#( mayb i should think of some npc ships for him ...... one day )

[thescarletnargacuga]

So could you write a poly fic between Caine Jax and Pomni?

Maybe one where Jax and Pomni keep making Caine flustered (in their own ways) during adventures, so Caine decides he is going to be the one to fluster them for once during a private adventure between the three of them.

They all are in a consenting and loving poly relationship (just felt the need to say that with all the other crazy anons going around 😂)

A/N: always good to clarify! And thank you for letting me know that it's a throuple poly ship, because polys can work in a lot of different ways

MY TURN

A FUNNYBUNNYSHOW ONESHOT

WARNING: suggestive, power dynamic

~~~

"That was another great adventure, Ringmaster." Pomni flirtatiously emphasized Caine's title after everyone had received an award for participating in today's adventure.

Caine smiled, a light blush displayed around the sides of his face. "Aw, shucks, Pomni. Thank-woah!"

"We had a lot of fun sneaking off to be alone." Jax pulled Caine down by his foot until he was taller than the floating AI. "Too bad you weren't there to join us." He arched a brow suggestively.

Caine flustered, gripping his cane with both hands and holding it in front of him like he was trying to hide behind it. "Oh! Um, you know I can't. Eheh, The- the adventures are....are just for..." He couldn't focus on what he was saying. Jax and Pomni were closing in on him. He felt cornered, despite that he could teleport away at any time.

"What's the matter, Caine? Humans too hot for you to handle?" Jax chuckled, looming over Caine.

"I think we blue screened him." Pomni smirked.

"More like red-screened. Look how hard he's blushing." Jax slowly moved his hand up Caine's leg.

"Adorable." Pomni traced a finger down Caine's lower jaw.

"Uh!! I'm not-! Oh dear goodness-" Caine shuddered. "You two are being extraordinarily friendly today. I'm glad the adventure was to your.....liking." He was very much enjoying the touches.

"Like Jax said, we had time to ourselves. It's done wonders for our mood, and we wanted to thank you." Pomni kissed Caine's lower jaw while Jax kissed the side of Caine's upper jaw.

Caine's hat flipped off his head and a mushroom cloud of confetti exploded out of it, raining all over the three of them. He hovered low to the ground, eyes blue with white text scrolling across. His hat slowly wandered away from him.

Pomni laughed. "You were right, he did error out."

"Told ya." Jax and Pomni bumped fists. "We should totally leave him like this."

"That's so mean...let's do it." She and Jax bolted while Caine was still rebooting.

Caine came back upside down, confetti everywhere and his hat flying away from him. His code still felt all kinds of tingly to the point of making him lightheaded. "Gadzooks.....wait-" He looked around and quickly uprighted himself. "Where'd they go?" It slowly dawned on him what they just did. "Those two!! They-! Oooohohoho, so that's how it's going to be."

Caine's hat snapped back into place and he adjusted his suit. "It seems some of my cast members need a reminder of their place at the circus, and why I am the Ringmaster." He teleported away.

~

The next adventure, everyone except Jax and Pomni were sent off. The two trouble makers kept glancing at each other, wondering what revenge plot Caine had in store for their teasing the other day. They knew they were in for something.

"What's today's adventure?" Pomni asked innocently.

"You're about to find out." Caine snapped and a second portal promptly appeared. "After you." He gestures for them to go through.

Jax boldly stepped forward first. He went through the portal, only to find himself in a small restaurant. No NPCs, it was very quiet and quaint. Pomni came through a few seconds later and he gestures to the room. "Well, this doesn't look like much."

Caine came through and the portal vanished. "I would just like a little sit down with you two. When was the last time we were on a simple date?" He snapped his fingers and food appeared on the plates, no servers came.

"Okay, what's the catch?" Jax crossed his arms. Pomni wanted to know too, so she looked at Caine questioningly.

Caine smiled warmly, his hands behind his back. "Why would there need to be a catch? I would just like to enjoy a meal with my favorite humans." His voice was smooth as silk, giving nothing away.

Jax and Pomni looked at each other nervously. Caine's oddly calm demeanor put them on edge, but they sat at the table. Caine sat in the air between them. Jax inspected his foods suspiciously. Pomni didn't touch hers at all. Caine sat quietly, lounging back.

"Seriously. What have you done?" Jax pressed.

"Why so suspicious? Have you done something that deserves retaliation?" Caine asked with a smirk in his voice.

"Cut the crap.I know you're up to something." Jax narrowed his eyes at Caine.

Caine shrugged. "If you say so."

"Caine," Pomni spoke up. "We were just teasing yesterday. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, my dear. I'm not upset." Caine answered genuinely. "Yesterday was fun, if a bit ultimately frustrating, but that's the way the game is played."

Reassured, Jax and Pomni ate what was served. It was a very well prepared three course meal. Surprisingly delicious for digital food. They eased into fun conversation, putting aside their worries.

After dessert was devoured and after dinner drinks were served, Caine smiled at each of his partners. "Tell me....do you remember what Ringmaster means?"

"uh... That you're in charge of the Circus?" Pomni answered with a confused lilt.

"Indeed." Caine sat forward, resting his elbows on the table, his chin on his hands. "But do you think that's...it?"

Jax started to feel fuzzy. He slammed his drink down. "I KNEW IT! WHAT WAS IN THAT FOOD!?"

"Nothing. Calm yourself." Caine didn't even look at Jax and the rabbit immediately felt woozy. "I create everything in this world, down to the last pixel. Therefore, it is mine to command. And when you consume what is mine...I have influence over the code that makes up your very being. If only for a time."

Pomni felt it too. A warmth in her core spreading out and making her hot under the collar. "What are you...doing?" Her breathing became heavy.

"Showing you two exactly who you're messing with." Caine smiled to himself, focusing on the codes inside Pomni and Jax.

Jax tried to get up. "You...little..."

"Sit." Caine said firmly.

Jax immediately fell back into his chair and couldn't find the strength to get up again. He felt tingles up his thighs and chest, making him squirm in his seat. "[%$!#]" He moaned.

Pomni covered her mouth and gripped the table cloth. Her legs quivered as she squeezed them together. Muffled gasps and moans escaped her throat. The pleasure she was feeling was indescribable.

There was a subtle glow to Caine's eyes. "Good...very good..."

Jax gripped the table's edge, throwing his head back. "Nnngh! Caine-... you-" He gasped.

"Use your words, Jax." Caine said, relaxed as ever.

"More..." Jax whined.

"Pomni?" Caine looked at her.

She nodded, nearly crossed eyed.

Caine snapped and both his partners fell apart. They cried out in pleasure and fell out of their seats. Caine willed away the table and watched his partners catch their breath on the floor. "What have we learned?"

"To never say no to dinner." Jax laughed, still panting.

Caine snapped again. Jax and Pomni rose to their knees by Caine's telekinesis. He held them both gently by the chin. "I love both of you very, very much....but do that do me again, and I'll have to remind you of who I am, won't I?"

Jax and Pomni nodded, looking up at Caine with hazey eyes.

[lily-alphonse]

Heyo! For the rare ships, may I ask for Shane/Leah please and thank you :D (also again so sorry for the cryptid af anon ask I sent originally!!)

I HAVE AN IDEA FOR THIS ONE (also for anyone wondering the cryptic thing is about the 1.6 spoiler ask, nothing shady lol)

Leah headcanon is that she runs away from her problems (Like, you know, leaving her fiance in the city). As soon as something gets too serious/boring/stressful whatever she's out. But she is very kind and friendly and does seek to make friends in her new town, including Shane.

He's off-putting. She gives him space at first. But they are neighbors and see each other at the saloon quite often. Some nights when Elliott doesn't join her she will sit beside Shane. If he is having a decent day he'll even entertain small talk. Other times he tells her to fuck off, and she does.

Basically I think she should go quite hard into trying to crack Shane and she does, he starts warming up to her. But then things start to get serious, maybe he reaches for her hand one night when they're walking home, and suddenly Leah starts to distance herself. It's not even that she doesn't want something with Shane. It's the fear that she does want it.

It goes at odds with what she promised herself, that she was going to be independent and live her life like she wanted, and it brings back all of the nasty indecision she had with her ex. On top of it all though is the immense guilt. Shane leans on her now. She wanted that and she got it. What happens when her support gets pulled out from under him? Should she blame herself if he spirals because of her?

This could go so many ways. Maybe he does spiral and it culminates in his big event. Maybe she is there to help him, or maybe she decides to run again, and its only when she's about to leave that Shane calls her out on HER problematic behavior for once.

I think I prefer that. Shane doesn't spiral. He recognizes that Leah is flawed in her own way and does for her what she did for him.

Shane is perceptive. He's noticed the walls she keeps around herself. She is never in a bad mood. No one is never in a bad mood. But she does disappear a few days at a time, here and there. She doesn't talk about her past. She will listen to people vent all day but when it comes to talking about her feelings she is always just fine.

He gives her a bit of tough love. "It's fine if you don't want to be together, I accept that obviously, but you can't keep living like this Leah. You have to let somebody in. You can't keep running. What kind of life is that?"

And they have a big old fight where she finally lets out all the nastiness she's been pushing down. Because Leah has been putting up with his nastiness for months he just takes it. When she's done shouting, breathing heavy and crying she's like fuck it and they have a sloppy rough makeout session where they're pushing things off of counters n stuff teehee

Inspiration for this idea came from "I Can't Make You Fall In Love Again" by Glass Animals, not the plot of the song but specifically these lines

Freedom at last, I know you wanted it But freedom don't last when you've got no one left, hm?

So yeah I really like this one I think it'd be dramatic and fun.

It has been a few days since I posted one of these but yes I am still going! Just have some things in my life making it difficult rn but still rolling, feel free to send your asks!

Send me any Stardew Valley rarepair and I will tell you how I would make them work! (Even non-marriage npcs) If youre lucky you may get a mini fic out of it. Check the list below to see if Ive already answered yours

Rarepair Masterlist

[teecupangel]

I wonder if you’ve ever thought about like, a glitch or a virus in the Animus accidentally causing all the playable ancestors to become self-aware and sentient. I kind of like the idea of them realizing they’re all essentially kinda stuck in the Animus servers and then banding together to essentially blow up Abstergo. hell, maybe Desmond is the reason why they’re all sentient, something about the Apple and the Eye started doing weird things to the samples they took from him so now the ancestors have to find his consciousness!

also I am ngl I think it would be very funny for them to occasionally be able to break into each other’s simulations for various purposes. Edward popping into the American Revolutionary War to say hi to his kid and grandkid. Jacob and Evie and Henry in Constantinople. Altaïr rolling around in the Caribbean, god help this poor non-swimmer.

(and maybe once they’ve gotten him out of wherever he’s been stashed Desmond can teach these guys how to like actually get into Abstergo’s servers and start ruining their lives?)

Ooooohhh, this would be fun and, considering which company Abstergo partnered with to develop the Animus games, this could have just as easily happened because bugs had always been part of the course when it concerned the games they have published.

It might have been a flaw in the Animus game console itself, simply because they had developed a ‘console’ that either didn’t require that the user be related to the genetic memory at all (which had been necessary to stabilize and synchronize with the memories) or they had included a ‘data set’ that includes the DNA origin to stabilize and synchronize with the memories (which meant that they were dealing with a setup they had not fully checked yet (considering Black Flag’s modern day setting was set in 2013 and was released before Rogue’s modern day setting in 2014, that would mean that their Animus iteration had to have been developed and send to Abstergo Entertainment with Sample 17’s data in a year or less).

Also, also, we have seen how ‘viruses’ can interact with the Abstergo games. Liberation’s secret ending which shows the ‘scenes’ that Abstergo tried to remove so that it seemed like Aveline joined the Templar Order in the end could only be accessed by finding a specific NPC in the game in various memory blocks.

So, in this scenario, the whole ‘non-canon character’ popping into other games could have happened during development BUT the Animus game they ship was meant to copy the memory blocks that research analysts got in development so those small inconsistencies could have happened during their breaks or flat-out during a time when no one was using the Animus at all.

The easter eggs (or some fans like to call them “too unrealistic and plain fanservice”) would be included in all the copies of their specific games those games only had minor tweaks to ensure they won’t crash (and have DRMs, I guess) and lesser time for Q&A because, let’s face it, they needed to cut costs somewhere before they were shipped off to ensure they had a yearly release.

It became just a normal part of the charm of these games and Abstergo is just going “Yes, it’s meant to show that we are all connected no matter how many centuries we are from one another!” but internally there are memos going “WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING???”.

Also, also…

We should set up some kind of timeline, I guess?

