his favourite colour is yellow btw. generally just wears what he likes, but he pretty much never looks polished. 

his favourite number is 0!

wears a lot of rings and jewelry as well, you will rarely find your boy without something on his fingers.

has a rat named titty boy that he calls titty for short. his name is titty boy because he only eats hot cheetos and likes to watch the real house wives. as sad as it sounds he was one of deon’s first genuine friends so he loves him like BIG. takes him everywhere like he usually has him in his bag at lectures. titty can be found scurrying around the flat having the time of his life at any given moment that deon is in there.

built a little helper bot and named him douche bag, or rather deebs for short. also loves him big. deebs is constantly getting updated by deon honestly, but your boy actually probably won a prize when he made him because he’s actually?? very like advanced for what he is (he runs on used oil from fast food chains, has a near nonexistent carbon footprint, facial recognition, etc). deon literally made him so that he could help him remember to take his pills (deon has clinical depression and adhd unfortunately, so he needs deebs around to give him that nudge), and he can do that and more now. deon kind of wants to see if he can break him into the service animal industry, cause he figures he could be good for people who need service animals but have allergies to fur.

gets around, mostly because he is attracted like everybody and feels no qualms about telling them that? and omg he’s another muse of mine that’s bi btw, no one is surprised. but honestly isn’t really a player just cause he’s too dumb to be one man. like if he was suppose to call you and he didn’t he literally just forgot sdkjsdkj

does not talk about himself at all! ever! like legit learning anything about deon’s past is like pulling teeth! 

like i said deon has depression, but like most people probably don’t know that because again,, your boy is close lipped. that said he doesn’t try to hide it, like if you see him taking his pills you see him taking his pills. there are times though that deon will just not be found for a week or two when his depression gets bad and usually at those times his door will be locked and will not open for the entirety of that week like MAYBE at night when everyone is asleep so he can pee but that’s it! he usually emerges from these occasions chill and chipper as he usually is with sdkmds absolutely no mention of it. i don’t know if he has any friends he’s close enough to that he’d talk to about that though you know, like honestly from deon’s perspective *deon vc* i don’t wanna bring anybody down, man...

says man and bro and bruh and dude WAY TOO MUCH like they punctuate most of his sentences sdkdjs

surfer dude energy. skater dude energy. stoner dude energy.

smokes A LOT of weed. LOVES to party! that guy you see at every house party and have to wonder like??? how is he passing ANY of his classes sdkjsdj

honestly when i usually write deon he’s an MIT graduate so dskjds he definitely got an offer from there that he casually responded to like ‘oh shit, thanks man, but i’m cool!’ sdkjdsjk also probably has gotten more than a few offers to work at like google but refuses to work there until every image that shows up for the search ‘donald trump’ is just the angry orange. it’s his own negotiating point and he refuses to budge on it.

sometimes you can catch deon sitting in his car blasting sara barailles and crying in the university parking lot.

and finally, in ode to ismael,,, deon has a crush on claire from the bon appetit test kitchen. like he wants to marry her. his twitter is just nonsense stream of consciousness stuff and then occasionally ‘@clairesaffitz MARRY ME CLAIRE’. people have probably tried to point out to him that claire doesn’t have a twitter but deon always forgets djhddfjk

knows all the words to TLC’s waterfalls and will sing it to completion whenever it’s on.

will come to your flat and like fix your heater if it’s acting up. literally just hail deon down if you need anything fixed and he will do it for literally nothing. he just likes to help, and to be wanted around tbh rip

swears A TON omg i almost forgot deon swears constantly dkjds he doesn’t see a problem with it honestly, and he’s never like angrily swearing honestly it’s usually excited swearing but sdkjsdkj he’s a potty mouth nonetheless and if your muse doesn’t swear deon will pay them money to do it despite being BROKE. “will you say fuck for a dollar?” sdkjdsj despite the fact that he’s in england rip. 

PERSONALITY. do u are have stupid? hell yeah brother!

honestly one of my most kindhearted muses. like deon wouldn’t hurt a FLY! he catches spiders in his hands and takes them outside sdkjsdk. like even if you’re a dick to deon he will still be nice to you! never gets mad at ANYBODY, like it’s so rare to see deon pissed man he has the heart of a surfer dude

just freaking says things man. doesn’t think before he says anything ever. no brain to mouth filter at ALL.

that said he’s a lot smarter than he looks and acts skjdsj but he’s also so stupid, it’s a bit contradictory honestly because deon is a DUMBASS! but he be knowing things man i can’t explain it. like he has no brain to mouth filter but like if you tell deon a secret no one is ever going to know. 

PAINFULLY loyal to his friends like to a fault! even if you betray deon or abandon him he legit will not do the same to you, like if you were ever his friend you will be his friend until the day he dies. 

generous. would give the shirt off his back to someone if they needed it

humble? like deon knows he’s good at what he does because people keep telling him that but he doesn’t do it because he’s good at it he does it because he thinks it’s fun and like rewarding, like seeing deebs beeping around just makes him happy.

doesn’t have a competitive bone in his body when it comes to academic success or professional success but when it comes to mario kart or ddr or tWISTERand suddenly nothing else matters in the world

lowkey still desperately wants friends and to be accepted, and cares a lot more about what people think of him than he lets on, rip

you absolutely could manipulate deon whenever you wanted to, he would skdjdsjk probably never catch on man. it’s like ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, come on man... fool me THREE TIMES?? bro.’ dkjdskj

lowkey sad sometimes because it be like that, but he will hide it the minute there’s someone around him. 

one of those muses that is like... are you pretending to be dumb or are you really that dumb? and like legit i don’t even know the answer man and i’ve never actually got to play him long enough to find out so i’m hype for that!

WANTED CONNECTIONS. *tries to crowd surf at a ted talk*

BROS. give deon some a group of close guy friends he will adore them with everything in him!

A NEIGHBOR THAT’S ANNOYED BY HIM. whether you’re trying to get inside and deon is talking your ear off about the toe he found in his subway sandwich, or it’s just the damn loud music he’s always playing (if you hear cotton eyed joe at two am, it’s definitely deon) you have a right to be annoyed by him. you are valid. 

CONFIDANTE. despite the amount deon likes to talk he’s actually a really good listener and will keep all your secrets forever! so confide in him man, he’s got you. or the other way around someone deon feels like he can confide in and talk to?? a concept. 

EXES. give me someone who broke his heart! i’ve never gotten to play brokenhearted deon but it would be fun. or someone who’s heart he accidentally broke, honestly he wouldn’t know it until it was too late sdkjsdkj.

CRUSH. give me someone who has a crush on deon that he is completely oblivious to. give me someone who deon has a crush on that he doesn’t know what to do with! honestly for the most part deon is either very blunt and forward or awkward and dumb with a crush, but either way it will be entertaining for all involved. 

DAD FRIEND/MOM FRIEND. deon is a whole mess honestly, and he just needs someone who will make sure he doesn’t die you know? because he’s used to taking care of himself generally but he really will get himself into dangerous situation because he’s just stupid. some random stranger offers deon crack at a music festival? deon will take it! it’s so nice that they offered him some! *deon vc* yoooo, thanks man!

ENEMY. i just find it funny that deon wouldn’t know they are enemies. he’d wave to them and say hi and they’d be like I HATE YOU and he’d laugh like it’s a joke dkjdsk it’d be very one sided but very entertaining. 

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS. deon has traveled all around america so give this to me friends! could even be friends from high school or something or middle school, whatever it is i’m game. 

