#< scarlet playthrough tag

[lakevalorr]

The Pokémon Scarlet Experience™ is absolutely incredible. I would die for these characters, these Pokémon, and my all-time favorite dragon puppy bike. Here are some highlights!

First, here's our protagonist for the game, María! And our starter, Penelope the Sprigatito!

And how can we forget meeting our lovable, absolutely huggable dragon puppy bike, Koraidon!? I would die for this absolute doofus of a creature.

Okay, so I may or may not have gone completely out of order, and did the Artazon Gym first, lmao. It's a nice photo, though. Anyway, Penelope evolved into Floragato prior to it, and we got Diego the Charcadet. Penelope ended up taking care of most of the gym.

Nothin' to see here. Just a couple of dorks bonding over a sandwich. Similarly to the Artazon gym, Penelope carried hard. GG, Klawf.

Afterwards, I caught Fernando the Tadbulb and Santiago the Greavard. Team Star time. Mela was a bit difficult to deal with, but Diego actually managed to completely wall her Revavroom thanks to Flash Fire. GGs.

After that, I did a little bit of soul searching and found Carmen the Tinkatuff and Ástrid the Cetoddle. The full team also evolved: Penelope into Meowscarada, Diego into Armarogue, Fernando into Bellibolt, Santiago into Houndstone, Carmen into Tinkaton, and Ástrid into Cetitan.

Anyway, Cortondo Gym time. This was relatively simple, quick, and easy, since my team was way overleveled, haha.

*ahem* Anyway-! No way María is actually impressed by Arven; this kid is a loser (affectionate)! Regardless, Orthworm was a bit tricky, considering that it constantly bailed on us, but we managed to take it down, all thanks to Diego, our newly evolved Armarogue.

Now it's onto Cascarrafa, where we have to return Kofu's wallet, and then participate in a bidding war. Luckily, María managed to rake in the win with a P$30,000 bid, nice. Again, relatively simple. This time, Fernando had his chance to shine!

Giacomo's pretty cool, not gonna lie. But, that doesn't excuse the fact that I didn't have much trouble dealing with his team. Again, relatively simple.

"What's up, gamers!?" Eww, that's cringe. Anyway, here's the last highlight for this part. Iono was relatively simple as well. I think I used Fernando, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, it was pretty fun.

Stay tuned for Paldea Part II.

[thesilliestofgals]

Spoilers for the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Epilogue: Mochi Mayhem under the cut!:

You can't tell me that this whole moment right here was the Pokemon SV writers pointing and laughing at the theories that Kieran and Pecharunt would be in kahoots somehow in the second part of the DLC hahahdhfhfhgh

[felix-krain]

One year later, reminiscing about my experience with Pokemon Violet:

[thedeafprophet]

I'm really not entierly sure if Reese's portrayal in Scarlet Hollow is activly harmful towards chronically ill people (the way it presents symptoms of actual chronic illness and then immediatly jumps to 'Oh its so clearly fake' definitly comes... close to reinforcing harmful perceptions) or if I just found it hit far too close to home as someone with actual chronic illness and some overlap in experiences that it felt dismissive to me 🤔

maybe if there were other chronically ill characters in the game (unless im forgetting someone?) it'd hit less strongly

[shima-draws]

Hmm. Maybe it IS time to replay PMD Sky after all

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

The Indigo Disk

Blueberry Academy's in Unvoa? Why does that give me a bad feeling?

I guess the 🤷‍♀️ is her thing? (I can't remember and my tablet has different emojis than my computer).

Did you change right then?

Those rocks look like shit.🤣🤣

Poor dude has to stand there all day.

Disco ball 🕺🏻🕺🏻

The scenery looks horrible as you run past it.

What's an Aloan Muk doing in Unvoa?

The frame rate is terrible.🤣🤣

Why are some people standing and some sitting? Surely there's enough room for everyone?

BBQ's? 🤣🤣 At least it's not STD's.

Legos!

Nice hair... Piss yellow eyes, still creepy.

No matter how good the story and characters are, it doesn't make up for the game running like hell.

I like her boots and pocket watch.

You get to challenge the Elite 4 immediately?

He looks like he's from Xenoblade.

Sweetie, your potato salad should not speak to you.

That man is going to be shitting fire tonight.

Those are barretts? I thought they were a second set of ears.

Is Excadrill really that small? Yes, it is. (2'4)

Venonat hops.

What is that sound? It sounds like it's drowning.

Liquid? I thought it's arms were gel.

I hate that you have to pay to battle.

🤦🏻‍♀️ These puns.

I like toothpaste.

Pretty lady.❤

They need to turn the brightness down in Area Zero. It's way too bright.

No Pokemon are going to come out like last time, right?

Naked sleepy turtle.

I love the teacher.

Poor dude can't catch a break. 😔

The DLC isn't worth it.