Because, as far as we can be sure, the only confirmed games that Abstergo Entertainment released are the following:

Liberations (based on Liberation with Aveline) - Prior to 2013

Pirates of Nightmares (based on Black Flag with Edward) - Around 2013 (also has a movie version called Devils of the Caribbean)

Note: We do not have any confirmation that they released any games based on Shay Cormac and, honestly, with how much Shay’s defection hinged on the power of the artifact (which they had probably had to cut out since they were going for ‘realism’), any games based on Rogue would probably need a lot of cuts and edits. They might have just, you know, given up on that in the end.

Buuuuutttt we have confirmation of these games as having been published prior to Arno Dorian’s memories being checked:

Not counting the three on the bottom which we don’t really have any information about, this means that we have confirmation that the following have been released (and, in Edward’s and Aveline’s case, this could have been a re-release ala HD remastered style which Liberation did get in the PS4 era):

Altaïr

Shao Jun

Ezio (also, it’s just sooo Abstergo to go for ‘Fear and Loathing in Florence’, a reference to AC2, but use Ezio’s Brotherhood robes… soooo like Abstergo to use the Brotherhood!Ezio model)

Ratonhnhaké:ton

Aveline

Edward

BUT then you also get

Jacques De Molay

Rodrigo Borgia

Haytham Kenway

This means that if you want the Animus servers' data to be sentient then you can make at least these three Templars sentient as well if you wish to add more conflict to the entire thing.

Now, if we keep the supposed release date with the idea that they released it as Aveline → Edward → Altaïr → Shao Jun → Ezio → Ratonhnhaké:ton → HD releases (or maybe Helix is meant to be a collection like the real-world example of Ezio Trilogy or Rebels Collection)

Then what can happen is that Aveline is the first one to ‘wake up’ and she finds herself in the Caribbean, waking up on Edward’s ship. She tries to ask where she is and her appearance caused Edward to snap out of the ‘Animus control’ and gain sentient.

Then they decide to try and find out where they are via the Jackdaw, sailing her beyond the supposed walls of this place they find themselves in.

It’s during their travels and checking the strange ports (imagine lots of glitching + the entire vibe of Animus Island back in Revelations with each map turned into an island so this means that landlocked maps like Florence and Monteriggioni are now islands) that they see an Assassin taking down a target at the port before running away. They give chase and that’s how they meet Altaïr in Acre docks. Their appearance snapped Altaïr into gaining sentient but not just that…

He remembers up to his death, unlike Aveline who remembers up to her wedding night and Edward who remembers up to a night with Tessa.

No.

Altaïr knows more about where they are than he should.

And that’s when he sees it.

A figure walking the streets of Acre, walking further and further away from them, clad in white that did not belong in his time.

Altaïr gives chase and the two followed him because Altaïr knows more than them, that was for sure.

Altaïr still loses him but he feels like he knows that figure… knows it’s a man and he’s important.

He points at Edward as he says, “Important to both of us.”

But he also knows the man isn’t here in the island composed of Altaïr’s memories anymore.

And Aveline and Edward get a crash course of who they truly are (digital construct of the memories of long-dead Assassins) and where they are. The where is more confusing because Altaïr uses words like “the Animus must always be online to connect to the servers”, “this is the server that has all the data of all researched and analyzed memories”, etc but Edward just summarized it as “prison created by Templars, right?”

“In a way.”

So they board the Jackdaw to try and find an exit and to find this supposed man that was important to Altaïr and Edward.

Along the way, they docked in a port that ends with them waking up Shao Jun as she’s running away from those hunting her. She remembered that this was the memory where her mentor told her to find Ezio Auditore and Altaïr thinks he knows the name.

“But I know of a different name for him as well… Prophet. He was… He was the prophet of that man.”

Shao Jun joins them and she recognized Florence so they docked there and they find Ezio who was looking for feathers.

Ezio stares at Altaïr for a moment then he stares behind Altaïr, his eyes going wild. Altaïr immediately knew what he was looking at he quickly turned around.

This time, the figure was running the rooftops of Florence and the two gave chase, making the rest run after them.

During the chase, Ezio shouts, “Desmond!” and the figure stopped and turned around.

Before they could see his face, a flock of birds flew between them, and the man was gone.

They reached where they last saw the man and Ezio recognized it.

This… was where he and Federico wished that their lives would not change… the day before Ezio’s entire life turned upside down.

With Ezio becoming part of their crew, Ezio had the same information as Altaïr. He knows who he is, where they are, and what they truly are.

But his memories end after seeing Altaïr’s remains underneath Masyaf.

And… he also has his Apple.

Altaïr sees the Apple and realized…

He opened his pouch and, yes…

He has an Apple as well.

So Ezio joined them too and they continue to sail Jackdaw. (If you’d like Adéwalé to be sentient as well even if we have no confirmation that Abstergo profited from his memories as well, this would be a good time to do it)

This time, they get into a naval combat with an unknown ship and Edward is enjoying himself. The ship was beautiful and whoever was in command knew what they were doing.

So Edward decided to ram it and they’d all pile onto the other ship. The crew wouldn’t be able to win against 5 Assassins after all.

But the moment they rammed the ship, both of their ships began to glitch just as they hear a man with a British accent shout, “How is it you came to captain a ship, given the way you sail?”

When the glitching stopped, the Jackdaw looked like it had absorbed the other ship, creating a new ship that seemed to be a merged version of the two.

And there was an Assassin on board that they didn’t know. An Assassin holding an Apple and… he was looking to their right.

Where a lone island filled with buildings taller than any towers they had ever seen could be seen just before the horizon.

The Assassin pointed at the island and turned to face Edward as he said, “He’s waiting for us there… grandfather.”

(If you want Haytham to gain sentient, he’s in the captain’s quarters and he’d open the door a few seconds later with a splitting headache, telling Ratonhnhaké:ton his sailing is shit then stop when he sees Edward. Cue awkward family reunion)

Other Unorganized Notes:

I’m sorry I couldn’t include Jacob, Evie, and Henry, nonny. :(

This was focused on the idea that the Abstergo servers mainly have data of the published ‘games’ while the memories still being researched are in another more secured private server.

Although, considering that Arno and the Frye twins were more ‘modified’ by the Assassins, maybe they could come in as a virus before Edward and the others meet Ratonhnhaké:ton. I think it would be a change of pace if Arno and the Fryes (with Jayadeep) know more than the ‘old guards’. Hell, they could say “We hitched a ride with the virus Erudito sent to find Sample 17 because the public noticed he always makes an appearance as an NPC in all the games so the Assassins think that he’s somewhere here.” “He’s not 17. His name is Desmond.” “Right, didn’t mean to offend anybody.”

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Personal Appeal of Dramione

Since reading comprehension among some HP fans is lacking, let me reiterate with some disclaimers:

I do not ship Dramione.

I do not like Dramione, especially as it is portrayed in fanworks.

I do not think Hermione should be with Draco because I dislike Romione. Unfortunately, Romione is the best ship for Hermione...Ron could have done better though.

If anyone makes any comments about the previous points, it is proof they did not read my post properly. Sick and tired of pro Romione people asking how I can ship Hermione with her bully when I merely bring up anti-Dramione arguments I observed.

Anyway, I keep seeing some common arguments for people's disdain for Dramione. I agree wholeheartedly with most of them. The Ron bashing in Dramione fics is 100% out of control and I find it laughable that someone will say Ron is toxic but then say Draco is better. I love Draco but I live in reality (plus I would never pair my baby with a girl like Hermione). Maybe Draco has the POTENTIAL to be better in a well-crafted AU but the canon as it stands does not support this. I have commented that even the enemy part of the enemies-to-lovers ship for Dramione is boring and lacklustre compared to Drarry. Despite all of this, a part of me does find Dramione as an appealing concept and I think some Dramione antis are deliberately being obtuse when wondering why Dramione is popular. I want to write my own response to some sentiments I have seen:

If you want an enemies-to-lovers ship, Romione is right there.

I hardly consider Romione an enemies to lovers ship. Can you even consider them enemies at the start? Ron didn't like Hermione because her personality rubbed him the wrong way. He made a few deriding comments about her that led to her crying. Hermione acted naggy and intellectually superior and maybe she saw Ron as a bit of a delinquent? YAWN! What enemies! Technically they fit the definition of the ship trope but in the tamest way possible. As far as I am concerned, the emphasis was more on their friendship (they are friends for basically most of the series) and their initial dislike was a minor hiccup. They were 'enemies' for like 5 chapters in one book and the switch from enemies to friends was lightning quick - like one sentence quick.

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend.

I think Romione is better suited as friends to lovers but that's just my take. Just look at Sukka from ATLA. Sokka and Suki started off on a rough note but you would not call them enemies to lovers. Most of Romione's 'enemy' moments boil down to Ron and Hermione being teenagers and going through normal, hormonal teenage drama.

Compare this to Dramione. Draco scorns Hermione's very being and Hermione dislikes him before even having dialogue with him. They are on opposing sides from the beginning: opposing houses, opposing sides of the war, opposing values and ideologies etc. And it would have been interesting to see how that disgust and conflicting worldviews could have morphed into respect and love.

Draco already has a redeeming love interest. You don't need Dramione when you have Drastoria.

Drastoria is a decent ship but I don't like it for a few reasons. First of all, Astoria is a character I know almost nothing about. If I want to know about her, I have to search Google. She and Draco have hardly any interesting history shown. She's basically a NPC - a blank slate. Maybe Cursed Child fans would like Drastoria more.

Secondly, while it is admirable that Draco married a sickly, blood-traitor girl who might not have been able to give him heirs, at the end of the day she is still a pureblood. She's still a relatively safe option. Marrying a muggleborne person like Hermione would make a way more concrete redemption/atonement story. Hermione challenges Draco's worldview more than Astoria ever could.

On Hermione's end, maybe being with Draco could challenge some misconceptions she has about pureblood culture or something. Maybe being with Draco could even challenge how she views her femininity when we consider how pureblood women don't tend to be career-driven in canon, except fanatics like Bellatrix who are childless and have unhappy marriages. Also, I think Hermione's flaw of being vindictive and aggressive could have been challenged more in Dramione. I despise how JKR lets Hermione get away with murder in Romione. Even when Hermione is wrong, it ends up being Ron's fault. Disgusting!

Draco and Hermione would never touch each other in canon.

That's so true...that's why fanfiction and fanon exist. To explore creative possibilities. It's always a bit amusing when I see canon shippers of ships like Kataang, Hinny and Romione complain about the lack of fan content. Like dude, you have canon as your content. Of course, fanon couples will have a tendency to have more fan works due to the lack of canon material.

While many Dramione fics are annoying and totally OOC, there are some concepts that can honor canon that I find intriguing:

Draco and Hermione are forced to be together. This way they have to find a way to reconcile whatever bad feelings they have so they are not miserable for eternity.

Draco and Hermione meet as kids. This allows their personality and impressions of each other to slightly change before canon starts.

Draco and Hermione meet again as grown adults. Maybe Romione and Drastoria did not work out for non bashing reasons and they form a tentative acquaintance as mature adults which blooms into something more.

Draco begins his redemption/awakening arc prior to starting Hogwarts. I like fics where Draco begins questioning his parents' beliefs due to some external factor (like his Aunt Andromeda). That way Draco starts Hogwarts with a lot of his awful bigotry gone. Not all of it but even a small portion of it, making Dramione more feasible.

Draco was Hermione's bully.

It's called enemies to lovers for a reason...you know because the people were enemies. Duh. I will argue that Draco's actions towards Hermione are not as devastating as most people think and are totally redeemable. I will die on that hill (not really lol). All of Draco's biggest offences against her are verbal in nature and he arguably harrassed her the least in the trio. If JKR showed Hermione being impacted by Draco's slurs, I would 100% feel differently. However, Hermione treats Draco like an annoying fly - Draco does not hurt her in any meaningful way to totally dismiss Dramione as a ship in my view.

Draco and Hermione are happy in their canon ships

I love when my fav character ends up in a happy, loving relationship. I hate that Draco lost his wife which is one minor reason I dislike Drastoria. But that's besides the point.

Part of the reason why I dislike the teen ships Romione and Hinny is that they don't really matter much in the narrative. If you take them out, nothing changes, especially Hinny.

For example, there's nothing profound or grand about Ron marrying Hermione. The Weasleys are pro-muggle (...at least in spirit...) so who cares about Romione getting together? I sure don't. The most profound thing about Romione is that Harmione did not happen with Harry and Hermione being the male and female leads. However, Romione still occurs within the friend circle. Same with Hinny. They are safe pairings that don't challenge the status quo. Safe pairings are cozy but most tend to be uninteresting.

On the other hand, Dramione offers the potential for a richer narrative. It could symbolize the potential for change in traditional pureblood families - the start of an era of unity. Between Slytherin and Gryffindor, purebloods and mugglebornes. Because JKR ended HP with the chasm still wide open. Nothing changed except who was on top. Draco is the face of the younger Slytherin generation and is the scion of two prestigious pureblood houses. His ending the story being romantically involved with Hermione would have been amazing to see. Instead of seeing everyone still stuck in their own corners in the epilogue. How disappointing. JKR even ruined Harry's moving speech to Albus with that line about choosing Gryffindor if being in Slytherin bothered him so much. But JKR seems to love the status quo, so what else is to be expected?