FWB. just really chill buds who also have sex. deon will try to high five them after sdkjdsjk maybe someone involved is catching feelings or maybe they’re just going to always be friends who have seen each other naked, and you know what that’s okay too. 

alright that’s all i’ve got for now friends, because i’ve been up since 7am and i am slowly losing steam sdkjs but we can always brainstorm! like this and i’ll slip and slide into your dms!

[thewolfisawake]

The Tales series if you haven't gotten it already

Favorite character:

Undeniably goes to Yuri and Velvet. What can I say? I’m into the dark-haired protagonists that ‘aren’t like the others.’ I can get onboard with why they come to the conclusions they do even if I don’t think it’s write. With Yuri, I admire the ability to do when others cannot. And can’t deny, he made me laugh the most with his sense of sarcasm and panache. Plus that voice...Troy Baker, they did you dirty. Meanwhile with Velvet I was like ‘yes, let’s be married in this quaint little town together’ in the beginning. She was just cute. Then it became attraction of ‘I don’t give a damn what happens to this world so long as I get what I want’ and ferocity. 

Least Favorite character:

Emeraude. Like what the fuck is your problem lady? You’re getting jealous of a child. Your feelings towards someone should be directed towards that person, not abusing some third-party that doesn’t even understand what you two have going on. 

Cumore. Fuck him too. For a side character that you don’t even really fight, he’s a real ass that his death was catharsis. Pure catharsis. There was no a single moment that he showed any redemption. He was a cruel bastard that held no regard for human life. He was willing to make excuses for anyone under him to get in trouble. He lied to people to enslave them and work them to death. He dragged people into the desert to look for an impossible item and left them without resources to die. Fuck him so much. He might’ve been cartoonishly evil compared to some not nice guys but those actions translate to atrocities. 

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Selfish Coexistence (Basically the Berseria Party) - Their relationships seem so hard to define to me as they all use each other for various reasons. They also seem to develop care through their selfishness and all of the either are like *shrug* guess we’re doing this now or ‘what is this I’m feeling?’ ‘emotions?’ ‘disgusting.’ There’s an understood protection amongst all of them and then a fierce rationalization for their action rather than saying ‘because I like you okay!’ They’re very smart yet they’re all dumbasses and I love them all.

Ludju - You know what’s better than one adorkable dumbass? Two adorkable dumbasses. I like Ludger and Jude’s relation better than any I have unlocked during the story. Jude by nature is very caring but it just is different with Ludger? Main thing I can note is that Jude touches Ludger a lot. Like a firm, ‘I’m right here’ shoulder touch. A nudge in the arm. Catching when about to faint. And I just don’t see Jude do the same with anyone in his party in either game.  I just find their interactions from the extra scenes are really cute.

 Velvet/Niko - “If you were a boy, I think I’d be in love.” Gurl she don’t have to be a boy to kiss fall in love. Shipping a Main Character with an NPC? Is it madness? Absolutely. But I had feelings about that from the very beginning. Like this could’ve been so fucking sweet. Could’ve had it all. And then the Advent happened. 

Alvin/Presa - Oh man. Ooooh man. This was just a curiosity on the way of Tale’s of Xillia’s path. Like it was a lady that lent to Alvin’s skeevy or ladykiller vibe he gave off. And it was like was she just a jilted one-time or something else? And the answer seemed like ‘something else’ but didn’t know what. It was a little ‘wonder how that went...’ Then you do Tales of Xillia 2 and I thought I was wrecked. Because it reframes so much of their interaction to a really sad relationship that fell apart because Alvin was a coward. 

Flynn/Yuri/Judith - Haha! Didn’t expect the end part of this one did you? I think everyone knew I liked Fluri. Like their dynamics are so interesting. But I really do enjoy Judy being involved. I’m really sad that Judy and Flynn don’t get much interaction even in the PS3 version but I don’t find it hard for them to get along. But I do usually see that more times it’s Flynn and Judy dating Yuri and their relationship changes over time.  They can scrap together, they can travel together, and not needing as much talking to get what anyone means. I find it hard to describe this one but I feel it. 

Character I find most attractive:

Yuri and Velvet are like the reflexive thoughts. But I actually really also like Jude and Judy. I mean look at this cute little nerd, he’s adorable! And then there’s hot elf lady that she could kick me in the face and I’d thank her. In general you can probably guess my type from those four.

Character I would marry:

Probably Yuri. I’m sorry that this is my answer to so many but he is like my type to a T and it’s just ruined so many standards for me. Like a funny guy that is good at cooking (and has a sweet tooth!) and can go venturing with? What else is there? I mean yeah there’s the hair and voice but that’s like given. But yeah, I’m a basic bitch with that.

Character I would be best friends with:

Eizen, if that’s a bit surprising. Sure he’s a bit of an edgelord but I feel like I’ve never left it so he’s already doing better than I. But I like the idea of sailing on the ship with him there, probably not gonna be able to let me struggle for that long. He’s funny with a dry sense of humor to me and also he’s a low-key nerd that knows a lot of things and likes finding new and interesting things. So yeah. 

And as much as I give shit about him, I actually think I would be friends with Sorey. He’s the kind of excitable that makes others excited and that’s kind of what I do. So we’d kind of excite each other. And so long as it’s not spelunking, I’m down for going exploring. 

a random thought:

What defenses occur with the end of blastia? Barriers were what repelled monsters from most of the inhabited areas in Terca Lumireis. Dahngrest and Zaphias look to have fortresses that can hold back most land beasts. But there are other places. What stops the monsters now? Will they go towards more mana based works? 

Also, someone also mentioned, does ANYONE know how to do medical work? Like actually patching up injuries? How to care for someone in sickness? Healing artes were what were used! They can’t use blastia anymore! What happens now?

Can there be a history of how things changed from Berseria to Zestiria? Mainly the shifting of how malevolence works from turning people to reflect their sinister nature to straight up monsters with no sense? How the Shepherd thing went to include the malak as much as it does. The change from malak to seraphim. Just...how did we geeeetttttt heeeerrreeeeee.

An unpopular opinion:

I fucking hate that I had to be told from other friends that actually could find the material or read the fucking wiki to understand the dynamics of the Kresnik family. Ludger has a LOT of fucking baggage that we don’t even get to hear anything about! Partially because he’s silent and partially because ‘oh he was young so he conveniently forgot?’ And a lot of it was important to the last half of the story! That’s bullshit! And even further bullshit is that there was no reason they couldn’t have found time to put it in the game but they chose not to. 

Tales can’t make a fun last level to save their lives. I haven’t enjoyed a single final level in any of the games I’ve played. I don’t mind doing puzzles for it but straight up spiraling branches full of dead ends is frustrating. ESPECIALLY FUCK XILLIA 2′s! Randomly generated based off those in the party and then you can’t even see when a path is not truly there so you can follow the path and then all of suddenly blank ground, meaning dead end you have back up and retrace another path. And then like Berseria’s made me feel nauseous from the ‘ethereal’ look it was going for. And just made it hard as fuck to see. And more of this awful tower climbing. I just...mmmmmmm, I will probably always enjoy the game until the final level exists. I swear.

My Canon OTP:

Uuuuuuhhhhhh I don’t think I have one. 

My Non-canon OTP:

Most protags x happiness?

Most Badass Character:

Don Whitehorse. He was like definition of like ‘stubborn old man’ but man was he cool. He was staunch in the honor of the guilds under his control and was proud of what he and other had built up with their own hands. Also you don’t often see a man willing to sacrifice his life to right a wrong done by his own. 

