#/they got into even more arguments with the other characters they're traveling with-

[keeps-ache]

sigh. i think i just do not like dogs very much lol

[felassan]

Some more DA:TV and related snippets from Sylvia Feketekuty, Part 6. rest of post under a cut due to length and spoilers. [Post One, Post Two, Post Three, Post Four, Post Five]

User: "after [Emmrich and Rook's] argument they don’t really bring it up again, is it pretty much the case that Rook being lost in the fade made them both realise what was important so that conversation wasn’t really needed? or did they have it off-screen?" // Sylvia Feketekuty: ""is it pretty much the case that Rook being lost in the fade made them both realise what was important so that conversation wasn’t really needed? or did they have it off-screen?" I think either one is valid. There's some time skips, so I figured if you imagined your Rook and Emmrich talking about the argument, it could've happened while, say, they're traveling to the Necropolis. Flow-wise it seemed best to rely on that passage of time to smooth that part over, and get to the point where we enter the talk by the coffin. Or perhaps they're so in-sync that, like you said, Rook and Emmrich feel they can just move on. (If you bring Emmrich to Isle of the Gods he's apologetic there, and Rook picks up on it, so maybe that was enough short as it was.) (To my mind it's not a huge thing to declare one way or another, but I'd prefer this one to be player's choice)" [source, two, three, four]

User: "had a question about emmrich's last name. i know there is a banter with harding that confirms it is a commoner name, but i was interested in what his surname breaks down into meaning? I assumed volk=folk perhaps, but is there any other meaning/significance? thank you!" // Sylvia: "You pretty much have it right with "volk" = people. I liked the idea that Volkarin would sound fancy to someone speaking English (well Harding's not speaking English per se, but you know), but have its roots in something that plain. So yeah basically I got a kick out of the thought that in Nevarra, Emmrich's last name is the equivalent of Smith, or Jones, or Wilson. (The "arin" part is just because I thought together it paired well with "volk")" [source, two]

User: "With Hezenkoss, as a romanced rook, it feels like she's a bit jealous and was stuck in a one sided crush with her "friend" Was this intended? Or was she just competitive and annoyed at his popularity with everyone?" // Sylvia: "I always pictured Hezenkoss as annoyed that as they grew up, Emmrich become popular and effortlessly well-liked, while she, with her sheer brilliance, was clearly resented by jealous fools. Fools!!! (I pictured Johanna needling Emmrich over his romance mostly her going 'now there's some nice sore-spots I can press' because she has correctly anticipated his insecurities.) "become popular" Arg I meant to write BECAME. Cripes." [source, two, three] // Sylvia: "TBC I also don't want to invalidate any head-canons! My general rule is that if it's not stated outright in game, it's up for interpretation, regardless of my thoughts. La mort de l'auteur, etc." [source]

User: "I recently made an appreciation post on reddit how relatable he is for me and how it helped me with my anxiety. There were also other users agreeing and sharing their love for the character." // Sylvia: "I read your post and the others, and I'm glad meeting Emmrich touched people like that. His story was a team effort, and everyone making him knew we needed to hit this theme right. (His actor Nick Boraine deserves especial praise for nailing those lines.) I have indeed experienced what Emmrich does, and from the thread and other fan interactions, it's not an uncommon thing. If I can offer something I read a long time ago: you have the right to think about death without being in a state of absolute fear. I don't know why, but that thought helped me focus when things were rough. Maybe because it was correct: we DO have that right. Even if life and our own psyches conspire against us, it's ours." [source, two, three] // User: "I felt seen in a way I never have when Emmrich said he is terrified of dying. I've had panic attacks about it since I was old enough to understand what death is. Thank you for making so many feel seen and helping people realize its not just *them.*" // Sylvia: "I'm really glad it helped, because the conclusion I've come to is this is more common than we think, it's just not something people talk about." [source]

Sylvia: "(Full credit to the great feedback I got from the other writers and editors early on [re: Emmrich], he wouldn't be as good without them.)" [source] // Sylvia: "All credit to the team, especially the writers and editors who gave feedback that made him so much better during those early days and beyond." [source]

Sylvia: ""who came up with Davrin's "hand-to-bone combat" line?? 🤣" Haha that was Davrin's writer, John Dombrow! I'll let him know you (and other people) got a chuckle out of it!" [source]

User, on Manfred: ""I'm so curious -what about the almonds caught his fancy, and why so many?" Some things are a mystery even to me when it comes to Manfred. (Whatever his reason, I thought as a vegetarian Emmrich would probably have a lot of nuts handy which was the germ of the idea.)" // Sylvia: "Some things are a mystery even to me when it comes to Manfred. (Whatever his reason, I thought as a vegetarian Emmrich would probably have a lot of nuts handy which was the germ of the idea.)" [source]

User: "When Rook romances Emmrich, through banter we can see that Emmrich is surprised that the other companions know about the relationship, and also h says to Johanna that it's a private matter. Is it because he wants to keep things private only, is it because he is worried that Rook may not be the one true love, or is he worried about the age gap, or all these reasons and/or others?" // Sylvia: "In this particular case, I think Emmrich just wanted to be discrete because he didn't want to assume it was a serious thing, and for people to think HE thought it was serious. (Though his line to Hezenkoss is snappish specifically because he knows she's needling him, haha.)" [source]

Sylvia: Down Among the Dead Men and Luck in the Gardens "mean a lot to me, being my first published stories in a book.)" [source]

User: "Are there any other areas of Thedas that you think young Altus mages would tour? Poor Dorian looked like a fish out of water in Ferelden." // Sylvia: "Completely talking off the cuff here, but Orlais and Antiva, certainly, and some of the "better" Free Marcher states seem like good candidates. (Poor Ferelden! Always forgotten by the north.)" [source]

User: "I know you said previously that emmrich doesn't really vibe with cats or dogs But like if rook already has a dog or something (that someone is like pet sitting for them while they're kicked out of their faction and traveling with varric) would that be a deal breaker" // Sylvia: "Nah that'd be fine, they're not his favorites but he'll put up with them for Rook." [source]

Sylvia: "I have indeed seen Cushing's version of Hound of the Baskervilles, for some reason that part where he whirls around and throws the knife is embedded into my brain. What a great Holmes he made." [source]

User: "1. Where did Emmrich live in Nevarar when he was a child? 2. When do you think his birthday is? 👀 3. How did Johanna know him?" // Sylvia: "1. He lived inside the bounds of Nevarra City itself. He's always been a city boy. 2. For some reason, he feels like a January/February birthday to me. 3. They met as young students in the Mourn Watch." [source]

User: "if Emmrich didn't think it was serious when he'd always wanted one true love -apparently-, why did he embark on this relationship, especially with so much passion?" // Sylvia: "I think he thought it wouldn't be so serious at first, but then things progressed. And people want conflicting things, sometimes." [source]

User: "I really love Strife being a love interest for Emmrich! What lead to him as the choice if he isn't romanced?" // Sylvia: "The writing team discussed who felt right, and I liked that Strife was from one of the factions because it gives the feeling of your followers interacting with the wider world. And I felt Strife would provide a nice contrast with the romance with Rook. Unlike them, he's more established in his place in the world, like Emmrich is. Just felt like a different dynamic." [source, two] // User: "Strife balances Emmrich well since they are both interested in study but have gone about it differently." // Sylvia: "Agreed! (I wish I had thought to put it like that.)" [source]

User: "how are pets and animals honoured in the Necropolis and by the Mourn Watchers? The same as any other being?" // Sylvia: "Beloved animals are absolutely permitted to be buried with families. Mild Necropolis exploration spoiler: inside the passage you unlock after finding all the wisps in the belfry area, there's actually some caskets for faithful hounds interred in the crypt." [source]

User: "My question is do the mourn watcher/nevarra in general raise their pets after they die to keep them around? like a dog skeleton with a whisp in it?" // Sylvia: "To be honest I hadn't thought out this one, but it's a very good question. I'm not sure how common that would be, or even if it's permitted to have pets running around the family crypt. (I definitely thing people would WANT to do it.) You know, I think I'm going to have to leave this one in the vague quantum foam of the future. I think I'd want to not only double check existing lore, but answer that in-game (or in a book or etc.) if we ever need to. (Hope that's not too much of a cop out. Sometimes I like to leave questions I'm not sure about alone, because until it's in an official game or story, it doesn't quite count.)" [source, two, three]

User: "how long has Manfred been under Emmrich's care?" // Sylvia: "That's a good question, yet another thing I left a little vague in case I needed to define it concretely in the future. And since I've left, the answer is very much in my head only. But I feel it's likely to have at least been a decade. (Hezenkoss acts like she knows about Manfred, I figure she could've met him during an earlier clash. But I don't think Manfred was around when she and Emmrich were young students.)" [source, two]

User: "if Emmrich had tattoos, on what theme would they be?" // Sylvia: "Something anatomical/surgical, patterned on the MW's mystic theories of the body and death, feels appropriate to me." [source]

Sylvia: "BioWare put out an infographic about choices a few weeks ago, and "lich" was winning out. 1) When Emmrich says how he feels will change did he just mean his senses or is it on an emotional level?" He's definitely talking about his senses in that scene. On an emotional level: unknown. (I imagine it WOULD change someone because it's such a big shift, but exactly what does it do, mystically, if anything, is something I'd like to leave alone since I didn't really cover that in the game, and it feels like it'd been bigger consideration if that makes sense.) I kind of want how the lich-romance proceeds to live in players' imaginations, purely so people can tailor it to their own story. I'm afraid any writer-declaration would narrow the possibilities instead of expanding them, if that makes sense." [source, two, three, four]

Sylvia: ""I've been waiting for Nevarra for years and it was everything i could have dreamed of and MORE!" I'm very glad to hear it. The rest of the Necropolis team and I were very excited to finally get to portray even a small portion of the ancient and hallowed graves of Nevarra." [source]

User: "If I remember correctly, we only really see Emmrich use necromantic magic in-game. Are there other types of magic (elemental, healing/spirit, etc) that you think he would gravitate toward?" // Sylvia: "Hrm. He does have a bit of healing magic, mechanically in combat. It coudl work, but somehow I don't think Emmrich would ever be a high-level healer. He could maybe get the basics but it's not his great gift. Something about the gravic magic of the force mage specialty feels appropriate though." [source]

Sylvia: "I'm so glad you liked meeting and getting to know our necromancer. (Huge props to our cinematic and audio team on that garden scene, it was incredible seeing it come in finished for the first time.)" [source]

Allegra Clark: "I just wanted to say that I miss you so much and I’m so excited for whatever comes next in your career. Josephine means so much to me and I’ve fallen utterly in love with Emmrich (how dare you, he’s perfect). Thank you for trusting me with your child over a decade ago ❤️" [source] // Sylvia: "Allegra! Thank you so much! I'm so excited you've been digging our gentleman necromancer. I hope you've been seeing people ping me about their love of Josephine. I heard someone very good did her voice.. Thank YOU for embodying her so quickly and completely!" [source, two]

User: "how was Emmrich doing when Rook was trapped in the Fade?" // Sylvia: "Probably very poorly! Poor man would've been incredibly anxious and working all hours towards a solution." [source]

User: "So i asked you before what music emmrich does like but um is there any music he hates I feel like he'd die if someone took him to a death metal concert XD" // Sylvia: "I think that's a good one to pick, lol. "It's all just noise!"" [source]

User: "Did Emmrich teach (or at least attempt to teach) Manfred how to read?" // Sylvia: "I think that was beyond his skillset, beforehand; Manfred could be taught to recognize objects, but the abstraction of reading was one step too much at that point." [source]

User: "Do Mourn Watchers undergo a Harrowing?" // Sylvia: "They do! You may've missed it but there's a MWer in the Necropolis who mentions MW Harrowings if you go by them. (The MW has had to suspend theirs because chaos in the Fade.) But that's a temporary suspension, probably resolved by the time the credits roll. In general: I figure that if you're a mage who underwent a harrowing in some other circle, that stands, but that the MW would also perform harrowings for students they took in early. Also: not a silly question! It doesn't really come up with the MW except that one ambient line, and it's very easy to miss." [source, two, three]

User: "Doing a 3rd MW playthrough after not playing one for a couple of months feels like coming home again" // Sylvia: "That's some commitment to the dead! The Mourn Watch approve." [source]