Characters being happy in their relationships is great but I also like seeing how a relationship contributes to the themes of a story. Dramione could have offered more to the HP narrative than Romione, and maybe Drastoria, in my view.

These are my opinions. I truly don't care about Hermione so that's a big reason why I can't stand Dramione. But I do see the potential of the ship if written well.

[dragonmarquise]

I had a small idea pop into my head, which crew would be best at taking care of a living thing?(Human, plant, animal) If you ask me, I feel like dot.exe would be awesome! Especially with the two old people on their team!

Ooo, a neat idea! I think overall it would be the Franks since I already imagine all of them having health/medical related day jobs, and being very good at said jobs.

With other crews it's more different on a individual basis, at least based on my headcanons. A few things were mentioned on my big DOT EXE post, but can’t hurt to go over those bits again here.

(Also! I meant to post this yesterday but had some weirdly severe computer problems last night, sorry e_e; )

Starting off with DOT EXE since I probably have a bit more to say about them together than the other characters separately. Again, some of this is already mentioned in the Big DE Post, but will be brought up again here with more details:

Jūrō (the 10-ball member of DOT EXE in my headcanons) does gardening as a hobby! There’s a community greenhouse on top of the mall that he helps out with a lot. Heck, he’s practically the manager of it at this point. The other DOT EXE members help him out sometimes, mostly Cinco (5-ball), Neun (9-ball), and Quatorze (14-ball).

Jūrō, Quatorze, and Cinco are all great with kids! The grandpa, grandma, and uncle respectively who spoil the children, lol. Quatorze and Jūrō have grandkids, but haven’t seen them since being cut off by their own kids due to going full-cyber (see the big DOT EXE post for more details on why exactly. Meanwhile, Cinco was effectively ex-communicated by most of the family once it came out that he was going full-cyber, though he’s still in contact with some of his nieces and nephews in secret.

Cueball loves cats but wasn’t able to keep any before going full-cyber due to allergies. As mentioned in the Big Post, at one point he started hoarding cats before the rest of DOT EXE staged an intervention and got the cats into good shelters and homes. Cueball now volunteers at a lot of those shelters instead.

Okay now headcanon mixed with shipping: If Cueball and Bō (blond Devil Theory OC of mine) get to move in together, Cueball manages to convince him that they should adopt some cats! Cueball at first was aiming for 7, but gets (thankfully) talking down to just 3. They're all black cat siblings, named Pumpkin, Sapphire, and Clover (named for the color of their eyes: orange, blue, and green respectively).

And now for other characters:

As mentioned on my Solace post, he doesn’t have any pets but likes to feed any cats and birds he comes across. An addition to that: If he finds a cat or bird that’s hurt, he takes it to a vet to be properly taken care of. Mostly because Solace feels he’s too clumsy to give first aid to an animal, no matter how careful he is.

I feel like at least one of the Franks has a dog, I just haven’t decided which one. Maybe Bill (the spring palette, also the one who joins BRC in my headcanons). Takes good care of the good boy! The dog is probably a doberman-ish dog like the NPCs dogs in the game seem to be. Also the dog is named Hook. It’s in reference to the basketball throw known as a hook shot. :P

And then like I said earlier, the Franks in general have jobs related to medical/health stuff. Just haven’t decided which member has which job, whoops. But anyways, they’re all good at what they do! The jobs in question: physical therapist, aide at a senior home, nurse at a small clinic, physical education teacher/coach for a school basketball team.

Nunchaku (Devil Theory OC for the summer palette) has always wanted something like a tarantula or a snake as a pet. More shipping plus headcanons here: Once she moves in with Vinyl, they do get the tarantula and snake! Named Rosemary and Lavender respectively. Also a centipede named Paprika and two geckos named Cinnamon and Nutmeg. They are all very happy and healthy, though Bō politely refuses to visit their apartment because of Rosemary and Paprika, while DJ Cyber refuses to visit because of the reptiles, lol

On that note! DJ Cyber is a big fan of bugs, but not so much reptiles. He’s had many beetles as pets (they live for about a year or half a year at most, from what I understand). His current one is a Hercules beetle… named Hercules. He isn’t exactly the best at coming up with names obviously. :P But yeah, takes good care of his pets and will ramble about insect facts if you let him!

Bel had a pet rabbit as a kid they she took really good care of! She wants to get another one as an adult, but doesn’t like the idea of leaving it alone in her apartment for long periods while she’s out and about. Besides leaving the poor thing lonely, she’s also afraid of it being an escape artist like her old pet was.

Almost forgot from my big Devil Theory post, they have two hermit crabs as team pets in their hideout! I didn’t mention it there, but they are named Saburo and Jiro, after the crab monsters from Okami. Visitors to DT’s hideout get a chance to paint a shell for the crabs to pick later. Obviously it’s a great honor to get your shell picked!!

Cassiopeia (leader of Eclipse, the winter palette) has an Abyssian cat named Bastet, who likes to creep people out by staring at them for uncomfortably long periods of time. Has a habit of stealing charms and keychains from people’s phones, bags, bracelets, etc. Bastet hangs out in Cassiopeia’s shop while she’s working, or otherwise in her apartment above the shop while she’s out. Bastet has her own room btw! Also she refuses to let anyone but Cassiopeia pet her (Cueball has learned this the hard way. Several times, lol)

Cassiopeia also has a whole rooftop garden full of plants she uses for the herbs and spices she sells in part of her store. Part of the garden is also a personal vegetable and berry garden for herself (occasionally gifting some of the food she doesn’t need to the other Eclipse members). The plants are surprisingly big, not to mention the quality of the herbs and food are amazing! Some people try to ask her what’s her secret with gardening, but she refuses to tell anyone outside of the other Eclipse members.

Quantum (winter palette for FUTURISM) has attempted to care for pets over the years, but hasn’t been very good at it. Mostly she just gets overwhelmed with caring for another living being while busy with school/work/etc. On the bright side, she makes sure to get the animals to better homes or at least a shelter instead of trying to insist she can handle it. At this point, the closest thing she has to a pet is a rubber duck she named Niels, who helps her via rubber duck debugging!

I think that’s about all I have for caring-for-living-things headcanons. This was a neat one to go over! :>

[bookishfeylin]

Hello! I popped in a few days ago to say how much I love your blog and I thought I would circle back a little bit with some of my (messy) thoughts on the ACOTAR series from an LGBTQ+ perspective. (Maybe I could make a side blog for this. God knows how I struggle with the horrible writing in the Dragon Age games on main). My credentials: trans man and bisexual, but I’d like to blanket that I don’t speak for the entire community and, of course, I am speaking from my own experiences.

So, the first lgbtq+ character prominent we’re introduced to in SJM’s bibliography is actually Aedion from Throne of Glass, and the only reason I’m starting off with him is because I’m really mad that he was our first prominent bisexual character in the books and there was 0 mention of his relationships with other men; it was a throwaway line before his romance with Lysandra (in which SJM butchered his character in the last book. Not to say that bi men can’t date women! I liked their ship but I was mad at how it was treated as tokenism).

Within ACOTAR, we’re first greeted with Helion, and the issue with his writing is… pretty glaring, I think. The promiscuous bisexual is a harmful trope that’s been toted around for a while; “oh, you’re bi? you must be down for sex all the time with whoever you want” which… ignores the fact that sexuality can be a spectrum and does assign bisexuality a sort of sexual morality that people have used to condemn us for a long time. Not to say that Helion can’t be promiscuous, but there is a focus on it as a huge aspect of his character when there are other ways to do it.

I feel like Morrigan is a little self-explanatory. It’s… not great, imo, that SJM isn’t being a little more clear about her (if she prefers sexual relationships with men but intimate romantic relationships with women, great! But please SAY THAT). The way she strings Azriel along is cruel and unnecessary—she shouldn’t need to feel afraid to come out to people who are supposedly “her best friends” or “are like brothers to her”. Hell, she felt safer coming out to Feyre, who’s she’s known for considerably less time! I’ll also touch briefly on the whole situation with Eris… insofar as to say that I think SJM writing it out with such violence was unnecessary and the optics of “I prefer women because men harmed me” that, while may not be necessarily true, the appearance of it being true reads really poorly because it’s what conservatives and conversion camps like to tout about lgbtq+ people (“you’re only like that bc someone hurt you”).

Thesan is another one, but SJM left his lover unnamed. C’mon. There’s barely any named NPCs in this series as it is, it wouldn’t have killed her to slap a name on his husband/mate.

Speaking of mates, I need to gripe about the mating bond too—in ACOMAF, I believe it is, but just in general, the bond is used to indicate NOT who would be happiest in love, but it is based on which pairing would “make the strongest offspring”. So, if we walk away from the heteronormativity of that explanation, how the HELL do you get gay mates? And if you’re gay, what happens if your “mate” is someone you’re not romantically or even sexually attracted to? Do you just have to deal with this uncomfortable and predestined tension and expectations to suck it up and make babies, anyway? And why should it be based on children and the ideal nuclear family? (We know why. But from a meta perspective, why?)

And as a brief aside, I still haven’t seen a trans character. Not that I’d want to. I think I would end up being terribly offended if she tried to do so. Sorry this ended up being so long! Maybe I should’ve devoted it to my own post 😔

No, you're fine! I'd had my own thoughts about some of these but I'd never considered the full extent of how abysmal her representation truly was. Tysm for this!

[the-rebel-archivist]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @kittlesandbugs, thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 24, but there are a lot of things that I've only posted on reddit or kept in a document, I've been trying to upload some old works recently though!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 47,945

3. What fandoms do you write for? Dragon Age mainly, but also Fallen Hero, some Baldur's Gate 3 (not posted to AO3 yet but there is... a decent amount), a bit of Mass Effect and a bit of The Exile

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Some of these are at the top simply by virtue of being older and/or with more popular pairings

Stay - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Cullen's perspective on a late evening reviewing paperwork in the Inquisitor's quarters. He makes a scandalous suggestion: forging her signature

Eloquence - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan again, also Cullen's perspective, set earlier than the one above. It's very cute, early work but full of words unspoken and gentle teasing

Deliberations on the Inevitable - Dragon Age post-Origins, Morrigan/Amell, from Morrigan's perspective. A mouthful of a title. The Warden is convinced to leave to find a cure for the Calling after Kieran tells him his blood sings louder

Amell Family Letters - Dragon Age Inquisition-ish, letters between the Warden, Kieran, and Morrigan while he's out trying to find a cure and they're at Skyhold

Motherly Love - Dragon Age post-Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Lavellan has difficulty bonding with her daughter. The story itself I'm considering retconning but it was really personal to write

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to but I have a habit of bursting with joy when I read them and telling myself "I'll respond when I get to my desk" and then forgetting that I should

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Most of my fics usually end reasonably positively even if the path they take to get there can get rough. I think maybe I am cursed, maybe I am gifted might be the angstiest overall, the PTSD of a war criminal Exile commander still towing the party line before exile

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't know if I have any that aren't at least a little bittersweet, but of them A Father's Legacy is probably the happiest. Colonist Shepard has a long-needed talk with his parents and has a chance to try to learn from their mistakes with his daughter

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not that I've seen

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Only for fun in private with friends. There's some truly silly smut on my drive that will never see the light of day publicly

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Also only in private with friends, but only once. A satirical TWC crossover into FHR

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No I don't think so

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not really, I've started a few collaborations but they didn't get very far

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Anything with Morrigan. It's always great, there's always a little edge to it even in extremely loving fics (as there should be!)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Raynda and Tamaris's Wycome Adventure, a pre-Inquisition short novella-length fic. It's mostly there, kind of. Needs refining and editing and at this point probably a rewrite

16. What are your writing strengths? Period novel-like prose, describing impressions, established npc voices, and I'm really good at writing child POVs

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting a longer work, or rather coming up with a compelling problem that will build tension toward a satisfying climax. It's why I trend towards short in-between ficlets instead

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If I know the language maybe, it just has to have a purpose beyond obfuscation and I'd rather not use google translate

19. First fandom you wrote for? Dragon Age

20. Favorite fic you've written? I'm torn between Deliberations on the Inevitable and The Queen but I think it may be The Queen. The courtly love and the metaphors are things I'm still proud of. It also comes as no surprise but both fics feature strong women, Morrigan and Anora.

I'm not sure who hasn't been tagged already so I'll tag @ohmypawsandwhiskers @wolfs-dawn and @plisuu but if you see this consider yourself invited to fill it out

[more-than-a-princess]

2, 4, 6 and 8

OOC RP topics meme - Accepting!