Most Epic Villain:

Gaius. Like me and my friend were like ‘what the fuck’ when we were co-oping Xillia together. Like this was a king that meant business! Mhm. .

Pairing I am not a fan of:

Most of the pairings are fine to me. 

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Sorey. I’m sure I’ve gone on this so many times but I really hated that they kept alluding to him having to make hard decisions but whenever one was brought to him, someone else took it for him. Like if his job is that important and it’s expected to make these choices, THEN LET HIM MAKE THEM. I was so angry over that. I spent the entire game waiting for when they’d do a major point where Sorey had no choice but to step up. 

Favourite Friendship:

Alvin & Elize - I really like how much they have both grown from each other. And how when Alvin broke her trust that he had to live with her mistrust and work to earn it back. Their friendship had uneasiness that seemed hopeful at the end of the first game and turned to just banter and teasing by the second. Growth baby, it’s wonderful.

Character I most identify with:

Mmmmm, probably Ludger. Look at all that debt. Can’t do nothing but cry over it.

Character I wish I could be:

Yeah, no. JRPG rules means everyone has some fucked up shit in their past or coming for them. I’m fine over here.

[nokikissa]

Whooooooooo did it, beat the story of borderlands 3 now. It took me 42 hours but I think I got still like some of those fight wave of enemies arena things I could do but I’ll look into that later, I did all the crew challenges and side mission outside of those type of things.

Story and character wise it was a bit of a mixed bag, there were a lot of things I like and couple things I really didn’t like, but all in all I had fun, the gameplay was excellent, and most likely I will play it again, to co-op with buddies or to try out different vault hunters.

Putting more in-depth thoughts about some story and character things under the cut, extreme major spoiler warning as I’ll be talking about like big plot moments and such.

I quite like most of the new characters they introduced in this, I’ve only played Fl4k and loved them, but from everything I’ve seen I feel like I’ll love the other new vault hunters as well. The Calypso twins were delightful villains, very entertaining but also like I couldn’t wait to get to kill them lmao. And then there’s like Ava, I loved her and her relationship with Maya that was good stuff. And Wainwright I quite liked as well, and I was very happy that Hammerlock finally has a boyfriend and is in a good relationship. And also Lorelei and Clay were both good too, tho I probably like Lorelei more of those haha.

How it handled some old characters tho.... That’s a bit mixed. Like I liked a lot of them: Lilith, Eliie, Tannis, Maya, Zer0, Sir Hammerlock.... Even Rhys! They got Rhys down surprisingly well in my opinion! Obviously he was bit more comedic and doofy but like it was still reminiscent of how Rhys acted in like comedic moments of tales, I could recognize where they got his personality from and so on, it was fine!

...Which makes it even more baffling that they fucked up Vaughn so completely that with Vaughn it feels like the writer maybe got a super vague description of the character at best which had been passed down through multiple people twisting it around like a game of broken telephone. I just don’t understand where they pulled some character traits for him at all.... During the game I tried my best to ignore his existence, which worked well for a long while until the game made you go back to pandora and made him story relevant again, god every time he spoke my reaction was like “please shut up...”

But. I knew that was coming. The Commander Lilith DLC and promotional pics and so on made it clear ahead of time that I would not like Borderlands 3 Vaughn. I had had time to go through the stages of grief and resign to being all well I’m gonna be one of those salty tales fans and keep on drawing content of like tales Vaughn and ignore the rest of the canon for him.

So anyway I was really liking the story during like the Promethea Atlas Vs. Maliwan Arc actually, Rhys and Zer0 and their interactions were fun, Katagawa was an enjoyable villain as well, I just hope the fandom don’t make him annoying to me... So yeah that arc was good and fun.... and then the Promethea Vault happened. I am still a bit on the fence about how I feel about Maya getting killed off. On one hand, I did not see that coming and it did get an emotional “Nooo D:” reaction out of me, which well I’ve seen games with similar character getting killed off scenes that are supposed to be a big deal but my reaction is just like ���ok”, like Borderlands 2 with Roland for example. But like yeah I didn’t want her to die, and it feels like kind of a waste cos let’s face it in 2 she didn’t have that much personality since the game didn’t do voice lines for the vault hunters reacting to the story etc. So now she was finally getting to be her own character I feel like aaaand then she dies. :/

And then we moved on to the Eden 6 arc and initially I was excited all Oh get to meet Hammerlock’s Boyfriend! But soon my excitement soured............

So Aurelia’s evil now huh.... And like cartoonishly evil...... Man I hate what they did with Aurelia in this game, it really smashed my good mood coming from the promethea arc to this.... Like in pre-sequel sure she kept claiming herself to be evil and a bitch and so on, but yet when Jack did like actually horrible shit she did not agree with those, she felt bad about Felicity’s fate and didn’t agree with Jack killing the scientist, she even objected when Jack was killing off all claptraps! But nah here’s she’s evil, murdering people left and right and also fucked Troy Calypso cos idk she evil now  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Like god............ I really didn’t expect Aurelia of all the characters whose portrayal I’d be having this much issues but here we are... I guess I’m more pissed about it atm cos as I said with Vaughn I knew what was coming, but with Aurelia I kinda feel Bait and switched by the promotional material cos in all of those that I saw they showed like both the Hammerlocks and Wainwright standing next to each other so you know I was expecting her to be an ally, like maybe she and Alistair had started to tolerate each other and so on but NOPE! Go kill this character you like! Thanks a lot gearbox...

That’s the major issues I had with characters I suppose, Tho it is a bit disappointed Maya and Zer0 were only vault hunters from 2 that showed up. Would’ve been fun to get more personality for more of them. I did find some echo logs involving Krieg at one point which were interesting, aaaand according to like the sort of background filler assets Axton does porn now lmao. Also hmm where were Athena and Janey? Fiona and Sasha? So many characters missing... I know they’ve said probably more characters show up in dlcs, but still. Story wise kinda funny tho, like did Lilith contact the vault hunters from 2 for help at all? Were all of them like “sry I’m busy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “??

Also one weird bit about the Eden 6 arc, it felt kiiinda out of place for borderlands that there were npcs being all “Oh man I sure love the Jakobs family they treat me well”, borderlands has sorta been all “the gun corporation suck” beforehand... I suppose the Promethea arc was bit too pro corporation in some way, but with that at least mostly the npc I saw were like “Rhys says he’s trying to do good with atlas... hm we shall see how that’ll pan out...” suspicion, but with the Jakob there were characters being all oh Jakobs is so great such good corporation :)

At the end side of the game you could get sooo much lore about like sirens which I loved, translating the eridian artifact things like clarified on like how sirens come to be and all which is great! According to that siren in her life can choose who specifically inherits her powers after she dies, or “release her powers into the unknown” which when described kinda gave me the impression that it’ll pass those onto some baby that’s born at some point, which yay clarification on the whole are sirens born as sirens or do they get their powers later: answer is both!

And it appears that Angel decided to pass her powers onto Tannis before she died? Which is interesting. And aw Maya chose Ava to inherit her powers.

That ending tho..... uhhh isn’t Elpis an inhabited place? How did that whole thing affect the people living on elpis lmao....?

And god that ending credits song, it is fitting but I just can’t take it seriously asfsfdggs...

i guess I’ll now move onto talking about the gameplay....