User: "if two mourn watchers were to share a piece of grave dowry between them, that's grounds for a serious relationship?" // Sylvia: "You mean like each one having the half of a necklace, or having the same bit of gold made into matching rings? Or swapping jewelry? Either way, what a nice idea. It could be!" [source]

Sylvia: "Emmrichwas very much the work of the team, including some very good feedback early on from the other writers and editors." [source]

Sylvia: "The team and I were also super excited to get to explore the Necropolis. It was an honour to open up the tombs to everyone." [source]

User: "Emmerich's particular respect for trans characters was extremely enticing to me." // Sylvia: "Thanks, I'm glad he resonated. (Some trans colleagues kindly spent the time to give me some feedback on the wording of the lines, which I think made them way better.)" [source]

User: "Emmrich is so amazing" // Sylvia: "Thank you again, that is incredible to hear. (And I want to mention, only possible with the team; they helped improve the story every step.)" [source]

Sylvia: Tevinter Nights "was a fun collection to work on" [source]

User: "Does lich Emmrich feel anything when Rook kisses him or touches him?" // Sylvia: "yeah, I don't think he's "numb" so to speak, he can sense a touch (with his new powers from beyond the graaaaaave 🪦💀🌹)" [source]

User: "about Emmrich so i know he's into flowers and botany but is he into plant meanings and symbolism" // Sylvia: "I think he is - Emmrich mentions some flowers that are "famed in verse and song", I think he'd enjoy reading up on the cultural importance and symbolism layered on to them." [source]

User: "Obv the game mechanics require Rook to make the choice but would a romanced Emmrich choose to become a Lich if the choice was in his hands? Would he abandon his dream for love?" // Sylvia: "I must refuse to answer on the grounds that it's too melancholy to contemplate. ;_;" [source]

User: "On the dinner date in the Necropolis I loved how Emmrich felt philosophical, it was so relatable, especially when he talked about the connection to something finer than we are. It was magical!" // Sylvia: "I'm really pleased that last part of the dinner date, resonated with you, I was trying really hard to get a certain feeling across." [source]

User: "What month do you think Emmrich was born in? I really wanna know what my guy's zodiac sign is" // Sylvia: "I don't know anything about zodiac stuff but weirdly, I do have a range, for some reason I always thought it'd be January or February." [source]

User: "1. How does Emmrich feel about children, both in general and possibly having them? 2. Would Emmrich be into gift-giving?" // Sylvia: "1. In general, he likes kids okay, and tries to be kind, but his students are mostly older so he doesn't really chat with many. Regarding having them, if circumstances aligned so that was the case, I think he'd be excited if maybe a little overwhelmed by the thought. 2. I think so! Not overbearing about it, but he would like to show some tokens of affection at appropriate times. (There's no way he's not delighted to get gifts.)" [source, two]

User: A more recent one but thanks to Sylvia Feketekuty it was the whole arc with Emmrich and his fear of dying because it's something I often experience myself and I don't think it's ever been addressed in a video game before and it was done so well in DA:TV too." // Sylvia: "Thank you so much! It means a lot to me too, to hear that it resonated with you." [source]

Sylvia: [Emmrich] "was the work of many other devs we're toasting here too, everyone working on Emmrich and the Mourn Watch went fully in." [source]

User: "I've wanted to thank you for all your work on DA. Emmrich, Manfred, and the Necropolis kept me going through some rough months. I was delighted to learn that you wrote Josephine too. I hope to see more of your work in the future. You're an amazing writer." // Sylvia: "Thank you, Kobra! And I'm very glad that meeting Emmrich and exploring the necropolis brought you some comfort." [source]

User: "One more question, if I may-- Is there any lore you can share about how pet remains are treated in Nevarra? I think I remember skeletal horses pulling a carriage in TN. (This might have something to do with me picking up my dead rabbit's cleaned skull from a taxidermist today and having Feels)." // Sylvia: "Beloved pets and other animal companions are very often interred along with their families. (You can actually see the burial place of some hounds in the corridor that opens up once you find all the wisps in the belfry. It was such an nice touch added by the level artist and level designer.)" [source]

User: "What would you say is the most important holiday in Nevarra? Or The Necropolis and how do they celebrate it?" // Sylvia: "I have nothing canonical written down or the like. But if I had to pick one, it would be the autumn ancestral pageants. There's the obvious connection with real life celebrations around death in in the fall, and the Mourn Watch and other mortalitasi would certainly come out for that." [source]

Sylvia: "

User: A more recent one but thanks to Sylvia Feketekuty it was the whole arc with Emmrich and his fear of dying because it's something I often experience myself and I don't think it's ever been addressed in a video game before and it was done so well in DA:TV too." // Sylvia: "Thank you so much! It means a lot to me too, to hear that it resonated with you." [source]

Sylvia: [Emmrich] "was the work of many other devs we're toasting here too, everyone working on Emmrich and the Mourn Watch went fully in." [source]

User: "I've wanted to thank you for all your work on DA. Emmrich, Manfred, and the Necropolis kept me going through some rough months. I was delighted to learn that you wrote Josephine too. I hope to see more of your work in the future. You're an amazing writer." // Sylvia: "Thank you, Kobra! And I'm very glad that meeting Emmrich and exploring the necropolis brought you some comfort." [source]

User: "One more question, if I may-- Is there any lore you can share about how pet remains are treated in Nevarra? I think I remember skeletal horses pulling a carriage in TN. (This might have something to do with me picking up my dead rabbit's cleaned skull from a taxidermist today and having Feels)." // Sylvia: "Beloved pets and other animal companions are very often interred along with their families. (You can actually see the burial place of some hounds in the corridor that opens up once you find all the wisps in the belfry. It was such an nice touch added by the level artist and level designer.)" [source]

User: "What would you say is the most important holiday in Nevarra? Or The Necropolis and how do they celebrate it?" // Sylvia: "I have nothing canonical written down or the like. But if I had to pick one, it would be the autumn ancestral pageants. There's the obvious connection with real life celebrations around death in in the fall, and the Mourn Watch and other mortalitasi would certainly come out for that." [source]

Sylvia: "

User: A more recent one but thanks to Sylvia Feketekuty it was the whole arc with Emmrich and his fear of dying because it's something I often experience myself and I don't think it's ever been addressed in a video game before and it was done so well in DA:TV too." // Sylvia: "Thank you so much! It means a lot to me too, to hear that it resonated with you." [source]

Sylvia: [Emmrich] "was the work of many other devs we're toasting here too, everyone working on Emmrich and the Mourn Watch went fully in." [source]

User: "I've wanted to thank you for all your work on DA. Emmrich, Manfred, and the Necropolis kept me going through some rough months. I was delighted to learn that you wrote Josephine too. I hope to see more of your work in the future. You're an amazing writer." // Sylvia: "Thank you, Kobra! And I'm very glad that meeting Emmrich and exploring the necropolis brought you some comfort." [source]

User: "One more question, if I may-- Is there any lore you can share about how pet remains are treated in Nevarra? I think I remember skeletal horses pulling a carriage in TN. (This might have something to do with me picking up my dead rabbit's cleaned skull from a taxidermist today and having Feels)." // Sylvia: "Beloved pets and other animal companions are very often interred along with their families. (You can actually see the burial place of some hounds in the corridor that opens up once you find all the wisps in the belfry. It was such an nice touch added by the level artist and level designer.)" [source]

User: "What would you say is the most important holiday in Nevarra? Or The Necropolis and how do they celebrate it?" // Sylvia: "I have nothing canonical written down or the like. But if I had to pick one, it would be the autumn ancestral pageants. There's the obvious connection with real life celebrations around death in in the fall, and the Mourn Watch and other mortalitasi would certainly come out for that." [source]

Sylvia: "Saw another misconception I wanted to clear up - I saw someone attribute Calpernia and Samson's quests in DAI to me. Not so! Those fine quests and characters were written by Jo Berry" [source] // Jo Berry: "And you took great care of them when I went on to other things 💙" [source] // Sylvia: "It was a pleasure!" [source]

User: "Are you happy with the theme Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe gave for him and the Mourn Watch? For me I love hearing it, cause it truly suits him!" // Sylvia: "I loved the theme! I worked with our music director Ron Dazo to explain the character to them, and I think they all nailed it. A solid character theme needs to be able be remixed for different purposes, and this action version is also one of my favorite tracks: [link]" [source]

User: "Not so much needing a massive explanation more curiosity after a friend and I have been conspiratorial for fun: do you think that Nevarra had their own religion before the Chantry became the most common religion in the country? That they worshipped a different deity or deities?" // Sylvia: "Took me a moment to double check, but Nevarra canonically had a history of animism in the distant past with the Planasene tribes. So probably yes, though we've left the nature of the animism fuzzy." [source]

[question about a 'Veiljumper triangle language'] // Sylvia: "Oh dang, I'm sorry I don't know at all. (The reason some MW-language inscriptions have a real meaning, and some are just gibberish, is that I suggested it'd be fun to do translatable words. But by the time I brought that up, some objects with that script had already been outsourced and completed.) It could be those triangles have no real-world translation, but this is a case where my guess is as good as yours." [source, two]

[mildy-vibing]

@calamaroo I know you know who this is, our favorite baby boy

NEW/OLD OCTO-OC, ARTHUR GRIZZLY

I've introduced him a long time ago but now he has official art and refs! Though he originally started out being modeled off numerous characters, he's grown beyond that into his own thing. Calamaroo certainly knows as they're my co-creator for him (60/40 custody).

So, who is he?

Early Life

Arthur's early life mainly follows that of all grizzlies. Staying with your mother and following her every move so that one day you may survive on your own. Nothing truly great or memorable came from this time, say for Arthur meeting a certain polar bear cub.

Early on in his cub years, Arthur was constantly traveling up and down the Alaskan wilderness with his mother, sometimes going too far south and sometimes too far north. On one occasion, where they went too far north, Arthur encountered a polar scout. Though it wasn't common for both solitary species to be friends, cubs do as cubs do and became best friends over the course of Arthur's stay.

Arthur was the trouble maker and "bad influence" of the duo, always finding himself knee deep in trouble. Barnacles was always the one to get him out of trouble. But still, they did everything together. There was many play dates, days exploring the frozen coast line, and days spent sitting around fishing or playing in the sea.

Teen Years / Early Adulthood

Arthur stayed up north longer than one would expect. Food was just enough for his mother to settle there, so the friendship laster for years more.

Barnacles joined the scouts, Arthur got better and better at surviving alone, the years went on. During this time, their bond peaked. However, it all came crashing down when Barnacles eventually left for better job opportunities down south, leaving Arthur behind. They hoped to see each other again soon, though that wasn't gonna happen for a long while.

In the meantime, Arthur spent his early adulthood surviving on his own (mother kicked him out as soon as she could). He spent his days traveling and wandering, eventually settling upon the American Northwest as his home. Along the way, he found new company in the form of Winona, a wild mustang. Next to Barnacles, Winona is the closest friend he has.

Later Years / Octoagent Era

When Barnacles managed to track him down and find him, both were beyond overjoyed at seeing the other alive. Barnacles was glad to see one of his oldest friends still alive, while Arthur was glad to see his at all. Following this, the friendship rekindled, and they went on like there wasn't a separation at all.

To avoid Arthur disappearing into the wild again, Barnacles strongly "nudged" for him to join the octoagents. It took some time, but Arthur eventually did, being hired on as an "expert explorer." It was mainly an excuse to keep in touch, but somehow, Arthur actually was good at his "job" as he managed to discover and catalog many environments, animal populations, and changes relating to Northwestern American ecosystems So, Arthur's pretty good at something. That and also serving as a good guide for emergencies in places where not even gups can reach.

As for Barnacles, he's just happy to go on any mission with his old "friend", no matter how mundane it is.

Smaller Bits

- Arthur is a certified horse girl, as he loves his horse more than he loves most things.

- There is some beef between him and Kwazii, mainly starting as arguments of "who is actually the captain's best friend" which usually extends to personal blows due to contrasting personalities. Barnacles can not keep these two together for long.

- He is more of a nomadic type, chosing to live with nothing but a tent and some supplies than in a proper den or home. Makes it kinda hard to have company over.

- Despite being in a job that requires social interaction, he isn't the most social of people.