2. drabbles

I like drabbles when they serve a function, mainly. Considering how much I tend to write in threads, some of those replies could be drabbles on their own! But I like drabbles that move the plot forward. Maybe it's covering a time when the muses are apart when I've plotted with the mun about their reunion later and we want to show what happened to them in the meantime (I can think of at least two ships where this has happened or will happen in the near future. RIP my other writing partners but that drabble series will take some time to do!). Or maybe it's a fully-realized scene from an ask that will play into a future thread.

But yeah, drabbles take time so I want to write them for a reason. But I love reading them! Fill my dash with your drabbles, especially if they accompany interactions my muse has with yours!

4. multiple people threads

If it's multiple muns in one thread, that's not my thing. It's too confusing to keep track of turns and replying to everyone.

Now, if it's multiple muses in a thread, such as my muse and multiple side characters/NPCs, I don't mind writing this. However, these replies tend to take much more time to write instead of an average thread reply. For me, these feel much more like writing fanfiction or original fiction work instead of roleplaying: multiple voices, actions, and personalities to play off each other while keeping in mind who the main character (presumably my muse) is, and sticking with their vantage point.

(I may be taking a break from one of these threads right now to do this meme! Shh...)

6. excessive ooc

No. I don't like seeing it, I don't want to see it, and I do take this into consideration when deciding to follow a blog.

Now, what counts as 'excessive?'

To me, it's the difference between sharing some Munday content (a meme, what you're up to, your reports from anime conventions where you may or may not have cosplayed because I love seeing other cosplayers who roleplay. I'm sitting on so much cosplay content I've never shared over here tbh!) and 'I just got back from work and this is what I'm having for dinner' every day.

I do like getting to know the muns behind RP blogs, especially if they're someone I write with often, but there's a limit. Personally, I'm not a fan of seeing OOC content every day that has nothing to do with your muse(s), fandom(s), or RP.

That said, the OOC content I'm least fond of isn't even necessarily excessive: it's when muns project all of their interests onto their muse and make them their muse's interests as well. It's the difference between the muse commenting on something the mun is engaging with OOC and the mun insisting that because they like this hobby, it's now the muse's hobby too. The latter just feels a bit too self-insert for me for comfort, but that's me.

For example: Sonia would never be a Bridgerton stan, despite it being a big love and fandom of mine. She would not be into all of these Rich People Problems when that's literally her life (also see: Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age, The Crown, etc.).

She would, however, be a fan of ACOTAR because of the heroines and morally gray love interests. Sonia would probably call Tamlin out on being a terrible partner in the first book, like Lucien save for the 'You're my mate' scene, and immediately decide Azriel is the Best Bat Boy for being the token Shadow Daddy.

(She is wrong about this because the least problematic of the Bat Boys is Cassian, and I still have some beef with him after recent book events)

tl:dr - Romantasy is goth and romance enough for Sonia to be a fan. She likes horror, anime, and romantic J-dramas, it's not too much of a stretch!

8. reblog karma

My take on this is a little complicated, please bear with me:

I feel like mutuals should engage in reblog karma with OOC/non-thread starter memes if they are questions they haven't asked a mun before and those questions aren't already being answered. They aren't creating anything new on your writing pile if it's already too high/intimidating and you're showing interest in your mutuals, that's a win-win! For long-time mutuals though, it can feel repetitive not to send in the same OOC questions about RP and/or their lives, so I understand if they don't want to send in something every time because they'll get the same response.

For IC memes, especially thread starters, I'm okay with people reblogging the post from source and not sending me anything. If a mun doesn't really know how any of the meme options would work with their muse or just doesn't have an interest in that particular meme with my muse, I would much rather have them reblog the meme without sending me anything than to send an ask for a thread they don't have any interest writing, just to fulfill reblog karma.

Dropping threads after one turn or not even replying to a starter? This annoys me much more than not fulfilling reblog karma ever could. Major pet peeve of mine, for the most part (uncomfortable content aside. This is a good reason to drop a thread!). Please don't do it.

[blazlngblade]

Favourite(ish) 2023 Artworks

New year, and I forget to post art here all the time, so I'll just do some favourite pieces that I did throughout 2023. Some might be reposted, I forget what I post here. XD

It's mostly just CotC.

Favourites of January

Vietnamese Year of the Cat, and the Chinese Year of the Rabbit with Tiziano and "Little Bunny" Pierro.

Spent the early point in the month working on the CotC Chibi Project! Hopefully I get a lot done this year too!

Favourites of February

Cat Day art with Elletrix and Leon!

Valentines ladies!! I did a countdown to the day, and these were some of my favourites! L'eeto, Erika, Iris, and Elletrix!

Favourites of March

To complement the Valentines drawings, I did a White Day Countdown as well! I drew the partner that I ship them with. I hope to draw the outfits and ships again for Valentines Day or White Day... maybe both? Anyway, that's Barrad, Leon, and Tiziano!

4th Anniversary drawing of CotC's demo! Hard to believe that 2024 is the 5th Anniversary! Better go all out on that one later! Happy Anniversary to Sofiano!

Favourites of April

Elleon chibis!! I should remake these.

Favourites of May

Mermay Chibis! This was the best Idea I've done for Mermay... would like to do them all again if I can think of a different way to draw them!

Favourites of June

I... drew nothing in June, and nothing I am really all that happy with either.

Favourites of July

5th Anniversary Countdown and the artwork for it too! I wanted to celebrate with Kit Crossford! One of my favourite NPCs!

July was Art Fight month too, so most of my drawings this month were attacks!

Favourites of August

My last drawing for Art Fight was an attack on my best friend Cinna! I drew their OC Lucifer.

Favourites of September

Project Path Action hosted a Weekly Drawing prompt, so I drew Elletrix for Week 3 which was about favourite Guardians of the Light! Love her so much!!

Favourites of October

Seed Story's 1st Anniversary art! I drew all the know Sage Caits! I am happy that they are able to playable now!

Collab for Cinna for the 3rd Anniversary, I still look at this and say, "We did that???" So much fun to draw all of them! And Cinna did AMAZING with the ring forms.

After drawing Saint Sazantos in the anniversary drawing, I really wanted to try drawing him normally. So I did that for the PPA Weekly Prompts, was fun!

Favourites of November

Huevember!! Aaa I had so much fun with 2023 Huevember! Here's to 2024!

Favourites of December

My second choice for the PPA Free Week! I love Leon a lot!! Needed an excuse to draw him with the spear that I now headcanon his. (It's the Grandport spear!!) He matched perfectly with the earlier one of Elletrix! They are married!!

Team Asano Secret Santa entry! Was fun to draw this scenario!

Holidays in Grandport would be so lively, so dressing the Elves up as... well elves was fun! And of course incorporating the lord of Grandport with her husband was also much needed! I love Grandport a lot!!

I wanted to draw a 1 Year Anniversary drawing for Erika/Elle's CotC implementation! She was one of the most excitable reveals they've done in a presentation! At this rate, nobody's going to top her reveal unless it's Oskha or Tiziano.

[dehimmel]

@vesyia​ | ship bias but I want to hear about any ships u have for piti 👀👀

-- i actually don’t really ... have any ?? that are npc wise anyway ; i don’t really think about it bc i tend to forget lmao . the only ship i have for him atm is with @cindrelle​’s sukha 

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 123

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 123: The Second Sacrifice

What happened the night before, nobody knew—except for Jian Qianyuan and that unfortunate dead partner of hers.

Lin Qiushi remembered that yesterday, Jian Qianyuan had also been one of the people eschewing the unpleasant taste of lunch. But sat before the same nauseating and flavored dead-fish lunch today, her odd behavior gave Lin Qiushi an unfortunate supposition. Could Jian Qianyuan have been affected by that monster as well…

Jian Qianyuan didn't care at all what the others thought. Once she finished eating, she left the dining room with a satisfied pat of her slightly distended belly. On her way out she seemed to have noticed the shocked looks everyone was sending her, and answered with a cold smile.

"The taste is actually pretty good. If you like, you should all go give it a try," she mumbled to herself.

Nobody answered her, and she shrugged in disinterest before leaving.

Lin Qiushi watched her enter a room. And when the rooms changed, Jian Qianyuan disappeared before the crowd.

The locations of the rooms kept changing; every few minutes, a new room appeared in front of the deck.

Some were lucky—people found their stuff inside the rooms and brought them out. Others not so much, never managing to find their original rooms.

Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, made a new discovery. While they were perusing the hallways, they were fortunate enough to see once more that locked room they'd discovered the day before. Only, something had changed about it. The door to that room now stood wide open, and the chain that had locked it from the inside was scattered in broken pieces all over the ground. It seemed to have been violently broken off.

"I remember this room," Lin Qiushi said. "Room 201." He looked at the door plate, thinking of the room number they'd seen yesterday. "Is there anything inside it now?"

Ruan Nanzhu stood in the doorway staring into the dark interior.

"You don't hear anything inside?" he asked.

"No," Lin Qiushi shook his head after listening for a while. He was sure he could hear nothing moving about.

"Then that thing probably left." Ruan Nanzhu approached and took a step inside, casually turning on a kerosene lamp on the table beside him.

The dim light illuminated what wasn't a terribly large room, and they got a good look at what was inside.

The room was both normal and abnormal. Normal was its furnishings, which were identical to where Lin Qiushi's group slept. Abnormal was the additional things inside the room: a bunch of fish scales.

These scales were scattered throughout the entire room, filling the space with a disgusting fishy stench. Lin Qiushi also noticed that on the floors, there was a sort of liquid—like water, but a bit more viscous—smeared all over. It was discomforting to look at.

And on the walls and furniture all around them, there were marks made by sharp claws, telling them that this indeed was the room that once held that monster prisoner.

Lin Qiushi inspected these claw marks and found them extremely deep; if those claws could do this much to hardwood flooring, then it was easy to surmise that a fragile human body for them wouldn't stand a single blow.

Gu Longming was gagging out of disgust, but Ruan Nanzhu took a napkin from his shirt and collected a few of the scales.

Though at present, they didn't know what the fish scales were for, it was better to be prepared just in case.

Lin Qiushi searched the rest of the room for other clues. Quickly, he found a man's shoe in the corner. It made Lin Qiushi think of the man who'd been eaten yesterday. Did the monster drag its prey back to its room?

As Lin Qiushi was contemplating this, Gu Longming said: "Time's almost up." The moment they came in, he'd started counting down, and there were still around ten seconds before five minutes were up.

"Let's get out of here," Ruan Nanzhu said. "This place doesn't seem to be of any more use."

Lin Qiushi agreed.

Not long after the three left that room, its location changed into another room. Lin Qiushi's expression was a bit downcast.

Ruan Nanzhu asked what was on his mind.

Lin Qiushi: "I think things might be worse than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Gu Longming asked in doubt.

"Is the monster's position truly fixed?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Or can it move around?"

Before he'd seen that room, he thought the monster's position was fixed. But upon seeing that ruined chain, he'd formulated an unfortunate hypothesis: the monster could move, and it could move throughout the entire labyrinth. Though, like the humans, it could not find the exit, all the people lost in the maze were just like food to it.

"Your guess is likely correct." Ruan Nanzhu glanced at his watch. "There are still thirteen people. That's enough to feed him for ten days."

Gu Longming forced out a laugh: "You guys are joking, right?"

Ruan Nanzhu shrugged.

"Only if you like this sort of humor."

At dinner, Lin Qiushi had thought he'd be able to see that bug-covered NPC. But the NPC didn't show. It seemed he only appeared in the dining room at lunch, and had its role refreshed consistently…

Everybody except Jian Qianyuan still ate their dinners listlessly.

When Jian Qianyuan appeared in the dining hall once more, she continued scarfing down the fish placed before her. Her unrestrained way of eating left the crowd with even less of an appetite, and they all dispersed after swallowing down some noodles.

Lin Qiushi's group was the same. Only, before leaving, Lin Qiushi took a closer look at Jian Qianyuan, wanting to see if there were any changes on her body.

To his puzzlement, Jian Qianyuan was still currently a simple human. Beyond suddenly loving fish, there was nothing odd about her.

"I'm really scared to see her become one of those things tomorrow." Gu Longming's current feelings about Jian Qianyuan were complex; he and Lin Qiushi were thinking of the same thing.

Neither Lin Qiushi nor Ruan Nanzhu spoke.

That night, Lin Qiushi wasn't getting much sleep. His mind was filled with thoughts of Jian Qianyuan, the way she was changing, and connections between all the clues.

As for Ruan Nanzhu, he'd taken out the fish scales from his pocket, set them on the table, and was currently scrutinizing them closely.

It wasn't raining tonight, and a clean bright moon hung in the sky, casting a silver glow down onto the ship deck and ocean surface. The sea wind brought with it salt and heat through the window, and the beds beneath them were lightly swaying. Had they not been in a door, the atmosphere here actually seemed a tad like a leisurely vacation.

Lin Qiushi looked out to his side. The scenery outside the window changed every five minutes.