The gameplay was great. Same old Borderlands gameplay except with some improvements making it better, and that is exactly what I wanted from the game.

I especially love the way the guns are now and how much variety there is between the manufacturers, and even within them! Like previously I rarely liked to use shotguns in borderlands games, but in this one I fell in love specifically with the Maliwan Shockwave shotguns, and when one I had started to be too low leveled I desperately tried looking for new one everywhere lol.

And also Atlas gun’s smart bullet gimmick is so good especially now that I played on console, I know I joked about that before the game came out I’m sorry Rhys lol.

I really enjoyed the environments in the game, the planets looked cool and unique, and the maps were interesting. And god some of them are so huge! Which does cause some issue tho... They are weirdly stingy with ammo vending machines. In previous games they usually had ammo vending machines before like boss fight rooms, but in this one nope! Most of the time they only have those in like beginning of the map or like where fast travel points are? That’s annoying... And another issue is that the maps are big and sorta maze-like at times, so even though you have the mission marker in the mini map, I still needed to constantly open the map to see how to get to it, you can’t just go straight in the direction of the mission marker.

Gotta say, I was bit disappointed that we only visited Athenas to get Maya, I was hoping we’d return there cos the planet was very pretty but nope....

Fl4k’s gameplay was really fun, I got the skill that lets fl4ks pet heal you and man that skill is a lifesaver, there were some boss fights I survived purely because of Mr Chew keeping me alive by reviving me lol.

I did encounter few glitched that caused me to have to restart the game cos some mission objective got stuck somewhere and I couldn’t advance, that was a bit annoying. But it was only very few and like well into the game, compared to the hours I played it feels like a pretty good track record for playing a game right on it’s release haha.

So uh yeah. In summary again: Extremely fun gameplay, mixed bag story and characters. Had fun, will play again.

[fallout4reactsblog]

That death scenes one has awakened a thirst for blood by which I mean a thirst for angst. How about whatever other named NPC(s) each companion primarily associates with (so nat for piper, ellie for nick, ect. some companions left out because not all of them have any particular associated characters) finding out that they died as described in the previous feels-puncher of a react?

Deacon: Glory is the first to know.

She’s about to leave when sole comes in, Deacon in their arms, and then suddenly the whole church knows, because Glory is yelling loud enough to be heard over the roar of a Deathclaw.

“What the fuck do you mean he’s dead? How the fuck is he dead? You were supposed to have his goddamn back, so you better start answering some fucking questions.”

“Glory.” Dez’s voice has the heavy stopping in her tracks. “Enough.” She turns to sole, level-headed as always. “What happened?”

“There was a courser. We couldn’t get out.”

“A courser?” Glory is back to yelling. “How many of those have you killed, huh?”

“My cover with-”

“Damn your cover!” She’s inches from their nose. “Your cover doesn’t mean shit in the face of Deacon’s life. He’s fucking dead for that sake of your cover? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Glory.” Dez’s voice is harder this time. “That’s enough.”

She sneers, but turns away, stalking further into HQ. Her boots are loud and echo in the catacombs. Dez turns back to the person in front of her.

“I’m sure you did all you could,” she says. “Deacon always believed in you. He’d have been happy to give his life for this cause.”

They nod. “I’m gonna just… leave him. I don’t think I should stick around.”

“Probably not,” she agrees. “I’ll send for you when it’s okay to come back.”

They set the body on one of the empty coffins and leave, and Desdemona turns to her spy.

“Oh, Deacon.” She sighs heavily and lights a cigarette. “I should have known better. I really should have.”

HQ feels too quiet, suddenly. She wishes he would laugh or say something rude about Carrington or joke with Tom about conspiracy theories. But Tom is sobbing in the corner, Carrington is searching for a place to put the body, and Deacon is dead.

She closes her eyes a moment.

Deacon is dead.

For the first time in years, she lets herself cry.

Hancock: The smell of acid and something else that’s strongly unpleasant hits her as soon as she opens the door, and she flinches, trying not to gag. It’s heavy like it’s been sitting for a while, and she feels irritation begin to coil in her stomach.

“Christ, John. Did you throw up or what?”

She can’t see him sitting on the couch, so she steps a little further into the room. A glimpse of red peeks out from the floor, and she glances down only to turn away just as quickly. Because there he is, face down in his own vomit. His eyes are open. His lips are smiling.

She knows without checking that he’s gone.

When she thinks she can bear it, she looks back again, hoping that she’ll find something different. She doesn’t. It’s still him, and he’s still dead.

“You just couldn’t help it, could you?” The room reeks of stomach acid and Jet and rotting flesh, glazed over with the smell of his cologne. “You just had to push it too far.”

He doesn’t answer, of course. She looks at him a moment longer, feeling the emotions starting to bubble up in her chest. She tries to hold back, tries to stop them, but that’s John Hancock on the floor. The mayor of Goodneighbor, a hero in his own right. The man that gave her a purpose in this nightmare of a world.

She bursts in a scream, knuckles slamming against the wooden wall. She screams and punches and screams and punches until there’s blood running down her knuckles, and then she sinks to her knees on the floor and screams some more, fingers digging into her scalp. She can’t stop, doesn’t want to stop, just shuts her eyes and screams, because all she can smell is his cologne and all she can see are those dead eyes, and all she can hear is the voice in her head that’s telling her she could have saved him, could have done more. She screams until she can’t hear it anymore, and then until she runs out of breath.

She slumps against the wall, panting, breaths broken by the sobs that wrench themselves free. The voice is back, reminding her of everything John ever did for her, chastising her for repaying him like this.

“Dammit,” she whimpers, and it sounds broken in the empty room. “Dammit, John, don’t do this to me. Don’t do this.”

It’s already done, so she leans against the wall and cries.

MacCready: “Did Robert send you?”

The woman behind the door has eyes that regard sole with suspicion, but they nod anyway. They’ve made promises. Promises that need keeping.

“I’m here to take him home.”

She nods. “I’ll have him gather his things.”

The door shuts on them, and they stand in the cold. Waiting. Who knew D.C. was going to be an icebox, huh?

When the door opens again, it’s like getting sucker punched, because they’ll be damned if those aren’t Mac’s eyes staring right back at them. Today, though, they belong to a little boy, one that looks far too much like his dad to make this easy.

“Duncan, this is the lady I was telling you about. She’s gonna take you home, okay?”

They smile down at the child in front of them. “Hey, buddy.”

His eyes are suspicious. “How do I know you know my dad?”

They laugh a little, and it sounds forced, even to them. “Let’s talk, okay? I’ll tell you on the way.”

He follows them, and they lead him to a park bench. His legs swing, and his hands adjust the straps on his bag, which they assume contains everything he owns. It’s small, and it hurts to know he has so little because they’re about to take away one of the few things he has left.

“Here,” they say, digging around in their bag. “Your dad wanted you to have this.”

The toy looks far bigger in Duncan’s hands, and he turns over the little soldier. “This is Dad’s.”

“You asked how you could be sure I knew your father, and there it is. It’s yours, now.”

He puts it in his tiny pack. “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend. You can call me Sole. I’m gonna be taking care of you from now on.”

“Until we get home to Dad,” he corrects, and all they can do is give him a sad smile.

“I’m so sorry, kiddo.”

His face twists into one of fear and uncertainty, the face of someone who knows the answer but is afraid to say it. “Where’s Dad?”

They thought the words over for hours on the walk to D.C., but now, at the moment, they find they catch on their teeth. It’s hard to spit them out, but they tell themselves they have to. They owe it to Mac. “Your dad’s in a better place, now.”