[beelas-bees]

oh yeah btw

[takeitwithgrace]

okay I’m done emotionally screaming now, here are my honest thoughts on Pokémon scarlet (spoilers ahead!) (also this is long!) (autism event!)

it was an good game! not perfect but still an neat game :3 I found myself getting attached to most of the characters, I LOVE PENNY ARVEN AND NEMONA SO MUCH! They reminded me of my irl friends and my twin so much so maybe that’s why I got emotionally attached to them! but I also have some gripes with it so let’s get on with the biggest ones first…

the biggest one is the starfall mission because it felt an bit ehhhhhh tedious and repetitive. (at least the classic gym battles and arven’s mission felt nice to play, starfall felt repetitive to me TT-TT) (but it didn’t feel unnecessary actually! it has some strengths in the story-telling and facing penny was actually really fun!)

the second biggest gripe I have is that I wish I could’ve gotten to known Sada more in the game! I feel like I didn’t know enough to make her stick with me, i learned enough about penny, arven and nemona (slightly) to make them stick with me but I haven’t learned enough about Sada to make her departure really hit hard. sure, it sucked for her and arven to banish herself to the past, but I honestly didn’t feel enough emotions for it.. but I felt a-lot or emotions during her speech before it ;~; (side note: even though arven hinted at it, my ass DID NOT expect her to be an robot lol)

this one’s on me personally but travelling around was an big pain for me TT-TT, with it being an open world pokemon game, travelling around is an treat but also an pain in the ass for me ^^; especially in the area zero part. I’m not gonna dwell on it too much, but constantly going back and forth, constantly getting into obstacles, going into dead-ends and unreachable spots kinda ruined it for me. I just prefer flying to Pokémon centers and going to the respective area than just travelling there with I, me, myself and koraidon. like, I’m sorry I can’t handle open-world games most of the time, they give me overstimulation!

To prevent this post from becoming an essay, i’m gonna try to shorten the parts I loved about it: the environments, (especially in the crater and area zero) the character designs, (especially on the gym leaders like I WANT THEIR WARDROBE!!!!!!) the characters in general (nemona kinda falls flat because they didn’t bother to flesh her out more like arven and penny but other than that, I got attached to a-lot of the characters here, especially the gym leaders and elite four so that’s good!) the storytelling, (it wasn’t perfect but it was enough to hook me in!) some of the new pokemon designs, (most of them were so nice to look at!) the fact that as an open-world game, it isn’t that overstimulating! (games nowadays feel overstimulating for me to play because of how vast and open the worlds are and I can’t handle it if you expect me to quests so I’m glad this game let me take things at my own pace! It still felt a bit overstimulating at some parts but it was good for the most part!) and Tinkaton (love Tinkaton <3 best pokemon ever)

Anyways, those are my honest thoughts on the game! play pokemon scarlet / violet (if you are able!) THIS IS AN THREAT (/lh)

[perskaify]

i beat the game (pokémon violet) yesterday, here's all the photos i got (in order)

at this point, i figured out how to do the emote glitch, so i used it for a few of them

and lastly...

[melonthesprigatito]

You know, I've started a new playthrough of Pokémon Sword and with the benefit of hindsight, (and the fact that BDSP and Scarlet and Violet replaced it as the most hated Pokémon games) I can't fucking believe that THIS game was the one that irreversibly fractured the Pokémon Fandom.

Like, THIS GAME? Really???? Seriously?

THIS is the game I got sent death threats over???

THIS was the game that made someone on Reddit deliberately target people who were looking forward to the game and DM them a list of every major spoiler with the message "This game doesn't deserve to be enjoyed"?

THIS is the game that got the creator of Serebii harassed because he decided to take a neutral/non biased stance when reporting game news?

THIS is the game that got some public Pokémon event cancelled due to security issues?

THIS is the game that spawned the #HangMasuda tag on Twitter?????

THIS is the game that had the head of the Dexit movement compared themselves to the Beijing protests going on at the time? The people fighting for their rights compared to people complaining about videogame creatures?

THIS is the game that spawned a fucking WHITE HOUSE PETITION to get the fucking PRESIDENT to ban the sales of Sword and Shield?

All for the game who's only crime is being slightly mediocre? (And even that's super subjective)

I mean, I don't think Dexit is even a problem anymore because all those Pokémon got slowly added back to the Switch via the Sinnoh games and Scarlet/Violet and the small handful that are left are probably going to be in Legends Z-A.

Honestly, it's wild at how feral the Pokémon fandom was in 2019. I was there. I was there, Gandalf.

[fuckmarrykillpolls]

okay i'll be liveblogging my scarlet hollow playthrough with the tag '#boss consumes media' if you want to block that

[sunstone-smiles]

Battle Strategies and Funny Faces

Author’s note: Finally, a Hubert centered fic is here! I can’t believe I haven’t done something like this sooner with him, but motivation struck hard after going on expeditions with him and hearing his dialogue during my Scarlet Blaze playthrough. Tagging @giggly-squiggily because I promised I would when it was done and @gladdygirl18 because I know you’ve been waiting for it! I hope you all enjoy it!

Series: Fire Emblem: Three Hopes

Characters: Shez and Hubert

Word count: 2,174

Summary: Shez and Hubert start off competing to see who can think up the best tactics, but a few playfully provoking words from Hubert begins a new challenge for Shez: get Hubert to make a funny face with the best way she knows how. Enjoy!