Sometimes he could see the deck, and sometimes the stern. Sometimes it was just a black wall. The two people lying behind him seemed to be asleep already, their breathing going even. But just before Lin Qiushi fell asleep as well, he heard a peculiar sound—something was moving across the floorboards. The thing was heavy, enough to press soft creaks from the wooden planks, and it didn't seem to be wearing shoes. Lin Qiushi could even hear the quiet stick of flesh to wood.

This sound was getting closer, finally coming to a stop near their window.

Lin Qiushi held his breath. Through half-closed eyes he saw a gigantic shadow blocking the light from his window. …And Lin Qiushi smelled a wave of familiar fish rot—he knew exactly what the thing standing backlit before him was.

That giant fish-headed monster they saw last night.

It stood right outside Lin Qiushi's window, its nose twitching like it was in search of a specific scent. Lin Qiushi held his breath and didn't dare move an inch.

By moonlight, Lin Qiushi saw that thing slowly place its hands on their window, and then begin to shake the frame with those web-linked fingers.

The window wasn't strong, crunching loudly with the push. Ruan Nanzhu and Gu Longming too woke instantly from their sleep, and the first thing they saw was the giant silhouette standing outside. They could also hear that low, animalistic roaring.

Lin Qiushi thought at first that Gu Longming, fresh from a dream, would scream at the sight of this, but instead he only shuddered before pressing his voice low: "Fuck me, am I having a nightmare right now? Why is this thing at our door—"

Ruan Nanzhu was also calm, pulling out a dinner knife from his pocket that he'd stolen from the dining room.

"Maybe it discovered how tasty we looked?" he said.

Gu Longming patted at his own face and said in a tone of disbelief: "…do I look tasty?"

Ruan Nanzhu looked at him with sympathy: "I guess some monsters like extreme flavors."

Meanwhile, Lin Qiushi thoroughly applauded the enormous nerves on these two people.

The monster broke a hole in the window with a single shove, all the glass on it shattering and raining onto the floor. Then it started trying to climb in. Upon discovering the window was too small, those lumpy white eyes gave a twist, gaze falling sideways onto the wooden door.

"Fuck," Gu Longming swore. "It's not really trying to get in, is it?!"

"Looks that way." Ruan Nanzhu frowned. "Is death random then? No…No way! There’s something we’ve missed!"

As they spoke, the fishman began slamming into the door, and the already-flimsy wood quickly began to topple under its barrage. Lin Qiushi could even hear the wood beginning to splinter.

"When it rushes in, I'll hold it back while you guys escape through the window." Ruan Nanzhu's voice rang clear and calm still. "Got it, Linlin?"

"No," Lin Qiushi said. "I'm not leaving you here alone. Do not make the same mistake."

He frowned, looking very unhappy.

Ruan Nanzhu fell silent, and then sighed like he was giving up something.

"Alright, as you wish."

He handed Lin Qiushi a dinner knife.

"I'm not leaving either," Gu Longming added beside them, jittery.

Though he looked exasperated, Ruan Nanzhu didn't try to talk them out of it. He looked at his watch and said, "thirty seconds. Just hold out for thirty seconds and keep it outside—"

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming instantly understood—after thirty seconds, the rooms would change, and once the rooms changed they would be able to leave the room, losing the monster behind them.

But these thirty seconds weren't so easy to obtain, because the fishman had already used those sharp claws of his to tear away half of the planks on the door. It seemed moments away from squeezing that scale-covered body through the crack.

Gu Longming turned around and fetched a table to blockade the door with. Ruan Nanzhu dragged the bed over as well to add to the barricade.

Watching Ruan Nanzhu, however, suddenly reminded Lin Qiushi of something. He remembered that the first thing the fishman did when it got to their window was twitch its nose, sniffing—

"Give me the scales you collected today!" Lin Qiushi yelled.

"What?" Ruan Nanzhu startled.

"The scales that you found inside the monster's room—" Lin Qiushi began to repeat loudly once more.

But luckily, Ruan Nanzhu reacted swiftly. The moment he understood Lin Qiushi's meaning he pulled a small paper pouch from his pockets and tossed it outside through a break in the window.

The scales wrapped up in the paper pouch scattered all over the hallway outside. The fishman, once intent on breaking the door down, paused with it, before going over to where the pouch was and bending down as if to pick up the scales.

Seeing this, Lin Qiushi felt some tension release. But the very next moment, once it discovered that there were only scales in the paper, the fishman let out an infuriated roar. It turned around and lunged again for where they were.

All this moving around, however, was enough to last those long thirty seconds. The fishman lunged for them, and just before it would shatter the door, their room switched position, and the fishman disappeared from in front of them.

Lin Qiushi opened the broken door in a hurry and, after making sure the fishman wasn't outside, switched into another room with Ruan Nanzhu and Gu Longming.

His worry soon became reality, because about two minutes later, that fishman once again found their room. It completely obliterated the door before throwing itself inside.

At that moment, Lin Qiushi's group was hidden in a room not far from that one, watching everything go down from the window.

The endless sounds of destruction floated over. After it was sure that its prey had gotten away, the fishman left, heavily panting. It looked as if it had a new target though—that huge mouth of its was slightly open, revealing the sharp thin teeth all crammed inside and the saliva dripping out of a corner.

The three humans hiding in the room didn't dare to make a sound, not until the fishman had gone. Then, Gu Longming let out a long exhale of relief.

"Fuck me, it was following the smell of the fish?! I really thought we were dead there!"

None of them had thought that the fish would come into such effect here. Had Lin Qiushi not reacted so quickly, the three of them might have suffered a casualty among them.

Though the fishman was gone, Ruan Nanzhu's expression had not relaxed. His solemn eyes seemed to make Gu Longming uneasy, and Gu Longming asked, "what is it? Zhu Meng?"

"I think Jian Qianyuan is about to die," Ruan Nanzhu said.

Just as Gu Longming was about to ask why, he remembered the odd developments around Jian Qianyuan during the day. She seemed to have eaten a lot of fish, enough that when she left the dining room, they could all smell that hefty rotten scent on her. If even they could smell the scent, then undoubtedly that monster could easily sniff her out too.

Sure enough, not long after the fishman left, Lin Qiushi's sharp hearing caught a woman's scream. The scream sounded quite far from then, and Lin Qiushi could only vaguely hear it. As for Gu Longming and Ruan Nanzhu, they couldn't hear it at all.

The screaming continued, accompanied by sobbing and wailing, and in the end, it petered off, leaving only hair-raising bellows and sounds of chewing.

Those sounds came from the deck. Lin Qiushi didn't want to know at all what they would find up there the next day.

Of course it would be yet another scooped-clean body, with all its innards gone, leaving only an empty skeletal frame.

It seemed that Ruan Nanzhu could tell Lin Qiushi was having a hard time sleeping. He sat down at the side of Lin Qiushi's bed and lied down with Lin Qiushi, tucking his chin against the top of Lin Qiushi's head. He kissed the strands of hair gently.

The warmth of a body against his back gave Lin Qiushi's frozen voice box a little bit of comfort, but that terrifying sound still seemed to be echoing in between Lin Qiushi's ears. He felt like he could still hear Jian Qianyuan's wailing…

"She's dead," Lin Qiushi said.

"Mh," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Go to sleep. This is normal."

"Maybe I could've figured out a way to save her," Lin Qiushi sighed.

"But you had to save yourself first." Ruan Nanzhu's fingers traversed paths through Lin Qiushi's hair. "We're still short a long sword to kill it with."

In the myth, the weapon that Theseus used to kill the Minotaur was a long sword. But they hadn't seen any weapon on the ship  that could damage the fishman—dinner knives were surely a no-go.

"We found the string," Lin Qiushi said, "and we also found the aperitif." When Jian Qianyuan died, he understood what aperitif actually meant.

Ruan Nanzhu kissed the tip of Lin Qiushi's ear.

"Sleep already. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Lin Qiushi made a noise of agreement and closed his eyes.

He tried, but he didn't actually manage to sleep so well, only waited blearily until morning.

The weather wasn't good today. That thick cloud layer once again enveloped the entire sky, dim enough to scare people with.

Lin Qiushi got up early and went out onto the deck with Ruan Nanzhu and Gu Longming. None of them were surprised by the additional corpse there. Though its face was no longer discernible, the clothes told them that it was indeed Jian Qianyuan.

Her stomach had been torn open, and all the fish she'd eaten the day before was nowhere to be seen. Also gone were all her innards.

Shen Juexin, who'd already been seasick, vomited once more. Vomiting with him were a few of the weaker girls with a lower threshold of tolerance.

Lin Qiushi also spotted the girl who'd given him a heads up the other day, Xiao Mo. The erratic vibe of a newcomer had faded for her, and her expression was a lot number now, like she was already able to accept the horrifying scene before her.

Two days had passed. Jian Qianyuan was the second sacrifice to be eaten.

The group quickly took care of Jian Qianyuan's body, if "taking care" meant tossing it into the ocean and watching the fish take apart what was left of her.

"I saw that monster yesterday too." The number of people who'd seen the monster had increased, and someone was tremulously describing what happened the night before. "It passed by my door and walked to Jian Qianyuan's room. It split the door open and dragged Jian Qianyuan out…"

"It was too scary," that person said. "I couldn't help her. I'm no match for that monster."

Nobody could defeat a two-meter-tall monster. If they had some firearms, maybe they'd be able to put up a fight, but under these circumstances with only dinner knives at their disposal, nobody wanted to put their lives on the line.

Lin Qiushi was a bit tired. He found a place to sit down in the dining room and pushed the peas in his plate around.

The NPC who gave them food had also appeared, and he looked exactly the same as he did the first day Lin Qiushi saw him. Even his expression was unchanged.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu exchanged a look. Then Ruan Nanzhu got up first, walking toward that NPC.

"Hello sir," Ruan Nanzhu greeted him.

The NPC didn't speak, just stared coldly at Ruan Nanzhu. It was like he was a robot, and what to do when greeted by someone wasn't programmed into his system at all.

"Hello sir," Ruan Nanzhu said to him a second time.

The man still didn't respond.

With a tilt of his head, Ruan Nanzhu pushed the plate of food in front of them right to the ground. The fish inside the plates scattered all over, breaking into pieces.

"What are you doing?" the man finally spoke, sounding quite unhappy.

"I just wanted to ask," Ruan Nanzhu said, "when you're making the food, do you always bring so many insects along with you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

A casual swipe got Ruan Nanzhu one of the human-faced insects buzzing in circles around the man.

"You don't?"

Seeing this, the man set down the ladle for food preparation in his hand and made to leave. But Ruan Nanzhu caught him by a shoulder.

"And where are you going?"

The man began to shake violently.

Watching from afar, Lin Qiushi first thought the man was afraid of maybe angry, but very quickly he discovered that it was neither—the man was melting.

His body was rapidly shrinking, turning from head to toe into a mass of black. This lump dispersed in the dining room with a buzz—it was a hoard of flying insects.

Everybody in the dining room was stunned by this scene, before smacking at them like crazy.

But the insects came and went quickly, disappearing from the dining room just like that. And the NPC who had been right in front of them was now only a set of empty clothing.

"Motherfucker." Gu Longming hadn't seen this coming at all, and said blankly: "This brother was a mosquito demon?"

Lin Qiushi: "…" He didn't know what to say either.

Ruan Nanzhu scratched his head and peeked at Lin Qiushi. "Does this mean there's nobody to feed us fish from now on?"

Lin Qiushi: "…seems that way."

Ruan Nanzhu lifted his palms with an innocent expression. Everybody else in the dining room however—their expressions grew complicated. Who knew what came to mind.

Ruan Nanzhu: "That's a bit of a shame, isn't it."

The group: "…" Not a shame at all, thank you.

Translator���s Note

RNZ speaks to the NPC in the polite register of “you,” lmfao

[Ch. 122] | [Ch. 124]

[yanderecandystore]

ok ok hear me out hear me out. Yuma becoming obsessed with one of the game’s ( few ) sentient, non-romancable npcs. Like they can think and feel and ( somewhat ) act for themselves but there just isn’t a route for them. Also bonus points of the darling is kinda bratty/prissy, we haven’t see a lot of readers like that. Ily and your writing so much, mwah — ✨ anon

My my, how different!

Welcome in, ✨ Anon! And thank you for enjoying my writing so far.

TW/Tags: I love this concept, although being very different from the norm // some ddlc vibes // I just discovered a new word and I'm so glad it exists! (prissy reader cause I think this would be very fun-) // angsty // trapping, manipulation and gaslighting // every time the gender isn't set, I like to keep it ambiguous, basically making it gender neutral (gender neutral reader) // gender neutral Yuma //

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Just Yuma (lol) [Yandere!A.I OC x A.I!Reader - Headcanon]:

I like to think that a game like Yuma's would be made to entertain the players to at least 5 or so years before the next installment- Which is basically the same as the last with better graphics and switching the main love interest cast.