“No,” he whispers, and they wrap him in a hug.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Dad can’t be- can’t be dead.” His voice is broken and stained with tears. “He’s gonna come get me when I get better, and we’re gonna play catch like we used to, and he’s gonna take me home. We’re-” He chokes on a sob. “We’re gonna be happy.”

“He wanted to be here,” they whisper as their own tears slide down their cheeks. “I promise you. He really did.”

“Dad-” the words break into a wail, and all they can do is hold him. He’s too young to go through this, too young to grieve, but life is cruel and unkind, and so they clutch him tighter as he cries.

His body shudders with the weight of his sadness. They scoop him up, trying to hold their own grief at bay as they walk. It’s a long way back to Sanctuary. People stare as they pass, but they focus on the child in their arms, clutching onto their shoulders.

“Your dad loved you, Duncan. He wanted to be here for you. He wanted to see you again.”

Duncan sobs again, shoulders trembling, and they bite back tears.

“I’ll do what I can for you. I promised that to your father, and I’ll promise it to you, too.”

Nothing will lift the weight from his shoulders, and they know it. There is nothing that heals grief. Nothing that can fill the void death leaves in a soul.

“Dad loved you, Duncan.”

Nick: The agency never smells like alcohol, and that’s the first sign that something is amiss. It’s not one of Nick’s vices, or hers, and the only one that ever drinks in the agency is sole. But that’s a rare occasion.

Nonetheless, there they are, slumped in Nick’s chair. A bottle of vodka dangles loosely from their fingers as they stare at the metal grasshopper on the table in front of them.

“Where’s Nick?” she asks.

They don’t respond, and that’s red flag number two. She can practically hear the alarm bells going off as sole takes another drink. She knows she shouldn’t, but she asks again, more forcefully.

“Where is Nick?”

“I heard you the first time.” Their words are a drunken, slurred mess. “He’s dead, Ellie.”

It hits her like a Behemoth punch to the gut, and she collapses onto her desk. They don’t even look over at her.

“How?” She manages to just barely choke the word out.

“Super Mutants. They were protecting this piece of shit.” They gesture with their bottle to the grasshopper.

Every breath aches as she tries to understand and tries to process how Nick Valentine, the hero of Diamond City, dies. He was one of the few constants in her life. Nick. Now dead.

“The agency’s yours,” they say, standing. “Everything’s yours. He was very insistent on that. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” They wave the presumably empty bottle. “I’m off to pay the Bobrovs more of my caps.”

She’s not sure whether to scream or cry, but as the door shuts behind them, she gets a bit of both. A loud, angry sob escapes her, and she shoves herself off the desk. There’s no time to waste.

Tears drip down her face as she pulls out one of the drawers in Nick’s filing cabinet. This needs to be organized. It needs to be cleared up, people need to be informed that their cases aren’t going to be solved.

The drawer is full of ties.

She whimpers to see them, hands trembling with the pressure of holding back the sobs. She picks one up, black with a white paisley pattern. She’d bought it for him as a joke last Christmas, but he’d worn it diligently, mixing it into his tie rotation. She pulls it from the box, sinking to the floor, clutching it as her grief slowly makes itself known.

Nick Valentine was dead. The man who’d given her a purpose here, who’d made her feel at home, who’d held her up when she was low, was dead. It seemed impossible. Nick was too good to die.

She sinks against the cabinets, sobbing as she stares at the tie in her hands.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I wasn’t there. I couldn’t- I didn’t-”

On the floor of the agency, she grieves alone.

Piper: They’re waiting for her when she gets home from school. They’re on the couch, shoulders slumped, elbows on their knees. They straighten when she walks in the door, and she shoots them a strange look.

“If you’re looking for Piper, she’s not home. She went out a few days ago, looking for some lead.”

“I know.” Their voice is barely a whisper. “Have a seat, Nat.”

She takes a chair, apprehension curling in her stomach. Their face is serious, and they can’t look her in the eyes. Everything in her body and mind is telling her that something’s wrong. She tries to figure out what it is.

“Your sister, she-” They let out a long breath, and Nat’s fingers dig into the chair’s cushion. “I’m sorry, Nat. She’s gone.”

Nat’s stunned into silence for a moment. It feels like there’s no air in her lungs like there’s no air in the room. She can’t breathe, she can’t move, she can’t do anything but listen.

“She asked me to stay and take care of you, and I- I promised her I would. I’m here for you, okay? It’s gonna be weird for a while, but I’m sure we can-”

“No!” She suddenly finds her voice and springs to her feet, tears pooling in her eyes. “No, Piper’s not dead. She can’t be. She was with you and you said you’d protect her.”

“Nat-” They stand, too, reaching for her arm, but she slaps them away. Hard enough to hurt.

“Don’t touch me!” Tears streak down her face as she yells. “This is your fault! You were supposed to keep her safe. You were supposed to save my sister. How could you let her die?”

“I know what you’re going through, Nat. I’m here for you.”

“I don’t want you here! I want my sister!”

She runs, slamming the door behind her. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but she knows she can’t stay there. Not in that moment, with their soft, helpful eyes and the memories of her sister surrounding her. She sprints through the market, wiping angrily at her eyes. She needs to get away. She needs someone who cares.

She bursts into the Valentine Detective Agency, its neon sign like a beacon of hope. Nick can’t even manage a greeting before she’s launched herself at him. No explanation, not even a word is managed before she breaks into sobs. Her sister is dead. The only family she had left, the girl who made her laugh after she got detention, who brought her power noodles when she was sick, who called them a team when it came to the paper, even if she did most of the work. Her sister is gone, gone forever, and will never smile or laugh or make a funny voice during a story ever again.

Her world shatters in Nick Valentine’s arms.

Preston: The first thing Sturges notices is that Preston isn’t with them. Dogmeat is, trailing at their heels, oddly quiet. His mouth sets into a hard line, but he wipes off his hands and goes to greet them at the bridge.

The second thing he notices is the coat in their arms, the way it’s draped, the hat that’s resting at the top of it. When he looks into sole’s eyes, sees the tears, he puts two and two together and knows. They say nothing, but nod.

“Here.” He reaches out despite the spike that’s been driven into his sternum. “Let me take him.”

They relinquish the body, and it’s lighter than Sturges expected. Something coils in his chest, tight and painful, but he sets his jaw and heads for the only yellow house in Sanctuary Hills. The closest thing to a meeting place there is.

Mama Murphy is sitting outside, and as soon as she sees sole following Sturges up the road she closes her eyes. The Sight is murky sometimes, and she knew it would be either them or Preston and by the fact they’re still alive she knows everything. She tells herself she’s seen enough death that it doesn’t bother her anymore, tells herself that there’s no more room for grief in her heart.

She reaches for him as he passes, fingers brushing his arm. She can’t look. If she looks, her lie comes crashing down, and she’ll be forced to admit that she’s not as comfortable with death as she’d like to pretend. She comforts herself by thinking she’ll see Preston again soon.

Jun and Marcy are inside when they come in. Jun is the first to notice, and he whimpers, “Oh, God,” before he turns away. He doesn’t stand, but Marcy does, coming to inspect the body. When they pull the hat back to reveal Preston’s face, serene as ever, she steps back a half-step. The room is still a moment.

Then, there’s a crack as her palm makes contact with sole’s face. Their head snaps sideways, and then she’s screaming, filling the room with every word she can think, hurled straight at them.