___

Over the course of their time together as allies, Shez has learned that Hubert, the usually intimidating and reserved retainer to the emperor, has a soft spot for a little friendly competition. On their current expedition at the waterfront, Hubert asked Shez if they were ever “suddenly struck with a brilliant strategy on expeditions such as this?” Shez, knowing Hubert and his likes, proposed a competition to the man as a response. Hubert agreed with a chuckle.

Now the two are having a wildly engaging conversation about the best tactics and strategies that could be utilized in their hypothetical head-to-head battle occurring on the waterfront. They sit together on a blanket they laid out near the grassy edge of the water, where purple flowers freckle the green earth around them. In the surrounding area, a bridge arcs across the water and connects two pieces of land on both ends; it’s become the current talking point of their discussion.

“What?” Shez laughs out loud. “How would that work? If you send units charging across the bridge, they can easily be cut off and flanked on both sides. It sounds like you have a losing strategy there, Hubert.” 

“We’ll have an army of flying units act as cover for them,” Hubert responds. “They can coast across the water towards the enemy’s side while acting as a shield and a diversion.”

“Okay,” Shez leans forward with a teasing demeanor, “but what if they have a team of archers across the water, ready to take down your flying units?”

“In that case we would have a second team move around the back and flank the archers from behind.”

“Ah, but what if there’s an ambush from the nearby forest that suddenly attacks from the side?”

Hubert quickly counters, “To account for that, we’ll place the flyers in a ‘L’ shaped formation, creating a wall on the side to offer protection from the ambush while the infantry units clear the bridge safely.”

“But what if there are enemy units hidden beneath the water who pop out and attack your forces from below!” Shez pretends to spring upwards to emphasize her surprise.

“What?” Hubert chuckles from being taken so off guard. “Shez, how would you propose that to work?”

The mercenary giggles, “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She lifts her tea cup from the tray between them and takes a sip. Hubert picks up his cup as well, but waits to drink from it. 

“Only you would disrupt our strategic conversation with your wild fantasies,” Hubert jests before taking a sip from own cup, tasting the delightful bitterness of coffee that he prefers rather than tea.

“Oh, come on. It was funny. You had back up plans for everything, so I had to throw you off somehow.” She places her glass back on the tray. “I heard you laugh at it too, you know. Don’t tell me you didn’t. Admit it.” She aims a smug gaze at him.

There’s a long pause. Hubert takes another sip of his coffee. His focus is faced away from Shez, so it’s only until he catches the mercenary staring in his peripheral vision that he realizes she is awaiting a response.

He turns to her. “Are you waiting for me to make a funny face? You will be waiting a long time if so.”

“Oh?” Shez smiles, “Is that another challenge?”

“Only if you choose to make it one,” Hubert says in a way that playfully provokes.

“Oh, I choose to make it a challenge alright. I’ll admit that talking strategy might be your specialty Hubert, but making my friends smile is my Shez speciality,” the mercenary points to herself.

“The Shez speciality?” Hubert’s voice piques with interest. He places his coffee cup on the tray. “Well, now I’m intrigued.”

“Since I have your attention then, allow me to prepare first,” Shez smiles and stretches her arms forward. She moves the tray from between them to a far edge of the blanket behind her. Hubert gives her a curious look. 

Then, as if observing a map, Shez examines Hubert, leaning left, right, and forward for different angles of the man sitting in front of her. She hums a few “Hmm”s as she does so.

Shez leans back on her knees. “Alright, done. I just need to ask you one more question, Hubert,” Shez’s voice heightens with mischief. A smirk crosses her features. “You’re ticklish, right?”

Shez watches as Hubert’s eyes widen, even the eye peeking beneath his hair; that’s all the confirmation she needs. Before he can respond, the mercenary leaps forward and tackles him down to the blanket.

“Shez!” is all he exclaims before Shez finds a place to wiggle her fingers at his sides. A slight jump and a sharp intake of air is followed by him latching on to her wrist. He briefly stalls before his next words, “Get off of me!”

“Hey, you're the one that challenged me, remember? I can’t just back down from a challenge,” Shez grins above him as her free hand presses into his other side. He swings an arm around his torso to defend himself from the additional ambush.

“Shez! This is ludacris! I’m not even ticklish!” Suddenly, Hubert jolts with a giggle-like shout when Shez crawls her hand towards his ribs. Hubert immediately slaps a hand across his mouth to cease any trace of the sound that had passed by his lips.

“Really?” Shez jokingly tilts her head. “Because I’m pretty sure someone who’s not ticklish wouldn’t make a sound like that.”

Hubert, almost holding his breath at this point, uncovers his mouth and attempts to shove at Shez’s hand clawing at his ribs. “That was just a coincidence!” the retainer staggers a growl. An occasional twitch at the corner of his mouth nearly threatens to crack into a large smile.

“Riiight. Because it’s a coincidence that you're laughing while I’m tickling you. If you’re gonna lie Hubert, at least make it believable.” 

Shez moves a hand to his stomach, causing him to sputter out a yelp and curl up his middle. Hubert closes his lips together and frantically tries to push Shez away, but he falls back to the blanket and throws a hand across his mouth again to stave off the joyous sound that’s probably bubbling in his throat. This time, however, airy snickers start to leak from the cracks between his fingers, being unable to muffle all the hints of his growing giggles. He turns his head into his shoulder to hide any other signs of the smile beaming beneath his hand.