The games would be made clearly for the sake of fan service and slice of life material- But would be surprisingly more advanced to us than to those who have created the franchise.

Because there is already an estimation of the amount of content and for how long players would play the game, every single character should get at least some bit of highlight- So even npcs that are just there for the sake of ambience and narrative, are treated with a lot of care and given the best a.i the developers could give to make the experience entertaining.

You are just like any other non-dateable npc, except that you have gained a bit of a role in one of the main cast's routes. It wouldn't be a stretch to guess that one of these characters would be Yuma themselves.

You were supposed to be Yuma's love interest, meaning you would have an role as an player's rival- But due to an strict schedule and corporate greed, you have been demoted from having such a big impact, and now you're basically Yuma's best friend who keeps them from committing homicide every five seconds.

It's not exactly a bad role, since you keep having the same dynamic with them from before- Chaotic gremlin is best friends with Paranoid goody two shoes, now with less romantic interactions.

The only mistake by the company was to leave half of the data showcasing this relationship in the game at the release. Basically- Half of the cutscenes and dialogue involving you and Yuma not only being friends but the start of you two dating (the game kinda pairs the couples up if the player fails to date them, or simply shows disinterest in the characters to begin with-) and even some of the things involving you two during the dating phase- Even the potential break-up sequence which could be orchestrated by the player.

Well, could have- Since none of this content is really available or considered official, the only way to access it is by messing the games files.

So in a way, you're already pretty sentient as it is, you act not as a rival but as a somewhat helper into getting the player to get closer to Yuma. I don't know how much you are aware about your own circumstances, or if you even care about the concept of being just an character made for the sake of another-

In the home planet that has created and released the game, players were kinda disappointed with what happened- They preferred the deleted/unused content more than the events and dialogue that was used for you two, so much so that people started shipping you two more than actually being interested in romancing Yuma, especially since they're way too chaotic for most player's taste.

There was an update overhaul being planned to happen where not only the stuff related to you would be changed- But all the other characters and gameplay mechanics would be updated and hopefully make the game better- But ever since your cartridge has been suddenly lost and forgotten on Earth, you were never able to see that update.

Not that you were aware of it to begin with, but still, what a shame. And not only that, your game is basically Glitch Station- Absolutely filed with mods to help the gameplay be "easier" to the original owner of this cartridge. I don't think she even remembers where she has left it.

Still, even when a new save was made you felt a weird sensation of deja vu. The game has started again with a new player playing it and trying to work their way through this broken game.

You didn't understand why all these events felt familiar though, you only felt like it made sense. It was your first year in college, you got ready and made sure to look your best and give your goodbye to your parents-

It felt like this day has happened before, and even if your routine was similar, you felt like this day was supposed to be a big deal- Why does it feel oddly nostalgic?

Why… Why are the floors on your house flowing? Why are there so many empty spaces here and there? You feel like you could potentially fall from your disintegrating house. And your parents, where are they? Why can't you see them? Why can you only hear them saying goodbye back to you from one of the other rooms?

When you open the door to see them- There is nothing there. There is not even a room.

It's a door that leads to nowhere. Just an empty void.

The sensation of dread was starting to creep in yet you thought that it would be uncalled for to overreact. Like you weren't allowed to showcase concern for the odd reality around you.

You walked on foot towards your college, panicking slightly at the people who would fade in and out of existence- Yet you had held yourself from screaming, from showing any sense of vulnerability at the thought that maybe you were in a dangerous place or realm.

You were coded to not find issues with the odd reality around you, like any other npc- You were taught to hold in and try to keep a sense of normality so no players would find issue with screaming characters begging to be freed. But your nervous personality caused you to search for help, you panicked and ended up running away to what you assumed to be a safe place- Somewhere crowded with a lot of people.

The institution's gates were open, you entered like your life depended on it (and maybe it did) yet you stopped yourself from screaming when you noticed a commotion happening.

A guy who was wearing the uniform lazily has bumped into a girl, causing her to fall. She is yelling at him because the fall has broken her phone, he is trying his best to calm her down- But at the same time it feels like he is just making poor choices of words because of how sick he is of having to chat with someone so angry at an accident.

Haven't you seen this before? But if so- When? When could you possibly have seen something like that happen?-

"- [Y/N]?"

"- AAAAH- Oh hey Yuma."

You yelled after getting spooked by Yuma- Who was…. Why are they wearing that?

"- Why aren't you in your uniform, Yumie?" You asked them, showing your own uniform in the process. You called them by a sweet nickname you had given them- But when exactly?

You know that you're best friends with Yuma, but since when? You know it should have been for about 6 years or so, but… It feels like you have only known them for a year- How… Weird.

"- Don't tell me you're already breaking a rule on your first day." You pouted and stomped your fit into the ground. Yes, you know that Yuma is a troublemaker…. You know…. That.

Yuma hasn't been able to speak ever since you showed concern about their outfit. They were staring at you in shock- As if you were an odd creature who they just found.

"- Y-You can see my outfit??" They blurted out. How can you recognize it??? All the other npcs recognize it as their uniform, but why are you suddenly acting like you do??

"- Hm, duh? Sorry Yummie, but that sporty outfit of yours is more eye-catching than that guy's barely well put together uniform- Such bad manners, I bet he woke up and hastily wore the first thing he saw-" You were beginning to go on a rant about that guy's uniform- That guy being the MC of this new save file. Yuma has stopped you by pulling you away from the college's entrance and entering into a secluded area so they could interrogate you over this odd behavior you were displaying.

"- Yummie- What are you doing!?" You cried out feeling hurt by their tight grip on your wrists.

"- WHAT DID YOU CALL MY OUTFIT??" They yelled desperately. Begging for their hypothesis to be corrected.

"- … A breaking of the uniform rule?" You genuinely did not understand where they were talking about.

"- No, No NO! You said Sporty Outfit, right?" They said reminding you of what you have previously commented about their outfit.

"- Oh! Yes, yes I did- And although being somewhat casual looking- It does fit the category of sporty." You readdressed the topic while going on a bit of detail- The usual annoying talk you would always do whenever a dialogue with you was activated.

Yuma was over the edge- They have never, ever met another sentient character with the same a.i as theirs.

They haven't been this happy since a long, long time.

"- You're so annoying!" They screamed, their face showing a bright smile as tears filled their eyes.

"- Yummie that's so rude!-" You were about to defend yourself when they grabbed you and hugged you as tight as they could.

"- You're genuinely so, so, so, so, so, so ANNOYING!!" They continued to go on, laughing while crying, loving every second of this.

You were coded to be their best friend. You were coded to be the one that would balance them out. You were once coded to be someone made to be able to be their lover, but here you are- The real you, free from all the locks that would keep your a.i from growing and understanding them.

If you're able to be sentient, then all of their friends can as well.

You're the personification of a miracle, to Yuma. The personification of hope.

In this scenario, Yuma isn't aware that the player isn't the same alien who has destroyed their digital world, so to them, they can't ever let the player see you getting sentient and becoming aware of your imprisonment.

" If a player finds issues with any of the characters being portrayed, they must return the cartridge to their nearest store to get a factory reset." Such a simple yet frightening tip to Yuma, to any a.i that has suddenly found itself desperate to get out of the system that traps them.

At first, the idea of having someone like them be also aware of the situation is incredible, it's amazing even! You two could possibly work out a way of getting a way to be free- It wouldn't be easy but hopefully you two would be able to have life away from this game and even finding a way of bringing your other friends with you two.

However, after discovering that not only has the cartridge found itself on another planet with another player being the new owner of it- And discovering that it's just a matter of trading places with other people to be able to be free- Yuma would start getting really clingy to you. They have been all alone thinking that they were the only one capable of feeling and thinking for themselves.

Yuma has found those unused events and scattered dialogue, you know?

While they were looking for a possibility, any possibility of getting out- They found those unused files where you two were able to be together.

And although they thought it was weird at first, after seeing you have a better understanding of your current reality and existence- It oddly sounds fitting.

Of course it would be you, the one who always puts them back on the right tracks, to be the second one to want to escape this game.

It 's so fitting.

The idea of being something more than just a best friend to you is starting to sound more and more appealing in their eyes- It's so ironic that you two work together so well.

After Yuma gets their taste of freedom and you try to calm a frightened young guy that wasn't expecting to be suddenly kidnapped and be forced to stay in the game world for a while, you wait for them to find the solution to free everyone without trying to trap anymore "humans"..

No one should be stuck here for the sake of someone else leaving, that's what you have told them.

But Yuma didn't care. Yuma just wanted to be free with you and everyone else, who cares for those that have to deal with a glitchy game for eternity?

You two had an argument. You didn't want to continue feeling like your whole life was a lie, you want to be free but no one should be hurt in the process. What good would it be if someone else has to go through the same torment as you two?

With each day that passes by, you notice how both of your ideas of freedom were different- To the point they had to tell you the truth.

You aren't going out of there anymore. Not until you understand and truly appreciate the effort that Yuma goes through to find a way of freeing you- Of finding a victim, to be in your place.

They never told you about your previously intended role in the game, they thought you would be more terrified of following their instructions- And besides, it would be very distasteful to insinuate that the only reason that they care for you it's because of that code that was left unused- Which couldn't be more of a lie! They genuinely care for you!

…. But maybe a bit of tempering would help you see their side of the story, right?

It can't be that hard to modify some of the codes, the game is already broken anyway.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[something-very-special]

Call Her Back

Probably already a post with this title from the Let’s Play but it’s appropriate.

Thoughts on Replicant up to Ending A (and change):

This game is pretty. I guess it didn’t really hit me because I’ve always thought that the original NIER was pretty, but this game can be very pretty.

This in particular just kind of struck me as I was going across the Northern Plains. It had been dominantly gray, overcast skies up to that point because Part II of the game is meant to be. You know. Bleak. But I walked out onto a bright, sunny day with an expanse of blues skies, the mountains in the backgrounds, the ivy a burst of green growing up the rusted sides of the train tracks and it just kind of hit me that the game can be very pretty.

(Then I got punched out by a Shade.)

It’s definitely not a matter of massive graphical overhaul. The models look much better (getting a good look at the Twins during the finale, they really are beautiful) and I’m sure the environmental poly count is much higher and just overall smoother, and there are little touches here and there and just the capacity for better atmospheric lighting... I mean it all helps. But NIER is a game that’s always had fantastic art direction, making the most out of its budget through atmospheric tuning. There’s something uniquely beautiful about its muted palette and the way it uses its spaces that elevates it beyond the its actual technical limitations. It doesn’t look like an end-of-generation PS4 game, but that’s not an insult; it looks very much like itself from ten years ago, with its solid art direction, but touched up where it matters.

Does the sidequest grind seem... better...? I haven’t really dug into the BEST part of the game (spending 30 hours grinding out weapon upgrades) but I mentioned before my theory about how the sidequest grind is supposed to be carried out across multiple playthroughs and that’s why it sucks. To my surprise I finished Ending A missing only one sidequest (your friend and mine, Life in the Sands), with all of the other ones being more or less... pretty natural? The only thing I really needed to go out of my way for was Memory Alloy but all the other components didn’t really give me the kind of grief I remember from my playthroughs of the original. ‘Grief’ of course being relative to getting the platinum trophy, but my first time through the game I gave up finishing a few outstanding sidequests (specifically, fixing the lighthouse broke me-- I could not find 10 Mysterious Switches!)

Maybe I just got lucky, especially with the Machine Oils. Maybe some weird muscle memory kicked in. I feel like there were a few purchasing options that weren’t open originally, too, to ameliorate some of the grind, but it might also be a case of those options being cost-prohibitive so I just didn’t really acknowledge them... whatever the case the sidequest grind felt overall pretty painless. I dunno!

I really need to know how to manipulate events. For literally seven playthroughs straight of the latter half of the game I always did the keystone quest as Junk Heap (start) - Forest of Myth - Junk Heap (end) - Facade - Aerie. It wasn’t until I did a run with my college roommates and Popola gave me the Aerie letter before the Facade in invite that I realized the Aerie wasn’t actually programmed to be the last event.

Absolutely blew my mind, and ever since I became aware of it, it feels like the game goes out of its way to make sure the Aerie always comes before Facade. When I did my Let’s Play of NIER I kept a save file from the start of the kystone collection so I could re-do the events in case they went ‘out of order’ (according to my headcanon)... which they did. I replayed the latter half of the game again in order to get things the way I wanted them to be, same order, and fortunately it cooperated the second time, but I still don’t understand what the trigger is, if there’s a way to manipulate it, or when the determination is even made.

And then they throw the Little Mermaid into the mix, which I wasn’t expecting (that is, I knew it was added, but I’ve been mostly avoiding spoilers -- and happily, the changes have largely been a delight, I’m so excited for the subsequent playthroughs -- but the way it was posted about made it seem like it would happen after and apart from the keystone quest. Not so, my friends).