- Winona is too smart to be a normal non sapient horse, and no one really believes Arthur when he says they've had many "conversations" together. Most believe he's off his rockers already, but Barnacles believes him (only a little).

[ckret2]

I honestly think that Ford is the only character in Gravity Falls that don't have moments of cruelty and unkindness... He's my favorite character because he's the one who is most near to perfection, in contrast to Stanley, who is the character most near to imperfection.

I think you can make some cases for a couple of moments—like, you could easily make a case for "standing by doing nothing while Stan was kicked out" being pretty damn cruel—but you could also just as easily make a counter argument that it wasn't really because it was Filbrick doing the kicking out and it's possible Ford was too scared to speak up and maybe he thought Stan would be fine since he'd already made globe-traveling plans and maybe at that moment he really believed that if Stan stayed at home he'd keep trying to sabotage Ford's future etc etc—like, everything he does that's Not Nice, how Not Nice it is depends on which literary analysis lens you choose to peer at the event through.

Part of this could well be due to the fact that he only got five and a half episodes; but I think the truest thing you can say about his character is that we don't see him act out of spite the way other characters do. Like, if Gideon had stolen Ford's perfect pool chair, he absolutely would have shown up at the pool in the middle of the night to claim the chair for the next morning, but he wouldn't have tried to blind Gideon with his wristwatch. If his nemesis had challenged him to mini-golf, I doubt he'd have conspired with the Liliputtians to cheat. If he was stuck in the house with an annoying pig he'd PROMISED not to put outside, he'd be more likely to storm outside in a huff and leave the pig in the house than he would be to break his promise and put the pig outside.

When Stan or Dipper want to be king of the hill, they're quick to turn to dragging their competition down; but when Ford wants to be king of the hill he tries to climb twice as fast as his competition. I feel like playing dirty to drag his competition down wouldn't even occur to Ford unless it's an "if I lose, somebody dies" situation. Winning by cheating would make him feel like he hasn't really won.

[moociaoafterdark]

My opinion on Rogue Trader companions so far (I just finished act 1)

Idira - deserved better both in story and in gameplay. Seriously, why do enemies target her so much, what did she do?? Also, her insights are very useful, wish I could consult the voices in my head the way she can. And I know for a fact Idira and Vigdis explored each other's bodies, tho I can also see some toxic yuri potential between her and Argenta.

Pasqal - surprisingly chill for a magos! Also, he definitely wants to be called a good boy, but, like, not in a kinky, but platonic way. You know, the same way your dog wants to be called a good boy/good girl. Even though I already play a respectful and chill Rogue Trader, I still try to be a bro to Pasqal (yes, I'm a girl who roleplays as an old dude, what about it?) I do hope that he actually starts seeing you as a close friend/companion later down the story line, because I genuinely love him. Also, Pasqal's melee attacks >>>>>> Pasqal's range attacks.

Argenta - I'm pretty sure at some point in her life, the Emperor sent her back into our time and made her shoot Tr*mp. She missed, as we all know. LIKE. GIRL. PLEASE HIT THE TARGET, I'M BEGGING YOU. Every time it's her turn, I legit start praying to Big E. Story wise... Not gonna lie, out of all the dogmatic leaning characters, I prefer her the most. I especially prefer her over Heinrix. Not that I hate him, and I'm not a big fan of SoB, but... there's something about Argenta that just makes me like her. Though, she is sus. Like really sus. I expect her to do something insane later down the line.

Abelard - MY MAN. Like, yes, I did the quest with the Lower Decks and I know that Abelard is not sunshine and rainbows, in fact, he is quite a classist ass, but! I like that about him! And his dedication and loyalty to both us and Theodora (well, the entire house of Von Valancius) is admirable. I like him a lot :) BUT! I LOVE HIM IN COMBAT. DUDE IS HIM. Every time it's his turn, I know for a fact someone is going to fucking die. AND he is a healer! Dude's theme song is Holding Out For A Hero and I accept no arguments. Might just be my favorite. I hope we get to meet his family, because one of his comments mentioning his youngest great-granddaughter being a working adult made me intrigued. I know that people can extend their life span + he constantly has to travel through the Warp with the Rogue Trader, so I'm curious if they're going to elaborate on that.

Heinrix - I heard a lot about him. I can see why many people thirst over him and ship him with their fem!Rogue Traders and! Good for you! I support yume/self-shipping as well as oc x canon with all my heart! However, he didn't impress me much. Maybe it's because my Rogue Trader is an old man and there were no spicy/romantic dialogue options for him. He is cool, and I did help him complete his mission. Though, I wish he stayed after act 1, because I want to learn more about him... And also I really like him in combat. He's like if Abelard was a psyker, and you already know how much I love Abelard in combat. I wish we get to meet him again.

Cassia - Okay, first things first: I LOVE HER. I love her design and I'm glad we got an abhuman companion, because I want more abhumans in w40k. Love how she is sweet with us and seems, ya know, very demure very mindful, but I do also love she is not like this with everyone, judging by her combat voice lines and how she needs human blood for her paintings. However, that time you are summoned by her after you recruit her to be the ship's Navigator... Hoo boy did I momentarily regret picking a male!Rogue Trader, because *some* of the dialogue options were so cringy and creepy. If you played as a male Rogue Trader, you know what I'm talking about. THANK GOD the game wouldn't reward you for being too fast and too lustful with her from the get-go. Not that I picked those options, but I did read up about Cassia's romance after that event. It does make sense for a sheltered girl like her to be into courtly, romance book type love! Also, she once one-shotted like... 8 enemies with her attack... Really made it easier to focus on Aurora. Blood for Navigator Cassia, skulls for Navigator's Throne!

Jae, Yrliet, Marazhai, Ulfar and Kibellah - I know they exist! REALLY eyeing Marazhai because he is the only possible mlm option in this game. I'm a toxic yaoi whore, I'm sorry. We'll see, because I'm not a fan of Drukhari, but MAYBE Marazhai will make me change my mind.

[jlandersen01]

My theory of "Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun" is that they're gonna pull a "Fire Emblem Fates" on us.

I've read that Iruma is a reincarnation of Derkila in some way. That I can see.

But you may ask - what about Ali in the ring?

Well - In "Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations" it was revealed that the main character, Corrin, was the child of the main villain but with a twist. The twist was that half of the villain's soul was "Reborn" into Corrin, who was the "good" half, while the evil half of the soul stayed as the dragon and final boss in the game.

This could be a similar situation for Iruma.

Half of Derkila's soul was in the ring, and the other half was reborn as Iruma. Iruma, who is extremely gentle and a pushover in high levels, is the good half of the soul and since he was raised with humans he shows more empathy and compassion versus a demon in the Netherworld, who's own desires trumps everthing else. Alikred would be the "demonic" half of Derkila, who as a demon shows more greed and desire than a human.

The prophecy of the next Demon King stated that "He shall make one and all of his servants". Iruma has shown compassion and friendship to Azz and Clara, making them his first "servants", but he doesn't see it that way. His kindness also spreads where he befriends the Misfits Class and sees them as family, it got to the point where Lied considers him a brother and Jazz and Allocer got revenge during the Harvest Festival to make sure Iruma and Lied got the base back. He also befriended Ameri and tried to still show compassion to Kirio (despite him being CRAZY AF). Iruma has also showed empathy and helped the Guardian of Cutthroat Valley's chick, which gained the respect of the Guardian, causing both beasts to bow to him.

"He shall form blood pacts." It's argued that blood is used to gain his familiar, who is Professor Kalego, but if you think about it ALL the students use their blood to get their familiar. The better example is that Iruma's drop of blood healed the chick from the Flying Race, which resulted the beast to trust and respect Iruma. This in turn has the Guardian of Cutthroat Valley respect Iruma as well.

This argument is also valid for "And heal all of demonkind".

"He shall descend from a foreign realm". Iruma is from the human world - enough said.

"And wear the golden ring of Solomon on his right hand". Iruma gets the ring from the Ranking Owl after the Flying Race, however it's called the "Ring of Gluttony". Since Sullivan knew about the ring and how it worked, he may have been the one who helped with the idea of the ring to begin with and gave it a different name so that other demons wouldn't travel about trying to search for it and take the throne.

Finally what seals my theory, and many other theories I've seen people made: Sullivan.

Sullivan was Derkila's right hand demon for thr most part. There was a reason Sullivan "picked" Iruma to be his grandson. He was probably watching over the human realm for centuries, watching every person being born until he finally found Iruma who had the same qualities he recognized from Derkila. Sullivan probably did a little demon manipulation on Iruma's parents, which probably turned out didn't really need much prodding since the parents are complete ASSES, for them to sell him Iruma. Sullivan even before the new term/Harvest Festival saw Derkila in Iruma when he was having that flashback.

As Iruma continued to live in the Netherworld, he learned of his own "demonic" desires - his selfish wants. Iruma WANTS to have his friends and family he had made. He WANTS a better world where they can all be toelgether and happy.

THAT is where his humanity combined with Ali's demonics is what is going to show how he would be the Demon King as he would look out for everyone and won't let ANYTHING stand in his way of that goal/dream.

Also... first episode... if Iruma couldn't do magic without the ring supposedly... how did he cast that spell during the Opening Ceremony...? Sullivan's spell of helping Iruma read/write/speak/hear demon language wouldn't help him in that aspect of casting a spell... This would show that somewhere deep in his soul he has mana as what the main villains have said that Iruma "posses the same mana as Derkila"

I just feel it's gonna be a "Fire Emblem: Fates" twist, which I am NOT against.

[misc-obeyme]

what are your thoughts on the cheeky lil cow boy (belphie)

Ah yes, Belphegor, a bit of a polarizing character in general, I think. People seem to either really love him or really hate him.

Generally speaking, I think he's deceptively cunning, but not in a malicious way. He's pretty chill most of the time, but he'll do stuff like manipulate his brothers to get them to do his chores for him. Except for Beel, of course. And really they are a unit. Belphie is always ready to fight for Beel and vice versa. But I also really like how they just quietly support each other. Someone will say oh Belphie fell asleep in this weird place and Beel will immediately be like I'll go get him. Or Belphie will be like we need to make sure we bring food to this thing because Beel will get hungry. Like they're just always thinking about each other and I think that's really sweet.

Belphie will also call people out if he wants to. If he has no reason to keep it to himself, he'll straight up tell you if he thinks you're doing something questionable. And his issues with Diavolo indicate to me that he has a problem with authority, like he would be more defiant if he wasn't also lazy lol.

Inevitably, though, we can't really talk about Belphie without discussing the Lesson 16 Incident. At this point, I think most people are aware of those events, but just in case, I'll put the rest of this under a read more. And also it's kinda lengthy, so be forewarned lol.

First of all, I have to say that I was honestly so confused about what was happening in Lesson 16 that I didn't fully understand that Belphie had killed MC. I had to read it multiple times and then read what other people were saying about it. So I never had an intense reaction to it.

But to be fair, it wasn't like we didn't know there was something weird going on the whole time. I knew it was the youngest brother locked up there and it seemed like it was wrong, so that made Lucifer out to be the bad guy of the situation. Then it turns out that wasn't the case at all.

Belphie is manipulative. That's just part of his character. And when he has something that he's trying to do, he's going to use that skill to get it.

Some people are still mad at Lucifer for locking Belphie up at all. Some people are obviously quite upset that Belphie killed MC.

But here's what I think.

It isn't that black and white. Aside from the confusing time travel shenanigans, this event is one of the most realistic things that has ever happened in the story.

Belphie shared Lilith's love of humans. Together they wanted to learn more about the human world. It would be easy for him to blame himself for her interest and what ultimately led to her death. But even if he didn't, he saw the way that it tore his entire family apart.

It wasn't just that his dad got mad at his sister and they had an argument or something.

It was that his dad was going to end his sister's existence and in defiance, his older brother rebelled. And there was a war. This was not some squabble. This was siblings fighting siblings.

Belphie watched his brothers and sisters fight and hurt and kill each other and it all came back to Lilith falling in love with a human.

And then he fell with his brothers, cast out of his home, losing everything he's ever known. His brothers are changing and suffering just like he is.

They don't talk about it. They clearly all keep secrets regarding it still, things that don't come out until MC comes along. Which is supposedly thousands of years after the fact (at least in OG). That means Belphie has had all that time to let that trauma fester. To let it twist inside him. To let it morph into the one thought that became most dominant: that humans are bad.