“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” Shez grins again. “But I still haven’t found that funny face I’ve been waiting for. Let’s just get this hand out of the way here…” Shez playfully grabs Hubert’s wrist and easily pulls it away to uncover his wobbly smile. Immediately after, she uses the opening to dig into his underarm. He shoots his arm down with another yelp, then Shez quickly catches him off guard with a scribble to his belly; the two attacks in swift succession finally burst the barricade that’s been holding back his rushing waves of giggles.

“Shehehehez!” Hubert laughs and wraps his arms across his torso. His smile, now out in the open, has nowhere to hide as Shez unleashes playful havoc across his ticklish spots.

“There we go! Now that’s a challenge winning funny face if I've ever seen one. It’s so funny, you’re even laughing at it!”

“Yehehes! Yes! Yohohohu’ve won! Are yohohohu happy nohohow?!” Hubert takes hold of Shez’s wrists in an attempt to push her hands from him.

“Yes, very,” Shez casually responds back to him. “Although, I’ll be even happier once I get to hear more of your laughter. You’ve been holding out on me!” She scribbles her fingers with a bit more pressure, increasing the amount of giggles that spill from Hubert. Shez takes a moment to soak in his smile. She’s never really had the chance to hear his laugh without there being a maniacal tone behind it. This laugh feels lighter, more bright and carefree. It’s a nice change to hear for once.

“Thahat was nohohot part of the chahahallenge!” Hubert curls up his middle and kicks his legs out behind her.

“Then consider it me enjoying the spoils of my victory,” Shez answers with a large grin. 

The retainer tries to glare at her. “Why you deceiving—Pfft hahaha!” Hubert throws his head back and wheezes when Shez kneads right above his hips, his sentence straying due to his own explosion of laughter.

“What was that, Hubert? If you were about to threaten me, you’re doing a poor job of doing so,” Shez jokes. She climbs a free hand towards his ribs again like it was scaling a mountain, causing Hubert to tighten himself in his already curled up ball of giggles that accidentally pins Shez’s wiggling fingers to his ribs. He further attempts to conceal his silly face into his shoulder as he tries to twist away from her tickles.

Unable to create a comprehensive response through his outpour of laughter, Hubert rolls onto his side towards her and kicks his legs at Shez with enough force to try and thrust her away, but purposely not hard enough that would put her at risk of hurting her.

“Hey!” Shez chuckles as he bumps her once or twice below the shoulder. “Fighting back, huh? We’ll see about that!” Shez grabs his leg farthest from her and wrestles it until she has a tight one-handed grip on it. She pulls his squirming leg towards her and flutters her free fingers into the back of his knee. 

With a surprised shout, Hubert springs into a sitting position before bubbly giggles continue to spill from the man. He makes a futile attempt to pry Shez’s grip from his leg before his back crumbles down to the blanket, arms wrapped around his chest, bouncing with laughter. His other leg kicks at her, only leading to her grabbing that leg and giving it the same treatment.

“Shehehehez!” He digs the unrestrained heel of his boot into the ground and tries to tug himself away with assistance from the leverage of his arms. “Relehehehease my leg from yohohohur trap at ohohohonce!”

“A trap! Now that’s an interesting strategy!” Shez is reminded of their previous conversation about battle scenarios. “Let the enemy fall into a trap and then…strike!” 

Shez releases his leg and leaps at Hubert’s sides. The man jumps from the tickly shock to his torso and folds himself nearly in half. He drops his head back to the blanket and finally dissolves into a wheezy cackle, melting from the joyful glow emanating from his person. The energy just from witnessing his expression enhances the already memorable surroundings of the waterfront.

“Shehehez!” Hubert calls out to her through his abundance of giggles, “Ahahalright! Yohohou’ve had yohohour fun! Thahahat’s enohohough!”

“Aww, already? But, alright, I guess I’ve celebrated my victory long enough,” Shez teases one last time before gently pulling her hands away. Hubert lets out a few more leftover giggles before slowly beginning to recover his strength as he lies flat on his back. His arms loosen from around him and rest on his chest as it rises and falls with air.

“That was mortifying,” Hubert says between breaths.

Shez lets out a sheepish chuckle, “Sorry, Hubert.” She reaches for his hand and helps pull him upright to a sitting position. “I hope it wasn’t that bad. I saw the opportunity and I just had to take it.”

Hubert waves a hand in front of him like a shrug. “I suppose it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Perhaps it’s what I deserve for dropping my guard after provoking your attack.”

Shez snaps her fingers and her expression perks up. “Hey, that’s a good strategy!”

“Hmm? What is?”

“Provoking the enemy to attack,” she explains. “If we go back to our bridge scenario, the troops going across the bridge would essentially provoke the enemy into cutting them off. But, what we thought would be a disadvantage could actually be used to catch the enemy off guard.”

“Huh, of course,” Hubert thinks on her claim. “Then while the enemies are stationed at the bridge, we could maneuver our troops behind them on both sides to create a pincer attack, trapping them instead.” Hubert lifts his head towards the mercenary, “Very smart, Shez.”

“Thank you,” Shez graciously takes the compliment. “We should have more expeditions to talk strategy like this more often.”