“You let him die! He trusted you. How could you just let him die? Didn’t you care about him? About any of us? How are we supposed to live now? How dare you come back here without-”

“Marcy,” Sturges snaps, and sole flinches to hear the real anger in his tone. “That’s enough.”

She glowers at them again, opening her mouth, but Sturges catches her wrist and forces her to look him in the eyes.

“Why don’t you take your husband and try to comfort him?” It’s not a question.

“Fine.” Marcy stalks to the back of the room toward her husband, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The glower she shoots sole tells them that she’s not done with them, but they focus on trying to breathe.

“Sole.” Sturges’s voice draws their attention. “Do you think I could…?”

“Yeah, of course.”

They step out, and Sturges turns to the man in front of him. The spike in his chest is ice-cold. His fingers curl against his thighs.

“Well, Preston.” He laughs a little. “I guess it’s almost funny. After everything we went through, you died where we couldn’t- where we weren’t-”

He stops, tries to breathe around the tears.

“All those times I thought I’d have to watch you die, all in vain.”

Softly, he takes the other man’s hand. The skin is cold.

“I hope you find some peace.”

[cloudbatcave]

Back in Unova we go!

My first gripe is the Skyarrow Bridge, which connects Nacrene (the town that had the museum Plasma stole from, prompting me to be press-ganged to chase them) to Castelia (the new york city ripoff of the game).

It’s pretty! It’s cool in concept! It’s Nintendo holding it up with trembling hands and going “look, ma, I can do 3D now! Sort of!”

Iit’s a giant pain in the ass to get through as it takes at least a minute of keeping your finger on the B button to run across.

Normally I wouldn’t even have cared, so let’s rewind a bit to why I do.

So I finished kicking the shit out of Plasma, nothing notable there except that I kept getting jumped by ranger trainers who gave me berries like the weird hippies they are.

I nonchalantly jumped over a ridge to get out of the forest…only to realize I had trapped myself between that ridge (which, for those blissfully not in the know, cannot be jumped back over because in pokemon games they only work one way) and the rest of the trainers on the non-forest part of the route I hadn’t fought yet because I had been busy with the game’s resident brainwashed multitude of cosplaying weirdos.

This was an issue because at this point in the game, I do not have much money, and I had only been able to afford so many potions, most of which I had used to heal while either fighting trainers or wild pokemon. My guys were wiped, and several fights stood between me and the Nacrene pokemon center.

So that meant I had to trundle my ass toward the end of the route, take the bridge to Castelia, go to ITS pokemon center, and THEN go back and finish off the other trainers before turning right around again.

It’s especially galling considering that gen 5 has an NPC that will heal you…in the other part of the forest. But not, you know, where it would be actually helpful during the game’s plot portion.

On the more amusing side of things, it’s always funny to see how dumb Plasma is. When I beat up the last of them, one of the seven sages showed up and talked about how the skull they stole wasn’t the pokemon they were looking for anyway.

Who saw that coming?? It was obviously a dragonite skull, not a legendary. I just…it’s such a dumb excuse to have this plot bit. The writing for Team Plasma is so poor.

Picking up in Castelia, I walk around exploring that and meet some folks.

“Working women are beautiful, and battling pokemon is wonderful!” This chick knows where it’s at.

“Being healthy’s the best, because when you’re healthy you can do anything!”

You’re not wrong, random man, but I hope you don’t say this to just anyone who passes by because I feel it’s a tad insensitive to say to...literally anyone who isn’t the pinnacle of health.

“When my thrown poke ball rocks three times and I hear that great “click”…There are many things in my life that bring me joy!”

Can we not all relate? Good content, A+.

“Strength is not in the size of a body, it’s in the size of a heart!”

I mean…strength is in a heart, literally and metaphorically? It is also in the size of a body. Both are true, random old docks man.

“That black boat…what could it be?”

The people of Unova are not very genre savvy at the best of times.

It isn’t very open-minded to judge someone by the color of their boat, but given this is pokemon, you’d be justified in preemptively setting it on fire to deter the Obviously Evil People who own it.

I innocently walk down a street and then Fuckface Glassesdick pops out of the gym at me like the world’s worst whack-a-mole.

“Hey, Chirae. I just challenged Burgh. He’s a seasoned Gym Leader. He made me work for that badge!”

Post it on your twitter, Cheren, because your 1.5 followers and a shoelace care more than I do.

“But for me, bug-type pokemon aren’t much of a challenge.”

Look at the big man in town, not intimidated by the pokemon type that has three weaknesses and five types that resist it. Very brave.

“I’m going to keep winning like this against all of the Unova region’s Gym Leaders!”

Sorry, what was that? I tuned out because I was imagining literally anything else but you talking.

“Then, I’ll head for the Pokemon League and outperform the champion!”

No one likes Alder, and yet, somehow, I feel you would be an even worse replacement because you don’t even have cool hair to make you slightly less intolerable.

“If I do that, everyone will admit what a strong Trainer I am…”

I would rather be fed live slugs.

“That will make feel truly alive…”

Am I being paid for this therapy session? I deserve compensation for the tedium being forcibly shoved down my earholes right now.

Oh thank god he finally walked away.

And then Burgh makes an entrance, naturally.

“Ah hah! You’re the one who fought Team Plasma in the Pinwheel Forest…”

Yeah dude that happened like, yesterday. You don’t need to announce it. I remember. I was there.

“If I remember, your name is…Chirae!”

I honestly do not give a fuck if you remember my name, as I intend on forgetting yours after I get your badge.

“Come to challenge the gym, I suppose?”

What gave it away? Was it me standing outside the gym looking like I really wanted to hit a smug prick with glasses and dark hair?

“Aww. Sorry, but could you wait a bit?”

You’re going to give me a fetch quest, aren’t you.

“I was informed that Team Plasma has shown up!”

EVEN WORSE. Yet again I ask where the fucking police are. We’re not in artsy fartsy town anymore, Castelia is a whole-ass city. Why in god’s name is there not some way of keeping the peace that isn’t random trainers?

“In fact…Come with me! I’m going to the dock at Prime Pier!”

Who writes the child labor laws in unova? Monkeys?

also I have not finished ambling around the city yet and that is incredibly more important than this travesty of a plot so Burgh gets to wait on me now.

and he zips off into the night, just assuming I know where he’s headed in this city I literally only arrived in today.

[rocketpowerreg]

and we fall apart so easily → task tuesday #4 (pt 2)

TAGGING→ @rocketpowerreg​, Jinny Edwards (npc/ex-girlfriend) TIME→ Summer 2014 LOCATION→ Reggie & Jinny’s shared apartment, Evanston, Illinois NOTES→  Once upon a time, Reggie was a relationship prone person. This is the narrative about the day that forever changed this about her-- the day she and her girlfriend of three years called it quits and never spoke again TASK TUESDAY TRAITS →  anxious, explosive, insensitive, negative, stubborn

“You remember when we took this, right?”

“Yeah.” 

“It was the first time you told me you loved me. We weren’t even really dating then... Now that I think about it, we had just had our first kiss like two weeks before it. You were such a sap that whole summer, Reg, it was so cute.”

“I know.” 

A brief pause.

“What in the world were you thinking? Like really, baby, how did you know you were in love with me so fast? You’ve never told me.” 

“I don’t know.” 

A longer pause. A quiet sigh.

“I love how happy you--... how happy we look.. I think this might be my favorite picture of us. I definitely thought that back then, too.”