Is that a fair assessment of what happened? No, of course not. But we're dealing with a war traumatized fallen angel that clearly hasn't worked through any of these feelings in thousands of years.

And then he defies Diavolo and Lucifer panics.

Yes, Lucifer should have found a better way of handling it. But remember what happened to him when he defied authority? He is trying his best to protect Belphie. He is trying not to lose another sibling. He is also still traumatized and therefore overreacting out of fear.

And so was Belphie.

Imagine being locked up like that and a human comes along. A human is free among your brothers to do whatever terrible things humans do while you're powerless to stop them. Of course he's going to try to manipulate that human into setting him free. Of course he's then going to eliminate them because humans have been historically bad for his family.

I read this situation as Belphie being both afraid and angry that a human - the thing he's convinced himself was the main cause of his sister's death - has become so close to his brothers and has the access to his family that could cause another rift among them.

You could say that it was Belphie's idea to get MC to have all the pacts, but that isn't really true, either. By the time MC meets Belphie, they already have a pact with two of his brothers. He sees them already starting to worm their way into his family. And he knows that the only way to get out of the attic is to encourage it. He doesn't really have a choice.

Maybe everyone can now call me a Belphie apologist. But I'm always coming at this from an outside fictional standpoint. I'm like listen he's a flawed character and it's actually pretty realistic of him to react this way considering the circumstances.

However, he did kill MC. And that's why my own MC, Ciaran, has issues with Belphie for a while. It's also traumatic to have someone kill you, so it isn't like I'm saying MC should just forget about it or forgive Belphie immediately. I think it probably should have taken a lot more time for MC to trust Belphie again. Certainly that part of the story was a bit rushed.

But they're dealing with lesson format constraints and also it's a silly otome game so I guess fully formed character arcs can't be expected. Especially since we aren't dealing with routes and they have to cram everybody into the same set of lessons.

In the end, I think Belphie is an interesting and complex character. I think there's a lot of space to explore more about this particular aspect of him, but due to the format of the media and the lack of routes, his more in depth character arc just doesn't exist.

I personally have no problem with Belphie as a character, but I also understand why people don't like him. I am always of the opinion that everyone is free to love or hate or have any emotions at all about fictional characters lol. This is just my personal opinion.

[xxsycamore]

𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐂

↬ 💋 "You're going to stand here against the wall because you're being punished."

Napoleon Bonaparte x Main Character • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Bickering; Femdom to Maledom; Light Dom/sub; Lipstick; Kissing; Marking; Neck Kissing; Teasing; Nipple Play; Blow Jobs; Dirty Talk; Vaginal Sex; Size Kink; Multiple Orgasms; Creampie; Post-Sex Cuddless • wordcount: 3,831 • masterlist

a/n: Today marks FOUR years since I love this man......Enjoy🙇🏻‍♀️

"Who kisses the other more?"

"Easy. That would definitely be me-"

"It's me."

Napoleon and MC cross their gazes, lips still parted in mutual interruption. Napoleon raises a brow, quick to defend his bold statement. "Nunuche, I love you, but no."

"Excuse me?? I'm kissing you every chance I get! And you know that!"

"Nunuche." He puts a hand over hers, insisting overconfidently. "Need I remind you of what I'm infamous for, in this mansion? They even go as far as call as to me a kissaholic, yet you still…"

"That's nothing! You might have your kiss attacks in the mornings, but I'm out there giving you full-course meals of smooches all throughout the day! Are you seriously going to argue with me about this right now?"

Vincent awkwardly sinks into his seat, lowering his face into the 101 Questions For Couples book that he picked up as an anniversary present for Napoleon and MC. He is starting to regret his choice, as he never as much as imagined these two to be the type to argue over anything at all. And now they're having a couple's argument over this. It's somehow fitting and, frankly, it's even adorable, but all he wants right now is to restore the peace between the two… but how does he do that?

Out of nowhere, (as per usual) comes Sebastian, who might have listened in. Before Vincent can wave his arms at him to signal SOS, the couple figures out by themselves how to get help from the poor butler.

Napoleon and MC turn in his direction, putting an abrupt end to what only looked like them about grab each other's collars (were they going to fight, or kiss?! ) only to shout at Sebastian, almost in one voice:

"Sebas! Which one of us do you think kisses the other more?"

Sebastian stands up stoic and serious, visibly considering their question with utmost diligence. They've given him too much power in the debate and he has to use it wisely.

His hand travels up to rest under his chin, as if deep in thought. His fingers ghost over his lips which are curling up in a smile. Could it be that he's recalling an event that would help him with his decision?

"I'd say… Monsieur Napoleon. He is the person I have more record of seeing initiating a kiss, MC."

Napoleon is busy putting his hands on his hips triumphally as MC simply stands there and gasps, taking in a gigantic portion of pure betrayal… coming from her dear co-worker of all people, nonetheless.

"That's- That's only because I keep my love in private! What's wrong with that?"

"Absolutely nothing, MC. Forgive me but even without this data, Monsieur Napoleon strikes me as the person who'd kiss you more, rather than the other way around. He is a warm and loving person who wants to remind his partner of his feelings regularly. Physical touch is his second love language. Those are my observations."

What should have been an attempt to put out MC's burning rage seems a lot more like flattery towards the man he idolizes instead. Having had enough, MC gets up in a rush, clearly headed for the door. Seeing that Napoleon is not following behind, she turns on her heel, crosses the room back to his side, grabs him by the sleeve until he's got no choice but to follow, and spells it out for him.

"We're going. To our room."

Before anyone has a chance to say anything, Napoleon is snatched away with the loud thud of a closing door echoing behind him.

Vincent closes 101 Questions For Couples shut and shakily puts it down on the tea table as if it's a cursed relic bound to bring despair. He frowns at Sebastian.

"What do you think will happen now?"

Sebastian nods with eyes at rest, as if the answer is clear as a day.

"It's obvious, Master Vincent. They are going to kiss and make up."

Napoleon knows things are about to get serious when he hears MC locking their bedroom door from the inside. Uh oh. He decides for now it's best to cross his arms and patiently wait until MC decides to approach him and address her grudges. And preferably, to remove that smirk from his face. It's a little hard when he finds her cute when mad. And what is she doing now? She seems to be tying her hair back in a slick ponytail. Someone's getting hot, perhaps. Should he be scared, or should he be aroused? The limited time to ponder is already over as she finally turns around to face him. Her angry glare is turning him on. He is not sure how to fight her with a hard-on. 

"Hey…"

"Hey." MC returns the pointless greeting, doing a good job of keeping her unwavering cold expression. She surely doesn't plan on simply standing there attacking him with that dagger-shooting glare alone. Only a breather more and she steps in closer; reaches out to him.

Napoleon stands still, unsure of what to expect. He's got an idea or two about his own next move but he first wants to see hers first. Jade orbs travel down to follow the movements of her hands as she begins to tug at his clothes.

One by one, the buttons of his white shirt come undone under her gentle hands. She is taking her sweet time, undressing him slowly, agonizingly so. It's as soothing as when she helps him change for bed when he's sick. Something tells him he's not getting all tucked in and cozy this time.

"Do you need help with that, Nunuche?"

"Ferme-la."

That's a harsh way of telling him to shut up. But he's guilty of using the same words when he's annoyingly nudged awake in the morning sometimes; he can't help it. He does shut up.

MC makes sure to not leave a single clothed spot on his entire toned body, making him feel exposed and watched by her sharp gaze. After awhile, the silence is at last broken by her.

"Now."

Now? Napoleon almost asks aloud, curious to see how she'd shut him up this time. He hopes his boner is not getting any more obvious because of this.

He expect her to come closer, because where else she could be going right now? But instead, she takes a step back, looks at him from head to toe, and then goes to her dressing table. Napoleon shivers. Is she going to fetch some sort of torture device from there? Could it be that his innocent Nunuche is finally turning to the dark side because he crossed the line teasing her?

Oh, it's just lipstick. She hoovers over the dressing table to look into the mirror and applies it precisely; just as if she's getting ready for a nice date out. Napoleon is dumbstruck and wants to jokingly ask if that's for getting her dominatrix persona on, but remains silent. He is not left hanging for much longer as soon MC pockets her lipstick and giddily returns in front of Napoleon.

"Can I at least lay down?"

"No~ You're going to stand here against the wall because you're being punished."

So that's indeed where things are going. Napoleon gulps down, holding back a sigh fueled by the frustration of finding himself uncharacteristically not in control. He tries to put two and two together, finding a connection between MC's blood-red lips and the fact that she's got him all stripped down like an empty canvas.

She gets on her tippy toes and puts a hand on the wall behind him to steady herself before kissing him gently on the lips. Napoleon wishes with his whole being to return the kiss and transform it into something less innocent, but the chance slips out of his grasp as MC withdraws too soon. Ducking down for another smooch attack, this time she aims at his cheek. It reminds him of being greeted back from work, so pure and warming. Another two or three kisses are pressed against his other side and he feels giddy, imagining what he looks like with so much lipstick smeared on him, like a little kid on his birthday when it's the aunt's turn to give a present. It's ridiculous, everything that is happening right now, but more ridiculously so he enjoys it and doesn't question a thing. That’s the far opposite of a punishment, though. The next kiss lands lower, on his nape, and MC uses her hand to tip his chin upwards so she can place one right under his jaw. Next, she pays more attention to his neck, making a row of kisses down his collarbone. She knows he is ticklish here but that only encourages her more for this impromptu torture. 

It doesn't get any better for Napoleon once those devilish lips find their way down from his collarbones. Nothing could've prepared him for the contrastingly bold gesture of suddenly having his nipples playfully pinched and pulled. It comes nonetheless, making him grunt out a moan of surprise. As if apologizing for getting too naughty, MC kisses them better, leaving two identical lipstick prints around his areolas. Napoleon gazes down at her, bewildered, as she slowly sinks lower, kissing her way there as well. Her hands map the familiar area of his abs, replacing the feather-light caress of her fingers with the one of her lips time and time again. Excitement pools in Napoleon's loins as the woman in front of him finds herself fully on her knees, having reached his most sensitive place with her lips in the meantime. His fists clench and unclench with the absence of anything to grasp into and his neglected cock twitches with anticipation.

"Has the color come off already?"

Ah, she refers to her lips that are indeed a much paler shade of red already. The sudden distraction breaks his expectations in million pieces as he just nods tepidly. MC casually sits back on her heels as she reaches inside her pocket to fish out the lipstick.

Napoleon tries to steady his heartbeat, watching her apply it anew on her beautiful lips, kiss-swollen to perfection and just so fuckable, but that's his cock doing the thinking instead of him. Hence the need to calm his pulse. She takes her time in order to be careful, and truly, without the aid of a mirror, perfectly fills them in with the red color; if he knows anything about that. He clicks his tongue, realizing where all this red is going.

"Down there, too?"

"Oh, yes." She clicks the cap back on and discards the cosmetic product to roll off somewhere on the floor for now. "Especially down there."

You're driving me crazy, Napoleon thinks, and if he has to be honest with himself, he is not so sure of however much longer he would be able to limit himself to thoughts alone. Perhaps his Nunuche underestimates the situation. More and more small grunts leave his lips as MC puts imprints of the newly applied lipstick on his fair untanned skin, dangerously close to his cock but missing it on purpose. The red marks bloom on his hipbones and the inside of his tights, it feels like forever before she finally does what he was hoping for most. Wrapping her delicate hand around his stiff length, a kiss appears on the side of it, too; right over a thick vein that runs there. The most frustrating of it all has to be the fact that she does none of it all with the intention of giving him pleasure. Not that her plan is much more innocent, as she particularly marks him as hers all over, in her own way.

He is able to, at last, enjoy her mouth for one short but rewarding moment as she parts her lips and takes the tip in between, swirling her tongue around it. Perhaps not wishing to ruin her make-up with such activity, she lets go in shortly, noticing how he twitches eagerly in her hand. She keeps his cock there, stroking the base slowly as she busies herself with additional kisses on the length of his tights, knees and however much lower her position would allow.

She stands to her feet and the curtain falls. Hands on her hips, like a craftsman admiring his handiwork. Her eyes travel to chase over trails of dusty red roses blooming all over Napoleon's body, but as they finally return to his face, the expression doesn't match her own, not one in a bit. He looks out of breath as if each of those kisses were received by his mouth instead, face flushed and hair sticking wetly to his face.