“Perhaps one that’s not exactly like this expedition. I could do without the Shez speciality every time. But I will admit, our time together is actually tolerable,” Hubert ends his sentence with a rare smile.

Shez’s features lighten on her face. It can sometimes be difficult to build trust with one as cautious as Hubert, but every little bit to earning more of his trust is progress in the right direction. She returns a warm smile to him, “I’ll take that as a win.”

[bolognamayhem117]

Title: "Looking at Something?"

Length: 2500 words

Pairing: Astarion/M!Tav, elf/elf, paladin/rogue

POV: Tav(Rorik)

Themes: Aggressive flirting, praise kink (if you turn your head and squint), safe for work, mild angst, retconned Canon Dialog.

Warnings: trauma, manipulation, anger, neck wounds, alludes to distant past and recent abuse.

Author's Notes: First and foremost a disclaimer, I created this character on my first playthrough after Robert and I bought the game a year ago. I picked up the controller with zero knowledge of the game's contents after being told you could play as a vampire. I said "That's bold of the developer, fuck it, I'll make Rorik's dumb ass and smeagol my way through the forgotten realms or whatever..." Turns out the person who told me that was referencing the Astarion Origin playthrough. I said "Screw It I'm Doing It Anyway! With the power of IMAGINATION." To my delight and surprise it really wasn't all that hard to use paladin spells, items, scroll hoarding, and armor to very closely model the homebrew build of Rorik the Degenerate Dhampir Sun Worshipping Paladin. He has his own issues which this ficlet hints at. He's cringe, be gentle.

Fic Summary: Astarion is looking for reassurance or praise or... Something, and then the writer remembered they used the intelligence as a dump stat to boost their Tav's charisma and rolled with it. Mentions a friend's character. I only barely proofread so consider this your warning.

Tagged at request: @ghostkingart

“Looking at something?” Astarion addressed Rorik when the paladin passed behind him and paused.

Rorik was tired, he'd stopped on his way back from a piss because something wasn't right. He’d been too beaten by the beasts of the underdark to process the scene before him for its absurdity. The vampire spawn was holding a hand mirror, scowling into it as if scorn might make his reflection appear in its smooth glitter.

The high elf angled the mirror in such a way that Rorik could see himself. Did he always look so serious? Yet disinterested? Rorik seldom sought his reflection, it wasn't a countenance he wanted to face.

“Just looking. What are you doing?”

“I'm looking too, but not seeing very much” Astarion told Rorik almost softly, sadly. “Another quirk of my affliction.” he spat the last word as if it tasted rancid, eyes dark and lips cutting a sour pout.

Rorik had heard these sorrow-songs many times in his homeland and beyond. He was no stranger to this agony, but it never got easier to hear it, even from a spawn he hardly knew, harboring a strain of the cursed malady he was not so familiar with. It seemedthat no matter the variant, it affects one's reflection in glass treated with a paper thin veneer of silver.

Rorik played the fool, wrong as it felt to pretend he needed to ask questions in order to guess how Astarion might feel about not having seen himself in centuries.

“Do you miss it? Seeing your own face?”

“Preening in the looking glass? Petty vanity?!” He bordered on sounding offended, but his expression shifted with the same flippancy as his whims. Sometimes Rorik wondered if Astarion was making himself hard to read on purpose. Now, with a short but heavy pause, he went on with a longing about the droop of his shoulders and the way he looked at the other man, perhaps with jealousy. “Of course I do…”

He continued.

“I've never even seen this face. Not since it grew fangs and its eyes turned red.” And then, those scarlet eyes plunged back into darkness with his last syllables. His seething glare burned as hot as the Sun's love burned his vampiric skin in the day, before the illithid worm at least.

Rorik tried a question he'd heard many times before, sometimes even directed at himself. It might keep him talking. “What color were they before?”

“I... I don't know. I can't remember.” His glare softened with something that half revealed him, but the outraged anguish returned to him, as it tends to do. “My face is just some dark shape in my past. Another thing I've lost.”

Astarion threw down the mirror as he finished, it cracked as it struck the packed earth beneath them. If they were standing in a proper room of wooden or brick floor then the mirror would have shattered in a spectacular fashion.

Spiteing the fact that Astarion needn't air to live, he drew pants of heavy breath as he bared his teeth in his anger. He had every right to be angered, all spawn do.

Patience, Rorik reminded himself. As much as it went against his instincts to stick around within range of teeth while their owner bobbed between drowning in their own righteous fury and the oblivion of sorrow, there was always something about Astarion which lured him in. Rorik could still look at himself in a mirror, most of the time, and he thought maybe the reason he hadn't yet walked away from Astarion while he tantrumed about his past, present or Casador might just be because: he could see his reflection in Astarian, too. His pain felt all too familiar.

“What?” Astarian broke him from his thoughts.

Rorik corrected quickly, unsure what his own expression had revealed. He straightened a head that had tilted toward his left shoulder, fixed his eyes which he guessed had softened upon Astarian’s anger on base instinct. Too close. He'd almost fallen victim to his old habits, but Astarian was no flailing racer stallion who required the softness of a coddling stable pony to calm him. And Rorik was nobody's pony anymore.