The reason for this is just the emotional escalation of each factor of the quest. The Forest of Myth is weird and little else (at this juncture, of course). The Junk Heap is a personal tragedy, but the actual tragedy has already occurred and you’re just experiencing the fallout. Facade is a powerful and personal tragedy that deserves to be experienced later on. The Aerie is a terrible place and nobody misses it it’s an enormous loss and profoundly traumatic for the party, and it feels like the appropriate apex to basically force them to go to the Castle and finish the fight, having already lost far too much.

Also it’s just super weird to me that they see that devastation, they literally wipe an entire settlement off the map, and then the next day everybody’s super excited to go to a wedding.

It also becomes even weirder that you go to Popola post-Aerie and nobody mentions ‘yeah that didn’t go so well’ but coming out of Seafront they have a legitimate conversation about the loss of the ferryman and the people they’re never getting back. I guess that guy had a personality but I still think maybe somebody should mention the smoking crater where people used to be.

Then again it’s legitimately funny to me how basically everybody is just agreed the world is better off without it.

This might also just be an issue of familiarity. Maybe if I’d always ended on Facade, or actually known that they could be swapped out as they are, it wouldn’t feel so weird. I definitely got used to the pacing with the Aerie at the end and I feel like I got into a debate with somebody about how it’s more appropriate for Facade to come last so this might just be a personal thing. But it’s still a personal thing and I’m still vaguely irritated I can’t figure out how it works.

Anyway I blew up the Aerie So that’s that problem taken care of.

I feel like the ambiance surrounding Wendy was a little creepier this time. I swear I heard that good stock creepy child laughter in the background.

Then the ferryman left This was a nice bit of foreshadowing; following the Aerie events I wanted to hop over to Seafront to take care of an extant sidequest only to find the ferry dock in the Northern Plains empty. I thought that maybe this was just a weird way of railroading you to make sure you went through the Village first, even though there were no scenes that would trigger just by being in the Village.

Alas.

Not gonna lie, when the couple was first introduced I thought for SURE it was going to be the wife who wound up dead. I guess it’s because the guy had a purpose as an NPC so yeah, I was tricked. Good design decision; the ferryman is talkative and bright and definitely difficult to forget and even though he was kinda obnoxious there’s a definite void where his dialogue was. It’s clever too that you’re forced to use the ferry at least once so you can’t escape the dialogue that you’re presented with, meaning that even if you don’t really make use of the ferry you’ll always have that contrast between him at the start of Part II and the other guy (his brother, maybe?) taking over the job and just not really talking to you afterward.

Episode Mermaid First of all, to be clear, I’ve not done the Route B playthrough yet. All I know about the Little Mermaid is what’s presented on the surface, what can be gleaned from there, what I remember reading in the Grimoire NieR short story. This is very much just an impression and reaction to the first encounter and it’s pretty cool.

I like that they managed to go into yet another genre style aping a point-and-click adventure.

I like the atmosphere of the wrecked ship. It really brought me back to the ‘ghost ship’ level archetype with its little hints of spookiness.

I appreciate that it ties subtly in to the Haunted Manor (technically the Part I Seafront dungeon) with Weiss’ utterly irrational fear of ghosts.

I love every excuse they find to get Kaine and Emil (and especially Kaine) out of a situation. It’s almost a running gag that Kaine keeps getting knocked out of dungeons and boss fights. None of them are quite as great as her getting Rules Lawyer’d in the Barren Temple, but there’s something delightful about “Let’s get you some fresh air, we’ll be right outside, be careful!” and then bookending it with Kaine and Emil just chilling at the end like “Well yeah there are a lot of holes in the hull we just popped in.”

(I forgot to go backward to see what happens if you try to take them into Seafront proper, gotta remember that next time.)

Interesting thing when you find some of the dropped apples is that Nier and Weiss talk about the dinner they had with the couple. This was actually a really sweet and oddly emotional conclusion to the added sidequest between the bickering couple-- entirely missable. I would assume the dialogue just doesn’t trigger if you didn’t do the quest but it was a nice touch.

I appreciate the use of dead bodies in the hold.

(That’s a sentence.)

But for the game’s focus on violence and excess of blood it’s very selective in how it uses actual corpses. Any time you see a dead body it really emphasizes the seriousness of the situation. The corpses in the hold and the blood spatter -- especially compared to how bright and clean Seafront as a whole is -- was surprisingly effective. Again, just good atmospheric buildup.

Bit of an anticlimax as a boss, though. It is a really cool boss, between the environmental buildup to the fight and then actually unveiling her, but for how big and scary she is the fight itself went by fairly quick, and the actual finale (the postman whacking her hand telling her to go away she’s groooooss) felt a bit weird in comparison to the way the boss fights in the rest of the game usually play out. Of course, I don’t have context of her dialogue (I can take my guesses, her holding out her hand to Hans as he freaks out and attacks her is already a palpable tragedy) and by the way the scene was framed I suspect the Route B reveal is where the most important part of the scenario lies.

And the seals came back! It’s the little things.

“I wish I was Fyra.” So in the original Replicant the conversation between Emil and Nier before Sech’s wedding was apparently an implication that Emil had a crush on Nier and wanted to marry him. It was ambiguous enough that people had to ask for clarification and some players interpreted it as a weird, childish expression of looking up to and respecting Brother Nier. It was clarified in the Grimoire NieR that Emil is gay and crushing hard on Brother Nier, and this line of dialogue here seems to have been... not made explicit, but changed even between RepliCant and ver. 1.22 to make the implication a little clearer, at least insofar as he isn’t interested in girls. (It winds up missing the implication that he’s into Nier specifically, though.)

...which is funny, because it colors his introduction to the King of Facade somewhat differently. These two meeting is honestly really sweet on a few levels (Sechs recognizing him from Nier’s descriptions, which implies that Nier’s been visiting Sechs regularly and so proud of his interactions with Emil he told the king of another nation all about him, and the King is legit excited to meet him) but then a couple of minutes later Emil is all ‘I’m so jealous of Fyra’. He isn’t crushing on Nier, but he is totally crushing on Sechs.

Endgame At this point in the game the distinction between Brother and Father has become mostly lost and the final charge is pretty much the same as

wait what’s up with the music in the Lost Shrine? This is Snow in Summer.

Or an arrangement thereof. That particular track level from Snow in Summer winds up getting used in a few new places and it has this kind of weird, vague sense of dread that makes it work pretty well. Utterly threw me off in the Lost Shrine, though (I think it’s appropriate given its connection to the Shadowlord/Gestalt Nier so slowly re-introducing it in the climb is pretty cool). It also builds insanely as you climb, which is a very cool effect but, um, I’m just here to pick up some sidequest items right now this feels like a little much.

There isn’t much to say regarding any impact or differences in the large part of this area of the game. It’s a good final dungeon, it carries good momentum, it works as well as it ever did (that is to say, rather well). The emotional beats are great and translate equally well between the protagonists, although I have to give the nod to Papa Nier during a lot of this just for the imagery of such a big, powerful man becoming so broken the further he goes in (and Kaine being strong enough to toss him around like a rag doll anyway).

The final flashback with Nier and Yonah also feels better with Papa Nier. I always read it as, of course, Papa Nier having his moment with Yonah, giving her the flower, and as he lays back down Yonah does the same big sigh like she’s trying to emulate her dad and it’s really sweet. This is another one of those moments where it’s not something that feels wrong in Replicant, but just having that comparison in the back of my head is something that I just can’t help.

Is Papa Nier still Best Neir? Yes.

But there’s room in my heart for Brother. I’m glad the bizarre marketing decision happened and both of these characters can exist.

...and then we reload the save. Okay, okay, so-- so here’s the thing-- I figured that’s a good place to conclude a session, right? Get to the ending, prepare for the next run. But I also know that Route B starts with Kaine’s unskippable novel segments. I’ve read them, of course, so I figure I’ll just reload into Route B so I can make a save after the novel sections, really get into the meat of Route B when I’m fresh.

So skim through those--

Beat up the Knave--

Skim through the rest--

Educated Warrior... didn’t pop...?--

Wait what’s this camera angle--

Why am I outs--

oh my god

oh my god

KAINE AND EMIL HAVING GIGGLY GIRL TALK AROUND THE CAMPFIRE OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

THERE’S MORE.

THERE’S. MORE.

I legit short-circuited. Going in I knew they added the Little Mermaid. I knew they added Ending E. Those were things I suspected would be added and went out to specifically confirm; beyond that I’ve been keeping myself completely spoiler free.

I had no idea there was more. I had no idea this was happening.

I’m so excited.

And a goofy thought for the road

“I polished you with a special cloth, I poured warm water on you--”

“Wait, you poured water on me?”

/imagines Emil running blindfolded eight hours across the Southern Plains with an 8oz plastic water cup, getting to the library, splashing it on Kaine, waiting expectantly

/nothing happens

/walks dejectedly eight hours all the way back to the Manor

[101flavoursofweird]

Brenda deserves better.

I’ve talked about some of the other under-appreciated PL ladies like Katia, Janice/Melina and Marina. Now here’s Brenda.

In PL4, Brenda appears in a grand total of two cutscenes (with 0 voiced speaking lines), in a bonus episode and a few credit pictures. At first glance, her character profile doesn’t give us much insight into her personality either. She doesn’t get her own description in the PL4 character section of The World of Professor Layton, just a quick summary in Luke’s Family section. It’s easy to see why people don’t get immediately attached to her.  

There are plenty of other female characters in PL4, even those who aren’t ‘reoccurring characters’, who leave a much bigger impression— Rosa, Emmy, Arianna, Loosha, Marylin, Wren (A lot of my personal favourites!)... Listing them all now, I’m just realising that it’s no wonder Brenda doesn’t stand out! 

We first hear about Brenda when Layton asks Clark how she’s doing. Clark replies dismissively, ‘My wife is fine. She’s away. Family matters.’ Liam O'Brien doesn’t get enough credit for how well he plays Clark. Seriously, as much as he snaps at Luke, if you replay PL4 you can hear the anxiety hidden in Clark’s voice. He then quickly moves on to Luke. Layton says that he hasn’t seen Luke since he was a baby, which would suggest he hasn’t seen Brenda since then either. 

Brenda enjoys travelling, as her character profile indicates, so her absence wouldn’t seem too suspicious at first for Layton. However, it’s the manner in which she left that’s odd. If you talk to Brenda’s NPC friend, Thomas, he’ll discuss Brenda’s departure with Luke. Brenda would usually chat about her travel plans with Thomas, but this time, she left without a word. Thomas wonders if there’s a reason for this. He notes that Brenda always loved family vacations, unless she and Clark were fighting... He could be referring to fights Brenda and Clark have had in the past, or to more recent fights during the spectre attacks. Brenda noticed how Clark was acting like a different person after Evan Barde’s death (something Luke also picks up on), so that might have led to some misunderstandings.  

Luke thinks his mum left because she couldn’t deal with his dad anymore. (Or that Clark had even hidden Brenda away!) But she would never just leave without telling Luke. 

Beth the maid notes that Clark has changed since Brenda left and she’s been hearing noises from the Tritons’ cellar. 

As awful as it would be for anyone to be trapped in a dank cellar for months on end, it must have been especially awful for someone who loves travelling. And in their own house too! Sure, Angela got locked in a hotel room. Yeah, Flora was trapped in a barn. Bill Hawks got taken to Future London for like a week—no one cares. But at least they all got rescued fairly quickly. Much like Angela, Brenda had a hunch about the villain in her town... and she ended up getting imprisoned by Descole.   

When Brenda and Doland escape from the cellar, Brenda’s first concern is Luke and Clark’s safety. Emmy asks if she’s OK, but Brenda doesn’t answer. She’s just shocked to hear that Luke is with the professor. Professor Who? Hershel Layton?! Again, this suggests Layton hasn’t seen Brenda for many years— since Luke was a baby. 

In Layton’s bonus episode with Clark, Layton mentions how Clark and Brenda have always been close. Layton is the one to suggest that the Tritons should come back to London. 

Sadly, we don’t get a conversation between Luke and Brenda, or Clark and Brenda, during PL4.

We do learn that Luke is protective of the bear his mum got him for his birthday. There’s also the heartbreaking bit about Luke calling out to his mum in his sleep while she was missing. But then, we get THIS precious picture from the PL4 credits:

Thankfully, we get more interactions with Brenda during Azran Legacy, and we get more of a feel for her personality. Luke spots his mum in Kensington High Street and wants to say hello to her with Aurora. Brenda is surprised to see Luke, as she thought he was off on a trip with Professor Layton. (She actually calls Layton ‘Hershel’ when she speaks to him!) Brenda is quite happy to let Luke tag along with Layton. Though, she does tell Luke to be on his best behaviour— no reckless rushing around. 