"Do you like what you've made of me, Nunuche?" Snorts Napoleon, wondering if she is proud of herself for her little game and the effects it had on him.

"Mhmm! I love it."

MC claps her hands together, visibly admiring his body again to rub it in his face just how much she means it when she says she loves it. She gets closer again, lifting up his limp right hand and placing kisses against his wrist, just a little spot she missed.

"I'm almost not mad at you anymore, Napoleon. You look thoroughly kissed, and everyone who gets a look at you would know that it's me who kisses you more… and not the other way around."

"So this is what your little plan was about, hmm?" Napoleon forcibly releases his right hand from her grasp and uses it to collect her chin instead, squeezing her cheeks firmly. "You said almost not mad. What's the price I have to pay for your full forgiveness?"

MC begins playing coy with a little hum rumbling in her throat, and Napoleon releases his hold so she can give the reply she comes with. She decides on putting on her commanding tone one last time, having decided on her answer.

"Fuck me nice and we're good."

"Yeah." Putting the overdue end to her naughty ministrations by makeshiftly handcuffing her wrists with his much stronger hands, Napoleon's gaze pins her down. "Yeah, that's what I was intending to do."

Napoleon suspects that he hardly needs to throw her on the bed himself, as something tells him she'd straightly jump there if he were to let her go now. One way or another, she is soon to find herself pinned under his large frame, inhaling nothing but his scent on the pillow as he envelops her smaller body with his own from behind. He spreads her legs at a favorable angle, barely having the mind to make sure she is comfortable before grabbing into his cock and guiding it towards her sopping wet hole. He grunts and grabs her by the waist, dragging her further down the bed to ensure they're as close as possible, and watches her arching her bottom in anticipation.

Napoleon rubs his blunt head into her swollen lower lips, teasingly. He collects her wetness until the glide is smooth and rewarding, but makes sure it's not too pleasurable for her just yet. He aims at her dripping hole and guides his cock there slowly, enjoying the way she clenches desperately around him as if to pull him further in.

As he withdraws, familiar whines of dissatisfaction reach his ears. Despite the person he knows himself to be, being unfair once in a while feels just right. Especially after what she did to him earlier.

MC curls one leg around his own, trying to make him get the hint and hurry up, and Napoleon's eyes darken with lust at her desperation.

"Shh, ma chérie, I've got you." He fails to hold in a chuckle of endearment, heart swelling with pride at how easily he drives her crazy for what only he could give her. "I've got you, is this what you wanted?"

He gradually pushes in, stretching out her insides with his girthy length that never ceases to be just a little too big for her.

"Oohh! Yes, yes, give it all to me… Napoleon… don't make me wait any longer…"

"Hmm? Can you take it all in?" He strokes over the small of her back, admiring the beautiful arch of her back; the way she presents herself so willingly to him, making it that much easier to ignore the part of his brain that wants revenge for the part of it that wants raw pleasure.

"Y-yes, please, more, please…"

Slowly, he bottoms out. Letting out a satisfactory moan of his own, he didn’t until now realize how much self-control it cost him to keep his gentleness. That and, with being previously stimulated to a certain dangerous degree, he wants to throw away any plans of taking it nice and slow from now on. Screw revenge. He gives one long look at the place they're connected again, admiring how much of him has disappeared inside her hot tightness, and then grunts again, readjusting his position.

He drapes his body over his lover's, chest to her back, using the opportunity of being close enough to whisper in her ear. Each word he utters this way is making her clench deep inside, and he makes the best out of it, feeling utterly satisfied with himself but remembering to keep the grin out of his tone.

"I'm going to move now." He breathes in and then out, "I'll try to go at it slowly because it looks like you need to cool down, but…"

"No…" a sharp inhale, "No, give it your best." She shifts her body a little, rocking her bottom on his cock as if to demonstrate the intensity of her wish. "Fuck me for your pleasure."

Napoleon chuckles darkly, pecking her arm with wetted lips and collecting her wrists again into his iron grip.

"How am I supposed to do that when you're already rutting against me so selfishly? You're trying to get me to set the pace that you need. Look at you fucking yourself against me."

"Nnh-"

"Yeah? Do you want me to let you keep going? Can you cum like that?"

Instead of wanting to keep going or not, a more fitting question would be whether she could retain herself from it. The pulse in her ears is maddening as she chases after her high, the tip of Napoleon's cock rubbing against her sweet spot and MC making sure she is maintaining the angle all the way. Soon enough, without having the time to warn him, she shouts into the pillows and rocks her body repeatedly, using his cock like a sex toy, convulsing harshly around it. Napoleon groans, bucking slightly back into her and enjoying the sight, the feeling of her coming undone in his arms coupled with the heavenly tightness wrapping around his cock. He presses kisses into her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo; then pressing more kisses into to whichever part of her he could reach, until she comes down from her high. He almost considers her calmed down before another set of whines leaves her mouth.

"Already?" Napoleon teases. He gives an experimental thrust, knowing not to overwhelm her senses.

"Mmm, more, more!"

That's a nice reaction, he thinks to himself as he thrusts again, slowly gaining speed. He wants nothing more than to fuck her breathless at last, reducing her to a moaning mess beneath him. He could mockingly refer back to the thought that it all started with her having the upper hand, but maybe later. Though it's intriguing to imagine another scenario, of how this should've played out - with him tied to the bedframe and his hips straddled as she rides him to her satisfaction. He would be a rotten liar if he says he isn't interested in seeing it come true. But oh how much better victory tastes. There is a good reason she didn't go all the way, and that's because she wanted to be fucked raw and fast instead. But since she has his heart - she's been having it for a long time now - more than playing with power he wants to simply satisfy her and quench her thirst for him. He knows that no amount of true dominance would feel as good to her as to simply have him buried deep to the hilt inside her, moaning his pleasure into her ears as he spills his seed against her deepest parts. It's because he feels the same way.

"Do you still want me to keep going? Fast and deep like that? You're going to make me want to fill you up."

"Ahhhh, yes, Napoleon, Napoleon do it, please, fill me up with your cum, please."

He thrusts hard and noisily into her wet heat, feeling his release building up by her cute pleas alone. In addition, she feels incredibly hot and tight around him, coaxing his release as he tries to maintain a steady pace.

Enclosing her arms with his own muscular ones and holding a vice-like grip on her wrists, he lets himself go.

The burning sensation of Napoleon hitting her deepest, most sacred part is slightly painful, but in a very good way. She feels so full. The sheer thought of him giving into his desire and claiming her like this is enough to send her spiraling into pleasure, but the feeling of his hot cum rushing into her depths is mind-shuddering on its own. She doesn’t realize there are tears rolling down her cheeks. Rutting away the rest of his high into her hips, smacking the sweat-lined skin of her ass, he moans her name, letting himself be milked from every last drop as she keeps convulsing and following him into the throes of release in high-pithed, pleading shrieks that morph into downright pornographic moans. Their legs tangle together, maintaining the gradually dying down friction until their senses start to calm down.

Napoleon can feel the slowly cooling layer of sweat covering the skin of his back, though he still feels very hot; the humid summer air demandingly asserting his presence. He carefully rolls off MC, making sure she is getting enough air to breathe. He almost pouts in realization, I'm always the one doing all the work yet she is panting harder. Pleasure still rocks all over him, and his heart beats lovingly at the feeling of MC curling into his chest even when she must be feeling hot.

They stay like this for a moment, catching their breath, hands wandering each other's bodies, and sending muted fireworks of pleasure aftershocks everywhere they touch. It could either be that he is ticklish, or the endorphins kicking in, but soft giggles escape Napoleon's lips and pour right into hers, infecting her along the way. It's a very clumsy kiss, but it gets Napoleon an idea.

"I still think I can turn the score around. Let's see who leaves this room more thoroughly kissed or whatever." 

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @ale-teodora @kimi00twin @otomelady @privilegedpancake @g-kleran    @pumpumnnnp @thesirenwashere @ravenarld @kimmy-banana @devonares @galaxyprison @sadshaxk @starshards26 @pro-cat-stination @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @keen19thcenturygoatsstudent @lordsister @ikemen-banshou   @themysticalbeing @canaria-blackwell @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @coornn @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @queengiuliettafirstlady @aurora-morning @aquagirl1978 ​ @ikemenlover24 @violettduchess @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @princesspraya @delicateikemenmemes Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

[britt-kageryuu]

It's another slow day at the clinic, and Leo is streaming from the reception area, again.

It's practically a meme by now to see a Clinic Stream among the regulars.

The chat had started a poll/bet on whether someone was going to walk in to the clinic, like what's happened every time Leo's streamed from work. Some were saying it wasn't a fair bet.

Even though most of the time, all Leo is doing is cleaning up which just rambling about random topics, gossip, or showing off the clinic itself.

Leo in his space turtle scrubs with a lab coat, is leaning back in his chair while organizing a container full of 'Good Patient' prizes.

"So I decided to grab this book that sounded interesting, it's about a girl who makes medicine, and apparently ends up in the favor of a royal she works for, highly likely going to be a romance situation." Leo says while opening a pack of dinosaur stickers.

"At some point I couldn't help but imagine myself in this situation. Even though I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in the girls shoes. The whole mess that lead up to her being in a royals favor." He's adding little squishy critters to the container.

Leo opens a box nearby and digs through it, likely looking for something else to add to the treasure box for good patients. Out comes a pack of Trick or Trade Pokémon booster packs.

"Don't get me wrong, potentially becoming a consort to royalty wouldn't be the worst, but just the kidnapping the poor girl had to deal with at the start." Leo pauses for a second, "It just hit me, that I know two series that fit this vauge description, and if you know both good for you. If not sorry if I confused you."

Leo puts the container on the counter, and grabs a book from the shelf next to him. It's a cream colored manga with a bright red haired girl on the cover, the title reads 'Snow White with the Red Hair'.

"This is one of them. Though the Snow White thing is only a loose description for the beginning. Shirayuki caught the attention of the local Prince, that she didn't like, so she left to the next country over and ended up befriending the Prince of that country, Zen."

Leo puts on a sneaky grin, "But the first Prince accidentally poisoned Zen with an apple, so he had to back off or face a possible war or something. She becomes a Royal Herbalist/Pharmacist in the Palace and they slowly fall in love."

He puts the book back, "Some of you may know the other one, but I don't have the book with me here. Though Dee did give me a Stranger Things comic," He pulls a much thinner book off the shelf, this one had four humanoid turtles all with red bandanas along with the Stranger Things characters. "Don't know where he got this, but it looks interesting."

He looks over at the chat, some are asking for more details of how he imagined himself in one of the series, and if his boyfriend was in the place of the royal.

"Well, actually the first time around I thought of myself as the Royal, and Moon somehow ending up in the palace, but it didn't quite work, because I can't see any of my brothers with a large amount of consorts." Leo says as he flips through the first few pages of the Stranger Things book.

"How are you supposed to keep track of these turtles, they're all in Red! Sure they have different weapons, and a letter on their belts, but still!" Leo says while starting to spin in his chair while reading. "Though the very loose plot to have this kind of crossover is so flimsy, let alone how Eleven traveled a few states to a Major City. Alone! But that's the logic of the comic worlds."

Leo continues to slowly spin in the chair while reading to comic book, kinda forgetting that he's at work, and live streaming this moment.

The chat is having a missed jumble of arguments. Some wondering where the comic came from, some wondering if/when a random person will enter the clinic.

"Hey Doc! I came to get a refill on my Meds!!"

Leo jumped and scrambled to Mute the stream. He then goes to greet the person while putting a sticky note over the camera lens.

Those who bet that the pattern wouldn't repeat were regretting their bets, while many where putting up a *called it* type emoji.

[ladyanaconda]

Besteel and Redimus Headcanons

I figured I'd make some headcanons of the two brothers' relationship and a bit of their family. My favorite part of making backstories for characters we know so little about is coming up with something that matches who they are in the present day and what could have led them to become like that.

They come from a litter of five, with Besteel coming out of the womb first and Redimus last. Sadly, their other three siblings didn't make it past infancy.

Even as babies, they had to compete for space inside their mother's pouch and her milk. Needless to say, Besteel always managed to drink more, which led to his faster growth.