“I'll be your mirror. What do you want to know?” It was a cheap distraction, yes, but he found in it genuine empathy. Astarian couldn't see himself, hadn't seen himself in two-hundred years, he deserved the next best thing.

“I want to know what the world sees when it looks at me. What you see.” Astarian replied with another reflection, this time of Rorik’s own sincerity.

The deferring tipping of Astarian's head told it all. A wound had been bared for Rorik to examine, one he could grind salt into and Astarian knew that. It was the scattered moments of vulnerability that helped Rorik stay, too.

He feigned a smile just in time, before his silence convinced Astarion that something was wrong. The others' brows were already creased as he braced to be hurt.

“Well, the shmutz of bullette viscera smeared on your left cheek has my attention right now.” Rorik jabbed casually.

Astarion scrubbed his wrist over his face with an irritable grimace, following Rorik's gesture to find the supposed smear of gore, only to find nothing because Rorik was having a little fun at his expense. Astarion was fastidious in his grooming. He’d missed nothing when he'd washed.

Rorik was rewarded with a glare, so he laughed, “If I didn't like you, I wouldn't jest… I'm not a poet, I'm not romantic by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't do flattery. So brace yourself.”

“Oh.. Kay…?” Astarion murmured.

Rorik straightened his posture to look Astarion from the toe of each tidy elvish crafted loafer up to the top most curl of his head of white silver. Consciously taking him in only topically.

“If I were unbiased and this were my first impression: Your face is long but not overly narrow. Your nose is very straight, cutting a tidy profile. I imagine you've never had it broken. The fairness of your skin hints at a noble upbringing; a childhood spent indoors rather than under the gaze of the noon sun. Your hands are clean and unmarred, so for certain you're not a laborer. You are clearly particular about how your hair is done every morning… Your jaw is angled sharply toward your chin but is neither too strong nor too weak. It suits you well. Your lips are full which reinforces an air of youth about you, and your upper lip is just a bit thicker than the lower without being distracting… About five foot and eleven inches, shoulders broad enough to mandate care toward them when having garments tailored… In all, The world sees a young elf.”

Rorik bit the end of his tongue as he finished, holding back the last and decidedly biased thought: that he saw all these things too but accompanied by eyes which looked as tired as he often felt himself.

Astarion's expression was empty yet soft, gaze drifting into the middle distance until the very end when his brows furrowed and his mouth twisted as if something had curdled in it.

“Eugh! Must you always make everything sound so clinical!? You told Edmund this morning the cactus where your heart should be has beautiful flowers and that was backhanded!” Astarion mocked Rorik's northerner accent, badly, “I know you can do better than that. Ugh, for shits’ sake, why do you find me attractive? Why does anyone find me attractive, Rorik?”

That took Rorik off guard. This wasn't just about forgetting one's own appearance, was it? It was about Astarion understanding how the world was affected by his body being in it. Rorik shifted in discomfort, now put on the spot to summarize the things he personally found alluring. He felt almost dirty saying it.

“I- suppose people can't help themselves but to admire? You're striking. Perfectly styled snow hair, you're well formed… Em, lovely skin? like opal? White opal. Were you true symmetrical I would've drawn my sword, having mistook you for a stone wit-”

“I- I'm not symmetric?? Where is my face uneven!? Tell me this instant!” The high elf squawked, hands smoothing up the planes and dips of his visage in search.

Rorik snorted. Astarion seemed like the type to become offended at the mention of a slightly uneven cupid’s bow. Best not add to his self image anxieties too much. A true lie would have to do.

“You have a freckle or two, perhaps from your recent love affair with the sun.”

“Freckles?!”

“Oh, relax. Not near as many as me.” Rorik reassured.

“Hmph. That was… Better-ish, I suppose. You're onto something, keep going.”

Rorik's expression pinched with realization. “Is that all you're after? Shallow praise?”

“Hardly! I'm also after gold, sex, revenge. Quite the list, really, and failing any of those I will always settle for: shallow praise.”

“Fuck that noise. I can do better than patting your ass with a couple cheap compliments.”

“Care to expand on that? I can't tell if I'm being derided or offered an upgrade from your awkward small talk.” Astarion harrumphed and began picking under his fingernails, apparently checking out of the conversation in a display of boredom.

Rorik stepped closer to recapture his attention, spurred forward by a volatile cocktail of embarrassment, ego, and vindictiveness that had spilled in close proximity to the competitive streak within him.

“I used to be good at this. I swear. You'll just have to be patient while I call it back to me.” Rorik leveled in a low rumble, and it was no bluff. Idle worship of a bloated ego had saved his skin in his youth more times than he could count. This bordered too close to an exhumation of the corpse of his past, but if the occasion calls for it in the name of harmless fun: then let old habits lumber about like a fucking zombie.

Astarion's eyes lit themselves with dark amusement, leaning in too with a smug sneer, “Call louder. I think it ran straight past you.”

Rorik wasted no breath on the others' taunting. He delivered. “Your eyes are extraordinary, they burn through people like a branding iron. I'd rather face a devil I’d sleighted.”

Astarion let loose the bark and giggle of laughter which used to grate on Rorik's nerves, “Oh, not bad… and you said you don't do flattery! Do go on.”