Finally, after all her efforts, Reggie turned to look at her girlfriend sitting beside her on the couch. She couldn’t turn much given her leg was covered in a cast, elevated on the coffee table in front of her. It seemed to prevent her from lots of things-- it didn’t stop her mouth from saying terrible things though.

“Then why didn’t you ever put it up anywhere?” Reggie questioned, her expression so blank that it seemed misplaced she was able to think of such a low blow. 

“That’s... not fair. You know why I didn’t.”  Jinny replied, the softness she had now replaced with the distant, vacant look Reggie had grown much more used to seeing lately. God, she hated that look. So why was she pushing to make it happen?

“I’m just saying, Jin, we’ve lived here almost a year, and I don’t see it framed on the wall. Or even hanging on the fridge. It’s there, on your phone, probably hidden in the same folder you put it in so your mom wouldn’t find it. Like its always been.” Reggie’s head turned back towards the screen of her laptop, playing a movie she had long since stopped paying mind to. Right now it was especially so as her brow furrowed in frustration at herself. What kind of person snapped at someone who just trying to help?

“All I did was show you a picture. You don’t have to be so cruel just because I want you to be happy about life. Is that really so bad of me?” Jinny gave an expectant look but nothing came, so she kept going,  “No, it isn’t. So stop being such an asshole, Regina. I don’t deserve this.”

Reggie knew she was right, Jinny didn’t deserve this. She hadn’t deserved any of this on her, yet neither had Reggie. None of it was fair. It was frustrating and infuriating and all the unsaid things between them had been rising up. Especially since Reggie had come to hate being called Regina as of late. Having doctors say it over the months while delivering bad news after bad new caused it to leave a sickening taste in her mouth. Then again, almost everything seemed to be doing that lately.

“You can just drop the act, Jenna, I know you don’t want to be here.” Reggie snapped, rolling her eyes and shaking her head before looking back at her, “I heard you on the phone earlier saying you’d rather be going out with whoever it was instead of here with me. So I’ll make it easy for you-- since I sure am not going to act like things are fine, you don’t have to either. Go out with your friends, guilt free. Don’t let your patient hold you back from doing what you want. It’s not like you have the last few months.” With how decisive Reggie sounded, it was no wonder Jinny couldn’t help having her own biting words back.

“You were listening to me on the phone? Seriously Reggie? What’s your problem?” Jinny’s voice had turned into that shrill, annoyed tone she almost always had now. It was heartbreakingly laughable to think about how happy Reggie used to be able to make it sound, “You weren’t supposed to--...Ugh,” Jinny had moved away from Reggie on the couch, she noticed. More in the corner, away from her, putting space between them. Reggie noticed it, but didn’t stop it. Much like when she hadn’t stopped it from happening in the bed they shared, “What do you want me to do? Apologize for not wanting to just sit around and be a miserable person all the time like you are, Reg?  For having friends that want to see me? For having a life? Because I’m not going to. I’m sorry you’re so unhappy, but I’m not going to let your negative energy drag me down all the time. I was just trying to help you see at least we still have each other.” 

Considering how lonely Reggie felt all the time now a days, hearing Jinny mention they had each other was just too much.

“You know what? Let me fucking apologize then. I’m sorry for dragging you fucking down. I’m sorry that I keep you from getting to spend time with the people you’d rather be seeing. I’m sorry I’m in too much fucking pain all the time to be able to be someone you like being around,” Reggie shot back, tears starting to sting as her mind was getting muddled. The issue with Jinny trying to reminisce about the past of North Carolina was the fact that Illinois was supposed to be their good place. Living together in Evanston, going to the same college, this was supposed to be the best time in their relationship and lives. Not when they were 16 and having to hide to be together. That was supposed to be the hard part, and now look at them. Broken. Just like Reggie was. Just like their future kept getting more and more each day.

“Reg, stop.”

“Why? I’m just saying the things you won’t say to me, but are clearly fucking thinking. And saying to everyone else. The problem is Jin, you don’t hide it as well as you think. Hearing that wasn’t a surprise. You’ve been looking at me like a charity case since we got here. Either you’re here and won’t leave me alone, or you’re not here and it’s like I don’t exist. I’m only your girlfriend when it’s convenient for you. Just like it was back home, but at least back then I knew how you felt. At least I knew you loved m-”

It wasn’t Reggie who stopped herself from talking, it was the smack that grazed across her cheek that did. 

The silence that a came afterwards was the most deafening of all. But it was much more preferred than the words that came after.

“How dare you say any of that to me. How dare you say I don’t love you when you don’t even know everything I gave up and did just to be with you, Reggie! Northwestern was supposed to be my dream school, and I just sat around hanging out with you for months getting nothing to work with. Nothing. I tried to give you a chance to let me in, but it got really lonely. ” Her anger reached a point where Jinny was standing up from the couch and looking down at Reggie. Her eyes practically on fire, despite the wall of moisture that also seemed to be there, “I don’t talk to any of my friends from Carolina, Reg, like none of them-- I’ve barely even talked to my parents since I came out. And when I do, they ask me why I’m with you. Why I decided you were worth it. And do you know what I tell them? How you’ve always been there for me. You’ve always been so good to me no matter how hard things were for you and us. You’ve always been such a loving person and I really thought that’s who you were. But I must be crazy because I haven’t seen that girl since we got here.”  Jinny had been saying kind words about Reggie, but how they came out was bitter. Angry. Almost as if disgusted with herself for thinking such things. It made Reggie feel like every would-be-compliment was nothing was actually an insult, thus her final words were salt to the wound. “Do you know why that picture isn’t up? Maybe I’ve started to realize that this spiteful, awful person is who you actually are, and I don’t think I want anything to do with this Regina.”

Reggie had kept eyes on Jinny, but she wanted to tear them away. She didn’t like being forced to look up at her like this given she was confined to the couch. Nor did she like how Jinny looked, for it was different than how she had ever stared at Reggie before. It was the most focused Jinny had been on her in awhile, yet it felt wrong. It made her sit there silently and listen, despite how quickly her temper was rising. And now that the air was filled with the statements she had made, Reggie couldn’t stop her explosive reaction.

“You’re such a damn liar, Jin.” Was the first thing she said, and she wished the words could be taken back. Except instead, more were flowing out, “You haven’t just started to realize it. You realized it months ago, you realized it the moment we moved in and you realized you were gonna be stuck with me. And you dreaded it, you fucking dreaded it, but didn’t want to say it, because you didn’t want to seem like a bad fucking person. That’s always been your concern, how people fucking see you. You didn’t want to admit that sometimes shit sucks, so you’ve just been doing this. Pretending like you give a fuck. Pretending like there’s still hope for things to be better and for shit to work out. But unlike you, I’ve known that for a long time that’s not true. A long fucking time. So stop trying to shove that bullshit down my throat since this ‘Regina?” Reggie sneered, “She’s god damn sick of it.”

The pained, confused look on Jinny’s face matched the emotional mess that was inside of Reggie’s heart. The pair had fought over the months, but they had never said nasty things about each other. They had never reached this level. It was always just small fights of either having too much space or too little space with one another. Not sinking to the points of telling each other how awful the other was making them feel. 

“I can’t... I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Tears were falling down her face. Her voice was angry, though it was shaky. Jinny was in disbelief. In truth, so was Reggie. It hurt to have how shattered they were all on display like that. It hurt because it felt like it was all her fault. As if every bit of this anguish could have been avoidable if Reggie had just not had her accident. That the type of person she was now was the reason thing weren’t working. It pissed her off, but mostly, it hurt. It hurt deeply.  