Their father Vamphyr favored Besteel as the bigger, more aggressive cub and paid little heed to the 'runt', much to the distaste of his wife Thalyss. Besteel and Redimus often witness their parents' arguments, which became worse over time. Then one day, Thalyss left and took Redimus with her when the brothers were twelve.

The brothers have a love-hate relationship, stemming from the resentment they have for the favoritism the other got from the parent they craved the affection of. They have opposing views and sometimes antagonize each other (in a good-natured way), but at the end of the day, they're very protective of each other.

Besteel did not attend Thalyss's funeral because he resented her for leaving him behind. Likewise, Redimus doesn't bother to visit Vamphyr, knowing he likely wouldn't be well-received anyway.

Redimus settled down in Solas, where he got a job as an animal caretaker in the museum, only hunting occasionally for extra cash. On the other hand, Besteel and Cassiora traveled around, making a decent living by hunting. Following Cassiora's death and Besteel's retirement, he and Fay moved in with Redimus.

While he doesn't show it, Redimus has severe insecurity issues rooted in Vamphyr's disinterest and frequent comparisons to his more 'successful' brother. On that fateful night, Besteel pressing those buttons is what drove Redimus, already in a drunken state, to the edge.

Despite his father's favoritism, Besteel isn't actually that fond of him because of all the pressure Vamphyr's high expectations have put on him since he was young. In fact, this resentment increased when Vamphyr showed little sympathy for Cassiora's death and instead criticized him for giving up hunting afterward.

The two brothers are more than happy to embarrass each other with stories of when they were cubs.

The one thing the brothers have in common is their fondness of a Dorcean chocolate-like treat.

[alitgblog]

volume vii thoughts

as per usual I have complaints about the missed opportunities of casa

first things first, the casa boys' sprites looked bad to me when I saw that post fusebox made but after playing for like a minute, I was like nah actually they're quite fine. However, prettiest sprites they're competing with are Jin, Claudia, Oakley, Tyler, and Bea so the competition is rough. Also idk something is throwing me off with Shawn and especially Kyle's face shapes.

I think last post I made I said Hari at least got more of a chance than Tyler, but scratch that actually, it feels like they got the same chance because suddenly we're in casa and hardly any mention of him, even though he and my MC have kissed a few times already and she hasn't really rejected him fully over Jin yet? Don't know if anyone's in the boat of going all in with Hari but I'm curious what the gameplay is like for them.

So Emel has randomly decided to be annoyed at Oakley again (I'll replay for you next time Oakley 🥺) and it's clearly because the routes are merged now, which is such a shame because I do think Emel and Oakley could've worked it out and become a fun couple to watch on the real show (probably a boring one though that the audience would dump until after the show ended that their real personalities come out on social media and the public like them individually or at least understand why they were together so long). And I know it's not the most in character thing but I so appreciate it not being a complete 180 for the sake of plot because I'm trying to imagine this with all the couples given what I know about them from my playthrough and Emel/Oakley always have problems because she's uptight and wants more dramatics in their romance and he's chill so any little thing he ends up doing sets her off, sure, I can buy that Emel is a little delusional. Then Luna/Jin would have problems because Luna is less extroverted than Jin, serious, and irritable (which honestly, relatable) and so Jin does things for a laugh and she doesn't get it. So maybe he didn't wink at Bea or did it as a joke because he's being cheeky and she takes it as flirting and starts an argument. And from my playthrough, Sophie and Jack always feel like they're looking for an argument so that checks out too. It's not perfect, but I can feasibly see how one could justify this plot point.

absolutely living for flirting with Claudia in casa

pet peeve subjective raunchy races is back 😠 at least a couple of them are better, like they did have oldest boy in there at least. everything else though, I don't care that much to listen to them argue about who's the most well traveled or stylish.

I love Bea's personality, she's so fun. And tbh, I'm kind of liking her and Liam together. He's forward and she's into it, and it seems like he can keep up with her for now so I'm happy with that couple and I hope it doesn't turn to shit (it probably will).

also pay to win when losers are gonna throw a part anyway ok sure 🙄 I think I've mentioned this before but like personally I think if they're gonna do gem scenes, there has to be a logical ways out of it rather than just MC being like "nah I don't feel like it" and then they lose?? at least for other gem scenes it's like "tell Sophie off 10 gems" or "stay silent" like sure that's fine I guess.

anyway the chats with the boys were actually all pretty fun and short. I, as per usual, have immediately gravitated towards the foodie/chef character but I'll admit I see what y'all are saying about Kyle. Tbh even Max isn't too bad but I'm cautious bc I'm getting Eddie vibes (it's the blond and the gossip lol). And I like Liam, he's like a less cartoonishly silly Hamish (so he reminds me of Felix).

I really like the free party wear dress and this is the second volume in a row MC has accidentally matched with a boy not her partner lol

Bea first mentioning she was bi but not flirting, I just thought maybe they were setting her up to partner with Claudia/Theo depending on who you couple up with/if you're on one of their routes. But then oh the tension at the party when she's staring at MC saying she wants to turn heads and Claudia getting nervous??? loving that.

I don't know what it's like for the other boys but it seems like Shawn and Kyle are drama averse, which I think could be an interesting plot point for later coming back from casa of course, but I also don't know if I believe in fusebox's ability to incorporate that in the story. (once again, the day I write a fic and learn to code its all over for you fusebox)

I didn't pay for the Bea talking about Jin scene but I saw yall talk about Sienna and like I doubt it's going anywhere if it's behind a paywall? it's like the Brad and Christy stuff tbh like unless a bunch of dumped islanders are coming back at the end, I'm ignoring it.

anyway it truly is missing Jin hours again 😔

[deke-rivers-1957]

Roustabout Review

Marred by pre-production issues, Roustabout took about 3 years to put out. Announced in 1961, Elvis didn't start filming until March 1964 at 29 years old (well after he stopped playing bad boy characters). This film also had Colonel's influence as he wanted the film to be portray carnival life as a respectable profession.

Made after VLV and Kissin Cousins, this is the last film from Elvis' 2nd Hollywood phase (lighthearted musical comedy travelogues). Does Roustabout have enough of a gritty yet colorful edge to make it enjoyably different, or was it trying too hard to capture a movement and emotion that was no longer relevant? Let's find out.

The titular song "Roustabout" gets us off to a great start. The colored lights are tolerable for those who are photosensitive. The song itself is very enjoyable but I'm not sure if it fits the movie's characterization of Charlie. He's characterized as a ruffian with a chip on his shoulder. I personally recommend looking up "I'm A Roustabout", an alternate opening title song that I think better suited Charlie's character.

So we get introduced to some college kids that only show up for this one scene and I don't like their attitudes. They get all uppity with a waitress who insists on giving them non-alcoholic drinks despite one of them claiming they're all 18 (unless this takes place in Louisiana, states even back in 1964 had the purchase age at 21 to buy alcohol so that argument is moot). The establishment has the right to enforce underage drinking laws, so regardless of their actual age, the waitress has to at least check.

This is the first example of the movie telling us to think one way about Charlie despite showing evidence suggesting otherwise. The college students start heckling him and then get mad when he heckles back. "Poison Ivy League" is an entertaining song that calls out the rich college students and has a unique sound for an Elvis song.

When the song is over, we're made to believe that Charlie is some type of bad boy who picks fights because he's got a chip on his shoulder for being an orphan. That isn't the case at all because Charlie didn't start the fight. Him being an orphan has absolutely nothing to do with this interaction. The college boys started it by making remarks and if you look closely, the one in the blue actually started to swing first. Despite this, Charlie is the only one who gets arrested then gets slapped by the waitress who bailed him out. She's upset that he wouldn't take her with him, when in reality he's not obligated to do anything more than pay her back.

"Wheels On My Heels" is a good song that properly fills in what otherwise would've been dead air. You want to believe that Charlie is content with being on his own as he travels to his next job. However, given the circumstances that lead to this, you still don't get the idea that he's a bad boy. He's acting like a relatively reasonable person that doesn't like getting blamed for things he didn't do.

Which is what makes Joe running off the road so frustrating. Charlie flirts with his daughter, Cathy, and he just completely loses his mind. He verbally stated his intents on killing Charlie, yet still makes it like it was Charlie's fault. What's worse is that, Charlie is forced to work with Maggie and the family until his motorcycle is fixed. Instead of offering to buy him a new bike all together, this family makes like Charlie should be honored to work there as opposed to being held against his will.

We get a walk through of the carnival and I immediately get the idea that Colonel contributed to the script. Cathy uses all this carny talk and then compares it to doctors using Latin because it separates them from the common man. I'm all for wanting to break stereotypes, but Cathy saying this makes her come off as nothing but high in mighty. At least with Cody and the other carnival workers, they have a realistic perspective of trying to take pride in their work despite their low status. It's just a shame none of them show up again to do literally anything. Charlie so far is quite personable and even tries to be nice to Cathy by going on a Ferris Wheel ride singing "It's a Wonderful World." It's a beautiful song with unique tracking shots of the Ferris Wheel moving.

Joe is still unreasonably awful when he's not even the boss. He would literally rather pick on Charlie than accept his half dollar coin for using a ride. We later find out that Maggie is also an irresponsible carnival owner for keeping him employed there. Joe as we learn, was drunk on the job and rigged a ride that ended up killing someone. As a result of not having insurance, Maggie now owes the bank compensation. Instead of doing literally anything, she still insists on keeping Joe employed and only blames herself for letting the insurance lapse. In reality, she'd likely be forced to shut down her business and Joe would definitely be out of a job. There's no way she'd be in business if she kept Joe working there as she'd be complacent in his negligence.

It's the first night of the carnival and while there is business, Cathy simply isn't doing enough to get money at her booth. So what does the bad boy Charlie do? He sings "It's Carnival Time" to attract business on a toy ukelele. Wow that's such a bad boy move /s. Charlie was so bad that he actually manages to earn the carnival a lot of money for that game.

The song itself is still good but I don't think it was lip-synched well. In the shots like this one, Elvis sometimes isn't even moving his lips while he's singing. But ultimately I still buy the idea of using him to attract customers since his songs are entertaining. If only the movie also properly utilized the Wall of Death since we know Charlie is a motorcycle rider.

We get a double header of "Carny Town" and "Hard Knocks" which both do a good job of entertaining the crowd. In the meantime, we get an introduction to the so called "villain" of the movie. Harry Carver is meant to be this no good carnival owner that buys out dying businesses. However, given what we know so far about Maggie and co. I don't hate this man at all. Maggie has shown that she's unwilling to get rid of Joe despite him actively being cruel to other workers, while Harry Carver actually comes off as a reasonable man who just wants to provide the highest quality entertainment possible.

When Charlie's show ends up being a success, Joe still can't even have the guts and admit that he was wrong. He still thinks Charlie is the bad guy here. So of course when Charlie is still salty about the damages Joe caused, Cathy is mad at him for being ungrateful when Maggie gave him a new guitar. Do you see how messed up that is for Cathy to not only defend her father's awful actions, but then have the gall to get mad at Charlie like he's the heel? I'm sorry but the movie is actively trying to gaslight its audience into think Charlie's this bad boy when in reality Charlie's the victim. I just can't support this downright unreasonable and unlikeable family.

At Charlie's next show we get "One Track Heart" and it's one of the best songs in the movie for how entertaining it is. That being said, I have no idea why Charlie changes his mind out of nowhere when he signs Maggie's contract. Nothing we've seen indicates any major change in his status there. This is where not giving his relationship with the other male carnies any development, really hurts the movie. It just feels like the script is forcing Charlie into this instead of naturally establishing reasons to make him change his mind. That's bad storytelling where you're telling us this is what needs to happen as opposed to showing us how Charlie grows.

Cathy also comes off as being super unlikeable by getting mad at Charlie for so much as being with Estelle, the fortune teller. They are not dating and she didn't even tell Charlie how she felt. Charlie is not at all obligated to stay loyal to her. She just comes off as high and mighty like Charlie should never dare have affections for another woman and it's very annoying. I just don't get any chemistry from these two at all and it's another aspect of the story that just feels forced.