That's one point to Rorik. He wanted more than that. He wanted to win whatever this was. “They have their moments of immeasurably inviting softness, too. Eyes like yours tend to get their way with me, if I'm being honest… And don't let that go to your head.”

“Ha! Hard not to. That's a dangerous admission.” Astarion swayed his shoulders and hummed with an odd, rich texture in his voice. His expression was guarded, however.

“Awareness of one's weaknesses is healthy, I'm told..” Rorik commented rather pointlessly. Choosing pretty analogies for the features of a face he found attractive felt more risky than it should. Rorik's jaw and throat felt hot for no particular reason. “Moving on. Your smile is deadly. Like a bear trap lined with sweet meats and candied fruit. A pout, a grin, a laugh, they all draw me closer…”

Closer. Astarion must've taken the utterance of the word as an invitation. He brandished that smile like a blade now and brought them near nose to nose. “Yes, yes. You're right. But we know better, don't we, Rorik?”

Not fair. Rorik’s naked skull felt like it was on fire, and the feeling was not limited to neck and up.

“We do. You can't lure bats with candy in pretty wrappers.” he tilted his head with his words, ever so minutely, exposing the angry punctures in his throat.

“If it isn't the sweet taste that draws you in, then what is it? Tell me Acolyte.”

Rorik shook his head. “You know I'm a masochist. You know the answer to that.”

“Aw, Little Treat longs to be trapped? How delightfully demented.”

“Mm,” Rorik offered a solemn nod. It was another admission of those dirty weaknesses. “Last thing for now-”

“For now?” Astarion crooned, grinning wickedly as he underlined Rorik's implication that he may have more to say on this particular topic at a later date.

“For now,” Rorik confirmed but teased… Teasing? He'd never teased like this, in this context, before. Best end on a note of humor, “Speaking of teeth, you've the most polite little feedin’ fangs.”

“...What?” Astarion straightened then and leaned away.

Rorik must've thrown him off his rhythm with that one. Right. Astarion was from a small coven, and apparently not one which enjoyed the bleak humors of the condition.

Rorik leaned minutely closer and bared his razors in a grimace with a finger directing attention to them. “I'm saying, your teeth look almost normal. At least compared to these lawn shears I was saddled with. Your smile is still sharp, but passable. Many with the condition aren't so lucky.”

“Good to know I'm not a complete freak.” Astarion harrumphed.

“Maybe I crossed the line. I forget, not everyone reconciles it all so easily.” Rorik admitted, but refused to backpedal that last opinion.

“I suppose I can give you a pass on it, given that you were born with… All of that.” Astarion gave a waving finger gesturing to all of Rorik as he half-accepted the half-apology.

Rorik couldn't help but chuckle and look away, the imagery brought to mind was too heinous and ridiculous all at once. “Well, I was indistinguishable from the living until I consumed blood at fifteen-ish but, sure. I wasn't bottle fed monk blood as a tot. Couldn't imagine that horror.”

"Normal children are horrible enough… Now, why don't you just tell me I'm beautiful and we'll call it an evening.” Astarion shifted the topic smartly, but looked away for a moment too.

The dance was strange. Rorik wasn't sure what they were doing, but he sort of liked it.

“You're alright, Gale is more my type.” Rorik lied, blatantly.

“How dare you!” Astarion's tone was playful, rather than offended, although it's always hard to tell with Astarion, “I thought we had something special… Still, you're nice too. I’d better get some beauty sleep. It seems I need it if I'm to catch up with the competition.”

Rorik could only shake his head. Everyone has a type. Astarion's was apparently fractured faces and a malignant glare. Rainar's glare. Rorik quickly tossed aside the errant thought and the accompanying cruel memory. He dipped his head before deciding to attend his own sleep.

“Sure sure, but do tread with caution. The pursuit of perfection is perilous, and you're already knocking on the door.” Rorik offered with a smirk. This game was… fun.

“Hhmf! Says he's not romantic,” Astarion mocked talking to himself, shooting a dark glance and that dangerous smile over his shoulder as Rorik retreated to his bedroll by the fire.

[twodragons-blooper-reel]

Let's roll the bloopers!

POST LIMIT: I LIVE

Hi there! It's @twodragonsinatrenchcoat I have several Pokemon IRL blogs in the rotumblr sphere and I wanted to make a sort of hub for them! Not just for organization and a spot to hold onto ask games I enjoy- but for meme and AU purposes as well!

I'll post ooc updates as well as jokes I have while writing here from time to time as well :3

I am also happy to do blog promos, I'm bad at looking for new blogs but send me an ask with the blog name or whatever and I'll reblog your pinned

Feel free to ask any and all questions pertaining to the blogs that are listed below!

Pokemon Irl blogs are listed under the cut, all are currently inactive

Active blogs are one I'm posting on actively, Light Activity Blogs are ones I'll reblog to occasionally and Inactive Blogs are blogs I have no intention of returning to in the near future.