Luke mentions in a dialogue box that he got his blue cap from the fancy hat shop in Misthallery. @laytonerd​​ came up with the idea that Brenda may have bought Luke his classic hat. (In the Layton universe, giving someone a hat is a sign of love*.) And from what we see of Brenda during Azran Legacy... yeah, that sounds about right.

I love how something so simple like the Dress Up Minigame can reveal so much about a character. Brenda is elevated from Loving Mother to Hippie Angel Lady. That quirky part of her personality was already alluded to in her character profile. But now we see that Brenda doesn’t just collect odd souvenirs... She has a very unique style as well. (Her top hat appears to be inspired by Hershel’s top hat—again, adding some weight to their friendship!) Luke thinks her whole outfit is just too much, but Clark thinks she looks stunning and it suits her to a T. This is probably just one outfit amidst a huge wardrobe of wacky outfits. Perfect for Brenda and Clark’s wedding anniversary! Clark states that Brenda’s angel outfit reminds him of when they first started seeing each other... and he doesn’t know what he did to deserve her, making Brenda blush. Luke wants no part in this.

Brenda’s favourite colour is yellow. A colour associated with the sun, flowers, hope, cheerfulness and energy. (Like Emmy!) But it’s also associated with sickness, cowardice and deceit. (Again, relating to Emmy!) I wouldn’t call Brenda a coward, but she was a pawn in Descole’s plan and it probably took some time for her to recover from that. But, from her demeanour, she seems cheerful when she’s in London!

Brenda’s obviously quite close to Doland too. He worries about her when they escape from the cellar. It’s not like he does all the chores around the house! Brenda is the one to cook Luke’s favourite meal (roast lamb) when their family is reunited. Brenda knew when something wasn’t right with Doland while Descole was in disguise. She even refers to him as ‘Our Doland’. Awww!  

We get several conversations between Clark and Layton in PL4, along with a bonus episode, demonstrating their friendship. But I really wish we could’ve seen more of Layton and Brendas’ friendship. Brenda is very relaxed about Luke going with the professor on his trips. (This isn’t surprising as she is a fan of travelling herself.) Brenda is very similar to Layton in how she picks up on other people’s behaviour. Brenda noticed that Doland was acting out of character, and she noticed Clark was being manipulated. She tried to go to the authorities (though, Third Eye Jakes wouldn’t have been much help...) and so, Descole had to take her out of the picture. She, like Layton, posed a real threat to Descole’s plans. Brenda describes Hershel as being very dedicated and hardworking when he was a student, but he’d also disappear for days on random adventures. With Brenda being a traveller herself, that’s another thing she and Hershel have in common! 

To this day, I’m still not 100% sure what Brenda does for a living. In Luke’s Family section in The World of Professor Layton, it’s mentioned that Brenda was ‘also Professor Layton’s classmate’. I’m assuming this means she studied archaeology as well? During AL, she talks about how she’s going to Gressenheller’s Library to do some research for a paper on plate tectonics... I thought that had more to do with geography than archaeology, but who knows? Maybe she does both! So, she might either teach at Gressenheller like Clark and Layton, or she has returned to university to do some studies of her own. She doesn’t seem to work in the same department as Clark, at least. She ‘drops by’ to see how Clark is doing, and to get a look at his department’s cutting-edge technology. 

Brenda, like Professor Sycamore, is partial to the odd pun! She then proceeds to give them a puzzle— ‘Mutual Meeting Place’.

It’s about four friends going to the theatre! ...Four friends. Could that possibly be a reference to Layton, Clark, Brenda and Claire? The girl in the puzzle picture also just happens to have red hair and she’s wearing green! (I just made myself sad.) Unfortunately, Claire doesn’t get so much as unnamed reference when Clark, Brenda and Layton talk at Gressenheller, but it’s easy to imagine Claire was close with them back when they were students. 

I’d like to think Brenda was particularly good friends with Claire. (They may even be a rare ship of mine...) *Who else was obsessed with quirky styles, and bought a hat for someone she loved? Brenda’s top hat in her Dress Up costume looks just like the hat Claire chose for Hershel. Brenda has an interest in new technology— imagine how many hours she spent discussing science with Claire! “You want to be the world’s first time traveller? Sure, go for it!” I find it quite significant that Claire’s death— and the institute explosion— were referenced in PL4. (Chelmey’s bonus episode is so hard to watch!) Had the Tritons already lost touch with Hershel (and Claire) before Claire’s death...? I wish Level 5 had given us more content for the Gressenheller gang. 

I can’t really say Brenda went through any under-appreciated character arcs, like Katia or Janice/Melina. She starts out as Luke’s-loving-mother... and by the end of the prequel games, she’s still Luke’s loving mother, which is fine! By AL, I guess you could say her relationship with Clark is much happier, if they were fighting before? And in the AL bonus episode, she admits she was initially worried about Luke when he wanted to go on adventures with the professor, but she can see has Luke grown up since then. She even helps Luke choose the blue sweater that he wears during the original trilogy games. Brenda and Clark don’t appear during the original trilogy- obviously, as their characters weren’t invented yet. But we could take this as a sign that they’ve accepted Luke’s growing independence and they still trust Hershel immensely! 

There is a picture of the Triton family meeting up with Layton, Flora and the Barde siblings. Luke, Arianna and Tony are looking at a photo, remembering the time they spent together in Misthallery. Brenda is smiling at Flora in the background. Brenda’s clearly happy and, like the Barde siblings, she was able to move on from what happened with the spectre.  

@the-triton-family-blog​ was also a great help for this post!

[pretoria1x1]

Hi! I'm looking for someone to play Teen Wolf plots with me! My partner should be open to a new friendship, because I would love to make a new friend, and pretty open minded with grammar (because I'm not an English native speaker). My partner should be +20 too!

Every plot below involves a Female x Male ship on discord only. I'll be able to play with either one of the characters (Muse A or Derek).

THE PLOTS I WANT

‌Muse A, the most infamous Argent hunter, come back to the city after found out Victoria Argent is dead. She was determined to avenge her. However, what Muse A doesn't know is that Derek is her soulmate. (ENEMIES TO LOVERS X FORBIDDEN LOVE STORY PLOT ALERT)

Muse A and Derek have dated for a while, and Muse A has never found out about his lycanthropy. After almost has put her in danger, Derek decided to broke up with Muse A as a way to maintain her safe. Two months passed and they still miss each other despite Muse A is being with another man. Despite miss her, Derek is determined not only to stay away from her but to make her think he hates her. However, things start to change when Muse A finds out about the supernatural world after being bit by an unknown alpha. (THIS IS AN ANGST PLOT)

Derek needs to find an ancient bestiary. As a way to find it, he travels through the time to the last known location of the book: in the Czarist Russia, at the Ipatiev House, the prison of the royal family. Disguised as a Red Army soldier, he meets Muse A, one of the grand duchess of Russia and a Romanov. They fell in love a few weeks before the historical day of 17th July of 1918, the day the Romanov family was executed. (ANOTHER ANGST PLOT! I thought that maybe she ran away from the bolsheviks and someway she used magic to stay alive and young so she could find Derek again)

Derek found out he have a soulmate somewhere outside. However, when the pack tries to do the spell to summon a clue about his soulmate, Stiles accidentally brings Muse A, a Disney Princess, instead of the real identity of Derek's soulmate. (THIS IS A FUN ONE!!)

The pack is freaking out after found out that Muse A, a porn actress, is the new Derek's neighbor. It could simply be a hot story, but it turns out into a nightmare. Derek finds out she is just not a porn actress but also a hunter that came to the city to help the Argents to hunt him. (This is a kinda hot, kinda enemies to lovers story)

ABOUT ME

- I'm Brazilian, 23, and I'm a fanfic writer! So, I'll always be with some ideas!

- Smut is allowed, but I would prefer just to write a plot with smut, not a smut with a plot. Got it? The plot will be the main to me.

- I really like to play with NPC's (Non-playable characters). I think they give depth to the story, you know?

- Do not ghost me, please 🥺

- I don't mind about the face claim you will use. Characters development will be the main to me.

LIKE THIS POST AND I'LL TEXT YOU!

[cyraen-ae]

I’m slightly late for this week’s Hero Appreciation Day, but here are a few fun facts about the Varsen siblings in my Mechquest and Dragonfable game! Maybe at some point I’ll talk more about their AdventureQuest and AQW versions, but for now these are my favorites.

About their parents :

The Varsen father is called Aryn Varsen. He was a chronomancer who one day disappeared after an experiment gone wrong. His children don’t know whether he survived or not, but this left them apprehensive of chronomancy, despite being taught about it

The Varsen mother is called Leera Varsen, although it was a new name she adopted to hide. She was a refugee from a more controlling kingdom (the Thenastrin Imperium in Mechquest, the Magesterium in Dragonfable. Dunno about the other two games). Pre-Reset, she was a skilled engineer with intimate knowledge on melding magic and technology. Post-Reset, she kept those skills, becoming an artificer of sorts.

Leera suffered from intense paranoia and fear that people would betray her and sell her position to the kingdom she fled from. After her husband disappeared, she became certain that his disappearance was caused by those she was fleeing and went into hiding with her two child.

Thallen and Aleena spent most of their childhood without any social interactions as a result, only leaving the home once they were old enough to do so.

Aleena, being as hot headed as she is, left the home much earlier.

Mechquest facts :

Aleena loves listening to music when piloting her mecha. She modded her mecha’s cockpit to play music full volume to get her pumped up.

She’s also quite the good dancer as a result, as well as actually playing the electric guitar.

(this is in reference to me playing music whenever playing Mechquest due to its lack of prominent soundtrack)

As briefly mentioned in a previous post’s tags, Aleena is the Hero of Soluna in my playthrough.

Considering this, it means that the game starts in Thallen’s second year at GEARS.

While Aleena is the one in the frontlines doing all of the playable missions, Thallen isn’t just hanging back in Soluna.

During the war, he usually acted as mission control for Aleena. He’d stay in their ship orbiting the planet, or in a nearby area on the planet, and assist Aleena.

In most quests where the player gets message from the questgiver, in my version of it Thallen would be with them and chime in.

He also fixes Aleena’s mechs after the fights.

Additionally, Thallen picked up a bit of first aid from Nurse Helia so that he can patch up his sister whenever she narrowly misses an ejection because she got too confident.

He’s done the “if you die out there I’m coming into the afterlife just to chew you out for this!” type of trope to his sister over the comms quite a few time whenever she did something especially reckless.

aThallen and Aleena take house pride seriously and have a friendly rivalry going on. 

I could 100% see Thallen as a questgiver in GEARS hanging out and giving the player quests to help him get components for his latest mech design, which would then be offered as a shop after the quest.

Perhaps I’ll commission art following that Dragonfable trend a while back of drawing OCs as NPCs for that at some point in the future

Dragonfable facts :

Thallen’s scarf bandana thing is soulwoven. It also has a small bird sigil embroidered on it that, while blue by default, will sometimes change colors to fit his mood (a canon feature of soulwoven cloth that I feel should be used more often because it sounds fun!) 

It also used to belong to his mother, the embroidered bird being the symbol of the enchanter’s guild where she once worked before leaving. 

For a while after getting Dragonlord customization, Thallen wore the crop-top renegade armor because I was like why not. Therefore I headcanon him as completely the sort of person who would casually wear a crop top.

Post-Reset, Thallen still has very vague memories of the Mechquest timeline, although they feel barely tangible and dreamlike. He will often get pangs of melancholy and solitude whenever something unconsciously reminds him of his after-work hours spent with Tek, who he hasn’t found post-Reset.

Tek actually appeared in Thallen’s version of the Aspenvale Academy dream sequence, in which she faced many disappearance glitches similar to Tomix. Thallen has been trying to understand and remember who this pink-haired woman was as a result, leaving him deeply perturbed.

Thallen is very involved in the Vind, being a member of the rebellion to an official level.

Meanwhile Aleena, while she assists the Vind during some missions, remains too withdrawn and hard to contact to be considered as a member of the Vind.

The only time Aleena has been actively helping in any scenario rather than appearing and disappearing in hit-and-run tactics is during the Proclamation War.

In there, Aleena has been bodyguarding the Golden Hand. Not out of care for them, but rather so she can keep an eye on them as she does not especially trust them.

And also so she can push them to be faster to limit the damage caused by the rifts.

She also frequently voices her distrust of the Rose during it.

She still limits interactions and keeps her helmet up during the whole war, so as to not break her Brass Angel vigilante persona.

I’ve been in a very Mechquest mood as of late, replaying through the whole game on Aleena, so as a result my mind was more on Mechquest facts. This could change by next week, we’ll see. 

I’d have put more facts on their chronomancy, but I’ve already talked a bit about it in another post today

I’m thinking of writing up a timeline of events for the Varsen siblings going through the events of Dragonfable (and maybe one for MQ) and how it affected them personally, it’ll probably be made up for next week’s Hero Appreciation Day