After signing the contract with Maggie, Cathy is seen running the dunk tank with Joe and my god do we get the most obnoxious couple I've ever seen in my life. This couple actually makes me feel bad for Joe when they accuse him of stealing their wallet when they have been nothing but a nuisance and started a fight with Charlie. Then again, this family gets mad at Charlie having dared feel concern over Cathy's wellbeing. I was so mad at Cathy when she slapped Charlie because I have no idea why I'm supposed to get at someone who just wants to help. How I'm supposed to like anyone in this family over Harry Carver when they've all treated Charlie as nothing but dirt?

Estelle the fortune teller and Cathy are just awful love interests. They wanna make like they're interested in Charlie, but just when Charlie shows interest back, they get all disgusted. That's not a bad boy. A bad boy wouldn't listen to Cathy when she says she's not a one night stand type of girl. Like Estelle gets mad at Charlie even though she was the one who wanted him to have sex with her. It comes off as these women being so flakey and unlikeable as opposed to Charlie actually being wrong for pushing.

So he finds the wallet and like a good friend decides that Joe needs time to get sober. The next morning, he gets his bike back and is about to leave when he sees the Wall of Death. In a scene that absolutely serves no purpose outside of wasting time before the big reveal, Charlie tries his hand at it. Once he had his fun, Charlie tells Maggie and the other carnies that he found the man's wallet last night. As rational, reasonable people, every single person gets mad at Charlie for betraying Joe. They think Charlie was a heel for having dared think it was a good idea to keep a drunk man in jail longer than he should've been.

I just can't stand any of these people. Charlie actively tries to keep an absolutely terrible person in jail just long enough to sober up and HE'S THE BAD GUY! I think everyone in this carnival is insane. The colonel wanting to make this a specially coded business with rules ended up making this a straight up cult. If you don't drink the kool aid and support your fellow carny no matter how much of a horrible person they are, you're the bad person. I want this carnival to fail and go out of business because of how awful they are. That's a complete failure on the writers part to just completely fumble the ball when making Charlie this "bad boy" who has to change his ways. I want Charlie to get as far away as possible from these people.

Charlie of course signs with Harry Carver and I refuse to believe he's supposed to be the bad guy like the movie wants to make him. He's an actually reasonable man who runs a far superior business. This is a whole theater with numerous performers providing a quality show. However, "Little Egypt" is by far the weakest song in the movie. I hate the sound effect used as it hurts my ears and is completely unnecessary. It ruined what would've otherwise been an absolute banger and a good reason to believe that Charlie is a good performer.

We see Maggie's carnival and of course it's failing. It's almost like they didn't realizing casting Charlie out would have consequences. Cathy and Estelle talk and despite literally watching her kiss Charlie multiple times, Estelle says "she didn't even get to first base". I have never seen a movie completely mess up on its own continuity this badly. It gives you this feeling of anxiety that you're being gaslight as the movie tells you one thing despite being shown something completely different. We never once see Charlie use anyone like Estelle says he did and it's completely ridiculous.

I love "Big Love, Big Heartache". It's the quintessential Elvis ballad but if Charlie had an actual character arc this is the perfect way to show that he actually does love Cathy. It's such a shame that he doesn't have any character arc at all. Cathy just shows up because she wants to manipulate Charlie into coming back and he does. I think Charlie is absolutely insane for leaving a legitimately superior job for an actually toxic work environment. Based on what we're shown, no one at Maggie's carnival is likable enough to make Charlie want to be there.

I honestly feel bad for Harry Carver because he's a reasonable man who actually cares about his business. He even cares about Charlie being in love with Cathy and tries to give him advice. Charlie just gives him the shaft because we're near the end and this has to have a "happy" ending where Maggie's carnival is saved.

This is the most forced ending I've ever seen in an Elvis movie. Absolutely nothing is earned here. Absolutely nothing in this movie was properly developed as we're introduced to things like Charlie being an orphan and the wall of death only to have neither of those things matter. It's not like Loving You where Deke being an orphan actually matters as he learns how to heal and accept that he's good enough to have friends. With the Morgans you can't help but think this is the most unlikeable family you've ever seen. It's so badly written that the only way you can make sense of it, is to come up with the conspiracy theory that Joe is abusive towards both of them. It would other wise make zero sense for Maggie or Cathy to defend Joe.

Charlie can't accept the Morgans as his family because despite "There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon" telling us things are going to get better, I just don't think it will. Joe didn't have his epiphany and realizes Charlie is a good guy. Joe only accepts Charlie coming back because it's the end of the movie and the script tells you that he does. It's all so forced and I have no reason to believe Joe will get better. A complete mess of a story that is absolutely frustrating to watch.

I said in my Clambake review that it was the hardest film to develop a solid opinion on whether I liked it or not. Roustabout to me is like a Clambake but in reverse. Clambake had bad production and some bad songs but had the best character writing I've seen in a mid 60s Elvis movie so far. Roustabout meanwhile had good production and an amazing soundtrack (outside of the sound effect used in Little Egypt.) but the worst character writing I've ever seen in an Elvis movie.

Since the writing is the worst part of the movie that singlehandedly ruined my ability to enjoy it, I have to give it 5/10. This movie's production and soundtrack just wasn't enough overcome the failures of basic story telling. I personally didn't vibe with it so I can't say I'd recommend it but if you're someone who only watches Elvis films for the songs or doesn't care as much about the writing, then I think you would have a great time.

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AN: Thank you @xanatenshi for requesting this review as well as @thedaisymaisy for providing input about the film. If anyone wants to send a request, feel free to send it in.

Tagging: @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @teamnefarious, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @stormie-ryan23, @yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @ahundredlifetime, @karel-in-wonderland, @elvispresleywife, @georgefairbrother, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @januarypresley1969, @livelaughelvis, @all-hookedup-on-elvis, @slayingjd, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @dusintv, @cattcb, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @iloveelvis2, @lett-them-eatt-cake @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis and @lookingforrainbows.

[crystalelemental]

It's Frieren Friday, but there's no more new Frieren, so instead I'm just thinking

In part what gets me is the usual: I have a strong affinity for characters that don't understand their emotions.  They're almost always favorites.  I think the reason Serie hits so hard is because she operates as a foil to Frieren's journey.

Frieren's current journey is about contextualizing the human experience she lived through during her travels with Himmel's party.  She's coming to understand how much that brief period meant to her, and that despite how small a portion of her life it truly was, it's had a huge impact on the course of her life.  And it's also about grieving the loss of Himmel.  The introduction that gets this moving is his death, and the realization of how much he meant to her.  The whole show is very retrospective, looking through the past while moving forward.

Serie is the exact opposite.  Serie's response, any time she's asked, is that Flamme is a failure, she never lived up to her heights, and she really shouldn't take on human apprentices anymore.  But she does.  Pretty constantly, apparently.  And she remembers each of them perfectly; their names, their faces, their favorite spells.  Even uses their favorite spells in her day to day, creating the field of flowers in the examination room using Flamme's spell.  Who's to say other spells haven't been used in equal effect?  The flowers are just the ones Frieren would notice.

Serie's grieving the loss of people she cared about too, but unlike Frieren, she has no idea why or what's even happening.  The reason she recalls all these people with such perfect clarity is completely lost on her.  She has an intellectual understanding of each of them, but never really made much human connection with anyone.  Even her current apprentice is so in the dark about how Serie thinks and feels that he assumes she's just as disappointed in his abilities as she claims, and is primarily concerned about her living a long life alone with no one's legacy beside her.

There's something tragic and powerful to the idea that Serie's always taken on these human apprentices, and despite caring deeply for them, never once realized it.  That all of them died likely thinking the same as her current one does: that she was disappointed they never measured up.  That for all the care she must have held, they may never have known, because she didn't tell them.  She didn't understand it herself.  And now that they're gone, all she can do is use their favorite spells to bring herself reminders of them, for reasons she can't even parse.

Which is exactly what Frieren's going through.  With how much HImmel meant to her, whether romantic or platonic or whatever it was, she never got to tell him, and now he's gone.  She has only those memories to guide her, and she's embracing each to learn more about herself and her journey, and is starting to better appreciate the current moment.  She's not perfect at it, her most recent argument with Fern shows she's still not great at telegraphing how she feels.  But she's trying.  And that's something Serie's never tried to do.

It's why Serie's so predictable.  Frieren and Flamme predict her literal every move, because she's never emotionally matured.  She operates purely intellectually, and she is talented.  As Frieren points out, her intuition is always right, and we see that the intuition has a logical sense to it.  Magic is drawn from imagination, and if you can't imagine yourself as first class, then you're not.  Even as far as her focus on fighting, the northern lands are still home to demons.  If you can't think of how to fight an opponent likely stronger than you, you won't win.  There's a logical sense to all of it.  But despite all that, Frieren knows full well that Serie will be a brat about her approach to magic, just as she'll be too impressed by Fern's ability to fail her even if she's like Frieren.  Even with Flamme's will, she called that Serie would throw a fit about the request, but here we are all these years later and Serie's basically doing as she asked.  Serie will have her little outburst and her big speech about magic needing to be exclusive.  But over the years, she'll settle down from that argument, and she is going to miss her apprentice.

I just...really like Serie.  She's neat.

[veiwryn]

Egypt Episode after Teams are formed pt 3. — Team Chris

Without Izzy on the (newly dubbed) Team Chris, the camel is more difficult to travel with. No one on that team can make it move, and the only reason they hadn't abandoned it, is because of Sierra.

Courtney was frustrated and nearly gave up when the uberfan pulled her arm and told the team they had to figure something out. That Chris wouldn't give them something without reason. She would go a little more into depth, like how in the final four challenge in season one—Sierra mentioning Duncan made Court very bitter for a quick moment—where Chris and Chef left only two bags with different items. Saying how Chris was definitely testing them, so they should take the camel!

Not wanting to argue with her potential ally, and being surprised by the logic, Courtney relented. And the team continued to bribe the camel, it wasn't until Courtney made a sound of frustration did the camel move.

"Courtney, do that again!" Called Gwen, without question the Type A does so. The camel moves a few steps forward. THE CAMEL MOVED!! Even if it was Gwen who said it, Courtney can't help but be happy that they finally found a way to get the darn animal to walk. Now it was time to venture off.

Rather than have Cody hanging by the tail, Sierra would cradle him. The geek shoots the camera an anxious look while Sierra wears a content smile. Courtney is at the front, while Gwen is in the back. Tyler and Sierra (with Cody in the fan's lap) act like barriers in case an argument arises. Not like they minded, Tyler was more than happy to talk with Sierra as Courtney instructed the camel to go.

(There'd be a confessional from Courtney about having to add "Fluent in camel" to her resume).

They're the last team to arrive to the Nile, and everyone else is half-way done with their boats. With Sierra's skills in basket weaving, they quickly catch up and managed to finish their boat around the same time as everyone else.

But another problem arises when they have to make the camel move onto the boat, it wouldn't budge. No matter what Courtney did, and the odd looks it got her from everyone, the camel wouldn't move.

Having some down time, Izzy would come over and say how she was impress by Courtney's camel talk, offering a few pointers. Izzy exclaimed how she'd wish to speak camel with Courtney more often before Eva came over to take Iz back.

Having learned a few things, Courtney uses it to move the camel onto the boat. (Although they're behind the other two groups). It does work.

Other stuff I forgot to mention for this team;

Cody would have a confessional saying how Sierra makes him uncomfortable. He wouldn't have a lot of speaking lines, but is seen by Tyler when he's not with Sierra.

Sierra, as much as I hated this plot, is creepy towards Cody. But it's mild. She mainly carries him around and reveals things about Cody, or any other contestant. While she wants to stick with Cody, but she acknowledges that helping Courtney would be more beneficial to the team. (And it wouldn't risk the elimination of her or her codykins). Plus, it's not like Courtney is giving her much of a choice.

Tyler, like Cody, isn't a prominent character this episode. He'd be used for comedic gags, and as Cody's escape from Sierra. However, there will be a small moment where he asks if Gwen’s okay and offer comforting words. Having no one else to confide in, this would be the start of the Gwen-Tyler friendship, even if they don't realize it yet.

Speaking of Gwen, not having Heather on their team doesn't give her or Courtney a person to blame. So the "blame" would fall onto Gwen. Instead of Heather being the target, Courtney will target Gwen, and she doesn't try to stop it. Instead prompting to distance herself from the CIT to make herself less visible. She tries to stay in the background, but she has her moments throughout the episode.