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Active Blogs:

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Light activity Blogs:

@celadon-arcade-champ <- new blog. Character works at the Celadon game Corner, completely unaware that it's a front for Team Rocket :]

@disparate-traveller <- A faller blog about my character Diamond who yeeted themselves into Rotomblr to hang out with their bestie

@dersite-agent-jack <- I love Jack(Bec) Noir. So have a homestuck faller blog :]

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Inactive Blogs:

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If I'm answering a question about a specific blog I'll put it in the tags as "blog talk: [Blog name]"

I'm open to questions directed at characters, directed at myself, au talking- Just about anything honestly! This is just a fun sort-of hub for my pokemon blogs.

uhhh love y'all bye for now! <3

@rotumbeast <- The spirit of Rotomblr. Might be responsible for chaos

@piplup-at-naranja <- An in character liveblog of my playthrough of Pokemon Scarlet :]

@magical-girl-evoli <- An eevee magical girl! Because I'm not immune to brain rot

@hello-am-zacian <- A real life dog got Fallered and transformed into legendary pokemon Zacian. She's having a great time

@synthetic-radiance <- Cursed Chosen named Orion, Type:Null hybrid.

@psychic-type-appreciator <- Seraphina's sister Agni. She's less of a wet cat

@ghost-type-appreciator <- A Ceruledge hybrid blog :] her name is Seraphina! She's a wet cat

@clockwork-soul-heart <- Princess Steele! She's been trapped in a clockwork kingdom by a haunted doll for the last seven years of her life.

@drifting-rocket <- Kidnapped Aegis a couple times. His name is Drifter, he's a Team Rocket Executive. He's got so many issues.

@oreburghminingmuseum <- A blog about Aegis's caretakers and the museum they work for! Mostly an excuse for a place where I can post non-shieldon fossil pokemon art-

@fields-of-gracidea <- Vio! Branded chosen of Shaymin, Sawsbuck Hybrid, tasked with taking care of the younger brandeds

@sturdy-and-soundproof <- What you probably know me from! Aegis! Shieldon boy! I'm not sure how best to explain him besides he's cute. Has a whole slew of blogs related to him which are up next :)

@mareeplings <- My first pkmn Irl blog :D I dream of returning to it someday but I can't find the inspiration.

@snarling-maschiff <- a blog with a normal person running it as opposed to all my other blogs (whoops) They like dog pokemon!

@wayward-silver <- One of 13* Silver blogs, he's a mew taking the form of his past life. Was stuck underground as a ditto for like 20 years though.

@devilisinthedeinos <- A "Sleeby" named Eris who turned into a deino after getting top surgery. There's something else behind the scenes there...

@distortion-escapee <- A blog for my personal take on giratina, related to Dakota's blog.

@dakota-and-paris <- About a girl who has had way too much on her plate for thirteen years and will continue to have too much on her plate until I say so.

*there's so many silver blogs on this website i'm not gonna keep this number updated but that's how many there was when I made the blog

[roxannarambles]

wait. wait wait wait WAIT. WHAT??? Julinemo is a RAREPAIR? I ship those two since the beginning of my playthrough. I genuinely didn't knew??????

Admittedly 'rarepair' is a subjective term, but considering how massive a franchise Pokemon is and that Nemona is the primary rival of the newest Pokemon game, I'd say the fact that Nemona/Juliana only has 114 works listed on AO3 at the moment (only 92 if you remove Explicit ones) is pretty shockingly low. Although the # of fics there that pair her with the other main characters are also low (only 35 for Nemona/Arven and 70 for Nemona/Penny); the most popular pairing seems to be Nemona/Florian (163), by these metrics at least

In terms of Tumblr, I definitely get the impression that Nemona x Penny and Nemona x Arven are topics that get far more posts than Nemona x Juliana. Now that's just my impression, but I've spent over a year obsessed with Julinemo and searching tags, and I think I have a decent sense of how much content is out there on Tumblr. (Still, if folks have other perspectives, please do chime in and share!)

Nemona x Juliana is definitely more popular if you expand your search online to Japanese artists. Also, I personally believe that the majority of Nemona x Juliana fans do not create fan content for the ship or original posts about them, based on the number of interactions & reblogs I see on Julinemo posts. So, I think there are a lot more Julinemo fans than it initially seems, they just aren't super active or talkative in fandom spaces. When the Yoasobi music video came out, it especially highlighted this; I saw SO many people losing their minds on Twitter, super excited about the ship, but many of those seemed to be people who normally didn't make posts otherwise.

So, yeah! That was probably a more wordy reply than you wanted, lol, but in summary, they do indeed seem to be rarepair, relative to other Scarlet/Violet ships and especially relative to the fan content you can find dedicated to ships in similarly-sized fandoms. But like I said, I think there are a lot of Julinemo fans out there who just aren't super active-- I'm hoping Julinemo Week helps encourage more participation! :)

[monsterofmyown]

Tagged by @confusedhostage!

Last song: Bones by Imagine Dragons.

favourite colour: Blue!

currently reading: Nothing at the moment, but I did a re-read recently of the Wolves of the Beyond series. Might do a re-read of the Wings of Fire series next!

Currently watching: Gab Smolder's playthrough of Skyward Sword.

last movie: Inside Out 2

sweet, spicy or savoury: Gotta go with sweet.

relationship status: Single

current obsession: Scarlet Hollow!! Been such a source of brainrot for me haha.

tea or coffee: Coffee! Love me some dirty bean water.

last thing I googled: The family guy death pose xD