“Do whatever you want, Jenna. I don’t care. It’s your life.” Reggie said in a sigh, closing her laptop that had long since been ignored and reaching for her crutches. She stood up, locking eyes with Jinny’s own tear-filled ones. The sight was making her heart crack, yet her face remained so expressionless. It maybe seemed like Reggie had no heart to begin with because of it. The only reason she knew it wasn’t was because it was beating so violently against her chest, as if trying to beat sense into her.

“Why are you being like this?” Jinny questioned in a breath.

Despite what it seemed in this moment, Reggie did love Jinny. She had fallen in love with the very girl she had all but tore apart with her words. It was hard to believe Reg would still say she loved her more than she’d ever loved anyone. Where forever meant nothing without Jenna Edwards around. So how could she possibly be doing this? How could someone be making the person they loved feel just as small and insignificant as they did. Surely a person like that, a person like Regina Cliffton, didn’t deserve someone good like her. That much seemed clear. Painfully clear.

“Maybe it’s like you said, maybe I've always been this way.” Reggie offered in a scarily even tone.

A long pause.

“I... I hate you.”

A brief pause.

“I know.”

A defeated sob. Rush footsteps. A door slam. 

And this time, nothing broke the silence the fell upon the apartment.

[avryujin-blog]

solo. | alternate selves doesn’t mean being the same person.

The news of a new world that gone down to shit reached his ears and he could frankly give less of a damn. It wasn’t like this was his world. And even if others were dying and the world was going down to shit, Ryujin was a person that had gone through so much that all this just seemed like another day. Yeah, sure, maybe he’s going to lose someone he cared for in this mess but would that even be the first? But another self? Another him? He’d seen glimpses from Death, who wanted to show him how ‘special’ he was. So many versions, all living more normal lives than he did. Which meant that whoever he saw wasn’t really him, not really, because that man did not suffer the things he did. No, he had an easier life. He probably still had people with him. Maybe. Whatever. He then spot a man in his thirties, locks longer than his own and tied into a low ponytail. Deep eye bags, scars riddling him, decked in a suit ready to go to war. The sniper rifle case by his back, the guns and knives holstered to his side. But when they locked gazes the differences were much more stark. A blazing determination, the straight and vigilant way he held himself, and the lips thinned to a line—a contrast to his own calm blues, lazy slouch, and a lopsided grin holding a cigarette in between teeth.

“‘Ello there, nice to see I do age fine. But that’s to be expected ‘cuz, I’m hot—duh.” He began, a light chuckle out of his lips as he looked at the other, an air of nonchalance enveloping him as per usual. By the corner of his eyes he could see some more startled people, probably NPCs of the 616 land. Maybe they were shooketh because he could already tell this other him was a total hard ass.

Heck, other him was looking at him with wide eyes. But he seemed to snap out of it, but before he could say anything, Ryujin raised a hand and took his moonshine out to take a gulp, before putting it back with a refreshing sigh “Oops, sorry there, you were taking your sweet ass time and the moonshine was calling for me.” “You—.” 616 him choked out, and Ryujin merely charmingly smiled. “Are you really the other me? How could you be so...” “Hot? Amazing? Completely wonderful to be around with?” He butts in, walking up to the stranger who shared a similar face, smirking up to the other he gave out a puff of smoke right at his face which cause the other man to cough and step back, glaring at Ryujin. “Listen kiddo, we may be alternate versions but we’re not each other. So, I’m Ryujin, Kazuki Ryujin. Just in case you have a different name ‘cuz I was adopted thanks.” The other him sputtered a bit, before pointing out “I’m older than you! You look like you’re in your twenties and I’m in my thirties. And you were—” The man paused, a conflicted expression in his face before he continued with a heavy sigh. “I’m Jinseok, Shin Jinseok.” “Ooh~ we share the Jin syllable!” He chirped, rocking on his heels instead of adopting the stiff position that Jinseok held. “And cute, you weren’t adopted! And even more adorable, you think you’re older! Honey, I look like I’m in my twenties but your 6700 years too young to tell me that you’re older than me, ‘kay sweetie?” Jinseok gaped, and Ryujin merely laughed. The scarred man stumbled a bit, weakly mentioning “But I have enhanced marksmanship so how did you...?” Ryujin rolled his eyes, taking another drag from his cigarette but being more polite as he puffed out the toxic smoke away from the other’s face. Looking down at the shadows, he knew that even if he was in this new world, she’s watching. Grinning bitterly down at the darkness under his feet, he looked back with a shrug “Immortality’s a bitch. And didn’t I tell you already? We may be another version of each other but I’m one of a kind.” “You’re...immortal...?” Another conflicted expression, before it steeled into that of steeliness and realization “Can’t you do something more then? You don’t have to fear death and you can go help others out but all you’ve been doing is standing about doing...nothing!” “Yeah, so?” Was Ryujin’s bland response, not caring how offended the other looked. “Dude, I joined this dumb academy for the free bed. I’ll help when I want to help. And I don’t fear Death, I despise Death.”  The easy-going demeanor momentarily changed to one of venom, one that even caused Jinseok to flinch. And Ryujin lets loos a bark of hollow laughter, taking the other’s face by the chin with his hand. He wondered if he’s been hanging out with Death too much, or maybe that seeing a face like his own just caused his self-loathing to fester and be vindictive “But you’re afraid of Death aren’t you? And you must have such a good heart wanting to save everyone. But that’s ‘cuz they’re your people and you care for them all huh? Now, let me just repeat this: I’m not you. I went through my own shit. This whole bullshit you’re dealing with? Not my problem. The kids that are suffering now? Hm, maybe I care enough for some but you know what they aren’t? People from my time. My world’s been long gone already, had been for four years. And now I just want my time to chill and not give a fuck.” His hold tightened, he didn’t care if he made an audience. Ryujin would help people when he wanted to which was more often than not what goes on, but he also just could care for so much less. Because Ryujin’s tired. He’s exhausted, had been since he was 14. And now this asshole thinks he can walk up to him and tell him what to do? Just because they were another version of each other didn’t make them the same. This kid didn’t have to deal with Death after all. “You’re lucky you can die, I’m jealous of that.” He sighed in the end, letting go of Jinseok who drew back, disbelieving, wide eyes looking at him. He must be horrified to know that there was a him that existed which went so much against his morals. But Ryujin didn’t really care what Jinseok thinks. He took out his cigarette, killing it under his feet. “You’re still so young and foolish, but when you lose everything you’ll realize the end was the best peace one could ever gain.” He smiled at the other, at ease once again. With a wave, he left the stunned Jinseok without a care. In the end, Ryujin will always be aware that no matter what would happen—he’d remain standing alone. Truly, Jinseok was a lucky fool.

I could make this longer, I could make a version from Jinseok’s pov, but ajsndad so much to write OTL. Anyways some plots if interested:

interactions with jinseok. but also wtf he’s so different from ryujin? like an actual decently lucky guy, super serious, very determined to be a good hero and has enhanced marksmanship instead of immortality. overall, completely different down to the name and life they had.

you saw this shit go down and decide to talk to ryujin. maybe it’s just the whole not my problem spiel that got to you. or maybe it’s like dude that was the other you? tf.

maybe some gun/sniper training from jinseok.

idk but like so i can get to ur ims and we can discuss more???