And I don't think I have much to say on Courtney.

Three teams in the Nile, and the end of the episode is approaching quickly. Let's see how the cast's time in Egypt end!

[gren-arlio]

Olympics ain't until next year, so let's talk about the objectively cooler one. Welcome to Episode 9 of (Waku) Puyo Extras.

(Always liked how the characters are drawn when they're small. Oh, and the lad next to Satan? That's Rasp, and I believe they don't have a set gender. Least from what I heard from the EPPC.)

Hello one and all, it's the guy who's harassed by Witches (or just a single Witch) all day, every day without fail. Seriously, outta anyone in the world, it's the dude with the Yosuke pfp, it really does run in the Persona Bro archetype to have wack ass luck. (World's worst crackship)

Silly stuff aside, welcome to the 9th episode of Waku Puyo Extras, and if you've been following for a bit, nice to know you've stuck around, and for new guys, it's fine, there's no continuity. Im just late posting this.

This time around, we're talking about PuyoLympics, and I hear you wondering, "Didn't you say you'll talk about Arle's Travel Log last time?" And you're absolutely right, I did. However, it's kinda hard to find footage for the game itself, and I do need extra time, so we'll cover it next time. Curse these games for being niche.

I'm glad PuyoLympics isn't as niche as the others we'll cover some other time (Madou Sugoroku is going to be awful to find footage for,) and I've had this on my backlog, we may as well cover it now, yeah?

So let's cut to the chase, shall we? Not having a tiny video to translate does feel weird still, but otherwise, hope you enjoy.

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So, What's the Origins?

Like Serilly's Happy Birthday, PuyoLympics was also a Disc Station game, released in 1997 for PC. Is it safe to say that PC got more games can console players?

(Not exactly the coolest looking start screen, but the opening itself was pretty cool.)

What's interesting about this game is that there's...two versions of it. Well, sorta. PuyoLympics in Basa~ru is technically a sequel, but it's more of a minigame from the original, so there's that. (Covered an entire game in one paragraph.)

The game itself is a sports game, yeah, but it's also somewhat a collection of minigames as well. Think those Mario Party sports minigames, but Puyofied and also you only can choose 2 characters.

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Alright, So What's the Story?

It begins as usual, to be honest. Satan is cooking up devious shit again but he somewhat wants to have a twist. In the meantime, Arle and Witch are arguing (leaving even the narrator a tad confused,) about Arle being unathletic.

(The peak of this argument. Words I can't even say.)

They then stumble upon a flyer, stating basically "Yo the Olympics are starting. Win to get a wish." and to settle their scores, Arle and Witch compete, along with a couple of other guys we can't play as, notably Rulue, Draco, and Schezo.

Satan decides that everyone will duel for the prize itself, though you only really play as the two girls. But to get in spirit, he dresses up as a coach to fully begin the thing.

(For some reason, all the footage I got were on Witch's side, even with looking on NicoNico. It was legimately hard to find footage for Arle. However, I do know both their endings, at least.)

For Arle's ending, Satan does say that she can indeed make a wish. However, Arle's unsure of what she should even do, and settles for...losing weight. In which Satan gives her...whatever is shown on the bottom.

(Seriously, what is this? They say it's a magician training cast but...I dunno, man.)

And how about Witch's ending? Well, Satan gives her the choice of whatever she wants, and she's also kinda unsure. However, unlike Arle, she has too MANY wishes to have, and Satan gets absolutely fed up and leaves, angering Witch. And you know what? Good on you, Satan.

-----

So, How's the Gameplay?

Gameplay itself is compressed of several minigames that you play as either Arle or Witch. The Olympics are a big deal after all.

Some of the events are things like the Meter Dash (I'd assume 100,) swimming, and...one game where you smack Puyos aside. I can't explain that one well.

Though in the swimming one, other characters appear at the very least.

(The whole squad came to cheer you on. You can't tell me they're not good friends.)

The games themselves are fairly short, and usually range about the 40 seconds to about a minute or so, they ain't called minigames for nothing. Still, there's some enjoyment itself with playing them.

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How About the Visuals and Characters?

Visually, least in my opinion, the game looks really good, and the OST itself is up to par with the series as a whole. Every character looks fairly well made to boot. Good on ya Compile.

And how about the characters themselves? Well...thankfully, they're fairly retained to what we're used to. Let's talk about the main two.

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Arle:

Our 2nd favorite girl Arle is roughly the same that we usually know her of. Here, she's still pretty dang cheerful thankfully, though with the argument with Witch and the whole going to the Olympics thing to settle their score...it's not petty, I swear.

However, something I want to note is that (supposedly not) due to Witch's comments about her being unathletic does actually kind of stick with her, as her wish is to lose weight...even if Satan kinda went the weird route to help change that. At least it shows she does have insecurities. (Seriously, what the hell is that armor going to do?)

And hey! If you play her route, Rulue makes an appearance early on, as well as Draco, who's sporting her outfit from Puyo SUN.

(Why are Rulue pants so different anyways? Still, it's nice to see her and Draco appear, even if she's more-so just a conversation with Arle and another for Witch.)

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Satan:

Ah, good old Satan. Never fails to just being a stupid idiot that we love. He's the whole reason why this Olympic thing began, and he's somewhat embracing it. Due to image limits (Yes, I plan the image routes ahead of time,) I can't show...In photos.

Here's a link to it. May as well, since it's so relevant.

He's a blast to actually hear and listen to. I genuinely like this version of Satan. And he even got turned into stone from a comment once. Now THAT'S comedy. I wouldn't say he carries the game, everyone does their part, but I gotta say that he's easily one of, if not the best, written character in this game.

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Witch:

As per the Gren Norm, I got so much more to say about Witch because...if the meme told you anything, she's definitely out there. The whole Olympic thing somewhat escalated due to Witch insulting her over being unathletic, which I mean...ouch.

If you play her route, you actually get a cameo appearance with our boy, the 2nd big guy in this Tumblr blog, Schezo Wegey. And if you know me, I'm gonna explain what happens. (At this point I document every misdeed this girl does)

So, Schezo comes into the frame wearing his Puyo SUN outfit as well, and while Witch says hello and why is he here, immediately labels him as a pervert after he claims he wants Arle again and also wants to win the Olympics.

(Silly Schezo. You're not playable.)

Witch then asks to take off his cape, because he looks like a pervert when he does...and low and behold, he actually does it, shocking her.

And frankly, I'd be surprised also. However, as none of us predicted, Schezo says if she's gonna laugh, to just do it. But she doesn't. Rather, she compliments him. A lot.

(If you've seen the meme, she's basically saying that he has a nice physique for his title, and that he has really healthy skin.)

Schezo asks if she's okay, (she's not) and she yells that he's wonderful/beautiful, causing our boy to think that she's gone insane and runs.

And she chases after him.

(Welcome to my ""Job"". Went from knowledge and Schezo to Knowledge, Schezo, and a lot of documenting of Witch and Arle. You signed up for this.)

Good on Schezo for taking the initiative and actually just leaving...well, more like run away, but good on him.

-------

So...Final Verdict?

The verdict is fairly simple honestly. Elementary, even. The game itself is a very charming game, with a really nice OST, artstyle, and even character writing to an extent. Every character is just fun to read ok and listen to, and it's nice to see such a silly concept be done fairly well.

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And For Those Wondering About Arle's Travel Log And Updates Overall:

Don't worry, I got it planned. I'm writing it, I didn't forget it. It's just footage is hard to come by and I want to make this the best I can. And besides...I'm making a Halloween special. I gotta.

And after that special, I plan to take a week or two off to relax. Then...idk, we try to translate Arle's Route of Waku Puyo Dungeon. The Waku part of Waku Puyo Extras will become real AGAIN...

Then, I'll take a break during New Years/Christmas. I don't want to risk burnout. But that'll be all for this time.

See y'all another time.

[acourtofthought]

When I was at that stage after Acowar and ACOFAS and after that I abandoned fandom and everything in between. Only after Acosf was close to launching did I have a greater connection with the fandom. But the point is that I was so sure that Vassa and Jurian were and are Endgame that I had that impact that in my circle of acquaintances on social media they didn't think so and that I saw that there was a real world divided between Elriel and Elucien. But Sarah's couple formula never distances or changes, because she does what she likes.

But I was always so sure of Vassa and Jurian that I thought everyone saw it but it makes sense to me because they both want the same thing, they truly care about humans and not because they love each other.

And that's why I never saw any sense in Lucien and Vassa because they don't have the same goals and don't care about Humans in the same way. It's not that Lucien doesn't care about humans, he understands more that they are not the people and it would be something done more because he loves Vassa than he considers it his world.

And also that he is with them because he is a little excluded from the ferric world, but I'm sure he would return quickly if he could to where he will always consider his home.

And also because I don't like romance so much that out of love the other character ends up caring about people who don't even like him.

I think it got confusing but that's it.

I agree that Vassa and Jurian seem clearly setup as endgame to me.

In ACOWAR, we have Jurian say:

"Vassa. She saw through me - or thought she did - from the start. Warned them against this. Told them that if I was reborn, it was a bad sign."

Right away, we've got a dramatic start for two characters (an SJM classic for endgame pairings).

At the end of ACOWAR we have Vassa offer Jurian a place within her court (very Aelin / Rowan vibes, don't you think?).

In ACOFAS, we have SJM tell us:

With no queen ever having been appointed to the slice of territory at the base of Prythian, only a council of wealthy lords and merchants, Jurian had somehow stepped in to lead. / "He's keeping everything running. I think he'd have been crowned king by now if it wasn't for Vassa." / "I hadn't seen them interact, could only imagine what the two of them would be like in the same room together. Both trying to lead the humans who occupied the sliver of land at the southernmost end of Prythian. Left ungoverned for so long. Too long." / "Vassa and Jurian are two sides of the same coin. Mercifully, their vision for the future of the human territories is mostly aligned. But the methods on how to attain that."

Then in SF, we have a scene where Cassian notes Lucien seems to often break up arguments between Vassa and Jurian and Lucien later telling us they're at each others throats as they like to be all the while Lucien himself is still staring at Elain with longing.

I have no clue how someone can read all that and not think there's a very real chance of Jassa becoming a thing while insisting that in the last year of living together, Lucien has developed feelings for Vassa.

Lucien, a fae, who is set up to be a fae High Lord, is staring at ELAIN, his fae mate with longing. What feelings do they think he has for Vassa?

And what feelings does Vassa seem to have for Lucien? Lucien leaves the human lands to travel to the fae courts of Spring and Night and Vassa doesn't bother involving herself with anything related to the fae.

I have no problem with a fae and human getting together (I fell for the whole Feyre / Tamlin setup in book 1) but when the author wrote it so in the past year the human made no appearance in the fae lands and only mentions her desire to lead the humans alongside Jurian.............where is anyone getting the idea that she's going to be by Lucien's side while he leads Day Court someday? That she cares at all about the fae's suffering as a result of and their rebuilding after the war? So Lucien can spend eternity (not to mention the whole life-span dilemma) watching her bicker with Jurian?

You know what SJM had Lucien's mate do in SF? Helped the people of Velaris because she is now trying to be part of the world of the fae. Offered to search for the Trove for the safety of Prythian. Wrote of her willingness to head to the Hewn City despite the cruelty bothering her because she's trying to be part of the court.

SF might not have had as much of Elain as some expected but what she did have was Elain proving that she is willing to go out of her way for the fae people even though she was the most attached to her humanity.

Elain is perfectly set up to do more for the FAE in her book, with Lucien by her side.

Like you said, Jurian and Vassa (not Lucien) share a vision for the humans, of which they (not Lucien) both are. THEY are constantly bickering with one another while Lucien literally seems to be over the two of them arguing since he's been there done that with Tamlin and Feyre.

They'll say because Lucien and Vassa had a nickname given to them, they're endgame but Feyre gave Rhys and Lucien a nickname. They'll say that because Lucien blushed at Vassa (not confirmed when he could have been blushing because she embarrassed him in front of his mate) while ignoring Az blushed for Nesta.

It's a funny thing, this fandom. SJM gives us puzzle pieces that make a beautiful picture when put together yet some try to take a few of those pieces and shove them into an entirely different puzzle box, resulting in an image that will never fully come together no matter how much some wish it would.